‘The Last of Us’ Creator Spoke to Matthew McConaughey About Joel Casting: ‘It Would’ve Been Great,’ But ‘I Like the One We Made’

Good Morning Britain was off air on Friday again due to a range of shake-ups to TV schedules across the BBC and ITV to make way for the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023. Instead of the usual instalment of the daily news show, coverage of the Philippines v Switzerland match was showing instead in the planned change to the running order.

Kirsty Mann doesn’t have to prepare for next month’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe – because she’s a doctor.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Greta Gerwig revealed in a new interview with Rolling Stone that some “Barbie” set visitors made Margot Robbie feel “self-conscious” during filming when they interacted far more with her co-star, Ken actor Ryan Gosling, than they did with her. Gerwig was talking about the time the crew spent filming a rollerblading scene in Venice Beach. Set photos from the scene, featuring Robbie and Gosling in neon outfits, exploded on social media last summer during production. “How Barbie operates in Barbieland is she’s entirely continuous with her environment,” Gerwig said. “Even the houses have no walls, because you never need to hide because there’s nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed of. And suddenly finding yourself in the real world and wishing you could hide, that’s the essence of being human. But when we were actually shooting on Venice Beach, with Margot and Ryan in neon rollerblading outfits, it was fascinating because it was actually happening in front of us.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Anthony Mackie told Inverse that he was so nervous to shoot opposite Harrison Ford on their first day of filming “Captain America: Brave New World” that he forgot the script. Marvel’s upcoming fourth “Captain America” movie finds Mackie’s Sam Wilson stepping into the title role for the first time in a feature film. Ford is a new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, replacing the late William Hurt as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. “The first day was so intimidating,” Mackie said. “I was so fucking nervous I couldn’t remember my lines. He’s Harrison fucking Ford. There is this aura about him. But he dispels that really quickly because he’s such a cool guy. He’s everything a movie star should be. He would say, ‘Let’s shoot this piece of shit.’ And everybody was like, ‘Yeah, let’s shoot this shit.’”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Arnold Schwarzenegger says “The Terminator” is no longer a fantasy given the current state of artificial intelligence. Speaking at a press event in Los Angeles (via People), the actor said James Cameron’s 1984 action classic has now become a reality. The film is set in a world where an artificially intelligent defense network known as Skynet has become self-aware and has conquered humanity. “Today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go,” Schwarzenegger said about AI. “And in this movie, in ‘Terminator,’ we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over…Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality. So it’s not any more fantasy or kind of futuristic. It is here today. And so this is the extraordinary writing of Jim Cameron.”

“Succession” and “The Last of Us” are facing Disney+’s “Andor,” AMC’s “Better Call Saul,” AMC’s “Interview with a Vampire,” Paramount+’s “The Good Fight,” HBO’s “The White Lotus” and Showtime’s “Yellowjackets.” As for individual acting achievements between the two leaders, both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay were nominated for “The Last of Us,” and Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook and Jeremy Strong were nominated for “Succession.”As for comedies, nomination leader “The Bear” will be facing off against “Abbott Elementary” in Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. The ABC hit took home the top honor last year.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director James Mangold is moving on to direct a “Star Wars” tentpole following “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” but it’s not his first go-around with the Lucasfilm franchise. Back in 2018, news broke that Mangold had been hired to direct a movie about the bounty hunter Boba Fett. He was also set to co-write the project with Simon Kinberg, best known as a writer and producer on the “X-Men” movies. Mangold’s Boba Fett movie never got off the ground, and he recently said on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that it wasn’t too surprising given the overall tone of the project. “At the point I was doing it I was probably scaring the shit out of everyone,” Mangold said. “I was making much more of a borderline R-rated, single planet spaghetti Western. They probably would never be able to embrace Baby Yoda if I had made that. It didn’t really belong in the world I was kind of envisioning.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Anthony Mackie is one of the first Marvel actors to publicly weigh in on the assault allegation facing Jonathan Majors, who joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe earlier this year as Kang the Conquerer in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” Majors’ Kang is the new Thanos-sized villain of the MCU, meaning it’s likely he’s supposed to come face to face with Mackie’s new Captain America at some point in the future. “We’re a country that was built on ‘everyone is innocent until proven guilty,’” Mackie told Inverse when asked by Majors’ alleged assault. “That’s one of the staples of this country. Nothing has been proven about this dude. Nothing. So everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That’s all I can say. It’s crazy where we are as a society. But as a country, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Anthony Mackie revealed in a new interview with Inverse that he wrote Marvel Studios multiple letters asking to play Black Panther before he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Sam Wilson/Falcon. Mackie figured the only prominent Black superhero Marvel might develop a movie for is Black Panther, so he put all his cards on playing T’Challa. “I had been contacting Marvel a lot about Black Panther,” Mackie said. “I had written them letters. I was trying to find a way to make them make Black Panther. And I wanted to be Black Panther because growing up I fucking loved Black Panther.” Mackie landed a meeting with longtime Marvel producer Nate Moore and directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who were developing “Captain America: The Winter Solider” at the time. No one told Mackie what part they were meeting him for at the time, so he just presumed it was for Black Panther.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Dan Akyroyd admitted in a recent interview with The Daily Beast that he probably would not put on Blackface for a movie role today like he did 40 years ago in the blockbuster comedy “Trading Places.” Akyroyd starred in the John Landis-directed film as a rich investment broker who switches lives with a broke con artist, played by Eddie Murphy. Akyroyd’s character appears in Blackface and sports dreadlocks and a Caribbean accent during one scene set on New Year’s Eve. “I was in Blackface in that film, and I probably couldn’t get away with it now,” Aykroyd said. “Eddie and I were improvising there. Eddie is a Black man and his entourage were all Black people, and I don’t think they batted an eye. There was no objection then; nobody said anything. It was just a good comic beat that was truthful to the story.”

movie is officially in the works at Peacock, and star Joel McHale dished about the long-awaited project on Kelly Ripa's podcast, on Wednesday. «Yeah, we're shooting it next summer,» McHale shared, noting that even Donald Glover has signed on to return to Greendale Community College for the wrap-up film from series creator Dan Harmon.«Donald's coming back and that's really important,» he added. «The fact that we even got, like, Donald's gonna do it, that was the big, you know, piece.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Kelly Clarkson appeared on “Watch What Happens Live” and clarified the tension behind the making of her hit single “Since U Been Gone,” which still carries a “bad vibe” for her to this day. Clarkson was asked by host Andy Cohen to respond to a revelation in Clive Davis’ memoir in which the mega-producer claimed he had to force Clarkson to record “Since U Been Gone.” “Let’s give some backstory,” Clarkson said. “I was lied to, and they told me there are these producers who want to work with you and there’s this song. It had dummy lyrics. They didn’t have lyrics in. They said they wanted me to work with it. I was told to write to the song.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge tried to out-prank each other during the making of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” the latter actor revealed in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. “From the moment we met, it was shithead’s all round,” Waller-Bridge said. “We were taking the piss out of each other all the time, and having a lot of fun. The most extraordinary thing about working with Harrison is that you’re definitely at work — in that his work ethic is so on point, and his discipline is so extraordinary — but because he’s that specific and the foundation of the work is really strong, the rest of it can be really fun. There were a lot of pranks… lots of pranks.”

Drive-Away Dolls, has been released a few months after the movie’s initial announcement. The trailer sets the tone for what appears to be a must-see comedy that blends humor, suspense, and perhaps even a murder or two. Directed by the celebrated filmmaker Ethan Coen, Drive-Away Dolls promises to deliver an entertaining and stylized movie experience.Set to a rocking tune, the short clip showcases the film’s fantastic stylized visuals and some thrilling moments, Drive-Away Dolls seems poised to captivate audiences with a perfect balance of humor and nail-biting suspense.

The Last Of Us, but his potential casting never became “serious”.While the HBO adaptation of the video game was in development, reports claimed True Detective stars Mahershala Ali and McConaughey were both in contention to play the role of Joel in the series, which eventually went to Pedro Pascal.Show co-creator Craig Mazin addressed the rumours on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he confirmed talks with McConaughey had taken place.“I actually never talked to Mahershala,” Mazin said. “I did talk to Matthew [McConaughey]. I can’t say it was serious.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jennifer Lawrence’s press tour for “No Hard Feelings” has included her frank thoughts on fighting naked and getting nervous around Method actors, but perhaps her rock-bottom moment in promoting the R-rated comedy came when she “violently” threw up after appearing on “Hot Ones.” The YouTube series has celebrities being interviewed while eating increasingly spicy chicken wings. Lawrence had a breakdown midway through her interview as the spice became too much and caused her to cry, drool and panic on camera. The “Hot Ones” interview has earned 6.6 million views on YouTube in just five days. “I passionately threw up after. Violently,” Lawrence told Andy Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live,” while also revealing that her “Hot Ones” interview was filmed on location at the film’s press junket.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel (“Zama”) was one of several female directors courted by Marvel Studios to direct “Black Widow,” the comic book tentpole centered on Scarlett Johansson’s assassin. Martel revealed in 2018 that she turned down the project after a meeting with Marvel in which the studio told her to focus on character and not the action scenes. In a recent interview with The Film Stage, Martel confessed she never ended up seeing “Black Widow.” “No, no, no — I didn’t see ‘Black Widow.’ I tried to,” Martel said. “They contacted a great number of female directors. I never would have imagined that Marvel could contact and bring together a pool of directors and I would be a part of it; I never thought that would be possible. I would have loved to make a film with them but I would have had to provide something that I would like to see in that world.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director A new cover story from Time magazine on the making of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” reveals that Mattel president and COO Richard Dickson flew to the movie’s London set at one point during production to argue with Gerwig and lead actor Margot Robbie about one scene he believed was off-brand for the company. The director and her star convinced Dickson to keep the scene in the film by performing it for him live on set. “When you look on the page, the nuance isn’t there, the delivery isn’t there,” Robbie said. While the scene in question was not disclosed, Dickson’s concern is further proof that the upcoming “Barbie” movie isn’t just a sanitized love letter to the famous doll. As the film’s trailer says point blank: “If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you.”

BEST TV DRAMAAnne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (AMC)The Last of Us (HBO)Succession (HBO)The White Lotus (HBO)Yellowjackets (Showtime)BEST TV COMEDYAbbott Elementary (ABC)The Bear (FX on Hulu)The Other Two (HBO Max)Poker Face (Peacock)Somebody Somewhere (HBO)BEST LGBTQ TV SHOWAnne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (AMC)A League of Their Own (Amazon)Somebody Somewhere (HBO)The Last of Us (HBO)The Other Two (HBO Max)BEST TV MOVIE OR MINISERIESBeef (Netflix) Daisy Jones & The Six (Amazon)Dead Ringers (Amazon)Fire Island (Hulu)Rye Lane (Hulu)BEST UNSUNG SHOWA Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)Derry Girls (Netflix)Jury Duty (Amazon Freevee)Los Espookys (HBO)Reservation Dogs (FX on Hulu)Somebody Somewhere (HBO)BEST NON-ENGLISH SHOWElite (Netflix)Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Netflix)Los Espookys (HBO)Smiley (Netflix) Young Royals (Netflix)BEST TV PERFORMANCE—DRAMAKieran Culkin, Succession (HBO)Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets (Showtime)Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us (HBO)Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us (HBO)Sarah Snook, Succession (HBO)BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE—DRAMAMurray Bartlett, The Last of Us (HBO) Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus (HBO)Meghann Fahy, The White Lotus (HBO)Nick Offerman, The Last of Us (HBO)Aubrey Plaza, The White Lotus (HBO)BEST TV PERFORMANCE—COMEDYRachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary (ABC) Bridget Everett, Somebody Somewhere (HBO)Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face (Peacock)Ali Wong, Beef (Netflix) BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE—COMEDYAlex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Among the handful of new titles arriving on Netflix on July 1 is James Cameron’s “Titanic,” an addition that is rubbing some people the wrong way given last week’s tragedy aboard the OceanGate Titan submersible. Five members traveling inside the Titan were killed when the submersible imploded while en route to visit the wreckage of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean. Some users on social media have criticized Netflix for bringing Cameron’s “Titanic” to the streaming platform so soon after the submersible tragedy. As one user wrote, “Netflix is overstepping the boundaries of decency on this timing.” Many people are accusing the streamer of attempting to capitalize on the Titan deaths by adding “Titanic” to its library.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director James Gunn agreed during a recent interview on the “Inside of You” podcast that there are “too many” superhero movies and television shows. Gunn is the new co-boss of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, and he assured fans the company will not “overextend” itself with content as it begins to launch a new DC Universe that includes Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy” and more. “We’re going to be very careful with the product that we put out and making sure everything is as good as it can possibly be,” Gunn said. While the sheer volume of superhero content is a problem, Gunn stressed that lazy storytelling is a much bigger issue facing the genre at the moment.

Margaret Qualley stars in the new comedic thriller Drive-Away Dolls, directed by Ethan Coen, and the first trailer was just released!

The cast of The Last of Us might have looked very different.

“The Last of Us” bosses originally had someone else in mind to play Joel Miller instead of Pedro Pascal.

It’s hard to imagine The Last of Us without Pedro Pascal, but cocreator Craig Mazin revealed that there was another contender for the role of Joel — Matthew McConaughey.

HBO has another hit on its hands with “The Last Of Us,” with the series breaking all sorts of viewership records for the network earlier this year. And a lot of the show’s critical success comes from its cast, leading man Pedro Pascal in particular.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Casino Royale” director Martin Campbell revealed in a new interview with Express UK that Henry Cavill could have been James Bond had Daniel Craig not earned the role of 007 in his 2006 franchise reboot. The film reinvigorated the Bond franchise after Pierce Brosnan’s divisive “Die Another Day” in 2002, and it kicked off Craig’s acclaimed tenure as Bond. As for Cavill, Campbell had nothing but raves for the Superman actor’s audition. “He looked great in the audition. His acting was tremendous,” Campbell said. “And look, if Daniel didn’t exist, Henry would have made an excellent Bond. He looked terrific, he was in great physical shape…very handsome, very chiseled. He just looked a little young at that time back then.”

 almost looked very different!During an appearance on the  podcast, showrunner Craig Mazin revealed that Matthew McConaughey was originally tapped for the role of Joel before Pedro Pascal signed on to the hit HBO series.«I did talk to Matthew. I can't say that it was a series [of conversations]. It was more of a, 'Hey, here's something to talk about,'» Mazin shared.

Pedro Pascal is looking back at his career in Hollywood, following his incredible success in HBO’s ‘The Last of Us,’ and with his upcoming projects, including Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’ alongside Paul Mescal, and his performance in ‘Strange Way of Life’ directed by Pedro Almodóvar, and co-starring Ethan Hawke.During his most recent interview with Variety, the Chilean star was asked about his impact and influence on the Latin population, as well as being an advocate for the LGBTQ community. “I want to be able to fulfill the assignment and continue to fulfill the assignment,” the actor said to the publication.“It’s the best part.

With “Special Ops: Lioness” arriving on Paramount+ next month, that marks six shows created by Taylor Sheridan on TV right now. And there’s more where than came from.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Samuel L. Jackson revealed in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly that his watermarked script for “The Avengers” was stolen from Marvel Studios’ production offices, leading the company to set up a fake buy after the stolen screenplay popped up online for sale. Marvel has since gone on to beef up its security protocols, even going as far as shooting down drones that fly over their production lots hoping to capture set photos and footage. “They shot one down,” Jackson said. “And they followed one back to where the dude was. They found him and, yeah, they got him.” “There are worse examples than that,” Jackson added. “I remember when we got ready to do ‘Avengers,’ someone printed out a copy of my ‘Avengers’ script that had my watermark on it, and put it online for sale. I was shooting in Canada and Marvel came to Canada. It had been printed in the production office… They found out who it was, dude quit, left the country. They set up a fake buy for the script, dude didn’t show up. It was crazy.”

Taylor Sheridan is finally speaking out about the end of Yellowstone and Kevin Costner‘s exit.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director In the upcoming comedy “No Hard Feelings,” Jennifer Lawrence plays a down-on-her-luck Uber driver who accepts a job trying to seduce a 19-year-old whose helicopter parents don’t want him heading off to college as a virgin. The task of playing the Oscar winner’s male lead in a raunchy R-rated comedy fell to Andrew Barth Feldman, best known until now for his stint on Broadway in “Dear Evan Hanson.” Feldman was already a student at Harvard University when the offer to join Lawrence in “No Hard Feelings” was made. “I mean, when Andrew left his audition, the door closed and we all looked at each other and we were like, ‘That’s our — that’s Percy,”” Lawrence recently told Entertainment Tonight. “Then they were like there’s one complication, he’s supposed to go to Harvard, and we were like, ‘Is that a joke?’ He was fully the character, so I called him and said, ‘Andrew, I have really bad news you’re not gonna be able to finish your semester at Harvard.’ He’s gonna have to defer, or whatever college school words are.”

Craig Mazin, showrunner of The Last of Us, is opening up about working on the script for Dune: Part Two.

"Yellowstone" co-creator Taylor Sheridan revealed Kevin Costner's beloved John Dutton will meet his end before the Paramount+ series comes to a close. Sheridan didn't reveal exactly how Dutton's chapter would finish but did clarify some of the rumblings about how the end of "Yellowstone" came to be in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Pedro Pascal is charming, funny and incredibly talented. His resume thus far includes notable films and television series such as HBO’s “The Last of Us” and Lionsgate’s “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.” During his interview, I referenced his 2020 cover story. In that story, he said he couldn’t believe Patty Jenkins cast him in “Wonder Woman 1984” without auditioning. Then something happened that you don’t typically see. When asked what it feels like to be a role model to young Latinos, LGBTQ and Hollywood dreamers everywhere who yearn to sit in the same position he finds himself in, his usual charisma and confidence melted away.