The film, which premiered Thursday at Sundance, begins with a car accident occurring offscreen. Putting its darkly comedic tone on immediate display, we get the most jarring cut to a funeral since “Hereditary” and see Rocky is having to be the person everyone else gets support from, even as he has just lost his twin brother.

Left adrift and angry at the loss without any real way of processing it, Rocky begins to attend the aforementioned support group. It’s there we get the first of many great dark jokes and O’Brien makes each that much funnier through his reactions alone. That’s also when we meet Dennis (Sweeney) who is attending the group as well. The two bond over their loss with Rocky calling up his new bud at all hours to help him do menial tasks like going grocery shopping because he likes the company. They couldn’t be more different in sexuality and disposition — Rocky is bro-ish and a bit dim while Dennis is quick-witted and dryly funny — but they still begin to just be present for the other. We see this all unfolding from Rocky’s perspective as he clings to the relationship like a life raft in the hope that he can move forward.

But this is just the beginning. Once the title card drops unexpectedly late into the film, everything changes. Just when you think the movie is teetering on the edge of falling into repetition, or even worse, running out of steam, the perspective shifts to Dennis and Sweeney’s master plan clicks into place. It is not a spoiler to say that nothing is exactly what it seems, but the precise details of how this soon takes shape would be a crime to give away. What can be said is that both of these young men are about to find that their lives will be forever changed. As each goes about their days in the pointedly bustling yet isolating big city of Portland, we spend much of our time with Dennis as he is the one driving almost all the significant events and yet is increasingly having a hard time holding everything together. He despises his job, his coworkers, and much of his life. When he’s with Rocky, he seems more joyful. There is a sweetness to their interactions.

The film morphs into something else, and what fun Sweeney has contorting his characters into a whole host of hilarious, yet still uncomfortable, situations. It isn’t a mystery, as the audience is clued in quite early, though “Twinless” still gets plenty of mileage from watching certain characters begin to piece together what is happening. The film could be mistaken as cringe comedy, but it’s much more than that, and Sweeney never lets the film’s delightful twists overtake the emotion at the root of the movie.

On a formal level, there are also some fun uses of split screen that show the diverging paths of characters before they come back together again. Sweeney excels at marrying style with character.

When the film reaches its inevitable breaking point, the movie that started coming to mind most was the late, great Lynn Shelton’s Sundance classic “Humpday.” Even as “Twinless” is not quite as simultaneously audacious and thoughtful as that, the scenes in the confines of Seattle hotel rooms where the two men finally begin to open up to each other shares a similar unpredictable, intimate energy.

The film never gets bogged down in its more starkly depressing elements, with Sweeney remaining light on his comedic feet in everything from a goofy movie he has his character watch to a killer final gag involving the cover of a children’s book. But it also hits on something bittersweet in the last lines that provide a cathartic little button to the whole affair.

“Twinless” is a sales title at Sundance.  

Check out all our Sundance coverage here

The post ‘Twinless’ Review: Dylan O’Brien and James Sweeney Are a Great Duo in Delightfully Diabolical Dramedy appeared first on TheWrap.

“Jimpa,” the latest film from “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” director Sophie Hyde, does this about as fully as one could ever hope to do. In a script Hyde wrote with her “52 Tuesdays” co-writer Matthew Cormack, we are taken fully into the world of Jim (aka Jimpa), played by John Lithgow, and his daughter Hannah, played by Olivia Colman, as they try to navigate their respective lives. Jim is a gay man who left Hannah and her mother when she was a child and she is now attempting to make a film about him while also raising her own child Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde), who is nonbinary.

As they all spend time together in the beauty of Amsterdam, the love they have for each other comes crashing into the lingering tension that Hannah has spent most of her adult life attempting to not just process, but speak openly about. 

The result is a film that’s not just incisive and compassionate, but fully attuned to the rhythms of this modern family. Conversations around queerness, polyamory and sexuality take place throughout in ways that embrace their complexity rather than shy away from them. In a world that seeks not just to repress such conversations but target those who have them, it is as refreshing as it is essential to see a film tackling them with such frankness.

As we hear them talk with radical openness about some things, Hyde pulls off a delicate balancing act where we come to see that there is also much that they are not yet fully able to talk through. It’s a film built around such conversations and our desire for connection that may be a little fragmented at times but cuts deep all the same.

Just as last year’s Sundance saw the excellent film “A Real Pain” capture the delicate relationship between two cousins, this one sees its own messy family trying to open up to each other and make sense of the pain they’re feeling before it’s all too late. It earns every emotion and then some, breaking the heart open with such breathtaking truthfulness that you get bowled over just before you land softly in its final frames. That it is also a film partly about its very construction only makes it all the more wonderfully rich to experience. 

Premiering Thursday at Sundance, “Jimpa” begins with Hannah and Frances talking about Jim. The former is doing so as part of a pitch about the film she wants to make about her father, and the latter is doing so for a class presentation. Both are earnestly passionate and clearly love him, though there is still a sense that we are hearing a possibly rosy portrait of the man. Critically, this earnestness must not be mistaken for complete honesty.

Instead, as Hyde gently teases out, we realize that Hannah in particular is invested in not expressing anger or even conflict about her father. This results in a humorous opening conversation about how all dramas must contain some element of conflict, but “Jimpa” doesn’t just use this for jokes. It is also flagging up to us that the film we are watching is about someone attempting to reckon with their past and the challenges of making art that can do full justice to this. That it does so within some of the familiar narrative beats of the family dramedy is part of its potency. Not only does Hyde remain aware of how the overly saccharine version of this film could go, she holds it up to the light in order to see all the ways the narratives we fall back on may actually be hiding critical parts of the lives we lead. 

You see, Jim is a flawed man as well as a caring one. He fought for the civil rights of others, speaking out after being diagnosed with AIDS even as the world was fighting him at every turn. And he has tried to continue doing so even in his older age. He is also egotistical, selfish and occasionally cruel, especially when he doesn’t always listen to others.

Lithgow, all tattooed up and often bearing his body in addition to his soul, is terrific at capturing all the seemingly contradictory yet completely authentic layers of the man. He is capable of turning a scene on its head with such withering charm and conviction that you go along with it until you realize just how hurtful he can be to the others around him. Alongside Colman, whose eyes contain entire worlds of tumultuous emotion in these scenes, we feel how it is the family has settled into this comfortable uncomfortableness. 

However, if there is a breakout star in the film, it is Aud Mason-Hyde. That they are the child of director Hyde only makes it all the more engaging as we can feel an extra sense of natural lived-in emotion in the way the scenes unfold. Even alongside heavy-hitters like Lithgow and Colman, it is remarkable how effortlessly Mason-Hyde holds their own. In many ways, their scenes are what bring everything out that the adults are looking away from. Even when there are some conversations amongst the older generation that can feel a little clunky in how they underline what they are saying, it is Mason-Hyde who brings us into the more complicated gray areas that are necessary to understanding what “Jimpa” is attempting to grapple with. For all the joy that Frances discovers in the city and the desire they have to move away from home in order to find community, we see in their eyes how life is not always so simple. When tragedy does inevitably arise, it makes the quiet and often unspoken details of their performance all the more impactful.  

As we see in the hands of cinematographer Matthew Chuang, who previously shot the gorgeous “You Won’t Be Alone,” the past and present are always crashing together. It is in these striking juxtapositions that the lives of all the characters come into greater focus. There is pain in how they are intercut into the present, but there is also a captivating quality to them that only cinema can provide. At times, it even recalls the shattering way director Barry Jenkins captured the various characters in his astounding adaptation “If Beale Street Could Talk.”

With that being said, there is still much that Hyde uncovers that she can call her own in her directing. The way moments will linger and intersect takes the breath away just as they never feel like they are overdone. It’s all one would hope a film like this to be: honest, bittersweet and true. In the end, whether Hannah the character is able to make her film, Hyde has done so herself in beautiful fashion.

The post ‘Jimpa’ Review: Olivia Colman and John Lithgow Soar in Beautiful, Bittersweet Drama appeared first on TheWrap.

“My goodness, that chair is gorgeous,” we hear via playful, often poetic, narration by Melanie Griffith before we cut to a sad little meal being shared by Camille, played by a fantastic and committed Juliette Lewis, plus her two friends. The voiceover shifts into being biting as the camera notably pulls away. Gone is Griffith’s effusive affection and in its place is a more oddly wistful sadness. 

In terms of all the memorable ways films have opened, this doesn’t sound like it would be that meaningful of a way to do so, but my goodness is it. It’s gleefully silly without overselling itself while laying the seeds for a humorous yet heartfelt juxtaposition between the life being led by Camille and the chair at the furniture showroom. If this sounds ridiculous, it’s just the wondrous beginning to the journey Kramer takes us on — one where Camille, after attempting to buy the chair, does the next best thing: become the furniture herself. Rather than serve as a shallowly classical body swap story that provides a moral lesson about her growing to appreciate the life she had, the aftermath of this decision is more thematically complicated and engaging. It’s also sincere, tapping into anxieties about being not just liked or even loved, but truly seen. 

You see, rather than despise her confinement, Camille’s lonely existence becomes infinitely better. The people around her love her far more when she is nothing but a chair. 

Premiering Thursday at Sundance, this is the first film Kramer has shown at the festival and it also feels like the one she’s spent her whole career building up to. Rather than compromise her ideas that she’s explored with spirited, if sometimes a little scattered, verve in past works, she deepens the emotions she’s tapping into just as she dives further and further into absurdity. Merging a somewhat similar visual style to “Please Baby Please” with the thorny introspective elements of the smaller-scale “Pity Me,” it’s not just her funniest film yet, but also her best. 

Set in only a handful of locations, all are shot with maximum creativity and an eye for whimsical compositions by cinematographer Patrick Meade Jones, who has worked on all of Kramer’s previous narrative features. As it traces the path Camille takes in her newfound existence as a chair, she discovers something oddly liberating in the change that is also not to last.

Initially, she is bought as a gift for Olivier, played by a magnificent Mamoudou Athie, who is living a lonely life of his own but also becomes infatuated with her in chair form. He takes her to a dinner party and must fight off the other attendees from getting their hands on her. The expressions that Athie makes in this scene and his repeated outbursts of “No!” are a riot, though the actor never descends into relying on one-note gags.

Instead, he takes part in a variety of eerie dance numbers, both with others that seem to come from his subconscious and by himself with Camille/the chair being rapidly cut between, as well as an uproarious sequence surrounding an awkward photo shoot being done for a magazine. It’s strange in an intentionally stilted fashion. Critically, the cast approaches their parts with the seriousness necessary to pull the cocktail of silliness and sincerity off. It will alienate some, but that’s also what makes it work. 

At the center of this is Lewis, whose every rhythmic line delivery, desperate expression, and eventual scream is operating on the precise wavelength that the film needs. It’s all ludicrous in snapshots, but the full picture that lurks underneath is one of discontentment. The film lays this out in both the narration that interjects throughout and the commitment that Lewis brings to the part. This includes her spending a significant portion of the film playing the chair as Camille, as the swap involves the furniture taking over her body, meaning she doesn’t move or speak. If this sounds like it’d distance you from her character, the opposite that ends up happening. Even as there is one darker scene in the middle that sends the film teetering a bit, it’s everything that surrounds it which proves to be unexpectedly yet richly saddening and silly to sort through. 

While she has never been one to shy away from what are often impenetrable narratives about troubled people struggling to connect, “By Design” is the one that brings it all together in the most potent package. The film’s final fleeting lines underline this perfectly, making it land with an unexpected gut punch as you get one last look at Camille, back alone all over again.

We feel all the pieces Kramer has been designing for us falling into place one last dreamlike and despairing time, echoing where we began in a lonely showroom with the spotlights coming down. All you need do is pull up a chair and take it all in.    

The post ‘By Design’ Review: Juliette Lewis and Mamoudou Athie Are a Joy in This Bold Body Swap Comedy appeared first on TheWrap.

Nearly all of her characters are shatteringly isolated, divided even in their faltering attempts at connection. But they are bound, at minimum, through a mystical deer created by a celebrated Chinese artist before he died. The deer sits at the center of a giant painting in a seedy Chongqing club, where strangers escape into virtual reality alone and together.

The club’s most popular VR world — called Luz, which means both “Light” and “Separation” — also involves the deer, who has to evade participants hunting it. Among the players is young camgirl Fa (En Xi Deng), whose livestreams are persistently interrupted by Wei (Xiao Dong Guo), a middle-aged man claiming to be her lost father. Since she won’t agree to meet him in real life, he has to learn how to seek her out in the game.

Meanwhile, the late artist’s lonely daughter, Ren (Sandrine Pinna), is in Hong Kong, until she gets a call that her former stepmother — her father’s equally creative ex-wife, Sabine (Isabelle Huppert) — is ailing. Somewhat reluctantly, she travels to France to help Sabine, only to be shocked when the patient wants no aid at all. Sabine’s plan, in fact, is to embrace life as wholeheartedly as she can, for as long as possible. Stubbornly refusing any attempts to curtail her active existence, she instead pulls Ren into the tactile delights of a Parisian artist: galleries and dances and gardens, music and food and adventures.

Lau (“Bends”) and her talented cinematographer, Benjamin Echazarreta (“A Fantastic Woman”), treat the screen like a canvas themselves, building layer upon layer to evoke multiple mediums. An electro-eerie score is the perfect match for Chongqing’s dark, neon-lit streets, which call to mind “Blade Runner” in their futuristic alienation.

But since “Luz” is, more than anything, a study in contrasts, Sabine’s Paris is as verdant and lush as Chongqing is stark and disaffected. The people we meet in her world are older and more engaged with their senses: individuals converse rather than text; pulsing techno gives way to sentimental French pop; the palate shifts from shades of black to vibrant color. As actors, Huppert and Pinna are both luminous. But while Sabine shines as if lit from within, Ren is dimmer, visibly lacking vitality even as her dynamic stepmother is the one living with a potentially fatal aneurism.

Because Lau is so intent on drawing distinctions between their ways of life, her script can occasionally feel black-and-white in its themes, too. And her artistic perspectives are idiosyncratic enough that we do notice when she lapses into clichéd terrain. Most of the time, though, she keeps us suspended in a state of awed anticipation. Even as her intentions are to nudge us back into real life, the images flickering on screen continue to hold us rapt.

The post ‘Luz’ Review: Flora Lau Conjures a Gorgeous Drama of Technology and Isolation appeared first on TheWrap.

Michelle Yeoh returns as Philippa Georgiou in “Star Trek: Section 31,” which was first announced back in October of last year, and when fans see her again, she’s taking on a new position. But more on that below.

Here’s everything you need to know about the latest “Star Trek” film.

When does it release?

“Star Trek: Section 31” comes out everywhere on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.

Is it streaming or in theaters?

This is a streaming release. You can find it over on Paramount+.

What is “Star Trek: Section 31” about?

In the movie, Michelle Yeoh reprises her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, who was first introduced in “Star Trek: Discovery,” as she joins a secret division of Starfleet. Per Paramount+’s official synopsis, “Tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, she also must face the sins of her past.”

Who else stars in the movie?

Alongside Michelle Yeoh is Omari Hardwick (“Power”), Emmy-winner Sam Richardson (“Ted Lasso”), Robert Kazinsky (“Pacific Rim”), Kacey Rohl (“Hannibal”), Sven Ruygrok (“One Piece”), James Hiroyuki Liao (“Barry”), Humberly Gonzalez (“Ginny & Georgia”) and Joe Pingue (“The Expanse”). Miku Martineau (“Kate”) plays the younger version of Philippa Georgiou.

Watch the trailer

The post Where to Watch ‘Star Trek: Section 31’: Is It Streaming? appeared first on TheWrap.

Since Lively accused Baldoni of improvising without an intimacy coordinator “physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed or discussed with [her]” and of coercing her into an unplanned nude scene back in late December, the two “It Ends With Us” stars have traded blows in the legal dust up. Lively’s lawyers hit a breaking point Tuesday when Baldoni released behind-the-scenes footage of the actors filming one of the scenes cited in the original complaint.

The letter argues that Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman violated the New York Rules of Professional Conduct by placing the dispute more directly in the public eye. It seeks to put an end to “their harassing and retaliatory media and online campaign.”

“Federal litigation must be conducted in court and according to the relevant rules of professional conduct,” the letter from Lively’s lawyers reads.

While the released letter isn’t seeking a blanket gag order on Baldoni and Freedman, they are trying to enforce rulings that state certain public statements that have a likelihood to prejudice a jury. They also are looking to prohibit the release of discovery materials in the case – which would have covered something like the BTS footage.

The released 10-minute clip is just the latest evidence Freedman has released to the press – along with interviews of his own – to refute the allegations levied at Baldoni. The footage, which all takes place during one romantic, dialogue-less dance scene, shows the two actors laughing and improvising small talk for various takes.

Lively’s legal team was quick to release a statement after the footage became public Tuesday, saying it was a “manufactured media stunt” that “corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.”

“This matter is in active litigation in federal court,” the statement continued. “Releasing this video to the media, rather than presenting it as evidence in court, is another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public.”

The release had the intended effect. Hosts like Megyn Kelly picked up the topic and broke it down on her eponymous show Wednesday. Kelly said it makes her believe Lively’s story less.

“I’m just saying this person is not an honest broker. I believe her less than ever. I actually disbelieve her fully now, and they should not be gagged,” Kelly said at the time. “I will happily participate in releasing any further leaks that they have, because the truth should be out there. What does she have to fear if she’s telling the truth?”

The post Blake Lively Seeks Justin Baldoni Gag Order to Halt ‘Retaliatory’ Public Campaign Amid ‘It Ends With Us’ Fallout appeared first on TheWrap.

Based on an original idea by the “Brat” singer, it will be the first project under her production company Studio365. Plot details about “The Moment” are being kept under wraps. 

Also producing is David Hinojosa of 2AM. Executive producers include Brandon Creed, Mikey Schwartz-Wright and Zach Nutman.

The film is the feature directorial debut of Aidan Zamiri, with a screenplay written by Zamiri and Bertie Brandes. Charli’s frequent collaborator A. G. Cook will compose the score.

A24 will handle the global release of the film.

Charli XCX was also previously announced to co-star in two upcoming feature film projects: “Faces of Death” for Legendary and the Gregg Araki thriller “I Want Your Sex.”

Of course, Charli is no stranger to the world of film. Among other things, she contributed the song “Speed Drive” on the “Barbie” soundtrack, used in a key sequence, and co-composed the score to “Bottoms.” She also wrote songs with Jack Antonoff for A24’s upcoming “Mother Mary” from filmmaker David Lowery and is writing music for the upcoming A24 series “Overcompensating,” which will debut on Prime Video (she’s also executive producing). She’s also contributed to the soundtracks for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1,” “The Fault in Our Stars” and (quite memorably) “Bodies Bodies Bodies.”

Charli is represented by CAA, Good World and Project Gold.

The post Charli XCX to Star In and Produce ‘The Moment’ at A24 appeared first on TheWrap.

As a PBS American Masters portrait designed to celebrate Matlin’s accomplishments, “Not Alone Anymore” can’t really be called a traditional documentary. Matlin chose first-time director Shoshannah Stern herself (they worked together on the Sundance Now series “This Close”), and the connection between them is evident. Though this obviously precludes a lack of neutral distance, it also opens up space for Matlin to share her story with unguarded intimacy.

And what a story it turns out to be. Matlin lost her hearing as a toddler — no one knew exactly why — and her parents took the traditional approach at the time: encouraging her to live, as much as possible, as though she hadn’t.

As a result, she had one foot in two worlds but her full self in neither. She felt left out in her family, and lacked the community that other kids found in Deaf spaces. There was one exception, though, and that was in the acting program at the International Center on Deafness and the Arts. Eventually, she was cast in Randa Haines’ film “Children of a Lesser God,” about a Deaf woman and the hearing teacher (William Hurt) who pushes her to speak.

Matlin opens up in “Not Alone Anymore” (as she did in her 2009 memoir, “I’ll Scream Later”) about her on- and off-screen relationships with her late co-star, Hurt. She was 19 and he was 35, and their two-year affair was marked by his repeated emotional and physical abuse. She was both the first Deaf performer to win an Oscar and the youngest woman to win Best Actress. But when we rewatch her historic night now, annotated by her own memories, it feels palpably different than it did at the time. Today, we notice her discomfort when she hesitantly takes the trophy from Hurt, and can see how young she really is as the media immediately drops public responsibility for the Deaf community onto her slim shoulders.

Many of Matlin’s recollections take place as she sits comfortably on her couch with Stern, who is also Deaf, the two of them signing in screen-captioned American Sign Language without an interpreter. Their non-mediated ASL is so seamlessly presented that it becomes one of several elements to drive home how essential representation really is. In both contemporary interviews and past clips, we see people talking about the doors Matlin opened for them as an actor and celebrity, an award winner and an outspoken advocate of Deaf rights. (There was no closed captioning on most movies or TV shows before her public push.)

Matlin is a thoughtful, funny and intense presence, and therefore a fantastic interview. But Stern also makes excellent use of her co-workers, family and friends — including Aaron Sorkin, an inspired choice to discuss the subtleties of language; her “CODA” co-star Troy Kotsur, who looked to Matlin when he became the second Deaf actor to earn an Oscar; and longtime friend Henry Winkler, whose unshakable support from her earliest years reinforces his status as a Hollywood hero.

Stern, who is seen crying on camera more than once, makes no attempt to achieve objectivity, nor does a project like this require it. This is, in fact, the sort of celebratory personal retrospective that is often created for people much older than Matlin (who is 59, and radiates with ageless energy). Much of the structure is unsurprising; interspersed with her stories and old media clips are a lot of admirers, who enthusiastically share the many ways in which she changed the world. But their case is strong, and the stories worth telling. It’s a testament to both Stern and her subject that we leave already anticipating the chapters still to come.

The post ‘Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore’ Review: An Unguarded Portrait of a Groundbreaking Talent appeared first on TheWrap.

The new haunted house thriller from director Steven Soderbergh and writer David Koepp, who last collaborated on 2022’s pandemic-era thriller “KIMI,” stars Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan (who starred in Soderbergh’s brilliant, short-lived period medical drama “The Knick”) and Callina Liang, with a notably chaotic cameo from Julia Fox as a realtor. It premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival to a rapturous response and is now ready for consumption by the masses.

But how do you watch “Presence” anyway? Read on to find out.

When does “Presence” come out?

“Presence” will be released on Jan. 24.

Is “Presence” streaming or in theaters?

“Presence” is being released theatrically by Neon. That’s a good thing. This is the kind of movie you want to see with a bunch of strangers. You can all partake in the symphony of screams!

Who is in the “Presence” cast?

Sullivan, Liu and Liang are the main players in “Presence,” along with the aforementioned Fox appearance, which is worth the price of admission alone. This is a very small, contained movie with a very small, contained cast.

What is “Presence” about?

“Presence” follows a family who has just moved into a beautiful craftsman house. But almost from the day they put their stuff down, there seems to be an otherworldly spirit present. The family’s teenage daughter (Liang) seems particularly in tune with the presence. But why? What is the ghost trying to tell her? And should she heed its warnings?

What makes “Presence” so unique?

Well, what makes “Presence” interesting is that, yes, it is a haunted house movie and, yes, each of the family members have their own issues and secrets. These things we have seen before, in movies ranging from “Poltergeist” to “Insidious.” But what makes “Presence” unique is the fact that it is told from the ghost’s point-of-view, meaning the camera drifts around the house, spying on the family members and generally making itself known. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before in the genre – or anywhere else, really.

Does Steven Soderbergh have anything else coming out soon?

He does! Soderbergh has the upcoming spy thriller “Black Bag” starring Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Pierce Brosnan and Regé-Jean Page. It comes out on March 14, courtesy of Focus Features. We’ll be back soon to tell you about that one, no doubt. And he’s currently in production on “The Christophers,” a dark comedy written by Ed Solomon and starring Ian McKellen, James Corden and Michaela Coel. We wouldn’t be surprised, given the filmmaker’s speed, to see that before the end of the year as well.

Watch the “Presence” trailer:

The post How to Watch ‘Presence:’ Is Steven Soderbergh’s Haunted House Movie Streaming? appeared first on TheWrap.

On Instagram, the actor-producer shared he was inspired to bring “Fast & Furious” back to the West Coast in a phone call with longtime co-star Jordana Brewster, who plays the on-screen sister to Diesel’s “Fast” hero Dominic Toretto.

“Last week, during the fires that displaced L.A., my sister Jordana reached out to me and said, ‘Please have Universal film the rest of “Fast X: Part 2″ in LA. Los Angeles needs it now more than ever,'” Diesel wrote. “Los Angeles is where ‘Fast and Furious’ started filming 25 years ago … and now ‘Fast’ will finally return home. All love.”

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“Fast X: Part 2” will be the continuation of 2023’s “Fast X,” which featured the “Fast & Furious” debut of Jason Momoa as the villainous Dante Reyes. The 10th film further broadened the franchise’s global scope by shooting in Rome, London, Lisbon and Turin, as well as Los Angeles. According to Diesel, its sequel will now make a pointed effort to return to its hometown, where 2001’s “The Fast and the Furious” was almost entirely shot and set.

As of now, it’s unclear when “Fast X: Part 2” will hit theaters in 2026 or how much of it will ultimately be set in Los Angeles. The announcement came at a time when questions hang in the air about production schedules, jobs and many residents’ futures in the city. Whether or not other productions will follow in the footsteps of “Fast X: Part 2” and go out of their way to bring jobs back to the city in the coming months remains to be seen.

Diesel and Brewster aren’t the only Hollywood figures who have taken action in response to L.A.’s recent wildfires, which have led to over 20 deaths and the destruction of thousands of homes. Several organizations and studios have already donated money to wildfire relief. Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg also contributed $5 million on Wednesday to the Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF), which is offering financial aid and other services to those who have been displaced or whose homes have been damaged by the fires.

The post Vin Diesel Says He Will Bring ‘Fast X: Part 2’ Production Back to LA in Response to Wildfires appeared first on TheWrap.