In what we’re pretty sure is just a coincidence and not anything to do with their regular employers, within the last 24 hours both WWE star Liv Morgan and AEW star Maxwell Jacob Friedman had trailers come out for their upcoming movies.
Morgan’s was first, and as The_B points out in their Feed post with the Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo trailer, there are a few things worth noting in our first look at Japanese auteur Takashi Miike’s entry into a series that’s previously been helmed by Abel Ferrara and Werner
Herzog*.
One is that Liv is billed under her WWE name rather than her legal one (Gionna Daddio). In fact, it’s pretty cool that Morgan is billed at all. A lot of pro wrestlers first roles are cameos or smaller roles, along the lines of Liv’s turn on the Chucky television show, or Becky Lynch and MJF’s parts in Happy Gilmore 2. But the Judgment Day leader is right there with the leads on the only cast list we get:
No word on Morgan’s role, but she at least gets to lick some… noodles? or sliced cabbage or some other vegetable, maybe?… and then snap a guy’s neck with her hands while in bed with him. It seems big enough I’m wondering if she’s not the “missing daughter of a powerful American family” mentioned in the synopsis.
Today (Aug. 4), Violent Night 2’s trailer hit the web. Shortly after his turn as Adam Sandler’s son in the Happy Gilmore sequel, Freidman was announced for the follow-up to the 2022 action comedy starring David Harbour as a grumpy old Viking warrior version of Santa Claus. He’s not billed in the clip, but neither is Harbour or Jared Harris, who replaces John Leguizamo as Santa’s main nemesis in this one, and Kristen Bell, who joins the nascent franchise as Mrs. Claus.
Max appears to be one of Harris’ men, possibly the leader of the crew sent to get a powerless Claus at a shopping mall. We see him a couple of time in the trailer, once enjoying a forehead cookie (that will make sense when you watch it), and then mixing it up with Saint Nick when his special lady friend arrives to back him up.
Unlike Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, Violent Night 2 does have a release date: Dec. 4, 2026.
* Apologies to The_B, Full Nelson Reilly, and everyone in the comments under The_B’s trailer post for spamming it with Herzog/WrestleMania links.
