John Cena revs up lead in Mattel’s ‘Matchbox’ movie
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A very large dude will star in a movie about very small cars.
Deadline says John Cena has been cast in Matchbox, an action film based on the popular miniature toy brand.
Back in May 2024, ABC Audio confirmed that the toy company and Barbie producer was revving up the project, with Extraction franchise director Sam Hargrave behind the camera.
Bestselling author and The Adam Project screenwriter Jonathan Tropper and co-writer David Coggeshall were tasked with turning in a script that turned the beloved toy line created in 1953 into a movie for Skydance, which backs the Mission: Impossible films.
Cena can currently be seen in Jackpot!, a Prime Video action comedy alongside his fellow Ken Simu Liu and Awkwafina.
One of the most recognized names in Hollywood is going after one of the most recognized trades about Hollywood.
Francis Ford Coppola is suing Variety — and two of its writers specifically — for libel over articles that alleged he made unwanted advances toward female extras on his movie Megalopolis.
The coverage claimed Coppola hugged, kissed and danced with extras behind the scenes of a party scene in the film.
Incidentally, Lauren Pagone, one of those actresses quoted in an Aug. 2 follow-up article, has sued “the filmmaker and others in Georgia forcivil battery, civil assault, and negligent failure to prevent sexual harassment,” according to Deadline.
Coppola’s motion, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, doesn’t mention that lawsuit.
However, the trade says his suit claims the original July 26 article contains “false and defamatory statements” meant to “damage” his reputation and cause him “severe emotional distress.”
Deadline quotes the suit from Coppola’s attorneys: “Some people are creative. Very few people are creative geniuses. In the world of motion pictures, Plaintiff Francis Ford Coppola … is a creative genius. Some people are jealous and resentful of genius. Those people therefore denigrate and tell knowing and reckless falsehoods about those of whom they are jealous.”
Further, it says, “Variety Media, LLC … its writers and editors, hiding behind supposedly anonymous sources, accused Coppola of manifest incompetence as a motion picture director, of unprofessional behavior on the set of his most recent production,” adding, “Each of these accusations was false and knowingly so.”
Coppola is seeking $15 million in damages.
After the original Variety piece broke, Deadline ran an interview with another extra, Rayna Menz, who insisted the director “did nothing to make me or for that matter anyone on set feel uncomfortable.”
Writer-director James Gunnhelped celebrate October’s Adopt a Shelter Dog Month Tuesday on Instagram by revealing the first shot of Krypto the Superdog, the Man of Steel’s best friend in Gunn’s forthcoming Superman.
To a shot of David Corenswet‘s Supes Earth-gazing while apparently sitting on the moon alongside a scruffy white pooch, Gunn noted, “Krypto was inspired by our dog Ozu, who we adopted shortly after I started writing Superman.”
The filmmaker continued, “Ozu, who came from a hoarding situation in a backyard with 60 other dogs & never knew human beings, was problematic to say the least. He immediately came in & destroyed our home, our shoes, our furniture – he even ate my laptop. It took a long time before he would even let us touch him.”
Gunn recalled, “I remember thinking, ‘Gosh, how difficult would life be if Ozu had superpowers?’ – and thus Krypto came into the script & changed the shape of the story as Ozu was changing my life.”
Gunn continued, “What better time to debut the not-so-good-good-boy Krypto than #AdoptAShelterDog Month.”
He added, “Btw, Ozu today, is, fairly often, a very good boy.”
Also starring Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi and Anthony Carrigan, Superman and Krypto hit theaters July 11, 2025.
Variety reports Seann William Scott, best known for playing Steve Stifler in the American Pie movies, has joined the cast of the upcoming ABC sitcom Shifting Gears, alongside series stars Tim Allen and Kat Dennings. The comedy centers on Matt, “the stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop,” played by Allen, according to the official logline. “When Matt’s estranged daughter (Dennings) and her teenage kids move into his house, the real restoration begins.” Scott will play Gabriel, “family friend of Matt & Riley who works in the shop with Matt” …
One Tree Hill alumna Sophia Bush has been added the cast of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy in a major recurring role for the medical drama’s 21st season, according to Deadline. Bush will play Dr. Cass Beckman, “an amiable, fun and a little messy around the edges trauma surgeon at Seattle Presbyterian whose husband David Beckman is a cardiothoracic surgeon at Grey Sloan,” per the outlet. She joins former Grey’s cast members Scott Speedman, Natalie Morales and the series’ director/executive producer Debbie Allen. Bush will make her first appearance in episode six, airing Nov. 7 …
Stranger Things alum Mason Dye has been tapped for a guest-starring role in the fifth and final season of the Prime Video series The Boys, according to Variety. He will appear in the role of Bombsight, “a Supe who starred in the early Vought superhero film The Curse of Fu Manchu in the 1950s.” Dye joins Hamilton‘s Daveed Diggs, who will appear in an undisclosed role. The Boys is based on the graphic novel series from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson and follows the eponymous team of vigilantes who set out to take down corrupt superheroes who abuse their superpowers. Antony Starr, Karl Urban, Erin Moriarty and Jack Quaid star …
