Zoey Deutch

One of them will star in an HBO Max movie.

Nicholas Hoult plays J.D. Salinger in the new movie about the beloved and notoriously mysterious author.

As far as movie premises go, you can do a lot worse than “Groundhog Day meets a second, other thing.” That line of thinking brought us the ingenious Edge of Tomorrow (Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers), Nacho Vigalondo’s bewitching Timecrimes (Groundhog Day meets The Strangers), and the eminently underrated Source Code (Groundhog Day meets Jake Gyllenhaal hunting a terrorist inside of the internet, I think). The new trailer for the upcoming concept-drama Before I Fall makes no bones about its premise, a marriage of the classic Bill Murray comedy and an after-school special about bullying — whether it can hold its own among the previously mentioned films, only time will tell.

The entertainment industry has done Bryan Cranston dirty. His award-hoarding turn as mild-mannered meth kingpin Walt White on Breaking Bad should have cracked Hollywood wide open for him, with high-power producers lining up to cast him in the next big prestige release. But for every Trumbo (which earned Cranston an Oscar nomination, despite plenty of shortcomings), there is a Why Him?, and the soggy prosthetic moose scrotum that goes with it.

It’s not much of a stretch to say James Franco is every parent’s worst nightmare. Could you imagine your kid — hypothetical or actual — dating the self-proclaimed artist occasionally known as Semaj? That’s the gist of Why Him?, in which Franco plays an obnoxious, foul-mouthed, tattooed billionaire dating the daughter of Bryan Cranston’s doting dad. He’s not technically playing himself, but it’s a pretty believable nightmare scenario.