MARCH 2011 • NUMBER 109 • WWW.MOVIES.IE
“ CLASSIC FARRELLY
HILARIOUS HEARTWARMING AND BRILLIANTLY STUPID” Leon Poultney, ZOO
March 4th Rango Unknown The Adjustment Bureau
Calendar
As If I Am Not There Ironclad
March 2011
Fair Game
Trailers online on Movies.ie
March 11th
March 18th
The Resident
Submarine
Battle: Los Angeles
Route Irish
The Company Men
You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger
Hall Pass
The Lincoln Lawyer
Chalet Girl
Between The Canals
Play Again
March 25th
April 1st
Country Strong
Oranges And Sunshine
Faster
Killing Bono
A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures
Sucker Punch
Cave Of Forgotten Dreams The Eagle Rewind
Hop Source Code Essential Killing
IE MOV
GHT I L T SPO
16 www.ifco.ie
Interview with Irish director Juanita Wilson As If I Am Not There is an award winning movie from Irish director Juanita Wilson, whose previous movie ‘The Door’ was nominated for an Oscar. Her latest film tells the story of a young woman from Sarajevo whose life is shattered the day a soldier walks into her home and tells her to pack her things. She’s imprisoned in a warehouse where she quickly learns the rules of camp life. Did an Oscar nomination for your previous movie ‘The Door’ bring many changes to your career? A: It was absolutely fantastic to be nominated for the Oscar. It completely came out of the blue. It was so reassuring in so many ways – that you could make a film set in Kiev that somehow ends up being genuinely picked up by The Academy [of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences] and being shortlisted and recognised in that way. It was everything you could ever wish for as a first time filmmaker, it was extraordinary really. It was very helpful because, through that, they showed all five short films throughout America, so we had access to huge audiences that short films normally never would. I really was so delighted. It was incredible. What inspired you to make this film? A: The book had certain elements, that felt very true, that I hadn’t come across before – that fear produces a kind of numbness rather than adrenaline and that in certain situations like this, there is not a natural solidarity
between people; that everyone just puts their head down and hopes that the bad thing won’t happen to them. It gave me a greater understanding of how events like this could happen, but also how an individual could survive them and there are many many ways that the character tries to survive the things that happen. For me, it felt like a story that took you right through the darkest things that we do to each other, but also brings you back to brings you back up to some kind of hope for the future. I liked the way it was structured.
How challenging was it to write a screenplay like this by yourself? A: The screenplay was challenging to write – not just for the subject – but because I felt the book did such a good job. In the book, obviously, you can be in the head of the character and really understand everything. As the character goes through it she can understand what she feels, what she thinks, what she notices. In film you can’t do that – I knew I didn’t want a voice over because it would be too much, so you have to tell everything by what you show on screen, so it was frustrating because I felt I could never do justice to the complexity of the stuff that’s in the book, that the film can’t carry. The power of film is that it can have a different emotional impact so I hope that the trade-off is that you provide the audience with an experience that’s different to the book. The minimal dialogue in the film was obviously a choice that you made. Can you tell us a little bit about that? A: I suppose I would really believe, where possible, to just show things in pictures and that dialogue is only necessary if it helps the story. This almost could have been a silent film. I remember when we read the book, James Flynn – my producer – said he could almost see it as a silent film. It’s all really her journey; because she is an observer – we see it through her eyes. That’s one reason. Maybe also because I’m not from there, therefore I am writing in English, and probably a lot of the dialogue would sound terrible anyway [laughs], so it’s probably a good thing that there is not too much dialogue. I guess, in those situations where there is a lot of fear, people aren’t really communicating in that way. It’s just looks, it’s just impressions and clues and signs, by and large. I
think there was probably a little bit more dialogue in the script and we probably cut that out as well [laughs]. I didn’t plan it, but the last line in the film is Stellan’s [Skarsgard] line about her family, that kind of reverberates with the last scene in a way. How do you hope audiences will respond to the film? A: I think it would be great if people were brave enough to come and watch it because it is obviously challenging to watch a film like this, but in the same way that the book completely opened my mind and gave me an insight into how all of these things can happen, I would hope that people would be curious to come to the subject with an open mind and also to learn ways that we can survive these difficult experiences and to come away with a feeling of hope, that despite all the awful things that happen we still have enough love in our hearts to over come this. For me that is really important. At the end of the day it is a positive film, it is an uplifting film and I think that is really important – that if you are asking an audience to see something, that you are leaving them with hope.
Words - Brogen Hayes. ‘As If I Am Not There’ is now showing in cinemas
Only 23, Irish actor Robert Sheehan has come a long way. Baby. Paul Byrne talks to the star of ‘Misfits’, ‘Love/Hate’, and this month’s ‘Killing Bono’.
It must be good for the Irish Film Board to know that, should Cillian Murphy ever spring a leak, we’ve got a spare. Not that Robert Sheehan is anyone’s bitch. He just happens to be a strikingly pretty, damn talented young actor from sunny Ireland. Who looks good in a dress. Just like Cillian Murphy. “Actually, when I did the TV series ‘Red Riding’, Cillian phoned up the agent we share and talked about how much my character reminded him of Kitten, his character in ‘Breakfast On Pluto’,” says Sheehan. “The whole transvestite, Marc Bolan thing. I was chuffed about that. I was delighted to know that he had watched something I’d done.” Wouldn’t we all. Just as David Mitchell is there for when Stephen Fry just isn’t available, Sheehan knows this town is big enough for both himself and Murphy. So much so, the two are about to make a movie together, with Irish director Stephen Bradley, called ‘The Wayfaring Strangers’. For now though, Sheehan – just back from a month’s holiday in Asia, and a few weeks promotional work in New York (“First time there; absolutely loved it!”) – has got another movie to promote. Based on rock critic Neil McCormick’s memoir, ‘Killing Bono’ charts the rise of U2 from a distance whilst Bono’s fellow Mount Temple Comprehensive School pupil sees his band go further and further down the crapper because Neil just won’t accept any help from U2. Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian in the Narnia franchise) plays Neil, whilst Sheehan plays his long-suffering brother, Ivan. If there was a fire, people would rush to save Ivan, whereas Neil might just perish. “We had long talks about how to play these guys,” says Sheehan. “The scripts were basically arguments between these two brothers from
start to finish, but, luckily, Nick saw the humour in it. We didn’t need it to be an Eastenders omnibus… “I read the book, and Neil is pretty annoying. So, the challenge was to make him sympathetic. To get audiences to understand why he made the decisions he made. To get audiences to actually like this guy who keeps doing everything wrong.” The brothers trajectory from no-hopers to has-beens is a familiar one, as they high-tail it to London and proceed to stumble from bad gig to bad gig, and from dodgy deal to no deal. “A few nights before we started shooting, Ben and I sat down to watch some movies,” says Sheehan, “to help us understand how to play these brothers who are always arguing. We watched ‘Withnail & I’, and that was our main reference point. There was also that ‘Shaun Of The Dead’, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost kind of relationship, where one is always screaming at the other, and they’re really not registering it.” Robert has just made his maiden voyage to New York – to promote the DVD release of ‘Season Of The Witch’, the bonkers Black Plague swashbuckler led by Nicolas Cage. I offer Sheehan my condolences. “Thankfully, I’m in the position of not having to care all that much how that film went down,” says Sheehan. “I wasn’t anywhere near the post on that one. We did it about two and a half years ago now, and you know when you’re having reshoots done two years later, there’s something wrong. I’d kinda forgotten about the thing…” So, you were young, and you needed the money. “Yeah, and I was delighted to go to Austria and Hungary for three and a half months, yeah,” he
laughs. “It was a nice experience, getting to show off in front of Nic Cave and Ron Perlman. I agree with you, to be honest – I have no qualms in saying that I don’t think it’s a very good movie either. It’s a no-brainer kind of film.” Having started out at the Dunamaise Theatre in his native Portlaoise, first getting the desire to act “because I thought, at ten years of age, that making ads would be cool”, Sheehan’s breakthrough came at the age of 14, when he landed a small part – after attending an open call audition - in Aisling Walsh’s 2003 movie ‘Song For A Raggy Boy’. An agent, and a move to London, weren’t far behind. “It’s only now that I’ve really had to make a plan about my career,” says Sheehan. “Now, thankfully, there’s quite a few projects coming my way, and I actually have to think about a role being right for me or not. Which is great, because I’m mad to work.” Part of the plan was a two-week meetand-greet with various LA casting directors back in May 2009 (“Got a half-an-hour with Christopher Nolan, which had me positively shaking”), but Sheehan is keen to stay closer to home. Hitting cinemas later this year is the British horror flick ‘Suicide Kids’. “It’s where the good work is right now,” he nods. “I’ll be starting the second series of Love/Hate this week, and after that, I’m doing a movie called ‘Romeo & Britney’, which is written and will be directed by David Baddiel. Some great people involved in that. Karen Gillan, from Dr. Who, Gillian Anderson, and Richard Schiff, from The West Wing. “Man, just saying all that, I realise what a lucky, lucky bugger I am…” Killing Bono hitsopens Irish cinemas Apr 1st Killing Bono in Ireland on April 1st 2011 Win tickets to an advance preview screening on Movies.ie
my inspiration Bono U2
Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quiet we sit here stranded though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it and Louise holds a handful of rain temptin’ you to defy it lights flicker from the opposite loft In this room the heat pipes just cough the country music station plays soft Bob Dylan Visions of Johanna
Photography by Deirdre O’Callaghan. VISIONS OF JOHANNA. Lyrics by Bob Dylan. Copyright @ 1966; renewed 1994 Dwarf Music Administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing All rights reserved. Used by permission.
My movie world
Waterford born Katie was one of the finalists on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Over The Rainbow on BBC 1. She appears this month in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, at The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin from March 16th - 2nd April 2011. Tickets are on sale now. MY FAVOURITE EVER FILM Recently I saw and absolutely adored 'Black Swan'. It is dark, tragic and visually stunning. I think its great not to have a favourite movie of all time, it means your senses are open to different experiences at different times.
Katie Honan
THE LAST MOVIE I SAW... Last night I watched 'Garden State' for the first. This film has been sitting in my room for so long and I had never gotten around to popping it in the DVD player. I saw it at last and really loved it.
MY FAVOURITE IRISH FILM ‘Garage’, released a couple of years ago and featuring Pat Shortt is not a film you could say is enjoyable. It’s such a lonely story with a really sad but lovely man at its centre. But it’s really well made and acted. It’s a great piece of storytelling. THE MOVIE ADAPTATION OF MY LIFE WOULD STAR...
THE FILM THAT MAKES ME CRY...
I’d hope for Natalie Portman. I admire her charm & the emotional connection she has to the roles she plays. I would say we look a bit alike, but that’s self delusion, I think she's great!
‘Moulin Rouge’ gets me every time. I am always in floods of tears at the end, mascara everywhere! Tears aside it’s a great piece of film and theatrical craft combined.
THE MOVIE I HAVEN’T SEEN YET (BUT WANT TO) I really want to see 'Blue Valentine' with Ryan Gossling and Michelle Williams. The movie has gotten great reviews and I am a big fan of the two leading actors. You’ve just reminded me, that’s now on the list for next weekend. MY GUILTY PLEASURE... I am a big fan of 'Strictly Ballroom'. I'm not sure it’s a guilty pleasure but my boyfriend hated it!
NUMBER 1 U.S. BOX-OFFICE HIT
“THE BEST ACTION THRILLER IN YEARS” WNYX-T WNYX-T
BASED ON THE CULT NOVEL BY DIDIER VAN CAUWELAERT - OUT NOW IN ALL GOOD BOOKSHOPS
IN IN CINEMAS CINEMAS M MARCH ARCH 4
It’s a world full of back-stabbing, tribal war, fateful career decisions, revenge, petty jealousies and wanton carnal desire. Yes, Hollywood really is a crazy place, so it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock that modern studio producers are so enamoured with the ancient world, an era that just about puts Tinsel Town into the halfpenny place in terms of decadence, intrigue, and God(s)-defying shenanigans.
The latest sword-and-s(c)andals epic to march onto the big screen is THE EAGLE, starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, and Hollywood’s sole survivor from the actual Roman era, Donald Sutherland. In order to better understand the murky, treacherous ancient world, Declan Cashin rustles through some ancient film stock to piece together the lessons that Hollywood has thus far imparted to us through its tales from the mythical Greek and Roman civilisations. Remember the Titans These dudes - Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades et al - mean business. As flies to wanton boys are we to the Gods; they kill us for their sport. If you disrespect them with your boastful arrogance, then girlfriend, you are going to get served (see Clash of the Titans, 1981 and 2010, and Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. Actually, don’t see any of them. Just take our word for it). What’s the Krak’?: Continuing with the Titans, Kraken, in the ancient world sense, is not to be confused with the Irish term for fun / enjoyment / lively conversation / self loathing alcoholism / emotional abuse, and whatever else ‘craic’ connotes these days. Rather, Kraken is a monstrous ocean-dwelling creature, fashioned by that divil Hades, that will eat you and yours in an altogether gruesome manner. Be a man - rip off that shirt off, oil up your eight pack abs, and get stuck into those guys: Men were men back in those times, and, according to Hollywood, those shirtless, ripped and buff blokes loved nothing more than getting up close and sweaty with other beefy dudes, with bonus points if you got to stick it to the guy with your giant pointy stick (see 300, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, The Eagle). Yeah, those guys loved a good battle. Wait, what else do you think we mean?
Boy-curious: Totally unconnected to the last topic, those ancient types weren’t afraid to indulge their bedroom passions of the same-sex variety, even if Hollywood itself was too afraid to show it some two millennia years later in the case of Laurence Olivier and Tony Curtis’ bath scene in Spartacus, and even Colin Farrell and Jared Leto in Alexander. However, with nice symmetry, the recent TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand more than made up for its filmic ancestor’s prudishness. Latin lovers: The ancient world is a veritable hotbed of sexual debauchery and history-altering passion. Consider the case of Egyptian minx Cleopatra (1963) and her legendary lover Marc Antony, whose all-consuming lust, in different ways at different points in history, caused the bloody final war of the Roman Republic, almost bankrupted a movie studio trying to tell that story, and led to an even more tumultuous love affair between the actors inhabiting those roles, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Phew, we need a cigarette after that one. A nose job can make all the difference to history: Not just a valuable lesson learned by the Jennifers Grey and Aniston. Apparently Cleopatra’s profile was so beautiful that “had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed.” We’re sure that in Elizabeth Taylor’s mind that ego-massaging compliment extends to her too. Be careful who you sell into slavery: Pesky buggers those Roman slaves are, what with their terribly inconvenient, but dramatically compelling predilections to rise up and seek revenge for their enforced servitude. See: Spartacus, Gladiator, Ben Hur. Steal scenes while Rome burns: The baddie needs to be of the truly boo-hiss, scenery chewing, panto villainy variety. See Peter Ustinov’s Oscar nominated
performance as Emperor Nero in Quo Vadis, and Joaquin ‘Thumbs Down’ Phoenix’s Oscar nominated performance as Emperor Commodus in Gladiator. Not that the Oscars would typically go to that kind of screen hammery. No sir. A good catchphrase/tagline helps: “I am Spartacus” (from, erm, Spartacus); “At my signal, unleash hell” and, “What we do in life echoes in eternity” (Gladiator); and, “Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me” (Carry on Cleo). The ancient world has the oddest mix of accents: Irish, Californian, British, Australian/Kiwi, and Brando (in Julius Caesar). Don’t betray Rome: That didn’t work out too well for Marc Antony in Cleopatra or Coriolanus (as will be seen in the forthcoming flick of the same title starring Ralph Fiennes). Beware the Ides of March: Julius Caesar didn’t, and he got knifed in the back 23 times. Backers of The Eagle are smarter than that though. It’s not unleashed on the world until March 25th well after the Ides of March (the 15th). Finally, never lose the sense of historical perspective: Case in point, the tagline for the following 1964 Sophia Loren-Alec Guinness epic: “Never before a spectacle like [director] Samuel Bronston’s The Fall of the Roman Empire!” Really? Never before? How about the actual fall of the Roman Empire? Words - Declan Cashin The Eagle hits Irish cinemas on March 25th
Get cinema times for every Irish cinema on Movies.ie
The Sunday Times
Sean Rocks, Arena, RTE RADIO 1
CULCH.ie
Donald Clarke, The Irish Times
IN CINEMAS MARCH 4TH www.ifi.ie 01 6793477
www.cineworld.ie 1520 880 444
www.lighthousecinema.ie 01 8797601
HIGHLIGHTS THIS MONTH ON MOVIES.IE
Want more? Irish cinema website Movies.ie is updated every day with movie news, features & competitions. Here are some highlights to discover on Movies.ie this month
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU Go behind the scenes of Matt Damon’s new thriller. Brogen Hayes talks to director George Nolfi on Movies.ie MATT DAMON
EMILY BLUNT
THEY STOLE HIS FUTURE. NOW HE’S TAKING IT BACK. UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND MEDIA RIGHTS CAPITAL PRESENT A GAMBI T PICTURES PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH ELECTRIC SHEPHERD PRODUCTIONS A FILM BYASSOCIATE GEORGE NOLFI MATT DAMON “THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU” EMILYEDITEDBLUNT ANTHONY MACKIE EFFECTS COMUSIC SUPERVISOR MARK RUSSELL PRODUCER ERIC KRIPKE PRODUCER JOEL VIERTEL BY THOMAS NEWMAN BY JAY RABINOWITZ ACE JOHN SLATTERY MICHAEL KELLY AND TERENCE STAMP CASTINGBY AMANDA MACKEY & CATHY SANDRICH GELFOND VISUALPRODUCED PRODUCTION DIRECTOR OF EXECUTIVE BASED UPON THE SHORT STORY “ADJUSTMENT TEAM” BY PHILIP K. DICK DESIGNER KEVIN THOMPSON PHOTOGRAPHY JOHN TOLL ASC PRODUCERS ISA DICK HACKETT JONATHAN GORDON BY MICHAEL HACKETT GEORGE NOLFI BILL CARRARO CHRIS MOORE WWW.THEADJUSTMENTBUREAUMOVIE.CO.UK SCREENPLAYBY GEORGE NOLFI DIRECTEDBY GEORGE NOLFI
IN CINEMAS MARCH 4
ATTEND A PREVIEW OF KILLING BONO KILLING BONO is a rock n’ roll comedy about two Irish brothers struggling to forge their path through the 1980’s music scene, whilst the meteoric rise to fame of their old school pals U2 only made matters worse. Win tickets to our exclusive advance preview screening. Check out the competition on Movies.ie this month.
BATTLE LOS ANGELES Declan Cashin looks at the fate of Los Angeles on Movies.ie plus we have exlcusive T-Shirts up for grabs.
RANGO Watch video interviews with the actors from Rango on Movies.ie plus we talk to ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ director Gore Verbinski.
NOAH TAYLOR PADDY CONSIDINE CRAIG ROBERTS YASMIN PAIGE
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SALLY HAWKINS
ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR ULTRACULTURE
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JAMES MOTTRAM, MARIE CLAIRE
NEWS OF THE WORLD
DAVID GRITTEN, DAILY TELEGRAPH
HILARIOUS AND TOUCHING. A TRIUMPHANTLY BRILLIANT MOVIE DAZED & CONFUSED
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EMPIRE
RED
TOTAL FILM
DAVID EDWARDS, DAILY MIRROR
WONDERFUL
SUBLIME
RED
GLAMOUR
FANTASTIC WORD
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LITTLE WHITE LIES
ULTRACULTURE
LOADED
UNCUT
IN CINEMAS MARCH I 8
nWAVE PICTURES PRESENTS
GEMMA ARTERTON
DOMINIC COOPER
JOHN HURT
KAYVAN NOVAK
ROBERT SHEEHAN
HE’S TURTLY AMAZING
A NWAVE PICTURES PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH ILLUMINATA PICTURES “A TURTLE’S TALE: SAMMY’S ADVENTURES” GEMMA ARTERTON DOMINIC COOPER JOHN HURT KAYVAN NOVAK ROBERT SHEEHAN MUSICBY RAMIN DJAWADI STORYBY BEN STASSEN & DOMINIC PARIS SCREENPLAYBY DOMINIC PARIS PRODUCED EXECUTIVE DIRECTED BY BEN STASSEN CAROLINE VAN ISEGHEM DOMINIC PARIS GINA GALLO MIMI MAYNARD PRODUCER ERIC DILLENS BY BEN STASSEN www.turtlestalemovie.co.uk
IN CINEMAS MARCH 25 ADVANCE SCREENINGS MARCH 19-20 ALSO SHOWING IN 2D