We know many of you are actually waiting for this! Season Two of LOVE IS BLIND is before us and here’s a look at the new personalities you’re about to meet!

Synopsis: Netflix fan-favorite series LOVE IS BLIND is back! Singles who want to be loved for who they are, rather than what they look like, have signed up for a less conventional approach to modern dating in Chicago where they hope to meet the person they want to spend the rest of their lives with…without ever having seen them. With no distractions from the outside world, the singles talk to a stream of potential love interests and when a meaningful connection is made, they propose and then lay their eyes on their fiancé for the first time. Engaged and back in the real world, as the couples plan their wedding day, they will quickly discover whether they can turn their emotional connection into a physical one before the fast-approaching ceremony. Hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, this addictive 10-part series will uncover whether looks, race or age do matter, or if love really is blind.

LOVE IS BLIND SEASON TWO arrives as follows:

• Week 1 (Friday, February 11): Epsiodes 1-5
• Week 2 (Friday, February 18): Episodes 6-9
• Week 3 (Friday, February 25): Episodes 10 (finale)

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

As part of Television Critics Week celebrations, we were invited to sit-in on a panel for upcoming TV Series adaptation HALO. The military Science-Fiction series based on the wildly-popular Video Game, takes us into the 26th century where humanity face the threat of the Covenant, an alien entity. Set to premiere March on Paramount+, the Series developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane, stars Pablo Schreiber, Bokeem Woodbine, Charlie Murphy and Natasha McElhone.

Joining us on the Panel were:

Kiki Wolfkill, Executive Producer
Steven Kane, Executive Producer
Justin Falvey, Executive Producer
Darryl Frank, Executive Producer
Pablo Schreiber
Natascha McElhone
Yerin Ha
Bokeem Woodbine
Charlie Murphy

Executive Producer Kiki Wolfkill talks about adapting this beloved Video Game to TV and what’s involved with setting-up the backdrop in which this story is set against.

Wolfkill: “Adapting a beloved Video Game with 20 years of history, story and character development is a daunting task, but really gratifying. For us we looked at ‘How do we take the essence of the gaming experience and really express it in our own unique voice?’. From that, we set-out to build a 26th century Sci-Fi world with brutal aliens and spartan super-soldiers, artificial intelligence, military politics and ancient mystery. But at the same time against that backdrop, really tell some really personal stories and explore the humanity or lack thereof, of our characters.”.

Pablo Schreiber stars in the lead role of Master Chief and talks about landing this coveted gig.

Schreiber: “We’re very squarely in the Halo universe. It’s a show for people who love the Halo universe and just discovering the Halo universe. Master Chief is one of the most iconic and heroic characters of all time. The opportunity to explore those themes and ideas, the relationship between the warrior and the hero – what’s the similarities and where do they diverge, is what’s really interesting for me.”.

He also talks about the experience working with his Castmates on the Series.

Schreiber: “It was really wonderful to get to work with all the performers. Obviously Chief and Cortana have a very special relationship, but the history between Chief and Halsey, played by the wonderful Natasha McElhone obviously is another central core relationship. Our work together was wonderful. The Chief and Soren have this very tortured and long history as well, but also very close. So to get to do that with Bokeem also was very amazing. We also introduce a couple new characters into the lore. To get to bring Charlie‘s character Makee in and I have a lot of stuff with her towards the end of the season, is really fantastic and Charlie is amazing. And this incredible new performer Yerin Ha, came in and is playing Kwan Ha, which is a brand-new character created for our Show. To get to do all of that, to create history and continuity of the franchise, and to create all these new characters, all of it was such a thrill.”.

Natasha McElhone talks about what Halo means to her and her family.

McElhone: “I have a strange relationship with the game in that my first experience with it was finding my husband with my then one-year-old son, sitting on his lap playing Halo when he should’ve been cooking, so it was a distraction – a beloved one – in our household. So it’s very strange that it should come back around and here I find myself as part of the team bringing it to TV which is thrilling for all my kids because they all love to play Halo.”.

She tells us about her character, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey.

McElhone: “In terms of Halsey, everyone knows who she is in the game. I hope I’m building from that and the legacy that Jen (Taylor) helped create when she voices her in the game. We were trying to deep some of the other elements of the characters and perhaps build a few more branches on the tree. I’m definitely seeing her as someone who’s misunderstood.”.

Bokeem Woodbine talks about his connection the Video Game and his character, Soren.

Woodbine: “He’s enterprising, innovative, hard-working, industrious, not without some charm. He’s got his eyes on the prize at all times. As far as Halo‘s concerned, I remember when it first came out, all my friends were Halo heads. I didn’t necessarily play myself, but I spent countless hours hanging out. None of us were rich back then, so I remember hanging-out in little ratty apartments, watching my friends play Halo for hours. It’s a lot of fun to watch people play because the landscape is ever-changing, kinda like watching a movie. So to be able for this to come around and participate in it, is really a thrill.”.

Justin Falvey, Executive Producer tells us on the long-term plan for the Series.

Falvey: “Our intention is to produce several seasons of the Show. There’s a lot of story to tell. And as Pablo indicated, we have so many buckets we can dip into with these pre-existing characters and these new characters. Talk about a world-building show, it speaks on every level to execute that wonderfully with the people we have in place. Hopefully we’ll be doing this for some time now.”.

HALO premieres March 24, 2022 on Paramount+.

(Photo/video credit: Paramount)

Television Critics Association Week celebrations continue and we were thrilled the join the panel for THE OFFER, arriving this April on Paramount+. Lovers of Cinema should be delighted about this one as it tells us the backstory behind the development of Francis Ford Coppola‘s game-changing THE GODFATHER. Dexter Fletcher directs and the Series is told from the eyes of Canadian-born Producer Albert S. Ruddy, played by Miles Teller.

Joining the Panel were:

Nikki Toscano, Executive Producer
Michael Tolkin, Executive Producer
Dexter Fletcher, Executive Producer
Miles Teller, Executive Producer and Star
Matthew Goode
Juno Temple
Giovanni Ribisi

Executive Producer Nikki Toscano tells us about what The Godfather meant to her and what THE OFFER explores.

Toscano: “I grew-up on The Godfather. The first time I saw it, I wasn’t even a teenager. I was enthralled by the masterful and subtle storytelling, it became the high watermark in my mind of what was possible, and it continues to inform me. To this day, I discover new things every time I watch it. I can keep watching it because The Godfather explores the most universal theme of all, family. THE OFFER is the story of Producer Albert S. Ruddy, who goes into the mattresses to get his film made. It’s told from Ruddy‘s POV and examines the many challenges he faced. Evading mandates from his corporate bosses at Gulf and Western, to threats from the real-life mafia, all the while navigating the nuances of Hollywood to get the job done.”.

The Godfather is based on Mario Puzo’s Novel and not a lot is known about this character played by Patrick Gallo. Toscano, Fletcher and Tolkin tell us what they know and thought of Mario.

Toscano: “Mario‘s character for us had not been exposed to Hollywood in any sort of way. We see the story through Al and Mario‘s eyes. I think what Patrick brought to the character was the excitement of what it was like to have Mario‘s book adapted, to be a Producer and a part of this Hollywood machine.”.

Fletcher: “We understand that Mario Puzo was someone who wrote from a very personal place, and brought this energy and family feel to that book. Patrick brought all that enthusiasm and warmth to it, so that we could create around that heart and warmth… It was important we create a family-feel, a real ensemble.”.

Tolkin: “The only story I knew about making The Godfather was that Mario Puzo got into a fight with Frank Sinatra one night at Chasen’s. So I had five minutes of the Show written. I just needed nine hours and fifty-five minutes more to fill in.”.

Miles Teller tells us about Ruddy and the pressure to play someone real.

Teller: “For me, playing Al, he’s certainly not as well-known, at least mannerisms-wise as some of these other characters in the story. I think it is important you do have a little more freedom there as far as your character likeness and your interpretation of them, you feel like you really need to hit certain things. I didn’t really feel that, but whenever you play someone in real life, there’s a great responsibility that comes with that. I think you do that through the internalization and your interpretation of the work that you do hopefully capture that person’s essence. I think someone can watch the Show who knows Al and feel that there’s something there, that we’re sharing some sort of DNA, something akin to each other. There’s a great responsibility when you’re taking on somebody’s life and re-telling it, especially a life that was as full as Al’s was. I was telling my wife if someone made a movie about my life, you couldn’t even fill 30 minutes of it! I mean, I enjoy my life but it’s nowhere as entertaining as Al. More than anything, I just had a blast playing him, just being able to re-tell his story. I wanted to text him and tell him ‘Al, this is so much fun! Playing you is really keeping me on my toes!’.”.

Matthew Goode tells us about playing Producer Robert Evans.

Goode: “I would suggest that Bob Evans was pretty well known. I found it quite terrifying when Dexter and Nikki gave me the job. I felt a lot better when I was doing my scenes with Marlon Brando (Justin Chambers). That actually gave me a lot of comfort. I was like, ‘I’m up against him, but let’s see what you’ve got pal!’. There’s an awful lot you can find on the internet. As Bob himself said, ‘There’s always your version, the other person’s version and then the truth.’. Even just the foreword of his book by Peter Bart, there’s a really interesting idea to play a character we don’t really know much about, which I thought Josh (Zuckerman) did brilliantly. Even in the foreword it gives you quite a bit of information. I found out a lot by talking to people in Hollywood and they’d go, ‘Hey, he used to go to the same hairdresser as me, this, that and the other…’. All the stories, considering there’s a lot of contentious stuff about his history, most of these people would say ‘He was the nicest, he was the kindest, he was the most generous’, and perhaps his downfall was due to his more angel side than his darker side.”.

Juno Temple gives us a bit of insight into the process behind playing famed agent Bettye McCartt.

Temple: “We started the whole process a bit later, closer to when we actually started filming. For Bettye McCartt, there really isn’t a lot of information to find about her. Like Nikki, I watched The Godfather before I was a teenager, and it deeply-affected me and I have such a romanticism of Hollywood-past. And I’m so intoxicated by it and the group of people making this was so extraordinary including Miles Teller, whom I’ve wanted to work with forever, and Nikki, the most badass, brilliant woman in Hollywood. And suddenly I got told I was going to be a part of it and it was about a character I didn’t know anything about. Dexter did this incredible thing when we all gathered and the weekend before we had the luxury of a couple weeks of rehearsal, he actually said ‘You guys have a little bit of homework to do. I would like for you to come in Monday with a backstory of who you are and how you got to the moment of meeting Al Ruddy, taking you forward in the journey to making The Godfather.’. It was such a profoundly brilliant experience because you’re sitting in a circle of faces that you potentially know from work they’ve done. And while they are playing characters you potentially know really well, or you don’t know so much about, or you just heard their names or you don’t know anything about them at all. Each person had done such extraordinary research whether they were making-up what they could with whatever little information they found on the internet, or whether they really had these facts. It didn’t matter because suddenly you were in a room with these people and it made sense why they were going to be involved with the movie.”.

Toscano, Tolkin and Fletcher talk about the choice to tell THE OFFER as a TV Show versus a Movie.

Toscano: “That comment is a reflection of the time. Wonderful things are being done on TV these days. In some ways it’s poking-fun at the time period.”.

Tolkin: “TV’s become the great delivery system for storytelling now. We’re happy watching ten hours of a television series than 90 minutes of a movie most of the time.”.

Fletcher: “We went for style and impact and we made something as big and impressive as we could with the resources we had. We didn’t go about it thinking it was for TV and aim for the stars. We go big, we go bold and I don’t think we drew that line. Hopefully part of the strength of what we put out feels like we’re in keeping with the movies. I think it pays homage to that.”.

THE OFFER arrives April 28, 2022 on Paramount+.

(Photo/video credit: Paramount)

The Juno Awards, celebrating Canada’s best in Music are returning to Toronto again this year! Even better, they will be in-person for the first time since 2019. And guess what? Simu Liu will be hosting!

The Awards take place at Budweiser Stage in Toronto, on Sunday, May 15 , 2022 and broadcast and streamed live across Canada at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, CBC Listen, and globally at CBCMusic.ca/junos and CBC Music’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages.

Tickets go on-sale March 4, 2022.

20th Century Studios Canada x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to win Advance Passes to see DEATH ON THE NILE. Screenings take place in Toronto and Vancouver on Wednesday, February 9, 2022 at 7 PM.

Synopsis:

Based on the 1937 novel by Agatha Christie, “Death on the Nile” is a daring mystery-thriller about the emotional chaos and deadly consequences triggered by obsessive love. Kenneth Branagh, back as the iconic detective Hercule Poirot, is joined by Tom Bateman, four-time Oscar® nominee Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders and Letitia Wright. “Death on the Nile,” which reunites the filmmaking team behind 2017’s global hit “Murder on the Orient Express,” is written by Michael Green, adapted from Christie’s novel, and is produced by Ridley Scott, Kenneth Branagh, p.g.a., Judy Hofflund, p.g.a. and Kevin J. Walsh, with Mark Gordon, Simon Kinberg, Matthew Jenkins, James Prichard and Mathew Prichard serving as executive producers.

Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple’s idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, this dramatic tale of love gone wrong features a cosmopolitan group of impeccably dressed travelers and enough wicked twists and turns to leave audiences guessing until the final, shocking denouement.

Filmed with 65mm Panavision cameras in late 2019, “Death on the Nile” transports audiences to the 1930s, recreating many of the locations that served as inspiration for Christie’s glamorous, high society thriller.

To enter for a chance to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK and indicate there your City. Re-Tweet this Contest Tweet for an extra chance. You must be following.

NOTE: Winners will be reached from our official Facebook account. Do not accept friend requests for third parties requesting your personal information.

Rules and regulations here.

20th Century Studios Canada release DEATH ON THE NILE February 11, 2022.

(Photo/video credit: 20th Century Studios Canada)

Havana Rose Liu stars in Thriller NO EXIT, arriving soon on Disney+.

Synopsis:

In “No Exit,” Havana Rose Liu (“Mayday”) makes her feature film leading role debut as Darby, a young woman en route to a family emergency who is stranded by a blizzard and forced to find shelter at a highway rest area with a group of strangers. When she stumbles across an abducted girl in a van in the parking lot, it sets her on a terrifying life-or-death struggle to discover who among them is the kidnapper. Directed by Damien Power (“Killing Ground”) from a screenplay by Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari (“Ant-Man and the Wasp”) based on Taylor Adams’ 2017 novel and produced by PGA Award winner Scott Frank (“The Queen’s Gambit”), the film stars Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez (“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Top Gun: Maverick”), David Rysdahl (“Nine Days”), Dale Dickey (“Winter’s Bone), Mila Harris (“Young Dylan”) and Dennis Haysbert (“Breakthrough”). 

NO EXIT arrives February 25, 2022 on Disney+ via its Star banner.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

Woody Harrelson is back in Bobby Farrelly‘s CHAMPIONS! In case you missed the Trailer, here it is and also a brand-new Poster.

Universal Pictures Canada/Focus Features release Friday, March 24, 2023.

(Photo/video credit: Universal Pictures Canada/Focus Features)

Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds team-up on THE ADAM PROJECT, coming March to Netflix!

Synopsis:

A time-traveling pilot teams up with his younger self and his late father to come to terms with his past while saving the future.

Director: Shawn Levy
Writers: Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin
Producers: David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Shawn Levy, p.g.a., Ryan Reynolds, p.g.a.
Executive Producers: Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Dan Levine, Dan Cohen, George Dewey, Patrick Gooing, Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Walker Scobell, with Catherine Keener and Zoe Saldaña

THE ADAM PROJECT arrives on Netflix March 11, 2022.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

With a story developed partly by Fede Alvarez and Co-Writer of the 1974 classic Kim Henkel, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE re-tells this nightmare to a new generation. The Film is coming soon to Netflix.

Synopsis:
Melody (Sarah Yarkin), her teenage sister Lila (Elsie Fisher), and their friends Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Ruth (Nell Hudson), head to the remote town of Harlow, Texas to start an idealistic new business venture. But their dream soon turns into a waking nightmare when they accidentally disrupt the home of Leatherface, the deranged serial killer whose blood-soaked legacy continues to haunt the area’s residents — including Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré), the sole survivor of his infamous 1973 massacre who’s hell-bent on seeking revenge.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE arrives February 18, 2022 on Netflix.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

Blinks, we’ve got something exciting for you! SNOWDROP which stars Blackpink‘s Jisoo is coming soon to Disney+! The 16-episode Series begins streaming February.

Synopsis:

When a blood-soaked man (Jung Hae-In) bursts into the dormitory of a women’s university in Seoul, Korea, Eun Yeong-ro (Jisoo) will go against her better judgement and risk being expelled to hide the man from his attackers and tend to his wounds. Unbeknownst to Yeong-ro, the man has a harrowing secret that threatens to put her friends’ and family’s safety at risk, and the two young lovers will have to work together to overcome the obstacles.

Centered around the forbidden romance of a young couple, “Snowdrop” features Jisoo’s debut-starring performance in a Korean drama that will take viewers on an emotional rollercoaster full of excitement, action, and romance.  The series follows Yeong-ro as she goes against her family and her country to help the man she loves, while Jung Hae-In puts everything on the line to save the only thing he loves more than his country, Yeong-ro.

“Snowdrop” was written by Yoo Hyun-mi and directed by Jo Hyun-tak, the duo behind the 2018 thriller “Sky Castle.” 

The first two episodes of SNOWDROP arrives February 9, 2022 on Disney+, additional episodes arriving weekly.

(Photo credit: Disney)