Screen 19th December

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Issue 1784 December 19, 2014

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BEST DIRECTOR • BEST ACTOR • BEST ORIGINAL SONG AVA DUVERNAY

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BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR American Film Institute • NY Film Critics Online • NAACP Image Awards Boston Online Film Critics Association • Houston Film Critics Society • Phoenix Critics Circle African-American Film Critics Association • San Diego Film Critics Society

A RAZOR-SHARP PORTRAIT ‘‘ OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

David Oyelowo gives a graceful, majestic lead performance and Ava DuVernay directs ‘Selma’ with startling immediacy, dramatic force and filmmaking verve.”

SCOTT FOUNDAS,

DAVID OYELOWO

TOM WILKINSON

CARMEN EJOGO

WENDELL PIERCE

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Serial storytelling

I

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WENDY MITCHELL EDITOR

t’s remarkable that during the season of big awards films, the story that most people I know are genuinely buzzing about is the tale of Hae Min, Adnan and Jay. If you don’t know those names you aren’t yet addicted to Serial, Sarah Koenig’s weekly podcast that delves — obsessively — into the 1999 murder of a Baltimore schoolgirl, Hae Min Lee. The podcast is a spinoff of National Public Radio’s This American Life, a popular radio show since 1995. Produced by public radio station WBEZ Chicago and hosted and researched by Koenig, it’s a non-fiction story told week by week “as long as it takes to get to the bottom of it”.

Serial has become the most popular podcast in history, with more than 1.5 million listeners per episode (and growing).

I’m somewhat late to the party; as I write this, I’m only a few episodes in but given that it’s hard to stop listening, I’ll probably have caught up on episode 12 by the time this magazine is printed.

Serial’s success is a tribute to the power of storytelling and I’m excited by the feverish excitement around a podcast.

No, listening to a podcast won’t replace a trip to the cinema, but there are lessons to be learned for the film-making world from Serial’s success — after all, what film-maker wouldn’t want 1.5 million people paying attention to their film?

Some might say it’s just an update of a Dickens-style cliffhanger or an old radio serial, but Serial feels different. For one thing, the level of listener involvement is huge. It’s spreading like wildfire by word of mouth — I first heard of it when Mike Skinner (aka The Streets) spoke about his obsession during the CPH:DOX conference in early November. Hip friends started asking me if I was listening. Even though I didn’t know if I had 12 hours to spare, I dived in. I’m glad I did.

There is excitement in listening to something that feels like a new format;

remember the first time you watched a VHS tape at home, or your first TV box set, or the first time you streamed a Netflix series back to back, staying up until the wee hours of the morning?

So, yes, for me it’s something of a novelty to be hooked on a podcast. Beyond that, part of the must-listen appeal is Koenig’s personal approach to the story, along the lines of how Nick Broomfield doesn’t pretend to be a fly on the wall in his documentaries. This is not straight journalism.

This case is fascinating, but also Serial is not just about a tragic murder.

I tune in for Koenig’s explorations of the nature of time and memory, and how anyone can know another person’s character.

The drawback for me is the fact that a podcast is usually listened to via a computer or iPod — very much a solo activity. I miss the communal experience.

But that’s where the internet comes in.

When people talk about transmedia storytelling, Serial should be the role model. The Serial website (serialpodcast. org) has blogs from the creators, timelines, a map of relationships between the main people in the story, case evidence such as letters and affidavits, and even things like weather reports for the day Lee went missing.

There are Facebook and Reddit groups, and lots of other places online to chat about theories and play armchair detective. Online magazine Slate posts recaps. There are even branded notebooks on which to jot down thoughts.

Listeners quickly committed to a crowdfunding campaign to pay for a second series, without even knowing what story will be told.

Will the mystery of Lee’s killer be solved? I don’t know. But one thing that has been well established is how audiences are rabid for a fresh approach s to a compelling story. ■

The power of words David Oyelowo is a revelation in Selma. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a small film festival, RiverRun in North Carolina, about three years ago. I was struck then at what a magnetic speaker he is, you could hear the Royal Shakespeare Company training in his cadence. In Selma, those regal roles of his past come in handy as he plays the best Martin Luther King Jr we could have had on screen.

The UK actor absolutely nails the accent. But more importantly, he has the charisma and confidence of King. The scenes of King’s speeches in Alabama, from churches to the State Capitol Building, are some of the most powerful moments on movie screens this year. For me, the film wasn’t perfect (the scenes with his wife, Coretta, didn’t quite work), but Oyelowo is certainly the perfect King. And King’s words seem as vital as ever in 2014, as a message for Ferguson or Staten Island or any other place of injustice. As King said in Montgomery, “How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever.”

December 19, 2014 Screen International 1

Contents

International correspondents Asia Liz Shackleton lizshackleton@gmail.com Australia Sandy George +61 2 9557 7425 sandy.george@me.com Balkan region Vladan Petkovic +381 64 1948 948 vladan.petkovic@gmail.com Brazil

8

22

Elaine Guerini +55 11 97659915 elaineguerini@terra.com.br France Melanie Goodfellow +33 6 21 45 80 27 melanie.goodfellow@btinternet.com Germany Martin Blaney +49 30 318 063 91 screen.berlin@googlemail.com

24

Greece Alexis Grivas +30 210 64 25 261 alexisgrivas@yahoo.com Israel Edna Fainaru +972 3 5286 591 dfainaru@netvision.net.il Korea/deputy Asia editor Jean Noh +82 10 4205 0318

26

30

hjnoh2007@gmail.com Nordic territories Jorn Rossing Jensen +45 202 333 04 jornrossing@aol.com Scotland

December 19, 2014

Allan Hunter +44 (0) 7904 698 848

Feature focus

14 pSIFF’s world appeal

24 A force of nature

Spain

06 driven by iron will

Juan Sarda +34 646 440 357

Japanese animator and creator of the Evangelion series, Hideaki Anno, talks about the joys of destruction

Palm Springs International Film Festival will screen a host of awards contenders, and includes a focus on central and eastern Europe

Ruben Ostlund, the Swedish director of Force Majeure, explains his lengthy casting process, the Titanic myth and his love of YouTube

Awards special

26 cracking the whip

17 bafta takes the spotlight

The creative team behind Whiplash reveals how it tackled the challenge of bringing director Damien Chazelle’s personal experiences to life

allan@alhunter.myzen.co.uk

jsardafr@hotmail.com UK Geoffrey Macnab +44 (0) 20 7226 0516 geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk

Subscriptions Screen International subscriptions Department, 3 Queensbridge, The Lakes, Northampton NN4 7BF Tel +44 1604 828 706 E-mail help@subscribe.screendaily.com

08 the spark of life Director Bryn Higgins and star Agyness Deyn bring a unique young woman to life in the UK drama, Electricity

10 Dogwoof styles a decade of docs

The biggest challenge for the organisers of the Bafta Film Awards is to never become complacent. Screen reports on the everevolving plans for the 2015 event

Andy Whittaker and Anna Godas, founders of UK distributor Dogwoof Films, are celebrating 10 years of championing socially conscious films across multiple platforms

20 pride of brittain

12 broken silence

22 painting by numbers

Joshua Oppenheimer talks about changing the culture of fear in Indonesia with The Act Of Killing and its follow-up, The Look Of Silence

Mike Leigh talks about raising finance, going digital and the importance of research in character creation for his latest film, Mr. Turner

Alicia Vikander opens up about doing Vera Brittain justice in Testament Of Youth and finding roles of emotional substance

Screen International ISSN 0307 4617

All currencies in this issue converted according to exchange rates that applied in December 2014

2 Screen International December 19, 2014

32 awards people Ida wins big at the European Film Awards; director Lone Scherfig delivers the David Lean Lecture at Bafta; Stephen Hawking attends UK premiere of biopic The Theory Of Everything; and Interstellar’s Christopher Nolan and crew talk technology at London’s Science Museum

Regulars 30 reviews A critical look at the latest films including The Water Diviner, Annie, Selma and Love Is Now

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BEST PICTURE BEST ACTOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS DRAMA BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH KEIRA KNIGHTLEY BEST SCREENPLAY BEST ORIGINAL SCORE GRAHAM MOORE ALEXANDRE DESPLAT

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THE BEST B R IT I S H F I L M OF T H E YEA R.” KALEEM AFTAB, THE INDEPENDENT

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BAS ED ON T HE INC R ED IBLE TR UE STOR Y OF AL AN TU R IN G

© 2014 BBP IMITATION, LLC

4BES T PI CT URE

GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD NOMINATIONS ®

*DRAMA

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BEST ACTOR Eddie Redmayne* • BEST ACTRESS Felicity Jones* BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Jóhann Jóhannsson

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARD NOMINEE ®

© 1995 SAG-AFTRA

BEST ENSEMBLE BEST ACTOR EDDIE REDMAYNE BEST ACTRESS FELICITY JONES

For more on this extraordinary film, go to www.FocusGuilds2014.com

ARTWORK: ©2014 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. FILM: ©2014 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Consider

E V E RY T H I N G BEST PICTURE

PRODUCED BY - TIM BEVAN ERIC FELLNER LISA BRUCE ANTHONY McCARTEN BEST DIRECTOR - JAMES MARSH BEST ACTOR - EDDIE REDMAYNE BEST ACTRESS - FELICITY JONES BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR CHARLIE COX SIMON McBURNEY DAVID THEWLIS HARRY LLOYD BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - ANTHONY McCARTEN BASED ON THE BOOK “TRAVELLING TO INFINITY: MY LIFE WITH STEPHEN” BY JANE HAWKING

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY BENOIT DELHOMME, AFC BEST FILM EDITING - JINX GODFREY BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN JOHN PAUL KELLY, PRODUCTION DESIGNER CLAIRE RICHARDS, SET DECORATOR BEST COSTUME DESIGN - STEVEN NOBLE BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIR STYLING JAN SEWELL, HAIR, MAKE-UP AND PROSTHETIC DESIGNER BEST SOUND EDITING GLENN FREEMANTLE, SOUND DESIGNER/SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR BEN BARKER, SOUND DESIGN EDITOR BEST SOUND MIXING IAN TAPP, CAS, RE-RECORDING MIXER ADAM SCRIVENER, RE-RECORDING MIXER BEST VISUAL EFFECTS TIM CAPLAN, VFX PRODUCER ADAM GASCOYNE, VFX SUPERVISOR BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON

© Khara

INTERVIEW HIDEAKI ANNO

Driven by iron will Japanese animator and creator of the Evangelion series, Hideaki Anno, talks to Liz Shackleton about the joys of destruction

6 Screen International December 19, 2014

© 1998 Love & Pop Productions

H

ideaki Anno has been anointed the next leader of Japan’s animation industry, following the retirement of Hayao Miyazaki, by none other than Studio Ghibli cofounder and producer Toshio Suzuki.

“I’m certain Anno will be the one to lead Japanese animation into the next decade,” Suzuki said a few months back, sending the ‘otaku’ (obsessive fan) blogosphere into a frenzy.

Anno has many links to Studio Ghibli — he worked as an animator on Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind and voiced the main protagonist in The Wind Rises. But as he has headed his own production outfit, Studio Khara, since leaving Gainax in 2006, it’s unlikely he would take an official post at Ghibli. When asked about Suzuki’s comments, Anno just shrugs and says: “Oh that’s just something Suzuki said. I didn’t take it too seriously.”

Even without the anointing, he is already a giant among Japanese anime creators. The creator of the Evangelion sci-fi series, Anno has been working as an animator for more than three decades and also directed live-action features. A recent Tokyo International Film Festival retrospective showed just how prolific he is — it featured 50 of his works, from student films and shorts to TV programmes and theatrical features.

The Evangelion franchise started life as a 26-episode TV series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, broadcast on TV Tokyo in the mid-1990s, and has evolved into five feature films, along with manga, video games and merchandise. Set in a postapocalyptic Japan, the story revolves around massive bio-machines, piloted by

Love And Pop

‘There may be Japanese film-makers who can collaborate with Western creators, but I’m not one of them’ Hideaki Anno

teenagers, that battle giant robots sent to destroy what is left of humanity.

It’s a highly mechanised and calamitous vision of existence that Anno says emanates from growing up in a rapidly industrialising Japan during the Cold War. Born in Ube, a city known for its steel and chemical industries, Anno lived in a house that was opposite a factory and close to a railroad. “I grew up near iron, so it’s something I feel close to,” he says.

Anno spent his childhood making plastic models and then burning them because he doesn’t like perfection or

happy endings. “It’s difficult to explain.

But watching something being destroyed gives you the urge to create something new again.”

This cycle of creation and destruction spins constantly in the Evangelion series — whole cities are laid to waste, while humankind works on meticulously designed replacements that pop up magically from underground. Yet despite his huge success with the medium of animation, both critically and commercially, Anno has also made three live-action features, two of which are deeply realistic: Love And Pop, about the practice of ‘compensated dating’, and ritual, about a washed-up director and his relationship with a psychologically disturbed woman.

His third live-action feature, Cutie Honey, is a more light-hearted superhero movie.

Anno says he turns to live action

(Right) Cutie Honey

when he runs out of things to say with animation. “There are certain things that just can’t be done in animation — the characters are symbolic and can’t reach the same depth of emotion as, say, the actress in ritual,” he explains. But he adds quickly: “Only Japanese animation really explores our interior world and emotions. Japan is probably the only country that makes animation for adults as well as children.”

It’s the differences in approach to animation between Japan and the West that makes Anno reluctant to collaborate on international projects. Neither is he interested in live-action remakes of his work.

“The mental structure is too different between Hollywood and Japan,” he says.

“There may be some Japanese film-makers who can collaborate with Western creators, but I’m not one of them.”

On the other hand, he accepts the Japanese animation industry is set to change. The first two Evangelion films released in 1997 used hand-drawn 2D animation, while the next three in the Rebuild Of Evangelion series, starting from 2007, used some digital technology but still looked mostly 2D. This has remained the preferred style in Japan, even though Hollywood moved to the 3D CG style popularised by Pixar in the mid1990s. However, Anno says he is open to using all kinds of new technology. “We have to go digital because there are not so many people who can hand-draw now, so it’s inevitable we’ll head in that direction,” he says. “Ideally we should be using both hand-drawn and digital. Eventually the hand-drawn style will go away, although not while I’m still alive.”

Anno’s next project will be a fourth instalment in the Rebuild Of Evangelion series. He has also been linked to a Nausicaä sequel at Studio Ghibli, but he evades talk of his future moves. His global otaku fanbase will just have to wait s and see. ■

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© 2003 Cutie Honey Production Committee © 1973 Nagai Go / Dynamic Planning.. Hideaki Anno portrait by Hiroshi Teshima

Evangelion: 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo

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17/12/2014 16:38

SET REPORT ELECTRICITY

Electricity

The spark of life Director Bryn Higgins and star Agyness Deyn bring a unique young woman to life in the UK drama, Electricity. Wendy Mitchell reports

E

lectricity is not a movie about epilepsy.

It is about a headstrong young woman on an important life journey, who happens to have epilepsy — we see that for her the disorder is not necessarily a curse, just a part of her identity.

“What is so beautiful about this role is that epilepsy is so different for every single person.

The things that come out of it can be quite unique. So it’s about finding that uniqueness within the common thread,” says Agyness Deyn, who appears in nearly every shot of the film in this daunting lead role.

The film, adapted from Ray Robinson’s novel of the same name, is about Lily O’Connor, a brash young woman who lives on the north-east coast of England, embarking on a hallucinogenic journey to London in search of her estranged younger brother Mikey.

Stone City Films produces, and the BFI Film Fund also supported the production (the late Chris Collins championed the film and suggested Deyn for the role). The Wellcome Trust backed the film as its first feature film co-production, and advisers included the Epilepsy Society.

The film shot for six weeks in Newcastle and London. The cast also includes Christian Cooke, Paul Anderson, Alice Lowe, Lenora Crichlow and Tom Georgeson. The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October and Soda Pictures released it in the UK on December 12.

8 Screen International December 19, 2014

‘I thought we could make the film a beautifullooking thing and that takes people by surprise’ Bryn Higgins, director

(Above) Bryn Higgins on set; (right) Agyness Deyn and Tom Georgeson in Electricity

Deyn, a former model who was one of Screen’s LA Stars of Tomorrow 2013, watched many videos of patients and worked closely with Dr Gonzalo Alarcon — one of Europe’s leading experts in epilepsy and a senior lecturer at King’s College London — during research, rehearsals and preparation.

“It was so fun and so interesting,” she said of her work with the doctor. “I got from him this freeness, this physical freeness, because [seeing those kinds of physical movements] were so normal to him. It was a real breakthrough point for me.” It was also a physi-

cally demanding performance, leaving Deyn bruised at times. She learned about the different kinds of seizures that affect each person differently: “It’s amazing, some of the circuits are quite violent-looking, and some of them are quite happy,” she says of her visits to observe patients with Dr Alarcon.

Director Bryn Higgins says: “Aggy put in an enormous amount of work and research.

It was frightening to see her [acting out a seizure] because it was very realistically and properly done, and that is I think due partly to the sessions with Dr Alarcon.”

Higgins was struck by the way Robinson’s book presented the brain disorder in a fresh light. “Epilepsy has a terrible history in terms of art and its portrayal; it’s generally linked to possession or psychosis. Actually when you read about it, sometimes there is an extreme sense of ecstasy that can come with an epileptic seizure. It’s an enlightening thing and you live a different reality. That’s what the film I hope is about. We get the privilege to travel very close with this rather remarkable character who sees the world in a different way.”

First-person narrative Lily’s temporal lobe epilepsy is accepted as part of her life, as in the book, her motto is: “Thrash, get up, get on with it.”

Electricity was shot in a way to let the audience experience Lily’s life as she does.

“The book never described her from the outside so whenever she’s having one of these hallucinations and these seizures, it switches to first person and that’s how we have designed the film,” Higgins says.

“We basically stuck right close to Aggy.

We wanted to stay with her during her seizures, never seeing her from the outside, so needing to keep her arms and legs in shot,” he adds. Cinematographer Si Bell used a stripped down Red Epic camera, which kept the lens very close to Deyn’s head.

The film makes use of naturalistic and beautiful visual effects to enter Lily’s world.

As Higgins says: “I thought we could make the film a beautiful-looking thing and that takes people by surprise. It is a very uplifting story in the end.”

Lily’s “primitive and unfiltered” side was an appeal for the actress, who has also appeared in Clash Of The Titans and Pusher, and the Trafalgar Studios play The Leisure Society. “This will appeal to a lot of young women out there.

What I learned from Lily is having no fear and standing up for who you are.”

Next up Deyn appears in Terence Davies’ Sunset Song, with another female character that she says is “pretty full on. She starts strong and then becomes s stronger.” ■

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Interview dogwoof at 10

Dogwoof styles a decade of docs UK distributor Dogwoof Films is celebrating a decade of championing its socially conscious films across multiple platforms. Company founders Andy Whittaker and Anna Godas tell Geoffrey Macnab about their vision

I

n 2004, Andy Whittaker, a veteran of eBay, Nomura investment bank and Ernst & Young, and script doctor Anna Godas, who had met in Cannes, decided to form a distribution company. They had just less than $78,000 (£50,000). It did not seem like the UK was crying out for more independent distributors, as the crowded marketplace included the likes of Artificial Eye, Tartan, Metrodome, Optimum, Icon and Entertainment vying for the best independent and foreign-language releases.

They had to come up with a name quickly.

Remembering a recent Peter Bogdanovich film, The Cat’s Meow, they alighted on Dogwoof. At first, the intention was to try to pioneer digital releases.

One of the company’s earliest releases was Danish political thriller King’s Game, which became the first film to reach UK cinemas via the newly established UK Film Council Digital Screen Network. Another title, thriller EMR, pre-dated Steven Soderbergh’s Bubble as the first day-and-date multi-platform release in the UK. The UK’s exhibitors — as fiercely protective of the theatrical window then as they are now — were not happy. “We got absolutely hammered,” Whittaker acknowledges. Cinemas

Black Gold

10 Screen International December 19, 2014

‘Documentary is a niche that is growing. We do it well and it is very rewarding’ Anna Godas, Dogwoof

became very wary about booking Dogwoof fare. “It took a couple of films to get back in the good books.”

But Whittaker and Godas learned from their experiment and realised they did not need to cling to traditional releasing models.

The 2006 feature documentary about the coffee industry, Black Gold, transformed Dogwoof ’s fortunes. The film’s directors, Marc J Francis and Nick Francis, were very canny users of social media during its release campaign. “It was the first time where we did a model with a lot of in-kind partnerships attached and extremely strong film-maker support. We released the film and it did very well,” Godas explains.

Game changers Black Gold was a film that really made a difference. One of its targets, Starbucks, changed its corporate policy in the wake of the debate the film provoked. The coffee chain now promotes sustainability and ethical sourcing.

After Black Gold, Dogwoof gave an even more ambitious release to Franny Armstrong’s The Age Of Stupid, which was launched as a ‘green’ premiere in London’s Leicester Square and received hefty marketing support from the UK Film Council.

Dior And I

“It evolved into way more documentaries,” Godas recalls of the changing Dogwoof strategy. “At some point, I realised documentary is a niche that is growing. It makes sense. We do it well and it’s very rewarding.”

Dogwoof has become adept at striking partnerships with corporate partners that support the principles showcased in the documentaries, and have the resources to back a major marketing push. For example, the company joined with UK supermarket Waitrose to promote the ethical fishing documentary, The End Of The Line, in 2009. The supermarket giant provided the distributor with access to its customer database and the film was promoted in every Waitrose store.

Supermarket Co-Op provided similar support for the release of Danish doc Burma VJ, about the Saffron Revolution in Burma.

“It was always about getting the big audiences and making it with the wider public than keeping it as a niche,” says Whittaker of the strategy.

From the very first moment Dogwoof started handling documentaries, it was an article of faith that its films should be shown in cinemas. “We have always believed that a good film should be in the theatre,” he says.

“That was probably one of the best decisions we made. We could attract some really high-

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‘We’ve always believed a good film should be in the theatre’ Andy Whittaker, Dogwoof

documentaries” went straight to TV with only one-off films such as An Inconvenient Truth or Bowling For Columbine making it into cinemas.

A decade on from its launch, Dogwoof is established as the pre-eminent documentary distributor in the UK and has helped change the market for feature documentaries.

A measure of the company’s success is that so many of its rivals are competing to pick up and release documentaries, and exhibitors Picturehouse and Curzon are now dedicating screens to documentaries.

And now Dogwoof is increasingly investing in production, backing projects including Ryan Mullins’ Chameleon and Des Henderson’s Project Children. It also has its own international sales arm, Dogwoof Global, handling films such as Dior And I and Finding Fela.

“Our business is naturally evolving into a vertical integration where we produce, sell and distribute our films,” says Whittaker. “The ‘Stewart Till model’, so to speak. We will build s the right alliances to make that happen.” n

calibre documentary films because we were offering theatrical release. Other people may have offered more money but were just going to shunt it to TV.” Whittaker describes Dogwoof as a “filmmaker-friendly label” and Oscar-winning directors such as Steve James (The Interrupters) and Errol Morris (The Unknown Known) were enthusiastic about working with the company because they knew their films would be seen on the big screen. Other theatrical successes include Blackfish, Cutie And The Boxer, and The Act Of Killing. The latter screened for more than a year at London’s ICA. As Whittaker notes, a decade ago “99% of

Finding Fela

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The End Of The Line

Burma VJ

Blackfish

December 19, 2014 Screen International 11

INTERVIEW JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER

Broken silence Joshua Oppenheimer talks to Wendy Mitchell about changing the culture of fear in Indonesia with The Act Of Killing and its follow-up, The Look Of Silence

Joshua Oppenheimer

12 Screen International December 19, 2014

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The Look Of Silence

W

e often talk about the power of film, but it’s rare that a single film can start to change a whole country. That’s the accomplishment of Joshua Oppenheimer’s 2012 documentary, The Act Of Killing, which showed perpetrators of the Indonesian genocide reenacting their crimes.

“The Act Of Killing helped really catalyse the transformation in how the country talked about its past,” says Texas-born Oppenheimer, over a coffee in his adopted home of Copenhagen. “The government now talks about the genocide instead of the heroic struggle against the communists. Now the public are talking about it in schools and at work; the perpetrators in Indonesia no longer boast about what they did.”

Now his stunning follow-up film, The Look Of Silence, tackles the same story from the side of the victims dealing with the past and confronting the perpetrators. “This new film comes in and says, ‘Look how torn the social fabric is. Look how urgently we need truth and reconciliation,’” he says.

Oppenheimer first went to Indonesia in 2001 to work on a film about palm-oil plantation workers. He did not know much about the mass murders then, but he learned about the climate of fear that ordinary Indonesians lived with.

Oppenheimer knew while shooting The Act Of Killing that he would also want to make a film about the victims. He describes the moment he knew there would be two films, when two perpetrators took him down to the river to show him how they had killed their victims.

“That was one of the most horrifying and traumatic days of my life. It was like I had

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wandered into Germany 40 years after the Holocaust only to find the Nazis still in power.

“At that moment I knew I would spend as long as it takes to address this and I knew there should be two films. One would be about what happens when killers win and justify their actions and impose those on a society, and that’s The Act Of Killing. I also knew there was an equally important film about what does it do to human beings to have to live in 50 years of fear and silence surrounded by the people who killed your loved ones.”

He nurtured a compelling protagonist in Adi, an optometrist whose brother, Ramli, was killed before Adi was born; who with Oppenheimer’s help learns about the conditions of his brother’s death and confronts the killers.

Oppenheimer worked with Adi and his family in an intimate way for nearly a decade.

“One of the principles in making this film was that, when you engage with atrocities you have to dig into some pain; it’s going to be painful,” the director explains. The family let him shoot hugely intimate moments, including Adi having to tell his mother that her own brother was complicit in Ramli’s murder.

There was some controversy around The Act Of Killing, with isolated accusations that the killers were being glorified and Storyville’s commissioning editor, Nick Fraser, even calling it a “snuff movie”. Of course, Oppenheimer does not see it that way. “I don’t think anyone can possibly come out of the movie thinking Anwar [one of the killers] is glorified. I think what bothers people and what people resist is looking in the mirror and realising we’re all closer to perpetrators then we’d like to think and that perpetrators are human,” he says.

After attracting glowing reviews at festivals including Venice (where he won the Grand

The Act Of Killing

‘It was like I had wandered into Germany 40 years after the Holocaust only to find the Nazis still in power’ Joshua Oppenheimer

Jury Prize), Telluride, Toronto, New York and CPH:DOX (where it won the Grand Prize), The Look Of Silence was released in Denmark in November and will be released in major territories theatrically in 2015. Given the dates, it will be eligible for the 2016 awards season. It seems a shoo-in for nominations, given Oppenheimer won the Bafta for best documentary and was Oscar-nominated for The Act Of Killing.

With Indonesia having consumed much of his life for a decade, where does Oppen­ heimer go now? “You come out as a different person and you have to take thought that whatever kind of film-maker I am came entirely from this experience,” he says.

“I have hundreds of pages of ideas that I’ve jotted down over the last decade, thinking I’d be done in a year or six months. Now, 10 years later, I’m done and I take stock of what I’ve been looking at and haven’t had time to explore. I have a number of themes I’m interested in exploring and now it’s finding the right characters who will take another lifes transforming journey with me.” n

December 19, 2014 Screen International 13

FESTIVAL FOCUS PALM SPRINGS

The Lesson

Palm Springs’ world appeal Palm Springs International Film Festival (Jan 2-12) will screen a broad selection of awards contenders for both the industry and the public, and includes a special focus on central and eastern Europe. Elbert Wyche reports

P

alm Springs International Film Festival is the first festival of the calendar year and as such, its timing makes it an ideal platform for Oscar and Golden Globe promotion.

One of the festival’s strengths is its Awards Buzz section, inviting a Fipresci jury to mull over an acclaimed curated selection of foreign-language Academy Award submissions. This year, Palm Springs screens a record 50 from the pool of 83 submissions.

“It’s the only place that the public can see this group of films in bulk like this,” says senior programmer Alissa Simon.

“The promotional screenings in LA are primarily geared to press and Academy members.”

Simon, who joined the festival in 2000, begins a year-round trawl of global films as soon as Palm Springs concludes. “I go to Berlin, Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Toronto and also some smaller festivals in the region. I know various film-makers, producers and the heads of the film promotion agencies.”

She says she is on the lookout for films that boast originality and champion up-and-coming directors.

14 Screen International December 19, 2014

The Reaper

Each year, the festival turns its attention to a specific area of the world. Previous editions have covered Australia, Africa and Scandinavia. Simon adds: “We were the first festival in North America to put a spotlight on Arab filmmaking just after the Arab Spring.”

Trend spotting Palm Springs 2015 will highlight programming from central and eastern Europe. “We look for what is in the zeitgeist, where there are trends — we look

for signs of a new wave rising. We see it as the duty of a festival to recognise and support new trends,” Simon says.

This year, the region boasts some of the strongest-ever candidates for the upcoming best foreign-language film Oscar. “A middle generation of auteurs, such as Pawel Pawlikowski, Ognjen Svilicic and Kornel Mundruczo are assuming the mantle of masters.

These directors are part of a new generation that created some of the most stirring, controversial

and awarded films of 2014,” she says.

The central and eastern European programme also boasts strong debuts by women film-makers such as Bulgaria’s Kristina Grozeva, who co-directed The Lesson with Petar Valchanov, and Signe Baumane’s animated memoir, Rocks In My Pockets (pictured below) from Latvia.

The programme features “stylistically different” treatment of similar themes.

“Some, like Ida, In The Crosswind, The Reaper and Isa Qosja’s Three Windows And A Hanging investigate a collective trauma of the past that impinges on the characters’ lives,” says Simon.

“In White God and Mirage, master Hungarian directors Kornel Mundruczo and Szabolcs Hajdu each spin thrillingly strange fables. Humour is closest to hand in the droll Kebab & Horoscope from Polish newcomer Grzegorz Jaroszuk and the let’s-put-on-aplay farce Cowboys from Croatian debutant Tomislav Mrsic.”

The 20-strong showcase of central and eastern European cinema is spread across the sections of the festival, ranging from Awards Buzz and New Voices/New Visions to Late Night.

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‘Palm Springs has always directed itself towards film-goers’ Darryl Macdonald, festival director

“Perhaps the most audacious and certainly the most transgressive is The Tribe,” says Simon.

That film — a Cannes Critics’ Week hit — comes from Ukrainian director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy and is about a crime ring in a boarding school for the deaf. The film is performed in sign language without subtitles.

In addition to its regional focus, Palm Springs also serves as a feeder festival.

“Programmers from other festivals come to do their ‘shopping’ here and films that we have selected later circulate through the North American film festival circuit or may be picked up by boutique and niche distributors,” Simon explains.

Attracting audiences Palm Springs prides itself on being an accessible festival: a destination for industry professionals and film enthusiasts alike.

“It’s well-organised and userfriendly,” says festival director Darryl Macdonald. “There are some festivals that are more geared towards the industry than they are to film-lovers. Palm Springs has always directed itself towards film-goers.

“It’s one of the top three film festivals in terms of audiences. Last year we had over 130,000 film-goers. Some 70% of our audience comes from other parts of the country.”

Macdonald highlights a few elements of the festival that he feels mark it out from the rest. “The mix of programming makes us unique. We have Modern Masters, a special section of films directed by established and acknowledged masters of world cinema. We also have sections like New Voices/New Visions, which shines a light on emerging directors with special talent, and the Late Night series for those with a more adventuresome palette or sensibility.”

Palm Springs artistic director Helen du Toit describes the questions she asks when considering which films to showcase. “A key thing for me is, what is the director trying to achieve and do they achieve it well? Is it well made and is the story engaging, whether it’s a documentary or a narrative? Great stories and beautiful execution. For our film s festival, originality is key.” ■

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SPECIAL FOCUS: CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Palm Springs is showcasing 19 features as part of its central and eastern Europe focus. Screen meets the film-makers behind two of the titles Tangerines

The Guide

Dir Zaza Urushadze

Dir Oles Sanin

Tangerines centres on an Estonian carpenter who has refused to flee the conflict engulfing his small village, in order to help a friend tend his crop.

The old man takes in two soldiers from opposing sides who are forced to coexist while convalescing from injuries sustained in the conflict.

“I never like to take sides in these kinds of senseless situations, as this war was to me. And Estonians gave me a good tool to stay as neutral as possible. I was so carried away by this idea that I wrote the first draft of the script within two weeks,” says director Zaza Urushadze.

Urushadze, who also produces alongside Ivo Felt, secured backing for the film from the Estonian Film Foundation, Georgian National Film Center, Estonia’s Ministry of Culture, Eurimages and MTU Otaku.

Urushadze is moved emotionally and creatively by people who are able to maintain their sense of humanity and community in the face of extraordinary adversity. For him, the war between Georgia and Abkhazia serves simply as a backdrop. The true heart of his film comes through the examination of his characters and how they interact with one another and grow from their interpersonal experiences.

“In making this film, I asked myself if it were possible to stay connected as human beings in very critical and dire situations. I concluded that it is, and that there are people around who are able to carry these values,” Urushadze explains. “The answer to that question was my primary message. Also, I had a personal connection here. I admire my grandfather because he was a man who personified those values.”

Oles Sanin shines a light on the plight of the Kobzars in Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s in his stirring Ukrainian box-office hit, The Guide.

The Pronto Film production tells of a US boy who acts as a guide for a blind minstrel during the tumultuous and genocidal time of Stalin.

“The Kobzars were the carriers of Ukrainian oral history, language, tradition and culture,” says Sanin. “They were travelling minstrels who sang about freedom and fighting for independence.”

The Kobzars’ story is closely bound up with Ukrainian identity and is one of the reasons why Stalin outlawed their songs and tried to turn them into instruments of the Soviet propaganda machine.

“When everything failed, he decided to simply kill them,” says Sanin.

The film-maker secured backing from the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine for the $2m film in 2011 and it shot in Ukraine over 82 days, wrapping in October 2013.

The Euromaidan protests the following month that eventually led to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution scuppered the planned January 2014 release, although in the end it worked out well.

“We realised the film was more relevant than ever, and delayed release to November 2014.”

The Guide sold more than 277,000 tickets in its first 25 days and overtook Brad Pitt’s Fury at the local box office.

“The regime of Vladimir Putin won’t like [the film] and won’t allow it to be shown. Inside Russia many people want to see it,” says Sanin. “It’s important that viewers understand the film is not anti-Russian; it’s against the totalitarian regime that wanted to destroy the culture of the people. Russians want and need to see the film.

“I never thought to make a film about the murder of the Kobzars,” adds Sanin, who as a child loved folk music and guided a Kobzar for a week. “In 2004 I met the actor Jack Palance and told him several stories I wanted to film. Jack told me this was a very important story, one the world needed to hear.”

Jeremy Kay

Tangerines; (right) The Guide

Zaza Urushadze

Oles Sanin

Urushadze hopes audiences walk away from this film pondering their own ability to forgive and empathise.

“Tolerance,” he adds. “The ability to look at the facts from the side of perceived adversaries and not solely from the subjective point of view.”

The film manages to blend humour and solemnity. “I hope we managed to create a film on a very serious topic that still has its funny moments. I hope the audience leaves the cinema with a warm feeling.

“Such a story could happen anywhere and anytime. It’s quite universal. Most important for me is the upholding of principles and relationships in the most intense and extreme situations; when the human instinct to survive comes to the foreground.”

Tangerines is picking up awardsseason steam after it was nominated for best foreign language film at the Golden Globes.

Elbert Wyche

December 19, 2014 Screen International 15

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22/04/2014 15:22

AWARDS SPECIAL ■ BAFTA SPECIAL PREVIEW ■ ALICIA VIKANDER ■ MIKE LEIGH ■ RUBEN OSTLUND ■ WHIPLASH

Bafta takes the

SPOTLIGHT The biggest challenge for the organisers of the Bafta Film Awards is to never become complacent. Louise Tutt reports on the ever-evolving plans for the 2015 event

A

width, the depth, the breadth of British film-making,” says Bafta CEO Amanda Berry.

The Bafta ceremony will take place at the Royal Opera House in London on February 8, hosted again by professional wit Stephen Fry. But while the venue and host remain the same, the organisation itself cannot stand still.

Bafta strives to continually evolve, ensuring it remains the most meaningful and exciting precursor to the Oscars — taking place two weeks »

Helen Mirren at the 2014 Baftas Getty

year on from the last tweak of the voting procedure for the Outstanding British Film at the Bafta Film Awards — the prize guaranteed to spark the most debate in the UK film industry — the organisation has retuned the voting process for the category further still for 2015. A jury of around 14 will select half of this year’s six nominees, compared to just one film in the category last year.

“Everything we do with this category is to ensure we’re celebrating the

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December 19, 2014 Screen International 17

AWARDS SPECIAL BAFTAS

Trash

Testament Of Youth

Calvary

later on February 22 — while also celebrating and showcasing the best of UK filmmaking to a global audience.

It is not an easy balance. Last year, many in the UK industry were disappointed when big studio films Gravity and Saving Mr Banks were nominated in the Outstanding British Film category. Gravity went on to win ahead of local industry favourites The Selfish Giant, Philomena, Rush and Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom.

But given the thoroughly international nature of film-making today, the issue of a film’s nationality is an impossible one to resolve to everyone’s satisfaction. Similarly, the introduction of a category to honour the best British independent film (as has been mooted by some) would face the same challenges: defining ‘independent’ is every bit as thorny as defining ‘British’.

But Bafta seems willing to grapple with such concerns. The post-awards debrief each year starts the morning after the ceremony. No doubt with large volumes of coffee to hand.

“We are constantly questioning what we do, why we do it and asking if we should change it. Every year we look at all the categories to ensure they are fit for purpose and to ensure the number of nominations are correct,” says Berry, who works closely with

18 Screen International December 19, 2014

Emma Baehr, Bafta’s new director of awards, who has taken over a lot of the day-to-day management of the awards.

As with last year, the Outstanding British Film category will have six nominations. All other categories have five, except the Outstanding British Debut, which also has six and is decided on entirely by jury. Some years the best animation and documentary categories can contain three films, depending on the number released. This year, animation will have three and documentary will have five.

On the ballot In the first round of voting for the Outstanding British Film, an opt-in chapter of Bafta voters — any voter who commits to seeing all the eligible titles — will vote for the top 15 films. The top three films will be automatically nominated. A jury of around 14 (nonconflicted) members representing all aspects of the UK industry, will then decide on the final three nominees from the remaining 12 films. The chapter will then vote for the winner. Bafta reintroduced a jury to the Outstanding British Film category last year for the first time in many years.

“We recognised that with a jury you could guarantee every single film had been seen and given a chance,” Berry says.

David Oyelowo in Selma

‘We’re constantly questioning what we do, why we do it and asking if we should change it’ Amanda Berry, Bafta

This refinement, combined with a scrupulous eligibility process that takes into account significant British contribution — the two ways (cultural and co-production) in which the British Film Institute and the Department for Culture, Media & Sport classify a film as British — and a final stamp from Bafta’s film committee, is being welcomed.

“The jury is a very positive note, as is what feels like a more rigorous categorisation process,” says Zygi Kamasa, CEO of Lionsgate UK and a voting Bafta member. “I looked down the list [of eligible British films] and there were no grey areas.”

It will be a formidable task to whittle down the 79 eligible films for this category to just six this year. In addition to The Imitation Game and The Theory Of Everything, for which momentum is building across many major categories, it is hard to see an Outstanding British Film line-up that does not include festival favourites Mr. Turner and Belle, as well as crowdpleasers Pride and Paddington.

Then there is Testament Of Youth, which has the 100th anniversary of the start of the

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Common People

Locke

Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl

’71

First World War to its advantage, Trash (which is also eligible in the best film not in the English-language film category), ’71 and ‘older’ titles Starred Up and Locke.

For a film such as Steven Knight’s Locke, released theatrically in the UK in April, a Bafta nomination will have little commercial impact for distributor Lionsgate UK. What is key is nurturing the relationships between the distributor and the film-makers and talent.

“We are doing it because Steven [Knight] did something very bold and brave and pulled it off,” says Kamasa of the awards push Lionsgate is giving the film. “Whether it helps us commercially or not, Locke deserves that recognition. It’s about our support of British movies.”

Home-grown hits Although it is unlikely many of these smaller UK titles will have a big presence in any of the other territories, it is a wide-open race and there is a wealth of homegrown talent in US films who are likely to find

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Belle

favour with Bafta voters. Both Selma and Into The Woods have considerable UK involvement — despite neither qualifying as British — and Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo are favourites for best actress and actor nominations for Gone Girl and Selma respectively.

The open field may also give a boost to talent in UK films released earlier in the year.

Scarlett Johansson won the Bafta for best actress for Lost In Translation in 2003, and could take advantage of the comparatively weak year for best actress contenders and score a nod for Under The Skin, as could BIFA winner Gugu Mbatha-Raw for Amma Asante’s Belle. This is the category into which Bafta favourite Marion Cotillard may also sneak for the Dardenne brothers Two Days, Night Felicity Jones is likely to secure a One Night.

Everything nod for The Theory Of Everything.

Brendan Gleeson, Cannes award-winner Timothy Spall and Tom Hardy could conceivably squeeze into the crowded best actor field for Calvary, Mr. Turner and Locke respectively, joining Oyelowo, Eddie Red( mayne (The Theory Of Everything) and ( Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game Game) for a UK-accented line-up.

But home advantage is not what is important to Bafta. “We want to make sure films, no matter what their budget, whatever their marketing spend, have got an equal chance of being nominated,” says Berry.

That has certainly been the experience of Stewart Alexander, the UK

co-director and writer of Common People, a $55,000 (£35,000), self-distributed romantic comedy that played for nine weeks nationwide at select Picturehouse Cinemas. A telephone call to Bafta secured a screening and Q&A at its Piccadilly headquarters, which attracted more than 150 voters on a rainy Sunday night in late November.

“Bafta was incredibly accommodating and welcoming,” says Alexander.

Alexander and Common People producer and co-director Kerry Skinner were able to take advantage of Bafta’s relationship with iTunes and other platforms to send voters a redeemable code with which they can download Common People. It is an increasingly important tool for film-makers and distributors: the number of Bafta voters each redeeming iTunes codes last year was 2,101, up 500% on the year before. There were just 34 films available as iTunes screeners last year — this year there were already 70 by mid-December.

Berry is proud of the lead that Bafta has taken in online voting, which the organisation introduced to its members over a decade ago. It is also a way of encouraging Bafta voters to actually, well, vote.

“We insist people vote or abstain, or their voting membership will be frozen or possibly taken away,” says Berry. “The American Academy does not make voting compulsory but we think it’s very important. If you’re taking a voting place and the distributors are spending a lot of money putting on screenings and giving people free access to cinemas and sending out DVDs, then you have to do your part.”

Last year the TV audience for the awards show — which is broadcast on BBC1 in the UK and to 165 countries (Spain and Portugal for the first time this year), with a two-hour time-lapse — fell slightly. In the age of Twitter, it was quickly suggested ratings for the show would grow if it were broadcast live. As of press time, no final decision had been made to either move the TV slot or the start of the live event but Berry signals a change in 2015 is unlikely. “The BBC feels the nine o’clock slot is the right one and at the moment I agree with them,” she says.

But given Bafta’s ability to respond nimbly to events, stay tuned. Further refinement is s always possible. ■

December 19, 2014 Screen International 19

INTERVIEW ALICIA VIKANDER

Alicia Vikander with director James Kent on the set of Testament Of Youth

Pride of Brittain Alicia Vikander tells Wendy Mitchell about doing Vera Brittain justice in Testament Of Youth and finding roles of emotional substance

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licia Vikander says she is drawn to “that rare thing of good female roles. Especially for young women, I try to find roles of emotional substance and not just only being ‘the girl’.”

That is certainly true of her part in Testament Of Youth, which sees her portray the young English writer Vera Brittain as she deals with the loss of her fiancé and brother in the First World War. Growing up in Sweden, Vikander had not heard of Brittain. Yet she was immediately drawn to Juliette Towhidi’s script. “I was so passionate about the project. She’s such a powerful woman who had this strong life journey. It’s knowing what journey women have made over 100 years. Emotionally it feels like a girl you could know now, but the rules and context of life back then were different — you needed a chaperone to take a train and you couldn’t decide your own education.”

A life in letters Vikander prepared for the role by reading Brittain’s books — not just the 1933 memoir of the same name but her letters as well.

“The book that collects the letters between her and her brothers and Roland, that’s what helped me the most. The novel was written by a woman in the early ’30s looking back on her life, while the letters were her in the moment. It was the young woman’s words.”

She also had the chance to meet Brittain’s daughter, Shirley Williams. They had tea together and “she shared her experiences,

20 Screen International December 19, 2014

but of course that’s a different woman that she knew than the period in the film; that was the woman leading up to the war, not a mother after the war”.

Vikander, like the rest of the cast, worked with a dialect coach to ensure she had the correct regional tones of the time period.

“Being foreign, it was intimidating to take on the part of such a British icon,” she recalls, although her accent in the film is pitch perfect (she has lived in London for several years). “I had to try to nail a British accent. That was probably the toughest thing so far; I really wanted to get it right, to give justice to her.”

The actress pays credit to UK director James Kent, who makes an impressive feature debut after working in television. “He’s such a strong but still very sensitive director, which I think was perfect for this film,” she says. “I did my preparation but his knowledge about this woman meant he was always a source I could come back to. He was so passionate about this project.”

Despite the achingly sad moments in the film, she says the set had “a really good vibe” and her co-stars Kit Harington and Taron Egerton “pushed me and made me laugh”.

They did, however, almost get hypothermia filming swimming scenes in a lake in Yorkshire in March.

The most emotional scene to shoot was one in which Vera, as a nurse serving in France, shows kindness to a dying German soldier. “There were a lot of tough scenes.

You read things but they affect you a surprising amount when you’re making it. One scene that really hit me was the scene with the German soldier — it was a point where you realise this woman has gone out there with all the people she’s lost and it’s about what war is. She is taking care of this soldier but remembering the people she has lost. It really became quite a key moment.”

The thrills ahead There are more emotional moments in store for the in-demand actress. Vikander wrapped shooting in Australia in early December for Derek Cianfrance’s The Light Between Oceans with Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz; and she starts rehearsals for Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl in January in London. The Working Title drama sees her play Eddie Redmayne’s wife in the fictionalised account of the life of Danish painters Einar and Gerda Wegener. In 1930, Einar Wegener underwent then-groundbreaking gender reassignment surgery to become Lili Elbe.

Vikander has a slew of further films set to come out in 2015. In addition to Testament Of Youth, the diverse mix includes Tulip Fever, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., ExMachina, Seventh Son and John Wells’ untitled chef film starring Bradley Cooper.

The way Vikander chooses projects is “hard to describe”, she says. “You feel the thrill of reading the script, or there are filmmakers, and actors and DoPs out there you s really want to work with.” ■

Testament Of Youth

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‘I try to find roles of emotional substance and not just only being the girl’ Alicia Vikander

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December 19, 2014 Screen International 21

INTERVIEW MIKE LEIGH

Mike Leigh

22 Screen International December 19, 2014

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Painting by numbers Mike Leigh talks to John Hazelton about raising finance, going digital and the importance of research in creating three-dimensional and historically accurate characters for his latest feature, Mr. Turner

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t took only 10 days for Mr. Turner to become Mike Leigh’s highest-grossing film in the UK. Not bad for what the writer-director himself describes as “a kind of anti-biopic” about a “very mortal, curmudgeonly, passionate, conflicted, eccentric guy… who incidentally seemed like a potentially good character for a Mike Leigh film”.

A longtime fan of the 19th-century English artist JMW Turner, who is often referred to as ‘the painter of light’, Leigh was initially struck by the tension between Turner’s “cinematic” work and complex character. The film-maker chose to focus on the last 25 years of Turner’s life, he explains, because in that period the painter “became more radical and the work became more extraordinary. He was thought to have lost it by a lot of people.”

Together with a cast headed by regular collaborator Timothy Spall (who in May won Cannes’ best actor prize for his performance), Leigh shaped the script using historical research and his famous process of improvisation and rehearsal, a process that over the past few decades has given rise to such acutely observed realist and comedic dramas as Another Year, Happy-Go-Lucky, TopsyTurvy, Golden Lion winner Vera Drake and Palme d’Or winner Secrets & Lies, all of which have been nominated for best original screenplay Oscars, with the latter two also earning Leigh directing nominations. Secrets & Lies won the Bafta for both best original screenplay and best British film in 1997.

Extensive homework In this case, the research gave the story its framework and characters — including the artist’s mistress and then companion Sophia Booth (played by Marion Bailey) — while Leigh and co used “improvisations to explore the relationships of these characters. We did what we always do, which is to create the characters in a three-dimensional way, to build their whole lives. Then you can arrive at any particular event you want, real or invented.”

Turner’s art, meanwhile, provided “a visual discipline that pervades the entire film”, says Leigh. “The whole thing was for the film to be informed by a strong sense of Turner — Turner’s palette, Turner’s atmosphere, Turner’s light.”

Turner’s fame may even have played into the film’s financial plan, which gave Leigh a budget of just around $12.6m (£8m), more than his usual amount but less than he had

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Mr. Turner

Mike Leigh directs Timothy Spall

for 1999 period piece Topsy-Turvy and still not enough to cover, for example, shooting scenes on location of the artist working in Venice.

“The subject made it easier to raise more money,” Leigh confirms, “because people could see that it needed to be a bigger budget than I normally have. I think some people who put the money in were more interested in the potential of the unlikely combination of my sort of film and a film about Turner.”

Shooting with digital cameras made the budget go further, but Leigh says he made the decision to go digital (for the first time on a feature) “in a very positive frame of mind.

We didn’t go into it begrudgingly. We never

‘It is, and should be, a solidly entertaining twoand-a-half hours for anybody that chooses to go and eat popcorn watching it’ Mike Leigh

thought for a split second about the fact we weren’t shooting on film, certainly once we got stuck into it, because it’s a very exciting and rich new medium.”

In fact, Leigh, who serves as chairman of the London Film School, is optimistic about the future of cinema in a rapidly changing digital age — “YouTube is brilliant,” he enthuses — and, with qualifications, about the health of the UK film industry, of which he remains a leading light.

“It’s healthier than it was in many respects, although it would be better if there was even more happening than there is,” says Leigh during an interview in Los Angeles in advance of Mr. Turner’s December 19 US release through Sony Pictures Classics. “And of course we still kowtow to this industry here, and that’s not a good thing.”

Leigh also remains convinced that serious cinema, like his own brand of contemplative, understated drama, has a place in a world of shrinking screens and attention spans.

“I may have made a heavyweight film of two-and-a-half hours about an obscure 19thcentury painter,” he says, “but that isn’t to say I haven’t worked on the assumption that it is, and should be, a solidly entertaining twoand-a-half hours for absolutely anybody that chooses to go and eat popcorn watching it, if s that’s what they want to do.” ■

December 19, 2014 Screen International 23

INTERVIEW RUBEN OSTLUND

A force of nature Ruben Ostlund, the Swedish director of Force Majeure, tells Tiffany Pritchard about his lengthy casting process, the Titanic myth and his love of YouTube

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wedish director Ruben Ostlund is a film-maker who is not afraid of conflict, especially with his fourth feature, Force Majeure. His biggest production to date — with a budget of about $5m (¤4m) and with distribution deals in more than 50 territories — is sparking debate worldwide around gender responsibilities and expectations.

Inspired by a YouTube clip showing a family at a ski resort when a controlled avalanche strikes, the film-maker puts a spin on the narrative by having the father abandon his role as the archetypal protector.

“Since society, and Hollywood, still cater to the man as the action hero, the one who fights violence when the family is in trouble,

24 Screen International December 19, 2014

it’s interesting to explore survival instinct, and the idea that your partner may not act as you want them to,” says Ostlund.

In his research, the director found sociological studies that revealed couples who survive hijackings frequently divorce; and that survivors from the Costa Concordia and other boating disasters are often male passengers and crew who leave the women and children in efforts to fend for themselves.

“Titanic is a myth.

When faced with stressful situations, people can do stupid Ruben Ostlund things. In this case,

the avalanche plays out the daily struggles we have in life and in relationships, disrupting the notion of the perfect nuclear family,” he says.

Casting played an important role for the film: it took Ostlund a year to find Lisa Loven Kongsli (who plays mother Ebba) and Johannes Kuhnke (father Tomas). During both auditions and rehearsals, the actors were pushed in efforts to attain their most authentic take on Sweden’s ideal couple.

“I want the actors to let me know if the dialogue doesn’t feel right, so we work closely together in fine-tuning the script. For me, it’s important that lines don’t feel forced, and that it’s conversation that flows naturally, so

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I’m always amending the script throughout casting and production,” Ostlund says.

Tomas’s awkward crying scene has created a stir among film executives and audiences, with early test screenings in France indicating that some audience members wanted the scene to be omitted. But for Ostlund, a disquieting moment like this gives his films their signature mark.

A self-confessed YouTube fanatic, the director Googled ‘worst man cry ever’ to find inspiration. “When we were auditioning, I told the men they had to go deep, and to be comfortable in playing a pathetic character.”

Pep talks The film-maker often demands 40 takes per angle in a scene. Motivational phrases such as ‘You can do it’ and ‘Don’t give up’ are used to encourage the actors near the end of the shooting day, the time when Ostlund feels he extracts the best performances.

But even for Ostlund, it was not easy to watch a man in tears. “We’re not used to seeing a male character like this. It was really tricky to shoot. We spent a lot of time in rehearsals. I told Johannes, ‘Don’t control

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(Above) Johannes Kuhnke and Lisa Loven Kongsli as parents Tomas and Ebba in Force Majeure

the force in your body, just let it out.’ And he did, he just went for it.”

His shooting schedule was also dictated by his preference to film with a single camera in order to enforce intricate composition and framing. Key scenes, including the moment at dinner when Ebba drunkenly reveals her anger at Tomas, took four days to film — one day per actor — to help achieve the right level of emotion.

Further reinforcement to the natural feel of the film was aided by Ostlund and crew filming an actual avalanche in British Columbia, Canada, while the scene with the family at the ski lodge was shot in Les Arcs in the French Alps, a place where “most Swedish [people] flock to ski”.

The two shoots were married together in post at Gothenburg Studios using minimal special effects.

Compared to Gothenburg’s other homegrown film-making talent, Roy Andersson, Ostlund intertwines comedy and drama, believing the two go hand in hand, even in a time of crisis. Detailed trivial moments such as the question, “Isn’t there any parmesan cheese?” that is asked just before the avalanche hits or the comic relief provided by Mats (Kristofer Hivju) amid Ebba and Tomas’s argument are reminiscent of Andersson’s use of absurdist, dark comedy.

“I grew up watching Andersson’s commercials and films. He has always been an inspiration of mine, particularly as we both work hard to integrate Sweden into our films — whether it’s social and political issues, or our ability to laugh in the face of drama.”

A friendly rivalry is shared by both, particularly by Ostlund, who eggs on “the old man”, whose latest film, A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, won the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival in September.

This is the first time the two directors have had films on release at the same time. Force Majeure received the Un Certain Regard jury prize in Cannes, has snagged a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign film and is Sweden’s submission for the best foreignlanguage film Oscar.

‘When we were auditioning, I told the men they had to go deep, and to be comfortable in playing a pathetic character’ Ruben Ostlund

Ostlund is now focusing on his upcoming projects. “I have received a few offers from America, but they are not the right projects — many of them centre around love and romance.

“If there were a possibility for me to bring the content that I have into the American film industry, then that could be interesting,” he says.

“Here in Sweden, I have a strong working relationship with the Swedish Film Institute and particularly Film i Vast that offers me and my production company a lot of creative control — this is something that is important to me.”

As his budgets increase, he does not rule out the option of continued co-productions, as well as an English-language film. “My producing partner, Erik Hemmendorff, likens these riskier budgets to [a YouTube video] of two men climbing up the Shanghai Towers,” jokes Ostlund.

The director’s next film is about a public square, highlighting Sweden’s growing homeless population, and as a result, an increase in gated communities. In the early stages of script-writing, the film would highlight a place where people are forced to take responsibility in helping others.

“We used to talk to people on the streets, and help each other. Now if you do that, you are looked upon as a threat. I want to examine the different ways we can change this notion. If you are tired, hungry, carrying heavy luggage — you could stand in the square and people would hopefully help.

It’s a metaphor for society. What kind of rules should we have when it comes to s empathy for others?” ■

Force Majeure

December 19, 2014 Screen International 25

CASE STUDY WHIPLASH

Cracking the whip Whiplash represented a tough story on and off screen. Michael Rosser talks to the creative team about bringing Damien Chazelle’s personal experiences to life

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lood, sweat and tears. Ingredients that soak the on and off-screen story of Whiplash. The film is a psychological battle of wills between a wildly ambitious young jazz drummer, played by Miles Teller, and his abusive drill-sergeant teacher, performed with an untethered ferocity by JK Simmons.

How 29-year-old film-maker Damien Chazelle brought the semi-autobiographical story to the screen is even more of a whiteknuckle ride, from an exhausting 19-day shoot and success at Sundance Film Festival (twice) to becoming a staple of the current awards season.

Back in 2011, Chazelle was looking to make his mark. After his debut feature, Guy And Madeline On A Park Bench, received a limited release in 2009, he found himself in Hollywood as a writer for hire on titles such as The Last Exorcism Part II. The idea hit him like a cymbal crash. “I was a jazz drummer in a competitive, cutthroat climate in high school,” says the former musical prodigy of his time in the Princeton High School band in New Jersey. “I had this gut feeling that I could turn my personal experiences as a drummer into a script.”

Nailing it The first draft was written “really quickly” over just a few weeks, borrowing from the real-life shouts from his instructor of “You’re rushing… you’re dragging… not my tempo…”, as well as the moment when he punched his fist through a drum.

After nearly a year of getting the script “as lean as possible, zeroing on the studentteacher relationship”, Chazelle sent it to his agent at Gersh. “It was six months of nothing but passes,” he recalls.

It then fell into the hands of Couper Samuelson, EVP at Blumhouse Productions, who explains why there may have been so many passes: “It was the most ‘unmakeable’ screenplay of all time for a first or secondtime director. We needed to find a way to convince people it would be intense and not just a music drama.”

Blumhouse founder Jason Blum, perhaps best known for low-budget, high-return

26 Screen International December 19, 2014

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chillers such as Paranormal Activity, Insidious and The Purge, adds: “It’s very hard to get a movie like Whiplash made unless you’re a branded name — especially without a cast.”

A guardian angel came in the form of Jason Reitman, director of Juno and Up In The Air, who boarded the project as executive producer after being sent the script by his producing partner at Right of Way Films, Helen Estabrook.

“We talked to Jason about him coming on as the creative godfather,” says Samuelson.

“He came up with the idea to make a short, having directed a few that had made it into Sundance.”

Estabrook, who loved the themes of work and ambition in the script, recalls: “We knew it would be hard to find financing because it’s not an obvious studio movie. I called my friend, Nicholas Britell, to help us produce a short-film version.

“We extracted a scene from the feature script and shot it in three days to prove that Damien had a clear vision. The words on the page are fantastic but we wanted people to be able to see how exciting it could look.”

The 18-minute short starred Johnny Simmons as the young drummer and JK Simmons (no relation) as band teacher Fletcher.

JK Simmons says his relationship with Reitman, having taken roles in six of the director’s previous films, led to his casting in the short. “Jason e-mailed me the script and I immediately fell in love,” Simmons recalls.

“It’s such a thorough, mature, intelligent and passionate piece of writing. But the thing I wasn’t certain of was Damien’s ability as a director, so it was gratifying to see that the film was as brilliantly realised as the potential of the script.”

The short won the short film jury prize at Sundance 2013 and independent finance company Bold Films, which also backed Nightcrawler, came on board to provide the full $3.2m budget for a Whiplash feature. »

JK Simmons (left) on set with Damien Chazelle

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December 19, 2014 Screen International 27

CASE STUDY WHIPLASH

“We were lucky Bold took a swing on it,” says Blum. “After winning at Sundance, we bullishly thought we would have a few choices but really no-one wanted to finance the movie. It was Bold and one other company. The actors weren’t famous enough and it’s not a genre movie, so financially it was a big risk.”

With the money in place, Chazelle then started trying to secure the lead, Miles Teller, he had wanted from the beginning. He had seen the young actor in his 2010 feature debut, Rabbit Hole.

Teller had not been available to star in the short as he was shooting Divergent at the time. But with the feature greenlit, the 27-year-old actor came on board — with a catch: the earliest he was available was September 2013. Chazelle was determined to submit Whiplash to Sundance before its submission deadline in November, so this would mean just 19 days of shooting due to budget constraints, and then a month to edit.

The next level Teller knew how to drum but not to the level of a prodigy. Chazelle stepped in, loaning his own Yamaha drum set to the actor. “My real rehearsal period with Miles wound up being the drum lessons he was doing,” says the director.

“I got him started and then we brought in people to help including Nate Lang, who plays an older drummer in the movie. We didn’t talk about the script much. It was more about how to hold the sticks and what music to listen to.”

Principal photography took place in September, in Santa Clarita, California, with an extra day in New York to film inserts.

Chazelle went into 18-hour days with a precise schedule and 150 hand-drawn storyboards. “You can only move as fast as your cast and crew, and I was blessed in both of those departments,” he says, paying credit to first AD Nicolas Duchemin Harvard and cinematographer Sharone Meir.

“Knowing how short our schedule would be, I wanted to be as prepared as possible.

But as much as I could foster a climate of speed and efficiency, they were the ones pushing the train down the track. Without them, we’d be screwed.”

The scene that provided the toughest challenge for Chazelle was re-filming the scene he had shot for the short. “It is the first big rehearsal scene where Andrew is put on the drums and gets put through the ringer

by Fletcher in front of the band,” he recalls of the scene, in which the abusive teacher repeatedly slaps his new student to elicit an answer.

“We were prepared, but the scene was destined to be different. There was a little adjustment but it felt difficult to capture.

Figuring out the right way to do the slap; the right way for Andrew to break down; the size of the band. It was surprisingly tricky even though we’d done it before.”

After filming wrapped, the race was on to edit the film. Although Chazelle edited his first feature himself, he turned those duties over to Tom Cross for Whiplash. “I hope to do everything with him; he was such a joy to work with,” says Chazelle.

Flash-forward just a couple of months to January and Chazelle was back at Sundance and winning more prizes, including the audience award and grand jury prize.

Sony Pictures Classics snapped up distribution rights for nearly $3m and Simmons has been nominated for a SAG award as well as a Golden Globe.

“The one thing I allowed myself to hope early on, when I worked with JK on the short, was that he would get some kind of recognition from this performance,” adds Chazelle.

As for the director, he is set to shoot another feature with Teller in the spring titled La La Land, “a love letter to old MGM musicals”.

“Hopefully, I’ll get to make lots of movies s with Miles,” he adds. “I’m a fan.” ■

‘We were lucky Bold Films took a swing on it… financially it was a big risk’ Miles Teller as Andrew

28 Screen International December 19, 2014

Jason Blum, Blumhouse Productions

Melissa Benoist with Teller

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Teller with Paul Reiser

Damien Chazelle on set

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JK Simmons with Teller

December 19, 2014 Screen International 29

REVIEWS Highlights of the week’s new films in Review. For full reviews coverage, see Screendaily.com

Reviews in brief Selma Dir Ava DuVernay. US. 2014. 127mins

A brief but crucial episode in the 1960s civil rights movement is strikingly dramatised in Selma, a historical drama that feels topical thanks to recent events in Ferguson and New York. Though it may be a bit too stately to hit big at the box office, a terrific lead performance by David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr will help this well-crafted independent production attract attention — and probably a few prizes — during awards season.

Scripted, as his first produced project, by UK writer Paul Webb (best known up to now for stage play Four Nights In Knaresborough), the film focuses on the time that King — already by then a Nobel laureate — and his team spent in Selma, Alabama, trying to ensure the local black population’s right to vote. The effort culminated in a march to Montgomery and eventually led to the signing of the Voting Right Act of 1965. Director DuVernay (who made contemporary drama Middle Of Nowhere) gets the most engaging moments out of King’s rousing public speeches and his strategy debates with aides.

John Hazelton

The Water Diviner Dir Russell Crowe. Aus. 2014. 111mins

CONTACT PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb Dir Shawn Levy. US. 2014. 97mins

The third Night At The Museum movie throws a handful of new characters, a London setting, upgraded effects and a heavily worked father-son theme into the mix that made major global hits of the first two entries in the Ben Stiller-led franchise. What comes out is a pretty scattershot family adventure that nevertheless delivers enough emotional warmth and impressive eye candy to justify its place in the holiday season line-up.

Franchise regular Shawn Levy is back directing, but the script comes from the new team of David Guion and Michael Handelman (Dinner For Schmucks). This time out, Stiller’s Larry, his lateteen son (Skyler Gisondo) and the familiar ‘exhibits’ from Larry’s New York museum — among them Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams, in his last on-screen appearance), cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and centurion Octavius (Steve Coogan) — go to London’s British Museum to solve a mystery that threatens their existence. The attractions that then come to life include a Monty Pythonesque Sir Lancelot (Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens) and a fatherly pharaoh (Ben Kingsley).

Australia’s Rebel Wilson (Bridesmaids) plays Larry’s London counterpart and Stiller himself plays an exhibit who appears to be Larry’s Neanderthal doppelganger.

John Hazelton CONTACT 20TH CENTURY FOX

30 Screen International December 19, 2014

There is some jolting 1915 Gallipoli action in Russell Crowe’s directing debut, but not overwhelmingly so.

That’s probably a good thing as The Water Diviner is released among many fictional and factual movie and television items in the centenary year of the sacrificial battle that claimed 4,000 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) lives and 7,000 homelanddefending Turks.

Crowe’s prime focus is 1919 post-war Turkey, where a staunch Aussie father has gone to seek what became of his three volunteer soldier sons who are officially ‘missing in action’. This allows reflection on the grotesque uselessness of the Gallipoli ‘campaign’ and on the essential humanity and camaraderie of the contending nations, qualities that Crowe clearly champions both as director and lead actor.

It is a solid and engrossing adventure with some humour and an unlikely love interest, a fast-moving quest with a touch of Indiana Jones and a pinch of Lawrence Of Arabia. Though the occasional trench bayoneting and a graphic train-attack massacre will inhibit family viewing, The Water Diviner has all the ingredients of an old-fashioned, big-canvas blockbuster.

One of Crowe’s best decisions was among his first: enlisting Australian cinematographer Andrew Lesnie (The Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit). There are sweeping sequences in farmland Australia, at Gallipoli Cove (brilliantly recreated in South Australia), in Istanbul and in startlingly beautiful areas of rural Turkey.

In a concise setup, Joshua Conner (Crowe) is to be found on his dry backblocks farm with his wife and three close-knit sons. With his dowsing rods he

searches for water, mysteriously locating the spot, then digging a deep well before breaking into underground water and floating to the top.

There does not seem to be any particular reason for this remarkable gift of divination — he is not a spiritual man; indeed, he rails against “God and King and Country” — but it comes in handy in Gallipoli Cove when he is able to pinpoint buried ANZAC remains.

Arriving in a hostile Istanbul under the control of icy English officers, Joshua lucks his way to a hotel run by a beautiful widow (Olga Kurylenko) with a cheeky young son (Dylan Georgiades). She is initially disapproving of the wide-brimmed-hat-wearing enemy from distant Australia. But soon the son and then the mother are impressed by this resolute seeker.

Joshua joins Turkish major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdogan) and his sergeant Jemal (leading Turkish comedian Cem Yilmaz). We have seen their bravery during the opening war sequences; now they are teaming with Turkish nationals against invading Greek forces.

There is an ever-encroaching ‘soapiness’ about the screenplay by Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios that is kept at bay by Crowe’s sincerity and unforced determination even when, as “Mister Anzac”, he teaches members of the Turkish Resistance how to play cricket.

Though the practice of water divination remains mysterious, The Water Diviner is a heart-warming tale of family, love and sacrifice told with foursquare enthusiasm by Crowe.

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Reviews in brief The Interview Dirs Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg. US. 2014. 112mins

It may — or may not — have been the cause of a North Korean hack of Sony’s computer systems, but when it comes down to it The Interview is just another dose of good-natured frat-boy comedy from James Franco and Seth Rogen, who previously teamed on 2008 Judd Apatow stoner yarn Pineapple Express. The double act gets worked pretty hard this time out and the result is a film that is funny in spots — with a few touches of mild political satire — but self-indulgent and one-note for long stretches. Truckloads of free publicity will not hurt when Sony’s Columbia opens the R-rated comedy in North America on December 25, and the exposure could push the domestic take beyond the mid-level norm for this genre. The publicity will not be as valuable to Sony during the film’s January/February rollout in the international marketplace, where both the genre and the stars have weaker track records. With Rogen and Evan Goldberg directing, from a script by South Park and The Daily Show alumnus Dan Sterling, the comedy is consistently broad. It mostly involves Franco and Rogen riffing off each other, with Franco hamming it up and Rogen playing the straight man.

Annie Dir Will Gluck. US. 2014. 118mins

John Hazelton

The poise and grace that newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis brought to Beasts Of The Southern Wild are all but eradicated by Annie, a shrill, juvenile remake of the wellknown tale of an orphan girl and her billionaire benefactor. Though always meant to be a fairy tale, this new Annie comes across as especially materialistic and shallow, treating the titular spitfire’s unlikely journey into the lap of luxury as little more than a cataloguing of high-priced trinkets and fancy clothes.

Reduced to playing cutesy-pie bratty for most of the running time, Wallis has a few genuine moments with co-stars Jamie Foxx and Rose Byrne, but director Will Gluck shows little skill for capturing the joy or heart of the venerable musical.

Taking place in present-day New York — a departure from the Great Depression-era setting of the 1970s Broadway musical and the subsequent film directed by John Huston (which were based on the 1920s comic strip) — Annie stars Wallis as the foster child. Trapped in a miserable life with drunken, loud-mouthed caretaker Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), Annie finds a way out by accidentally crossing paths with Will Stacks (Foxx), a cellphone magnate who is running for mayor.

Told by his advisers that he seems cold and distant, Will is encouraged to let Annie live with him in his fabulous apartment as a way to convince voters he has a soft side.

What’s truly galling about this Annie is its gross extravagance. The film-makers intend to illustrate the filthy-rich Will earned his wealth through hard work, but at the expense of having anyone special in his life (possible love interest Byrne plays Will’s beautiful and capable vice-president Grace who, like her boss, is a

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workaholic loner). But Gluck, who co-wrote this adaptation, makes Will’s life seem so wonderfully lavish the movie ends up equating wealth with happiness.

Once Will invites Annie to move in with him, she becomes a bland princess, handing out pricey cellphones to her foster-kid buddies and cooking elaborate meals in his well-stocked kitchen. Annie does not bother suggesting there is more to existence than material possessions. Instead, expensive accessories are shown to be a young girl’s dream come true.

The performances run the gamut, with most trending towards the overblown. Diaz plays up Hannigan’s brassy wretchedness, but there is no wit to the portrayal, merely a self-satisfied campiness. Foxx fares a little better, but he too feels hemmed in by the movie’s unsophisticated tone. The only cast member to transcend the drudgery is Byrne, who radiates warmth and sweetness where the rest of the film ladles on the sarcasm and attitude.

This approach disappoints most when it comes to Wallis. Earning an Oscar nomination for her role as Hushpuppy in Beasts Of The Southern Wild, she was so striking precisely because she did not seem like a typical child actor, conveying thoughtfulness and eliciting sympathy without resorting to tics or mugging. It would be a mistake to place too much of the blame of Annie’s failure at her feet, but it is disheartening to see a promising performer thrown into such a soulless studio dud. As Annie herself might say, let’s hope tomorrow is a brighter day for Wallis.

CONTACT SONY PICTURES

Love Is Now Dir/scr Jim Lounsbury. Aus. 2014. 97mins

There are plot twists and then there are supertwists.

Love Is Now is a bittersweet romantic drama with the kind of twist that throws pretty much everything that has gone before into doubt and confusion. That’s fine, but feature debut director-writer Jim Lounsbury leaves his big revelation very late, well after plot and character inconsistencies have become irritatingly troublesome. It is a handsome widescreen movie with attractive performances that was made at commendable speed (only 23 weeks from green light to cinemas) with the backing of, among other private investors, Hoyts, Universal and Nikon. Shot on the D810 DSLR, the movie’s partnership with Nikon is effective, if blatant. Protagonists Dean (Eamon Farren) and Audrey (Claire Van Der Boom) are photographers, she more focused on worthwhile subject matters than he, and both are proud to carry their Nikons.

Cinematographer Anthony Jennings makes central Sydney look good and there is excellent rural photography along dusty roads and among orange groves. The digital images are indeed crystal-clear; the problems are with the screenplay. The central narrative is slow to get started and the Dean/ Audrey relationship is maddeningly unclear.

Tim Grierson CONTACT SONY PICTURES

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Frank Hatherley CONTACT UNIVERSAL PICTURES

December 19, 2014 Screen International 31

AWARDS PEOPLE Compiled by Andreas Wiseman

andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com

IDA WINS BIG AT EFAs

AN EDUCATION

One Day and The Riot Club director Lone Scherfig delivered the David Lean Lecture at Bafta’s London headquarters on December 15.

Polish drama Ida scooped five prizes at the European Film Awards in Riga, Latvia, on December 13, including best European film and best European director for Pawel Pawlikowski (pictured above). Timothy Spall (below right) won best European actor for Mr. Turner, while Agnes Varda (below left) took home the lifetime achievement award.

LONDON CALLING

Stephen Hawking (middle, front) and Jane Hawking (far right) joined cast and crew at the UK premiere of biopic The Theory Of Everything in London’s Leicester Square on December 9.

A RESURRECTION?

Michael Keaton on the subject of whether there may be a Beetlejuice remake in the offing: “I don’t know at this point. It went away, it came up. It’s up to them if they want to do it. After all this, it’s getting a little dull. If Tim [Burton] is in, I will be interested.”

MECHANICS OF SPACE ON EARTH Christopher Nolan and key crew were at the Science Museum, London, this month to discuss the technology behind Interstellar.

“The spacecraft was more a simulator than a set,” explained Nolan. “The actors were enveloped in the reality of the film, with a cockpit complete with vibrating chairs, manoeuvred by crew who rocked the set on gimbals to simulate motion.”

Whenever possible, Nolan shunned CGI. There are more than 180 incamera projection shots, for example.

“People regard rear projection as an old technology,” said cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema. “But there are so many things you can do with it now on-set. You can rescale, change brightness, twist it, change direction.

New tools have given it a whole new life.”

“Rear projection pushed us to get

Christopher Nolan (second left) with the Interstellar team at the Science Museum

everything done up front, rather than doing it all in post, as usually happens,” added VFX head Paul Franklin.

Editor Lee Smith said the team initially struggled to create the heavily processed gyro sound effects designed

for the movement of marine robot TARS. Unable to find a digital solution, Nolan suggested the team try the noise of a filing cabinet… a suggestion they took up.

Neal Romanek

(Left) Michael Keaton

32 Screen International December 19, 2014

www.screendaily.com

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