Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans make unlikely Christmas-saving duo in new ‘Red One’ trailer

September 23, 2024

Amazon MGM Studios

Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans are on a mission to save Christmas.

In Amazon MGM Studios’ new action-packed trailer for Red One, a bounty hunter, played by Chris Evans, is kidnapped and brought to the North Pole, where he is informed Santa has been abducted.

Also starring in the Jake Kasdan-directed film are J.K. Simmons as Santa and Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt and Lucy Liu, among others.

Evans and Johnson, the latter of whom plays the North Pole’s head of security, team up in the trailer for the action-comedy, which follows the duo on the search for the missing jolly man.

“Are you saying Santa Claus has been kidnapped?” asks Evans after being informed that “Red One” had been abducted.

The trailer explains Evans will be working with Johnson, whom he vocally expresses distaste for, to track down everyone’s favorite Christmas icon.

The magic of the North Pole is in full effect throughout clip as a polar bear with human qualities dominates the screen for several shots, supply closets double as portal systems and several fantasy creatures appear throughout the quest to “save Christmas.”

According to a synopsis for the film, when Santa is kidnapped, Johnson’s character “must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter,” played by Evans, “in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.”

Red One is set to hit theaters on Nov. 15.

Nicole Kidman and much of ‘The Perfect Couple’ cast had a text “mutiny” over opening dance number

Netflix

Netflix’s new series The Perfect Couple is a dark tale indeed, but its title sequence sees its cast, including Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber and Dakota Fanning, in a flash mob-style dance, set to Meghan Trainor‘s “Criminals.”

It was the brainchild of director Susanne Bier, but Variety has discovered that most of the cast was so opposed to it they started a text chain on WhatsApp that Schreiber called a “mutiny.”

The show centers on a wealthy family whose plans for a glamorous Nantucket wedding by the beach runs aground when a body washes up onshore, exposing the fam’s dark secrets.

Kidman admitted to the trade that she was initially opposed to the opening, because she didn’t think her matriarch character Greer would dance. “I felt like Greer would watch.”

That said, she was happy about it in the end. “I danced as Greer. I think it’s great and I’m so glad they got us all to do it. ‘Cause there’s some joy in it.”

Schreiber, who plays Kidman’s husband, was all in. “I wasn’t in that [text] chain. The entire cast had a mutiny about this idea except for me, I was already in my trailer practicing the dance moves.”

He added, “I just like dancing and I was kinda disappointed when it came out that I’m not in it more because I thought I did it really well.”

Bier explained she felt viewers needed a pick-me-up from the “gloomy” times we’re living in. “I felt I wanted to do something which had a lot of life and a lot of fun. And I wanted to see all the characters having fun.”

The Perfect Couple is now streaming on Netflix.

Hugh Jackman thanks a team of people for his Wolverine body

Marvel Studios

To a shirtless photo of his Deadpool & Wolverine body that he posted to Instagram, Hugh Jackman voiced over a lengthy thank-you to a team of people who helped get him into superhero shape.

“Yeah, I had to turn up, and yeah, I had to do those deadlifts and I had to eat those meals,” he allowed, but gave the flowers to eight people.

Those included Beth Lewis, who has been his trainer for five years, not just for the film but his performances on Broadway and for an arena tour. He called her the “quarterback for this whole thing.”

Also getting thanks were Michael Ryan, who trained with Hugh since the actor was 20. Jackman also named the people who cooked and delivered his meals, which were tailored to his excessive training, for more than a year and a half.

Also getting a shout-out was a colleague named Whitney, whose job it was to “lube” up the star and make his skin glisten on set.

Co-star and producer Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy also got praise, as did the movie’s assistant director, who made the final reveal of that body — during the movie’s climax where Wolverine’s shirt is conveniently blown off — go as smoothly as possible.

“I would not have achieved that result without them,” a “grateful” Jackman expressed about them all.

‘Lost’ vet Matthew Fox to join Michelle Pfeiffer + Patrick J. Adams in ‘Yellowstone’ spin-off ‘The Madison’

MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios

ABC Audio has confirmed that Lost veteran Matthew Fox has joined the cast of The Madison, the forthcoming spin-off of Taylor Sheridan‘s Yellowstone.

Fox joins Michelle Pfeiffer and Suits alum Patrick J. Adams in the MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios project, said to be “a heartfelt study of grief and human connection following a New York City family in the Madison River valley of central Montana.”

For his part, Fox will play Paul, “a self-reliant bachelor who loves the outdoors.”

As reported, Adams will play Russell McIntosh, “a young investment banker who has followed the life path set before him from the start.”

Elle Chapman plays Paige McIntosh, “a somewhat self-centered woman who indulges in a luxurious New York lifestyle provided by her parents and investment banker husband.”

Beau Garrett will play Abigail Reese, “a resilient and sardonic New Yorker, who is a recently divorced mother of two,” and Amiah Miller will play Abigail’s eldest daughter, Bridgette.