Martin Scorsese nestles himself comfortably in my top 5 directors of all time, which coming from a guy who changes his minds on these sort of things constantly means a lot! One thing I am sure of is that he’s one half of my greatest Director/Actor tandem in the history of cinema alongside Robert De Niro (Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood and Akira Kurosawa/Toshiro Mifune aren’t too far behind). Now after a couple months delay his latest film, Shutter Island is finally being released in the UK March 12^th. Personally I loved the film, with someone like Scorsese or anyone in the upper echelons of their respected profession, you know they fully deserve that spot when people continually compare and even review their latest works not on the merits of that particular field as a whole but against their previous work, which pitting up against Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The Departed, Goodfellas and Casino is seemingly an impossible task! Shutter Island is in UK cinemas Friday, look out for my Leonardo DiCaprio interview as well.

What was more appealing to you with Shutter Island, the emotional and psychological subject matter or to mix up genres with the gothic mystery, horror aspects…?

Martin Scorsese: I think it’s really both in that order, the first element I connected with was the emotion, I felt very sympathetic for the characters, overwhelmed by the nature of the story, this film is hard to talk about because I don’t want to give anything away. It’s that and the vocabulary of cinemas past and the nature of Gothic literature, that opened the door for me in a way and was really enticing. The best way for me to tell the story was to utilize that vocabulary, the rain, the darkness, the framing all those sorts of things.

With your reputation as one of the greatest living directors how much pressure do you feel having those expectations?

Martin Scorsese: All I can do is the best work that I can. I need to work, I like to work, even though I complain about it, I just need to make the best film I can. I can’t think of award periods, it would be nice that a film is recognised like that but once your in the thick of battle you just try to get through it and make something of it that you can say yes I directed that film years from now and be happy with that film, you just try your best. Sometimes you go in with one thought in mind and one desire, in the case of Aviator it was to make this Hollywood spectacle, but quickly by the second or third week of shooting you just want to survive it (laughs), literally you just want to survive it. I also go through the editing process too, then when the films released we have to talk about it, so it’s all of that.

What other films influenced you with Shutter Island? How much of an influence was Sam Fuller’s Shock Corridor on this film?

Martin Scorsese: Sam Fuller’s Shock Corridor can only be conjured as a mantra because Sam’s Shock Corridor is a classic work of art. It comes from a unique experience of being Sam Fuller, yes there is this element of Shock Corridor hovering around the picture but never specifically. In fact we didn’t even screen it because it’s in me, it was a way of conjuring it up by saying it as we were going to shoot (laughs). But the first film I showed the actors was Laura by Otto Preminger in the sense of the war torn, war ravaged hero, world weariness so to the speak, the body language of Dana Andrews and the man who falls in love with a ghost. Then I showed Out Of The Past by Jacques Tourneur because of the trap, the puzzle, the mystery, the beauty of the poetry in the film. I also showed Let There Be Light by John Hustun, The Steel Helmet, many others as points of reference, primarily Laura though for the way Dana Andrews moved through the frame, shoulders were down, he never looked anyone in the eye and that wonderful scene when he loosens his tie and makes him self a drink and the door bell rings (laughs)

The film is unsettling right from the start with this menacing tone running through it, obviously the score is key to that, how complete is your vision of the film before you start shooting and how much do you rely upon the impact of others?

Martin Scorsese: The mood and tone of the picture and the atmosphere was in my head and in my blood in a way once I decided I wanted to do the picture, I had to find my way in that mood to choose, select and emphasize certain visual elements and sound. Ultimately that’s when I call in my collaborators, Robert Richardson on camera and Dante Ferretti on production design. Then I show them references, many different films, there might be just one scene I want to discuss with them but at least they can have reference points. It’s a constant process of pulling together the imagery, I was rather shaken by all the green trees, I’m allergic, I used to love seeing westerns and seeing the out doors but because I had asthma I couldn’t go any where, I could just watch it on film, the valleys, forests, I used to think it was fantastic but I couldn’t ever go in there (laughs). But we did it in this film, I was actually rock climbing at 7am which was quite unique but back to my point the colour of the leaves disturbed me so we had to work on that but on the other hand we didn’t want to drench it in a depressing tone. For me the key image is the boat coming through the fog in the beginning, it was something I imagined and liked, it was interesting breaking through the mystery, where is he, who is he, there’s a lot of good questions with that shot. Robert Richardson and Dante were remarkable as was Rob Legato on special visual effects, Robbie Robertson with the film score and Thelma Schoonmaker with editing.

It’s finally the big night in the film calender, the 82^nd Oscars are just a couple hours away. For me the Oscars are always pretty unpredictable, or it just might mean I’m crap at predictions(I think the latter). I blieve the only certainty’s will be Jeff Bridges winning Best Actor, Christophe Waltz winning Best Supporting Actor and Up winning Best Animated Film but you never know. Check out my doomed predictions below and a host of interview’s from some of the nominees.

• Best Film: The Hurt Locker

• Best Director: Quintin Tarantino

• Best Actor: Jeff Bridges

• Best Actress: Carey Mulligan

• Best Suporting Actor: Christophe Waltz

• Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique

• Best Original Screenplay:The Hurt Locker by Mark Boal

• Best Adapted Screenplay: Up In The Air by Jason Reitman

• Best Animated Feature: Up

• Best Foreign Language Film: Un Prophete

Carey Mulligan Interview

‘I have googled myself but it’s horrible because you read one thing and think that’s very nice, then you read the next thing and think that’s horrible, so I thought I wont do that anymore. I hadn’t been to a film festival before Sundance and I had never been a lead in a film, when it got picked up that was huge and everything since then has been huge, it’s afforded me opportunity’s I would have never had in the past that I’ve managed to play this year, that’s amazing. The number one thing is the work though everything positive added on is great.’

Colin Firth Interview

‘When I read the script there was a lot of space to be filled in, there was a lot of stuff without words, but once we were doing it it seemed terribly clear what each moment should be about really. Tom didn’t really need to fling instructions around. I could tell by the room that we were filming in what the mood was, I could see what was on the page. I could tell something by what I was wearing. People comment on the visual beauty of it, I didn’t really notice it as beautiful particularly , it just seemed to be an inevitable part of this world really.’

Gabby Sidibe Interview

‘I tend to disappear when I am acting as Precious. I am blank, completely, I am just feeling every emotion as Precious would feel it and how she should feel it. I leave my body and I take on this character. It is such a weird thing to describe because at first you do a certain amount of takes for every scene, sometimes more than others and for each time it is all brand new information and it a real revelation. It never grows cold or dead to me.’

Lee Daniels Interview

‘I knew these people when I was a kid. I knew these people as an adult. I know these people now. As a 50-year-old man, there are Precious, there are Marys. These are real life people to me. Everybody in that movie is someone that I have known. And I find it surprising that people don’t know them. I know that if you live in New York City there is no way you don’t see Precious.’

Avatar Interview (James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington)

‘I just swept in every design influence I’ve had in my life, I’ve always had a deep respect for nature, a lot of my youth was spent out in the woods, hiking and collecting samples and putting it under microscopes and them types of things, I’ve spent over 2500 hours under water and I’ve seen things that are absolutely astonishing at the bottom of the ocean which really is like an alien planet. I’ve always felt that’s been a gift in my life to live out a science fiction adventure for real on them diving expeditions, the ocean was a big influence, the creatures, the textures, the colourful creatures..’

Clint Eastwood, Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman Interview

‘I take Clint as my favourite director to work with because I respond very well to the one or two take director, he’s the most consistent in that area. Directors who as Clint said that need seventeen takes, I don’t think they know what they want, it certainly doesn’t help the actors sense or security when he has to keep going over and over things and you don’t know why, you think what am I doing, what do you want.’

Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick Interview

‘I don’t actually remember what was in the script other than she just starts crying, I knew that some of the scenes are in some ways really heart breaking and there’s a desire to play it that way but I knew it was supposed to be funny, but that it couldn’t be funny for me . It was a long day of trying different noises (laughs), it was kinda of brutal because all day I was so upset, Jason would demonstrate sometimes because he knew I was running out of juice. We had to get something that was not funny to me but hopefully to other people.’

Jason Reitman Interview

‘It’s easier for me to write, when I know who I’m writing it for, that’s often how I identify with the character. I had met Vera before and seeing many of her films I knew that there were things she was able to do that no other actress was capable of doing, she’s able to walk that very fine line of being aggressive but feminine at the same time, that was the reason I was able to write her character the way I did. When I saw Anna in Rocket Science I knew the sparkly brilliance of her mind and how fast she is, because of that I was able to write her character the way I did. If your gonna make a movie about a guy whofires people for a living, but you still want him to be likeable, that actor better be charming (laughs). I don’t think there’s a more charming actor alive thanGeorge Clooney, I was very lucky he said yes.’

Jacques Audiard Interview (Director of A Prophet)

‘The film does have fantastical moments but it’s not because of an intention to be mystical. Reyeb’s ghost comes from the scriptwriters as a way of helping us into the possibilities, a way of to passing into a level of imagination that helps us free what has already been told. It’s also thanks to him that we also invoke the ideas of Sufism and the Dervishes and allows the screenplay to take on anotherdimension.’

Up In The Air sits itself comfortably in my list of favourite films of the last year, it’s been showered with awards gaining eight Broadcast Film Critics Association, six Golden Globe nominations , three Screen Actors Guild nominations, six BAFTA nominations and six Academy Award nominations including Best Supporting Actress nominations for both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. Check out my interview with the both of them below.

From Jason Reitman, the Oscar nominated director of ‘Juno,’ comes ‘Up in the Air,’ the timely odyssey of Ryan Bingham (Oscar winner George Clooney), a corporate downsizer and consummate modern business traveller who, after years of staying happily airborne, suddenly finds himself ready to make a real connection. Ryan has long been contented with his unencumbered lifestyle lived out across America in airports, hotels and rental cars. He can carry all he needs in one wheel-away case; he’s a pampered, elite member of every travel loyalty program in existence; and he’s close to attaining his lifetime goal of 10 million frequent flier miles– and yet…Ryan has nothing real to hold onto.

When he falls for a simpatico fellow traveler (Vera Farmiga), Ryan’s boss (Jason Bateman), inspired by a young, upstart efficiency expert (Anna Kendrick), threatens to permanently call him in from the road. Faced with the prospect, at once terrifying and exhilarating, of being grounded, Ryan begins to contemplate what it might actually mean to have a home.

The script has been nominated for nearly every award going, how did you assess your character when you first read them?

Vera Farmiga: I didn’t have the luxury of reading the script and knowing what happens in the end so I had some preconceived ideas. It was challenging to play a woman who is very much like a man and often it was a fine line to tread, to have the softness and yet be forceful unapologetically and make demands you usually see men make in scripts, I really like the male perspective on heartbreak which I hadn’t read much of before.

Your character is a bit more explained, what made her appealing?

Anna Kendrick: Well first off it’s a rare thing that you have this girl who’s so intelligent and complicated and her character does not revolve around a romantic storyline, that was fascinating in itself for me, it just doesn’t happen, you don’t read scripts like that. In real life I’m usually pretty timid so I guess I’m excited to play someone who tells people off and to tell off George Clooney was pretty awesome (laughs).

One of my favourite scenes in the film is when you go to pieces in the airport after you get the message from your boyfriend, how did you prepare for that?

Anna Kendrick: I don’t actually remember what was in the script other than she just starts crying, I knew that some of the scenes are in some ways really heart breaking and there’s a desire to play it that way but I knew it was supposed to be funny, but that it couldn’t be funny for me . It was a long day of trying different noises (laughs), it was kinda of brutal because all day I was so upset, Jason would demonstrate sometimes because he knew I was running out of juice. We had to get something that was not funny to me but hopefully to other people.

What was it like shooting in actual public places like the airports?

Anna Kendrick: At times it was a little uncomfortable, when I had that little wobbly it was in a hotel lobby that we sort of shut down, there weren’t that many looky loo’s but there was still this space and even though the people were extras and apart of the film, you don’t know them so it was sort of embarrassing, I think on that particular day it was less about the people and more about the space.

Vera Farmiga: For me it most often controlled or closed sets, for me what I found most interesting was the fanaticism for George Clooney, that was overwhelming, it was so odd, for me no one ever knows who I am, they probably think I’m a producer, but watching George just opening a door and seeing a standing ovation that goes blocks and blocks from him just peaking his head out. He’s so gallant and gracious with it, I didn’t find it very difficult though working in public places, I think its more difficult for the crew than the actors.

Your character has her views on love and life challenged in this film, how did you find that? Especially with someone like George Clooney trying to bring you over to the lone wolf side of things.

Anna Kendrick: My character had very specific ideas with what she wants and what she expects, I don’t have many of them same ideas, I know that there are things in life I want that I won’t get and refuse to except just yet, but her views on love are not my views on love.

You’ve gone from playing a small role in Twilight to play a big role in this, how did you feel when you got this role?

Anna Kendrick: I was shocked beyond belief, I thought Jason hated me, my audition was very strange, I think Jason was trying to sike me out by not showing any enthusiasm, but when I got the job I was so shocked, I thought he’s just like that, he’s gonna be a tyrant on set, but he’s very very nice, I was very surprised, thrilled beyond words. I didn’t really really think George was doing it, I thought that would be too good to be true, for a script to be this good and working with George Clooney I just thought it was rumoured.

Bill Murray cracks me up, he’s so honest it comes across that he doesn’t give a sh*t, I really get the feeling he just wants to play golf, drink and do a film every now and then when he feels like it, I can respect that. From this recent interview with David Letterman he gives a an insight into his thoughts on a 3^rd Ghostbusters movie, it doesn’t sound good for the people looking forward to this. He says the idea of making a 3^rd movie is ‘just crazy talk’ and his ‘nightmare’ and also that he told the producers he would only do it ‘if they kill me off in the first reel I’ll do it, so now they’ve figured out a way to kill me off in the first reel’. One positive from a fan point of view is that he says making the video game was a lot fun. Enough of me writing about it, check it out for yourself below, he tells a pretty funny story at the end. I still think we’ll see a new Ghostbusters film late 2011 or 2012 for some reason.

Below is my interview with Amanda Seyfried for the film ‘Chloe’ which is Directed by Atom Egoyan (great name) and also stars Liam Neeson (all around legend) and Julianne Moore (red head legend). Amanda plays the titular character an irresistible and alluring young woman who Julianne Moore’s character Catherine hires to see if her suspicions of her husbands (Liam Neeson) infidelity is in fact reality. Chloe’s seductive behaviour begins to obsess Catherine and events take an unpredictable turn with potentially fatal consequences for her family. Amongst a great cast Amanda’s performance was definitely the highlight of the film for me. Check out my interview with Julianne Moore here

What got you interested in the film?

Amanda Seyfried: Well I’m gonna say the challenge because I’m pretty young in my career and I haven’t had many opportunity’s to spread my wings, this is a pretty extraordinary role that I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t resist the challenge. Also working with Atom (director) was another selling point.

Did you find it difficult to relate to someone quite different to yourself?

Amanda Seyfried:Yeah, its funny because at first it was very hard to relate to her until I started taking in and absorbing what Atom was describing to me, we spoke at great lengths about Chloe and how she was dealing with different moments in film, it was so extensive. I felt overwhelmed at times with all the information, but I was able to absorb it all to a point I could really connect to her and fall in love with her, I really did like her. It was challenging, this character is so inconsistent throughout the movie it’s almost like I’m playing so many different characters in one, it was great playing that.

What was it like working with Julianne?

Amanda Seyfried: Working with Julianne was amazing, I’ve had the fortune to work with a few ridiculously talented actresses who’s work I have seen and obviously it doesn’t feel real sometimes. I learnt a lot though, she was great. It was the first time I’ve worked on a film working with someone like Julianne and I was really respected, I was treated like a pear, it was the first time, it was the best feeling in the world to feel like a equal.

How did you find doing the more intimate scenes?

Amanda Seyfried: It’s very technical when you have to do something physically intimate, so that’s what it was, Atom showed us exactly what he had in mind to make it as easy as possible and we just laughed, there were a lot of jokes (laughs).

Chloe is in cinemas the 5^th of March.

I love your intelligent, profound movies more than anyone, yet I also love to sit back with a heap of Popcorn, a Pepsi Max, small tub of Ben & Jerry’s Ice-cream and watch a good fun movie, Zombieland fit that bill perfectly, I loved it! The screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick recently talked to MTV about the direction they are going in with it’s equal. (for you 3D haters, just watch it in 2D I know there’s a ever growing band of you!)

“We want to stick with our dysfunctional family,” revealed Paul Wernick, who created the post-apocalyptic zombie world with writing partner Rhett Reese. “But also introduce new characters.”There absolutely will be a sequel, and it will absolutely be in 3D,” Reese revealed. “Now, it’s just a question of what that sequel will be. It’s not a question of having enough ideas, but almost having too many ideas. We have a lot of ideas!”We entirely want to write with 3D in mind,” Wernick added, shooting down the majority of filmmakers who these daysclaim to concentrate on the story first and the three-dimensional stuff later. “We have the vision, and want to have fun with the technology.”

They also talked about the upcoming Deadpool movie they are currently scripting, another film I’m looking forward too. Deadpool is one of the most witty and entertaining comic book characters and I’m pretty sure it’s universally accepted Ryan Reynolds fits the roll to a tee.

“We’re outlining it pretty seriously right now,” explained Rhett Reese. “We’re in the early stages.”We just absolutely adore the character and the comic,” explained Wernick. “And tonally, it’s right up our alley. He’s the unstable, smart-ass, self deprecating guy – and they say write what you know, so [we're perfect for it].”What’s great about Ryan is that he’s been the keeper of the Deadpool flame for many years, he’s loved the character since forever; he lives it and breathes it,” Reese said of some of the specific ideas Reynolds has brought up to them. “We’re a little newer to Deadpool, although we’ve done a bit of catching up. One of the nice things about working with Ryan is that he tonally gets it – if we ever do something that is off the Deadpool path, or if it doesn’t feel like Deadpool, he catches it.”

Chris Columbus has brought the world some of the most loved family movies of the last few decades – Home Alone 1 & 2, the first two Harry Potter films, Mrs Doubtfire and the writer behind Gremlins and The Goonies. Logan Lerman plays the title character in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and is also rumored to be starring as the rebooted Spiderman. Check out my interview with the two of them below

Trouble-prone Percy Jackson is having problems in high school – but that’s the least of his challenges. It’s the 21st century, but the gods of Mount Olympus seem to have walked out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology texts and into his life. Percy has learned that his real father is Poseidon, god of the sea, which means Percy is a demigod – half human, half god. At the same time, the powerful gods on Olympus are feuding, which could launch a war enveloping our entire planet.

How’s it feel that after all the hard work, the films finally coming out?

Chris Columbus: It’s a wonderful feeling, we actually didn’t know we’d make the release date, we always had this date in mind. It worked out very well, I’m very happy with the film, very happy with the visual affects and very happy to say it’s nothing like Harry Potter (laughs) I just wanted to get that off my chest immediately.

How much has CGI technology changed since that first Harry Potter film?

Chris Columbus: The first three Harry Potter films were a gradual course in CGI for myself, if you notice the first film is a little creaky, it’s ok then as we subsequently went to picture two and three the visual effects got better, I learned a lot, I realised there’s a certain method and that you just have to be obsessive with the visual effects to make sure they’re seamless with what the actors are doing. With this I think we succeeded.

You started out real young in your career, this is a great roll for you.

Logan Lerman: Yeah I started really young, I’m from LA so it’s much more accessible to give it a shot, there’s an audition for a commercial somewhere around the block. I slowly climbed the ladder, now I’m here and I don’t how I got here, I just kept going with it. I’m really proud of this film, if people recognise me from this film then I’m fine with it, it’s very flattering to me, it’s the biggest compliment you can get. As long as it’s for the right reasons, I’m proud of it.

What made you interested in making the film, and what made you come to the decision for making the characters slightly older than in the books?

Chris Columbus: For me it was important that the characters felt a little older than they did in the book because I couldn’t envision battle training, gladiator training eleven year olds with wooden swords, I felt this needed to be a little bit more edgy, a little more gritty and dirtier as much as we can do in a PG film. Also I was intrigued in the concept, which I had never seen before, with the concept of Greek mythology coexisting with modern American culture, I thought it was a great idea, that was why I wanted to do the film.

What parts of the Greek mythology were you keen to get across.

Chris Columbus: If you know anything about Greek mythology there’s that certain element that is very complex and dark and that’s not really for children, then there’s the classic element that we all learnt at school when we were twelve years old. I think we’re tapping into that element. It’s certainly not an educational film, that will send children running from the theatres but hopefully, it could develop some sort of interest in Greek mythology for them and maybe they can take an interest in reading more and more about it. For me I wanted the film to work for both parents and children, I’ve had to accompany my own children to a lot of children’s films and sometimes when it’s a little animal singing I’m bored out of my skull, so for me it was really really important that it worked for the parents as well.

With the number of books in the series, do you think we’ll see more films coming from the series?

Chris Columbus: I don’t want to be presumptuous enough to say that we’re gonna be successful and that we’re gonna be able to make the other films, but if we are successful enough and I hope we are, I’d love to make another film immediately with these guys. I loved the cast, I had a wonderful time making the film. It was a lot of hard work but I just loved the enthusiasm and the lack of cynicism, it’s a really talented cast we assembled, I wanna go back and work quickly.

Why are you interested in these types of films?

Chris Columbus: I think it’s the lack of cynicism, it comes from the fact that these guys are just happy to have jobs at the most basic level. The cast is so happy being there and performing it just enthuses me with the same amount of energy, I really like working off that energy. You rarely see it with people who have been working for years and years and years.

Logan were you a fan of the books before making the film?

Logan Lerman: I discovered them through the movie, I knew nothing of them before, when I first got the script right below the title it said Chris’s name so that’s what really attracted me to it, his films shaped my childhood so much, I’m such a big fan, I wanna become a part in another one of his films. Then I read the script and fell in love with it, then I read the book and fell in love with it so it was a backward process for me.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is in cinemas the 12th of Febuary

Last Sunday London welcomed Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon for Invictus’s European Press Conference. Below is  the second half of what took place, you can check out part 1 here. Invictus is in UK cinemas 5th Febuary.

I read that you try to take as little amount of takes as possible while making your film.

Clint Eastwood: I always try to do one, it doesn’t necessarily work out that way though. If that one take works I’ll take that, if the third take works I’ll print that. Sometimes I do like to have a few different set ups but I’ll try and make a decision right at that time, whether it’s good, bad or otherwise. I think once you start doing, thirty or forty takes, you can get lost somewhere and you don’t know what you are looking for, I like to think I know what I’m looking for, right or wrong.

As actors what’s it like working with Clint?

Morgan Freeman: I take Clint as my favourite director to work with because I respond very well to the one or two take director, he’s the most consistent in that area. Directors who as Clint said that need seventeen takes, I don’t think they know what they want, it certainly doesn’t help the actors sense or security when he has to keep going over and over things and you don’t know why, you think what am I doing, what do you want,.

Matt Damon: Yeah some people just collect a bunch of footage and edit it later. You definitely feel a lot more protected when the director is moving on, you feel like something is happening, so you know they are watching intently. Coppolla told me that Antonioni said to him, this is before the days of video village that as a director you should stand right next to the camera, look with your naked eye and if you see something that is real to you, you look up to your operator and if your operator gives you the look that yeah I saw that too, then you print and move on. Clint basically cuts on camera, I’ve worked with a couple of guys who do that and as Morgan said it gives you a real sense of security because you know you’re in very able hands and the director is watching the movie unfold, your getting what you wanna get and it doesn’t take seventeen hours to get it.

Clint Eastwood: I’ve always felt a lot of times when a person has to do twenty takes on something, it’s usually for one or two reason, either they don’t quite know what they’re looking for or also they don’ know what there next set up is so they’re using up the time and utilising the actors to kill time until some great idea comes to them, that becomes a bit of a problem, there not abusing the actors because they’re there to act but it’s a bit unfair, it will give them a big sense of insecurity as Morgan said, I’ve worked with people like that myself. In the old days a lot of people done it defensively because they felt they didn’t want to leave a load of extra film because they didn’t want the studio executives to come in and recur their film and restructure everything, so they would give them it as little as possible, there’s only one way of putting it together, that was done back in the thirty’s and forty’s when the execs had a tremendous amount of power

Looking over your films as a director which has been the biggest challenge for you and why? And which of your acting performances are you most proud of?

Clint Eastwood: When you’ve done as many films as I’ve done you just keep going, I never look back and think too much about them, I’ve done some work I’ve been proud of over the years but which is my favourite, I don’t know. I’ve had little jumps in my career, like Unforgiven and then when I tried to do something different, Letters To Iwo Jima I liked doing a lot, anything with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon (laughs). I like to get a chance too work with people I respect a lot. A favourite performance I don’t know. Once the films done and once something been performed, it’s up to someone else to make a judgement on it.

When you choose the subject do you trust in your instincts? How do you choose your films?

Clint Eastwood: Yes I do, I always trust my instincts, it was just a story that I liked, I didn’t approach it about a picture about Rugby, we obviously wanted to make the Rugby very good because that was an inspiration for Mr Mandela, to utilize it as a tool to unite his country. Morgan called me and said look I’ve got a really good script, he didn’t even tell me it was about Nelson Mandela, so I read the script and liked it very much, I’ve always been an admirer of Nelson Mandela, I was amazed by reading the script and the book because it seems so creative, such a creative way to unify a country, which was in really deep trouble, almost on the brink of civil war. Mr Mandela had been in prison for quite a few years, nobody knew what was gonna happen when he came out, then he came out with this kind of an imagination, I just thought this is something politicians around the world could learn a lot from, having a certain creativity and bringing people together, instead of just talking about it he was doing it, that was my reason for doing the picture, Rugby was exciting and that was fun, but even if it was Nelson Mandela and Texas Hold Em Poker I still would have done it because I admire the man.

Colin Firth is one of Britain’s most recognisable actors, he’s know to my Mum and pretty much every woman over 40 as Mr Darcy. He hasn’t stopped there though, he’s also starred in The English Patient, Fever Pitch, Shakespeare In Love, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Girl With A Pearl Earring, Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, When Did You Last See Your Father?, St Trinian’s and Mamma Mia! A Single Man for me is his best performance, I expect to see some Oscar love. A Single Man is based on the story by Christopher Isherwood. Set in the US in 1962, Firth plays English college professor George Falconer, a man struggling to come to terms with the death of his long term lover Jim (Matthew Goode). Distracted momentarily by old friend Charley (Julianne Moore) and curious student Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), he cannot ignore the profound sense of less he feels and so resolves to do something about it.

Fear is a big theme in the film.

Colin Firth: Yes, there’s that theme of fear running through it which George talks to his students about. I think it’s very much alive today, it’s a marketing tool and a political tool. I think it’s how governments get things done. That’s what Naomi Klein talks about in The Shock Doctrine. If you frighten people enough to can get any legislation through, you can make them put with the Patriot Act, or Guantanamo or the invasion of a country that should be left alone. Or indeed giving up your civil liberties, or putting up CCTV cameras everywhere. People are prepared to accept all that if they’re frightened.

Could Isherwood’s story have been updated and put in a contemporary setting?

Colin Firth: That’s a very difficult one to answer. I don’t think LA’s changed that much, really. This character happens to be gay, but although George is struggling with a lot he’s certainly not struggling with his sexuality. Isherwood’s characters don’t seem to. So I don’t know what it would have done to the film if you’d have set it in the present. You take the Cuban Missile Crisis out and put something else there, like the fear of terrorism, it’s actually rather an interesting question. I think there’s something about the characters of George and Charley that just feels right in 1962, there’s something about their whole cultural reference points that feel of that generation. But I think you could have updated it quite easily frankly. I just wouldn’t have looked as good.

Tom Ford with his fashion experience at Gucci, makes the film look great, but also delivers strong characters within the story, doesn’t he?

Colin Firth: He used all the skills that I think he’d developed as a designer. As he’ll tell you in his other job he has to have a vision and he has to be able to communicate that , he has to be able to marshal people and inspire them to share it and do what you want them to do. Those are very much the skills that are required to direct a film too. He also he has an extraordinary instinct for picking the right people to do the jobs he wants, whether it’s a designer or a make-up person or his cast. If you have a look at him for a moment you realise it would be silly to bet against him on something like this. But I do think there was an emotional cost to him with this, he’s not just proving that he can do it. I feel there’s a lot of him in the story.

How did he relate to his actors on set?

Colin Firth: He didn’t give me any verbal instructions really, ever, it was just very clear what was required once we were up and running. When I read the script there was a lot of space to be filled in, there was a lot of stuff without words, but once we were doing it it seemed terribly clear what each moment should be about really. Tom didn’t really need to fling instructions around. I could tell by the room that we were filming in what the mood was, I could see what was on the page. I could tell something by what I was wearing. People comment on the visual beauty of it, I didn’t really notice it as beautiful particularly , it just seemed to be an inevitable part of this world really.

So things like the production design were quite organically arrived at, were they?

Colin Firth: Yes, like that beautiful house is something that Tom looked very, very hard for. He wanted it to be the place that George had chosen, because he wanted it to be cosy. But if the scene is me sitting there alone, listening to a phone ringing with a cup of coffee in front of me and the camera outside the window looking in at this lonely man – you don’t need a director to say ‘okay, this is about loneliness,’. I just think that’s brilliant directing.

Did Tom tell you of the cinematographic style he was after, with the screen warming up in moments of happiness?

Colin Firth: He might have mentioned it but it certainly wasn’t something he troubled us with. I believe he always intended to do that but some of those decisions he came to afterwards. I like the effect, if you’re talking about the interior life of a human being I think that does help narrate the thing, as does the music.

Given Tom’s reputation as a fashion stylist did you make a special effort for your first meeting with him?

Colin Firth: Do you know, you can’t get close. You can’t match him at his own game, and also I don’t think he wants to see a world of Tom Ford clones running around. I know he likes elegance rather than shabbiness. He doesn’t like things out of place. People are a bit self conscious around him, and he does have a way of making people think they’re scruffy. But you know, you can feel scruffy in your best suit and tie standing next to him, he’s so perfect. I came straight from a film set anyway, I was a bit tired, I was a bit unshaven, and in some really rough looking clothes. And I got the part.

Were you aware of his reputation going in to the film?

Colin Firth: Only very distantly. I’m not connected to that world, so I didn’t know that much about him. I knew the name, I’d met him a couple of times, I think I knew he ran a bit fashion house but I probably would have struggled to have told you which one. I knew he did glasses, but that was it. And I also knew there was supposed to be something rather extraordinary about him, that he had this ability to succeed at everything.

A SINGLE MAN will be released at cinemas across the UK on Friday 12th February 2010.

Gabby Sidibe really hit me with her performance in Precious, it’s definitely one of the hardest hitting films I’ve seen in the last few years, if you want to see explosians, slapstick comedy and spaceships this film is not for you. Gabby plays Claireece “Precious” Jones  a sixteen-year-old girl born into a life no one would want. She’s pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo’Nique who also gives a sensational performance), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, she’s doing well but she’s living with the secret that she can neither read nor write. Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain (Paula Patton my crush of the month), Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination, it’s serious business and hands down one of the most powerful films I’ve seen.

You give terrific performance in Precious, but I understand you had no real aspirations to become actor. You thought it was a dream too far…

Gabby Sidibe: Yes. That makes a lot of sense, a dream too far. I had been told for most of my life that I would never be able to do something like this. Also I got a lot of cues from the media: when it comes to actresses and people the media cares about, you can probably count the girls that look like me on one hand. So I certainly didn’t think I could break any barriers and become an actress.

And even when you got the audition you weren’t convinced?

Gabby Sidibe: No. I wasn’t. I was withholding; on the fence. I thought it was a dumb idea to go in and do the audition because there was no way that I could be an actress. It had never been within my scope and I never auditioned for anything. I wasn’t an actress. I had no training. Nothing. I thought it made more sense that I to go to school. I was a receptionist for a company while I was studying psychology. But somehow or other it ended up with my going to the audition.

Who persuaded you?

Gabby Sidibe: It was partly my mother and also I have a friend, Henry, who is the assistant director in my local theatre. He called me when they were coming to cast and he thought of me, because they were looking for a very specific girl that I look like. After the audition I went straight to work and by the time I got out of the subway, which is literally an hour later, I had the call back.

I heard that you had an amusing phone call when trying to ring them for the call back…

Gabby Sidibe: Yeah, I was still in disbelief, I dialled the wrong number and I got some lawyer office and I was talking to this lawyer and who happened to have the same name as the guy I was meant to be calling. I was like, ‘Can I talk to Billy Hopkins?’ So they put me through to Billy, the lawyer! He was like, ‘What are you looking for?’ And I said, ‘I have just done this audition and I am doing the call back.’ He laughed, and said, ‘I hope they actually gave you the right number!’ I was pretty sure they did, because I was just one number off so he wished me luck. ‘I hope you get it.’ he said. So I called the right number and made an appointment to come in the next day. The callback was the next day and I was called within half an hour of leaving, saying Mr. Daniels wants to see you. He wanted to meet me that day but since I had already gone all the way back home — and I think the office at the time was five blocks away from where the call back was — so they said I made the appointment and went back in the next day and was talking to Lee for about forty five minutes to an hour. The whole time I am waiting to do the audition again because I was told I would have to audition for him, but it never happened. He just gave me the part.

Lee Daniels says that you told him things about the character that he had not considered. Do you remember what?

Gabby Sidibe: Being a fan of the book, anytime they wanted to do something a little different I would get up on a soapbox, saying, ‘No, you can’t do that because they didn’t do that in the book and we can’t change the book.’ I am anal and got very serious about the character. I have probably told him a lot of things just because there are so many layers to Precious and he just thought because she was big and dark skinned that she had to be a certain way. But in meeting me, I am big and I have dark skin but I am certainly better than what he thought of me. He thought I would be not so and certainly I changed his idea of who Precious is, based on the way I am.

What were you thinking during the audition?

Gabby Sidibe: It was the scene where Precious meets Ms Weiss for the first time, the social worker, and I was given about three minutes with it. I hadn’t seen the scene beforehand. For the most part if you have a manager and the manager submits you for the role then they will email you the sides to the audition so you can prepare the night before. But since this was an open casting call I just showed up, no appointment, no nothing. And they had sides available so I was given three minutes with it and I went in and I did it. I remember thinking that it was a complete waste of time. Billy Hopkins was in the room with his assistant director Jessica Kelly and I wasn’t nervous at all, because I was feeling pretty stupid for having cut class and I was wondering about what I was missing. That was pretty much all that was on my mind. I wasn’t nervous at all because I didn’t think I had it all; I thought that I had zero chance of actually getting the part.

There are many layers to character and some very harrowing scenes to film…

Gabby Sidibe: I tend to disappear when I am acting as Precious. I am blank, completely, I am just feeling every emotion as Precious would feel it and how she should feel it. I leave my body and I take on this character. It is such a weird thing to describe because at first you do a certain amount of takes for every scene, sometimes more than others and for each time it is all brand new information and it a real revelation. It never grows cold or dead to me.

Precious dreams about the red carpet in the movie. How are you finding it yourself?

Gabby Sidibe: Red carpets are more fun in the film. Photoshoots are more fun in life. That’s the way you split that. Red carpets. They don’t suck but they are actually more fun to film than to actually do. Photoshoots are really awesome because sometimes they give you the clothes you are wearing. They give you free shoes and stuff like that!

PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL “PUSH” BY SAPPHIRE is released in cinemas across the UK on 29th January 2010