Hollywood 1927. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), it seems the sky’s the limit – major movie stardom awaits. ’The Artist’ tells the story of their interlinked destinies. Directed and written by Michel Hazanavicius, the film also stars John Goodman, James Cromwell, Missi Pyle and Penelope Ann Miller. Receiving 10 nominations overall, ‘The Artist’ is nominated in all major categories at this years Academy Awards: best picture, original screenplay, best director, leading actor and supporting actress.

What was it about this format of silent film that interested you?

Michel Hazanavicius: I had the desire because I felt that it would be a good movie to do in Hollywood, that format, silent film, to do it now in this day and age. There are people who do silent movies, there’s a director in Canada named Guy Maddin, he does some silent movies, which are very experimental. I wanted to do a mainstream movie, a popular movie with a very accessible story, something that would be very entertaining. It’s a simple story. It’s the story of a silent movie actor in Hollywood in the late 20s, he’s a huge star, but here comes the talkies, so he falls. At the same time, in the beginning, a young lady who’s an extra in movies, she rises up and becomes a huge star in the talkies. The movie is really about the way they meet. It’s a love story, it’s about opportunities. I thought this format would be a great way to tell it, a very joyous way to tell it.

Was silent film something you latched onto growing up?

Michel Hazanavicius: When I was a kid I used to go with my brother and grandfather. My grandfather brought us to a theatre in Paris. It was a theatre that specialised in silent movies, so we saw a lot of the shorts from Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, all these short slapstick movies. I was a huge fan of Buster Keaton, that is my first memory of silent movies. Also, ‘The Kid’ by Charlie Chaplin, I was so impressed by that movie. I cried, I laughed and I thought it was wonderful (laughs). As a kid I used to love movies, I was not a specialist of silent movies, I used to love spaghetti westerns, so many different types. I really appreciated the good silent movies, there’s a lot of bad silent movies, but the good ones are really incredible.

You collaborated with Jean Dujardin again on ‘The Artist.’ When you were writing the script did you always have him in mind to play George?

Michel Hazanavicius: Yes, it’s my third collaboration with him. I wrote the script with Jean and Bérénice Bejo in mind. I really wanted to see him in that kind of role, in this kind of movie with the situations that happen in it. He’s a very expressive actor, and the kind of actors I tried to cast in the movie were expressive actors. You have a lot of huge actors who are very stone faced, it’s perfect, but it’s not that kind of acting I needed for ‘The Artist,’ it’s a lot more expressive. Jean is very much that, he’s very comfortable with his body, his body language. He has something very rare, in that he’s as good in the close-up as he is in the wide-shot. He can show feelings in the close-up and it’s accurate, it’s not too much. Then he can do the same thing with his body in a wide-shot.

Working with Bérénice Bejo, who’s also your wife, I’d imagine she was there when you first immersed yourself in this project?

Michel Hazanavicius: Oh yes. I wrote something for her that I knew would be for her. She really inspired me for the role. I live with her, so I know her well – I hope (laughs)! She really started to work very soon in the process, at the beginning of the writing. She came with me to all the screenings I went to, all the silent movies. As soon as I finished a book about that era, autobiographies, things like that, she grabbed them and read them also. She listened to the same music I listened to for it, look through all the photo books I looked through. She really went into the emersion process with me. She knows a lot about silent movies now. She did the same thing I tried to do when I was writing the screenplay, in trying to find the American spirit of the story – because it takes place in Hollywood. I really wanted to respect the way to shoot it, but also the way to think about it. She really tried to be an American actress for ‘The Artist,’ which is not the same codes of acting. There’s a different way to move, and she really worked on that. She did such a great job, she’s very gifted….but she is my wife, so I’m not the most impartial person to speak about her, I‘m not neutral (laughs).

Following the critical and financial success ($453.2 million worldwide gross on a $93 million budget) of Rupert Wyatt’s ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes,’ it was pretty much a given that we’d be seeing a sequel sooner rather than later. Undoubtedly a key component of that success was Andy Serkis’ mesmerising performance as Caesar. Today Deadline are reporting that 20th Century Fox has signed Serkis to a seven-figure deal to again do the performance capture for Caesar in the sequel:

“The studio just closed what I’m told is a healthy seven-figure deal for Andy Serkis to reprise his role as lead ape Caesar. Serkis had only signed on for one movie, so his reps had leverage in ensuring that he come back to continue leading the ape takeover in multiple future installments of the series.

Director Rupert Wyatt’s original deal came with a sequel option, so he’s locked. As are screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who are producing with Chernin Entertainment’s Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark. The studio is still in the idea stage and the sequel hasn’t been dated for release. There’s no word on any other actors returning at this moment in time. Deadline also reveal that 20th Century Fox will wage an Oscar campaign for Andy Serkis’ performance for ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes.’

From Alexander Payne, the creator of the Oscar-winning ‘Sideways,’ set in Hawaii, ‘The Descendants’ is a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George Clooney) an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family’s land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries. Alongside George Clooney, the film stars Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Robert Forster, Shailene Woodley, Mary Birdsong, Nick Krause and Amara Miller. ‘The Descendants’ is released in cinemas November 18th in the US, and January 20th in the UK.

This is very human performance, mixing emotion with humour, there’s a lot of depth to it. How hard is it to get that right balance?

George Clooney: First you have to have a really good script, that does all of those things for you, and then you have one of the best directors in the business handling that. Then you just kind of put yourself in his hands and say, “Too much? 15% less existential realism?” He really takes care of all of that. I found it challenging only in the sense that I wanted to serve the material very well. It’s a tricky piece, the movie basically starts with the death of your wife. It’s like a coming of age film, unfortunately the person who’s coming of age is a 50 year old man (laughs). Whenever the script is really good the work is a lot easier.

You‘ve worked on a number of acclaimed films in succession, what do you look for as an actor when choosing a role, and what drew you to this particular movie?

George Clooney: First and foremost I learned after a series of very bad mistakes in film, early on in my career. I learned I should probably read a good screenplay every once in a while before I say yes (laughs). You can make a bad film out of a good script, but your not gonna make a good film out of a bad script, so I needed to start with a good screenplay. With this particular film I wanted to work with Alexander Payne for a long time, we had dinner in Toronto, he said he was going to be sending me a script. I sort of thought I would have done it no matter what the script was (laughs), because I hadn’t seen him miss yet as a filmmaker. Then I read the screenplay and thought wow. There are really only two elements solidify the choices I make, and that’s director and screenplay.

I’d done ‘Batman & Robin,’ ‘The Peacemaker’ kind of run….you know, when you first start getting work as an actor you just take jobs. I’d been on a lot of TV series and I got a couple of films and was very excited. I’m calling everyone and I’m like, “I got Batman, wooooooooh!” And then I started to understand that I was going to be held responsible for not just the role I was gonna get to play, but also for the films that were gonna get made. The next three scripts I worked on were ‘Out of Sight,’ ‘Three Kings’ and ‘O Brother Where Art Thou,’ which were all very good screenplays. So since then I’ve really tried to focus on the best screenplay as possible, then the second thing I do is try to make sure the directors I’m working with are on the same page, and we want to do the same kind of films. You can really protect yourself as an actor if you work with really good people, it can hide a lot of flaws (laughs).

What was it like on the set for this film, working with Alexander Payne?

George Clooney: Alexander Payne keeps such a nice set, it’s such a fun place to be. There are people who like to work under chaos – some people work better under that, some people create that kind of chaos, and a lot of times that makes a set not necessarily very fun. I like to work on sets that don’t have that, I feel like it’s more creative, I feel like it makes people feel more welcome. Alexander makes the most welcome set you’ve ever been on. So there are some very difficult scenes you have to do, for example kissing your wife goodbye, there’s yelling at a corpse, they’re difficult scenes to do. But when your finished it’s a really friendly fun place to be, so with that there isn’t a lot of carrying things around with you, your not moping around – we were in Hawaii, what was there to be unhappy about, you know (laughs).

How has directing over the last decade changed you as an actor?

George Clooney: I always think in terms of what the director needs, not just for this scene, but for the film. You really learn that from episodic television, when your doing episodic television for long periods of time you have different directors coming in every week. I’m doing ER, so every week I’ve got a kid who’s going to be on a gurney, some kids going to be dieing. So every director would come in and go like, “You have to cry a little bit.” But then you think, “I’ll be crying in 22 episodes, this will be too weepy.” So you have to adjust towards the long term, thinking it all the way through, from beginning to end – that works also in film, you’ll understand that there’s some scenes that you’ll have to lose in order to win something in the end. A really good director will constantly keep pointing you that way, but I also think it’s your job as an actor to understand that there are scenes that you do, particularly when you’re the lead, where other people get to come in and steal, and you have to let them. I understand that, but working with a really good director always reminds you of that.

For me, some of the most powerful moments in this film are the silent moments, the dialogueless moments….

George Clooney: Oh yeah, we live in an age and a time now when we’re trying to show 500 things going on at the same time. You’ll turn on Bloomberg Television and there’s 50 things going on. I find that silence and stillness…..if your flipping the channels and you see someone just staring at the camera and it‘s quiet, nothings going on, you tend to stop now – that seems to be the new “unusual” thing to see. I really enjoy the quiet moments in film, you have to earn them though, Alexander is so good at earning those moments. For example the very end of the film, with us just sitting together, you earn it because you couldn’t have done that scene that long in the beginning of the movie, people would have gotten up and left (laughs). To watch the stillness of that particular scene speaks volumes.

On the back of True Grit’s hefty 10 Oscar nominations Paramount Pictures have released these four behind-the-scenes featurettes which give us a closer look at the cinematography, costumes, production design, and the music of the Coen Brothers’ film. True Grit is out now in the US. The movie is set for release in the UK the 11th of February, I’d strongly recommend giving it a peep – it’s a gem!

Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man with “true grit,” Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn. Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, who wants Chaney for his own purposes. The unlikely trio find danger and surprises on the journey, and each has his or her “grit” tested.

With The Fighter’s impending Febuary 2nd UK release date, and hot on the heels of the films seven Oscar nominations, here’s an interview with three time Oscar nominee Amy Adams to talk about the captivating drama. The movies Oscar nominations include Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), Best supporting actress (Melissa Leo and Amy Adams) and Best Director (David O Russell).

Did you have fun playing your character?

Amy Adams: She was a really fun character to play, not only because she’s tough but because she’s able to go toe to toe with this guy and hold her own and also be a sweetie for Micky.

What attracted you to playing the role of Charlene?

Amy Adams: Well initially it was David O Russell, he sent me twenty pages of the script, they were sort of writing Charlene and kind of beefing her up a little bit and he asked if I’d be interested in playing Charlene. I mean how could I say no, first half it was David O. Russell who I’d met and really had a great time talking to, and then knowing it was Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo, I was the last one to come on out of that group and I’d love them all, I’d met them at different times of my life and I just was very excited!

What is your character like?

Amy Adams: Charlene is a girl who has to work really hard in her life for what she has and has maybe made some mistakes, and when we meet her she’s kind of pulling herself back up and she meets Micky and sees in him something just so remarkable and so much potential and she sees his family just really pulling him down and she really wants to encourage him to be his own man and stand up and be the man she knows he can be.

How was it working with Mark Wahlberg?

Amy Adams: You know I never felt the producer hand of Mark Wahlberg, I think because we worked so closely, our characters, most of my scenes were with him and very intimate scenes so, I never really felt that side. I mean the filming was a great experience and there was a lot of energy, a lot of love, a lot of passion, a lot of hard work and I could only think that that has to do with him being one of the producers as he really just put so much of him into the film, not only as a producer, as an actor, and being in Lowell, he knows that area, he put so much time into making everybody from that town feel a part of the movie. He did a great job.

There’s so many layers to this film. Why is this more than just a boxing movie?

Amy Adams: The Fighter is so much more than just a movie about boxing. It has a love story, it has family drama, because it’s true, its real life, it’s telling people the real story and in that there’s humour, there’s laughter and there’s tears and the boxing just adds an element of energy that make s you really excited when you watch the film.

For me the film has such a broad appeal, what type of audience do you think this movie appeals to?

Amy Adams: From the response that I’ve had, we’ve had some teenage girls see the film and just go crazy for it and then we’ve had young men. I just think, pretty much everybody. It’s probably not suitable for a really young audience, there’s some adult language, but aside from that I think everybody should go see the film.

What will people take away from this movie?

Amy Adams: I think everyone’s going to feel something different but hopefully, they all had a really good time, and they walk away wanting to see it again. That’s what I keep hearing, is like “oh my gosh, I just want to go back and see it from the beginning!”

What is The Fighter about to you?

Amy Adams: The Fighter is about Micky Ward and his determination and his struggle and his fight to get to where he got to. It’s a story about a family, their struggle and you know, it’s just a story about life and kind of what we all go through to get what it is we dream of.

Hot on the heels of Christian Bale and Melissa Leo’s wins at the Golden Globes earlier in the week this new UK poster for David O. Russell’s rousing biographical drama ‘The Fighter’ has found a home online. The film stars Mark Wahlberg as boxer “Irish” Mickey Ward, who against all odds went on to win the lightweight championship with the help of his drug addicted half-brother Dicky (Bale). The Fighter is set for release Febuary 2nd in the UK.

THE FIGHTER is the inspirational true story of two boxing legends. Dicky Ecklund (CHRISTIAN BALE) is a former boxing legend whose life has become shattered by drug abuse whilst Micky Ward (MARK WAHLBERG), his half brother, has become the town’s fighter and fading hope for a champion. But with Micky losing fight after punishing fight, it takes iron-willed Charlene (AMY ADAMS), to help him split with his family, pursue his own interests and train without his criminal brother.

This new UK poster for David O. Russell’s rousing biographical drama ‘The Fighter’ has found a home online. The film stars Mark Wahlberg as boxer “Irish” Mickey Ward, who against all odds went on to win the lightweight championship with the help of his drug addicted half-brother Dicky (Christian Bale).

I’d be willing to bet my left pinky finger that Christian Bale will finally receive at least an Oscar nomination for his performance in ‘The Fighter.’ Through Bale’s career his dedication to his roles have been remarkable, in this flick he literally transformed into Dickie Eklund. ‘The Fighter’ is in US cinemas now, while the UK’s release date is Febuary 11th.

The Fighter is a drama about boxer “Irish” Micky Ward’s (Wahlberg) unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky (Bale), a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO’d by drugs and crime.

This new international poster has been released online for ‘Rabbit Hole’, a film which has generated significant Oscar buzz for it’s powerful, poignant, and at times funny look at a happily married couple’s (Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) world after it is forever tragically changed by the death of their young son. ‘Rabbit Hole’ is based on the award winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire and adapted for the screen by the playwright himself. Yours truly has had the good fortune of seeing the film, and have to say it’s amazing – strong recommendations! Check out my interview with Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart here.

RABBIT HOLE is a vivid, hopeful, honest and unexpectedly witty portrait of a family searching for what remains possible in the most impossible of all situations. Becca and Howie Corbett (NICOLE KIDMAN and AARON ECKHART) are returning to their everyday existence in the wake of a shocking, sudden loss. Just eight months ago, they were a happy suburban family with everything they wanted. Now, they are caught in a maze of memory, longing, guilt, recrimination, sarcasm and tightly controlled rage from which they cannot escape. While Becca finds pain in the familiar, Howie finds comfort. The shifts come in abrupt, unforeseen moments. Becca hesitantly opens up to her opinionated, loving mother (DIANNE WIEST) and secretly reaches out to the teenager involved in the accident that changed everything (MILES TELLER); while Howie lashes out and imagines solace with another woman (SANDRA OH). Yet, as off track as they are, the couple keeps trying to find their way back to a life that still holds the potential for beauty, laughter and happiness. The resulting journey is an intimate glimpse into two people learning to re-engage with each other and a world that has been tilted off its axis.

James Franco stars as Aron Ralston in Danny Boyle’s ‘127 Hours’ – a visceral, thrilling real life story that’s set for release in the UK January 5th. I’m sure Franco will receive some much deserved awards season love for his performance as real-life mountaineer Aron Ralston, the mountain climber who amputated his own arm to free himself from being trapped by a boulder. The films about as riveting and gut-wrenching as you could imagine. I haven’t seen a movie in a long time that has captured the strength, love and will of the human condition as triumphantly as 127 Hours has.

What made you take this role?

James Franco: I was certainly attracted by the very unusual structure of the film. I mean there’s the incredible story certainly, but also the fact that it would be a film making experience unlike any that I’ve had. I don’t think I would have done this movie with just any director and for me, it was important that Danny was involved. After working with him I realise how much pushing himself and making films that will pull him out of his own comfort zone drive him. He thrives on experimentation and tackling the unfamiliar. And I really liked that idea. And you know, I enjoy slower paced movies as well as fast paced movies. But Danny does fast paced movies and I’m very happy with the way it came out. But really I would have been satisfied with just having the experience – all you can control, as an actor is who you decide to work with and how hard you work at the role and that’s about it. So I thought it would be cool to do this kind of unusual movie with somebody like Danny Boyle and tell this great story.

Were you surprised by how fast the film is? It’s about a man trapped by a boulder in a canyon and the audience might expect a very confined experience. And yet it’s not that at all.

James Franco: Danny is so good at incorporating all the elements that make a great film. Once he’s edited and the music is in there and everything, he delivers a full experience. But, I think another reason the movie feels so intense is not necessarily because of this amputation scene that a lot of people are focusing on, it’s because of the overall effect of the movie – the way that it’s shot. And I thought about this before we did it and it’s a story told primarily through physical actions and all these little victories and failures and if done right it brings an audience close to a character. He’s not telling you how he’s feeling, he’s showing you, he’s doing it and so the audience really gets on board with the character. And when the character does speak, it’s a very unconventional device where he’s talking directly to his video camera. And that gives the character a justification to talk directly to the audience. Yes, he’s talking to his family and friends but he’s looking right into the lens as if he’s talking right to the audience. So it creates a very intense experience. The first time I watched the film with an audience I felt it was like something I’d never experienced before, watching a movie, in a movie I was in with an audience, where I felt like something really intimate with them, because the camera is so close and the nature of the material and everything. I had to do a Q and A after and for a minute I felt like,’ oh I’m not even going to be able to speak’ it was that weird.

Did you watch the real tapes that Aron Ralston made when he was trapped in the canyon? That must be very valuable for an actor to have that kind of material to draw upon…

James Franco: Yeah, and I never really had that before. Aron showed us the real videos and even on their own, they are incredibly moving and very powerful, because it’s a guy that has accepted his own death, but also is not wallowing in self-pity. He’s very composed, because he thought these were the last things his mother would ever see, and so, since he’s making them for her, and there were points where he was starting to get emotional, he turned the video camera off, because he didn’t want her to see that.  So they were very powerful in themselves, but as an actor, it’s material unlike anything I’ve ever had. When I played James Dean and Allen Ginsburg there’s film of them and it was very helpful to get their mannerisms and gestures down but it wasn’t film of them in the most intense moments of their lives. It wasn’t James Dean right before he crashed the car or confronting his father.  As an actor, you never find material like this. So obviously, it wasn’t necessary to have that material to play this role, but the fact that I had it, it was just like it was a gift.

Is it quite similar to what you use in the film?

James Franco: Yeah. Some of the messages that we have in the film are verbatim, things that Aron said in some of the videos, but in addition to that, it was very useful to see his behaviour. Aron doesn’t show the tapes to many people, other than family and friends that are mentioned on the real tapes. The first time I met him he brought them along so it was a very intense way to meet somebody (laughs).  Some of the messages we use in the film are verbatim, things that Aron said.

Was the humour part of them too?

James Franco: Well, Simon, the writer, and Danny developed a talk show scene and that’s not something that Aron did. But there are some lines, like when he’s drinks the urine and says ‘that’s no slurpee..’ that’s straight from Aron. So I think what Danny and Simon did is expand on that goofy sense of humour that Aron really does have and built it into this mad kind of scene that I actually think is a brilliant because it’s working on so many levels. And it’s comic relief because it comes right after the scene where he breaks down emotionally – he has been dreaming about his past girlfriend and he wakes up and realises that it’s just a dream and he loses it and cries. So you have this sequence that is wacky and crazy but actually, I always thought that the wackier it got the more poignant it would be because it’s doing so many things.

It’s the character trying to run away from himself by using comedy, but he also kind of comes around by the end, and it’s a way for him to confront himself, and to challenge himself for his choices that led him there. And it’s also kind of him starting to lose his mind in a bit, so it was almost like, the wackier it got actually, in some ways, more serious it was. And to be able to play that scene was just great.  And we did it really simply, I think we only did it like four times or so and I just did both voices back and forth, and they just filmed it from different angles, and then cut it together that way.

And did the tapes show his physical deterioration?

James Franco: Oh yeah because he made them over the course of the five days and so we could see his physical deterioration in the videos. But in addition to that, it made me realize the power of the simplicity of his delivery. He’s not a giving Shakespearian death soliloquy, it’s not about what he’s saying, it’s the contrast of the knowledge of his own imminent death and just talking very intimately to his family – and that is what is so powerful. And also, the other valuable thing was that I spent days with Aron and Danny must have spent weeks with him writing the script, and he would tell me the story and all of that. But the difference between talking to him in person and watching the videos is that on the videos Aron doesn’t know that he’s going to survive – so it’s pure behaviour because Aron doesn’t know there’s a happy ending. We now know that he made it out but when he made those videos, right there, he doesn’t know and as an actor I would call it gold, actor gold because it’s pure behaviour.

Did playing someone so close to dying change anything for you, your view on life?

James Franco: I guess so. I guess that’s one of the things that Danny hopes that the film does. But, knock on wood, I don’t think any of us will ever be in that kind of situation – unless you are plugging your refrigerator in and get stuck behind it somehow. But I don’t think any of us will have to contemplate cutting our arms off. If you think about it, like Aron says himself, it’s insane. And you know, the boulder could have landed on his head, not on his arm, and he’d have been dead. So it’s a very unusual situation. But the movie allows us to experience it with the character, and then maybe question our own lives.  And yeah, I guess the working on the movie reinforced my appreciation for having my family and my loved ones.

Did it make you re-appraise your life?

James Franco: I don’t know, I like to think that I have been able to design my life so that I am engaged in things that I love, and I’m just working on things that I love. And I’m very fortunate in that way. And you I guess I do try to think about these things. About four or five years ago I got my pilot’s licence and I remember when I was taking lessons for it and going up in these little planes just asking myself ‘what if the plane goes down today? Am I OK? Do I have any loose ends?’ And I don’t like loose ends and when I asked myself that in the plane, I had done a lot of work and I couldn’t think of any outstanding things that I hadn’t at least tried, or people who I owed apologies to.  So I try to live that way. I could be overlooking something, (laughs) but I am engaged with life – I’m in school and all that, because it’s just stuff I’m interested in.  So I think doing everything that I want to be doing.

Did you feel connected to these man versus nature stories before? And did you talk to Sean Penn about this film?

James Franco: I’d talked to Sean about his movie before I worked with Danny on this. And you know, I liked this movie but to me, it’s not so much about nature really, it’s about a guy who has everything in his life stripped away from him and then he has to question himself.
So it’s really almost like a Beckett piece or something – it’s just man down to the essentials. Although it’s much more hopeful than Beckett. But Danny will tell you, he’s not a nature guy so he really didn’t want to make a nature movie and he didn’t really shoot it like one. There’s not a ton of shots that are appreciating the beauty of nature in this. It’s really about a man alone, and that I think was more attractive to me too more than just plain nature.

A different director would obviously have approached the story in a different way. Danny uses a lot of music and it’s very fast paced. Another filmmaker could have stripped it down. Would that have appealed to you?

James Franco: Well, that would be a different movie. There are so many things that are unusual in this movie. When you look at it and say ‘well, there’s one actor alone for most of the movie..’ and people ask me ‘how did you adjust to that, not acting opposite another person?’ But it wasn’t just me that had to adjust to that, everybody has to adjust to that.  So the screenwriter has to create a narrative arc just with one character. We are so used to dramas being built on multiple character scenes, with dialogue, talking to each other, so Simon had to adjust to that. The cinematographers are used to being able to shoot coverage of different characters and two shots and the editors are used to that kind of material, that he can cut and reference, and Danny is used to developing scenes between actors and the dynamic between actors, so everybody is adjusting to that. And the fact that Danny has created this immersive experience, using the way that it’s cut and the music, I would never say that it’s taking away from my performance. I like the idea of slower movies, and yeah sure, I could appreciate a movie that took away the music, and fewer cuts and you just sit with a character, I can appreciate that, but that’s not a Danny Boyle movie, Danny does not like those kind of movies.  So I’m certainly happy with the way he’s created his own very unique experience.

You are playing a real person, who you have met. How does that affect your performance?

James Franco: It’s a very delicate thing to tell Aron’s story and tell it in a way that you think would be an experience and so that required using a lot from Aron’s real life but also, the way we proceeded, was not that I would slavishly mimic Aron, but instead borrow his story and tell it as truthfully as we could from the inside out, kind of.

How do you react to criticism?

James Franco: When people do criticise people mention that I’m an actor and that’s fine, I understand that, but I’m very appreciative that with the projects that I’ve done they have looked at them as art pieces, not just a side project, and they’ve looked at the book and considered me a writer. And really, that’s all I can ask for. I’m very happy with the criticism and as anybody that’s talked about criticism knows, it’s just like, on a lot of levels it’s just people talking and all that, and so I don’t mind people talking.

What got you interested in Rise of the Apes?

James Franco: I’ll tell you the main thing that got me interested is the fact that Peter Jackson’s effects people from Weta and his DP, Andrew Leslie, and Andy Serkis were involved, and I’m unabashedly a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, and so I thought, ‘oh, if they are going to be involved in this, it’s actually going to be a different kind of acting experience..’ I’ve never acted off of somebody doing performance capture and Andy Serkis is the best at that so it could be interesting.

Do you worry that the stories in the press about the amputation scene in 127 Hours will put people off from going to see the movie?

James Franco: Well, some people have trouble with that scene, and the unfortunate thing is, the more we talk about it, the more people talk about it, it builds it up in a certain way, so some people are now going to be disappointed when they get to that scene and it’s like, ‘oh that’s all it was?’ Because if you look at it, once it’s out on DVD, and you slow down that scene, it’s like,’ oh they are actually not showing that much.’  I truly believe that the reason that scene feels so intense is actually the context and everything that’s come before, and audience’s relationship to this character. There are tons of things that are worse in Saw III or other horror films.  People get decapitated, disembowelled, and all of this. But it’s because you know it’s a horror film, you know these characters are expendable.  And so you don’t form the same kind of attachment to these characters. With this movie, you go through so much with this character that by the time you get to that scene, I think people want him to go through with it, and so are actually experiencing that scene in a different way – in a much closer kind of way. And I think maybe even people that normally wouldn’t want to watch that kind of scene are actually trying to watch it or will him through it in a way.  And so that’s why I think some people are having those reactions, and then of course Danny is very aware of the sensitive nature of this kind of scene, but first and foremost, we have to be loyal to what Aron went through, we have to respect what he went through, it took him over 40 minutes to cut his own arm off an our scene is like three minutes. To cut back on it any more would really short change what Aron went through. And you have to make the experience a little difficult, because it is a portal, not just for the character, but also for the audience to get through. And you want to give them that experience of getting through this difficulty so that they can come out on the other side and have that relief on the other side.

Have you watched it with Aron?

James Franco: Oh yeah.

Did you end up watching him watching the movie?

James Franco: Yeah, the first time I watched it with an audience I sat behind Aron. And he was sitting with his wife, and all throughout the movie, he kept leaning over and whispering to her, and I thought, ‘oh god, I guess he hates it! (laughs) It was like ‘what’s he saying?’ because I couldn’t see his face. I started to think maybe he’s thinking I didn’t do the part right. Then when the movie was over, I went up Aron said ‘come on, man, tell me what you think? Was it OK?’ And he said that from a quarter of the way through to the end, he had been crying the whole time. And I guess he had leaned over to his wife and he was just telling her about the real experience, getting her support. So yeah, thankfully he likes it (laughs).

It must have been incredible, and very harrowing, for his wife and family to watch too..

James Franco: Yeah, Aron says that it’s, for him an even more powerful experience when his family and friends are there. Obviously he’s told them about what he went through but this movie is actually a way for them to experience something of what happened to him. So it mean a lot to him and I guess we got something right..

Do you like the outdoors, going hiking and that sort of thing?

James Franco: I grew up in Northern California, and when I was young my father took me and my brother on a lot of camping trips and we would go to Yosemite and long hikes as a boy and I think that pretty much worked it out of me (laughs). So I actually love cities and I need people around. Like in a couple of years I think about moving back to LA and I think ‘where would I live? Maybe Venice Beach…’ That would be so great, it’s beautiful there and then I think even that’s too quiet – it’s too quiet for me. I just need people around, even if I’m not interacting with them because I do a lot of homework on my own, but I just like people outside the house walking around.

127 HOURS is out in UK cinemas 5 January 2011

In David O. Russell’s rousing biographical drama ‘The Fighter’ Mark Wahlberg stars as boxer “Irish” Mickey Ward, who against all odds went on to win the lightweight championship with the help of his drug addicted half-brother Dicky (Christian Bale). ‘The Fighter’ has been Wahlberg’s passion project for the last four or so years. Check out what he had to say about the film below. ‘The Fighter’ is set to be released December 10th in the US, and Febuary 11th in the UK.

I imagine you’ve had that accent drummed out of you over the years. What’s it like trying to get it back?

Mark Wahlberg: It’s a lot harder to get rid of it than it was to get it back. Every time I’d leave Boston it would appear to be like nails on a chalk board for people hearing that accent. I’ve been in other movies that took place in and around that area and the accents were god awful, and it was almost to the point where it made it seem like we were doing bad accents, people who were actually from that area. But no, everybody did a fantastic job and didn’t push it too far, even though you think these characters are so extreme and so broad but they’re actually a toned down version of these larger than life characters.

The boxing scenes in the film are very realistic and convincing. What was the training like?

Mark Wahlberg: The movie was a go, then it fell apart and I just continued to train so after 3 and 1/2 years I felt confident enough to go in there and be believable as a boxer who could possibly win the welter weight title. Had somebody said ‘you’ve got to train 4-1/2 years to make this movie,’ I would have said ‘absolutely not.’ But the fact that I was just continuing to do it and never wanted to stop…because I figured if I stopped, then I would be giving up on the movie and I never wanted to do that, so for me it was well worth putting in the work. There were times obviously when it was harder and more difficult to get out of bed….especially while making another film and training for a film that may or may not happen. But it was certainly worth it in the end.

Can you talk about your role as producer and what that entailed?

Mark Wahlberg: It was just out of sheer desperation for getting the movie made. I had already promised Mickey, Dickie, Alice, Charlene and everybody else involved that we were going to get this movie made, it seemed at first glance like it was a no brainer – amazing parts, what a wonderful story, a really new and interesting world that you’re not that familiar with, and it just wasn’t meant to be. So we just had to grab a hold of it and force it to happen through sheer will and determination, very much like Mickey’s journey to winning the title. You just had to go and make it happen.

You and David have worked together a couple of times now and obviously get along personally quite well. What do you value most about working with him?

Mark Wahlberg: He’s my brother, man. I love that guy. We’ve been through a lot together and we’re so comfortable with one another, we’re like family. To be able to work with somebody that you admire so much, and that you trust, and that you care for, I just loved it. When it dawned on me that there is a way to get this movie made with David as the director, we had already started a relationship with Christian and got him to commit. I thought we have a chance to make something really special, and David will bring something to the table that I don’t think anybody else was really trying to tap into. They thought ‘well…the story between the brothers is really fascinating and it’s more of a boxing movie.’ He brought a level of humour and emotion that I don’t think anybody else was capable of bringing to it.