Behind the Scenes Buzz with John Boyega and Lily James

JOHN BOYEGA HAD ‘HONEST’ PHONER WITH KATHLEEN KENNEDY FOLLOWING RACE COMMENTS: John Boyega tells the BBC that he had a “transparent, honest” phone call with Kathleen Kennedy, producer of Star Wars, after telling GQ in a cover story that the franchise sidelined non-white characters. Boyega explains: “So I got on a phone call with Kathleen Kennedy [Lucasfilm President] and she verbally showed support and we got to have a really nice, transparent, honest conversation that is beneficial to both of us.” He continued: “I think these kinds of conversations, you can go into the realm of sounding like you’re just trying to save your own career, but what is great now is that it is a conversation that anyone has access to. Now people can express themselves about this knowing that any character we love, especially in these big franchises like the Marvels and Star Wars, we love them because of the moments that they are given, we love them because of those moments, and they’re heroic moments that these producers all decide for these characters so we need to see that in our characters that are maybe black and from other cultures.”

MOVIE THEATERS STRUGGLE AMID MASS CLOSURES: Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, hundreds of movie theaters have closed in the past week. Over the weekend, Freaky, starring Vince Vaughn, topped the box office with just $1.2 million, a drop of 66% since its first weekend out. Comscore reports that 646 theaters closed down in the U.S., and 60 closed in Canada. Paul Dergarabedian of Comscore told The Hollywood Reporter: “Given the limited number of open theaters, the holiday movie season will be tasked with bridging the gap between this most challenging period and when the cinematic cavalry arrives in the form of what on paper looks to be a truly spectacular 2021 slate of blockbusters. The adage ‘it’s always darkest before the dawn’ certainly applies here. Theaters need new high-profile films to drive audiences to the multiplex, but unfortunately, those are in short supply in the coming weeks.”

LILY JAMES’ PEGGY JO PRE-SELLS: HanWay Films has pre-sold Phillip Noyce‘s true-crime love story Peggy Jo, which is set to star Lily James. Universal Pictures has snagged the film for multiple countries across the world. Peggy Jo follows the story of a bank robber who committed heists dressed as a man; it’s based on the story of a real robber of the same name.

JACK HUSTON TALKS FARGO: Jack Huston spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about his role in Fargo as Kansas City police officer Odis Weff. He said: “You know he’s going to be completely reinventing it every season. So it’s a leap of faith. But it’s the most exciting leap of faith I’ve ever taken. I don’t particularly like watching myself in things; I find it incredibly uncomfortable. This was one of the first times where I didn’t necessarily want to watch myself, but I wanted to watch the show so bad because I read it on the page, and I desperately wanted to see all of these different actors bring it to life. It’s my wheelhouse. I love this stuff. It was so exciting and fun every time you were on set because you’re constantly surprised by the choices people were making, and the casting itself.”