Total Film - August 2017.pdf

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re your Spidey senses tingling? They should be ’cos this month we’re hanging out with the team behind the web-slinger’s latest reboot on Spider-Man: Homecoming, plus have all the intel on Luc Besson’s newest adventure, Valerian, and the inside track on a possible 2018 Oscar botherer. We’ve also got chats with Arnie (now literally trying to save the world), Captain Phasma, and actor of his generation, Billy Crudup. We’ve been monkeying around on-set of War For The Planet Of The Apes, flitting around Cannes Film Festival and getting the scoop on Tom Cruise’s narc-com, American Made. But that’s not all, folks… once again we’ve made it our mission to give you a blockbuster of an issue with an added extra – check out our gorgeous-looking ebook, The Art Of Film (see below for how to get your hands on that baby). And as usual, we’ve reviewed every wonderful/terrible movie coming your way and tipped our hats to legends Roger Moore and Adam West. RIP, gents.

Enjoy thE issuE!

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august 2017 | ToTal Film

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Contents #261

this issue 58 SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Why the latest MCU epic is a John Hughes movie. Not sure about replacing Uncle Ben with Uncle Buck, mind. 68 VALERIAN: CITy OF A THOUSAND PLANETS Luc Besson’s mega sci-fi. Planets include Lonely, Captain and Hollywood (Haymarket branch).

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76 ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER “I’m here! Grill me! Do it!” Arnie opens up about Trump, Terminator and tackling climate change. 82 MAUDIE If you only see one film about a fish peddler this year… Prime awards ‘bait’. 86 GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE Discarded headlines: ‘Captain Pha-ntastic’; ‘The Passions Of The Christie’.

every issue 3 EDITOR’S LETTER Plus ebook instructions. 7 DIALOGUE Foxes, Dwayne Johnson (a lot of Dwayne Johnson) and cotton buds.

teasers 11 WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES On-set with those diva apes: “Anyone needs me, I’ll be on my tyre swing!” 16 IT King revisited. Isn’t ‘evil clown’ a bit of a tautology?

august 2017

58 webbed wonder Tom Holland and his masked mates go back to school for Spider‑Man: Homecoming.

17 AMERICAN MADE Tom Cruise doesn’t feel the need for speed; he just smuggles it. 19 BLACK PANTHER Secrets of the new t’railer. 28 CANNES ROUND-UP We had a Good Time, followed by a Wind River. 31 IT SHOULDN’T HAPPEN TO A FILM jOURNALIST When stars break promises. 37 TF HERO Swinton is a Swinner.

total film buff 119 IS IT BOLLOCKS? Is hypersleep possible? What about hyperdreams? 120 ROGER MOORE Paying tribute to the man with the golden puns. 125 ADAM WEST Farewell, our Bright Knight.

21 SOUND ByTES Kirsten Dunst and babies called Kylo.

126 CAREER INjECTION Why Shia needs a re-Beouf.

90 TOTAL FILM INTERVIEW Billy on his career Crudups and Crudowns.

130 60-SECOND SCREENPLAy Alien: Covenant Fassbent out of shape.

120

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

68 76

‘IF YOU TOOK AWAY ALL THE SPIDER-MAN SCENES, IT’D STILL BE A GREAT MOVIE’

big screen

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42 THE BEGUILED Best Civil War movie since Cap A twatted Tony S. 44 WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES The next chapter, following Rise, Dawn and The Peanuts Movie. 46 THE BIG SICK Romcom charmer. Alt titles: It Had To Be Spew, While You Were Heaving. 49 SONG TO SONG Terrence Malick returns with more voiceover than Wimbledon fortnight. 50 THE MUMMy Are the hieroglyphs on the wall for Cruise’s latest? 54 WONDER WOMAN You Gadot, girl!

small screen

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100 BEAUTy AND THE BEAST ‘Tale as old as time/true as it can be/you lend your DVD to a friend/who goes and bends it unexpectedly.’ 102 LOGAN Now it’s on home-ent, you can pause it for a slash!

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106 THE FISHER KING We do a Blu waltz with one of Gilliam’s greatest. 110 TOP OF THE LAKE: CHINA GIRL Why they were right not to call it Top Of The Lake: Let’s Dance. 112 GAME OF THRONES SEASON 7 Preview of the shortened series. Well, everything shrinks in the cold, doesn’t it? 116 ON DEMAND Giant pig movie Okja. Netflix and swill, anyone?

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august 2017 | ToTal Film

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Dialogue Mail, rants, theories etc.

Email [email protected] WritE Total Film, 1-10 Praed Mews, London W2 1QY gamesradar.com/totalfilm twitter.com/totalfilm facebook.com/totalfilm Drop us a line [email protected]

TF’s cinemaTic agony uncle has your back.

DEAR WINGMAN

Do you miss public information films? We have product placement, so how about advice inserted into dialogue? Imagine F&F8 with these lines… Dom: “Always clunk click, every trip”; Hobbs: “Mirror, signal, manoeuvre… whoa, you didn’t check your blindspot!”; Letty: “Don’t be an amber gambler”; and of course Deckard: “Think once. Think twice. Think… submarine!” Very helpful, and you’d barely notice. Do you think it’s a goer? DAVE POWERS, VIA EMAIL

Wingman sayS...

Does Wingy think it’s a goer? Only 110 per cent! Let’s face it, anything The Rock told you to do, you’d do it: “Recycle, candy asses!”; “Curb your carbon footprint!” He’d have audiences’ emissions offset in no time. As for public information films, we don’t miss them since they haunt our nightmares to this day.

Gamesradar.com/totalfilm

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STAR LETTER

★

N ★ oticing that Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was last month’s Blu-ray giveaway [Dialogue 260] got me thinking. Videogame films are generally terrible flops; however, the Resident Evil series bucks that trend. While critically not hugely successful, commercially they’ve done fantastically, though I would imagine Milla Jovovich does give Paul W.S. Anderson mates’ rates. With films like Assassin’s Creed not being totally critically destroyed and the upcoming Tomb Raider looking promising, I think it won’t be long before we get an adaptation that proves decent films can be made from videogames. TOM ELLIS, VIA EMAIL Don’t forget the forthcoming Rampage – if anyone can level-up the genre it’s Dwayne Johnson! Um, a post-Doom Dwayne Johnson! Hey, let’s see if we can get

Mr J. into every response this month. Tom and everyone with a letter printed here will receive a copy of the sublime and non-videogamebased (well, it’s a bit like Pitfall) The Lost City Of Z, available to download from 17 July and out on Blu-ray and DVD on 24 July, via Studiocanal. Didn’t send an address? Email it! Prequel pitch: ‘Cities A-Y And Where To Find Them’.

givE us a tWirl milla Jovovich shows off her moves in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

CLAIM TO SHAME

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f Jamie Graham thinks seeing Shame with the work experience student was excruciating [It Shouldn’t Happen To A Film Journalist, TF260], well my mother invited herself along when I saw

reFlecTive inTeresT curve™ Thrilled enTerTained Flippin’ eck!

The Mummy hot dogs

RIP Nigel Haveron, IT man extraordinaire

Poo slide The Mummy Election chaos Arm-skinning slide movie

bad Times… week

0

Black Panther trailer

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2

3

deadline

august 2017 | ToTal Film

totalfilmonline @totalfilm

The haTTon Garden Job looT bit.ly/2soEf3N PR sends metal safe; we crack the code (the, um, DVD release date), opening the door to discover… disc and some ‘jewellery’. Not one chocolate coin! No candy necklaces! Not that we’re spoilt or anything.

who should be The neXT James bond? life’s a beach. it. Same with Stranger By The Lake. Both experiences I’d rather forget. JAKE HUMPHRIES, VIA EMAIL

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Maybe we should include warnings in our reviews if a film is likely to cause embarrassment when viewed alongside anyone involved in your gestation. Or we could just print a picture of Michael Fassbender’s, um, face. Readers – no longer shall you sit there going redder than a sunburnt Darth Maul! You’re welcome, as you-know-who said/sang in Moana.

WASHED UP

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limerick. There once was a man named The Rock, Who found an idea in his sock, “Baywatch I’ll remake”, “People will think it’s great!”, He was in for a bit of a shock… TOM, VIA EMAIL

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’m not a particularly nostalgic person, but the new Baywatch movie put me in mind of the sights, sounds and smells of childhood summer hols

in Scarborough. I remember being on a beach donkey ride, when the donkey in front lifted up his tail, let go a raspberry rip-ass and launched a chain of hot, steaming donkey dumplings. How we laughed… DAVEY, VIA EMAIL Alas, Baywatch. Proof, perhaps, that even if you’re Dwayne Johnson, you shouldn’t attempt to win summer twice within the space of one-anda-half months. We’re not saying we didn’t enjoy the film, just less so than walking barefoot on a carpet of jellyfish.

For Fox’s Sake

S

eriously??? A top 10 movie foxes [TF260] and no love for Sebastian from Meet The Feebles? To include the arse that is the cinematic version of Fox Mulder over him is criminal. I’d put the 20th Century Fox logo in there too, ’cos at least that fanfare sets the pulse racing instead of putting you to sleep like the X-Files films did. TIM HORNE, LEIGH

office spaced

Chatter ‘gems’ overheard in the Total Film office this month...

* “You just can’t go wrong with the Backstreet Boys.” * “I was the first

person to bring back combat shorts…” * “…And I had a beard when no one in Hollywood had a beard.” ToTal Film | august 2017

bit.ly/2sXVgia Your latest suggestions: “HENRY. CAVILL.” (@AdeleKThomas); “Gerard Butler, I keep saying” (@jones1066AD); “Me!” (@johnkeykong); “Jeremy Corbyn” (@JustinThoughttt).

Top Gun 2 conFirmed! http://bit.ly/2thqYpO “Can’t decide if I’m excited, or pissed that they can’t ever just leave great things alone,” tweeted @RainSivertsen. “Just as long as Kenny Loggins is on the soundtrack!” (@AaronMassie).

‘mosT shockinG TruTh in sTar wars hisTorY’ bit.ly/2rWozTA What could the international Last Jedi promo be referring to? “Vader wasn’t Luke’s dad?” (@DinoFilmFFreak); “Vader was actually Luke’s MUM!” (@matt_thorn_en).

The mummY: Your ThouGhTs bit.ly/2rr9SEE “It’s not great,” said Facebooker Brian Sledzico. “It’s not as bad as being reported,” said Frankie Te Haate, “but not as good as the makers want you to think.” While for Scott Berrian, “The ending killed it.”

black panTher Trailer bit.ly/2s6FEbW “This looks amazing!” Facebooked Adrienne Cobbs. At the other extreme: “This looks awful!!!” (Eamonn Mullane). In the middle: “I… will wait for the film to form an opinion.” (Mark Anthony Williams).

predaTor Turns 30: celebraTe! bit.ly/2rr9hTE “Can’t think of a modern monster as good,” mused Homer Townie, while Rob Kelly reminisced about being 11 years old and failing to sneak into the cinema, “even with a false moustache!”

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

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search For ToTal Film on your device

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would just like to say how much I enjoyed your ‘canny canids on screen’. I’d like to add three more to your list, if I may: Donald Cox, the sweaty fox from Shooting Stars; Crack Fox from The Mighty Boosh and Vince the urban fox from BBC comedy Mongrels. I just love these off-kilter articles!!! JACQUELINE BURKE, VIA EMAIL They’re rather fun, aren’t they? Even if, as with all lists, they ruin somebody’s day somewhere. Anything you’d like us to tackle, drop us a line. We’re working on a list of top Johnsons – he-whogoes-without-saying, Dakota, Rian, Ewan McGregor…

lemon slice/cotton bud (p133). What do you mean, too much time on my hands? JOHN HAYLES, CAMBRIDGE We’re not sure whether to give you a medal or a foil blanket, but either way, sterling effort. Our own lunchtime-enlivening skim produced quite a shock: not one pic of everybody’s favourite wrestlerturned-Scorpion King! Sincere apologies. Needless to say, boots have very much been put to asses.

Bad buzz

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Poor you. Whatever you do, don’t watch Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (starring someone whose name rhymes with Sprain Bronson), which features bees so enormo, they make our hero look more like The Beach Pebble.

R

have youR say

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All the right puns

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s the Valkyrie rides across a Vanilla Sky, we stand on the Edge Of Tomorrow and face Oblivion with our Eyes Wide Shut. Now seems as good a time as any to raise a Cocktail to a genuine screen Legend, and give Endless Love to cinema’s Top Gun. He’s also one of A Few Good Men who loves his Mummy! I’m talking about Jerry Maguire, Ethan Hunt, Maverick… Yes, Thomas Cruise Mapother IV! JACK H, VIA EMAIL

fter reading James’ Wingman letter in TF260 regarding terrible films, I feel compelled to offer my sympathy to him. evisiting Total Film issue I suffered a similar 251 (which I took to experience after watching work to help invigorate Far And Away the loveliest homage the Wicker Man remake. my lunch hour), I noticed to a star we’ve received this month. Unfortunately now every there was something Seems only fitting – shoehorning, time I see a bee I suffer wrong with your • videos • reviews • trailers • news if we’re honest – to round off by horrible flashbacks. I can’t photographs. OK, when saying to all TF readers, Get Smart, make it through Bee Movie I say wrong, I mean boring. Not Be Cool, and when the chips are any more as a result. including adverts, animated stills down, Race To Witch Mountain. MR B SWAX, VIA EMAIL or drawings, I counted 318 photos; 287 of them were of people, mostly actors, some in costume or heavy make-up and some with interesting backgrounds. But no hiding it, they were people. What is it with the people photos? Films are also about landscapes, buildings, cars, oceans * Your own exclusive subscriber-only covers and so many other things. Photos * Brilliant value – save loads on the cover price not of people I enjoyed in issue 251: * Get Star-Lord and Baby Groot Guardians 2 figures sunglasses (p3); dog (p17), Death Star

SNAP HAPPY

bEE happy don’t let The Wicker Man put you off! bees are great!

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(p20), creepy house/dinosaur-shaped bush (p90)… but my favourite was the

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august 2017 | ToTal Film

Coming attraCtions Cruise feels the need for speed p17 Living the real Life Aquatic p25

Opening a Cannes of worms p28 Michael Myers resurrected p34

EditEd by Jordan farlEy

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EXClUSiVE

LEAN AND MEAN WAR FoR THe pLAneT oF THe ApeS i Matt Reeves channels David Lean for the latest entry in the simian saga.

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oh yeah, I’d love a cup of tea,” says Andy Serkis, visibly shivering as he accepts a Styrofoam cup. “Welcome to sunny Vancouver!” On a brass monkey-cold October afternoon, the actor’s suffering for his art, standing in a Canadian forest as his skintight suit soaks up the rain that’s bucketing down – less Weta, more wetter. “I think we’re looking into rethinking the undergarments,” Serkis confides, as the roof of the press tent sags under the weight of pooling water. The performance-capture expert is otherwise quite happy with his lot. War For The Planet Of The Apes marks his third outing as Caesar, the superintelligent chimp who grew up among humans but rose to lead an ape

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community after a virus devastated mankind. Now the character’s getting on a bit – and is wracked with guilt after the events of 2014’s Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, in which he terminated rebel ape Koba.

“What he carries with him throughout the story is that Koba was a brother, in a sense,” Serkis explains. “He would be the equivalent of mid-fifties now, in ape years, and the strain of being leader has taken its toll. He’s very grave and furrow-browed; he’s been beaten down. He’s always tried to keep the peace, but it’s getting more difficult, and as events unfold he has a radical shift of thinking, because he’s caught up with his own emotions.” Ah, yes – that titular war. As director Matt Reeves explains, a lot has

going Ape andy serkis once again dons the mo-cap suit to play chief chimp Caesar.

August 2017 | ToTal Film

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transpired since the credits rolled on the previous instalment. “There was a distress call that the colonists sent out when Koba attacked the colony in San Francisco,” Reeves explains, “And the call was received by a military base in the north where all that’s left of the US military had gathered. So they send down a hardened battalion, led by a former special ops colonel.” The bloody battle that opens the film follows. Woody Harrelson plays the Colonel, who – in a fascinating twist – now has some of the “traitor apes” that backed Koba’s rebellion working for him. By all accounts he’s an utterly ruthless character – but one that Reeves was keen not to paint as black and white. “It was my desire that we never villain-ise him,” the director says. “Without an understanding of where he’s coming from he seems exceptionally cruel. Then when you come to understand why he’s doing what he’s doing, you realise it’s about survival itself, and what would you do? You’d like to think you wouldn’t do those things, yet the provocative questions are asked.” A face-to-face confrontation between chimp and soldier is inevitable, and eventually it’s Caesar who takes the initiative. “Caesar decides that he’s going to go after the Colonel personally,” Reeves explains. “He’s followed by his closest confidantes, and they’re making this kind of mythic journey to try and find the Colonel. It’s almost like an Apocalypse Now journey up the river – but we’re not going up the river, we’re moving from the Muir Woods into the snowy Sierras.” That journey brings in the kind of widescreen vistas we’ve not witnessed in these films before, opening out the franchise to lend it a mythic dimension. “I wanted it to be like an epic,” Reeves explains. “Almost like a David Lean movie, or Sergio Leone. I wanted to see these apes making this mythic journey against grand landscapes. From the beginning of my involvement,

what I’ve found exciting is this collision of the classical with cutting-edge technology; telling epic, mythic stories and doing it with the most advanced visual effects technology – but not getting caught up in the idea of what you can do in the CG world. So I tried to do it as if we were shooting an old Lean film: do it in a classicist way, yet use the technology in service of it. Connecting those two things, so that it feels mythic and at the same time is grounded in something very strange, which is the fact that you’re identifying emotionally with these CG characters.” As well as drawing inspiration from the likes of Lean and Leone, Reeves and co-writer Mark Bomback also sat down, early on, and watched a battalion of classic war movies. “With the ones we liked the most, it was always about the struggle within the characters,” Reeves notes. “We wanted to take Caesar and put him to his greatest test yet. The great thing about Andy is he’s ‘all in’ – when it comes to going through great personal agony, Andy goes there. So I really wanted to tell a story that would take advantage of that. This is the most searing performance from Andy yet, and the test is very mythic and dramatic.” Barring unexpected box-office disaster, the Apes franchise will surely continue – but is it sayonara for Caesar? Serkis is not giving anything away, though as he looks back, he does strike a faintly valedictory note. “I’ve played him all the way through from an infant, and lived this accelerated life,” the actor says, “and I’ve learnt from him. Caesar has such a lot of dignity and control, and there’s a real goodness about the character. His approach is very fair and non-judgemental, and I think it’s good to be reminded about that. It’s been an amazing character to play – I’ve never played a character right through his life. It’s a bit like Boyhood, in a way, for me – Apehood!” IB

‘i Wanted it to be like an epiC – almost like a david lean movie, or sergio leone’ Matt Reeves

ToTal Film | August 2017

ETA | 11 July / WAr For ThE PlAnET oF ThE APEs oPEns nExT monTh. rEAd our rEviEW on P44.

geTTing peRSonAL Caesar must this time take on a human/ape coalition, led by Woody Harrelson’s the Colonel.

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My eneMy’S eneMy the Colonel is joined by ty olsson’s rex (above), one of the rebel apes who betrayed Caesar.

FRAnCHiSe ReTuRn amiah miller (above) plays nova, in a link back to the original film series.

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hot right now

LILY COLLINS

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just wrote a book [Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me],” starts Lily Collins. “[In which] I talk about a lot of taboo things a lot of young girls go through, but don’t like to admit: eating disorders; relationships with significant others, parents and yourself; and your insecurities growing up. It’s basically like having a diary published, I talk about sensitive topics. But the second that I did, I realised that I was not alone.” Collins is in Cannes promoting Bong Joon-ho’s political-satiremasquerading-as-a-family-movie Okja, in which she plays an Animal Liberation Front activist fighting to rescue the eponymous super-pig from being served as a sandwich. It seems that her character’s blazing spirit is a part of her, too, for she today talks of things personal and painful with impressive defiance. “I thought, ‘I’m 28, I want a family one day, and I don’t want these things

ToTal Film | August 2017

to continue to hold me back,’” she says. “I wanted to let go of a lot.” The daughter of Phil Collins and Jill Tavelman, who was president of the Beverly Hills Women’s Club for three years, Lily has been acting since she was two. She shot to fame playing Snow White in 2012’s Mirror Mirror, and has since starred in The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones, romcom Love, Rosie and Warren Beatty’s Rules Don’t Apply. Okja marks a move into more (ahem) meaty material, and next up

is To The Bone, about a young woman dealing with anorexia. “I wrote my chapter [in Unfiltered] on my experience with eating disorders a week before I got that script,” she recalls. “It was like the universe throwing it at me, saying, ‘This is something you need to bring to more people, or finish dealing with yourself.’ The film helped me dig deeper in the writing. It’s been really interesting to have a lot of young women come up to me and tell their stories. It felt revolutionary because it was OK to talk about all of a sudden.” JG ETA | 14 July / To ThE BonE sTrEAms on nETflix nExT monTh. okJA And unfilTErEd: no shAmE, no rEgrETs, JusT mE, ArE ouT now.

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

J ay L . CL endenin / C on t our b y Ge t t y im a Ge s .

starlet gets serious…

ExcLusIvE

Siege mentality

6 DAYS I London’s infamous Iranian Embassy showdown abseils into cinemas…

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REX

t’s such an iconic moment for UK history,” director Toa Fraser (Dean Spanley) tells Teasers. He’s talking about the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege. The moment when black-hooded SAS men stormed into the building in London’s Princes Gate, after 26 people had been taken hostage in the embassy by an Iranian-Arab group demanding the freedom of political prisoners. Now the subject of Fraser’s new film 6 Days, it stars Jamie Bell as SAS team member Rusty Firmin (who wrote a book about the experience) and Mark Strong as Max Vernon, the Met Police chief inspector who led negotiations. With Abbie Cornish playing on-thescene BBC reporter Kate Adie, the film takes viewers through the tense six-day siege before the SAS step in. “It’s not like a straight-out action movie,” says New Zealand-raised Fraser, who promises the film gives voice to both sides of the struggle, with Ben Turner starring as Salim, the main negotiator for the gunmen. “We’re on the outside at the beginning and then we go in,” continues the director. “At least when Max makes the connection, we become more on the inside and it’s maybe not what we expected.” You might think Fraser would identify with Cornish’s battle-hardened journalist (his Fijian-born father worked for BBC Radio 4 during the

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siege). It was in fact Strong’s character that most resonated. “The idea of this cop who had never dealt with a man with a gun before, literally… he was thrust into this incredibly high stakes situation,” he says. “Max told me himself he felt like a failure, having not managed to achieve a negotiated peaceful solution.” Recreating interiors in a warehouse in New Zealand, the production then decamped to London to shoot at Princes Gate. “It was an eerie feeling,” says Fraser. “You can still see the cracks – the footprint of something having gone down there.” Yet in his eyes, the siege represents an ugly – but very real – truth. “There comes a point in our history where, if we want that stuff [peace, tranquillity], we need to engage with our shadow side, which for me is what the SAS represents.” JM ETA | 4 AUGUST / 6 DAYS OPENS THIS SUMMER.

WHo DAReS WInS Jamie Bell as real-life SAS man Rusty Firmin, while (below) Andrew Grainger and Mark Strong play cops trying to negotiate with the terrorists.

JAMIE BELL What drew you to 6 Days? I’m just fascinated by the portrayal of real-time events in movies… the biggest thing I said to Toa when we were talking about doing it was, we’ve all seen it from the outside. We know what it looks like, those men abseiling down, the scrum at Princes Gate, but we’ve never been inside that building. For me, that was what cinema can do. How did you set about playing Rusty? I wanted to play Rusty as a character who wanted to be the first one into that building. He had chosen his specific targets and he was going to do whatever it took to be ready and whatever means necessary to get the job done. Do you feel that 6 Days is particularly potent right now, with all of the terror attacks in recent months? I said to Toa that this was potentially quite inflammatory at a time when these events are popping up on a regular basis. This is a daily occurrence in European cities and London is no exception to that. So I was aware of representing the real people – obviously the people who lost their lives also in this – with a lot of respect. JM

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exclusive

FEARS OF A CLOWN IT I Director Andrés Muschietti on the look of Pennywise the Dancing Clown…

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omething with the book stuck with me when I read it the first time,” says director Andrés Muschietti. “It’s something Bill Debrough says: ‘Maybe a monster is stealing kids?’ I thought, ‘Does that mean that Pennywise is alive because he lives in the imagination of children?’” It, based on Stephen King’s 1986 opus, is the tale of a shapeshifting monster that terrorises the fictional town of Derry, Maine. The book is set over two timelines – when our group of protagonists are on the cusp of adolescence, and 27 years later when It reappears and our heroes return to Derry. ‘Pennywise’ is It’s go-to shape of a clown – all the better for enticing kids to their gruesome fates. Muschietti took over as director when Cary Fukunaga departed the production in May 2015. He retained Fukunaga’s plan to adapt It as two movies but Will Poulter, already cast as Pennywise, was ruled out by a scheduling conflict. Enter Allegiant’s Bill Skarsgård. Like Poulter, he’s in his mid-20s, youthful casting that goes back to It’s strength being powered by kids’ fears… “Maybe It’s psychology is created by the imagination of generations and generations of children,” Muschietti muses. “My idea is that Pennywise is an adult clown, but he has something of a child in him – stupid buck teeth, huge eyes, a snub nose, and a rounded face. He looks kind of cute but there are things that are off about him – one of his eyes is falling out.” Muschietti laughs nervously, seemingly a bit freaked-out himself. “My first picture of Pennywise, before I cast Bill, was a very childlike figure,” he continues. “And now you see the sketch, and Bill, and they look curiously alike. It’s unsettling.” Let’s hope so. It is the horror event of the year, and only true terror will suffice. JG

ETA | 8 SEPTEMBER / IT OPENS ThIS AUTUMN.

ToTal Film | august 2017

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exclusive

Wing Man

AMERICAN MADE I Tom Cruise and Doug Liman reunite for a stranger-than-fiction biopic…

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e had this competitive relationship where neither one of us would cry ‘no más!’” Director Doug Liman is reminiscing about his first meeting with Tom Cruise for their bonkers Barry Seal biopic American Made. “It was a flight from Florida to London starting at 10pm. At 5.30am, we’re still going, but I refused to be the one to say, ‘Let’s take a break.’ I waited until Tom finally collapsed. I fell asleep before I could even hit the floor.”

In the name of pushing it to the limit, Liman and Cruise followed Seal’s flightpath during the late ’70s when the maverick pilot transported guns to South American rebels for the CIA, while carrying drugs back across the US border for the Medellín Cartel. “Tom and I went off to the really remote recesses of Colombia with just a few small aeroplanes and almost no crew,” Liman smiles. The pair are trained pilots and used their aviation expertise to capture the film’s flying sequences for real. “We love giving audiences a real thrill ride, so together we could do flying sequences that were exciting and not CG.” This insurance-flaunting sense of adventure reflects the insanity on screen, as Seal plays the CIA and the most dangerous men in the world for financial gain. “I fell in love with the character because he encompasses so many qualities I relate to,” Liman says.

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“He’s not a cog in the machine. He’s Icarus. He’s fearless.” But Liman’s connection to Seal goes deeper – Liman’s father served as chief counsel for the Senate during the Iran-Contra Scandal, in part caused by Seal’s handlers at the CIA, here represented by Domhnall Gleeson’s Schafer. But despite the film’s many implausible twists and turns, “the reality of Barry Seal is even more outrageous,” Liman nods. “There’s a great photo of Barry Seal landing on a Little League field in a helicopter, and he’s loaded 20 kids into the helicopter to get ice cream. I so wanted to do that scene, [but] there’s no legal way to put 20 kids in a helicopter and take off.” So much fun it should be illegal? Here’s hoping. JF ETA | 25 AUgUST / AMERIcAN MAdE OPENS lATER ThIS SUMMER.

august 2017 | ToTal Film

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you talkin’ to me? Film quotes pose as questions. Film stars try to cope.

In the crosshaIrs thIs month: T.J. MIller

I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed? Whelm, that’s a tough one. Get it? Wow, that was a swing and a miss. I would say you can definitely be whelmed. It whelms my heart to even think of that possibility. I am completely whelmed by this whole thing, which should mean it’s fun. This is a really whelming interview, it’s going whelm so far.

You talkin’ to me? I am talking to you from the ocean on the French Riviera. I just parasailed in to the Cannes Film Festival; can you believe it? My lower torso is submerged and that’s how I do all my best interviews, with a wet lower torso. Do you feel lucky punk? Yes, absolutely! I feel like I conned Hollywood into letting me work as a comedian. I can’t believe they have such low standards. But I feel very lucky to be in things as varied as Silicon Valley, Deadpool and The Emoji Movie, I have an HBO special coming out… I do feel like a lucky punk.

What would you do if you knew you had less than one minute to live? Probably count that motherfucker down with a nice bottle of Champagne.

You either surf or you fight… I fight. I’m not a very good surfer, not like Vincent Cassel [puts on a comedy French accent]. He loves to surf on the French Riviera! You know when I fight? I fight for my right to party. No worthier fisticuffs than those in the name of partying. Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? No, it was a full moon so it was very, very light. If the devil wears Prada then I think I was dancing with my wife Kate [Gorney]. Dancing is the only reason I was able to marry the woman I did; have you seen my wife?! She is a knock-out and I am a toddler-bodied weirdo. Her first crush was this guy who was pop-locking at a party in sixth grade. I am very good at popping and locking; probably better at the popping than the locking. She saw me pop and lock when we first went to a party together and that was it, she became the heart-eyes emoji – which she actually plays in The Emoji Movie. What’s your favourite scary movie? You know what, I’m really into Child’s Play because it really scares Kate. She’s scared of living dolls, so I’ve been making her watch it and she hates it because I’ll fall asleep and she has

ToTal Film | august 2017

‘THere Are No worTHIer fISTICuffS THAN THoSe IN THe NAMe of pArTYINg’ to watch the end on her own. [Perfect Brad Dourif impression] “Hi, I’m Chucky, wanna play?” If you could change something in your life, anything at all, what would it be? I’m trying to think… Maybe one would be I’d like to be a better brother to my sister, maybe. Spend more time with her. And I would also like to masturbate less in public. Yeah, it’s a problem. You should keep that to the confines of your own home.

Wanna get fucked up? Ohhhh, Weasel-icious! Yes I do. I very much do, if only because it’s Cannes, and you can. I want Weasel to have a gun [in Deadpool 2] but I don’t know if they’ll ever do that. We’ll see! I hard-lined it and I said, “If I don’t get to use a gun in this one, I don’t wanna be in it. And if you guys won’t let me have a gun, I’ll still be in it.” I think it’s funny that Weasel only cares about himself. He’s just out for number one. I find a lot of comedy in Weasel – he’s willing to literally throw somebody under an actual bus and have them die if it means things will go better for him. JW ETA | 4 AugusT / ThE Emoji moviE opEns This summEr. DEADpool 2 opEns on 1 junE 2018.

yellow fever Miller voices gene (right) in The Emoji Movie.

When you can live forever, what do you live for? Just keep living Matthew McConaughey style. I live to make people laugh. Life is a tragic endeavour and everybody

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Questions: Taxi Driver, Dirty Harry, Apocalypse Now, Batman, Scream, The Sixth Sense, Twilight, 10 Things I Hate About You, Source Code, Deadpool

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could use the opiate that is comedy. Ryan [Reynolds] can do comedy and drama. I don’t know if you’re familiar with my work but I don’t do anything serious. I do not take myself seriously. It’s comedy for me; I’ll never be one of those guys who’s like, “This is more of a dramatic turn for me.” Fuck. That.

trailer breakdown

KING OF THE WORLD

BLACK PANTHER I Ryan Coogler welcomes you to Wakanda, with the latest trailer from the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe…

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Last seen bringing his father’s killer to justice in Captain America: Civil War, the new king T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) pops by Warrior Falls for his coronation. Also glimpsed here: Forest Whitaker’s Zuri.

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As former King T’Chaka says from beyond the grave, T’Challa is “a good man with a good heart. And it’s hard for a good man to be king”. Especially when you’ve got warring tribes to contend with…

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T’Challa also has help – most notably from his intimidating, all-female personal guard, the Dora Milaje, and his kid sister, Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright), a scientist as sharp as Tony Stark.

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Despite keeping up primitive appearances, Wakanda is the most technically advanced nation on Earth thanks to its vibranium deposits – the source of Cap’s shield and Black Panther’s fancy suit.

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Michael B. Jordan plays Black Panther’s nemesis Erik Killmonger – a Wakandan exile who’s the physical and mental equal of T’Challa. Killmonger also has help in the shape of Andy Serkis’ Ulysses Klaue.

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We only had a taste of what that suit can do in Civil War. Here Black Panther cripples a car with a blast of energy before making a smooth escape – talk about a cool cat. JF

ETA | 16 FEBRUARY / BLACK PANTHER OPENS NEXT YEAR.

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August 2017 | ToTal Film

top 10 TF’s ever-evolving 2017 movie league table…

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LA LA LAND

Here’s to the fools who dream, still tap dancing atop our list of the year’s best.

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MOONLIgHT

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GORE ISSUES The one-time vicepresident returns with another call to action.

exclusive 03

TONI ERDMANN

Top tip: Maren Ade’s masterful dramedy is streaming on Amazon Prime right now, so there’s no excuse not to watch.

04 MANCHESTER By THE SEA 05 RAW

THE LOST CITy Of Z 06

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WONDER WOMAN new

Patty Jenkins’ earnest, hugehearted superhero origin tale is the year’s best blockbuster so far.

08 09 10

THE HANDMAIDEN LOgAN THE RED TURTLE

ToTal Film | august 2017

Fight For The Future

AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER | Al Gore’s influential climate change doc gets an evolving sequel…

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t’s not uncommon for filmmakers to fine tune their features until weeks before release, but spare a thought for husband/ wife directing duo Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, who’ve made An Inconvenient Sequel in the wake of Hurricane Trump.

“The puzzle pieces kept changing,” Cohen tells Teasers just before the film’s Cannes premiere. “When we screened the film at Sundance, it was right after Trump had been elected, and we had to think long and hard about whether or not we would reopen the film.” A new sequence incorporating Trump’s election was added, says Cohen “but at a certain point you have to lock the film, and call it what it is”. ‘It’ is a decade-later sequel to An Inconvenient Truth – Al Gore’s cinematic wake-up call about the dangers of global warming. The film follows Gore, cinéma-vérité style, over 18 months as he

continues to educate through his slideshow and plays a pivotal role in the negotiations for the Paris Climate Agreement, a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions to which every UN country but Nicaragua and Syria signed up. That number is now three, thanks to President Trump’s decision to withdraw the USA from the accord on 1 June – a fact the finished film “will address”. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Truth To Power presents a hopeful message for the future. “It is not too late to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of the climate crisis,” Gore reassures. “This movie shows

that the dangers we face from the climate crisis are now more severe than what the scientists predicted, but the primary message is: we now have the solutions available.” The film also acts as an urgent call to action, with Gore hoping it will inspire people to demand faster change. “I never imagined that this would become a kind of mission for my life,” Gore reflects. “But it’s exciting to me to see this movement toward the political tipping point. And when you lay that hope alongside the danger it might face, and the fact that the stakes are far higher than with any challenge humanity has ever confronted, how can you not pour your energy into it?” JF ETA | 25 AugusT / An InconvEnIEnT sEquEl: TruTh To PowEr oPEns ThIs summEr.

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SOUND BYTES Quotable dialogue from this month’s movies – and their stars

“When you started school, the country Was an inspiring, uplifting drama. you are graduating into a tragic, dumbass comedy.” Robert De Niro knows a thing or two about tragic, dumbass comedies.

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Number of American babies named Kylo in 2016, according to the Social Security Administration.

“We made the best ones, so Who cares? they’re just milking that coW for money.”  Something tells us Kirsten Dunst won’t be seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming.

OK COmpOser Thom Yorke is following the lead of Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood by composing the score for Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria.

“The poinT of life is noT To puT dog ears on yourself and posT iT online for everyone To see… iT’s The visual equivalenT of masTurbaTing.”

“I know Jon Hamm there’s a thIng called good thing bad thing InfInIty war comIng out, whIch I lIke, I don’t… really? lIke, InfInIty war? we need more war for all “We shall fight on tIme?” the beaches, We shall Chris Pine fight on the landing grounds, We shall never surrender.”

In case you were wondering why

doesn’t Instagram.

Never DeaD Mere months after The Final Chapter, Constantin Film has announced plans for a six-movie Resident Evil reboot. Have some respect for the dead.

$17.31

adds fuel to the Marvel/DC flame wars.

Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) channels Winston Churchill in Dunkirk.

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Amount A womAn wAs sued for After texting during A dAte to see guArdiAns of the gAlAxy Vol. 2.

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August 2017 | ToTal Film

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exclusIve

ANNABELLE: CREATION I Lights Out director reanimates the Conjuring spin-off… 22

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et’s just address the creepy doll in the room: 2014’s Annabelle wasn’t very good. “It didn’t live up to The Conjuring. Not a lot of horror movies do!” agrees director David F. Sandberg, who chilled marrows last year with switched-on shocker Lights Out. So why sign on to a prequel? “I felt I could make it my own,” he explains. “It’s not just the typical horror sequel where it’s the first movie one more time.” Quite the opposite because, whisper it, his period prequel is a little bit good. Delving into the history of the doll that had Annabelle Wallis screaming in the original, Annabelle: Creation winds back the clock for a film set before anything else so far. “It’s the earliest movie in the universe, which was kind of fun,” he grins. “There was a little bit of a disappointment with the first film, but I think we started out in a good place where there was a chance we could do something that improved on it.” Set in the 1950s, Creation sees a group of orphaned girls taken in to the remote home of dollmaker Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his wife Esther (Miranda Otto). Young Janice (Talitha Bateman) has a disability that means she finds it difficult to walk (cue the creepiest stairlift seen since Gremlins), a bit of a problem when things start going bump in the night. Shooting over just 32 days, Sandberg built the interior of the Mullins house on a sound stage. “As much as possible I want to do it practical,” he explains of his old-school approach. “I’m a big kid

ToTal Film | august 2017

like that. There’s a scene where half a person is crawling across the floor. We found this woman who was an amputee, so that’s in-camera stuff.” Then, of course, there’s the doll… “When Annabelle starts to appear, it’s almost like, ‘Frankenstein, you created this monster,’” says LaPaglia. “There’s certain lighting where, honestly, you think the eyes are following you,” he shivers. You’ve been warned… JW ETA | 11 AugusT / AnnAbEllE: CrEATion opEns This summEr.

LIvINg DOLL An orphanage’s new arrivals, including Talitha Bateman (above) plus Grace Fulton and Philippa Coulthard (below), aren’t overly impressed by their creepy roommate.

MIRANDA OTTO Your character is a bit of a mystery… That’s what I thought when I read the script. I was like, “It would be so fun to be the woman behind the curtain, behind the mask, behind the door that people read things in to.” I kept saying, “Yeah, don’t pull the curtain back too soon! Keep it as mysterious as you can for as long as possible.” What can you tell us about her? She’s the dollmaker’s wife. We don’t know much about their past, exactly what’s happened to them, but they’re an older couple who decide to open up their house to these children from an orphanage because they have nowhere else to go. Did the Annabelle doll scare you? It’s a really unnerving thing to have sitting there on set with you. I had to ask them to turn its head away! I was finding it really hard to concentrate on the scene while it was watching me. I think dolls generally are kind of strange, you know? I used to collect them and there’s something about them, particularly older ones. This one’s particularly creepy looking! What was David Sandberg like as a director? He was so relaxed! Lights Out is very different to Annabelle: Creation. It’s a different type of horror film. I watched Lights Out in a screening room alone and afterwards I couldn’t find the light switch! I thought, “They’re probably watching on a secret camera laughing at me.” JW

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All dolled up

THE NEXT BIG THING

Jack Lowden Is A ChArmIng mAn…

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stage veteran, Scotsman Jack Lowden’s big-screen career has already taken in several historical figures (including Tony Benn in A United Kingdom), but stepping into the shoes of a pre-Smiths Morrissey in elegiac biopic England Is Mine proves his most daunting endeavour to date. “The most important thing was playing the guy on the page.” You’re playing Morrissey before the quiff… Yeah, it’s a portrait of him, rather than an impression. I love the fact that it stops before anything like that starts. We know the bit from there. That’s well-documented. It was more important that we focused on this guy who was quite scared by life, rather than somebody who’s gone on to be this icon.

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Did you immerse yourself in his music? The only songs in the film are the songs that we know Morrissey listened to at that time. But on weekends, when I wasn’t shooting, I had a car and I’d fuck off to the Lake District and just play Smiths tracks the whole time. You’ve also got Dunkirk coming up… That was insane. I’d never been on anything of that size. The cast was incredible. Even the kids that are still at drama school, some of the things they do are ridiculously exciting. I came off England Is Mine and went straight on to Dunkirk. So it was very bizarre to do that. There was a lot of hair dye involved.

ge t t y

And Fighting With My Family sounds very different again… Yeah, it was another world, this subculture of British wrestling. The character is the complete opposite of Steven [Patrick Morrissey] in England Is Mine. It’s based on another real-life guy called Zak Bevis, or Zak Zodiac. I met him a whole bunch of times, he’s quite a character. I put on a stone and a half in six weeks for that. JF ETA | 4 AugusT / EnglAnd Is MInE opEns ThIs suMMEr. dunkIrk opEns on 21 july.

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August 2017 | ToTal Film

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can We Talk abouT...?

The ending of Wonder Woman

Spoiler alerT!

Thinking outside the fridge-box…

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hankfully for Batman, The Dark Knight had little in common with The Amazing Spider-Man 2. But both took variable kickings from critics for killing their female leads so the hero could have some glum time, before banking his showy comeback.

Wonder Woman gender-flips what comic-book critics dubbed the ‘women in refrigerators’ meme, only to then do something richer. As Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor blitzes himself for the greater wartime good by blowing up his plane full of Dr. Poison’s gas, his sacrifice ignites something in Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince. Reaching an understanding of humanity’s complexities, she decides we’re all right after all, and powers up to send shockwaves to God of War Ares’ solar plexus. For ‘women in fridges’, read ‘men in gas-plosions’.

Wonder Woman has certainly sent much-needed shockwaves through comic-book movies. In the ridiculous absence of other female-directed, female-led, feminist superhero movies, Patty Jenkins’ film stands in a field of one for now: where, crucially, it ably shoulders the (unreasonably) heightened expectations piled on it. Trevor fits in like a sword in a ball-gown, helping to anchor Wonder’s re-aligned gender emphases. He’s a dude in distress, saved by Diana from drowning and dust-ups. He’s the object of her gaze at bathtime; no more

‘trevor echoes pepper potts, but he’s more fleshed out’ ToTal Film | August 2017

eyeballing Alice Eve (see Star Trek Into Darkness) for Pine. Sure, there’s an argument against Trevor’s self-sacrifice: if this is a female-driven film, why the manhero? It’s a persuasive pitch, but Diana doesn’t need her crew to be underwritten or merely plot-functional to inflate her own strengths. Trevor echoes Jane Foster or Pepper Potts, but he’s more fleshed out because Diana is a sufficiently rich, flawed and strong character to take any competition. In this context, his death is less a knowing flip of fridge-y clichés than a fully integrated lead-in to a sincere embrace of belief in compassion and humanity. As Diana lets Dr. Poison go and shuts up shouty Ares, Wonder Woman nukes the fridge memes altogether in favour of something less cynical. In the empathetic spirit of its headliner, it brings muchneeded human warmth to superhero movies. KH

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ExcLuSIvE

Deep dive

THE ODYSSEY I Splash down with marine master Jacques Cousteau…

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hen writer-director Jérôme Salle (2013’s Zulu) mentioned French deep-sea diver Jacques Cousteau in front of his kids, they looked at him blankly. “They didn’t know who he was,” he sighs. An undersea explorer and innovator – he designed the aqua-lung – Cousteau was also a silver-screen star. His documentary The Silent World won Cannes’ Palme d’Or in 1956. And now? “He’s unknown for anybody under 30 in France,” says Lambert Wilson, who plays him in Salle’s new biopic The Odyssey. The loose inspiration for Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Cousteau emerges as a complex character. “I think he had quite a big ego, to be honest,” says Salle, referring to his love of fame. Despite the close attentions of his wife Simone (Audrey Tautou), he was a philanderer and endured a difficult relationship with his son, Philippe (Pierre Niney). But he was also a lover of the environment long before it was trendy to be eco-friendly. Salle shot The Odyssey all over the world, including Antarctica, and captured some remarkable underwater sequences with the actors and crew surrounded by sharks. “The first time when you dive with sharks, it’s frightening,” he says. “Honestly, I was not sure [I could do it]. I was afraid of sharks. You have to be very calm... diving is a very good school for life.”

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Like the others, Tautou was “attracted first by the adventure”, but also to discover more about the woman behind the man, who spent endless time on his vessel, the Calypso. “She was the real captain,” she says, “involved in all the expeditions. She had a very strong temperament.” With the production’s original €45m budget sliced in half, Salle faced almost as many problems as the cash-strapped Cousteau. “I was close to stopping many times,” he says. Oddly, they even got hit by a giant storm in Antarctica in “exactly the same place” as one faced by the Calypso crew. “Now that,” laughs Salle, “was very weird.” JM ETA | 18 AUGUST / THE ODYSSEY OPENS THIS SUMMER.

SCuba-DOO Jacques Cousteau (Lambert Wilson) at sea with his family (above), and (below) with wife Simone (Audrey Tautou).

LAMBERT WILSON Do you feel that playing Jacques Cousteau is the role of a lifetime? I think it’s a rare role. One always hopes the role after will be the role of a lifetime! But it’s a fantastic role because it’s very complex. I had to adapt to the notion that, although the film was mostly about Cousteau, he wasn’t going to be the hero. In fact, he was more the antihero. Was Cousteau a massive icon in France when you were growing up? It wasn’t so much that he was an icon – he was just there. He was like your grandfather. He was around, on TV all the time. I’m part of the generation that watched his films as they were first aired in France. You had other connections to him as well, right? Well, I learnt to swim where the Cousteau family used to have their house. It’s a complete coincidence. And my father, who was a well-known actor in France, recorded the voiceover for some of Cousteau’s TV series. I remember he was telling me about doing the films and meeting Cousteau – he was always very excited. In fact, my father bought a little Zodiac [boat]. JM

august 2017 | ToTal Film

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ON SET

Agent Of Change

STRATTON I Never mind Bond or Bourne… there’s a new spy in town.

A

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side-street in London’s Stratford is today playing host to Stratton, the new British action-thriller from Simon West. A navy Jaguar is being readied for a crunch scene in the tense final act – as a terrorist cell is hunted down by MI6. Leading the charge is Dominic Cooper, playing the titular member of the SBS (Special Boat Service), a little-known part of the British intelligence services. It was this that attracted West, who explains all in between takes. “The British public know about the SAS but this is about the SBS, which is much more secretive,” he says, as his tanned LA agent – in town for a visit – glides by. More able to blend in, the real SBS specialise in diving and climbing – which may account for why West calls Stratton an “all-rounder”. The director’s own mission was not just to highlight unsung SBS heroes, however. “I was looking for a new British action hero,” he says. “We’ve got Bond – he’s like a bit of architecture now. He’s like Big Ben. You’re never going to move that. And I’ve always been a fan of that kind of movie. And there’s Bourne out there and Mission: Impossible. But I felt there was a real need for a new British action hero.” With Cooper having just shot a thrilling speedboat chase up the River

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Thames, this afternoon sees his co-stars Gemma Chan and Tom Felton on set in a race against time. Well, almost. With the Jag mounted on a low-loader, it’s all fake driving. “I’ve had a bit of heckling from the locals,” laughs the elegantly attired Humans star Chan. “She’s not really driving!” The vehicular action might be an illusion here, but Stratton is packed with stunts, as you might expect from the director of Con Air. Cooper was particularly keen to do his own action, says West. “These actors love it. They spend so much of their time in their heads, with all this cerebral stuff, you give them a load of big toys and they can be a kid again.” JM ETA | 1 sEpTEmbEr / sTrATTON OpENs This AuTumN.

pAINT IT BlAck Dominic Cooper as the titular, terroristhunting commando, while Gemma Chan (below) plays Aggy.

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DOMINIC COOPER What drew you to Stratton? I’ve always liked that world, though I knew very little about the Special Boat Service. I was intrigued to know what exactly they did and what operations they carried out. Stratton was a man I quite liked to study, to understand that very lonely, intense and solitary existence. Would you ever consider a career in the SBS? No, I’d be completely incapable! Even to touch upon the training and the discipline was quite intense. How much stunt work did you do? I was quite pleased with how much they allowed me to do. They trusted me quite a bit. Doing the underwater sequences was exciting – checking the breathing apparatus while under water. Climbing down the edge of a building was really cool, and something I wouldn’t choose to do in my spare time! And I jumped from a moving car into a bus! After this, would you be up for playing James Bond, if an offer came your way? Erm… James Bond? I don’t see how anyone could not! I don’t remember not wanting to be James Bond! I think some of my earliest memories ever are seeing those films. But, of course, to play him would be an honour. JM

August 2017 | ToTal Film

Broken BriTain Ken Loach’s latest film is warm yet despairing.

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Festival round-up

Cannes-do Attitude

cannes 2017 i Eight films to watch out for from this year’s première film festival… The FLorida ProjecT

carne y arena

Despite playing out of competition, Sean Baker’s follow-up to shot-onan-iPhone gem Tangerine scooped the coveted TF Best Of The Fest award. Set in and around an Orlando hotel, it energetically keeps up with six-yearold Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her pals as they tear around the shabby grounds while her mum (Bria Vinaite, who Baker discovered on Instagram) begs, borrows and steals to make rent. Superbly acted by a cast of non-professionals (and Willem Dafoe), this film gives viewers full residency in a sun-scorched microcosm. It’s vital filmmaking in every sense.

One of the most exciting films at Cannes wasn’t actually a film. Rather, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Carne Y Arena (Flesh And Sand) was the first ever virtual-reality installation invited to the prestigious film festival. Running at 6.5 minutes, the VR short puts you in the shoes of a refugee crossing the Sonoran Desert, an experience Iñárritu fully immerses you in by asking you to walk around barefoot on coarse, cold sand. Humanising an event portrayed countless times on screen by blending film, fact, videogame and art installation, it’s an exhilarating indicator of what’s to come.

LoveLess Andrey Zvyagintsev should have won the Palme d’Or for 2014’s Leviathan and again came close to clinching the coveted prize with his latest, which begins as a portrait of a doomed Moscow marriage before reconfiguring itself, surprisingly but organically, into a stark missing-person thriller. A bleak and increasingly mesmerising film full of indelible images smothered in rain, snow and ambiguity, Loveless doesn’t deal in triteness, instead painting a picture of a family and country in moral and socio-political crisis. It is a work of considerable artistry and power.

ToTal Film | August 2017

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

Good Time Robert Pattinson gives the performance of his career in this neon-lit crime thriller from Josh and Ben Safdie. Pattinson plays Connie, a petty criminal negotiating a night of escalating violence and mayhem after a botched heist leads to the arrest of his handicapped brother. With its squalid locations and tight focus on desperate characters, this downward-spiralling odyssey flicks a sweaty salute to Dog Day Afternoon and Scorsese’s screwy ’80s classic After Hours, adorned as it is with surreal sequences and Oneohtrix Point Never’s propulsive electro score.

Wind river

120 BeaTs Per minuTe Writer/director Robin Campillo has Cannes form, having penned Palme d’Or winner The Class back in 2008, and his latest was only narrowly pipped to the top prize after spending the bulk of the fest as the hot favourite. Set in ’90s France, it orbits a group of HIV/ Aids activists campaigning for the Paris chapter of advocacy group Act Up. Weighty subject matter it may be, but Campillo’s film is an adroit mix of the personal and the political that faultlessly mixes debate and action, humour and tragedy, thanks in part to one of the year’s best ensemble casts.

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Does anyone write better modern crime thrillers than Taylor Sheridan? Following Sicario and Hell Or High Water, Sheridan also occupies the director’s chair for his latest about a rookie FBI agent (Elizabeth Olson) and a US Fish and Wildlife Service agent (a sombre Jeremy Renner) who investigate the murder of an 18-year-old girl

you Were never reaLLy here Scooping prizes for Lynne Ramsay’s screenplay and Joaquin Phoenix’s tortured performance, this taut drama is cloaked in the slouch-shouldered shadow of Travis Bickle, as Phoenix’s hitman shambles about New York on his mission to deliver a young girl from her sordid fate. Ramsay has little interest in plot and even less in Hollywood tropes; hers is a film that deconstructs testosteronefuelled thrillers and rubbishes ideas of the male hero. With its disorientating edits, flushed imagery, scuzzy locations and Jonny Greenwood’s cacophonous score, it will stay with you for days.

on the titular Indian reservation in beautiful yet remote Wyoming. This atmospheric, hard-bitten noir/revenge-western savours the rhythms and rhymes of its evocative environment before shattering the spell with bouts of explosive violence, and features Renner’s best performance since The Hurt Locker.

The square Ruben Östlund’s follow up to the remarkable Force Majeure was this year’s surprise Palme d’Or winner, though its robust merits made it a worthy winner. A satirical comedy centred around a Swedish art gallery whose new centrepiece exhibition, The Square, implores compassion for fellow man as the homeless crisis goes ignored on the streets, it features a knockout performance from Claes Bang (The Bridge), fun supporting turns from Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West, and easily the best scene of the festival, as mocap master Terry Notary goes ape during a dinner party for toffs. JF/JG

August 2017 | ToTal Film

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couple of weeks ago, I was in New York interviewing Ryan Reynolds for The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Talk inevitably turned to Deadpool 2, and from there to the possibility of an X-Force movie. Reynolds answered with a couple of generic lines, then winced apologetically as he closed off the topic with, “And that’s really all I can say at this point.” After the interview, he told me he’d enjoyed our chat and suggested we meet off the record for a beer sometime so he could talk freely. I’m not holding my breath. Sure, we seemed to get on well, and yeah, he was certainly a lovely, level-headed bloke. But movie stars are in the business of selling tickets, not giving up their precious personal time to sink a few jars with journalists. They have enough mates already. Maybe it’s just something that people – all people – do: say stuff in the moment. Maybe it comes from a genuine place and reflects, rather touchingly, the human need to connect. Or maybe they’re simply buttering journalists up to write nice things about them. Most times, my gut tells me, it’s not the latter. What I know for certain is that all such jabber should be taken with much salt.

Horseplay I can, in fact, recall the precise moment I learned that famouses didn’t really desire me as a BFF. It was when I interviewed Patrick Swayze on the phone in the early noughties, a scheduled 20-minute chat that rambled on for two laugh-filled hours and

It Shouldn’t Happen To A Film Journalist Editor-at-Large Jamie graham lifts the lid on film journalism. This monTh Empty promisEs

Junked mail

Crazy swayze and Jamie. What could have been…

concluded with Crazy Swayze, as he insisted I call him, because all his friends did, inviting me to his ranch to meet his Arabian horses. It sounded great. Two months later, I shot him a line and didn’t hear back. After three attempts, it dawned on me that I would not be meeting those magnificent stallions and their lustrous-maned owner after all. Shame, but I don’t hold it against him – he’d already been incredibly generous with his time and was, undoubtedly, one of the warmest people I’d ever spoken with.

‘ iT daWned on me ThaT i Would noT be meeTing sWayze’s sTallions ’ gamesradar.com/totalfilm

It happens to all journalists. Winona Ryder, famously nervy and reclusive, suggested to a colleague of mine that they meet up in London after connecting over cocktails at Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont Hotel. It never happened. Clive Barker promised to “stay friends” with another colleague but the phone isn’t ringing. T.J. Miller, in Cannes to promote The Emoji Movie, conducted an interview while wading in the sea (see page 18) – he pledged to send through the pics he’d snapped but hasn’t yet.

As for me, I’m still clutching those fistfuls of salt: Guillermo del Toro proposed I stay at his pad to watch movies and sample his wife’s mind-blowing chilli (though, to be fair, I’ve never tried to take him up on the offer); the entire cast of Everybody Wants Some!! urged me, at its debut showing at SXSW, to join them for the London premiere and party through the night; John Carpenter said he’d watch the 10 horror films I recommended to him and furnish me with feedback if I sent DVDs to his office… Still, I can hardly talk. When I interviewed William Friedkin for the DVD release of The French Connection, he pressed me to re-watch Claude Lelouch’s A Man And A Woman, a film I’d not seen for years. I promised I would. “How do I know you will?” he asked. “Because you’re William Friedkin and you’ve asked me to and I’ve promised,” I replied. “Let me give you my email so you can let me know what you think,” he said, scribbling it down. Several years on, I still haven’t watched it, still haven’t replied, and long ago lost his email. Bloody film journalists with their empty promises… Jamie will return next issue… For more misadventures, follow: @jamie_graham9 on Twitter.

August 2017 | ToTal Film

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My Movie life

short cuts

The films that scare, inspire and tear up actor Mark Strong…

NEED FOR SPEED Tom Cruise has announced the Top Gun sequel will be titled Top Gun: Maverick, after his iconic flyboy. He teases “a progression for Maverick”, yet promises tonal cohesion with the 1986 original, saying: “It’s going to be a competition film like the first one.” No word on co-stars yet.

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MONSTER MASH It looks like 2020’s Godzilla Vs. Kong is going dark: Adam Wingard (The Guest) has been handed the reins. It’ll be his first tussle with material of this size, much as indie helmers Gareth Edwards and Jordan Vogt-Roberts supersized for, respectively, Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island. TEAM PLAYER Joss Whedon will oversee some additional shooting and postproduction on Justice League following the decision of director Zack Snyder and producer Deborah Snyder to step down after a family tragedy. Whedon, of course, wrote and directed the Avengers movies, and is down to make DC’s Batgirl. GAME ON Sony must be delighted with Tom Holland’s performance in Spider-Man: Homecoming – the studio has now signed him up to play a young Nathan Drake in its long-gestating adap of Naughty Dog’s PlayStation series Uncharted. This fresh(-faced) move indicates a change of direction – it could be origin story time…

ToTal Film | july 2017

THE FILM I’D TAKE TO A DESERT ISLAND THIS IS SPINAL TAP. It gets me every time. Despite the number of times I’ve watched it, there are still lines to be discovered. Every one is a gem. I just watched it and I heard a line I’d never noticed. Viv, the organist, who doesn’t really feature a great deal… there’s one scene where he’s saying something like, “It was like taking Medicino Rocket Fuel!” Obviously he’s talking about some drug he’d taken! The film is chock full of moments like that. So I don’t think you’d ever get bored.

THE MOVIE THAT SCARES ME THE MOST JAWS. I don’t think I’d ever jumped so much. That was just terrifying – from the minute the music starts up. We went to see it in King’s Lynn in Norfolk. There was this great storm. So we’d been to see Jaws – it terrified the life out of us, and I was up way past my bedtime, and on the way home, trees had been blown across the road. We had to stay in some B&B. So the whole night is particularly memorable – some terrifying horror evening of sharks and storms!

THE COMIC-BOOK MOVIE I LOVE

THE FIRST MOVIE I EVER SAW

I’d have to go for KICK-ASS. It’s not afraid of representing what the comic is. There are so many films that change the source material, I just thought it was admirable that Kick-Ass stayed as dangerous and as violent as the comic while bringing an enormous amount of humour to bear. I don’t think people really understood what it was, they all thought it was a kids’ movie. Actually, it’s a really clever, sharp bit of filmmaking. Matthew Vaughn – very clever guy. I love working with him.

The first movie was James Bond – DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. I think my mum took me. It was massive. A huge event, going to the cinema to see James Bond. What year did it come out? 1971. I would’ve been eight. I also remember a seminal moment was when my mum refused to let me watch The Great Escape on TV. I’d done something naughty and I wasn’t allowed to watch it. So she sent me to my room and I could hear it downstairs. I always remember that. I don’t think I was ever naughty again!

THE REMAKE I’D LIKE TO SEE

THE MOVIE THAT ALWAYS MAKES ME CRY

Maybe GREEN LANTERN – just so we could have another shot as it. It was made in good faith, that film. But the trouble was it came out in the same year as Captain America, X-Men: First Class and Thor and it was the last one over a summer to come out, and I think people had got superhero weary, to be honest. And the film really appeals to 13-year-old boys. It’s quite true to the comic. It’s a decent movie. But I’d love to see it remade so I could have another go at Sinestro and people would actually like it this time round.

The weirdest things make me well up. At Christmas time, I watched for the first time with my kids, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. That’s a bit of a tear-jerker at the end when he’s back with the family, and all the townspeople are literally bringing him all of their savings. That certainly gives me an iceberg in the throat. A man-cry! It makes me well up. JM ETA | 4 AUGUST / 6 DAYS opEnS In THE SUMMER. KInGSMAn: THE GolDEn CIRClE opEnS 22 SEpTEMbER.

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

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The latest happenings in movieland…

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mind games

THE GHOUL I The small movie, shot on a dime, that’s a huge brainteaser…

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he Ghoul’s based on ideas that were knocking around my addled mind for years,” smiles Gareth Tunley, an actor (Sightseers, Kill List) who here proves himself an eclectic and electric writer/director with the tale of Chris (Tom Meeten), a detective who poses as a patient to investigate a perhaps murderous psychotherapist. “I knew I wanted to make a psychological thriller that draws on some of the weirder, wilder, woollier ideas I’d been influenced by – writers like Philip K. Dick and Alan Moore.” And so we have a fractured tale set in an oppressive London, the narrative deep-diving into Chris’ tortured mind. This is the kind of low-budget, innovative headfuck movie that will appeal to fans of Shock Corridor, Eraserhead and Memento – it was so complicated to write, Tunley had to pin notes on his walls and half-feared he’d perish in his lair, “sure to be found months later surrounded by books on the occult”. It might come as a surprise, then, that much of Tunley’s background is in comedy, and the same goes for most of the key cast: Meeten, Alice Lowe, Rufus Jones, Paul Kaye. “When you have a film that’s quite bleak and full of mind-mangling ideas, they bring lightness to it,” Tunley suggests. “Tom is known for quite wild, physical comedy, so you take that manic energy and bottle it.”

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The Ghoul certainly runs the gamut of emotions, so while it’s “a film about mental health”, it’s also a thriller that buzzes with “excitement, mystery and intrigue”. Likewise, continues Tunley, “It’s about magic, the occult, maths, madness and murder, but at heart it’s a little story about unrequited love.” Not bad for a no-budget debut that was largely shot within a stone’s lob of Tunley’s East End home. “Its success has already exceeded my wildest dreams,” he says. “I thought we’d be showing it to one person at a time but it showed at the BFI London Film Festival and has been picked up by Arrow.” This is one nightmare in a damaged brain you’d be mad to miss. JG ETA | 4 AUGUST / ThE GhoUl opEnS ThiS SUmmEr.

DEEp THOUGHT Tom Meeten goes undercover to investigate a therapist; Dan Skinner (below) plays Jim.

TOM MeeTen You’ve known Gareth a long time… There’s a gang of us, including Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, and we worked together doing light comedy in a show called Ealing Live. Then we matured and all got into doing weird films instead. [laughs] Ben Wheatley was on the fringes of that. It’s a spider’s web. It’s Gareth’s feature debut. Were you confident he would ace it? He’s highly knowledgable about film and has this brilliant brain, so I did trust him. And the script is not your average low-budget film. We worked closely together and had time to work on the main character in my flat. My character’s bedroom in the film is a hideous box room in my flat. Was it draining playing Chris? Yes, it was intense. I hadn’t done anything like it. I became very aware of that idea of trudging around London. When we weren’t shooting, I still found myself trudging around London. I was emotionally and physically exhausted. Do you agree that London can be an oppressive environment? I love London but if you’re feeling a bit wonky, it’s not easy to escape the oppression. It’s one of the biggest cities in the world but there are a lot of lonely people here. JG

august 2017 | ToTal Film

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exclusive 34

Big Bada Blum

HALLOWEEN I Über-producer Jason Blum updates Teasers on his future projects…

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ith Get Out and Split both doing boffo business, Blumhouse Productions is having a bloomin’ brilliant 2017. But that’s nothing compared to the genre peddler’s future plans. To chat all things spooky, we caught up with head honcho Jason Blum. First on the agenda: Danny McBride and David Gordon Green’s Halloween reboot…

HALLOWEEN

THE PurgE

“I am a big believer that if you’re a good filmmaker, you’re a good filmmaker, no matter what genre. Danny and David fall into that. So we met with them for Halloween. They had a great take. John Carpenter blessed it. It was very important to me that John Carpenter remained a part of it, and he was excited about them. We’re going to shoot it in the fall. “It’s daunting, but that’s what’s fun about it. And also, expectations are all over the place. Are they going to mess it up? I like that challenge. We’re going to try to put the company’s DNA into Halloween – which is that it feels unique, that the performances are great, that the actors are unexpected. And, most of all, get behind David, who is a great, original, extremely talented filmmaker.”

“I’ve just got the script for the fourth movie. And then we’re doing a television series. The [writer’s] room is in New York. James [DeMonaco, creator] is involved in both. That’s a new experiment, to take a movie franchise that’s expanding and then drop the TV series at the same time. So we’ll see if the world is ready for that. They take place at all different time periods, but they take place within the same world, so there’ll be Easter eggs from one to the other.”

ToTal Film | August 2017

gLAss “Night is incredibly secretive, and if I reveal anything about anything he’ll cut my foot off. But I do think Night had this whole Unbreakable universe somehow built in his brain

FACE OF FEAr Nick Castle as Michael Myers in the original Halloween. (below) Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams.

for years. I have not read the script. I have to go to Philadelphia and sit in a room and he’ll be over my shoulder when I read it. All I know is I’m excited to be working on it with him.”

INsIdIOus 4 “I don’t feel like there should be eight Insidious movies, but I felt Insidious 3 underperformed, and I thought the third movie had a lot more mythology to build on, so that made me think we should keep going. The reason I thought we were done with Paranormal Activity is it felt so repetitive. That’s when it’s time to quit.”

gET OuT 2 “Who would have guessed [Jordan Peele’s] true love is genre? I think that’s where he’s going to remain for the near future. He has a deal with us, and he’s doing some more low-budget thrillers, which we’re going to produce with him. We’ve talked about them generally as trying to make more movies with social themes, like Get Out. But what themes he’s going to tackle, I don’t know.” Jf ETA | 19 OcTObEr 2018 / HAllOwEEn OpEns nExT yEAr. gET OuT is rElEAsEd On dvd And blu-rAy On 24 july.

exclusive

Agent Of Change

LAND OF MINE I Oscar nom’d WW2 drama shows the darker side of Denmark…

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ccording to Danish-born Martin Zandvliet, writer-director of the intense new drama Land Of Mine, his countrymen have always been positively represented in terms of World War 2 movies. “The Danes are always the heroes,” he says. “But everybody knows in Denmark that we also have a dark side; that we were filled up with hate and we weren’t always that good.” Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars, Land Of Mine tells how, in the aftermath of WW2, the Danes broke the Geneva Convention by forcing young German POWs to comb Denmark’s west coastline and diffuse the 1.5 million land mines planted there by Hitler’s forces. With many of these callow youths ill-equipped to carry out such a dangerous task, the casualties were devastating. Never documented in history books, Zandvliet researched his facts via hospital records and gravestones, crafting his tale to examine the moral dilemma of a hate-filled nation wreaking cruel revenge upon their prisoners. “I would’ve done the same,” he admits. “I would’ve put the

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Germans out there. They should disarm their own mines. But we should’ve made it easier for them, helped them more, maybe not used kids.” Choosing character actor Roland Møller in his first major lead, as the bullish Danish sergeant leading this operation, Zandvliet turned to Michael Haneke’s casting director Simone Bär to find the young Germans. From her selection, the director hand-picked his cast without specifying parts. “None of the boys knew who they were going to play.” Only after they spent time together, and a natural hierarchy formed, were roles assigned. Casting aside, the biggest technical challenge was working in sand, which throws

sAND tOgEthEr Louis Hofmann as one of the young German POWs forced to find and remove mines left by the Nazis.

up huge continuity problems. “It was so time consuming,” sighs Zandvliet. “Eighty people on the beach is a lot of footsteps. Once you’ve done the scene, you need to dig all the mines down. So we had people walking around with these blowers taking away the footsteps. I can imagine how it was to shoot Lawrence Of Arabia!” Helping maintain his sanity, Zandvliet kept it a family affair. His wife, Camilla Hjelm Knudsen, was his cinematographer. His daughter features briefly in a scene, and his son was always present. “I liked to try and create a [John] Cassavetes mood on the set, just without the alcohol!” he laughs. “I don’t want to be the absent father: Oh, where’s Daddy? He’s away on the movie set.” Thanks to the success of Land Of Mine, Zandvliet has since wrapped the English and Japanese-language Netflix film The Outsider, starring Jared Leto as an American veteran suffering from PTSD in 1960s Japan. It’s been his dream to work in English, he says, and reach a bigger audience. “If you have something on your mind, you want people to hear it.” JM ETA | 4 AUGUST / LAND OF MINE OPENS ThIS SUMMEr.

August 2017 | ToTal Film

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ExclusIvE

modern art

FINAL PORTRAIT I Stanley Tucci paints Giacometti with some broad strokes…

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n 1964, the young US writer James Lord spent 18 mildly torturous days sitting for the famous Swiss sculptor/painter Albert Giacometti. The result, aside, presumably, from backache, was Lord’s book A Giacometti Portrait. “I carried this book around with me for 25 or more years,” says actor-director Stanley Tucci, who has finally realised his dream of bringing this story to the big screen with Final Portrait. Recently receiving a major exhibition at London’s Tate Modern, Giacometti is “the consummate artist” says Tucci, “and this was the perfect book about the creative process. To have those two things available to you was very inspiring.” Writing the script – as he did on previous directorial outings Big Night, The Imposters and Blind Date – the other two things he had available were Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer, playing Giacometti and Lord. “Geoffrey came on two years before the movie got made. He was kind enough to commit for that period of time,” says Tucci. Hunched over, chain-smoking, wild hair – the Australian star’s transformation is remarkable. “Geoffrey’s a brilliant actor but he also has a great sense of humour. Giacometti was very funny and I think that’s a really important aspect to the character and the film.”

ToTal Film | august 2017

With production designer James Merifield recreating Giacometti’s studio, the team were also able to use German doc Ein Portrait for colour footage of the artist at work. “You see the very beginning – the blank canvas, you see the brush go on. So everything was there. We knew exactly how he started each portrait. That’s the key.” While Tucci finds the “tedium” of Lord sitting for Giacometti part of the fun, the real amusement comes in watching this portrait of a very eccentric artist. Like the fact Giacometti kept all of his money hidden around his studio. “The guy was a millionaire!” says Tucci. “Look at the way he dressed, look at the way he lived – he didn’t care. He gave it to his friends, gave it to his brother, gave it to prostitutes. And it’s all true.” JM ETA | 4 AUGUST / FINAL PORTRAIT OPENS THIS SUMMER.

TAkING A seAT Armie Hammer as writer James Lord, who wrote a book on the experience of being painted by Albert Giacometti (Geoffrey Rush).

ARMIE HAMMER Did you know anything about Giacometti? I definitely didn’t. I read the books that James Lord wrote about him. He was not so great a novelist as he was a biographer, so his biographies on Giacometti and the actual book he wrote about sitting for the portrait of Giacometti are amazing. They’re the ones that have lasted, as opposed to his detective novels! How was it to work with Geoffrey Rush? It was amazing. I was playing a character who, while slightly introverted, was also a voyeur, who really just wanted to watch and study this man who he was fascinated by. And I’m not going to lie – I’m fascinated by Geoffrey Rush! I was just sitting there watching him do these scenes, becoming Giacometti. So my process of just observing and watching was really easy; I just had to pay attention. Have you ever sat for a portrait? I’ve never sat for a portrait. I don’t know if I’d have the patience to do it, especially after seeing how arduous it looks in this movie! It looks terrible. That said, if there was an artist like Giacometti who wanted to paint your portrait, I don’t think anybody would say no. JM

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

killer smile look for swinton next in the remake of Suspiria.

You were in We Need To Talk About Kevin. America’s gun problem is now worse than ever. What are your thoughts? My perspective on that whole scenario is that I’m most interested in the relationship between parents and their children. This disconnection. That is where we should be putting our attention. That road leads to many a merry hell. The film opens a nature versus nurture debate… If you have a child, you will know, instantly, “Oh, there they are.” They come with their own personalities. I see the main gesture of parenting as keeping out of the way of that, and introducing that person to society – making the disillusionment as graceful as can be. That’s really what Okja’s about.

THE HERO

TILDA SWINTON

The London-born legend on experimental filmmaking…

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ith the attention-grabbing talent to match her piercing emerald eyes, alabaster skin and chameleonic shock of hair, Tilda Swinton is an Oscar winner and an icon. Little wonder, then, she’s also a repeat-performer for such talents as the Coens, Jim Jarmusch and Wes Anderson… and now Bong Joon-ho, who she re-teams with on stunning creature feature Okja after sci-fi instant-classic Snowpiercer.

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You’ve worked with some great directors. How does Bong compare? He’s in a league of his own. For me, he has something of Hitchcock. I think of when Truffaut said, “Hang on everybody, what’s wrong with a popcorn movie that’s made this well, and is this cerebrally and spiritually satisfying?”

outside. Those roots are all that sustain me. If it wasn’t possible to have that collective conversation with filmmakers, then I wouldn’t be making films.

You started as a performer for Derek Jarman. Does his spirit still infuse your work? We were improvising, working on Super 8 and silent [movies] a lot of the time. Nine years later, when he died in ’94, I was up a gum tree because I had this life of being a performer in film, but it didn’t really make any sense in the industry. It’s all I know and all I can do.

But Narnia and Doctor Strange are huge movies… All the big films that I’ve made have felt like experimental films. Not just for me, but for the filmmakers. Narnia was Andrew Adamson’s first liveaction film. Constantine with Francis Lawrence – he was experimenting with the graphic world of that film. Even Fincher, with Benjamin Button – it was an experiment with the technology. All those big films have been run by film nerds, and film nerds are my comfort zone.

Still? How do those techniques work for you in Hollywood? I’ve very seldom been in Hollywood. Even the Hollywood filmmakers that I’ve worked with have been stepping

‘i’m most interested in the relationship between parents and their children’

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state of the art (top to bottom) swinton in derek Jarman’s War Requiem; with rock duer in We Need To Talk About Kevin; as ceo lucy mirando in Okja.

In what way? It’s about childhood and that inevitable moment when a child encounters society in all its red-in-tooth-andclaw-ness. There’s a moment when the question is, “Do I have to give up all of my belief in the goodness of nature, in the ability to be authentic, the ability to trust other people?” There are schools of thought that would advise you, “Yes, you can’t trust people and you have to fake it and the most important thing is that you win.” Okja suggests that’s not the only way. Wes Anderson’s films are so precise. How much freedom do actors have? Sometimes he knows exactly what he wants. A line is written a certain way and has to be spoken with certain inflection. He will tweak the line and you will take it gratefully. If you don’t, you’re a fool because he knows. You’re in the Suspiria remake. Are you a Dario Argento fan? I grew up watching his movies. [Director] Luca Guadagnino and I regard Suspiria as the holy grail. Thom Yorke doing the score is really exciting; it’s something he’s never done before. We’re cutting Suspiria now: it’s a cover version built out of a great reverence for the original, but is its own creature and will be, in many ways, very different. It will be horrifying in all the right ways. JG ETA | OUT NOW / OKJA IS CURRENTLY STREAMING ON NETFLIX. SUSPIRIA OPENS NEXT YEAR.

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42 THE BEGUILED Sofia, so good…

New Releases out now Alone In Berlin A Man Called Ove The Book Of Henry Chubby Funny Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul Kedi The Mummy Souvenir Summer In The Forest Wonder Woman

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30 June All Eyez On Me Risk

7 JuLy The Boy And The Beast A Change In The Weather It Comes At Night The Last Word The Midwife Song To Song Tommy’s Honour The Tree Of Wooden Clogs

11 JuLy War For The Planet Of The Apes

14 JuLy The Beguiled David Lynch: The Art Life The Death Of Louis XIV

21 JuLy City Of Ghosts Monster Island Shot! The Psycho-Spiritual Mantra Of Rock Victim

28 JuLy The Big Sick Hounds Of Love

aLso reLeased We couldn’t see them in time for this issue, so head to gamesradar.com/totalfilm for reviews of the following: TiTle Release daTe Cars 3 14 July Despicable Me 3 30 June Dunkirk 21 July Girls Trip 26 July The House 30 June Spider-Man: Homecoming 5 July Transformers: The Last Knight out now

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The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews

CertifiCate 15 DireCtor Sofia Coppola Starring Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Colin Farrell SCreenplay Sofia Coppola DiStributor Universal running time 94 mins

The Beguiled Man about the house… OUT 14 JUly

S 42

ofia Coppola’s sixth film may exhibit her signature languid style, but it’s as tightly crafted as the corsets of the women at the centre of her accomplished study of repression and gender dynamics. That she’s succinct at exploring the female experience is a given considering her CV, but that she’s able to do it with such wit, subtlety and brevity is something of a refreshing surprise.

See ThiS if you liked… Black Narcissus 1947 Nuns isolated in the Himalayas get hot and bothered by the arrival of a shorts-sporting gent. The PiaNo 1993 A mere stocking hole creates erotic tensions in Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning period piece. The VirgiN suicides 1999 A group of sisters wrestle with sexual urges and confinement in Coppola’s woozy debut. FOr mOrE rEviEwS viSit gAmESrADAr. COm/tOtAlFilm

Taking Don Siegel’s lurid 1971 Eastwood starrer (sexually hysterical women hell-bent on sublimating the alpha-male predator), Coppola switches the lens from a masculine to feminine perspective, redrawing the characters as complex creatures trapped by their situation rather than dumb ciphers driven by animal desire. That situation then… as cannonfire thunders in the distance during the American Civil War, a seminary for young ladies sits marooned among the fighting in West Virginia. With the slaves gone along with most of the students, a small community of girls, their teacher and headmistress remain; isolated in a crumbling mansion, scratching around for food, trapped in a limbo of routine French and sewing lessons, trying to maintain their pre-conflict existence. In this embryonic regime, head Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman) and tutor Edwina (Kirsten Dunst) can beguile themselves that they have purpose, that the outside world does not exist. Until one of the girls brings a wounded

he spent ages summoning the courage to tell her the dress clashed with her shoes.

Union ‘blue belly’ soldier home and the spell is broken. Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell) reminds each of the school’s inhabitants (from tween to maven) of secret longings, provoking tension and ultimately violence. “There is nothing more frightening than a startled woman with a gun,” Miss Martha jokes at one point. Oh yes there is…

PUSHING BUTTONS While Coppola’s update cleaves closely to the plot points and ending of the original, her casting and nuanced script gives the key players in this Deep South Lord Of The Flies more understandable

‘though mCburney iS the prize, the women are running the Show’ ToTal Film | august 2017

motivation and provides greater audience empathy. Make no mistake, a gender war is raging here among the dreamy Spanish moss; but culpability remains as shadowy as the school’s candlelit chambers. While Eastwood’s infantryman was an unreconstructed sexual predator, Farrell is an Irish charmer who uses what he’s got to get the easy life. As an opportunist who’s taken another man’s place on the battlefield for 300 bucks, if a kind word here, a wanton stare there and the gift of a button here gets him a pass from the trenches, he’ll do it. He is as much repressed by his social and monetary standing as the school residents are by their religious beliefs and social expectations. An unsophisticated man who’s already shown he’ll take gambles that don’t pay off, it’s not

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Edwina’s after love and escape. Elle Fanning’s saucy teen Alicia craves seduction, and the girls, attention.

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a question of whether McBurney will come unstuck trying to play the women off against each other, but when. And those women… changing Miss Martha from a bitter crone to a worldly forty-something who had a man in her life before the war makes the competition between the residents all the more intriguing. Martha wants sex (a bed bath that she gives an unconscious McBurney is charged with eroticism as a puddle of water quivers in the hollow of his throat and her hand trembles over his hip) while

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‘Bring the saw’

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GARDENING STATE Though McBurney is the prize, the women are running the show. A dinner party where each of them jostle for his attention and slut-shame each other in the most courteous fashion is an absolute delight. Who knew a prestige period pic could mine such laughs from the decorous way in which apple pie is offered, or the cut of a dress dismissed? Coppola’s lightness of touch and the skills of her uniformly excellent cast ensure this and other scenes (such as McBurney’s Diet Coke ad moment when he’s watched while sweatily gardening) are knowingly amusing rather than tacky. “Your flower garden needs tending,”

Farrell manages to tell Kidman without making it Sid James smutty. That said, the playfulness is always tempered by tension and a sense of foreboding, heightened by Philippe Le Sourd’s evocative cinematography and the stark sound design. As the cicadas reach their crescendo in the heat, so the pace picks up and before you can say “over in 90 mins”, folks have properly lost their shit. That too is a pleasant surprise – a Cannes favourite and awards season frontrunner that plays like a popcorn movie and leaves you wanting more. Jane Crowther

The VeRdiCT Witty, menacing and steamy (in every sense), The Beguiled is an intelligent update and Coppola’s best work to date. Oscars await.

august 2017 | ToTal Film

The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews CERTIFICATE TBC DIRECTOR Matt Reeves STARRINg Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Amiah Miller SCREENPLAY Mark Bomback, Matt Reeves DISTRIBUTOR 20th Century Fox RUNNINg TIME TBC

Tip: they don’t like being called cheeky…

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Brassed-off monkeys… OUT 11 JULY

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ine films into the extended series, War For The Planet Of The Apes finally features a monkey throwing poo. Be warned though, that faeces-flinging is one of very few moments of levity in what’s otherwise an extremely sombre closer to the reboot-trilogy. Beginning with some intense woodland warfare, and never really letting up, it’s a punishingly brutal, but largely satisfying resolution to a plot that was set in motion in 2011’s Rise and escalated in 2014’s Dawn. War picks up directly after the events of Dawn, with what remains of human and apekind battling for supremacy. Ape leader Caesar oversees a monkey stronghold, which finds itself under siege from human forces marshalled by Woody Harrelson’s callous Colonel. Noble Caesar is still trying to keep the peace, but two too many ape deaths send him over the edge and into vengeance-seeking mode. He sets off after the Colonel with a few key allies, while the rest of his clan make their way to the promised land across the mountains. En route, Caesar encounters a young mute girl (Amiah Miller), and zoo escapee Bad Ape (Steve Zahn), before becoming embroiled in a species showdown. Boasting more gravitas than many ‘real’ performers, Andy Serkis’ performance-captured Caesar remains an envelope-pushing marvel who keeps the Apes franchise grounded. Weta Digital has upped the ante again, with possibly the most impressive CG characters ever created. Stunning as the matted fur and creased skin is, it’s the soulfulness in Caesar’s eyes that validates Serkis’ commitment to the dotty-pyjama arts. Wherever the apes are going, it’s not the uncanny valley.

SEE THiS iF yOu LikEd… 44

LOTR: THE RETURN OF THE KING 2003 Another trilogycloser that works better as an ending than standalone entry. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES 2014 Matt Reeves’ previous instalment is bolstered by Toby Kebbell’s terrific villain. KONG: SKULL ISLAND 2017 Who’d have thought two 2017 ape-travaganzas would riff on Apocalypse Now? FoR MoRe RevieWS viSiT gAMeSRAdAR. CoM/ToTAlFilM

predicted interest curve™ Home invasion

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Colonel goes Kurtz Avalanche

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With Caesar struggling to reconcile his vengeful feelings with his desire for peace, the dramatic conflict is largely internalised. As such, it sometimes lacks the depth of predecessor Dawn, which had Caesar contrasted with bad ’un Koba, and found room for nuanced motivations within the humans. Here, it feels more clear cut: the innocent apes against Harrelson’s autocrat and his largely faceless minions. Even adding a young human girl to the apes’ mix feels symbolic rather than substantial. The focus is very much on the monkey business this time, providing even more VFX to drool over, and there’s a very empathetic turn from Zahn as the timid Bad Ape (another rare source of comic relief). But it means there’s a lot of chatter before the plot really kicks into gear. When things do get going, they lead to a suitably tense climax that matches anything in the series for scale. It’s fitting that it’s a decent send-off, as the whole film feels like a third act for the trilogy, rather than a standalone entry. Director Matt Reeves (next up for him, The Batman) ladles on the portentousness with many darkly violent moments – close-range executions, strangling, work camps, crucifixions – so much so it almost weighs the film down. Artfully shot and mournfully scored, there’s no denying the craft that’s been poured into this, even if it’s set to be one of the summer’s more heavy-going blockbusters. Be thankful for Serkis’ powerhouse turn, which is all the more poignant because of the previous films’ investment. Matt Maytum

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This solid if unspectacular finish to the Apes trilogy features an A-game Andy Serkis and incredible VFX, but its darker excesses threaten to suffocate at times.

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august 2017 | ToTal Film

The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews

See ThiS if you liked… While You Were Sleeping 1995 Sandra Bullock lights up this comedy of bedside manners, as the fake fiancée of a coma patient. eaSt iS eaSt 1999 It’s Abdul’s stag night in ’70s Salford. But his dad hasn’t introduced him to his wife-to-be yet… FunnY people 2009 Judd Apatow prescribes Adam Sandler’s terminally ill comedian a big dose of stand-up. Her first move was to buy him a proper set of wine glasses. 46

The Big Sick

CERTIFICATE tBc DIRECTOR michael Showalter STARRING Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, ray romano SCREENPLAY emily v. gordon, Kumail Nanjiani DISTRIBUTOR Studiocanal RUNNING TIME 120 mins

Ill behaviour…

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OUT 28 JUly

arm, funny and quietly risk-taking, this autobiographical love-story starring Silicon Valley stalwart Kumail Nanjiani gives the ailing romcom genre a topical shot in the arm. Wry rather than wacky, like Nanjiani’s selfdeprecating stage act, it’s an intimate, character-based comedy with an improvisational feel. Based on his fate-swiped real-life romance with wife Emily Gordon (his co-writer here), this Sundance Festival smash about a culture-clash Chicago courtship starts out full of low-key charm. Up-and-coming stand-up Kumail (Nanjiani) can’t commit to quirky psychology student Emily (a feisty Zoe Kazan), despite their great rapport. Bombarded with potential brides for an arranged marriage by

predicted interest curve™ thrilled

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entertained nodding off

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The You’ve got parent (Ku)mail trap Woken up, broken up

“Loving somebody this much sucks”

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his traditional Muslim family, he’s torn between family loyalty, his longing for stand-up success, and a love match. Like a hipster My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the film mines his parents’ relentless interference (his mother’s endless chain of ‘just dropped in’ eligible Pakistani girls is a running gag). Yet it’s affectionate rather than snarky. Acute about the problems of being a present-day American Muslim, the script is thoughtful but not earnest, and gutsy enough to drop a deadpan 9/11 joke that’ll get you gasping. However, just when you think we’re in producer Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up territory (man-child hero, wisecracking pals, emotional dilemma), the story swerves bravely into unexpected trauma. A mystery illness slams Kazan’s Emily into a medically induced coma, and Kumail into turmoil. This sudden burst of drama gives the film backbone and real jeopardy, as Emily’s parents Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) start a bedside vigil, where Kumail must earn his place.

For more revIewS vISIt gAmeSrAdAr. com/totAlFIlm

Here’s when director Michael Showalter’s straightforward style comes into its own. Rather than While You Were Sleeping-ish screwball stylings, the film finds laughs in the awkwardness of the trio coming together. Nanjiani, his stage act morphing from one-man shows about Pakistani politics and cricket rules into a career-threatening confessional meltdown, shows a new range. Hunter, who can slide from frail to fierce in a glance, is a delight, launching herself at a comedy-club heckler ordering Nanjiani to “Go back to Isis”. But Romano’s laconic, gaffe-prone Terry is the revelation, showing off the film’s careful, rounded characterisation with brio. Injecting tension and tear-jerking moments among its gags, the film still manages to dodge both sickbed sentimentality and romcom predictability. Honest as well as hilarious, it deserves to propel the talented Nanjiani to the headliner status that Apatow-assisted comics such as Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer have claimed. Kate Stables

The VeRdicT Mixing a rom-coma into the romcom, this smart, sweet and highly personal love story finds a winning formula.

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The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews Elvis is on the blower again, trying to get ’Pac to one of his ‘afterlife’ parties…

CERTIFICATE 15 DIRECTOR Benny Boom STARRING demetrius Shipp Jr., danai gurira SCREENPLAY Jeremy Haft, Steven Bagatourian, eddie gonzalez DISTRIBUTOR lionsgate RUNNING TIME 139 mins

All eyez on Me Hip-hop’s most wanted… OUT 30 JUnE

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etween his radical upbringing, iconic standing, outlaw front and breathtakingly rich recorded output, it’s a wonder the long-gestating Tupac Shakur biopic took so long to arrive. Besides legal conflicts, one answer looks apparent from Benny Boom’s watchable but unwieldy entry in hip-hop cinema’s extended universe: the rapper’s “thug angel” contradictions demand more than a conventional biopic treatment. Demetrius Shipp Jr. is an uncannily quicksilver 2Pac, whether he’s fixing intense stares on an interviewer from prison, showing his soulful side, or swaggering through some chest-pounding live recreations. He gets terrific support too, notably from The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira as the mother who instilled revolutionary values in Pac. Scenes of police brutality ram home the significance of her ideals with grim relevance. Yet in tracking 2Pac from youth to fame, film, conscious/gangsta rap, near-death experiences, and death by shooting, Eyez bites off more than it can chew. Plotting stutters through incidents and walkons, and although the climax hits hard, the sketchy build-up clouds fresh insight. Boom strains to pack a lot in: in doing so, he stretches his key beats thin. Kevin Harley

The VeRdicT “It ain’t easy…” cramming 2Pac’s life into one story. Shipp Jr. thrills, but a busy script blurs too many nuances.

SouVeniR OUT nOw A far cry from her powerful, Oscar-nominated turn in Elle, Isabelle Huppert offers a warmer, more fragile turn in this French dramedy - and still utterly captivates. Sadly, the story, which sees Huppert’s failed singer encouraged to make a comeback by her lover, struggles with a balance between whimsical comedy and relationship drama. A charm persists, but it all too often hits a flat note. Matt Looker

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The Boy And The BeAST OUT 7 JUly Despite the (temporary) retirement of Hayao Miyazaki, anime is having a storming 2017. This is the latest must-watch, about an orphan who is raised by an anthropomorphic warrior bear after stumbling into a magical alt-universe. The burgeoning bond between man and monster hits soaring emotional heights, even if the new world feels a little under-developed. Jordan Farley

The Book of henRy OUT nOw Star Wars: Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow delivers a film packed with heart. Jaeden Lieberher (Midnight Special) impresses as genius Henry, supporting his mum (Naomi Watts) and brother (Room’s Jacob Tremblay) while trying to rescue an abused girl. Part Amblin-esque adventure, part weepy drama and part thriller, it’s still sweet, compelling and highly emotional. Matt Looker

iT coMeS AT nighT OUT 7 JUly The trailer for Trey Edwards Shults’ Krisha follow-up sells it as a Blumhouse-esque multiplexpleaser. Instead, this tale of a survivalist patriarch who gives a young family refuge is an intimate and hauntingly ambiguous horror that favours paranoia over rote scare tactics. An uncompromisingly bleak slow burn, it leaves the pulse frantic and nerves frayed. Jordan Farley

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The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews CertifiCate 15 DireCtors Jon Nguyen, Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Rick Barnes starring David Lynch Distributor Thunderbird Releasing running time 88 mins

DaviD LYnch: The arT Life Wild at art…

OUT 14 JUly

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ou wait 10 years for a David Lynch project and then what? Eighteen hours of Lynch-directed Twin Peaks arrives and, to top it off, this portraitof-the-artist documentary. Largely set in his Hollywood Hills studio, The Art Life introduces us to Lynch’s paintings as he recounts his early years, from his picket-fence upbringing in Montana to his days in rundown Philadelphia, where he began crafting his student shorts. The co-directing team of Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Rick Barnes and Jon Nguyen (who previously worked with cameraman Jason S. on the 2007 doc Lynch, shot during the making of Inland Empire) should be congratulated for getting the famously reticent Lynch to open up at all. Smoking up a storm, he gets personal too, talking about everything from his father’s outbursts to depression. With the doc culminating in Lynch’s time on Eraserhead, fans expecting stories from the sets of Lost Highway or Mulholland Drive will be disappointed. This is Lynch: The Early Years, although some anecdotes do tap into his movies (that boyish dream of a naked woman arriving in his driveway? Think Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velvet). It’s all typically elusive fare from the enigmatic director, but as a window into his brain, it’s still fascinating. James Mottram

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Lynch might be in the title, but the mug’s the real star.

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OUT 21 JUly Re-released for the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, Basil Dearden’s 1961 drama played a significant part in that campaign. Dirk Bogarde throws off his matinee idol image to play a barrister who takes up the cause of men blackmailed for being gay, and in doing so comes to acknowledge his own nature. A little overpreachy, but a brave statement for its time. Philip Kemp

ToTal Film | AUgUsT 2017

ShOT! The PSYchO-SPiriTuaL ManTra Of rOck OUT 21 JUly Between his rock ’n’ cameraroll anecdotes and wily wit, photographer Mick Rock proves well-qualified to narrate his own docu-portrait, directed by Barnaby Clay. Plump with torrid tales and deadpan one-liners, it’s a welllived raconteur-mentary braided with revelatory stories and archive material; Lou Reed, David Bowie and more feature. Kevin Harley

The verDicT An intriguing insight into Lynch’s genius, intimately crafted and leaving you wanting more. Sequel, please?

The LaST WOrD OUT 7 JUly Shirley MacLaine douses her tongue in acid once more to play Harriet, who hires journo Anne (Amanda Seyfried) to pen her obituary – not easy when even her priest despises her and her gynaecologist says, “She has the angriest vagina this side of China.” Much mellowing and life-learning ensues in a plodding dramedy, though the glint in MacLaine’s eyes makes it almost worth your while. Almost. Jamie Graham

ciTY Of GhOSTS OUT 21 JUly This compelling documentary from Matthew Heineman profiles members of Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a group of extraordinarily brave Syrian citizen journalists who have brought to the world’s attention the barbarity of Isis rule in their hometown of Raqqa. City Of Ghosts reveals the terrible price paid for the covert filming and reporting by these now exiled activists and their families. Tom Dawson

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The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews

The Tree Of WOODen cLOGS OUT 7 JUly Generally reckoned the masterpiece of Italian director Ermanno Olmi, this rural epic, dating from 1978, follows a year in the lives of four peasant families in 19th Century Lombardy. Using a non-professional cast it demands patience, but stick with it and its warm, gentle humanism, plus Olmi’s affection for his characters, soon become beguiling. Philip Kemp

TOMMY’S hOnOur OUT 7 JUly Fathers and sons, tradition and innovation, love and loss… There’s more than just golf to Jason ‘Son of Sean’ Connery’s biopic of Tom and Tommy Morris (Peter Mullan and Jack Lowden), two of the founders of the modern game. OK, so enough time is spent on the fairways to put some viewers off, but Tommy’s Honour scores a hole in one with its unpacking of the class wars at play. Jamie Graham

CertifiCate TBC DireCtor Terrence Malick starring Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender sCreenpLay Terrence Malick Distributor Studiocanal running time TBC

The DeaTh Of LOuiS Xiv OUT 14 JUly A real chamber-piece, which barely stirs outside the crowded bedroom of the slowly expiring king, Albert Serra’s stately drama is glacially paced. Focused on the courtly rituals and medical squabbling that accompanied the royal decline, this is as gorgeous as an oil painting, and about as lively. But Jean-Pierre Léaud effortlessly summons up the iron ruler inside the failing man. Kate Stables

a Man caLLeD Ove OUT nOw Adapted from Fredrik Backman’s bestseller, this Swedish tale of a suicidal widower (Rolf Lassgård) who finds unlikely friendship with his new neighbours was nominated for two Oscars this year. Certainly the nod for Make-Up was merited, but Best Foreign Language Film? Despite winning work from the lead, it’s a tame, feelgood effort from writer-director Hannes Holm. Academy bait. James Mottram

gosling was gonna wear his jacket on one shoulder, whatever fassbender said.

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continuation of the intimate, fragmentary ‘story’-telling style that informed Knight Of Cups and To The Wonder, Terrence Malick’s latest mosaic of murmurs, metaphysics and magnified magic hours sees ace DoP Emmanuel Lubezki bend time and space as he turns a fish-eyed lens on Austin’s music scene. Squint into the sunset and you’ll spy a speck of plot involving singer-songwriter Rooney Mara twirling between Ryan Gosling’s soulful artist and Michael Fassbender’s Mephistophelian producer. Mind you, it’s easy to get distracted by the likes of Natalie Portman, Bérénice Marlohe and Cate Blanchett floating through, and by the iconic musos – Flea, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith – drifting through VIP areas at outdoor rock concerts. The original title, Weightless, fits like a gossamer glove. Admittedly, Song To Song feels like a remix of Malick’s favourite tics, tricks and themes, but here the leads are more compelling than in Malick’s last couple, and they even occasionally talk to each other, to ground the action amid the usual celestial thought-bubbles that act as a scattered voiceover. It makes for Terry’s most substantial outing since his work rate suddenly accelerated, though his recent declaration that he’s now ready to return to narrative filmmaking is certainly welcome. Jamie Graham

The verDicT No Badlands, but the best of the recent minor Malicks. And it features Val Kilmer with a chainsaw.

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AUgUsT 2017 | ToTal Film

The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews

certificate 15 director alex Kurtzman starring Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, annabelle wallis, Jake Johnson, russell Crowe screenplay david Koepp, Christopher mcQuarrie, dylan Kussman distributor Universal running time 110 mins

the MuMMy Stalk like an Egyptian… OUT nOw 50

uestion: when is a Universal monster movie that’s set almost entirely at night and featuring not just spiders, coffins and mist (lots of mist), but also infanticide, patricide and necrophilia, not a horror movie? Answer: when it’s a Tom Cruise summer blockbuster. But while there’s little here to jangle the nerves, The Mummy does wrap up enough adventure, action and quips to make it, if not a scream, then a worthwhile Friday night out.

See thiS if you liked… THE MUMMY 1932 The weakest of Universal’s classic monster movies but still required viewing. THE MUMMY 1999 No shuffling, just sprinting. Stephen Sommers feels the need for speed in his rollicking update. EDGE OF TOMORROW 2014 Cruise gets beaten up repeatedly in The Mummy. Here, he’s gamely killed again and again and again. For more reviewS viSiT gameSradar. Com/ToTalFilm

ToTal Film | AUgUsT 2017

It opens with a flashback showing how Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) came to be mummified and entombed 1,000 miles from Egypt. We then smash cut to modern-day northern Iraq, where long-range reconnaissance soldiers Nick Morton (Cruise) and Chris Vail (Jake Johnson) gallop into a settlement crawling with insurgents. These bantering buddies are looters or, as Nick puts it, “liberators of precious antiquities”, and they seemingly hit the jackpot when an air strike unearths a subterranean chasm.

JUST THE arTEFaCTS Descending into the pit with an archaeologist (Annabelle Wallis) who has history with Nick, our intrepid tomb raiders have no sooner exhumed

come to mummy…

Ahmanet’s remains than they find themselves cursed to spend the remainder of the movie running and screaming from what appears to be a prototype Terminatrix. Only by assembling various long-lost artefacts can they hope to banish this badass mutha – which means The Mummy at times looks like The Crystal Maze on a monster budget. Much has been made of this reboot featuring the first female mummy, and Boutella displays all the right moves with her gymnastic grace and

‘cruise duly sets about showing us the money shots’

empowered strut, while also working wonders with her hypnotic amber irises – all four of them, in some scenes. Shame, then, that she spends much of the film lusting after Cruise, unable to fully reanimate without his help. “You complete me,” she might as well say, and Cruise duly sets about showing us the money shots: running from a sandstorm through London’s streets as windows explode; scrapping with Russell Crowe’s Dr. Henry Jekyll as groundwork is laid to extend Universal’s Dark Universe; and escaping a gang of swimming corpses in the most crazed underwater set-piece since a zombie fought off a great white shark in Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979).

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prEdiCTEd inTErEST CUrvE™ THrillEd EnTErTainEd nodding oFF ZZZZZZZZZ rUnning TimE 0

Crash and gurn

Buried alive

Blow the roof off

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DeathCor blimey, Dr. Jekyll! defying dive Cruise gets canned

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It’s unlikely that Cruise intended such a comparison. But he does like horror movies – he made Interview With The Vampire in 1994, long before the Twilight franchise made neckbiters sexy to mainstream viewers – and there’s funny business here with Chris that surely riffs intentionally on John Landis’ An American Werewolf In London, a movie he adores. Elsewhere, the humour

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SANDSTORM! The Mummy returns?

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doesn’t land quite so well, with some of the under-fire buddy-banter only making you want to dust down your trusty copy of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Conversely, The Mummy’s internal journey feels a little too solemn and glibly instructive as it seeks to map the desert of Nick’s heart. If we’re not vigilant, it warns, it is man who is the monster.

monSTErS, inC. Directed by über-writer and producer Alex Kurtzman (Transformers, Star Trek), there’s enough here to suggest that he should indeed continue with his plans to oversee the resurrection of Universal’s classic monsters (rebooted, interconnected versions

of The Wolf Man, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and Van Helsing are all on the cards). Because while The Mummy has little of the deep heartache, sly wit or visual poetry that so distinguished the studio’s ’30s classics, it does deliver enough popcorn thrills to sate viewers who want their entertainment speedy and slick, without a cobweb in sight. To borrow from Frankenstein: it’s alive. Jamie Graham

the VeRdiCt That’s a wrap: Universal’s monsters are back from the grave and up and running (it is a Tom Cruise movie, after all). Uneven, but plenty of fun.

AUgUsT 2017 | ToTal Film

The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews Stephen Curry and Emma Booth as the serial-killing spouses.

CErtifiCatE 18 DirECtor Ben Young Starring Emma Booth, Ashleigh Cummings, Stephen Curry SCrEEnplay Ben Young DiStriButor Arrow running timE 108 mins

Hounds of Love Home of horrors…

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OUT 28 jUly

op watchers, beware. Aussie writer/director Ben Young’s tough, terrifying and terrifically played kidnap thriller-as-character study shares about as much with Kate Bush as a rottweiler does with a rabbit. Vice-tight and part-drawn from grim truth, Young’s mid-’80s-set debut pulls us unnervingly close to serialkilling spouses John (Stephen Curry) and Evelyn (Emma Booth), whose home life in Perth takes all the fun out of dysfunctional. And it looks even worse when they kidnap 17-year-old rebel Vicki (Ashleigh Cummings), whose eyes become our POV for the unfolding horrors. Hounds is hard viewing. Yet Young dodges gratuitousness, instead drawing a distressed intensity from Dan Luscombe’s harrowed score, DoP Michael McDermott’s washed-out images and three electric lead turns. If comic actor Curry’s transformation into a sleaze’tached wife-beater startles, Booth is more staggering still, especially when Evie’s tragic/terrifying inner fissures become exposed. Susie Porter offers small relief as Vicki’s dogged mum, but don’t get comfy: you’ll gnaw your knuckles to the bone before Young offers a sniff of catharsis. Kevin Harley

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THe verdiCT A ferocious debut, charged with depth and dread. Set alongside Snowtown as a must-watch you can barely watch.

THe midWife OUT 7 jUly Martin Provost’s Parisian drama stars Catherine Frot as Claire, a single mother and midwife reacquainted with her late father’s terminally ill mistress Béatrice (Catherine Deneuve). With recriminations turning to compassion, the film sings when these French titans share the screen, Deneuve’s loose cannon a mixture of hedonism and terror. If only the other scenes were as compelling. James Mottram

ToTal Film | AUgUsT 2017

diary of a WimPy Kid: THe Long HauL OUT NOW Knowing winks to Psycho and The Birds enliven what’s otherwise a straight retread of National Lampoon’s Vacation, with Alicia Silverstone and Tom Everett Scott cast in the harassed parent roles. This sequel’s cartoon recreations of Jeff Kinney’s stick drawings are a highlight. The road-trip section, though, can’t end soon enough. Neil Smith

monsTer isLand OUT 21 jUly Sweet-shop colours aside, director Leopoldo Aguilar’s derivative kiddy lark pales beside other monster toons. Pivoting on a lad’s quest to find his monster identity, self-discovery parables like this need wit and invention, but Aguilar’s romp summons only wan echoes of Zootropolis (bull-horned cop) and Monsters, Inc. (inferior deodorant gag). For monster-sized growing pains, Trollhunters is better. Kevin Harley

summer in THe foresT OUT NOW In 1964, Canadian philosopher Jean Vanier founded L’Arche, a communal living centre for people with developmental disabilities. Randall Wright’s sophomore doc (after 2014’s Hockney) takes a look at this work, interviewing Vanier and many of the residents. The subject matter inspires and the lensing is beautiful, but the loose structure gives it a somewhat formless feel. Tim Coleman

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The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews

aLone in berLin OUT NOW The true story of a German couple who protested against Hitler by dropping accusatory postcards around Berlin has already generated four screen treatments. The fifth has star power (Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson), and some handsome visuals, but is otherwise too solemn to keep us invested in its heroes’ mission or fate. A subplot involving a Jewish neighbour feels similarly underpowered. Neil Smith

a CHange in THe WeaTHer

Kedi OUT NOW

OUT 7 jUly For his portrait of ageing actors juggling love, life and art, no-budget director Jon Sanders (Late September) favours a gloomy outlook. Like an austerity-pinched Mike Leigh, Sanders’ stress on long, improvised takes spotlights raw-nerves performances; Anna Mottram and Bob Goody excel. It’s bold, yet the emphases on reality and acting divisions, plus midlife torpor, get old fast. Kevin Harley

CErtifiCatE TBC DirECtor Harry Michell, Isabella Laughland Starring Harry Michell SCrEEnplay Alex von Tunzelmann DiStriButor MusicFilmNetwork running timE 89mins

risK

Cat lovers everywhere will get a kick out of this Turkish doc, which follows Istanbul’s multitudes of street cats. From fights to foodfilching to flinging themselves into trees, the kitty footage is enchanting. Touching stories include one about a man soothed from a nervous breakdown by feeding the strays. While director Ceyda Torun lets the focus meander too much, it’ll leave you, ahem, feline good. James Mottram

OUT 30 jUNE A critical docu-portrait of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, shot over a six-year period in which he was under house arrest in Norfolk and then holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy following sexual assault allegations. Director Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) charts her own feelings towards her subject, yet unanswered questions abound surrounding WikiLeaks’ alleged connections to Donald Trump’s campaign. Tom Dawson

He was the first to admit that his squirrel costume needed work.

CHubby funny

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Phat laughs…

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OUT NOW

arry Michell says that Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha was a major (or should that be minor?) inspiration on his loose-change writing and directing debut Chubby Funny, but there’s also a measure of Withnail & I in its mirth ’n’ melancholy tale of two squabbling actors. All shot within a couple of miles of Michell’s north London home, it follows Oscar (Michell) and best bud Charlie (Augustus Prew) as they co-inhabit a flat so pokey there’s only one bed – that’s OK, they’re close enough to spoon – and set about breaking into showbiz. As their agent Susan (Alice Lowe) tells them, confident, good-looking Charlie is leading-man material, whereas Oscar is made to play the “chubby, funny” sidekick… or, as it turns out, to sell his soul making nutty adverts dressed as a squirrel. Shot with an unfussy naturalism and daring to paint Oscar as a petty, envious, narcissistic dick who nonetheless remains likeable and relatable, Chubby Funny mines ambition, friendship and the modern dating game for heart, laughs and sorrow. An easier route would have been to heighten the action and settle for broad cheer – that Michell digs deeper marks him as a talent to watch. Jamie Graham

THe verdiCT A low-budget relationship drama with high aspirations. Makes for a self-assured and pleasingly down-to-earth debut from one-to-watch Michell.

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AUgUsT 2017 | ToTal Film

The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews

certificate 12A director Patty Jenkins starring gal gadot, chris Pine, elena Anaya, danny Huston, david thewlis screenplay Allan Heinberg distributor Warner Bros running time 141 mins

Wonder Woman Diana awes… OUT nOw

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hen DC launched its expanded-universe entry bid with 2013’s Man Of Steel, some die-hard DC-watchers grumbled. Who was this Mr. Moody-pants? Not Superman, surely. Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad drew similar gripes: Batfleck was deemed too murder-y, Deadshot too mawkish.

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See thiS if you liked… Superman 1978 A superhero romp played with earnest warmth and wry wit… it’ll never work! raiderS Of The LOST ark 1981 War, headwear, whips, archaeological finds: Wonders keeps up with the Joneses. Brave 2012 Mother/daughter tensions, keen arrows and transformative potions, Pixar-style. For More revieWs visit gAMesrAdAr. coM/totAlFilM

After lassoing the focus away from Dawn Of Justice’s man-spat, Wonder Woman tempts no such nonrecognition concerns. Despite fears engendered by a messy route to cinemas, pre-release scuttlebutt over tonal issues and the odd on-screen hiccup, director Patty Jenkins (Monster) and lead Gal Gadot have landed a ripping success: a winningly earnest heroine in a straight-up good-time comic-book movie that gives good, pomposity-busting quips without ever clouding its headliner’s core values. After a modern-day prologue, the flashback to Wonders’ origins works by rejecting kitsch self-parody and undue darkening influences. Navigated smoothly between sweeping spectacle, gym-pumped fight practice, mythical backstories and mum/daughter intimacies, the Themyscira sequences brim with scene-setting assurance. Granted, it’s another origin story. But it’s a fresh one, for a heroine whose origin we haven’t yet seen at cinemas. And there’s a pulp buzz to the mid-training transition from Diana as a rebellious child to Gadot, whose blazing eyes and sonic-boom wrist-wear issue a resounding message: don’t worry, she’s got this.

That confidence holds as manshaped trouble visits Themyscira. After the arrow’s-eye shots and shield-surfing tag-team action of a bracing Amazons-v-soldiers beach barney, Gadot’s warm chemistry with Chris Pine’s humble World War 1 spy Steve Trevor sings.

Clear the ares Reaching beyond modern superhero settings, their flirty/innocent banter channels 1934 proto-romcom It Happened One Night via the rooftop

‘patty jenkins and gal gadot have landed a ripping success’ total Film | AUgUsT 2017

exchanges of 1978’s Superman. And as Trevor laments war’s horrors, the righteous compassion stirred in Diana fits her character like a scabbard: God of War Ares is abroad, she decides, and he needs stopping. After a poignant parting from home and Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), the ensuing conflicts with spies, wartime officials and leering villains echo rich, rollicking matinee-serial pleasures. Raiders Of The Lost Ares, if you like. You get classic nasties in chemical co-dependents Dr. Maru (Elena Anaya, oozing mystery) and General Ludendorff (Danny Huston, off his tits). And, while David Thewlis offers quality anchorage in a key role, any risks of ridiculousness

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diana is still fuming about steve’s claim that everyone in the trenches would be wearing micros.

prediCted interest Curve™ thrilled entertained nodding oFF ZZZZZZZZZ

On the beach

Photo start

Sonic “Enjoy the “A different Drug boom type of gas” buddies fireworks” Sonic Horsing Trench BOOM! about Hot tub Pine machine warfare

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elsewhere get nicely ribbed. As Etta Candy, Lucy Davis kills with a quip about specs; Ewen Bremner, meanwhile, channels Spud as Trevor’s slow but steady pal.

Cello drama If the job of getting Diana and Steve’s gang (Bremner, Saïd Taghmaoui, Eugene Brave Rock) to war can leave Wonder Woman

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looking more like Woman Wanders About A Bit, at least the pace breathes. And, once we hit the trenches – 12A certificate judiciously pushed in injury detail – the electric cellos start thrashing and the cool shit starts thrilling. Over-reliance on slo-mo aside, Wonders’ powers are exuberantly embraced in rousing blasts of lasso-lashing, shield-flinging extravagance. Suddenly, Hulk isn’t the only tank-lobbing titan in town. So, a little disappointment kicks in when the last stand-off presents the CG spectacle of two combatants levitating at each other. But it’s only a small burp next to other comic-book movies’ half-baked baddies, and while jaded viewers

might wince at a Jennifer Rush-ian pay-off, ballast is provided by an emotional twist and the sense of a filmmaker embracing Wonder Woman’s idealism without cynicism. “Be careful in the world of men, Diana,” Hippolyta warns, “they do not deserve you.” That may be true, but she’s delivered the hope-charged blast of purely likeable entertainment that superhero movies might just need. Kevin Harley

the VerdiCt The DCEU’s game gets raised. Gadot is a godsend, Pine charms and Jenkins delivers old-school thrills with heart and conviction.

AUgUsT 2017 | total Film

The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews

BOx OFFiCE CHARTS 15.05.17 – 11.06.17 Pos

1 THE MUMMY Mixed reviews but strong global box office, which means the Dark Universe is still a go. Which means our dreams of seeing Count Duckula team with Eddie Munster are still a go, right?

WONDER WOMAN Strong reviews and strong global box office, which means the DCEU is more of a go than ever. Which means they best be giving out free goldfish when it comes to screening Aquaman, right?

PiRATES OF THE CARiBBEAN: SALAZAR’S REVENGE ICMYI, the super-meta credits sting sees Jack the Monkey in a bathrobe playing Deadpool playing Ferris Bueller, screaming ‘Go home’ in simian.

this month

since release

Weeks out

Pirates 5: Salazar’s Revenge HHHH

£16m

£16m

3

2 Wonder Woman HHHH

£12.8m

£12.8m

2

3 Alien: Covenant HHH

£7.6m

£12.7m

5

4 Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 HHH

£7.2m

£40.3m

7

5 Baywatch H

£7m

£7m

2

6 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul HHH

£4.9m

£4.9m

3

7 King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword HH

£4.8m

£4.8m

4

8 The Mummy HHH

£3.3m

£3.3m

1

9 Snatched HH

£2.1m

£2.1m

4

10 The Boss Baby HHH

£1.9m

£28.2m

10

Us top 10 Pos

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Film

Film

Wonder Woman HHHH

this month

since release

Weeks out

$205m

$205m

2

2 Pirates 5: Salazar’s Revenge HHHH

$135.8m

$135.8m

3

3 Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 HHH

$120.2m

$366.4m

6

4 Alien: Covenant HHH

$71.2m

$71.2m

4

5 Baywatch H

$51.2m

$51.2m

3

6 Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie N/A

$32.2m

$32.2m

1

7 Everything, Everything N/A

$31.7m

$31.7m

4

8 Snatched HH

$27.5m

$45m

5

9 King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword HH

$22.5m

$37.2m

5

10 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul HHH

$19.4m

$19.4m

4

CAPTAiN UNDERPANTS: THE FiRST EPiC MOViE As DreamWorks’ reportedly cheapest toon, this could’ve been thin material, but word from the US is this is one kids’ flick that really follows through.

BAYWATCH “Fans LOVE the movie,” tweeted a defiant Dwayne Johnson. If you’re one of them, please email Dialogue. Actually, we’ve got three pages, so plenty of room for both of you to send us a letter.

DiARY OF A WiMPY KiD: THE LONG HAUL Four films in, isn’t it time to ‘age up’ the franchise into the teen years (Diary Of A Pimply Kid) then middle age (Diary Of A Divorcee Kid)?

STiLL OUT, STiLL GOOD... our Pick oF the movies out noW Whitney: Can i Be Me “This portrait of Houston’s rise and plummet shares more than a first-name title with docs about Winehouse and Joplin… a richly detailed portrait of showbiz tragedy.”

in this Corner of the World

BaBy driver

dying laughing

“A love letter from Edgar Wright to crime capers, diner romances and, above all, music, Baby Driver is a heist movie that nabs your heart… a hugely enjoyable ride.”

“Although there’s nothing radical about this comedy doc’s talking-head format, it’s a sharply edited masterclass with a formidable roll call.”

ToTal Film | August 2017

SubScribe At www.totAlfilm.com/SubS

D av iD C or io

“A tender, sobering film… An exquisitely rendered, moving portrait of Hiroshima before the bomb.”

The world’s mosT TrusTed reviews

COMiNG SOON

the big hitters on the cards For next month…

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valerian and the City of a thousand Planets Out 2 August

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or The Fifth Element’s 20th, director Luc Besson celebrates with a new space opera. How will we RSVP? Guardians Of The Galaxy’s example says yes; Jupiter Ascending says let’s wash our hair. But Besson’s riff on French comic Valérian And Laureline sure looks the multi-species business, like a Roger Dean prog-rock gatefold sleeve (ask your gramps) on space fungi. While the vote’s still out on Cara Delevingne’s acting, Dane DeHaan promises some anchorage as her fellow space opera-tive. For more, rocketboot through the blue-screen exotica to p68.

gAmeSrADAr.com/totAlfilm

ATOMiC BLONDE

THE DARK TOWER

LOGAN LUCKY

Saltier than Salt, bawdier than bourne, Charlize Theron crashes the action-spy party with the sex, violence and neon-noir style cranked up. It’s like director David Leitch peeled back action fans’ skulls, scooped out the innards and splashed them screen-wide. If it disappoints, we’ll be so furiosa.

With it and the mist remade, the Stephen King-aissance roars with this long-gestating epic fantasy-western adap. Idris Elba plays the last jesorry, gunslinger and Matthew McConaughey flexes his cheekbones in Nikolaj Arcel’s proposed saga-starter. Hope it shines, or it’ll be misery for us all.

No, Wolverine hasn’t left retirement already. But Steven Soderbergh has, happily, with his NASCAR heist caper. Channing Tatum, Adam Driver and Riley Keough lead, while Daniel Craig promises the cheekiest Bond breakaway since Sir Rog’s kitty-tickling Spice world mischief.

Out 11 August

Out 18 August

Out 25 August

August 2017 | ToTal Film

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It’s the second Spidey reboot in five years… but the first set in the MCU. Cast, director and Marvel godhead Kevin Feige tell Total Film why the Iron Man-featuring, John Hughes-homaging Homecoming is set to be the ultimate Spider-Man movie. Words Matthew LeyLand

august 2017 | ToTal Film

cover story

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Tom Holland is sharing the pain of being Spider-Man. “He’s one of those characters who’s always squatting and jumping and flying,” explains the actor. Hence the sore pins, among other ailments. Playing Marvel’s webslinger required “constant physicality” from Holland, in order to avoid a pitfall common to comic-book movies. “I often find in superhero films that as soon as the hero puts their mask on, you lose the actor,” he says. “That was something I wanted to avoid.” The downside? “It sort of tired me out a bit,” he sighs. The upside? “But, you know, I’m Spider-Man,” he grins. “I had the best time of my life!” Bright, sincere, quick with a quip, Tom Holland is Spider-Man. Obviously not the first, probably not the last, but still a seminal Spidey: the first to feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as seen in last year’s Captain America: Civil War and now in SpiderMan: Homecoming. “It’s just the latest in a number of unbelievable Marvel

ToTal Film | august 2017

ck on Iron Man is ba ile mentor duty, wh also ca eri captain am ance. makes an appear

dreams coming true, right?” asks Marvel Studios president/über-producer Kevin Feige. Whichever way you look at it, having Spidey become an MVP of the MCU is a big deal, he says. “It feels so, on the one hand, incredible; and on the other hand, it just feels perfect.” The character’s membership of the MCU is the result of a rights-sharing deal between Sony’s Columbia Pictures – producers of the five previous Spider-flicks – and Marvel Studios. The latter’s excitement at bagging access to Marvel Comics’ most famous son is plain to see; just look at the new movie’s none-more-meta title…

“One of the reasons it’s called Homecoming is because it feels right that Spider-Man can finally inhabit the world, the full Marvel world, from which he came,” Feige says. The idea of a shared Marvel universe dates all the way back to Stan Lee’s ’60s salad days; the very first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man (March 1963) gueststarred the Fantastic Four. Having Spidey finally rub shoulders on screen with his fellow super-beings creates a crucial point of difference from the earlier Spider-Man movies, where our hero stood bravely, if implausibly, alone against foe after genetically altered foe.

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spider-man: homecoming

ZENDAYA

SPIDEY’S NEW CLASSMATE BRINGS THE FUNNY…

What can you tell us about your character Michelle? She’s new to the Spider-Man movies… She’s very different. And very smart – she always has a nose in a book. I think she feels above everyone else, which leads to her not really making many friends. She’s weird… but she’s cool. Not only that, Homecoming gives us the MCU’s first juvenile protagonist (unless you count Baby Groot). “This is the first look at what it’s like to grow up in a world where aliens poured into the city when you were eight years old,” says Feige, alluding to Avengers Assemble’s chitauri invasion. “What’s it like, growing up there? And then finding yourself with powers equal to, or greater than, these heroes you’ve read about or admired?”

J

ust imagine, he continues, meeting them all at once, and scrapping with half of them, as seen in Civil War. “And then you have to go back to school, study for exams, when all you want to do now is be an Avenger; and you’re secretly someone that hangs out with Tony Stark, yet who still needs to be home at a certain hour, otherwise your aunt will worry.” Never mind the great power and great responsibility – it’s the great number of everyday woes that have kept Spider-Man so relatable for more than half a century, says Feige. It’s also what sets him apart from the gods and millionaires of the MCU, “who sometimes quite literally live in ivory towers – either down the street in Manhattan or across the universe in Asgard.”

Homecoming offers an earthly contrast to the current cosmic concerns of the MCU – last year’s Doctor Strange, this summer’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 and the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War (more on that one later). “[Homecoming] feels like a very grounded version of what a superhero movie can be,” says Holland. “I think the best thing that [director] Jon Watts has done is that, if you took away all the Spider-Man scenes, it would still be a great movie. It’s really a story about the character, how grounded he is in reality.” Grounded, then, would seem to be the buzzword. It was also the buzzword for post-Raimi reboot The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), an aspiration somewhat undermined by having a giant CG man-reptile as its baddie. Plus, with the late-twentysomething Andrew Garfield in the lead role, it had a Peter Parker who seemed a bit more grown-up and un-nerdy than you expect from high-school Spidey. Homecoming promises to stick a bit closer to the source material. “He’s definitely not a cool kid,” says Holland of his out-of-costume character. “He’s a super-bright super-geek who’s very passionate about doing well at school.” The star took cues from Ultimate Spider-Man, the noughties

Jon Watts says she’s like Ally Sheedy’s character in The Breakfast Club… fair comparison? Yeah. He actually gave me a few different references to draw on. We had a lot of freedom, but he knew exactly what he wanted – the books Michelle reads, the picture on my shirt… they all mean something. Going in, did you know much about the comics? No, I didn’t! I was thankful that all the boys in the cast filled me in. So now I know more about comic books than I ever thought I would. People are like, “How do you know all of this?” The trailers suggest that you get some of the funniest lines… I definitely have some one-liners. Was there much improvising? Well, some of the lines were just too funny to change, but Jon would say “Just go for it!” And watching everyone just go for it was hilarious. It’s set in school – were there many pranks? I don’t know if there was a practical joker; I think it was pretty much an even distribution of everyone constantly making fun of each other. What was the toughest part of the shoot? I didn’t really have any tough parts. I had it easy. Tom [Holland] was great. He was super-hardworking – and because he was so nice and so warm to everyone, that made our little group so tight-knit. I think that’s how it’s supposed to be! ML

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comic-book strand that retold our hero’s teenage origin story with modern trappings. Kevin Feige, meanwhile, cites “the first dozen issues or so” of Stan Lee/Steve Ditko’s template-setting run. “Those first years where [Peter] was based in high school, meeting characters for the first time, building a group of friends that made up part of his ensemble… those were very much influences on this movie.”

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ut one key inspiration isn’t rooted in Marvel comics old or new. “If you know John Hughes, or are a fan of John Hughes, you’ll absolutely see that influence on the movie,” says Feige, doffing a metaphorical cap to the writer/director/producer who rescued the teen flick from the sticky mitts of the Porky’s/Screwballs set with his indelible ’80s run: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off… Homaging Hughes isn’t just for nostalgic feels – it’s a way of staying true to the MCU modus operandi, explains Feige: “We want to do different genres every time, and graft different genres on to our characters. And doing a John Hughes high-school adventure is something we’ve always wanted to do; we’ve been fans since we were kids. And how happy it’s made us that we were actually able to do it on Homecoming!” Which defining trait of Hughes’ cinematic syllabus will the movie most embrace? The humour? The emotion? The impossible-to-separate-from-theimages soundtracks? “All of the above,” laughs Feige. “All of the above!” For director Jon Watts, Homecoming’s kid’s-eye perspective is something that particularly chimes with Hughes’ work. “I’ve always felt that John Hughes movies were about teenagers, about

ToTal Film | august 2017

letting them be themselves on screen and letting them talk,” says the helmer of the kid-centric Cop Car (his 2015 breakout). “The movies didn’t feel written and produced by adults.” Homecoming may not contain any Molly Ringwald cameos (as far as we know…), but does feature two Hughes alumni: Michael Keaton (1983’s Hughes-scripted Mr. Mom) and Robert Downey Jr. (1985’s Weird Science). And then there’s actor/singer Zendaya who, as Peter’s classmate Michelle, may remind viewers of a classic Hughes

Director jon watts offers some webslingin’ tips on-set.

heroine. “For me, she’s the Ally Sheedy character [Allison] in The Breakfast Club,” says Watts. As trailer-watchers will already have seen, Michelle is set to steal scenes with well-aimed barbs from the sidelines. “I remember a lot of people like that in my high school,” recalls Watts. “And the idea of having the weirdo, outsider, wisecracking kid commenting on a scene… I really wanted to have that in this movie. And Zendaya was perfect at it. She has a lot of good lines.” To prep his cast, Watts dished out DVDs of The Breakfast Club and Pretty In Pink, as well as Cameron Crowe rom-dram Say Anything… (1989). It turns out, though, that actor Laura Harrier had done her research without even realising it. “The funny thing is, those John Hughes movies take place in Evanston, Illinois, which is where I went to high school,” she reveals. “Jon was like, ‘This is so crazy, that you lived in this place that we’re basing the movie on!’” Harrier’s role, meanwhile, is a significant one in Spider-history. “I play Liz Allan, who was kind of Peter’s first love interest and girlfriend in the comics,” she says. The character may’ve existed since ’62 (she appeared

spider-man: homecoming these superpowers,” Watts explains. “In my interpretation, it would be amazing. It’d be so much fun, so exciting, and I wanted to capture that exuberance.” Happily, Watts had a lead who was well up for it. “[Exuberance] is something Tom can do very, very well,” he says. “You can tell when he’s excited.” Just don’t mention the mask. “You don’t get used to it, man. You never get used to it,” says Holland, wincing at the memory of donning Spidey’s red balaclava. “It looks great and the people who made it did a brilliant job. But if you’re claustrophobic, then Spider-Man is not the job for you!” Being able to hear clearly wasn’t as big a problem as you might expect. Visibility, though… “That was definitely an issue, and something we had to address. Because I just couldn’t see anything; they’d say to me, ‘Right, can you jump off this building and land on that pole?’ And I’d be like, ‘Well, I can’t even see the pole…’” Holland says it took a little trial-anderror with the Spider-cossie’s lenses, but before long “we were able to start banging out some cool stunts!” 63

spiDEr DiAgrAm

How the Spidey movies have performed.

63%

52%

93%

THE AMAzING SPIDER-MAN 2 (2014)

72% THE AMAzING SPIDER-MAN (2012)

89%

SPIDER-MAN 3 (2007)

H

SPIDER-MAN 2 (2004)

Tom

in Spidey’s debut, Amazing Fantasy, issue 15), but hasn’t been seen on the big screen before. “I think she’s really unlike any of the women previously seen in [the Spider-Man movies],” Harrier says. “She’s very academic, very focused on school and getting into university. She’s not really concerned with boys or any of that stuff.” So what happens when Peter, in Harrier’s words, “kind of throws himself into her life”? “I don’t think she notices him at first,” she laughs. “But she’s a big fan of Spider-Man!” Classic Parker luck, in other words. “Nothing ever really works out perfectly for Peter,” Watts says, summarising the character’s entire history in eight words. “He tries to do his best, but he’s filled with a lot of self-doubt, and he screws up, and he isn’t quite sure how he fits into the world.” Lest that all sound a bit angsty, like a feature-length version of The Breakfast Club’s confession-circle scene, there is an upside. “Going into this movie, I wanted to capture the feeling of what it would be like if you were 15 and had

SPIDER-MAN (2002)

the d a h I time best life y of m olland

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A More grounDeD, s hIgh-school spIDey fAce ulAr MIchAel keAton’s “reg ure. vult guy” vIllAIn the

Cool indeed. It seems the star wowed the filmmakers with more than just his acting chops. After hailing his lead’s “unbelievable charisma, charm and humour”, Kevin Feige adds: “And the bonus, which none of us could have predicted, is that Tom Holland is also the best Spider-Man stuntman that has ever existed.”

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eige credits Holland’s dance training (which led to the actor’s big break, hoofing the title role in Billy Elliott The Musical in the West End in the late noughties). Being so nimble-footed allowed him to achieve a first for any big-screen Spidey, the producer says. “It’s never been like that on any of the other films, where the actor playing [Spider-Man] is also the best at that character’s movements,” Feige marvels. “Of course, we had plenty of wonderful stuntmen on the movie who would do things that weren’t deemed safe for Tom.” (Such as landing on his face.) Feige, however, promises that all of Spidey’s movements are all Tom,

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“whether he’s actually in the costume or he’s doing motion capture.” Top marks for Holland – but what about the character himself? Haven’t we already seen Spider-Man do whatever a spider can many times over? Does Homecoming put a fresh spin on all the “squatting and jumping and flying”? Jon Watts believes it does. At the start of pre-production, he and his effects team drew up a to-don’t list. “We made a rule: to never break the laws of physics,” he reveals. “We also tried – with a few exceptions – to film it in a way that could actually be filmed.” He elaborates: “So, no cameras moving at 1,000 miles an hour. No impossible videogame shots.” Watts wanted it as close as possible to how a person would film Spider-Man if he were an actual, real-life, superteenager. “A large percentage” of the film reaches that realism,

and Tom holl t is the bes an spider-m er n ev stuntma feige kevin

he reckons. Moreover, the new style “fit into the overall conceptual idea that this is a rounded story about a kid, at the ground level of this universe”. The keep-it-grounded mantra also extends to Spider-Man: Homecoming’s villain. Despite the fact that he’s a mechanically winged fiend called The Vulture. Real name Adrian Toomes, he’s a character who’s been around since the earliest days of The Amazing Spider-Man (issue two, in fact: ‘Duel To The Death With The Vulture!’), and was in line to be the big bad of Sam Raimi’s cancelled Spider-Man 4. Finally flapping on to the big screen,

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spider-man: homecoming Homecoming intros him as the disgruntled head of an NY salvaging company who builds his wings from discarded chitauri tech. What makes The Vulture extraordinary as a villain is that he’s so… ordinary. “He’s just a workingclass guy who built up a business, and he feels like he’s been cheated – and then he has an opportunity to do something about it,” says Michael Keaton of his first bona-fide comicbook role since 1992’s Batman Returns. They may be opposite ends of the moral spectrum, but hero and villain have a lot in common. “If you can have a regular kid who becomes a superhero, why not have a regular guy who becomes a – quote unquote – ‘supervillain’?” asks Jon Watts. I thought it would be fun to explore that.” Fun – and fear-inducing. “That’s what makes him so scary in this movie,” reckons Holland. “That he’s this everyday bloke who wants to stand up for himself, you know? I think that’s what makes him different from any supervillain you’ve seen before.” That, and the fact that he’s Batman. And Birdman. With all that maskedman baggage, did Keaton have any qualms about signing on? “No, not really!” he says simply. And how was it on the other side of the camera, directing a former Bruce Wayne? “I mean, he was at the centre of one of the most iconic superhero movies of all time. So, he gets it,” says Watts. Still, discussion didn’t focus on any pre-established rules of the genre. “If anything, it was talking to him about holland and watts with spidey’s senior crush liz allan, played by laura harrier.

getting away from the broader strokes of [superhero movies] and getting down to a character level… we never talked about [Homecoming] as a superhero movie, only as a character drama.” A character drama with some big-name superheroes. There’s an appearance by Chris Evans’ Captain America, and a supporting slot for Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) that picks up where he and Spidey left off. “It’s absolutely a continuation from Civil War,” says Holland, referencing Stark’s discovery/recruitment of Spidey. “The stakes are definitely higher now, because Peter’s fighting his own battles,

rE-CAstiNg A spEll

The most frequently portrayed comic-book characters on film…

BAtmAN

Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, Will Arnett (voice)

CAtwomAN Lee Meriwether, Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway, zoë Kravitz (voice)

thE JokEr

Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, zach Galifianakis (voice)

hulk

Eric Bana, Ang Lee (motion capture), Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo, Lou Ferrigno (voice)

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cover story thE Crow Brandon Lee, Vincent Perez, Eric Mabius, Edward Furlong

spiDEr-mAN

Nicholas Hammond, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland

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supErmAN Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, Channing Tatum (voice)

BEAst/ hANk mCCoY Steve Bacic, Kelsey Grammer, Nicholas Hoult

thE puNishEr

Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane, Ray Stevenson

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rather than Tony’s battles.” At least he has some state-of-the-art Stark tech on his side, in the form of a gadget-stuffed Spider-suit. Fitted with its own AI, it can perform all sorts of tricks – even filling plot holes! “For the first time we find ourselves not needing to justify how a high-school kid could build this unbelievable, movie-quality superhero suit,” says Feige wryly. Over the course of the movie, Peter discovers more and more of his unitard’s talents – “some of which are helpful, and some which get in the way of his natural abilities”, he teases.

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or a web-shooting preview of the suit, see Civil War’s post-credits sting. Another key thread from that movie is woven into Watts’ story. Expect Homecoming to explore the repercussions of drafting a 15-year-old lad into a superhero smackdown. “Has Tony intentionally chosen to be a mentor?” Watts asks. “Or was he just using the kid to get him out of a bad situation? Where do they go from here?” Something else viewers can expect: giggles. “The scenes with [Tom and Robert] go to some crazy, unexpected places,” smiles Watts. “Having a background in comedy [including instalments of The Onion News Network], I loved that and didn’t want to stop them. I just kept rolling and rolling to see what would happen!” And when the cameras (finally) stopped rolling, Holland found that RDJ “is as cool as you would hope, off-screen… a really fun dude. And it’s just so fantastic for me, in my first Spider-Man movie, to have the security of a heavy hitter like him helping me along the way.” Tony Stark brings his own ‘security’ with him in the form of bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). It’s Happy’s first MCU appearance since Iron Man 3 – and it looks like he might steal some of his boss’ thunder… “I think the relationship audiences are really going to enjoy and take a lot away from is the one between Peter and Happy,” reveals Holland. “It’s a really funny sort of big brother/little brother dynamic. I think people will be begging to see more of it in movies to come.” Speaking of which, the new MCU Spidey has already lined up his third gig – next year’s Avengers: Infinity War. Badgered for specifics, Holland gives with one hand and takes with the other. He promises “a very exciting version of Spider-Man. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I mean, audiences are not ready for this

ZenDAyA, As pArker’s wIse-crAckIng e. buDDy MIchell

spider-man: homecoming

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I think we g penin have an o e for th d one… secon Holland Tom

film; it’s going to be absolutely huge, epic… But if I’m honest, I genuinely don’t know anything about it. I haven’t read the script, I don’t know the whole story… but it is going to be crazy!” If Holland’s comments suggest Spidey doesn’t have one of Infinity War’s bigger roles (there’s a lot to cram in, after all), he’ll be back centre-stage in his second solo Spider-movie, slated for 2019. All being well (i.e. jumbo box office for Homecoming), the sequel – and threequel – will follow the one-schoolyear-at-a-time Harry Potter template. “We thought it would be fun not to rush through the high-school years, but rather build a trilogy around sophomore/junior/senior year,” says Feige. “As a structure for following Peter as he grows – which is what the comics did, as well as Harry Potter.” Watts is well on board with the notion of watching Peter grow up at a more measured pace. “I’m always gamesradar.com/totalfilm

disappointed when he graduates high school,” he says, alluding to earlier movies (such as 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which kicks off with gowns and speeches). “I’d like to not feel like the story’s making massive jumps.” While he won’t spill any sequel details (“I’m keeping everything to myself right now!”), Holland offers a tidbit. “I think we have an opening for the second one,” he says with some excitement. “I was talking to Jon about it, about what he’d like to do to open up the story… and it’s a pretty awesome idea – very cool, very funny.” Whatever shape the sequel takes, Watts certainly has a reservoir of ideas to draw on; while researching Homecoming, he says, “I felt like a lawyer preparing for a case… I watched everything [Spider-Man-related] I could get my hands on – all the cartoons as

well!” As he immersed himself in Peter Parker’s world, on screen and on page, he made a ‘laundry list’ of images, concepts, cool details. Spider-fans can expect some of those ideas to filter into Homecoming in the form of (“hopefully not too obvious”) Easter eggs, while others may well work their way into future movies. It seems that the secret of Spidey’s success – of his ability to reboot smoothly – isn’t just his relatability. It’s the sheer mountain of source material. “There are so many storylines in the comics,” muses Holland, “so many things that people don’t know about, that we will never run out of ideas, or different versions of ideas. We’ll be OK.” The star’s legs may hurt, but Spider-Man’s look pretty sturdy. SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING OPENS ON 5 JULY. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR OPENS ON 27 APRIL 2018. august 2017 | ToTal Film

Making Of

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Bonkers visuals, a giant space station that’s home to 8,000 aliens, and the year’s sexiest leads… It can only be Luc Besson’s sci-fi extravaganza, Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. Total Film joins the director and cast for an intergalactic orgy. Words James mottram

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Making Of

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s out his c Besson send May, 2015. Lu e a real t. “Let’s shar first ever twee not-quites hi umpets, in news,” he tr glish. “My ly-correct En grammatical alerian and big sci-fi: #V next film is a anets.” His Thousand Pl the City of a e his divisive nc pedition si first space ex t, Besson is e Fifth Elemen 1997 film Th way with d-fashioned doing it the ol ing up tt h and sell. Se Valerian. Pitc ring du el ajestic Hot shop at the M on’s ss Be , al iv st lm Fe the Cannes Fi th tes ree company invi EuropaCorp e and peruse untry to com buyers per co around es ak e line sn the project. Th court. the hotel fore le,” with 200 peop “It was a room r, te la s ar now, two ye Besson recalls chat to s ge id ar ped to Cl having decam ent the . “And I pres lm Fi l ta with To . They have the drawings film, I show ript, e to read th sc a special room t was rip sc e And if th with a guard! ere not w gs in aw dr the not good and

ything.” would buy an good, no-one e hottest th e m ca ian be ay Instead, Valer irds very Wednesd e got two-th te to read. “E “W lo Pi e. peared er ap th y ie da mov he grins. d inside one in one day,” I bought it an was It n. ia ’s lér of the budget ld e wor pages of Va per cent of th the first two deal g bi a e Within six, 90 as w lik it up. “I s but d snapped it only two page to get territories ha uth. If the six more days tr t of ai t w en to d om ha I em – th s a year it’ – lf re at ha th u, but we’ ges.” It took uc, we like yo two more pa ” people say, ‘L k. to wor st story. then I go back to read the fir lérian not so sure,’ of late. g in ed in 1967, Va do ch en un la be t ’s rs he Fi l al is k copies, or W an 10 million ” he sighs, s sold more th d see the sun, ul ha co lling I se h is tw es “I ’s grey e of the bigg e over London making it on s’ ée in ss de casting his ey s nValeria led ‘bande table are two of the so-cal d. he is er bl th skies. On the pu ra a er xt to s”) ev ne covers, ne (“drawn strip branded iPho scones and of k ac st ng ki delicious-loo

alien nation One of the 8,000 species that call Alpha home.

us o i t a t r i l f a ‘there’s that goes energy d forth’ an bacdk ehaan dane

e ts through tim g the two agen in w llo e Fo es ury, th liging waiter. the 28th Cent ered by an ob and space in d xy were way pastries deliv se la es ga dr e , th an of s old Frenchm llic guardian Ga , ence upon rt flu The 58-yearhi n sweats r time. The in an olive gree ahead of thei there to is in jeans and ga sa an s cas’ Star War calm for a m y Lu bl ge ka or ar Ge m re nium looks Solo’s Millen e most e helm of th en, from Han th se at be ance tly bl en m rr se cu er made g a striking re ench movie ev ia’s Falcon bearin Le to 2, expensive Fr 98 ship, the XB e to €200m). to Valerian’s ine’s el ur La (a budget clos ng rip lli st tfit reca sci-fi comic slave bikini ou Based on ’60s ureline, La t Stars. d ou An ith n W ia ld Valér in Wor have re er Pi mmentators created by In the past, co too tle lit a ’ Jean s ‘borrowed Christin and of claimed Luca le up co s, a re ad iè re Claude Méz “He probably h. uc at m th gs is a some drawin Besson’s film ians and saw lér k Va in th “I . y ntas ates Besson childhood fa liked,” estim he ch en st Fr ju a as s w e the ’70s, it’ writ large. H at the time in [about] s papa u don’t think yo – ok a boy when hi bo ic m co ic French com gave him the

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Valerian stealing or an ything. So I’m glad he got inspired by the work fresh off her of Mézières. Now the prob role as June M lem is becaus oone/ En e chantress in of la wyers and all this, Suicide Squad. everybody is The pair starred to nervous. But… I am su gether in the re that Lucas st ill un would released Just be happy to in Chadwick meet Mézière pe rio d m s ov an ie Tulip Fever, d say, ‘Oh my God, but didn’t re you’re great!’ ally m ee an t. d “D ane was taki Mézières will ng his job say the same. seriously and ” Back when he I was watchin g him made The Fifth fr om afar!” laug Element, a fil hs Delevingn m he agrees e. is al Tw so o weeks afte inspired by Va r Total Film’s lérian, Besson en co w un or te ke r with Besson d with Mézière , DeHaan an s, who create Delevingne ar d d some concept desi e holed up in gns for him. New York’s fu “H nk e’s the y Crosby Stre one who said et Hotel. He , ‘Why aren’t of the ice-blue eyes you doing Valérian? Why , DeHaan is dr are you doin essed in a st rip g th ed is co st llarless shirt shit?’ Then I upid and black su started to th His co-star, it. ink about it, and I though wearing skin t, ‘Why?’ I ne ny white je an ve r thought s, stilettos an about it. Then d a gold-strip I read the albu ed blouse, bests m again, and I though him for bling: t, ‘I know why rings, pe nd – an it’ s ts and a phone impossible!’ with a gold There are tw chain attach o human characters an ed to it and th d a bunch of e initials ‘C al .D iens from .’ imprinted different wor on the back. lds.” Well, it beats Two decades a Valerian ph one case. on, with CGI advanced enough, Bess on felt he was finally ready. It didn ’t hurt that hi s last outing, 2014’s Lucy, ravelling thro became the bi ugh space ggest hit of his career an d time, trying (grossing $4 to keep 63 million worldwide). the universe Adapting the at pe ace, sixth Valérian volume, 1975 Valerian and ’s Ambassador Laureline are Of Shadows, the film’s pl a team – frie ot takes us to nds not quite with benefits, the hulking space station it seems. “The Alpha, the ci re is a flirtatious en ty of a thousand plan ergy that goes ets, where a ba ck and fo rth between pernicious force threaten us – mostly s inter-alien me in pu rs ha ui rmony. t of Laureline In come Vale and Laurelin rian and Laur e shutting me eline, venturing ac down one way ross this vast or the other!” says , diverse metropolis to DeHaan. Adds help save no Delevingne: “They have a t only Alpha but th rapport that’s e universe. very teasing: they Casting Vale know each ot rian and Laur her very w el l.” el in Ac e, cording to Be Besson has go sson, he’s ne for sleek an a puppy-dog d sexy. Dane DeHaa and she’s ve n, who previo ry oldfa us sh ly played ioned. “It’s ve the Green Go ry funny to se blin/Harry Os e.” bo It’ rn s hard to argue in The Amazing with his choi Spider-Man 2, ce of pl co ay -l s ea ds Valerian. Op . “They’re go posite him is od-looking, talented and, the Britishborn über-m as actors, they odel Cara Del don’t have habits. evingne, You can still model them you can play , with them,” Besson says. “Dane and Ca ra are still fr esh.” His on issue with D ly eHaan was hi s physique. Dane DeHaa “W he n I met him n as Valerian; he looked lik with ea shrimp!” he co-star Cara laughs. The ac Delevingne (top-left); plus tor knew what he had on set with Lu to do, hitting c Besson and op the gym for a couple posite Ethan of hours ever Hawke’s Jolly day. “He’s the Pimp (abo no t Sc hwarzenegger ve). , he’s not big, but you belie ve it,” adds th e director. “You believe the guy is stro ng.” As for Cara… “I don’t wan t to say bad things ab out the othe r directors [who previous ly worked with her], but I worked with her for six m onths and I can tell you no-one can ta ke anything from her.” M eaning? “It’s not because you have a Fe rrari in your hand that you’re going to be a good driver. If you’re a good driver, you kn ow how to drive a Ferrar i! So she’s a Fe rr ari and actually the fir st few owners of the

t

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Making Of Ferrari were not so good.” Delevingne chuckles at th e comparison . “Cool!” she exclaims. “Well, I do lik e cars.” Alongside DeH aan and Delev ingne, Besson has as sembled a ty pically eclectic cast: Clive Owen as Commander Arün Filitt, th e leader of Al ph a; Ethan Hawke as th e Stetson-sp orting Jolly the Pimp; po p siren Rihann a as the shape-shiftin g starlet Bubb le and

‘it paints a picture of what the world should be’ cara delevingne

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Rutger Hauer as the all-kn owing President. “R eally, I wante d him because I thin k it’s such a revenge for this robo t [in Blade Ru nn er] to be President of the Federa tion,” laughs Besson . “So it was a little homage to Ri dley Scott.” Really, though , it’s Alpha an d its aliens that w ill take all th e plaudits. Besson compa res it to New York, with its dive rse districts, except this is a space stat ion 15km in di ameter, containing 12 million inha bitants and 8,000 specie s. In the east live the robots. In th e west, it’s hu mans and

affiliates (“Ba shoes off. “L sically two ar uc knows them ms, two legs, breathin back to front. It’s g oxygen”). “T ex tensive, how he south,” he adds, “is many different varie Aqualand, w hich is all th ties of planet species living e s and spaceships an in different liq d things ther uids. In the north, you ha e are. You have to ve Gasland, w be aware of al ith different species living l of it.” With the film in different ga touching on se s.” Writing out a the politics and liberal hu 70-page back manism of th story, the history of e comics, “The fact that Alpha betwee it’s a man an n 1972 and 2740, th d a woman fighting toge e year the fil ther… it very m is set in, it seems that much speaks to the time of Besson has ta when it was.” ke n the famous desc ription of Méz ières’s work – that it’s “N ational Geogra phic on a cosmic scale” – and run with he question it. “Every alien has a bi is, where will ble of 20 page Va lerian sit in th s – w hat they eat, how e current they reproduc crowded scie, where they live. Yo fi m arketplace? u even have Already, 2017 the address where they liv has seen the e, of the plan release of Life et.” He means it, too. (“I’m not so sure abou “We take a re t this one, I’v al ad dress. Not even a fa e seen the trailer,” Bess ke one. So yo on remarks, u can actually see the stars, ch eekily), Ghost In The Shell, Alie where they’r e living.” n: Covenant an Underlying th d Guardians Of Th e Galaxy Vol. 2. is is a deeper idea: To come: Arriv an environm al director Den ent where th is Villeneuve’ ousands of species can co s hugely anticipated Bl -exist “for th ade Runner 20 e greater good of the un 49 and then, looming over iverse”, says the horizon lik DeHaan. Adds Delevin e the Starkiller Ba gne: “It’s a ni se, Star Wars: ce escape from what’s The Last Jedi. going on in th “I think it’s a huge, huge e world right now. Especial year for sci-fi,” says ly with films Besson. “It m like this. It paints a pret akes the competition ty picture of very… it’s a what the wor should be lik hard final!” ld He co e. Or if there mpares it to is a running the city of a thousand plan 100m in the Olympi ets, that can cs. “You have live together in harmony Us ai n Bolt, and a couple when they ar of others, an e so vastly different, why d then you’re ra ci is it so hard to ng! You say, ‘OK, let’s race live like that here? I de !’” Let’s face it, The La finitely think st Jedi is Bolt th at’s an important m – and Besson is concerned. essage.” “I don’t know Both she and if people have enough DeHaan gorg room [or desir ed on the original so e] to see them all. If th urce materia ere are 10, th l. “It was definitely im ey will leave four or portant to lo fiv ok e of them.” at those comics,” says the actress, ki cking her

t

ued to be contin is taken n tio ac Valerian‘s potential a from just one of that serve ls ve no hic 23 grap . ial er as source mat

ToTal Film | august 2017

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sci-fi is k record with Besson’s trac Fifth Element o, given The debatable, to reviews. es to scathing opened Cann Element fth at the time Fi “I think that took a t “I . its ” he adm was too crazy! a cult film.” s to become couple of year million grossed $263 Ultimately, it as huge. w n Europe, it worldwide. “I coast, st ea – was good In the US, it the US, of e dl id m t the west coast. Bu er w e like, good. People it was not so ue alien bl ’s 2011 The ck is this?’ A Steven Spielberg ‘What the fu re fo be ace? en sp ’s Ev in rgé tintin cal music ptured He singing classi icorn motion-ca .” at y th bo r d fo ire Secret Of The Un y iff-ha t read , the intrepid qu They were no ing Valerian motion, at pip creation into CG sto : tic es an tim e on screen fiv How is Bess that action, starring made it to the big on? “I think and twice in live ion at im re by comparis an d fa al an to n ion so an ck th tradit Ja r ss te le t Pe p? bu t. Next sto ill crazy, Valerian is st Jean-Pierre Talbo rnet, people Sun, hopefully. e with the inte Th l , f ro w O nt rs no co ne … ep at ke Priso th to s ht , so the fig An orphan ready for this larGo winch e Belgian comic e much more Th ar e. pir But it’s . em s ss le es busin mme led I think will be Ha ce n of his birthright Va en er an ff Je di d Francq an mplex. Just to 08 series by Philippe uch more co tion films (in 20 m ac eh, liv uc o m tw en es d th ber that mak Sisley. to a TV series an you one num starring Tomer ve lle gi Sa e m rô . – Jé ley nd Fifth and 2011) by out Salle or Sis e to understa rks, though with it very simpl wo e th i in rd ots with is Ta s sh ird A th t Jacque e were 188 sec French artis Element, ther 2,734. ale s m ha fe adèle Blanca n – ia ist s. Valer WW1 protagon special effect attract to u basically crafted this postgh yo ou r, en be s m wa nu venturer. It just with this So es nd journalist and ad ba ic ss y it is.” st take on a cla ary see how craz Besson for his fir artists n The Extraordin tio ac etiple graphic liv ’s 10 g 20 Enlistin mul dessinées, arring Louise St e US to . ec th d c-S an an Bl ce an Adèle pterosaur Singapore, Fr Adventures Of ing liv om a fr m fro on g ss also t everythin concepts, Be Bourgoin, it’s go etch out the sk effects al merous visu onist Morris, to the Titanic. brought in nu by Belgian carto d te dustrial ea In Cr l, r ke te ita ig lucky lu “who shoots fas with Weta D oy , es wb co us t ho es W l-based ld the Montrea and has this American O & Magic and peared in 1955, t ap gh st Li fir ” ing the ow is ad al than his sh nsible for re ral times, both in deo FX (respo ed on film seve lis Ro “We ta t’s or tis d. m Ar ar im e bo Th en be cently, Alpha) all on e-action. Most re planet-sized James y day,” ’s er 09 ev 20 n animation and liv in ee r cr ge of blue-s yed the gunslin were in front Jean Dujardin pla ay more ous effort. ym who calls it “w on n, ep aa s ed ind eH ct m D e ys th sa m Huth-dire fro ul, “There are ne’s favourite Ga Fifth Element. ic” than The has made astérix Everyo , ep zo er Ud deeper.” e rt ar be y and Al the visuals of René Goscinn cartoons (most more worlds, ne Ni . . The Fifth es ce tim en s er ou ff er f The Gods) e’s another di it to screen num O er n Th sio an M e power Asterix: Th rs ve the selling recently 2014’s a series of acto ent didn’t ha th wi em , El rts fo eah… ef n “Y tio d Rihanna. inhabiting and four live-ac Delevingne an rard Depardieu of Gé d ers w an llo rix te fo playing As Instagram that’s a lot of all four. in lix n, be aa O l eH pa D his !” says between them

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bewildered he was a little who admits tyle. celebrity lifes by the latter’s has a lot e Sh rolls deep! “I mean, she 20 people be ay m ere were of people. Th n she and even whe [around her]… t gh people there were ei went to set, set with.” she went to ls with e, who was pa gn in Delev und it fo t, oo sh e re th Rihanna befo in a work e her friend amusing to se ent when om m re was a scenario. “The d Luc said emotional an she had to be agine all your e, ‘OK, so im something lik got trashed!’ ed or albums at sl t go t s ur to n’t care abou like, ‘I would And she was e make m not going to that! That’s ugh so much la e m e ad m emotional!’ It meant. It was tly what she – I knew exac k together.” or w eing them just funny se aiming ith everything Of course, w da e ys, franchise thes to become a quels. se rally turns to the talk natu anager at m g tin ot, marke ait Fabrice Deniz ed: “We’ll w recently stat s, EuropaCorp, m or rf pe e first movie e to see how th franchise lik en riv -d on si ls but it’s a mis hic nove With 23 grap James Bond.” ties are ili ib ss po , “the to draw from hat about added. And w endless,” he kidding?” u sure, are yo Besson? “For r scone. he ot an ing into he says, hack .” do the sequel “I’m dying to ThOusand The CiTy Of a Valerian and sT. ns On 2 augu PlaneTs OPe

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Judgement day

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he subtitle of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s official website tells you all you need to know about this most iconic of Austrians: ‘Film, Fitness, Politics.’ A movie star, a bodybuilding champion, the governor… there isn’t much he hasn’t done in the past four decades. But now you might add ‘eco-warrior’ to that list. Arnie’s back – but this time when he says, “Come with me if you want to live,” he really means it. Six years on from leaving his post as governor of California, he’s turning his attention to one of the most pressing issues of the day: the environment. When Total Film encounters Schwarzenegger, he’s at the Cannes Film Festival. The last time he was here, he was pressing the flesh back in 2003 for Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines, his last film before his eight-year stint in office. Now, about to turn 70 this July (“I like Montecristo No. 2,” he jokes, in case TF is thinking of buying him a box of his favourite cigars to celebrate), he could easily pass for his mid-fifties. Thick hair, thicker accent and a smile broader than his belt-buckle, he’s a perfect tanned specimen even as he nears his eighth decade. Striding into the Majestic Hotel (where else would you meet Arnie?), he’s dressed in jeans, a pinstriped jacket and a blue polo shirt. On his finger is a giant skull ring, a present from one of his children (he has two boys and two girls with his former wife, journalist Maria Shriver, whom he separated from after 25 years of marriage in 2011). So how does he wordS James mottram look so good? “I don’t think I have a secret,” he says. “I think it’s two things. One is that I work out every day and the second one is I really love my life.” He then lays bare an average month or two in the life of Arnold Schwarzenegger: make a movie (he’s just wrapped Why We’re Killing Gunther with Cobie Smulders), promote his Arnold Sports Festivals in China, South America or Australia (“We have them in six continents”), deliver a commencement speech at the University of Houston (for his eighth honorary doctorate), cut a real estate deal (“And make another few million dollars”), ride his motorcycle at 5am… and more besides. “So how can you not feel good about your life?” Such is his aura, he could be a motivational speaker. Right from the day he saw former Mr. Universe Reg Park cast in 1961’s Hercules And The Captive Women, he visualised the same success for himself. “I always enjoy what I’m doing,” he says. “Even when I had to crawl on the ground with the sword in my hand and rocks on the floor and

From Mr. Universe to The Terminator to the governor of California, Arnold SchwArzenegger’s career has taken some bold turns. Now, after launching green doc Wonders Of The Sea 3D, it’s about to see the most surprising move yet: eco-warrior. Does he still have what it takes to save the world?

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bleeding elbows and knees on [his 1982 fantasy breakthrough] Conan The Barbarian and have John Milius say, ‘I need one more take, I need a close-up of your face!’ Even then, I visualised the scene finished and that brought me joy to do another take.” Schwarzenegger may be the living embodiment of the American Dream – having arrived in the US in 1968, with little English in his vocabulary – but he’s come to realise that there’s something far bigger than even his pecs: the destruction of the planet. No, we’re not talking Skynet here, but eco-tastrophe. “You get to a certain age where other things become much more important,” he says. “[It’s] not thinking just about me, but thinking about us all collectively, and how can I reach out and help people and how can I help the world, help my neighbourhood and my state.” It’s why he’s in Cannes. Saving the world on the movie screen is one thing, but the Governator now wants to do it for real. He’s here with his first ever documentary, Wonders Of The Sea 3D, which he narrates. Co-directed by Jean-Jacques Mantello and Jean-Michel Cousteau, son to the famous ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, it’s a passionate and vibrant look at what lies beneath. Arriving at the same time as Al Gore’s own eco-doc An Inconvenient Sequel (see p20), the follow-up to his Oscar-winning 2006 film, it couldn’t be better timed. In reality, Schwarzenegger’s nephew, entertainment lawyer Patrick Knapp, first alerted him to the film. “[He said] ‘You should see it, because there is a great environmental message there.’ And he was right. The environmental movement always has the bad habit of pointing fingers and saying, ‘Don’t dump things in the ocean, don’t smoke this, chimneys are bad, lighting a fireplace is bad, taking a Jacuzzi is bad, flying on an aeroplane is bad.’ This movie celebrates. This movie says the glass is half full rather than half empty – let’s go and protect it.”

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asier said than done with President Donald Trump in the White House and, at the time of writing, pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement. “I wish Trump good luck,” says Schwarzenegger, diplomatically. “When he does well, we all do well. That’s the bottom line. So Democrats [and] Republicans should support the things that he wants to do that are really good. When it comes to the environment, he’s misinformed. He’s back in the Stone Age and eventually I hope we can get through to him and make him understand that we need to be on the right track.” For Schwarzenegger, this is no act of bandwagonjumping. As far back as 2010, during his time as governor,

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he created the R20 – Regions of Climate Action. “We do great work – we encourage sub-national governments, like states, provinces, cities, neighbourhoods, to take matters into their own hands,” he explains. “We don’t need to wait for the capitals – London, Moscow, Beijing, Washington… [it’s] people power. Let’s just do it locally. And really start fighting for a clean environment. Let’s get rid of pollution, let’s get rid of greenhouse gases and fossil fuels.” He’s even turned his extensive Humvee collection green. He still owns four of the beasts, but they are now powered by biofuel and hydrogen. One is even being converted to electric. “My point is not to point fingers at big cars, but to point the finger at the technology inside the car.” The idea, he says, is to make people feel part of the solution, not alienated by it. “I’m a fanatic about technology,” he adds, “because the technology is becoming so regularly available now, we want to make the world know about it and use it.” Schwarzenegger equates it to his own experiences in bodybuilding. Choosing the discipline at the tender age of 14 – despite his police chief father wanting him to join the force – he became the youngest ever Mr. Universe six years later, in 1967. A decade on, after his move to the US, he was starring in the docudrama Pumping Iron, about his rivalry with future Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno. Even now, it’s difficult to contemplate just what an impact that made. “Look at it today, 40 years later. How successful has it been? Every hotel in the world has a gymnasium. Everyone is working out with weights. Everyone is doing resistance work. Every university has weight rooms, every high school, every military installation, every fire station, every police station… everyone is working out! So it was highly successful, the whole thing, and that’s what we want to do with the environment. Bring out good footage. We didn’t blame anyone [in the film].” Of course, the one thing stopping Schwarzenegger from world domination (or at least taking a seat in the Oval Office) is the fact he was not born in America. Would he have run for president if he could? “I would’ve, yes, that’s clear,” he says. “But you can have a great impact on the world without being inside politics. The best way it works is if the public sector, the private sector and the non-profit sector all work together in harmony. That’s the ideal thing. So you can attack the problems from different angles.” One thing is for certain, Schwarzenegger is self-aware enough to know that his on-screen persona has a largerthan-life caricature quality. In Wonders Of The Sea, he deliberately drops his iconic T2 catchphrase, “I’ll be back.” Certainly, it’s a maxim that rather sums up his indefatigable nature. Following his time in politics, he managed to reboot

arnold Schwarzenegger goIng STrong (top to bottom) Schwarzenegger on set with James Cameron for the original Terminator; in 2015’s Terminator Genisys; as Mr. Universe; and in 1977’s Pumping Iron. (opposite) Scenes from Wonders Of The Sea 3D.

his movie career, appearing alongside other action veterans in the Expendables franchise as well as more intriguing films, such as 2015 zombie effort Maggie. So have these words taken on more meaning than simply a throwaway pay-off line? “Not really,” he shrugs, “Jim Cameron wrote it. I argued with him for hours about saying, ‘I will be back.’ He kept saying ‘I’ll be back’. He was obviously right, saying it his way, and it became one of the most used movie lines in the history of moviemaking. Actually three or four of my lines became the most used ones.” He’s even created a promotional bodybuilding t-shirt that reads: “Come with me if you want to lift.”

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n most cases, my lines have become famous because… I say it wrong!” he says, chuckling. He then proceeds to give examples of his marvellous mispronunciation, including, “It’s not a tumor,” (one that’s inspired countless memes) from his classroom comedy Kindergarten Cop. “It’s like the way James Cameron said… when we promoted The Terminator, he said at the press conference, ‘What made the movie work is that Schwarzenegger actually talks like a machine!’ I said, ‘Thanks Jim, I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment!’” Despite the disappointment of the last outing for Arnie’s cyborg, 2015’s Terminator Genisys, there’s already talk of another entry for this most indestructible of franchises – this time with Cameron back in the hot seat. With Ridley Scott returning to the Alien franchise, it makes sense, despite Cameron’s current pre-occupation with the Avatar sequels. “It is moving forward,” says Schwarzenegger, who recently met with Cameron. “He has some good ideas of how to continue with the franchise – I will be in the movie.” Beyond that, Schwarzenegger is hopeful that The Legend Of Conan reboot will gain traction, a sort of Unforgiven-style take on the character 30 years on, despite reports from producer Chris Morgan that studio Universal had passed. More likely is Triplets, the oft-mooted sequel to Twins that will team Arnie with Danny DeVito and Eddie Murphy, and see the original’s director/producer Ivan Reitman involved. “The script will be finished in a month,” he promises. With a team-up with Jackie Chan, Journey To China: The Mystery Of Iron Mask, already in the can, the Austrian Oak just keeps growing. “There are a lot of things that I’ve never envisioned,” he says. “I did not know the career was going to go as far as it did, that I was going to have the biggest movie of the year, with Terminator 2, and that I would be doing comedies. Or that I would be sitting here one day and promoting an environmental movie.” The legend continues…

‘whEn iT comEs To ThE EnvironmEnT, Trump’s misinformEd, hE’s back in ThE sTonE agE. EvEnTually i hopE wE can gET Through To him and makE him undErsTand’

Wonders of The sea 3d Will open laTer in The year.

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Making Of

Featuring an artist you’ve probably never heard of and the kind of relationship that’s rarely depicted on the big screen, why is intimate biopic Maudie one of the most affecting films you’ll see this year? Total Film talks to Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke about a quietly revolutionary drama that’s looking like an early awards favourite. Words Matt MaytuM

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t’s all a bit risky,” says director Aisling Walsh of assembling a film about little-known folk artist Maud Lewis. “Nobody knew her. It’s not Van Gogh, it’s not Picasso, it’s not even Frida Kahlo. It’s an outsider artist – nobody really knows very much about her work.” Co-star Ethan Hawke, who plays Maudie’s frequently boorish husband Everett, puts it even more bluntly. “There’s a lot of energy pushing zombie movies and Mummy movies and different kinds of movies into the world,” he sighs. “There’s not a lot of energy pushing movies about disabled Canadian folk artists. But her story’s very valuable. I like to believe in a world that this movie can exist [in].” Yes, on paper Maudie sounds very much like a hard sell. Its qualities are certainly slow-burn, from the intentionally painterly visuals to its lived-in performances (which deserve to be remembered until awards season, and long after), but it packs a lingering impact. Charting the life and times of Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis (played by Sally Hawkins), who lived in a 12ft by 12ft shack with husband Everett, it gently traces her path from housekeeper to celebrated local artist, as she begins painting on virtually any surface she can find, including the walls and windows of the shack itself. Her decorated home became considered her masterpiece after her death in 1970 and is now exhibited at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Despite suffering from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Maud didn’t let her physical ailments hold back her creativity, painting bright, bold, ‘naïve’ pieces that found an audience despite her lack of formal training. Hawkins (whose parents are famous author-illustrators of children’s books), rolled up her sleeves to get involved in the reproduction artworks. “It was an excuse to pick up a paintbrush, and give myself that time,” she explains. “I can’t do enough homework really. It makes me happy because I feel more confident when I walk on set.” Walsh, who had previously trained as a painter, got to transfer that passion onto film when Sherry White’s screenplay came to her and struck a chord. “Aside from the fact she’s an artist, and it’s the ToTal Film | August 2017

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Making Of story of a very creative woman’s life, it’s also the portrait of a marriage across 35 years,” says Walsh. “I just thought, ‘We don’t see that very often. We don’t see the imperfections and the difficulty and the brutality sometimes and the loss.’” Here, Walsh, Hawkins and Hawke talk about the essential elements in their filmmaking palette when it came to telling the unlikely story of Maudie… y of Maudie…

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“It was always going to be quite an intimate film because the two of them, for a lot of the time, are in a very intimate space,” says Walsh. “You need actors that will take on that challenge.” Hawkins was Walsh’s first choice for the title role, the pair having previously worked together on TV’s Fingersmith. “She’s one of those actresses that can utterly transform herself,” continues Walsh. “It required that physicality.” For Hawkins, it was essential not to patronise Maudie’s arthritic condition. “Aisling and I spoke quite in depth about it not becoming the main focus of her,” confirms Hawkins. “You don’t want it to jar. You don’t want for people to be aware of it… It was a part of her like her accent was. It was an extraordinary amount of pain she was dealing with, and yet she got on with life and did what made her happy.” While Hawke’s role is the less showy of the two, his familiarity with the landscape (he’s had a cabin in Nova Scotia for the past 10 years) enabled him to invest deeply in a hard-shelled brute far removed from anything he’s played before. “I felt comfortable taking a risk because of how comfortable I actually did feel in Everett’s shoes,” he says.

Maudie’s central relationship is one of the aspects that makes it unique: raw, frequently uncomfortable but undeniably tender, it’s far removed from the usual sanitised depiction of romance on screen, with Everett’s harsh (and occasionally violent) temperament thawing, albeit unhurriedly, over the film’s running time. “We screw up our kids by presenting these kinds of advertisement-quality ToTal Film | August 2017

WorK oF arT Sally Hawkins’ Maud with husband Everett (Ethan Hawke); the recreated tiny hut (opposite) that served as their home and became Maud’s masterpiece.

images of what romantic love looks and feels like,” says Hawke. “So I was grateful for that aspect of the movie.” While it might fall outside of romantic norms, the off-kilter coupling was a big appeal for Hawkins: “I like that about it. I think it’s something you can relate to and understand. Relationships are awkward and odd, and sometimes painful. They can be abusive, but love is kind of strange… It’s nice to see something breathe and take time.” Walsh, meanwhile, has her own

would better reflect the film’s ’40s to ’70s time period. The oppressive landscapes and the sometimes harsh weather conditions were character-building to say the least. “The joy of being a film actor is that I get to go out there and live out the scene and work with those guys and fish in those streams,” says Hawke. “It’s really fun. You get an idea of what it might be like to grow up out there and live in a 12ft by 12ft shack for 50 years.” Capturing the landscapes on film was one way in which Walsh tried to reflect

perspective on the Lewises’ bond. “Both of those people, before they ever met, weren’t part of normal society,” she explains. “They were shunned by the society that they lived in. So in a way, they’re kind of outsiders who found each other, this odd couple. It’s not what you usually see. It’s not perfect; they have their ups and downs and hardships.”

Maud’s style, with moments, “Where looking through that window or looking through the door, you try to think, ‘This is sort of a little Maud painting in itself.’” Working to mirror Maud’s art revealed hidden depths to her simple painting style. “You try, compositionwise, to echo her paintings, which are much more complex than one imagines,” continues Walsh. “People think she’s a naïve artist; yes, she is, but her composition and how she puts colour together is quite complex and very, very advanced.”

While the real story is set in Nova Scotia, filming took place in another easterly Canadian region, Newfoundland, the lack of development in some parts meaning that it

The intensity of the actors’ two-hander partnership was ramped-up further by the film’s claustrophobic setting – the aforementioned shack that Maud and SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

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ChiCk a DEE s , C a p E isl a nDEr C O v E , snO w b a l l , sUnD ay r iDE , a l l b y M a UD l E w is . C OUr t E s y Of t hE a r t g a l l Er y Of nO va s C O t i a , a l l r igh t s r E sEr v ED

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Everett called home, that served as the canvas for Maud’s life work. The production recreated their home in Newfoundland, making it fractionally bigger to allow cameras inside. “I thought that [Sally and Ethan] might find it a real challenge to come do a film that mostly happens in a 12ft by 12ft shack and deliver something rather special,” says Walsh. “We spent about five weeks in that house,” recalls Hawke. “It was incredible. It really helped us to be in the shoes of those people, to be out there in the elements and have the rain dripping on us when we’re filming, and the bugs on our faces and the wind whipping through.” The Lewises’ home was also aged over the 30-odd years of the film’s timeline. “That was quite interesting for the actors to be able to walk in after it’s changed over a weekend,” reflects Walsh. “The next stage of the house and the next period of their lives.”

With hits such as Hidden Figures and Wonder Woman making waves over the past 12 months, Maudie is another unsung female story getting the big-screen gamesradar.com/totalfilm

treatment, which is no small feat for a marginal artist. Hawke admits that female-led stories with female directors are something he’s been “really trying to seek out”, noting with dismay that in his first 30 years in the business he wasn’t directed by a woman once. Walsh sees the industry as being “at the beginning of maybe a really interesting time”, even if it’s not quite there yet. “You’re trying to change a whole way of thinking, and reaching out to young women to come into the industry, to have the confidence [to do so].” Equality in representation is an issue close to Hawkins’ heart. “We’re still struggling with equal pay, which is absolutely ridiculous,” she says. “It’s infuriating and makes me very angry, but it’s something I’ve dealt with very recently in the past year or so. It makes me shake with anger.” Still, there’s hope for the future, according to Hawkins, and it might just start here. “This film was made by women, written by women, about women. I’m interested in seeing human stories. The fact that there’s discrimination [in the industry]… yeah, I hope there is a change.”

Maudie opens on 4 august.

Maudie’s art director Shelley Cornick on recreating a signature style. How was it working with sally Hawkins on the film’s artwork? When Sally arrived, she went in [to our art studio] for a couple of weeks to get into character. Because that is such a big part of Maud. It is Maud. It was funny, I remember the first time [I saw her in character]. It completely blew me away. I’ve never quite encountered anything like that before. You rebuilt Maud’s shack from scratch. How accurate is it to the original? It was actually a bit bigger. Not by much, but it had to be. And even then, it was so tiny. We physically could not fit sound and camera in there if it was actual size. are there any little details in the shack that audiences might not notice? A neat little thing that we did do, that Everett did, was when he painted, he’d paint around the furniture. Everett painted the walls, but he’d paint around the sofa. [laughs] So those are done, but no one would ever pick up on it. Maude’s art is described as being in a ‘naïve’ style. Could anyone do paintings like that? I think you can talk to all the people who actually tried to do them [for the film] and sat in the studio. It’s not easy! It has a simplicity that can be really hard to copy. It’s not as easy as it looks. It’s really not! [laughs] It takes practice. MM August 2017 | ToTal Film

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ome actors blow past their fans on the red carpet with just a cursory wave. Gwendoline Christie is not like that. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, she spent hours giving selfies, signing autographs and letting the public get a piece of her. This is how it should be, she says, when TF debriefs her in a Riviera hotel the following day. “If people are coming up and greeting you with such positivity, then all you want to do is be nice back. We’re at the Cannes Film Festival – it’s not as if I can hide here!” Indeed, Christie can’t really hide anywhere. At a striking 6ft 3in, she is today accentuating her height even further with a pair of red-and-white heels. Talk about confidence. Bullied for her size at school, she’s made it a selling point in her career – both as the fan-favourite warrior Brienne of Tarth in Game Of Thrones and as the First Order’s armour-plated villain Captain Phasma in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Ask her if she’s a role model for tall people everywhere, and she answers

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From Game Of Thrones to Star Wars, fan idol Gwendoline Christie is one of the hardest working actors in the business. With Thrones S7, Jane Campion’s Top Of The Lake and The Last Jedi all to come, Total Film meets an unstoppable force. words James mottram with absolute eloquence. “Ever since I was a child, I’ve never placed any sort of emphasis on the way that people look as a value system. I’ve never thought someone’s appearance governs really who they are. It’s something none of us have any control over, at all… for me [life] seemed more about one’s actions. So I don’t think of myself in any way other than just me, my work and my life, and what it is I want to do.” If this makes her sound pompous, it’s not meant to. Christie is a delight to be around. Elisabeth Moss, her co-star in Jane Campion’s Top Of The Lake: China Girl – the reason for Christie’s appearance in Cannes – calls her “one of the most special actresses you will ever meet”. Wearing black trousers and a white jumper with a navy ribbon hanging off it, Christie comes equipped with an ear-shattering, decibel-busting laugh that strikes with no warning. No subtlety; just pure exuberance.

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Perhaps it’s her imposing stature, but there’s something about Christie that seems tailor-made for fantasy. Pre-Thrones, she scored a bit-part in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus and she later returned for an equally blink-and-you’ll-miss-it turn in his 2013 film The Zero Theorem. “I’d grown up watching Terry Gilliam movies,” she offers. There was even a role in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 as Commander Lyme, a former Games victor from District 2. But as Top Of The Lake shows (read our feature on p110), she’s not all about pleasing the Comic-Con crowd. “I’ve always been interested in playing as diverse a range of roles as possible,” she argues. “I was very lucky to go to drama school and that instilled in me the desire to play as many roles as possible and to look at different kinds of human beings. And I’ve been enormously lucky to be in Game Of Thrones, to play that wonderful character. I think it’s also incredibly valuable for there to be characters that exhibit strength. I think that is valuable in our entertainment at present to see that, particularly at the moment.” That said, in Campion’s follow-up to her 2013 police procedural, Christie explores the opposite, playing the unstable Miranda, a pregnant rookie cop in Sydney who joins Moss’ fragile detective Robin Griffin in the hunt for the murderer of an Asian prostitute. “We have a woman [Miranda] who is struggling with everything. She’s struggling with life. And not being very good at life, actually. And not really being very good at anything at all. That interested me. Jane always said, ‘Miranda’s very, very human.’ I suppose she is.” If Miranda provides the comic relief, something Christie revels in, that becomes clear in the very first episode when she meets Robin. In a particularly strange – but very human – moment, one that’s destined to inspire a thousand GIFs, Miranda dons a helmet in her own kitchen, pretending to be a space cadet. After Brienne and Phasma, does this mean Christie must mask up in everything she does? “The idea of self-referencing in work,” she muses, “there’s something very interesting about that.” Then comes the really bizarre revelation.

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she switched her attentions to acting – something her late father, a sales and marketing executive, encouraged. Training at Drama Centre London for three years, Christie indulged her love of Shakespeare and the stage. “Film is always something I was interested in, but you’re at drama school and you’re trained for stage. But then you leave and you do what’s there. I love theatre and that’s what was there.” After graduating, she won the role of Mrs. Hubble in a 2005 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Great Expectations – a performance spotted by the casting director of Thrones.

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‘Everyone, from the director down, says, “Woah! We’re doing Star Wars!”’ “Actually, Jane told me a friend of hers has a special space helmet and they put it on to relax. It’s a real thing from a friend of hers. I said, ‘Really?’ She said, ‘Yes, I’ve put it on to relax.’ Then she switched her telephone to an image of her wearing it, holding a whisk as a weapon! Like an extended arm. I said, ‘Is this you relaxing?’ She said, ‘Yeah, this is how I relax.’” The idea of the silver-haired director of The Piano, chilling in a helmet, just doesn’t quite compute. Noting that she’s “always been interested in the margins of society”, Christie was born in Worthing, West Sussex, growing up in rural tranquillity – “a small village, at the bottom of the South Downs”. Despite her strict upbringing, she expressed herself through ballet, tap and rhythmic gymnastics, until a back injury when she was 11 forced her to stop. Already inspired by watching Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop,

hristie’s campaigning for the role of Brienne is already the stuff of legend. After a friend tipped her off, she read the George R.R. Martin books and took to social media, tweeting about wanting the part. She lost a stone in weight, gained it back in muscle, chopped off her wavy locks and began dressing androgynously. Arriving in Season 2, audiences quickly embraced this warrior woman described by Martin in the books as muscular, unfeminine and with coarse features. Inspiring everything from fan sites to feminist discourses, Christie admits she loves the way people have connected to the character “male or female, whatever shape or size or anything they might be. That is really thrilling to have the opportunity to play a woman who is unconventional in a mainstream TV show, [where] it isn’t about how she looks, it isn’t about her being cute or sexy, anything about her appearance. It’s about her desire to act for the moral good, and it’s about her quest for nobility in the true sense of what it is to be a knight.” Last seen exchanging farewells with Jaime Lannister as she rowed away from Riverrun with faithful squire Podrick, Brienne was absent in the final two episodes of Season 6. But what is she excited for fans to see in this forthcoming season? “Well, it’s all coming together, isn’t it, dear?” she says, before bursting into another one of her filthy laughs. “I mean, there’s not a lot of time left to tell that story. This is where… I think Season 7 is where things really start to hot up and you start to see unlikely combinations, unlikely attitudes, and unlikely acts.”

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Gwendoline Christie What about the fact the show is gradually drawing to a close? Before the decade is up, the six-episode eighth and final season will bring about the end of an era. “I’m not really dealing with it!” she says (cue another wicked cackle). “What I will say is I have loved the experience of working on that show, and what I’ve loved is that it came out of nowhere… it’s become this extraordinary phenomenon. I think that’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’ve made some wonderful friendships out of it. So hopefully I’ll be able to keep those.” Once in a lifetime? Well, you might say Christie has landed a couple of those. Like playing Phasma in Star Wars. “It’s so special,” she nods. “Everyone there… I can’t express to you… everyone there is so enthusiastic and delighted. I loved Star Wars from when I was really little. And again, I didn’t think I’d be in a Star Wars film. Whoever thinks they’re going to be in a Star Wars film?! Every day is really exciting. There’s a childlike enthusiasm as well. Everyone from the director down says, ‘Woah! We’re doing Star Wars!’” With Phasma glimpsed (we think) in the trailer for Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, striding alongside her stormtroopers as flames scorch the earth, it suggests this masked menace will have a larger part to play in Rian Johnson’s anticipated addition to the canon. Already, Vanity Fair pictured Phasma on its front cover, sans helmet, alongside Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren and Domhnall Gleeson’s General Hux. So does this unmasking mean we’ll get to learn more about her this time out? “You’ll have to wait to see!” she teases. Currently filming The Darkest Minds, a sci-fi thriller with Mandy Moore about a disease that either wipes children out or leaves them with superpowers, Christie appears delighted with the way her career is unfolding, especially given her positive experiences. “The environments that I’ve worked in, I’ve always felt listened to, and I suppose I’ve been very lucky that I’ve always felt respected. I haven’t felt that I’ve had to suppress having a voice. But then I’m fairly straightforward!” You can say that again.

FlYinG hiGh Christie in her breakout role as Thrones’ Brienne; in Top Of The Lake (opposite); and as Star Wars’ Captain Phasma (bottom-left).

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Top of The Lake: China GirL wiLL sCreen This summer on BBC2. Game of Thrones season 7 BeGins on sky aTLanTiC on 17 JuLy. sTar wars: The LasT Jedi opens on 14 deCemBer.

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august 2017 | ToTal Film

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IntervIew Wor ds jamie gr aham por tr ait s jeff Vespa

I’m tryIng to do somethIng badass. I don’t need much money, man – I’ve made more than I thought I would

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BILLY CRUDUP

Jef f V e spa / c on t our b y ge t t y

Hailed the Greatest Actor Of His Generation, he has no interest in fame and has turned down some of the biggest blockbusters ever made. But off the back of Spotlight, he’s now in the limelight: Alien: Covenant, Jackie, 20th Century Women and Netflix’s Gypsy. Total Film meets the press-shy Billy Crudup…

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hen Billy Crudup arrived on the scene with true-crime story Sleepers and Woody Allen’s musical Everyone Says I Love You in 1996, he was immediately hailed as The Next Big Thing. Then, reportedly, he turned down the role of Jack in Titanic (more of which in the following Q&A), and Tyler Durden in Fight Club. Instead he played 1970s Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine in Robert Towne’s Without Limits, a cowboy in Stephen Frears’s The Hi-Lo Country and a junkie called Fuck Head in Alison Maclean’s Jesus’ Son. All good movies, all little-seen. In 2000, Crudup was again hailed The Next Big Thing when he hogged magazine covers playing cool, charismatic guitarist Russell Hammond in Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical rock ’n’ Rolling Stone biopic Almost Famous. “Billy Crudup is a serious actor trapped in a heartthrob’s body,” trumpeted The New York Times. But he again shied away from the spotlight, choosing to tread the boards on Broadway

(he was nominated for a Tony Award playing John Merrick in The Elephant Man) and to block offers of ’busters (he turned down Bruce Banner in Ang Lee’s Hulk) in favour of resonant dramas such as Big Fish and Charlotte Gray. “Billy’s deeply private,” said his Gray co-star Cate Blanchett, who revealed that the rare times he spoke on set were to discuss “the inner dialogue of scenes”. All of which makes the prospect of a career-chat with Crudup rather daunting. Go back and read the handful of interviews that he’s consented to over the years, and a theme emerges: he hates doing press as much as he recoils from the idea of being a movie star. Fame, he feels, is an obstacle to acting. And he’s sure not about to peddle his private life – good luck to any journalist who dares ask about his 19962003 relationship with Mary-Louise Parker, with whom he has a son, or his subsequent four years with Claire Danes. It’s hard enough just getting him to say a few words on his work in The Good Shepherd, Public Enemies or Spotlight, or the couple of big-movie anomalies he’s chosen to grace, Mission: Impossible III and Watchmen. Hell, he’s been acting 30 years and people still can’t pronounce his name (it rhymes with ‘screwed-up’). But given he’s just captained the crew of Alien: Covenant, offered stellar support in Jackie and 20th Century Women, and is now making a rare foray into TV with Netflix’s Gypsy, playing a lawyer married to Naomi Watts’ therapist who gets too involved with her clients, isn’t it time to at least have a go at cracking Crudup?

“Thank you very much for taking the time,” he smiles, relaxed in his home city of New York, with the only hint of awkwardness coming in his frequent umming and ahing. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve certainly gotten more appreciative of the work opportunities that I have, so… whatever I can do to help.” Well, this is new. Might Crudup, at 48, finally be ready to be The Next Big Thing? Let’s find out… You’ve consistently moved between film and theatre, but done little TV. Why do Gypsy now? The sort of material I was interested in before wouldn’t likely be made as a feature-length film now. Certainly not one with any kind of budget giving you the opportunity to be ambitious, or to get a decent salary, above scale. Most of the films that come to me – even the ones that have done well over the past couple of years – you get paid a relatively low wage. So actors and writers and directors have tried to find out where the market is right now. The invention of different content suppliers has provided a creative and financial windfall for a lot of people. But why Gypsy? I’ve typically been drawn to screenplays or plays that have some kind of ambition, whether it’s in the characterisations or the plot or the format or the subject matter or the creative artistry behind it. Whatever it is, there has to be some kind of spirit of, “We could be making something singular, or this could go horribly wrong.” [laughs] The safe story is the one I’m waiting to make when I run out of money. In the meantime, I’m saving my money so I can keep trying to do stuff that I think is cool. You and Naomi Watts certainly share some cool scenes… Naomi is a very reliable actor when it comes to pursuing ambitious stuff, so the fact she was leading this story was a draw for me. It’s a 10-hour narrative and you only read a tenth of that [before signing on]. It’s hard to make a decision based upon 10 per cent of information. People have pitched ideas to me before, and my response is always the same: “I can’t wait to read it.”

tAKInG ChArGe Crudup’s Oram moves up the ranks swiftly in Alien: Covenant…

ToTal Film | august 2017

Was it satisfying to explore a fracturing marriage in such detail? The potential for me was the exploration of this relationship in the middle of its life, with two people who are in the middle of their lives. It’s found a stasis for one of the partners, while the other partner has

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bIlly Crudup

COuple In CrIsIs Crudup as the lawyer husband to naomi watts’ therapist in Gypsy.

taken that as being very secure. So what do you do when your ambitions become different and they’re not articulated? It’s ironic that one of them is a therapist because clearly everyone needs lots of therapy. They’re not giving themselves the best opportunity, behaving the way they do. You play a lawyer in Gypsy. Do you think you could ever find satisfaction in an office job, or is acting your be all and end all? I’d be OK with a pretty small salary and apartment, just so long as I can play the guitar at night, or whatever; I do have some need for a creative outlet. I could be an office manager, but I wouldn’t be ambitious. I would come to work at nine, stop at five, and I wouldn’t work weekends. I spent a lot of time when I was younger moving around, so you become adaptive. I’ve done lots of different kinds of jobs, in the service industry primarily. I don’t feel I’d be dead in the water if I couldn’t act, but I feel enormously grateful

that I’m able to. I’ve found profound joy being an actor. You’re certainly on a roll this year: Jackie, 20th Century Women, Alien: Covenant, Gypsy… It just happened that I got in the company of some great filmmakers all around the same time. And the last plays I did were Waiting For Godot and Harold’s Pinter’s No Man’s Land, and by the end of it… man, I was worn out. It was the first time I felt like I needed a break from plays.

a l ison c ohen r o s a /ne t f l i x

I’d be OK wIth a pretty small salary and an apartment

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You tend to refuse roles in the big movies. So why did you say yes to Alien: Covenant? I was out in LA for Spotlight, and trying to drum up some work. They said, “You could put yourself on tape for Alien.” I was like, “C’mon man, I’m in a movie that’s up for an Oscar, can’t I just go for a meeting with Ridley?” And they were like, “Nope, you can put yourself on tape, and we’re not even gonna give you the whole script.” I was petulant about it and like [puts on childish voice], “I’ll make the damn tape.”

I didn’t have any expectations that I was going to land a part, much less one that would be so interesting to work on. The experience of working with someone with the level of artistry that Ridley has… It’s a blessing. Alien: Covenant ponders existence: faith versus science. Do you often think about such stuff? Hell fucking yeah! When I finally did get the script and they were making a big deal about Oram’s fundamentalist upbringing and ideology… It was the most interesting aspect of it, for me, thematically. I asked Ridley if the origin of man was something he started with in the original [1979] movie. He’s mercurial when it comes to giving a definite answer. With this one he was like, “Probably not, but maybe.” It seems to me, with Prometheus, he was like, “If there was to be an origin story for Alien, what is it, precisely, we’re talking about?” And it was an origin story for mankind. And if you’re talking about an origin story for mankind, you’re talking about creation, about faith, and the belief that this is not an accident. To that extent, I thought Oram would be a very interesting character to keep that ball in the air for the audience.

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Do you have religious beliefs yourself or are you more scientifically minded? I have a pretty strong appreciation for the achievements that mankind has made by utilising the scientific process. Science seems to have the best opportunity to provide at least some hint of what the experience of living is all about. I’m more attracted to that belief system than the belief system that seems, to me, to be completely the invention of man. On to more physical matters – how was it recreating John Hurt’s infamous chestburster scene? It was spectacular. But there was also part of it that I found particularly enjoyable because of the history we’d created for Oram. There was this idea that he’d been raised by a punitive Pentecostal sect. In some versions of the Pentecostal belief system, you can be possessed by the holy spirit and you are forced to speak in tongues and writhe. I told Ridley how often it was during the course of the movie that this guy had to essentially dispatch with his faith because it led him in directions that created havoc for the people that he cared about. His new spiritual belief system had to be his love of humanity and the people around him. Then he actually does get possessed by the devil and it bursts out of him. I was like, “That’s fucking awesome!” I hope there’s some stoner somewhere who takes a big hit and then goes, “Oh shit man, the devil’s coming out of him!”

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that if something was going to be successful, I at least wanted to be badass. I was getting a lot of those opportunities in the theatre, too. I got to do The Elephant Man, The Coast Of Utopia, Arcadia, The Pillowman – really cool, ambitious stuff. But you never wanted to head up a franchise? I felt like my strong suit was playing a variety of characters. I didn’t feel my strength was playing a version of myself that I’m just counting on people being affectionate enough towards that they come and see the movie. You mean you wanted to be a character actor as opposed to a movie star? Typically the movies that aim for broad audiences are written broadly, so you need actors who have a reliable kind of charisma in those parts. But Eat Pray Love wasn’t aiming for something small, to be sure. Or Mission: Impossible III. It’s just that the parts that I got in those movies were kind of sniper parts. I remember Jimmy Kimmel. I did his show one time and he’d come to see a production of No Man’s Land that we were workshopping. He was like, “Hey man, that was great, but what the fuck was it about?” I said, “Jimmy, it’s about your feelings. I know they’re in there somewhere.” He said, “You have the chance to make movies and money. What the hell are you doing?” I was like, “Because I’m trying to do something badass. I don’t need that much money, man – I’ve made more than I thought I would.”

I want tO be wIldly successful but dOIng stuff I thInK Is cOOl

And Ridley bought into that reading? I asked Ridley if I could try, in my last moments of consciousness, to grab this thing, because I thought it would be great to actually wrestle with the devil born from within you. But that didn’t make the cut.

SLEEPERS 1996

It’s Crudup’s vengeful security guard who shines brightest in a starry cast (pitt, de niro, bacon, patric) embedded in a midnight-black drama about child abuse.

ALMOST FAMOUS 2000

“I AM A GOlden GOd!” yells Crudup’s guitar hero in Cameron Crowe’s rockin’ road movie, and we’re not about to disagree. Cool, charismatic, oh-so-cute – it’s as if he was born to the rock ’n’ roll life.

BIG FISH 2003

Crudup and Albert Finney refuse to sentimentalise the father-son dynamic at the heart of tim burton’s fantasy-drama. which makes it all the more moving.

WATCHMEN 2009

Zack snyder’s reverential adap of Alan Moore’s seminal graphic novel sees a mo-capped Crudup radiate gravitas as the god-like dr. Manhattan.

20TH CENTURY WOMEN 2017

Annette bening, elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig dominate centre stage in this ’70s-set family drama, but Crudup’s hippie-aroundthe-house beguiles. JG

Is part of the reason you didn’t want your face on billboards so that you could better inhabit new characters? Hell, yeah! One hundred per cent, man. A big part of my design early on was to not have any kind of public persona. Acting was hard enough – I didn’t need to put another obstacle in the way. I didn’t relate to actors who would let people into their

rex

When you were younger, you seemed to avoid big movies. Why was that? I wasn’t consciously avoiding blockbusters. Sleepers was not meant to be a low-budget movie, nor was Almost Famous or Without Limits or Big Fish or Watchmen or Public Enemies. They were movies with a certain kind of ambition. Even the smaller movies that I did, I thought they had potential to break out. There are smaller movies that have enormous cultural impact. Like Trainspotting. It was never my intention to fly under the radar; it was my intention

That must have been a pretty typical response to much of your decision-making… It is anathema in a capitalist society – if someone has the opportunity to make a lot of money, their refusal of it is seen as a kind of petulance. But that’s not what I’ve tried to do. I want to be wildly successful, but doing stuff that I think is cool.

five star turns

ToTal Film | august 2017

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Billy crudup homes and show them how they lived, and be on talk shows all the time and do big covers of magazines… I wanted, every time I was in a part, for people to think, “Wow, that’s the only part he could ever play.” Like, “Who’s that guy again? Oh yeah, it’s Billy Cud… drop.” Do you still feel that way? You’re surprisingly talkative today… Having seen my career through some ups and downs, I’m much more comfortable now talking about myself or the work that I’ve done, because I’ve been able to lay a foundation for myself. I’m sure there are producers of movies that I did when I was younger who want to stab me in the eye for saying that. [laughs] But for me, to build up a long career, it was crucial to play as many different parts as I could. I thought, “It won’t be long before my looks aren’t of any interest to people, so at that point, I better be good at what I do.” You reportedly turned down DiCaprio’s part in Titanic. Would you be more open to such a role today? I read scripts that are huge-budget movies. They don’t come my way so often anymore because ‘Crudup’ and ‘box office’ don’t go necessarily hand-in-hand. [laughs] That being said, at that time… It was kind of misreported. Because I didn’t want to be a part of any conversation, I just let it go, you know? I was never offered that part. I just committed to doing Without Limits. I met James Cameron and we talked and stuff, but I was previously committed to Without Limits. To my agent’s mind it was, “If the meeting goes well, obviously he’ll choose Titanic.” But to my mind… I headed that off before it got much further. I don’t know, man… I’d never been a professional actor before. I didn’t know how to make all the right choices. I did the best that I could to navigate it. One role that did put you on magazine covers whether you liked it or not was Russell in Almost Famous. When it came out, I definitely rejected being associated with Russell because I’d played Russell; I didn’t want to keep playing Russell. The magazines want you to keep the moustache and keep the hair and show up in groovy ’70s clothes so we can wield this ‘artist with mystique’ thing. So the first thing I did was cut my hair and put on corduroys and a white shirt, much to my agent and publicist’s chagrin. I liked acting; I didn’t want to sell clothes or sell personalities or sell my personal life for someone else’s gain. I thought that was just a crappy way for studios to save

Billy crudup in numbers

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tony award, for the Coast Of utopia: Part 1 – Voyage

$1.6bn

Crudup’s total global box-office gross to date.

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age when he landed General College, his first tV role.

1,000,000 His salary, in dollars, to play russell in almost Famous.

30 Years since Crudup last did a tV series.

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money on advertising. I’d have lots of arguments with people. I’d say, “How much will you pay me just for my acting? I’ll show up on time, be mostly sober, do a pretty good job. So how much just for those services?” And the pretty reliable answer was, “Nothing.” [laughs] Was Russell fun to play, though? Most of your characters are conflicted, he’s just charismatic and having a blast! Oh man, I loved it. I just did this movie 1 Mile To You. I play a coach with a runner who’s troubled. To get to play the guy that’s not troubled, who’s in a great place in life… It’s so much fucking fun. But when you create a niche for yourself playing conflicted, contorted men who get themselves into bad situations, you don’t get the scripts for the happygo-lucky guy so much.

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Russell is very cool. He’s also something of a closed book… That’s what was intriguing. That character, that guy, every band seems to have one: the guy who’s decided they’re not going to let you in on whatever their story is. Probably – and I think this is an explanation for a lot of creative people, myself included, when they’re starting out – they don’t know where it’s fucking coming from either, and the last thing they want to do is reveal to someone that they don’t know what they’re doing, that this may all be a huge mistake, and you’re going to find out what a fraud I am if you dig deeper. I think Russell probably was a talent and considered music and his own production of music within the context of popular music and rock and roll. He was a more cerebral character than he let on. You still play guitar now, yes? Yeah. But I’d never played guitar before, man, and I had to look like someone who was great at it. I don’t know if you’ve taken up a second language or an instrument as an adult, but it’s hard on the brain. Like, “What am I doing, man? I’m not going to put myself through that.” When you’re a kid you go to piano practice because your mum says you have to go. As an adult, it’s rigorous work on a daily basis. At least you’ve been put through your paces by the likes of Scott, Mann, Abrams, Burton, Crowe, Frears and Allen. Have you never wanted to try directing yourself? I’ve never had that instinct. You know, just because you’re in the proximity of this creative collaboration doesn’t really mean you know anything about what the other

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Billy crudup people do. I, for sure, don’t know what the fuck a director does. I barely know what an actor does. If I was to undertake directing, it would be a long-term choice – I would go to get some education in it, or follow someone for a year. Does acting still impassion you as it did when you were starting out? I’m still very interested in the potential I have as an actor. And that’s where I want to spend my time. I don’t want to do something new. It reminds me… I’ve been skiing my whole life, and my friend goes “We should try snowboarding.” I’m like, “Alright, man.” And after spending two hours on the bunny hill screaming “Motherfucker” as four-year-olds flew by me, I was like, “This is not what I enjoy about being on a mountain, man. Give me my skis back so I can do what I like to do.”

GuItAr herO Crudup with the cast of Almost Famous.

You used to go to punishing lengths to find a character. Do you still put in the same level of preparation? Yeah. The reason I do it is because I get interested in it. I suppose I could do a fine enough job without preparing so much, but I don’t like wasting opportunities. Sometimes life gets in the way or you don’t have the energies for the ambitions you have. But in ideal circumstances, if I take a part it’s because it ignited something in me and I won’t be able to extinguish that until I realise it to my best potential.

about people in general by pursuing a completely different mindset, a totally different history? Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan is probably the most iconic role you’ve played, yet many people don’t know it’s you… Exactly – how awesome is that? To get to be in something so vivid for people, and to be front and centre in a really ambitious creative pursuit, and people have no idea it’s you. That was a big part of the conversation I had with Zack [Snyder, director]: “How are you going to render this?” They actually set a world record for Dr. Manhattan, on the most number of motion-capture dots on a face. They built that virtual replica of me in the computer, and every muscle that moved on my face, moved on the puppet in the computer. What you see is my exact performance. It’s astonishing to me.

I’m stIll very Interested In the pOtentIal I have

And do you use your own life experiences, much as Mike Mills plundered his own past to write and direct 20th Century Women? Yeah, there’s often proximity. I am often attracted to material or characters with themes that I have some investment in. I use analogies a lot. But the thing I’m most interested in is this idea of what if I was someone else? What could I learn

So the story has it that you signed up to play Dr. Henry Allen in Justice League with Zack, and then to reprise the character in The Flash… All I can really tell you is that I’m in the trailer [of Justice League]. Beyond that I would say that I would work with Zack in a heartbeat. I am super stoked about the opportunity. He is one of the most enjoyable, creative people to be around. He gave me such a kickass opportunity doing Watchmen. All he has to do is call me up and I’ll be there. I’ll always be grateful that he put my performance as Dr. Manhattan onto the body of a 6ft 4in monster of a man with a giant schlong. Indeed. You were on the cover of Total Film with your penis out… [laughs] There’s no part of acting that’s dignified. You have to suck it up and admit you put on other people’s clothes for money. Gypsy is launchinG Globally on 30 June exclusively on netflix.

Billy crudup Fan Club “Billy was, make no mistake, the guy who helped Almost Famous out the most. He disappeared into the part and learned how to play the guitar in six weeks.” Cameron Crowe

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“Dr. Manhattan still goes through this huge emotional journey… and you need someone that can take that thread and pull it and pull a performance out of a really abstract environment and he’s done an amazing job.” Zack Snyder

“You disbelieve actors who say they’re not obsessed with celebrity. But Billy truly isn’t. It’s great to work with someone like that. All you’re there to do is the thing you love.” Cate Blanchett

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thE WOrLd’S NumbEr ONE Sci-fi ANd fANtASy mAgAziNE

LAtESt iSSuE

ON SALE NOW!

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SEEING DOUBLE

DISC OF THE MONTH

WHY BEAUTY AND THE BEAST IS DISNEY’S MOST ANIMATED REMAKE

New Releases 30.06.17 – 27.07.17

Il l us t r at Ion b y l I z z y t hom a s

small screen DVD & BlU-ray AFTERMATH THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE THE DAMNED: DON’T YOU WISH THAT WE WERE DEAD DENIAL DER MÜDE TOD ELLE THE FISHER KING THE FOUNDER GET OUT JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2

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LOGAN MANDY THE MUMMY TRILOGY MY NAME IS LENNY OUTLAND RAILROAD TIGERS RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO A SCANNER DARKLY SPOTLIGHT ON A MURDERER THE TIME MACHINE TONI ERDMANN UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS

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auGuST 2017 | ToTal Film

DISC OF THE MONTH

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belle raiser

Disney’s olD tale shines in a reverential revamp…

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out 17 JuLy DVD, BD, 3D, Digital HD extras Featurettes, Deleted scenes, Extended song, Music Video (BD)

See thiS if you liked... La BeLLe et La Bête 1946 The visual blueprint for Disney’s versions. harry Potter series 2001-2011 Watson has form in bringing a muchloved character to the screen. the JungLe Book 2016 Live-action reboot keeps the ‘Bare Necessities’ while supersizing the spectacle.

ToTal Film | august 2017

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ntil now, Disney’s live-action remakes of its cherished animated movies have preferred to tackle earlier ’toons – 1950’s Cinderella, 1959’s Sleeping Beauty and 1967’s The Jungle Book. Beauty And The Beast (1991), though, is a mere 26 years old. Too soon?

Two things are obvious from seeing original and remake together (available either in a double-pack or simply on their own). One is that the 1991 version has always been a classic, regardless of its actual age. The other is that audiences don’t care how long it’s been. Bill Condon’s movie is not only 2017’s biggest hit, but already on the cusp of the all-time top 10 at the global box office, proof that Disney’s formula for its back catalogue shows no signs of stalling.

It’s arguably Beauty And The Beast’s relative youth that explains the remake’s success. More than the previous nu-Disney films, the 1991 film is a rite of passage for Millennials. A live-action take was always likely to become a must-see, provided they got it right, so Condon’s film is a careful act of reverence. Not merely because of Emma Watson’s presence, it evokes the Harry Potter films in the way that everything is adroitly matched to the original to keep the fanbase on board.

Yes, there are new songs and occasional shifts in emphasis, but it’s the fidelity to BATB 1991 that remains most striking. In truth, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise’s animation in the earlier film was already halfway towards the textures of live-action. That makes it relatively straightforward for Condon to replicate the ’toon’s look and feel: its elegant travelling shots, the impressive use of shadows, or the surprisingly robust action sequence at the climax. Likewise, the cast are guided to mimic the vocal inflections and facial gestures of their animated avatars. Luke Evans, especially, is an uncanny doppelgänger for the 2D Gaston.

something there Condon is a smart choice for director, here. He has form with fantasy (the Frankenstein-themed Gods And Monsters) and musicals (Dreamgirls), and he worked on the Twilight Saga, another franchise subject to a tonal risk

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

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And that was when Beast felt his back go…

assessment before anybody yells action. While he’s undoubtedly a safe pair of hands, he’s not afraid to stamp a degree of freshness on to the material. The most radical thing here – at least, according to the nations who censored or banned the movie – is the outing of LeFou as a gay man in love with Gaston. Really, it’s a minor detail (and hardly progressive given Josh Gad’s camp performance) but it allows a sliver of realism into the story. Alongside a backstory for Belle involving the awful effects of plague, and a mention of Shakespeare, it places the story in a recognisable world. If that risks reducing the surrealism and subtext of this most Freudian of fairytales, it helps Condon make the film relevant to the audience of 2017.

There’s a marked upswing in the depiction of Belle as a feminist. Already no slouch in 1991, here she gets a fiery independence. Together with the gallantry of Dan Stevens’ Beast, it further codifies the chaste, post-Aids connotations of the animated version’s romance. No longer is the Beast a symbol of animal passion but a hirsute, hipster metrosexual, and a far better catch than Gaston, the entitled jock.

Just a LittLe change Ultimately, however impressive the execution, Condon’s version is a fan film. Its main achievement is to renew the animated version’s already glittering rep. There’s little surprise that Disney in 2017 can nail this, but it was a different story in 1991, when

‘no slouch in 1991, belle now gets a fiery independence’ gamesradar.com/totalfilm

BaLL games Luke Evans’ Gaston tries his luck with Emma Watson’s Belle (top), while the original ’toon Beast wins over Belle (above). Joining the party are Ewan McGregor as Lumière and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette (below).

the studio was emerging from a period of creative unrest. Made with palpable care and craft, Disney’s original deserved its place in history as the first animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture, raising the stakes for Hollywood animation. Ironically, in paving the way for Pixar, it sounded the death knell for 2D animation. Yet that makes BATB 1991 even more special – the bridge between Golden Age classicism and modern animation’s thrilling sophistication. That Condon has changed so little is a testament to the choices made by Trousdale and Kirk, whose Disneyfication of the material remains unusually nuanced and sensitive. The biggest visual influence is surrealist auteur Jean Cocteau’s 1946 version of the story, La Belle Et La Bête – not the typical reference point for Disney. In a crucial change of emphasis to the source material and earlier adaptations, the Beast voluntarily lets Belle go without demanding her return, giving greater clarity to the character’s arc. Best of all, inverting Disney’s penchant for cute creatures, here the animals stay mute while the household staff become a menagerie of talking pots and pans. Mrs. Potts and Lumière are so indelible a part of the story that it’s worth remembering they were invented for the 1991 film. In the remake, they’re go-to roles for A-listers Emma Thompson and Ewan McGregor. No wonder: who wouldn’t want to sing ‘Beauty And The Beast’ and ‘Be Our Guest’? Whichever version of the film you watch, there isn’t a combo of sweet ’n’ silly to rival it in the entire Disney songbook. Simon Kinnear

august 2017 | ToTal Film

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Guy Martin doesn’t like it when you hide his helmet.

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James mangold sharpens a killer send-off…

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man has to be what he is,” broods Alan Ladd, maxing the machismo in a clip from 1953 western Shane sneaked into Hugh Jackman’s last stand as Wolverine. Macho or not, his farewell to old muttonchops translates Ladd’s dictate to movie terms. Where Deadpool and Doctor Strange anchored their trips into saucy/psychedelic terrain in origin-tale tradition, Logan pleases because it has the guts to be what it aims for: an aggressive, soulful, stand-alone farewell with an f-bomb for every occasion. True, X-franchise Easter eggs almost dilute its distinction, ranging from 2000’s X-Men (Statue of Liberty references) to 2013’s The Wolverine (Samurai swords). But the nods are kept subtle, never entangling Logan in continuity spaghetti. Nor are its intimacies muffled by badinage or bouts of city-trashing CGI. When today’s surfeit of screen superheroes can leave even a series as original-feeling as Guardians Of The Galaxy looking a little used by its pun-packed, CGI-stuffed

ToTal Film | august 2017

sequel, Logan manages to deliver something fresh on the back of a sharpened character focus. If it’s the character-piece flipside to X-Men: Apocalypse’s catastrophe-piece excesses, Mangold ensures his cast anchor it beautifully. Jackman turns in his meatiest lead, making full-bodied work of a man whose body is failing him (claw dysfunction included) on the borders of Mexico and life. Poignant company comes from Patrick Stewart (ailing Prof. X) and Stephen Merchant

See thiS if you liked… TerminaTor 2: JudgmenT day 1991 A kid saved, an implacable foe: the Logan/X-23 /X-[SPOILER] triangle echoes Jim Cameron’s line-up. LÉon 1994 Natalie Portman’s killer instincts are nurtured – and is Boyd Holbrook echoing Gary Oldman? Creed 2015 Bruised redemption served as wrinkly Rocky passes on the boxing gloves.

(mutant-tracker Caliban), both offering warm contrast with the well-pitched business-like brutality of Boyd Holbrook’s mutant-hater Donald Pierce. Even Richard E. Grant shows no-ham restraint, though Mangold’s casting flair is best embodied by Dafne Keen as the sort-of offspring Logan is forced to protect: hard to tell what’s deadlier, her eyes or claws. If the tone threatens to lurch off-leash with the entry of another nemesis, Mangold keeps even this horror-show twist anchored. With tragedies providing emo-ballast, and CGI held in reserve, a core theme of living/dying by the sword steadies the plot deep into the woods-y climax. “A brand sticks,” Ladd’s Shane said about the psychological effects of killing. But in resisting any get-out clause for an on-point finale that cuts to the bone of Wolverine’s character, Logan emerges unbranded by superhero cliché. Even its cruellest stings carry the satisfaction of a conclusion done right. The extras look pretty buff too, packing in a 72-minute documentary plus a black-and-white version of the film. Kevin Harley

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The start of Up gets him every time.

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fear and loathing in a white house…

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deserved critical and commercial hit, Get Out is mainstream Hollywood at its best – a smart horror-comedy that uses its genre(s) to raise pertinent questions and, hopefully, cause a few arguments on the way home.

The story sees Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), a black man meeting his white in-laws for the first time, begin to suspect something isn’t quite right. It’s a potent update of Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, sharply spliced with the social-horror tales of Ira Levin (Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives). Writer/director Jordan Peele couldn’t have timed his riposte to notions of a post-racial society better, given Obama’s replacement by Trump. The film skewers white prejudices, especially those of so-called liberals who think they’re above racism, yet while Peele exposes some raw

nerves, the discomfort is also hugely entertaining. What might have been dryly academic gets real craft from Peele’s pedigree in sketch comedy. His genius is to exaggerate these latent insecurities into something that is memorably outlandish and surreal. The film is remarkedly assured in its iconography. Kaluuya, in a star-making performance, is at once a defiant, Romero-esque hero and a knowing riff on the damsel-in-distress. And, when he wants to, Peele knocks out eyecatching visuals, from a watery grave of post-hypnotic suggestion to some tautly handled violence. Simon Kinnear

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achel Weisz is full of banked fire as Deborah Lipstadt, the beleaguered academic forced to prove in a London courtroom in 2000 that the Holocaust did occur. Despite its TV-movie feel, and lack of dramatic highpoints, this thoughtful true-life legal drama’s passionate arguments about historical truth are engrossing. Director Mick Jackson lays out a fine performance-fest as Tom Wilkinson’s brilliant QC battles Timothy Spall’s cocksure author David Irving, over which version of wartime history should prevail. Kate Stables

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erman prankster Winfried (Peter Simonischek) tries to reconnect with estranged daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller) by invading her work life in Romania disguised as his unhinged alter ego Toni Erdmann, a bumbling corporate life-coach with big hair, fake teeth and bad jokes. Writer/ director Maren Ade’s cringe-com may have sadly missed out on the Best Foreign Film Oscar this year, but it’s a masterclass in balancing awkward hilarity with desperate sadness. A truly insightful and original portrait of a family seeking (hard-earned) reconciliation, its grace notes linger no less than the gags. Tim Coleman

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ouT now DVD, BD, 3D, UHD, Digital HD exTras Featurettes

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omehow on its fifth entry, you can’t fault werewolves-vsvampires action series Underworld for consistency – each entry is worse than the last. Opening with an apologetic recap (subtext: we know you didn’t see the last one…), the high point of the threadbare plot sees Kate Beckinsale’s Selene get a new winter coat. Full of familiar faces (Charles Dance, Lara Pulver, Tobias Menzies) who should know better, the sole saving grace is a mercilessly brief 91-minute running time. Jordan Farley

august 2017 | ToTal Film

The home enTerTainmenT bible

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Ringside seat at the geezeR panto…

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oxer, singer, actor, criminal, author, bouncer, weightlifter, bodyguard and all-round Cockney legend, Lenny ‘The Guv’nor’ McLean led many different lives until his death in 1998, all of them ripe for a biopic. Thankfully, director Ron Scalpello ignores most of them and plumps for a tightly focused origin story instead, charting Lenny’s scrappy rise from untrained street fighter to sort-of-trained unlicensed boxing champ in the mid-’70s.

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Lenny grimaced; the turtle head was out of the ring…

There’s no Kray twins, no tabloid stories, and none of the geezer-glamour that made his salacious autobiography a bestseller here – just two blokes knocking each other’s teeth out in a pub basement. That, and a very distracting central performance. Played with gusto by Josh Helman (X-Men: Apocalypse’s Colonel William Stryker), ‘Britain’s hardest man’ is all mad eyes and exaggerated grins – upending the film with a caricature that desperately wants to be Tom Hardy’s

tHe damned: don’t you WisH tHat We WeRe dead 15 film

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f the history of The Damned is lesser told than other punk tales, consider the oversight fixed in style. Lemmy director Wes Orshoski’s doc lacks cohesion, but it’s a rude and riotous portrait of pioneers who courted chaos through multiple break-ups and rejigged line-ups. Ranging from toilet humour to tantrums, Orshoski anchors his focus in splashy portraits of a cult group’s characters: the comparison of Captain Sensible to great absurdist comedians sums it up. Kevin Harley

ToTal Film | august 2017

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Bronson, but pays off more like Jared Leto’s Joker auditioning for EastEnders. It’s a shame really, because the film takes plenty of time between breaking faces to give Lenny a psychology worth exploring, not to mention drawing decent performances out of co-stars including Chanel Cresswell (This Is England), Rita Tushingham and John Hurt in his last on-screen role. There’s a good, grubby boxing film in here somewhere, but you won’t find it behind all the gurning. Paul Bradshaw

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lice’s ultimate bloodbath in zombietown takes the wasteland warrior back to where it all began with a last-ditch assault on The Hive. For fans of the series it offers familiar thrills – including a teeth-clenching laser-corridor reprise – bringing Alice’s (Milla Jovovich) story full circle with a blatantly telegraphed twist. But clunky dialogue, gloomy cinematography and frenetic editing render its story near-incomprehensible throughout. A fittingly braindead finale for a fun but inconsistent series. Jordan Farley

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ng Lee’s dip into the military mindset of a post-Iraq America flopped in the States, with critics turned off by the film’s experimental higher frame rate – shot at 120fps, four times the usual speed, for a more immersive experience. And yet, Lee’s film is still a revealing study of the wartorn psyche, as Brit newbie Joe Alwyn’s young soldier becomes embroiled in a surreal homecoming celebration. It’s certainly not flawless, but neither is it the failure that many would have you believe. James Mottram

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ith typical audacity, Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop) directs an uncompromising take on modern feminism with a rape whodunit that flirts with the line between sex and violence. Isabelle Huppert gives a careerredefining central performance as Michèle, a successful CEO who is sexually assaulted, and then methodically sets out to identify her mystery assailant. Exploring themes of control and consent, Verhoeven deliberately plays with audience sympathies to challenge the concept of victimhood, and in doing so achieves a uniquely powerful – and empowering – thriller. Matt Looker

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ackie Chan announced his retirement from action films in 2012, and then in characteristic style carried on making them anyway. His latest is a scrappy comedy kung-fu hybrid that looks and feels exactly like something he would have made in the mid ’80s, for better or worse. Chan stars as the leader of a rag-tag Robin Hood gang who take on the Japanese railroad during World War 2, with all the familiar choreographed chaos in tow. Awkwardly written and messily stitched together it may be, but watching Chan throw himself off things never gets old. Paul Bradshaw

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eanu Reeves reprises his role as the eponymous assassin in director Chad Stahelski’s follow-up to his 2014 retro-action hit. This time around, Wick is sucked back into the criminal underworld to repay a debt, only to find himself the mark of a worldwide contract. The plot is shootby-numbers and performances are wafer thin, but with the mythology of this universe expanded and gunfu-tastic battles abounding, there is much to enjoy. Tim Coleman

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ichael Keaton oozes sleaze as Ray Kroc, a real-life travelling salesman who discovers a little-known burger joint named McDonald’s and ruthlessly expands it, trampling all-comers in the process. What should’ve been a cautionary tale of capitalist conquest at great moral cost is tonally uneven, with director John Lee Hancock (Saving Mr. Banks) never entirely sure if Kroc is an all-American hero or an egocentric villain. The result lacks bite and leaves an iffy taste in the mouth. Extras are low-cal filler. Tim Coleman

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his is Sully on steroids!” shrieks the press release. No, it isn’t. It’s Sully on downers, as an (off-screen) air crash claims 271 lives, among them the wife and pregnant daughter of everyday chap Roman (Arnold Schwarzenegger, striving valiantly to be as ‘everyday’ as possible). While he’s laid low by grief, air-traffic controller Jake (Scoot McNairy) wrestles with guilt. Eventually the pair’s paths cross – which is the point where this sombre, sensitive, slightly plodding dual-character study starts to rush and unravel. Having said that, it’s better than Arnie’s maudlin Maggie. Matthew Leyland

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ather and son coroners Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch choose the wrong body to investigate in André Øvredal’s (Trollhunter) macabre horror movie. In a smart, original tale that dissects the genre’s confluence of the fleshy and the forbidden – especially the overused trope of violence against women – the perfectly preserved corpse (Olwen Kelly) reveals a selection of grislier secrets with each incision. Øvredal shifts adroitly from detailed, not-forthe-squeamish forensic procedural into well-delivered scares, aided by committed performances and some appropriately scalpel-sharp editing. Simon Kinnear

august 2017 | ToTal Film

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The home enTerTainmenT bible Must resist obvious dirty Pinocchio nose gag. Must resist…

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GILLIAM IN MYTHIC OVERDRIVE…

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1991 Out 19 JunE BD Extras Commentary, Featurettes, Interviews, Deleted scenes, Costume tests

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erry Gilliam’s high-octane imagination often threatens to melt down right off the screen, and it more than once comes close to that in The Fisher King – a gloriously baroque mash-up of Arthurian myth, New York squalor, alcoholism, romantic obsession and Robin Williams cavorting around Central Park stark bollock-naked. Not to mention a flashback to a mass shooting that even now carries a charge of chilling anguish.

Williams plays a deranged former history prof whose wife died in said bloodbath. He’s now a motormouth bum on the streets of Manhattan. Jeff Bridges is a guilt-ridden former shockjock whose taunting of a phonerin sparked the killing. Williams, tormented by a vision of a monstrous Red Knight whose helmet spouts flame, latches on to Bridges, telling him he must retrieve the Holy Grail (shades of Python) immured in a billionaire’s castle-like mansion on Fifth Avenue.

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hen her fiancé dies, a woman is given three chances by Death (Bernhard Goetzke) to save him from parallel tragedies in Arabia, Venice and China. Despite being severely dated by its racial stereotyping, Fritz Lang’s gothic fable remains a prime example of ’20s German Expressionist cinema – inventive in its effects, ambitious in its scale, and pessimistic in its depiction of fate and spirituality. The English title – Destiny – proved apt, as Lang’s vision became a major influence on Buñuel’s surrealism and Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. Simon Kinnear

ToTal Film | August 2017

The plot sprawls in multiple directions, and scenes (and monologues) go on way too long. But it’s redeemed by some inspired design (not least that nightmare-apparition Red Knight), by Mercedes Ruehl’s Oscar-winning performance as Bridges’ long-suffering girlfriend, and by the fevered exhilaration of Gilliam’s vision. Plus, a sweet moment of sheer lyrical magic when all the bustling commuters in Grand Central Station suddenly break off to waltz together. Philip Kemp

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1999-2008 Out nOw BD, 4K UHD Extras Commentaries, Deleted scenes, Featurettes, Making Ofs, Outtakes, Interviews

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t’s a textbook example in the economy of diminishing returns. This trio of Indiana Jones wannabes starts with a bright spring in its step, develops a worrying limp around episode two, before coming to a stumbling, leaden-footed climax in round three. You may want to stop at the first then, before the Mummy (Arnold Vosloo) gets sidelined in favour of the genre specific star power of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Jet Li. With Maria Bello taking over from Rachel Weisz in the third, Brendan Fraser is the sole constant as tireless adventurer Rick O’Connell. Neil Smith

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2006 Out nOw Triple Format Extras Commentary, Featurette, Lobby cards

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n a future dystopia, with 20 per cent of America addicted to the dangerously psychoactive Substance D (“You’re either on it or you haven’t tried it yet”), Keanu Reeves’ undercover narc finds reality veering dangerously out of control after he gets a little too close to the action. Among the best and most faithful movie adaptations from prince of paranoia Philip K. Dick, Richard Linklater’s rotoscoped surveillance state identity crisis is as chilling as it is hypnotic and funny – a real head trip. Ali Catterall

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

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n a sombre 1981 sci-fi, Sean Connery’s hard-arshed marshal inveshtigates a rash of mysterioush deaths on a mining colony off Jupiter – but evil bean counters are out to stop him. If the plot is High Noon in space, the oily aesthetic, with its industrial clank and grime, bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain xenomorph-based affair – it even borrows Alien composer Jerry Goldsmith. And while not a patch on the former, it’s nevertheless a great-looking (and sounding) slow-boiler. Ali Catterall

MAnDy PG film

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1987 Out nOw Dual Format Extras Making Of, Gallery, Booklet

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1952 Out 12 JunE DVD, BD Extras Interview, Featurette, Gallery

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he only non-comedy directed by Alexander Mackendrick in his time at Ealing Studios gets a restoration for its 65th anniversary. Mackendrick’s affecting family melodrama follows the efforts of its title character (impressive newcomer Mandy Miller), a congenitally deaf young girl in post-WW2 Britain, to learn to speak. Her parents (Phyllis Calvert, Terence Morgan), meanwhile, disagree on how she should be educated. Avoiding sentimentality, Mandy skilfully combines realism and expressionism, and is surprisingly critical of the attitudes displayed by many of its adult characters. Unexceptional extras. Tom Dawson

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lan Clarke’s classic comedy of shagging and showdowns gets a 2K restoration by the BFI to celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary. Adapted by Andrea Dunbar from her own play, this slice of ’80s society contrasts estate life with middle-class suburbia, played for both bawdy comedy and disheartening drama, and all sharply observed. An extensive Making Of featuring new cast and crew interviews offers entertaining insight into the film’s production, great value alongside the film’s highdefinition presentation. Matt Looker

The TIMe MAchIne PG SpoTlIghT on A MurDerer PG film extras 1960 Out nOw Triple Format Extras Documentary, Art cards

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est remembered for its innovative time-lapse effects (and for not being the rubbish 2002 Guy Pearce version), George Pal’s Metrocolor sci-fi still stands out among the ’60s B-flick crowd. It might mess with the book – not least in casting lantern-jawed Aussie Rod Taylor as H.G. Wells – but Pal’s film preserves plenty of the text’s wide-eyed tone, brass-edged textures, and sharp, angry social politics. A decent doc, a handsome set of art cards, and a crisp Blu transfer help roll the clock back 60 years. Paul Bradshaw

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1961 Out nOw Dual Format Extras Featurette, Booklet

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aving achieved one of the most poetically scary of horror movies with Eyes Without A Face, director Georges Franju relaxed with this gothic spoof of a murder mystery. In a Breton chateau, a terminally ill count (Pierre Brasseur) conceals himself in a hidden closet to die. Since there’s no body, his heirs (including the young Jean-Louis Trintignant) must legally wait five years to inherit. Then, one by one, they start dying off. Every cliché of the Christie-esque genre is gleefully exploited. Philip Kemp

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1970 Out nOw Dual Format Extras Commentary, Essays, Interviews, Lobby cards, Poster, Booklet

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n 1970, Dario Argento made his directorial debut with this classic giallo film, centring on an American author (Tony Musante) who becomes obsessed with tracking down a serial killer in Rome. An uncredited adaptation of Fredric Brown’s novel The Screaming Mimi, it bears all the trademarks that would establish Argento as a major voice in horror: neogothic aesthetic, lurid colours and a pre-occupation with sexual violence. Extras include new interviews, a visual essay and in-depth analysis by genre experts. Tim Coleman

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WONDER WOMAN: THE ART AND MAKING OF THE FILM Book OUT NOW

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hort of including a button that plays Hans Zimmer’s electric-cello anthem, this has pretty much everything you could want from a Making Of book – anecdotage (Gal Gadot was on a treadmill in the trench-running scene), a good balance of concept art/stills/Amazonian throne blueprints, and a little extra something in an envelope. Peppered with definitions of key words (‘Wonder’, ‘Power’, ‘Wisdom’), you can even use it as a dictionary. Albeit one filled with close-ups of ornate swords.

ToTal Film | August 2017

MOTIONACTIVATED ALIEN STORAGE EGG CoLLECTIBLE OUT NOW

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screen-accurate rendering of the most famous egg in horror-movie history, this officially licensed item is both pant-filling and practical. You can simply wave your hand (or similar appendage) near the motion sensor and it will slowly, eerily, peel open, ready to ingest all of your knick-knacks. (It measures 53cm by 41cm). No facehugger included, alas, but it does give off a sickly green glow, meaning it can also be used as a fright light. Order your ovomorph from thefowndry.com.

extras STAR WARS STATIONERY MEMoRABILIA OUT NOW

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ay the old-school be with you… marking Episode IV’s 40th, Maped Helix has rebranded its original Star Wars stationery range. With its multi-coloured markings, the disco-esque Death Star sharpener is pure spirit of ’77. No less gloriously retro: the hand-drawn artwork on the pencil cases (four to collect), featuring an especially bow-legged Han Solo. Items available individually, or bag the lot in the Anniversary Collection – the perfect gift for your back-to-school child that you can later swipe for yourself.

JESSICA JONES FIGURINE CoLLECTIBLE OUT NOW

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eleased as part of Loot Crate’s ‘Investigate’themed box, this collectible figurine of Marvel’s Defender means business. Show lead Krysten Ritter promised Stephen Colbert she’d be making “some phone calls” about the lack of toys for female superheroes/villains (remember those rumours about Iron Man 3’s villain?), but Jessica Jones’s action figure isn’t mucking about with banter – she’s going straight for the metaphorical jugular and kicking down a wall so damn hard, the bricks are oozing out of it like melted toffees. Love the purposeful glare in her eyes.

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DOCTOR WHO MEMORABILIA Book OUT NOW

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hovians of a certain age will be vworp-vworp-vworp-ed down memory lane by this round-up of collectibles covering the pre-relaunch era (i.e. no Capaldi inflatables). Author Paul Berry does the time warp with authority and affection, and the pics in this unofficial tome are high quality. Daleks feature as heavily as Doctors, though Small Screen’s favourite curio is the bulging Tom Baker doll reminiscent of that Friends ep when Joey wears all of Chandler’s clothes. ML

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August 2017 | ToTal Film

ON LOCATION

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cold case

Jane Campion on Top of The Lake’s reLoCaTed reTurn…

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t was meant to be a one-off. But after the sensational response to Jane Campion’s sublime 2013 procedural Top Of The Lake, the show is back. Four years on from our last encounter, time has not been kind to Detective Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss). “She’s in a super-dark place,” says Moss. Single, drinking heavily, living in a shared apartment in Sydney: only Robin’s work is keeping her from a full-on breakdown.

“I don’t think that’s an unfamiliar place for any woman or any person to have, at a time like that in their life, where they don’t know how to get out of a trough,” says Campion, who reunited with her writing partner Gerard Lee to craft six new episodes. “To start with her there, and try to see her claw back a life, for me was an interesting beginning. A dark beginning. Perhaps a difficult beginning.” Noting how unusual it is to begin a second series with a character at their lowest ebb, Moss didn’t take much convincing to return to the character, after Campion asked if she was interested. “I said, ‘Yeah. Let’s just make sure it’s darker and more fuckedup and challenging than the first one!’

ToTal Film | august 2017

What’s the point of doing another one if you can’t go somewhere else and you can’t be more challenged by it?”

CITY OF LOST CHILDREN

Top Of The Lake: China Girl measures up to Moss’ criteria, beginning when the rotting corpse of an unidentified Asian call girl, squeezed inside a suitcase, washes up on Bondi Beach. Griffin is assigned, alongside her eager new partner Miranda (Gwendoline Christie, Game Of Thrones and The Force Awakens). But there’s more, with Robin seeking out the daughter she gave up for adoption – the result of being sexually assaulted as a teenager. That girl has now grown into the spiky 17-year-old Mary (played by

See thiS if you liked… TOp OF THE LakE S1 2013 Robin Griffin’s first case, as a pregnant teen goes missing in New Zealand. IN THE CuT 2003 Meg Ryan headlines Campion’s erotic noir, co-produced by Kidman. aNImaL kINgDOm 2010 A powerhouse cast – Joel Edgerton, Ben Mendelsohn, Jacki Weaver – ignite David Michôd’s acclaimed crimer.

Campion’s own daughter, Alice Englert), who was raised by her adopted mother Julia (Nicole Kidman) and father Pyke (Ewen Leslie), an estranged married couple who still live together despite Julia declaring herself a lesbian and hooking up with a new partner. Compared to the remote New Zealand settings of the original series, it’s all very sophisticated and metropolitan. “I wanted to stay in New Zealand and Jane went ‘no’,” laughs Lee, who was argued down by Campion. “I felt like we’d done what we could do with that landscape – the metaphors of fallen paradise,” shrugs his co-writer. “I was really interested in bringing the story to Sydney, because I live there and it’s convenient. I love it, I love Sydney – it’s a very beautiful city. And we needed a bigger lake!” The theme of the abuse of women – also explored in the first series, with the female refuge led by Holly Hunter’s guru – permeates the fabric of the show, right down to sexism in the workplace.

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

tv Nicole Kidman greys up to play the adopted mum of Alice Englert.

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‘It’s so excItIng In tV. You can saY what the hell You want. You can get awaY wIth It’ JANE CAMpioN

Does this come from personal experience? “Oh yes! I’ve experienced much worse,” quips Campion. “Except being put in a suitcase.”

gETTINg aWaY WITH IT If risqué comments such as this filter into the show, Campion attributes that to the lack of constraints in working for the small screen. “It’s so exciting in TV – you can say what the hell you want. You can get away with it. Whereas in film, they go on and on about it: ‘Oh my God, did you really say that? It’s so aggressive!’ If this had been a two-hour film, I don’t think we’d have got away with so much.”

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Take Christie’s character Miranda: pregnant and still smoking. In Hollywood, that’s a major no-no. “Jane is a provocateur, isn’t she?” says Christie. “That’s what’s so enduring about this work. You come away thinking about the ideas for much longer after you’ve left the cinema. For years, I’ve thought about the ideas in [Campion’s 1993 film] The Piano and that to me is the signature of a great piece of work. Jane makes you question everything. And question being shocked.” One of the show’s most intriguing aspects is the casting of Campion’s old friend Nicole

DROWN uNDER (above) Campion on set in Sydney with Elisabeth Moss and Gwendoline Christie; (top-right) the investigation leads to one of the city’s brothels.

Kidman. Kidman last worked on screen for Campion in 1996’s The Portrait Of A Lady. “Nicole happened to visit us in our office and said, ‘I loved the first series. I really want to be in it!’” Campion offered her the role of Julia, promising to make her “unrecognisable” beneath a mass of frizzy grey hair. “She was like, ‘Oh, that would be so amazing.’ I think it’s liberating for an actor – to not have to be that screen goddess.” With Campion sharing directing duties with Ariel Kleiman (her codirector from the first season, Garth Davis, went on to make Lion with Kidman), questions inevitably turn to a possible third series. Maybe four years down the line? Campion smiles enigmatically. “I try not to think about it. I’m trying to never hear the word ‘yes’ come out of my mouth again!” James Mottram Top of The Lake: China GirL beGins on bbC2 This summer.

august 2017 | ToTal Film

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seven things you need to know about game of thrones season 7… 112

1 Pace Maker

The pace of Game-play picked up like wildfire in Season 6 of HBO’s George R.R. Martin adap. With just two shortened seasons left to go, expect events to move a sight faster than ever. “I was like, ‘Already? Now?!,’” says Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) of reading the S7 scripts. “A lot of things that normally take a season now take one episode.”

2 The GreaT War Is here So speaks Kit Harington’s King in the North, Jon Snow. Now looking unhinged on the much-contested Iron Throne, mad Queen Cersei (Lena Headey) faces enemies every which way. Snow and Emilia Clarke’s dragon-riding Daenerys Targaryen (plus Dothraki and Dornish/Ironborn followers) will likely confront Cersei, as might Maisie Williams’ revenge-fired Arya Stark. “For a long time, we’ve been talking about ‘the wars to come’,” co-showrunner David Benioff explains. “Well, that war is pretty much here.”

3 LonG nIGhT Is here The ‘Winter is Coming’ prophecy is fulfilled. Even filming had to wait until autumn, “for the leaves to fall off the trees,” Benioff explains; hence Season 7’s slightly delayed launch. With zombie brethren in tow, the

ToTal Film | august 2017

blood-freezing Night King will likely be the coldest foe: but will legendary lightbringer Azor Ahai appear to face him, as fans suspect?

4 anyone can dIe Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) offers a grim tease of the cast’s fates post-Season 7. “We’ve got one more season… well, not all of us.” Characters looking wobbly include Iain Glen’s Daenerys-smitten Ser Jorah. And, now that screen events have outstripped Martin’s books, hungry fans are even decoding floor maps in trailers (google ‘Cersei the Neck’) for clues to Cersei’s endgame. Coster-Waldau’s comments on Jaime’s view of Cersei certainly seem ominous. “I’m not sure he understands or knows who that person is now. And that’s scary.”

5 BasTard of a BaTTLe “Last season’s battle was ridiculous,” recalls Emilia Clarke, referencing ‘Battle Of The Bastards’, “but this season, there’s another battle that’s epic.” The four directors charged with ushering mountainous dragons, zombie-men, night devils and armies to war include Alan Taylor, recent orchestrator of mega-brawls for Thor: The Dark World and Terminator Genisys.

dead of WInTer The Night King finally gets his undead show on the road, while Dany (Emilia Clarke, below) is also planning to arrive in Westeros in style.

6 and so They sPoke Whether Dany walks in fire again or not, she certainly talks more, promises Clarke: “When I first read this season I thought, ‘Damn, I’ve got to learn some lines!’” Praise be, Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister also gets more talk-time despite a reduced episode count. As writer D.B. Weiss explains, “You kill a couple dozen characters, the people who are left by default need to carry more weight.” And, as worlds collide, “There are more main characters together in each other’s storylines than ever before.”

7 The neW BLood Although Benioff/Weiss have hacked through players, many newcomers await. Theon and Yara Greyjoy’s dubious uncle Euron looks set for increased attention, while Harry Potter veteran Jim Broadbent debuts: not as a Slughorn-style armchair but as, explains Broadbent, “A maester, an archmaester… an old professor character.” Game-watchers reckon that he’s Marwyn the Mage, who warns sweet Sam Tarley of anti-magic, dragon-killing contingents. Oh, and Ed Sheeran cameos… Kevin Harley Game Of ThrOnes: seasOn 7 sTarTs On 17 July On sky aTlanTic.

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

tv

power play

civil rights drama hits close to home…

guerriLLa 15 show

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2017 Out nOw DVD, BD, VOD Extras Featurette

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rom Mississippi Burning to Selma, cinema has tended to depict the civil rights movement as an exclusively African-American struggle. Yet similar battles were fought on many other shores as well, including our own – something this six-part drama from 12 Years A Slave writer John Ridley illustrates to thrilling effect.

At its core are two London activists, teacher Marcus (Babou Ceesay) and fiery girlfriend Jas (Freida Pinto), who are spurred into militancy after police beat a friend of theirs to death at a peaceful protest rally. As they embark on a campaign of bombings, jail breaks and bank raids, they quickly come up against the ‘Black Power Desk’: a secret wing of Special Branch with a Rhodesian chief (Rory Kinnear) whose cunning and ruthlessness more than equals their own. From its harsh interrogation scenes to its garish ’70s fashions, Guerrilla isn’t

always an easy watch. It’s also a bit slow, with a large cast of characters whose roles in the story take time to become clear. Overall, though, this is a drama of uncommon depth and ambition, full of great actors (Idris Elba, Daniel Mays, Zawe Ashton), gripping moments and serpentine subplots. OK, so those who attacked the show for having an Indian lead actress instead of a black one may have a point. Yet it would be a shame to let a relatively minor error of judgement detract from everything else that Guerrilla gets right. Neil Smith

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Freida Pinto plays a most unexpected ’70s militant.

24: Legacy 15 TBC show

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2017 Out 24 July DVD, BD, VOD Extras Featurette, Deleted scenes

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ith Kiefer Sutherland otherwise engaged on Designated Survivor, the latest progeny of the 24 franchise has to make do with a new hero (Corey Hawkins), a few familiar faces (Jimmy Smits, Carlos Bernard) and the same old ticking-clock shenanigans (terrorist cells, big bangs, rather well-financed jihadis). Plausibility quickly goes out the window, though at least the show’s real-time USP is retained – until the final instalment, that is, which includes a 12-hour leap-forward that will leave die-hard fans fuming. Neil Smith

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extras

2014 Out nOw DVD Extras None

girLs: The FinaL season TBC show

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2017 Out 24 July DVD, BD, VOD Extras TBC

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s Lena Dunham’s drama about the lives and loves of young New Yorkers wraps up, Hannah’s unexpected pregnancy dominates, somewhat at the expense of Adam, Jessa, Shoshanna and Marnie. It certainly feels like a show winding down, although there are some fantastic scenes, from Jessa’s desperate toilet hook-up to the clear-the-air talks required in a season that – mostly – keeps all the leads on separate paths. As these characters go their separate ways, we’re allowed to emotionally detach too. Goodbye, Girls, we’ll miss you. James Mottram

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ong-time Flight Of The Conchords show-stealer Rhys Darby finally got his own star vehicle with this New Zealand mockumentary series, in which each episode focuses on a different local town oddball. Darby takes turns to play a dim-witted, narcissistic lifeguard, a sheltered UFO theorist, an arrogant lawyer and more, while Stephen Merchant, Sam Neill and other familiar faces pop up in unexpected cameos. Some characters offer more comedy gold than others, but this is a solid showcase for Darby’s improvisation skills. Matt Looker

AUGUST 2017 | ToTal Film

The home enTerTainmenT bible

fresh spins

classic soundtrack

TF scores the latest soundtracks…

Wonder Woman After his solemn Hacksaw Ridge score, Rupert Gregson-Williams graduates with range for the DCEU’s game-booster. The Themyscira themes swell symphonically; ‘Ludendorff, Enough!’ lurks in horror/noir shadows. ‘Pain, Loss & Love’ covers emotional bases competently, before the end stretch adds muscle and ushers that electric cello-thrashing theme towards Fury Road-ish slammer ‘Action Reaction’. There’s a catchy-ish Sia/Labrinth credits song, too.  

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Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge He’s no Hans, but Zimmer protégé Geoff Zanelli ably orchestrates old/new themes for Jack Sparrow’s resurgence. Rummy frolic ‘He’s A Pirate’ is oft-plundered, while tasty new cues include weepie Carina theme ‘The Brightest Star In The North’. At a stormier extreme is highlight ‘Salazar’: On Stranger Tides’ ‘Blackbeard’ only on steroids.

ToTal Film | August 2017

up

Michael Giacchino / Walt Disney RecoRDs/PixaR

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on’t let the punning track titles fool you. Michael Giacchino presents a winningly goofy face, but he’s at his best scoring directly to/from characters’ emotional control centres, whether the subjects are motherless teenagers, evolved apes or, for Inside Out, actual emotions themselves. The promise was there in TV’s Lost (try ‘Moving On’). Then, after making Cloverfield roar and Star Trek soar, Giacchino brought his purest distillation of emotional character to Pixar’s Up. He’d already forged braintrust ties with thrusting pastiche work for The Incredibles and Euro-fusion seasoning for Ratatouille (‘A New Deal’ pre-empts Up). But Up marked his lift-off for more than just its mighty awards sweep. Here, Giacchino’s facility for emotion threaded and embedded through character development hit new heights of intricacy and balance. Acting on director Pete Docter’s request for music-box simplicity, Giacchino started with one chord, heard at the start of ‘We’re In The Club Now’.

From here, he took cues from opera, steering characters’ themes through rollercoaster emotional arcs. The album starts with villain-to-be Muntz’s theme. But it’s old-timer Carl’s wife Ellie’s theme that soon dominates, plucking heartstrings on the mistyeyed golden-age nostalgia of ‘Married Life’. Here, piano, trumpet, oboe and strings dance around the duo’s life until we’re left with an old man’s grief and a spacious solo piano, the gaps between its notes wide enough for floods of tears to slosh through. As Ellie leaves the screen, Giacchino’s mix of versatility and emo-focus blooms. The score goes off on an adventure with Carl, but holds Ellie’s theme close, ushering it through

subtle emotional shifts to show how she haunts Carl. In ‘Carl Goes Up’, she’s allied to a sense of wonderment (joined, perhaps, by the influence of John Williams’ flying music from E.T.). Her theme gets a lounge-lively makeover for ‘Walkin’ The House’, before it’s plunged into conflict on ‘Escape From Muntz Mountain’, played on high trumpet amid horrorshow overhauls of Muntz’s theme. That trick is revived with exhilarating action clout on ‘Seizing The Spirit Of Adventure’, before reconciliation comes with a fullorchestra treatment of her theme on ‘It’s Just A House’ (not a dry eye in it). And after a reflective pause on the gentle ‘The Ellie Badge’, ‘Up With End Credits’ ushers Ellie’s theme through multiple upbeat permutations, her loss lamented, life celebrated. Long before he helped Joy and Sadness bond, Giacchino had the whole emotional spectrum covered in Up. Kevin Harley

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

blu & vod dvd ray

two more

Recent releases saucering our eyes…

games

Polybius Veteran Brit developer Jeff Minter brings his brand of esoteric psychedelia to VR, and the results are mind-warpingly brilliant. Travelling at breakneck speed through levels that pulse with colour and noise, you’ll slalom between giant flagpoles while shooting fried eggs and luminous cows. Your grin will widen even as your eyes beg for mercy.

defrosted

An islAnd Adventure to thAw the coldest heArt…

Rime game

Out nOw | PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch

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hen Tequila Works bought back the rights to Rime from Sony, it had already been in development for more than three years. Expectations raised by a lush trailer quickly plummeted, until it resurfaced with a new publisher and a new look. The omens were troubling, yet the finished game shows a poise that belies its difficult birth. It begins with a skinny child of deliberately ambiguous gender waking up on the beach of a sun-kissed Mediterranean island, with a towering lighthouse tempting them inland. At first, Rime doesn’t so much wear

its influences on its sleeve as rip its shirt open to reveal full-body tattoos of Ico and Journey. But it develops its own distinctive signature with a series of clever, expansive environmental puzzles involving

injustice 2

What Remains Of edith finch

voice-activated mechanisms, perspective tricks, a bit of shadow play and rooms in which the geometry shifts while your back is turned. Among the highlights are an extended set-piece in which you command a tottering automaton, but a final-act trudge through rain-slicked ruins is a laborious low. Still, Rime rallies for a poignant closing chapter. One particular detail should make it all the more affecting for explorers who strayed from the critical path to seek out and pocket the island’s collectable secrets. Despite its early wobbles, Rime has emerged as a tender, big-hearted adventure: well worth those labour pains. Chris Schilling

Arkanoid Vs. Space Invaders Two arcade staples collide in this engrossing mash-up. You’ll deflect missiles with your paddle to destroy blocks and enemies, before transforming into a giant bow to fire an energy orb you can bounce around in the time-honoured fashion. Strict time limits ramp up the intensity, power-ups give you a fighting chance. Be warned: it’s potentially habit-forming.

game

Out nOw | PS4, Xbox One, Android, iOS

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his lavish follow-up to the underrated superhero dust-up finds Batman and Superman reluctantly united to fight Brainiac. There’s a touch of the uncanny about the hugely detailed characters in the spectacular story sequences, but they look fantastic when trading punches and mid-fight quips. Flashy combinations will delight genre connoisseurs, while newcomers can still deliver a good pummelling by mashing buttons, and it all goes to make this generous and outrageously polished sequel a must for DC fans. CS

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game

Out nOw | PS4, PC

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he debut of Annapurna Pictures’ (Zero Dark Thirty, Foxcatcher) interactive arm, this narrative-led adventure casts you as the eponymous young woman, who returns to her abandoned family home in Washington State to investigate an apparent curse that has caused her relatives to die prematurely. Developer Giant Sparrow displays a mastery of tone, shifting from tragedy to black comedy and back without blinking, in a deeply moving three-hour journey. CS

tOkyO 42 game

Out nOw | PS4, PC, Xbox One

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n an idyllic future metropolis, you discover you’ve been framed for murder. An enigmatic rescuer intervenes – and then drags you into an underworld of mobsters and hired killers as the mystery deepens. Your new job as an assassin is made easier by a synthetic body that enables you to don a new disguise – all the better for leading short-sighted guards (or opponents in twitchy multiplayer death-matches) on a merry dance. Hitman with stick men, it’s got more style than substance: but what style! CS

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The home enTerTainmenT bible

on demand

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save the bacON Ahn Seo-hyun as young activist Mija, desperate to protect superpig Okja.

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ong Joon-ho’s ace Snowpiercer is still not available in the UK on any format, and every Hollywood studio turned down this satirical creature feature, considering it too politically radical for its $50m price tag. So, kudos to Netflix for stepping in and giving the South Korean maestro (Memories Of Murder, The Host) complete artistic freedom. Bred in a lab and shipped off to the misty mountains of Korea, super-pig Okja is the size of an SUV when we catch up with him 10 years later – just as Tilda Swinton’s GM food corporation fetches him back to New York for

publicity and pork. Thankfully, Okja’s makeshift mum, 12-year-old Ahn Seo-hyun, sets off in pursuit, teaming up with a group of Animal Liberation Front warriors led by Paul Dano to save our hero’s bacon…

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NOW | NETFLIX Game Of Thrones director Alan Taylor trades beheadings for decapitated statues in his MCU entry. Despite Chris Eccleston struggling with the Kurse Of Krap Marvel Villains, Taylor hoists the hammer with much breezy irreverence.

NOW | NETFLIX Between its measured leads and the wrenching immediacy of Janusz Kamiński’s vérité camerawork, Spielberg’s controlled portrait of the German industrialist who saved 1,100 Jews weeps with sure, sober feeling.

7 JULY | AMAZON Director Tate Taylor misses the high-pulp mark with his stolid Paula Hawkins adap. The pace chugs, so be grateful for Emily Blunt, captivating as booze-nik Rachel – despite looking like her hardest tipple is wheatgrassinfused OJ.

ToTal Film | august 2017

I, DANIEL BLAKE 15 21 JULY | AMAZON Ken Loach’s comeback piece rouses in its warm portrait of solidarity between single mum Hayley Squires and out-of-work carpenter Dave Johns. You’ll cry, you’ll rage, you’ll decry all comic-book movies as capitalist propaganda.

POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING 15 14 JULY | SKY A delicious doltcom from SNL’s The Lonely Island, centred on pop fool Andy Samberg’s attempt to stay famous. Killer cameos and tittersome tunes pile up: ‘Finest Girl’ is ‘Big Bottom’ for the sex-jam generation.

Serving generous rations of awe, action and wacky, wonky humour, Okja is also gruelling and heartbreaking, sure to make vegetarians of a portion of viewers. Who wouldn’t fall in love with this blundering, big-hearted beast? A canny mix of CGI and animatronics, Erik-Jan de Boer’s (Life Of Pi) visual effects are a triumph. Perhaps the one weakness is Jake Gyllenhaal’s broad turn as a shrill, knock-kneed, moustachioed zoologist, but it comes with nuance and pain, too – his is an exaggerated existence lived in front of TV cameras, performing for kids. But that’s just a minor gripe in what is an odd and engaging cinematic experience. Jamie Graham

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS 15 16 JULY | SKY Colm McCarthy does anything but shuffle through the pages of M.R. Carey’s novel in this superior zombie drama. Between fierce action scenes the cast impress: girlzombie Sennia Nanua is so intense, even Paddy Considine looks rattled.

MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN 12 21 JULY | SKY The shadows of Hogwarts haunts Tim Burton’s riff on Ransom Riggs’ moppets-v-monsters novel. An identity crisis results, redeemed by many Burton-ian peculiarities.

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

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this issue

Cobb on Shouty MovieS RogeR that

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Cinema Celebrated and debated. boosting your movie genius to superhero levels…

head gear gotham’s gReatest? What’S your beef?

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August 2017 | ToTal Film

Boosting your movie genius to god-like proportions.

investigation

is it boLLocks?

Film Buff investigates the facts behind outlandish movie plots.

alternative box office

The BiggesT BlockBusTer movies… WITH EXCLAMATIONS!

This monTh ALIEN: COVENANT’S HYPERSLEEP

1. mamma mia! 2008�������������������������������������������������������$144.1m 2. Airplane! 1980 ��������������������������������������������������������������� $83.5m 3. The naked Gun: From The Files of Police squad! 1988 �������������������������������������������������$78.8m 4. moulin Rouge! 2001 �����������������������������������������������������$57.4m 5. Three Amigos! 1986 ����������������������������������������������������� $39.2m 6. mars Attacks! 1996 ��������������������������������������������������������$37.8m 7. To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie newmar 1995�����������������������������������������������$36.5m (Us) 8. The informant! 2009�������������������������������������������������� $33.3m 9. hail, Caesar! 2016���������������������������������������������������������$30.5m 10. stop! or my mom Will shoot 1992 ����������������������� $28.4m

q a

In Alien: Covenant, the crew of the titular spaceship are asleep when we meet them, their minds and bodies preserved as they zip through time and space. Is that even vaguely possible?

reel spoTs Behind The camera

VICTORIA STEVENS, cryogenics uk

The whole idea of hypersleep is not something that can be done now or in the near-future. Damage to cells is a massive problem that cryogenics need to solve before we can even imagine bringing somebody back. There is a possibility of a memory deficit or loss of function; like any medical procedure, you run risks. And we don’t have the technology, as yet, to revive people. People are doing research in that area, but it’s one of those wait-and-see things. In cryogenics, we don’t see death as a cut-off point. We need to preserve cells so they can be revived at a point where we have rejuvenation technology. There are about 300 or 400 people in the world who are currently frozen. What we don’t do is preserve people who are still alive – that’s the big difference with what you’re talking about. But if you cool somebody down just a minute or two after death, there isn’t a huge difference in the state of the cells. So in a way the technologies are similar – preserving cells and reviving them. But it’s absolutely not possible at the moment.

VERdICT bollocks Want us to investigate if a movie scenario is bollocks? Ask us at [email protected]

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on Location 1981

2017 WHAT? In The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Meryl Streep’s scarlet lady risks death (or at least extreme splashing) standing on Lyme Regis’ Cobb before Jeremy Irons’ fossil-prodder calls out to her in Karel Reisz’s Harold Pinter-scripted adap of John Fowles’ lusty period novel. WHERE? Ozone Terrace, Lyme Regis, Dorset. GO? The Cobb is still exactly as it was in the film, allowing for cape-dressed shenanigans. But accessing it during bad weather is frowned upon. Thanks to Christine Bailey Snapped yourself at a film location? Send us the details at [email protected]

august 2017 | ToTal Film

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A Life in Pictures

ROGER MOORE

Suave, sardonic and perennially good-humoured, the third actor to portray James Bond in the official 007 franchise was beloved by generations of cinemagoers. To mark his death in May, at the age of 89, Total Film looks back fondly on his wit, warmth and wisdom. Words NEIL SMITH

TOTal FilM | August 2017

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

Boosting your movie genius to god-like proportions.

MAVERICK 1960-61 Two years of Ivanhoe and one season of The Alaskans led to Moore getting cast as James Garner’s English-accented cousin Beauregarde in this popular series about frontier gamblers. “I wasn’t that thrilled about doing the show,” he admitted. “But it was OK, as it happens, and I thought some of the scripts were quite funny.” Less amusing was Moore’s discovery that all his costumes had Garner’s name on them, and the penny-pinching studio’s insistence that the actors punched in every morning. “I refused to be part of such a stupid scheme,” said Moore, who left the show after 16 episodes.

THE SAINT 1962-1969 Moore had a far happier time playing globe-trotting do-gooder Simon Templar in the Leslie Charterisinspired show that confirmed his stardom both at home and abroad. He also got to direct a few episodes, one of which gave an early role to a then-unknown Donald Sutherland. “I thought the show would run for one series,” Moore wrote later. “I never dreamed it would run for seven years and 118 episodes.” Decades later it also spawned a movie reboot in which Moore made a fleeting vocal cameo. “A bit of a mess” is how he summed up that Val Kilmer debacle.

THE PERSUADERS! 1971-1972

REX

Moore warmed up for Bond by teaming up with Tony Curtis in this light-hearted series about a couple of playboys who join forces to right wrongs. It was a volatile partnership both on and off screen, not helped by Curtis’ love of marijuana, his obsessive miserliness and his unpredictable behaviour. (The filming of one episode ground to a halt after he called guest star Joan Collins the c-word.) Moore, though, made sure he had fun, taking four roles in one Kind Hearts And Coronetsinspired instalment and hiring his own clothing line to keep Lord Brett Sinclair in natty threads.

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JAMES BOND 1973-1985

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Moore’s name had been linked to Bond as far back as Dr. No, so few were surprised when he finally got the role following Sean Connery’s (second) exit from the franchise. From the start, though, it was clear a different approach was required. “The scripts were written to accommodate my lighter approach to the role,” he said of a seven-film tenure that began with Live And Let Die in 1973, ended 12 years later with A View To A Kill and did not – contrary to reports – see him partially paid in Montecristo cigars. “They knew that I liked to play it with a sense of humour, so there were always light-hearted touches added to counterbalance a heavy, serious scene,” he said. Moore’s pranks, many of them at the expense of Desmond ‘Q’ Llewelyn, guaranteed the tone was as light on set as it was on-screen. It wasn’t all fun and games, though; a speedboat crash on Live And Let Die and a premature explosion on The Spy Who Loved Me left him with painful reminders of his time OHMSS. Perhaps it was this that prompted him to become increasingly dependent on stunt doubles – notably in 1983’s Octopussy, in which practically no attempt was made to mask the join. “I do all my own stunts, and all of my own lying!” he said in 2002. “No, there are talented guys who do all that, and I don’t want to deprive them of a wage if they’re brave enough to risk their necks making this coward look tough.”

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Boosting your movie genius to god-like proportions.

THE WILD GEESE 1978 Sharing the screen with Richards Burton and Harris encouraged Moore to raise his game for this mercenariesin-Africa yarn, not least in the scene in which he forces a drug dealer to ingest his own dodgy heroin. The ruthlessness came from the real-life mercs brought on set to advise, one of whom made it his business to scare Roger witless. “He’d be talking to you and then, all of a sudden, you’d feel his bayonet at your throat,” he would later recall. “‘That’s the way you do it,’ he’d say. You wouldn’t want to cross swords with him!”

THE SEA WOLVES 1980 Originally conceived as a Wild Geese reunion, this fact-based war film about a secret WW2 mission to sink a German vessel moored in neutral Goa instead saw Moore sharing the screen with Gregory Peck and David Niven, reassembled themselves 19 years on from The Guns Of Navarone. “It was a

super film,” recalled Moore, despite the locals being just a little clueless. “In one scene my character takes a bullet in the arm,” he remembered. “The Indian unit nurse took one look and proceeded to attend to my fake wound. I don’t think she’d ever worked on a film before!”

CURSE OF THE PINK PANTHER 1983 Moore thought he was in for a five-day engagement and a $500k paycheck playing Inspector Clouseau (after extensive plastic surgery) in Blake Edwards’ Peter Sellers-free continuation of the Panther series. “However, the buggers worked me from morning to night and filmed it all in just one day,” he’d later sigh.

R E X a nd a l l S ta R

THE CANNONBALL RUN 1981 It was Moore’s idea to make the character he plays in Hal Needham’s action comedy a would-be actor who thinks he’s Roger Moore. He also came up with the character’s name: Seymour Goldfarb Jr., heir to the Goldfarb Girdles fortune. “It was the hugest fun to make,” he said of the phenomenally successful Burt Reynolds vehicle. “I got to drive the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger and in every scene I had a different female passenger alongside me.” In 2016, Sir Roger showed he was still game for a self-parodying cameo, popping up as himself in dementia drama The Carer.

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SPICE WORLD 1997 Another day’s work saw Moore literally phone it in as the pig-feeding head of the Spice Girls’ record label in the pop quintet’s mercifully singular contribution to cinema. Co-star Richard E. Grant remembers him as “an officer and a gentleman” with a “sense of humour as dry as a martini”.

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top 10

MOVIE HATS Iconic headwear…

01

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK Indy’s fedora is from Savile Row’s Herbert Johnson Hat Company. “I had to have a hat that if you saw it in silhouette would be recognisable,” said costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis – cue fun shadow-play in Crystal Skull.

GOLDFINGER

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03

Auric Goldfinger’s mute henchman Oddjob cuts people down to size with his razorrimmed Sandringham hat (made by Brit hat makers Lock & Co.). It remains one of film’s most iconic weapons, despite TV show MythBusters proving it could never decapitate a statue.

05

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE The bowler hat is a symbol of civility but its image is given an ultraviolent kicking here as Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) wears a classic English derby hat while going on the rampage. A Halloween staple ever since.

07

Think M. Night Shyamalan and you think twists, turns and suspense, but the biggest reaction he’s ever elicited is the explosive laughter that greets the shot of Joaquin Phoenix wearing a tinfoil cap to stop the aliens reading his fragile little mind.

ToTal Film | august 2017

Forrest’s states-crossing run is augmented by epic facial fuzz and his mate’s grubby baseball cap, a look currently favoured by hipster gentlemen. The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company headgear is a now a bestseller at the same-named tie-in restaurant chain.

HARRY pOTTER AND THE pHILOSOpHER’S STONE

04

J.K. Rowling considered various means of dividing Hogwarts’ students into the four houses before thinking of “names out of a hat… names out of a talking hat… the Sorting Hat.”

SIGNS

09

02

FORREST GuMp

06

FARGO Pregnant cop Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), chief in Brainerd, Minnesota, is one of the Coens’ greatest creations, a life force in a landscape cloaked in snow and death. Her sheriff’s hat, replete with ear muffs, is as immediately discernible as her seven-month bump.

THE HOuND OF THE BASKERVILLES

08

Arthur Conan Doyle only specified that Holmes wears an “ear-flapped travelling cap” but the deerstalker has been donned by many, including Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘The Abominable Bride’.

STAND BY ME Gordie’s (Wil Wheaton) beloved New York Yankees cap was given to him by his big brother Denny (John Cusack) before he died, so his distress is palpable when town bully/“cheap dime-store hood” Ace (Kiefer Sutherland) unceremoniously steals it off his head.

10

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S Audrey Hepburn’s most iconic look – as Manhattan society girl Holly Golightly, her china-doll features sharpened by the wide, curved brim and flyaway silk scarf of her Chapeau du Matin. Oversized sunglasses complete the look. JG

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1928 -2017

adam west

T

he self-proclaimed ‘Bright Knight’ who starred as Batman in the classic 1960s TV show, died, on 9 June, after a short battle with leukaemia. He was 88. Raised on a ranch outside Walla Walla, Washington, William West Anderson changed his name to Adam West and headed for Hollywood in 1959. His chiselled good looks landed him a $150-a-week contract at Warner Bros, where he provided solid support work in a series of TV westerns such as Lawman, Tenderfoot, Cheyenne, Bronco and Colt .45. In 1961, West landed his first recurring role as Det. Sgt. Steve Nelson in 30 episodes of The Detectives, opposite Robert Taylor. But his big break came when producer William Dozier spied him playing the suave Captain Quik in an advert for Nestle’s Quik, and – POW! – West found himself donning cape and cowl in 120 episodes of ABC’s Batman between 1966 and ’68. During this period, West’s square-jawed superhero and his sidekick Robin (Burt Ward) also battled Joker (Cesar Romero), Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), Penguin (Burgess Meredith), Riddler (Frank Gorshin) and a giant rubber shark in 20th Century Fox’s pop-culture classic Batman: The Movie. But the flame burned bright and fast. With Batman cancelled after three seasons, West found himself typecast and struggling for work, reduced to donning his tights and overpants at carnivals and car shows. In the ’70s, he fought to move past his clean-cut, campy image by playing a Nazi captain in Hell River (1974) and an altogether different type of crusader, this one taking on an exploitative water company, in The Specialist (1975); while in the ’80s he took on such Z-movies as The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980), Young Lady Chatterley II (1985) and Zombie Nightmare (1987). Not that West was anything but rightfully proud of his Day-Glo days as Batman. And so it was that he gladly lent his famous larynx to Batman/Bruce Wayne in The New Adventures Of Batman (1977), SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984) and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985) – and, of course, lampooned himself in the ‘Large Marge’ episode of The Simpsons (2002). His most famous later work came voicing Quahog’s crackpot Mayor Adam West in Family Guy, from Season 2 onwards (it’s not known what will happen to his character now). Attending Comic-Con in 2014 [see right], West described himself as “the luckiest actor in the world”. We were lucky to have him. JG

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go west

TF’s lasT auDience WiTH aDam WesT… What was it like wearing Batman’s costume? I think any actor who plays Batman or Robin or whatever, probably wants to complain about the costume… and its restrictions in certain areas! Did you keep anything from the show? I kept a lot, especially towards the end of the show. Now, if you’d like to buy a cape…? I have all of my original scripts, 120, with my own notes in them. Did you have a sense of the global nature of the show? Yes. Look, I think we are the luckiest actors in the world. We had the chance to create characters with longevity. I love to make people happy and bring laughter. You know, if you can’t laugh at yourself and other people in situations, something’s wrong. So let’s all laugh at one another and ourselves, and enjoy the new Batman. Did you ever have a time you didn’t want to be the character? Yes. A few months after we stopped filming, I thought, “Well, that’s it for the career. I’m totally typecast.” Every time I went in to meet producers or people about doing a film then they’d get together and say, “Oh no, we can’t let Batman go to bed with her.” But those dinosaurs in Hollywood are now gone. And we go on. Isn’t that wonderful? You’ve just got to outlast them. What was your favourite “Holy, Batman!” moment? “Holy guacamole.” ML

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Flixology Sidecar

tHe BonFire oF tHe Vanities Bruce Willis’ hack meets Arthur Ruskin (Alan King) in pursuit of a story about his wife, and the two sup Sidecars in a fancy French restaurant. Ooh la la.

ingredients 1oz Courvoisier VSOP, 1oz triple sec, 1oz lemon juice, lemon slice, granulated sugar.

Career InjeCtIon

Mix Wet the rim of a martini glass and dip in sugar. Shake the cognac, triple sec and lemon juice together in a shaker, pour and add the lemon slice. Try not to drop dead after drinking.

HindsigHt corner! Stars eat their words…

Harrison Ford Blade runner 1982

OctOber 1999: “I didn’t like the movie one way or the other. I was a detective who did not have any detecting to do.” May 2017: “I think it’s interesting to revisit a character. It’s fascinating that the original film postulated a technology in many ways that we’ve surpassed, and in other ways, we’re not quite there.”

Plain talking

Learn the movie lingo

tHis montH: above/below tHe line

Refers to the delineation between big-salary filmmakers (director, producer, screenwriter, actors etc.) whose salary is set before filming kicks off, and the creative crew (gaffers, grips, runners, best boys, techies etc) whose salary is variable during the shoot.

ToTal Film | august 2017

Just do it. Should Transformers’ fallen star quit performance art and take revenge on critics by, you know, acting?

I

n a 2015 cine-stunt, Shia LaBeouf was filmed watching a marathon of his own movies. Pity he wasn’t in Burnley for the opening weekend of his latest, as he would have doubled its takings. One person saw PTSD drama Man Down, begging the question: was 2016’s superb American Honey a freak case in LaBeouf’s dip from superstar to perf-art prankster, or is credibility still within his reach? The relish of the headlines about LaBeouf’s latest flop suggests not, but he wasn’t Man Down’s only star. Gary Oldman, Kate Mara and Jai Courtney didn’t get the display-font slap-downs. And although kicking LaBeouf can seem a popular sport, closer investigation suggests reviewers liked his performance more than the film. “Believably instinctual,” wrote The AV Club. “Superb,” wrote The Observer’s Wendy Ide. Variety compared him to Brando/Clift. To which: blimey. Sure, LaBeouf has had his hiccups and mis-judgements. He shot to stardom after his Disney graduation with Disturbia, but what a pity he chose the Transformers films to earn his franchise chops in, and what a pity the worst Indiana Jones film became his temple of impending career doom.

Disappointed Jones-ians scapegoated LaBeouf so fiercely, you’d almost think he nuked the fridge single-handedly. LaBeouf’s subsequent Spielberg disses ran the risk of appearing ungracious. But give him some rope. In an age when many actors still play it safe, at least he’s tried to do something interesting after his CGI movies, when he isn’t faffing about with performance art and goofy motivational speeches. Sure, even Megan Fox ripped him for trying too hard on the Transformers films. But LaBeouf’s hyper-earnest pitch can work if a film merits that commitment. Dick van dufus accent aside, he made complex work of Nymphomaniac’s Jerôme. In the patchy Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, he smartly balanced emotion and cynicism. Although self-harming for tank pic Fury reeked of method-ly self-aggrandisement, he’s so naturally intense in Andrea Arnold’s American Honey you almost don’t notice how layered his performance is. So what if Arnold’s audience isn’t Transformerssized? Perhaps LaBeouf might do better work on the fringes, for directors risky enough to cast him. If he quits the stunts and makes more films there, we’ll soon see if this man’s down. KH

Five Point Fix

1

Make films, not headlines. Making one film a year puts too much stress on it.

2

Drop the perf-art and just-do-it speeches. It was fun for a while, but… OK, it was just daft.

3

Try levity. His earnestness risks looking silly in films that aren’t worth taking seriously.

4

Follow Jake Gyllenhaal’s post-Prince Of Persia example: dodge blockbusters and go leftfield.

5

Or find a director who can mix the meta-nonsense with comedy, drama and auteurism. Is Spike Jonze cooking anything?

SubScribe at www.totalfilm.com/SubS

a l a m y, Il l us t r at Ion b y Gl en br 0G a n

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Shia LaBeouf

Boosting your movie genius to god-like proportions Jude Law asks to check his King Arthur contract…

is it just me…

Or are seething Cgi baddies spOiling blOCkbusters?

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asks Jane Crowther

I

t’s a well-worn adage but it’s true of movie big bads; less is more. A judicious great white fin here, a rationed-out sweep of an imperial cloak there, the build-up to the reveal of a cinematic nemesis can be a delicious, thrilling thing – and shudderingly scary. The physicality of those foes meant they were a tangible, corporeal threat made flesh (or plastic), squaring up to our heroes in the same frame and dimension. They offered audiences a sense of genuine peril and, while the development of CGI allowed for visual augmentation, it didn’t damage our ability to suspend disbelief (The Mummy Returns notwithstanding). And then Hollywood decided that the single-most scary thing for our blockbuster protagonists to face was…

a massive, swirling LED dust storm thing. Yep, what could be more terrifying than facing the inside of a Dyson vacuum that’s overdosed on glitter? A cosmic minestrone soup? A billowing smoke stack of embers like your dad’s just done a particularly shit job with the bonfire on Fireworks Night? Um, quite a lot actually. So now, instead of cranking up nail-biting tension when the baddie arrives in full-on nefarious mode, all we get is computer-generated particle cloud fatigue and an instant gut-punch from fantasy back into reality. Is it any wonder that King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword went down as well as a sodden codpiece with audiences when Jude Law’s campy king stops prowling about in furs and transforms into a stupid billowing Ghost Rider

OffiCe-Ometer

The TF sTaFF verdicT is in!

iT’s jusT you

iT’s noT jusT you

wannabe? Or that Suicide Squad disappointed us after offering the worst of the worst a battle with Incubus, which turned out to be little more than a nebulous black fart? And the piss-poor electromagnetic Doomsday that stunk up Dawn Of Justice even more than Bats and Supes? And a moment, please, for Oscar Isaac trying his best as a glorified sandstorm in X-Men: Apocalypse. Even good tentpoles can’t resist. Fantastic Beasts succumbed when it transformed Credence Barebone into an Obscurus (i.e. the lovechild of angry fog and glow sticks), while Wonder Woman jettisoned her tangible adversary for a levitating cinder flurry. All of which only succeeds in making us tired rather than terrified. Or is it just me? Share your reaction at www.gamesradar. com/totalfilm or on Facebook and Twitter.

last month SHOULD SUPERHERO MOVIES nOw BE MORE LIKE FLASH GORDOn? Martin Costin An absolute classic. Cheesy dialogue, killer (Queen) soundtrack, doesn’t take itself seriously. What more can you ask for?

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Mark Baxter No, it’s cheesy crap. Daniel Parry It’s brilliant. Amazing performances and some of the best lines ever.

VlaD BranCoVan I kinda thought that was Guardians with all the Flash Gordon references.

rené Djarnis The music was great. The movie not so much.

anDrew kershaw I preferred Flesh Gordon!

john sChultze A fun drunk movie.

linColn Curnow Great movie, colourful, superb costumes, killer soundtrack, a cult classic. Most of today’s sci-fi movies are very generic. They all look the same.

August 2017 | ToTal Film

film buff

alamy

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ToTal Film | August 2017

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Boosting your movie genius to god-like proportions

the big shot

Back To The FuTure’s Time jumping

A

s Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) sweatily guns that gull-winged DeLorean up to 88.8mph, his mad scientist bud, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), waits at the Hill Valley clocktower for lightning to strike at 10.04pm and send McFly shuttling through time from 1955 to 1985. As an audience, we know the exact details that need to be correct for this to work, thanks to a previously seeded scene plotting the setup with a scale model. So when the storm downs a tree and yanks the key conductor line apart, we understand that this moment – the very meaning of the film’s title – could go horribly wrong. McFly may not get back to the future if Doc can’t fix things in the seconds he has left. Dangling off the clock hands, Doc rights himself, zip-lines down the cable and struggles to the disconnected plug… Tense and almost real time (Doc tells Marty they have “precisely seven minutes and 22 seconds” to complete the manoeuvre, which then unfolds in eight minutes, seven seconds of screen time), this moment is the only one to feature in all three BTTF films and showcases the talent in front and behind the camera that made the movie such an instant classic. Despite working a punishing night schedule due to star Fox’s daytime contractual obligations on TV show Family Ties (director Robert Zemeckis reckons he shot the movie “half asleep”), magic was created thanks to Fox’s sitcom-honed pep, ILM’s effects and Zemeckis’ propulsive direction and editing. Shot at the clocktower on Courthouse Square on Universal’s backlot (originally built for 1948’s An Act Of Murder and later seen in To Kill A Mockingbird), the scene called for a gale force storm courtesy of an industrial McBride wind machine on a cherry picker while Lloyd provided horrified close-up reaction shots as he dangled off the clock (recalling Harold Lloyd’s famous Safety Last!, which is nodded to in the opening sequence as the camera pans across a Lloyd novelty timepiece). But for the wide shots and hero zip-line, stunt legend and inventor of the stunt crash bag, Bob Yerkes, was called in. “He was always the first guy you’d try to get when you needed someone up high,” recalled co-writer Bob Gale. ILM created practical effects of the flaming tyre tracks (a mix of gas and pyro fluid, daubed on the road by SFX head Kevin Pike) and hand-animated the rotoscoped bolt of lightning post-production to add visual tension. But the pyrotechnics were merely the icing on the cake of a nail-biting crescendo that makes us feel that every second counts – especially as that famous on-screen clock shows us how close we’re getting, second by second. Truly timeless. JC

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60 Second Screenplay

spOILEr ALErT!

TF SAVES YOU A NIGHT OUT EVERY MONTH. THIS ISSUE: wE dIGEST ALIEN: COVENANT… FADE IN: FLASHBACK INT: WHITE ROOM MICHAEL FASSBOT #1 comes online and is immediately asked to debate the meaning of life. 130

GUY PEARCE CAMEO I have created you, an incredibly sophisticated and advanced android. Now make me some tea! MICHAEL FASSBOT #1 If you created me, who created you? GUY PEARCE CAMEO Don’t worry, together we will solve existentialism in this cerebral sequel to… er… I mean prequel to Alien. It’s nothing like Prometheus. Promise. INT: COLONISATION VESSEL COVENANT A random space accident happens, killing JAMES FRANCO CAMEO before anyone realises he was in this film. BILLY CRUDUP I… I’m your Captain n-now. I p-promise to er… inspire… with s-strong and stable leadersh… THE NEW RIPLEY I’m too upset to listen. James Franco was my husband! DANNY MCBRIDE Really? I didn’t know that. Don’t worry, hopefully my casting will mean there’ll be some comic relief soon. There isn’t. Instead they receive an SOS message of a John Denver song despite it being the year 2104. BILLY CRUDUP Hey l-look! That planet is ideal

nexT issue

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for our c-colonisation mission. Let’s go there instead.

MICHAEL FASSBOT #2 Warning! Innuendo levels are high!

THE NEW RIPLEY But we scoped out our other planet for years. We have maps and everything.

MICHAEL FASSBOT #1 You’re a sexy artificial life form. How are you turned on? Fnar!

BILLY CRUDUP Yes, but this planet has John Denver! C’mon! Please? EXT: UNKNOWN PLANET The scouting crew land to investigate. Two anonymous crew members immediately breathe in some black spores. ANONYMOUS CREW MEMBER I’m not feeling so well. I think I have a little bit of an upset tummy. His internal organs explode through his back. An alien emerges, killing two other ANONYMOUS CREW MEMBERS. BILLY CRUDUP Nooo! That was my wife! THE NEW RIPLEY Was it? Which one? Actually, don’t worry. I don’t think it matters. MICHAEL FASSBOT #1 shows up, takes them to a temple filled with bodies, and explains the plot of Prometheus. BILLY CRUDUP I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. He seems nice. INT: CREEPY BEDROOM MICHAEL FASSBOT #1 plays a recorder to some dead, stuffed aliens. MICHAEL FASSBOT #2 enters. MICHAEL FASSBOT #1 Hey, handsome. Wanna play with me? Here, blow my wood.

wE CHIN-wAG wITH THE ‘MOUTH’-IEST MAN IN HOllYwOOd!

THEN GO ON SET OF MARVEl’S lATEST SUPER-TEAM SPECTACUlAR!

Elsewhere, DANNY MCBRIDE finds out that his wife has died. No one knows which one she was. Not even him. INT: SECRET CAVE MICHAEL FASSBOT #1 Oh Captain, why don’t you look at these eggs? That’s it. Closer. BILLY CRUDUP Well, a bunch of my crew have been killed by vicious creatures… but what the hell. You seem nice. He is killed. To relieve sexual tension, MICHAEL FASSBOT #1 and MICHAEL FASSBOT #2 fight until only one emerges. OBVIOUSLY MICHAEL FASSBOT #1 It’s me, don’t worry. I killed the other me. The crazy one. Phew! More aliens appear. They kill them. THE NEW RIPLEY is put back into cryogenic sleep by OBVIOUSLY MICHAEL FASSBOT #1. OBVIOUSLY MICHAEL FASSBOT #1 Pssst. Twist! It’s me! Not your me, the other me. THE NEW RIPLEY Wuh? Nooo! I would call someone for help but I literally don’t know any of their names. FIN NEXT ISSUE: THE MUMMY

PlUS! SUMMER BlOCKBUSTERS REVIEwEd! SPIdEY! MATER!

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