Interviews
Gwyneth Paltrow Interview For ‘Contagion’ – Talks Steven Soderbergh, Matt Damon & More
Sep 9th
‘Contagion’ centres on the threat posed by a rapidly progressing deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. As the virus spreads around the world, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film stars Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Demitri Martin, Sanaa Lathan and Elliott Gould. ‘Contagion’ opens September 9th in the US, and October 21st in the UK.
How was working on this movie with Steven Soderbergh?
Gwyneth Paltrow: It was great. I just got a call that Steven Soderbergh was doing this big ensemble movie and that he wanted me to do a part, and that it was only going to be a few days of shooting, and I was going to go to Hong Kong and Chicago – where my best friend from Junior High School lives, so I thought fantastic, perfect! I had always wanted to work with Steven so it was very exciting for me, he makes great films. All of his films are very very well made, the small ones, the big ones, he’s just a very talented guy. As an actor you’re just drawn to filmmakers like that, someone you can really trust and are incredible at what they do – and he’s one of them. I’d felt very lucky to be apart of this film – I’d basically read the phone book if Steven asked me to, I was thrilled.
Kate Winslet Interview For ‘Contagion’
Sep 8th
Directed by Steven Soderbergh from an original screenplay by Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum,The Informant!), ‘Contagion’ follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart. Alongside Kate Winslet the film stars the likes of Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Ehle, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lawrence Fishbourne, Bryan Cranston, Demitri Martin, Sanaa Lathan and Elliott Gould. ‘Contagion’ opens September 9th in the US, and October 21st in the UK.
This is not a glamorous role in the slightest…..
Kate Winslet: I much prefer those ones (laughs), I prefer playing the less glamorous characters to the more perfectly manicured ones, like, I dunno, April Wheeler in ’Revolutionary Road.’ I really do like playing people who do look like people. I didn’t have hair and makeup, the Epidemic Intelligence Service Officers that I met, because that’s the character that I played, they did say to me that they don’t even own any makeup. They might have to put on some lipstick if they were going to meet government officials, but other than that – no hair done, no make-up, just brushed teeth, washed face, backpack, Dell computer and go. They work tirelessly around the clock until they can find that index patient, that pathogen, to help towards the vaccine.
Johnny Depp & Penelope Cruz DVD/Blu-Ray Interview For ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’
Sep 8th
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,’ the fourth film in the swashbuckling franchise, is released on DVD and Blu-Ray September 12th in the UK, and November 15th in the US. Johnny Depp returns to his iconic role of Captain Jack Sparrow in an action-packed adventure. Crossing paths with the enigmatic Angelica (Penelope Cruz), he’s not sure if it’s love–or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard the “Queen Anne’s Revenge,” the ship of the legendary pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn’t know whom to fear more: Blackbeard or Angelica, with whom he shares a mysterious past. The international cast includes franchise vets Geoffrey Rush as the vengeful Captain Hector Barbossa and Kevin R. McNally as Captain Jack’s longtime comrade Joshamee Gibbs, plus Sam Claflin as a stalwart missionary and Astrid Berges-Frisbey as a mysterious mermaid. Check out what Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz had to say about the film below.
Johnny, you were a lot more hands on with this film, getting involved with the story design.
Johnny Depp: I was certainly touched and honoured that they welcomed me into the fold for that process, from day one. It was a great experience because I had always, on the first three, I had always thrown my bits in, to see where it would go, much to the chagrin of sometimes other cast members (laughs), sometimes the producers (laughs). I think you have to experiment and expand, have a look around. On this one I was able to throw that in early, so it became apart of the script as opposed to me turning up and saying, ’Hey, here are my changes.’ It was very helpful ultimately.
Jack Sparrow is a character you’ve played four times, you must have really developed and bonded with Jack now.
Johnny Depp: It gives me the chance to wear women’s undergarments, which you don’t get every day, so when the chance comes along you should take it (laughs). It’s funny how the films have been accepted, and how the characters have been accepted. You think back to when we first started out on Pirates 1 it was very simple, just like any other character you just grab bits and pieces and out comes this weird little stew you’ve created, so none of us did anything different and then BOOM, what happened, happened. It’s just so much fun to get away with things you’re not normally allowed to get away with, to be totally irreverent, to play as absurd as you like. It’s a very special opportunity.
James Franco Interview For ‘Sal’ – Talks Directing, Hollywood, Sal Mineo, Biopics & More
Sep 8th
The James Franco-directed ‘Sal’ details Sal Mineo’s rise to fame in such films as 1955′s ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ and 1960′s ‘Exodus,’ his conflicted sexuality and friendships with James Dean and Natalie Wood, as well as his 1976 death in West Hollywood after being stabbed by a pizza deliveryman. Franco’s ’Sal’ completed filming earlier this summer following an accelerated nine-day shooting schedule, Val Lauren portrays the late actor. ’Sal’ is adapted from Michael Gregg Michaud’s acclaimed 2010 biography ‘Sal Mineo.’ Check out what James Franco had to say below.
You’ve described ’Sal’ as not a factual biography, but an emotional biography, can you elaborate on that? Also why did you concentrate on this latter part of Sal Mineo’s life?
James Franco: I’ve done biopics before, I played James Dean, the American poet Alan Ginsberg, the story about Aron Ralston, I was apart of a film about Harvey Milk – they kind of covered real peoples lives in different ways. The James Dean thing, I guess that was more of a traditional biopic, Alan Ginsberg, not so conventional but it did cover a certain period of his life and covered keys moments of his life. Aron Ralstan’s kind of covered the big event of his life. I enjoyed the ones more, I guess as a filmmaker, when they took an unusual approach to a persons life story, they had some unique way into that person – I was less interested in giving a history lesson. I think with the technology we have today, it allows you to look up facts about practically anything in two minutes. So I felt like we didn’t need to tell all the beats of Sal’s life. What we could do as a movie was deliver the emotional side of him, that’s maybe something you can’t get from Wikipedia, that’s something you can only get from a performer. We sought a way to give an emotional impression of who Sal was, and to capture his spirit rather than just tell you all the major things of his life.
Gary McKendry Interview For ‘Killer Elite’ – Talks Jason Statham, Robert De Niro & Clive Owen
Sep 7th
Inspired by true events, ‘Killer Elite’ is an action adventure spy film following Danny (Jason Statham), one of the world’s most skilled special-ops agents. Lured out of self-imposed exile to execute a near-impossible feat of retribution and personal salvation, Danny reassembles his old team of operatives to help rescue his former mentor (Robert De Niro), and to penetrate the highly feared and respected military unit, the British Special Air Service (SAS). Facing off against a covert group of ex-SAS soldiers known as “The Feather Men,” who, under their leader Spike (Clive Owen), provide a deadly cloak of security around all SAS members, Danny and his team must take down a rogue cell of solider assassins before their actions result in a global political meltdown. Accompanying Jason Statham, Robert De Niro and Clive Owen includes Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Ben Mendelsohn, Lachy Hulme, Firass Dirani, Grant Bowler and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. ‘Killer Elite’ is set for release September 23rd. Check out what Gary McKendry had to say about his directional debut and the films three lead stars.
How was it directing yourfirst feature film in ‘Killer Elite’?
Gary McKendry: It’s fantastic, it’s terrifying, it’s exhilarating, it’s frustrating, i it’s wonderful – it has been a great ride, but it has been a crazy ride. When we first started out to make this film, I never would have thought….if you would have told me, ‘Oh hey, here’s your first picture, you’ve got Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro. How do you feel about that?’ I would have laughed in your face, but here we are (laughs).
Jennifer Morrison Interview For ‘Warrior’
Sep 7th
An ex-Marine haunted by a tragic past, Tommy Riordan (Tom Hardy) returns to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlists his father (Nick Nolte), a recovered alcoholic and his former coach, to train him for an MMA tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport. As Tommy blazes a violent path towards the title prize, his brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton), a former MMA fighter unable to make ends meet as a public school teacher, returns to the amateur ring to provide for his wife Tess (Jennifer Morrison) and family. Even though years have passed, recriminations and past betrayals keep Brendan bitterly estranged from both Tommy and his father. ‘Warrior’ opens September 9th in the US, and September 23rd in the UK. Check out what Jennifer Morrison had to say about the film below.
This film will resonate with a lot of people, especially the family dynamics.
Jennifer Morrison: Yeah. Gavin O’Connor the director, Anthony Tambakis the writer, Joel Edgerton who’s playing Brendan, and I, we all sat down and talked initially, we had long hours of meeting over stuff. Trying to figure out that we really made sure that we were representing something that was going on in America right now. A lot of that involved making sure we covered every angle of possibility, there was a lot of, ‘How do we show how stuck some people really are?’ A lot of times, for the most part, it’s beyond peoples reach to do much about it. We really focused that.