Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Monitor, WIRED’s entertainment news roundup. What’s happening this week? For one, Reed Hastings is taking a break from running Netflix to write a book about … Netflix. Also, Jennifer Lawrence is planning to warn Earth of its impending doom. Kinda. Let’s get started.
Jennifer Lawrence Will Play an Astronomer for Netflix
If Jennifer Lawrence told you the world was about to end, would you trust her? Well, you’re about to find out. The actress has signed on to star in Adam McKay’s upcoming film Don’t Look Up, in which she’ll play one of two astronomers who set out to warn the world that an asteroid is about to destroy the planet. The film, which McKay is writing and directing, will debut on Netflix later this year. “I’m so thrilled to make this movie with Jen Lawrence,” the Big Short director told Variety. “She’s what folks in the 17th century used to call ‘a dynamite act.’ And the fact that Netflix sees this movie as a worldwide comedy sets the bar high for me and my team in an exciting and motivating way.”
The New Trailer for Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories
OK, so, the new trailer for Amazing Stories doesn’t really reveal a whole lot, other than that the Apple TV+ show will have five stories and they will, allegedly, be amazing. That said, based on the fact that it’s a reboot of Steven Spielberg’s series of same name that aired on NBC in the 1980s, it will likely dip its toes into sci-fi, action, fantasy, and horror. The show will premiere on March 6.
Reed Hastings Is Releasing a Book About Netflix
Exactly what goes on at Netflix has always been something of a mystery. But on May 12, Reed Hastings will open that box just a little bit with the release of No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention. The book, cowritten with Erin Meyer, who wrote 2014’s The Culture Map, will reveal “for the first time the unorthodox culture behind one of the world’s most innovative, imaginative, and successful companies,” according to the publisher, Penguin Random House. Don’t worry, if you don’t want to pay for it you can surely borrow a friend’s copy.
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