Anya Taylor-Joy Performs Haunting Cover of Petula Clark’s “Downtown” in Trailer for “Last Night in Soho”

Anya Taylor-Joy is headed downtown

The 25-year-old Argentine American actress and Queen’s Gambit star performs a haunting, downtempo cover of Petula Clarks iconic 1964 hit “Downtown” in the trailer for Last Night in Soho.

Anya Taylor-Joy

In the preview, Taylor-Joy, her voice slathered in echo, stands behind a mic in a recording studio and croons the track’s iconic hook, “When you’re alone and life is making you lonely/ You can always go/ Downtown.”

Backed by a haunting string section, the Golden Globe-winning actress flies high above the action in her ethereal voice as the screen fills with images from the upcoming Edgar Wright-directed horror thriller that also stars Thomasin McKenzie, Matt Smith and Terence Stamp; the film is due out on Oct. 29.

A description of the film finds aspiring fashion designer Eloise (McKenzie), “mysteriously [entering] the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer, Sandie [Taylor-Joy)]. But the glamour is not all it appears to be and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something far darker.”

 

Clark’s signature hit “Downtown” — featuring then-session player Jimmy Page on guitar — climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in January 1965 and was ushered into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003. Over the years, it has been covered by everyone from Dolly Parton to Marianne Faithfull, the Osmond Brothers, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Frank Sinatra, Yo La Tengo, The Saw Doctors and Baby Spice Emma Bunton.

Anya Taylor-Joy Among Cast for Illumination’s ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Animated Film

Anya Taylor-Joy is preparing for her next royal excursion…

Illumination and Nintendo have announced the powerhouse voice cast for their upcoming Super Mario Bros. animated film, which includes the 25-year-old Argentine American actress.

Anya Taylor-Joy

Taylor-Joy, who earned an Emmy nomination for her performance in Queen’s Gambit, will star as Princess Peach in the film, which will hit cinemas on December 21, 2022.

Playing the fraternal, mushroom digesting plumbers and squashers of turtles are Chris Pratt as Mario and Charlie Day as Luigi.

Playing bad guy Bowser is Jack BlackKeegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, and stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.

“Each voice actor was cast for their ability to capture the unique spirit of their character,” reads the release.

The co-financed feature between Universal and Nintendo will be directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who previously collaborated on the animated series Teen Titans Go! and the film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.

The film’s screenplay will be written by Matthew Fogel, whose credits include The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part and the upcoming Illumination feature Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Future offshore release dates will be announced.

“Mario and Luigi are two of the most beloved heroes in all of popular culture, and we are honored to have the unique opportunity to work so closely with Shigeru Miyamoto and the widely imaginative team at Nintendo to bring these characters to life in an animated movie, unlike any film Illumination has made to date,” said Chris Meledandri who is also an outside director of Nintendo.

“We are collaborating with Chris and his experienced team to not just create a character licensed film, but a new piece of entertainment which brings Super Mario Bros. to life on the screen, and allows everyone to enjoy whether or not they know about the game. The production so far is constructive and going very well, and both parties are learning a lot from each other. We humbly ask that fans wait just a little longer for the premiere, and we hope they look forward to seeing the unique characters from Super Mario Bros. on the big screen,” said Miyamoto.

Super Mario Bros. is a huge franchise play for Universal and Illumination. Already, there’s a Super Mario Bros. land open at the Universal Japan theme park with others under construction at Universal Hollywood and Universal Orlando.

The movie has been a long awaited revival for fans. There was a live action movie in 1993 starring Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi and Dennis Hopper as baddie King Koopa. There was also in the late 1980s The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! animated series which starred Captain Lou Albano as the voice of Mario and Danny Wells as the voice of Luigi.

Mario Brothers was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi, Nintendo’s chief engineer in 1983. Super Mario Bros. the subseries, was launched in 1985. It is the best-selling video game franchise of all time, with more than 758.06 million copies of games sold, including 388.92 million for the Super Mario games alone.