Professional Documents
Culture Documents
IO
IT
D
E
L
A
IT
DIG
BAZ LUHRMANN
DIRECTS CROCODILE
CREEK THE GREAT
FILMMAKERS
FORGOTTEN PROJECT
SON OF A GUN
WEST COAST CRIME,
LOCAL STYLE
COLLISION COURSE
WHEN HOLLYWOOD
MAKES THE SAME
MOVIE TWICE
DRACULA UNTOLD
THE MAZE RUNNER
THE LITTLE DEATH
JOHN DOE: VIGILANTE
FAT PIZZA VS. HOUSOS
ROBERT DUVALL
ISAAC HEMPSTEAD WRIGHT
BEN KINGSLEY
SOUNDTRACK ON
Tasmanias North
o
r
l
e
l
i
r
e
WTHE RED CARPETng out
for events
.
g
n
this Spri
The Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air (BOFA) Film Festival is intimate, thoughtprovoking and fun. BOFA is small enough to be friendly - not a black T-shirt or snooty
attitude in sight - and big enough to be international in perspective.
We find fresh, innovative stories to inspire you to see the world differently truly a
breath of fresh air. We show shorts at each screening and lead you in a conversation
with film makers and experts after each film.
We party hard at our red carpet opening night party, at the Tasmanian Innovation
Awards, at the BOFA Devil Screen Industry Awards and on closing night. Our Festival
Lounge features great Tasmanian wines, barista coffee and food (including the worlds
best vegetarian) - the perfect place to chill or chat.
Just a short flight away into Launceston and with the beauties and wonders of Tasmania
to visit post-festival. Come!
Thursday 6 - Sunday 9 November 2014 www.bofa.com.au
For more information about Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival and great accommodation
and experience offers like these, go to www.northerntasmania.com.au
Rate is for Single/Twin/Double accommodation (using existing bedding), breakfast for two people in The Avenue Restaurant and parking for one vehicle. Offer valid until 31/12/2014. Quote promo code FILMINK.
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Subject to availability. $159 rate valid for stays 01/10/14 - 30/11/14. Room rate includes WiFi, valet parking, and a $20 food and beverage credit to be used at any of our 6 restaurants, 4 bars, mini bar,
or room service. Quote promo code SHORTBREAK.
Virunga
The Congos Virunga National Park is home to
the worlds last population of wild mountain
gorillas. This rousing, must-see work, filmed
amid flying bullets and racist conspirators
has enough action, pathos, suspense, venal
villains, stalwart heroes and endangered
gorillas for a dozen fiction films.
48
KATE MULVANY
52 FURY
58 SON OF A GUN
62 BAZ LUHRMANN
66 COLLISION COURSE
70 LUKAS MOODYSSON
CONTENTS
VOL. 9.34 OCTOBER 2014
Dracula Untold
British actor, Luke Evans (Fast & Furious
6), sharpens his fangs to star as popular
cultures most famous vampire in this
ambitious origin tale.
14 Previews
First look, sneak peek stories on the action
thriller, John Wick; the riotous comedy,
Lets Be Cops; and the buzzed-about true
life drama, Foxcatcher.
22 Boyd Holbrook
This exciting young American actor has
a big month in Australian cinemas, with
roles in A Walk Among The Tombstones,
Gone Girl, and The Skeleton Twins.
26 Isaac Hempstead Wright
The young star of Game Of Thrones takes
a break from all the blood and guts to lend
his voice to the lead character in the stop
motion animated family flick, The Boxtrolls.
28 Robert Duvall
The veteran actor talks about facing his
fears and working with Robert Downey Jr.
on the new legal drama, The Judge.
32 The Maze Runner
Adapted from James Dashners
popular Young Adult novel, this sci-fi
thriller pits child against child in a deadly
battle for survival.
36 Kelly Dolen/John Doe: Vigilante
The outspoken Australian director crafts
a bold talking point with his gutsy thriller
starring UK import, Jamie Bamber
about a man who kills with a disturbingly
clear conscience.
98 Sir Ben Kingsley
The legendary British actor takes it
lying down while doing his voice work
for the stop motion animated family flick,
The Boxtrolls.
42
JOSH LAWSON
LOCAL FOCUS
44 Preview
Writer/director/star, Paul Fenech, brings
his two greatest TV triumphs together on
the big screen with the gut-busting mashup, Fat Pizza Vs. Housos.
45 The Polygon
This powerful documentary looks at a
Kazakh village that lies just 18km from
a former Soviet nuclear test site, The
Polygon, which was responsible for over
600 nuclear explosions that left the land,
water, and local people irradiated forever.
46 Josh McConville
This young actor-on-the-rise provides the
heart and soul for the wonderfully inventive
time travel romance, The Infinite Man.
50 Focus On Tasmania
It might get stung by the tyranny of
distance, but Tasmania has a vibrant and
busy filmmaking community.
74 FILM REVIEWS
84 HOME
Farscape
Now hitting Blu-ray, this sci-fi series
about an Earth astronaut who finds
himself part of a fugitive alien starship
crew is one of the best that the genre
has to offer.
86 Lucio Fulci/Gates Of Hell
The seminal supernatural trilogy from one
of the most notorious directors in Italian
horror history makes its gruesome way
to Blu-ray.
88 DVD & Blu-ray Reviews
New releases, straight to DVD releases,
TV On DVD, and more.
CONTENTS
VOL. 9.34 OCTOBER 2014
12 KEEPING IT REEL
www.blackmagicdesign.com/au
Blackmagic URSA EF
7,235
Blackmagic URSA PL
7,839
Publisher
Dov Kornits
dov@filmink.com.au
Editor
Erin Free
erin@filmink.com.au
Art Director/Designer
Katherine Power
Account Manager
Roger Smith
roger@filmink.com.au
Staff Writer/Website Manager
Cara Nash
cara@filmink.com.au
Illustrations
Katherine Power, Simon Coates
Distributed by
Network Services
International Correspondents
Pauline Adamek (Los Angeles),
Philip Berk (Los Angeles),
Gill Pringle (Los Angeles),
James Mottram (London),
Alicia Malone (Los Angeles),
Danny Peary (New York),
Tim Bain (London)
Contributors
Julian Wood, Reg Diplock,
Stephen Vagg, Byron Struck,
Jeannette Delamoir, Roger Smith, Tom Clift,
Mark Demetrius, John Noonan,
John Roebuck, Anthony OConnor,
Tom Derwin, Jack Sargeant,
Danielle Muir, Colin Fraser, James Fletcher,
Rhiannon Sawyer, Catherine Brown, Lex Hall,
Toli Papadopoulos, Sarah Ward, Simon Foster
Work Experience
Ella Esposito Doolan
EDITORS RECOMMENDATION
THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967)
Made at the tail end of the sixties, The Dirty Dozen was among the first war movies
to mix the feel of the growing counterculture in amongst its action set pieces.
Directed with characteristic terse grit by the great Robert Aldrich (Ulzanas Raid,
The Longest Yard), this bruising classic has one of the great war movie premises:
a hard bitten major (Lee Marvin in a role initially offered to John Wayne is at
his hard-bitten, taciturn best) puts together a crew of military prisoners (a mix
of rapists, thugs, criminals, oddballs and the unjustly imprisoned, played by the
disparate likes of Telly Savalas, John Cassavetes, Jim Brown, Charles Bronson,
Donald Sutherland, and Clint Walker) for a suicide mission against the Nazis in
WW2. Though there was lots of now famous tension on the set (mainly caused
by John Cassavetes unpredictability and Lee Marvins boozing), the resultant film
is tough (the group of misfits earn their moniker by killing a few relative innocents
along the way), imaginative, inventively violent, and often very funny. Its one of
the best guys on a mission movies ever made, and a true WW2 ball-tearer.
BENEFITS
NEXT STEPS
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INTO THE
DARKNESS
With the bold and bloody DRACULA UNTOLD, writers, MATT SAZAMA and BURK SHARPLESS, and stars, LUKE EVANS, SARAH GADON,
DOMINIC COOPER, and SAMANTHA BARKS, take an iconic character right back to the beginning. BY JAMES MOTTRAM
14
12 FILMIN
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LUKE EVANS
WERE DEALING WITH
THE MAN, AND THE HUMAN
BEHIND THE LITERARY
FIGURE. WERE DEALING
WITH HISTORY AS MUCH
AS WERE DEALING WITH
FICTION AND WERE
MERGING THE TWO.
go home, eat, and go to bed. I did that for four months.
Physically, it was just full on. Not only that, but he couldnt
even wind down with a drink at the end of the night. There
were a few naked scenes, so I had to keep in good shape,
the actor smiles. So no Guinness not until Id finished doing
all the fighting and all the naked stuff. Then I had a pint of
Guinness, which was about two or three months in. That, in
anyones book, is a long time to wait for a drink.
Evans wasnt the only one enduring hardships. Enter
Samantha Barks, the singing sensation who made her
feature debut as ponine in Tom Hoopers Oscar-winning
film musical, Les Misrables. Cast as the mythic Baba Yaga
in Dracula Untold, it meant a 3:00am call time before she
had to endure six to seven hours a day in the make-up
chair as prosthetics were carefully applied to turn her into
an aged witch. The prosthetics team were so incredible,
she enthuses. You feel like youre a completely different
person, a completely different character. But its done so
well that the prosthetics still move with your face. Even my
dimples stood out! Thats how well formed it is. And its
liberating to be behind this character. Youre so free to do
whatever you like, and the prosthetics are so well designed
that they dont hold you back.
After playing the wailing waif ponine, dressing up as a
mad witch was the perfect antidote. It was so cool being
IN CINEMAS
OCTOBER 16
2013 BEFORE I GO PRODUCTIONS, INC.
FOXCATCHER:
WRESTLING WITH DESTINY
Already garnering Oscar buzz, the true life drama, FOXCATCHER starring STEVE CARELL and CHANNING TATUM, and
directed by BENNETT MILLER is not your average sports movie. BY JAMES MOTTRAM
14 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
that they spoke the same language; that they were both
patriots, and that they were both wrestling supporters
and aficionados, explains Carell who, even with the
addition of a prosthetic nose, gives one of his most muted
screen performances. That sense of pride and country
was ingrained into both of them, but from completely
different realms. Du Pont really had the need to be a
mentor.
The relationship between Du Pont and Schultz
becomes even more twisted with the appearance of
Marks older brother, Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo), also an
Olympic champion. Dave was always the golden child
of wrestling, says Tatum. Everything that Mark did was
because Dave taught him. And it was impossible for Mark
to get out of his shadow. Thats the real truth and Du
Pont came along at this moment and just shined a light
on Mark.
Yet this is not merely a tale of simple sibling rivalry; Du
Pont lures Dave to his estate too, flinging unfathomable
sums at him to come and train his brother and the rest
of Team Foxcatcher (named after the horse farm that Du
Ponts father owned). What follows is not your classic
sports story of triumph over adversity, flush with medalwinning montages; rather, its a tragedy that culminates
CULT
FILM
CLASSICS
Withavis
nD
Jaso MOVIES
AS
end
JABB7s Week
On
ise
Sunr
&
om
ny fr
Quin anova
Sup
THE TERMINATOR
5th September, 7pm
JAWS
19th September, 7pm
LABYRINTH
3rd October, 7pm
THE CROW
17th October, 7pm
AN AMERICAN
WEREWOLF
IN LONDON
BLUES BROTHERS
14th November, 7pm
SPACEBALLS
28th November, 7pm
PULP FICTION
$10 Tickets*
$9 CINEBUZZ*
Design & Illustration by Richard de Carvalho.
Loy
Prog alty
ram
TM
JOHN WICK:
16 FILMIN
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MelbOurne
17 Sept 12 Oct
briSbane
Sydney
18 Sept 12 Oct
1 Oct 19 Oct
adelaide
2 Oct 22 Oct
Canberra
23 Sept 15 Oct
byrOn bay
9 Oct 15 Oct
Perth
24 Sept 15 Oct
hObart
16 Oct 22 Oct
LETS BE COPS:
Stars, JAKE JOHNSON and DAMON WAYANS JR., suit up as phony police officers for director, LUKE GREENFIELD, in the riotous
new comedy, LETS BE COPS. BY GILL PRINGLE
Cowabunga! Megan Fox and Will Arnett front up for the premiere of the
Michael Bay-produced hit, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The kids a star, we reckon Jeff Bridges was proclaiming of young Aussie actor, Brenton Thwaites
(far left), his co-star in the sci-fi drama, The Giver, which also stars (from left) Emma Tremblay, Taylor
Swift, Meryl Streep, and Katie Holmes.
Makeup FX artist, Mel Cooper, festival director, Rebecca Thomson, director, Ann Turner, actor, Rebecca
Smart, festival director, Briony Kidd, and Freya Langford-Sidebottom get appropriately freaky at the
opening night screening of the 1989 cult fave, Celia.
Cheers, shady people! David Wenham and friends live it up at The CinefestOZ Film Festival.
20
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Hello, ladies! Nathan Phillips surrounds himself with local beauties, Jessica Du Gouw and Sarah
Snook, at the after party for the opening night of The Melbourne International Film Festival.
RUSSIAN
RESURRECTION
RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014
Canberra
Sydney
Brisbane
Perth
Adelaide
Melbourne
28 OCT5 NOV
30 OCT9 NOV
6-16 NOVEMBER
6-12 NOVEMBER
7-09 NOVEMBER
13-23 NOVEMBER
NEW FACE
As a recovering drug addict caught up in a mess of murder and kidnapping,
young actor, BOYD HOLBROOK, makes his presence felt in the Liam Neesonstarring thriller, A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES. BY DANNY PEARY
22 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
RIGHT
DIRECTION
ROLE
MODEL
The Many Roles Of...
DANTE'S PEAK
EVELYN
GOLDEN EYE
GREY OWL
MAMMA MIA!
MARS ATTACKS!
MISTER JOHNSON
MRS. DOUBTFIRE
REMINGTON STEELE
ROBINSON CRUSOE
SERAPHIM FALLS
TAFFIN
THE DECEIVERS
BREAK A LEG!
When one of the faulty doors on The Millennium Falcon now
famously slammed down on star, Harrison Ford, during the shoot
for Star Wars: Episode VII, it shattered his leg and put the actor out
of commission for six months. Well, hes now back on his feet, but
in what rates as a very Dumb Idea, the 72-year-old decided to test
his recently healed leg by hurling himself down the 2,500 Alpine
Slide upon which riders can hit speeds of 30 miles per hour in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming during a day out with his family. Though
stable enough to strut the red carpet at the recent premiere of The
Expendables 3, wed imagine that Fords super-slide antics would
have given Star Wars director, J. J. Abrams, a near heart attack.
REMAKE HELL: THE CONTINUING STORY
The 1983 comedy, Vacation, was one of the best of the eighties,
and inspired a series of sequels and spin-offs of diminishing quality.
After being off the cinematic scene for a while, the series is now
set to be rebooted, with Ed Helms tapped to play Rusty Griswold,
the grown son of Chevy Chases Vacation patriarch, Clark Griswold,
who will cameo, along with his on-screen wife, Beverly DAngelo.
Propping up the cast are Chris Hemsworth (!), Charlie Day, and
Christina Applegate. And also set for a reboot is the character of
Anne Rices The Vampire Lestat, originally played by Tom Cruise
in Interview With The Vampire. The Fault In Our Stars helmer, Josh
Boone, is looking to revive the bloodsucker for a new film series.
TOO BAD
With his career currently located somewhere in the toilet, its no
surprise that notoriously unfunny funny man, Martin Lawrence,
is desperate for a third installment of his hit buddy cop series, Bad
Boys, to get the greenlight. Eleven years ago today, Bad Boys II was
released in theatres, he tweeted a couple of months ago. Feelin
its about time for number 3 what do you think, Will Smith?
While his far more successful co-star has yet to confirm his interest,
Lawrence sadly says that Bad Boys is, indeed, in the works. I just
talked to [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer, and he said that its real,
theyre working on the script, theyre getting close, and it all looks
good, he told US talk show host, Conan OBrien. Boooo!!!
THE NOT SO PERFECT STORM
As the writer of Stargate and Independence Day, Dean Devlin certainly
has a strong pedigree in the sci-fi action genre, but his upcoming
big budget directorial effort, Geostorm, sounds like something that
those opportunistic knuckleheads at mockbuster production
house, The Asylum, would cook up. In the absurd-sounding thriller,
the increasingly undiscerning Gerard Butler plays a stubborn but
charming satellite designer who, when the worlds climate-controlling
satellites malfunction, has to work together with his estranged
brother (Jim Sturgess) to save the world from a man-made storm of
epic proportions. A trip into space follows, while on Earth, a plot to
assassinate The President (Andy Garcia!) begins to unfold.
THE MATADOR
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24
DUMB ideas
DUMPING A BUCKET
You know youre in trouble when Jackass prankster, Steve-O, is the
voice of reason. While the worlds celebrities have been publicly
dousing themselves in iced water to apparently bring in money and
raise awareness for Lou Gehrigs Disease, Steve-O has pointed
out that most of them have failed to include a couple of important
details in their self-splashing video uploads: the charitys details, and
information about donating money. Charlie Sheen and Bill Gates
were the only ones who even hinted that the entire point is to donate
money, Steve-O has said. All those other celebrities just poured
water over their heads without including any call to action, which
doesnt benefit victims at all. Head to www.alsa.org/donate for info.
HOLLYWOODARSEHOLES
BRUNI
FABRIZIO
BENTIVOGLIO
MATILDE
GIOLI
VALERIA
GOLINO
GUGLIELMO
PINELLI
FABRIZIO
GIFUNI
LUIGI
LO CASCIO
AND
AND FEATURING
ALBERTI
STORTI
GIGIO
A FILM BY
GET GOOPED!
GIOVANNI
ANZALDO
BEBO
PAOLO VIRZ
T
FINESA
N
ITALI of
FILM 4
201
GETTING WOOD
2014 DAVID DI
DONATELLO
AWARDS
WINNER
WINNER
2014 DAVID DI
DONATELLO
AWARDS
2014 ITALIAN
GOLDEN
GLOBES
BEST
ACTRESS
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N A T I O N A LRELEASE
R E L E A S EOCTOBER
D E C E M B E9RTH
NATIONAL
Cameo
RAISE YOUR
VOICE
Game Of Thrones actor, ISAAC HEMPSTEAD WRIGHT,
is extending his repertoire with voice acting in the
animated adventure-comedy, THE BOXTROLLS.
BY TOLI PAPADOPOULOS
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26
IT WAS
A FUN
PROCESS
Elle Fanning. He mentions that he was filmed whilst doing
his voice work, allowing the studio to base Eggs facial
characteristics on his. The animation process is unique to
Laika, he explains. They have a cutting edge 3-D printing
set-up which prints in colour, and theyll paint the video
of the actor doing their lines, and study exactly how the
mouth moves, and all the little nuances.
Hempstead Wright jokes that there were multiple
takes of certain scenes as his voice dropped throughout
the shooting process. It wasnt as if we were re-doing
the film all over again. It was a fun process, and a very
exciting thing to be able to do, he laughs. And as far
as preparation is concerned, Hempstead Wright says
that it wasnt too time consuming. I didnt think deeply
about any preparation, just because the directors were
truly excellent at being able to do that all for me, if you
will, he says. I would come into the studio, and theyd
know exactly what the character was thinking, and how
it would be reflected in the voice. They were great at
Ticke dooh
g
h
at rt throu
o
*All guests confirmed health and other commitments pending. Must be accompanied by a paying adult.
Cameo
FAMILY
LAW
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28
There are no
second chances
Cinema, curated
Force Majeure
The Skeleton Twins
The Infinite Man
Character Piece
Broken Dreams
STANLEY KUBRICK:
THE GERMAN
LIEUTENANT
The late, great Stanley Kubrick is almost
as famous for the films that he didnt
make as the heralded favourites that he
did complete. There was his cherished
biopic on Napoleon Bonaparte (with Jack
Nicholson in the lead role); the Holocaust
drama, The Aryan Papers (which the
director scuttled when his friend, Steven
Spielberg, beat him to the punch with
Schindlers List); a biopic about Nazi
filmmaker, Veit Harlan (the uncle of
Kubricks wife); an adaptation of Umberto
Ecos 1988 novel, Foucaults Pendulum; I
Stole 16 Million Dollars, a fictional account
of thirties bank robber, Willie Sutton, set
to star Kirk Douglas; and many, many
more. One of Kubricks most interesting
(and less discussed) unrealised projects,
however, was The German Lieutenant,
which he co-wrote with Richard Adams,
a paratrooper in The Korean War who
had also studied with master Danish
filmmaker, Carl Dreyer. Drawing on Adams
own wartime experiences, the WW2set The German Lieutenant follows two
friends Lieutenants Kraus and Dietrich,
professional German soldiers in the elite
paratroop division assigned an absurd
and utterly pointless mission in the dying
days of the war, with the Allies set to
topple The Third Reich. For Kubrick,
the project would be a quick return to
the cinematic battlefield after his 1957
WW1-set masterpiece, Paths Of Glory.
One of the attractions of a war or crime
story is that it provides an almost unique
opportunity to contrast an individual of
our contemporary society with a solid
framework of accepted value, which the
audience becomes fully aware of, and
which can be used as a counterpoint to a
human, individual, emotional situation, the
director told Film Quarterly in 1959 of the
appeal of The German Lieutenant. Further,
war acts as a kind of hothouse for forced,
quick breeding of attitudes and feelings.
Attitudes crystallise and come out into the
open. Conflict is natural, when it would in a
less critical situation have to be introduced
almost as a contrivance, and would thus
appear forced, or even worse false.
Sadly, like so many of Kubricks lost
projects, The German Lieutenant became
another casualty of the directors hardfought cinematic war. n
30 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
PRIVATE WITT
WW2
MOVIES!
(1) In Saving Private Ryan, which
landing beach is the scene for the
opening 27 minutes of gruesome
action?
(2) Which Swedish-born actor played
the role of Major Karl Von Steiner in the
1981 film, Escape To Victory?
(3) Which character was nicknamed
The Bear Jew in the movie, Inglorious
Basterds?
BEN AFFLECK
Matt Damon they played baseball
and took drama classes together,
and would much later collaborate
on the Oscar winning screenplay for
the 1997 drama, Good Will Hunting.
Afflecks teen years consisted of
TV movies and television guest
appearances, with his first major
splash in feature films coming in
1993 with his brilliant performance
as a high school bully in Richard
Linklaters Dazed And Confused.
NOTCHES ON HIS BELT
Ben Affleck has jumped with
apparent ease from the in-your-face
indie comedies of his good friend,
Kevin Smith (Mallrats, Chasing Amy,
Dogma), to rock-solid, blue ribbon
flicks (State Of Play, Shakespeare In
Love). In between, there have been
an inordinate amount of shockers
(Reindeer Games, Paycheck, Gigli,
Surviving Christmas), as well as a
double dalliance with Michael Bay
(Armageddon, Pearl Harbor), but
Affleck has been able to offset the
dross with strong work in films like
Hollywoodland, Changing Lanes,
and The Company Men. It is as
a director, however, that Affleck
has really shone, delivering three
highly impressive efforts with Gone
Baby Gone, The Town, and the
Oscar winning Argo. This month,
he headlines David Finchers hotly
anticipated Gone Girl.
WHY WE LOVE HIM
Hes talented, and never
takes himself too
seriously.
LIP SERVICE
People were always
telling me, Youre
too big, youre too
tall! You can only
play bullies, and
you will never be
a leading man.
I feel plagued by
insecurity.
When fame
arrives, its not
really a surprise,
but its not what
you were planning
on either.
THE LAST WORD
Big Ben n
WHO?
Despite being literally tall, dark, and
handsome, actor/writer/director,
Ben Affleck, has built a long and
successful career on constantly
doing the unexpected, whether by
taking roles in unusual films with
more artistic than commercial value,
turning screenwriter at an early
age, or by opting to get behind the
camera at a surprising juncture in
his Hollywood journey. Benjamin
Geza Affleck was born in 1972 in
Berkeley, California, and raised in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, by a
social worker father and school
teacher mother. With ambitions
to act from a young age, Afflecks
first on-screen experience was in a
Burger King commercial at the age
of eleven, which he followed with a
major role in the childrens TV series,
The Voyage Of The Mimi. It was
also at that age when Affleck met
his lifelong friend and fellow actor,
Backstory
YOUTHINREVOLT
Producer, WYCK GODFREY, and director, WES BALL, assemble an exciting young cast led by DYLAN OBRIEN, WILL POULTER,
THOMAS BRODIE-SANGSTER, and KAYA SCODELARIO for the sci-fi thriller, THE MAZE RUNNER. BY GILL PRINGLE
32
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32 FILMIN
SPECIAL
EVENTS
380 military road cremorne . ph 9908 4344 . orpheum.com.au
WITHOUT DOUBT
THE GRANDEST
CINEMA IN SYDNEY.
TIME OUT SYDNEY
DIGITAL EXC
LUSIVE
Directors Cut
CRIME
STORY
Director, SCOTT FRANK, brings a classic crime novel to life with the down-and-dirty A WALK
AMONG THE TOMBSTONES, starring Liam Neeson. BY DANNY PEARY
DIGITAL E
who can make you feel that one and one equals three, the
director tells FilmInk. You need to feel that hes not just
realising the part as much as hes adding to it by bringing
his own baggage. Liam is just naturally a very emotional
character. It feels like hes a man whos made all sorts of
choices, some of them good, some of them bad. You feel
that way all by looking at his face. Very few actors can
play afraid and still remain a movie star. He can do that.
Hes not Superman, but he can do both. He can be the CIA
agent in Taken, but he can also be this guy whos wounded
and sad and living in a tiny apartment alone.
So, how has the sophomore director been handling
it? Has he been experiencing the enjoyment that he was
aiming for? Some days, Im more worn out than others.
You caught me on a good day, Scott Frank laughs.
To purchase the Lawrence Block book,
A Walk Among The Tombstones, go here to
https://www.hachette.com.au/books/detail.
page?isbn=9781409147824 n
DIGITAL EXC
LUSIVE
Directors Cut
MADE
BY HAND
Co-directors, ANTHONY STACCHI and GRAHAM ANNABLE (pictured left and right with actor, Nick Frost), work wonders
with the stop motion animated childrens tale, THE BOXTROLLS. BY GILL PRINGLE
DIGITAL E
WE THINK THAT
THE PROCESS OF
MAKING IT IS AS
INSPIRING AS THE
FILMS THEMSELVES.
director on the animated movie, Open Season, he worked
in various creative fields on Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron,
Antz, and James And The Giant Peach. In bringing The
Boxtrolls to the screen, Stacchi says that they crossed
a fine line between creating monsters who were both
cute and ugly. Ugly is in the eye of the beholder, he
says. But the story has to be credible, so if youre doing
a story where there are humans who have prejudices
against these creatures because they think that theyre
monsters, then your humans cant be as grotesque as your
monsters. It confuses the audience. With the Boxtrolls, we
wanted them to have these wonky-toothed faces that only
a mother could love but, by the end of the movie, you do
love them once you get to know them.
As the CEO and owner of Laika, and also a key
animator, Travis Knight serves almost as a third director
on the film. Technology can be a democratising thing,
he offers. For animators of my generation, there were
virtually no resources for trying to figure out how to do
stop motion. There were no books about it, and you
couldnt take college classes about it. There was no
internet as a resource, so you had to look at it and try to
somehow figure out how it was done. Theres a lot of trial
and error in your parents basement! But the thing with
technology is that all that information now exists, and
Directors Cut
GUNNING
FOR THE TRUTH
With his absorbing documentary, THE NOTORIOUS MR. BOUT, Russian-born filmmaker, MAXIM POZDOROVKIN
(pictured left with his co-director, Tony Gerber), pulls back the curtain on the world arms trade. BY TOM CLIFT
Directors Cut
BEHIND
THE MASK
Director, KELLY DOLEN, talks to FilmInk about his new film, JOHN DOE: VIGILANTE, human nature, and Pacific Rim.
BY JOHN NOONAN
I THOUGHT, WOULDNT
IT BE INTERESTING TO
WRITE A MOVIE FROM THE
KILLERS PERSPECTIVE?
convictionshow do you look the victims families in the
eye and say, Well, hes got the same rights as you. Well,
what about the next person?
John commits his crimes whilst behind a featureless
mask, which slowly becomes a symbol held up to represent
a dichotomy of opinions amongst the residents of the
city that he calls his stomping ground. Is John a saint
or a sinner? The thing that fascinates me about human
nature is that when something terrible happens, we need
something to identify, Dolen says. After 9/11, we had
Osama Bin Laden. In those brief moments when you dont,
theres this real fear of humanity. Even if its the wrong
person, it doesnt matter to the general populace, as long
as theres something or someone to identify as evil.
Playing John Doe is British actor, Jamie Bamber, known
MAYSLES BROThERS
RETROSPECTIVE
antenna
DOCUMENTARY
FILM
FESTIVAL
You couldnt make this up
SYDNEY 1419 OCT 2014
FULL PROGRAM
NOW ON SALE!
antennafestival.org
LIST OF CREDITS
Gods Of Egypt, The Water Diviner, The Hobbit, Moulin Rouge!,
King Kong, The Piano, The Chronicles Of Narnia, The Great
Gatsby, The Matrix, Babe, Babe: Pig In The City
ELI WALLACH IN
FROM HERE TO
ETERNITY (1953)
What Happened?
One of Hollywoods greatest ever myths
goes that in the early fifties, singer/actor,
Frank Sinatra then at an absolute low point
in his career used his mafia connections to
force the producers of the 1953 WW2-era
drama, From Here To Eternity, to give him
the plum supporting role of soldier, Angelo
Maggio, a rebellious good time guy who
meets a heartbreaking fate at the hands of
Ernest Borgnines vicious bully, Sgt. Fatso
Judson. Sinatra was brilliant in the role,
which revitalised his career, and scored
him a well-deserved Best Supporting Actor
Oscar. The mafia myth was so pervasive
that it even found its way into the book and
film, The Godfather, with Marlon Brandos
mob boss offering John Marleys Hollywood
executive an offer he couldnt refuse to
cast Al Martinos crooner/actor, Johnny
Fontaine, in a much sought-after war movie.
Though a great rumour, Sinatra allegedly
mobbing his way into From Here To Eternity
has long been discounted as spurious. He
was not one to ask for favours, Nancy
Sinatra said of her father. But later in life,
he found a sense of humour about it.
Though the then not-highly-regarded Sinatra
did have to campaign hard for the role of
Angelo Maggio (even stating that hed do it
for nothing), it was his movie star girlfriend,
Ava Gardner, who proved most helpful, with
the tough talking actress suggesting Sinatra
to Columbia studio head, Harry Cohn, who
liked the idea of getting him at a bargain
basement price. Sinatras casting, however,
was mainly thanks to actor, Eli Wallach, who
had initially nabbed the role. Id promised to
do Tennessee Williams play, Camino Real,
but they couldnt get the money together,
Wallach told The Guardian in 2010, so I
auditioned for From Here To Eternity. I got the
job, but then they found the money for the
play, so I pulled out. Whenever I met Frank
Sinatra afterwards, hed always say to me:
Hello, you crazy actor.
Would It Have Worked?
The brilliant Eli Wallachs Angelo Maggio
would perhaps have been a more comical,
blustery figure, which wouldnt have
matched the martyr-like kick of Sinatras
mighty read on the character. n
38 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
JODIE MORRISON
Casting Couch
sea was fun. It was also my first on-screen credit. There have been
many moments between then and now. This year, I worked with
[costume designer] Tess Schofield on The Water Diviner, making
very interesting and beautiful shoes. I have also been making the
menswear and stunt shoes for Gods Of Egypt. We also had a lot of
fun working on The Hobbit; there was lots of different scale to work
out. So usually, the most enjoyable jobs are the ones where I have a
chance to show how clever we are at Steppin Out.
MY JOB RULES because I work with a small team who all
share in the desire to do the best job possible.
MY JOB DOESNT RULE BECAUSEon film, the
turnaround time is so quick between getting the design and
realising the footwear that I can forget to have fun.
GREATEST MISCONCEPTION ABOUT YOUR JOB?
People have often wondered why its necessary to make
footwear for film and theatre, thinking that there is all manner
of footwear just in a shop somewhere to be bought, rather than
being made to measure.
DOES SIZE MATTER? BIG BUDGET OR LOW BUDGET? Often
on smaller budget films, if they are having footwear made, it is going
to be seen. Big budget usually means more of everything, with shoes
for stunt doubles and stand-ins, as well as the Hero pairs.
YOGA HOSERS
Kevin Smith will direct this supernatural
teen comedy starring his daughter,
Harley Quinn Smith, along with
Johnny Depp, and Depps daughter,
Lily-Rose Depp.
DEEPWATER HORIZON
Mark Wahlberg will star for director,
J.C. Chandor (Margin Call, All Is Lost),
in this true life drama about the tragic
2010 BP oil rig explosion.
THE JAPANESE
FILM FESTIVAL
Unlike Australia, where quality homegrown
films often struggle to make any real
dent on the local box office, Japanese
cinema is thriving in its native country.
And thats not due to the enforcement of
any heavy-handed screen quotas, which
were abolished decades ago. Its due to
the sheer quality of output. In recent
years, Japanese films are having more
and more audience share, Japanese
Film Festival director, Masafumi Konomi,
tells FilmInk. The statistics in 2012 show
that Japanese films now have a majority
of 65.7% for the domestic market, and
almost double the share of foreign films.
The last time that Japanese films cleared
the 60% mark was over forty years ago.
This is not only because of the strength
of Japanese films, but also because of
the stagnation of Hollywood films. These
films lighting up the box office in Japan
will soon be on show in Australia at the
18th Japanese Film Festival, which is
presenting its biggest line-up yet with fifty
titles selected for Sydney and Melbourne.
As for trends in this years programme,
Konomi reveals a strong selection of anime
films. After Hayao Miyazakis retirement
announcement, I want to introduce and
feature other animators of the Japanese
industry there is more to Japanese anime
than Studio Ghibli. And foodies will enjoy
the selection of culinary-inspired cinema
on offer. This year, there are more titles
related to Japanese food such as A Tale
of Samurai Cooking A True Love Story,
Little Forest: Summer/Autumn, and The
God Of Ramen. This trend is universal, but
its particularly evident in Japan because
Washoku [traditional Japanese cuisine]
was recently added to UNESCOs Intangible
Cultural Heritage list. These films round
out a mouth-watering feast of cinema.
The Japanese Film Festival runs in
Adelaide (Oct 10-19), Canberra (Oct1519), Brisbane (Oct 22-26), Perth (Oct
29-Nov 2), Auckland (Nov 6-12), Sydney
(Nov 13-23), and Melbourne (Nov 27Dec 7). For all screening, ticketing,
and venue information, head to
www.japanesefilmfestival.net. n
WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU FILMINK 39
HE CARVES
UP THE FILMS
YOU LOVE!
INGLOURIOUS
BASTERDS
I hope to give you at least fifteen more
years of movies, writer/director, Quentin
Tarantino, said back in 2005. Im not going
to be this old guy that keeps cranking
them out. My plan is to have a theatre by
that time in some small town, and I will be
the managerthis crazy old movie guy.
Damn! That means weve got six more
years of hokey, hipster-sating crap from
this perennial pain in the arse. He might be
loved by the too-cool-for-school crowd, and
deified for his apparently encyclopaedic
knowledge of film, but Quentin Tarantino
has been tossing up crap since he debuted
with Reservoir Dogs, which was somehow
praised for its brilliant dialogue even
though it boasted more shitty, smugfaced one-liners than Tango & Cash.
With films like Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction,
Tarantino continued to pump out gussiedup exploitation flicks, but it was when he
turned his attentions to the real world that
he was really shown up for the immature,
unsophisticated fantasist that he truly
is. His tedious, overlong WW2 epic,
Inglourious Basterds, is filled with Tarantino
trademarks (movie references; long, boring
scenes where people just talk and talk;
Bet365 sellout, Samuel L. Jackson), but
in applying them to an actual historical
setting (you know, with Nazis and stuff),
theyre revealed to be utterly hollow and
self-serving. And as for the films climax (in
which a big bunch of bad boys from The
Third Reich, including heavy hitter, Joseph
Goebbels, and top banana, Adolf Hitler, are
eviscerated by flames and bullets), well,
it feels like little more than the desperate
fantasies of a teenage boy who has
dreamed about how cool it would have
been to wipe out the Nazis after learning
about them in history class. Yes, its a
more-than-honourable fantasy, but when its
played out with such crowd-pleasing glee in
a major motion picture, it just feels puerile
and self-satisfyingkind of like Quentin
Tarantino himself. n
40 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
Casting Couch
MEADOWLAND
Olivia Wilde, Luke Wilson, Elisabeth
Moss, Giovanni Ribisi, Juno Temple, and
Natasha Lyonne will star in this drama
about a married couple dealing with the
death of their son.
MACK BOLAN
The eponymous soldier-turned-vigilante
created by author, Don Pendleton,
will be brought to the screen by The
Hangover director, Todd Phillips, and
star, Bradley Cooper.
Controversy Corner
THE FILMS THAT STARTED A FIRE
The new video installation, TOUCH ME, IM SICK by AMANDA WOLF at STRANGE
NEIGHBOUR, is set to push the boundaries. BY JACK SARGEANT
Based in Melbournes Fitzroy, Strange Neighbour is an
independently run gallery and photographic facility (including
darkroom) that has just celebrated its first year of operation.
Gallery director, Linsey Gosper, has presided over a number of
excellent multi-disciplinary, sculpture, and fine art exhibitions
curated by the gallery, and numerous curators working under
the gallerys curator-led model. While the themes of the various
shows have varied, there is an ongoing engagement with themes
of light and dark.
Although video pieces have been included in previous
exhibitions, Strange Neighbour is now embracing a larger video
exhibition by Brisbane artist, Amanda Wolf. Luridly coloured
ritualistic performances, Wolfs previous works include the
video, The Cesspool, in which a number of garishly costumed
figures writhe on the ground in quasi-ritualistic celebration. These
figures their bodies painted in bold, pop art-influenced colours,
and their heads encased in gigantic head-dresses and masks
maintain the appearance of exotic space creatures or strange
fetishists. The emphasis on the sheer volume of colour, and the
broadly repetitive movements of the performers, creates an
atmosphere that plays like a cross between an anthropological
capturing of some strange initiation, a psychedelic
documentation of a happening, and a hyperdelic Jack Smith film.
Other works by the artist see figures wrapped in strange,
balloon-like rubber outfits, nursing mutant masks with insectlike mouths from which spew streamers, or erotically rubbing
their backs against the wall while their bodies are encased in
bizarre luminous-red flesh rubber suits (complete with nipples
that resemble the giant plugs on waterbeds). It is unsurprising
that Wolfs previous exhibition, Peepshow/Creepshow, at The
Hold Artspace in Brisbane, was described as a combination of
Casting Couch
CHRISTMAS EVE
Lizzy Caplan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie
will star in this comedy about three
childhood friends who meet for an
annual Christmas Eve reunion.
SOUTHPAW
Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomie Harris
will headline this Antoine Fuquahelmed drama about a boxer whose
personal life is falling apart despite his
professional success.
WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU FILMINK 41
LETS TALK
ABOUT SEX
Busy comic actor, JOSH LAWSON, makes his debut behind the camera with THE LITTLE DEATH, a
bittersweet, thought provoking comedy about five couples who have more than a few sexual skeletons
rattling away in their cupboards. BY CARA NASH
Writer/director/star, PAUL FENECH, and actress, ELLE DAWE, deliver a double shot of in-your-face Aussie comedy with
FAT PIZZA VS. HOUSOS. BY BYRON STRUCK
44
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all about your audience. Thats the way that I look at it.
Thats probably one of the reasons why weve lasted
longer, because we listen to the people who watch us
and care about us. Thats the difference between us and
other comedy teams; theyre completely insular from their
audience. Thats the biggest mistake. If youre not reading
what theyre into or what theyre not into, youll die a
miserable comedy death with no one coming to care!
As one of the last forms of truly outrageous comedy
in mainstream Australian entertainment, Paul Fenech
speaks candidly about Pizza and Housos local focus. You
could do different versions of it around the world, but its
a particular sense of humour that we haveits uniquely
Australian, he says. With some of the black humour,
other countries would be too politically correct to do it
itd be out of bounds. Were actually blessed with a great
sense of humour here, which is very cool.
Fat Pizza Vs. Housos will be released
on November 27. n
isa
2015
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G
NEW FACE
BIGTIME
Busy young stage and screen actor, JOSH McCONVILLE, gets caught in a
time warp of his own making in the sci-fi romance, THE INFINITE MAN.
BY CARA NASH
46 FILMIN
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FILM INDUSTRY!?
independent or useful opinion. Its always
nice to be told that youre wonderful, but
if thats all that your hear, and if the only
people that you listen to are enablers, then
you cease to have anything worthwhile to
contribute to the world creatively.
FREE PASSERS
Some people in the Australian industry
always seem to be copping it: Baz,
Rusty, soap stars, whoever happens to
be running Screen Australia. Others get
free passes, and come off scot free. Like
Lachlan Murdoch, whose career is littered
with disasters (One Tel, Super League,
Channel Ten), but who is now set to take
over News Corp, and people just accept it,
Prince Joffrey style, because no one wants
to annoy his dad. I dont blame Lachlan for
what he does he tries, and you can only
ever do your best but I do blame people
for giving guys like him a free pass when
they and others like them should be
more closely scrutinised.
TROLLS
Not the pathetic, sad, evil creatures who
live under a bridge in fiction, but the
pathetic, sad, evil creatures who live to
be on social media in real life, spewing
bile, hate, and opinions. They love the fake
companionship of other people out there in cyberspace,
whipping out the hashtags, short-hand, and catchphrases
(#FFS, oy, vey, Bwahaha); self-congratulating
their mates; monopolosing the comments section; and
foisting their opinions on the world. Freedom of speech is
great, but some people will always talk more loudly and
obnoxiously than others, and none more than a troll. And
you know something? Theres not one troll out there who
thinks that theyre a troll.
I dont think theres any way to avoid the above people.
Its the nature of the beast. But we should identify them
and minimise their power. Then maybe well have a film
industry to be proud of again.
By Reg Diplock The Peoples Critic n
IN CONVERSATION:
ACTOR
SPOTLIGHT KATE
FILMINK INTERVIEWS THIS
COUNTRYS FINEST PERFORMERS
MULVANY
48
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Having compiled an enviable theatre resume, KATE MULVANY is finally getting her due on
screen, with scene-stealing support roles in the likes of The Great Gatsby and The Turning.
Shes scored her best film role yet in Josh Lawsons directorial debut, THE LITTLE DEATH,
where she plays a neglected wife, whose attempts at sexual role-playing go hilariously awry.
Beyond acting, the multi-talented Mulvany has also penned and produced over twenty plays
and screenplays, including the acclaimed stage production, The Seed, which was largely
inspired by her own family history, and is headed for the screen. BY CARA NASH
T H E R E A R E T WO S I D ES
TO E V E RY S TO RY . . .
OUT
NOW
The Seed
The Turning
N
FOCUS O
TASMANIA
TREASURE
ISLAND
It might get stung by the tyranny of distance, but Australias island state, TASMANIA, has a vibrant and busy filmmaking
community unlike any other part of the country. BY CARA NASH
Karen Slaninka
MONA
The Hunter
SCREEN TASMANIAS KARENA SLANINKA: IN A WORLD GONE GLOBAL, OUR POINT OF DIFFERENCE
IS OUR GENUINE AND UNIQUE TASMANIAN PERSPECTIVE. THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER, AND
THIS IS WHAT WERE FOSTERING. WERE BUILDING THE LOCAL INDUSTRY FROM THE GROUND UP.
(MONA) in 2011 has had a huge impact on Tasmanias cultural
and tourism scene, which has come to be known as the MONA
effect. Literally chiseled into an escarpment on the banks of the
Derwent River in Hobart, the museum, opened by the eccentric
philanthropist, David Walsh, boasts one of the most confronting
and controversial collections of art in the world, originally themed
around sex and death. It sets the tone for an arts scene that feels
raw and ambitious. The ripple effect of MONA has been huge,
Vincent Sheehan says. Theres just an energy and vibrancy
around the place. The festivals associated with it are bolder, more
ambitious, and more exciting than mainland festivals.
The museum oversees two festivals a festival of music and
arts known as MONA FOMA, held in summer, and its winter
cousin event, Dark MOFO, which features a killer film programme
co-curated by Nick Batzias. The film festival scene has certainly
flourished in recent years, and another addition to the circuit
is Briony Kidd and Rebecca Thomsons Stranger With My Face
Horror Film Festival. The festival grew out of the pair (who have
also just received funding from Screen Tasmania for a horror
anthology film that they plan to shoot locally) wanting to do
something based around Women In Horror Month, and in the
process, they started a film festival accidentally. I was surprised
by how well the idea was received and how quickly it took
off, Kidd recalls about the event, which has just successfully
wrapped its third year. But in retrospect, there was a gap in
the festival circuit at that time. There was a real dearth of film
culture in Tasmania in the sense of organisations being willing to
put money or effort into audience development.
Another major addition to the film festival scene is The
Tasmanian Breath Of Fresh Air Film Festival (BOFA), the states
premier film event, which will roll out in Launceston for its fifth
year this November. Its founder and director, Owen Tilbury,
was similarly motivated to start the event which screens a
collection of the finest feature films, documentaries, and shorts
from Australia and around the world due to the gaping hole
that he noticed in the states cultural scene. Tasmania is the
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Writer/director, DAVID AYER, chronicles the brutality and misfortunes of war in his scorching WW2 drama, FURY,
starring BRAD PITT, LOGAN LERMAN, and JON BERNTHAL as the crew of a US Army Sherman tank rolling right
into the heart of Nazi Germany. BY TIM BAIN & ERIN FREE
FURY
interesting aside to this is that in old photographs,
youll see the name of the tank, and itll be followed
by a number 2 or 3, which means that theyve
had tanks destroyed, and theyve been given a new
tank and carried the name forward. Calling the tank,
Fury, just comes from the idea of the rage, the
determination, and the strength of Wardaddy, and
how he fights his war with fury. Sometimes youll
see tanks with those kinds of names, and not just
girlfriend names. Theres a tank in the movie called
Murder Inc., which comes from an actual tank in
WW2. General Patton saw it and got very upset. The
tradition of naming these vehicles is quite rich. It was
a blessing to roll out the title, and to have it also be
the name of the tank.
As the film begins, the men of this tank called
Fury have lost one of their own, watching as he was
cut down by enemy fire. In his place comes Norman
Ellison (Logan Lerman), a young man woefully
unprepared for war. Though trained to be a mere
typist, hes been sent to the frontlines in the 2nd
DAVID AYER:
IF YOU REALLY WANT
TO FIND OUT ABOUT
SOMEONE, PUNCH THEM
IN THE FACE.
Armored Division, and forced to serve as an assistant
driver in the tank. Logans character was engineered
to take the audience through this complex world of
warfare, says the singularly intense and impassioned
David Ayer. A lot of thought went into what Logan
played. Norman Ellison is only eighteen-years-old,
and he comes from a white collar family. Theres an
instant class difference between him and the other
men in the tank. Theyre blue collar men of The
Depression. Towards the end of the war, the United
States was at the lowest level of its manpower. They
were grabbing anybody that they could in the draft,
and they were throwing them into combat after as
little as six weeks of training. Thats what Logans
character represents; the last manpower of the
United States. Thats when it becomes clear how
many people have been consumed in this war.
As the tanks assistant driver, Norman Ellison
has an important role to fill, and its up to the crew
to get him up to speed on the job. Inside the tank,
its a very tight, intimate space, says Brad Pitt,
turning to look at the looming Sherman that literally
sits right behind us in the big, airy shed that is The
Tank Museum in Bovington. Its our home. Were
crammed together, but weve all got our spots and
our workability and our language. When we start out,
our crew is one of the few whove been together for
a long time. Theyve survived. Suddenly, this new
kid is thrown in there, and he doesnt have any tank
experience. Hes a threat to our survival. If he cant
perform, the mission is in danger, and people will
die. This kid is very innocent, with a great sense of
humanity. The conundrum of the piece is this: how do
you raise a child in a day? My character, Wardaddy,
has to crush this kids humanity, and get him callous
and hard to ensure the safety of the others.
WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU FILMINK 53
FURY
NEW RECRUIT
Young actor, LOGAN LERMAN, excels as the least
experienced but most relatable member of the tank
crew in FURY. BY TIM BAIN
When I called [director] David Ayer, I said, Look
man, I really want to do this. And he said, Okay,
youve got the movie. For the first thirty seconds,
I was excited and happy. And then I realised, Oh
shit, now Im in this. And from then onwell, I was
stressed out for the whole year. It was a tough job. If
anyone truly cops it in Fury, its unquestionably young
actor, Logan Lerman, best known for headlining the
Percy Jackson fantasy flicks; the Biblical epic, Noah;
and the acclaimed teen flick, The Perks Of Being A
Wallflower. In Fury, Lerman plays Norman Ellison,
an inexperienced young soldier thrown amongst the
tanks crew when one of their men is killed. Untried
and untested, Ellison is literally tossed to the wolves.
Shy and engagingly inarticulate, Logan Lerman is
perfect casting as the rookie, and the actor visibly
rumples when talking about the boot camps and
Method acting games that the actors were put
through before and during the shoot. This was the
hardest film that Ive ever done, Lerman says of
the UK-shot Fury. Psychologically and physically, it
was a tough one to shake off. I needed a good break
afterwards. A lot of the things that we did, I cant
tell you guysits not good for the press interviews.
The psychological damage that David Ayer did to me
and the other guys was really difficult. To shake it off,
I needed a good break, and I needed to get back to
reality. We were isolated during the shoot, and we
never broke out of our bubble. We stayed in the movie
the whole time. Wed come home after rehearsals,
and then wed go back to the middle of nowhere.
We lived next to each other. We lived in that world,
and we never broke out of it. We rarely took trips
to London. Occasionally we did that, but then we
stopped because it didnt feel comfortable, and it
didnt feel right. We slept in that tank for a few nights,
and it became comfortable and homey after a while. I
loved my area after a while; it was my den.
Despite still displaying psychological bruises,
Lerman relished working on Fury. It was a creatively
satisfying experience, he says. I tried new things,
and explored different sides of myself. Im wholly
satisfied with everything that we gave as actors. We
put everything out there on the tablebut I still dont
know how Id handle being in a war. n
54 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
BRAD PITT: I KNEW UPON FIRST READING THE SCRIPT THAT IT WAS SOMETHING
SPECIAL AND VERY TRUTHFUL. I DIDNT RECOGNISE YET HOW DEEP IT WAS UNTIL
WE ALL STARTED WORKING TOGETHER, AND WE GOT SHOVED INTO THE FIRE.
regular society. Theres the hierarchy, the uniforms
there are parallels. Its a community that I understand.
With Fury, David Ayer butts up against a duality that
confronts most directors when theyre making a militarythemed movie. War might be hell, but it can also make
for a hell of a time on the cinema screen, as classics like
The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen, and The Bridge On The
River Kwai, and contemporary critical darlings like Saving
Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line, have amply proven.
War is a terrible thing, says Ayer. We all know that. But
from a basic storytelling standpoint, war has life and death
stakes, and it has action and spectacle. As destructive
to the human spirit that war is, its also fertile ground for
storytellers. Obviously in my business, war is often not
depicted in its whole reality. What I tried to show here is
that there are consequences. There are consequences for
the civilians who pay the price of combat, and there are the
individual soldiers who pay a psychological price. War stays
with the people who have fought it for the rest of their
lives. Those experiences affect their children and even their
grandchildren. Its a tragic thing. War will always be with
us, as long as there are those who dont want to cooperate
with a fraternity of nations. Its something that we need to
be prepared for, and we need to be ready to fight. Is it right
or wrong to glorify war? I couldnt answer that. It happens.
What does this film do? It simply tries to acknowledge that
the struggle that our men in WW2 faced was no different
from Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan. Just because it truly
was a fight against evil, and the outcome was absolute
good, it doesnt mean that the fighting that the individual
56 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
FURY
GETTING TANKED
While a hard-tracking, Nazi-killing weapon of war in
FURY, tanks have been used for far different things in
a number of movies and TV shows. BY ERIN FREE
KELLYS HEROES
(1970)
Theres a lot to love
about this entertaining,
Clint Eastwood-starring,
rag-tag hero, guys-on-amission WW2 flick from
director, Brian G. Hutton (Where Eagles Dare), but one
of the films absolute highlights is Donald Sutherlands
long-haired, proto-hippy tank commander, Oddball,
who blares loud music from speakers on his war
machine, shoots paint at the Nazis to scare them,
and blathers on about positive waves while calling
everyone baby.
TANK (1984)
David Ayer, Logan Lerman, Brad Pitt, and Jon Bernthal at The Tank Museum in Bovington, England, August 2014
historical books to read, and personal accounts about the
war. We gave them training manuals on how to operate
the tank, and how to operate the weapons. There was lots
of rehearsal. Im a big believer in rehearsal. Obviously, it
culminated with boot camp, which was like the graduation
exercise. At the final phase of boot camp, they were given a
tank and weapons loaded with blanks, and then they were
given a combat problem to solve.
For the actors, the experience was a singularly intense
one. There was a lot of effort put into getting this group
of actors together, says Jon Bernthal. Through the
fighting, the tank training, and the boot camp, we had to
expose each other to our strengths and our weaknesses,
and open up to each other about our own personal lives.
The boot camp copied a real Navy SEALs course, where
the aim is to break you down and then build you back up
together, and to make you a unit. By the end, we all had
an intimate knowledge of each other. So when we actually
started shooting this thing, we were a unit, and a family.
And if you think that Brad Pitt might have used his
movie star status to get out of such pre-production
rigmarole, then think again. I cant say enough good
things about Brad, says Bernthal. Brads as equally
a great man as he is a great actor. I know that actors
constantly talk about how much they like each other, and
then they go behind each others backs and talk about
what assholes they are. But in this case, its really true.
Yes, hes Brad Pitt. He doesnt have to do anything that
he doesnt want to do, but he eagerly jumped into every
part of this pre-production period, including sparring, living
in a tank, and using the bathroom in the tankwhich, by
the way, was just as nasty as when we did it! He was
out there in the wet and the cold. There was never a time
when he differentiated himself. It was never like, Im Brad
Pitt, and you guys arent. He was part of the crew.
Nor does Pitt hold it against his director. I remain a
David Ayer fan, the actor smiles. Knowing the depths
that he goes to for realism and authenticity, and being
WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU FILMINK 57
YOUNG
GUNS
Three major Australian talents on the rise writer/director, JULIUS AVERY, executive producer/
second unit director, MICHAEL SPICCIA (both pictured, right and left), and young actor, BRENTON
THWAITES stage a big time cinematic heist with the ripping crime thriller, SON OF A GUN.
BY ERIN FREE. PHOTO BY ALINA GOZINA
hey say that its a bit like going to war, writer/director, Julius Avery,
tells FilmInk of the first day that he stepped onto the set of his
debut feature film, Son Of A Gun. You have to prepare yourself for
the worst. There are a lot of outside stresses that dont even have
anything to do with whats on set. So the first day was actually a
relief, he laughs. The actors had turned up, we were there, and
we were doing it. There was a real sense of, Holy crap, this is happening!
Right up to that point of shooting it, I thought that it might not happen. There
are so many things with a film that can go wrong, so I was just relieved!
Considering the scope of his first feature film which comes replete with
crunching car chases, shootouts, robberies, betrayals, and even a hot pursuit
by helicopter this sense of relief is difficult to register, as Julius Avery
oozes a quiet confidence. He talks about Son Of A Gun with a complete lack
of hesitation, as if he knows every single frame of the film, back to front,
upside down, and side to side. Its his project from the ground up, and Averys
command of the material is obvious. The film is remarkably ambitious. It
begins with street criminal, JR (Brenton Thwaites) a young man with no
real family being frog-marched through the
shockingly sterile corridors of a stark, coldly
terrifying prison, where all of the inmates
look considerably older and more dangerous
than he does. JR, however, carries himself
with a twitchy sense of assurance, and has
the smarts to catch the attention of Brendan
Lynch (Ewan McGregor), a hold-up man
with a reputation so fierce that hes near untouchable inside the prisons four
foreboding walls. Absorbed into Lynchs small but hard-rolling crew, alongside
Sterlo (Matt Nable) and Merv (Eddie Baroo), JR escapes the kind of ugly fate
that waits cruelly for the prisons other young inmates. This protection status,
however, comes with a catch, as JR soon realises upon his release, when
Brendan Lynch calls his favours in. Suddenly thrust into a world of mobsters,
heists, and sexy young gangsters moll, Tasha (Alicia Vikander), JR is in over
his head, and struggling to stay one step ahead of an increasingly brutal and
dangerous game.
Its a big sprawling story, and despite his confidence, Son Of A Gun
remained a wild ride for Julius Avery. Id had experience with commercials
and short films, so Id worked with crew before, but it was more about the
pace and the sheer length of shooting, he sighs. We had 45 days, and the
58 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
CHECK OUT
THE STORY
BEHIND THIS
IMAGE AFTER
THIS FEATURE!
longest that Id ever shot for before that was six days. Someone gave me
a piece of advice, which was that you can only prepare for the first week.
Beyond that, forget it.
Avery, however, had been preparing for Son Of A Gun for a very, very long
time. Rewind back to 2008, and Julius Avery is a commercials director with five
short films under his belt, each more rich, textured, and visually accomplished
than the last. Hed already directed the powerful short film, End Of Town,
which earned him the Emerging Australian Filmmaker Award at The Melbourne
International Film Festival in 2006, and was also awarded an Australian
Directors Guild Award in 2007. Averys sixth and most fully realised short film
yet, Jerrycan about a teenager who risks everything after being bullied into
making a life and death decision was then accepted into The Cannes Film
Festival, and ended up winning the Jury Prize for short films, one of the fests
top honours. Populated with extraordinary non-actors, exquisitely shot by gifted
cinematographer, Adam Arkapaw (who would go on to lens Animal Kingdom,
Snowtown, Top Of The Lake, and True Detective), and boasting a tone and
mood redolent of a filmmaker with far more experience, Jerrycan was instantly
buzzed about, and Avery was targeted as a director to watch.
Not surprisingly, the offers started rolling in, but unfortunately for Avery,
they took him down a few roads that meandered promisingly before coming
to halting dead ends. Cannes was a big learning curve, the director tells
FilmInk. I went over there with a film that I was proud of. Id spent a lot of
time with my comrade, Adam Arkapaw. We went to school together and built
up an aesthetic, and an idea of how Id like to make feature films. Cannes
opened up a lot of doors. I got an agent in America, and I went on a festival
tour with the film. We went to Sundance and Berlin too, and it opened up
a lot of doors. Jerrycan also scored at Sundance, where it picked up an
Honourable Mention, and at Australias AFI Awards, where it was named
Best Short Fiction Film. These awards cement that youre on the right path,
Avery said at the time. Its affirming to have it acknowledged that youre
actually succeeding with your stories. Unfortunately, Jerrycans success hit
at an inopportune time. It was the big financial crisis, Avery says today.
Everyone seemed to be excited by the prospect of working with me, but
they were saying, Go away and do a first feature, and then well talk. I did a
lot of meetings, but it was a weird period in America. It was hard to get indie
films up. I was after a medium-level budget film, and they didnt really exist
anymore. It was tricky.
Still hot from Jerrycan, Avery plugged away, initially to no avail. I had
ideas floating around, the director says. One was a little more fully formed,
and the other was just an idea. I went with the more fully-formed one, and
that ended up not getting up. I was so depressed by the whole thing. I was
like, Fuck! What am I doing here? But I eventually got over it. Avery then
took another pitch to producer, Timothy White (who had been a major player
on films like Two Hands, Ned Kelly, Gettin Square, and Angel Baby), which
ultimately ended up developing into Son Of A Gun. He loved it, and it explored
the themes that I was working with in
the other film anyway its essentially
about a kid who wanted to be something
bigger, and whos a bit of a rogue. Hes
a lone wolf looking for his wolf pack,
Avery laughs. JR is very much like the
character in my script that fell over.
Ironically, it was around this time that
Avery found his own one-man wolf pack,
which came in the form of fellow filmmaker, Michael Spiccia, whod been
making music videos for bands like Evermore, Jet, The Black Ryder, Grinspoon,
Jack Ladder, and Bob Evans. Like Avery, Spiccia whod also worked as a
designer at Bazmark, alongside Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin was
born and bred in Western Australia, but later moved to Melbourne. We
met through mutual friends in the industry, Spiccia tells FilmInk. Were
from the same town, and we grew up in Perth and shared similar circles of
mates there, but somehow we never managed to cross paths until we both
moved east. Jerrycan really resonated with me, and when we finally met, we
connected through our mutual love and interest in a number of similar themes
that we wanted to explore in our films. Not to mention that were often
mistaken as brothers, Spiccia laughs.
While he was still in the process of getting his first feature up, Avery
penned the script for the 2012 short film, Yardbird, which Spiccia directed.
Again shot by Adam Arkapaw, and imbued with the same kind of earthy
lyricism which drove Jerrycan, the thirteen-minute short tracks a young
JULIUS AVERY:
YOU CAN ONLY PREPARE
FOR THE FIRST WEEK.
BEYOND THAT, FORGET IT.
WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU FILMINK 59
Photography & Concept: Alina Gozina, Produced by: Mim Davis & Alina Gozina, Assistants: Pascale Roux de Bezieux & Louis Saggus, Stylist: Danielle Alexander,
Hair stylist: Cameron Rains, Make Up Artist: Deb Muller, Post Production: House of Retouching. www.houseofretouching.com
SON OF A GUN
SON OF A GUN
BRENTON THWAITES:
IT WAS MY FIRST LEAD
IN A DRAMA, WHICH
WAS VERY COOL. IT WAS
AN OPPORTUNITY TO PLAY
A DARKER CHARACTER,
AND TO ENTER THIS REALLY
TWISTED WORLD.
usually with us, which was a bit scary. I dont know how
much of that was legal, or how much should be said in an
interview, by the way! But thats how it was. Nothing really
happened. I felt pretty safe, mainly because the extras
and actors in the movie were three times as gnarly as the
actual inmates. With guys like Eddie Baroo and Matt Nable,
we were pretty safe.
As well as shooting in prison, Avery also prepared
Thwaites by hooking him up with a few young guys not
unlike the character that he plays in the film. In order to
play this character, there was a lot more than myself that
I had to draw on, says Thwaites. I was introduced to
guys not much older than me who had been to prison at a
young age, and who had experienced a rough beginning to
the world. It was cool to talk to them and hear about their
philosophies and morals and little things like that.
And what was it like working with Ewan McGregor?
He would always look after me, Thwaites replies. This
was still one of my first movies. I was nervous, and I found
it hard to trust myself. He was always there encouraging
me to try different things, and telling me to ask for another
take if I didnt feel right about it. He checked if I wanted to
change the dialogue to make sure that we both felt right.
It can easily go the other way. An actor can say, Youre on
your own, man! or The next takes mine or Wheres my
close-up? But he was the opposite he was so giving,
friendly, and kind. We spent a lot of time together hanging
out, playing music, and training together.
Working with Ewan McGregor in a Perth prison is
certainly a long way from Home & Aways Summer Bay, but
the long running TV soap has proved to be a fertile breeding
ground for Australian actors, with the likes of the shows
Chris Hemsworth, Melissa George, Ryan Kwanten, Isla
Fisher, and Isabel Lucas all going on to Hollywood careers.
What do young actors get out of Home & Away? You get a
Visa out of it, Thwaites laughs. You get a lot of publicity,
and you can use that publicity to get a Visa. Thats the reality
of the situation. But its also a great place to get a lot of
hours in front of the camera. The more time that you spend
in front of the camera, the more relaxed you become. You
start to trust yourself and take risks and make crazy choices
which can fail and succeed. For me, it was a place where
I got to work with great people. I was quite young and it
helped me to get more comfortable in front of the camera.
That ease in front of the camera certainly shows
in Son Of A Gun, with Thwaites a magnetic and highly
charismatic presence despite his relative inexperience on
the big screen at the time of the shoot. He certainly wasnt
the only newbie on set, however, with Julius Avery also
feeling his way into the role of feature film director. Ewan
McGregor always made me feel like I knew what I was
doing though, which is important for a first-time director,
he says. There are moments when you second guess
yourself, and he was always supportive and made me feel
like I knew what I was doing. He did that for Brenton as
well. That kind of generosity goes a long way in terms of
setting the tone for the rest of set.
That set, however, was not without its problems. It goes
without saying that no film is easy to make, says executive
producer, Michael Spiccia. You have to keep pushing and
striving, and you have to compromise to make sure that what
you envisage ends up on the screen. It was an incredible ride
filled with a lot of challenges, which we learnt a lot from. As
Julius and I were both from WA, there was something
exciting and weird about us heading home to make his debut
feature. This was a story that took place on a pretty big stage,
and we had to make sure that we gave it everything that we
had, so it could roam and live in its best light.
Son Of A Gun does more than that: it roars and thunders.
Its a tough, affecting, and wildly entertaining film, and its
just the beginning for Julius Avery, who has no intention
of curbing his cinematic investigations into the theme of
fathers and sons, and what it is to be a man. I havent
finished exploring those themes, because for me, filmmaking
is like a very expensive form of therapy, the director laughs.
I get to look at myself and understand myself better
through the films that I make. Thats why I do it.
Son Of A Gun is released on October 16
and is reviewed on Page 75. n
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FILMIN
SON OF A GUN:
THE PHOTO SHOOT
When she was charged with creating a photograph of Australian
filmmakers and collaborators, JULIUS AVERY and MICHAEL SPICCIA,
photographer, ALINA GOZINA, somehow ended in the middle of
nowhere. BY ERIN FREE
Photography & Concept: Alina Gozina Produced by: Mim Davis & Alina Gozina
Assistants: Pascale Roux de Bezieux & Louis Saggus Stylist: Danielle Alexander Hair stylist: Cameron
Rains Make Up Artist: Deb Muller Post Production: House of Retouching www.houseofretouching.com
DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE
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COLLISION
COURSE:
WHEN HOLLYWOOD MAKES
THE SAME MOVIE TWICE
Hollywoods writers, directors, and studio executives have an unfortunate habit of having the same great and sometimes not so great idea twice, as these
twelve examples amply and repetitively prove. BY JOHN ROEBUCK
After enjoying rare commercial success with The Shining, legendarily enigmatic
director, Stanley Kubrick, turned his attention to the horrors of Vietnam.
Unfortunately, Oliver Stone, who at the time was enjoying a meteoric rise through
Hollywood thanks to the success of Midnight Express, Scarface (both of which he
wrote) and Salvador (which he wrote and directed), had the same idea. Stone had
served in Vietnam during the late sixties, and approached his film with a sense
of gritty realism. The strength of Stones semi-autobiographical Platoon is in the
sense of kinship that it conveys between its central group of soldiers. Contrastingly,
Kubricks Full Metal Jacket (based on Gustav Hasfords book, The Short-Timers) was
less interested in conflict and warfare, and more compelled by the inherent evils of
the military machine. Kubrick and Stone, meanwhile, appeared to have a polite, if
somewhat ambivalent, attitude toward their warring war films. I liked Platoon,
Kubrick told The Washington Post. Its very different. Platoon tries to ingratiate
itself a little more with the audience. But then, I have enough faith in enough of the
audience to think that they are able to appreciate something which doesnt do that.
At least youre not bored. Though Stone didnt like The Short-Timers novel (I didnt
think it was real), he was, however, suitably in awe of Stanley Kubrick. You dont
want your movie to be compared, if you can help it, to a Kubrick movie, he said in
the book, Oliver Stone: Interviews. Though both are revered today, Platoon had the
greater immediate impact, picking up Oscars for Best Film and Best Director, and
raking in millions at the box office.
The startling similarities between Antz and A Bugs Life, both establishing entries into
the medium of computer animation, were far from coincidental. During the lengthy
production of A Bugs Life, a bitter and very public feud erupted between former
Disney executive, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Pixar heads, Steve Jobs and John Lasseter.
After leaving Disney on sour terms, Katzenberg formed the studio, DreamWorks, with
the intention of producing animation that would rival that of his former employer.
Lasseter, a friend of Katzenbergs from Disney, and one of the directors on A Bugs
Life, was dismayed to hear the news that DreamWorks inaugural film would focus
on impossibly related ideas. We had been working on our film for about a year and
a half when we found out that they were starting theirs, Lasseter said. We were
disappointed, but we concentrated on making our own film. Then it struck Lasseter
that he had involved Katzenberg early on in the creative process of A Bugs Life, often
bouncing ideas off his friend, whose opinion he respected. He called Katzenberg and
challenged him about the striking similarities between both films. Katzenberg denied
stealing the idea, claiming that a development director had pitched him the idea for
Antz long before hed even become aware of A Bugs Life. The two parties entered
into a release date war, with Katzenberg attempting to use the quicker production
turnaround on Antz to strong-arm Pixar into pushing A Bugs Life to a release date
more beneficial for DreamWorks. Neither side relented. Ultimately, both films were
met with commercial and critical success, despite being released within just two
months of one another.
WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU FILMINK 67
During the summer of 1998, Steven Spielbergs WW2 opus, Saving Private Ryan, was
released in the US to incredible success, both critically and commercially. A few months
later, Terrence Malicks The Thin Red Line also exploring the horrors of WW2, albeit
in The South Pacific rather than Europe hit cinemas. Spielberg was one of the most
established figures in Hollywood, and Malicks significance as a filmmaker was also
widely accepted, though before he had begun production on The Thin Red Line back in
1997, he had been on a mysterious self-imposed twenty-year hiatus from filmmaking
after his first two films, Badlands and Days Of Heaven, had been met with enormous
critical praise. The coincidence of two colossal filmmakers both releasing a film focusing
on WW2 was enormous, but they were about as dissimilar as it gets. Saving Private
Ryan approached the conflict from a more conventional and sentimental avenue, while
Malicks adopted an elegiac attitude. Where Spielberg thunders, Malick insinuates,
critic, Peter Travers, said in Rolling Stone. Ultimately, Malicks more poetic film was
completely dwarfed by Spielbergs bloodbath. Spielberg would eventually win his
second Best Director Oscar, and his film would gross nearly $500 million compared to
The Thin Red Lines $100 million. But according to The Thin Red Line star, Elias Koteas,
the films almost function as companion pieces. America learned a lot about warfare
during Guadalcanal, as depicted in The Thin Red Line, he told Inside Film. The troops
were green and inexperienced. In Saving Private Ryan, what we learned in warfare in
that vicious South Pacific battle is taken into D-Day.
A weathered hero is responsible for saving a city, a love interest, a child, and a dog
when a volcano eruption threatens to destroy everything around it. The significant
rarity of volcano films emphasises the astonishing fluke that was the close proximity
of the release dates of Dantes Peak and Volcano. In 1997, there hadnt been a
high profile volcano film for almost seventeen years, and even then, it was Paul
Newmans decidedly lacklustre When Time Ran Out, which was released at the tail
end of the seventies Golden Era of disaster films. Then, within the space of two short
months, two Hollywood volcano films hit American cinemas. Dantes Peak starred
a Bond-era Pierce Brosnan as a volcanologist who predicts the deadly eruption of
a dormant volcano neighbouring a quiet country town. Volcano, on the other hand,
was headed by Tommy Lee Jones, and focused on the almost inconceivable event
of a volcano forming fresh in downtown Los Angeles. Both films involved the narrow
escape from the deadly force of the volcano by a dog. Genuine volcanologists were
outraged by the films, due to the poor logic and science behind the eruptions. The
films were shot at around the same time, and were well and truly aware of each
other. Volcano is a more traditional disaster movie, Dantes Peak producer, Gale
Anne Hurd, told People Magazine. Ours is more of a scientific adventure film.
Volcano director, Mick Jackson, meanwhile, claimed that he wasnt conscious of any
direct rivalry. Upon release, the US Geological Survey niggled that the movies were
unrealistic. Audiences and critics shared the volcanologists dim view, with both
films underperforming.
In the late nineties, two Hollywood productions focused on the rapid rise of reality
television: Peter Weirs reflective, philosophical The Truman Show (in which an
entire community and TV show is constructed around Jim Carreys unknowing
everyman and international celebrity) and Ron Howards more light-hearted EDtv
(in which a very knowing Matthew McConaughey has his every move documented
by a TV crew). For Howard who came to fame as a child star on The Andy
Griffith Show EDtv had a profoundly personal edge. This is something that I can
relate to. Its about the notion of volunteering to become a celebrity, and how you
can get caught up with it, Howard told The New York Times. But it deals with
these issues without copping to a poor-me attitude. Both films examine the
obsession that often swirls around reality television, and the peculiar fame that it
can generate for its subjects. It used to be that you became famous because you
were special, a character in EDtv comments. Now you become special because
youre famous. Fame itself has become a moral good. While both strong films,
The Truman Show unquestionably achieved the greater traction of the two. People
asked me if I thought that the films scenario was actually possible, Peter Weir told
FilmInk in 2010. I always said probably not, and that it was more of a cautionary
tale or a satire. In fact, one reviewer said that the trouble with this movie was the
implausible plot theres no way that people would sit at home and watch such a
boring, everyday life. Yet a couple of years later, it was happening for real!
68 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
Two separate period dramas surveying the world of magic and illusions hit cinemas in
2006: Christopher Nolans The Prestige followed the bitter and deadly rivalry between
two determined magicians (Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman), while Neil Burgers The
Illusionist concentrated on Edward Nortons turn-of-the-century trickster. The films
were met with almost indistinguishable critical reception. The Prestige, benefitting
from Nolans post-Batman Begins glow, fared marginally better at the box office,
although The Illusionist was also a success, especially considering its minimal budget.
The films tricky release dates, however, makes picking a winner between the
two films decidedly difficult. We made The Illusionist quite a bit before The Prestige
actually, Edward Norton told Indie London. In the states, it came out quite a bit
before that film. In the UK, its flipped. Im not quite sure why they held it here for
so long in the UK, but it doesnt seem to have hurt either one. The Illusionist did
incredibly well in the US. The Prestige did its thing, and the two films didnt seem to
interfere with each other. If I had to choose, it would be better to come out first, but I
dont think its a big deal. Christopher Nolan, meanwhile, was decidedly philosophical
about the nature of the duelling projects. Theres always something else out there,
he said at The Hero Complex Film Festival. Certainly, when we were doing Batman
Begins, there was no shortage of superhero movies that may be too close to you. You
just have to take a leap of faith and say, Were going to do this, and hope that we can
find our space in the marketplace.
Released just six months apart, Ivan Reitmans No Strings Attached and Will Glucks
Friends With Benefits both starred a pair of Hollywood A-listers (Ashton Kutcher and
Natalie Portman, and Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, respectively) as characters
exploring the possibility of having romance-less, commitment-free sex. So closely timed
were the productions of both films that the script for Reitmans film was also originally
titled Friends With Benefits, until backers, Paramount and Screen Gems, came into
conflict over the fact that they were ostensibly funding exactly the same film. Eventually,
Reitman acquiesced to the request to change the title of his film, and both productions
resumed amiably. Will Gluck spoke with a certain amount of aggravation about the
comparisons that were being made between the two co-habiting sex comedies. I wish
that there was more space between them, he said. The thing thats irking me now is
that people are saying that were remaking No Strings Attached. Were not remaking it.
The two movies were being made at exactly the same time. Glucks comments were
endorsed by Friends With Benefits star, Mila Kunis, who observed: Its just two different
movies. There are only so many stories that you can tell in the world. This is just one
of many. Despite Kunis protestations, it was the one of many stories that happened
to have already been told just a few short months prior. Although critics favoured the
later released Friends With Benefits to Reitmans film, both films made an astonishingly
analogous amount at the box office from comparable budgets, proving, perhaps
unfortunately, that sticking to a formula often does work out for Hollywood executives.
ARMAGEDDON (1998)
AND DEEP IMPACT (1998)
The onslaught of disaster films during the nineties was brought to an abrupt close
with the duel release of Michael Bays Armageddon and Mimi Leders Deep Impact.
Nowadays, Michael Bay may be known as an overly stylised, minimal substance variety
of filmmaker with a penchant for explosions, but back during the late nineties, he was
known as an overly stylised, minimal substance variety of filmmaker with a penchant
for explosions. It may come as little surprise then that Armageddon was ill received
by critics, but what may perhaps be more unanticipated is that the film was heralded
by a separate, similarly themed blockbuster released just two months previously. Both
films deal with an asteroid hurtling toward Earth at a devastating speed. While Mimi
Leder (The Peacemaker) took a more measured, emotional response to the material
(You think about the value of your life, and you think about living it fully, she told
Times Union of directing the film. How could I be doing it differently? How could I
make it better?), Bays characteristic love of bombast was well and truly in place.
Making films is like a war, he once famously said. In the end, the audiences desire
for destruction would not be sated by just one apocalypse, and both films performed
admirably at the box officethough both received less-than-impressed reviews from
the critics. On the DVD commentary for Armageddon, Bay is not shy about discussing
Deep Impact: he admits that its success hurt the box office of his film; states that both
films are very different; claims that Armageddon would resonate more with mass
audiences; and tags his special effects as more realistic.
Twin films often happen as a result of current cinematic trends. In the case of Mirror
Mirror and Snow White And The Huntsman, the films were part of a craze for updated
fairy tales. Loose adaptations of a story arguably perfected by Disney in 1937, Mirror
Mirror and Snow White And The Huntsman are actually wholly dissimilar. While Snow
White And The Huntsman boasts more grandiose sensibilities, Mirror Mirror, directed
by Tarsem Singh (The Fall, The Cell), is a whimsical take on the fable. Its helped
both of the films get talked about, Snow White And The Huntsman director, Rupert
Sanders, told FilmInk. Theyre very different. I never saw us making the same film,
and both looking at the other, embarrassed, and going, Were in the same dress!
When Filmink asked newcomer, Lily Collins who plays Snow White in Mirror Mirror
about the rivalry between the two films, the actress had nothing but positive
words for the Kristen Stewart-starring Snow White And The Huntsman. Their version
is darker and edgier, and ours is more comedic, she said. We just wanted to focus
on our magical version. Im excited for Kristen Stewart; shes perfect for the other
version. Weve joked about how theres supposed to be a huge rivalry when were
actually friends. Were excited for each other. Shell do an amazing job, and I cant
wait to see that version. But for me, this is the version that Ive always lived with in
my head. Both films were a commercial success, although Snow White And The
Huntsman was more of a commercial success, which resulted in a sequel being
swiftly greenlit.
WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU FILMINK 69
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p From left: Lukas Moodysson on the set of Together; Moodysson on the set of Mammoth; Moodysson with Mammoth actors, Gael Garcia Bernal, Martin De Los Santos, Jan Nicdao, Marife Necesito and Sophie Nyweide
at The 59th Berlin Film Festival. Opposite page: Moodysson with We Are The Best! stars, Mira Barkhammar, Liv LeMoyne, and Mira Grosin, and his daughter, Lily Moodysson, at The 70th Venice International Film Festival.
FILMINK RATES MOVIES OUT OF $20.00. The FilmInk rating system indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth.
MA
102 minutes
USA
Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Bruce
Willis, Josh Brolin, Eva Green, Joseph
Gordon-Levitt, Powers Boothe
Distributor Icon
WORTH $17.00
Released September 18
FILM REVIEWS
TBC
95 minutes
Australia
Josh Lawson
Josh Lawson, Bojana Novakovic,
Damon Herriman, Lisa McCune
Distributor eOne
WORTH $11.50
Released September 18
Couples like Dan and Evie, who are trying role play
to spice up their rocky relationship, except Dan is too
distracted by the mechanics of staging the scenes to
reconnect. Down the road, Rowena discovers that tears
turn her on, and since she and Richard are trying to
conceive, he becomes the unknowing victim of her abuse.
Across the way, Phil adores his grouchy wife only when
SON OF A GUN
Rating
Time
Country
Director
Cast
MA
109 minutes
Australia
Julius Avery
Brenton Thwaites, Ewan McGregor,
Alicia Vikander, Matt Nable
Distributor eOne
WORTH $15.50
Released October 16
...polished...
Brenton Thwaites has been a busy man in the two
years since he left Summer Bay. In addition to royal
duties in Maleficent earlier this year, he will pop up in
Gods Of Egypt after leading The Signal for William Eubank
(his follow up to the acclaimed Love), as well as stealing
Julius Averys home grown thriller, Son Of A Gun. He stars
opposite Ewan McGregor, though to be fair, its McGregor
MA
81 minutes
Australia
Hugh Sullivan
Josh McConville, Hannah Marshall,
Alex Dimitriades
Distributor Infinite Releasing
WORTH $17.50
Released September 18
fun, funny,
insightful
All is fair in love and war and in The Infinite Man,
that includes time travel. Dean (Josh McConville)
wants to recapture the heyday of his romance with Lana
(Hannah Marshall), but when revisiting the scene of a
happy holiday doesnt succeed, he pursues a different
course of action. Attempting to avoid Lanas loutish
ex-boyfriend, Terry (Alex Dimitriades), Dean takes to
MA
102 minutes
Sweden
Lukas Moodysson
Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin,
Liv LeMoyne, Johan Liljemark
Distributor NewVision
WORTH $17.50
Released September 18
M
93 minutes
USA
Craig Johnson
Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Luke Wilson,
Ty Burrell
Distributor Sony
WORTH $16.50
Released September 25
deliciously funny.
Pairing Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader is nothing new
to comedy fans, with their work on Saturday Night
Live sparking film careers that continue to work
in tandem. Both shared the screen in Adventureland,
appeared in Knocked Up, and lent voices to Her, but it is
the dramatic The Skeleton Twins that marks their meatiest
cinematic collaboration. Their fondness and familiarity
OBVIOUS CHILD
Rating
Time
Country
Director
Cast
MA
84 minutes
USA
Gillian Robespierre
Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffman,
David Cross
Distributor Disney
WORTH $16.50
Released October 2
entertains and
courageously engages.
Girl meets boy, sparks fly, and courtship commences,
with their respective baggage requiring amusing
manoeuvring before relationship bliss can be
achieved. So go most romantic comedies, and although
Obvious Child is guilty of the same, it provides a refreshing
difference. The reality of late twentysomething life informs
a film neither beholden to fantasy nor chasing it. Difficult
76
76 FILMIN
FILMINK
K WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
FILM REVIEWS
THE BOXTROLLS
Rating
Time
Country
Director
Voice Cast
PG
97 minutes
USA
Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi
Isaac Hampstead Wright, Elle Fanning,
Ben Kingsley, Toni Collette
Distributor Universal
WORTH $16.50
Released September 18
...thoroughly entertaining...
Theres a lot to love about The Boxtrolls, a goofy
animated comedy thats fun for the whole family.
Based on Alan Snows childrens novel, Here Be
Monsters!, The Boxtrolls is set in the Victorian era, and
features a number of recognisable voices, including the
young and talented Isaac Hampstead Wright (Game Of
Thrones) and Elle Fanning, along with A-list stars, Ben
IN BLOOM
Rating
Time
Country
Directors
Cast
TBC
102 minutes
Georgia/France
Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Gro
Lika Babluani, Mariam Bokeria,
Zurab Gogaladze, Data Zakareishvili
Distributor Palace
WORTH $16.00
Released September 25
M
113 minutes
USA
Wes Ball
Dylan OBrien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas
Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter
Distributor Fox
WORTH $11.50
Released September 18
...bloodless...
For the unaware, learning that The Maze Runner is
based on a trilogy of books is the last in a series of
disappointments. James Dashners Young Adult, postapocalyptic novels have been brought to life by graphics
designer turned first time director, Wes Ball. Brought
to life, however, may be a generous phrase. Given
that a grandiose premise underpins the entire story, its
WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU FILMINK 77
MA
93 minutes
Australia
Kelly Dolen
Jamie Bamber, Lachy Hulme,
Sam Parsonson, Daniel Lissing
Distributor Monster
WORTH $15.00
Released October 16
uncomfortable questions.
Having dished out several servings of self-righteous
justice to Melbournes worst, John Doe (Jamie Bamber)
is awaiting his sentence in prison whilst being interviewed
by journalist, Ken Rutherford (Lachy Hulme). This creates
the storys backbone, as Rutherfords recognition of a
grey area in the concept of justice clashes with Does
FORCE MAJEURE
Rating
Time
Country
Director
Cast
M
119 minutes
Sweden
Ruben stlund
Brady Corbet, Johannes Bah Kuhnke,
Lisa Loven Kongsli
Distributor Sharmill
WORTH $17.50
Released October 16
...provocative...
Soaked in Scandinavian cool, Ruben stlunds ski
resort shocker is the kind of arthouse drama that
Bergman or Haneke might make, pivoting as it does
on deep, psychological trauma. Even then, its unlikely
that theyd lend quite the same internal anxiety or external
discomfort achieved in this distressing movie.
Set over five days on a French mountain for well-heeled
SIDDHARTH
Rating
Time
Country
Director
Cast
M
97 minutes
India
Richie Mehta
Tannishtha Chatterjee, Rajesh Tailang,
Irfan Khan, Anurag Arora
Distributor Pinnacle
WORTH $15.50
Released October 9
FILM REVIEWS
JODOROWSKYS DUNE
Rating
Time
Country
Director
Cast
M
90 minutes
USA/France
Frank Pavich
Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky,
H.R Giger, Richard Stanley
Distributor Disney
WORTH $18.50
Released September 18
...must-see doco...
When you think about groundbreaking science
fiction, certain titles spring immediately to mind:
Metropolis, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars.
These are the movies that pushed the limits of what we
had seen on screen, and in turn inspired others to push
them further. But theres one other title that belongs on
the list that most people wont be familiar with. Were
G
86 minutes
France
Guillaume Vincent
20,000 bears
Distributor Icon
WORTH $12.00
Released September 25
ADVANCED STYLE
Rating
Time
Country
Director
Cast
PG
72 minutes
USA
Lina Plioplyte
Joyce Carpati, Ari Seth Cohen,
Lynn Dell
Distributor Madman
WORTH $12.00
Released October 9
celebratory
That age is no impediment to fashion is the mantra
of Advanced Style, one that it shouts rather than
whispers. Documentarian, Lina Plioplyte, assembles a
colourful collection of characters aged between 62 and
95 to share their sartorial wisdom and choices, each
devoted to dressing well and expressing their unique
personalities through clothing. The film capitalises in the
dressed women aged fifty and over as they walk down New
York Citys streets. The documentary starts by showing his
exploits, though it swiftly evolves away from its framing
device. First-time director, Lina Plioplyte, hones in on seven
grand dames of fashion who have caught Cohens gaze,
chronicling not just their wardrobes, but their lives, loves,
lost dreams, and increasing health ailments.
Witty one-liners flow freely from the films subjects,
in keeping with the celebratory spirit of the documentary.
I really am an artist, and my art is dressing, 62-year-old
Tziporah Salamon decrees; I never wanted to look young;
I wanted to look great, eighty-year-old Joyce Carpati
advises. Charm radiates, as does obvious elegance, but
even at only 72 minutes, much of the feature feels slight and
superficial instead of insightful and informative. The forays
that it makes into convention-defying topics, touching upon
the industrys and societys overwhelming penchant
for youth and conformity, are welcome in their all-too-brief
inclusion, adding a dash of depth to what amounts to a light
hearted portrait of ageing gracefully. Sarah Ward
WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU FILMINK 79
BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP
Rating
Time
Country
Director
Cast
TBC
92 minutes
USA, UK, France, Sweden
Rowan Joffe
Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth,
Mark Strong, Anne-Marie Duff
Distributor STUDIOCANAL
WORTH $9.50
Released October 16
daft
No front-loading of Oscar-worthy talent or uttering
that over-used adjective, Hitchcockian, can disguise
the fact that Rowan Joffes daft thriller, Before I Go To
Sleep, is anything more than a high concept, low IQ, airport
novel of a film. Spinning on the same premise as Adam
Sandlers 50 First Dates, this over-produced, undercooked
thriller proposes that our protagonist, Christine (a game
HUMAN CAPITAL
Rating
Time
Country
Director
Cast
TBC
110 minutes
Italy
Paolo Virzi
Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Valeria Bruni
Tedeschi, Matilde Gioli, Giovanni Anzaldo
Distributor Hi Gloss
WORTH $16.50
Released December
M
99 minutes
France/Morocco
Laila Marrakchi
Omar Sharif, Nadine Labaki,
Lubna Azabal, Hiam Abbass
Distributor Pinnacle
WORTH $14.00
Released September 18
...engaging, if slightly
predictable...
In the Morocco-set Rock The Casbah, theres plenty
of drama to keep you looking at the characters
over the picturesque landscape, but every dramatic
scene is accompanied by distracting swathes of
delicious food. Giant bowls of honey, freshly made mint
tea, plates of couscousMorocco looks like a place for
the culinary tourist. This level of eye catching food doesnt
80 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
FILM REVIEWS
THE DOG
www.antennafestival.org/
Rating
Time
Country
Directors
Cast
NA
100 minutes
USA
Allison Berg, Frank Keraudren
John Wojtowicz, Carmen Bifulco ,
Jeremy Bowker
Distributor Antenna Documentary Film Festival
WORTH $18.00
Released October 14-19 (Sydney)
riveting and
affecting
NA
97 minutes
USA
Martin Scorsese, David Tedeschi
Timothy Garton Ash, James Baldwin,
Mary Beard
Distributor Antenna Documentary Film Festival
WORTH $14.00
Released October 14-19 (Sydney)
moderately
interesting
If youre part of that ever-dwindling minority who still
read books, you may like this documentary directed
by no less than Martin Scorsese, along with editor, David
Tedeschi, with whom he collaborated on the music films,
Shine A Light and George Harrison: Living In The Material
World about one of the English speaking worlds more
distinguished forums for criticism. The New York Review Of
NA
83 minutes
USA
Marshall Curry
Matt Van Dyke
Antenna Documentary Film Festival
$18.00
October 14-19 (Sydney)
www.antennafestival.org/
www.antennafestival.org/
admirably
even-handed
Baltimore resident, Matt Van Dyke, has always been
a self-confessed adventure enthusiast. Footage of
him as a young boy heralding himself as the new Indiana
Jones, or sentimental recollections of his first viewing of
David Leans Lawrence Of Arabia, punctuate the first half
hour of Marshall Currys (Street Fight, If A Tree Falls) new
documentary, Point And Shoot. The film follows Van Dyke
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au/
NA
98 minutes
Italy
Sebastiano Riso
David Capone, Giovanni Gulizia
The Lavazza Italian Film Festival
$15.00
Mel (Sep 17-Oct 12), Syd (Sep 18-Oct 12),
Can (Sep 23-Oct 15), Per (Sep 24-Oct 15),
Bris (Oct 1-22), Ade (Oct 2-22),
Byron (Oct 9-15), Hob (Oct 16-22)
graceful, restless
poetry
NA
100 minutes
Italy
Sydney Sibilia
Edoardo Leo, Valeria Solarino
The Lavazza Italian Film Festival
$16.50
Mel (Sep 17-Oct 12), Syd (Sep 18-Oct 12),
Can (Sep 23-Oct 15), Per (Sep 24-Oct 15),
Bris (Oct 1-22), Ade (Oct 2-22),
Byron (Oct 9-15), Hob (Oct 16-22)
a crowd-pleaser
Pietro is a brilliant but frustrated college professor
who, despite his obvious smarts, is struggling to
make ends meet. His wife is on his back, the bills are
piling up, and the kids that hes tutoring on the side are
ripping him off. When hes laid off by the university, the
quietly humiliated Pietro decides to use his chemistry
knowledge to put a high-end new drug on the market,
NA
106 minutes
Italy
Daniele Luchetti
Rossi Stuart, Micaela Ramazzotti
The Lavazza Italian Film Festival
$16.50
Mel (Sep 17-Oct 12), Syd (Sep 18-Oct 12),
Can (Sep 23-Oct 15), Per (Sep 24-Oct 15),
Bris (Oct 1-22), Ade (Oct 2-22),
Byron (Oct 9-15), Hob (Oct 16-22)
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au/
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au/
bittersweet
Relaying an unravelling relationship through the
eyes of a child always gives a story a bittersweet
sting, as is the case with director, Daniele Luchettis
autobiographical latest work, Those Happy Years.
Here the child is Dario, whos looking back as an adult on a
tumultuous few weeks with his family in Rome circa 1974.
The father of the family is Guido (the suave and
82 FILMINK WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU
SEPTEMBER 18
THE BOXTROLLS (Universal)
THE HOUSE OF MAGIC (STUDIOCANAL) Family. Voice
Cast: Murray Blue. Directors: Jeremy Degruson, Ben Stassen.
THE INFINITE MAN (Infinite Releasing)
JODOROWSKYS DUNE (Disney)
THE MAZE RUNNER (Fox)
PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE (Disney) Family. Voice Cast: Dane
Cook. Director: Roberts Gannaway.
ROCK THE CASBAH (Pinnacle)
SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (Icon)
WE ARE THE BEST! (NewVision)
WISH I WAS HERE (Transmission) Drama. Cast: Zach Braff,
Kate Hudson. Director: Zach Braff.
SEPTEMBER 25
THE EQUALIZER (Roadshow) Crime. Cast: Denzel
Washington. Director: Antoine Fuqua.
IN BLOOM (Palace)
LAND OF THE BEARS (Icon) Documentary.
LIFE OF CRIME (Madman) Comedy. Cast: Jennifer Aniston.
Director: Daniel Schechter.
THE LITTLE DEATH (eOne)
THE SKELETON TWINS (Sony)
OCTOBER 2
ADVANCED STYLE (Madman)
ANNABELLE (Roadshow) Horror. Cast: Alfre Woodard.
Director: John R. Leonetti.
DRACULA UNTOLD (Universal) Horror. Cast: Luke Evans.
Director: Gary Shore.
GONE GIRL (Fox) Thriller. Cast: Ben Affleck.
$6,141,579
$2,320,047
$1,925,835
$1,259,806
$1,177,537
$1,029,751
$711,784
$429,731
$404,407
$301,308
$296,029
$262,530
$225,425
$223,918
$211,621
$208,166
$150,201
$144,328
$121,785
$116,050
$19,313
$5,249
$4,367
$4,718
$2,817
$3,857
$4,622
$9,342
$1,908
$1,837
$2,902
$1,281
$1,943
$1,646
$1,080
$4,956
$878
$2,291
$8,699
$2,901
$6,143,992
$2,320,047
$6,475,150
$3,730,677
$17,259,774
$6,256,985
$2,047,291
$432,164
$7,298,965
$309,196
$2,128,857
$25,875,026
$22,568,283
$223,918
$26,729,971
$1,119,662
$11,832,487
$144,328
$366,219
$479,676
AUGUST 7 AUGUST 13
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (WALT DISNEY)
LUCY (UNIVERSAL)
HERCULES (PARAMOUNT)
THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY (WALT DISNEY)
AND SO IT GOES (STUDIOCANAL)
MRS. BROWNS BOYS DMOVIE (UNIVERSAL)
SEX TAPE (SONY PICTURES)
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (FOX)
DELIVER US FROM EVIL (SONY PICTURES)
A MOST WANTED MAN (ROADSHOW)
MONTY PYTHON LIVE (MOSTLY) (EX PICTUREHOUSE)
BEGIN AGAIN (ROADSHOW)
CALVARY (TRANSMISSION)
JERSEY BOYS (WARNER BROS)
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 (FOX)
THE LUNCHBOX (MADMAN)
THESE FINAL HOURS (ROADSHOW)
RIO 2 (FOX)
STILL LIFE (PALACE)
CHARLIES COUNTRY (ENTERTAINMENT ONE)
AUGUST 14 AUGUST 20
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (WALT DISNEY)
THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY (WALT DISNEY)
THE EXPENDABLES 3 (ROADSHOW)
LUCY (UNIVERSAL)
HERCULES (PARAMOUNT)
BEGIN AGAIN (ROADSHOW)
AND SO IT GOES (STUDIOCANAL)
SEX TAPE (SONY PICTURES)
MRS. BROWNS BOYS DMOVIE (UNIVERSAL)
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (FOX)
A MOST WANTED MAN (ROADSHOW)
SINGHAM RETURNS (EROS AUSTRALIA)
DELIVER US FROM EVIL (SONY PICTURES)
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 (FOX)
CALVARY (TRANSMISSION)
ANJAAN (INDIES)
POSTMAN PAT: THE MOVIE (PINNACLE FILMS)
THE LUNCHBOX (MADMAN)
GODS NOT DEAD (CROSSROADS)
RIO 2 (FOX)
$5,353,563
$3,063,526
$2,284,390
$2,225,439
$452,408
$396,225
$343,480
$326,475
$326,074
$268,435
$239,920
$202,066
$163,853
$154,349
$127,130
$116,792
$113,516
$94,874
$92,305
$90,604
$9,392
$9,312
$7,539
$10,751
$2,124
$5,742
$1,798
$2,889
$1,622
$2,182
$5,332
$10,635
$2,276
$1,513
$1,718
$12,977
$799
$2,433
$8,391
$925
$16,229,827
$3,985,636
$2,284,390
$11,811,467
$7,886,144
$671,664
$1,108,798
$7,183,501
$4,663,689
$18,117,613
$1,004,081
$202,066
$2,604,394
$26,210,114
$2,475,746
$116,792
$118,322
$1,371,323
$92,305
$12,027,807
AUGUST 21 AUGUST 27
THE INBETWEENERS 2 (ROADSHOW)
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (WALT DISNEY)
THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY (WALT DISNEY)
LUCY (UNIVERSAL)
THE EXPENDABLES 3 (ROADSHOW)
DR WHO: DEEP BREATH (SHARMILL)
BEGIN AGAIN (ROADSHOW)
HERCULES (PARAMOUNT)
FREEDOM (II) (HERITAGE)
A MOST WANTED MAN (ROADSHOW)
SEX TAPE (SONY PICTURES)
AND SO IT GOES (STUDIOCANAL)
THE 100 YEAR OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED
OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED (STUDIOCANAL)
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 (FOX)
MRS. BROWNS BOYS DMOVIE (UNIVERSAL)
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (FOX)
DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D (LABEL)
20,000 DAYS ON EARTH (MADMAN)
THE LUNCHBOX (MADMAN)
CALVARY (TRANSMISSION)
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WWW.FILMINK.COM.AU FILMINK 83
PRESENTS...
INVADERS
As FARSCAPE: THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE and FARSCAPE: THE COMPLETE SEASON TWO make their debut on Blu-ray, stars,
BEN BROWDER and GIGI EDGLEY, reminisce about the cult sci-fi series. BY JAMES FLETCHER & DOV KORNITS
84
84 FILMIN
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like I needed to be in that cast! Im pretty sure that Im StarLords dad! I was directing my first movie in Texas [Bad Kids
Go 2 Hell] when the movie came out, and one of my kids
saw the movie on opening weekend, and he texted me to
say that I needed to be in the next Guardians Of The Galaxy
movie. Ive always read science fiction and fantasy for most
of my life. Its my first port of call when Im searching for a
movie. Im guilty of geekdom!
Though boasting wonderful practical creature work
(long before the saturation of CGI) from The Jim Henson
Company, and consistently arresting special effects, the
success of Farscape like all good science fiction, and
indeed, all good drama was built on its characters. Along
with Browders John Crichton, one of the vital lynchpins
on the show was Chiana, a grey-skinned alien who is also
a rebellious con artist and thief. The role was cannily and
thoughtfully played by Aussie actress, Gigi Edgley (Last Train
To Freo), the daughter of famed Australian concert promoter,
Michael Edgley. It was phenomenal, Edgley tells FilmInk
The Beyond
Italian horror maestro, LUCIO FULCIs surreal, dark fever dreams live on with
the Blu-ray release of three of his gory, splatter-heavy best: GATES OF HELL, THE
BEYOND, and HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY. BY ANTHONY OCONNOR
a genre that is so often rebooted and bland, Fulci is wellregarded for good reason.
CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD
(AKA: GATES OF HELL) (1980)
The first of the trilogy is also possibly the most disturbing.
Heavily influenced by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft (by
way of Herschell Gordon Lewis!), Gates Of Hell tells of a
priest who causes the gates of hell to open when he hangs
himself in a cemetery. This results in a plague of zombies
who arent the usual moaning, shambling type. Oh no, Fulci
had already experimented with staggering, slow-moving
zombies his living dead are super strong, can teleport
(seemingly at will), and have a murderous influence on the
films townsfolk. In one scene, a woman literally vomits
her intestines up after staring into the cold, evil eyes of
the undead priest. In another, an irate father uses a drill to
perforate the skull of a well-meaning, mentally challenged
young man. Plus, there are maggotsrains of maggots.
THE BEYOND (1981)
The Beyond is easily the most coherent of Fulcis Gates Of
Hell trilogy, which isnt to say that its not nuts it totally
is but it features a story that basically makes sense
and uses a linear narrative to anchor its more batshit
crazy concepts. The movie begins in 1927 New Orleans
with a young artist, Schweick, being murdered by an
angry mob in The Seven Doors Hotel. The mob believe
that he is a warlock, and kill him in a lingering, disfiguring
fashion. Decades later, Liza, a young woman from New
York, inherits the hotel (under mysterious circumstances,
naturally) and decides to reopen it. Suffice to say that
Gates Of Hell
this plan proves unwise, and the movie lurches from one
splattery set piece to the next. And what set pieces they
are: a man is attacked and killed by spiders; a tradie has
his eyes gouged out by another of Fulcis iconic clay-faced
zombies; a blind womans throat is torn open by her guide
dog; and, of course, the shot that launched a thousand
eighties horror zines: a (possessed) little girls face is blown
off in a splattery sequence that remains stunningly effective
to this day. Thats not to mention the ending, which is the
darkest, most nihilistic point in a trilogy thats already jet
black. The Beyond transcends its trashy roots, and stands
as a legitimately effective horror yarn.
HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981)
Arguably the least successful of the Gates Of Hell trilogy,
House By The Cemetery is also the weirdest, which is
saying something. Much more traditional in its set up,
the film features a young family moving from New York to
a spacious home in New England. Of course, they dont
know that their new house once belonged to the insane Dr.
Freudstein (yes, thats the actual name of the character),
who performed deranged and bloody experiments on
humans to transcend this mortal coil. After a somewhat
slow build, House By The Cemetery becomes typically
Fulci-esque in its third act, with bat attacks, brains being
crushed from skulls, and yet another baffling ending that
seems less depressing but more dreamlike than the
previous parts of the trilogy.
Lucio Fulcis Gates Of Hell Trilogy
is available on Blu-ray from October 1. n
Director, JOHN HUDDLES, corralled a crew of exciting young Australian talent for his apocalyptic think piece,
AFTER THE DARK. BY ANDREW MCMURTRY
DIGITAL EXC
LUSIVE
HEAVENS GATE
Actors GREG KINNEAR and KELLY REILLY, producer JOE ROTH and director RANDALL WALLACE congregate for the religion themed HEAVEN IS FOR REAL. BY GILL PRINGLE
DIGITAL E
FILM RATINGS
DISC RATINGS
CRACKER
TOP STUFF
PRETTY GOOD
NOT BAD
A BIT SHIT
BOMB
PACKED
IMPRESSIVE
SOLID
DISAPPOINTING
VERY ORDINARY
NO FEATURES
2013-2014
MA
Various
Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus,
David Morrissey, Steven Yeun, Scott
Wilson, Lauren Cohan, Chandler Riggs
Distributor eOne
Available Now
Also on Blu-ray
TOP PICK!
COMEDY
PRICE CHECK
BREAKAWAY
2011
PG
Robert Lieberman
Vinjay Vimani, Rob
Lowe, Camilla Belle,
Russell Peters
Distributor Pinnacle
Available Now
Year
Rating
Director
Cast
A HAUNTED HOUSE 2
K!
TOP PIC
2014
M
Wes Anderson
K!
Ralph Fiennes,
TOP PIC
Adrien Brody, Edward
Norton, Tilda Swinton
Distributor Fox
Available Now
Also on Blu-ray
Year
Rating
Director
Cast
DRAMA
52 TUESDAYS
2013
MA
Sophie Hyde
Tilda CobhamHervey, Del
Herbert-Jane,
Mario Spate
Distributor Vendetta
Available From September 24
Year
Rating
Director
Cast
CHEF
2014
M
Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau, Robert
Downey Jr., Sofa
Vergara, Scarlett
Johansson
Distributor Universal Sony
Available Now
Also on Blu-ray
Year
Rating
Director
Cast
90
90 FILMIN
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A SECOND CHANCE
BECOMING REDWOOD
THRILLER
GRAND PIANO
2013
MA
Eugenio Mira
Elijah Wood, John
Cusack, Tamsin
Egerton, Kerry Bishe
Distributor Pinnacle
Available From October 1
Also on Blu-ray
Year
Rating
Director
Cast
REASONABLE DOUBT
2014
MA
Paul Morrissey
Samuel L. Jackson,
Dominic Cooper,
Gloria Reuben,
Ryan Robbins
Distributor Pinnacle
Available From September 24
Also on Blu-ray
Year
Rating
Director
Cast
CROSSWORD
CROSSWORD GIVEAWAY
WIN!
AN AFTER THE
DARK PACK!!!
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1. France/Belgium animation
about an abandoned cat,
________Of Magic (3, 5)
5. Steve Carell voices Gru in
___________Me (10)
9. This Derek was a 10 (2)
10. Adults Only (1,1)
12. Craig Johnson drama
about estranged siblings,
The _________ (8, 5)
14. Sally Field was a flying
one! (3)
16. Marvel figurehead,
______ Lee (4)
17. New Australian comedy
with Josh McConville (3,
8, 3)
20. Actress ____ Leoni (3)
21. TV series about the
making of a Broadway
musical (5)
23. Prima donna (4)
24. Where California is (1, 1,
1)
26. An episodeof Marvels
Agents Of SHIELD,
The _____ (6)
27. Wallis Simpson in The
Kings Speech, __ Best (3)
28. James ____ Jones (4)
29. Ben Lucas in 31d, Colin
______ (5)
31. Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic
Park (3, 5)
32. Utter (3)
DOWN
thriller, Before I Go To
_______ (5)
33. Alternating current (1, 1)
35. Late Beatle John (6)
38. South east (1, 1)
39. True Bloods Eric
Northman, Alexander
________ (9)
41. Sequel with Dusty
Crophopper, Planes: Fire
________ (3, 6)
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Association (1, 1, 1)
46. African languages (5)
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Knightley played
Russian aristocrat
_____________ (4)
50. Fortress (7)
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Three _____ Trilogy (7)
56. Bible propagation
society (6)
57. Screams _____
Campbell (4)
61. Canadian actor in This Is
The End, Michael _____
(4)
63. A short biography (3)
65. _____ Kilmer (3)
66. Arwen in Lord Of The
Rings trilogy, _____
Tyler (3)
68. Fashionable? (2)
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The Cannibal Lecter; and the full throttle horror action of From Dusk Till Dawn: Season One, the TV
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Final Cut
SIR BEN KINGSLEY won an Oscar for playing the title role in Gandhi, but hes equally celebrated for his
portrayals of evil, and now adds to his collection of baddies as social climber, Archibald Snatcher, in the stop
motion animated movie, THE BOXTROLLS. BY GILL PRINGLE
The Boxtrolls townsfolk are crazy about cheese. Their town is even called Cheesebridge. Are all
Brits obsessed with cheese? We do make good cheese, but were not as obsessed as the French.
Any favourite cheeses? I like a sheep cheese from the Pyrenees Mountains, which I buy at my local village.
I believe that you had a special technique for recording your voice role in The Boxtrolls? In order
to get my voice to come from a different part of me, I did most of my voice work reclining. They rigged me
up on a bed where I could be completely relaxed without a tense bone in my body. You can achieve your
best work if youre completely relaxed. You cant go on a film set and work if theres tension in your neck or
shoulders, so I try to have a very relaxed body and breathing. I cant recline in an actual movie, so I was keen
to experiment in this role.
Will you try it again? Oh yes, its a keeper. Id like to lie down for all my roles.
You began your career on British soap operas. Any plans to return to TV? I am! Im doing King Tut, a
six-part TV series about Tutankhamun, playing Ay, the grand vizier and advisor to the Pharaoh. It will
be out next year. Were filming in Morocco.
Are you an Egyptology buff? No, but interestingly enough, its my third visit to ancient
Egypt in the last twelve months, as an actor. First was Night At The Museum: Secret
Of The Tomb, where I play a pharaoh, which was really funny. Next was Ridley Scotts
wonderful film, Exodus: Gods And Kings, which is about the exodus of the Jewish
slaves from Egypt, and now this TV series. Maybe in my DNA, theres some Egyptian.
L
I
HA
E
H
T
G
N
KI
Youve done several Bible projects over the years Yes, I actually starred in
Moses, a US TV Bible series. I tried to make his struggle as human as possible. There was
a strange advisor on the set, a priest from the Vatican, and he was quite shocked that
in the scenes where Moses had to speak to God, that I wasnt prostrate on the ground
with my hands together, speaking in a hushed voice. But I was arguing with him!
Thats very Jewish! Well, Moses, come on?! And this priest was telling me,
You must pray, and I thought, Get out of here. Im talking to my buddy! Im
having a row with the boss! In my work, Ive tried to demystify people and show
them as flesh and blood, like with Gandhi.
What drew you to Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb? I was
asked! Its a brilliant cameo. I love playing this arrogant man. Hes not very
good at talking to people, and hes baffled that people would even talk to him
without kneeling.
Ricky Gervais is very arrogant in the Night At The Museum series
too. Do you share any scenes with him? No, but I did share scenes
with Robin Williams, who was a beautiful man to work with.
You have a special talent for playing bad guys I find the flaw, that
sore part within you that cant be eased or healed. I look for the cracks,
and feel enormous empathy for it. In Sexy Beast, I played a vicious man,
but when I realised that he was an abused child, everything fell into
place. He was like a mad dog because he was deeply hurt as a child. He
would mete out revenge on the rest of the world for the rest of his life
as unhealed, abused children do, Im afraid.
You have a lot of work that presumably your children werent able
to see growing up? My kids were young when Sexy Beast came out, and
they were quoting it at school. They were only thirteen or fourteen at the
time, so that was a bit awkward!
The Boxtrolls is released on September 18
and is reviewed on Page 77. n
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