bright

Netflix has officially greenlighted a sequel to their recent fantasy cop movie ‘Bright’.  Stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton will both return, as will director David Ayer.  Ayer will also assume scripting duties, as Max Landis, who wrote the first, will not be back.  Ayer has previously written and directed his projects ‘Fury’ and ‘End of Watch’ so having him scribe this film is not entirely unusual.  Although ‘Bright’ was critically trashed, apparently enough viewers streamed the film for Netflix to order a second, making this the streaming service’s first film franchise.

Photo credit: Jaguar PS / Shutterstock.com

To clarify, there was no reason given as to why Landis would not pen the sequel.  He may be uninterested.  There could be creative differences.

But this follows a massive string of accusations on social media accusing him of sexual assault, abuse and of simply being an asshole.  (If you’ve ever heard this guy talk, that last one is simply a fact.)  At this point, these are simply unsubstantiated accusations, but the sheer volume of them calls to mind the old adage “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”  And there’s a lot of freakin’ smoke surrounding Landis.

Moreso than his scripts, Landis is a prolific writer of tweets, but his normally nonstop Twitter account has been silent since December 22, shortly before the release of ‘Bright’.

Netflix has already severed ties with actor Kevin Spacey and comedian Louie C.K. after similar sexual abuse allegations.  Spacey will not appear in the upcoming final season of ‘House of Cards’, Netflix’s first major original success, which earned two Emmys, including one for Spacey himself.  Netflix previously offered several stand-up specials by C.K. as well as episodes of his TV series ‘Louie’.  Both were scrubbed by the service after accusations arose.

In light of the MANY accusations levied against Landis, it would be true-to-form for Netflix to insist that he not be involved with the sequel.

Just for reference, here are a few tweets against Landis:’

 

 

 


 

The last post indicates that the stories of Landis’ conduct have been out there for MANY years.  The same was true of Harvey Weinstein, Brett Ratner, Bryan Singer, Spacey and C.K. as well as many of the others that have recently come under fire.

As for Landis, his script for ‘Deeper’ is currently in pre-production with Gal Gadot and Bradley Cooper attached to star and Kornél Mundruczó (‘Jupiter’s Moon’) signed on to direct.  It was also announced that he would direct a remake of ‘An American Werewolf In London’.  The 1982 original was written and directed by his father John Landis, who was also attached to co-write the remake.  It’s unclear if any of these projects will be impacted by these recent allegations.  His BBC America series ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ was recently cancelled.

We will provide more updates on the ‘Bright’ sequel as information surfaces.

Source: The Mary Sue