Welcome to the first weekly article of The Pre-Production. This article series will compile all of our production and crew news that we have exclusively reported during the week into one large article where you can know the latest tidbits about your favourite film and television shows.
David Fincher’s ‘Mank’
We have learned that David Fincher’s ‘Mank’ has hired costume designer Trish Summerville and production designer Donald Graham Burt.
Trish Summerville is known for her work on ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’, ‘Gone Girl’, ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’, ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ and the upcoming Apple TV+ series ‘See’. Donald Graham Burt is known for his work on ‘Outlaw King’, ‘Gone Girl’, ‘The Social Network’ and ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
The upcoming film will tell the story of Herman Mankiewicz, the newspaper man-turned-screenwriter who is best known for collaborating with Orson Welles on Citizen Kane with Gary Oldman set to play the lead role of Herman Mankiewicz. Production will begin on October 28th in Los Angeles with the film set to distributed on Netflix.
James Wan’s Untitled Original Horror Film
We have learned that Michael Burgess will be replacing Don Burgess as cinematographer on James Wan’s film following Don having to leave due to scheduling conflicts. Sources say the film will follow two women on the run from a monster.
Michael Burgess is known for handling cinematography duties on ‘Annabelle Comes Home’, ‘Aquaman’, ‘Avengers’, ‘The Curse Of La Llorona’ and the upcoming ‘Conjuring 3’.
The film is reportedly actively casting with production eyed to begin on September 23rd in Los Angeles.
UPDATE: The film is tentatively titled ‘Malignant’ and using Google, we can discover that the word means “evil in nature or effect” or “very virulent or infectious” and the film’s working title is “Silver Cup”.
’WandaVision’
We have learned that production designer Mark Worthington has joined the crew for the upcoming Disney+ series ‘WandaVision’. The series will star Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Teyonah Parris, Randall Park, Kat Dennings and Kathryn Hahn and will begin filming later this year for release in Spring 2021.
Mark Worthington is known for working on pilots such as ‘Watchmen’, ‘Umbrella Academy’, ‘Lost’, ‘Once Upon A Time’ and has worked on television shows such as ‘Why Women Kill’ and ‘American Horror Story’.
The Matrix 4
We have learned that production designers Peter Walpole and Hugh Bateup have joined the crew for ‘The Matrix 4’. We first reported that a new Matrix film was in development from the Wachowskis back in June and now trades have confirmed that Lana Wachowski, one of the Wachowski sisters, will return to direct ‘The Matrix 4’ with Keanu Reeves and Carrie Ann Moss set to reprise their respective roles and John Toll will also handle cinematography. At one point, Lily Wachowski was more involved in developing the fourth ‘Matrix’ film but will now not co-direct the film as she is currently more focused on her TV ventures.
Peter Walpole has worked as a set decorater for many years on films such as ‘The Phantom Meance’, ‘Attack of the Clones’, ‘Doctor Who’ Season 1, ‘Alien Vs Predator’ as well as many films with the Wachowskis including ‘Speed Racer’ and ‘Jupiter Ascending’. Recently he was promoted to the role of production designer on the ‘Sense8’ that he worked on with the Wachowskis.
Hugh Bateup worked as the supervising art director on the three ‘Matrix’ films as well as ‘Superman Returns’ and ‘Speed Racer’. Since ‘Cloud Atlas’, he has worked with the Wachowskis on multiple projects as their production designer including ‘Jupiter Ascending’ and ‘Sense8’.
Filming will begin in early 2020 in Chicago.
