Hunter Doohan fears becoming the 'Tom Holland of Wednesday'
The 31-year-old actor - who played coffee shop barista Tyler Galpin in the first season of the Netflix show - referenced the Spider-Man star's habit of accidentally revealing Marvel spoilers during interviews, and admitted he can't wait for the second season of Wednesday to finally come out so he can stop panicking about letting something slip.
Speaking to Women's Wear Daily, he quipped: "I don't want to be the Tom Holland of Wednesday. 'I feel like a jerk sometimes in these interviews, I'm like, 'I can't say that. I can't say anything.' '
Hunter did promise the new season will be "bigger and better" then its predecessor, which hit the streamer in 2023.
Two years later, the actor revealed he's excited to embrace the supernatural elements of the show, as he had to play his character in a grounded way before he was revealed to be the monstrous Hyde.
Speaking about season two, he said: 'It was really fun to be in the Tim Burton world a bit more because I'm not pretending to be the nice boyfriend barista.
'So this time I really felt like from the start I was living in the heightened genre of the world the whole time.'
As well as Wednesday, Hunter has been seen in series like Your Honor and Daredevil: Born Again, while he also appeared in episodes of Westworld, What/If and Schooled.
Next year, after a string of short film roles, he'll make his major big screen debut in Evil Dead Burns.
Hunter admitted despite a love for acting on screen, growing up in Fort Smith, Arkansas meant chasing his dream didn't feel "realistic".
He explained: 'I never saw film and TV as an option growing up there, even though I loved it.
"It just truly never even crossed my mind as something I could even try to pursue, whereas theater felt realistic.
'We had our high school theater and our community theater.'
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News.com.au
7 hours ago
- News.com.au
'Superman' aims to save flagging film franchise, not just humanity
Superman is often called upon to save the world from evildoers, but in his latest big-screen incarnation, he's also being asked to swoop in and save a franchise. James Gunn's "Superman," which opened in theaters worldwide this week, is a reboot aimed at relaunching the so-called DC Universe of comic book-based superhero movies, which also features Wonder Woman and Batman. The celluloid efforts of Warner Bros. and DC Studios have been widely eclipsed by Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe -- the world of Iron Man, Thor, Black Panther and the Fantastic Four, who are getting their own reboot later this month. "Warner Bros. has invested a lot of energy and money in trying to refocus and renew DC Studios, and this is going to be the big release from that," analyst David A. Gross from Franchise Entertainment Research told AFP. The heavy task falls on the shoulders of Gunn, the writer-director who won praise from fans of the genre with Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" trilogy. The movie's rollout has already encountered several headwinds, including a right-wing backlash to Gunn's comments on Superman's role as an immigrant, and skepticism from fans of the previous Superman films helmed by director Zack Snyder. Gunn has shrugged off the high stakes surrounding the movie's box office success. "Is there something riding on it? Yeah, but it's not as big as people make it out to be," he told GQ Magazine. "They hear these numbers that the movie's only going to be successful if it makes $700 million or something and it's just complete and utter nonsense." The hype around the movie is real -- the White House even superimposed President Donald Trump onto one of the movie's official posters with the caption "THE SYMBOL OF HOPE. TRUTH. JUSTICE. THE AMERICAN WAY. SUPERMAN TRUMP." - 'A diminished genre' - Warner Bros. hopes the DC Universe can catch up with Marvel which -- after years of huge successes with the "Avengers" movies -- has seen more muted box office returns with the recent "Thunderbolts" and "Captain America: Brave New World." Gross explained that superhero films hit a peak right before the Covid-19 pandemic, with box office earnings and audience enthusiasm waning ever since that time. "It's really a diminished genre," Gross said. However, the analyst said early buzz for "Superman" was "really good." The film stars up-and-comer David Corenswet as the new Superman/Clark Kent, with "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" star Rachel Brosnahan playing love interest Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as arch-villain Lex Luthor. The story follows the Man of Steel coming to terms with his alien identity as he finds his place in the human world. The supporting cast boasts a selection of other DC Comics characters, from the peacekeeping Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) -- who is scheduled to get his own film -- to the mace-wielding Hawkgirl. Gross noted that July "is the top moviegoing month of the year," leading tracking estimates to forecast a total of more than $100 million for the film's opening weekend in North America. - 'The story of America' - DC Studios however must shake off a reputation for producing mediocre films that did not score well with audiences. The last round of "DC Extended Universe" films included the well-liked "Wonder Woman" (2017) starring Gal Gadot -- but also box office flops like "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" (2023) and the under-performing "Aquaman" sequel with Jason Momoa. "The success was mixed, and they were spending a lot of money on some of the new spinoff characters who were not working particularly well," Gross said, pointing at 2021's "The Suicide Squad" -- directed by Gunn -- as an example. The last films featuring Superman, starring Henry Cavill and directed by Snyder, were relatively successful for Warner Bros. until "Justice League" -- DC's effort at recreating the "Avengers" vibe -- which lost millions of dollars. Fans of Snyder have stirred up negative buzz for the new "Superman" movie, voicing hope online that the reboot fails out of a sense of loyalty to the previous films. The backlash was further widened after right-wing pundits groaned about Superman's specific characterization as an immigrant, lamenting the superhero had become "woke." Gunn addressed the criticism, telling The Times newspaper that "Superman is the story of America," with the character reflecting those who "came from other places and populated the country." "I'm telling a story about a guy who is uniquely good, and that feels needed now," he added. Ultimately, time will soon tell if Corenswet's chiseled looks and Gunn's directorial vision will be the superpowers that DC Studios need -- or prove to be its Kryptonite.
ABC News
8 hours ago
- ABC News
Thailand punches above its weight in film creativity and cross-border appeal. Here's why
A Useful Ghost, an internationally acclaimed new film from Thailand, features a woman who dies from dust pollution and returns to posses her husband's vacuum cleaner to protect him from suffering the same fate. It's a sly commentary about power inequality, queer love, and pollution. Written and directed by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, the indy film premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and was the first Thai film to win a Critics' Week grand prize, or Grand Prix. The award recognises early filmmakers. A Useful Ghost was Boonbunchachoke's debut feature and the first "proper film shoot" he had been on. Judges described the film as bold, free and unclassifiable, "a first feature that plays with genres, bends the rules, and offers a vision that is both intimate and universal." It's just the latest in a slew of Thai drams turning heads abroad as the industry builds on its reputation for distinctiveness and creativity. Last year, humorous tear-jerker How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies set a new Thai record for international box office takings. Mad Unicorn — a series about a start-up courier service — reached fourth on Netflix's weekly top 10 for non-English series last month. Other successful productions included Master of the House and Ready, Set, Love, and Hunger, both on Netflix. According to audience analytics firm Media Asia Partners (MPA), Thai content among South-East Asian nations had the most cross-border appeal in Asia. The "travelability" of Thai content (how much of it was consumed overseas vs domestically) was even catching up to Japan, the agency found. So, what is it about Thai cinema that's pulling audiences from around the globe? Thai people loved a good drama, A Useful Ghost writer-director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke told the ABC. He said they measured a film's success by how emotive it was, driving creators to make dramatic and emotionally rich films. "Thai film is like Thai food — the flavour needs to be strong," he said. "Culturally authentic" hyperlocal elements in film also resonated with audiences, said Mary Ainslie, an associate professor in film and media studies at the University of Nottingham. Besides seeing representations of local identity, these depictions appealed to foreign audiences because that knowledge made them "cultural insiders", she said. "That's about constructing yourself as a very cosmopolitan person, and that's very attractive." Being over-the-top is not limited to drama series or movies. Advertising is often where film directors cut their teeth before producing feature films and Thai commercials have a reputation for being "consistently" creative and unconventional, said Paul Nagy, the chief creative officer at VML Asia Pacific. Mr Nagy judged the film adverts at the 2024 Cannes Lions awards when Thailand won nine awards from 210 entries — the second highest win-to-entry ratio in the Asia-Pacific. "One of the major takeaways for me last year was just how incredibly creative and joyful the work coming out of Thailand was," he said. He said the Western world often followed formulaic narratives in storytelling, whereas Thai creators threw out the rule book and leaned into what felt most interesting. "They don't feel the same kind of constraints as the rest of the world in the same way to tone things down," Mr Nagy said. This made it fertile ground for creative story telling as nothing was too over-the-top he said. He cited as an example a government road-safety advertisement where a motorcyclist's brain came out the back of his head the faster he went, a metaphor for him losing control. "If you're learning your film trade in the advertising industry in Thailand you're unconstrained. "That's why they do such exciting film work when they leave the advertising industry." He said with how sophisticated AI has become at creating traditional advertisements, the rest of the world needed to quickly learn from what Thailand was doing to remain competitive. "We are moving into an era where average is going to be invisible and that's one thing the Thais never are … and that's their starting point." Much of the latest wave in Thai cinemas was the result of a rapid modernisation and an increasingly affluent middle class, said Dr Ainslie. Thailand has the eighth-fastest broadband internet in the world and 91 per cent of its population is connected to the internet, according to the Digital 2025 report by Meltwater and We Are Social. The global average is 68 per cent. Dr Ainslie said modernity was no longer limited to large cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai because the provincial rural population was now affluent, middle-class who were "globally savvy", well-connected, and had travelled overseas. Thai directors were also being trained abroad and returning home and studios had started conglomerating into oligopolies creating an ecosystem of cinema and production companies, she said. Thailand is recognised by international film producers as an attractive filming destination because of its scenery, affordability, and labour force with mature production and English-language skills, aspects the Thai government is capitalising on. This has created even more opportunities for Thai crew to work alongside international productions to hone their craft to an even higher standard, Booncunchachoke said. Last year, 491 foreign films like Jurassic World and shows like White Lotus were shot in Thailand which generated THB 6.58 billion ($309.8 million) for the economy. Along with Pad Thai, mango and sticky rice and Muay Thai, the Thailand's government has identified film as another cultural export instrumental to its influence by persuasion, or soft power. In November 2024, the prime minister met with executives from Netflix, HBO, Disney, and the Motion Picture Association, The government also announced increases in cash rebates of up to 30 per cent for eligible foreign productions if they employed Thai cast and crew, used designated tourist areas as film locations, and portrayed Thailand or its culture in a positive light. The Thai Film Office is part of the government's tourism department and has been integral in growing the industry, but Dr Ainslie warned the incentives biased certain productions which could also lead to a typecasting of Thailand. This could be frustrating for filmmakers wanting to make other kinds of films, she said. The lack of diverse depictions could also result in the curating a history to fit a certain state agenda. "If you construct an image, the image ultimately becomes truth, becomes a representation," Dr Ainslie said. One example was the "salacious and hedonistic" depictions of Thailand associated with sex tourism, lawlessness, and drugs seen in The Hangover Part II and The Beach. After the pandemic, young Thai people participated in widescale anti-government protests. Boonbunchachoke hoped media and cinema would follow suit in challenging the establishment, but felt that traction for freer expression had waned. Nonetheless, he noticed some commercial film studios beginning to take risks beyond their "comfort zone" of crowd-pleasers and join independent films in taking on darker and grittier topics. He has also noticed independent film houses starting to censor themselves less and becoming more creative in how they criticised the status quo. "I think nowadays [these film makers] kind of know and [are finding] new ways to speak and talk about the issue without compromising too much," he said.
Man of Many
9 hours ago
- Man of Many
‘Superman' Review: James Gunn helps the Man of Steel Reclaim His Humanity
By Rob Edwards - News Published: 11 Jul 2025 Share Copy Link Readtime: 6 min Every product is carefully selected by our editors and experts. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more. For more information on how we test products, click here. If you're anything like me, you're so very tired of superhero movies. I more or less jumped off the Marvel train when the credits rolled on Avengers: Endgame, and the thought of writer and director James Gunn's Superman setting in motion yet another superhero universe that'll clog up our multiplexes and consume a huge percentage of the world's finite filmmaking resources is an exhausting proposition. As such, Superman had the odds stacked against it when it came to winning me over. And yet, win me over it did. While the movie is overstuffed with too many characters, and it takes unnecessary narrative detours, the charm and chemistry of its cast and Gunn's willingness to bring us a Superman who isn't burdened by a fashionable dose of angst ensure this latest vehicle for the Man of Steel is the kind of feel-good affair we sorely need right now. David Corenswet makes an excellent Superman | Image: Supplied A Classic Do-Gooder While the plot is too convoluted to lay out in detail (and I'm not looking to spoil it for anyone), the long and the short of it is that Superman (David Corenswet) has found himself in hot water after intervening in a burgeoning conflict between two nations. Despite having prevented (or rather delayed) a war, his actions have given diabolical billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) the justification he's long sought to arrest the Kryptonian he views as an illegal immigrant and take him out of the picture. As you might have guessed, there are parallels between the plot points of the film and contemporary headlines of our own world that you'd have to be blind to miss. Some have already baulked at this, unaware that any eyeroll-worthy attempts to disparage Superman as 'going woke' merely show a fundamental misunderstanding of who the character has always been. That aside, despite the film having a clear point of view on many of these issues, Gunn's script is suitably nimble and his cast suitably talented to avoid becoming too weighed down by such issues. The red trunks have returned | Image: Supplied The New Man of Steel Much of the film's success rests of the shoulders of David Corenswet in whom we have an absolutely fantastic Clark Kent and Superman. I know Christopher Reeve is viewed as untouchable when it comes to embodying this most iconic of superheroes, but as strong as his performance in the role of Superman remains, he's also very much a product of the late '70s. Similarly, there's a fandom out there that will scream until they're blue in the face that Henry Cavill was the perfect Man of Steel. If you prefer your Superman to come with a layer of anger simmering just below the surface, almost like he resents the fact that he might actually have to save someone, then perhaps you're right — to be clear, this issue was more due to the material Cavill had to work with, rather than the fault of the actor himself. By comparison, Corenswet embodes the sunny optimism that has been inherent to Superman since the very beginning but was lost when Zack Snyder tried to update the character for Man of Steel and the terrible films that followed. As both Superman and Clark Kent, he has a relaxed charm that feels contemporary, but maintains some of the aw-shucks innocence of the character's 1930s origins. Aligned with this approach is the fact that this time around Superman saves people. A lot of people. He even saves a squirrel. And he does it all with a smile on his face, a word of reassurance, or a quip that sets the citizens of Metropolis at ease. Corenswet and Brosnahan make a strong pairing | Image: Supplied Dynamic Duos Just as importantly, any scene in which Corenswet is paired with Rachel Brosnahan's fantastic Lois Lane is absolutely electric. Brosnahan is by far my favourite on-screen incarnation of the Daily Planet's lead reporter, and the dynamic she shares with Corenswet is one of the film's highlights. Unfortunately, due to the number of characters Gunn has to squeeze into the film's two hours and nine minutes, their shared screentime is limited. A similarly strong pairing can be found when Corenswet squares off against Nicholas Hoult's take on Superman's arch enemy. The character of Lex Luthor hits differently when we have to contend with the whims of billionaire man babies on an almost daily basis. Hoult is clearly aware of this and channels the likes of Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, and their ilk through his highly detestable antagonist. Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor is easy to hate | Image: Supplied The film also features a host of other notable performances, including Skyler Gisondo's excellent Jimmy Olsen, Edi Gathegi's Mr. Terrific, a bowl-cut-sporting Nathan Fillion as the Guy Gardner incarnation of Green Lantern, and the scene-stealer of all scene-stealers in the form of Superman's poorly behaved pooch, Krypto. None of these ancillary characters let the film down, but there are just too many of them, meaning we don't get enough time with the film's headliners. It's almost as if Gunn was worried this was his one and only chance to make a film in this world, so he crammed as many characters in as possible. It's an odd choice when you consider a whole cinematic universe is meant to follow in the wake of this film. Krypto may not be a good boy, but he is a delight | Image: Supplied Action Aplenty Finally, Superman absolutely delivers when it comes action and spectacle. From the title character's take down of a giant (and oddly cute) kaiju to fantastic flying sequences and an all-out brawl inside a stadium, the action is staged in such a way that it manages to avoid the difficult-to-follow frenzied approach found in so many blockbusters. Instead, each set piece is clean and clear, while the variety of action keeps things from growing stale. The special effects are also top notch, which is to be expected for a film with a reported budget of USD$225 million. From the adorable antics of Krypto and some otherworldly environments in which Supes finds himself to the suite of powers the big guy in blue regularly puts on full display, the visual effects consistently deliver the goods. 'Look up' | Image: Supplied Final Verdict I did not anticipate enjoying Superman anywhere as much as I ultimately did. While it didn't help me get over my superhero movie fatigue, it did make me consider that maybe what I'm actually suffering from is bad superhero movie fatigue. Heaven knows there have been enough of those lately. With that, I'm happy to report that David Corenswet does an outstanding job embodying Superman for a new generation, Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane may be the best version of the character we've ever seen on screen, and James Gunn brings it all home with a strong (if convoluted) script and snappy direction. Up, up, and away. ★★★★☆
