Quick News: Life, Oscars, Planet, Gods, Avatar

By
Garth Franklin
-

After Life
British comedian Ricky Gervais has signed a multi-year overall deal with Netflix, and as part of the deal his series “After Life” has been renewed for a third season. The renewal for the show, about a middle-aged journalist whose life collapses around him, comes less than two weeks after the launch of the second season on the service. Gervais will produce both scripted series and stand-up comedy. [Source: Netflix]

Oscars
The Television Academy has ended a double dipping loophole by ruling that programs won’t be eligible for an Emmy if they’ve been nominated for an Oscar – preventing the situation we had with “Free Solo” last year. The TV Academy made the ruling back in March, but opted to send out the clarification on Thursday after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences relaxed its Oscar eligibility rules. [Source: Variety]

Green Planet
CJ Entertainment (“Parasite”) is slated to remake 2003 Korean classic “Save The Green Planet” in English, a project that will be done with the help of Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen’s Square Peg (“Midsommar”) company along with original helmer Jang Joon-hwan who will direct, and screenwriter Will Tracy.

The black comedy involves a disillusioned young man who captures and tortures a businessman who he believes to be part of an alien invasion. A battle of wits ensues between the captor, his devoted girlfriend, the businessman and a private detective. [Source: Variety]

New Gods
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay has teased that the character of All-Widow (aka. Queen Widow) will be coming to her upcoming film adaptation of Jack Kirby’s celebrated comic. DuVernay says she’s currently working on fourth draft of a scene featuring the character this week, the character is the head of an Insect Empire that lives on the surface of New Genesis. [Source: Twitter]

Avatar 2
Producer Jon Landau has posted some more behind-the-scenes photos from the set of James Cameron’s long in the works “Avatar” sequels. The shots feature Cameron directing some actors ahead of them doing an underwater scene where their performances will be captured. “Avatar 2” is currently targeting a December 2021 launch. [Source: Facebook]