In today’s film news roundup, “The Trip to Greece” will be released on May 22, Easter weekend will see a TV release of Fathom Events’ “Jesus,” and a Mary Pickford project is in the works.
‘THE TRIP’ RETURNS
IFC Films has set a May 22 digital and on demand release for the Steve Coogan–Rob Brydon comedy “The Trip to Greece,” the third sequel in director Michael Winterbottom’s travel series.
The trailer, released Wednesday, shows the duo retracing Odysseus’s footsteps in only six days with stops at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the Ancient Agora of Athens, the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, the island of Hydra, the Caves of Diros and Niokastro Fortress in Pylos. There are also the trademark celebrity impressions — Marlon Brando and Sean Connery in the new iteration — plus gourmet meals and plenty of barbed commentary, such as Coogan asserting that he’s gotten better looking with age.
“You were unpalatable as a young man,” Brydon responds.
After Coogan says he’s most proud of his seven BAFTA Awards, Brydon says he’s most proud of his children, prompting Coogan to say, “Well, you haven’t got any BAFTAs.”
Brydon, Coogan and Winterbottom birthed “The Trip” as a six-episode British sitcom in 2010 that centered on a restaurant tour in Northern England with a movie distributed in the U.S. by IFC. “The Trip to Italy” series and movie aired in 2014 followed by “The Trip to Spain” in 2017.
“The Trip to Greece” series aired last month in the U.K. and the movie had been set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival before the festival’s cancellation. Here is the official trailer below:
LIVE ‘JESUS’
With U.S. movie theaters closed, Fathom Events has rescheduled theatrical showings of a filmed performance of “Jesus” at Sight & Sound’s in Lancaster, Pa., and scheduled it for Friday through Sunday on TBN and through the TBN app.
“With people not being able to gather together to celebrate Easter, our hope is that by making this show available, we might all feel a sense of community and connection as we watch the greatest rescue story of all time come to life in this unique way,” said Sight & Sound Chief Creative Officer Josh Enck..
Fathom, a joint venture between the AMC, Cinemark and Regal circuits, specializes in one-night showings of concerts and revival movies. “Jesus” had been scheduled to show at movie theaters on April 7, 9 and 11 prior the shutdown of venues due to the coronavirus pandemic.
‘ICON’ PROJECT
A quartet of producers are launching development of the documentary “Humanizing the Icon,” based in part on pioneering actress Mary Pickford along with interviews and exclusive footage from icons of today.
Producers include Jennifer DeLia, Martine Melloul, Nitsa Benchetrit and Sandra de Castro Buffington. “Humanizing the Icon” was announced Wednesday on Pickford’s 128th birthday. A “Humanizing the Icon” exhibit took place at the Venice Art Bienale.
DeLia produced, wrote and directed the biopic “Why Not Choose Love? A Mary Pickford Manifesto,” which starred Sophie Kennedy Clark along with Cary Elwes, Balthazar Getty, Luke Arnold, Josephine de La Baume, Jane Stiles, Summer Phoenix, Adam Fergus, and Scott Haze. Benchetrit was also a producer on that film, which launched the Hollywood Women’s Film Festival in June.
“Pickford is our portal into this theme of ‘Humanizing the Icon’ and we are calling attention to her making a comeback in mainstream media during the pandemic, as the first philanthropist in Hollywood a century ago,” DeLia said.