The first-time showrunners behind TV’s most expensive series ever made break their silence about #TheRingsofPower fandom backlash, season 2, Sauron speculation and landing the biggest gig on TV thr.cm/26wgw4f
“Some of what’s been hardest to hear is the cynical point of view that this is a cash grab,” Patrick McKay says. “It’s like, oh my God, the opposite. This is the most earnest production. This is not a paycheck job for anybody. This is a labor of love" thr.cm/26wgw4f
Netflix “completely freaked out the Tolkien Estate” by proposing “a Marvel approach” to adapting #TheLordoftheRings, while HBO wanted to remake Peter Jackson’s movies. Amazon ultimately won out with #TheRingsofPowerthr.cm/26wgw4f
Competition for #TheRingsofPower was stiff, including the likes of The Russo Brothers and more. Ultimately, two writers with no previous IMDB credits crafted a winning sales pitch - and yes, it did include speaking Elvish thr.cm/26wgw4f
Industry insiders say Amazon is basically betting the fate of the entire studio on #TheRingsofPower, just like New Line did with Peter Jackson’s #LordoftheRings films: “It’s too big to lose” thr.cm/26wgw4f
#TheRingsofPower showrunners on how the show’s early episodes could have felt more urgent: “There are things that didn’t work as well in season one that might have worked better in a smaller show…" thr.cm/26wgw4f
Patrick McKay says the aim of #TheRingsofPower season two — which quietly started filming Oct. 3 at Bray Studios — is to be “bigger and better” on “every level" thr.cm/26wgw4f
An insider explains how reviews for #HouseoftheDragon matter to the execs who oversee #TheRingsofPower, speculating they were “sh---ing their pants” at the big premiere ratings for HBO’s series thr.cm/26wgw4f
Patrick McKay says when it comes to the measure of success for #TheRingsofPower, what matters most is that people are digging into it and debating thr.cm/26wgw4f
#TheRingsofPower showrunners have come out against the online trolls who have gone after the series' diverse cast, calling them "patently evil" thr.cm/26wgw4f
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The #Velma cast also includes Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes, Russell Peters, Melissa Fumero, Stephen Root, Gary Cole, Ken Leung, Cherry Jones, Frank Welker, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Fortune Feimster, Yvonne Orji, Sarayu Blue, Nicole Byer, Ming-Na Wen and more thr.cm/73VTANl
It remains to be seen whether #Velma is a lesbian in the series, as she appears to be in the latest #ScoobyDoo animated movie thr.cm/73VTANl
#TheRingsofPower has only a 37 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with some complaining about the show's diversity. Amazon halts reviews to prevent trolling: thr.cm/UYrqEiu
#TheRingsofPower audience score come a couple weeks after Marvel’s #SheHulk was declared review bombed on the site with an initial 36 percent audience rating thr.cm/UYrqEiu
How #TheRingsofPower is doing on Amazon’s own user review ecosystem is not yet clear because the company has taken the unusual step of suspending its ratings for the show. An Amazon source says reviews are being held 72 hours to help weed out trolls thr.cm/UYrqEiu
Sources say Miguel Sapochnik is exiting the show after pouring an exhausting three years of effort into the #GameofThrones prequel. Ryan Condal will now serve as the show’s sole showrunner and continue to work closely with co-creator George R.R. Martin thr.cm/yHGmgFA
Ana de Armas has shared her reaction to the NC-17 rating for her Marilyn Monroe biopic #Blonde:
“I didn’t understand why that happened. I can tell you a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content" thr.cm/aQPfRuE
#Blonde was given the rare adults-only rating for “some sexual content” by the Motion Picture Association in March thr.cm/aQPfRuE
#Blonde director Andrew Dominik previously shared thoughts about an NC-17 rating: “If the audience doesn’t like it, that’s the f---ing audience’s problem...It’s an NC-17 movie about Marilyn Monroe, it’s kind of what you want, right?" thr.cm/aQPfRuE
The first live-action series in the #ResidentEvil franchise will be a short-lived one.
Netflix has canceled the series after a single season. The decision comes six weeks after the show's debut thr.cm/Q18Yd3G
Both Netflix’s own metrics and external measurements showed #ResidentEvil didn’t have a long shelf life with viewers thr.cm/Q18Yd3G
#ResidentEvil opened to decent numbers by both Netflix’s public rankings and Nielsen’s streaming measurement. It was relatively flat in its second week, however, and dropped off considerably in the last week of July thr.cm/Q18Yd3G