As we delve deeper into the summer-movie season, it seems like a good time to look back on the year so far in movies and highlight the most memorable ones. 

Box-office performance doesn't always dictate if a movie is good. Some of the titles below didn't make a huge killing at the multiplex, but there's a good chance that you'll be talking about them long after this year is over. And the early part of 2017 has had some surprising bright spots.

From studio giants like "The Fate of the Furious" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2," to indies including "Colossal" and "T2: Trainspotting," here are the 11 best movies of the year... so far:

SEE ALSO: 35 movies coming out this summer that you need to see

11. “Colossal”

Writer-director Nacho Vigalondo's unique mix of comedy, social commentary, and sci-fi is given its biggest exposure yet thanks to the casting of stars Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis for his latest movie. "Colossal" explores the dangers of alcoholism as Vigalondo puts Hathaway front and center playing a party girl who suddenly realizes she's controlling a giant that's destroying Seoul. Sudeikis is her old friend who is also her evil enabler. If you're seeking something different from a movie, this is it.

10. “T2: Trainspotting”

I know what you're thinking: Why the hell would anyone make a sequel to "Trainspotting"? But give this a chance if you haven't yet. Director Danny Boyle along with Ewan McGregor and the rest of the original cast from the landmark first movie deliver an impressive sequel that offers a new story but still celebrates the things we loved about the first one.

9. “The Lego Batman Movie”

Filled with the clever fun that made 2014's "The Lego Movie" a hit, this one has the added bonus of throwing in great Batman jokes as well. 

Danny McBride is best known for his foul-mouthed, egomaniac Kenny Powers, the character he played for four seasons on the HBO series "Eastbound & Down." But there's a lot more to McBride than raunchy one-liners and an incredible head of hair. And audiences are going to realize that very soon.

First, McBride will show his action-hero chops in Ridley Scott's "Alien: Covenant" (opening Friday), in which he plays Tennessee, the pilot of the colony ship Covenant. He gives an impressive dramatic performance on top of kicking some alien butt. Then through his production company Rough House Pictures, he's directing episodes of HBO's "Vice Principals" (season two premieres later this year) and currently writing the screenplay for a "Halloween" reboot he's making with director David Gordon Green ("Pineapple Express") and producer Jason Blum ("Get Out,""Split").

McBride talked to Business Insider about his evolving career and why we will never see a Kenny Powers movie.

Jason Guerrasio: Did getting cast in "Alien: Covenant" start with Ridley reaching out to you?

Danny McBride: Yeah. I got a call that Ridley wanted to meet. At the time my agent was a little coy about it and didn't really say what it was in reference to. So being a humongous fan of Ridley's since I can remember, being able to sit down with him was a no-brainer. So we just started talking about the directors we like and then he suddenly pulled this giant book with sketches of giant spaceships and I just lost my sh--. I just had to pull everything in and act like I was totally cool with it, but I wasn't, I was screaming inside. I just couldn't believe it, I was like, he's talking to me about "Alien"! I was just excited that it sounded like he was going to make another "Alien" and then I was like, "Oh, you're considering me for it?" So he cast me in it. It's surreal. Never in a million years would I ever imagine ever showing up in a Ridley Scott movie, especially a Ridley Scott "Alien" movie.

Guerrasio: Did you say to him you didn't want to be the comic relief in the movie or was that not a concern of yours?

McBride: That conversation didn't come up and and he immediately came to me with the role before I saw the script. I just assumed he's going to give me a script and watch it be basically a Kenny Powers character, but then when I actually saw the script and what he wanted me to do, I was excited. It's not like I didn't know that I could work in a movie like that, but the idea that someone like Ridley Scott believed that I could, that was awesome.

Guerrasio: Did the Tennessee role change through making it?

McBride: What you see on-screen is very similar to what was on the page. The script was just so well-written. This is one of the few films I've been on that the final cut really reflects the script. It's not like there's a bunch of stuff left on the cutting-room floor, they just really knew what they were doing.

Guerrasio: Was the hat your idea?

McBride: The hat was Ridley's idea. He talked about that very early on and he wanted it to be an homage to some of the things in "Dr. Strangelove."

Guerrasio: Seriously?

McBride: It was crazy because the hat had a professional wrangler on the set. The person would sit there on set and made sure the hat was folded properly.

Guerrasio: You've been on big films before, but this must have been an experience to live through just because of its scope.

McBride: I went to film school and making movies has been a real passion of mine. I've been really fortunate that the acting career has been able to give me a front-row seat for all sorts of productions and directors and people I've admired, so every movie I act in I'm always excited by how things unfold. But a movie like this with this level of set design and spaceships and visual effects, you just look back and take it all in. I mean, that cargo mover I'm on at one point in the movie, when I came to the set they built that ship for real and had it on a 50-foot gimbal that went up and down and shook, it was awesome. I was strapped into that thing for a week and it was like you were riding an amusement-park ride all day long. [Laughs] I mean, the production design of the Covenant bridge, it was insane and it just screams Ridley Scott and the original "Alien."

Guerrasio: And they even built an alien to chase you guys so you weren't just acting across from a tennis ball that would become a monster in postproduction. There was something really chasing you.

McBride: For sure. In fact, they had a 6'5" contortionist with an alien costume on doing crazy alien crawls and sh--. It was fun. They would say, "Here comes the alien," and you would look up and yeah, it was there. It struck fear in your heart. [Laughs]

Guerrasio: Can any of that trickle down to what you, David Gordon Green, and Jody Hill do on the shows and movies you make with your production company Rough House Pictures?

McBride: It always trickles down. You would be a fool not to take the things you see and how you see guys like Ridley Scott working and apply that to what you do in your life. I think how much fun I had on something like "Alien" and being on the set where people are getting killed and you see Ridley getting excited over the gore, watching that I just thought to myself David is going to love getting dark like this for "Halloween."

Guerrasio: You originally wanted to get into this business as a writer-director. You finally have a directing credit on an episode of "Vice Principals" from last season. What finally led to you doing that?

McBride: Acting happened accidentally for me. We started out making low-budget independent films and we didn't have access to incredible actors so we settled on our friends sometimes and that got me into this. I was in LA quite a long time writing at night and waiting tables and doing PA jobs and doing camerawork and after "The Foot Fist Way" came out I started getting offers to act so it was a no-brainer to follow that path and see what happened. As the years went on, the acting took over and didn't allow time to direct things. Then on "Eastbound" I loved that collaboration with David and Jody so much that I never wanted to direct an episode. Kenny Powers is in every frame of that show and I just thought it was always better to have another voice of reason on the set and not make it some one man-driven thing. But when it came to do "Vice Principals," both those guys said, "You should direct some of this," so I had a blast doing it. I direct an episode in the second season and it definitely has sparked my interest back in directing and maybe pause on the acting and really get into it. So I'm trying to direct a feature next year and we'll see what happens.

Guerrasio: Something you've written?

McBride: Yeah.

Guerrasio: Is "Halloween" where your head is at right now?

McBride: Yeah, we're on that full-time. We're trying to shoot this fall so we're jamming away to continue this saga of Michael Myers.

Guerrasio: Would it be correct to say this is a continuation of "Halloween" and "Halloween II"?

McBride: Around that era, yeah. Definitely a continuation and a little bit of a reinvention, but it's like we're really trying to take it back to what John Carpenter originally started with and what was so horrifying about it. I've always loved those films and it's been awesome to watch, because we're writing, we're devouring all the sequels and all the versions of "Halloween," and at the end of the day you're dealing with a masked man who killed people and it's crazy to see all the different versions of what people tried to do or what might have been lost from the original in the hopes of creating more story. So we're just trying to learn from that and I feel what happened with Michael Myers, unfortunately, is in those later sequels he almost became a Frankenstein's monster. He became this superhuman — nothing could really kill him. And that doesn't make him scary anymore. For us, we look at it and it's much scarier to just have that man who is hiding in the shadows as you're taking the trash out in the backyard as opposed to a guy who could be shot a bunch of times and still keeps coming back to life. So David and I are really trying to get it back to that grounded, original, scary version of Michael Myers.

Guerrasio: What is John Carpenter's involvement right now?

McBride: David and I had our pitch of what we wanted it to be and we wrote Jason Blum to also pitch it to John because that was important to David and I. Both of us were just as wary as any other filmgoer of all the reimagining of all these classic films we grew up on. We as fans weren't going to do this unless we really thought that we had a cool way to take this and give something to "Halloween" fans to be excited about. And so we had to make sure there was that but we also wanted to make sure it was something that John Carpenter liked as well because he's the master, he's the creator of this. So if it's an idea he thinks is sh-- then we wouldn't have any interest in spending any time on it.

So we went to him and that was incredibly nerve-wracking and as soon as we got to this office I was just thinking, "Damn, what the fuck? What kind of nerve do we have? We're walking into John Carpenter's office to tell him what we want to do with Michael Myers, this is crazy." And we sat down with him and he was f---ing cool and funny and smart and we pitched him our take and he dug it, he was into it, and that's cool. He understood why we were an interesting choice for this. He was just talking about how close he thinks horror and comedy work. Both require pacing and knowing when to release tension and when to build it and it's really about orchestrating an audience's reaction whether it's to make them laugh or make them scream and sh-- their pants. It's all in the engineering of the pace, and it was cool to see that he got that and didn't think we were being brought on to make the franchise funny, because that really isn't me and David's ambition for this at all.

Guerrasio: Do you really think he will do the score?

McBride: In the meeting he said he would, yeah. So we hope that we don't let him down and deliver a piece of sh-- that he wouldn't want to score. [Laughs] In the room he definitely said that that would be fun so we'll see if his enthusiasm maintains after we hand in the final product.

Guerrasio: So you're planning to start shooting in the fall?

McBride: Aiming to shoot this fall. They want to release it on the 40th anniversary of "Halloween," which is next Halloween, so we're trying to zero in on that. 

Guerrasio: I have to ask you about Kenny Powers. Is he completely out of your system or would you and Jody consider a movie version of "Eastbound & Down"?

McBride: You know, I don't think we would do a movie. I always get weirded out when I see a TV show that then has a movie. I don't know, it's just odd. I think part of why "Eastbound" worked is the idea that it was a 30-minute format and that requires an acceleration of the storytelling. I think part of the comedy is that you could get so much jammed into 30 minutes. I think if we were ever to go back into it, it would definitely be another season. But we just had a blast doing that show and feel comfortable where we left it. So having stopped working on that, we've been able to do other things like "Halloween" and "Vice Principals" so I think those opportunities are a little more exciting than going back to something we've already done.

Guerrasio: With what Rough House is doing and being in an "Alien" movie, life has to be really good right now.

McBride: I love it because we're having fun and finding people who are willing to let us have fun and that's always been the goal for us. We were guys from North Carolina and Virginia — far, far away from Hollywood — who have always loved to do what we're doing right now. It's awesome to be answering questions about "Alien" and then looking at note cards for "Halloween." It's pretty surreal.

SEE ALSO: Kevin Bacon gets real about nudity and being a male sex object: "It's not the worst thing"

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Netflix and Marvel just dropped the first 'The Defenders' trailer — and it looks amazing

Warning: Mild spoilers for the movie below.

Director Ridley Scott kept us in suspense with his last "Alien" movie, 2012's "Prometheus," with an ending that saw sole survivor Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Repace) flying away from the distant moon she and her crew thought would have answers about the creators of humanity, only to find a species that wanted to destroy them.

With the bodiless android David (Michael Fassbender) as her guide, Shaw set out to find why the beings she calls "Engineers" want to end the human race.

"Alien: Convenant" (opening in theaters May 19) picks up the story 10 years later. No one has heard from Shaw and we are now following the crew of Covenant as they travel to a remote planet to colonize it. But after getting a faint broadcast from what may be a human on a planet that seems to be perfect to colonize and is conveniently closer than the one they were originally planning to go to, they change course.

And if you've ever seen any of the "Alien" movies, you know anything too good to be true is just that.

Michael Fassbender plays the android on Covenant, Walter, and accompanies Daniels (Katherine Waterston), Oram (Billy Crudup), and Faris (Amy Seimetz) as they land on the planet in search of the "ghost" who sent the transmission. Like in "Prometheus" (well, pretty much every "Alien" movie), someone does something stupid to begin the domino effect that leads to an alien bursting out of someone's body and terrorizing the rest of the crew.

Scott has pretty much mastered the execution of building suspense in the sci-fi thriller genre, and the first half-hour of "Alien: Covenant" is some of the best work in the franchise.

But the movie hits a speed bump when David (Fassbender) comes out of nowhere to save the group on the planet from aliens. Yes, we get some needed answers about what was left unexplained at the end of "Prometheus," but I have to admit, they're kind of a letdown.

And then there are the strange interactions between David and Walter that fill up a lot of the middle of the movie. That's right — Fassbender talking to Fassbender (in fact, at one point they kiss).

David has always taken his fascination with the human race a little too far, as we saw in "Prometheus," and this movie shows he's moved from an obsession with how humans operate to having a god complex and doing some creature building of his own. (You can thank David for the legendary pods from the first "Alien" movie.)

Back up on the Covenant, Danny McBride's Tennessee character is the movie's secret weapon. Showing some impressive dramatic chops and heroic moves, Tennessee is the character you assume will be the first to die, and you will be pleasantly shocked how things turn out for him.

There are a few surprising moments in the movie that are best not to mention for ultimate viewing enjoyment, but if you were hoping for some finality to this prequel portion of the "Alien" franchise, you don't get that here. Seeing as how Scott has a few more "Alien" movies coming down the pike, with this one you get some great thrills, but you're pretty much strung along, which is extremely frustrating.

One major tip: Before going to see the movie, definitely check out the teaser videos 20th Century Fox has released on the web in the last few months. The "Last Supper" and "The Crossing" prologues will really bring some clarity to a few plot points in the movie.

Though the thrills in "Alien: Covenant" live up to the franchise, and Waterston gives a worthy, badass performance in the vein of Sigourney Weaver in the early movies, it would have been nice to see Scott stray from beats similar to the "Prometheus" plot (not to mention other "Alien" movies).

I guess there's always the next "Alien" movie.

SEE ALSO: 24 TV shows that were just canceled

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch the first trailer for 'The Dark Tower' — the new film based on Stephen King's epic series

Following the 2008 mortgage crisis, which led to a $700 billion government bailout, the biggest financial institutions in the country were given a light tap on the wrist in fines and penalties. None were brought to criminal court.

But that wasn't the case for a small, family-owned bank tucked inside Chinatown in New York City.

In 2012, Abacus Federal Savings Bank was indicted on charges of fraud in relation to hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of mortgages that had been sold to Fannie Mae from 2005 to 2010. It's the only bank to be indicted in connection to the 2008 crisis.

The case of Abacus, a reliable institution for thousands of Chinese immigrants that is run by Thomas Sung, who's considered the George Bailey of Chinatown, was a shock for many in the community, while for the rest of the country the news seemed to tell a story of a dishonest bank that was finally getting its comeuppance.

But as we see in the new documentary "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail" by Steve James ("Hoop Dreams,""Life Itself"), the bank's surprising decision to fight the charges from the New York County District Attorney's Office led to a David-versus-Goliath court battle that revealed how thin the case against Abacus really was. James spent the length of the three-month trial following the Sung family and trying to clear their name (the charges were dismissed in 2015).

"The point of view of this film is clear from the start — it's kind of clear from the title," James told Business Insider. "We think this was a miscarriage of justice."

James learned of the case through his producer Mark Mitten, who knew the Sungs. The filmmaker had an initial meeting with Sung and his daughters, Jill and Vera — who are executives at the bank — and Heather, who actually worked at the New York DA's office when the bank was charged (she left shortly after). Then James knew he wanted to tell their story. But he didn't want it to be one-sided, which started the long road to get people from the DA's office to talk on camera.

"We didn't get them to talk for the film until after the trial, though we tried throughout," said James, who felt it was crucial to have the other perspective in the movie, even if he didn't agree with it. "There are not two equal sides of the story, but that aside, it doesn't relieve us of the responsibility to really articulate the case against the Sungs, because my feeling is by really laying out the case against them you also not just hear the case — you see how weak the case against them was."

Because James wasn't allowed to film in the courtroom during the trial, he had to come up with another way not just to show what happened inside but also to make it compelling.

"We actually hired a courtroom artist to go in several days and make some baseline illustrations," James said. "Then we embellished them. There's angles in those sequences that no courtroom artist could ever get."

Showing over-the-shoulder sketches and detailed reactions of the Sungs matched the compelling testimony. Especially the DA's star witness, former Abacus loan manager Ken Yu (who was fired after bank executives learned he was committing fraud), practically admitting how he pulled off his illegal acts behind the backs of everyone at Abacus while on the stand. Yu became the figure who ultimately unraveled the prosecutors' case.

Another hurdle was simply telling a story set in the financial world that would keep audiences interested — always a challenge. James recalls a day when he and the crew were shooting in an empty courtroom and an officer with them asked which case they were doing the movie on.

"I told him Abacus, and after I explained he said, 'Oh, that's a paper trial,'" James recalled. "That was translation for a boring trial. It's not sexy. And that was the challenge. This wasn't one of the big banks being put on trial, but we felt a duty to tell the story and the ridiculousness of the DA's case."

"Abacus: Small Enough to Jail" opens in select theaters Friday.

SEE ALSO: Robert De Niro talks about how he got inside the head of Bernie Madoff for his new movie

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: CBS just unveiled the first trailer for 'Star Trek: Discovery'

Though it came down to the wire, Disney/Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2" has finally been dethroned.

"Alien: Covenant," 20th Century Fox's latest teaming with director Ridley Scott on his legendary franchise that he started back in 1979, won the weekend with an estimated $36 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo.

That just edged out "Guardians 2," which after two consecutive weekends at number one, came in second with $35 million.

At one point this weekend, it looked like "Guardians"might upset the "Prometheus" sequel as on Saturday "Guardians" sales spiked 74% from its Friday take of $8.8 million, while "Covenant" slipped 21% following its $15.28 million Friday (including $4.2 million from Thursday night previews). But Sunday estimates has the latest "Alien" movie topping the Marvel heroes.

With a 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and only receiving a CinemaScore of a B grade, it looks like the casual "Alien" fan decided to pass on the opening weekend for "Covenant."

"Alien: Covenant" is the third best opening in the franchise, behind "Prometheus" ($51 million) and "Alien vs. Predator" ($38.2 million).

SEE ALSO: Every "Alien" movie, ranked from worst to best

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Judge Judy's friend of 40 years explains what she's really like

Netflix is on the verge of throwing us some seriously A-list movies on its service, like Will Smith in “Bright” (coming in December) and Bong Joon Ho’s “Okja” (June 28), featuring Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, among many others. But the first one out of the gate, the Brad Pitt-starring “War Machine” (available Friday), isn’t a strong start.

Pitt plays four-star general Glen McMahon, who has been assigned to head the Allied Forces’ war in Afghanistan circa 2010 and bring it to a quick end. But with a mixture of ego and stupidity, McMahon finds himself deeper into the war than when he started, which eventually leads to his downfall.

Directed by David Michôd (“Animal Kingdom”), the movie tries to be a witty commentary on our involvement in the Middle East, but instead it’s a pretentious snooze that isn’t as funny as it thinks it is.

An adaptation of the Michael Hastings nonfiction book “The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan,” the movie's McMahon is based on General Stanley McChrystal, the main subject of the book. It’s a follow-up to Hastings’ Rolling Stone article “The Runaway General,” which led to McChrystal’s resignation. Both the article and the book detail Hastings’ time with McChrystal and his staff in Afghanistan as they mock government officials like then-Vice President Joe Biden as well as US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry.

It’s obvious Michôd, who also wrote the screenplay, tried to take the whole situation and turn it into a wanna-be “Wag the Dog” political satire. What we get instead is Pitt with silver hair and a weird voice doing a strange jog (seriously, if anything, see the movie so you can make a GIF of Pitt jogging... it’s the only funny thing in this movie).

Perhaps its only highlight is the brief scene that features a platoon in battle in Afghanistan, which pretty much condenses the whole point of the movie. We find the troops looking for the bad guys and when they find themselves in a firefight, they unleash a barrage of high-powered rifle bullets and bombs (including one soldier, played by “Atlanta” star Lakeith Stanfield, taking it upon himself to go solo and take out the insurgents). However, we find that in the battle a bomb hits a family’s home and a child is killed. McMahon comes to look over the scene and apologize to the family. The villagers plead for him and his troops to just leave the region.

But this is only one powerful scene in a movie filled with flaws. Though the real-life events of McChrystal and his team are ripe for satire, "War Machine" gets too caught up in the fog of war to give its audience anything to latch onto.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 11 best movies of 2017 so far

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch the first trailer for 'Blade Runner 2049' starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford

Warning: Major spoilers ahead if you haven't seen "Alien: Covenant."

Yes, Danny McBride is as surprised as you are that his character in "Alien: Covenant," Tennessee, survives the carnage of the movie.

"I'm very excited about that," McBride recently told Business Insider. "When you read a script like this, you turn the page and go, 'Okay, I'm still in the script,' turn the page, 'I'm still in the script,' turn the page, 'I'm still in the script.'"

It's well-known that generally in the "Alien" movies, all the characters get killed one by one by the aliens until there's one person left who is clever enough to survive (that honor went to Sigourney Weaver's Ripley character in the first two movies, leading to the character becoming one of the most popular in movie history).

In fact, Tennessee made history being the first pilot to survive in an "Alien" movie. McBride has been a fan of the legendary franchise that "Covenant" director Ridley Scott started back in 1979 with the groundbreaking first "Alien" movie, so he's aware how shocking his survival is.

In "Alien: Covenant," along with McBride's Tennessee, a female character, Daniels (Katherine Waterson), survives. 

Sworn to keep all details about the movie secret until its release, McBride said he got a kick out of messing with his friends about the fate of Tennessee before the movie opened in theaters.

"It was fun being at dinners that I had with my friends and getting them to guess how I get slaughtered in the movie," McBride said. "Then, I'd say, 'You'll just have to see.'"

Though McBride won't comment on if he'll be in the next "Alien" movie, he's skeptical about his character's future.

"I'm not allowed to say anything really, but just being a fan of the movies I feel like when people get in those sleep pods it's not usually good," McBride said with a laugh.

At the end of the movie, Tennessee and Daniels are placed in sleep pods as they set course to another planet. But the evil robot David (Michael Fassbender) is also on board.

Numerous characters haven't made it out of cryogenic sleep in the franchise. In the first 10 minutes of "Covenant," the captain of the ship, Branson (James Franco), dies when his sleep pod catches fire. In "Covenant" we learn that David killed Elizabeth (Noomi Rapace), the hero of "Prometheus." Though it's not explained how it happened, it's possible David put an alien embryo inside her while she was asleep in her pod. And in the beginning of "Alien 3," characters Newt and Hicks died in their sleep pods after surviving the events of "Aliens."

With news that the next "Alien" movie might be set between "Prometheus" and "Covenant," it could be a while before we get to know what happens to Tennessee and Daniels after they wake from their long sleep... if they do wake.

"Alien: Covenant" is currently in theaters.

SEE ALSO: Danny McBride talks about the "surreal" moment in his career and acting in the new "Alien."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Netflix and Marvel just dropped the first 'The Defenders' trailer — and it looks amazing

The INSIDER Summary:

• Netflix is developing a movie with Rihanna and Lupita Nyong'o.
• The idea for the project started out as an internet meme.
• Twitter users joked about them doing a heist movie after a photo of them together went viral.

Movie ideas come from everywhere, and this one came from a tweet.

Netflix is developing a movie that will pair pop superstar Rihanna with Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The project will be directed by Ava DuVernay, who made the Oscar-nominated documentary "13th" for Netflix, and who also directed 2014's "Selma." Issa Rae, best known for creating the HBO series "Insecure," is in talks to write the script for the project.

It all started when a photo of Nyong'o and Rihanna sitting together at the 2014 Miu Miu fashion show went viral in April 2017.

It became a meme, with Twitter and Tumblr users demanding that the two pair up as movie characters.

Nyong'o and Rihanna were into the idea.

Fans clamored for DuVernay to get involved, and she obliged.

Then Rae joined in.

Now it's actually happening.

Chatter about the project online has coalesced around a concept where the two run con jobs together, but it doesn't look like Rae has written a script yet and it's unclear what the final story will look like. Bidding over the project at the Cannes Film Festival was "very aggressive,"according to Entertainment Weekly.

Citing anonymous sources, Entertainment Weekly said there's a planned 2018 start date for the movie, for after DuVernay finishes her current film, a big-budget adaptation of "A Wrinkle in Time" for Disney. DuVernay is also involved in several other projects, including producing "Queen Sugar" for OWN and making a film about the 1973 Palace of Versailles fashion show.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 11 best movies of 2017 so far

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This animated map shows how religion spread across the world

In 2003, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" premiered to low expectations.

The film was based on a Disney theme park ride, and it looked like yet another hokey — if family-friendly — Disney film.

The movie proved everyone wrong. Critics praised it as a swashbuckling, witty adventure. Johnny Depp earned an Oscar nomination for the eccentric, shrewd Captain Jack Sparrow. Keira Knightley was introduced to the world as Elizabeth Swann, and Orlando Bloom — also starring in "The Lord of the Rings" series at the time — left fans swooning.

14 years later, the franchise is now five movies long. Like a Fast and Furious" of the seas, it just keeps going. "Dead Man's Chest" (2006), "At World's End" (2007), "On Stranger Tides" (2011) have made billions of dollars at the box office, even as critics lob rotten tomatoes at them. The new movie, "Dead Men Tell No Tales," keeps the franchise going and marks the return of Knightley and Bloom, who weren't in "On Stranger Tides."

Here's where the main actors of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" have been up to between the 2003 premiere of "Curse of the Black Pearl" and the latest installment:

SEE ALSO: Robert De Niro talks about how he got inside the head of Bernie Madoff for his new movie

In 2003, Depp was at the height of his popularity.

Depp brought the off-kilter sensibility he cultivated with Tim Burton films — with roles in movies like "Edward Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood"— to Jack Sparrow, which would become his biggest role yet.

"The Curse of the Black Pearl," based on a theme park ride, made $650 million worldwide and earned him a best actor nomination at the Oscars.

Since then, audiences have grown tired of him and his financial life is in pieces.

Depp followed up "The Curse of the Black Pearl" with more "Pirates" movies, another iconic Tim Burton collaboration in 2005's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," and critically acclaimed performances in "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" and "Public Enemies." He also played the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland," which made $1 billion at the box office. By the end of the decade, he had three best actor Oscar nominations under his belt.

But the triumph of the 2000s turned sour in the 2010s. He stuck with the same wacky schtick in his acting, and audiences grew tired of it in little-seen movies like "The Lone Ranger" and "Mortdecai." He has the clout to make some interesting passion projects, like "Rango,""The Rum Diary," and "Black Mass," but not all of them were successful.

Depp also had a tempestuous marriage with Amber Heard, which ended in 2016, after Heard alleged that Depp physically assaulted her. The charges were dismissed in court. Heard donated the entire $7 million divorce settlement she received from Depp to charity, half of which went to legal defenses for women who have experienced violence.

To make things worse, Depp is embroiled in a lawsuit with his former business managers for mismanaging his finances, while there are allegations that Depp spends beyond his means and acts unprofessionally on set. If "Dead Men Tell No Tales" is a hit, it might just save him.

Geoffrey Rush was a regular, acclaimed actor in the British film industry.

By 2003, he had an Oscar and BAFTA award for 1996's "Shine," as well as a handful of other Oscar nominations and other awards. "The Curse of the Black Pearl," where he played the villainous ship captain Hector Barbossa, was his first big blockbuster role.

Zack Snyder is stepping away from Warner Bros. tentpole "Justice League" to deal with the death of his daughter, sources tell Variety.

Joss Whedon, who was recently tapped to direct "Batgirl" for the studio, will oversee the remainder of the film, which is in postproduction.

Snyder's daughter killed herself in March, and the director, along with his wife, Deborah, who is also a producer on the film, have decided to take a break from the film to deal with the sudden tragedy.

Filming on "Justice League" had already finished, and Snyder was in the throes of postproduction to meet the film's November 17 release date. In addition to the postproduction process, Whedon will also oversee a handful of reshoots that had already been scheduled before Synder's daughter died.

There are no plans to push the release date at this time. The film stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller as the Flash, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, and Ray Fisher as Cyborg.

Autumn Snyder died by suicide in March at age 20. Her death has been kept private, even as the movie was put on a two-week break for the Snyder family to deal with the tragedy.

SEE ALSO: 5 cool things we noticed in the new 'Justice League' trailer

DON'T MISS: Kevin Bacon explains why he's become known for going nude in his roles: 'It's strange'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The first full 'Justice League' trailer is here and it looks incredible

June is almost upon us and Netflix has finally released its list of TV shows and movies coming and going from the streaming site next month.

Fans will finally be able to tune into the fifth season of "Orange is the New Black" and see "Community" star Alison Brie in an '80s wrestling comedy, "GLOW."

TV fans will be able to catch up on the current full seasons of "Arrow,""Scandal,""Grey's Anatomy," and more. Disney fans will be able to catch the studio's latest animated release, "Moana."

Netflix is also releasing, "Okja," its action-adventure movie centered around a young girl trying to protect her animal friend from getting kidnapped. The film, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to both boos and applause since it won't receive a theatrical release. Instead, it will be released on Netflix at the month's end. 

You can check out the full list below. We've highlighted our favorites in bold.

Available 6/1/2017

"1 Night" (2016)
"13 Going on 30" (2004)
"Amor.com" (Love.com)
"Arrow" Season 5 (2016)
"Burlesque" (2017)
"Catfight" (2016)

"Catwoman" (2004)
"Chingo Bling: They Can't Deport Us All"
"Days of Grace" (2011)
"Devil's Bride" (2016)
"Full Metal Jacket" (1987)
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (2000)
"Intersection" Season 2 (2016)
"Kardashian: The Man Who Saved OJ Simpson" (2016)
"Little Boxes" (2016)
"Mutant Busters" Season 2 (2016)
"My Left Foot (1989)
"Off Camera with Sam Jones" Series 3 (2015)
"Playing It Cool" (2014)
"Rounders" (1998)
"Spring" (Primavera) (2016)
"The 100" Season 4 (2016)
"The Ant Bully" (2006)
"The Bucket List" (2007)
"The Queen" (2006)
"The Sixth Sense" (1999)

"Vice" (2015)
"West Coast Customs" Season 3 (2013)
"Yarn" (2016)
"Young Frankenstein" (1974)
"Zodiac" (2007)

Available 6/2/2017

"Comedy Bang! Bang!" Season 5, Part 2 (2016)
"Flaked" Season 2 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"Inspector Gadget" Season 3 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"Los Últimos de Filipinas" (2016)
"Lucid Dream" - NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILM
"Saving Banksy" (2014)
"The Homecoming" Collection (2015)

Available 6/3/2017

"Acapulco La vida va" (2017)
"Blue Gold: American Jeans" (2017)
"Headshot" (2016)
"Three" (2016)
"Tunnel" (2016)
"War on Everyone" (2016)

Available 6/4/2017

"TURN: Washington's Spies" Season 3 (2016)

Available 6/5/17

"Suite Française" (2014)

Available 6/7/17

"Disturbing the Peace" (2016)
"Dreamworks’ Trolls" (2016)

Avail 6/9/17

"My Only Love Song" Season 1 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"Orange Is the New Black" Season 5 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"Shimmer Lake" NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILM

Available 6/10/17

"Black Snow" (Nieve Negra) (2017)
"Daughters of the Dust" (1991)
"Havenhurst" (2017)
"Sword Master" (2016)

Available 6/13/17

"Oh, Hello On Broadway" - NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Available 6/14/17

"Quantico" Season 2 (2016)

Available 6/15/17

"Marco Luque: Tamo Junto" NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 4 (2016)
"Mr. Gaga: A True Story of Love and Dance" (2015)

Available 6/16/2017

"Aquarius" Season 2 (2016)
"Counterpunch" - NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"El Chapo" Season 1 (2017)
"The Ranch" Part 3 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"World of Winx" Season 2 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Available 6/17/17

"Grey's Anatomy" Season 13 (2016)
"Scandal" Season 6 (2016)
"The Stanford Prison Experiment" (2015)

Available 6/18/17

"Shooter" Season 1 (2016)

Available 6/20/17

"Amar Akbar & Tony" (2015)
"Disney's Moana" (2016)
"Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up For The First Time" - NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Available 6/21/17

"Baby Daddy" Season 6 (2017)
"Young & Hungry" Season 5 (2017)

Available 6/23/17

"American Anarchist" (2016)
"Free Rein" Season 1 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"GLOW" Season 1 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press" - NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"You Get Me" - NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILM

Available 6/26/17

"No Escape" (2015)

Available 6/27/17

"Chris D'Elia: Man on Fire" - NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Available 6/28/17

"Okja" - NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILM

Available 6/30/17

"Chef & My Fridge" Collection (2014)
"Gypsy" Season 1 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"It's Only the End of the World" (2016)
"Little Witch Academia" Season 1—NETFLIX ORIGINAL
"The Weekend" (2016)

SEE ALSO: Here's everything leaving Netflix in June that you need to watch right now

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 15 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do

After years of rumors about a potential sequel to the 1986 blockbuster, Tom Cruise has confirmed that there will be a "Top Gun 2." And it sounds like you won't even have to wait all that long.

While on the Australian morning show "Sunrise" to promote his latest movie, "The Mummy" (out June 9), Cruise was asked about the rumors of a sequel.

"It's true," Cruise said. "I'm going to start filming it probably in the next year. It's definitely happening."

For the last few years, more talk about a "Top Gun" sequel has bounced around the internet as reports surfaced that it was in development. 

In 2015, Skydance CEO David Ellison said a script was being written and that the story would take place in the contemporary times and feature drone fighters.

"It’s really exploring the end of an era of dogfighting and fighter pilots and what that culture is today," Ellison said at the time.

Later that year, fellow "Top Gun" star Val Kilmer confirmed that he would be in the sequel.

The original "Top Gun," which starred Cruise as a hotshot pilot who's training at the elite Navy Fighter Weapons School, was one of the biggest hits of the late 1980s, earning over $350 million worldwide on a $15 million budget. The movie didn't just attract the male audience that wanted to see intense aerial action scenes, but women also flocked to the theaters thanks in part to Cruise's sex-symbol status and the music that ranged from Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" to Berlin's Oscar-winning ballad "Take My Breath Away" (used as background music to Cruise's romance with Kelly McGillis in the film).

Here's Cruise making the official announcement:

SEE ALSO: 35 movies coming out this summer that you need to see

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Netflix and Marvel just dropped the first 'The Defenders' trailer — and it looks amazing

The third trailer for “Spider-Man: Homecoming” just came out and it introduces some new footage of its villain Vulture in action (former Batman Michael Keaton takes the role) as well as some cool glimpses of spider-tech courtesy of Peter Parker’s new sort-of boss, Tony Stark.

In the trailer, we hear Parker say that he’s Stark’s intern. That's kind of true, but also not really.

In addition to some exciting features of the updated spider-suit, which is reflective of Iron Man's suit and gives Parker 576 web shooter combinations, the trailer also emphasizes what this new franchise is all about: the fact that Peter Parker is just a teenager with Spanish quizzes and girls, played by an actual teenager and not a 27-year-old Tobey Maguire.

The trailer also gives us a glimpse of Zendaya’s character, and teases everyone who campaigned for Donald Glover to play Spider-Man a few years back with his brief appearance talking to Spider-Man. Glover’s character is not named, and will most likely remain a mystery until the film's release on July 7.

Watch the trailer below:

SEE ALSO: 35 movies coming out this summer that you need to see

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 details you might have missed in the premiere of season 3 of 'Twin Peaks'

At its peak in the mid-1990s, "Baywatch" was the most-watched TV show in the world thanks to its cheesy storylines and showcasing scantily clad ladies (well, plus David Hasselhoff) running in slow motion on the beach.

It wasn’t a great show, but it did the trick if you needed to kill time.

That’s kind of how Paramount’s long-awaited “Baywatch” movie (opening in theaters on Thursday) can be explained. It’s going to be a hell of a watch when it comes on HBO, but you should get your head examined if you pay to watch it at the theater.

Yes, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is the biggest movie star on the planet right now, but even he can’t make this lame comedy into something worth your money — though, to his credit, he tries really, really hard.

Paramount certainly swung for the fences with this. They cast Johnson and Zac Efron together to play two lifeguards who take their jobs way too seriously and try to bust a drug kingpin (“Quantico” star Priyanka Chopra) after her potent product washes up on their beach. It’s not the worst plot for an R-rated comedy (if you took the beach component away, you have the plot for the movie version of “21 Jump Street”). But audiences don’t come to these movies for plot. There need to be big laughs, the wackier the better.

And like The Rock, the movie tries really, really, really hard to deliver a gut-busting comedy (the filmmakers even put Efron in drag), but too much effort can kill humor, and that's what happens here.

A big problem is the movie doesn’t really go out of its way to offer original material. Low-hanging fruit include distracting the villain by dancing funny; the not-so-bright heartthrob; and jokes about male and female anatomy (the movie even blatantly rips off the zipper scene from “There’s Something About Mary”).

Sure, you might get a chuckle or two, but you have to come stronger in the seen-it-all-before era we live in today.

And there is just some awful CGI. I mean, you have The Rock in your movie, and he’s going to do some crazy life-saving scenes. Why do the boat on fire and the finale set on a firework barge have special effects that seem to come straight out of a “Sharknado” movie?

At its best, “Baywatch” was always going to be a “21 Jump Street” rip-off, but it couldn’t even get to that level.

SEE ALSO: Danny McBride talks about his surprising fate in 'Alien: Covenant'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Mayim Bialik from 'The Big Bang Theory' and 'Blossom' explains the science of nostalgia

Jordan Peele’s directorial debut “Get Out” became a surprise critical and box-office sensation earlier this year thanks to its chilling look at racism through the guise of a horror movie.

There are countless fascinating things about the movie, about a black man who joins his white girlfriend for a visit to her parents' house, but one standout comes toward the end. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.) Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) has been brought down to the basement and is about to have the brain of a white man put in his skull when we are given a glimpse of the real Rose (Allison Williams), his heretofore "girlfriend."

What’s quickly become known as “the Froot Loops scene” shows Rose wearing all white with her hair pulled back tight in a ponytail listening to “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” white eating Froot Loops in a bowl and sipping milk from a straw out of a glass. Sitting on her bed, with framed photos of her past conquests hanging on the wall, she’s doing a Bing search on her laptop for “Top NCAA Prospects.”

The brief scene is a sublime mix of comedy and horror that has stayed with people long after they’ve watched the movie.

It’s also launched some great memes, like Peele tweeting a picture of Donald Trump Jr. eating cereal with the hashtag #getoutchallenge.

Then there’s this creative meme that went viral featuring a photo of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway sitting awkwardly in the Oval Office while looking at her phone during a visit from leaders of historically black colleges with a picture alongside it of a search box and the entry “Top NCAA Prospects.” 

But it turns out the already infamous Froot Loops scene wasn’t even in the original script.

“It was added while we were already on set in Alabama shooting,” Williams told Business Insider.

And many of the genius details in the scene were thought up right at the moment of shooting it.

“The decision to use Froot Loops was one that went right down to the wire,” Williams said. “And I can’t remember who came up with the idea to split them up, but Jordan and I brainstormed about what would be interesting, and it was decided to make the milk separate from the Froot Loops. I know my contribution were the tiny sips and tiny little bits.”

Williams said that Peele wrote the scene to drive home just how disturbed and terrifying Rose really is.

“This is our chance to see what it's like to be Rose every day,” Williams said. "It drives home the point that she has stalled developmentally at the age that she started doing the job. She still dresses somewhat androgynous, she’s totally meticulous, total control freak. She has her teddy bear and Froot Loops and milk. And the idea of her going upstairs and immediately putting all her photos back in frames and putting them up on the wall is also really chilling.”

The scene was one of the last shot for the movie, and Williams said she was grateful for that, as it was unpleasant to play evil Rose.

“I really only did one or two takes for those scenes and if he could Jordan would just keep the camera rolling because it helped keep me focused. That was a really strange experience shooting that scene.”

However, Williams admits that she can't help but laugh every time she sees the scene, with its bizarre reveal and the cheesy '80s pop playing over it. The scene also reminds her how much fun Peele had shooting it.

“When Jordan was watching the monitor and I was the real Rose character, he would grin and rub his hands together, like, ‘Yes, this girl is so evil,’” Williams said. “That was all the validation I needed when I was trying to stay in that evil version of Rose.”

With the movie becoming a huge hit, Williams believes the Froot Loops scene has the “potential of being iconic,” and she gives all the credit to her writer and director.

“This is a guy who from the beginning knew what he wanted the movie to look like, sound like, feel like,” Williams said of Peele. “It’s just perfect.”

“Get Out” is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.

SEE ALSO: Here's everything leaving Netflix in June that you need to watch right now

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 details you might have missed in the premiere of season 3 of 'Twin Peaks'

The INSIDER Summary:

• One of the most frustrating things is trying to find a move on Netflix to watch.
• Sometimes the summaries don't do the films justice and you may end up skipping over a few gems.
• Movies like "Wetlands" and "Mr. 3000" are some of the great films on Netflix you need to watch ASAP.

One of the great but equally frustrating qualities of Netflix's design is that all movies are presented fairly equally. There is a loose organization based on, I am assuming, algorithms and the weather, but for the most part, you'll find Oscar-winning, critically acclaimed smash hit films nestled right alongside straight-to-DVD flops. It's truly beautiful in its own way. But this unique arrangement does present the challenge of identifying which movies on Netflix might look bad, but are actually amazing.

You know what I'm talking about. It's well known (though perhaps just in my head and not in everyone else's) that the film descriptions and accompany stills from movies do not always most accurately reflect the truth of the movie. The summaries are spoiler-free and loosely gesture toward being accurate plot descriptions, often communicating little about the tone, spirit, and overall feel of a movie. Similarly, the images and fonts that represent the movie are often different than those used during marketing campaigns; sometimes this is great and sometimes it is not. All this leaves viewers to sort out which movies might be secretly great even if they don't look it, because Netflix is absolutely chock-full of surprise treasures. Check out a few of them below.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best TV show seasons of all time, according to critics

1. "A Long Way Down"

Youtube Embed:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/gyhfZZupU7c
Width: 560px
Height: 315px

Just scrolling by it on Netflix, "A Long Way Down" may seem like one of those forgotten movies starring big actors that ended up flopping. It certainly didn't do well with critics. But this dramedy about a group of unlikely friends who meet while all attempting suicide at the same time is lovely and worth your time. It's realer, darker, funnier than you'd expect, and the cast is amazing (Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul, and Imogen Poots).

2. "Wetlands"

Youtube Embed:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/g3PRY13WiwM
Width: 560px
Height: 315px

3. "World's Greatest Dad"

Youtube Embed:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/oZ194RK1yhE
Width: 560px
Height: 315px

The INSIDER Summary

• ABC has a remake of the iconic 1987 film "Dirty Dancing" premiering on May 24.
• Here's how the remake cast compares to the beloved original one. 

1. Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman

Abigail Breslin portrays the role of sweet and salty, Baby, which was originally played by Jennifer Grey. Breslin is best known for her Oscar-nominated role in "Little Miss Sunshine" and for her work on Ryan Murphy’s campy TV series, "Scream Queens."

2. Johnny Castle

3. Jake Houseman

"Law & Order" actor Jerry Orbach orignally played Baby’s overprotective father, Jake Houseman. Sadly, Orbach passed in 2004. The torch has been passed onto Bruce Greenwood who is generally known for playing U.S. presidents in movies like "Thirteen Days" and "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." He has also starred on a plethora of TV shows, including "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,""Mad Men," and "St. Elsewhere."

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the release of George Lucas' “Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope," which didn't just launch the one of the greatest movie franchises of all time but also the summer blockbuster, let's look back at one of the movie's most memorable moments: the Mos Eisley cantina scene.

It's where Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) find a pilot to take them to Alderaan. You guessed it — Han Solo (Harrison Ford).

But Kenobi wasn’t joking when he told Luke that in Mos Eisley, “You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

Let’s look back on ten interesting characters who were in the cantina the day Luke and Obi-Wan walked in.

Watch out, this place can be a little rough.

SEE ALSO: George Lucas was scared to death to shoot this epic scene in 'Attack of the Clones'

1. Ackmena The Bartender

The nightshift at the cantina was overseen by Ackmena. We saw her in the now infamous "Star Wars Holiday Special" played by "Golden Girls" great Bea Arthur. Legend has it the day Luke and Obi-Wan were in the cantina she was in the backroom.

Ackmena was more liked at the cantina than the bartender during the day... 

2. Wuher The Bartender

This gruff fellow is known for not allowing droids in the establishment and takes cover when a blaster is drawn.

3. BoShek

This Corellian smuggler (who dabbled a little in The Force) is distinctly known for introducing Obi-Wan to the Millennium Falcon’s first mate, Chewbacca. But Obi-Wan and Luke would have been in good hands if BoShek decided to take them.

He set a new record for the Kessel Run before his meeting with the Jedi that day. Taking bragging rights from Solo and Chewbacca, who were the previous record holders. Though Solo still boasted his feat when he met Luke and Obi-Wan.

Brian De Palma has never been shy about giving his full, honest opinion. Especially to fellow filmmakers.

The director of classics like “Scarface,” “Carrie,” and “The Untouchables” told Business Insider last year when he was doing press for the documentary on his career, "De Palma," that after seeing “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” before it premiered in 1977, he turned to his good friend Steven Spielberg, who directed the movie, and said, “I don’t know, this doesn’t really work for me.”

Laughing about it now, he said, “And this was considered a crowning success of his career.”

But Spielberg wasn't the only person in the talented inner circle that De Palma ran in during the 1970s (they were known as the Movie Brats) who was on the receiving end of his harsh opinions.

In an encounter that has become a Hollywood legend, De Palma didn’t think much of the original “Star Wars,” either.

George Lucas’ Movie Brats mates were the first people to see “Star Wars,” including Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, John Landis, and De Palma.

After watching an early cut of the movie — which included little to no effects and didn't yet have the John Williams score — the Brats got together to tell Lucas what they thought. Spielberg told Lucas it was going to be a hit, but De Palma thought differently.

“The crawl at the beginning looks like it was written on a driveway,” De Palma told Lucas, according to the book “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.” “It goes on forever. It’s gibberish.”

Looking back now at his alleged insults, De Palma has a different recollection. Kind of.

“That is not correct,” De Palma told Business Insider. “I am sarcastic. I am considered the class clown, but a sarcastic clown. So I would make fun of certain things. Because everyone would take this stuff too seriously.”

He did, however, admit he didn’t like the opening crawl.

“The crawl didn't make any sense at all,” De Palma said. “And I kept kidding him about the Force. I was like, ‘What is the Force?’ But you have to understand, we used to look at each other's movies in order to be helpful. We might say some things that weren’t nice.”

De Palma admits the harsh criticism didn’t always go down well for some. Though he said, as far as he knows, Lucas never took offense to his remarks about the movie.

But one story has it that Lucas’ wife at the time, Marcia, confronted De Palma.

“I don't remember this, but there was an account where Marcia told me, ‘You've hurt George's feelings and you should be gentle with him.’ I don't remember that. I really don't know what they're talking about,” De Palma said. “I was basically myself. The thing the guys could always count on with me is I would say what I thought. I wasn't holding back.”

Success washes away all sour grapes in Hollywood, and if Lucas was ever mad at De Palma, that sure ended quickly, as the original “Star Wars” went on to make over $775 million worldwide in its theatrical run and gave birth to one of the most lucrative movie franchises of all time.

SEE ALSO: Brian De Palma, legendary director of "Scarface" and "Carrie," explains why he 'left Hollywood completely'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: HBO just released a new 'Game of Thrones' trailer — the dragons are back

With Thursday marking the 40th anniversary of the release of "Star Wars: A New Hope," there are a lot of stories circulating that look back on the iconic first movie of the lucrative saga.

The Hollywood Reporter has published a deep dive on one of the movie's most infamous moments: the Stormtrooper who banged his head on a blast door. 

The shot comes toward the end of the section of the movie when Luke, Han, and company save Princess Leia from the Death Star. Stormtroopers barge into a control room, and if you look closely, one of the them walks right into the door that rises from the floor. 

THR tracked down the actor who played the head-banging Stormtrooper, Laurie Goode, and got to the bottom of what happened.  

What happened that day when you hit your head? 
On the second day of filming, I developed an upset stomach. By mid-morning I had paid three-to-four visits to the loo/bathroom. Having re-dressed myself and returned to the set, I felt the need to rush back to the gents' toilets, but I was placed in shot. On about the fourth take, as I shuffled along, I felt my stomach rumbling, and "bang", I hit my head! As I wasn't moving too fast it was more of a scuffed bash, so it didn't hurt, but as no-one shouted "cut" I thought the shot wasn't wide enough for me to be in frame. 

Which take was that? How many takes did you do of that scene?
I remember after the first two takes, we were told to hold our guns in our left hands as opposed to our right. So I believe the head-bang happening on the fourth take, whatever number of takes we did, the head-bang happened on the last take. When it first happened — that day — I told my fellow actor on the film, Mark Kirby, that I hit my head, but we didn't go for another take!

Goode said when he saw the movie, he couldn't believe George Lucas used the shot. 

As the decades have passed and the blooper has become part of "Star Wars" lore, there's been a little controversy about the identity of the actor who banged his head. Actor Michael Leader, who died last year, has also claimed to be the head-banger. But Goode proclaims he's the guy. And he's even written a song about it (so you know he's got to be telling the truth).

SEE ALSO: HBO finally dropped the first full "Game of Thrones" season 7 trailer — and it's incredible

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Netflix and Marvel just dropped the first 'The Defenders' trailer — and it looks amazing