Behind the Scenes Buzz

AL MATTHEWS IS DEAD AT 75: Al Matthews, best known for playing Sergeant Apone in Aliens, has died at age 75. Matthews died in Spain, where he retired in 2005. Matthews appeared in more than 30 films, including the Fifth Element, Tomorrow Never Dies, Superman III and British TV series Grange Hill.

CUBA GOODING JR. ANNOUNCES NEW FILM: The Oscar-winning Cuba Gooding Jr. has secured financing for his sophomore directorial work, Varietyreports. Tawain’s Wudi Pictures is set to back the as-yet-untitled film, after financing Bayou Caviar, a yet-to-drop drama starring Richard Dreyfuss and Famke Janssen. Gooding will also star. Bayou opens October 5, 2018.

JON M. CHU ON CRA SEQUEL: While Jon M. Chu is rumored to be set for the sequel (and possible the third) movie in the Crazy Rich Asians franchise, he tells Variety that nothing’s official. “I’m down to do the next two movies. We’ve been talking a lot about it, but we still have to close my deal on it,” Chu said. The first iteration of the film was based on Kevin Kwan‘s trilogy. “We would love to have the cast back,” Chu said. “We have such a deep bench of cast and we only used them a little bit. We would love to show them off a lot more.”

CAROL PRODUCER DEVELOPING IKIRU REMAKE: Stephen Woolley, the producer behind Carol and On Chesil Beach, is working on a remake of Akira Kurosawa‘s Ikiru set in London in the 1950s. He revealed the remake in a forward to a book Scala Cinema: 1978 to 1993 by Jane Giles is published by Fab Press on October 18. “I still get inspiration from these beautiful Scala programmes,” Woolley said. “Nearly 40 years on from that Scala screening, I’m reading a screenplay today for a version I commissioned that will be set in 1950s London, and which I hope to shoot next year.”