Mads Mikkelsen On For Survival Thriller Arctic

Mads Mikkelsen On The Empire Podcast Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – Mads Mikkelsen Reveals His Character

Joe Penna is directing the film from the script he wrote with Ryan Morrison, and Arctic will find Mikkelsen's character stranded, as the title suggests, in the Arctic. He's encouraged to see that rescue is on the way, but then tragedy strikes.

His choice is then whether to stay in the relative safety of his camp or head out into treacherous terrain and potentially deadly freezing conditions in the hope of salvation.

Penna is rolling the cameras now, and should be on screens either later this year or next, with rights for sale at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival market.

007 In The News: The Battle For Bond 25 Has Begun

Although Sony has been distributing the films since 2006's Casino Royale, their license to distribute has expired. As a result, they now have to get in line with all the other interested parties to impress EON (Everything Or Nothing) Productions' Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and convince them, along with co-owners MGM, that they're the right people for Her Majesty's Secret Service.

According to an article in The New York Times, besides Sony, the other studios vying for the rights are Warner Bros, Universal, 20th Century Fox and, surprisingly, Annapurna, the company behind such films as Her and American Hustle. The theory regarding the latter is that having Bond could be a game-changer for them.

Of course while all of this is going on, Broccoli and Wilson are, at best, hopeful that Daniel Craig will return for one more outing, which would be his fifth following Casino Royale, Quantum Of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre. Virtually nothing is known about the plot of Bond 25, although it is being written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have co-written every Bond film from 1999’s The World Is Not Enough through 2012's Skyfall, while also contributing to Spectre.

Not long ago Purvis spoke to The Telegraph and offered up some of the potential challenges facing the new film creatively. “I’m just not sure how you would go about writing a James Bond film now,” he said. “Each time, you’ve got to say something about Bond’s place in the world, which is Britain’s place in the world. But things are moving so quickly now that that becomes tricky. With people like Trump, the Bond villain has become a reality.”

More recently, actor Jeffrey Wright, coming off of HBO's Westworld, offered up a tweet that suggested he could be returning as CIA agent Felix Leiter in the new film.

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Exclusive New Look At Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge

Pirates Of The Caribbean is setting sail for its fifth voyage soon – and with the new issue of Empire also dropping anchor this week, we bring bounty from Davy Jones’ Locker. Specifically, a brand new and exclusive image from the film known as Salazar’s Revenge here in the UK, and Dead Men Tell No Tales in the US. Take a look below, and click to embiggen.

Here, we see Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, in possibly his final Pirates adventure) squaring up to old sparring partner Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), both of whom have appeared in every film in the franchise thus far. Speaking to Empire, the cast and crew seemed keen to return to the spirit of 2003’s franchise opener, The Curse Of The Black Pearl.

“I like all of the films in the franchise, but the first one is my first love,” says Joachim Rønning, the Norwegian co-director of the new film. “For me, it was important to come back to a character dynamic where it is about relatable, real people — some of the people are real, at least — then Jack Sparrow comes in and crashes the party. It was also very important to bring more comedy back in. I feel like they lost some of the humour. This is Buster Keaton on steroids.”

Buster Keaton on steroids sounds like something we would watch. For the full insane story on Salazar’s Revenge, which takes in script delays, mass vomiting, cast injuries and a homicidal monkey, pick up a copy of the new issue of Empire, on sale from Thursday 20 April. Want to get your copy days before anyone else? Subscribe to Empire here.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge, meanwhile, arrives in cinemas from 25 May.

Empire Podcast: Warren Beatty Interview Special

For an extremely special edition of the Empire Podcast, we sat down with a genuine bona fide one-of-a-kind Hollywood legend: the great Warren Beatty. In town to talk about his new film Rules Don't Apply, Beatty speaks to us for nearly an hour on his life, career, politics – and that Oscars moment.

A true raconteur, Beatty tells us anecdotes of his times with Elia Kazan, Stanley Kubrick, David Lean and Ronald Reagan, from his early career in the '50s and '60s through to his current status as an elder statesman of cinema. For any film fan worth his or her salt, this is an essential listen.

You can listen to the Empire Podcast via our iTunes page, our SoundCloud page, this RSS feed or by pressing play below.

Marvel's Cloak And Dagger Gets A New Trailer

Marvel has certainly spent the past couple of years getting down, dirty and gritty with its various Netflix series (the latest of which, the crossover event The Defenders, is coming this summer). It seems that now they're going the Young Adult route with their new series, Cloak And Dagger, for which a new trailer has been released.

Based on the comic of the same name, the focus is on a gradually growing romance between Tandy Bowen/Dagger (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson/Cloak (Aubrey Joseph), who come from extremely different backgrounds. They're initially drawn together as they develop superpowers, romance following shortly thereafter, but, notes part of the official description, "They quickly learn they are better together than apart — but their feelings for each other make their already complicated world even more challenging." Damn those feelings!

Tandy has the power to unleash light daggers, while Tryone is able to engulf others in complete darkness.

Other cast members include Andrea Roth as Tandy's mother, Melissa; Gloria Reuben as Tyrone's mother, Adina; Miles Mussenden as Tyrone's father, Michael; Carl Lundstedt as Tandy's criminal boyfriend (uh-oh, romantic tension, here we come!), Liam; James Salto as Bernard Sanjo, a friend of Tyrone's; and J.D. Evermore as Connors, described as a detective "with an intimidating secret" (intriguing). The series is created by Joe Pokaski, who served as a writer and executive story editor on Tim Kring's Heroes.

Cloak And Dagger represents just one of several series from Marvel titles expected to be on television in the near future, including the expected-to-return Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., season two of Legion, The Defenders, the untitled X-Men TV pilot, Hulu's Runaways and Inhumans (which will be making its debut on IMAX cinema screens this September).

• Marvel's Inhumans: A Guide to Who's Who

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• Marvel And Hulu Round Up Runaways TV Cast

Three Exclusive New Alien: Covenant Images Revealed

Alien: Covenant graces the cover of Empire this month – and lurking within the pages of the world’s biggest movie magazine, there’s some planet-sized world exclusives on Ridley Scott’s return to the Alien-verse. As a little extraterrestrial aperitif, we’re happy to share a sneak preview of some of those never-before-seen images below. Take a look, and click each to embiggen. Alien: Covenant’s Xenomorph Stars On Empire’s Latest Newsstand Cover Empire’s Alien: Covenant subscriber exclusive cover revealed. Empire Issue Preview: Alien: Covenant, Pirates 5, Spider-Man: Homecoming

The first image show a mysterious figure on the Engineer’s planet,, unleashing pods previously seen in Prometheus.

Our second image shows Michael Fassbender, returning in one of his dual roles as the android David (“My first question was, ‘Do I get paid double?’” Fassbender quips in the issue), in what appears to be a flashback with Weyland Industries CEO Peter Weyland.

Our third and final image shows the gruesome-looking “Neomorph”, chowing down on a hearty meal. The Neomorph was inspired by Scott’s fondness for nature documentaries on living nightmares, like goblin sharks. “Some of those nature videos are so stomach-churning that they don’t pay me enough to watch them,” shudders Covenant screenwriter John Logan. “But Ridley will see something to do with insects swarming, for example, which eventually finds its way into a movie. Usually there’s some sort of grotesqueness we find interesting.”

This is just a taste of our extensive eight-page coverage on Alien: Covenant – for the full insane story, be sure to pick up a copy of Empire, on sale in all good and malevolent newsagents now. Want to get your copy days before anyone else? Subscribe to Empire here.

Alien: Covenant, meanwhile, arrives in the UK on 12 May.

Scott Derrickson And Carlton Cuse Set For New Locke & Key TV Pilot

Writer Joe Hill Developing Locke & Key As A TV Series Universal Buys Rights To Locke & Key Spielberg Unlocking Locke & Key

Locke & Key, which debuted via IDW Publishing in 2008 written by Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, is a complex, sprawling tale that has a history going back to the American Revolution. But the focus is on Nina Locke and her children Tyler, Kinsey and Bode, who are trying to start a new life after surviving an unspeakable horror. Trying to rebuild, they move to the family home known as Keyhouse in Lovecraft, Massachusetts. There, they discover magical keys that can open portals that are also being sought by a terrifying, hate-filled creature who has his own designs on the portals.

The project has been as far as pilot stage before, as Fox Television developed it in 2010. It never made it to series, but the title wouldn't go away – Universal looked into making it as a movie. Finally, last year, Hill took matters into his own hands, developing the script along with Cuse, and Derrickson was quick to sign on to direct the pilot when he got the finished draft. If it goes to series, Cuse, who recently finished up working on Bates Motel, will run the show. According to Deadline, Derrickson is scheduled to shoot several episodes should that happen and is then going to be making the Doctor Strange sequel, though that has yet to be officially confirmed or dated by Marvel.

New Game Of Thrones Season 7 Images Arrive

While we continue the longer-than-usual, agonising wait for the next season of Game Of Thrones, the show's home HBO has at least seen fit to show mercy and release some new images from the forthcoming run of episodes. Nothing too spoilery here; though if you're looking to avoid knowing anything about the show before it returns... well, you've probably already looked away just in case. For everyone else, point those eyeballs below. Game Of Thrones Season 7 – Everything You Need To Know It's Musical Chairs In The New Game Of Thrones Teaser Game Of Thrones Recruits Jim Broadbent For Season 7

The team is naturally trying to keep the big details from leaking out before the premiere, but a lot of the main characters are present and correct... The ones that survived this far, at least. Lena Headey's Cersei Lannister, for example, is on the Iron Throne and planning to stay there as long as possible with Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau by her side. Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), with a newfound sense of strength and ambition, looks imperious here, while Kit Harington's Jon Snow... Well, he mostly just looks worried as usual.

As we have been since Season 6, we're beyond George R.R. Martin's books, so readers can't just look smug and wait for viewers to catch up to the latest twist. And with seven episodes to tell the story this season, expect a lot of big events.

Season 7 hits the US on 16 July. Expect the usual simulcast by Sky Atlantic in the UK at 2am on the 17th, and a repeat that evening.

Captain Marvel: Anna Boden And Ryan Fleck Hired To Direct

Brie Larson Confirmed As Captain Marvel Captain Marvel Gets Closer To Picking A Director

After a lengthy search that has included a good number of female directors, the choice of the pair feels in keeping with the Marvel tactic of finding those who have worked in the indie field and elsewhere, but seemed ready to bring their talents to the MCU. Examples have included Guardians Of The Galaxy's James Gunn and Joe and Anthony Russo, who have tackled Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War and are at work on the two Avengers: Infinity War films.

Boden and Fleck come from the world of movies such as Half Nelson and Grind, but have also worked in TV on shows including Billions. According to Variety, they had a number of meetings with Kevin Feige and the Marvel team and impressed the bosses with their take on what to do with the character. Guardians' Nicole Perlman and Inside Out's Meg LeFauve have been at work on the script, which will introduce the cinematic world to Carol Danvers, a skilled test pilot whose DNA is melded with that of Kree warrior Mar-Vell. Subsequently, she gains powers such as flight, enhanced strength, damage resistance and the ability to absorb and re-channel energy.

Captain Marvel is targeting an 8 March, 2019 release in the UK, so now the work really starts...

Injustice 2 Trailer: Superman And Batman Take on Brainiac

What if Superman was manipulated into inadvertently killing Lois Lane and their unborn child? What would that do to his psyche? It's a question explored in the 2013 game (and subsequent comic book series) Injustice: Gods Among Us, which postulated the Man Of Steel being so desperate for justice, that he essentially takes control of the entire planet. And what follows are the struggles between he and his allies, and his opponents — led by Batman.

Next month will see the release of the game Injustice 2, the latest trailer for which focuses on the arrival of the android Brainiac. It's Brainiac who was responsible for the destruction of Krypton, and now, having discovered the existence of Kryptonians on Earth in the forms of Superman and Supergirl, is driven to complete its mission and destroy them, destroying the planet in the process if necessary. A variation of this plot can actually be found in the 2013 animated film Superman Unbound.

Among the cast members are George Newbern as Superman (a role he voiced on the animated series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited), Kevin Conroy as Batman (a character he's been voicing on and off since 1992's Batman: The Animated Series) and Laura Bailey as Supergirl.

Additional playable characters of the game include Aquaman, Bane, Black Adam, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Captain Cold, Catwoman, Cheetah, Cyborg, Darkseid, Deadshot, Doctor Fate, The Flash, Firestorm, Gorilla Grodd, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Robin, Scarecrow, Swamp Thing and Wonder Woman.

• Injustice: Gods Among Us — The Empire Review

• Krypton: First Trailer For The Superman Prequel

Stephen King and Owen King's Novel Sleeping Beauties Being Developed For TV

Sleeping Beauties, to be published in September, is set in the not-to-distant future at a women's prison in an Appalachian town. Offers the official description on stephenking.com, “Something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep, they go to another place. The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?”

Ain't that the eternal question?

Like his brother, Joe Hill, Owen is no slouch in the writing department. Owen and Joe are currently developing a TV series based on their original screenplay Fade Away, and Owenn is co-writer (with Mark Poirier) of Alien Invasion, which is based on their graphic novel of the same name.

Serving as executive producers of Sleeping Beauties are Michael Sugar and Ashley Zalta, who serve the same capacity on the Netflix series The OA and the new show Maniac. The former has been renewed for a second season and the latter begins production in late summer.

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Eric Roth To Write Dune For Denis Villeneuve

Denis Villeneuve Confirmed As Director Of Dune Remake Legendary Grabs The Rights To Dune Denis Villeneuve In Talks To Direct Dune

Legendary Pictures made a deal to grab the rights from the Frank Herbert estate late last year and now the job has been to find a new team to make a movie about the struggle for the planet Arrakis and its valuable spice, which allows for space travel.

Much like the rise of the Atreides in the book, Dune’s cinematic history is legendarily chaotic. It languished in development hell for most of the 1970s. Alejandro Jodorowsky tried and failed to produce it (with some insane names attached – Orson Welles! Mick Jagger! Salvador Dali!), though his aborted efforts became a superb documentary in its own right. David Lynch eventually directed – and quickly disowned – the first completed adaptation in 1984, which starred Kyle MacLachlan, Max Von Sydow and Sting.

Roth, who has written the likes of Forrest Gump, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and The Good Shepherd will be trying his hand at science fiction for the first time. The man clearly loves a challenge...

The same can be said of Villeneuve, who this year has sci-fi sequel Blade Runner 2049 headed our way on 6 October.

Justin Kurzel On To Direct Post-War Drama Ruin

Macbeth's Justin Kurzel Plans Mumbai Massacre Film Justin Kurzel Developing True History Of The Kelly Gang

Ryan and Matt Firpo have written the screenplay as a spec and it's generating plenty of heat. The story follows a former Nazi captain who anonymously travels the ruins of post-World War II Germany and seeks to atone for his crimes by hunting down the members of the SS Death Squad that once worked under him.

Sounds like something Kurzel's previous collaborator Michael Fassbender could do – he's already had Nazi-hunting experience from Inglourious Basterds and his time as X-Men's Magneto. But casting decisions are a ways off yet, as first this script has to find a home.

Demian Bichir Will Star In Conjuring Spin-Off The Nun

Corin Hardy Directing The Nun The Conjuring 2's Nun Gets Her Own Movie Demian Bichir Joins Alien: Covenant

Corin Hardy is in the director's chair for the film, which will explore more about the demonic nun character that Conjuring 2 director James Wan added during reshoots on the scary film, using it to terrify Vera Farmiga's Lorraine Warren.

Not much is known about the plot for the new movie, which has a script by Wan and Gary Dauberman, save that Bichir will be a priest named Father Burke who is dispatched by Rome to investigate the mysterious death of a nun.

With Hardy planning to crank the cameras this summer in Romania, The Nun already has a Stateside release date set for 13 July next year. In other Conjuring spin-off news, Annabelle: Creation is out here on 11 August. And Alien: Covenant will unleash its scares on 12 May.

Comedian And Actor Don Rickles Dies, Aged 90

Rickles was born in New York in 1926 to an insurance salesman father and housewife mother, and grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens. Before he could forge any career path for himself, he was called up to the US Navy during World War II and served in the Philippines. "When I got out of high school back in the '40s, I had to go to a thing called a war against Japan," he recalled. "What did I know then? I was still trying to figure out why I had pimples."

After the war, he attempted to make a go of it as a salesman, hawking air conditioners, insurance and women's cosmetics door to door. But it was when he was delivering meat and cleaning his local butcher's shop that he decided to give acting a try. He applied to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and was somewhat surprised to get in, learning alongside the likes of Jason Robards and Anne Bancroft.

Yet drama was not to be Rickles' calling – after graduation, he failed to win roles on Broadway and decided to change paths to comedy. In 1951, he landed an agent who got him small stand-up gigs in even smaller clubs, but eventually graduated on to bigger things when he arrived in Los Angeles in the late 1950s. Rickles gained notoriety for taking pot-shots at celebrities in his audience, and from there nabbed his first acting role: surprisingly, in a drama, 1958 World War II submarine movie Run Silent Run Deep.

From there, his on-screen career blossomed, and he'd go on to appear in movies such as Beach Blanket Bingo, Kelly's Heroes, Casino and, more memorably for younger audiences, voicing Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story films, the fourth of which will be out in 2019.

On the small screen, he had his own short-lived variety show and made two attempts to star in sitcoms. He also won roles on series such as Get Smart, The Lucy Show, The Addams Family and The Twilight Zone. "The stand-up is what paid for the house and the car and all the good things in life," he once told the San Francisco Chronicle. "The movies and television have been a bonus for me." Perhaps the best portrait of Rickles, in all his prickly glory, can be found in 2007 documentary Mr. Warmth, which explores his background and features a wealth of friends and those who have been the target of his wit talking about him.

He's survived by Barbara, his wife of 52 years, their daughter Mindy and two grandchildren.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Joins Dwayne Johnson In Rampage

Naomi Harris Joins Dwayne Johnson In Rampage Dwayne Johnson Starring In Rampage Malin Akerman Ready To Join The Rampage Cast

While New Line has yet to release an official synopsis, the movie's video game origins point to what we can expect: Johnson's animal-loving hero must help save cities from rampaging giant creatures (a lizard, a gorilla and wolf) that have been cooked up in a less-than ethical laboratory. Morgan has nabbed a supporting role as Agent Russell, who works for covert government outfit OGA and apparently has some attitude. Will he be a help or a hindrance? That's for the film to decide.

He joins a cast that already includes Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Joe Manganiello, Jake Lacy, Marley Shelton, PJ Byrne, Jack Quaid, Matt Gerald and Breanne Hill. [Brad Peyton]http://www.empireonline.com/people/brad-peyton/) is directing, and Rampage is scheduled for release on 13 April next year.

Pablo Larrain Directing Tom Hardy In The True American

Tom Hardy Is A True American Neruda: Exclusive Clip For Pablo Larraín’s Acclaimed Historical Drama

The True American will draw from Anand Giridharadas' non-fiction tome subtitled Murder And Mercy In Texas. It’s the story of Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladesh Air Force officer who longed to live and work in America’s technology sector. He made it to the States, finding temporary work in a Dallas minimart, which is where cruel fate intervened. A few days after September 11, 2001, self-styled "American Terrorist" Mark Stroman walked into the store and shot him.

Some stories would end there, but the astonishing tale isn’t done: as Stroman sat on death row for his crime and Bhuiyan struggled to recuperate from injuries that had maimed and nearly killed him, the Bangladesh native decided to seek out his attacker and grant him forgiveness, while starting a campaign against the death penalty in their state. Stroman, for his part, strove to become a better man in prison.

With Bigelow acting as a producer, the film will attempt to move forward again and Larraín will lock in a new script. The director's latest film, Neruda, will be in UK cinemas this week.

Michael Keaton Looking To Play A Villain In Dumbo

Danny DeVito Heads For The Live-Action Dumbo Eva Green Ready To Reunite With Tim Burton For Dumbo Colin Farrell Heads For The New Dumbo Film

Burton has been busy casting this latest Disney conversion job from its cartoon catalogue. Eva Green and Danny DeVito are in place and Colin Farrell is in talks to co-star. DeVito is playing the kindly owner of a small circus outfit home to Dumbo and his mother, while Green will be a French trapeze artist.

If he does make a deal, Keaton will be Vandemere, the owner of a much bigger, less friendly big top who sees Dumbo as something he can exploit. Boo! Hiss! Etc. Ehren Kruger wrote the script for the new movie, and Burton should be rolling the cameras this year.

It would mark another villainous role for Keaton, following this year's Spider-Man: Homecoming, in which he plays Adrian Toomes, AKA The Vulture. The new film will be out on 7 July.

Pirates Of The Caribbean's Joachim Rønning Directing Micro

DreamWorks Finds Michael Crichton's Micro Tom Cruise And Pirates Of The Caribbean Director Take On Methuselah

Micro is one of the oddities of Crichton's career, because it was unfinished at the time of his death in 2008. Richard Preston stepped in to complete it for publication in 2011 and the rights were snapped up back in 2015 by Steven Spielberg's Amblin company, with Frank Marshall still aboard to produce alongside Sherri Crichton and Laurent Bouzereau.

Goosebumps' Darren Lemke has written the script, which finds a group of graduate students brought to Hawaii by the lure of jobs at a mysterious biotech company, which then shrinks them down to tiny size and maroons them in the rainforest, forcing them to use their wits and know-how to survive. A blend of Crichton's Timeline and Honey, I shrunk The Kids, if you will. Universal will be in charge of getting it into cinemas.

Rønning has plenty of projects on his plate waiting for he and co-director Espen Sandberg to finish working on and promoting the new Pirates movie (which arrives on 26 May). He's attached to direct Tom Cruise in Methuselah and shot a pilot for US network ABC.