More Matt Johnson news, and this update is a doozy — a project we hadn’t heard about until now.
Speaking to Vulture, Johnson revealed that he’s been developing a TSA comedy with Josh Safdie (“Marty Supreme”). The project is untitled and is currently only being described as a TSA comedy, with the only known details being that Safdie flew Johnson, a number of times, to New York to work on it after seeing “BlackBerry.” No information about the plot, cast, studio, or other details has been provided.
I’m not sure what Safdie’s plans are for following up the critical and commercial success of “Marty Supreme,” but he also has that Adam Sandler-starring baseball movie, which has been plagued by delays for a number of years.
On paper, a Safdie-Johnson collaboration actually makes a lot of sense. Both filmmakers have built their reputations on propulsive, anxiety-inducing cinema that thrives on moral ambiguity, kinetic camerawork, and characters spiraling toward disaster. Of course, their sensibilities aren’t identical, but they overlap enough that a collaboration feels right.
Further into the interview, Johnson also discusses his upcoming “Magic: The Gathering” adaptation for Legendary, a project he first pursued a decade ago.
‘Magic’ may be larger in scale than we first imagined, as Johnson reveals it’s expected to leverage parts of the existing Dune production infrastructure, including key creative personnel and locations. He also says he’d like to turn it into a trilogy if the first film is successful.
I already covered Johnson’s rise earlier today, and reviews for “Tony,” which A24 releases in August, have been very positive. That comes on the heels of the glowing reaction “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” garnered back in March.
Johnson has quietly become one of the hottest filmmakers in Hollywood. At this point, anything he does is worth paying attention to. If you somehow missed it, do yourself a favor and check out his “BlackBerry”—a wildly entertaining corporate rise-and-fall story.
Marvel's "Ghost Rider" just hired one of the best cinematographers working today. Linus Sandgren will serve as DP on Shawn Levy's MCU flick, and, most notably, the project will be shot on film.