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WIRE Buzz: Bill Murray Jeeps back to Groundhog Day; Peter Sarsgaard playing new Batman character; more
It turns out Phil Connors didn't escape that time loop in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania after all. That's because Bill Murray is returning to the Groundhog Day universe one more time for a Jeep ad that also includes Stephen Tobolowsky's Ned "The Head" Ryerson.
Set photos of Murray and Tobolowsky surfaced online via Gregg Hanson, the co-owner of a local shop in Woodstock Square where the commercial was filmed. This is the very same location seen in the 1993 movie, which also used Woodstock, Illinois as a stand-in for Punxsutawney. The Square is the place where Phil continues to run into Ryerson and step into an icy puddle just off the curb.
“It’s like déjà vu,” Hanson, who owns the store with his two sisters, told The Herald News. "It was interesting to see the characters, how they had aged."
Directed and co-written by Harold Ramis, Groundhog Day follows a cynical news reporter forced to live the eponymous holiday over and over again until he learns compassion and humility.
Right now, we're unsure if this little reunion will air during the Super Bowl, but it definitely seems like a major pop culture moment that would air during the annual Big Game. Based on The Herald News report, production took place over the past weekend, so the turnaround would certainly be impressive.
If this is a Super Bowl spot, we'll be able to relive the spiritual sequel as many times as we want starting this Sunday, Feb. 2.
Initially, word on Gotham City's street was that Peter Sarsgaard was in talks to play Harvey Dent/Two Face in Matt Reeves' forthcoming The Batman, especially when the director teased his casting back in December on Twitter.
But now Warner Bros. has pulled the cape out from that theory, issuing production details that reveal the actor will actually be playing a new DC character — Gotham City District Attorney Gil Colson. No word exactly who Colson is aside from his job title because he's not in DC Comics — rather, he appears to have been created specifically for the reboot.
The press release also officially announces what Reeves tweeted about yesterday, his eagerly awaited The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson in the dual role of Bruce Wayne and the Caped Crusader, has officially commenced principal photography in London.
The cast features Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman; Paul Dano as Edward Nashton better known as The Riddler; and Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot, who usually goes by his nom de plume the Penguin. (But three among the rogues' gallery of villains that Reeves promises The Batman will explore.)
Also joining the gang will be John Turturro as mobster Carmine Falcone; Jeffrey Wright as Gotham City PD's James Gordon; Jayme Lawson as mayoral candidate Bella Reál; and Andy Serkis as Alfred the Butler.
Of course, both the studio and Reeves have kept a lid on the storyline, so we'll just have to wait for the inevitable set photo leaks to parse exactly what the Dark Knight will be facing this go-round.
The Batman is slated to hit theaters June 25, 2021.
Are you still one of the few people who have yet to see Netflix's The Witcher?
The streamer's most-binged series debut has plenty of action, as it finds Henry Cavill's superhuman mutant Geralt of Rivia hunting down all sorts of nasty monsters. And now the actor has taken to Twitter to reveal one of the show's biggest production secrets — how the epic one-take fight scene in the Season 1 premiere all came together.
Cavill breaks down the stunning sequence element for element, showing how he and the stuntman executed the complex fight choreography with cutoff-swords to make viewers feel closer to the action as Geralt searches out Renfri and confronts her gang.
He explains the idea behind a fairly riveting camera move designed by stunt coordinator, Wolfgang Stegeman, which circles around a crossbow shot; the challenge of getting every rehearsed move right in one take, and having to do it over and over; and the climactic end when the Witcher faces off against the "viper-like" Renfri.
It's a pretty amazing scene, no doubt high on fans' list of favorites along with Episode 3's battle with a Striga monster that nearly kills Geralt, and a fight sequence in the Season 1 finale.
The Witcher is now streaming on Netflix.
