Exclusive: Patrick Wilson Eyed to Join Amy Adams and Javier Bardem in New 'Cape Fear' Series on Apple TV+

Happy Thursday night, folks!

Last night, I caught an early screening of Oz Perkins’ new horror-comedy The Monkey, which was a crushing disappointment. Trust me when I say that Perkins is not the genre savior that some writers have made him out to be, as his writing still needs a lot of work.

The Monkey features some unforgettably grisly imagery, the stuff nightmares are made of, but there’s hardly any story to speak of, and certainly no characters worth caring about. There’s just nothing to grab onto aside from those “freak accidents” that provide shock value but little else.

Leaving the theater last night, I detected not a whiff of excitement from the audience of loyal genre fans, which may explain why I heard Blumhouse passed on the script (despite it being based on IP from Stephen King!) and why I heard The Monkey was the lowest-testing film in Neon’s history, not counting its acquisitions. The studio has a hell of a marketing department, but at the end of the day, there’s no “there” there — just a lot of monkey business.

Speaking of monkey business, what is going on over at DC Studios? It was one thing when scooper MyTimeToShineH claimed that James Watkins (Speak No Evil) had landed the Clayface gig, but Deadline now adds that Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2) is also in the mix, and, forgive me, but I don’t get it. These guys are assignment guys — shooters — and I understand that this is an assignment, but if this is the best DC can do, it may be in real danger of having a perception problem around town.

Wadlow has one of the worst filmographies I’ve ever seen, so the idea that he’s in the mix here is befuddling, to say the least.

That said, I’m told that name-brand filmmakers are very reluctant to take notes from James Gunn, and I wonder if something is up with Swamp Thing since Clayface offers a very similar setup — a man who is turned into a monster and seeks revenge against those he holds responsible.

Did Gunn move forward with Clayface knowing it could be years before Swamp Thing ever happens, should director James Mangold (who remains passionate about the DC property) decide in the next few weeks to move forward with his Star Wars movie at Lucasfilm? After all, he’s nearing the point of no return when it comes to that project.

I find it odd that Gunn would move forward with a Clayface movie “without knowing” who will be Batman in the DCU… unless it is, in fact, Robert Pattinson, as I’ve long predicted it ultimately would be. It just doesn’t make sense to have two Batmans flying around Burbank, as it leads to brand confusion among consumers.

Anyway, in tonight’s newsletter, you’ll find out who Apple is looking at to star opposite Amy Adams in its new Cape Fear series from Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg — two men who hate to be disappointed.

Plus, there are items about Jeremy Strong hunting Nazis, Nate Bargatze celebrating Christmas at Amazon MGM Studios, Ryan Murphy teaming up with Bret Easton Ellis, the young lead in the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, and the star of the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle, as well as a review of Season 3 of The White Lotus, which returns to HBO on Sunday night.

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