SXSW 2016: A Q&A With Long Nights Short Mornings‘ Director & Star
Writer/director Chadd Harbold’s Long Nights Short Mornings stars Shiloh Fernandez (We Are Your Friends, Evil Dead) as James, a young man looking for love (or perhaps just sex) in New York through a series of connected vignettes, each titled with the name of the woman he's courting (I use this term loosely). These vignettes unfold over the course of what feels like one very long,...
Two New Batman v Superman Teasers Reveal New Footage, Dialogue
In just three days, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will premiere on March 25, the official start of the DCEU (that's DC Extended Universe for you newbies). The teasers, trailers and featurettes have been coming out in red, blue and black waves in the past few weeks, and now Warner Bros. Pictures has debuted two new Batman v Superman teasers; one is an extended preview via Amazon, and the other is a minute of mostly new footage and dialogue that aired during last night's episode of ...
See how they Created Maz Kanata in new Star Wars: The Force Awakens Featurette
Lupita Nyong’o’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens character, Maz Kanata, is a pivotal player in the new saga. She delivers Luke Skywalker's lightsaber to Finn (John Boyega) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) after Rey (Daisy Ridley) initially rejects it. It has already been reported that Nyong'o's diminutive, ancient Maz had a few of her scenes cut, including one in which she makes a ceiling collapse on some Stormtroopers (despite her telling Han, Rey and Finn she's no Jedi)...
Check out the two new Batman v Superman Featurettes
Folks, we're just a few days away from the premiere of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which means we've only got a few more of these teasers and tidbits left before the mammoth battle between the two legendary superheroes is finally seen in full. In these two new featurettes, Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck and the supporting cast dig a little deeper into just why these two icons are fighting each other—with some new footage thrown in there as well (check out the bat plane in the Superman clip,...
Hardcore Henry Producer Timur Bekmambetov on the Groundbreaking POV Film
When an action film is at its best, it becomes easy to imagine yourself at the center of the action, jumping building to building, bolting down busy streets and going mano a mano with your attackers. But in the case of Hardcore Henry, the world’s first feature-length action film shot entirely in POV, that feeling of immersion is simply part of the deal.
The premise is simple: a nameless protagonist – you, that is –...
SXSW 2016: Writer/Director Sophie Goodhart on her Hilarious My Blind Brother
In the opening sequence of My Blind Brother, you meet Robbie (Adam Scott), physically fit save for the dark shades and the sweaty, anguished man he's pulling along via a tether that suggests his titular affliction. That man is his brother Bill (Nick Kroll), who Robbie has just dragged through an entire Marathon. And although he needs Bill, once they cross the finish line Robbie all but forgets Bill exists, thanking the person who was with him "every step of the way,"…God. Later that night,...
The New X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer is Epic
The new X-Men: Apocalypsetrailer just released by 20th Century Fox shows, for the first time, the new (and hopefully improved, for their sake) X-Men team since the excellent X-Men: Days of Future Past completely changed the timeline. Once again, the X-Men are faced with a seemingly insurmountable enemy in the titular mutant Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), whose powers seem an order of magnitude more powerful than any of the X-Men, or any other mutant, for that matter...
Alexander Skarsgård Reveals his Wild Side in The Legend of Tarzan Trailer
Still probably best known for playing the hunky bloodsucker Eric on True Blood, Alexander Skarsgård will likely get a few more fans once The Legend of Tarzan bows.
Based on the iconic Edgar Rice Burroughs character, director David Yates (a Harry Potter maestro) has Skarsgård's jungle's prince now going as a man named John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, who's enjoying a life of civility with his wife Jane (Margot Robbie) in 1880s London...
SXSW 2016: Director Todd Bieber & Legendary Sketch Comedians Matt Walsh & Matt Besser on Thank You Del
You've probably never heard of Del Close, but you’ve definitely heard of the people he’s taught, inspired, and helped turn into legends—Bill Murray, Amy Poehler, and Chris Farley to name a few. Director Todd Bieber, who has directed for Comedy Central, Vice, IFC, and more, was approached by legendary sketch performers, actors and co-founders of The Upright Citizen’s Brigade, Matt Walsh (Veep, Step Brothers) and Matt Besser (The UCB Show, Rick &...
Join Jack Huston for a Deadly Chariot Race in 1st Ben-Hur Trailer
Hoo-boy! Director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Night Watch), a man who knows his way around an action film, sure looks like he had some fun filming Ben-Hur. Paramount Pictures just released the first trailer for the film, which opens on August 12, and appears to be a visceral remake of the 1959 classic. Ben-Hur is a legendary tale of betrayal and redemption, two themes that should play to Bekmambetov's strengths. ...
SXSW 2016: Writer/Director Joey Klein, Tatiana Maslany & Tom Cullen on The Other Half
Joey Klein’s The Other Half manages to be both a beautifully shot tone poem about grief and loss, and a deftly written drama about two people at loose ends who find in each other a glimmer of hope. The lead performances from Tom Cullen and Tatiana Maslany are outstanding, and writer/director Klein allows them plenty of room to experiment with the varieties of grief, hope and regret that each character struggles with throughout. There's also the work of a nimble and talented crew,...
Pre-Sale Tickets Soar, Plus a New Batman v Superman Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
As the March 25 premiere date for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice inches closer, things are starting to look pretty good for Zack Snyder's film. With so much riding on this battle between the bat of Gotham and the God of Metropolis (it cost a lot and it's the big set-up for the DC Films slate, including two upcoming Justice League movies and a solo Batman film), it has to come as a relief that the advance ticket sales are doing gonzo business...
Writer/Director Emmanuelle Bercot on Standing Tall
French actress and director Emmanuelle Bercot took the Cannes Film Festival by storm in 2015. She starred in Maiwenn’s Mon roi (My King) which garnered Bercot the festival’s Best Actress prize. Meanwhile, La Tete haute (Standing Tall), which Bercot cowrote and directed, kicked off the prestigious festival, making Bercot the first female director to open Cannes since 1987.
Bercot says that as an actress and a viewer,...
Steven Spielberg & Harrison Ford to Reunite for Indiana Jones
Disney just broke the big news—Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford are reuniting for Indiana Jones, with The Force Awakens super producer Kathleen Kennedy on board to produce. This is pretty major news. Here's the full presser:
SPIELBERG AND FORD REUNITE AS INDIANA JONES RETURNS TO THEATERS JULY 19, 2019
Indiana Jones will return to the big screen on July 19, 2019, for a fifth epic adventure in the blockbuster series. Steven Spielberg, who directed all four previous films,...
Check out This Gorgeous Star Wars: The Force Awakens Concept Art
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) has just released a bunch of concept art from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, all of which is totally mind-blowing. Some of these pieces were more or less exactly what eventually appeared in the film (like the shot of the TIE Fighters advancing against the backdrop of a huge setting sun), while others depict what could have been a totally different version of the story.
We've embedded some of our favorites below,...
SXSW Alumni: Ed Helms’ Start in Austin
Ed Helms is yet another actor who can credibly claim his career started at SXSW. The star of The Office and The Hangover movies made his acting debut in Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, which was released at the 2004 South by Southwest Film Festival and won the Audience Award. The film is an improvisational comedy set in the world of paintball.
Helms has gone on to a spectacular comedic career...
Talking to Eye in the Sky Director Gavin Hood
Entering a conference room in a downtown Washington hotel, South African director Gavin Hood is carrying a book about drones, which are central to his new film, Eye in the Sky. He's clearly fascinated by the technology, as well as the policy questions they raise. Hood mentions his pleasure in visiting D.C., where drone warfare is a matter of widespread professional interest. His previous movies include Rendition, a consideration of anti-terrorist policies that was partly set in Washington,...
Watch the new Batman v Superman International Trailer
This new international trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that Warner Bros. dropped on Facebook has a couple of cool, new things to parse. Let's start with that bat signal, which, to our eye, appears quite different in design than the one used in Christopher Nolan's trilogy—it's blockier, bulkier, which is fitting considering in Zack Snyder's film, Batman is considerably older and more grizzled than Christian Bale's Dark Knight of Gotham. There are a few stunning new visuals to enjoy;...
SXSW 2016: The Exciting but Uncertain Future of Virtual Reality Filmmaking
On March 28, Oculus will finally release their highly anticipated experiment in consumer virtual reality technology, the Rift headset. The Oculus Rift has been synonymous with VR technology since the company’s original Kickstarter campaign more than three years ago in August of 2012, and although the Rift is not yet available as a consumer product the company has made development kits available that ship with various stages of prototypes of the device, and developers have made promising experiments in virtual reality using this and other hardware like the Samsung Gear and the HTC Vive,...
SXSW 2016: The Duplass Brothers, A Journey that Began in Austin
The Duplass Brothers (Mark and Jay) were back at SXSW on Saturday to discuss their successful careers and provide some words of wisdom to filmmakers who are just starting off. Austin is where is all started for the New Orleans natives; they filmed their first feature film, The Puffy Chair, in Austin.
Their talk had the generous feel of a commencement address—here were two successful alums, grateful and humble, ready to share their hard-earned wisdom...
