Movies Plus - Summer 2020

Summer 2020 • Number 207 • www.Movies.ie

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THE KINGS MAN In Cinemas : Sept 16th Director : Matthew Vaughn Cast : Ralph Fiennes, Harris Dickinson, Gemma Arterton, Djimon Hounsou

MONSOON

Discover how the Kingsman came to be such legendary protectors of the world in the agency’s origin story.

Franchise director Matthew Vaughn takes us back in time, with Ralph Fiennes taking the lead role as a World War I soldier who helps create the very first titular independent intelligence agency.

PIXIE

In Cinemas : Sept 25th Director : Hong Khaou Cast : Henry Golding, Parker Sawyers, Molly Harris

In Cinemas : Oct 16th Director : Barnaby Thompson Cast : Olivia Cooke, Ben Hardy, Colm Meaney, Alec Baldwin

The director of 2014’s critically acclaimed ‘Lilting’ returns with 'Monsoon'. Starring Henry Golding as Kit, a man returning to Vietnam to bury his late parents after living in England for 30 years. During this time, he struggles with his cultural dislocation & seeks solace in the arms of American businessman Lewis (Parker Sawyers).

Filmed in Ireland last year, this crime thriller stars Olivia Cooke as the feisty and quickwitted Pixie, who masterminds a heist to avenge her mother’s death but everything goes awry when the robbery ignites an old rivalry with the dangerous priest-turned-mob-boss, Father McGrath (Alec Baldwin).

LES MISERABLES

In Cinemas : Sept 4th Director : Ladj Ly Cast : Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga, Ladj Ly’s explosive directorial debut ‘Les Misérables’ premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival winning the Jury Prize and has been nominated for a variety of awards including a Golden Globe and an Academy Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

GREENLAND

In Cinemas : Coming Soon Director : Ric Roman Waugh Cast : Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin Greenland reunites Gerard Butler with ‘Angel Has Fallen’ director Ric Roman Waugh in this disaster movie that follows one family’s dangerous journey for survival as an unstoppable comet hurtles towards a devastating collision with Earth.

BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC

In Cinemas : Sept 23rd Director : Dean Parisot Cast : Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine Nearly 30 years after 'Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey', the third Bill and Ted film will reunite Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as everyone’s favorite bodacious dudes. This time, the duo must bring harmony in the universe with the help of their daughters, a new batch of historical figures and a few music legends.

RIALTO

In Cinemas : October 2nd Director : Peter Mackie Burns Cast : Tom Vaughan Lawlor, Tom Glynn Carney From the writer of ‘Adam and Paul’ comes this powerfully affecting drama starring Tom VaughanLawlor as family man Colm, who risks his comfortable suburban life & managerial job for a relationship with a 19-year old who quickly becomes his only solace from the pressures he feels.

THE ROADS NOT TAKEN

In Cinemas : Sept 11th Director : Sally Potter Cast : Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Laura Linney, Salma Hayek Written & directed by British auteur Sally Potter, ‘The Roads Not Taken’ follows a daughter who takes her ailing father to New York, in an attempt to snap him out of his dream state, through which he explores two other lives he never lived.

HERSELF

In Cinemas : October 30th Director : Phyllida Lloyd Cast : Clare Dunne, Harriet Walter, Conleth Hill This Irish production held it's world premiere to critical acclaim at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. The film from ‘Mamma Mia’ director Phyllida Lloyd follows the story of Sandra, a young mum struggling to provide for her two young daughters sets out to build her own home and in the process rebuilds her life and re-discovers herself.

WONDER WOMAN 1984

In Cinemas : Oct 2nd Director : Patty Jenkins Cast : Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal Oscar nominated director Patty Jenkins returns with the highly anticipated sequel to 2017’s ‘Wonder Woman’. This time, the story fast forwards to the 1980s where Wonder Woman's next big screen adventure finds her facing two all-new foes: Max Lord & The Cheetah.

KAJILLIONAIRE

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In Cinemas : Coming Soon Director : Miranda July Cast : Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez, Richard Jenkins Indie director Miranda July brings us a quirky comedy about two con-artists who have spent 26 years training their only daughter to swindle, scam & steal at every opportunity.

MOVIES.IE Some release dates may change, keep an eye on Movies.ie website for the latest movie news, trailers, interviews & features.

MAISIE WILLIAMS received critical acclaim and two Emmy® nominations for her role as Arya Stark in the smash hit TV SHOW 'Game of Thrones'.

This summer Maisie will appear in ‘The New Mutants’ playing the role of Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane; A Scottish mutant who can turn into a wolf and is struggling to reconcile this with her religious beliefs.

How did director Josh Boone pitch the film to you?

It was shortly after my friend Sophie (Turner), who I worked with on 'Game of Thrones', had just shot 'X-Men' and she had heard they were doing a spinoff. I didn’t know anything about “The New Mutants” and I had never read the comics. So Josh told me a little bit about Rahne and Wolfsbane, but it was very early days and there wasn’t even a greenlit script yet.

So I spoke to Sophie about going from one running series into another possible long running character, but I was thrilled.

What kind of research did you do for your character Rahne Sinclair?

I went with the script & was very happy with the way that Rahne was written, although at first glance she is very similar to 'Game of Thrones' in that she is a wolf and she has short hair. But then when I read into the actual character of Rahne I realized that she is far more of an introvert and is quite underestimated. She doesn’t have a very strong

THE NEW MUTANTS voice or impact on the group and it was nice to create a new character who isn’t so sure of herself.

I actually didn’t read any of the comics, but I went on Wikipedia and got a rough back story about her. I truly believe that in trying to create someone like Rahne, you can find her by looking in lots of different places outside of the comic. You are not trying to mimic what you read and are actually trying to make someone authentic by breathing some real emotion into her. I have always been very outspoken and I have always wanted to be the center of attention which is very different to Rahne, so it was nice taking a step back and shaping someone

INTERVIEW WITH

MAISIE WILLIAMS that is far more in her head than a huge part of the group dynamic.

How has being with the other mutants helped Rahne from her past?

Rahne is far more used to her powers than some of the others and has them far more under control and she prefers being a wolf almost at times, because she has grown up where it’s been very suppressed and she has felt a lot of guilt and is uncomfortable with who she truly is. She has come to this hospital where it’s kind of encouraged to come to terms with who you are and to control it, so she spends a lot more time as a wolf than she does a human. But now with the appearance of Dani (Blu Hunt),

it’s kind of the other way and she struggles to be herself when she is not using her powers. Rahne has been suppressed for so long that she now has been given the okay by a new voice of reason to express herself which is more healthy for her.

So when you are interacting with the group, do you have the least amount of dialogue?

Yeah, absolutely, I would say so, and it’s been interesting because you have so much time to sit back and think about what your character would be thinking. A lot of my preparation is not doing dialogue work, but rather what is Rahne really thinking during those moments and what is she putting together

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that she can tell the group of what she has learned? And you finally do see her at the end start to speak out when she realizes that she has a really important piece of information. These were tiny little struggles that are so miniscule in terms of the whole story, but for me, it’s what I have been sort of playing with throughout the whole film.

really get to delve into the psychology of teenagers who have struggled with the transition of being a child to being an adult and you indulge in this fantasy story that is quite reflective of how you feel like a complete freak at school sometimes.

How was it working with Josh and what kind of director is he?

For Josh, this is a real passion The film is basically a character project…he is such a huge fan of piece that happens to also be a this & doesn’t want to mess this up. horror film. This isn’t your typical I am not as familiar with the story of superhero movie.

'The New Mutants' like he is, so it’s I think it’s a great twist. The 'X-Men' amazing being with someone who is franchise has done so well that if a true fan. He loves the characters you’re a little film like ours trying so much and it’s been great working to go up against this huge pool of with him. Josh is offering such an incredible movies, it’ll be impossible interesting stamp for a story of this to compete. And so it’s so great that genre, plus you have such diverse we have this movie that's more of a characters from different backhorror film. I just think it’s a really grounds. It’s thrilling to be a part of smart thing to do and it’s just a this new age of filmmaking which great fresh new take on the genre. is starting to show more diversity Also, seeing superheroes not know in characters, their sexuality and how to use their powers is somebeliefs. I think that there’s no better thing that fans don’t see unless it’s time than now & I am really proud the first 20 minutes of a film. We of this film.

KEANU REEVES

ALEX WINTER

ONLY IN CINEMAS SEPTEMBER 23 © 2020 Orion Releasing LLC. All Rights Reserved.

TENET IN MAS E CIN

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BEHIND THE SCENES With TENET Producer Emma Thomas

Can you briefly describe the overall concept of TENET? In the same way that ‘Inception’ is a riff on the heist drama, TENET takes the spy movie genre and turns it on its head. Basically, it’s the Chris Nolan version of a spy movie with all the fun globetrotting action extravaganza that you might expect to see in a film like this, along with a certain extra Chris Nolan fairy dust sprinkled over it (LAUGHS).

From a producer’s standpoint, could you talk about the international nature of this production and the challenges of that?

I feel like every movie we make expands—everything gets bigger and more challenging—and TENET was truly an exponential increase in scope and scale. The film is absolutely massive and has great number of large action sequences.

And we also had to accomplish them in seven different countries, which was exceptionally challenging. But I think that the sense of accomplishment was huge when we managed to achieve that. We had the best of the best in every person who worked on this film,

and they were at the top of their game.

You had some very trusty, longtime collaborators with you, including (director of photography) Hoyte van Hoytema and production designer Nathan Crowley. Can you talk a little bit about how the team as a whole helped accomplish this production?

Oh my gosh, so much work goes into it. There’s a lot of rehearsal that happens, whether it be the actors or the stunt guys or the picture car people. There was also a lot of strategizing in the office, a lot of R & D, and really preparing for any eventuality so that on the day, when you’re shooting, you can be as nimble as you can be.

And in front of the camera, you had a pretty remarkable international ensemble.

Yeah, we have an amazing cast on this one—they’re all wonderful actors and really just the nicest bunch of people, which makes it all so much easier. Chris had been really impressed with John David Washington’s work in Ballers on

HBO, and then of course we saw ‘BlacKkKlansman’. Chris was really looking for somebody who would have a physical presence, but he also wanted somebody with super charisma. We needed somebody who could lead the audience through the story, and I think that John David does that incredibly well. Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki are both fantastic, and it was a complete honor to work with Kenneth Branagh again.

And then Michael Caine, the lovely Michael Caine, without whom we really couldn’t make the film, so we were glad he agreed to come back to play with us for a day.

TENET marks your first collaboration with composer Ludwig Göransson. What did he bring to the film in terms of its score?

You know, music is such an important part of any film, but I think that in Chris’s films, we really feel that the music is almost a character. When we realized that Hans (Zimmer) wasn’t going to be

available to do Tenet, we had a moment of terror, but we then became excited at the idea of, well, maybe this is a chance to work with some of the exciting talents that we’ve noticed and Ludwig has done some remarkable work. We were thrilled to have him on; he brings a freshness and a sort of different energy, and I think that when you hear the music in the film, you’ll be suitably impressed.

It’s really fantastic, and we’ve loved working with him.

Lastly, why do you believe TENET should be seen on the big screen?

We shot this film to be seen on the big screen. We want this to be a large-scale, immersive, transportive entertainment experience.

And although, in the longer term, I’m sure people will watch it on their phones or on their TV’s or wherever, the idea behind the film is really to create that big-screen experience for the first time people experience the movie.

SPREE

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Interview With Director Eugene Kotlyarenko

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Kurt ('Stranger Things' actor Joe Keery) is a rideshare/cab driver who desperately wants to be a social media star, but his content isn't exactly thrilling. Until he decides to start drugging and killing his passengers on camera for online fame.

Would you say that Joe Keery's character is inspired by Christian Bales performance in ‘American Psycho’?

There were specific movies that I showed to the cast like ‘King of Comedy’, like ‘Network’, like ‘A Face in the Crowd’. There are other characters that I thought of for Kurt, characters from movies like ‘Made in Britain’. Just people who are relentless in their twisted ideology.

There's a movie I like called ‘Coming Apart’, it's a Rip Torn movie where he's a psychiatrist with all these hidden cameras.

We showed ‘Man Bites Dog’. It's a mockumentary where they follow around a serial killer.

I see ‘Spree’ as a film that makes fun of films like ‘American Psycho’ because Kurt is not cool.

Kurt is not sexy. His whole M.O. is cringe.

In a particular scene, I felt that you were drawing inspiration from ‘American Psycho’.

With that we wanted to show at that point in the film he was becoming something else, he was going beyond the pale. The same as people who opt out of social media because they've opted out of society and are unable to survive. The whole thing is that Kurt is amoral rather than immoral because he's naive. He's not processing the violence as a problem because it's under the rubric of sharing and a tutorial.

Are you a fan of social media?

I'm just a participant like everyone else and in our partici-

pation we observe, we reflect, we feel feelings of disgust with ourselves. Maybe we feel feelings of elation but we have to question it.

Where that elation comes from as well.

When did you know Joe Keery had it, that he understood what it meant to play Kurt?

Yeah he nailed it. he's really good. Just from the earliest meetings, I knew that he was going to approach this character and this subject matter with sensitivity because obviously what I'm trying to do is make fun of this type of person who would use violence as a means to fame and he totally met me

there but also added these layers of pathos and desperation and sadness to the character so you are laughing at him, you are horrified by what's happening but also you kind of see yourself a little bit in Kurt and that's the most horrifying thing of all where we acknowledge how social media can make us do things that inhumane and immoral because we've trained and brainwashed to want the attention on us.

Where did the character of Kurt come from?

At first we wanted to skewer white/male/ mass murderers.

That happens a lot in America and I've never

seen a film or a piece of art make fun of those peoples and I think because they are so driven by the attention you need to make fun of them.

I found this pairing of what these individuals want is what influencers want which is to be the centre of a narrative and there's something kind of sick about influencer culture and how our own adherence to the rules of social media and so from there I thought we need to synthesise those two types of people and that is what Kurt comes from.

What do you hope audiences learn from this film?

I hope people are entertained and they laugh... I'd hope they enjoy the ride because I do think it's a fun movie and then when it's over maybe they can step away and talk about it and just reflect on their own relationship with social media because I think we need to scrutinise that more because it completely runs our lives. We virtualise ourselves in a really frightening way so I think the movie is a good jumping-off point for people to think about that.

Words : Graham Day

NOCTURNAL

Interview with director Nathalie Biancheri

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NOCTURNAL tells the story of Laurie (Lauren Coe), a cynical schoolgirl, who builds and nurtures a secret friendship with Pete (Cosmo Jarvis), an older man who's apparently obsessed with her.

The original screenplay was written by Olivia Waring & then you worked on the script with her. What drew you to that story?

When I received the script, I was rereading ‘Lolita’, the Nabokov book. I received an email from a producer that I didn't know… with the synopsis of this film about a father who meets his daughter for the first time…

I think the coincidence of reading ‘Lolita’ and this script coming in meant I was open to the themes. I was interested in the relationship and the ambiguities there.

I started working with Olivia on the script. I am also a writer and I'm more in the art house sphere. I feel like I really need to own a film to be able to direct it. I asked myself what I wanted to

explore & I realized it was very much the story of a man who was so inhibited by his fears. I wanted to examine what it means to be so human and so fragile and so, like, hindered by our inabilities.

That is something that really fascinates me about humans and became an essential thing.

It is essentially a two-hander. How did you know that Cosmo Jarvis and Lauren Coe were the right actors for the film?

Lauren was the first that I cast and it took me a long time to find her. I saw 136 actresses. When I saw her tape and saw her in the room again and filmed with her, I felt she really had some-

thing. I think it's a very tricky role to navigate. Cosmo has weight in his part.

It's easy to overlook how subtle Lauren is in all her choices.

She could be this annoying teenage girl, but she isn't.

She's so truthful in that. I was always very happy with her. With Cosmo it was different. There was another actor attached but he didn't work out. I'd seen Cosmo’s work and I really liked him, but we didn't have dates and he was just coming off the back of ‘Calm with Horses’ and busy doing ‘Peaky Blinders’. It was a bit of a gamble. We offered it to him and then I met him and I thought, well, this guy has a lot of

the elements of Pete.

We had very little time, we had no chemistry test, no rehearsal time.

I was very lucky with them both. They were phenomenal and our time was so limited. We shot the whole film in 17 days.

Being such a short shoot, I presumed that you would have had a lot of prep & rehearsal time?

You can believe as much as you want about your project and your vision for it, but it was also my first feature. I felt like, is this going to be a suicide mission? We got the money 8 weeks before we shot it. We had no locations. No, no prep time. The budget was

reduced so I had to rewrite everything for the budget and cut half of the locations.

It was challenging.

You must have been exhausted by the end?

I think I was a terrible human being during that shoot. We were all pushed to our limits because I think we also all had a high standard. The cinematographer is a super perfectionist.

He's super intuitive, the camera work is beautiful and it's free.

Cosmo and Lauren are super, their craft is so important to them and, like everybody, would have wanted more

time. I wanted to make a good film, my tastes are quite good and the level is quite high. We were all so frustrated but it meant that we had to just push, push, push and put our best in.

But by the end of it, we were broken. We didn’t even have a proper wrap party.

We were staggering zombies.

You had a complete baptism of fire!

They told me making my 2nd feature was going to be easier & here I am making my 2nd film in the middle of a pandemic!

Interview by Cara O'Doherty

INTERVIEW WITH PADDY SLATTERY ‘Broken Law’ was a long time in the works. Can you tell us how it came about?

I wrote the first draft of this in 2009, would you believe? But I shelved it. I had started on my journey in filmmaking right at the deep end, writing feature-length screenplays. When I wrote the first draft of this one, I decided to start making short films to learn the trade to get good at writing and good at directing.

I wanted to build a network of people who would be able to help me make a feature at some point down the line. I started with the

script and then I went back and learned how to make films.

Eventually, I dared to say, ‘all right, I think I’m ready to make a feature film’.

When you went back to redevelop the script did it change much from what it was to what we now see on screen?

It has changed dramatically! 10 years ago, I was very much a fan of Tarantino and Scorsese and I saw all of those influences in the first draft. It was overtly dialogue-driven

with outlandish, stereotypical sort of crime drama characters. 10 years later, when we decided to make a film on an X amount of budget, I started to look at the world and the environment around us and realize that the characters on the original script were more caricatures of a different kind of time and place.

I decided to make it more human, make it more real and relatable. So although we are selling this film as a crime thriller, it’s

BROKEN LAW Written and directed by Paddy Slattery, BROKEN LAW tells the story of two estranged brothers on opposite sides of the law. Dave Connolly is a respected member of the Garda Síochána but his loyalty to the force gets tested by his ex-convict brother Joe following a botched robbery. The film is now showing in cinemas across the country. still very much bedded in real people and real circumstances in today’s world.

At The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF) this year you won awards and were given a long-standing ovation. What was it like to have that experience?

I was a kind of a spiritual release. It was an honour being there with family and friends in the sold-out IMAX screen and being able to show your family who had cried tears with me throughout the whole journey. It was one of the highlights of my life.

I’ve had some memorable days in my life, thankfully that was right up there. I had that moment that I worked hard for and I felt like lockdown was the holiday I had denied myself for over 20 years. In fact, since the crash [Slattery was paralysed in a car accident in 1996 when he was just 17] I just went on this journey of trying to work my ass off to try and prove to people that I could still contribute to life.

You know, despite the disability thing, I know it sounds kind of ridiculous even

thinking it, but I just went on this mission to prove to people that I could still do something with my life. And that was the goal.

Do you ever worry about people’s perception of a director who is a wheelchair user?

At this point, I’ve earned the confidence to not worry as much, but there are times when I will be quite self-conscious particularly when you meet people for the first time. There’s this internal device that tells me, okay, I need

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to step up here and prove to them that they can rely on me. My only worry is not necessarily about my disability but is that they can trust that I can deliver what I said what I can deliver on the page. I work hard to try and prove to them that I can be as good as anybody else. It was something I worried about in the past, but not anymore. If someone doesn’t respect me or show me respect, I don’t have time for them. Not anymore.

Unlike many films from 2020, ‘Broken Law’ got a full cinema release. Are you glad it didn’t go down the streaming route?

Yeah, the timing was beautiful for us. We got our premiere and we also got to be able to

put the project on ice until the lockdown lifted. We were lucky enough that we didn’t spend our distribution budget and then get derailed. We are so lucky to be working with Breakout Pictures. They’re a fresh new company with ambition and are new with a lot to prove, but also have the talent and ambition.

It’s just been such an enjoyable journey because they’re lovers of the craft.

You know, they’re not driven by money.

They are a business, but they’re not driven that way, thankfully.

What do you want audiences to take away from the film?

I would love for them to come away

and think it isn’t just your bog-standard crime drama. There’s something there that might inspire audiences to think a little deeper about some of the characters and maybe identify with them or recognise them. I’d also like them to think, on a professional level, that we made this film for 150 grand.

Not a drop in the ocean in comparison with budgets that we’re competing with. So I’d also like them to come away from it not even considering it a low budget, it may be considered on par with any bigger budget film.

Interview By : Cara O’Doherty

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