New Heinz

The Godfather
Pasta Sauce

ridiculously Limited Edition

irrefusable
©2024 Par. Pics
 Editor
NICK DE SEMLYEN
Creative Director Associate Editor
CHRIS LUPTON (Production)
LIZ MOODY
Photography Director
JOANNA MORAN Editor-In-Chief
(Digital)
Deputy Art Director JAMES DYER
GRAHAM JONES
Deputy Online
Features Editor Editor
ALEX GODFREY BEN TRAVIS BACK IN 2015, when Mad Max: Fury Road
Executive Editor Social Media Editor
first revved its thunderous engine and
CHRIS HEWITT SOPHIE BUTCHER stormed into cinemas, I headed to the
Reviews Editor Editorial Assistant Curzon Soho to luxuriate in George Miller’s
JOHN NUGENT WHITNEY JONES masterpiece for a third time. Cut to five
News Editor Editor-At-Large minutes into the film. Max has gobbled
BETH WEBB HELEN O’HARA
a mutant gecko. He’s been branded and
forcibly tattooed. A legion of pasty-white,
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS MARKETING
Hayley Campbell, Ian Freer, Boyd Senior Marketing Manager hideously scarred, Gollum-y War Boys have
Hilton, Dan Jolin, Bill McConkey, Susan Litawski
Ian Nathan, Christina Newland, Kim Product Marketing Manager leered, shrieked and cavorted. Suddenly, the
Newman, Nev Pierce, Paul Shipper,
Adam Smith, Amon Warmann
Madeleine Munro-Hall middle-aged man next to me stands up and in
H BAUER PUBLISHING a booming voice declares three words to the
CONTRIBUTORS CEO of Bauer Publishing UK
Words: Alex Avard, Catherine Bray, Chris Duncan auditorium at large: “NOT FOR ME.” Then he
Kambole Campbell, Jake
Cunningham, Tom Ellen, Alex
EA to CEO Vicky Meadows scurries down the aisle and flees the building.
EA to CFO Stacey Thomas
Garland, Katie Goh, Al Horner, Group MD – Lifestyle & His loss. The world of Mad Max might not
Michael Jones, Matt Kamen, Entertainment
Jordan King, Barry Levitt, Victoria Helen Morris be for everybody, but frankly that’s why it’s
Luxford, Tshepo Mokoena, David
Opie, Priscilla Page, Olly Richards,
Publisher – Premium And so much fun to visit. Outrageous, lurid, gory,
Entertainment
Arjun Sajip, Sam Summers,
Laura Venning
Lauren Holleyoake deliriously paced and seemingly unfettered
Photographers: Marco Vittur Chief Financial Officer,
Bauer Magazine Media by a single studio note, Fury Road was
Illustrations: Arn0, Matthew
Brazier, Selman Hoşgör, Bill Lisa Hayden a straight-up instant action classic. So much interview with Jerry Seinfeld about his new
McConkey, Russell Moorcroft, Business Analyst
The Red Dress Tracey Pickering so that in our March 2020 issue, you guys Pop-Tart movie. Yes, the Pop-Tart, that
Managing Editor — Mass
Design: Russell Moorcroft
Subbing: Julie Emery, & Celebrity Brands voted it the greatest movie of the 21st century unlikeliest of muses. At least it’s tastier
Lucy Williams Michelle Thorn so far. (Let’s face it, Paddington didn’t have than a gecko.
PRODUCTION SUBSCRIPTIONS QUERIES a single chainsaw berserker on a pole.) And Enjoy the issue.
Print Production Controller
Carl Lawrence 01733-468858
To contact us about subscription
orders, renewals, missing
now, incredibly, the 79-year-old Miller is at it
Ad Production Controller
Jackie Doran 01733-468107
issues, back issues or any again. Furiosa is another desert epic, this time
other queries, please email
ePublishing Production Director [email protected] or call with Anya Taylor-Joy duking it out against
Alan Kindell 020-7859 8604 our UK number on 01858 438884.
To manage your account online
Chris Hemsworth. There will be monster
ADVERTISING visit https://secure. trucks. There will be mayhem. I highly doubt
Head Of Magazine Media greatmagazines.co.uk/Solo
Clare Chamberlain there will be anything mediocre. Read all
Head Of Magazine Brands
Anu Short
INTERNATIONAL AND about it from page 52, in our world-exclusive
SYNDICATION
MD — Bauer Media Advertising
Simon Kilby [email protected] report by Empire’s very own Dementus,
Commercial Director —
COMPLAINTS Chris Hewitt.
Entertainment
Gemma Dick H Bauer Publishing is a member of And because the landscape of cinema
the Independent Press Standards
Brand Director
Joel Stephan 020 3879 2125 Organisation (www.ipso.co.uk) and is as wild and unpredictable as the Wasteland
Head Of Film endeavours to respond to and
resolve your concerns quickly. Our
itself, this issue also features the very first
Sarah Clarke 020 7295 3576
Head Of Magazines — Regional Editorial Complaints Policy
Katie Kendall 020 7295 8560 (including full details of how to
Media Planner contact us about editorial
Ricky Duff 01733 648062 complaints and IPSO’s contact
Head Of Classified details) can be found at www.
Imogen Jackaman 01733 459278 bauermediacomplaints.co.uk
Inserts Manager
Simon Buckenham 020 7075 0812

Empire is published every four weeks by H Bauer Publishing. No part of the magazine may
be reproduced in any form in whole or in part, without the prior permission of H Bauer
Publishing. All material published remains the copyright of H Bauer Publishing and we
reserve the right to copy or edit any material submitted to the magazine without further
consent. The submission of material (manuscripts or images etc) to H Bauer Publishing,
whether unsolicited or requested, is taken as permission to publish that material in the
magazine, on the associated website, any apps or social media pages affiliated to the
magazine, and any editions of the magazine published by our licensees elsewhere in the
world. By submitting any material to us you are confirming that the material is your own
original work or that you have permission from the copyright owner to use the material and to
authorise Bauer to use it as described in this paragraph. You also promise that you have
permission from anyone featured or referred to in the submitted material to it being used by H
Bauer Publishing. If H Bauer Publishing receives a claim from a copyright owner or a person
featured in any material you have sent us, we will inform that person that you have granted us
permission to use the relevant material and you will be responsible for paying any amounts
due to the copyright owner or featured person and/or for reimbursing H Bauer Publishing for
This month’s exclusive subscriber cover by Jasin Boland
Alex Bellissimo, Andrew Owen, Marco Vittur

any losses it has suffered as a result. Please note, we accept no responsibility for unsolicited
material which is lost or damaged in the post and we do not promise that we will be able to
return any material. Finally, whilst we try to ensure accuracy of your material when we publish and Steve Reeves
it, we cannot promise to do so. We do not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage,
however caused, resulting from use of the material. Transparencies and any other material Feast your eyes on this striking joint effort by photographer
submitted for publication are sent at the owner’s risk and, while every care is taken, neither
Empire, not its agents, accept any liability for loss or damage. Although Empire has Jasin Boland — left, hanging out with the Furiosa War Boys —
endeavoured to ensure that all information in the magazine is correct, prices and details may
be subject to change. Empire is a trademark of H Bauer Publishing. and designer Steve Reeves, here finessing his creation.
• If you can’t find the magazine in the shops, call Frontline on 01733 555161.

TURN TO PAGE 8 TO LEARN HOW TO SIGN UP

Magazine printed by William Gibbons & Sons Ltd, 26 Planetary Way, Willenhall,
Wolverhampton, WV13 3XA. • Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. H Bauer Publishing
is a company registered in England and Wales with company number LP003328, registered
address The Lantern, 75 Hampstead Road, London, NW1 2PL. VAT no. 918 5617 01.
H Bauer Publishing is authorised and regulated by the FCA (Ref No. 845898).
This issue on sale 14 March.
FOR AN EMPIRE MEMBERSHIP

Empire, ISSN 0957-4948 (USPS 6398) is published every four weeks by H Bauer Publishing Ltd, Media House, Peterborough Business Park, Lynch
Wood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA, United Kingdom. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named World Container Inc, 150-15, 183rd Street, Jamaica,
NY 11413, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY 11256. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Empire, Air Business Ltd, c/o World
Container INC 150-15, 183rd St, Jamaica, NY 11413, USA. Subscription records are maintained at Bauer Media, Subscriptions, CDS Global, Tower
“I’ve never seen Timothée Chalamet so close to a Greggs.” House, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, Leicester LE16 9EF, United Kingdom. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent.

MAY 2024 3
 Here: Danse macabre:
Alisha Weir and Kevin
Durand in Abigail. Below:
Timothée Chalamet’s
Wonka with some paper
that’s probably edible.

CHRIS HEWITT SPOKE TO GEORGE

MILLER FOR OUR COVER STORY
“My marathon interview with the
Furiosa director — conducted over
Zoom as he’s based in Sydney — was
his first about the movie, not that
you’d know. He was a ball of energy,
and in the end had to be dragged
away to go back to editing, virtually
mid-senten…”

76 CARL WEATHERS
A fond farewell to the
late, great actor. Baby, we got

10 JERRY SEINFELD
The comedy legend 34 DUNE: PART TWO
No popcorn buckets
a stew goin’.

tells us why he’s made a movie

about nothing. Well, nothing
were harmed in the making of
this review. 82 CIVIL WAR
Are you Team

Perfect 2. Dark Side: “If it is a trilogy you are dealing with, here are some super trilogy rules” is from Scream 3. Subs: “Go!”
Spinelines issue 425: Newsstand Light Side: “Why don’t we go visit Hayden Christian Andersen’s house?” is from Pitch
and Pop-Tarts. Tony, Team Cap or Team KATIE GOH INTERVIEWED OUR

“Skywalker, Solo, Vader, Kenobi, Palpatine, Calrissian, Balboa, Rambo, Griswold, Stifler, Bickle, Gump...” is from Ted 2.
14 RIPLEY 39 SPACEMAN
Adam Sandler in
Alex Garland? SPOTLIGHT STAR NELL TIGER FREE
“People who work in the horror genre
Andrew Scott is
Patricia Highsmith’s con man.
space. It’s no laughing matter.
88 THE DEEP DIVE
How ’80s TV ads
are often the sunniest, happiest
interview subjects, and Nell was
Believe it or not.
40 3 BODY PROBLEM
Do we have the four-
spawned a wave of film
directors. Next month: how
no different. The actor’s love for
her roles in twisty, creepy projects

16 TRAILER TALK
A Super Bowl special.
How about those Niners, huh?
star solution for Netflix’s huge
new show?
Ross Kemp was in a cereal
commercial once.
shone through, even on a grey
winter’s afternoon. Horror has
a new bright star.”
What do you mean, they lost?

22 IF
Director John Krasinski
on making imaginary friends 52 FURIOSA
Once again we send 94 WONKA
Paul King
a reality. off our Word Rig to bring back and Simon Farnaby tell
quotes from Quote Town, and us how they pulled off

24 ZACK SNYDER
The director on why he’s
set to unleash a full Rebel Moon.
exclusive interviews with
George Miller, Anya Taylor-Joy
and Chris Hemsworth from the
Willy’s chocolate
experience.

28 CATE BLANCHETT
Exclusive Interview Farm.
102 THE RANKING
Team Empire tackles JAMES DYER AND BOYD HILTON
We had Cate Blanchett
with the budget*, so asked
all about her new movie, The
62 THE SOPRANOS
David
Chase and cast on
the films of Nicole Kidman.
Sorry, BMX Bandits.
JOINED JODIE FOSTER ON THE
PILOT TV PODCAST
“Having become obsessed with True
New Boy. (*Apologies to 22
Jump Street)
25 years of Tony.
108 GREEN ROOM
Director Jeremy
Detective: Night Country during our
spoiler specials on Pilot TV+ (subscribe

33 PINT OF MILK
Ben Mendelsohn takes
70 ABIGAIL
Inside
this year’s
Saulnier on the most
traumatic backstage
experience since
now!), Boyd and I were giddy to sit
down for a chat with living legend
Jodie Foster. She was extremely
our legendary Q&A. Least said, bloodiest ballet. Spinal Tap got lost gracious and entirely charming.”
soonest Mendo! in Cleveland.

4 MAY 2024
IN CINEMA NOW
 ON TOM CRUISE’S FUTURE ROLES:
Will he be running? I think it’s important that THIS MONTH WE ASKE D:
he does some of his trademark running in WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SE E
whatever he does next. Maybe a remake of IN SAM ME NDE S’ B EATLE S
Forrest Gump? QUADRILOGY ?
JASON STAFFORD

TRAILER TRASH
I was incensed by your article about fake movie
trailers. If they front-and-centre identified
themselves as being fan-made I would have no
problem, but the vast majority of the views you
LET’S GET PHYSICAL so celebrate are from those who have been
Enjoying your latest ‘physical copy’ and literally conned into watching them.
Ben Travis’ article [‘Owning A Disc Means MATT DAVIS, LONDON
Nobody Can Take It Away’, The Platform, issue We would argue we were reporting on, rather than
#425]. I have this debate with friends. At 40 celebrating, a significant phenomenon. Like ’em Ringo and Maureen Peter Serafinowicz’s
years old, call me old-fashioned, but I’m a proud or lump ’em, fake trailers are worth a closer look. packing their time has come.
owner of a growing 4K collection. And you really suitcase full of tins @AIDANMCCOMEDY
can’t beat having your own personal collection. of baked beans
I intend on reading Empire physically just as before they went to Number 9,
much as buying movies. ON EMPIRE’S STAR WARS PREQUELS India for the first number 9, number
GARETH WOOD, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE SUBSCRIBER COVER: time. That would 9, number 9,
Physical media, much like the Goonies, Prequels Captain Antilles on a magazine be a key scene number 9,
never says die. Gareth, for your admirable cover was not on my bingo card for this year. for me. number 9, number
commitment to tangible things, have a @JACOBBOUSHH @MELLOHOG 9, number 9,
Picturehouse membership on us — and enjoy number 9, number
deciding what will become part of your 4K TENET TEASE Jack Black, 9, number 9,
stash in the future. Watching Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, I noticed Paul Rudd, Justin number 9,
a character described Oppenheimer’s Manhattan Long and Jason number 9,
Empire’s star letter wins a Picturehouse Project. Is this the first time a director has hinted Schwartzman. number 9.
Membership, valid for one year at all
Picturehouse Cinemas across the UK, at their next film within a movie? @ADAM___BARLOW @DRUNKENBOUDDHA
including the flagship Picturehouse Central
PAUL NAPLETON, WYMONDHAM
in London’s West End. The Membership
comes pre-loaded with five free tickets, and gets you access to exclusive It’s not even Nolan’s first time — the end of
discounts on food, snacks and drinks. When you write to us, please include
your full contact details so we can arrange delivery of your prize. Batman Begins teased The Dark Knight’s Joker.

THE VERY FIRST ‘PINT OF MILK’ MAY 1994

THIS ISSUE MARKS an important De Niro, Charlton Heston, Shirley
milky milestone in Empire’s history: MacLaine, the Coen brothers —
30 years ago this month, we and unlikelier figures — Geri
launched the ‘How Much Is A Pint Halliwell, Al Gore, Eric Cantona, Neil
Of Milk?’ format, kicking things off Morrissey, Ant & Dec — run the
by asking Willem Dafoe questions milky gauntlet. Some questions
like, “Would you ever call a child of have been quietly discontinued
yours Daniel?” or, “Have you ever (“Would you eat human flesh if your
been to Yorkshire?” life depended on it?”; “Have you
Thus began a storied three- ever watched hardcore porn?”),
decade history (save for a pause but the format remains a beloved
between 1998 and 2005), which has Empire staple. Head to page 33 for
seen Hollywood royalty — Robert our latest lactose levy.

CONTACT US VIA: EMPIRE MAGAZINE, THE LANTERN, 75 HAMPSTEAD ROAD, LONDON NW1 2PL
[email protected] / @EMPIREMAGAZINE (#EMPIRELETTERS) / FB.COM/EMPIREMAGAZINE

6 MAY 2024
 AN OFFER
AMAZING EVENTS EXCLUSIVE

EXCLITUESSTIOVE
INV
EVENTS CUR
ATED
E
BY THE EMPIR
TEAM

THE ULTIMATE EMPIRE EXPERIENCE

Reading the magazine is only the beginning. To get closer to Hollywood than ever before,
join the Empire VIP Club. Screenings with A-listers in the house, our deep-dive Spoiler
Special podcast, the magazine direct to your door with bespoke covers, plus free cinema
tickets. All for the incredible value of £99.99 a year. Join us today! SCAN HERE

SIGN UP NOW: GREATMAGAZINES.CO.UK/EMPIREVIP

OR SCAN THIS QR CODE

8 MONTH 2023
YOU CAN’T REFUSE
PODCASTS BESPOKE COVERS FREE CINEMA TICKETS
VIP MEMBERSHIP
ONLY £99.99
PER YEAR*
Worth over £130!
INCLUDES:
Exclusive live events, including
preview screenings and Q&As

13 print issues of Empire a year

Picturehouse or Cineworld
Cinemas’ My Cineworld Plus
membership, with two free
cinema tickets**

Access to the Empire Spoiler

Special podcast

Exclusive collectible covers

Digital edition of Empire

Access to back issues of Empire

Empire Insider newsletter

THE WORLD’S BIGGEST MOVIE MAGAZINE

Terms & Conditions: *Offer ends 08/05/2024. We can currently offer the Empire VIP Club Membership to UK customers only. Your magazine will start with the next available issue. Prices quoted apply
when paying by annual recurring payment. Six-month payments and one-off payments are also available, please see website for details. The minimum term is 13 issues. After your first 13 issues your
Membership will continue at this offer price unless you are notified otherwise. You will not receive a renewal reminder and the recurring payments will continue to be taken unless you tell us otherwise.
This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. **Details of how to redeem your Picturehouse or My Cineworld Plus membership and tickets will be sent to you via email once payment has
been received and after the 14-day cooling-off period has passed. Please note this can take up to 16 days. NB: To sign up with Picturehouse you will need to be 16+ years old.

MONTH 2023 9
M AY 2 0 2 4 | EDITED BY BETH WEBB

Jerry Seinfeld’s
fruit-filled destiny
THE CO MEDY STALWART SPEAKS FOR TH E FIRST TIME ABOUT HIS
D IRECTO RIA L DEBUT, UNFROSTED: THE POP-TART STORY
W O R D S B O Y D H I LT O N adult when I was a kid,” he explains. “I wanted
to look like adults looked in the ’60s, but by the
“WHEN I WAS a kid and they invented the time I got to be an adult they didn't look like
Pop-Tart, the back of my head blew right off.” that anymore. So this was a chance to go back
This quote from a Jerry Seinfeld stand-up and do that look.” Seinfeld also acknowledges
routine, that goes on to describe his love of the influence of (mostly) ’60s-set TV drama
the “frosted, fruit-filled, heated rectangle”, has Mad Men. “I’m obsessed with that show. That,
become the genesis of his directorial debut. mixed with the dumbness of the cereal world —
Egged on by his writing team — Spike Feresten, you know, stuffy executives discussing tarts and
Barry Marder and Andy Robin, who all worked flakes and frosting — just struck me as a fun
with Seinfeld on the 2007 animated feature world to be in.”
Bee Movie — Jerry was tickled by the idea of classic-movie references, too, from The
depicting the Pop-Tart origin story as if it WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH… THE MOVIE Godfather to There Will Be Blood. “We steal from
were a world-shaking event of great historic REFERENCES? every movie we could think of because we love
significance. The writer/director/star tells The turning point in convincing Seinfeld to movies,” says Seinfeld.
Empire how the whole silly, wholly Seinfeldian make the movie was when one of the writers
project came to, erm… fruition. said, “Do you remember the scene in The WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH… THIS CAST?
Right Stuff where Jeff Goldblum and Harry Alongside Seinfeld himself as a Kellogg’s bigwig,
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH… Shearer are running down the hall, and they every role in the film seems to be played by a
THE PERIOD VIBE? burst into the darkened boardroom and they big-name actor and/or accomplished comedian,
A major element of the appeal of this story for go, ‘It’s called… Sputnik!’? That’s what this with Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, Dan
Seinfeld is its setting in the ’60s, the decade movie is.” And Seinfeld thought, “I want to Levy, James Marsden and Christian Slater all
when he grew up. “I always wanted to be an make that movie.” The film is full of other having a wild time. Seinfeld cast the film during

10 MAY 2024
lockdown, and mostly just called friends of his matters that Tony The Tiger has a British Clockwise from main: They’re grrreat! Jerry Seinfeld and
he thought would be keen. “Everybody I asked accent,” says Seinfeld. “I told him, ‘No, Hugh Grant; Cereal drama in the boardroom; Christian Slater
said ‘yes’, so we ended up with this crazy cast,” who cares?’” milks it; Melissa McCarthy celebrates the start of the tart.
he says. And then there’s Hugh Grant... “That
was the greatest part of the whole thing, WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH… DIRECTING? get to grips with some crew unrest. “We had
honestly,” Seinfeld tells us. “Because I am Seinfeld has directed bits and pieces, but mostly a blow-up on the set. Somebody in the set
a crazy fan of his.” Grant stars as a frustrated, behind the scenes. Unfrosted is his first feature. department started screaming at somebody else.
failed Shakespearean actor reduced to playing “Directing is really just telling people what to do, I said, “Everyone just stop. This is a Pop-Tart
the Frosties cereal mascot Tony The Tiger to but it was a little more difficult than I expected movie. None of this matters.’” But a Jerry
make his car payments. Grant, who hasn’t because there’s a lot of money involved,” Seinfeld Seinfeld Pop-Tart movie? That matters.
auditioned for a role in 30 years, nevertheless admits. “And people in the film world tend to be
sent Seinfeld an audition tape. “He asked me if it bigger personalities to deal with.” He did have to UNFROSTED: THE POP-TART STORY IS ON NETFLIX FROM 3 MAY

MAY 2024 11
 Setting fire to
the gun for hire wearing, bespectacled bird enthusiast called
HOW R ICHA R D LINKL ATER Gary, played by the film’s co-writer and
Linklater’s frequent collaborator Glen Powell.
F L IP PED TH E SCRIPT ON AN He’s based on Gary Johnson, a real-life
psychology lecturer who moonlighted as a fake
AGE-OL D GENR E WITH HIT MAN contract killer for his local district attorney’s
office. Linklater stumbled across Johnson via
WORDS BETH WEBB an article in 2001, which confirmed his long- Top: Glen Powell as Gary — or in this instance, ‘Ron’ —
standing suspicions that the ‘contract killer’ is with client Maddy, played by Adria Arjona. Above: Director
WHEN IT COMES to contract-killer movies, a made-up notion. “There were these hitman Richard Linklater with his stars on set.
you’d be forgiven if Richard Linklater wasn’t manuals I remember reading; they were pretty
the first filmmaker to spring to mind. Nor the silly,” he recalls. “Like, ‘How To Be A Hitman’. teenager had given him $5 and some video-
second, or probably third. Yet the indie auteur’s They were part of the underground press.” He games.” (This example makes its way into
latest, literally called Hit Man, isn’t your average later discovered that one such manual was in the film.) Then during the pandemic, Linklater
movie about, well, a hit man. Talking to Empire, fact written by a Southern Californian housewife. received a serendipitous call from his Everybody
Linklater recalls his film’s premiere at the So when he read the article — penned by his Wants Some!! star Powell, who had discovered
Venice Film Festival, where by coincidence it Bernie co-writer Skip Hollandsworth — he Hollandsworth’s article himself. During
played alongside several actual hitmen movies, became fascinated by the man sitting incognito lockdown they noodled over the story, which
including David Fincher’s The Killer — “One of across the table, going along with the myth to preserved some of the original article but
my favourite films of last year” — and the Liam catch out the real bad guys. evolved into a screwball romantic-comedy in
Neeson-fronted In The Land Of Saints And During the 20 years that followed, Linklater which undercover Gary falls for client Maddy
Sinners. “Those movies are, as far as I can continued exploring Gary’s world, watching (Adria Arjona), and spends more time as
tell, playing it pretty straight,” he observes, CCTV footage of his interactions and reading his persona of ‘Ron’ as the pair hit it off.
laughing. “I’m not.” transcripts provided by Hollandsworth. “I was “There was something positive about Gary, so
To make the distinction, you needn’t look just amazed at what little money changed I thought, ‘What if he’s actually meeting his
further than Hit Man’s protagonist, a jorts- hands,” he recalls. “You know, $2,000. Some soulmate to some degree?’” Linklater muses.

12 MAY 2024
 GET UP TO SPEED ON ROGUE TROOPER

IT’S BASED ON A UK even the names of battles from the US

COMICS CLASSIC Civil War, World War II and the Vietnam
Though the titular Rogue Trooper is War. The endless conflict Rogue finds
a dead ringer for Colonel Quaritch in himself in is between two authoritarian
Avatar: The Way Of Water, this blue- factions who’ve made Nu-Earth’s air
skinned beefcake has been around for unbreathable through the use of
much longer. Created in 1981, Rogue bioweapons. War is heck.
appeared in the UK comic book 2000
AD, best known for Judge Dredd. BUT IT’S NOT ALL
A champion of the mag, Moon director DOOM AND GLOOM
Hit Man still has plenty of fun with Gary’s Top to bottom: Duncan Jones announced his passion Jones has described 2000 AD’s body
profession, though, as he showcases an array of Mixing business project in 2018. The film, which stars of work as having a Pythonesque
aliases, from a beer-chugging bro in wraparound with pleasure; Dunkirk’s Aneurin Barnard, Hayley Atwell streak and described his script on
glasses to a turtleneck-wearing Russian with Star Powell is and Jack Lowden, has now wrapped social media as “like if Guardians Of The
lank, black hair. “He’s grabbing characters from also co-writer, the main portion of its production. Galaxy had a baby with The Raid”. It’s
the culture,” Linklater explains. “A little Patrick with Linklater; an intriguingly bonkers-sounding
Bateman shows up in the Russian tough guy. ‘Before IT’S INDIE FILMMAKING combination, and the cast also features
He’s not a hitman, he’s just a psycho. It’s just Murder’? ON AN EPIC SCALE cult comedy favourites Reece
trying to satisfy what the client wants.” Adapting Rogue Trooper was always Shearsmith (playing the sentient
Then there’s the meta montage of on-screen going to be challenging: it’s a sci-fi epic backpack), Jemaine Clement, Matt
contract killers used to set up their relationship about a vengeful, genetically modified Berry and Alice Lowe.
with pop culture. Linklater highlights that he super-soldier on a war-ravaged Nu-Earth,
was extremely particular with his choice of with his comrades’ consciousnesses THERE COULD BE A LOT
clips. “I don’t show the guys from Pulp Fiction uploaded to his rifle, helmet and MORE TO COME
because they’re working for a Mob guy. Those backpack (yes, a sentient backpack). The wider Trooperverse contains several
aren’t hitmen,” he clarifies. Instead, we see But advances in Unreal Engine, software spin-offs with story potential, including
flashes of what he refers to as “retail hitmen”, designed by video-game developers to the origins of amoral female soldier Venus
aka guns for hire: “My favourite [hitman movie] bring virtual worlds to life, have changed Bluegenes. 2000 AD recently brought
is maybe Murder By Contract, this fairly obscure everything. This powerful tool means that Rogue back with a new story in which
Irving Lerner film from the late ’50s [starring] Jones can achieve out-of-this-world a time-rift causes him to fight alongside
Vince Edwards. I got him in there for a second.” visuals while maintaining some British British soldiers from the First World
Illustration: Russell Moorcroft

Linklater wonders aloud if it’s not too late to indie spirit. Plus the VFX are by Dorset- War. He even met Judge Dredd in
add The Killer to the montage. “I could sneak in based filmmakers Treehouse Digital. It a one-off special — perhaps Jones will
Michael Fassbender looking out of the window,” doesn’t get more homegrown than this. “go rogue” and introduce his trooper
he laughs. Could Fassbender pull off a hit in to the infamous masked lawman…
jorts, though? The jury’s out. THIS IS SUPER- LAURA VENNING
POLITICAL SCI-FI
HIT MAN IS IN CINEMAS FROM 24 MAY AND ON NETFLIX The original comic has strong satirical ROGUE TROOPER DOES NOT YET HAVE A UK
FROM 7 JUNE overtones, borrowing imagery, plot and RELEASE DATE

MAY 2024 13
 Andrew
Scott gets
stranger
IN NETFL IX’S SLICK NEW
SERI ES RIP L EY, THE ACTOR
D ELVES UN DER THE SKIN OF
THE NOTO R IOUS CONMAN
W O R D S H AY L E Y C A M P B E L L

WHY DO WE have such an enduring fascination

with Tom Ripley? The character first entered
the world in Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel
The Talented Mr. Ripley, in which he — a young,
underachieving nobody — is sent to Italy on an
errand to bring back the rich, spoiled Dickie
Greenleaf, after which things go bloodily awry.
The story of this wayward conman-turned- lauded performance in All Of Us Strangers, as the people will like other versions, and that’s okay.
murderer abroad instantly captured readers. It sinister nomad who finagles his way — ultimately What you have to do is understand why this
was immediately adapted into a TV episode for violently — into the lives of Dickie (Johnny Flynn), character remains so fascinating for people.”
anthology series Studio One in 1956. Four more his girlfriend Marge (Dakota Fanning) and close Scott says he “didn’t go near any other
novels followed. Seven actors have portrayed friend Freddy (Eliot Sumner). Others might find versions”, and while he read Highsmith’s novels,
him across film, TV and radio — Alain Delon, taking on a literary character with such a history he didn’t study them too deeply. Instead, he
Dennis Hopper, Jonathan Kent, Matt Damon, a nerve-racking experience, but Scott — who has focused on Zaillian’s scripts. “His work is so
John Malkovich, Barry Pepper and Ian Hart — played Hamlet on stage, and terrorised audiences economic, and he understands storytelling to such
enough that Highsmith herself had her as Moriarty to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock an extraordinary degree. [Those] scripts were my
favourites (Hopper wasn’t one of them). — is no stranger to the task. “You have to be bible.” But most of all, Scott didn’t want to pin his
Now, a ’60s-set, eight-part series shot in respectful, but not too reverent, because character down. “I think to characterise him with
hyper-stylised black and white is coming to otherwise there’s no point in doing this,” Scott tells any very particular neuroses would be a mistake,”
Netflix. Written and directed by The Night Of’s Empire. “You’ve got to put your own stamp on it. he says. “I never wanted to look at him as a
Steven Zaillian, it stars Andrew Scott, fresh off his Some people will like this version, and some psychopath. I didn’t want to label his sexuality too

SAVE THE ELLA M c CAY AMERICAN NAILS

GREEN PLANET Rebecca Hall is the latest A contemporary reimagining
The long-gestating to join Emma Mackey, of Ancient Greek tragedy
English-language remake of Ayo Edebiri and Woody Phaedra will mark
Jang Joon-Hwan’s 2003 Harrelson in James Abel Ferrara and Willem
fantasy comedy has found L. Brooks’ first film since Dafoe’s eighth creative
its director in Yorgos 2010. Currently in collaboration. Described as
Lanthimos. Eyeing a UK production, the comedy “a tale set in the gangster
and New York shoot this about an idealistic young world of primal violence,
summer, the movie follows politician sees Hall return to power and revenge”, the
a man convinced that the world of government for Mob movie — which also
Earth’s top brass are the first time since 2013’s stars Asia Argento —
reptilian alien invaders. Closed Circuit. shoots imminently in Italy.

WORDS JORDAN KING

14 MAY 2024
 much. I didn’t want to just diagnose him with
anything. The challenge was not to judge him.”
What Scott wants is for the audience to
experience the reality of Ripley’s situation, from
Ripley’s point of view. To see the blood, the
body, the situation, and think, “What would I do?”
“I think that’s what makes it so tense. You go, ‘Oh
my God, what would happen? How do you clear
up your mess? What can go wrong?’”
Scott points out that it’s also a deeply
Clockwise from intimate relationship between the audience and
left: Confidence the conman Ripley. We are the only ones who
man Tom Ripley see everything he does, and what makes this
(Andrew Scott); adaptation so different from the others is that
The targets: we get to spend eight hours with him. Many of
Marge Sherwood those are wordless scenes of Ripley on his own;
(Dakota Fanning) nothing but the sound of his shoes on the
and Dickie parquet floor, or the metallic scream of an old
Greenleaf elevator outside the front door. For Scott, it
(Johnny Flynn); made for a psychologically taxing shoot, one he
Dickie’s friend describes as “a solitary experience” — and one
Freddy Miles even heavier than his role in All Of Us Strangers.
(Eliot Sumner); Shot at the height of the pandemic, cast and crew
Ripley lurks in were isolated from their family and friends,
the shadows; and in many scenes, Scott was isolated from
And is on the everyone else but Ripley. But having spent so
look-out. much time with him, Scott is still (deliberately)
no closer to knowing who Ripley really is.
“Tom Ripley does not set out to do the
things that he does,” he says. “At the beginning of
the story, he’s not somebody who is a murderer.
He just has to survive, and something happens.
And this is the first time he’s doing it. There’s no
twirly-moustache stuff here. He’s not immune,
or cold-blooded. His great talent, of course,
is that he is a shapeshifter.” Scott believes
Highsmith “taps into the sort of fear that we
all have, which is: can you ever really know
anybody?” If Ripley’s victims are anything to
go by, the answer is a resounding “no”.

RIPLEY IS ON NETFLIX FROM 4 APRIL

A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL UNTITLED BONG JOON GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, UNTITLED ALEJANDRO THE LOST BUS
JOURNEY HO ANIMATED MOVIE DON’T DIE G. IÑÁRRITU MOVIE Barbie’s America Ferrera
After Yang filmmaker Bong hit inbound! With his Zazie Beetz has hopped Tom Cruise will lead the has joined Paul Greengrass’
Kogonada and The Menu R-Pattz sci-fi Mickey 17’s aboard the ensemble for director’s first English- new drama with Matthew
scribe Seth Reiss’ new release bumped to 2025, Gore Verbinski’s new language film since The McConaughey. The film,
fantasy romance has been production is ramping up action-adventure. Currently Revenant. Details on the set to shoot in spring,
snapped up by Sony on Bong Joon Ho’s first in pre-production, this romp project, written by Iñárritu, focuses on a teacher
Pictures. Margot Robbie animated feature. A secretive has Sam Rockwell leading Sabina Berman and (Ferrera) and bus driver’s
and Colin Farrell play deep-sea odyssey, the a team featuring Michael Birdman’s Alexander (McConaughey) efforts
strangers connected by, well, Parasite director’s latest will Peña, Haley Lu Richardson Dinelaris and Nicolás to escort a school bus full
a big bold beautiful journey. reportedly be the most and Juno Temple on a quest Giacobone, are scarce. But of children to safety
Principal photography starts expensive Korean movie to save the world from with its two movie Mavericks, amid 2018’s deadly
in California this spring. ever made. rogue AI. we’re hyped already. Californian wildfires.
Getty Images

MAY 2024 15
 PER BO
WL
SU

SP
ECIA
L

TEAM EMPIRE BREAKS DOWN

THE BIG HIT TERS, FROM
A MULTIVERSAL MERC
TO MO NKEY MAYHEM

Deadpool & Wolverine

“MA RVE L JE SUS” MAKE S HIS ULTRA-ME TA DISNEY DE BUT

Ben Travis (Deputy Online Editor): The Reynolds convinced Disney to put this in

Wicked
MCU has got quite heavy and the thing that can the trailer?
bring the fun back is Deadpool. I’m more excited John Nugent (Reviews Editor): I love the
about him being connected to the MCU than thought of some 123 million Americans
having a straight-up ‘Deadpool 3’. watching the Super Bowl and then parents
Sophie Butcher (Social Media Editor): They across the country having to explain what
could’ve splashed Wolverine all over this trailer, pegging is to their children.
but instead it teases you really well. Beth: “It’s German.” WE ’RE OFF TO SE E TH E SPIN- OFF,
Graham Jones (Deputy Art Director): I get Sophie: I believe that the person shown from THE MUSICAL SP I N- OFF OF OZ
the sense watching this that when we first meet behind in the leather coat is Emma Corrin’s
Wade, he’s trying to be more of a regular person character. Because they’ve got a shaved Beth: I’m amazed that it’s taken this long for this
than a superhero at this point. head, right? to be turned into a film.
Ben: He’s Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible John: We get a look at Matthew Macfadyen as John: It’s a big thing. But what does it have to
III, with his domestic life. Mr Paradox as well. It’s good to see that the offer me?
Beth Webb (News Editor): And then these MCU has gained a disgusting brother. Beth: Two words...
TVA guys go and ruin it all! Do we think they’re Graham: There’s a great shot of a giant, John: ‘Defying Gravity’.
straight out of Loki? partially buried 20th Century Fox logo behind Graham: This trailer goes straight in with the
Ben: They look more militaristic, maybe Deadpool during one fight sequence. Do we iconography. You’ve got the steaming witch’s hat,
because it’s Deadpool, and they know that he think that’s been pruned? the yellow brick road. I think this will expand
could kick their asses. Sophie: They pruned 20th Century Fox? nicely on the stage play.
Sophie: I am amazed that they managed to John: I think it’s a very Reynolds way of Sophie: I do like the character design of Elphaba.
get a pegging joke in there. How has Ryan addressing that Disney bought out Fox while It must be done with practical effects. The
these films were being made. architectural design seems very cool as well.
Beth: The shot with Wolverine’s shadow over Ben: I’d like to see more of Toto. What
him says it all, doesn’t it? It shows the power a scruffy little guy.
balance, it’s a little playful, a little menacing. Beth: I’m looking forward to that dog
Ben: It seems like they’re holding so much back, actor’s publicity tour.
because the film is Deadpool & Wolverine, so Ben: I imagine that Ariana Grande
I imagine they’re going to go on some journey travels from place to place via a
together. I think they’re absolutely teasing us giant bubble, as Glinda does here.
here with just this single second of footage.
WICKED IS IN CINEMAS FROM

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE IS IN CINEMAS FROM 26 JULY 29 NOVEMBER

16 MAY 2024
 Twisters
STRAP IN FOR D OU BLE TROUBLE ,
STORMS A N D STUBBLE

Kingdom Of The Planet Graham: It’s nice to be coming back to

something like this after all these years, but
they’re also trying something fresh with it.
Beth: This is the most exciting casting line-up

Of The Apes of the year for me. We’re heading into Glen
Powell Summer, plus there’s Love Lies Bleeding’s
Katy O’Brian, and Brandon Perea, who had
a great breakout in Nope.
Ben: It’s Perea’s second film where he’s
part of a ragtag crew trying to analyse an
THE LATE ST SIMIAN SEQUE L PROMISE S NEW PISSE D - OFF PRIMATE S unknowable vast phenomenon in the sky,
which is a weird coincidence.
Ben: This is such a great opening line for the John: The shot in this trailer where Powell’s
trailer: “Are you familiar with the concept of tipping his cowboy hat is just pure movie star.
evolution?” It really sets out what this film I’m really happy to see him truly becoming what
means for the series moving forward. he was born to be.
Sophie: That these apes have no concept of the Sophie: Of course his character calls himself
idea of being held captive is really interesting. ‘Tornado Wrangler’. And it looks like he’s
Ben: It makes me wonder if Proximus Caesar, filming himself doing these hurricane chases. It
the bad guy, is trying to spin that these new apes looks very guerrilla and cool.
evolved from humans. Beth: He’s like the Logan Paul of natural
Beth: I just can’t get over the technology. It’s disasters.
quite eerie looking at the details in their faces. Ben: It’s a huge moment when we actually see
John: It’s some of the best CGI in modern so he sounds all Billy Big Balls. the twisters from the movie Twisters.
cinema, I would say. John: Not to put on my history-nerd hat but John: Ben’s recreating the Leonardo DiCaprio
Ben: It’s nice to see this level of post-apocalypse during Roman times, Caesar was just the name pointing meme.
as well, because all of the apocalyptic stuff that that his successor took on because he thought, Ben: I’m so excited to see this kind of film back
we get nowadays is quite dour, whereas this “Well, Caesar sounds powerful.” as well. I feel like in big spectacle movies today
looks so lush. Beth: You really are one of those Roman we miss the physical brunt of it. Whereas this is
Graham: Nature’s taken over again. Empire men. really zoning into, “We’re going to put you in the
Beth: This is actually set in late 2020. The Ben: Do you think about Kingdom Of The Planet middle of a tornado and see what happens.”
humans are all hunkered down rewatching Of The Apes every day? Graham: When it comes to
The Sopranos while this is happening outside. Graham: Proximus does have that King Louie apocalyptic movies, it’s the
John: The Golden Gate Bridge makes vibe to him. He wants everything that the natural-disaster ones
a reappearance here after it showed up at the humans had. that scare me the
end of Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. Ben: And they’re running through the jungle. most. I can deal
Beth: It reminds me of Brighton Pier. Maybe Is this actually The Jungle Book? with zombies,
they’re all heading out for a big Saturday night. Sophie: Freya Allan’s character Mae seems I can deal with
Sophie: It could be the Tyne Bridge, let’s not to be more evolved than the other human kaiju monsters,
rule anything out. characters. Maybe her costuming is a symbol but not this.
John: A lot of shots feel very nostalgic and of her being an outlier. Beth: I love that this
inspired by the first film. Ben: I need to revisit the original film, because comes from Lee Isaac
Beth: Yet, it still feels fresh. I feel like there are going to be some big Chung, the director of
Ben: They’re able to use the feeling created references in here. I haven’t seen it since I was Minari. What a manoeuvre,
by the new trilogy but then there’s a nod a kid. from a drama about the
towards the original films as well. They’re Beth: We were children of the Simpsons parody. Korean-American dream to this
having fun playing in that middle ground, and John: [Adopts Troy McClure voice] “Can white-knuckle blockbuster.
Gutter credit

it looks amazing. I play the piano anymore?” Ben: In a way, this is also a film
Beth: So this main monkey is related to Caesar Ben: [Chanting] “Dr Zaius, Dr Zaius…” about Americans in big fields
from the pre-existing films? trying to achieve things.
Ben: I don’t think so. This is a different Caesar, KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES IS IN CINEMAS

who’s given himself a slightly different name FROM 24 MAY TWISTERS IS IN CINEMAS FROM 19 JULY

MAY 2024 17
 How the game-changing JOHN LENNON
THE PERSONALITY: The force of nature that
drove The Beatles, Lennon has been played
on screen more than any other member of the

Beatles biopics could group, by the likes of Ian Hart (a couple of

times) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. But perhaps
Mendes’ movie will finally capture all sides of
Lennon in one package: the wit, the charisma,

come together the darkness, the restlessness, the occasional

madness and, of course, the genius.
THE MOMENT: Did Lennon, then in the
thrall of LSD, really convene a meeting of
the band in 1968 to tell them all that he was
WITH SAM MENDES’ FAB FOUR FILMS INCOMING, EMPIRE TAKES Jesus Christ? Did Ringo really respond by
declaring that he was going for lunch? Perhaps
A MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR OF STORYTELLING POSSIBILITIES we’ll finally know the answer. Another moment
that will surely make it in: the time he met Yoko
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT RUSSELL MOORCROFT Ono, and everything changed.
THE MUSIC: Picking a single Lennon Beatles
THE BEATLES WERE so groundbreaking that to be shot back-to-back and released in 2027, is so track is almost impossible. There’s ‘Help!’,
a conventional biopic was never going to suffice. exciting. He’s asked the big question: what would the jauntiest song ever written about
They deserve something more audacious and The Beatles do? And acted accordingly. Each depression. The stark beauty of ‘In My Life’.
ambitious. Which is why Sam Mendes’ grand movie will focus on an individual Beatle, with But we’d love to see and hear Lennon at his most
plan to direct not one, not two, not three, but their stories ultimately overlapping. But what can experimental with ‘I Am The Walrus’. Goo goo
four films about John, Paul, George and Ringo, we expect? Here’s what we’d like to see. g’joob, indeed.

18 MAY 2024
 “We’re seeing ‘strong
PAUL McCARTNEY
THE PERSONALITY: If the first half of The
Beatles’ short career was shaped by Lennon,
female character’
roughly speaking, the second half saw
McCartney, the master melodicist, come to the
fore. He drove projects like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely
taken to a whole new,
Hearts Club Band, the Magical Mystery Tour, and
the medley that concludes their last recorded
work, Abbey Road. His movie might see him
more literal level”
continue to emerge from Lennon’s long shadow.
THE MOMENT: It’s already been documented so
well in Peter Jackson’s Get Back, but that time
he conjures that song from thin air just by
strumming on his bass. How would Mendes
depict this moment of pure creativity?
THE MUSIC: Throw a dart. Pick one. ‘Yesterday’.
‘Hey Jude’. ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’. The man never
missed. Well, except for maybe ‘Ob-La-Di,
Ob-La-Da’.

GEORGE HARRISON
THE PERSONALITY: The Quiet Beatle, they
called him. Which wasn’t entirely true — like the
other Beatles, Harrison was blessed with that
dry Liverpudlian wit and a way with words —
although it took a long time for him to truly find
his voice within the band and express himself
through something other than his lead guitar.
That evolution could be truly compelling, SOPHIE BUTCHER ON HOW A TIDE IS TURNING
particularly as Harrison becomes more FOR WOMEN’S BODIES ON S C REEN
spiritually attuned and develops his interest
in Eastern philosophy and sounds. AS I TYPE the words “strong female champion Kali Reis. Navarro is a stoic
THE MOMENT: We don’t want to simply zero in character”, I can practically hear your presence, exerting strength through
on moments from Get Back, such as the time eyes rolling. For decades, as the calls for her work and mission against misogyny
Harrison quit the band for a (very) short while, better, wider representation in film and in their small town, and showing her
but it’s hard to ignore. Here was a truly great TV have got louder, Hollywood’s primary physical dominance during sex with local
guitarist and songwriter who just happened to solution to more varied characters bar owner Qavvik (Joel D. Montgrand).
be in a group containing two of the greatest outside of the most common white male Sex is important here. Both True
songwriters of all time, who were perhaps protagonist appears to have been just Detective and Love Lies Bleeding subvert
less than encouraging about his efforts. The that: a woman who is fierce, badass, stereotypes in their intimate scenes —
psychological toll of that would be fascinating or “feisty”. A woman who is “strong”. the former in how the woman is in
to explore. Time and time again, we’ve been control, and the latter in its depiction of
THE MUSIC: It has to be ‘Something’, given “strong” female leads who are sexual power dynamics — and their
a contender for the best song in the entire undoubtedly cool, but always foregrounding of visibly physically
Beatles discography. conventional — think Charlize Theron in strong women signifies a move away
Atomic Blonde, Scarlett Johansson’s from a traditional heterosexual male
RINGO STARR Black Widow in the MCU, or Gal Gadot gaze towards a more queer female one.
THE PERSONALITY: Late to the party, Ringo as Wonder Woman. But with the arrival This kind of character harks all the
didn’t join The Beatles until August 1962, when of Love Lies Bleeding, from Saint Maud way back to someone like Linda Hamilton
he replaced Pete Best, but didn’t miss a beat director Rose Glass, we’re seeing the in the Terminator movies, transformed
after that. Ebullient and energetic, perhaps his concept taken to a whole new, more from the ingénue of the first film to a
film could dispel the notion that he wasn’t even literal level. It follows Jackie (Katy ripped, revenge-seeking Sarah Connor
the band’s best drummer. O’Brian), a female bodybuilder whose in Judgment Day, but has gathered
THE MOMENT: When a young Scouser called dreams of competing in Vegas are momentum in the past few years.
Richard Starkey sheds that name while playing derailed by a romance with gym manager Recent examples include Michelle
for Rory Storm And The Hurricanes, and all Lou (Kristen Stewart). O’Brian has real- Rodriguez as burly barbarian Holga in
because he wore rings. Frodo was already taken. life bodybuilding experience, and Jackie last year’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honour
THE MUSIC: He sang ‘Yellow Submarine’, ‘With is, truly, jacked. All bulging biceps and Among Thieves, and Viola Davis and
A Little Help From My Friends’, and a bunch of rock-hard abs, it’s a female body type Lashana Lynch as fearsome, muscle-
covers, but as a songwriter he contributed two we’re not used to seeing, and is still, as bound Dahomey warriors in 2022’s The
tunes to The Beatles’ canon. We’d love to see the Glass tells Empire, “inherently punk”. Woman King. Looking ahead, relevant
moment when he wrote ‘Don’t Pass Me By’, in The small screen, too, is delivering projects include UFC fighter drama
particular the lines: “I’m sorry that I doubted on this front. The latest season of True Starweight starring Lupita Nyong’o and
you/I was so unfair/You were in a car crash/And Detective, Night Country, sees Jodie Chloë Grace Moretz, and Queen Of The
Marco Vittur

I lost your hair.” Pure poetry. Foster’s Alaskan police chief Liz Danvers Ring, a biopic about first-ever million-
team up with State Trooper Evangeline dollar female athlete Mildred Burke.
THE BEATLES FILMS WILL BE IN CINEMAS IN 2027 Navarro, played by professional boxing Time to renew that gym membership...

MAY 2024 19
 “When you’re cold, your muscles tense up, you
can’t necessarily think straight — and you use
those things to your advantage.”

THE CLOTHES
CYNTHIA ERIVO Flashback scenes show Jacqueline’s content,
middle-class life in the UK before suffering

AS JACQUELINE
a life-changing trauma while visiting family in
Liberia. With little more than the clothes on her
back in Greece, Jacqueline rotates between
a couple of T-shirts and a denim skirt. Erivo and
costume designer Matina Mavraganni chose to
THE ACTOR STARS AS mostly dress Jacqueline in washed-out shades of
blue to blend her into the background. “The blue
A D IS PL ACE D WOMAN FIGHTING is also reminiscent of water, of where she is —
there’s an unattached-ness that blue has, and
F OR S UR VIVA L IN REFUGEE I wanted that for her. It’s not a colour that
screams, ‘This is me.’ There’s no statement
DR A MA DRIFT in it, necessarily. It’s something that she can
disappear in.”
THE FAMILY CONNECTION
In Drift, Cynthia Erivo plays a Liberian woman THE MUSIC
who’s fled the country’s civil war, ending up Before shooting, Erivo would listen to a prep
scrabbling for survival under the piercing blue playlist on morning runs “because it gave me
summer sky on a Greek island. For character a sense of release” from all the tension that
background, Erivo turned to her mum, Edith, Jacqueline carried in her neck and shoulders.
who’d been displaced as a 15-year-old girl Tracy Chapman’s ‘Remember The Tinman’,
during Nigeria’s Biafran War of the late 1960s. YEBBA’s ‘My Mind’ and ‘Let Me Go’ by Mykal
“I used her as my biggest resource,” she says, Kilgore all featured. “A lot of those songs are
before joking that it can be typically hard to about our relationship to memory, and about
extract personal memories from her parents’ Top to bottom: Refugee Jacqueline (Cynthia Erivo) particular people, too,” she says. “Those themes
generation. But her mum opened up. “She escapes to a Greek island; A moment of contemplation; are what Jacqueline is consistently fighting
would talk about the fear she felt, about how Bonding with Callie (Alia Shawkat); Musical inspirations. against and fighting through: the loss of
she and her siblings didn’t know if they would something, the memory of something, and
be able to find food or shelter at any time.” The hungry and exposed to the elements on rocky trying to make the connection between all of it.”
conversations further connected Erivo to terrain. “At night, you let the cold, the dark, the In her portrayal of a woman trying to rebuild
Jacqueline’s determination. wind and the sounds affect you so that you can her life — and as a producer on the film — Erivo
do something that’s completely truthful,” she has forged a connection all of her own.
Getty Images

THE SETTING says. Preparing to bed down in makeshift TSHEPO MOKOENA

Shooting on location in Greece, Erivo let herself shelters under a threadbare blanket helped her
feel as uncomfortable as Jacqueline might, to tap into Jacqueline’s guarded physicality. DRIFT IS IN CINEMAS FROM 29 MARCH

20 MAY 2024
A PERSONAL TRIP Clockwise from left: Michael Powell
and Emeric Pressburger during the
filiming of A Canterbury Tale (1944);

THOUGH POWELL Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes

(1948); Kathleen Byron as Sister Ruth
in Black Narcissus (1947).

AND PRESSBURGER
MA DE I N E NG LAND’S CREATORS
ON CRA F TING A UNIQUE HOMAGE
T O T WO L EG E NDS

DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT FILMMAKERS

are often made by fans of their subject.
It’s rare, though, to get three people as
deeply and personally invested as the makers
of Made In England: The Films Of Powell
And Pressburger. It is presented by Martin
Scorsese, a long-avowed enthusiast of Michael
Powell and Emeric Pressburger; edited by
Thelma Schoonmaker, Scorsese’s longtime
collaborator and Powell’s widow; and directed
by David Hinton, who has his own history
with Powell.
“It was incredibly personal for all of us,”
says Hinton. “In the ’80s, I made a film for
The South Bank Show about Michael. I was fascinated by it. I hope one of the things we’re
a friend of Michael’s at the end of his life. doing in the documentary is going into his
Thelma and I have stayed friends ever since.” film subconscious, where all those films are
When the prospect of a documentary emerged, lurking.” Schoonmaker agrees: “They inspire
Scorsese and Schoonmaker recommended him. It’s delightful to see how he transforms
that Hinton helm the project. The result is those influences into his own.”
an ambitious love letter to the minds behind Condensing two men’s remarkable lives
The Red Shoes, A Matter Of Life And Death and into two hours was not easy. There were,
Black Narcissus, five years in the making, Hinton and Schoonmaker admit, some “very
blending archival material, film clips, and painful” decisions in the cutting room. “It
Scorsese’s narration. was hard,” sighs Schoonmaker. “But Scorsese
Hinton began by looking at “everything and Pressburger’s films have been for the was quite adamant with us that he wanted
that Scorsese had ever said about Powell director of Killers Of The Flower Moon. “Think to tantalise people — have them go look
and Pressburger... which was a lot!” Adds what a strange child Martin Scorsese must at the movies themselves.” Get ready: your
Schoonmaker: “Scorsese is just always have been,” Hinton says with a smile, “that film subconscious is about to get deeper.
talking about them.” His words became the he was riveted by [surrealist experimental JOHN NUGENT
starting point for the script, inspiring the opera film] The Tales Of Hoffman, at the age
documentary’s meticulous structure. of ten! That sort of film would have bored me MADE IN ENGLAND: THE FILMS OF POWELL AND PRESSBURGER

The film explores how influential Powell out of my brain when I was ten. But he was IS IN CINEMAS FROM 10 MAY

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S WILD RIDE

HOW THE OPPE NHE IME R DIRECTOR KE PT SURPRISING US THIS AWARDS SEASON

THE THE THE THE

PELOTON FIELDER BENNY HILL FAST & FURIOUS
SAGA COLLAB HOMAGE FERVOUR
Nolan revealed while accepting A surprising meeting of minds Viewers of The Late Show With Don’t know where to start with
his Golden Globe that, during occurred when Nolan moderated Stephen Colbert in February the auto action franchise? Nolan
a Peloton cycling class he was a Q&A with Oppenheimer’s Benny watched in delight as Nolan has got you covered. “It’s only the
taking virtually, the instructor Safdie and oddball comic Nathan and his host recreated a sombre last few where a specific arc and
insulted Tenet, saying, “That’s Fielder, co-creators of The Curse. scene from Oppenheimer (Colbert mythology develop,” he advised
a couple hours of my life I’ll never He deemed the latter’s in the Cillian Murphy role), Colbert during his Late Show
get back again.” The director cringe-inducing The Rehearsal only for it to descend into appearance. “I would start with
quipped at the Globes, “Nothing “revolutionary television” — a classic Benny Hill-style chase Tokyo Drift and watch it as its
but love for Peloton, but I did not here’s hoping a Fielder/Nolan scene, complete with signature own thing.” Pass the Coronas.
climb on it today.” collab is on the cards. theme tune. BETH WEBB

MAY 2024 21
 A film of pure
imagination
JO HN KR AS INSKI ON TURNING So Krasinski centred IF on Bea (Cailey
Fleming) — a young girl who finds she can
M AK E BEL IEVE INTO HIS see all imaginary friends — recruited Ryan
Reynolds as her upstairs neighbour who
L ATEST MOVIE, IF has the same gift, and off he went. His mantra
throughout: to make IF akin to a live-action
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT Pixar. “If we could even get close to something
like that, that would be amazing,” he admits.
“FROM THE IMAGINATION of John “The movie has a heartbeat, rather than just
Krasinski”, trumpets the trailer for IF, the new being a zany movie with the nuttiest characters
movie from the actor-director behind A Quiet we can come up with.”
Place and its sequel. Given that it’s a film in That said, nutty characters abound,
which imaginary friends, or IFs, turn out to be including Krasinski’s former The Office
real, it begs the question, “Just what kind of co-worker Steve Carell as “giant, adorable
imagination is that?” Krasinski ponders the Squishmallow” Blue, who finds himself bonding
poser. “You know, on A Quiet Place, we were on with Bea; Blunt as a unicorn called Uni; Phoebe
a farm and convincing our department heads Waller-Bridge as Blossom, a butterfly from
that the creatures are over here was a lot easier a bygone age; and Lou Gossett Jr as Louis, the
than, ‘We’re in a retirement home for IFs.’ I’m imaginary friend who began this ragtag cabal.
pretty sure my crew thought I was on drugs All were attracted by Krasinski’s screenplay,
90 per cent of the time.” and quite possibly that title: IF.
He wasn’t, of course. Krasinski has had Only two letters, but it just might be the Clockwise from main: Blossom (voiced by Phoebe Waller-
the world of IF in his head for years, ever since biggest word in the English language. “I sat Bridge) with Bea (Cailey Fleming); Feeling Blue: Steve Carell;
he and his wife, Emily Blunt, had their first down to write the first page,” recalls Krasinski Ryan Reynolds (left) as Cal; Fleming with John Krasinski.
daughter Hazel in 2014. “I had this idea about of the moment he found the title. “You get the
imaginary friends being used as coping prompt to do the title page, and I just typed it. around.” Is your imaginary friend in the
mechanisms,” he tells Empire. As Covid hit, It sort of popped right out. It was a nice little room with us, John? Can you describe it?
Apple TV+, Getty Images

Krasinski saw the impact it was having on his gateway into the whole thing.” “No, I can’t,” cries Krasinski. “It’s mine, and
kids. “I could see that light dwindle within Almost, in fact, as if he had help from mine alone!” John Krasinski’s imagination,
them,” he says, “and I thought, ‘We’ve got to an imaginary friend. “As I’m saying this, running wild, out in the open. Catch it if
make sure these kids know that, even on hard I thought the same thing,” laughs Krasinski. you can.
days, there’s something there for you always: “It’s true. Something’s driving me, standing
your imagination.’” right behind me, just waiting for me to turn IF IS IN CINEMAS FROM 17 MAY

22 MAY 2024
 ‘KNUCK IF YOU BUCK’
CRIME MOB FEAT. LIL SCRAPPY
KNUCKLES (TRAILER)
An inspired and perfectly fitting choice for
Sonic The Hedgehog’s red-furred ally, which
will introduce a whole new generation to this
early noughties classic.

‘SOAR’
BLAKE NEELY
MASTERS OF THE AIR

A COX AMONG
The patriotic trumpets are spot on
for a band of US airmen fighting the good
fight in World War II. When the rest of

THE PIGEONS
the orchestra joins in, this heroic track is
true to its title.

‘AQUA’
RYUICHI SAKAMATO THE FORME R LOGAN
MONSTER ROY CHANGE S PACE WITH
Sakamato’s final track is a rich and BIRD -RACING DRAMA
soul-stirring piano composition. His music LIT TLE WING
will be missed, but the late, great composer
leaves things on a fine note. NOT CONTENT WITH having
embodied one of the greatest screen
‘MUNDIAN TO BACH KE – characters in Succession, Brian Cox is
JAY-Z REMIX’ still seeking new challenges. “I’m at the
PANJABI MC age where I can’t remember why I came
MONKEY MAN (TRAILER) into a room,” the 77-year-old chuckles.
The memorable tumbi riff of this Bhangra “So, you want to do things that keep
anthem still slaps after two decades, and it’s testing you.” Cox’s latest test is starring
perfectly deployed in the kick-ass trailer for alongside racing pigeons in coming-
Dev Patel’s directorial debut. of-age drama Little Wing. Here, he Top to bottom: Flight of fancy: Kaitlyn (Brooklynn
explains how to work with birds — Prince) and Jaan (Brian Cox) bond over pigeons;
‘A TIME OF QUIET without getting your feathers ruffled. Jaan looks to the sky; Kaitlyn is cooped up.
BETWEEN THE STORMS’
HANS ZIMMER EXPECT BOISTEROUSNESS into Cox’s creation of Jaan: “He’s
DUNE: PART TWO Cox plays Jaan, a Portland pigeon- irascible, but only because he’s lost his
This track starts off peaceful before Vangelis- fancier whose prize specimen is stolen favourite bird. And he’s right — there’s
esque synths and thunderous drums bring — then lost — by 13-year-old Kaitlyn no defence for that. You don’t go
Zimmer’s typical bombast. No space (Brooklynn Prince). The pair become around stealing world-class pigeons!”
bagpipes, no problem. unlikely friends when they unite to
retrieve the bird. “I had to interact a fair DO YOUR RESEARCH
LISTEN NOW! HEAD TO THE EMPIRE SPOTIFY bit with the pigeons,” Cox tells us. “They As well as the 2006 New Yorker article
ACCOUNT TO HEAR ALL OF THE ABOVE could be quite boisterous, but once they Little Wing is based on, Cox looked
were in their cages, they were actually back at various avian appearances on
rather well-behaved. And I didn’t get film. “[Marlon] Brando keeps pigeons
shat on once,” he adds, cheerily. in On The Waterfront,” he notes. “And
there’s the Nazi playwright and his
RESPECT THE HANDLERS birds in The Producers.” As to whether
In addition to the story, Cox was Cox will be shelling out for his own
impressed by the commitment of the coop anytime soon, probably not. “I’m
real-life pigeon-fanciers on set. “We had not about to start collecting racing
great people handling the birds,” he says. pigeons,” he laughs. “I haven’t got time.
“You had huge respect for them because But I wanted an adventure — and
they were so knowledgeable and that’s what this film was.” The quest for
dedicated to this culture [of pigeon- new challenges is off to a flying start.
flying]. I just did whatever they told TOM ELLEN
me.” Witnessing the handlers’ profound
affection for their feathered friends fed LITTLE WING IS ON PARAMOUNT+ FROM 14 MARCH

MAY 2024 23
 Zack
Snyder
strikes
back
WITH REBEL MOON — PART TWO: TH E SCARGIVER,
THE D IRECTOR IS COMING BACK SWINGING
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT

ZACK SNYDER DOES not seem like the kind

of guy who is glued to RottenTomatoes.com.
Nevertheless, he is very aware that his sci-fi
opus, Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child Of Fire
received something of a critical mauling when it
hit Netflix in December. “I don’t really have
a rebuttal to the reviews,” he says, when Empire
catches up with him. “For whatever reason, the
reaction to my movies is very polarising, and it
always has been. The movie, it doesn’t seem like
there’s that much in it that would warrant such
visceral responses.”
Snyder is in an affable mood when Empire
speaks to him in late February, perhaps
because mere minutes before the interview he
completed work on Rebel Moon — Part Two: The her real involvement, and there’s a bit of conflict like Jimmy is at the point where he’s got to decide
Scargiver. “They’re down at editorial, drinking around what she’s done,” says Snyder. “But in whether he wants to really fight. That’s a big
champagne,” he laughs. And with this instalment, the end, what she offers the group, her skillset question.” Prepare for an even bigger answer.
Snyder is ready to prove detractors wrong. and her desire to redeem herself, makes her Snyder has also committed to raising the
For starters, Part Two will properly amp up a powerful asset.” Kora’s journey also takes her emotional ante, as Kora’s band of soldiers, and
the Kurosawa, focusing on the conflict between to, presumably, a space version of Supercuts for the villagers, start to lay their lives on the line.
the overwhelming forces of the evil Imperium, a severe new hairdo, seen above. “That’s her “It’s absolutely an emotional rollercoaster
led by Ed Skrein’s Atticus Noble, and a peaceful Imperium haircut,” says Snyder. “What’s cool is you’re going to be on with these cats,” adds
farming village and the warriors, recruited in that in the movie Sofia cuts it herself, and we did Snyder. “We discover the backstories of our
the first film, tasked with defending it. “It’s a war it on the day.” heroes, and there is an interesting correlation
film, 100 per cent,” says Snyder. “It’s got way And Kora isn’t the only returning character to between what’s happened to most of them to
more action than the first movie, very intense be working with higher stakes. After hanging out make this battle cathartic and symbolic.”
and crazy action.” in a field of wheat for much of Part One, Jimmy The filmmaker and his team may be popping
The Scargiver of the title, Sofia Boutella’s the warrior robot (voiced by Anthony Hopkins) the corks after completing Part Two, but there’s
Kora, the ringleader of the rebels and former might finally be about to weigh in and show why still work to be done. Snyder and his
Imperium soldier, will be at the epicentre of all his prowess is talked about in hushed tones. “He collaborators, including his producer/wife
of Part Two’s mayhem. “She’s shielding us from plays a much bigger role,” promises Snyder. “I feel Deborah Snyder and co-writers Shay Hatten and

24 MAY 2024
 Clockwise from left:
Kora (Sofia Boutella) is
in fighting mood; Zack
Snyder on set; Kora with
the Queen (Rhian Rees),
the King (Cary Elwes) and
Princess Issa (Stella
Grace Fitzgerald); Tarak
(Staz Nair) and General
Titus (Djimon Hounsou);
Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein)
makes an entrance.

DISSECTING A FAMOUS
FAMILY’S MCU DEBUT
WE TAKE A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO THE FA N TA STIC FOUR’S
KITSCH CASTING ANNOUNCE ME NT

1. THEY’RE EMBRACING HOMELIFE! a clue to the movie’s setting or just a fun

They’re arriving late to the MCU, but nod to their roots remains to be seen.
to fans the Fantastic Four are known
as ‘Marvel’s First Family’. It’s not just 3. THERE’S A LIFE -SIZED CLUE?
because they’re the characters who One Easter egg might help narrow the
launched the Marvel Universe back in year down even further: an issue of Life
1961 — they’re also the first superhero magazine from December 1963. Could
Kurt Johnstad, are drawing up plans for Rebel team to share a bond on and off the this hint at the film’s plot? ’63 saw the
Moon podcasts and comic books and a TV battlefield. Here we have father figure/ FF encounter some major villains who
prequel focused on Fra Fee’s dictator, Balisarius, scientist Reed Richards (aka Mr would fit right in with Marvel’s current
plus even more movies. “We’re cranking away, Fantastic; to be played by Pedro Pascal), plans. These include Rama-Tut, an
trying to figure out where the story goes and his light-bending wife Sue Storm (the ancient Egyptian variant of Kang, and
what else we would do,” he says. Invisible Woman; Vanessa Kirby), her Molecule Man, an über-powerful
Right now, though, the reason why Team brother Johnny (the Human Torch; baddie who’s a major player in the
Rebel Moon is only getting a short break is Joseph Quinn), who can project fire soon-to-be-adapted Secret Wars saga.
because they’re beavering away on the director’s from his body, and Reed’s best pal
cuts of both movies, due to hit Netflix later this Ben Grimm (the Thing; Ebon Moss- 4. HI, H.E.R.B.I.E.!
year, which will restore plenty of cut scenes, and Bachrach), a big human-rock hybrid. The team’s oft-forgotten robot sidekick
add, promises Snyder, “all the gore and the hard H.E.R.B.I.E. is a surprise inclusion
R-ness and the nudity and the violence and 2. IT HAS A ’60S SETTING! here, just as he was in 1978 when he
crazy shit”. Shot at the same time as the more With their landmark place in Marvel debuted in the Fantastic Four cartoon
family-friendly versions, the director is excited history, and an origin tied to the Space series. Created for the show to replace
about unleashing his full vision. “They’re Race, the Four have always felt at home the Human Torch, whose rights were
insane,” he laughs. “It’ll be interesting to see in the ’60s. Fans have long suspected tied up elsewhere, H.E.R.B.I.E. soon
what the [critics] say about the director’s cuts. their MCU debut might be a period made his way to the comics, where he
That’s a different kettle of fish.” Perhaps then he piece, something this teaser might now serves as a babysitter for the
will be glued to RottenTomatoes.com, after all. confirm. There are plenty of nods to Richards family. SAM SUMMERS
the decade, from the retro fonts to
REBEL MOON — PART TWO: THE SCARGIVER WILL BE ON NETFLIX a photo of Grimm posed like an Apollo THE FANTASTIC FOUR IS IN CINEMAS FROM
FROM 19 APRIL astronaut. But whether this is really 25 JULY 2025

MAY 2024 25
 Nell Tiger
Free
THE ACTOR ON HER PATH TO
HER DEBU T STARRING MOVIE
RO LE IN T HE FIRST OMEN
WORDS KATIE GOH

MARCO VITTUR

NELL TIGER FREE became an actor to exorcise

her energy. “I was driving my mother insane,”
the English actor explains from her flat in South
London. “I had way too much energy as an 11-year-
old. So she took me to a Saturday club where
I could run around and sing and dance and act.”
Twenty-four-year-old Free has directed all
that energy into dark-natured, suspenseful
projects, from working with directors like
Nicolas Winding Refn on Too Old To Die Young
and M. Night Shyamalan on Servant to her first
starring film role in The First Omen, the prequel
to Richard Donner’s 1976 classic. “There’s the
wiggle room to have the most fun on projects
like that,” she says of her tense, terrifying
body of work. “You really send yourself into
ridiculous situations; situations you’d never be
in in day-to-day life. It’s really rewarding.”
Free’s love of all things scary began early —
as a child she watched horror movies in 18-part
YouTube clips — and her passion for what she saw
encouraged her to pursue acting. Aged 14, Free
signed with an agency and went along to her first
audition. She nailed it, and was cast as Myrcella
Baratheon in Game Of Thrones. “[That began]
the trajectory,” Free explains. A domino effect
ensued, as her performance in the show led to Above and far
her being snapped up for Refn’s moody noir. right: Nell
“I couldn’t have played Leanne in Servant Tiger Free,
if I hadn’t done Too Old To Die Young, and photographed
I couldn’t have played Margaret in The First exclusively for
Omen if I hadn’t played Leanne before that.” Empire in
Servant proved a major breakthrough for Free, London on
who starred in the show’s four seasons as a creepy 12 Febuary
live-in nanny with a shady cult background. It 2024. Right:
was a learning-on-the-job experience for the Unholy terror:
actor. “Servant felt like uni to me,” she reflects. As Margaret in
“I didn’t go to drama school, so working on The First Omen.
sets, under the watchful eye of these fantastic
creatives, was a masterclass.”

26 MAY 2024
 Those lessons have led to The Left: In Quiz
First Omen, which travels back to Show. Below,
Rome in the ’70s, before the events top to bottom:
of the original film. Free plays an Performing for
American woman who arrives in the daughter Cathy
THE city to become a nun, and whose faith in Campus
PODCAST is tested as she begins to unravel dark Code; Fishy
CALL HER DADDY conspiracies in the church. She business in
“Should I lie? No, I’ll revisited both The Omen and its sequel Shark Tale;
be honest. I find as preparation. “I was really focused on As van Gogh
it inspirational.” the mythology of it when we started in Dreams.

MARTY’S METHOD
shooting and then as the shoot
THE SHOW progressed,” she explains. “I think
GLEE what’s cool about this movie is that it
“Honestly, for the could be a stand-alone film, but it does Make-up: Emma Day @ The Wall Group. Hair: Ken O’Rourke @ C/O Management using Hair by Sam McKnight. Styling: Emma Jade Morrison @ The Wall Group. Assisted by: Aurélie Mason-Perez.
eighth time. I’m slot nicely into the lore of The Omen.”
a big fat Gleek and The tale, directed by a female A ME NTOR ROLE IN THE UPCOMING IN THE H A ND OF DANTE
I’m proud of it.” filmmaker, Arkasha Stevenson, gave IS THE LATE ST IN SCORSE SE ’S ON- CAME RA FORAYS
Free a fresh perspective. She’s happy to
THE ALBUM be part of a new wave of scary movies DREAMS (1990)
IN YOUR HONOUR giving female characters more agency. ROLE: Vincentvan Gogh, artist
BY FOO FIGHTERS “There was a time when women were SCREENTIME: Three minutes
“I’m a big fan. Me used in horror films as bait; that feels MOST MEMORABLE LINE: “The sun, it
and my dad have so dated now,” she observes. “Now compels me to paint! I can’t stand here
matching Foo it feels like women tend to be at the wasting my time talking to you!”
Fighters tattoos.” epicentre of these tales, and they’re not Two masters of cinema united for
Suit, Loewe; Off-white blouse/shirt, The Row; Diamante loafers, Roger Vivier; Rings, Nell’s own; Grey dress, Khaite. Additional imagery: Alamy, Mary Evans

just experiencing peril and fear but Dreams, directed by Akira Kurosawa.
THE BOOK also combating it and overcoming it An art student encounters van Gogh,
HOW TO KILL and solving the case 99 per cent of the played by Scorsese. Kurosawa was
YOUR FAMILY BY time, which is very satisfying to see.” nervous to cast him — he asked mutual
BELLA MACKIE Free is in no rush to leave horror friend Francis Ford Coppola if Scorsese
“It’s not to pick up behind anytime soon; her next would be insulted. Scorsese was equally
tips. I just think if project, Fall Into Darkness, is set to anxious: “I was so nervous that I had to
one needs those be a cave-set survivalist movie about stop drinking coffee,” he told Empire in
weapons in one’s backpackers in the Dominican 2019. Still, he stated, “You don’t say no
arsenal, it’s good to Republic. Yet she’s excited to direct to Kurosawa,” and flew to Japan the day
be informed.” her abundance of energy to new after GoodFellas wrapped.
projects and she’s open to new acting
ventures — even romcoms. “I’ll give QUIZ SHOW (1994)
it my best shot to not be terrifying.” ROLE: Martin Rittenhome, CEO may seem perplexing. But never
SCREENTIME: Three minutes underestimate the persuasive powers
THE FIRST OMEN IS IN CINEMAS FROM 5 APRIL MOST MEMORABLE LINE: “The audience of Jeffrey Katzenberg, who twisted his
didn’t tune in to watch some amazing arm. “I went to him one day and said,
display of intellectual ability. They just ‘Marty, you have probably never
wanted to watch the money.” realised this, but you speak in this
The filmmaker got darker in Robert incredibly unique way and it’s actually
Redford’s historical drama as the pretty funny — funny in a good way,’”
slippery head of the sponsor company the DreamWorks Animation CEO
of a rigged ’50s TV quiz. Redford recalled. “I finally showed him a picture
cast Scorsese because he fit the of Sykes and he fell over laughing.”
bill physically (the character was
based on former Revlon president CAMPUS CODE (2015)
Charles Revson) and for his unique ROLE: Doctor
mannerisms. “[He] has his own SCREENTIME: Two minutes
personal style and delivery, so I found MOST MEMORABLE LINE: [With an
it interesting to have him play a tough unsettling grin] “Everything checks out.”
character gently,” said Redford. This straight-to-streaming sci-fi
is Scorsese’s daughter Cathy’s
SHARK TALE (2004) only directorial credit to date,
ROLE: Sykes, fish and features cameos from
SCREENTIME: Ten minutes Ray Liotta and her father as
MOST MEMORABLE LINE: “Who’s a creepy doctor. Scorsese
your Puff Daddy? Who takes Sr’s bedside manner
care of you, huh?” is cheery but with
Scorsese voicing a puffer a deliciously sinister
fish in an animated undertone. Be afraid.
Mafia kids’ movie LAURA VENNING

MAY 2024 27
 The order
Cate Blanchett
couldn’t refuse
THE ACTOR ON HER PERSONAL JOURNE Y
TO P L AY ING A NUN IN THE NEW BOY
WORDS OLLY RICHARDS

IN WARWICK THORNTON’S The New Boy, Upton, who suggested that they flipped the priest
Cate Blanchett plays Sister Eileen, a nun in the to a nun. “Suddenly the whole film opens up:
Australia Outback who has secretly taken over a You’ve got a nun officiating mass. A dead priest
Catholic school after the death of a priest. When who hasn’t been divulged. You create this
she takes in a First Nations boy (Aswan Reid), his hermetically sealed place of dark secrets —
non-Catholic spirituality threatens Sister Eileen’s a metaphor for Australia in a lot of ways…
outlook. Blanchett, who also produced the film, Warwick just went, ‘Ooooooooh.’”
explains what made this little movie so special.
IT’S ABOUT RELIGION VERSUS NATURE…
SHE’S ALWAYS WANTED TO PLAY A NUN Blanchett’s own relationship to religion was
“As a child, I came across this film with Hayley shaped by tragedy. “My father died when I was ten,
Mills [The Trouble With Angels]… as this really which obviously left a massive void,” she says. “My
naughty renegade, expelled from every school, grandmother used to go to church and I would go
and she was sent to a convent,” Blanchett says. with her every week in the hope that the hand of
“She became friends with a deeply religious girl… God would come down and say, ‘Little girl, he’s
and at the end becomes an initiate. I was always with me. He’s having fun and he’s safe. You’ll see Top to bottom: Sister Eileen (Cate Blanchett); Eileen with
in trouble, sent out into the corridor. At the age him again.’ That didn’t happen… So I rejected it her new charge (Aswan Reid); The Sister gives refuge to
of eight I just completely fell into this film and and got on my bike every Sunday and rode out to the boy in her mission. Below left: Nick Cave.
thought, ‘Wow, maybe that’s my fate.’” the countryside. I connected more to nature.”
THE SCORE’S BY AN AUSTRALIAN GREAT
HER ROLE WAS GENDER-FLIPPED … AND A DIFFICULT HISTORY When it came to finding someone to provide the
When Blanchett and Thornton were The film deals with the clash of First film’s music, Thornton and Blanchett didn’t
discussing collaborating in some capacity, he Nations people and white Christian have to look far. “Nick Cave was my neighbour in
showed her an unfinished script about culture. Blanchett describes the Brighton,” she says. Cave composed the score
a priest running a school for orphans. “I country’s relationship to its history with long-time collaborator Warren Ellis. “The
read it and said, ‘This is incredible. I can as “fraught. There’s deep respect, story is quite simple in a way and I think the
help produce it but there’s obviously I think, but profound guilt and poetry of it is brought out through their music.”
nothing in it for me.’” It was Blanchett’s shame. No positive decisions
husband and producing partner, Andrew come out of guilt and shame.” THE NEW BOY IS IN CINEMAS FROM 15 MARCH

28 MAY 2024
 PUSHING LIMITS Left: YouTube

FOR LIKES
prankster
Lizwani on
stage at the
BAFTAs. Below:
HOW ONLINE CONTE NT CREATORS TikTok posts are
ARE GOI NG TO NEW LE NGTHS getting more
AT HOLLYWOOD’S E XPE NSE provocative
to drive
AT THE PEOPLE’S Choice Awards in February, more views.
film stars were making the usual red-carpet
rounds. Among them was Barbie’s America
Ferrera, who was nominated for, and would
later win, Movie Performance Of The Year.
Pausing in front of TikTok celebrity interviewer
Harry Daniels, her face twisted in confusion
as she uncomfortably mused, “Oh my God. instructional videos on how to visit Drayton
Both? I don’t know,” before being hurried away. House — the grand estate used in Saltburn that
The question? “Would you prefer a gay son or cast and crew were forbidden from naming —
thot daughter?” creators flocked to the Northamptonshire
This intentionally provocative, somewhat location with phones poised. The persistent
baffling question (“thot”, for those out of the loop, influencers made headlines when more than 50
is a term used to describe sexually promiscuous ventured beyond the public footpath that runs
women), is one of the latest examples of content through the estate onto private property to take
creators pushing Hollywood’s buttons in the photos and videos. “I never envisaged the amount
name of engagement. Daniels is one of the more of interest there would be. It’s quite weird,”
successful, garnering millions of likes on TikTok owner Charles Stopford Sackville said of the
(69.5 million to date) for his red-carpet targeting intruders. “I don’t take it as flattering.”
of major-league talent. “Not you!” Oscar- In the case of Drayton House, Sackville has forget the time Martin Scorsese correctly
nominated musician Billie Eilish shouted upon deployed staff to escort fans from the premises. explained what “threw shade” means on his
seeing him at the same awards, then walked away But as YouTube prankster Lizwani proved by daughter Francesca’s TikTok account. But as
laughing as Daniels called after her. The short clip successfully gatecrashing the stage during long as creators continue to push and overstep
has been watched 23.1 million times. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas’ boundaries, the future of the film industry’s
A recent wave of TikTokers, meanwhile, are Oppenheimer Best Film win at the BAFTAs, intersection with social-media personalities
using a newly famous filming location to up their it’s not always that easy. Hollywood has reaped looks murkier than a tub of Saltburn bathwater.
audience. After user Rhian Williams posted two some serious rewards from social media; lest we BETH WEBB

ALEX GODFREY IS THINKING SOPHIE BUTCHER IS THINKING BETH WEBB IS THINKING

Getty Images, Marco Vittur

A B O U T… R O Y A L R U F U S A B O U T… E L L Y ’ S C A T A B O U T… J U N E S Q U I B B :
SEWELL BACKPACK I N A RGYLLE NONAGENARIAN LEGEND
I saw the photo of Rufus Sewell playing Prince Forget the twisty plot — what’s stuck with me about Sure, Clint Eastwood is still making films at 93,
Andrew, and I will never not see it. The actor plays Argylle is Elly’s adorable method of feline transport, but June Squibb just debuted her first major lead
him in Netflix’s Scoop, but underneath the complete with a window to admire your furry role in Sundance hit Thelma at 94 and earned
prosthetics, all I see is his soul trapped in the Duke’s friend. If only my own cat wasn’t so emotionally raves for it. Plus, as Hubie Halloween proved, she
skull, like a Jordan Peele nightmare. Get out, Rufus! distant, this would be my must-have movie merch. can wear the hell out of a ‘Boner Donor’ T-shirt.

MAY 2024 29
 EMPIRE CHECKS INTO HOTEL-SET HISTORICAL
SERI ES A GENT L EMAN IN MOSCOW WITH
STARS EWAN Mc GREGOR AND MARY
EL IZABETH WINSTEAD

WORDS BEN TRAVIS marriage that Empire has inadvertently “It’s such a joy working with Mary that I could
stumbled upon — it’s a pivotal scene in be doing it all day long,” he tells Empire. Months
IN THE PIAZZA of the Hotel Metropol, Ewan upcoming Paramount+ drama A Gentleman later, Winstead remembers it differently.
McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead are In Moscow, a decades-spanning epic that “In-between takes we were just bawling our
saying a touching goodbye. The lights are intertwines romance and political intrigue eyes out,” she chuckles. “It was so beautiful
dimmed, a double bass twanging a bluesy against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution. to get to play the scene and make that moment
shuffle, the hotel guests dancing casually. Based on Amor Towles’ bestselling novel, it sees feel so real. But it was really, really hard for
“Would you do me the honour of one last McGregor’s aristocratic Count Rostov spared us as well.” Even the mere memory of playing
dance?” asks McGregor. The pair stand, the firing squad — instead sentenced to life it turns emotional. “For us, being real-life
embrace, sway. There are hushed whispers of imprisonment in the Metropol. Winstead’s partners, saying goodbye to one another…
travel documents, a declaration of love, a kiss film actress Anna Urbanova is one of many I’m about to cry just talking about it,” she
— before Winstead wrenches herself away, not life-changing relationships the hotel offers him laughs, tearily. “It was the most emotional
looking back as she strides towards the foyer, — and the pair’s off-screen chemistry is palpable day. It’s so silly, I can’t even get through
leaving McGregor stood alone. as they replay their farewell multiple times over. talking about it.”
And cut. This isn’t a surprisingly dramatic In his trailer later that day, scene firmly in Recreating the Moscow-bound Metropol
moment in McGregor and Winstead’s real-life the can, McGregor seems remarkably composed. in Manchester (Bolton doubled for the Bolshoi,

30 MAY 2024
Clockwise from
left: Russian
aristocrat Count
Alexander Rostov
(Ewan McGregor)
embraces actor Anna
Urbanova (Mary
Elizabeth Winstead);
Rostov is spared the
firing squad; Anna
does her stuff;
Meeting up with pal
Osip (Johnny Harris);
McGregor on set with
director Sam Miller;
Another friend to
Rostov, Nina
(Alexa Goodall),
as a young girl.

while the Kremlin scenes shot in, er, Leeds), children in the hotel, Russia transforms
the soundstage of Space Studios hosts a outside the Metropol’s windows. “It’s about
sprawling purpose-built hotel — Empire walks the making of the Russia that we know now,”
through its front doors, past reception, through states McGregor. “It starts in 1921 after the
the foyer, beyond the bar, up the stairs, and back Revolution, and everybody’s in turmoil. There’s
down to the restaurant and piazza. It’s a vast a lot of discussion about belief in something —
creation befitting the scope of the story. “I love people who believe in the Communist
the old-fashioned nature of the drama,” says movement and people who don’t, and what it
McGregor, who also produces, having loved does to their lives.”
Towles’ book (he recalls “the prevailing dread” The personal relationships anchor it,
he felt at turning its last page; he coped by though. “Anna is a very modern woman. And the
immediately buying War & Peace). Count is a very un-modern man,” McGregor
“Old-fashioned” and “epic” are words that explains. “Years and years go by, and you can
arise too for Winstead, the breadth of the drama never really pin down what this relationship is.
encompassing all elements of a life. “These But of course, it turns into the greatest love of
characters are going through these very either of their lives.” While the pair channelled
universal struggles at a time that was very dark their real-life partnership into the show, they
— they’re finding hope and humanity in that took a little something home in return. “We
darkness, and lightness and joy,” she says. bought a house in Scotland, and we were
Director Sam Miller promises a “multifaceted furnishing it at the time,” says Winstead.
tonal range” to the show. “It’s got strong magical “Everywhere [on set] was inspiration. ‘Wow,
elements and childlike elements at play,” he tells that chair would look great. That wallpaper’s
Empire between takes, “as well as the heaviness amazing!’ We took a ton of inspiration — and
of what’s happening.” maybe even kept a few pieces of furniture.
While the Count is transformed by his Just for, you know, posterity’s sake.” All’s fair
on-off relationship with Anna (“There’s quite in love and war.
a lot of cold-shoulder in the early days,” laughs
McGregor. “It was so funny being snubbed by A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW IS ON PARAMOUNT+

her”) and becoming a father-figure to multiple FROM 29 MARCH

MAY 2024 31
 JOIN US

KIA. PROUD SUPPORTER OF PICTUREHOUSE MEMBERSHIP

See our Terms And Conditions at picturehouses.com/membership
 Ben
Mendelsohn
THE AUSTR ALIAN STAR GETS
TEA RY OVER OUR L ANDMARK
L ACTOSE QUESTIONNAIRE

WORDS HAYLEY CAMPBELL

Whose poster was on your wall as a kid? vegan coriander dish, but they cooked the What’s the worst smell in the world?
Paul Stanley. ABBA was my first concert, but coriander in the lentils. This was this hippy cult Ammonia. Really strong ammonia. I copped that
KISS were the posters. It was a great poster. You kind of group, and this coriander thing was just the as a kid in Dad’s lab [where he was a medical-
could just get lost looking at it because he had such most disgusting thing I have ever had in my life. research scientist]. I was opening the bottle and
a man/woman thing going on. It was a beautiful he said, “You won’t like that!” and I just [mimes
shot. He wasn’t even my favourite — Gene What is one thing you do better than anyone taking a big sniff]. That said, I think halitosis
Simmons was my favourite from the band — but else you know? is more problematic than BO, especially if
that fuckin’ poster of Paul Stanley? Unbelievable. I can’t tell you. I mean, I literally can’t tell you. people don’t know about it, and invariably
It’s a proximity thing so I can’t tell you... Alright, people with bad halitosis don’t know about it.
Do you have any scars? well, if you want the G-rated version: I’m an
Which ones, the inside or the outside ones? expert backgammon player. I’ll play people for Do you have a nickname?
Covered in ’em! I have little scars here, there and money, but you’re giving it away. Most Australians call me Mendo. You know,
everywhere from this and that. Inside? From life. that’s how we do it — we don’t want to say
Doesn’t everyone? You can’t get to the age where What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? anything long. It’s gotta be a “Y”, an “O”, or
you’re approaching venerable and not clock a scar Joan Crawford! I’m quoting [comedy duo] perhaps an “A”. And you can’t be called Mendy.
or two. They’re there for a damn good reason. Derek and Clive — that will be known only to Menda? Nah. Mendo. I used to run out on set as
a certain section of the community. The worst a young thing and go, “MENDO POWER!!!”
How much is a pint of milk? job I ever had in real life was in an abattoir. That
Is it about a quid ten? [It’s 90p.] Well, I drink was really tough. There are two jobs to be done: What’s your favourite sandwich?
fancypants milk, so there you go. I drink the one is to take a sample for tuberculosis, the Ham and salad is just a fuckin’ genius sandwich.
most expensive one you can get at any shop. other is to read the tag number on the tail to Vegemite is high up there, but that’s more toast.
That’s my basic rule now that I’m rich. Anytime match. So there’s one person below, one up top.
I go into any shop, I will — by default — buy the If you’re up top — and this nearly happened to What film makes you cry?
most expensive version of whatever is there. I’m me — you can get your head kicked right off. You I will cry at the drop of a hat. Pixar’s Coco made
having Ovaltine with mine. can be killed up there. And down below you get me cry. Coco is beautiful. One of the best things
completely covered in shit. about movies is you get to have that feeling
If you weren’t an actor, what would your where everything is alright again. All the things
dream job be? When were you last naked outdoors? that you think are broken, and everyone that
I’d be James Bond. I’d be a spy. I’ve never given Last week in Brazil. I mean, why not? No-one you think thinks shit about you, and then it
up that fantasy. knew me. I had to run from one place to slips, and you’re okay? That always kills me.
another. Just a couple of doors down, so it was God, look — [Mendo is tearing up] — it’s
What’s the most disgusting thing you’ve a quick run. It was around 9pm so there were happening now!
ever eaten? probably only 15 people or so around. I didn’t
It was in the late ’80s. Someone cooked up this stroll. I was as polite as I could be. THE NEW LOOK IS ON APPLE TV+ NOW

MAY 2024 33
14 MARCH-10 APRIL 2024 | EDITED BY JOHN NUGENT

34 MAY 2024
 complicated by… well, all the above factors.

DUNE: PART TWO

In short, there are plenty of plates spinning
— and for the most part, Villeneuve displays
remarkable control over them all. Beyond that,
he marshals staggering sequences to blow
SANDWORM POPCORN BUCKE TS you to the back of your seat: an opening attack
AT THE READY from gravity-defying Harkonnen warriors is
hair-raising stuff; a ragtag rocket-launch
★★★★ mission with Paul and Chani taking down
OUT NOW / CERT 12A / 167 MINS enemy ornithopters is breathlessly exciting;
Paul’s long-awaited first sandworm ride is an
DIRECTOR Denis Villeneuve overwhelming feat of sound and vision, with
CAST Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca thunderous bass that’ll turn any regular cinema
Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Austin Butler, Josh into a seat-shaking 4DX experience. And
Brolin, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken, Austin Butler is the MVP of the newbies, his
Stellan Skarsgård Harkonnen warrior-boy Feyd-Rautha (in every
sense the Anti-Paul) a hairless embodiment of
PLOT On the planet Arrakis, Paul Atreides utter inhumanity. His stark arena battle on a
(Chalamet) joins the native Fremen people and distant planet — rendered entirely monochrome
plots revenge on the Harkonnens. But terrible under a black sun that leeches all colour, the sky
visions tease a dire future. exploding in Rorschach blotches — is a welcome
reprieve from the largely Arrakis-set action.
YOU SENSE THAT Denis Villeneuve has been In case Part One didn’t make it clear
having Spice-fuelled visions his entire life. The enough, this is Middle-earthian in ambition,
filmmaker has spoken much of how reading Nolan-esque in the dramatic intensity of its
Left: The Shai- Frank Herbert’s Dune at an early age cracked his execution. If anything, Part Two is almost epic
Hulud. Top to mind wide open. Bringing the sci-fi tome’s heady to a fault. It is a gigantic film, and for all the
bottom: Bene mix of warring houses, psychedelic reveries, character work Villeneuve beds in (Paul’s
Gesserit Princess anti-colonialist themes and intergalactic action naming ceremony; the most sand-based flirting
Irulan (Florence to the screen is, in a very real way, his life’s work. in a space opera since, well, another famous
Pugh); Chani And once again, in Dune: Part Two, it seems the Episode II), there’s a point where non-stop
(Zendaya) and Paul images Herbert conjured in Villeneuve’s head all immensity takes over. It reaches a terminal
Atreides (Timothée those years ago are being ripped straight from velocity of grandiosity, a critical massiveness
Chalamet); Villain synapse to screen. — and just keeps going. Despite the two-film
Feyd-Rautha That Part Two arrives at all is something split, there’s considerable ground to cover,
(Austin Butler). of a miracle. The filmmaker gambled on with mystical plot-points that even Villeneuve
a two-part adaptation of the book, despite struggles to wrangle. The character throughlines
a sequel not being guaranteed — and the are forced to reckon with central figures who
astonishing first part (by Villeneuve’s own — through narrative necessity — become less
admission, a place-setter to be paid off in later human as the film progresses. Those who
instalments) arrived in the midst of Covid. Part haven’t fully imbibed the Water Of Life might
Two, as promised, is the war epic: a weightier, feel overcome by ‘epic fatigue’ come the credits.
The gladiator battle more muscular chapter with less world-building Even then, the story isn’t over. While Part Two
with Austin Butler’s to do, but knottier narrative beats to untangle. reaches the conclusion of Herbert’s first book,
Feyd-Rautha It picks up shortly after Part One’s end this is decidedly not the end of Villeneuve’s
was shot by (a rewatch is advised, though Florence Pugh’s adaptation. Should the mooted Part Three
cinematographer incoming Princess Irulan functions largely as — covering sequel novel Dune Messiah — be
Greig Fraser using a recap-voiceover), with Paul Atreides greenlit, it won’t be an optional coda, but
IMAX cameras with (Timothée Chalamet) and his pregnant mother a proper trilogy-closer. As such, this is firmly a
infrared lenses, in Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) being accepted middle chapter, with major threads yet to resolve.
order to depict into the Fremen, the native people of bone-dry It feels churlish to complain, given the
a world almost Arrakis. Paul, having escaped the massacre incredible achievements on display here —
entirely without of House Atreides by the brutal Harkonnens — uninhibited ambition from Villeneuve, more eye-
colour — under as machinated by Emperor Shaddam IV, melting cinematography from Greig Fraser, fresh
a “black sun”. a disappointingly well-behaved Christopher Hans Zimmer jams (a dark inversion of Paul’s
Walken — desires revenge on all who wronged theme; a booming anthem for Feyd-Rautha), and
him. Many Fremen — including leader Stilgar a plot thread involving a psychic foetus. Oh, and
(Javier Bardem) — think Paul could be the yes, Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin) gets a brief
‘Lisan al-Gaib’, a prophet in their religion; Baliset banger (sample lyric: “His stillsuit is full
except, those prophecies were intentionally of piss…”). You might feel somewhat sandblasted
laid down by space-witch meddlers the Bene by the end — but overall, it remains a remarkable
Gesserit (of which Paul’s mother Jessica is one), display of desert power. BEN TRAVIS
and Paul’s Spice-visions show him possible
futures where leaning into his engineered V E R D I C T Another epic helping of sci-fi
messianic ‘destiny’ results in endless bloodshed. wildness from Denis Villeneuve that’ll take
Meanwhile, Paul falls for Fremen warrior true believers to paradise — even if it’s a bit
Chani (Zendaya), their budding romance too much Spice to digest in one sitting.

MAY 2024 35
 Clockwise from main:
It takes more than
a penalty fare to scare
Robot; Who didn’t love
a trip to the Woolworth’s
photo booth?; Hog — if
not Dog — heaven.

rising over a gloomy but animal-populated

ROBOT DREAMS
New York in the early 1980s: think Zootropolis
without the Disney stylings. A lonely dog
microwaves his evening meal and envies his It creates a thoughtful, elegiac tone that
coupled-up neighbours. Inspiration strikes fits unexpectedly well with the childishly bold
IF A MACHINE CAN LEARN THE VALUE when he sees an advert for an ‘Amica 2000’ design. The 2D animation is simple but not
O F DO G LIFE , MAYBE WE CAN TOO robot, which he orders and builds into a new simplistic, colourful but never garish, and
and loyal friend. Cue a montage straight from Berger ensures that the city teems with
★★★★ ★ a romcom, as Robot gets to delight in the world interesting characters as the background to
OUT 22 MARCH / CERT PG / 102 MINS for the first time and Dog is emboldened by his the two isolated, silent leads. The director,
new friend to go out and live his life. who worked in silent film before with 2012’s
DIRECTOR Pablo Berger But when they head to Coney Island Blancanieves, fills his screen with gently clever
CAST Ivan Labanda, Albert Trifol Segarra, Rafa for a day at the beach, Robot is rusted into touches — like Dog stripping off his swimming
Calvo, José García Tos, José Luis Mediavilla immobility and proves too heavy for Dog shorts coyly under a towel, but then not
to shift alone. When he gets back with some replacing them with anything else, or the way
PLOT In a 1980s New York populated by animals, tools, the beach is locked up for the season his tail wags when he’s really happy.
a lonely dog orders a companion robot. But and, despite repeated attempts, he can’t get As the odds of our heroes reuniting grow
a day at the beach ends with disaster. to Robot. The friends must endure a long longer, the yearning for their lost love —
separation, imagining their reunion but also platonic though it may have been — becomes
IT MAY COME as a surprise to find that one of dreading life alone. overwhelmingly emotional. It becomes
the most achingly beautiful stories of love and What follows are imaginative flights of fancy a personal, deeply felt reminder of how fragile,
loss that you’ll see this — or any — year involves as they wait the long months for the beach to and how important, our connections really
a dog, a robot, and a bit of rust. Robot Dreams is a reopen, as well as moments of despair and are. HELEN O’HARA
film based on the enchanting 2007 graphic novel danger. But there are soaring grace notes too, in
by Sara Varon, given new life for the big screen the wittiest bowling scene ever committed to V E R D I C T Who needs humans? This
in glorious 2D animation by Pablo Berger. Like film and a Busby Berkeley-style musical number is visual storytelling at its finest, a traditional
its source, it’s told wordlessly but is full of in the world of The Wizard Of Oz. Robot fears animation of gentle, unshowy genius.
incident, imagination and, above all, emotion. that Dog will replace him; Dog looks for Robot in Sometimes the very best love stories go
The opening shot shows the Twin Towers every caller to his door. deeper than words can say.

36 MAY 2024
 Clockwise from main:
Pitch perfect — Cate
Blanchett; Aswan Reid
as the boy; On a mission.

confidence of her performance in 2022’s

THE NEW BOY

TÁR, there’s a fascinating nervous energy to
Eileen: seemingly as fearful of her faith
as she is beholden to it. She is naive and
misguided but also quietly cunning, signing
CAT E BL ANCHE T T RE TURNS TO OZ letters of official business ‘Don Peter’, after
the now-dead patriarch of the mission, and
★★★ pretends to be him for the benefit of delivery
OUT 15 MARCH / CERT 15 / 96 MINS men. Even when the character feels occasionally
underwritten, Blanchett is — of course — never
DIRECTOR Warwick Thornton less than compelling.
CAST CateBlanchett, Aswan Reid, Deborah The nuns’ mission’s delicate equilibrium
Mailman, Wayne Blair is thrown off-balance when the unnamed
new boy arrives, and Thornton conjures
PLOT Australia, the 1940s. A boy (Reid) is a wonderfully unguarded performance out
taken from the Outback to live in a Catholic of newcomer Aswan Reid, who moves about
oprhanage — where his healing powers shock the world as scruffily and messily as his curly in studious, slow-burn pacing, too often
Sister Eileen (Blanchett). blond locks. He is a ball of energy and innocence, seemingly just treading water.
and the film plays through his lively eyes, What feels clear, though, is the deliberate
AS AN AUSTRALIAN Aboriginal child, Warwick almost as if it’s an unorthodox coming-of-age setting of this tale in time and place. It is
Thornton was sent to a Christian boarding story. A magical spark of light follows the new a deeply Australian story, rooted in its shameful
school, run by monks and nuns. That formative boy, implying healing powers, with a lens flare history (the new boy is snatched against
experience inspired The New Boy, the that recalls a 1980s Amblin adventure; his will, a symptom of the country’s racist
filmmaker’s seventh feature — but don’t expect elsewhere, Thornton’s camera feels almost assimilation laws) and the eventual imposition
a straightforward slice of direct autobiography. Terrence Malick-ian, taking full advantage of of a Western name on him feels symbolic, the
It is a curious confection, with a tone that flits the dusty desert sunrises. loss of innocence and identity. The New Boy’s
between a serious study of colonialism and There is a deep, abiding spirituality to the ruminations don’t always connect, but it does
religion, and something more fantastical or film, and Thornton seems to draw a line of make us wonder whose souls really need saving.
supernatural. It even has an unexpected comparison between Christian mysticism and JOHN NUGENT
Weekend At Bernie’s-esque subplot. And it isn’t the Earth-centred ‘geosophical’ Aboriginal
the sort of film to leave you with easy answers. belief systems: are the two traditions not V E R D I C T A gentle, odd little Australian
Cate Blanchett — in her first Australian role so different, after all? Or are they wholly fable. Warwick Thornton’s film has a lot of
in several years — plays Sister Eileen, the leader incompatible? It’s not clear what position thoughts to process, and while they don’t
of a Catholic mission in Australia’s Northern the film is taking, an ambiguity that can feel always cohere, the performances from
Territory. After the supreme, overbearing confounding. Instead, Thornton luxuriates Blanchett and Reid keep it interesting.

38 MAY 2024
 Here: Hello, spaceboy — Adam
Sandler in orbit. Below: Yas, queen:
Carey Mulligan as his Earthbound wife.

DAGR
★★★
OUT 8 APRIL / CERT 15 / 77 MINS
DIRECTOR Matthew Butler-Hart
CAST Ellie Duckles, Riz Moritz, Matt Barber,
Tori Butler-Hart

Social-media pranksters Thea (Ellie Duckles)

and Louise (Riz Moritz) plan to sabotage
“a wanky commercial shoot” in an isolated
Welsh mansion. Disguised as caterers, they
arrive just as the ad crew are assailed by
a curse and aren’t sure whether they’re being
counter-pranked or primed for sacrifice.

SPACEMAN
Moritz and Duckles get comedy mileage as
urban dimwits alternately cooing over cows
and creeped out by crows before being
menaced by robed cultists and demonic
forces. Matthew Butler-Hart’s iPhone-shot THE SANDMAN GOE S TO INFINIT Y
found-footage film isn’t groundbreaking, but AND BEYOND
is expertly assembled — with faces-to-watch
leads and enough nicely timed scares to ★★★★
deliver chills. It also wins points for coming OUT NOW (NETFLIX) / CERT 15 / 107 MINS
in at a tight, no-shot-wasted 77 minutes. KN
DIRECTOR Johan Renck gloomy, but what little humour there is comes
CAST Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano, courtesy of the wise extra-terrestrial. His
Isabella Rossellini penchant for calling Jakub “skinny human”,
along with his discovery of chocolate, are both
PLOT Astronaut Jakub (Sandler) realises his chuckle-worthy, and Dano adds subtle vocal
marriage to Lenka (Mulligan) is on the fritz. inflections to his calm demeanour when the
Luckily, an alien spider (voiced by Dano) is moment suits. By the time the film concludes,
on hand to help. you’ll wish he was your unofficial therapist, too.
Jakub certainly needs to confront some hard
THE OCCASIONALLY SPOTTY quality of his truths. At the movie’s outset, he’s an unlikeable
filmography means it’s easy to forget that Adam mixture of self-involved and withdrawn. It takes
Sandler is one of the most talented actors of Hanuš’ probing for Jakub to acknowledge the
his generation. Though there have been some root causes of his trauma, and come to appreciate
dramatic turns over the years, Sandler is first and what truly matters. A hug between the two
EV I L DO ES NOT EX IST foremost a comedian, the mind behind some slowly bonding friends is the movie’s high point,
★★★★ genuinely hilarious comic classics. There’s none a perfect blend of storytelling and craft that belies
OUT 5 APRIL / CERT TBC / 105 MINS of that signature humour in his latest film, which its bizarre sci-fi trappings. It’s greatly aided by
DIRECTOR Ryusuke Hamaguchi sees the Sandman morph into the Spaceman, the Max Richter’s score: for much of the movie it’s
CAST Hitoshi Omika, Ryuji Kosaka, Ayaka titular Czech cosmonaut of Chernobyl director ominous, bubbling away under the surface, but
Shibutani, Ryo Nishikawa Johan Renck’s sci-fi drama. It’s a tale about love, when it comes to the fore in that pivotal moment
loneliness and connection that is by turns weird, of realisation, it’s ethereal and stirring, a rich mix
Not much seems to happen in the opening introspective, and beautiful. of glorious synths and swirling strings.
section of Evil Does Not Exist; we’re simply Adapted from Jaroslav Kalfař’s book In spite of Jakub’s unappealing qualities, he
watching the everyday goings-on of a small Spaceman Of Bohemia, Colby Day’s screenplay is manages to be sympathetic thanks to Sandler’s
community in the snowy woodlands of one part space sci-fi — Sandler’s astronaut is on restrained, well-measured performance. And
Japan. But half an hour in, the film snaps his way to Jupiter to investigate the mysterious though Lenka is underwritten, Mulligan gives
sharply into focus: at a town-hall meeting, ‘Chopra cloud’ — and one part relationship her character much-needed interiority and
two corporate spokespeople lay out their drama, as Jakub realises that his marriage to his agency, a steady drip of flashbacks and scenes
boss’ business proposal of a glamping site pregnant wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) back on set on Earth illuminating how the star-crossed
in the woods. The idea is met with fierce Earth is crumbling. The link between the two lovers reached this point. Distance may have
resistance by the local attendees. But what elements is Hanuš (voiced by Paul Dano), a hairy, strained their relationship, but the hopeful
seems to be a film about the rural/urban Labrador-sized spider, stowed away on the ship. ending is well-earned. AMON WARMANN
divide and the wanton spoliation of nature Studying Jakub’s memories in a bid to better
becomes something rather more mysterious, understand humans, he offers some unsolicited V E R D I C T Come for the wise alien
culminating in director Hamaguchi’s most relationship advice along the way. spider, stay for Adam Sandler at his sombre
unexpected, opaque and downright brutal Hanuš’ first appearance is unsettling, best in this strange, heartfelt sci-fi drama.
finale to date. Evil may or may not exist, but but his presence quickly becomes a consistent, Here’s hoping he continues to push himself
ambiguity in cinema is still gloriously alive. AS endearing highlight. Spaceman’s default setting is to new highs.

MAY 2024 39
 Doing it by the book:
Yang Hewen as Bai Mulin
and Zine Tseng as
young Ye Wenjie.

Liu Cixin’s novel

has already been
adapted in his
native China as
Three-Body,
released in early
trickier than adapting Liu Cixin’s 2008 novel, The laconic, Raymond Chandler- 2023. The first

3 BODY PROBLEM
Three-Body Problem, for the small screen. The esque detective Da Shi (brilliantly season is available
book (and its subsequent sequels) spans from refashioned as a sweary on Prime Video;
history to the heat death of the universe; includes Mancunian by Benedict Wong); a second season
dense talk of theoretical astrophysics; and is it ends with the dawn of an is currently in
T H E GA ME OF THRONE S TEAM set, at one point, in the tenth dimension. How, intergalactic war. That it feels production.
SWA P DRAGONS FOR MULTI- exactly, do you make a television show out of that? coherent at all is an achievement. At
DIME NSIONAL AL IE NS “Ambitious” doesn’t quite cut it, which its heart lies the question of what it
perhaps makes Game Of Thrones showrunners means to be human.
★★★★ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, alongside True The grounding of that question is one of
OUT 21 MARCH (NETFLIX) / EPISODES VIEWED 8 OF 8 Blood’s Alexander Woo, the ideal stewards the showrunners’ biggest contributions. Liu’s
for Netflix’s massive, multi-million-dollar book was more enamoured with its concepts
SHOWRUNNERS David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, punt. The three creators are experienced with than its characters; this adaptation streamlines,
Alexander Woo giant budgets; they know their way around combines or invents five major characters —
CAST Benedict Wong, Liam Cunningham, a jaw-dropping set-piece; they can wrestle with played by Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, Eiza
Jonathan Pryce, Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, Eiza sprawling, unwieldy source material; they can González, John Bradley and Alex Sharp — to
González, John Bradley, Alex Sharp world-build; they can character-build. To be all from the same Oxford graduating class.
borrow a phrase, they consider chaos a ladder. As long as you accept the slightly convenient
PLOT Detective Da Shi (Wong) investigates (After the decidedly mixed response to the final neatness of that choice, they’re strong
a series of mysterious deaths in the scientific season of Game Of Thrones, Benioff and Weiss audience surrogates, lending a human sense
community. Could they possibly be linked to an also, arguably, have something to prove.) of incredulity to it all. (“That is about the
alien invasion? In many ways, this is a remarkable shift 28th-weirdest thing to happen to me this
from Thrones or Blood. There is so much week,” says Hong’s Jin Cheng at one point.)
IN PHYSICS, THE ‘three-body problem’ is what packed into these eight episodes, so many Some of the relationships feel a bit trite —
you’d call a real head-scratcher: a scientific tones and styles and genres. It is part police- a love triangle seems unnecessarily soapy and
conundrum to do with the positions and procedural potboiler, part historical-fiction small-fry — but there are moments of real
velocities of three bodies of mass when they epic, part puzzle-box mystery, part scientific- pathos. (Hong and Sharp emerge as the
attract each other with gravity. It is a centuries- discovery adventure, part alien-invasion MVPs, both delivering warm, gorgeously pitched
old question of chaos theory; a mathematical sci-fi. It begins with a series of scientists’ deaths, performances, full of humour and humility.)
riddle, seemingly unsolvable. And only slightly seemingly connected, being investigated by The result is something more accessible

40 MAY 2024
 Madame Web/Cassie
(Dakota Johnson,
second left) with her
spidey mates. Below:
Supervillain Ezekiel Sims
(Tahar Rahim).

MADAME WEB
IN THE E ND, HE R WE B DIDN’ T QUITE
Top to bottom: Auggie (Eiza González), Jin (Jess Hong), Raj CONNECT US ALL
(Saamer Usmani), Saul (Jovan Adepo) and Will (Alex Sharp);
Vera (Vedette Lim) gets elevated; “Is it a bird? Is it a plane?” ★★
OUT NOW / CERT 12A / 116 MINS
than the book — you don’t need a PhD to
understand or enjoy this show — even as it DIRECTOR S.J.Clarkson some recent superhero films. This is the
centres incredibly smart people trading in high- CAST Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, result of a smaller and more self-contained
concept problem-solving while playing on alien Isabela Merced, Adam Scott, Zosia Mamet, story, involving the kind of nifty time-loop
Apple Vision Pros. Yet Liu’s most important Celeste O’Connor dilemmas familiar from small-screen sci-fi.
themes can still be found. This is an English- But where the dialogue needed wit and spark,
language, international adaptation of a Chinese PLOT Cassie Web (Johnson) is just an it has the kind of will-this-do? one-liners
book, but it retains its social and historical ordinary ambulance driver — until one day, (“Hope the spiders were worth it, Mom!”)
allegories: the show, like the book, opens with a near-death experience awakens dormant and tired backstories you get when the
the violence of China’s Cultural Revolution, and psychic powers. characters are too flat to flesh out with
we are invited to draw comparisons between rounded personalities. (Some unconvincing
human and alien power structures — the spectre EARLY ON IN Madame Web — the latest ADR smacks of a last-minute attempt to fix
of an oppressive regime, the terrifying deference superhero film to be based on a Spider-Man- things in the edit.)
to a cult of personality, the forging of a new adjacent comic series — Dakota Johnson’s Like the last remnants of a lost civilisation
world at whatever cost. Cassie Web rejects a thank-you gift from the poking through the wreckage of a post-
It doesn’t skimp on the book’s wow factor, child of a woman whose life she just saved. From apocalyptic wasteland, hints of classical
either. There is a colossal sense of scale and this, you can probably surmise that firstly, she’s storytelling survive. The fateful legacy of
pace throughout. Episode 5, in particular, has awkward around kids, and secondly, she will a birthright inherited from a dead parent gives
a sequence which rivals the Red Wedding for its eventually end up having to protect some kids. Cassie’s arc a Freudian motif, while the villain
violence and gore. This initial season follows Like many heavily telegraphed moments in this attempting to wipe out the next generation due
a familiar Thrones-ian pattern, frontloading its film, you won’t need psychic powers to figure to a premonition that they will cause his own
big moments while ending things on a more that one out — even if Cassie herself does, in downfall is a more interesting and personal
reflective note. fact, shortly develop such powers. motivation — at least on the page — than
Almost disappointingly, that finale feels But if you did have psychic powers, you another bad guy wanting to destroy the
more muted, offering some answers but far might have wanted to use them to gently warn universe. And instead of Chekhov’s gun, we get
more questions, laying groundwork for the cast away from this film, which manages a new twist on an old favourite in the form of
currently unconfirmed future seasons. There is to be both over-written and underwritten ‘Chekhov’s CPR’. It’s not enough to offset the
huge potential here. If they pull it off, this could at the same time. Most of the actors here are creeping sense that, when it comes to the
be one of the great science-fiction television wonderfully talented, but there’s only so much franchise sometimes known as the Sony
shows of all time. But they need to land the they can do with the material. A Prophet’s Tahar Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters
plane first. Netflix, we beg you: don’t leave Rahim, so often a blistering presence, is left to (SPUMC), the word “Marvel” is synonymous
us hanging. Don’t make this just another thankless grumpy-villain duties here; Adam less with a sense of awe than with a shrug.
unsolvable problem. JOHN NUGENT Scott, fresh off his unimprovable turn in CATHERINE BRAY
Severance, takes on a curious incarnation of
V E R D I C T A hugely ambitious Spidey’s Uncle Ben; Sydney Sweeney, Isabela V E R D I C T Madame Web isn’t much
adaptation of a hugely ambitious book. As Merced and Celeste O’Connor, as Spider- worse than the rest of the SPUMC, give
an opening season it feels like set-up for Women, have very little to do. or take, but it’s not really better, either. Its
something bigger — but what’s here is There is, perhaps, a bit less digital mulch minimal saving grace is that it doesn’t require
thoroughly impressive, giant-scale television. sloshing around in Madame Web than in much familiarity with the wider universe.

MAY 2024 41
 OUT OF DARKNESS
★★ ★
OUT NOW / CERT 15 / 87 MINS
DIRECTOR Andrew Cumming
CAST Safia Oakley-Green, Chuku Modu, Kit
Young, Iola Evans

Here: Space cadet In 43,000 BC, a group of prehistoric humans,

— Noomi Rapace as led by alpha male Adem (Chuku Modu), arrive
astronaut Jo. Below: in a new land and soon sense a sinister
Life on Earth. presence hunting them. Filmed in the Scottish
Highlands, this slowly ticks the survival-
horror checklist, as characters make their
case to be the next on the chopping block.

CONSTELLATION
There’s plenty of blood, but it’s all about what
isn’t seen; excellent sound design leaves you
to fill in the gaps between squelches. Rather
than deploying jump scares, debut director
NO O MI RA PACE G OE S TO NOOMI Andrew Cumming focuses on creating a
RA-SPACE consistent sense of threat. Atmospheric and
chilling, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but
★★★★ adds some thoughtful twists to a well-worn
OUT NOW (APPLE TV+) / EPISODES VIEWED 8 OF 8 genre — an intriguing sign of things to come
from a new filmmaking voice. VL
SHOWRUNNER Peter Harness a maddening display of institutional gaslighting.
CAST Noomi Rapace, Jonathan Banks, Davina All of this plays out amid a series of fractured
Coleman, Rosie Coleman, James D’Arcy moments that seem to conform only loosely to
the concept of linear time. It’s a disorienting,
PLOT Astronaut Jo Ericsson (Rapace) returns to elliptical mode of storytelling that blends actual
Earth — but her life does not appear to be the flashbacks (and forwards, and sideways) with
same one she left behind. seeming hallucinations — rarely bothering to
distinguish between the two. The dread-laden
QUANTUM SUPERPOSITION, EXPLAINS atmosphere ensures we’re rarely bored, but
Jonathan Banks’ scientist in Apple’s Constellation, we’re also left perpetually grasping for narrative
is the ability of something to exist in two threads that remain maddeningly out of reach.
conflicting states at the same time, until directly Right up until everything clicks into place.
observed. Likewise, the series is simultaneously Early episodes might give the impression of
a gripping, precision-tooled psychological a story adrift, but writer Peter Harness knows
thriller and a confusing, languorously paced exactly what he’s doing. The eureka moment, AVATAR : T HE LAST A IRB E N DE R
sci-fi yarn, depending entirely upon which when it comes, is a stunning, Damascene ★★
episode you’re seeing it from. revelation that sends domino-like ripples back OUT NOW (NETFLIX) / EPISODES VIEWED 8 OF 8
We join Swedish astronaut Jo Ericsson to the show’s very first scene, instantly making SHOWRUNNER Albert Kim
(Noomi Rapace) aboard the ISS in the middle of sense of what came before. It’s a risky move but CAST Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Daniel
a year-long shift away from her husband Magnus one that pays off, resulting in a heady rush that Dae Kim, Ian Ousley
(James D’Arcy) and her daughter Alice (played is absolutely worth the wait. It just takes a
by twins Davina and Rosie Coleman). When handful of episodes to get there. Live-action adaptations of animations are an
a sudden collision causes havoc, Jo must repair Rapace keeps a tight hold on us throughout, often fraught proposition. Sadly, the new live-
the damaged module in order to make her way her performance a ball of frenzied confusion action take on Avatar: The Last Airbender
back to Earth before running out of air. and barely contained panic. But it’s the mostly sheds the original’s cartoonish
But, in sequences that tip their space helmet Coleman sisters who truly shine, lending charm and dynamic presentation in favour
to Event Horizon as much as Gravity, those final Alice a heart-rending aura of bone-deep grief of more self-serious fantasy. At least as far
hours in space are punctuated by sinister and a wisdom far beyond her years. Amid all as whitewashing is concerned, it is an
hallucinations: her daughter in a blizzard- the quantum entanglements and fracturing improvement on M. Night Shyamalan’s
whipped cabin, an ominous cupboard door. It’s realities, Constellation’s core is the relationship maligned 2010 adaptation — but the
not until Jo is back on terra firma in Episode 3, between those two characters. A mother- character work feels either thin or just plain,
though, that the show’s central premise begins to daughter bond that transcends time, reality all feeling explained rather than felt. The
assert itself. Her car, once red, is now blue; her and the spaces in-between. JAMES DYER results are a rather drab and thinly sketched
daughter no longer speaks her native Swedish; spin on well-worn fantastical tales of
and her once happy marriage now feels strained. V E R D I C T Initially baffling, occasionally oppression and rebellion. But hey, here’s
Meanwhile, her account of the collision maddening, but ultimately brilliant. This some good news: there’s a perfectly fine
(involving the desiccated corpse of a long-dead thoughtful, brain-bending sci-fi thriller is animated version of Avatar: The Last
Russian cosmonaut) is dismissed out of hand in absolutely worth persevering with. Airbender, also on Netflix. KC

42 MAY 2024
 Left:
Schoolmates
Eri (Hinata
Hiiragi) and
Minato (Sōya
Kurokawa).
Below: Teachers
Mr Shoda
(Akihiro Kakuta)
and Mr Hori
(Eita Nagayama)
in the staff
room. Bottom:
Minato’s
mum Saori
(Sakura Andō).

generous spirit, lucid filmmaking and terrific

MONSTER
performances, confirming Kore-eda as one of lovely detail on display — a single running shoe
the best directors of children working today. resonates more strongly in each version — and,
The starting point for each story cycle is as ever with Kore-eda, the performances are on
a deliberate fire at a hostess bar in a lakeside point. Shoplifters’ Sakura Andō is a force as the
T H E S HOPL IF TE RS DIRECTOR Japanese town. Who actually started the fire mother tearing into teachers she believes are
R E TURNS TO HIS NATIVE JAPAN is an overarching mystery that gurgles away concealing Mr Hori’s bullying, and the film
beneath the narrative, but Kore-eda locates the misses her presence when it switches tack.
★★★ ★ story firmly in his delicate-drama wheelhouse. Kurokawa is yet another product of the
OUT 15 MARCH / CERT 12A / 127 MINS The core of the story starts with 11-year-old Kore-eda School Of Child Acting Prodigies,
Minato (Sōya Kurokawa) confessing to his his friendship with Hinata Hiiragi as an
DIRECTOR HirokazuKore-eda mother Saori (Sakura Andō) that he has been androgynous classmate beautifully etched.
CAST SakuraAndō, Sōya Kurokawa, Eita struck by teacher Mr Hori (Eita Nagayama), It lacks the easy simplicity of the
Nagayama, Hinata Hiiragi rumoured to be a frequenter of the burning filmmaker’s best work — the structural
knocking shop, and the fallout that follows. shenanigans sometimes work against its
PLOT When 11-year-old Minato (Kurokawa) Is the boy lying? Is the teacher a weirdo? emotional efficacy — but it’s yet another
begins to act strangely, his mother Saori (Andō) All potentialities are given a thorough work-out beautiful meditation on the difficulty in finding
demands answers from his school. as Monster plays out the events from different happiness. It also gets a cherry on top with
vantage points. Each different rendering deepens Ryuichi Sakamoto’s score (his last), the plaintive,
FOLLOWING CINEMATIC ADVENTURES your understanding of the characters and, piano-led pieces adding an air of melancholia
in Paris (The Truth) and South Korea (Broker), more importantly, makes your sympathies and — the cumulative effect of which is released in
Hirokazu Kore-eda returns to his homeland of allegiances slip and slide like a ’90s Essex foam the film’s final moments of joy. IAN FREER
Japan for another round of fractured families, party. The events themselves don’t change, only
isolation and loss. In essence, Monster is The the perspectives, Kore-eda playing fast and loose V E R D I C T Monster is Hirokazu
Towering Inferno meets Rashomon meets Waterloo with our tendency to always assume the worst. Kore-eda channelling Christopher Nolan:
Road: the director spinning a compassionate The director is working from Yuji twisty storytelling in the service of wise
tale from the point of view of a parent, then Sakamoto’s screenplay (the first time he hasn’t empathy. There is no judgement in Kore-eda’s
a teacher, then a pupil. It’s sometimes tough written his own for nearly 30 years), but this worldview, just human behaviour in all its
to follow but it is shot through with a gentle, still feels like a Kore-eda joint. There’s lots of glorious complexity.

MAY 2024 43
 THE BLUES
BROTHERS
IT ’S DA RK A ND WE ’RE WEARING
R EA DING GL ASSE S

★★★★
AUTHOR DANIEL DE VISÉ

JOHN LANDIS’ 1980 film The

Blues Brothers is a Looney
Tunes cartoon writ real:
brazenly combining glorious
R’n’B, spectacular car crashes,
and the idiosyncratic comedy
stylings of Dan Aykroyd
and John Belushi. Such They’re on a mission
a bonkers movie is inevitably the result of from God: Elwood
a bonkers making-of story — one that Daniel (Dan Aykroyd) and
De Visé’s impeccably researched, clear-headed, Jake (John Belushi).
highly entertaining book does full justice to.
But there is much more going on here than just
a document of a single film. blubber”). All roads led to Saturday Night Live, fide soul legends who cameoed in the movie (we
Firstly, The Blues Brothers: An Epic and De Visé argues that this was the first learn Ray Charles often had to pee).
Friendship, The Rise Of Improv, And The Making generation of comedians who grew up with The contours of this story, especially
Of An American Film Classic is a portrait of two television; they knew how to bend and stretch surrounding Belushi’s addictions, are familiar,
pals. After charting Belushi and Aykroyd’s the medium to the limit. and De Visé often over-describes scenes from the
upbringing, De Visé pinpoints the pair’s first When it gets to The Blues Brothers on screen, film. But the book concludes with a textured,
meeting (it was the latter who first schooled the De Visé delivers a satisfying deep dive into every gripping but never salacious account of Belushi’s
former in the blues). The pair were famously aspect of production, from writing (Landis added last days, and what stays with you longer is the
described as ‘Mr Careful’ (Aykroyd) and ‘Mr such quotable lines as, “We’re on a mission from resolve and love of Belushi’s long-suffering wife,
Fuck It’ (Belushi), and De Visé vividly brings the God”) to release. The book doesn’t skimp on the Judy. This is perhaps the book’s finest
‘opposites attract’ dynamic alive. cast excesses — Carrie Fisher was speechless on achievement: finding the humanity behind the
Beyond Belushi and Aykroyd, De Visé also acid filming the Mystery Woman’s manicure sunglasses. IAN FREER
traces the sea change in ’70s American comedy, — but also delivers strong accounts of the car
charting the rise of improvisational troupes carnage, wrangles with executives and the V E R D I C T Not only nirvana for Blues
such as The National Lampoon and Second City Chicago-ness of it all. De Visé, a biographer of Brothers nerds but a fascinating snapshot of
(Belushi appeared in a Moby Dick musical B.B. King, is also good on the music, writing with a cultural moment and a touching study of an
containing the lyric, “He ain’t heavy/He’s my respect but not over-reverence about the bona unlikely friendship. Black hats off!

BRU CE L EE : IN MY OWN P R OC ES S DUNE E XPOSURES T HE FIXE R

★★★ ★★★★ ★★ ★
AUTHOR BRUCE LEE AUTHORS GREIG FRASER, JOSH BROLIN AUTHORS JOSH YOUNG, MANFRED WESTPHAL

Overseen by the martial-arts legend’s Not a traditional behind-the-scenes book, Fred Otash — “keyhole peeper, wire tapper,
family, this tome can veer towards the this striking portfolio takes a gratifyingly morals enforcer, dirt collector and
hagiographic: “Bruce Lee is just a finger abstract approach to the coffee-table tome. all-purpose scandalmonger to the stars”
pointing at the moon,” exults a sample A selection of arresting on-set shots by — is a ripe subject for a book. The LAPD
quote. It also, slightly bafflingly, features an Dune DP Greig Fraser are interspersed with detective-turned-private dick was hardly
essay by pro skateboarder Tony Hawk. But wistful reminiscence, abstract musings, and short of juicy stories, breathlessly recounted
it’s undeniably a beautiful book, filled with assorted poetry (including a number of rather here (bolstered by Manfred Westphal, who
pages from Lee’s diary, sketches and even lovely haikus) from the pen of Josh Brolin. met Otash). While it sometimes veers on
poetry. And there are a few great insights: Fraser’s gaze wanders. Pensive Gurney pure 1950s gossip-column-style scandal,
the Dragon was a fan of Animal Farm! NDS ruminates. Beautifully weird. JD it’s a mostly riveting read. JN

44 MAY 2024
 The Pulp Fiction theme
party was in full swing.

“I had to read
Portrait Of A Lady
in school. Boy, that
comedy-cunnilingus found in the was a great read and The Big Lebowski had a lesbian

DRIVE-AWAY
opening five minutes to the “very — like somebody baby, and you’re part of the way there.
committed lesbians” of a college dragging day-old This is a film that almost
soccer team, Dolls wears its sapphic spaghetti across incorrigibly just wants to have a good

DOLLS
colours loud and proud. my tits.” time, its spirit embodied in Qualley’s
That’s notable, given that this JAMIE Jamie, whose primary driving
is a Coen brother film, singular. (MARGARET motivation, à la American Pie, is to get
Directed by Ethan Coen (his first QUALLEY) laid. There are two threads running
YOU KNOW THE COE N BROTHE RS. without bigger brother Joel, if you throughout: a friendship (or more?)
NOW ME E T THE COE N COUPLE don’t count his 2022 Jerry Lee Lewis between Jamie and Marian, pitched
documentary), and co-written by Coen and beautifully by the two leads; and a screwball
★★★ ★ his wife Tricia Cooke, who is queer, there is crime conspiracy that bubbles under the surface,
OUT 15 MARCH / CERT 15 / 84 MINS a unique energy here which can’t be found in both threads exploding into total absurdity in
any of the previous 18 films from the brothers. the final act. The climactic reveal needs to be
DIRECTOR Ethan Coen It has a specificity, in subject matter and period, enjoyed for yourself — suffice to say that this
CAST Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, that feels refreshing, a rare example of the entire movie is essentially one big dick joke.
Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Bill Camp Coen-canon that centres female, gay characters. Coen and Cooke are desperate for you not to
Which is not to say that it doesn’t feel, take it too seriously. Dolls’ characters are messy
PLOT In 1999, Jamie (Qualley) and Marian well, Coen-y. Margaret Qualley, as the kooky, and flawed and sex-obsessed. There are wacky,
(Viswanathan) take a “drive-away” rental car job charismatic Jamie, drops folksy Southern phrases increasingly bonkers sitcom-esque scene
from Philadelphia to Tallahassee — and get like “Honey darlin’!” — channelling Nicolas Cage’s transitions. Nobody really learns anything by
mixed up with some dodgy characters. H.I. ‘Hi’ McDunnough from Raising Arizona. the end. Some might crave a bit more substance,
Geraldine Viswanathan’s Marian, meanwhile, is but this is a film defiantly lacking in much of
DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS was originally called bookish and socially awkward, like a more affable that. It is, ultimately, a shaggy dog story, about
‘Drive-Away Dykes’ — a far better, funnier, and Barton Fink. Joey Slotnick and C. J. Wilson shagging. JOHN NUGENT
frankly more accurate title than the marketing- play hired goons chasing down our heroes with
friendly one eventually settled on. (That original a haplessness that recalls Steve Buscemi and V E R D I C T As furiously funny as it is
title is even cheekily acknowledged in the Peter Stormare in Fargo. And the overall tone is helplessly horny, this lesbian road movie
closing credits.) Because this film is, to use all pep and vinegar, like the breeziest of Coen simultaneously feels exactly like a Coen
the technical parlance, hella lesbian: from the crime comedies: imagine if Burn After Reading brothers film — and entirely its own thing, too.

MAY 2024 45
 “How many stars?!”
The reviews were in.

SUICIDE SQUAD:
KILL THE
JUSTICE LEAGUE
T H EY ’RE BA D G UYS. IT ’S WHAT THEY
DO. (UNFORTUNATE LY)

★★
PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES X/S

THE IDEA OF the Suicide Squad, DC’s cadre of

scrappy supervillains — which include among
their number a clown, a fish, a gun fetishist, and
a loudmouth Aussie with trick boomerangs —
stepping up when the real heroes are taken off the
board could make for a great game. Unfortunately,
Kill The Justice League is not it. Coming from
the prestigious Rocksteady Studios, developer
of the much-loved Batman: Arkham games, and
building on the continuity of that series — her to swing from a Bat-drone overhead, lacks any shooter mould? Probably not.
interplanetary conqueror Brainiac taking over sense of momentum, while Deadshot’s jetpack What’s especially frustrating with Suicide
Superman’s home turf of Metropolis and struggles with range and precision. Nothing clicks. Squad is that glimmers of potential are still
brainwashing the Justice League — it very much Gunplay, meanwhile, feels overly similar apparent. Rocksteady’s visual polish is undeniable,
should be. But in shifting from story-driven single- between the four, despite a vast assortment of and the voice cast — including Tara Strong as
player adventures to a loot-chasing, multiplayer- firearms. But the arsenal itself is another problem Harley Quinn and Jason Isaacs as Brainiac — all
focused model, it drowns in mediocrity. — countless variations with head-spinning impress with strong performances. The writing as
Suicide Squad struggles on two main fronts: statistics are meant to incentivise repeated a whole is better than the game deserves, balancing
shooting and movement through levels. play, but no matter what you equip, combat feels dark humour with high stakes and plenty of
Unfortunately, it also wants to be built on these. formulaic; generic shootouts that could be taking pathos. A compilation of the game’s cutscenes
The core concept is appealing: speeding through place in Destiny as easily as the DC Universe. might even make for a compelling DC Elseworlds
the city, pouncing on Brainiac’s forces, and That’s the core problem — the pursuit of an movie — but having to shear off the actual game
blasting them into oblivion. Yet in practice, ongoing multiplayer experience, where players to find what’s good here is damning. MATT KAMEN
distinct movement styles for each of the four can drop into missions and control other Squad
reluctant protagonists — Harley Quinn, King members, necessitates a degree of repetition V E R D I C T A strong concept centred on
Shark, Deadshot and Captain Boomerang — across the team. Would Hulk-like King Shark dirtbag anti-heroes should make this a delight,
end up feeling muddled and inconsistent. For even be lugging a minigun around if the game but banal mechanics and repetitive loot-grinding
instance, Harley’s stolen Bat-grapple, allowing didn’t need each character to fit into a multiplayer rob it of anything approaching greatness.

STAR GATE: TIMEK EEP ER S CHAOS GAT E : DAE MONHUNT E RS T E RMINATOR : DAR K FATE
★★★ ★★★★ — DE FIANCE
PC PS4/5, XBOX ONE/X/S ★★ ★
PC
With a story sandwiched between Seasons Warhammer 40,000 games are a notoriously
7 and 8 of TV series Stargate SG-1, mixed bag, but this turn-based tactics title, Following the alternate timeline established
Timekeepers is hardly the most approachable now making its console debut, is among the by 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate, players of
entry into the world of this once ubiquitous best. XCOM with Space Marines, this deftly this real-time tactics game may be surprised
sci-fi franchise. But those who endure will marries the grimdark aesthetic of 40k with to find themselves battling not Skynet, but
discover a solid real-time strategy campaign satisfying squad-based skirmishes against Legion, with nary a mention of He Who’ll Be
anchored in compelling squad-based minions of the plague god Nurgle. With Back in sight. Even so, Dark Fate — Defiance
subterfuge. The resulting series of playable individually named, fully customisable units, offers refreshingly old-school strategy gaming,
episodes makes a compelling case to bring it’s easy to get attached to your Marines, but its frantic, top-down skirmishes elevated by
the Stargate franchise back out of stasis. AA try not to — Chaos Gate is without mercy. JD familiar franchise window-dressing. AA

46 MAY 2024
 Animal magic:
Po (Jack Black) and
Zhen (Awkwafina).

“One shouldn’t
about 90 minutes. lavish film. The star cast has been

KUNG FU PANDA 4
do a deep
To briefly catch up on where we shrunk (no Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu,
squat with
left things: Po (voiced by Jack Black) et al), the canvas feels a little smaller
a chopstick
is a panda who is both kung fu master and the fight sequences a bit less
in one’s pocket.”
and clumsy glutton. Chosen as the grand. This is not always necessarily
PO
EVE RYONE ’S FAVOURITE ‘Dragon Warrior’, he is China’s a negative. It works well as an action-
(JACK BLACK)
A SS-KICK IN’, BAMBOO -EATIN’ greatest fighter, even though his buddy-comedy in the solid hands of
HE RO IS BACK dedication to his craft is minimal. director Mike Mitchell (Trolls, The
He’s the adopted son of a goose Lego Movie). Black and Awkwafina
★★★ (James Hong), student of an exasperated make a sparky team — if future films lean on her,
OUT 28 MARCH / CERT PG / 94 MINS red panda (Dustin Hoffman), and saviour of she seems entirely able to bear the weight —
many imperilled animals. Each instalment and a very lean plot gives plenty of space for big
DIRECTOR Mike Mitchell sees Po face off with a scheming villain plotting comedy set-pieces, like a bar brawl in a tavern
CAST Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, to become the most powerful being on the teetering on a cliff, or a police chase through
Bryan Cranston, Ian McShane, Awkwafina, Viola planet. This time it’s Chameleon (Viola Davis), a criminal city. It’s a shame Davis isn’t given
Davis, Ke Huy Quan a shape-shifting lizard who wants to transform more opportunities for laughs as Chameleon,
into the biggest criminal boss the world has but she fills the character’s small frame with
PLOT Panda and ‘Dragon Warrior’ Po (Black) ever known. lots of sinister gravitas.
must hand his title to someone new — but he On this adventure — and with an apparent The previous Kung Fu Panda movie
is interrupted when the Chameleon (Davis) eye on future franchise potential — Po has pushed the series into more epic territory,
threatens the world. a sidekick. Zhen (Awkwafina), a fox, is a thief with the apparent belief it was concluding
who’s only out for herself. She’s also a very the story. This is hedging its bets, seeding
EIGHT YEARS AFTER Kung Fu Panda 3, and handy fighter. Zhen has no interest in working a number of possibilities for future movies.
15 years since the franchise first began, Po with others, but (for reasons of plot convenience It’s safe and fairly predictable, but still a good
returns. There’s no radical new direction for rather than logic) agrees to join Po in his time. OLLY RICHARDS
this resurrection, but more of the slick, pacy quest to find the Chameleon, after he frees her
and beautifully animated fun fans will be used from jail. Po is readying himself to hand the V E R D I C T A step back from the last
to. Like the Minions series, this is reliable Dragon Warrior title to someone new. Where film in terms of ambition, this nevertheless
entertainment — never really pushing any could he possibly find the ideal candidate? continues the series’ chirpy, amiable mood.
boundaries, but likely to keep the kids quiet for It’s rather streamlined since the previous, Nothing to be po-faced about here.

MAY 2024 47
Your ticket to Hollywood
Get 13 issues of EMPIRE and
save over £14 a year on shop prices*

The ultimate
Empire experience.
See page 10
for details.

Every issue delivered to your door, before it arrives

in shops, with exclusive collectible covers
SUBSCRIBE BY VISITING EITHER GREATMAGAZINES.CO.UK/EMPIRE,
SCAN HERE
CALLING 01858 438 884 OR SCANNING THE QR CODE
Terms and Conditions: *Offer ends 08/05/2024. One-off payments are also available, please see website for details. Your subscription will start with the next available issue.
Cost from landlines for 01 numbers per minute are (approximate) 2p to 10p. Cost from mobiles per minute (approximate) 10p to 40p. Costs vary depending on the location.
You may get free calls to some numbers as part of your call package — please check with your phone provider. Order lines open 8am-9.30pm (Mon-Fri), 8am-4pm (Sat).
Calls may be monitored or recorded. For full T&CS visit greatmagazines.co.uk/terms.
 Here: Showing his mettle —
Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki
Sanada). Below: Cosmo Jarvis
as John Blackthorne.

SHŌGUN
TH E BOOK-TURNE D -T V-SHOW- T HIS IS ME …NOW: A LOVE STO RY
TURNE D -ANOTHE R-T V-SHOW ★★ ★
“It is in essence a kind of bizarre visual
★★★ ★ album, with a kind of a dream logic —
OUT NOW (DISNEY+) / EPISODES VIEWED 8 OF 10 which is to say, not much logic at all. Songs
from the new album are given blunt,
SHOWRUNNER Justin Marks duty and spirituality, cloaked in a sombre show on-the-surface visual metaphors; like Garth
CAST HiroyukiSanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna of stoicism. Marenghi, Jennifer Lopez clearly thinks
Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroto Kanai Their pursuits are captured superbly, the subtext is for cowards.” JOHN NUGENT
surf-smacked cinematography capturing
PLOT 17th century Japan is on the knife-edge of swirling, dread-filled imagery in one moment, YOUR FAT FRIE ND
war. The arrival of a shipwrecked Englishman gently ebbing, awe-inspiring seascapes the next; ★★ ★ ★
(Jarvis) triggers a wave of scheming, violence the sweeps of terror and beauty are deftly “In centring Aubrey Gordon, a person
and spiritual reckoning. balanced. War is nightmarish, like when full of life and love and intelligence and
a cannonball rips an arm off to gruellingly trauma and multitudes, it does the work of
JAMES CLAVELL’S 1975 historical-fiction practical effect — but it can be controlled, transferring her gift for articulating society’s
novel Shōgun was first adapted for TV in 1980. as when strikingly viewed from above, like issues around fatness to a full, immersive
As with that earlier effort, this adaptation — a game of feudal Pac-Man, as flame-wielding screen experience.” SOPHIE BUTCHER
creatively led by Top Gun: Maverick writer soldiers scour a grid of city streets. The camera
Justin Marks and his wife Rachel Kondo — is set regularly creeps through water, forests and MOT HE R’S INSTINCT
during a time of upheaval in Japan: five factions palaces, hesitantly discovering new lands, ★★ ★ ★
seek control of the country, whilst Portuguese anxiously aware of the silent assassins at the “Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain have
Catholics hope to control its soul. Seeking frame’s edge; within it are elegantly costumed starred in films together before, but here they
ascendancy from the societal fraying are three characters draped in detailed silks and ornate, finally get to share a frame. It’s a thrill to see
key characters: the measured but militant Lord cascading armour that glows in the fog of war them play off each other, and their chemistry
Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada); his — whether in a vista or a candlelit portrait, it’s is every bit as exhilarating as trying to figure
opportunistic, freshly beached advisor John all very screenshot-able. out the film’s next move.” BARRY LEVITT
Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis); and their The show’s pace provides great pleasures
Catholic-convert translator, Toda Mariko (Anna alongside some unfortunate faults. T HE BAD BATCH: SE A SO N 3
Sawai). Together they attempt to control — or Frustratingly, the wider narrative shape is ★★ ★ ★
become — cogs in the machine of power. Their mapped at an uneven speed; after episodes of “Cameos from Emperor Palpatine and Asajj
devious, often violent mechanics would feel at patient plotting, the scales of battle skyrocket Ventress help tie Season 3 into wider lore,
home in the halls of Westeros, the plot growing too promptly. A clichéd love-triangle plot is but largely in ways that serve the story
knottier as honour, debt and deception entwine. similarly rushed. However, there’s real care rather than detract from it, a lesson other
Cosmo Jarvis’ performance is compelling, given to individual scenes and moments in Star Wars shows could do well to learn.”
more for its unpredictability than anything else: which war, love or even tea are being made. DAVID OPIE
his twitchy physicality and poison-dart eyes are Composed with balletic staging and cut with
magnetic, even if his barrelling line-delivery graceful, engrossing rhythm, they (and perhaps DRIFT
sails dangerously close to Toast Of London the whole show) become a ritual to revel in. ★★ ★ ★
territory. In contrast, Sanada’s subdued lord JAKE CUNNINGHAM “This is a serious film: an elegiac piece of
ripples with menace, micro-expressions of long silences, constantly wrong-footing the
warfaring arithmetic revealing his tactical V E R D I C T Shōgun makes for gripping viewer. Giving substance to this string of
mind. After only flashes of screentime in early television. Look past the knotty plotting and often delicate vignettes is Cynthia Erivo (who
episodes, Sawai’s Mariko grows into the show’s you’ll find arresting performances and also produces), in a captivating performance
most complex character, torn between love, stunning visuals. of quiet power and pride.” LIZ MOODY

MAY 2024 49
 ROLL UP, ROLL UP! The M&M’S Short Film CHRISTINE UBOCHI
Festival is here, ready to unveil some of the most FAVOURITE DIRECTORS: Ava
impressive filmmakers of tomorrow. Not only is DuVernay, Greta Gerwig, Spike
the festival bringing together vibrant voices from Lee, the Coen brothers
across the nation and shining a light on the next FAVOURITE M&M’S: Crispy
generation of talent — but it’s also a competition, THE SHORT: Funke, Fatima And Madame Bunmi
in which the lucky winner will receive £25,000 THE SYNOPSIS: Two best friends, Funke and Fatima,
to bring their short-film idea to fruition. enlist the help of traditional witch doctor Madame
From the array of applicants, it all comes Bunmi to achieve their dream bodies before
down to Christine Ubochi, Tom Oxenham, and their 18th birthday party, which is just a day away.
Sara Harrak — the three daring directors who THE INSPIRATION: “Freaky Friday, 110 per cent.
came up with compelling cinematic concepts The Hot Chick — I saw it when I was ten or 11, my
around the theme of ‘belonging’, which sits at two older sisters introduced me to it. And You
the core of this year’s festival ( just like the Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah. I loved
GET TO KNOW T HE EXCITING peanut sits at the core of a delicious Peanut how the relationship between the girls seemed
M&M’S). For now, they’ve cooked up teaser so sincere and genuine. Booksmart, too — just
FI LMMA KERS VYING FOR trailers for their short-film pitches — with each how funny it is.”
hoping to bag the top prize and go into THE THEME: “There can be a difficulty in feeling
SHOR T-FIL M FU ND ING production on the real deal. like you belong in the body that you were born
Before you head online to watch their with. I wanted to do that body-swap to see from
— AND GET REA D Y TO CAST trailers and vote for your favourite (which will a different person’s perspective. The characters
also put you in the running to win some M&M’S are part of different communities — I see Funke
YOUR VOT E of your own), get to know the finalists as we quiz being a British-West African teenager, an only
them on their influences, their approach to the child, and Fatima is a British-Asian teenager
notion of ‘belonging’ — and, most importantly from a big family. Despite their differences, they
of all, their favourite type of M&M’S. have a beautiful friendship.”

50 MAY 2024
 WATCH THE
TRAILERS NOW
Funke, Fatima And Madame Bunmi
AND CAST
YOUR VOTE FOR
YOUR CHANCE
TO WIN
You’ve read what the filmmakers have to
say — now it’s time to head online and take
a look at their work. Each of the finalists
has created a concept trailer to reflect the
Anders The Dogman short film they want to make, which you
can view online. Once you’ve seen them
all, place a vote for your favourite — and
the winner will receive £25,000 and expert
mentorship to flesh out their trailer into
a full short. Oh, and you’ll be in with a
chance of winning M&M’S chocolate (T&Cs
apply). The power is in your hands — head
to the competition site now, and let the
M&M’S Short Film Festival unspool.

Solers United

TOM OXENHAM SARA HARRAK

FAVOURITE DIRECTORS: Ruben FAVOURITE DIRECTORS: Desiree Visit mms.com/shortfilmfestival to
Östlund, Julia Davis, Yorgos Akhavan, Nida Manzoor, Ramy view the three finalists’ trailers, cast your
Lanthimos, Edgar Wright Youssef, Emma Seligman vote, and find more details and full T&Cs.
FAVOURITE M&M’S: Peanut FAVOURITE M&M’S: Peanut The public vote is open until 31 March.
THE SHORT: Anders The Dogman THE SHORT: Solers United
THE SYNOPSIS: A lonely CEO thinks he can’t buy THE SYNOPSIS: A grass-roots football team
happiness — but he can buy a high-tech dog suit, are fighting to save their club, when the arrival
through which he finds the human connection of a new player creates triangles on and off the
he craves. pitch, sending their plans into a spiral.
THE INSPIRATION: “What became the biggest THE INSPIRATION: “Obviously Bend It Like
one, out of the blue, was American Psycho. Beckham, which is a brilliant film. I’ve
The longer I was writing it, I thought, ‘This mentioned Bottoms and We Are Lady Parts
is turning into Patrick Bateman.’ Ex to the actors and heads of departments as
Machina is hard to avoid — I love that film. references — it’s essentially about these
And Dogtooth has influenced a lot of my misfits working together, and it somehow Inspired to start your own filmmaking
work, accepting the surreal and playing it works. Derry Girls is a great example as journey? Bauer Academy’s Video
completely straight.” well, these weird people put together. I really Storytelling course in partnership with
THE THEME: “It’s about someone who, to us, is love that.” M&M’S is offering 20 people a place
going to the most unbelievable lengths to seek THE THEME: “I want to show that feeling of on an exclusive workshop at the KISS
human connection. Maybe for him, it feels belonging within a second family, essentially. studios in London, where you’ll learn
completely logical. You can imagine these It’s a family, and it’s not your normal family. storytelling techniques, get tips, and
characters are surrounded by people constantly, Seeing these misfits, really highlighting these gain industry insight to kick off your
but that might not mean they feel actual different characters, and showing there’s development as a director. Apply online at
connections. We’re at this peak of erratic tech always a place for someone — that’s where the empireonline.com/mms/ by 31 March,
billionaires and their vanity projects.” belonging comes from.” and you could win a spot. T&Cs apply.

MAY 2024 51
 L A S T T I M E G E O R G E M I L L E R H E A D E D T O T H E D E S E R T, W E G O T T H E G E N R E -
N OW H E ’ S B AC K , W I T H N E W STA R S A N D E V E N B I G G E R I D E A S . FA ST E N YO U R

52 MAY 2024
D E F I N I N G , F L A M E - L I C K E D A C T I O N O P E R A T H AT I S M A D M A X : F U R Y R O A D .
S E AT B E LT A N D P R E PA R E T O W I T N E S S FURIOSA WORDS CHRIS HEWITT

MAY 2024 53
 A N YA
TAY L O R - J O Y
WA S
R E A D Y.

Ten months, and more, of training had led her And then there was the Imperator Furiosa.
to this point: the moment when she was about A one-armed warrior woman with a harsh
to put pedal to the metal on the desert sand as buzz-cut and a harsher attitude (masking a deep
the title character in George Miller’s Furiosa: wellspring of emotion), Furiosa was the driver
A Mad Max Saga. Motorbikes, cars, you name of not only the story of Fury Road, but also the
it, she had mastered it. She just couldn’t do it Immortan Joe’s colossal armoured truck, the
on a public road. “I still don’t have my licence, War Rig. It is this that she steals at the beginning
which I find hysterical,” she laughs. “I can pull of the movie, having smuggled the Five Wives
some really crazy tricks in a car, and I have yet aboard it, in a desperate attempt to make a break
to be able to parallel park.” for freedom; an attempt that will see her forge
No matter. There is no parallel parking on an initially uneasy partnership with Max, and
the Fury Road. There is only one direction: bring her to the brink. She is, as played by
forward. Surrounded by other vehicles, Charlize Theron, one of the most iconic and
Taylor-Joy and her cast-mates and cadre of captivating action heroes of the modern age.
stunt-drivers waited for the signal from the The Mad Max: Fury Road shoot was so
unassuming, bespectacled Miller. Then it came. legendarily troubled (production delays!
“START YOUR ENGINES!” Warring co-stars! Interference from
So everyone did. “You wouldn’t be able to executives!) that it spawned a near-400-page
hear anything,” recalls Taylor-Joy. “You’d get ‘making of’ book, Kyle Buchanan’s Blood, Sweat
a vague approximation of, ‘I think they yelled,
“Action!” — let’s go for it!’ It’s a very rock ’n’ roll
way to start a shoot.” But it’s very Mad Max, and oh
so very George Miller. Start your engines, indeed.
Furiosa is back, and she’s ready to ride eternal.

•••
The last time we saw Furiosa was almost
a decade ago, when Miller returned to the world
of Max Max, the world he created back in 1979,
and delivered a masterpiece. Mad Max: Fury
Road reintroduced us to the Road Warrior, Max
‘Mad’ Rockatansky (with Tom Hardy replacing
Mel Gibson in the role), a wandering soul who
travels across the irradiated Australian Outback in
the wake of a globe-gutting nuclear conflagration,
and usually winds up in hair-raising, high-speed
chases. But there was more. Much more. Miller
introduced a dizzying array of new characters
and concepts — the Immortan Joe, a bloated
warlord who rules over his people with an iron
fist and plastic abs; the War Boys, his loyal, happy-
to-die followers; the Five Wives, women the
Immortan has imprisoned as chattel; places called
the Bullet Farm, Gas Town and the Green Place.

54 MAY 2024
 Above: Anya Taylor-Joy as the young Furiosa, dead.” It’s a movie so immensely imaginative confines of the Wasteland, the post-apocalyptic
with Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke). Left: Director that the guy playing a flamethrowing guitar isn’t landscape in which all the Mad Max movies are
George Miller on his frankly spectacular set, the craziest thing in it. set. Eventually, though, he was ready to return.
issuing instructions to Chris Hemsworth in his Fury Road’s greatness was apparent when “We started pre-production on this at least
frankly spectacular rig. it debuted back in 2015 — action filmmakers a good year before we shot Three Thousand
fell over themselves to laud Miller’s mastery Years Of Longing,” he reveals. We couldn’t hear
& Chrome, that could easily have been 1,000. of the medium, it was nominated for ten it at the time, but Miller had started his engines.
“Every film is arduous,” admits Miller, talking Oscars, winning six (Miller was nominated and This time, though, he wasn’t interested in
to Empire from the Sydney offices of his should, if we’re being honest, have won for Best going forward. He was going backwards instead.

•••
production company, Kennedy Miller Mitchell. Director), and it grossed just under $400 million
“It was tough out there in the desert.” worldwide. Its reputation and impact has only
However, he shrugged all of that off to grown since. Not for nothing did Empire readers Even origin stories need an origin story.
deliver a wildly unconventional, formally vote it the Greatest Film Of The 21st Century (so Furiosa’s began as Miller was gearing up to
daring two-hour chase movie, featuring action far, admittedly) back in 2020. finally make Fury Road after years of false starts.
sequences so staggeringly complex and wild There has since been, understandably, As he and his team developed that movie, Miller
that it prompted Steven Soderbergh to wryly a clamour for more Mad Max, but Miller and one of his co-writers, the dramaturg Nico
state in 2017, “I don’t understand how they’re needed time off to recharge, and make a movie Lathouris (who also played Grease Rat in the
not still shooting that film, and I don’t — 2022’s delightfully odd genie love story, Three original Mad Max), tasked themselves with
understand how hundreds of people aren’t Thousand Years Of Longing — outside the a little side project. “To help not only the ❯

MAY 2024 55
 Road rage: Dementus (Hemsworth), a twisted
father figure for Furiosa, leads the Biker Horde.

actors, but everybody working on the film, we The director says that, had he taken Theron’s Joy on Last Night In Soho, recommended her.
wrote the backstory of not only Furiosa, but how advice and shot Furiosa first, or even in the “He said, ‘If you’re thinking of casting her,
the rest of the world was, and how all the couple of years following Fury Road, the title whatever it is, DO IT!’” says Miller. Taylor-Joy
characters evolve,” says Miller. role would have remained hers. smiles at the thought. “I’m really indebted to
But George Miller doesn’t do things by “It definitely would have been Charlize,” he Edgar on that,” she says. “I wonder what George
halves. He didn’t just produce a pamphlet loaded states. But, even though Theron is still only in her saw that made him think I could do Furiosa.”
with bullet points (from the Bullet Point Farm). forties, the story of Furiosa took the character Luckily, Empire asked Miller that very
This was a full-on screenplay called, simply, into her teens and twenties. “As time went on, question. “Ultimately, it’s an intuitive response,”
Furiosa. At that point, it was merely a technical I began thinking, ‘Oh, maybe we could do de- he says. “There’s an innately resolute quality
exercise. “The Furiosa story was written to serve ageing,’” Miller admits. “Then I watched really in her. She’s a very determined and rigorous
Fury Road, to inform Fury Road,” he admits. Yet, masterful filmmakers like Ang Lee and Martin person. She has a mystique about her. And
one day — as the first day of filming loomed — Scorsese, doing Gemini Man and The Irishman, she’d been trained young as a ballet dancer.
Theron approached him. “She said, ‘Please, and I saw that it hadn’t been licked. All you’d be Charlize trained young as a ballet dancer.
George, can we make this first?’” laughs Miller. watching is, ‘Look how well the technology There’s a precision to them that was needed.”
“It was the first time I realised that there’s
something really strong in this story.”
works.’ It would not have been persuasive.”
So, he launched a search for a younger •••
He hasn’t stopped thinking about it since. Furiosa. The Imperator imperative, if you will. Theron left big boots to fill. So Taylor-Joy
And when George Miller can’t get something out It didn’t take long, mainly because Edgar decided not to fill them by simply doing a
of his head, invariably it winds up on the screen. Wright, who was working with Taylor- Theron impersonation. “I think that would have

56 MAY 2024
 Above:
Dementus slips
into something
a little more
comfortable.
Right:
Praetorian Jack
and Furiosa
push the pedal
to the metal.
Far right:
Lachy Hulme as
the young
Immortan Joe.
really tripped me up if I did,” she says. In Road, the story unfolds over three days and
fact, she didn’t have any contact with Theron two nights. This film follows the story that
until after filming had finished. They have runs directly into Fury Road, for 15 years. It’s
tentatively made plans to get together and a different animal. It’s got many different
swap Wasteland stories. “She’s been so classy locations. It’s an odyssey. No question.”
and kind in letting me go and do it. But I feel But just because we know the broad strokes
very lucky that, from the second I read the of the saga doesn’t mean we know everything.
script, I just knew this person. I felt so fiercely There are huge swathes of Furiosa’s upbringing
protective over Furiosa, and fiercely protective that are about to be unveiled. And, while
of her interests.” Taylor-Joy says that, “for a lot of this film,
Miller and his cast are, even when dealing Furiosa feels so entirely alone”, we’re about
with a prequel where we know the fate of several to meet two of the most important men in her
major characters, reluctant to engage with plot life. One is Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), the

“DEMENTUS specifics. Yet Furiosa’s interests are simple, at

least on paper. “The story is the saga of Furiosa,”
current driver of the War Rig, and someone who
Taylor-Joy describes as “decent, and good, and

IS PRETTY explains Miller, “and how she gets taken from

home, and spends the rest of her life trying to
dignified”. (Burke won’t be drawn on this,
only to say that, “It’s a slow burn,” before

HORRIBLE. get back.”

We will, along the way, learn more about her
correcting himself. “It’s not. Nothing in the
movie is a slow burn.”)

HE’S TEN and her background, about the Green Place —

the oasis of calm from which she is plucked —
The other is as far removed from decent
and good and dignified as you can get. He is the

STEPS and the Vuvalini, the group of women

who helped raise her. We will find out why she
newest warlord on the Wasteland block. And if
you were wondering what sort of guy he might

AHEAD.” cuts off her hair, something Taylor-Joy wasn’t be, his name is Dementus.

CHRIS HEMSWORTH
able to do for real for the movie due to the
schedule. “I was so excited to shave my head,” •••
she says. “Then George saw me in real life, and Chris Hemsworth, like many of us, saw Fury
went, ‘No, we can’t!’” Road in a cinema in 2015 (the Electric in Notting
We will also find out how she loses most of Hill, to be precise). Like many of us, he emerged
her left arm. And how she ends up driving the staggered and dazed, excited by the possibilities
War Rig for Immortan Joe, a man she despises. of cinema. Like many of us, he had a desire to
“We follow the whole story,” says Miller. “Fury work with George Miller. Unlike many of us, ❯

MAY 2024 57
 he made it happen. just sadistic insanity. There is a real purpose, Top: “Think
Around 2020, Hemsworth found himself the wheels are turning, he’s plotting and Gandalf, but
in a room with Miller, a man whose movies planning and ten steps ahead of everyone else.” gnarlier...” Miller
adorned his Australian upbringing. And, even That includes a younger version of the offers direction.
though Hemsworth was long since past Immortan Joe, with whom Dementus seems Above, left to
auditioning, he realised he was doing just that. destined to butt heads. “They’re both trying right: Surely
“It was kind of nerve-racking to be back in that to figure one another out,” says Hemsworth. Burning Man
sort of space, and really feel like I was having “Immortan Joe is probably thinking, ‘Is would be round
to pitch myself,” says the actor. “I came out of this guy insane, or is he pretending to be the next corner;
the meeting, and I wasn’t 100 per cent certain, insane?’ Are they enemies? How is their Furiosa on
but I’m pretty sure he said, ‘I’d love you to play relationship evolved?’” high alert.
the part.’” In Furiosa, the Immortan — played so
That part was, of course, Dementus. In story memorably in Fury Road by a masked Hugh

“I CAN PULL
terms, Miller says that Furiosa is “taken into the Keays-Byrne — is in his pumped-up pomp,
world of the Wasteland” by the character, who ruling over the Citadel, with its supply of

SOME PRETTY
appears to be the warlord who filched her from fresh water, while he’s set up something of
her family. In the ensuing years he, along with a functioning society thanks to close ties with

CRAZY
his roving gang of bikers, serves as a fucked-up the nearby Bullet Farm and Gastown. “This
father figure of sorts. “I think that’s how he sees covers the design of the world,” explains Miller.
himself,” says Hemsworth. “I think there’s
a paternal quality and nature to the relationship
“It’s a mini-version of the world we live in today,
and perhaps always lived in, and who knows TRICKS IN
in his eyes. [Furiosa] would, I’m sure, argue to
her death the complete opposite.” (Taylor-Joy
describes the relationship thus: “It’s almost like
what’s going to happen in the future?”
Into this happy, harmonious, deeply
heinous little picture comes Dementus, roaring
A CAR.”
you’re fighting her becoming him. When you see in on his motorcycle chariot with Furiosa A N YA T AY L O R - J O Y
what she is experiencing, there’s a part of you and thousands of gang members in tow, ready
that wants her to give into it.”) to upset the apple cart and challenge the
Whichever way you slice it, this guy is Immortan’s dominance. Sadly, Keays-Byrne
trouble. “He’s a pretty horrible individual,” says passed away in 2020, but the Immortan lives
Hemsworth, a galaxy away from Thor. “Through on in Furiosa thanks to Australian actor Lachy
the whole film we kept coming back to, ‘This is Hulme. A student of the Mad Max films, and
evil, but what is the intention behind it?’ It’s not firm friend of Miller’s, Hulme had already been

58 MAY 2024
 In your face! Furiosa lives
up to her name.

cast as Rizzdale Pell, a one-eyed member of a crooked nose, Dementus looks like what he is: Angus Sampson as the Organic Mechanic, to
Dementus’ gang. But after Keays-Byrne passed someone who has been forged in the irradiated, name but two. But the franchise’s title star
away, Hulme asked what Miller was planning to savage fires of the Wasteland. “For the first week seems to be AWOL, the crazy smeg. “I called the
do with the Immortan. “He said, ‘I’ll probably or so I’d be like, ‘Holy shit, who’s that?’” says film ‘Mad Maxless’ while we were shooting it,”
just get a body double,’” recalls Hulme. “I said, Hemsworth. “We wanted it to be shocking.” laughs Hulme.
‘Well, somebody needs to step up for Hugh. Hulme, who insists on calling Miller ‘Doctor However, when the trailer debuted last
Someone needs to honour this great man. I can George’ as a nod to Miller’s status as an actual November, the film formerly known simply
do it. I can do the voice. And it’s all in the eyes.’” trained man of medicine, claims to have had an as Furiosa now came complete with, ‘A Mad
Miller initially demurred, and only gave impact on Dementus’ look. “Initially, his nose Max Saga’. It’s tempting to detect the hand
Hulme the green light during filming. “He said, was based on my nose,” laughs the actor. “But it of a studio eager to reassure fans that the film
‘Do you want to do it?’ I said, ‘What took you so looked too much like my nose, so they put the would still be mad to the max. But might it,
long? You’ve finally figured out that this movie bump at the top of it. But when I got cast as the in fact, suggest that Rockatansky rocks up
ain’t gonna make dollar one until you’ve got Immortan with the fake abs, I said to Chrissy somehow? “Well, I won’t give away too much
double Lachy Hulme in it!’” Hemsworth, ‘They gave you my nose, but I got about that,” teases Miller. “All I’ll say is, Max is
Hemsworth, who has the good fortune to your abs.’”
•••
lurking there in the background.”
look like, well, Chris Hemsworth, went through Whether he’s present or not, Furiosa is
four hours of make-up every morning in an There are other characters from Fury Road who a Mad Max film in form and function and spirit.
attempt to look less like Chris Hemsworth. With show up in Furiosa — Nathan Jones as Rictus Miller, ever conscious of repetition, did not want
long, black hair, a great big bushy beard and Erectus, the Immortan’s six-packed son, and to simply make ‘Fury Road Part 2’. “I didn’t go ❯

MAY 2024 59
 Right: Taylor-Joy, like Furiosa, is “a very
determined and rigorous person”, says Miller.
Below: News reaches the War Boys that the
service station’s all out of Scotch eggs.

into Furiosa saying, ‘Oh good, everyone

liked Fury Road, so they’re gonna really love
this,’” he says. “You can’t think like that.”
So he’s widening the scope, expanding the
timeline, placing greater emphasis on dialogue.
But there is still going to be a huge amount
of action, on a humungous (or Humungus)
scale. In the trailer, when Dementus says
to Furiosa, “Do you have it in you to make
it epic?”, it almost seems like Miller is
challenging himself.
“That line is specifically between one
character and another, but it just so happens
to fit the movie,” says Miller. “It’s not the
same as Fury Road, where there’s a great
armada of vehicles dashing across the
Wasteland, but there are scenes with lots
and lots of vehicles. There’s no question that
the world is epic.”
He’s not kidding. Lachy Hulme likens
the production to, “David Lean, but with
motorbikes instead of camels. When you see
4,000 custom-made motorbikes come over
a hill, you shit your pants.”
Tom Burke was so involved in the stunt
sequences that he says, fondly, “I went months
without saying a word.” He also briefly drove
the War Rig, “a big old thing, and there are
times you’re going really quick around bends
and quarries and you’re not on an even road.
It’s like being on a rollercoaster but where
you’re driving.”
Hemsworth, meanwhile, can’t help but
laugh when memories of the 2022 shoot flood
back to him. “The chariot bike is the wildest

piece of machinery I’ve ever driven, and I loved

every second of it,” he says. “I mean, hanging
off a crane at one point and being loaded onto
a monster truck, and then on the monster
truck someone unclips me off a harness and
the truck spins away into a burnout. How
this world comes from one of the kindest
individuals, I’ll never know...”
And that ten months of training was
not wasted on Taylor-Joy. “One of the first
things George asked me was, ‘How much of
it do you want to do?’” she says. “I was like,
‘Everything that you’ll let me do.’ These
are huge, huge set-pieces. You don’t want to
mess that up.”
Whether Furiosa is the final Mad Max saga
remains to be seen. But even as he approaches
his 80th birthday, Miller might just have one
Alamy

more for the Fury Road. When he and Lathouris

60 MAY 2024
 THE
MAD
MAXICON
•••
NEW TO THE WASTELAND? DON’T
WORRY — JUST LEARN THESE
SIMPLE WORDS AND PHRASES

AQUA COLA
A nickname for good, old-fashioned water.
Not to be confused with Diet Aqua Cola, or
controversial New Aqua Cola, which changed
the formula, much to consumers’ anger.

BLOOD BAG
A term given to a healthy person whose blud
is transfused into War Boys. Sorry, we meant
“blood”, not “blud”. That was a Type-O.

CHROME
A thing of great value, something to aspire
to be. Sponsored by Google.

GUZZOLENE
Petrol. A distortion of “gasoline”. Although do
not — repeat, do not — attempt to guzzle it.

HALF-LIFE
A person, usually a War Boy, who is
terminally ill, due to radiation.

IMMORTAN
A job title bestowed on an important figure,
designed to denote their everlasting status.
Comes complete with 25 days’ holiday
a year and the key to the executive toilet.

IMPERATOR
“THIS FILM’S were filling in that back story for Furiosa, they
didn’t stop there. “We did the same for Max,”
Assistant Immortan. Sorry, Assistant
to the Immortan.

A DIFFERENT adds Miller. That movie, which would be called

The Wasteland, would be another origin story REVHEAD
ANIMAL. IT’S of sorts, filling in the blanks about what
happened to Max before we meet him at the
Either a name given to War Boys who can
drive, or fans of a Tom Hollander sitcom.

A N O D Y S S E Y. ” beginning of Fury Road, out of his gourd

and gobbling down geckos. Furiosa got the SCHLANGER
nod ahead of it this time around because, A gentleman’s fleshy appendage.
GEORGE MILLER according to Miller, “Furiosa was more fully A Johnson. A little lad. A willy.
realised in screenplay and design”. But The
Wasteland might be next. “You get habituated SMEG
to the world,” he says. “It’s very rich mining A foolish individual. They love Red Dwarf
for a storyteller, I think. That’s why I’m still in the Wasteland.
doing it.”
And if anyone has it in them to make it WAR BOY
epic, it’s Doctor George Miller. A young man raised to be a soldier for the
Immortan. Does not come with 25 days’
FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA IS IN CINEMAS FROM 24 MAY holiday and you are the executive toilet.

MAY 2024 61
 WORDS
AL HORNER

A QUARTER OF A CENTURY SINCE IT BEGAN, AND 17 YEARS SINCE IT CUT TO BLACK,

THE SOPRANOS IS STILL THE GREATEST (TV) SHOW ON EARTH. TO CELEBRATE ITS
25TH ANNIVERSARY IN STYLE, WE REUNITE CREATOR DAVID CHASE AND THREE KEY STARS
FOR AN EMOTIONAL TALK ABOUT LOSS, LEGACY AND, OF COURSE, HOMICIDE

62 MAY 2024
 I L L U S T R AT I O N
RUSSELL MOORCROFT
 n the Bada Bing, they’d have are no beefs to be resolved. Quite the opposite, First things first: The Sopranos was a show
called it a ‘sit-down’ — a term in fact. Carmela Soprano herself, Edie Falco, where characters were lucky to make it
used by Mob-land mercenaries greets Lorraine Bracco (Dr Melfi) with a smile through six minutes, let alone six seasons.
to describe rare meetings bigger than Paulie Walnuts’ kill list. And Edie, Steven, Lorraine — your characters
between formidable figures from when the series’ legendary creator David Chase were three of the few to make it out alive by
the Mafia landscape. Meetings arrives, Steven Van Zandt — Silvio Dante in the final episode. Was it a monetary bribe
where people could say what the show — salutes his capo with a cheer deeply you gave David, or…?
needed to be said, and say it out of keeping with the nonchalant mobster he Steven Van Zandt: Nah, we were just the
with gusto. Like when Johnny once played. cheapest. [Laughs]
Sack assembled the families, Across six enthralling seasons, Chase, Edie Falco: So that’s why we lasted so long! Is
pleading for permission to whack Falco, Bracco and Van Zandt — who prior to The that right, David?
Ralph Cifaretto. Or when Tony Sopranos was best known as Bruce Springsteen’s David Chase: Well, here’s the thing about all
Blundetto killed Phil Leotardo’s guitarist — helped change television forever. The the killings on the show. If you look at the real
brother, Billy, putting the show told a complex, novelistic Mob tale that Mob, I think there were a grand total of nine
DiMeo and Lupertazzi crime families on the exploded a pipe bomb beneath presumptions Mob homicides from ’99 to 2007 in the New
brink of war. Or when a certain duck-loving, of what TV could be. A quarter of a century on York metropolitan area. We were doing nine
therapy-attending gangster survived an from its first episode, there’s much to celebrate a season. [Laughs] So yes, not everyone made
assassination attempt by his own uncle, and — and much to mourn, too. At one point in our it out alive…
carnage beckoned… interview, Empire wonders how much sweeter Lorraine Bracco: Like Big Pussy (Tony’s
Today’s virtual sit-down, however, is this reunion would be were James Gandolfini — friend-turned-informant, whacked in Season 2).
different. When four of the principle players the man who was Tony Soprano, the show’s We all begged you, “Don’t kill him! Don’t kill
from what many regard to be the greatest TV tortured, charismatic lead — here to share in its him!” Remember that?
show of all time, The Sopranos, arrive at their incredible legacy. No need to worry, though, says Chase: I do. The compromise was, we killed
meet-up — a reunion brokered by Empire to Falco. “He’s here,” she smiles. “I truly believe he’s him but promised to bring him back for
celebrate the series’ 25th anniversary — there with us right now…” a few episodes (in flashbacks and dream

64 MAY 2024
 Clockwise
from left:
Paulie Walnuts
(Tony Sirico),
Tony Soprano
(James
Gandolfini) and
Silvio Dante
(Steven Van
Zandt) handle
a situation;
Creator David
Chase (right) on
by his relationship with his mother.
Chase: She never made a dime from it, by the “DEEP
set; Tony and Dr way. [Laughs] I think people felt a kinship with
Jennifer Melfi
(Lorraine
the humans on screen. Yes, they were mobsters,
but their problems were the audience members’ INSIDE,
Bracco). problems. Their concerns, their fears, their

sequences). That death had a big imprint on the

enjoyments became the audience’s too. I also
feel that deep inside, we all want to be those WE WANT
show. It said to the audience: no-one’s safe. people. We want to rip someone’s face off when

In the 25 years since the show first aired,

someone gives us a smart remark. I think it
comes from our ape ancestors or whatever — we TO BE THOSE
have you worked out what it was that The can be very savage, we have that impulse. Why
Sopranos tapped into, that made it such
a phenomenon then and has given it such
[audiences] didn’t feel ashamed of that, why
they didn’t reject it, I don’t know. PEOPLE.”
longevity since?
Falco: I think about that question all the time. David, you’ve spoken before about how DAV I D C H A S E
Why did people like this show? Why did they much pride you take in the way the show
love this anti-hero? I don’t have the answers. destigmatised therapy for a lot of young recite their favourite lines and so on.
How it fits into the lexicon of shows at the time, men. Which other aspects of its impact are Bracco: “My nephew is a cunt hair away
what made America ready for a show like The you proud of ? from controlling all of North Jersey — and
Sopranos, I just couldn’t tell you. Chase: I liked what it gave to Italian-Americans. I am that cunt hair!” That (spoken by Dominic
Bracco: I think people connected to David. We once had an open call for actors in Harrison, Chianese’s irascible Uncle Junior) was always
Van Zandt: Me too. A lot of it was the detail. New Jersey, and 13,000 people showed up. one of my favourites, by the way — an all-time
David took you backstage into the Mob life: The police had to shut it down. The exit on the great Sopranos line.
what it was like, the mundanity of it, and people turnpike was completely screwed up. And they Van Zandt: I definitely had it a lot. In 1999,
hadn’t seen that before. But I also think, TV at were all Italian. All 13,000. I had been a pretty famous rock ’n’ roll guy for
that time, it was made by committee. You had so 25 years already. But within three or four weeks
many compromises. The Sopranos was unique What were some of the other moments that of the show being on air, everybody on the street
because it was one man’s vision. David had been underlined for you all how huge the show was talking to me about The Sopranos. It was
in TV his whole life and I think at that point, he became? You must have each experienced like, “Forget about that rock-star stuff. The
was tired of compromising. Tired of the bullshit some intense examples of Sopranos fandom Sopranos is what matters now!” I called David
TV was selling. He wanted to tell a story inspired over the years — people coming up to you to and said, “You know, David, I think there’s ❯

MAY 2024 65
 something going on here.” I saw it happen with
Bruce Springsteen. And I saw it happening with
the best, my way to deal with it has become
just pure denial. I think about Jim almost “JIM WOULD
The Sopranos. every day. We were gonna open a bar together.
Falco: The success was absolutely
overwhelming. People loved the show. Loved
He was gonna be in (Netflix series) Lilyhammer
with me. Every day, something will come up QUIT THE
it. And they wanted to share that love every that makes me think of him. But in life, you’ll
day with you. go six months without seeing a friend, right?
Sometimes a couple of years, because your SHOW
It’s impossible to go any further in this schedules aren’t matching up. So I just think of
conversation without talking about the
great James Gandolfini —
him that way. It’s the only way I cope.
Bracco: Yeah. There was a 25th anniversary BASICALLY
Bracco: Wait, who? [Everyone laughs] party last week, where I saw his son, Michael.
Falco: Can I just say, I think if Jim were alive
with us and here for this conversation — this
I remember holding him on set as a little baby.
And talking to Michael, I felt Jimmy there. I felt EVERY DAY.”
is exactly as much a part of this conversation he was close to me.
as he would ever have been. [Laughs] He was ST E V E N VA N Z A N DT
never big on talking about the show, or about Is there a particular moment you each have
himself. He went in, did the work and hung out of James Gandolfini that speaks to the man wife. [Laughs] My experience of him was, he
with people he cared about. That was it. So it’s he was away from Tony Soprano? was kind of a goofball. He was this suburban guy
sort of fitting that he’s not required to answer Bracco: Well, he was a pain in the ass to me. who decided to act way late in the game, and on
any of these questions. He wouldn’t want to, I remember he was always so happy when he’d some level was always looking over his shoulder.
I don’t think. finish filming his monologues (in the therapy Like someone was going to find out he wasn’t
Bracco: Oh no, he would not have wanted to. scenes), that he’d start to strip or dance or go supposed to be the guy. The feeling I got is he
Van Zandt: You know, as I’ve gotten older and fucking crazy. Did he do that with you, Edie? could never really manage how lucky he felt to
started losing friends, of which Jim was one of Falco: He didn’t strip for me, because I was his have been a part of this show.

66 MAY 2024
 THE TONY
SOPRANO
FILM CLUB
WHEN HE WASN’T BRANDISHING A BERETTA 85,
HE WAS OFTEN WIELDING A REMOTE CONTROL

THE FUGITIVE 1993 SEVEN 1995

In Season 4, Tony acquires a new “Halfway through it I’m thinking, ‘This
widescreen TV. He takes it for a test- is bullshit, it’s a waste of my fuckin’
drive with the Harrison Ford thriller, time, why do I give a fuck who the
presumably wondering why an actor killer is?’” Tony laments. More of
in it looks just like Ralph Cifaretto. a Fight Club guy?

THE DEPARTED 2006 RIO BRAVO 1959

Scorsese famously hasn’t seen The Further proof that Tony is a big
Van Zandt: That’s true. He’d sometimes be Sopranos, but Tony does dig Marty’s Westerns fan (see also his passion for
looking in the mirror, and say things like, “Look crime epic, enough to enjoy the Gary Cooper: “The strong silent type.
Clockwise at this face. Can you believe they cast me as the soundtrack while on a fateful drive in That was an American...”).
from main: lead in this thing?” Season 6.
Just your Falco: But he was so much fun too. I remember THE BIRDS 1963
everyday Mafia once, shooting an intervention scene (in Season MEN IN BLACK 1997 Tony has a nightmare about a seagull
family 4), when he flipped backwards on an apple box Discussing LaserDiscs with Paulie stealing his penis, then blames it on
— Carmela and his feet went up like a very large toddler. He Walnuts, Tony says he enjoys a viewing of this film. Talk about
(Edie Falco), couldn’t stop laughing. I couldn’t stop laughing. watching the galaxy-defenders putting the ‘cock’ in Hitchcock.
Tony, A.J. That was him. That was Jimmy. with a bowl of Orville
(Robert Iler) and Van Zandt: He would also quit the show Redenbacher’s popcorn. THE SILENCE OF THE
Meadow basically every day. [Laughs] In TV, you work LAMBS 1991
(Jamie-Lynn from 6am ’til 10pm. He was coming from THE BANK DICK 1940 “You’d think I was Hannibal Lecture,”
Sigler); Mob movies, filming two pages a day or whatever. Rotund ’40s actor W.C. Fields is Tony moans to Carmela in the pilot.
moll Adriana La And here we were, doing five, six or seven — regularly referenced and Well, he does enjoy a nice Chianti
Cerva (Drea de four of which would be him and Lorraine in Dr impersonated by Tony, who’s a big with his braciole.
Matteo) makes Melfi’s office. Heavy scenes. So he was often like, fan of this bank-robbery farce.
her point; “I can’t do this. I cannot do this.” THE GODFATHER PART II 1974
A pensive Melfi; Chase: I was requested to meet him one time THE PRINCE OF TIDES 1991 It would be a shock if this wasn’t in
Chase and at Pier 40 by the Hudson River in the middle of Tony not only watches the Barbra his DVD collection. He prefers it to
Iler confer. the day when he was going through his “I want Streisand weepie, but sends Melfi the original, explains Carmela,
to quit” thing. And he said to me that day, “You a flower basket with Tide detergent because “he likes the part where Vito
know what I should have been? I should have and a card reading, “Prince of Tide”. goes back to Sicily”.
been a plumber. That’s what I should have Hot joke! NICK DE SEMLYEN
been. A plumber.” I had several of those ❯

MAY 2024 67
 conversations with him. Falco: I remember watching the scene where How about for you, David?
Falco: Being Tony wasn’t easy. Tony is watching this beautiful woman hanging Chase: There are two moments. Neither of
laundry (‘Isabella,’ Season 1). And his response them is really to do with the show’s violence.
You mentioned a 25th anniversary party for to her was not one of lasciviousness, though The opposite, in fact, which says something.
the cast, Lorraine. Did everyone attend? there were certainly plenty of scenes where he There’s a scene in which Johnny Sack discovers
How emotional was that, missing James and was with other women. Here, he was looking Ginny’s hidden cache of candy and he busts her
of course having also lost Tony Sirico at this woman with a love that was a parental on it and she starts to cry. She’s on her knees.
(Paulie Walnuts) in 2022? sort of love, for ostensibly a mother figure. And she says that she knows that the other guys
Falco: I was not there, sadly. I was taking And I remember being so moved by Jim’s all look at their wives with appreciation. That
my daughter to boarding school. Just like performance in that moment, and by how off scene makes me want to cry. The other one is
a Sopranos episode (‘College’)... the beaten track it was for so much else that the last scene of the last episode. When I hear
Bracco: But Edie didn’t kill anyone on the went on on the show. And I remember just ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, when I see Meadow
way back! crying, thinking, “Goddamn, the show is good.” (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) running towards that
Falco: Ah, well, you don’t know that, do you? Van Zandt: For me, well — my wife (Maureen) restaurant... it still gets me today. I don’t know
Alamy, Getty Images, HBO, Shutterstock

[Laughs] played my wife on the show (Gabriella Dante). what it is, whether it’s because I know the end is
Van Zandt: No-one that didn’t deserve it, But her scenes were always with the girls, mine coming, but it gets the emotions even now.
anyway. But yeah, it was really beautiful were always with the guys, and we rarely got
seeing everyone. a scene together. We had one little part together, The nature of the TV business, until this
though. Tony was in a hospital and my character point, had been to milk a show for all its worth
Looking back, what are the episodes or had to temporarily take over the business, but while it still had an audience. The Sopranos,
scenes that sum up for you each what is he was the only character in the show that though, went out at the peak of its popularity.
so special about The Sopranos? probably didn’t want to be the boss, you know? How did you know it was time to end the
Bracco: I always absolutely adored Tony Sirico The scene where Silvio is explaining to Gabriella show, David?
and Michael Imperioli in ‘Pine Barrens’ as two what had been offered to him and how he turned Chase: I’ll tell you how I knew. [Former HBO
fish out of water. I thought it was incredible. it down is special to me. CEO] Chris Albrecht came to me and said, “You

68 MAY 2024
 and corporate fear — [TV] is ruled by it. And
that would need to change.
Van Zandt: It’s not just TV. It’s the
corporatisation of the entire artistic world.
Same thing in music. Content decisions are
being made by bean counters [rather than
creatives]. And as a result, all people know now
in the entire entertainment industry is to
Clockwise copy what is successful instead of imagining
from main: something new. Edie, do you think we could
The episode make The Sopranos today?
‘Christopher’, Falco: Well, we’d have to put trigger warnings
written by actor into every episode.
Michael Van Zandt: Literal trigger warnings! [Laughs]
Imperioli
(seated right); The Sopranos transformed TV — but did
Real-life and the show transform each of you? Are
on-screen you all different people today, 25 years
spouses Steven on, than you would have been had you not
and Maureen been involved?
Van Zandt; Bracco: You know, I feel like I’ve been hit by
Gandolfini with lightning twice: once with GoodFellas and then
Chase; An with The Sopranos. I’m so very grateful that
uneasy family I got to work with great people and that I got to
dinner. play Dr Melfi. So the main change is that I feel
very blessed.
Falco: I was having a conversation with
somebody recently about art. And how the
need to make art is a response to death. You
want to make something that will still exist
after you’re gone, and if you’re lucky, will still
cause an emotional reaction in people. I get
choked up talking about this — [pauses]
— because as you get older… you start losing
friends. Like we lost Jim. You think about
[mortality]. Having something that’s gonna live
for a long time past your own life — there’s no
greater gift. The fact that I tumbled into this
project and have this thing that I’m a part of,
that will keep me alive beyond my years on this
planet — it changes you a bit. It takes this vague
sense of desperation out of life. I can relax

“READING controversial ending in the history of television.

People are only just appreciating it now.
Chase: I understand why people were upset.
a little knowing that I was part of this show
that was beautiful and keeps renewing interest
with each generation.

THE FINAL Because I guess most literature throughout

history has a conclusion. But as far as I’m
concerned, I thought we had a conclusion too…
Van Zandt: I agree with everything Edie just
said. For me, The Sopranos handed me a new
craft (acting, after decades in music). I was

SCRIPT, Falco: When I think of the ending — to this day,

I’m embarrassed at the final read-through [of
the script] because I could not pull it together.
handed it when I had gone through a major
stage of life, kind of wandering in the wilderness.
The immortality aspect of The Sopranos is

I JUST I just cried from the beginning to the end. I don’t

like feeling that out of control, but it was not
within me to stop. But that’s life, right? You start
helpful in terms of, you know, justifying your
existence on the planet. [Laughs] But learning
a new craft was a wonderful gift.

CRIED.” something. You love something. It ends!

Chase: And that’s what is happening on screen
too in that ending, by the way…
Chase: A big part of the show was psychiatry,
right? So let me say this. I wish I had been able
to [appreciate] the show the way I should have at
EDIE FALCO the time. For whatever reason, I couldn’t then.
David, you recently described The Sopranos’ Bracco: You needed to come see Dr Melfi!
need to think of an ending,” two years before the 25th anniversary as a celebration but also [Laughs]
end. He said, “Figure out how many more seasons a “funeral”, because “something is dying” Chase: But now… I [read a quote] that said:
you can do and come up with an ending.” I said, in the way TV is created and consumed. Is “Gratitude spins at a higher resolution
“An ending? It’s a TV show. You cancel it and it there a way back for the medium? than love.” And I think that’s what it is. I am
ends!” He was like, “That’s not what we’re doing Chase: It’s all about, as we said in The Sopranos, extremely, extremely grateful to have been part
here. Build towards something.” It never “the fucking cocksucking money”. of something that so many people connected
occurred to me there had to be an ending. Bracco: Corporate greed. to. And are still connecting to. It’s a very
Van Zandt: And it became the most Chase: You’re absolutely right. Corporate greed special thing.

MAY 2024 69
 THINK VAMPIRE S HAVE

BE E N DONE TO DEATH? YOU

HAVE N’ T ME T BLOODSUCKING

BALLE RINA A BIGAIL .

HE RE , THE TE AM BE HIND THE

PIROUE T TING HE IST-HORROR

TE LL US HOW THEY

RE IMAGI N E D TE RROR

IN A TUTU

WORDS
TOM ELLEN

70 MAY 2024
MAY 2024 71
 TYLER GILLETT AND Matt Bettinelli-Olpin
are talking about blood.
There’s nothing particularly surprising
in this — as the men behind the last two
instalments in the Scream franchise, the
directing duo (collectively known as Radio
Silence) are well versed in all things claret. But
the amount on display in their latest offering —
crime/monster mash-up Abigail — looks set to
dwarf both those movies combined. We’re
talking Overlook-Hotel-lift levels of crimson.
“We used a consistent blood recipe
on the Scream movies,” Bettinelli-Olpin
tells Empire. “But for Abigail we needed
several different types of blood, so we went
with a whole new mix. “Plus,” he adds,
matter-of-factly, “there was the pool full of
corpses. That was another specifically
concocted mix of very disgusting ingredients.
All food-grade, of course, as the actors had to
be submerged in it.”
Beside him, his creative partner Gillett
nods. “Our thing with blood is: it always has to
feel viscous. The minute it feels thin, it’s not
interesting. We want it to stick to you.”
Abigail is a vampire movie that’s also
a heist movie that’s also a post-modern black
comedy that’s also several complex character

T
studies in one. During the course of Empire’s he story of Abigail begins, appropriately “It’s a group of strangers who start off not
interviews with cast and crew, the film is enough, right in Bram Stoker’s backyard. being so sure of each other,” Shields grins, “and
variously compared to Reservoir Dogs, The The Dracula author was born and soon become even less sure of the person they’ve
Haunting, Baby’s Day Out, Jordan Peele’s Us, raised in Dublin, and it was just a few taken hostage.”
and “Home Alone dialled up to one hundred minutes’ walk from his house — and a century The initial draft found its way into the Radio
and eleven”. It is an attempt to mould a or so after his death — that Irish screenwriter Silence offices just as Gillett and Bettinelli-
centuries-old horror trope into something Stephen Shields sat down at his laptop to add Olpin were finishing up 2023’s Scream VI, and
entirely fresh and unique. a twist to Stoker’s original recipe. “I’ve always hankering after a new challenge. “The hook was
“That was the big challenge,” says Gillett. loved heist movies and horror movies,” Shields so sticky,” Gillett says, of Shields’ original pitch.
“Vampire lore changes so much from movie tells Empire. “So, I liked the idea of combining “A bunch of kidnappers realising they’ve made
to movie — it’s become so convoluted and the two. To have Reservoir Dogs bumping into a the biggest mistake of their lives.” Bettinelli-
the net has been cast so wide. So, how can we vampire film — that seemed like a fun concept.” Olpin adds: “The idea of a young vampire
feel like we’re bringing something truly new Shields set about crafting the US-set tale excited us, too. We’d never done a kid lead
to the canon?” of a gaggle of small-time crooks tasked with character before.”
Answering that question would require kidnapping a wealthy man’s daughter — the The pair brought in frequent collaborator
a grab-bag of disparate influences, a motley titular Abigail — as she returns home from ballet Guy Busick — co-writer on both their Scream
crew of top-drawer character actors, a rundown practice, and babysitting her for 24 hours until outings as well as their superbly creepy 2019
former orphanage, and a 12-year-old ballerina the ransom money rolls in. A simple enough horror Ready Or Not — to tailor Shields’ script to
with razor-sharp fangs. Not to mention an job — until they discover their tutu-wearing their sensibilities. “It was such a great concept,”
unholy amount of the red stuff. pre-teen cargo is in fact a bloodsucking vampire. Busick says. “Vampire mythology has been

72 MAY 2024
 around for centuries, so you can pick and choose
the bits you want — and invent new ones — to
create this totally fresh kind of monster.”
Rehashing a well-worn cinematic trope also
gave the Radio Silence team a chance to do what
Clockwise they did so brilliantly on Screams V and VI
from top left: — namely, have their own characters dissect
Kidnapper the very subject of cinematic rehashing itself.
Sammy “Abigail does that have ‘meta’ Scream flavour to
(Kathryn it,” smiles Busick. “The characters commenting
Newton) is directly on the genre of the story they’re in. In
unsure of things reality, if you were trapped with a vampire, your
that go bump in brain would go straight to all the vampire
the night; movies and TV shows you’d seen.” Adds Gillett:
Vampire Abigail “There’s this hodgepodge of rules when it comes
(Alisha Weir) to vampires: do stakes kill them? Or sunlight?
shows Peter Can they turn to mist? Can they see their
(Kevin Durand) reflection? Having the characters reference
how she feels other vampire movies was a fun way to challenge
about being some of these tropes — and call them out.”
snatched; One trope they were very keen to avoid
Joey (Melissa with their own vampire was a lack of proper
Barrera) is in for motivation. “We didn’t want Abigail to just be
a bloody awful the ‘evil monster’, chasing people around,” says
night; Directors Bettinelli-Olpin. “She’s a fully-fledged character
Matt Bettinelli- in her own right, with her own wants and needs
Olpin (centre) and things that make her happy.”
and Tyler Gillett The most prominent of which is ballet.
(right) with the

W
crew and Weir
(front) on set; hen Shields first heard which young
Attack mode: actor was in the running to play his
Sammy, Frank be-fanged, bloodthirsty creation, he
(Dan Stevens) was a tad surprised. “I remember
and Peter are watching [the 2022 Netflix musical] Matilda,”
right on cue. he grins. “It was never in my mind that that
sweet, innocent girl could rip your throat out.”
As it transpired, though, all-singing,
all-dancing Matilda star Alisha Weir had been ❯

MAY 2024 73
 “ THIS LIT TLE GIRL
IS HAVING FUN.
SHE LOVES
PLAYING WITH
HER FOOD.”
STEPHEN SHIELDS,
WRITER

A
wanting to add throat-ripping to her CV for And since the directors were intent on their nyone willing to bundle a 12-year-old
a while. “I have two older sisters, and we all love leotard-sporting apex predator feeling into a van for a few million dollars is
horror movies,” chuckles the 14-year-old, over “practical and biological”, that meant Weir had probably not the most upstanding
Zoom from her Dublin home, just a few miles the fangs in for real. “It wasn’t so bad, actually,” individual on Earth. But Abigail’s
from Shields’ (and Stoker’s). “It had always been she laughs. “It was like wearing a retainer. But kidnappers push wrong’un-ness into previously
my dream to do a horror film, so when I heard sometimes I’d forget to take them out and look uncharted territory.
about the [Abigail] audition, I wanted it so in the mirror, like, ‘Oh God!’ My friends saw the “They are all complicated and not-good
badly. I’d watch YouTube videos of vampires trailer and said, ‘We can’t look at you the same people,” says Melissa Barrera, who plays Joey,
snarling and growling [fictional, we assume], way anymore!’” and is re-teaming with Radio Silence after
so I could practise.” The idea of a dance-obsessed killing starring as Sam Carpenter in Screams V and VI.
The ballet element had been present in machine presenting as a cute young girl may, of “No-one [in the crew] is who they seem. Joey’s
the story right from Shields’ first draft — Abigail course, sound familiar to anyone who saw 2022 been assigned the role of taking care of the kid,
was always heading home from dance class horror hit M3GAN. But the Abigail team are but she’s still very questionable.”
when the kidnappers struck — but when Gillett quick to emphasise that the two films are very Dan Stevens, playing the oily, bespectacled
and Bettinelli-Olpin learned that Weir was different animals. “We’re huge M3GAN fans,” Frank, goes further: “Frank is an awful, awful
classically trained, and had been pirouetting says Gillett, “and Abigail has that same fun, man,” the actor chuckles. “They’re this motley
since the age of three, they retooled it as a key campy [tone] — but it’s also very R-rated. It’s not group brought together for a heist, and
part of the character’s persona. afraid to go places you’re maybe not sure you seemingly everyone has a special set of skills.
“There are lots of dance sequences in the want to go.” Bettinelli-Olpin grins: “But, hey, if Sam [Kathryn Newton] is good with hacking.
movie,” says Weir, “but we also talked about how there’s a M3GAN v Abigail movie somewhere Joey is the medic. Angus Cloud’s character is
Abigail uses ‘ballet form’ even when she’s not down the line, then no complaints...” our wheels, Kevin Durand’s is the muscle. We
dancing. Everything she does, she does elegantly. You sense Weir would have few complaints could never really discern what Frank’s skill
Gracefully. Even when she’s doing... crazy things.” on that front either. As well as “loving” M3GAN, was, apart from just... being an arsehole.”
As well as giving their monster an she clearly had a ball playing Abigail (“I hope “A foul-mouthed asshole,” Gillett clarifies. “The
unorthodox hobby and gait, Radio Silence we see lots of Abigails trick-or-treating this F-bombs Dan drops in this movie exceed
wanted a whole new aesthetic, too — stepping Halloween!” she says) — and her genuine anything we’ve ever done.”
away from what Gillett dubs “the romantic enthusiasm for the role only served to make the This band of rotters is brought together
notion” of the vampire. “We talked about the character more believable. “The great thing about for the Abigail job by a shadowy crime boss
teeth a lot,” he says. “We wanted them to look Abigail is that she really likes being a vampire,” (Giancarlo Esposito), about whose backstory
more primal and animal than usual vampire Shields laughs. “In other movies, you might see Radio Silence are remaining, well, silent. “Just
fangs. Abigail’s are a kind of teeth on top of teeth vampires complaining about it. But this little girl like the others, [Esposito’s character] presents
— like a shark’s mouth. Those apex predators, is having fun. She loves playing with her food.” as one person, but he’s really someone else,”
when they open their mouth you see they’re Speaking of which — it’s time to meet the teases Bettinelli-Olpin. “The fun of everyone’s
designed to inflict as much damage as possible.” main courses. arc — including Abigail’s — is what they’re forced

74 MAY 2024
 constantly having to think about how your
movie interacts with the previous ones. On
Abigail, all we had to think about was, ‘What’s
the coolest thing that could happen now? Or the
Clockwise funniest? Or the scariest?’ The goal was to make
from main: something that’s truly ours — and I think we’ve
Abigail: a done that.”
vampire who

T
has all the right
moves; Joey he shoot at Glenmaroon, last summer
and Frank are and autumn, was split in two by the
bloodied but Hollywood actors’ strike. And it was
unbowed; during that pause that tragedy struck,
Sammy and when one of the principal cast members
Abigail get too — Euphoria star Angus Cloud — passed away
close for from an accidental drug overdose, aged just 25.
comfort; “It was so sad to [finish the shoot] and not
Sammy goes have him there,” says Barrera. “He was such
for a horrifying a special actor and we all loved on him so hard.
swim in We really embraced him and cheered him on.”
the indoor Stevens feels the same: “I’d never met anyone
‘body’ pool. like him. For all of us, he became like a little
brother, and we cared about him very deeply.”
Gillett adds, “Everything Angus did was so
to reveal once crazy shit starts happening.” and weirder when we were finished with it.” fucking funny and interesting and genuine.
Most of this “crazy shit” happens within The design team decorated every corner You couldn’t take your eyes off him — it was
the four walls of a large, crumbling mansion — of the creaking mansion with unsettling a superpower. So, I hope we’ll do him justice
in reality, one named Glenmaroon, on the taxidermy, and filled the indoor swimming with this movie. He’s so good in it.”
outskirts of Dublin. Once owned by the pool with a healthy batch of what can only be Beyond the deep sadness they clearly all feel
Guinness family (and described by Ernest described as ‘corpse soup’. “It was the most over losing Cloud, what really comes across is
Guinness’ granddaughter Neelia Plunket as disgusting array of stuff I’ve ever seen, and poor how tight the Abigail team have become. Long
“fascinating but hideous”), the house had to Kathryn Newton had to swim in it,” laughs after filming finished, the ‘AbiGang’ WhatsApp
feel like, in Gillett’s words, “a character in itself. Stevens. “I remember looking out onto the lawn group (“Good name, right?” grins Gillett)
We scouted a dozen old manor houses in when they were setting up, and there’s just continues to chime away regularly. “With the
Ireland, but Glenmaroon had such a creepy limbs and body bits as far as you can see.” Screams and now Abigail, we’ve accidentally
vibe. It had been an orphanage for a while, then The movie’s “ridiculous sequence of become ‘ensemble guys’,” Bettinelli-Olpin laughs.
a nunnery. And it’s like a fucking maze, man. comeuppances” (to use Stevens’ phrase) “But for us, a movie’s not worth doing unless you
It took six visits before we had any sense of culminates in a final action set-piece that was, walk away with a new group of friends.”
direction inside it.” the actor says, “insanely epic. People flying on And this time: a new kind of monster, too.
Shields would walk past the house regularly wires, huge amounts of blood. Crazy stunts. “You’ve never seen a vampire like this before,”
as a child (“There’d be rumours it was haunted, Very bloody.” Indeed, the cast spent most of Barrera promises. “It’s different and disgusting
or a witch lived there”), and shooting inside their time between takes caking themselves and wild.” Plus, as previously elucidated, it’s
a genuine creepy mansion — rather than a with shaving cream to leech off the stage blood. not just Abigail’s F-bomb count that blows past
soundstage dressed as one — clearly heightened “It’s the only thing that gets it off,” Barrera anything Radio Silence have previously done.
the movie’s claustrophobic feel. “The energy of laughs. “I didn’t mind, though. I honestly like “The amount of blood Matt and Tyler like is
the place was definitely weird,” smiles Barrera. being covered in blood.” honestly insane,” states Barrera, shaking her
“There were strange stories about it. There’s For the directors, the chance to fully slip the head. “I genuinely think there might be more
this bridge connecting two bits of the house leash and go wild — after several years working blood in this movie than
— apparently one of the owners built it because within the confines of an existing franchise — in any movie ever made.”
he had his wife living in one part and his was refreshing. “We loved making those Scream Stock up on shaving cream now.
mistress in the other.” Stevens agrees: “It was movies,” says Bettinelli-Olpin, “but because
a creepy, weird place — but it was much creepier of the expectation and the franchise, you’re ABIGAIL IS IN CINEMAS FROM 19 APRIL

MAY 2024 75
76 MAY 2024
MAY 2024 77
Here: The iconic Apollo
Creed fights adversary
Rocky Balboa (Sylvester
Stallone) in Rocky II (1979).
Below right: Psyching
himself up to enter the
ring in 1976’s Rocky.

THE CHARISMA He could have been a one-dimensional feel the weight of losing Apollo, that the fighter is
villain, a crude caricature of Muhammad Ali, still in him even in his final moments — his
but Weathers added layers to him with every performance is so realistic that doctors on set
Rocky I-IV (1976-’85) entry in the franchise, convincingly growing him thought he’d really been hurt.
from a perfect foil and adversary into Rocky’s The Rocky saga still orbits Apollo’s bright
mentor, friend, and fiercest supporter. He was star, its new phase centring on his son, Michael
CARL WEATHERS BECAME Apollo Creed the so believable as the Master Of Disaster that Ali B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed. Apollo’s — and
moment he walked through the door to audition himself challenged him to fight whenever the Weathers’ — presence, inextricably linked, is felt
for Rocky. After reading for the part with pair crossed paths. even now: when Adonis shadow-boxes an old
Sylvester Stallone, he announced, “I could do From the get-go, Apollo’s a consummate video of his father projected on the wall behind
a lot better if you got me a real actor to work showman with a twinkle in his eye, but by Rocky him, the actor remains spellbinding even as
with.” But unknowingly insulting the film’s lead III and Rocky IV, he revealed vulnerability, too. a flickering image.
didn’t count against him; instead, it proved he He tells Rocky: “You know, Stallion? It’s too bad When promoting the 1975 bout between Ali
was the only man for the job. we gotta get old, huh?” It’s a line Weathers and Chuck Wepner, the historic fight that inspired
Though Apollo Creed began as Rocky delivers playfully, not with pathos or self-pity. Rocky, Don King declared, “People have been
Balboa’s opponent, we couldn’t help but love That fear of growing old, of no longer being on known to transcend their earthly stature in the
such a charismatic heavyweight champion of top, leads to his demise in the ring at the hands middle of the ring. We could have a miraculous
the world. He set the bar for Rocky because he of Dolph Lundgren’s indestructible Ivan Drago happening!” The same held true for Carl
defined greatness. And so too did Weathers: with — their star-spangled match feels as high-stakes Weathers, who transcended his earthly stature
his braggadocio, his physicality, his sensitivity, as the Cold War itself, a Shakespearean tragedy within moments of his first appearance as Apollo
his humour, he created a character as formidable that plays out in the ring. The look on his face Creed, instantly establishing an incandescent
as he was likeable. In just a handful of scenes, when he touches gloves with Drago expresses screen presence, a larger-than-life icon who
Weathers leaves his mark in the first Rocky, everything: he knows what’s coming, but Apollo represented all the magic and magnitude of the
making Apollo feel real, both human and mythic. never backs down. Weathers wanted to make us American dream. PRISCILLA PAGE

78 MAY 2024
 THE TEAMMATE
Above: Commando’s Bill Duke, former Marine Richard
Dillon is tooled Chaves, and scrawny screenwriter Shane Black,
up and ready he strapped on a machine gun and followed
for a rumble in
Predator (1987) Schwarzenegger’s Dutch into hell. As company
the Val Verde man Dillon, he shouldered the film’s most
jungle in nuanced role: Dutch’s friend, who sells him
Predator. “DILLON! YOU SUNUVABITCH.” The sweaty out for a political agenda, only to embark on
slap of palm on palm. The swell of gigantic, a redemption arc that results in him sacrificing
vein-mapped biceps straining against fabric. his own life for a virtual stranger. Weathers
Were a study to be commissioned, it’s likely brought a dignified nobility to the part, one that
scientists would conclude that Weathers’ could easily have been reduced to a weaselly
arm-wrestle with Arnold Schwarzenegger in cypher in less capable hands. In a platoon of
the opening minutes of Predator contains the none-more-swole bros, Weathers stood out —
highest concentration of pure testosterone ever despite packing the movie’s weediest gun.
recorded. An absurdly macho display, it is McTiernan’s Schwarzenegger gambit also
a scene charged with so much masculine energy, paid off, Arnold gravitating towards his co-star
rumour has it every living creature within a and raising his game to meet the bar Weathers
five-mile radius spontaneously grew a moustache. set. “Every time Carl was working, Arnold was
But Weathers’ contribution to John McTiernan’s over in the corner of the set, watching,” said the
iconic rumble in the jungle was far more than director. “I never had to say a word. I just put
just giving Arnold someone to flex with. Carl in Arnold’s way, and it worked out. Arnold’s
While the majority of Predator’s henchmen performance in that was better than in any of the
were lesser-known faces, Weathers set combat- movies he’d done before.”
booted foot in the fictional jungle of Val Verde In the frame, he elevated every scene. Outside
a bona fide movie star. Riding high off the back of it, he trolled his co-stars with spectacular verve,
four Rocky films, he drew even more glances from breaking into Arnold’s private gym before dawn to
the locals than his Austrian co-star. But Apollo pump iron, then insisting his bulging physique
Creed didn’t come cheap, McTiernan having to was a Reacher-like gift of genetics. After hours, he
stare down Fox bean-counters in order to recruit would lead the charge, too, tearing it up at Puerto
Weathers for the mission. “It was really a way to Vallarta night spot La Jungla (literally ‘The
help Arnold,” recalled McTiernan in 2020. “Arnold Jungle’), where he’d bust moves to James Brown’s
had most of his scenes with Carl Weathers, and ‘Living In America’, driving the Mexican crowd
acting is really reacting. If you can play a scene with wild. In a film that redefined the term ‘man-
somebody who’s really good, they make you good.” power’, Weathers was The Man. And while Old
So Weathers tooled up. Alongside wild man Painless might be the showstopper, Carl Weathers
Sonny Landham, Wrestlemaniac Jesse Ventura, remains Predator’s secret weapon. JAMES DYER

MAY 2024 79
 Here: Cop Jericho
Jackson in action (1988).

THE FORCE
Below right: Sending
himself up in Arrested
Development episode

Action Jackson
‘Marta Complex’ (2004).
(1988)

Name: Jericho Jackson.

Nickname: ‘Action’.
Home: Detroit.
Profession: Cop.
Education: Harvard Law.
Hobby: Fighting crime.
Weapon: You’re looking at ’em.

So goes the poster tagline for Action Jackson,

a project dreamed up by Weathers himself on the
sun-baked set of Predator. And it certainly reflects
the vibe of the movie it’s advertising, the actor’s
first-ever solo vehicle. Action Jackson is no piece of
art — in fact, it makes Commando look like cinema
vérité — but it is a hugely likeable showcase
for Weathers’ charm and physicality. Eager to
recapture the badass essence of the blaxploitation
movies he loved, for his first leading role he
devised the eponymous cop, a lawman so
formidable that he doesn’t even carry a gun. “You
nearly tore that boy’s arm off,” laments Jackson’s
captain early on. “So?” he shrugs. “He had a spare.”
This is a film so deliriously daft that Action’s
nemesis is an evil auto magnate played by

THE WIT
Craig T. Nelson. (And yes, it does climax with
a duel in which he kickboxes Weathers.) There
is a sequence in which our hero says, “I have
to catch a cab,” then successfully outruns Arrested Development (2004-’13)
a speeding taxi with a villain inside; during the
shoot, Weathers spent a 12-hour day solely
bombing it down a street at full velocity. There IT STARTED AS a tired joke, and ended as
are also flames. So many flames. “Once you’ve a great one. When the producers of Arrested
been torched, it’s kinda hard to get a lot of roles,” Development got in touch with Carl Weathers to
Weathers, who had been required to get take a part in their surreal family psychodrama,
extremely close to more than one fireball, wryly they did so for the obvious reason: they were
contemplated on the film’s press circuit. “Unless planning a Rocky pastiche. What could be funnier
you’re going to play an ember in a fireplace.” than Weathers, back in the short-shorts and belly
Yet despite the non-stop havoc, the top, running on the beach with one of the
standard Joel-Silver-picture quips (“How do you Bluths? But the actor had other ideas. “It’s not
like your ribs?” asks Jackson, before exploding going to be just a bunch of Rocky jokes, is it?” he transpires that he lied to his producing partners
a foe’s torso with an Arwen 37 Rotary Grenade asked Mitch Hurwitz. The showrunner claimed about securing those rights, creating a disaster
Launcher), and the title character’s rippling that nothing could be further from his mind! for the show. Which then inspires an episode
muscles, the real appeal of Action Jackson While Hurwitz tried to conjure up another of ‘Scandalmakers’ about his failure, called
is just how mellow he is throughout. He’s approach, Weathers pitched his own idea: he ‘“Weathers’ Permit-ing”: The Scandalmakers’
simultaneously an unstoppable force of nature should play himself as a huge cheapskate. Hurwitz Maker’s Scandal’. Weathers not only signs off on
and a guy who looks like he’s just sauntered out loved it, and it’s that version that goes down in that, but directs it. What, like he’s going to turn
of a day spa. It’s riffed on in the film itself, with sitcom history. So it is that David Cross’ Tobias down a payday? Alamy, Disney, Neil Leifer/Getty Images, Landmark, MPTV, Netflix

perps fed myths about his ferociousness, only to books a stage-fighting class with Weathers, which It all works precisely because it’s so at
discover that’s he’s as genial as a concierge. And the actor misses because he got himself bumped odds with our image of Weathers. From Apollo
it’s what makes Weathers’ character stand apart from a flight to get some compensation. The Creed to Predator’s Dillon, this was a guy who
from other ’80s one-man-armies, played by the two meet on a miserably overcrowded airport is expansive, sure of himself, authoritative.
likes of Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Gibson. shuttle, where the Rocky star agrees to train Weathers seemed like a guy who eats prime
It’s a great cinematic ‘what if’ — what would Tobias in return for his last $1,100. Unfortunately steak with all the trimmings; not the guy who
have happened if Action Jackson had been more for Tobias’ prospects, most of Weathers’ hot tips grabs a stripped rib from your hands because it
successful? We would have gotten sequels, and concern the best ways to save or scam money. could still make a stew (Arrested Development’s
likely other big starring roles for the actor. He Weathers bonds with family matriarch Weathers loves a stew).
certainly deserved them. Instead, despite those Lucille (Jessica Walter) — they meet while The role was an inspired play on his lifelong
who did catch it apparently shouting, “Go get ’em, scavenging forgotten wine during a distracting hard-man image and it succeeds because it’s
Jackson!” at the screen, he ended up migrating brawl — and romances her neighbour Lucille 2 unexpected, in a way that a crop top never could
to TV instead. It’s a shame. But seek out Action (Liza Minnelli). He strings the hapless Tobias be. It’s a crying shame he didn’t do more comedy
Jackson and you’ll find that energy still emanates along for all he’s worth, bribing him in an roles, because his willingness to send himself up
from the screen, Weathers creating flames all of attempt to bag the Bluth family’s life-rights for was a delightful punctuation to his own
his own. NICK DE SEMLYEN a show he’s directing called ‘Scandalmakers’. It stupendousness. HELEN O’HARA

80 MAY 2024
 Here: Weathers on set
of The Mandalorian
Season 3. Below: High
Magistrate of Nevarro
Greef Karga holds
foundling Grogu.

WE RE ME MBE R ME E TING
THE CHAMP HIMSE LF…
THE LEGENDARY LIVERPOOL manager,
Bill Shankly, once invited reporters to meet
his new signing, a Scottish giant named
Ron Yeats. “Take a walk around my centre
half,” Shanks said. “Go on, walk around
him.” I felt much the same way when I met
Carl Weathers in 2017, when he came to
the Empire offices for a podcast interview.
I knew going in that he would be large, of
course. You don’t trade blows with Sly
Stallone and go bicep to bicep with Arnie
moments that are delivered with directorial without being exceptionally pumped. But
flair — cutting Ludwig Göransson’s score only few things prepare you for meeting
to have it return just as Mando fires a kill-shot Weathers in the flesh. He was on the verge
was especially inspired. And another scene of turning 70, but was strong, powerful,
in which Ahmed Best’s lightsaber-wielding packed into a sharp suit, with a handshake
Kelleran Beq rescues Grogu from the Jedi that could grind bone to dust. Walk around
Temple is a precisely calibrated, fast-paced him? Sure. I’ll set aside a week.
chase that evokes the iconography of the But the real joy of speaking to Carl
prequels with style. Weathers, as I would do a couple more
It makes sense that an action star with times, was in his joy. Madly charming and
Weathers’ CV knew exactly how to make an funny, you could see the forceful personality
action sequence tick. Because crucially, it was that persuaded Stallone to not only give him
never just action for action’s sake. He always the role of Apollo Creed, but to keep him

THE LEADER squeezed character and emotion out of even around for a few Rocky films. When I first
the smallest moments, subtly evolving the met him he was totally at ease, promoting
relationships between characters and helping to Chicago Justice, in which he had a role that
The Mandalorian (2020-’23) illuminate the bigger picture, never content to didn’t require him to punch anyone, and you
have his episodes simply be jaunty side-quests. could tell that he was enjoying what he
It helps that Weathers was a natural when it thought was his second act.
“AHHHH! MANDO!” came to nailing The Mandalorian’s comedy beats. Chicago Justice, cancelled after one
So went a typically cheerful and boisterous Not only was he frequently hilarious on screen, season, was not to be Weathers’ second
greeting from Weathers’ Greef Karga in The but his warm and winning comedic energy act: thankfully, The Mandalorian fulfilled that
Mandalorian. In addition to helping coin the also comes through in his direction. Many of particular function. When I spoke to him
coolest nickname in the galaxy — one that the his funniest moments involve Grogu — one again in 2020, he was positively vibrating,
internet quickly adopted — Weathers brought memorable scene has everyone’s favourite Baby even across Zoom, at this unexpected
innate swagger and quiet strength to the Bounty Yoda use the Force to snare a macaron from an chapter. Who knows where that might have
Hunters’ Guild leader turned High Magistrate unsuspecting kid, while another has Mando taken him, but the career he had — Apollo,
of Nevarro. It made him immediately likeable, trying to repair his ship with his adopted son to Dillon, Action Jackson, Greef Karga, and
even when he and the titular hero were more no avail. While other episodes have leaned on more — wasn’t too bad. Walk around him.
frenemies than friends. Grogu’s natural cuteness too much, Weathers’ CHRIS HEWITT
That alone would surely have been enough comic beats don’t outstay their welcome, landing
to secure Weathers’ Star Wars legacy. But to maximum effect.
perhaps even more impressive were his Of course, Weathers wasn’t shy about
achievements behind the camera. He directed putting himself on camera either, making sure to
two demanding episodes — Season 2’s The Siege, get in his fair share of heroic moments. And even
and Season 3’s The Foundling — and both proved though time may have slowed him down, nothing
how skilled he was at balancing all the different could dull his charisma and action chops. Scenes
elements that make Star Wars so special. where he’s running down corridors blasting away
One of those ingredients is kick-ass action, at Stormtroopers and quipping with Mando
and multiple sequences in Weathers’ episodes showcased that even in a galaxy far, far away, he
do the franchise proud. A climactic dogfight was still right at home. Whether in front of or
between Mando’s Razor Crest and the Empire’s behind the camera, the universe is less fun
TIE Fighters is thrilling, full of triumphant without him in it. AMON WARMANN

MAY 2024 81
 WITH H IS N E W ACT IO N T H R I L L E R
CIVIL WAR, W R IT E R - D I R ECTO R
ALEX G AR L AN D PR ES E N TS A R AVAG E D
AME R ICA IN D ISAR R AY. I N A PI ECE W R IT T E N
EXC LUSIVELY F OR EMPIRE , H E E X P L AIN S W H E R E I T CAM E FR O M ,
H OW H E DID IT, AND WH Y IT ’S M O R E R E L E VAN T BY T H E DAY

WORDS ALEX GARLAND

82 MAY 2024
MAY 2024 83
 I STARTED WRITING
CIVIL WAR
IN JUNE 2020, A FEW
MONTHS AFTER COVID
ARRIVED, AND A FEW
MONTHS BEFORE
THE FIRST TRUMP/BIDEN
ELECTION. I HAD THREE
MAIN AIMS.
I wanted to make something non-afraid.
I wanted the heroes to be a throwback to an
old form of journalism. And I wanted to
make an attack on political polarisation.
First drafts come in two forms for
me. One, the script pours out fast, and
the experience of writing blurs with the
experience of watching a film. The room feels
darker, and I can see the scenes and shot
compositions more clearly than I can see
my laptop screen. It seems more like
transcription than writing. In the back of my
mind, I often find myself wondering, “What’s a walk in the fields. I remember watching bees and camera tricks make them seductive or
going to happen next?”, as if I don’t have work around some meadow flowers, growing operatic. They create exhilarating set-pieces,
input into the narrative. alongside a decaying building. Eighty years then use tragedy positionally, to off-set the
The second form is slow and laborious. No ago, the building was part of a Second World glorification. Apocalypse Now is stunning
page or scene comes without disproportionate War airfield. Not far away, the runway still filmmaking, but right from the hypnotic
effort. There’s no cinema effect; there’s existed, just about. It was almost broken to opening frames, blossoming napalm and
courier-font words on a Final Draft screen. pieces by weed growth and more meadow ceiling fans, it’s too enjoyable to be anti.
I re-write the same scene endlessly, and flowers. My grandmother, I was told, used to The problem, obviously, is that war stories
single lines of stage direction have hundreds hang around by a small waterfall outside the mainline so many of cinema’s superpowers:
of variants. It feels more like editing than local pub, and flirt with the airmen. the collision of music, violence, scale, danger
writing, and still feels as if I don’t have input These relics of the older war, the one — all safe, all vicarious. So in part, it’s a problem
into the narrative, but for different reasons. that contains all the lessons that should be of balance, between the intention of the film,
In the end, I don’t (personally) see warding us against metastatic vitriol and and the tools available. As a filmmaker,
a quality difference between the different division, felt very strange. Incredible, to lose you want the tools. You want the strange
forms of writing. Some of my scripts are a lesson that was so hard won. beauty of destruction, because destruction
better than others, but it isn’t the speed of is beautiful, and you want the action
the writing that separates them. Ex Machina, WAR CONTAINS COMBAT, AND COMBAT, adrenaline, because adrenaline is contained
28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Devs were all in a sense, is action. Cinema loves action. in danger. You just don’t want to end up
fast scripts — written in around a fortnight If I think ‘anti-war’ films, I think Paths accidentally making Triumph Of The Will.
(Devs, about a fortnight per episode, over Of Glory and Come And See. Paths Of Glory is Covid restrictions meant that the
three months of mania). Annihilation, Never a film about the lunatic reasoned unreason process of moving Civil War from script to
Let Me Go, and Dredd were slow scripts, and of war. Come And See uses surrealism to be pre-production took around two years. So
took several months each. truthful about horror. Both are beautifully I had plenty of time to think about the war/
Civil War was in the poured-out category. made, and also leave you with anger and the anti-war problem, as did the various other
The first draft took just over a week, and never-again conviction. filmmakers that started joining the project
I think I never had a clearer sense of watching But they are pretty unusual in that. It’s a — by which I primarily mean the crew.
a film while writing it. It was hallucinatory. cinema truism that most anti-war movies are From here on, any observation I make
I was living in Gloucestershire at the not anti-war, whatever stance they appear to is probably not my own, but the product of
time. After the script was done, I went for take. They may contain violence, but score exchanges with the camera department,

84 MAY 2024
 Clockwise
from here:
Cailee Spaeny
and Kirsten
Dunst play
photojournalists
Jessie and Lee,
who are
documenting the
war; Jessie gets
in the thick of
things; Lee has
an illuminating
time; Wagner
Moura plays
Joel, a reporter
working
alongside Lee;
Writer-director
Alex Garland
gives direction
on set.

or stunt team, or SFX team, or gaffer, or

producer, or editor, and so on. I don’t yet
know whether our conversations reached
the right conclusions, but I can say it was
constantly on our minds.

ONE OF OUR FIRST POINTS OF

discussion was the depiction of violence.
Cinema develops behaviours that do not
relate to the real world. Most film viewers
have examples that bump them — the way
people talk on the phone, or make too much
eye-contact with passengers while driving.
My personal bump is the way very-hungry-
people are required to become feral and eat
with their fingers, hunching their shoulders,
darting their eyes suspiciously. It’s... ridiculous.
But it’s violence where reality and cinema
move furthest apart. It’s not just that violence
is often offered up as both the problem and
the solution to the problem, or as an action
without consequence. It’s also as actual,
literal depiction. It’s equivalent to a film
grammar where birds are typically shown
without wings, and fly around the sky like
little rocket ships. ❯

MAY 2024 85
 America burns.

The trading of punches to the face, happen. He also brought in an extremely Jake Roberts, Geoff Barrow and Ben
exploding cars, silent silenced pistols — all experienced military advisor — an ex-Navy Salisbury (the composers) and I spent
wingless birds. But the one we focused on SEAL called Ray Mendoza. months experimenting with different cues
related to people being shot. Between the two of them, they worked and needle drops, trying to find where the
This is what we often see: the sudden across departments and choreographed balance lay for this film and its aims.
explosive hole in fabric or skin, the puffs of action and combat scenes, designed to target Not to take away anyone’s input, because
red mist, the bodies that snap backwards as if the viewer’s internal sense of reality. They everyone had a say, and everyone solved
yanked by a cable, the blood spray up the wall also suggested moments or sequences that a seemingly impossible problem at one point
behind, or the person standing beside. It’s not didn’t exist in the script, such as a journalist or another, but I think the influence of Geoff
to say that these things never happen — just being knocked into a body pit, or mortar Barrow was particularly important here. Geoff
as, I guess, hungry people do sometimes turn teams setting up on rooftops. has a radiating effect, partly because he’s so
feral. But as a core grammar, it’s misleading. For me, one of the most interesting things blunt, but also because his instincts lean into
And it is a core grammar. Some time after the they did was to construct extended action discordance. Discordance, counter-intuitively,
release and success of Bonnie And Clyde, blood sequences in a way that could be filmed in doesn’t preclude harmony. It just makes for
squibs became ubiquitous — until VFX took real time, from multiple angles. This gave a weird harmony. Geoff calls it ‘wrongness’,
over, decades later, and did the same thing Jake Roberts (the editor) and I the chance to but he means it, and feels it, as rightness.
without the frustrating reset times on set. cut sequences in ways that included textural My personal favourite wrongness that
A truer grammar would be: when people reality, such as strange pauses or silences. The we collectively reached was the use of a De
are shot, they fall over. No opera. No blood best example of this is towards the very end La Soul track during an execution sequence.
money-shot. They just collapse. This feels of the film, during a combat sequence in which It is, in my opinion at least, cinematically
sadder and simpler, and more shocking than soldiers fight their way through rooms and harmonious. It’s also so jarring and
the version we have become used to. And corridors. Ray brought in several ex-Navy confronting, in the blaring intro and the
I suspect we know this without having to SEAL colleagues to play the soldiers, and wrongness-timing, and wrongness-tone, that
know it. So, a viewer might never have seen together they added their own dialogue and it’s borderline picking a fight with the audience.
someone get shot, but they will sense that actions. I think it’s among the most successful It addressed something at the heart of
one depiction is truer than another, even if sequences I’ve ever been involved with filming, the film. Civil War is trying to engage and
they don’t know why. and I had only a peripheral role in creating it. communicate, but it’s not trying to please.
Civil War’s stunt coordinator was
a guy called Jeff ‘Dash’ Dashnaw. Dash is an MUSIC IS ANOTHER IMPORTANT I RELY HEAVILY ON LONG-STANDING
interesting man, made up of almost pure element in the war/anti-war tone. Going creative collaborations. I’ve never been
contradictions. Brutish, refined, polite, back to the opening frames of Apocalypse credited as a director without Sonoya
coarse, tough, subtle, good-natured. I think, Now, it’s not all napalm and ceiling fans. It’s Mizuno in the cast (who has an oddly similar
mainly, he’s highly intelligent and very also The Doors. The images are almost instinct and influence to Geoff Barrow).
professional. And very tall. supernaturally well-judged in the Likewise without Allon Reich and Andrew
Dash embraced the concept of realism photography and editing, but the addition of Macdonald as producers, or Glenn
immediately, and went about making it The Doors creates harmony. It’s darkly blissful. Freemantle as sound designer, or Asa
happen, and making other people make it Darkly devotional. Shoul as colourist.

86 MAY 2024
 One of the most fundamental of these
collaborations is Rob Hardy, the director
of photography. I don’t create a shot-list
before arriving on set, and seeing the actors
rehearse. The shot-list is created between
Rob and me, usually in the five to ten minutes
after watching the rehearsal. We frequently
see the same frame at the same time, and
indicate it to each other with a glance, pointed
finger, and lens size expressed as a number.
And equally frequently (or more frequently),
I don’t see the frame at all, but I know Rob
Top to bottom: has, by the way he is moving with the finder.
Explosive times Rob and I took a few creative risks on this
as the US attacks film, but maybe the biggest related to hardware.
itself; Seasoned We knew we needed to shoot quickly, and move
correspondent the camera quickly, and wanted something
Sammy, played by truthful in the camera behaviour, that would
Stephen McKinley not over-stylise the war imagery. All of which
Henderson, push you towards handheld. But we didn’t
surveys the want it to feel too handheld, because the movie
scene; Lee heads needed at times a dreamlike or lyrical quality,
out into the night; which pushes you towards tracks and dollies.
Abandoned Then, just a few weeks before active pre-
vehicles on an production started, a strange new camera
American freeway. arrived on the market — the DJI Ronin 4D.
It’s small, light, has a full-frame sensor, and
it does something incredibly useful. It self-
stabilises, to a level that you control — from
silky-smooth to vérité shaky-cam. To me,
that is revolutionary in the same way that
Steadicam was once revolutionary. It’s
a beautiful tool. Not right for every movie,
but uniquely right for some.
It was uniquely right for Civil War. The
final part of the filmmaking puzzle — because
the small size and self-stabilisation means
that the camera behaves weirdly like the
human head. It sees ‘like’ us. That gave Rob
and I the ability to capture action, combat,
and drama in a way that, when needed, gave
an extra quality of being there.
(Just an aside to any filmmakers reading
this, particularly if working on a budget —
really, check this camera out. We shot on the
6K variant, and it gave us images that stand
up to being shown on IMAX screens. And the
camera costs about £5k.)

IT TOOK A LITTLE UNDER FOUR YEARS,

from the first draft of Civil War to the
planned release. In the intervening time,
none of the polarisation concerns that
motivated the movie have diminished. All of
the concerns have significantly worsened.
Yet. Among the people that made the
movie, there was a broad political spectrum.
We collaborated, solved problems, joked,
confided, had beers together, and had each
other’s backs. Speaking for myself, about my
colleagues of opposite political persuasion,
I liked them, respected them, learned from
them, felt grateful for them, and would work
with them again like a shot.
We hope you enjoy the film.

CIVIL WAR IS IN CINEMAS FROM 12 APRIL

MAY 2024 87
 I N OUR R EG U LAR SE RIE S, WE E XPLO RE
A SLICE OF CINE MA LORE

THE AD-LAND
ALL-STARS
WORDS ADAM SMITH

THE RED DRESS

THE REVOLUTION STARTED WITH A KEBAB.

Sometime in the early 1970s, three men met in a Turkish
restaurant in London’s Fitzrovia and set in motion a train of
events that would change Hollywood forever. David Puttnam,
Charles Saatchi and Alan Parker were all former colleagues at
the legendary advertising agency Collett Dickenson Pearce. In
the previous decade, they had been key in upending the then
moribund world of commercials, transforming it from a dull
cultural backwater into a white-hot creative powerhouse.
CDP had produced some of the most memorable print and
TV commercials of all time. The long-running Cinzano campaign,
in which Leonard Rossiter dumped vermouth over Joan Collins
with the satisfying regularity of Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff,
and Hovis’ sentimental trip down a cobbled Northern street to
the strains of a brass band, were both from CDP. Happiness had
become a cigar named Hamlet, and Heineken refreshed the parts
other beers couldn’t reach, all thanks to their world-beating
creative teams.
And now, together with a small group of fellow ad-men
— Ridley and Tony Scott, Hugh Hudson and Adrian Lyne —
these three CDP alumni were about to take everything they’d
learned in ad-land and apply it to the movies. The results
would be a host of films that would define Hollywood for
a decade and beyond. Alien, Flashdance, Top Gun, Midnight
Express, The Hunger, Blade Runner, Fatal Attraction, Bugsy
Malone, 9 ½ Weeks, Chariots Of Fire — all would have the
creative DNA of these London advertising men wound
inextricably through them.
But that was in the future. When Parker sat down at the
Kebab & Hummus on Charlotte Street, he was a flourishing
commercials director with his own company and had, perhaps,
expected nothing more than a pleasant reunion — maybe
a re-run of the legendary lunches that CDP had become
famous for, boozy epics that often stretched into the evening,
occasionally into next week. ❯

88 MAY 2024
MAY 2024 89
 Left: Ad-man
Alan Parker on
the set of his first
film, 1976’s Bugsy
Malone. Here:
His follow-up,
the acclaimed
Midnight Express
(1978). Far right:
Ridley Scott’s
legendary Alien
(1979). Below
right, top: Hugh
Hudson’s ‘Face’,
made for British
Airways in 1989.
Bottom: Ridley
But David Puttnam had grander plans. And Scott’s still-loved
he was about to unveil them. “Tell him, David!” 1973 Hovis ‘Boy
Charles Saatchi gushed as the threesome sat On The Bike’ ad.
down, before ignoring Puttnam and telling him
himself. “We’re going to discover you!”
“Why don’t I discover you,” replied Parker,
with a little of his reflexive chippiness.
“Alan, we’re going to change your life.
We’re going into the film industry,” Puttnam
said. “You’re going to write a script, Charles
is going to write a script. I’m going to get the
money together.”
“But I’ve never written anything longer than
30 seconds in my life!” Parker objected.
“That doesn’t matter,” Puttnam said. “We
believe in you.”
Parker mulled over the offer. He’d fallen into
directing pretty much by accident in the first
place. He’d been, at heart, a copywriter, a crafter
of vignettes about frozen burgers or sherry that
resonated with mass audiences, that connected,
in a way adverts had never done before. Then
again, 30 seconds, and an hour-and-a-half…
what’s the difference?
Maybe this film idea had something to it.

W
hen David Puttnam had arrived at
CDP in 1962, British advertising was bold, funny and talked to the reader in an world north of Watford.
a backwater, a home for second- unprecedented, familiar, friendly way. “The But he was increasingly unhappy with the
raters, also-rans and misfits, and last of the big suspenders,” ran the headline for quality of the ads being made from his writing.
a career that you didn’t boast about having Pretty Polly hold-up stockings (“And there’s no He asked if he could set up a test studio in CDP’s
fallen into. “If you had any kind of education suspender like no suspender”); “Iced Cream” basement and try out some new stuff.
you went into the theatre or you went into was his line for Harvey’s Bristol Cream sherry, “The empty, cavernous space was as big
television or business. Advertising was just accompanying an unthinkably shocking shot as a car park,” he later wrote. “It became our
rather vulgar,” Parker told the BBC in 2002. of the then resolutely middle-class tipple with own film studio. It was suggested that, as I had
“But that’s what led to the revolution. We a couple of ice cubes plonked in it. “I’ve spent written the scripts, I should be the one who said,
had very little education, but advertising was a decade putting this product on a pedestal and ‘Action!’ and, ‘Cut.’ Any fool could do that. From
incredibly egalitarian.” As Puttnam said: “None now you’re selling it off the back of a barrow,” that moment on, I was hooked.”
of us had been to university, we didn’t have a delighted Millward told Parker, as sherry sales Parker the writer had become Parker
a degree between us. But we were smart. We shot through the roof. the director and his test work, the ‘basement
understood the world we were living in.” The coming of colour television had films’ as they became known at CDP, became
Back in the ’50s and early ’60s, advertising galvanised the TV market and Parker’s scripts increasingly ambitious and finally disruptive
was often an afterthought. Space in magazines were as impactful as his print ads. He wrote to an agency that was hardly unaccustomed to
or on billboards was bought and then filled with little domestic dramas, set in recognisably chaos. The crunch came when management
not much more than a black-and-white shot of working-class homes. He mined British class came back from lunch to find the entire staff
the product, the price, and a line of copy that anxieties for Cockburn’s Port, putting the downstairs sporting tuxedos and ballgowns,
was, at best, the result of half an hour’s light steerage passengers alongside the officers in shooting an epic ballroom scene. They
writing over lunch. But, led by CDP’s legendary a lifeboat and allowing them to bond over the suggested that Parker found his own production
creative director Colin Millward, Puttnam, joys of fortified wine. A commercial for Birds Eye company. CDP would seed-fund it and bung
Parker and Saatchi brought unprecedented beefburgers, ‘Starving Artist’, featured a pair of work his way.
creativity, wit and focus to the industry. kids with broad Yorkshire accents (“Th’all never Meanwhile, Puttnam, the account director
Parker’s ads, which filled the glossy pages be a starvin’ artist, this lad, will tha?”), depicting who had shepherded many of Parker’s
of the newly minted Sunday supplements, were a hitherto unimagined frozen-burger-consuming campaigns to their triumphant success, had his

90 MAY 2024
 Far right: Ridley
Scott behind the
lens. Right,
top to bottom:
Leonard Rossiter
and Joan Collins
in Parker’s
much-loved
series of Cinzano
ads; Fighter jet?
Surely not! Tony
Scott’s ad for
Saab; Clever
wordplay in an
early Parker
print ad for
Pretty Polly.

eye on bigger fish. “The British film industry was

crap,” he told The Telegraph in 2017. “The stuff
they were producing was shit and I knew it. But
then I saw The Graduate and I thought to myself,
‘I could do that.’ There was nothing in that film
that required a budget. It was a makeable film.
I knew the talents who I believed could write
a film like that.”
Advertising Archive, Alamy, Getty Images, Shutterstock

And so there was that lunch. And then there

was Parker’s feature debut, Bugsy Malone, in
1976, a pastiche gangster movie that was as far
away from the dreary Brit-flicks of the era as
could be. It had an irrepressible sense of fun,
and in its twist — all the main characters were
played by kids — an ad-man’s keen sense for the
Unique Selling Point.
It was a hit. And as Parker was borne
shoulder-high from a triumphant Cannes
screening, a Paramount executive named
David V. Picker turned to Puttnam. This guy
really knew how to shoot, he said. Did David
know of any other ad-men who were as good? ❯

MAY 2024 91
 David did. A guy with an incredible eye who ran
a production shop just along the street from
CDP. Name of Ridley Scott.

R
idley Scott had been watching Parker’s
cinematic ascent with mounting dismay.
“When Al got Bugsy Malone I didn’t
sleep for a week,” he told the BBC.
“I literally got insomnia.”
The two were both friends and rivals.
“Between Ridley’s company and ourselves
we scooped up most of the good scripts,”
said Parker. “If a script opened with, ‘We see
a beautiful girl running in slow-motion along
a golden Caribbean beach,’ Ridley would get
that. If a script read, ‘We see two overweight
ladies talking at a lunch counter in Shepherd’s
Bush,’ I would get that.”
Scott had arrived in advertising via the
BBC, where he’d worked as a set designer and for the epic that he would later indulge with
then director while shooting ads on the side. the disastrous Revolution (1985), was another
When that proved to be more lucrative than among the new RSA intake. His cinema spot for
the day job he jumped ship, founding Ridley Benson & Hedges, ‘Iguana’ — a surrealist epic
Scott Associates in the mid-’60s, just as the shot in the Arizona desert involving geckos,
advertising boom was roaring into life. RSA rattlesnakes and a helicopter transporting
was an innovation — it pretty much invented a giant pack of fags à la Fellini — was a debacle
the idea of the dedicated commercials to shoot, and at over £100,000 the most
director. No longer would ads be made by expensive commercial ever made. The execs
telly directors slumming it, or film hacks at CDP pondered whether he’d gone mad.
who couldn’t get work. They would be Stunned cinemagoers, meanwhile, put down
fashioned by mini-auteurs using the most their Kia-Ora and actually applauded. For
cutting-edge techniques. British Airways’ ‘Face’, he marshalled
The first call for talent he put in was to his hundreds of extras who slowly formed into
brother, Tony, a fellow art-school graduate who a face and then the airline’s trademark globe.
was still nursing ambitions to be a fine artist. With the huge success of RSA,
“Ridley said, ‘Come and make commercials commercials auteurs began to emerge
with me and pay Dad back for eight years at art elsewhere. At Jennie & Co over on Beak St,
school,’” Tony remembered. It didn’t hurt that Adrian Lyne had started out as an inept
his brother suggested that at the end of the account exec. “I kept all this foreign currency
year he’d have enough cash to buy a Ferrari. in my drawer and whenever the door opened
When clients expressed qualms about it used to fly all over the place,” he told the
getting the junior partner, Ridley secretly advertising podcast Stuff From The Loft.
promised them that if Tony screwed it up, he’d Perhaps to protect the company’s finances, he
reshoot the whole thing for free himself. He was rapidly promoted, despite never having
never needed to. Tony was a natural. His ads been behind a camera in his life. But once he
were polished, gleaming, all hard edges and called, “Action!” he revealed himself to be
pumping sound. A spot for Saab (‘Nothing On a master of propulsive energy, even if he did
Earth Compares’) featured the car framed occasionally refuse to put a product shot in
against a looming Saab 37 Viggen fighter jet. his masterpieces.
Shades of things to come. Wild, impulsive and undoubtedly possessed
“I cornered the market in sexy, rock ’n’ roll by genius, Lyne was temperamentally very
stuff,” he told writer Sam Delaney in 2006. different to the other new commercial auteurs.
“From the start, I had a blast. I had a run of ten If Ridley did ‘sumptuous’ and Alan did ‘story’,
years straight making commercials, during Adrian was the high priest of ‘cool and sexy’.
which I got the chance to fuck my way around His commercial for Brutus Jeans (‘Jeans On’)
the world. I couldn’t believe it.” is a symphony of denim-clad derrières,
Hugh Hudson, an old Etonian with a taste enthusiastic crash-zooms and precision cuts.

92 MAY 2024
 THE AD -LAND ALL-STARS’
VITAL STATS

2,000
Number of commercials made by
Ridley Scott before he made his
feature debut with The Duellists

Above: Adrian Lyne brings all the sass and sex of his TV
commercials to the big screen, here in 1986’s 9½ Weeks. 10,000
Left: Lyne with Michael Douglas and Glenn Close while Number of children Alan Parker saw
making pop-cultural touchstone Fatal Attraction (1987). during casting for Bugsy Malone

But it got fucking killed. It took me three more

years to get another movie after it.”

B
y the mid-1980s, the British ad-men’s
invasion of Hollywood was all but
complete. Tony Scott had overcome the
disappointment of The Hunger to deliver
Top Gun in 1986, a hymn to the aesthetics of
advertising. Ridley Scott had changed the way
For his two-and-a-half-minute Levi’s spot we imagined the future in his (appropriately
4
Iguanas that died (due to
‘Route 66’, a mini road-movie following a pair advertising-drenched) Blade Runner in 1982.
cold weather) during the filming
of young women as they hitch cross-country Adrian Lyne applied his peerless commercial
of Hugh Hudson’s Benson
(which bears a striking similarity to Thelma gloss to 9 ½ Weeks (1986) and Fatal Attraction
& Hedges ad
& Louise), he revived then terminally (1987), and Alan Parker delivered Angel Heart
unfashionable classic Americana. And, like (1987). What all these movies shared was an
the rest, he began to look towards the world incomparable visual style, and a dedication to
of film. “The dangerous thing about doing showing the audience a good time, a Hollywood 28
Percentage of adults who voted
commercials was how fast the time had passed,” virtue that had been all but forgotten amid the
for Hovis’ ‘Boy On A Bike’ as the
Ridley Scott remembered. “There was a real race previous decade’s angsty, anxious cinema.
best advert from the 1970s in
between me and my competitors. I could see Not everybody was happy with the way
a 2018 Marketing Week poll,
that RSA guys like Hugh Hudson and Tony were things had turned out. For David Puttnam, it
securing it the number-one spot
really going places.” represented a kind of betrayal. When he had
Puttnam’s introduction of Ridley to started out, had looked at The Graduate and
Paramount’s David V. Picker couldn’t, then, have thought he could make films like that, he hadn’t
come at a better time. The result, after a couple imagined that the generation of directors whose
of projects foundered, was The Duellists, which careers he had in many cases nurtured would
all but vanished unheralded in 1977, and then decamp to LA and make movies featuring
Alien in 1979, which didn’t. pumping rock soundtracks, jets and bunny-
Clockwise from His brother Tony and Lyne were, indeed, boilers. “I got slaughtered,” Tony Scott
top left: Ad-men coming up fast behind. By the early ’80s, two remembered. “Top Gun represented everything
nurturer David screenplays, one for a contemporary vampire bad that had ever been done in cinema. David
Puttnam clutches flick and another for a dance-movie set in Puttnam said that. He was meant to be my
his Oscar for Pittsburgh, were knocking around, with the buddy and the fucker sank me!”
Chariots Of Fire pair unsure over who would direct which. But not only had they defined Hollywood
(1981); Hugh “It was a case of beggars can’t be choosers,” in the 1980s, they had forged a path from 1
Hudson’s Tony Scott told Empire in 2009. “Adrian and commercials to the big screen that future Number of times Ridley Scott’s ad
Greystoke, The I compared notes because I got given Flashdance generations of directors would now regularly for Apple Macintosh ran on US TV
Legend Of Tarzan, before he did. It really was, ‘Fuck, what am tread. Jonathan Glazer, Michael Mann, David (during the 1984 Super Bowl)
Lord Of The Apes I going to do with this?’ Then he got The Hunger Fincher, Michael Bay, Sofia Coppola and
(1984); Tony and he was, ‘What the fuck am I going to do Spike Jonze all cut their teeth on commercials.
Scott’s Crimson with this?’ So we swapped scripts. I used a lot For good or ill, Hollywood had bought what 20,000,000
Tide (1995); Tony of smoke and so on. That was the influence of this scrappy band of British ad-men were Copies of the soundtrack to
on set of 1986’s the commercials. The occasional billowing selling, wholesale. Adrian Lyne’s Flashdance
Top Gun with curtain. Well, a lot of billowing curtain, actually. Then again, everybody always did. sold worldwide
Tom Cruise.

MAY 2024 93
M AY 2 0 2 4 | EDITED BY CHRIS HEWITT

Ticket to write
PAUL KING A ND SIMON FARNABY ON TH E IR LONG WRITING
PARTNER SH IP, A ND NEW TEAM-UP WONKA WORDS CHRIS HEWITT

AS YOU MIGHT expect of the men who I don’t know if you’re keeping track, but
co-wrote Wonka, Paul King and Simon Farnaby as we talk, Wonka is at $553 million
have spent the morning in thrall to a Warner worldwide, and will crack the $200 million
Bros. prequel about an eccentric young orphan mark in the States this weekend. That
who uses his incredible talents to galvanise must be beyond your wildest dreams in
an entire city. “We’ve been watching Batman many ways.
Begins,” confesses King, sitting next to Farnaby Paul King: It’s lovely. But I mean, my dreams
in his London office. “We didn’t see it before are enormous.
[making Wonka],” jokes Farnaby. “Or we’d have Simon Farnaby: We have really wild dreams.
had loads of gruff-talking BS.” King: My dreams top out at about $558 million.
Hardly. Wonka, the glorious confection So it’s not beyond my wildest dreams.
starring Timothée Chalamet as Roald Dahl’s Farnaby: I’m sure some filmmakers don’t look
kooky chocolatier, is as far removed as you can at box office, but we do. It’s just politeness, isn’t
get from the Dark Knight, and shows that King it? It’s really gratifying that people go and spend
(who also directs, of course) and Farnaby are more their money.
than capable of recreating the magic they conjured King: It’s quite odd making films because you
up on the beloved Paddington 2 back in 2017; their don’t get a huge amount of connection with the
take on Willy Wonka ploughs a similar warm- audience. My daughter’s been very enthusiastic
and-fuzzy storybook furrow, but connected with about this, so I’ve actually seen it three times in
audiences worldwide in a way even a kind and the cinema over the Christmas break, which was
polite bear couldn’t, becoming the big hit of the a complete joy. And people sent me pictures of
festive season and putting a whole ton of silver posters in other countries, and it brings it home
sovereigns in their pock-a-lates. Now, as it hits what an extraordinarily huge thing that is.
shiny discs and streaming, Empire sits down Those sort of slightly meaningless numbers
with King and Farnaby, who’ve worked together begin to feel a bit more like real people actually
previously on the likes of The Mighty Boosh and seeing the film you spent a lot of effort on, and
Bunny And The Bull, to talk about how their it’s really lovely when you hear people laughing
writing partnership has evolved and endured. or sniffling into their hankies.

94 MAY 2024
Clockwise Farnaby: Being a hit in America was pretty
from main: great. Paddington 2 didn’t really do much there,
Star Timothée although it’s well loved.
Chalamet with
director Paul On those trips to the cinema, what are
King on the the moments when you can really feel
set of Wonka; it connect?
You’ve never King: The ending works very nicely. I love
had chocolate the songs. I never get bored of the songs. But
like this!; Noel from when the villains have been dispatched,
Fielding in the through to ‘Pure Imagination’ at the end, I’m
Mighty Boosh very proud of that.
2008 stage Farnaby: I snuck in — well, I did pay actually — in
show, directed Hampstead, even though the manager there said,
by King; “Just come in.” I said, “No, here’s my £18.50. Just
Edward Hogg give me the receipt so I can claim it back.”
and Simon King: If that’s not a work expense, what is?
Farnaby in Farnaby: And in that middle section, around
Bunny And The ‘You’ve Never Had Chocolate Like This’,
Bull (2009). there was a round of applause at the end. It
❯
wasn’t a massive standing ovation, but it was

MAY 2024 95
 completely spontaneous. I did not join in. and it was me playing all the parts and me and So you met before you worked on The
King: You started it off. “Oh, I think that’s Paul wrote it together and Paul directed it. And Mighty Boosh?
worth a round of applause!” we toured… Farnaby: [To King] You went to direct The
Farnaby: “That was pretty well done!” King: Five venues? Six venues? To profound Mighty Boosh while I went on tour.
King: “I didn’t think the directing was that indifference.
much, but the writing was terrific there!” Farnaby: This was around 2003. It was started So how did you first meet?
at Battersea Arts Centre. That’s how our King: The BBC did a sitcom competition, which
The ending was very different at one point, creative partnership started. It’s much the they would then do rehearsal readings of. I had
wasn’t it? Having read the novelisation, same now in that we make each other laugh, done Garth Marenghi in Edinburgh and you
I know that there were various tweaks to and we have a feeling for emotion and a feel were doing some acting, and we were allowed
the story. for story. Obviously it changes when you’ve got to do a rehearsed reading, which I directed
King: I really liked that novelisation [by Sibéal $125 million to play with. and you were in, of a show called The Bunk Bed
Pounder]. It’s very tough for them because the King: But we’re looking for the same things Boys. I think it won the sitcom competition,
film did evolve a lot during the edit. It’s a nice in a film we want to make or a story we want but when it came to the pilot being made, I was
record of what the film very much almost was in to tell. That one-man show was based around certainly fired.
places. I always rather liked the [end] scene with your family. You find things that speak to us Farnaby: I was fired also. We were both
Noodle (Calah Lane) seeing the Oompa Loompa, personally, but that you also hope might have replaced.
as a kind of epilogue. But it just felt like we’d a resonance with an audience. Otherwise, King: By actual professionals.
finished her story at the library. These are the you just do Battersea Arts Centre to your
things you learn in the edit. We had a last shot friends and family. But I think this is the same So were you both drawn to each other?
where the Oompa Loompa flew over the town process. I didn’t feel it was very different to King: Well, I hadn’t really done any writing. I’d
square and you saw the factory, and it was the Paddingtons. written in a group, but I’d never sat down at the
slightly like, “Where’s that come from?” So Farnaby: Thinking about it now, do you keyboard and written something on my own.
it’s nice that there’s a version of the story out remember we had a character in I Am Thicker There was an awkward moment where I sort
Alamy, Getty Images, Shutterstock

there where that is the ending. Than Water who was sort of my dad figure? of asked Simon out. Simon was writing with
We made this character based on Gilbert & someone else at the time, and I can remember
This writing partnership of yours, did it George, and we loved this voice which went going, “So anyway, if you’d, you know, like to get
change particularly in the crucible of this like this: “Don’t be ridiculous, you absolutely together and maybe try and write something, it
huge movie? foolish little man.” A little bit like the Oompa could be, you know, kind of fun.” It was like
Farnaby: Was it different than I Am Thicker Loompa. We find voices and things that sort a scene from Friends.
Than Water? We did a one-man show loosely of recur, even though I’ve only just got that Farnaby: We both liked the theatre. We liked
based around my grandfather’s addiction to connection. I suppose we have a little bit more the same slightly experimental theatre things.
horse racing, called I Am Thicker Than Water, confidence now. King: It’s a lovely trip down Memory Lane.

96 MAY 2024
 “I can do funny
Left: King laughs with Olivia Colman — as the
deliciously named Mrs Scrubitt — while making Wonka.

things. Then Horrible Histories was very successful for you.

Paul puts I got the Mighty Boosh job, and then finally on
Bunny And The Bull, we came back together. But
that was more me writing, you acting. But it was

a shape on it.” lovely on Paddington 2 to be able to go, “It’s us.”

With Wonka, you knew from the off that it

was going to be a musical. Did that change
SIMON FARNABY your approach?
King: That was a new departure. And your set-
pieces get to be songs, in a way that Paddington
Farnaby: I remember feeling, very specifically, had those slapstick set-pieces. We wrote dummy
that I was in good hands with Paul because lyrics for the first draft of the script, because we
I knew I could do funny things, but I didn’t quite didn’t have a songwriter, because it wasn’t greenlit
know what they amounted to. A bit like this and songwriters are expensive. Once the studio
conversation. Paul would always be able to put responded warmly to the script, we landed on Neil
a shape on it or an emotional spine to it or make [Hannon] very happily. Sometimes he would take
it make sense thematically, give it the rounded what we did — ‘You’ve Never Had Chocolate...’
edges that my scattergun approach maybe was pretty close, or bits of it. And then other times
couldn’t on its own. he would entirely go off in his own direction.
King: I think that’s probably still the I think ‘Sweet Tooth’ was pretty much him.
relationship. Farnaby: I thought that would be everyone’s
favourite song, but they’ll tend to pick out
When you’re in the room now, as writers, ‘Never Had Chocolate...’, or…
how does that work? King: ‘Pure Imagination’.
King: Well, we watch a lot of Batman. Farnaby: But that’s nothing to do with us.
Farnaby: Paul doesn’t let me type.
King: He’s borderline illiterate, which I have What’s next for you both?
no problem with spiritually. But my kind of Farnaby: I think The Magic Faraway Tree
meticulous, organisational thing can’t quite (based on the Enid Blyton book series) is filming
tolerate a semicolon being used where it should this summer. That’s something to look forward to.
be a colon, or a comma, or a full stop. So I have
to drive the keyboard. I do more pacing. That’s something you’re doing on your own,
Farnaby: We have our roles, but then you Simon. I notice you don’t bring Paul in on
stray into each other’s territory. Paul can say your projects.
incredibly funny things that really make me King: Well, it’s certainly an awkward question
laugh, and occasionally I accidentally come up you’ve asked.
with some wonderful thematic fit. Farnaby: I feel unless we’re writing it together,
King: I’m always amazed when I see some of the Paul would not be interested in any way, shape
films Simon writes on his own or with other or form. “What are these words? What is this
people. They’re really well-spelled and really nonsense?”
well-structured. I’m like, “Hang on! You don’t King: I did a day on Mindhorn.
need me! You’ve been carrying me discreetly all Farnaby: You did. To be fair, we will share things.
these years.” King: I think I find it quite difficult to be hands-
off. I like The Magic Faraway Tree, and haven’t
Simon, you’re not credited as a writer on read the script. I feel that if I do read it — and
Paddington, but were you around? I warned Simon about this this morning — the
Farnaby: Paul would get me in now and again to problem is, I’m going to have strong feelings.
look at some stuff. And you have to be careful what you wish for.
King: I did write Paddington, but with a huge If you’re filming in 12 weeks, it’s not that useful
amount of help. A lot of it was from Rosie Alison to go, “I don’t like this plot at all!”
and David Heyman, and a friend of mine called Farnaby: That will really break my heart.
Samantha Ellis was heavily involved as a script So next time you speak to us, we may be in
editor. Simon came in later, towards the end. separate rooms.
Farnaby: I did some rehearsals. We did
workshop things. I was around, but certainly There may be a schism in the partnership.
that was Paul’s thing. And then Paddington 2, King: Well, we’re sharing an office. We’re
Paul went, “Should we do it from scratch?” working on some things, but there’s nothing up
King: Because we couldn’t really get anywhere and running yet.
with our writing. That was the reality. We wrote Farnaby: The partnership remains strong.
that small play and some scripts that didn’t go
anywhere, and you were acting a lot, and Just be careful where you put those
semicolons in future.
Left, top to bottom: Not your average confectioner;
King: It’s fine. I’ll just do the typing. It’s
Wonka with young sidekick Noodle (Calah Lane); Who knew
important to know your strengths.
Oompa Loompas look like Hugh Grant?; King and Farnaby
with Paddington; Grant, again, in 2017’s Paddington 2.
WONKA IS OUT NOW ON DVD, BLU-RAY, 4K AND DIGITAL

MAY 2024 97
 Sleeping Beauty’s fate is
sealed: Princess Aurora
(Mary Costa) meets her
nemesis Maleficent
(Eleanor Audley).

Sleeping
Beauty
DISNEY ’S SLOW-BURN
A NIMATE D TREASURE

WORDS BEN TRAVIS

IT’S IRONIC: ON initial release, Sleeping Beauty

was… well, slept on. Today, Disney’s take on the
tale of princess Aurora (aka Briar Rose, and never
actually referred to as ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in the
film) is more than just a pop-cultural staple —
it’s held up as among the highest artistic
achievements of the Walt Disney Animation
Studio. It’s clear to see why — it’s a breathtaking
accomplishment of animation, a moving
tapestry rendered in a striking medieval-
inspired visual style, a feat of full-on fantasy
filmmaking. Every frame of Sleeping Beauty
is a work of art in and of itself.
But at the time, audiences didn’t care for it.
Like many of Disney’s greatest works, it launched
as a colossal flop, resulting in a level of financial
failure that — not for the first or last time
— nearly bankrupted the studio entirely. Even
its critical reception was thorny, crueller than
a christening gift from Maleficent. But the scope January 1959, following a slew of delays owing to meet-cute, in which Aurora dances through the
of its baffling dismissal and eventual reappraisal — among other factors — major rewrites, a heart forest with Prince Phillip (and, more crucially,
hews to the inescapable nature of Sleeping attack (suffered by supervising director Wilfred with a sarcastic owl dressed as Prince Phillip),
Beauty: everything about it is big. Its ambition, Jackson, replaced by Larson), and much of the twirling through a verdant paradise to the
its budget — even its Super Technirama 70 crew being ported over to the creation of Walt’s Tchaikovsky-inspired score — another element
widescreen presentation, with a dramatic aspect other unwieldy artistic ambition: Disneyland. of the movie’s high-art leanings.
ratio resulting in astonishingly wide frames. Looking at Sleeping Beauty now, the length of That astonishingly beautiful visual style
That luxuriously vast canvas was so broad, it its gestation is hardly surprising. To call it lavish accompanies the most assured narrative of
effectively demanded twice as much work from would be an understatement — owing not just to Disney’s three Walt-era princess movies —
its creators to fill, often to their chagrin. Walt’s demand for a “moving illustration”, but the taking the Charles Perrault version of the story
The idea to make Sleeping Beauty big — desire to more authentically integrate the visual and playing it straight, without the house-
a landmark achievement from America’s premier style of New York artist Eyvind Earle. For years, cleaning montages or mouse-centric detours of
animation studio — was there from the start. the studio had been hiring distinctive artists like Snow White and Cinderella. While Aurora fulfils
While much of Disney’s early feature output Mary Blair to contribute to the development of all the requirements of Disney princessdom
leaned into the bouncy cartoonal qualities of the their features. But where Cinderella featured mere (virtuousness; great pipes, here courtesy of
studio’s Silly Symphonies shorts, Walt was hints of Blair’s playful imagery in the finished film, Mary Costa; affinity with all animals), she has
adamant that its third princess-centric fairy-tale this time Walt Disney was insistent that Sleeping more spark than those prior characters too,
feature (after Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs Beauty would more faithfully recreate — as he more alive and self-possessed.
and Cinderella) should shoot for greater heights. dubbed it — the “original styling” of Earle’s work. But as ever, it’s the villain who looms largest
“What we want out of this is a moving It’s Earle’s modernist aesthetic that most — and Maleficent is the greatest of them all, a
illustration,” he told sequence director Eric distinguishes Sleeping Beauty even among the cackling, yellow-eyed, horn-wreathed sorceress
Larson when production began. “I don’t care upper echelons of Disney masterpieces — with its who makes no apologies for her wickedness.
how long it takes.” As it turned out, it took a very geometric shapes, vertiginous natural landscapes, In fact, she embraces it, declaring herself “the
long time. The studio first registered the title and distinctive line-work. The sumptuous scenery mistress of all evil”; true to her word, she enters
‘Sleeping Beauty’ with the MPAA in January is on clearest display in the ‘Once Upon A Dream’ the film by crashing the kingdom’s celebration
1950; the finished film didn’t hit cinemas until sequence, the movie’s swoon-worthy waltzing of baby Aurora’s arrival, cursing the child to

98 MAY 2024
 Top to bottom: Princess
Aurora becomes the
Sleeping Beauty; The fairy
Godmothers: Fauna,
Merryweather and Flora;
The final fiery showdown:
Maleficent transforms into
a magnificent dragon to CHOSEN BY CHRIS HEWITT

battle Prince Phillip

(Bill Shirley).

1 ALIENS
(OUT 1 APRIL, 4K BR)
One of the greatest sequels ever made, much
has been made of how James Cameron
broadened Ridley Scott’s scope (“This time
it’s war”, indeed), but the first hour, before
the mayhem is unleashed, is as tense as
Scott’s movie. Sigourney Weaver has never
been better as Ripley, believe it or not.

2 THE SWIMMER
(OUT 25 MARCH, BR)
Burt Lancaster plays a man who decides to
swim home, through neighbourhood pools,
and ends up mired in metaphor. Is he
depressed? Dying? Both? Whatever you
decide, there’s no denying the power of
Frank Perry’s wonderfully surreal drama, that
clings to you like the smell of chlorine.

3 ANATOMY OF A FALL
(OUT 18 MARCH, DVD/BR/DIGITAL)
Nominated for five Oscars, Justine Triet’s
courtroom drama also kicked down the
a terrible teenage death before promptly leaving. Palme d’Or, and justifiably so. Anchored
It’s such a commitment to corruption that by a stunning performance from Sandra
Disney’s later efforts to reframe her actions more Hüller as a woman who may or may not
empathetically in the live-action Maleficent films box-office return on a $6 million budget — the have killed her husband, it’s a complex
feel like an insult to her gleeful nastiness. Both biggest for a Disney animated feature — was nigh- and compelling character study.
Aurora and Maleficent were masterfully animated on ruinous. Its next film, the distinctly swinging-
by Marc Davis; the former inspired by Audrey ’60s One Hundred And One Dalmatians, pioneered 4 PRIMAL FEAR
Hepburn, the latter by rippling flickers of flame. far-cheaper Xerox animation techniques to keep (OUT 25 MARCH, 4K BR)
It’s in the final reel that Sleeping Beauty costs down; Disney wouldn’t return to the A much more conventional, but no less
cements its legacy — an all-action showdown that princess well until 1989’s The Little Mermaid. entertaining, courtroom drama comes in the
sees Prince Phillip tool up to take on Maleficent, But it’s telling that the documentary shape of Gregory Hoblit’s thriller, which
summoning “all the powers… of hell!” to feature exploring the ’90s Disney renaissance introduced Edward Norton to the world via
transform into a frame-filling, fire-breathing — when princess stories boomed again, to major an astonishing performance as an altar boy
dragon. With it eruptions of lime-green flames, critical and commercial success — was titled who might be hiding a potentially murderous
nightmarish visions of the forest swarmed with Waking Sleeping Beauty. With a few decades’ multiple personality.
thickets of thorns, and perilous clifftop last-stand, hindsight, Sleeping Beauty proved
it’s monumental stuff — today, the iconography to be the artistic peak the studio 5 BOTTOMS
reads more than a little Game Of Thrones. aspired to after a largely (OUT NOW, PRIME VIDEO)
Which makes it all the harder to fathom that disastrous ’80s — a benchmark Emma Seligman’s raucous and
it left viewers in 1959 largely non-plussed. While of what’s possible with enough energetic high-school comedy
Disney intended to continue the fairy-tale time, money, and artistic sees two girls (Ayo Edebiri and
lineage that birthed the studio with Snow White intention. Nobody sleeps on its Rachel Sennott) set up a fight
and revived it post-war with Cinderella, the beauty now. club. Hits harder than you
overwhelming criticism of Sleeping Beauty was might expect, and thankfully
that it was too similar, Disney stagnating in overly SLEEPING BEAUTY IS OUT NOW ON it hits the funny bone
familiar territory. As a result, its initial $5.3 million DVD, BLU-RAY, DIGITAL AND DISNEY+ hardest of all.

MAY 2024 99
 Feats
of clay
A ARD MAN CO- FOUNDER
PETER LORD ON THE STUDIO’S
GREATEST CHA R ACTERS
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT

SINCE AARDMAN ANIMATIONS, the stop-

motion specialists based in Bristol, was formed in
1972, virtually everything it’s produced has had
Peter Lord’s fingerprints on it. Sometimes literally.
As an animator, writer, producer, director and
executive producer, he has helped shape one of the
greatest animation studios on the planet. With
Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget now on Netflix,
we asked him to talk us through some of
Aardman’s greatest characters.

all-American rooster (Rocky was later recast

and is voiced by Zachary Levi in Dawn Of The
Nugget). “It was a smart move,” admits Lord.
“Part of that was with a commercial head on, MORPH
MOLLY knowing that would help to sell the movie. Co-created by Aardman co-founder David
The emotional centre, and wings, of the studio’s I have a distant memory that for a while, Rocky Sproxton, Morph is a silent, boundlessly
Chicken Run sequel, Molly (voiced by Bella might have been Irish, but the important point optimistic chap who first debuted on Take Hart,
Ramsey) is the daughter of Rocky and Ginger, was that he was an outsider, and he was a man. a BBC kids’ show featuring the talented artist
the heroes of the first film. Plucky (but, crucially, I’ll credit Karey Kirkpatrick, the writer, because Tony Hart. “The producer asked us to come up
not plucked) and indefatigable (but, crucially, he loves Rocky. When he was writing Rocky he with a character to be a comic foil to Tony Hart,”
not in de fat fryer), Lord credits Molly’s was away.” explains Lord. “When he was first created, he
development to Karey Kirkpatrick, the film’s didn’t have a character. He just ran around on
initial writer. “It was his idea to bring a child the tabletop, wreaking havoc. But the great thing
into the story,” says Lord. “He wanted that is that he’s had the luxury of time to evolve. I’m
parent-child dynamic, but we didn’t realise how incredibly attached to him. In fact, I confess I’m
it would open up this whole story. A long time even writing something now for him, so we’ll see
ago, more than six years ago, Molly was a boy, how that goes.”
called Nobby, and the parent-child double act
was between Rocky and his son.”

THE PIRATE CAPTAIN

A deliciously vainglorious chap good at neither
swashing nor buckling, the Pirate Captain is at
the centre of The Pirates! In An Adventure With
Scientists!, the Lord-directed gagapalooza that
may be Aardman’s funniest film. It also gave Hugh
Grant a gem of a role. “He wasn’t the obvious GRANDSANTA
choice,” admits Lord. “It was exciting to work with “I love that film,” says Lord of Arthur Christmas,
ROCKY him. There was one joke about roaring, and Hugh the 2011 CG animation that, after a slow burn, has
Aardman kept things terribly British for their doesn’t roar. That is not his thing. But I did ask him become something of a festive perennial. “It was
World War II-inspired comedy Chicken Run, but to go spare for one take. He was saving his voice, rather badly positioned in the theatrical release,
did import a big star — Mel Gibson — to voice an and he wasn’t happy, but we did use it in the end.” but creatively it’s fantastic.” Its secret weapon

100 MAY 2024

 Left: Peter Lord proudly
brandishes Babs at the LFF Gala
premiere of Chicken Run: Dawn
Of The Nugget, in the Royal
Festival Hall, London, on
WALTER MOSLEY
14 October last year.
THE KITCHE N CO -DIRECTOR KI BWE TAVARE S ON
HOW THE GREAT NOVELIST TURNED UP THE HEAT

is Bill Nighy as the mischievous, mordant

Grandsanta, a cackling bit of grit amid all
the glitter. “It’s quite a dark world that he
occupies,” says Lord. “But he turns out to
be incredibly important to the story. He’s
a terrible role model.”

WALLACE AND GROMIT

Lord didn’t have a hand in the creation of
Aardman’s flagship characters, of course. That’s
all down to Nick Park, the human Oscar-Hoover.
But Lord remembers well the moment when
a very young Park, who was making A Grand
Day Out as a student film, showed them some
footage. “We saw what Nick was doing with
Wallace, and thought, ‘Smart boy,’” says Lord. WHEN YOU GET to the Special Thanks section of the credits
“And then we saw some shots that made us for The Kitchen, the striking, powerful sci-fi that marks the
laugh. The memorable one was a line of dialogue directorial debut of both Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares, you’re
with Wallace saying, ‘We’ve forgotten the confronted with a ton of names, enough to wage a small war.
crackers!’ Nick animated it once, and it was “There have been quite a few angels on this film,” Tavares tells
fine, but he went back and had a second go Empire. We wanted to make sure that everyone got recognised in
using this exaggerated mouth-shape that he some form.”
has pioneered, and suddenly you laughed.” Among those thanked are Nia DaCosta, Jack Thorne, Peter
Cracking animation, Nick. Ramsey, Ludwig Göransson, and Shaka King. But for Tavares,
it was important not to forget where his movie began. And The
Kitchen started in the lab — the Sundance Labs, where it was
developed as part of that programme. Tavares tips his hat in the
direction of actors Anthony Welsh and Eric Kofi-Abrefa, neither of
whom are actually in his movie. “Both those actors were in the
original workshop we shot in Daniel’s barber shop,” he says.
“They’d been there from the start, and then Anthony came to the
Sundance Labs and developed the project further with us.”
The film’s start at the Sundance Labs also led to the
unexpected presence of Walter Mosley (pictured left),
the great American novelist behind the Easy Rawlins
SHAUN THE SHEEP series of books. “He was one of our advisors at the
Introduced to great acclaim in A Close Shave, Sundance Labs,” he says. “There are some big
Shaun The Sheep was quickly spun off into key things that came from our conversations. He
his own wildly successful children’s show, started talking about a movement called Move, in
which then begat two wonderfully daft movies. Philadelphia in the ’80s. They were a group of
“I remember some writers came up with Rastafarians living in this house, and it was
Alamy, Getty Images, Mary Evans

a version where he did talk, and lived in a sheep eventually bombed by the government. That’s
world where sheep would go to a sheep cinema where some of the ideas of the Kitchen being
and drive a sheep car,” says Lord. “God, while we contained in one space came from. And when
were writing the first one, there were a couple of I went back to the Directors Lab, he was also
times when you would have given your right arm there and those conversations shaped what the
to be able to say one line of dialogue.” Instead, film was.” Invaluable help in the kitchen? Let’s
the mutton remained mute. call him the sous chef. CHRIS HEWITT

CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET IS ON NETFLIX NOW THE KITCHEN IS ON NETFLIX NOW

MAY 2024 101

 Nicole Kidman
movies
WE TACK LE THE OSCAR-WINNER’S C V. WHICH OF
HER FILMS IS FAR & AWAY T H E BEST ?

SELMAN HOŞGÖR

Chris: So, Nicole Kidman. the Steve Buscemi of actresses.

Helen: I am delighted to talk Helen: She’s an incredible
about this absolutely batshit- comedian. Something like
insane filmography. Being The Ricardos does play
Chris: And a Batman-shit the tragedy side, but it also
filmography. Or a shit Batman. allows her to do Lucille Ball,
Becky: Oh, come on now. which she does really, really
Chris: It’s true. Batman impressively.
Forever is awful. Becky: To Die For and
Nick: You take that back, and Paddington give her this
CHRIS apologise to Dr Chase Meridian. opportunity to be quite playful.
HEWITT Chris: Greatest character Nick: What’s her standout
Still hasn’t forgiven name. Second-worst Batman moment in Paddington?
Kidman for trying film. Anyway, what is it about Chris: When she tries to seduce
to kill Paddington. Nicole Kidman that has made Mr Curry, I think. I reviewed it
her stand out for 35 years? for Empire and described her
Nick: Don’t forget the AMC as “Nigel Farage in fuck-me
commercial, which I have boots”. Now there’s an image.
voted for several times. Nick: Never say those words
Chris: It’s number one in in that order again.
my ranking. Chris: She’s got an interesting
HELEN Helen: For someone who career trajectory. She’s been in collaborations in her life. She’s about her beauty.
O’HARA basically looks perfect as big movies, but she’s ploughed worked with Baz Luhrmann Helen: Absolutely. I think it’s
No laws, no limits, a human being, she has an an indie-movie furrow over twice, on Australia and interesting how she’s used and
one rule: vote for enormous array of different the years. Moulin Rouge!. kind of undermined her
Moulin Rouge!. screen presences. I feel she’s Becky: She plays both sides Nick: All I remember about beauty over the years.
way more versatile than of the coin, I guess. So she’s Australia is at the press Nick: That’s a real recurring
a nearly six-foot-tall blonde worked with Lars von Trier screening, when Hugh theme with her. You first meet
goddess should be. and Gus Van Sant and Park Jackman took his shirt off, her in a story and she seems like
Chris: She’s like the Birds Eye Chan-wook, but also Aquaman a woman literally screamed. she’s got it all together, and
potato waffles of acting. and Batman. She always plays Helen: I’m sorry! then slowly you see under the
Helen: She is waffly versatile. big emotions, whatever she’s Becky: I hate Moulin Rouge!. surface there’s a lot more going
NICK DE Nick: I’d like to see her do in. And I think that plays into Nick: Oh good, I hate it too! on, spinning out of control.
SEMLYEN more comedy. Doing a rewatch indie filmmaking a lot. Becky: I thought I’d give it Chris: It’s there quite early in
Tried watching of some of her stuff was pretty Nick: When she’s done big another chance, but I couldn’t To Die For, which is a great film.
Eyes Wide Shut intense. A lot of the films, you blockbusters, it’s generally been get through 25 minutes of it. Nick: It’s a great performance,
with his eyes shut. need to just stare out of the shared billing with someone Nick: It’s like being screamed and really prescient, when you
window for ten minutes else. She’s in The Peacemaker at by a three-year-old for two look at Instagram culture now.
afterwards. She’s great in with George Clooney, which hours. That said, she’s singing, Chris: And it’s a comedy, and
Paddington, but she’s is the most forgettable film. she’s dancing, she’s doing an early Nicole Kidman death.
definitely veered towards the I think she’s at her best when good work. So she’s starting as she means
heavy stuff. Even Moulin the film is quiet and still and Helen: I put this quite high. to go on.
Portraits: Marco Vittur

Rouge!, which looks like a fun slow. I saw Birth the other Because when I think about Nick: She doesn’t die in Dead
BECKY musical, is very heavy. night and there’s a shot that’s Nicole Kidman, this is what Calm. I love Dead Calm. It’s
DARKE Helen: Well, she dies, but on her face for two minutes, comes to mind. And it was her most fun film. Sorry,
Worried about what there’s a lot of capering and there’s so much going on. such a huge thing for her. Batman Forever.
to place first, but is before that. You’re just hypnotised. Becky: I find that in a lot of Becky: It really stands up as
dead calm now. Chris: She dies a lot. She’s also Chris: She’s had some great her films, the characters talk well. It’s as good as I remember,

102 MAY 2024

 THE OTHERS
(2001)
know what to make of it. It’s
a bizarre psychedelic adventure
through stuff that a man is
completely ill-equipped to deal
with. She’s great in it, but it’s
very much a supporting role.
Becky: Far & Away was such a DESTROYER
favourite of mine as a kid. I used (2018)
to watch it a lot and I’m slightly
embarrassed about that.
Chris: Hollywood keeps
telling us they love the Irish,
then they go and give us that.
Nick: Dogville is my number
one Nicole Kidman film. It’s PADDINGTON
(2014)
a really unusual film, but she’s
absolutely astonishing. I saw
somebody describing her as
acting like it’s a sport in that.
An extreme sport.
Helen: They talk about Meryl
Streep wanting to “win the DEAD CALM
scene”. I think Nicole Kidman (1989)

does the same thing. She really

goes in to make an impact.
Chris: She does love getting
into period costume. Which
brings us to Stoker. Another of
the many collaborations in her
career with a visionary auteur: TO DIE FOR
(1993)
Wentworth Miller. I love Stoker.
Such a dark, twisted, funny film.
Nick: I love this film. It needs to
be talked about more, because
it’s a masterpiece and not
enough people have seen it.
It’s not really her film, though. EYES WIDE SHUT
Chris: And there’s another (1999)

period film we haven’t talked

7
about: The Others.
if not better. And she’s such filmography — and that is a Chris: Destroyer is a tour Nick: Again, acting as an
a baby in it, but you can see wide-open category — when de force. extreme sport. I have a limited
that star potential. she’s trying to fuck Alexander Becky: it’s an incredible film. tolerance for haunted-house
Chris: There’s inner grit. And Skarsgård, her own son. She’s so You can almost feel her pain movies, but this one is great.
DOGVILLE
she not only had to hold her evil in that, it’s extraordinary. radiating out of the screen. Becky: As a horror fanatic, (2003)
own against Billy Zane’s psycho, Nick: There’s a fearlessness to Chris: What about her working one of the things that elevates
but Billy Zane’s performance. her. She goes to places very relationship with Tom Cruise? a horror is that it has to scare
You can see why Hollywood few other actors do. They made three films together: the shit out of me. And The
was so beguiled by her. Chris: She won an Oscar for Days Of Thunder, Far & Away Others did that. I rewatch it
Helen: I would suggest, though, playing Virginia Woolf in The — the worst film they made relatively regularly because it’s
that another fun Nicole Hours. Who’s afraid of Virginia together — and Eyes Wide Shut. one of my favourite, if not my
Kidman film exists, and it’s Woolf? Not Nicole Kidman, It’s 25 years on now from that. favourite, ghost film. STOKER

Helen: I think a lot of that

(2013)
Practical Magic. It’s probably that’s for sure. This is maybe a It got a bit of a kicking at the
the film of hers with the biggest bit harsh, but the film’s not that time. Should it be reassessed? comes from her desperation to
and most passionate fanbase. great. Is this the film you would Becky: It’s such a fascinating keep things together in a very
Chris: What do they call have given her the Oscar for? piece of work, and way difficult situation.
themselves — Practical Helen: No. But she was more entertaining than Chris: Not to spoil it, but
Magicians? wearing a prosthetic nose, so I remembered it being. imagine when they sent her
Helen: They call themselves, plus 100 points. And I think it Helen: I think people didn’t the script. “Do I die in the MOULIN ROUGE!
I believe, ‘women’. was a matter of them feeling expect it to be slyly funny and end?” “It’s even better than (2001)
Chris: Then there’s also my they should maybe have given an undermining of the Cruise that, Nicole.” “I’m in.” Anyway,
beloved Paddington, aka ‘The it to her for Moulin Rouge!. persona in particular, and didn’t enough squabbling. Let’s vote!
Attempted Killing Of A Sacred Nick: I would have gone for
Bear’. So much fun. Now, The Destroyer, another film where
Northman isn’t fun, but has she transforms herself. She’s
perhaps the most fucked-up good in The Hours, but she’s
scene in the Kidman not actually in it that much. THE KILLING OF
A SACRED DEER (2017)

MAY 2024 103

 How To Give
A Stellar Clockwise
from right:
The morning

Performance
after the
night before:
Tara (Mia
McKenna-
Bruce) is ill at
ease in Malia;
Holiday-ready;
BAF TA-W INNER MIA McKENNA-BRUCE ON HER BREAKOUT Face to face:
Paddy (Samuel
RO L E IN HOW TO HAVE SEX WORDS BETH WEBB Bottomley) and
Tara; Skye
BREAKOUT ROLES DON’T come much more Tara, she came to the realisation that she held (Lara Peake),
challenging than that of Tara, the assertive, a lot of parallels with her character: “Trying to Em (Enva
sparky teen played by Mia McKenna-Bruce in live up to these expectations that people have Lewis) and
How To Have Sex. The directorial debut from of you, I think a lot of teenagers have that.” Tara get into
Molly Manning Walker is at once a coming-of- the party spirit;
age movie about a 16-year-old seeking escape FIELD RESEARCH McKenna-
and ecstasy on a cheap party holiday, and Walker and the film’s producers staged Bruce on set
a bracing study of sex and consent that forces workshops with teenagers across the UK with writer-
audiences to reckon with big problems caused ahead of shooting. Pages of the script were director Molly
by society’s treatment of young women. The passed around, some with scenes involving the Manning
film scooped up the Un Certain Regard award sexual assault of Tara by a boy she’s befriended, Walker.
following its world premiere at Cannes, and Paddy (Samuel Bottomley). “These workshops
recently McKenna-Bruce won the EE Rising were a big reason why the film got made,”
Star BAFTA, in no small part due to her says McKenna-Bruce, referencing the teens’
performance. Speaking with Empire, she breaks responses to those pages. “A lot of girls in
down how she approached a character that has particular were standing up and saying, ‘There’s
come to mean so much to her. nothing wrong with it. She shouldn’t be drunk,
she should be wearing more clothes,’ and trying
TEEN MENTALITY to place the blame on Tara.” Conversations from
To prepare for the role, McKenna-Bruce, now those meet-ups were brought into the actors’
in her mid-twenties, looked to her younger rehearsals and helped to make the characters
sisters. “They are my go-to when it comes to as accessible as possible.
checking in and seeing what’s going on in Even some of Tara’s mannerisms were
the mind of that kind of age,” she says of the informed by the workshops. While Walker was
16- and 21-year-old siblings, who were also speaking with one teen about assault, she
a major motivation behind her taking on such noticed them playing with the hairband on their
a challenging film in the first place. Then, during wrist for — as McKenna-Bruce describes it —
rehearsals, McKenna-Bruce and her co-stars “a bit of release, that’s what we’d come to”. Her
were asked to bring in photos of themselves at character consequently does the same when she
the age of their characters. She was fascinated feels anxious, along with picking her nails. This
by what she saw: “Even little things like my hair comes into play during a fraught night on the
was bleached blonde, or I had painted on fake holiday where Tara and Paddy have sex on the
freckles really badly; seeing that shift and beach, although the boundaries of consent
figuring out when those changes happened during the encounter are blurred. “When she
were really helpful.” was particularly feeling that nervous energy, her
go-to was to get rid of the sand from her nails or
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION clothes,” says McKenna-Bruce.”It was like if she
How To Have Sex was filmed in the party district was getting rid of the sand, she was getting rid of
of Malia, Crete. The shoot itself took place the [memories].”
off-season, but the sun, sea and thoroughly
orchestrated ragers that Tara and her pals attend THE UNSEEN TARA
still acted as a means of time travel for McKenna- The film begins and ends with Tara’s holiday, with
Bruce and her co-stars. “I don’t know if it was very little mention of her homelife. Instead,
the energy from being there or the energy of us Walker and McKenna-Bruce crafted an intricate
all being together, but we would get together backstory for the character to help inform how
and this hyperness would take over like we were she behaved onscreen, from her seemingly
teenagers again,” she remembers. While playing boundless confidence around strangers to her

104 MAY 2024

 “She tries to get rid of
sand from her nails, to
get rid of memories.”
complicated relationship with her best friend, the Malia strip in clubwear: dresses, skirts
Skye (Lara Peake). “We figured out that maybe and tops in bright or neon colours, often
Tara had a big brother, so had experience of being borrowed from Skye, and always skin-tight.
around older people, especially older boys,” “When we had the costume fittings, they were
McKenna-Bruce explains. “That’s something intentionally made to be slightly ill-fitting,”
that Skye was envious of, because Tara could go McKenna-Bruce remembers, while also
into these groups and still be herself.” describing her constant urge to tug and pull
It was important that the knotty, down the uncomfortable clothes. After the
occasionally toxic dynamic between Tara, Skye, beach scene, Tara’s Day-Glo green dress is
and their third friend Em (Enva Lewis) was turned inside out, the clinging sand and disorder
determined early on in order to make it feel as of her outfit adding to her distress. “Those bits
lived-in as possible. The actor and director are important,” the actor explains. “They’re not
decided that Em and Tara had been childhood necessarily details you’d pick on straightaway,
friends, with Skye a newer addition with higher but they were really helpful for me when
social status. “She’s the cool girl at school, and getting into where Tara is.”
the other two are trying to live up to her,” says The booze-soaked streets of Malia are
McKenna-Bruce. Tara’s personal battlefield, with McKenna-
Bruce, clad in Lycra armour, steering her
PULLING THREADS through the trauma and triumphs of youth.
When Tara’s not ensconsed in oversized
hoodies and sweater shorts, she’s taking on HOW TO HAVE SEX IS OUT NOW ON DVD, BLU-RAY AND DIGITAL

MAY 2024 105

 southwellsculpture.uk

European forests, which provide wood for making paper,

paper packaging and many other products, have been
growing by 1,500 football pitches every day!

Discover the story of paper

www.lovepaper.org
Source: Forest and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), 2005 - 2020
European Forests: EU27 + Norway, Switzerland and the UK
Love Paper is a registered trademark for Two Sides Ltd. Registered in the UK, U.S. and other countries and used with permission.

Dig deeper with

delivered to your door!
Music’s legends. MOJO’s finest writers. The full stories.
Each edition of our deluxe bookazines takes a deep and exhilarating
dive into the world of one of our favourite artists, like The Beatles,
David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and many more. The Collectors’
Series enables readers to dig down even further, putting the
magazine’s cherished icons firmly under the microscope.

Why subscribe?
l Save money off shop prices l Receive 10 beautifully crafted
l Never miss another issue special editions a year
l Find more extraordinary stories, l Guaranteed best deal
more detailed information and when you buy with us!
many more rare and iconic images l FREE UK delivery

VISIT www.greatmagazines.co.uk/MOJOCollectors
Or call 01858 438884 and quote AJAA
Terms & Conditions: Subscriptions will start with the next available issue and are priced from £85.99. The minimum term is 12 months. Recurring payments will continue to be taken unless you tell
us otherwise. This offer closes on 20/12/2023. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Cost from landlines for 01 numbers per minute are (approximate) 2p to 10p. Cost from
mobiles per minute (approximate) 10p to 40p. Costs vary depending on the geographical location in the UK. You may get free calls to some numbers as part of your call package – please check
with your phone provider. Order lines open 8am-9.30pm (Mon-Fri), 8am-4pm (Sat). UK orders only. Overseas? Phone +44 1858 438828. Calls may be monitored or recorded for training purposes.
For full terms and conditions please visit: http://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/offer-terms-and-conditions
 spend the holiday at boarding school in 1971
— and takes out the murdering devil-cult angle.
AWA RDS SEASON Maestro — need to see a megalomaniac
classical musician in weird age make-up? You
I’M WRITING THIS column towards the end could go with Michael York in Phantom Of Death
of awards season, when my usual cult-cinema LEGE NDARY AUTHOR AND CRITIC (1988) — he’s a pianist who suffers from a) rapid
viewing list gets set aside so I can watch a stack KIM NEWMAN BRINGS US HIS ageing syndrome and b) homicidal mania. It has
of worthy pictures about serious subjects. UNIQUE TAKE S ON CULT CINE MA the edge over the Netflix film because Donald
I thought it might be an interesting exercise Pleasence is in it and Bradley Cooper isn’t.
to suggest more outré complementary The End We Start From — the weirdest thing
programming for this year’s crop of major MATTHEW BRAZIER about the apocalyptic Jodie Comer showcase is
motion pictures. In many cases, I’m more likely how much it plays like a remake of Cornel Wilde’s
to go with the cultier version again than revisit eco-breakdown nightmare No Blade Of Grass
the Oscar-BAFTA-GG-Critics’ Circle picks. (1970), which at least has rampaging Hells Angels
Oppenheimer — quite a lot of the plot of and many shoot-outs as its survivalists trek across
Oppenheimer follows The Beginning Or The a blighted Britain to a promised stronghold.
End (1947), which was essentially a biopic of the Poor Things — to be fair, if Poor Things
Bomb, with egghead Oppie (Hume Cronyn) and were much, much cheaper, made in 1987 and
gruff General Groves (Brian Donlevy) as head starred Traci Lords, I’d absolutely cover it in
cheerleaders. If you thought Christopher Nolan’s this column. Since it isn’t, wasn’t and doesn’t,
film a mite self-important, note that 20th its Bride Of Frankenstein should lead you to
Century Fox buried a print of The Beginning Or bizarro variants — I recommend Frankenhooker
The End in a time capsule to be opened in the 25th and Patchwork, which have gruesome fun with
century as “an enduring record of our civilisation”. the several-girls-sewn-together premise.
Barbie — obviously, once you’ve seen Saltburn — Emerald Fennell lifts the title
Barbie you need to check out Kim Cattrall in font from Hammer’s Dracula, so you know
Mannequin (1987) and Kristy Swanson in she’d much rather make a monster movie than
Mannequin On The Move (1991). I’ve not seen a prestige special. Everyone has noted the
either in 30 years but they can’t be as terrible as Talented Mr. Ripley similarities, but for even
I remember. The mannequins come to life could weirder riffs on outsiders spreading chaos
easily be billed as ’80s Hair Barbies. in stately homes, look at Blue Blood (1974),
Allstar, Mary Evans

The Holdovers — there’s a fashion for with Oliver Reed as a glowering devil butler
redoing heartwarming movies as slasher films undermining posh prat Derek Jacobi, or
(cf: Happy Death Day), but The Holdovers inverts Something For Everyone (1970), with Michael
the process by taking the premise of last year’s Top: Before Oppenheimer, there was 1947’s The Beginning York (him again) as a cook servicing and
The Sacrifice Game — a few sad pupils having to Or The End. Above: Kim Cattrall in Mannequin (1987). enslaving a castle-load of European aristocrats.

BIRTH/REBIRTH LORD OF MISRULE ON THE LINE THE PORTRAIT THE SEEDING

(DIGITAL) (DIGITAL) (DIGITAL) (DIGITAL) (DIGITAL)
Writer-director Laura In William Brent Bell’s new Writer-director Oliver Natalia Cordova-Buckley Unwary eclipse-watcher
Moss’ impactful first film, vicar Tuppence Pearn’s thriller gets brings brain-damaged Scott Haze is lured into
feature is an up-to-the- Middleton fears her a lot out of one set husband Ryan Kwanten to a deep crevasse in the
minute Frankenstein daughter has been (a telephone exchange on his family estate, hoping to Utah desert inhabited
reimagining. Detached abducted during Harvest Alderney in 1964) and cure his amnesia — but by glum, unforthcoming
neuroatypical scientist and Festival as a sacrifice to performer (Victoria Lucie). both fall under the Kate Lyn Sheil. But both
emotionally involved the dreaded Gallowgog A switchboard operator supernatural influence of seem to be playthings
grieving mother keep and all her neighbours are tries to help a desperate a portrait in the attic. Simon of a pack of Hills Have
a resurrected child alive in on it. It works hard to caller she thinks has been Ross’ Gothic ghost story Eyes-ish feral children.
through increasingly avoid the tropes of too kidnapped — but as more has unsettling moments Barnaby Clay pulls off
gruesome, horrific means. much folk horror in favour calls come in, the mystery – but its basic plot feels a disturbing art-film riff on
A tough, rewarding watch. of proper rural nastiness. gets more complicated. stretched at feature length. back-of-beyond horror.

MAY 2024 107

 The
making
of a punk
nightmare
D IRECTO R JER EMY SAULNIER
O N HOW HE TUR NED GREEN
RO O M INTO A TUNED-UP
TENSIO N MACHINE
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT

JEREMY SAULNIER RECENTLY showed Green

Room to his 16-year-old daughter. “She’s a horror
nerd, like her father,” he laughs. “She goes to an art
school in LA, and the funny thing is, they teach
genre lighting, and Green Room is on the
curriculum.” So, did she like her old man’s film? “I
think she dug it,” says Saulnier. “Although she did
try to watch it in two sittings. I was like, ‘No. This
is a ride, my friend. You get on, you cannot get off.’”
Say that again. Green Room, which Saulnier
wrote and directed, is as relentless and gripping
as it was when it first came out in 2016. It is
a boot on the throat, a Stanley knife to the arm,
a shotgun-blast to the face. Which is what
Saulnier was going for when he first came up
with the film’s central notion: it would be a siege
movie in which a punk band, the Ain’t Rights,

“You realise
wind up taking refuge in the green room of Much of the tension in Green Room comes
a neo-Nazi bar in a Southern backwater after from a feeling that anything can happen to any
they witness a murder and become expendable character at any time, and that nobody is safe from

this movie has

as a result. Saulnier started writing it after the Saulnier’s unwavering axe. Or, in most cases,
success of his breakout film, Blue Ruin, in 2013. attack dog. Over the course of 90-odd gruelling,
“I was getting thrown some scripts that I didn’t gore-flecked minutes, likeable people make

no mercy, to
understand completely,” he tells Empire from sudden life-or-death choices that mostly wind up
an edit suite, where he’s finishing his fifth movie, in death. “The story itself had a trajectory,” he says.
Rebel Ridge. “I’d had this idea floating around, “The characters who I loved, when they made

the very end.”

based on my youth. We were into punk rock and a mistake in this high-stakes situation, I did not
going to hardcore shows. I remember being at magically write them out of it. They died. When
a metal show in Virginia, out in the sticks, with you see the people that are supposed to make it,
some tough people, and it was a little scary. And it’s a legitimate surprise because I’m surprised as
I realised, if shit went down, we would be in the writer. From that moment forth, when shit very attractive for young people.”
really deep trouble. That stuck with me.” starts to go down, you realise this movie has no For the lead role of Pat, the Ain’t Rights’
Saulnier started writing Green Room as both mercy. That carries through to the very end.” guitarist, who becomes the only member of
a technical exercise, in how to generate and To play his heroes, Saulnier cast a bunch of the band to make it through to the end (albeit
sustain tension, and an exorcism, getting rid of that young up-and-coming actors who have since much changed), Saulnier cast Anton Yelchin.
idea. He didn’t necessarily intend to make it his upped and come: Callum Turner, Alia Shawkat Tragically, Yelchin died in an accident in June
follow-up, but somewhere along the way he lured (in a role originally written for a guy), Joe Cole 2016, just a couple of months after Green Room
himself in. “I’m not writing for executives, I’m not and Imogen Poots. That three out of four of came out, and his death still clearly impacts
writing for anyone but the audience and myself,” them were Brits (not to mention the man Saulnier to this day. “It’s tough,” says the
he recalls of his attitude. “And I put myself in the playing his lead villain) was unintentional. director, clearly emotional. “I don’t know what
audience’s place. I allowed the script to create its “I just wanted authenticity,” he says. “It was easy they used for my interview for the 4K release,
own tension, because I wasn’t over-navigating it. to cast this movie because it’s a movie that has but man, it was just snot and tears. Even now…”
Alamy

I was there, I was scared, I was living it.” a certain level of violence, and the energy was He trails off, gathers his thoughts. “He’s the only

108 MAY 2024

 one who actually came after me for the part. And
it was very clear that he was Pat. He was actually
legit punk rock, and had all the cred. He had
chops, and that’s what I needed, as the whole
wave of the movie would be on his shoulder.”
A shoulder that is very nearly lopped off in
the film’s pivotal sequence, where Pat has a
conversation with Darcy, the leader of the neo-
Nazi skinheads, in which he is persuaded to part
Above: Pat with the group’s gun in exchange for safety, only
(Anton Yelchin) to have his arm hacked to ribbons. Saulnier came
with bandmate to refer to the scene as “the infamous scene 58”,
Amber (Imogen “because it was ten pages of talk, and it’s where
Poots). Right, the film turns, and it’s out of my hands. It’s in the
top to bottom: performers’ hands. And we have to compel the
Neo-Nazi bar audience to sit and wait and ratchet this thing up,
owner Darcy without seeing much.” He’s not kidding. Because,
(Patrick even though Darcy is on the other side of a locked
Stewart) with door, Saulnier keeps his camera firmly fixed on Pat
Gabe (Macon throughout the scene. All we can hear of Darcy
Blair); The is his soft Southern burr. That’s already a bold
Ain’t Rights in directorial choice, but even more so when you
action; Neo- factor in that Darcy is played by Patrick Stewart,
Nazis Daniel who jumped at the chance to play against type as
(Mark Webber) an utterly despicable villain.
and Jonathan “It was written that way,” says Saulnier. “But
(Samuel I did burn a camera on Patrick. I said, ‘This can’t
Summer). Left, be ADR, this is live theatre. You’re on the other
top to bottom: side of the door, and this is scary as fuck.’ It was
Tiger (Callum important that Patrick feel the heat of the camera.
Turner), Pat, But it’s like Jaws: the less you see, the better.” It
Reece (Joe clearly worked, not just for the film, but for the
Cole) and Sam performers. “Anton was miked with a lavalier mic,
(Alia Shawkat) the ones that clip onto your chest,” says Saulnier.
are threatened; “And there were times that Anton’s heart-rate was
Writer-director so high, you could hear it pounding.” Sounds very
Jeremy much like a typical audience-member watching
Saulnier on set. Green Room. Directors’ daughters might be exempt.

GREEN ROOM IS OUT ON 18 MARCH ON 4K BLU-RAY

MAY 2024 109

 Ray
Winstone

THE OR IGINAL SEXY

BEAST ON THE IMAGES
OF HIS CAREER
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT

“I’M THE DADDY NOW!” yelled Ray

Winstone in his blistering breakthrough
role as Carlin in Alan Clarke’s 1979 borstal
drama Scum. No arguments there. Although
it took the East London-born actor a decade
or so to properly fulfil that promise, he’s
since worked with Hollywood A-listers such
as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and
Robert Zemeckis, while also delivering a raft
of incredible turns in homegrown fare.
Here, Empire takes him on a trip down
Memory Lane…

SPEEDO KING
SEXY BEAST 2000
“That’s Raymondo. I’m thinking about the
prep for the job. (Winstone plays Gary ‘Gal’ NO DISTRESS KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESY
Dove, a retired criminal who has relocated to DAMSEL 2024 INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF
Alamy, Getty Images, Mary Evans, Netflix

Spain to start a new life with wife DeeDee, “That’s the great Angela Bassett, who plays THE CRYSTAL SKULL 2008
played by Amanda Redman.) I was told to go on my wife (Lady Bayford). Terrific woman, “‘Jonesy!’ He was just a wrong ’un, Mac, but
the beach when we got there and get a suntan, a great actress. And that’s us pulling into the I said that if he was a cowardly wrong ’un and he
and eat and drink as much as I wanted. That kingdom [in which Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s batted for whoever was winning at the time, you
was my prep. But it still ain’t too bad! It’s upcoming fantasy film is set] for the first time, could grow to like him a little bit. He’s a great
alright! That is a geezer. A geezer ain’t got an on a boat. And this thing comes out of the man, Harrison Ford. Really liked him. Enjoyed
eight-pack. And that’s what it’s about. ‘Sexy mist and kind of catches us off guard a little him. And I loved it because my kids were a lot
beast’. The beast is the money, the beast is bit. This was [filmed on] an actual set, and younger then and it’s a film they could watch.
the blag, the beast is Don, the beast is the you had green screen all round you. It’s I didn’t want them watching Nil By Mouth and
rabbit, and the beast is Teddy Bass. There’s done so differently today than when I first The War Zone. But Indiana Jones is fantastic.
your sexy beast.” started out.” You can watch that all day long.”

110 MAY 2024

 DON & GAL
SEXY BEAST 2000
[Winstone starts humming ‘Peaches’ by The
Stranglers.] “Magnificent actor, Ben [Kingsley].
DADDY ISSUES This man who played Gandhi is coming here
SCUM 1979 and playing Don, and he had a certain beat in
“Pongo Banks, the daddy. ‘You ain’t the fuckin’ the way he spoke. ‘Do it, do it, do it.’ It occurred
daddy no more.’ What comes to mind is that to me reading the script that the only bit of
[cinematographer] Phil Méheux was shooting reality in the film is Gary. The rest is your
this and it was done in more-or-less one take. nightmare. No-one fucking talks like that, but
Phil was on a handheld, following me. You go it works. If you missed an ‘if’ out, it didn’t
along the corridor, down the stairs and go into work. The writing was almost like modern-day
the pool hall where they’re all fucking about. fucking Shakespeare. And this scene, it would
I go to the pool table, pull out the sock and put be so easy to get caught up in the rhythm of
the balls into it. You see the balls going into it, what he was doing, but I played it off his beat.
but there was a geezer lying on the floor as I had to miss the beat.”
CUE RAGE I walk through and we swapped socks, but
NIL BY MOUTH 1997 people think the balls are in the sock. The first
“Oh, this is the pool scene where Kathy time we did this was for the BBC and the second
(Burke) is playing with Peter the pool time we did it as a film and we were older. The
player (Ronnie Fox) and I say, ‘Get in the first one was better because we were younger.”
fucking car, get in the fucking car,’ and she’s
trying to hold [his rage] back. It’s a man
bullying a woman, because he’s insecure
himself. I felt safe with Kathy (who plays
the long-suffering wife of Ray’s character
Raymond), and hopefully she felt safe with
me. It’s like therapy, in a way, playing
those sorts of parts, because it educates
you on how you feel when you perceive
those people.”

GET YOUR COAT

THE DEPARTED 2006
THEY CALL HIM MR GLASS “I invented this character sitting with Marty
THE GENTLEMEN 2024 (Scorsese) in the Dorchester one Sunday
“That’s Bobby Glass, doing a bit of porridge. morning. I was up to play one of the coppers and
He’s up there in his pigeon loft. I think that I said, ‘I don’t want to, Marty.’ I said, ‘I’d like to
was shot on the back of Pinewood somewhere. play a character who was with Frank (Costello,
I nearly worked with Guy Ritchie on Lock, Stock, the crime boss played by Jack Nicholson) all the
And Two Smoking Barrels, and when he came time, because it’s the only way you get to know
calling, it was about time. I really enjoyed it. It’s who he is.’ He liked that. And that’s my coat.
good that we’re older men. When you’re young, I had that on when I met Marty. I’ve still got it.”
you’re a bit more fiery and as you get older, you
calm down.” DAMSEL AND THE GENTLEMEN ARE ON NETFLIX NOW

MAY 2024 111

 MARTIN
SCORSESE 6 At the time of writing, he has won just one
Oscar. What was it for? 12 What’s the name of the Henry Hill memoir
upon which GoodFellas is based?

7 But how many times has he been

nominated for Best Director? 13 One person has appeared in several of
Scorsese’s films in roles like Rupert’s
Mom (The King Of Comedy), Tommy’s Mother

8 Scorsese’s highest-grossing movie took

in just over $400 million worldwide.
What is it?
(GoodFellas) and Fruit Stand Customer (Cape
Fear). Who is she?

9 What’s the name of his production

company?
14 What is the name of Scorsese’s long-time
and legendary editor?

10 Scorsese is also an excellent actor.

He once starred as Vincent Van
15 Which Michael Jackson music video did
Scorsese direct?

Gogh for which legendary director, and in

which movie? 16 In The Last Temptation Of Christ, Willem
Dafoe plays Jesus. But who plays

1 What was Martin Scorsese’s first film,

released all the way back in 1967?
11 In which three films has Scorsese
Pontius Pilate?

2 How many films has he made with Robert

De Niro?
busted out the Rolling Stones’ classic,
‘Gimme Shelter’? 17 In Cape Fear’s iconic cinema scene, what
is the movie Max Cady is guffawing along
to, much to the annoyance of Nick Nolte’s
character and his family?

3 And how many films has he made with

Leonardo DiCaprio?
18 What is the name of the talk-show host
Rupert Pupkin becomes obsessed with

4 Before Killers Of The Flower Moon,

Scorsese directed De Niro and DiCaprio in
in The King Of Comedy?

a short film/advert for a Macau casino resort.

What is the name of that short film? 19 Scorsese has only directed one sequel.
What is it?

5 We all know Johnny Boy, Travis Bickle, Rupert

Pupkin, Jimmy Conway. But what’s the name
of De Niro’s character from New York, New York?
20 “Someday a real rain will come and wash
all this scum off the streets” is a line from
which Scorsese film?

Money, the sequel to The Hustler 20. Taxi Driver

Getty Images

Family 13. Catherine Scorsese, Martin’s mother 14. Thelma Schoonmaker 15. ‘Bad’ 16. David Bowie 17. Problem Child 18. Jerry Langford 19. The Color Of
Departed 8. The Wolf Of Wall Street 9. Sikelia Productions 10. Akira Kurosawa, in Dreams 11. GoodFellas, Casino, The Departed 12. Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia
ANSWERS 1. Who’s That Knocking At My Door 2. Ten 3. A mere six 4. The Audition 5. Jimmy Doyle 6. Best Director for The Departed 7. Ten, including The

112 MAY 2024

 1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9

10 11

12 13 FOUR ’80S
14 15 16 CULT CLASSICS
17

18 19 20

21 22

23 24

25

1 Film company behind My Beautiful Laundrette, 1 Ed, who made Plan 9 From Outer Space (4)
Love Actually and Hot Fuzz (7,5) 2 Animal such as Pocahontas’ pal Meeko, RJ DIG OUT THOSE leg-warmers and spritz that
7 Moon Knight’s Isaac (5) in Over The Hedge or Rocket (7) hairspray, as Final Cut Entertainment has four
9 It’s where you meet with Judy Garland for the 3 She’s played by Gal Gadot in Fast & Furious (6) classic ’80s titles for five winners. First up is
World’s Fair (2,5) 4 Wedding Crashers and Wedding Daze’s Fisher (4) madcap horror-comedy Haunted Honeymoon,
10 Tarantino’s death-proof stuntwoman (3,4) 5/21 DOWN She’s been Ellie Sattler, Lula and starring the legendary Gene Wilder. Next,
11 Could be Rudolph, could be Hawke (4) Holdo (5,4) Peter Bogdanovich’s moving Mask, with Cher
14 Forrest Gump or Tom Courtenay’s Colin Smith or 6 Michael Caine was a great one last year (7) and Eric Stolz as a loving mother and son. Then
a worker on a TV show (6) 8 Andrei — (Andrei Tarkovsky film) (6) there’s Somewhere In Time, a tender romantic
15 Sometimes see-through Spirited Away character 12 One who takes part in the Hunger Games (7) drama starring Superman himself, Chistopher
who is drawn to Chihiro (2-4) 13 Cinematographer Hall who won a posthumous Reeve. And finally Susan Seidelman’s offbeat,
18 His name is Lightyear! (4) third Academy Award for Road To Perdition (6) much-loved Desperately Seeking Susan, with
20 It links Bubbles, Bucket and Babbitt (7) 16 Breslin, who’s been Little Rock and a Little Miss Rosanna Arquette and then-nascent-star
23 Sharon Stone’s Catherine, crime-writer and Sunshine hopeful (7) Madonna, in a new Blu-ray set with a stack of
prime suspect in Basic Instinct (7) 17 Kundun, Koyaanisqatsi and The Hours composer new docs. Just crack the crossword, solve
24 Slytherin student — or, very briefly, James Glass (6) the anagram and follow the instructions below.
Bond’s father-in-law (5) 19 House Of Flying Daggers’ Yimou or Ziyi (5)
25 He collects spores, moulds and fungus 21 See 5 DOWN ALL TITLES ARE AVAILABLE IN STORE AND ONLINE

(4,8) 22 How are things with Yorgos Lanthimos? (4)

COMPETITION ENDS 8 APRIL

HOW TO ENTER Take the letters from each coloured square and rearrange them to form the name of an actor, director or character. Visit
www.empireonline.com/crossword and fill out the form, along with your answer, in the provided field. Entry is free and closes at midnight on
8 April. Winners are selected at random. See below for terms and conditions.
@ Final Cut Entertainment

APRIL’S ANSWERS ACROSS: 2 Rear Window, 7 David, 8 Raw Deal, 9 O Brother, 10 Ryan, 12 School, 14 Leitch, 17 Hill, 18 Joel Coen, 21 Meadows,
22 Creep, 23 Adaptation. DOWN: 1 Bad Moms, 2 River, 3 Audition, 4 News, 5 Of Egypt, 6 Alan, 8 Roeg, 11 Bellucci, 13 Holland, 15 Hank Pym, 16 Gods,
17 Home, 19 Ocean, 20 Soup. ANAGRAM DARTH MAUL

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: One entry per person. Entries are free. Entries must be received before 9 April or will not be valid. The Competition is only open to people aged 18 and over who live in the United Kingdom and are not a Bauer employee
or their immediate family. One winner will be selected at random from all valid entries. Competition promoted by H Bauer Publishing t/a Empire (“Empire”). Empire’s choice of winner is final, and no correspondence will be entered into in this regard. The winner will
be notified, via email, between seven and ten days after the competition ends. Empire will email the winner a maximum of three times. If the winner does not respond to the message within 14 days of the competition’s end, Empire will select another winner at random
and the original winner will not win a prize. Empire is not responsible for late delivery or unsatisfactory quality of the prize. Entrants agree to the collection of their personal data in accordance with Empire’s privacy policy: http://www.bauerdatapromise.co.uk/.
Winner’s personal details will be given to prize provider to arrange delivery of the prize. Bauer reserves the right to amend or cancel these terms or any aspect of the competition (including the prize) at any time if required for reasons beyond its control.
Any questions, please email [email protected]. Complaints will not be considered if made more than 30 days after the competition ends. Winner’s details available on request (after the competition ends) by emailing [email protected].
For full T&Cs see http://www.bauerlegal.co.uk/competition-terms.html

MAY 2024 113

 Sean: My father was an alcoholic. Mean fuckin’ Sean: It’s not your fault.
drunk. He’d come home hammered, lookin’ to
whale on somebody. So I’d provoke him so he Will: [Suddenly looking a bit scared] I know.
wouldn’t go after my mother and little brother.
Interesting nights were when he wore his rings. Sean: No, no, you don’t. It’s not your fault.

Will: [Opening up] Yeah, he used to just put He moves closer. Will backs up, uncomfortable.
a, um, a wrench, a stick and a belt on the table,
“IT ’S NOT YOUR FAULT ” and just say, “Choose.” Will: I know.

Good Will Sean: “Well, I gotta go with the belt there, Vanna.” Sean: It’s not your fault.

Will: I used to go with the wrench. Will: Alright.

Hunting Sean: Why the wrench? Sean: It’s not your fault. [He moves closer. Will
can’t look at him] It’s not your fault.
Will: ’Cause fuck him, that’s why.
Will: [Crying] Don’t fuck with me.
Sean: Your foster father?
CHOSEN BY Sean: It’s not your fault.
REINALDO MARCUS GREEN Will: Yeah. [Beat] So, uh, you know, what is it…
(DIRECTOR) like, “Will has an attachment disorder”? Is it all Will lashes out at Sean, pushing him back.
that stuff? [Sean nods] Fear of abandonment. Is
that why I… Is that why I broke up with Skylar? Will: Don’t fuck with me, alright? Don’t fuck with
me, Sean. Not you!
Reinaldo Marcus Green: “‘It’s not your fault.’ Sean: I didn’t know you had.
I cry every time. It just rips your heart out. To Sean won’t back down. He moves back in again.
have someone care about you on that level, it’s Will: Yeah, I did.
rare to have, because we’re constantly our Sean: It’s not your fault.
own worst enemy, we’re constantly rejecting Sean: You wanna talk about it?
ourselves. Man, my heart — even talking about Will starts sobbing. Sean holds the back of his
it, I get emotional because it’s such a powerful Will: No. head, and whispers one last time.
scene. So kudos to Gus Van Sant, and Matt
Damon, and Robin Williams in that scene.” Sean: [Moving towards Will] Hey, Will… I don’t Sean: It’s not your fault.
know a lot. But you see this? All this shit.
INT. SEAN MAGUIRE’S OFFICE — DAY [He puts the folder down on a table] It’s not Will breaks down, and holds Sean as he sobs.
Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is visiting his your fault.
therapist, Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), for Will: Oh, God! Oh, God, I’m so sorry! Oh, God!
the final time. Sean is holding a folder with Will: [Almost a whisper] Yeah, I know that.
Will’s evaluation; the report that will decide The camera pulls back as Sean and Will continue
his future. Will has just asked Sean if he has Sean: Look at me, son. It’s not your fault. to embrace.
had any “experience with that”. Meaning
childhood abuse. Will: I know. Sean: Fuck them, okay?

114 MAY 2024

 Parental
Control
Advised

ORIGINAL SERIES

Now streaming