Latest news with #JohnCho
Gizmodo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘Murderbot' Uses the Fake TV Series Trope So Perfectly
If you've been watching Murderbot on Apple TV+—and if you haven't, time to get started; episode four drops Friday!—you've no doubt picked up on one of the main character's most charming quirks: it's addicted to the galaxy's trashiest TV. That might seem like an unlikely time-waster for a self-aware security robot that's secretly hacked its consciousness and gained free will. But Murderbot's SecUnit loves nothing more than using its high-tech capabilities to consume thousands of hours of sci-fi soap operas, especially The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. It's a trait written into the Martha Wells source novel All Systems Red, the first of her Murderbot Diaries series, but the Apple TV+ show has had a delightful time expanding that part of the story so far. The show-within-a-show features some recognizable faces from other genre shows (including Star Trek's John Cho and Agents of SHIELD's Clark Gregg, deliberate casting choices). And while Sanctuary Moon's neon-drenched space travels are far campier than Murderbot's day-to-day routine alongside a human survey team on a desolate planet, the fictional hijinks seen on Sanctuary Moon actually influence the character in making some high-stakes choices. The shows it binges—it's also a fan of other titles, including World Hoppers, Med Center Argala, and Strife in the Galaxy, which it deems 'not premium quality like Sanctuary Moon, but still fun'—also help shape Murderbot's perspective on humans, as well as its interactions with them. Even those on his team who don't openly disdain Sanctuary Moon would be surprised to realize how often he peppers lines from the show into conversations. Though in-universe TV shows are used to particularly good effect on Murderbot, the use of a 'show within a show' in tandem with the main narrative is a familiar trope. It's fun to be fans of characters who also happen to be huge fans of things—think Community's knowingly blatant Doctor Who rip-off, Inspector Spacetime. Good-natured self-parody is welcome, too, like when Stargate SG-1 went behind the scenes of Wormhole X-Treme!, a suspiciously familiar series created by a former Stargate operative who'd had his memory (mostly) erased. On Twin Peaks, most TVs were tuned into Invitation to Love, an exaggerated version of the sort of nighttime soap opera Twin Peaks used as its own foundational springboard. There can also be fake TV shows that exist to remind you how great it is that they don't actually exist. Black Mirror's season six episode 'Joan Is Awful' followed a woman who realizes her rather unexciting life is being made into a TV show against her wishes—then discovered she's wrapped up in a simulation with so many layers it's hard to see where reality actually starts and ends. Similarly, Channel Zero's first season, Candle Cove, concerned a long-forgotten kid's program that broadcasts its way into reality to torment its former viewers as troubled adults. Fake TV shows have also made their way into movies, with Galaxy Quest representing maybe the greatest and funniest example of sci-fi fandom taken to the extreme. The 1999 cult comedy imagines a Star Trek-like show that aliens misinterpret as being real life, leading them to enlist its aging, disgruntled stars to help them fight an intergalactic battle. Hilarity ensues, as do some very unlikely heroics. Last year, another exploration of just how large a single TV show can loom came in I Saw the TV Glow, an eerie fantasy about two friends who bond over their obsession with eerie fantasy series The Pink Opaque. The events of the show come to influence and infiltrate their adult lives, and the end result explores not just the magic of fandom, but also how the strong grip of nostalgia can become twisted into something uneasy and dangerous. Murderbot doesn't dig that deeply. It's focused on entertaining the hell out of you, and in that it succeeds. But there's more to The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon than gaudy costumes and facial hair. It adds some welcome visual texture to a show that spends a lot of time inside its main character's mind. It's a reminder to ignore anyone who snarks on the stuff you happen to like. And it's a testament to the power of sci-fi, made even more enjoyable when a sci-fi character is also a sci-fi fan. To quote Sanctuary Moon: 'Boldness is all!' Murderbot drops new episodes Fridays on Apple TV+.
USA Today
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
John Cho's cheesy Captain has space fling in 'Murderboat' soap opera 'Sanctuary Moon'
John Cho's cheesy Captain has space fling in 'Murderboat' soap opera 'Sanctuary Moon' 'The Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moon' is the bad show within Apple TV+ series 'Murderbot' Show Caption Hide Caption 'Murderbot' has John Cho, Clark Gregg, DeWanda Wise: 'Sanctuary Moon' John Cho, DeWanda Wise, Jack McBrayer and Clark Gregg star in "Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moon," the cheesy show within Apple TV+ series "Murderbot." There were a few caveats to the swaggering starship captain role offered to John Cho, who played Starfleet officer Hikaru Sulu in three "Star Trek" movies. First, Cho's captain would appear in "The Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moon," an over-the-top sci-fi soap opera that takes place entirely within the Apple TV+ action comedy series "Murderbot" (new episode streaming May 23). The tawdry soap is the favorite show consumed by the titular trash-TV-loving security robot, Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård). Second, he would lead a ridiculous crew, including a wildly wigged Navigation Officer (Jack McBrayer) and an insanely mutton-chopped Lieutenant (Clark Gregg) who accuses his leader of sleeping with an iridescent Navigation Unit (DeWanda Wise). Still, Cho was compelled to board the project with his longtime "American Pie" collaborators Chris and Paul Weitz. "It was framed like I would be the captain in a soap opera that Murderbot is obsessed with," says Cho. "I said, 'It's just so stupid, I have to do it.' Stupid is one of my highest compliments, by the way." Alexander Skarsgård's 'Murderbot' role Full body waxing was a 'completely stupid choice' in preparation Stupid is what Cho boldly does in "Sanctuary Moon," after joining his new crew on the Toronto "Murderbot" set to shoot the separate drama. Wise, who starred in "Fatherhood" with the Weitz brothers, brought her soap opera love and obsession of shows-within-shows to play the mysterious Navigation Unit. "My 'Sanctuary Moon' joke was, 'I'm still a lead character, right? I'm just a lead character in this show within the show,' " says Wise. Wise planned to go campy full-robot for the mysterious bot character. But the "She's Gotta Have It" star found out that she would be uttering lines like, "I'm a navigation unit, not a sex-bot" with a sense of forlornness. "They were like, 'We're gonna play it for real and sincerely, with sprinkles of comedy,'" says Wise, who tried to keep a straight face during interstellar emoting. "All of these guys are so funny that 89% of the job was not ruining the take by laughing. It was like, don't be the one." The space soap opera is mentioned in the source material, Martha Wells' popular sci-fi series "The Murderbot Diaries," But "Murderbot" creators fleshed the concept out for a twisted multi-episode space adventure that veers immediately off-kilter with the affair accusation. The madness continues to spin out of control in further "Sanctuary Moon" episodes throughout the "Murderbot" series. It turns out the rakish Captain can spout inspirational lines like "Boldness is on!" and enjoy cocktails later, not to mention partaking in an anti-regulation affair. Cho insisted on eyeliner, and that's his own hair. "There was spray, there was gook, it got volumnized," says Cho. "They went big." But not as big as the performance. "We weren't asking John to act badly," says executive producer Paul Weitz. "We just asked him to emote beyond the realms of what most people think is good. And he did that very well." Skarsgård insisted that his longtime friend McBrayer take the project. "Yeah, that's my fault," the Swedish actor admits. "We thought it would be fun." McBrayer gamely agreed to don the "birds nest of a wig" on the multi-colored set he says "looks like a confetti cannon threw up." He let the proposed idea of adding a face tattoo die for practicality's sake (too long in the makeup chair). The "30 Rock" actor appreciated how soap opera impacts Murderbot, who begins saying lines like "Boldness is on!" "Murderbot absorbs the ridiculous 'Sanctuary Moon' dialog and interactions and incorporates them," says McBrayer. "Just like people are learning how to behave based on TikTok trends." Cho, who insists his "Star Trek" movie captain Chris Pine is "most likely blissfully unaware" of his project, loved the fromage fest. He's not just hoping for a "Murderbot" Season 2 and more episodes (which Apple has not greenlit yet). Cho wants a full-on "Sanctuary Moon" show. "My wife tells me that I have a real soft spot for performances that other people call cheesy," says Cho. "From Day 1, I kept telling the Weitzs to please let me do this show somewhere. That was just too much fun."
Vogue
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
With Poker Face Season 2, Natasha Lyonne Gets Philosophical
I can hear Natasha Lyonne well before I see her. 'This jacket is maybe the craziest jacket I've ever worn in my life,' she shouts, her New York-accented rasp carrying over the din of the Poker Face set. 'I feel like an Oompa Loompa that is also Ray Liotta in Goodfellas in this outfit! Because of the starch!' It's a drizzly day in late November, and Lyonne is filming the eighth episode in Poker Face's second season with John Cho on a cavernous Brooklyn soundstage. As the two reset for another take, Lyonne comments that she wishes a stack of prop money had more movement. 'They don't quite fan in the way I was hoping,' she says. From his director chair behind the monitor, Tony Tost, the season's showrunner, remarks that Lyonne 'thinks like a director.' (Indeed, the actor is involved on every level of the process, with executive producing, writing, and directing credits to her list of accomplishments.) Poker Face is a collaboration between Lyonne and Knives Out impresario Rian Johnson. The weekly Colombo-esque whodunnit follows Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a woman whose uncanny ability to spot a lie routinely gets her in trouble. When we last saw Charlie, she'd solved her best friend's murder (which served as the first season's through line) and evaded the shady casino manager, played by Adrien Brody, who tried to have her killed. This season continues the murder-of-the-week format, with Charlie facing off with everyone from an evil quintuplet to a wicked elementary schooler—all while fleeing a crime syndicate called the Five Families.
