Stephan James Trained Like Olympic Legend Jesse Owens for Race
The punishing training regimes that actors undergo to transform their bodies for roles is well-documented: think Hugh Jackman, Chris Pratt, Michael B. Jordan, Chris Hemsworth and Ryan Reynolds, who have all pumped up the volume on their muscles at various times to play heroes on the silver screen. Jordan, in particular, turned his body into a credible fighting machine for his outstanding performance in Creed.
But for Canadian actor Stephan James,
How They Filmed the Climatic Final Battle in Star Wars: The Force Awakens
At the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the ground literally shakes when Rey faces off with Kylo Ren in an epic light saber duel. Then, it starts to give way. The scene required a lot of heavy duty effects work, which was handled by the team at Industrial Light & Magic.
Variety reports that the ILM team, led by f/x technical director Dan Pearson,
This The Other Side of the Door Clip is Very Creepy
Director Johannes Roberts' The Other Side of the Door teases out two oft-used conceits in horror films; 1) people always disobey grave warnings, no matter how dire the promised consequences are, and 2) a mother will do anything, anything for her child. In this case, the mother (Sarah Wayne Callies) will do anything to bring her son (Jax Malcolm) back to life, which includes using an ancient ritual and disregarding a warning about the portal between life and death.
10 Cloverfield Lane Hides Subliminal Images in New Trailer
For those of you who saw Deadpool over President's Day weekend, you also got a chance to see the new trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane, the horror/thriller/sci-fi romp by J.J. Abrams production company Bad Robot. Now the film was already shrouded in secrecy, so the news emerging from the latest trailer is, if not surprising, at least interesting. According to ScreenCrush,
New Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 Image Released, Filming Underway
While Deadpool might be your favorite irreverent Marvel superhero at the moment, let’s not forget the mouthy, motley space crew who proved comic book characters could not only be truly funny, but lovable, too (we’re looking at you, Groot.) Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Groot (Vin Diesel), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax (Dave Bautista) are back, and Marvel has officially announced the start of shooting on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
Idris Elba Makes a Strong Case in Bastille Day Trailer
Bastille Day has the opportunity to be two things; a potentially exciting original film in its' own right, and, a two hour test reel proving that there’s no one better suited to take over the role of James Bond than Idris Elba. Period. End of story.
Now back to Bastille Day—the film follows a young American artist (Richard Madden, Game of Thrones) living in Paris mainly off the proceeds of his pick pocketing.
Midnight Special Tests Information-Free Waters at the Berlinale
Science fiction, thriller, or family drama? Jeff Nichols’ latest film, Midnight Special, which opens this week after premiering at the Berlinale, absorbingly mixes all three genres. Lead actor and perpetual Nichols collaborator Michael Shannon is a valiant dad on the run, trying to save his eight-year-old son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), from both a religious cult and the US government. These two entities are equally fervent — if sometimes mysteriously so —
Watch the new Alice Through the Looking Glass TV Spot
Alice Through the Looking Glass opens in theaters on May 27, but Disney used last night's Grammy Awards as a prime spot to showcase this spot for their fantasy sequel. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is coming back to Wonderland, reuniting with The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), the Blue Caterpillar (the late, great Alan Rickman), and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). Your newcomers are director James Bobin (replacing Tim Burton), Sacha Baron Cohen as Time and Rhys Ifans as Zanick Hightopp.
The Wild Hail, Caesar! Press Conference at the 66th Berlinale Film Festival
An unwitting, kidnapped communist. A gay (or so implied) tap dancing undercover agent. Very angry rival twin gossip columnists. These are George Clooney, Channing Tatum, and Tilda Swinton in Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest, Hail Caesar!, which doesn’t have quite the gravitas of, say, No Country For Old Men, or even A Serious Man, but more than makes up for that in chuckles,
Chatting With How To Be Single Director Christian Ditter
How To Be Single, starring Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson and Leslie Mann, is the perfect anti-Valentine’s Day option for singles in need of some fortification. We talk to its German director Christian Ditter about filming in New York for the first time, encouraging the actors to improvise and signing on to direct Netflix’s Girlboss.
Do you want to tell me a little bit about how this project came about for you?
New Teaser Hints at Opening Shot of Star Wars: Episode VIII
Principal photography officially began on Star Wars: Episode VIII at Pinewood Studios in London on February 15, 2016. The teaser announcing this news had one very interesting reveal—either this could be one of the opening shots of Episode VIII, or, writer/director Rian Johnson was on set for the very final shot of The Force Awakens. Considering The Force Awakens was very much J.J.
Know Your Oscar Nominees: Costume Designers
One of this year’s most eclectic categories at the Academy Awards is the category for best achievement in costume design. The five films in that category each take place in a distinctive time period and the costumes in each production brilliantly capture the look and appearances of the film’s characters.
Of the five nominees, three of the movies take place in the past while one takes place in an apocalyptic future. The last film takes place in a land far,
Jesus Returns (Again) to the Big Screen in Risen
Another year, another dramatic Bible rendering. The latest in a pantheon of Jesus film depictions, the movie Risen opens on February 19, dramatizing Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. The action is seen through the eyes of some of the bad guy Roman non-believers, Clavius (Ralph Fiennes) and his assistant, Lucius (Tom Felton), who are tasked with finding out where exactly Jesus disappeared to after crucifixion. More action than spiritual reflection, many red paludamentums are angrily swung around during the sturm and drang that ensues in the hunt for Christ’s body.
Talking to Writer-Director Tobias Lindholm About his Oscar-Nominated A War
The third big-screen collaboration between Danish writer-director Tobias Lindholm and actor Pilou Asbaek, A War follows a company commander through the horrors of Afghanistan and back to Denmark, where he's put on trial for alleged war crimes. The movie, an Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film, has a semi-improvisational style and features mostly nonprofessional performers. Lindholm's two previous movies, R and A Hijacking,
Warner Bros. Names Ryan Coogler First Creative Talent Ambassador
Ryan Coogler's young career continues to move in interesting directions. The writer-director burst onto the scene in 2013 with Fruitvale Station, a Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winner at Sundance. This past year, he co-wrote and directed Creed, again teaming up with Fruitvale star Michael B. Jordan as the titular son of Apollo Creed, who goes on to become a protegé of Rocky Balboa.
Rebel Wilson Continues Her Hilarious Sidekick Reign of Terror in How to Be Single
For audiences revolted by romantic comedies and in equal measure, for those who love them, How to Be Single, which opens Friday, should attract them both thanks to Rebel Wilson, the comedic sidekick who really makes this girl-buddy comedy. The Australian actress plays the confident, sassy happily single foil to Dakota Johnson’s mousy Alice, a not-so-happily single co-worker looking for love and a new life, the girl-who-needs-to-learn-to-let-it-all-hang-out.
And who better to impart that skill than Robin (Wilson),
Morena Baccarin on Not Playing the Good Girl in Deadpool
As the tough-talking prostitute/love-interest Vanessa in Deadpool, Morena Baccarin gets to shake off her good-girl persona. We chat with her about playing an unconventional character, how the comic book genre is creating some surprisingly complex roles for women, and why she won’t be signing up to star in an action movie any time soon.
How Deadpool’s Tight Budget Helped Create a New Kind of Marvel Film
To understand how we ended up with the wisecracking, dirty-talking, unapologetically murderous Deadpool we already know and love- thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign- we have to go back to the origin story of this origin story.
The project had been kicking around at Fox for more than a decade when in July, 2014, two minutes of test footage was leaked on the web, portraying a very different kind of superhero.
Deadpool set to Crush President’s Day Weekend
With the reviews of Deadpool solid (it’s sitting at an 83% fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.com) and the full court press media blitz leading up to the film release on Friday, you will probably not be surprised to hear the film is going to do very well this weekend. The critical consensus about Deadpool is that the wiseass mercenary played by Ryan Reynolds brings the funny, foul-mouthed, fourth-wall-obliterating central character off with vim and vigor.
Charlize Theron May Go From Furiosa to Fast 8 Villain
All it took was a little axle grease mascara, a claw for an arm the ability to plausibly beat the snot out of Tom Hardy in Mad Max: Fury Road to make Charlize Theron’s Furiosa one of the most iconic characters of the past few years. Theron’s Furiosa immediately warrants mention with other deathless big screen heroines like Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor in The Terminator and T2 and Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in Alien and Aliens.
