Emma Stefansky

Carrie Fisher’s General-Princess Leia Organa was such an iconic character, J.J. Abrams knew he had to bring her back for the new trilogy. We knew that she had been cast in Episode VIII, and with her passing today, some wondered whether she had completed all of her production as Leia before her heart attack. But an official from Lucasfilm assured us today that all of her scenes were “absolutely wrapped.”

It’s the holiday season, which means cozying up with family to It’s a Wonderful Life for the umpteenth year in a row, or giving and receiving presents from loved ones, or trawling the internet looking for “Happy Holidays!” tweets from your favorite Hollywood celebrities. Yesterday, the cast of the new Baywatch movie, all decked out in seasonally appropriate Santa hats and mistletoe accessories, posted a special Christmas message to their fans.

Most people who know of J.A. Bayona know him from The Orphanage, which was the first film of his to get really big in the U.S. It probably helped that it was a horror film, and that it was produced by Guillermo del Toro, but Bayona is still relatively unknown. That’s all going to change as soon as Jurassic World 2 hits theaters, and he knows it. Colin Trevorrow took on the first Jurassic World after his indie Safety Not Guaranteed made a big splash, and now he’ll be in charge of Star Wars: Episode IX. Bayona’s A Monster Calls is about to open in American theaters within the next few weeks, and he’s excited about his blooming prospects, saying that he’s ready to take on a big blockbuster.

When it comes to making “true story” movies, there’s always a certain sense of pressure on everyone involved to be as true to the real events as the movie allows. That’s what Mark Wahlberg and co. were most concerned with when it came to making Patriots Day, but it appears their attempt to “do it right” still left some people in the dust. Now, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow Katherine Russell says that the movie’s portrayal of her is unjust and “unfair.”