As usual, this year’s Oscars ceremony was a mixed bag of emotions. The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences handed out a whole bunch of trophies, and while there were plenty of questionable decisions that left us scratching our head when we weren’t full-on raging, there were also a lot of delightful winners. Now is the time to forget the politics and the absurdity of ranking and awarding cinema and get excited about all the rad flicks we have in our near future. Last year was an astonishing time at the movies. We believe this week’s celebrated filmmakers will take that energy through 2019 and beyond.
While Netflix did not take home Best Picture, it is worth noting that nine of the Academy Award winners have projects currently slated to stream on the service. From top-tier filmmakers like Spike Lee to below-the-line talent like Black Panther set decorator Jay Hart. We named Netflix our Filmmaker of 2018, and they do not appear to be slowing down in 2019.
Here’s everything we know about what’s next for all of this year’s winners:
Alfonso Cuarón (Best Director, Best Cinematographer, Best Foreign Language Film)
The next film we’ll see Alfonso Cuarón‘s name attached to is next year’s The Witches, directed by Robert Zemeckis and based on the classic children’s novel from Roald Dahl. Cuarón serves as a producer alongside pal Guillermo del Toro, and their input will hopefully pull Zemeckis out of the critical doldrums he’s currently suffering thanks to the one-two punch of Allied and Welcome to Marwen. Previously adapted by Nicholas Roeg in 1990, Dahl famously chastised the liberties taken with that film’s ending. Cuarón and del Toro don’t shy away from injecting horror and genuine stakes into their kiddie fare, and Zemeckis has been known to get a little gross with his PG entertainments. This time around there is a real chance for a faithful adaptation.
Cuarón has kept mum regarding his next directorial effort while working the chaos of Roma‘s awards season campaign. He’s attached to direct, write, and produce the HBO horror series Ascension starring Casey Affleck. While announced several years ago, there is no specific release date at this time. Plot details beyond its genre placement are a tightly kept secret, although Deadline suggests the story revolves around a cult.
The film Cuarón was gearing up to make before Roma was a prehistoric family drama set 50,000 or 100,000 years ago. He told The Hollywood Reporter that he was talked out of this tale of a “Darwinian Adam and Eve” by Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux who encouraged Cuarón to tackle something more personal. The director listened, but he hasn’t shaken this idea quite yet.
Olivia Colman (Best Actress)
Olivia Colman terrorized with pizazz in The Favourite, and while her next film requires a bit of a tonal shift, she no doubt continues to stir the unease of her attending audience. Them That Follow was one of our favorites from this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Olivia Colman stars alongside Jim Gaffigan as a wife and husband within a zealous community of Apalachin snake handlers. Walton Goggins plays the pastor of the faith, and tensions erupt when his daughter (Alice Englert) strikes up a secret affair with their son (Thomas Mann), and hypocrisies are revealed. The film is a taut emotional thriller that stirred a strong reaction out of Park City. Our own Rob Hunter called it “a beautiful story championing free will, integrity, and the value of true love, and it ends exactly where it should.” Directed by Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage, and produced by several folks including Gerard Butler, Them That Follow gets its theatrical release on June 27th.
Colman will also follow up her Oscar-winning role as one Queen of England in The Favourite by taking over the role of Queen Elizabeth II from Claire Foy for the third and fourth seasons of Netflix’s The Crown, which is currently filming for a possible late 2019 release.
Rami Malek (Best Actor)
The next place we’ll see Rami Malek the Bohemian Rhapsody frontman is back on the small screen fronting the final season of Mr. Robot on the USA Network. While we still don’t know the exact date of its airing, we do know that production has begun and series creator Sam Esmail promises a satisfying conclusion true to the spirit of its hacktivist heart. Throughout its three seasons, Mr. Robot received 13 Emmy nominations and practically made Malek a household name. If you didn’t know him before last night, you certainly do now. He’ll also work with Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail on the movie American Radical, in which he’ll star as a real-life undercover Muslim FBI agent post-9/11.
In 2020, the actor will lend his voice to Chee-Chee, the gorilla in The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle starring Robert Downey Jr. as the titular physician who prefers communication with animals over humans. As part of the herd, Malek is in good company: Tom Holland is Jip the dog, Selena Gomez is Betsy the giraffe, John Cena is Yoshi the polar bear, Kumail Nanjiani is Plimpton the ostrich, Emma Thompson is Polynesia the parrot, and there are are a dozen more beasties after that. Don’t expect too many Oscar nominations from this one. Most importantly, the film is Downey’s opportunity to return to a universe outside of Marvel.
Regina King (Best Supporting Actress)
Regina King is attached to probably the most highly anticipated project from any other new Oscar winner. At least as concerns the geek community. HBO’s website boasts that “Nothing ever ends,” and they are driving that haunting statement of Hollywood franchise hunger home with their reimagining of and sequel to Watchmen. The new 10-episode series is set in an alternate history that sees superheroes return to the shadows in the wake of a cataclysm believed to have been caused by the god-being known as Dr. Manhattan. Showrunner Damon Lindelof is eager to get back to shocking the system of fanboys everywhere after a successful run on The Leftovers, and of course, the not-at-all controversial season finale of Lost.
King is rumored to be playing police officer Angela Abar alongside Jeremy Irons as the maniacal Ozymandias, Tim Blake Nelson as Looking Glass, Adelaide Clemens as Pirate Jenny, Louis Gossett Jr. as Old Man, and Sara Vickers as Marionette. Oh yeah, there’s also a new Rorschach wandering around the sets as well. DC Comics has already returned to the Watchmen characters with their prequel series as well as the current “Doomsday Clock” mini-series that incorporates the likes of Batman and Superman into the Watchmen mythos. Fans should be used to a little change by this point, right?
Mahershala Ali (Best Supporting Actor)
Beyond Green Book, his recent turn in HBO’s third season of True Detective, and his current appearance as a villain on the big screen in Alita: Battle Angel, Mahershala Ali does not have anything concrete set for his next role. He did recently tell Rolling Stone that his relationship with HBO will only grow as he just signed a deal to produce and star in his own shows. He’s not ready to reveal any details, but he’s excited to take on a stronger position behind the scenes of the projects he selects. Whatever you may think about the film that just landed him his second little gold man, there is no denying that Ali was the highlight of Green Book. So, watch this space. More news to come.
Jim Burke, Brian Hayes Currie, Charles B. Wessler, Peter Farrelly, and Nick Vallelonga (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay)
Green Book finished the night on top. Serving as writer/producer/director, Peter Farrelly found validation departing the realm of gross-out comedy. He clasped hold of his statue with a strong grip and a firm smile. Mission accomplished. While he has not yet announced any new feature projects to follow his Best Picture win, his comedy series Loudermilk recently received a Season 3 renewal order. Running on the AT&T Audience Network, the show stars Will Sasso and Ron Livingston as a pair of friends struggling to maintain sobriety in and around Seattle.
Brian Currie just began pre-production on River of Fire, serving as screenwriter and producer. The plot sees five billionaire playboys hitting the freeway on their motorcycles. When they travel south of the border, they quickly discover that Baja, Mexico, is a land of more than just beaches and mojitos. Like Green Book, River of Fire sounds like it might attempt to address societal issues, but we’ll have to see if this survival horror can rise above its genre trappings.
Actor/Producer/Screenwriter Nick Vallelonga has several new projects in various stages of production. That’s Amore! is a romantic collision between a woman with a dark secret and a man who’s never been married before, and their coupling causes comedic catastrophe between their two families. 10 Double Zero follows a police detective on the hunt for the bank robbers that slaughtered his fellow boys in blue. Finally, a gang of mercenaries scours the jungles of Southeast Asia as they track the missing brother of a mysterious woman in The Rising.
Like Peter Farrelly, neither producers Jim Burke or Charles B. Wessler have anything currently lined up on their dance card. However, Wessler served as a producing partner on the majority of the Farrelly Brothers’ films, so wherever they go, you can bet he won’t be too far behind. And Burke regularly works with Alexander Payne, and their next collaboration could be The Burial or The Judge’s Will or something else entirely.
Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, and Kevin Willmott (Best Adapted Screenplay)
Was there a more satisfying and thrilling victory last night than the one awarded Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, and Kevin Willmott for BlacKkKlansman? Sure, we would have appreciated a lot more love thrown that film’s way, especially over those that ultimately took home the big prize, but we were all Samuel L. Jackson embracing a hoppingly ecstatic Lee. This was a long time coming for a filmmaker that has always been out there, speaking truth to power, and even screaming it when need be.
Lee is currently in pre-production on his next film, Da 5 Bloods, which will stream on Netflix sometime next year. Not only will he return to the directing chair, but he is also reworking the screenplay with Willmott as well. The story revolves around five Vietnam vets who return to the war-torn country so that they can retrieve the body of a fallen comrade and maybe steal some hidden gold in the process. Right now the only actors signed on to the film are Chadwick Boseman, Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, and Jean Reno, but rumor has it that Jackson, Don Cheadle, and Giancarlo Esposito could be involved as well. That is a stacked, irresistible cast.
Screenwriting partners Rabinowitz and Wachtel do not currently have anything in development or set up for production, but their Black List script Bolsa Negra, described as a “darker Jerry Maguire” has been making the rounds in Hollywood.
Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord, and Chris Miller (Best Animated Feature)
When the dust settles on the winners of this week’s ceremony, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse will be seen as one of the most groundbreaking cinematic experiences of the year. It is doubtful that Green Book will be remembered for anything more than its curious win, while Into The Spider-Verse will go down in history as a revolution in animation. Directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman have our attention for the rest of eternity. Producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller continue to prove that we should never be skeptical when it comes to their takes. Are you listening, Lucasfilm?
Persichetti worked as the head of story for the upcoming animated sequel Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon and is an executive producer on the LEGO Movie wannabe Playmobil: The Movie.
Rothman is tapped to write and direct the female fronted 21 Jump Street spinoff starring Tiffany Haddish and possibly Awkwafina. The two would play the typical undercover cops infiltrating a high school to bust a crime ring, the twist being they’re posing as mother and daughter to get the job done. With this talent involved, we’re sold. He’s also scripted a 1940s-set buddy cop comedy called Black and White for Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, and director Nicholas Stoller, a comedy with Steve Carell called Our Thing, and an animated sci-fi comedy he’s set to direct titled The Something.
Ramsey is attached as an executive producer on the recently announced animated feature Tailchaser’s Song. The film is still way too early in the pre-production phase to have proper details to celebrate. It is an adaptation of a Tad Williams novel about a tomcat who invades a mysterious forest only to discover a kingdom of felines secreted from man’s world. The script comes from Chris Rydo and Bethany Rhoades, who got her start voicing characters for Sony’s Spider-Man video games.
Lord and Miller are deep in the process of adapting Andy Weir‘s Artemis for the big screen. This sci-fi heist adventure set on the moon was a great relief since their departure from Solo: A Star Wars Story, but their next project after that might be even more compelling. Deadline reported last week that Sony Pictures dropped as much as $15 million to nab the directors for their latest “hybrid animation.” Last Human has drawn comparisons to E.T. as it revolves around a 12-year-old robot who bonds with a 12-year-old human after an apocalypse that puts A.I. as the dominant species on the planet. Among their other countless potential gigs include directing the adaptation of Carter Beats the Devil and producing the animated feature America: The Movie, featuring the voice of Channing Tatum as George Washington, of course.
Domee Shi and Becky Neiman (Best Animated Short Subject)
Bao writer/director Domee Shi (who was also a storyboard artist for nominated animated feature Incredibles 2) continues to work at Pixar, where she just voiced a role in the online short Purl. She’s also making the leap to helming an animated feature for the studio. Details and even a title are unknown at this time, but the movie is expected to release in 2022. Hopefully, she’ll continue to work with producer and fellow Pixar employee Becky Neiman.
Elizabeth Chai Varsarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes, and Shannon Dill (Best Documentary Feature)
Evan Hayes is producing a film about as far removed as Free Solo as one could possibly get: Barbie. Warner Bros. and Margot Robbie recently closed a deal with Mattel to finally bring the most famous fashion doll of all-time to the silver screen. If Battleship and Transformers could get their time with Hollywood, why not the woman with the fabulous DreamHouse? There is no filmmaker or other cast members connected with the project yet, but Hayes and Robbie are moving full-steam ahead with a 2020 release date.
Directors Elizabeth Chai Versarhelyi and Jimmy Chin are on the hunt for their next adventure, but considering the heights they’ve already climbed with Free Solo and Meru, you can bet that we’ll be there to witness whatever monument they face down next. Frankly, the same goes for Shannon Dill. Previous producing credits on Free Solo, The Price of Free, and He Named Me Malala reveal a filmmaker eager to embrace an audience’s empathy.
Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton (Best Documentary Short Subject)
Period. End of Sentence was one of the most feel-good wins of the night. As director Rayaka Zehtabachi screamed out in her acceptance speech, “I can’t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar!” Together with her producing partner Melissa Berton, they documented the challenges faced by the entrepreneurial women of India who brought biodegradable pad dispensers to their villages. The end goal being to break down the stigma surrounding menstruation that causes some to remove themselves from their education. While neither filmmaker has a project immediately ready, Period. End of Sentence is now streaming on Netflix and should really be consumed by as many eyes as possible.
Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman (Best Live Action Short Subject)
One of the stranger follow-ups for an Oscar winner this year, Skin writer/director Guy Nattiv recently debuted a feature-length film also titled Skin that isn’t a remake or extension of the short, though it does have similar subject matter. This Skin, which premiered at TIFF last fall, stars Jamie Bell as a real-life white supremacist who changed his ways and set out to get all his racist tattoos removed. Next, he’ll direct Virginia, based on the story of his grandmother who survived World War II and then joined a cult in America. Nattiv’s life and producing partner, actress Jamie Ray Newman, also worked in front of and behind the camera on the feature Skin and will probably join her husband on Virginia.
Ruth E. Carter (Best Costume Design)
Black Panther costumer Ruth E. Carter is bringing her eye to Craig Brewer‘s Rudy Ray Moore biopic Dolemite Is My Name, and we could not be any more excited. This exploration of the blaxploitation icon is sure to get some notice, and at the very least it will be sporting some of the most fashionable clothing the ’70s had to offer.
Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart (Best Production Design)
Our friend Hannah Beachler hopped from Black Panther and straight into the untitled Todd Haynes film that stars Anne Hathaway, Mark Ruffalo, and Bill Pullman. Prepare for plenty of rage as Haynes aims for our country’s long history of corporate-financed chemical pollution. Beachler also provided production design on the pilot for Y, a TV adaptation of the much celebrated comic book series Y: The Last Man, which is about a plague that wipes out every male on the planet except one.
Set Decorator Jay Hart recently finished work on 2019’s thirstiest of Netflix films, Triple Frontier, starring Ben Affleck, Garrett Hedlund, Charlie Hunnam, Oscar Isaac, and Pedro Pascal. J.C. Chandor directs this saga of masculinity in which five former soldiers reunite for the heist of a lifetime. You know, that old chestnut, but with the most sought after dudes on the internet.
Ludwig Göransson (Best Original Score)
What was I saying about Regina King appearing in the most anticipated project coming on down the pike? Well, Black Panther composer Ludwig Göransson is providing all the music for Lucasfilm’s first Star Wars series The Mandalorian, and there is nothing greater in the galaxy than Star Wars. Every Lucasfilm album release is an event unto itself, and we’re ready to pre-order this one the second it becomes available.
Ian Hunter, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, and J.D. Schwalm (Best Visual Effects)
First Man visual effects supervisors Paul Lambert and Tristan Myles are journeying with Denis Villeneuve to Frank Herbert‘s Dune. While we’re all squeeing about the astonishing and massive cast that has assembled here, we can rest equally comfortably knowing that the film will look absolutely killer. Meanwhile, J.D. Schwalm is overseeing 11 other movies including everything from Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase to Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw to the untitled Jumanji sequel. He’s also working on a little movie called Avatar 2. Apparently, he never sleeps. And miniature effects supervisor Ian Hunter has a couple sci-fi movies in development as a visual effects supervisor (U.F.O., Junior Crew) as well as some additional directorial projects in the works.
Kate Biscoe, Greg Cannom, and Patricia Dehaney (Best Makeup and Hairstyling)
The next project for Vice hair department head Patricia Dehaney is Amy Poehler‘s feature debut, Wine Country. The film hits theaters on May 10th and depicts a group of friends led by Poehler who hit the road to Napa as part of a 50th birthday celebration. Along for the ride are Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, Jason Schwartzman, Maya Erskine, and Rachel Dratch.
Prosthetic and effects designer Greg Cannom next leads the makeup department on El Secreto del Retrato (aka The Project’s Secret) from writer/director Janet Alvarez Gonzalez. The film is currently in pre-production and explores multiple stories of human interest revolving around child abuse, incest, LGBTQ rights, political and economic exploitation, and corruption within the American government and religious institutions. Meanwhile, Vice‘s makeup head Kate Biscoe has no upcoming credits listed yet.
John Ottman (Best Editing)
Considering Bohemian Rhapsody editor and composer John Ottman has been working alongside disgraced director Bryan Singer since they were in film school together, who knows where he’ll go next.
John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone (Best Sound Editing)
Bohemian Rhapsody music supervisor John Warhurst is currently lending his ear to one of the most infamous musical productions of all-time: Cats. Directed by Tom Hooper, who is no stranger to Oscar gold, the musical follows a raucous tribe of kitties called the Jellicles as they decide who will ascend beyond their measly dumpster diving lives. With Cats being of the longest running Broadway shows in history, it will be curious to see how the show will translate to a cinematic audience. As for Nina Hartstone, she has no future credits that we’re aware of yet.
Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin, John Casali (Best Sound Mixing)
The Bohemian Rhapsody sound-mixing team have a few upcoming credits already in the bag or in production, including X-Men sequel Dark Phoenix and James Mangold‘s biopic Ford v. Ferrari for re-recording mixer Paul Massey, the music biopic Spinning Gold for re-recording mixer Tim Cavagin, and Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw and Disney sequel Maleficent 2 for production sound mixer John Casali.
Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt (Best Original Song)
While A Star is Born‘s Lady Gaga is sure to continue her career on screen as well as in the recording studio, likely writing original songs for other movies, too, her songwriting collaborators’ futures in film are unknown. Mark Ronson will probably follow wherever she goes, however.
The post What’s Next for the 2019 Oscar Winners? appeared first on Film School Rejects.
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