Movies
“From Dusk Till Dawn” Actor Marko Zaror Will Battle Keanu Reeves in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’
Today brings more John Wick: Chapter 4 casting news, with Deadline reporting that “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series” actor Marko Zaror is in negotiations to join the team.
Deadline notes, “Zaror will play one of Wick’s main pursuers in the film.”
Marko Zaror played the character Zolo in “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series,” and he also appeared in Robert Rodriguez movies Machete Kills and Alita: Battle Angel.
Lionsgate is currently set to release Chapter 4 on May 27, 2022.
Keanu Reeves is of course coming back for John Wick: Chapter 4, with the cast thus far also including singer Rina Sawayama, Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Bill Skarsgård (It, It: Chapter Two, “Castle Rock”), and Shamier Anderson (Stowaway). Most recently, Hiroyuki Sanada (Mortal Kombat) has also signed on to star.
Lance Reddick will be back for Chapter 4, we learned last week.
The John Wick franchise has been incredibly successful and profitable for Lionsgate, with Chapter 3 pulling in $326 million worldwide back in 2019 – to date, a franchise best.
Chapter 4 will presumably pick up right after the events of Parabellum, with a bruised, broken (but still alive) John Wick taking the fight to the deadliest organization in the world.
Chad Stahelski (John Wick 1-3) is returning to direct.
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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