Posts tagged drive
Carey Mulligan Interview For ‘Drive’ – Also Talks ‘The Great Gatsby’ & ‘Shame’
Sep 29th
London-born English actress Carey Mulligan came to international prominence on the back of her Academy Award-nominated turn in Lone Scherfig’s ‘An Education,’ a role for which she earned Best Actress awards from the National Board of Review, the British Independent Film Awards and BAFTA. She recently starred in Mark Romanek’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘Never Let Me Go,’ with Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield, and also in Oliver Stone’s ‘Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps,’ playing the daughter of Michael Douglas’s iconic character. She also starred as Kitty in Jane Austen’s ‘Price and Prejudice.’ Additional films include ‘Public Enemies,’ ‘The Greatest,’ ‘Brothers,’ and ‘When Did You Last See Your Father.’ In Drive, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, Valhalla Rising), she plays Irene, a woman whose life is coloured by two different relationships with two different men…
Why do Irene and Driver connect?
Carey Mulligan: The thing with Irene and Driver was a kind of a communion. They both have these very lonely existences, he especially, and she is just struggling along and they found each other kind of peaceful. There is something not real about it. I think maybe they both know that. It is a sort of fairytale what they had. Then it is over and she is back to real life. I think it was different in that sense. She is slightly taken out of herself and I don’t know that they could function like that forever. One of my favourite scenes is driving down the river basin; it is all a bit heightened and the reality is slightly different. It is two different worlds really. Oscar and Standard, his character, are from the real world, and Ryan/Driver seem like they’re from this slightly fairytale land.
In-Depth Interview With Nicolas Winding Refn For ‘Drive’
Sep 28th
Nicolas Winding Refn exploded into the world of international cinema with his 1996 film ‘Pusher,’ starring Kim Bodnia as a small-time drug dealer whose life is spiralling out of control. The more experimental drama ‘Bleeder’ followed, and in 2003 Refn made his English-language debut with the hallucinatory thriller ‘Fear X.’ Shot in Canada and co-scripted by cult writer Hubert Selby Jr, the film starred John Turturro as a man looking for his wife, who has gone missing in mysterious circumstances. The film was a critical success but a resounding box-office failure. As a result, Refn committed to making two ‘Pusher’ sequels in a bid to reverse his company’s ailing fortunes.
After directing several episodes of the UK TV show ‘Miss Marple,’ Refn went on to make two of his most ambitious and financially successful films to date. ‘Bronson’ (2008) starred Tom Hardy as Charles Bronson in the real-life story of a petty crook who became notorious in Britain during the 1970s as the prison system’s most violent inmate. The following year Refn re-teamed with his ‘Pusher’ and ‘Pusher 2’ star Mads Mikkelsen for his psychedelic, surreal Viking adventure ‘Valhalla Rising.’ ‘Drive’ marks his first Hollywood venture, starring Ryan Gosling as The Driver, a nameless drifter who works as a film industry stuntman by day and moonlights as a getaway driver by night. ‘Drive’ is out in cinemas now.
You’re mostly known for the Pusher movies, but ‘Drive’ is very reminiscent of one of your more obscure movies, ‘Fear X.’ Would you agree with that?
Nicolas Winding Refn: It is. You can say that the first wave of my filmmaking goes from ‘Pusher’ to ‘Fear X,’ with ‘Bleeder’ in-between. ‘Bleeder’ is probably my most interesting film, just because it’s the first film where I tried not to make a conventional genre movie but still work with genre elements.
The love story in ‘Drive’ is very similar to the romance in ‘Bleeder‘…
Nicolas Winding Refn: Yes. My mother said that. She said, “This is like ‘Bleeder’ in Hollywood.” (Laughs) Now, ‘Bleeder’ is not in any way a perfect film, but there are parallels, and there are things in it that I was able to fulfil much more strongly in ‘Drive.’ But going from ‘Pusher’ to ‘Fear X,’ that was my meltdown, both creatively, financially and everything, so I had to reinvent myself. And the Pusher Trilogy – by which I mean Pusher 2 and 3 – was basically me going back and starting from scratch in exactly the same pattern. I did Pusher 2 and 3 then I went off and did ‘Bronson,’ which is a genre film that is more theatrical in its language. Then I did ‘Valhalla Rising,’ which is very similar to ‘Fear X,’ in that it’s a trip movie. And this movie, ‘Drive’ is almost like the combination of everything before it. But this time it’s with a Hollywood movie star, in the heart of capitalistic filmmaking.
In-Depth Interview With Ryan Gosling For ‘Drive’
Sep 28th
Ryan Gosling rose to fame with the 2001 Sundance hit ‘The Believer,’ which told the searing story of a violent, anti-semitic neo-Nazi thug who hides a shocking secret from his friends: he is Jewish. The film established Gosling as a fearless and meticulous actor ready to embrace the most difficult projects, although his starring role in the acclaimed 2004 tragi-drama ‘The Notebook’ revealed his softer side. Though that film was a modest mainstream hit, Gosling has since chosen to concentrate on smaller, more character-based movies, most notably ‘Half Nelson’ (2006), which brought him an Academy Award nomination as an urban schoolteacher with serious drug and alcohol issues.
After ‘Lars And The Real Girl’ (2007), a bittersweet comedy in which he played a lonely man who has a relationship with an inflatable doll, Gosling gave what was arguably the keynote performance of his career to date in Derek Cianfrance’s extraordinary ‘Blue Valentine,’ which charted the marriage of a young blue-collar couple. In the violent, electronic-music scored retro thriller ‘Drive’ – directed by Danish-born Nicolas Winding Refn – Gosling plays a nameless drifter who works as a stuntman by day and moonlights as a getaway driver by night. The driver keeps himself to himself, until his love for his pretty neighbour Irene and her young son leads him to abandon his usual caution and recklessly put his life on the line. ‘Drive’ is out in cinemas now.
A lot of people might be expecting car chases and spectacular crashes in a film called ‘Drive,’ but that’s not necessarily the case here…
Ryan Gosling: Yeah, there’s all kinds of different forms of driving. But more than anything, it’s just being in the car. My favourite part of the movie is that sound you hear as the cars are going by.
The film has the feel of a certain era, specifically the ’80s…
Ryan Gosling: We watched a lot of movies together. The beauty of Nic is that he wants the film to mirror the experience of making the film. He never wants it to stop, he never wants to go home and he never wants it to end. So you shoot all day, you go to his place, the editing room’s in the house, and you cut all night. And when Matt wants to go home, you get in the car, you take a drive, listen to some music, maybe watch a movie… Everything just feeds each other, until eventually, I think, the film is the essence of what the experience of making it was like. But as regards the era, we talked a lot about John Hughes, and how much we wished that ‘Pretty In Pink’ was violent. Because if it was violent it would be everything. It would have it all. (Laughs) Seeing what we’ve made, it makes sense now. But at the time we really didn’t know.
Ryan Gosling Interview For ‘Drive’
Sep 14th
Driver (Ryan Gosling) is a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene, a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard. After a heist intended to pay off Standard’s protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals. But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk – that they’re coming straight for Irene and her son – Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offense. Starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, and Albert Brooks, ‘Drive’ is set for release September 16th in the US, and September 23rd in the UK. Check out what Ryam Gosling had to say about the film below.
Was it significant that he’s only called Driver and has no name?
Ryan Gosling: Well, we wanted the film to feel like a fairy tale, and Los Angeles is, in a way, fairy tale land, based and built on fantasy. And that the only way this movie was really going to resonate on a deep level for the audience, if you weren’t from Los Angeles, is if we dug into the mythology of these characters’ story. So we started to treat the Driver as a knight and Irene as a princess locked in the tower. Bernie Rose as an evil wizard and Ron Perlman as the dragon that needs to be slain.
Six Character Banners For Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘Drive’
Aug 30th
IMPAwards have unveiled these six character banners for Nicolas Winding Refn‘s mesmerising thriller ‘Drive.’ Starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, and Albert Brooks, ‘Drive’ is currently my favourite film of 2011 – it’s absolutely fantastic! The story of follows a Hollywood stunt driver (Ryan Gosling) who moonlights as a getaway driver. The film is set for release in cinemas September 16th in the US, and September 23rd in the UK. Check out my interview with Ryan Gosling for the film here.
Driver (RYAN GOSLING) is a stunt driver by day and a getaway driver by night. Doesn’t matter what job he does, Driver is most comfortable behind the wheel of a car. Shannon (BRYAN CRANSTON) is part mentor, part manager for Driver. Since he knows what a great talent Driver is behind the wheel, he either peddles him to film and television directors in the entertainment business or thieves who need an accomplished getaway driver, taking a cut for his own pockets. Always looking to make a buck, Shannon’s current plan is funding a stock car that Driver can race on the professional circuit. Since Bernie Rose (ALBERT BROOKS) is the wealthiest guy he knows, even if the sources of his money are questionable, Shannon proposes he be their investor.
