We get bombarded with teasers, trailers and promotional clips relentlessly – each weekend Steve Newall sorts through the best of the week for you to check out and get excited about.
The Iron Claw
Sean Durkin’s directed a couple of damn good films (Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Nest) and here assembles a dream team of actors to play professional wrestling brothers—Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson. The real-life Von Erich family was rumoured to be cursed, due to a tragic chain of events… depicted here as we follow the the family inside and out of the ring.
The Curse
Speaking of dream teams (and curses), getting Nathan Fielder, Emma Stone and Benny Safdie involved in the same project was a tantalising prospect—and now, with the arrival of the first trailer for their mini-series The Curse, a whole lot of potential is unveiled. Tonally there’s hints of Fielder’s amazing, awkward The Rehearsal—it’ll be interesting to see him in a purely “acting” role, opposite Stone as a couple whose relationship is damaged by a curse while they film a house-flipping reality show.
Wonka
Paddington director Paul King’s Willy Wonka origin story gets a new trailer, full of more colourful CGI confectionery (both literal and metaphorical). There’s a lot more of Hugh Grant’s Oompa Loompa, too—in screen time, at least, if not in stature—as we see more of what to expect from this surefire Christmas hit.
Orphan Black: Echoes
Orphan Black is back—kinda. This spinoff from the original series stars Krysten Ritter, pictured waking up without memories in an advanced near future. It’s all pretty mysterious, as you’d expect, with the official synopsis promising: “The series is set to explore the scientific manipulation of human existence and will follow a group of women as they weave their way into each other’s lives while embarking on a journey that will both unravel the mystery of their identity and uncover a story of love and betrayal.” Well, OK then.
Priscilla
Sofia Coppola’s explorations of women’s experiences and sense of aesthetic set her up perfectly to tell the story of Priscilla Presley in this new biopic. This first look expands a little on why Presley trusted Coppola to tell her story, and offers tantalising glimpses of 1960s Memphis, Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla and Jacob Elordi as Elvis. Plus, it’s soundtracked by ESG’s awesome My Love for You, which is a suitably perfect, anachronistic Coppola music cue.
Robbie Williams
A four-part documentary series on the pop megastar is coming to Netflix, tracing Williams life and career with new interviews and thirty years of never-before-seen archive footage. Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of his solo career, the series also covers Williams’ time in Take That and candidly tackles the high highs and low lows of his career.
Scavengers Reign
With strong echoes of Moebius’ incredible comic art as well as Akira and Fantastic Planet, this awesome-looking 2D animated series looks like a trippy good time. The surreal sci-fi follows the survivors of a space freighter that’s crashed on an alien planet—with the audience playing catch up to what incident befell the ship and what they were doing out there in the first place. This looks like A-class psychedelic cosmic couch fodder.
