11 Movies to Fall for This Season: ‘A Star Is Born,’ ‘Serenity’ and More!

Credit: Warner Bros.

11 Movies to Fall for This Season: ‘A Star Is Born,’ ‘Serenity’ and More!

From hotly anticipated remakes to weepy dramas, Us Weekly rounds up this season’s big-screen sensations.

Credit: Warner Bros.

11 Movies to Fall for This Season: ‘A Star Is Born,’ ‘Serenity’ and More!

From hotly anticipated remakes to weepy dramas, Us Weekly rounds up this season’s big-screen sensations.

Credit: Amazon Studios

Life Itself (out September 21)

Grab a box of tissues: This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman’s latest is like his weepy NBC series “on steroids,” he tells Us of the drama, about a couple (Olivia Wilde, Oscar Isaac) facing life’s unexpected moments. “The characters are intensely sad and intensely in love. Hopefully, it’s a healthy cry.” He promises some smiles, too, thanks to Wilde and Isaac. “They genuinely make each other laugh because they genuinely enjoy each other,” says the writer-director. “We captured all of that on camera. I could watch them for hours.”

Credit: Jojo Whilden / Netflix

Private Life (out October 5)

For Kathryn Hahn, the stories were gut-wrenching. Researching infertility, she devoured books before moving on to YouTube videos. “I want to cry even thinking about them now,” says the mom of two. “The pain and joy and the heartbreak they go through to try and complete their families.” It’s an emotional journey her character Rachel takes with husband Richard (Paul Giamatti) in the Netflix drama. “The ‘baby project’ has become so all-consuming, it threatens to extinguish them,” Hahn tells Us. “She wants a baby more than anything but he won’t let her go off the deep end. That, to me, is deeply romantic.”

Credit: Warner Bros; Inset: Jim Spellman/WireImage

A Star Is Born (out October 5)

Andrew Dice Clay’s real-life role as a dad of two landed him one on screen. During a three-hour meeting with Bradley Cooper, “we just talked about fathering,” recalls the comedian. “His girl was going to have a baby, so I was telling him how I brought up my sons and the closeness we have.” The next morning, he woke up to a text: Could Clay come to a nearby recording studio to meet Lady Gaga? Yes, that Lady Gaga. “I walked in and we bonded right away,” he tells Us. “Her drummer wasn’t playing a song right, so I went in to show the guy how it’s done.” 

But for his directorial debut, Cooper had a different gig in mind: He was eyeing Clay to play Lorenzo, parent to Gaga’s rising superstar, in the fresh take of a timeless love story. “Bradley made us do a heavy scene,” he says. “Next thing you know, I’m holding her and there are tears flowing off my face into her hair.” Her actual performance is even more captivating, insists Clay: “There’s a lot of pressure to play that part and she was unbelievable. I hope she gets nominated.”

Credit: Kimberly French/20th Century Fox

Bad Times at El Royale (out October 12)

Broadway was just practice for Cynthia Erivo. In the 1960s-set thriller, which follows seven strangers over a fateful hotel stay, her Darlene sings a soul tune over 27 takes! “I’m lucky I had to sing eight shows a week, six days a week,” says The Color Purple star. “Stamina is the name of the game!” Unfortunately, she’s also well versed in disastrous lodging. On a trip to Egypt, her hotel “looked amazing online,” the Widows actress adds. “When we got there, it was old, dusty and filled with mold!”

Credit: Universal Pictures

Halloween (out October 19)

Judy Greer found her voice. Filming the latest in the Michael Myers saga, “I really let go and was screaming my balls off,” admits the actress, who plays the daughter of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) in the sequel to the 1978 slasher. “Everyone was like, ‘Whoa, Judy!’ To have people compliment my screaming felt like I was doing my job well.” There were plenty of laughs, too — behind the scenes at least. “Any time we filmed a scary situation and someone yelled, ‘Cut,’ we would all start dancing,” she tells Us. “When the camera isn’t rolling, you’ll do anything to lighten the mood.”

Credit: Global Road Entertainment

Serenity (out October 19)

Matthew McConaughey was happily puzzled. Reading the script for the thriller “took me weeks,” the Oscar winner tells Us. “I remember Steven [Knight, the writer-director] coming up to me and saying, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m working on this riddle that you put together and I am going to figure it out!’” After all, nothing is as it seems in the flick, which finds McConaughey working as a fishing boat captain on the Indian Ocean when his ex (Anne Hathaway, his Interstellar costar) shows up with a request: Kill her abusive husband. “Ms. Hathaway really is a damn fine actress,” he praises. “I get reminded of that daily.”

Credit: Chip Bergmann/PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Nobody’s Fool (out November 2)

To put it nicely, dating sucks. It’s a lesson straitlaced Danica (Tika Sumpter) learns when her on-parole sister (Tiffany Haddish) discovers Danica’s boyfriend is a fraud. “People of all ages and economic levels want love,” Sumpter tells Us, “and will abandon all common sense to find it.” Thankfully, some relationships do work. “Tiffany and I play sisters, so chemistry was important. You can’t create it,” Sumpter adds. “It’s either there or not. We met, hugged and hit it off. The rest just happened. There were a lot of bloopers!”

Credit: Peter Mountain/Paramount Pictures

Overlord (out November 9)

J.J. Abrams’ new supernatural horror film is set during World War II. That’s where the historical facts stop — and the “crazy ride” kicks in, according to star Pilou Asbæk: “What we created was pure, beautiful fiction.” Some may argue his half blown-off face in the flick — which finds Allied soldiers trapped inside a Nazi house of horrors — isn’t so pretty. “I was in makeup for five, six hours!” the Game of Thrones actor tells Us. “You can’t even sleep, so you just talk. You make time pass. The cast becomes your family.”

Credit: Paramount Pictures

Instant Family (out November 16)

How hard can parenting really be? Ha! When a married duo (Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne) foster three siblings, their lives suddenly revolve around soccer games, ER trips and, oh right, an arrest. “It’s a real portrayal of family and the notion of hanging in there until the bitter end,” Byrne tells Us of the comedy, based on director Sean Anders’ own experience. “It’s called Instant Family but that’s not how it works. You have to get to know them.” Though a mom of two herself, the actress called in the experts for a mother lode of advice. “I met with a lot foster parents,” she adds. “They were so open and honest. It was eye-opening.”

Credit: Barry Wetcher / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures

Creed II (out November 21)

Fighting for family. Picking up three years after the 2015 hit, the sequel finds now established boxer Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) facing off against the son of Ivan Drago, the man who killed his father in 1985’s Rocky IV. “His death is very present to Adonis,” reveals director Steven Caple Jr. “His motivation to take the fight becomes more grounded in where he is in life versus where he wants to be.” Stepping into the ring to train him: Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa, of course. On screen, the duo have “always portrayed that father-son relationship,” Caple tells Us. “Off screen, Sly and MBJ worked closely to hone in on that story. Their dynamic allowed us to exist in the Creed world while keeping the integrity of Rocky.”

Credit: Summit Entertainment

Robin Hood (out November 21)

Brace yourself for a whirlwind retelling of the classic. “This Robin Hood is an action film, a heist movie, a love story, a war film, a bromance,” Eve Hewson raves of the adventure, which also stars Taron Egerton as the titular archer and Jamie Foxx as Little John. “There is something for everybody. We tried to honor the time period but also make it modern.” Case in point: Her Maid Marian is no damsel in distress. “She’s not afraid of rustling feathers or fighting for what she believes in,” she tells Us. “She’s really spearheading the revolution.”