Interviews
Alison Brie Interview For ‘The Five-Year Engagement’
Apr 21st
The director and writer/star of ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ re-team for the irreverent comedy ‘The Five-Year Engagement.’ Beginning where most romantic comedies end, the new film from director Nicholas Stoller, producer Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Rodney Rothman (Get Him to the Greek) looks at what happens when an engaged couple, Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, keeps getting tripped up on the long walk down the aisle. ‘The Five-Year Engagement’ co-stars Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Rhys Ifans, David Paymer, Mimi Kennedy, Jacki Weaver, Brian Posehn, and Mindy Kaling. Look out for the film in cinemas April 27th in the US and June 22nd in the UK.
How did you get involved with ‘The Five-Year Engagement’? You got to showcase your British accent.
Alison Brie: Oh yeah! They called me up and asked me if I wanted to do a table read for the project. Then I got a frantic call a day later from my agent saying, “Wait a minute! Can you do a British accent? Because they need you to do one for the read.” Luckily, the amazing thing was that for some reason, two months prior to getting this phone call to get this table read, I had bought a British accent CD and had been working on it in my car on the way to ‘Community’ everyday.…randomly! I was sort of like, “A British accent would be a good thing to have up my sleeve?” It was totally random (laughs)! So when they called me I was like, “As a matter of fact….I can.”
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige Interview For ‘The Avengers’
Apr 21st
As Marvel Studios Production President, Kevin Feige has played an instrumental role in bringing ‘The Avengers’ to big screen, continuing the epic big-screen adventures started in ‘Iron Man,‘ ‘The Incredible Hulk,‘ ‘Iron Man 2,’ ‘Thor,’ and ‘Captain America: The First Avenger.’ Feige has previously played an instrumental role in a number of blockbuster feature films adapted from the pages of Marvel comic books, including the hugely successful ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘X-Men’ trilogies. In his current role as producer and President of Marvel Studios, Feige oversees all creative aspects of the company’s feature film and home entertainment activities.
Directed by Joss Whedon, ‘The Avengers’ (‘Avengers Assemble’ in the UK) stars Chris Evans (Captain America/Steve Rogers), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye/Clint Barton), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk), Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man/Tony Stark), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), and Tom Hiddleston (Loki). Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, and Stellen Skarsgard co-star. ‘The Avengers’ is released in cinemas April 26th in the UK and May 4th in the US.
The idea for ‘The Avengers’ first came about during the production of ‘Iron Man’ right, with the idea that S.H.I.E.L.D. could be part of both that movie and ‘The Incredible Hulk’?
Kevin Feige: Well, we started looking at the list of characters in the Marvel Universe that hadn’t been taken by other studios….which were the likes of Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye and Black Widow. And I thought, “Isn’t that interesting, all of these characters happen to form one of the most popular comic book series – The Avengers!” (Laughs) So, when the idea of a Nick Fury cameo started coming up during the production of ‘Iron Man,’ we called Samuel L. Jackson and he thought it was a great idea, he came onboard. It was his enthusiasm about it that led us to shoot that end credit scene. And what he says to Tony Stark in the scene, “You’re part of a bigger universe, you just don’t know it yet.” The line was also Marvel telling that to the audience as well, informing the audience.
Jeremy Renner Interview For Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’
Apr 20th
Marvel’s ‘The Avengers,’ the Superhero team-up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Superheroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.
Directed by Joss Whedon, ‘The Avengers’ (‘Avengers Assemble’ in the UK) stars Chris Evans (Captain America/Steve Rogers), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye/Clint Barton), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk), Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man/Tony Stark), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), and Tom Hiddleston (Loki). Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, and Stellen Skarsgard co-star. ‘The Avengers’ is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series of the same name. Look out for the film in cinemas April 26th in the UK and May 4th in the US. Expect to see a more in-depth interview with Jeremy Renner and the rest of the cast next week.
What was your knowledge of The Avengers before you got onboard to play Hawkeye/Clint Barton?
Jeremy Renner: I was vaguely familiar with Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the bigger ones, but I was never really into comics to be honest. Whatever made it to cartoon I probably watched it. I was a bit unfamiliar, which I thought was a benefit for me because I had no preconceived ideas about anything. And then when I went to meet the Marvel President, Kevin Feige, about the idea, about Hawkeye. He was showing me images, they were images of Hawkeye from ‘The Ultimates.’ That really got me interested, the vision they had, this highly skilled, lone wolf sort of guy.
Zac Efron Interview For The Film Adaptation Of Nicholas Sparks’ ‘The Lucky One’
Apr 19th
US Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault (Zac Efron) returns from his third tour of duty in Iraq, with the one thing he credits with keeping him alive – a photograph he found of a woman he doesn’t even know. Learning her name is Beth (Taylor Schilling) and where she lives, he shows up at her door, and ends up taking a job at her family-run local kennel. Despite her initial mistrust and the complications in her life, a romance develops between them, giving Logan hope that Beth could be much more than his good luck charm. ‘The Lucky One’ hits cinemas April 20th in the US and May 4th in the UK. Adapted from the book of the same name by Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, Dear John), ‘The Lucky One’ stars Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner, Adam LeFevre, Sharon Morris, Joe Chrest, Riley Thomas Stewart, Courtney J. Clark, and Jillian Batherson.
I can imagine you trained pretty intensely both physically and mentally to play Logan?
Zac Efron: Yeah. I was very nervous when I first read the script for ‘The Lucky One,’ because I really liked Logan, I saw such integrity in him. I saw that this is a guy who does what’s right, regardless of how hard it may be. He takes the harder road a lot of the time, and he does what’s right. I really enjoyed that integrity that he had. There was a lot that comes with playing a Marine, a lot of preparation. I wanted to make sure that I was prepared, I had a lot of help, I was able to work with a lot of Marine’s. They showed me what’s what pretty quick (laughs).
Joss Whedon Interview For Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’
Apr 18th
Continuing the epic big-screen adventures started in ‘Iron Man,‘ ‘The Incredible Hulk,‘ ‘Iron Man 2,’ ‘Thor,’ and ‘Captain America: The First Avenger,’ Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’ is the super hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel super heroes Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Directed by Joss Whedon, ‘The Avengers’ (‘Avengers Assemble’ in the UK) stars Chris Evans (Captain America/Steve Rogers), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye/Clint Barton), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk), Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man/Tony Stark), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), and Tom Hiddleston (Loki). Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, and Stellen Skarsgard co-star. ‘The Avengers’ is released in cinemas April 26th in the UK and May 4th in the US.
With what Marvel had done in the previous movies, what was your through-line into ‘The Avengers’?
Joss Whedon: What they had done in the movies before, it was obviously extremely informative, useful and fun. But at that point ‘Thor’ and ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ weren’t even close to being finished, and there’s this element of, “OK, you have all these parts, but how can you possibly bring them together?” They don’t seem to co-exist, these characters, that was untimely what made me go, “This can be done, and this should be done. These people don‘t belong together, these people wouldn’t get along.” As soon as that came into focus I realised I had something to say about these people.
Noomi Rapace & Charlize Theron Interview For Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus’
Apr 18th
In the distant future, two superpowers control Earth and fight each other for all the solar system’s natural resources. When one side dispatches a team to a distant planet to terraform it for human colonization, the team discovers an indigenous race of bio-mechanoid killers. Ridley Scott, director of ‘Alien’ and ‘Blade Runner,’ returns to the genre he helped define. With ‘Prometheus,’ he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. ‘Prometheus’ features a stellar cast in Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Rafe Spall, Logan Marshall-Green, and Guy Pearce. Look out for ‘Prometheus’ in cinemas June 1st in the UK and June 8th in the US.
There seems to be a lot of mistrust and mystery onboard the Prometheus spaceship….
Charlize Theron: Yes, if we told you why, we’d have to kill you (laughs). There’s definitely a mystery, an uneasiness, we don’t really know each other. I play a character, Meredith Vickers, who works for the company that has sent out this spaceship into this mission. I think the environment and the circumstance lends itself to mystery. For myself, for my character, I felt like Ridley Scott really celebrated that. All of these little things started to happen where he’d bring me in on days that I wasn’t on the call sheet. I’d be like, “What am I doing here,” he’d say, “I want you to stand in the corner and lurk.” (Laughs) But I think for my character definitely, and all of the characters, towards the end of the film, there’s somewhat of a more personal connection to this journey that they’re taking, that you might not have seen in the first or the second act.