Warner Bros. Germany has picked up all German speaking rights to MADAME BOVARY, based on Gustave Flaubert’s masterpiece, from A COMPANY FIlmed Entertainment.
The film, starring Mia Wasikowska (ALICE IN WONDERLAND), Paul Giamatti (THE IDES OF MARCH, SIDEWAYS), Rhys Ifans (NOTTING HILL) and Ezra Miller (WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN), is directed by Sophie Barthes (COLD SOULS) who co-wrote the screenplay with Rose Barrenche.
The classic romance drama is produced by Joe Neurauter & Felipe Marino of Occupant Entertainment in association with Aden Films’ Sophie Barthes and Aleph Motion Pictures’ Jaime Mateus-Tique with financing coming from Prescience with Tim Smith and Paul Brett taking Executive Producer credits. The Co-producers include Germany’s A COMPANY Filmed Entertainment’s Alexander van Duelmen and Kai Kuenneman, Belgian’s Scope Pictures’ Genevieve Lemal and Left Field Ventures’ John Engel.
Currently in post-production, MADAME BOVARY was shot in Le Perche, France. Radiant Films International is handling foreign sales.
MADAME BOVARY tells the tragic story of Emma (Wasikowska), a young beauty who impulsively marries a small-town doctor to leave her father’s pig farm behind. But after being introduced to the glamorous world of high society, she soon becomes bored with her stodgy mate and seeks excitement and status outside the bonds of marriage.
Following the success of CLOUD ATLAS and Pepe Danquart’s RUN BOY RUN, MADAME BOVARY is the next international co-production for A COMPANY Filmed Entertainment. They are also handling distribution of MADAME BOVARY in select territories including Eastern Europe, Russia and Vietnam.
The documentary NOW: IN THE WINGS ON A WORLD STAGE, chronicling the highly successful world tour of a production of Richard III starring Kevin Spacey, screens Tuesday, April 29th at Landmark’s Tivoli Theater 6350 Delmar Blvd. in St. Louis.
Tickets are $12.50. The Tivoli’s website can be found HERE
Kevin Spacey, director Sam Mendes and the Bridge Project Company go on the road in NOW: IN THE WINGS ON A WORLD STAGE. In over 200 performances, and across 3 continents, Kevin and the troupe reveal some of the most intimate moments behind the scenes of their staging of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Richard III. Their story and experiences weave around, and reflect on, excerpts from the play from their various locations, from Epidaurus to Doha, and provides a great opportunity for those who have never experienced Spacey on stage to witness his immersive and captivating interpretation of Richard III. NOW: IN THE WINGS ON A WORLD STAGE chronicles the first collaboration between Spacey and Mendes since both won Academy Awards for their work on AMERICAN BEAUTY.
On his website Kevinspacey.com, the actor says of NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage:
“I have quietly been working on this 90 minute feature for the last few years. The film chronicles my latest collaboration with Sam Mendes; a stage production of “Richard III.” It had been more than a decade since we worked together on American Beauty, when the opportunity arose for Sam and I to take this theatre production on tour to 12 cities around the world with him as director, and myself as the tyrannical Richard III.
NOW is a close, backstage look at the total experience of being an actor and what it takes to form a company – from rehearsing every day and beginning to create a role with your director, crew and fellow actors to going on tour and spending a year together on the road in many different cultures and countries.
There are a multitude of challenges that come with being in a new theatre in an unknown city every few weeks. There were some tears, but also a lot of laughs. Sharing these unforgettable moments as well as practicing our craft across three continents over ten months time brought us together as a family.
Our journey took us from London to the deserts of Doha, across the Great Wall of China, through Istanbul, Singapore, Sydney, Naples, San Francisco, Beijing, Hong Kong and ultimately brought us to New York City.
We called the film NOW not only because it is the first word of the first sentence of “Richard III” (“Now is the winter of our discontent”), but also because it illustrates how the film puts you in the present tense, into the live moment onstage and brings the audience on the journey alongside us.
This is the first feature film directed by my longstanding friend and collaborator, Jeremy Whelehan. Jeremy’s unique eye and background in theatre allowed him to blend into the company and because of this he was able deliver an intimate, honest and revealing film of our shared experiences.
Our production of “Richard III” was part of a larger endeavor called The Bridge Project which was born from mine and Sam’s love of the living theatre. As Sam puts it: “The idea behind The Bridge Project was born out of a simple desire: a wish for artists, collaborators, and audiences on both sides of the Atlantic to experience one another’s work, talent, and artistry in the theater.”
Our commitment to this 3-year project saw Sam direct five plays: Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale,” “As You Like It,” and “The Tempest,” as well as Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.” What started out as our own passionate and idealistic project turned into a success beyond my highest hopes.
The artwork for NOW was kindly donated by a good friend of mine Jonathan Yeo (http://www.jonathanyeo.com) who is an incredible artist. He painted a portrait of me as Richard lll which hung at the National Gallery in London for a time.
I thank both Sam and the entire company of actors for giving Jeremy and his team such access to their experiences. I am also extremely grateful to all our partners throughout the world and to the audiences which came out and packed every theatre we played in for over ten months. I’ve made this film for my fans and for all those people who ask why the theatre means so much to me, and indeed to all actors. I hope this film might answer some of those questions.”
Don’t miss NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage at the Tivoli next Tuesday!
Dreamworks Animation has released the first five minutes of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2.
Read Melissa Howland’s report from WonderCon on the sequel HERE.
IMAX, DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox, a division of 21st Century Fox today announced that the filmwill be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX 3D format and released into IMAXtheatres internationally starting June 13.
Dean DeBlois returns to direct the follow-up to the 2010 global hit HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, which grossed nearly $495 million at the global box office and more than $277 million internationally.
Stars Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson,America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, T.J. Miller, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Kristen Wiig reprise their respective voice roles, joined this time by Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, Djimon Honsou and Kit Harington.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 returns to the fantastical world of the heroic Viking Hiccup and his faithful dragon, Toothless. The inseparable duo must protect the peace – and save the future of men and dragons from the power-hungry Drago.
QFest St. Louis which begins this weekend, will screen the documentary THE CASE AGAINST 8 at 3:30pm Sunday April 27th.
QFest St. Louis, the annual gay and Lesbian Film Festival presented by Cinema St. Louis, kicks off this Sunday, April 27th. It runs through May 1st and all films will be screened at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar in The Loop, University City, MO)
QFest uses the art of contemporary gay cinema to spotlight the lives of LGBTQ people and celebrate queer culture. The 2014 event features an eclectic slate of contemporary LGBTQ-themed feature films, documentaries, and shorts. Tickets are now on sale for all shows.
THE CASE AGAINST 8 at 3:30pm Sunday April 27th
This compelling documentary THE CASE AGAINST 8 – which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival – provides a behind-the-scenes look inside the historic case to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage. The high-profile trial first makes headlines with the unlikely pairing of Ted Olson and David Boies, political foes who last faced off as opposing attorneys in Bush v. Gore. The film also tells the story of the plaintiffs, two gay couples who find their families at the center of the same-sex-marriage controversy. Five years in the making, “The Case Against 8” follows the story of the first federal marriage-equality lawsuit all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Even though the outcome is known, viewers will still be on the edge of their seats before the final decision comes down.
THE CASE AGAINST 8 is directed Ben Cotner & Ryan White
The film is followed by a discussion with ACLU of Missouri legal director Tony Rothert, HRC St. Louis Political Chair, Matthew Voorhees, and PROMO Executive Director A.J. Bockelman.
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER says of THE CASE AGAINST 8:
“We may know where it ends, but the film’s methodical focus makes the journey there a momentous and moving one.”
Katherin Kilkenny of Indiewire says THE CASE AGAINST 8:
“pulls at the heartstrings without ever coming off as propaganda due to their propensity to let the evidence speak for itself.”
Alexandra Heeney at The Stanford Journal says:
“The film is effective at taking us on their emotional journey.”
A Facebook event page for the screening can be found HERE
In THE OTHER WOMAN, the all new 20th Century Fox comedy, three women form a bond after they find out that they are all sleeping with the same man. Rather than getting mad at each other, they form an unlikely friendship, and together they set out to settle the score with their three timing lover to make sure that he learns his lesson…
Last week WAMG sat down with stars Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Taylor Kinney in a small press conference moderated by Giuliana Rancic to talk about cheating, soul mates, and horse whips. Check it out below!
After discovering her boyfriend is married, a woman (Cameron Diaz) tries to get her ruined life back on track. But when she accidentally meets the wife he’s been cheating on (Leslie Mann), she realizes they have much in common, and her sworn enemy becomes her greatest friend. When yet another affair is discovered (Kate Upton), all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on their cheating, lying, three-timing SOB.
We’ll start with the ladies… I was saying that I loved this movie so much because it’s called THE OTHER WOMAN, so you’re thinking that it’s about the relationship about a man and the different women, but really, ultimately, it’s about a friendship. Friendships that develop amongst three women that you would never, in a million years, see happen. Is that one of the things that drew you all to the script, and to this project? Cameron, would you like to start?
CAMERON DIAZ : Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I felt that this was such a unique film. When Julie Yorn, the producer, came to me with the idea for Melissa Stack, the screenwriter, to write the script I though it sounded like a great idea. There’s nothing else out there like that. Usually when it’s a story about three women who are all involved with the same man it usually ends in somebody’s eyeballs being scratched out, and some weaves being snatched off. [Laughs] We decided that that wasn’t the story that we wanted to tell, and we didn’t really want to focus either… we didn’t want it to be a story about revenge. We wanted it to be a story about utilizing the commonality of the three of them having a relationship with the same man to be a catalyst to bring them together, because otherwise, like you said, these three women would not know one another otherwise. It’s not only a story of friendship, and women, and how we support one another, and how we are there for one another, but it also shows us how different these women are. They each have their own strengths, and their own weaknesses, and those strengths and weaknesses help each one of them in their own way. They actually empower one another because of those strengths and weaknesses.
LESLIE MANN : We help each other learn, and grow.
KATE UPTON : Yeah, and I know that in my life, my girlfriends are one of the most important relationships that I have… from going through the good times and the bad times. It was a really amazing script because i think it really shows that it’s true in real life.
LESLIE MANN : And, it’s written by a woman… [Laughs]
KATE UPTON : … so, automatically it’s better.
LESLIE MANN : … so, it’s better… [Laughs] It seems like a lot of the other movies with the same kind of idea have been written by men, and maybe directed by men… not that that’s a bad thing. They like to perpetuate this idea of women fighting over them [laughs] and get us into believing that that is what we are supposed to do. So, it’s nice. It’s refreshing to have this new twist on it.
It is empowering. I felt very empowered in the movie. I think we’re so quick when something like this happens in our lives – whatever degree it is… maybe not to the degree that it happens in the movie… but, we feel the need to immediately blame the woman even though she’s probably in the dark half the time, and it’s really the man [nods toward Nikolaj] that we should be looking at…
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : What does it tell us about these women? They all fall for this kind of man. [Laughs]
CAMERON DIAZ : That he’s really good! That he’s really good at what he does! [Laughs]
I wanted to ask you guys a couple of questions. I’ll start with you Nikolaj. In ‘Game Of Thrones’ you definitely come up against some fierce enemies. How does that compare to what you go through in this movie? Especially in the end… you go through quite a bit.
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : Yeah. They take their revenge, you know. All he did was – he wanted to give them pleasure. [Laughs]
CAMERON DIAZ : Oh, this is how this is going? [Laughs]
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : No. I mean, it doesn’t really compare. I think he’s a real prick, and he gets what he deserves. No question about it.
How was it working with these women?
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : It was amazing! I mean, all three girls were amazing. Leslie, Cameron, they are very brilliant actresses. They’ve done this for a long time, and they have impeccable timing. They both like to, how do you say, keep the scene open as long as possible to come up with ideas, and I really had to stay on my toes to keep up with them, and try not to get in their way. I learned a lot from them. I have to say, Kate… [to Kate] Is this your first movie? [Kate nods] I’m just absolutely amazed at how she pulled it off, cause it’s not easy playing the naive, young, what do you call it? To play that character. It’s difficult. I don’t know how to say what I was saying without sounding stupid…
CAMERON DIAZ : You have to be really smart to play that dumb! [Laughs] Amber [Kate’s character] wasn’t dumb, she was…
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : So, yeah. It was a real thrill to meet them.
LESLIE MANN : It was a thrill for me too, because I was super excited to make out with the hot guy from ‘Game Of Thrones’ [Laughs] because I’ve been married for seventeen years, and I was like “Yes!” [Laughs]. You know how people say… actors say “Yeah, it’s really technical, and the sex scenes… they’re just so technical. It’s like work, you know. It’s not…” and I’m like “That’s bullshit! [Laughs] That’s such bullshit!”. So, anyway I was really excited, if you [To Nikolaj] don’t mind me telling this story. I was so exited to make out with him, and then we did the kissing scene, and he’s got this scruff, and I got, you know, red… but not just red. I had broken out into full hives! They thought that maybe it was his aftershave, or something…
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : It was just me.
LESLIE MANN : … so they made him wash his face, and we did it again, and I broke out into hives again!
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : It didn’t happen with Cameron, though.[Laughs]
LESLIE MANN : But, I was so bummed!
CAMERON DIAZ : I have a sturdy constitution. [Laughs]
LESLIE MANN : I finished the job. I go the job done, because I’m a professional.
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : You did. You did. You were very professional.
You were a professional. And Taylor…
TAYLOR KINNEY : I think the most exciting part, or challenging… I remember working with Leslie and trying to keep a straight face. You’re in the middle of a scene, and she’ll just throw a curve ball, and then someone just laughs, and has to turn around, and you start going, and then I just would do [makes a serious face while trying to keep from laughing] so that she could keep going. Your head just goes, so it was a testament to her talent. It was great.
What did you think, Taylor, when you read this script for the first time?
TAYLOR KINNEY : I hope I get this. [Laughs] No, I loved it. It changed a lot. It evolved a lot. I know that with Melissa, and Nik, and the girls… there was a template, and then it just kind of evolved into what it is. I hope it turned out great. I didn’t see it yet.
Cameron, you were involved in petitioning the MPAA for this movie. How come, and how common is it for actors to get involved? What did you say to convince them to drop the rating down to PG-13?
CAMERON DIAZ : Um, I’m not certain how common it is for other actors to do it, but myself, and the studio of course, and the producers all felt very strongly that… Well, one, I have to say that I completely admire, and understand, and respect that there are guidelines in which we have to be under in order to get a certain rating. I appreciate the MPAA for what they do, and how they structure that. We just felt that it wasn’t a Rated R film. It was a PG-13 film, and we just felt very strongly about that. In the end, we got what we… we were able to plead the case that showed that, and they agreed as well.
Was there a specific thing that turned them around?
CAMERON DIAZ : I’m not certain because I don’t know why they voted it the way they did. All I know is that we went, and pled our case, and they gave it to us. We’re very grateful, and happy for that, because we really think that it is a PG-13 film. There’s nothing that, to us, feels like an R rated film in this movie.
LESLIE MANN : We just have the one ‘fuck’, right?
CAMERON DIAZ : Yeah. [Laughs]
LESLIE MANN : Just the one!
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : Is that all you get?
CAMERON DIAZ : You just get one for PG-13.
LESLIE MANN : You just get one.
KATE UPTON : It’s amazing that we only ended up with one after the whole, entire shoot!
LESLIE MANN : I know!
KATE UPTON : After our shoot, knowing what happened behind the scenes, it’s surprising to know that only one made it into the movie. [Laughs]
CAMERON DIAZ : There are plenty of opportunities.
I’m from the generation where we saw 9 TO 5, and this sort of reminded me of that. I was just wondering, for all of you, did you look at that film, or do you remember it? Which one of you is the Dolly Parton? Which is the Lily Tomlin? Which is the Jane Fonda? And [To Nikolaj] how did you like playing Dabney Coleman?
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : I loved it.
CAMERON DIAZ : 9 TO 5 is actually one of my favorite movies. I watched it a thousand times as a child. Literally a thousand times. My girlfriend had a VCR, and she had four movies, and that was one of them. We watched it constantly. That was something that I loved about this movie – was the same thing – where it was three women who would have never had come together for any other reason except they had this one thing in common, which was this common cause. That’s really a feeling that I wanted this movie to have. It was a huge influence for it, so…
You guys all did a fantastic job, but I have to single you out Leslie. You have played some spectacular drunks… [laughs] What is your secret? You’re married to a funny guy. What is that like?
LESLIE MANN : Well, I observe a lot of you drunk people at bars. [Laughs] I don’t know. I think that, what I do is I just let myself go there, and just fully commit to that drunk thing… cause I’ve never done that myself. [Laughs] I’ve had a lot of practice! I’ll just be honest. [Laughs] Thank you though.
For Nikolaj, I understand that during your scene with Ms. Upton she got a little ‘method’ on your ass… literally…
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : Yeah, she did! The scene was cut, and I thought the only way I could…
KATE UPTON : Ok, well let’s start off first with… I said that I didn’t feel comfortable with the scene and somebody [looking at Nikolaj] said that he was totally down for the scene. [Laughs]
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : Absolutely! Absolutely. I was fine with it. And, you know, I thought she did a terrific job. I’ve never seen colors that beautiful on my ass before. But yeah, it never made the cut, so I feel like we have to talk about it! I have to get something out of it. I still have it. I’m still walking with it. But, you know, it didn’t hurt that much. Well, it did when she hit me…
KATE UPTON : You had your hand taken off in ‘Game Of Thrones’… [Laughs] It was a bruise on your butt. What does that even mean? [Laughs]
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : You’re absolutely right! There was just something about the whole setup. It was so funny, and then those pictures… they looked… it was just funny. And Kate did exactly what she was told to do, and she did it full on, and she gave it her best. She’s a strong girl.
KATE UPTON : I’m a horseback rider. I know how to use a whip. [Laughs]
In the film you talk about soulmates. Can you each talk about whether you believe that there is one soulmate out there in your life, or if there are different ones out there throughout your life?
LESLIE MANN : Well, my therapist says [laughs] that because I’m like “It’s really hard”… “I’m having a… It’s really tough” and he’s like “But that means that you guys are meant to be together, to work out all of your problems together.” I’m like “Really? I thought your soul mate… You’re just supposed to be happy all of the time, but…” [Laughs] I think that…god… I guess Judd is my soulmate, cause we have a lot of hard times, but it’s great at times too, so maybe that means that he’s my soulmate? Maybe? [Laughs] I don’t know!
CAMERON DIAZ : Yes! I believe that there are many soulmates… cause my soul has a lot of different facets, and it needs a lot of different…
LESLIE MANN : …different men… [Laughs]… for every facet!
CAMERON DIAZ : I’m just sayin’, you know… But in friendships, too. You’re [to Leslie] one of my soulmates, and you’re [to Kate] one of my soulmates. Our souls are mates, and some parts of our souls are mates…
LESLIE MANN : Yeah!
KATE UPTON : And they found each other.
LESLIE MANN : That’s true!
CAMERON DIAZ : Friendships, I think, can also be soulmates.
You guys have a fun tackle scene in this film. How many times did you do it, and what was it like? What did you discover while working together?
CAMERON DIAZ : That I’m strong.
LESLIE MANN : We discovered that we have a fun chemistry, physically. Cameron’s got really long legs, and a shorter torso, and I have a really long torso, and shorter legs…
CAMERON DIAZ : So, her center of gravity is, like, really low… and I’m always kind of, like, up here teetering and tottering…
LESLIE MANN : We kind of discovered that our bodies…
CAMERON DIAZ : Her torso is, like, all torque. It’s kind of like… a combustion engine has torque… and it just, kind of, revs up. She just powers up, and she torques, and twerks, and twerks, and then all of a sudden she just explodes. I’m holding her, doing it, and I’m like ‘Ahhh!”, and then her leg locks around on me, and hocks in, and one hand is here, and then I pull it off, and then there’s another one here… [laughs] and then I pull that off. It just became, basically… like, you know ‘sticky balls’? Where you throw it on, and it just sticks. It kind of turned into that.
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : Who would win, though, if you guys were to…
CAMERON DIAZ : I don’t know. I think that we always got stopped before it got too far…
LESLIE MANN : Right?
CAMERON DIAZ : But it was funny, because in the script there was no physical comedy, sort of scripted… We just, sort of, started finding it in these little places. She would just basically hold on to me, and then I wouldd writhe in any way possible to try to get her off.
LESLIE MANN : … but you couldn’t get me off…
KATE UPTON : Cameron was also always wearing these huge stilettos, and like, a leather pencil skirt while…
CAMERON DIAZ : … or, a tiny bikini [laughs]. I was like “Excuse me guys, I’m gonna be… my ass is going to be facing this way, so do you mind, maybe, just standing over there during this take, cause something’s gonna happen?”
KATE UPTON : Yeah. It’s weird how many men went over that direction [laughs] as soon as that scene started happening.
CAMERON DIAZ : “What are you guys doing here?” “Uh, we’re holding the flag… ” No, we had a great time, and we had a great crew.
Whether reading the script, or while shooting the film was there any point where any of you felt any empathy toward the character of Mark?
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : I did. [Laughs] .
TAYLOR KINNEY : Yeah. I did. I felt bad for him.
CAMERON DIAZ : You felt bad for Nikolaj or for his character?
TAYLOR KINNEY : No. Yeah. Well… I remember reading that scene and just being glad that I wasn’t… getting whipped in the ass. No thanks! [laughs]
CAMERON DIAZ : … dangling from a contraption?
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : It was fun!
KATE UPTON : He could have said no! [Laughs]
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : No?
CAMERON DIAZ : That was not the safe word! [Laughs]
The film is about friendship, but it does involve cheating. Have any of you been cheated on. and is there a moment in the film that you could relate to or had to draw back?
CAMERON DIAZ : [Sarcastically] That we had this cathartic moment where we’re like “Oh my god! I totally know how this feels!”… [Laughs] Well, I think we’ve all gone through some kind of betrayal, whether it’s with a boyfriend, or a friend, or a family member. I think that’s why this is, sort of, relatable to everybody – because we all know what it feels like to feel that betrayal.
In the movie, your characters had to relate under crazy circumstances. For you guys, how did you relate to each other in real life?
LESLIE MANN : To each other as friends? We just, kind of, hit it off right away, luckily. We all did. We had a couple of dinners together, and Cameron and I had a four-hour dinner, and talked about everything! W had a cast dinner, which was really nice. We just… I think we’re different, but we are very similar in a lot of ways, and we really compliment each other in real life, and onscreen too. Cameron’s kind of like, for me, she’s like ‘the teacher’ and Kate’s like my daughter. She’s only five years older than my daughter, and so I was always wanting to protect her. I just love these girls, and these boys too.
Kate, how was your experience working with these ladies on your first movie?
KATE UPTON : It was so amazing. I am so lucky. I didn’t know what to expect when I first came on set, and they opened their arms to me, and made me feel really comfortable instantly. They supported me every step of the way. When I was shooting the bikini scene – Normally, when you go to a beach, everybody is wearing a bikini, but on a film you’re the only one [laughs] and there were, like, sixty people staring at you. They’re doing their jobs, but they’re still staring at you, and I was so uncomfortable, and these girls saw that I was uncomfortable, and came out, and ran off camera with me… just encouraging me, and not letting me be alone. They were like that the whole way filming, and I’m just so blessed to have them on my first film.
NIKOLAS COSTER-WALDAU : I just remembered that there was another girl in the movie that I thought was amazing… I don’t know if she’d done movies before… Nicki Minaj did an amazing job.
CAMERON DIAZ : She was fantastic.
NIKOLAS COSTER-WALDAU : Of course, the writer Melissa with her beautiful script. I think we should also mention Nick Cassavetes, who did a great job directing this. And, at least for me, it was great to have at least one guy on set to have fun with, cause these girls are a force to be reckoned with. Shoutout to Nick.
CAMERON DIAZ : And these guys, honestly, mean… Nikolaj plays one of the ugliest villains.We had to create such a horrible guy, because he is the bad guy in the movie. We took him as far as possible, as pathological as possible, and I really feel that Nikolaj did such an amazing job of bringing that character so that we could have the fun of the revenge. He made it so we looked good [laughs] and he looked bad, and we appreciate that. Taylor’s character portrayed the essence of a man that we all love, and appreciate. He’s a brother, and he’s a best friend, and he gives heart to the movie that is otherwise stolen by the revenge of it all. These two guys really showed up for us, and they were great partners to the three women, and even though we did a movie about heartbreak, I feel that we also celebrate love in this movie, and we just appreciate that these guys were there for us to help us tell that story.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2, the much-anticipated sequel to 2010’s HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON is making its way to theaters on June 13th, 2014 in 3D. In preparation for the films big release, 20th Century Fox invited WAMG to participate in a small HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 press conference at WonderCon 2014 with Writer/Director Dean DeBlois and star Jay Baruchel. Check out what they had to say below!
The thrilling second chapter of the epic HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON trilogy returns to the fantastical world of the heroic Viking Hiccup and his faithful dragon Toothless. The inseparable duo must protect the peace – and save the future of men and dragons from the power-hungry Drago.
The television series has been airing since the last picture, it follows the events after the first film but are there plans for it to bridge into the next picture?
JAY BARUCHEL : One of the cool things about the TV show is that we get to go into everyday life. What the TV show gives us is the opportunity to put the audience in that neighborhood, and the islands, and see what life is like every day.
DEAN DEBLOIS : The idea of doing a sequel needed to be necessary to me. I think there were enough unanswered questions in the first movie that there was more story to be told, but my pitch was that it be a trilogy. The second movie would be, like, the middle act of a three-part story. It will culminate in a very finite way. I know that they’re preparing for a third season of the TV show, but I don’t know if it’s been greenlit yet. The idea of the third season would actually begin to help set up the second movie. They’ve done two seasons that intentionally weren’t stepping on our toes in terms of the surprises and reveals that we have, and now that the second movie will be out there, the third season could get closer to setups of those things, and hopefully create a seamless narrative.
Jay, can you talk a bit about your involvement with the show? Many movies that spin-off into TV series tend to not use the same voice cast. What inspired you to keep voicing Hiccup?
JAY BARUCHEL : Well, for me there was no question. I didn’t want anyone else to play the role. I think part of the actor’s job is to take ownership of the character, and to be defensive, and protective… and all that stuff. So, when it was first mentioned that Hiccup might have a life on television, I was very interested. What was cool about the TV show is that it takes place in between the two movies, so when we’re done with the franchise we’ll have given the world a very full, complete story. Selfishly, it’s kept me in that mind space. A lot of people have been asking me what it’s like to come back to this world and my answer is, “I never left.” When it comes down to it I just did not want anyone else to play him.
Have you received any sort of producer’s input into the character since you’ve been with him for so long?
JAY BARUCHEL : I’d like to think so. They could be humoring me for all I know. [Laughs]
DEAN DEBLOIS : Hiccup is so similar to Jay that whenever I have a question about how or what he might say, I give up the fight because I know I may have heard it a certain way in my head, but that’s just me second-guessing him. He’s the greatest authority on the character.
What are the changes in the universe since the first film?
DEAN DEBLOIS : Well, we’ve advanced the story five years after the first film, because Hiccup had everything he wanted at the end of the first movie. He had the admiration of his father, and the respect of the town, and the affection of Astrid. So, when we looked to give him a new problem, we looked at our own journeys through life and realized that there’s that moment when you look back at childhood with longing, and realize that the future is daunting because you have to become an adult. Hiccup is being groomed to become a chief, and that seems like a very dull and unexciting future. So, it’s really about discovering the other half of his soul, and he expresses that by constantly mapping and exploring uncharted islands, and finding new dragons, and finding new conflicts.
What’s the scope of the sequel?
DEAN DEBLOIS : The scope gets really big in this movie. What Hiccup discovers while he’s out mapping the world is that there’s a brewing conflict, that conflict being incited by a very ambitious conqueror, Drago Bludvist who’s looking to build a dragon army. He’s played by Djimon Hounsou and employs dragon trappers. One of the self-declared best dragon trappers is Eret, Son of Eret, played by Kit Harington. And then there’s the third character, Valka, Hiccup’s mom, played by Cate Blanchett, who’s waging this one-woman war against Drago’s ambitions by rescuing those dragons and whisking them back to a sanctuary where she mends them back to health.
Could you talk a bit about Cate Blanchett’s involvement and how she comes into the story?
DEAN DEBLOIS : We had hoped that was going to remain a secret until people saw the movie. I think Hiccup realizing that a part of him is missing is drawn from the first movie… this idea of his mother and ‘Where is she?’ We thought it’d be interesting if she was missing for 20 years, and in those 20 years she’s been living with dragons, and learning their ways, and discovering their secret,s and becoming their fierce protector. And if Hiccup were to run into this interesting, exciting person who’s living this dragon-centric life, how would he react? It’s really about him expanding his own self-discovery.
Why it was important to do a sequel for HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON?
DEAN DEBLOIS : The idea of doing a sequel needed to be necessary to me. There were a number of unanswered questions in the first movie, that I did feel there was more story to be told, but my vision was that it would be a trilogy, a middle act to a three act story, we would call it a very finite way, in much of a way that it is addressed in Cressida Cowell’s books: the disappearance of dragons, what happened to them, and hiccup’s completion of coming of age. The stories kind of write themselves, the moment you leave the island of Berk, and you venture off into the world that Cowell has created, there are also different types of dragons with different abilities all over the place. It’s just a fun world to live in, very easy to write.
Check out the trailer for IFC Films’ COLD IN JULY, Jim Mickle’s dark and dirty Southern noir starring Michael C. Hall, Don Johnson, Sam Shepard and Wyatt Russell.
How can a split-second decision change your life? While investigating noises in his house one balmy Texas night in 1989, Richard Dane puts a bullet in the brain of a low-life burglar, Freddy Russell. Although he’s hailed as a small-town hero, Dane soon finds himself fearing for his family’s safety when Freddy’s ex-con father, Ben, rolls into town; hell-bent on revenge. However, not all is as it seems. Shortly after Dane kills the home intruder, his life begins to unravel into a dark underworld of corruption and violence. Twists and turns continue to pile up as the film reaches its inevitable destination: a gore-soaked dead end.
Michael C. Hall brings a shell-shocked vulnerability to his portrayal of Dane that contrasts perfectly with the grizzled “badasses” portrayed by Sam Shepard and Don Johnson.
Directed with an excellent eye for the visual poetry of noir, this pulpy, southern-fried mystery is a throwback to an older breed of action films; one where every punch and shotgun blast opens up both physical and spiritual wounds. COLD IN JULY is hard to shake as an east Texas summer.
In theaters on May 23rd, Mickle said, “We will be premiering COLD IN JULY a year to the day that WE ARE WHAT WE ARE premiered at Sundance last year. It’s been a wild year of celebrating one film while making the next. It’s an honor to return and to have a film recognized for bucking the status quo of mainstream genre storytelling. Last year they gave us the confidence to make this film and I hope to continue that tradition.”
Watch the new trailer for writer/director Paul Haggis’ THIRD PERSON.
MICHAEL (Liam Neeson) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction author who has holed himself up in a hotel suite in Paris to finish his latest book. He recently left his wife, ELAINE (Kim Basinger), and is having a tempestuous affair with ANNA (Olivia Wilde), an ambitious young journalist who wants to write and publish fiction.
At the same time, SCOTT (Adrien Brody), a shady American businessman, is in Italy to steal designs from fashion houses. Hating everything Italian, Scott wanders into the “Café Americano” in search of something familiar to eat. There, he meets MONIKA (Moran Atias), a beautiful Roma woman, who is about to be reunited with her young daughter. When the money she has saved to pay her daughter’s smuggler is stolen, Scott feels compelled to help. They take off together for a dangerous town in Southern Italy, where Scott starts to suspect that he is the patsy in an elaborate con game.
THIRD PERSON tells three stories of love, passion, trust and betrayal, in a multi-strand story line reminiscent of Paul Haggis’s earlier Oscar-winning film CRASH. The tales play out in New York, Paris and Rome: three couples who appear to have nothing related but share deep commonalities: lovers and estranged spouses, children lost and found.
As Haggis puts it: “In any relationship there is always a third person; perhaps not romantically, perhaps not even consciously, but present in some form.” At its heart, THIRD PERSON is much more than a collection of love stories—it is a mystery, a puzzle in which truth is revealed in glimpses, and clues are caught by the corner of the eye—and nothing is truly what it seems.
Haggis first conceived the idea for THIRD PERSON shortly after wrapping The Next Three Days, his last feature film (2010).
The director voices satisfaction for every bit of challenge, irony, and complexity wrapped up in THIRD PERSON. “It’s a bit of a contradiction for me: on the one hand, it’s a very personal, intimate relationship drama that I wrestled with writing for years, and on the flipside, it had me shepherding a dazzling, high-profile ensemble cast through all these glorious locations at a breathless clip. It meant giving three different stories three distinct visual looks, and yet bringing it all back together as a unified whole. I’m a very lucky man and filmmaker to have had the talents of such a cast and crew to help carry it off.”
The film had it’s premiere at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival and will screen at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24th.
Sony Pictures Classics will release the THIRD PERSON in NY and LA on June 20th.
Motion picture, television and theater producing team Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will return to produce the Oscars for a third consecutive year, Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced today. The 87th Oscars will air live on the ABC Television Network on Oscar Sunday, February 22, 2015.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Craig and Neil back to produce the Oscars again in 2015,” said Boone Isaacs. “Their showmanship has elevated the show to new heights and we are excited to keep the momentum going with this creative partnership.”
“This year’s show reached viewers of all ages and set social media records, proving that Craig and Neil are masters at tapping into the zeitgeist and capturing the hearts of movie fans around the world,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson.
“We are delighted to work with Cheryl, Dawn and the Academy to produce the Oscars for a third time,” said Zadan and Meron. “We’re proud of the show’s success over the last two years and are eager to embark on another entertaining show to honor this year’s motion pictures.”
The 86th Oscars on March 2, marked the return of host Ellen DeGeneres, and featured memorable musical performances by artists including Pharrell Williams and U2, a tribute to “The Wizard of Oz” by Pink, and a star-studded, record-breaking selfie seen around the world.
The show drew an average audience of 45.4 million total viewers, delivering a 13.7 rating among adults 18–49 (Live+7), and reached 74.6 million viewers watching 6+ minutes, the best since 2004. The Oscars were TV’s most-watched entertainment telecast in 10 years and attracted the biggest viewership in 14 years. The show helped drive increases for the second consecutive year, marking a seven-year high for adults 18–34 (+3%); a nine-year high for teens 12–17 (+13%); and an eight-year high for kids 2–11 (+13%).
Social media activity was particularly robust with more than one billion impressions generated on Twitter and 25 million interactions happening on Facebook on Oscar Sunday.
Additionally, DeGeneres’s selfie became the most retweeted photo of all time with 32.8 million views.
Zadan and Meron’s feature film, television and theater productions have earned a total of six Oscars, 11 Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, five Golden Globes, two Peabody Awards, five GLAAD Awards and two NAACP Image Awards.
For film, they executive produced the 2002 Best Picture winner “Chicago,” which won Oscars in six of the 13 categories in which it was nominated. Their credits also include the feature films “Footloose” (2011), “Hairspray” (2007) and “The Bucket List” (2007). Zadan also produced the original “Footloose” (1984).
For television, Zadan and Meron executive produced last year’s groundbreaking “The Sound of Music Live!” which drew a record-breaking 21.3 million viewers. Their other critically acclaimed credits include last year’s miniseries “Bonnie and Clyde,” the TV series “Smash” and “Drop Dead Diva.” The duo has also produced such Emmy-nominated television movies as “Steel Magnolias,” “A Raisin in the Sun,” as well as “Annie,” “Serving in Silence,” “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” and “Gypsy.”
On Broadway, they recently produced the revivals of the Tony-winning “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying” starring Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette, and the Tony-winning “Promises, Promises” starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth.
Zadan and Meron’s upcoming projects include executive producing the television musical “Peter Pan Live!” Their new MTV comedy series, “Happyland,” premieres this summer. For the big screen, Zadan and Meron are producing “Pippin” for the Weinstein Company, a musical based on the extensive Beach Boys song catalog for Fox 2000 Pictures, and “Monster High” based on the Mattel franchise for Universal Pictures.
The Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES might not come out until July 11th, but excitement for the film is certainly growing. This weekend, at WonderCon 2014, 20th Century Fox invited WAMG to participate in a small press conference with Director Matt Reeves, Gary Oldman, Andy Serkis, and Keri Russell. Check it out below!
A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.
What was your first experience or memory of PLANET OF THE APES?
GARY OLDMAN : Really, you look back and I can’t imagine a sort of childhood without [The Original] PLANET [OF THE APES]. I was nine – ten when the first one came out. It’s not only the opportunity to work with these good people, you’re also being asked to be part of cinema history. So, that was above and beyond the story. You’re involved with something, for the most part, that comes with a very good pedigree. I mean, it went a little wobbly for a while but we’re back on track. [Laughs]
ANDY SERKIS : I’ve never really distinguished whether they be live-action or performance capture. I’ve played many different roles, and Gary’s done the same. You don’t alter your performance cause you’re using a different camera to film you.
GARY OLDMAN : The question that’s often asked is, “What is it like working with Andy Serkis as the Ape? You’re better to answer that since you’ve got all the big scenes with him.” I come to work and I get into a costume and Andy comes to work and gets into a costume. So, at least you can see his face, you can see the eyes and you see the emotion. I would actually rather that than – if you were wearing a mask then the question might be “What’s it like working with someone who’s behind a mask?” but you’re not.
KERI RUSSELL : It’s Andy. It’s not anything other than a really talented actor. I’m seeing Andy’s eyes and hearing his voice, hearing him talk about his family. That’s the exact same as any other scene.
ANDY SERKIS: And in this film, there’s brilliant performances across the board. A load of talent actors playing apes as well. It is an ensemble piece.
What were your first thoughts when you decided to take this project on? It must have been a dream come true!
MATT REEVES : It was a dream, and it was terrifying. What essentially happened on the project was that I had a great affinity for RISE [OF THE PLANET OF THE APES]. It was really moving. When they approached me it turned out that for a number of reasons he [Rupert Wyatt] didn’t want to do it. The idea was carrying forward what happens in RISE [OF THE PLANET OF THE APES]… the emotional heart of those apes. It seems to me the co-existence between these two populations that were struggling for survival, and the thing that was really important to me is that we carry forward the apes in an emotional way that you can relate to. We take the humans and really, in a way that was different from RISE [OF THE PLANET OF THE APES], take those humans and depict them in a way where they aren’t villains either. There are no villains in our story. It’s all about survival, and trying to find the way to sort of master our nature and impulses within us.
How did you decide on which direction to take the film?
MATT REEVES: We already know what happens, so the story isn’t immediately about the ‘what happens’. It’s about the ‘how it happens’. I had a screenwriting instructor many years ago who talked to me about stories, and he said “There are the kind of story that are about the ‘what’ and then there are the stories that are about the ‘why’. If you already know what happened then it becomes about the ‘why’. The ‘why’ is about psychology and about character, and that is what I find interesting. I wanted to start earlier because there is a long and interesting path all about the lives of these people, and how they’re affected by this situation. The idea would be that the next phase of this story is how those lives continue in this struggle.
What is your band of humans about? What is your mission?
GARY OLDMAN : Initially, we don’t know that there are apes there cause this community has survived the flu. The epidemic that has sort of wiped out a part of the world. We believe the military had done their job, and that, basically, they have wiped out the apes. The thing is we have food, we have water, but the currency is, for lack of a better word, electricity. That’s the currency, and we need that to communicate to the outside world to eventually find out if there is anyone out there, or how many are out there… who is out there. We believe, for all intents and purposes, that we could be the only survivors. Then, we discover a community of apes who are all doing their thing with their family, and we’ve all been wiped out. And, of course we discover each other. The drama is: Can the apes and the human coexist?
MATT REEVES : For me, it’s really the story of two families. There’s a human family, and an ape family… and that’s what the colony is. That’s the human family. The difference is that the apes… they’re on the ascendancy. The idea is… we start in this ape world, and we’re following their development. It sort of mirrors our own sort of tribal development as language is coming into being. You’re seeing all of the bonds that have formed, and the next generation that is coming, and the civilization they’re building. They’re really on the way up, but the humans… they have just had the most massive sort of tragedy that has happened to them, and they are a family that’s trying to heal itself. So, these two families have to survive, and the stakes are all about the things that they care about. Also, there is the question for the humans… deeply… about what it is that they’ve lost. The idea for the humans in this story is what it took to still be here, and what was lost along the way. What’s worth fighting for at this point? All of those questions, I think, are emotional questions. So, the emotional depth of that was really important to me so that this was not “Oh, let’s see the apes destroy the humans! I can’t wait!” That’s not what this story is about. That’s really the struggle… the struggle about what are these two families going to do to avoid killing each other?
