Here’s Beau Willimon talking about The Ides of March from the red carpet at last nights BAFTA Awards. (see all our BAFTA coverage including the full winners list and other interviews here).

How does it feel to be a BAFTA nominee?

‘It feels thrilling. It feels like a miracle the movie made it from the script to the screen at all. The fact that this movie got made, and that it’s made it’s way across the pond and connected with so many people in the UK is a real thrill for me.’

 Aside from your own movie, what other nominated films are getting you excited?

‘I think Tinker Tailor was amazing, Moneyball was amazing. So many great films have been made this year internationally, it’s a pretty heady group to share some nominations with – a really good year for movies.’

I’m curious, the movie went through quite a long development process didn’t it?

‘I wrote the play eight years ago, and then a couple of years after I wrote the play i t got optioned for a movie with George Clooney producing, and then he decided to direct. I wrote the first feew drafts, and then turned it over to Grant and George, and what you see on the screen is a combination of all our efforts.’

When it comes to giving your baby to George and Grant, what was it like?

‘I’ll raise a baby with George and Grant any day of the week; it turned into a pretty healthy one, and now it’s got its own legs and its own life. George, from the very beginning wanted to remain faithful to the play, it wasn’t one of those stories of just cherry picking things here and there and turning it into something else. He wanted to remain true to the core story, so I was never worried that anything was going to happen to it in a bad way. Adapting it into a story just gave us an opportunity to expand characters deep in the world and really capture the adrenalin of a campaing in a way you can’t do on the stage.’

Aside from the title, there is an air of Roman-esque politics in the film. Did you have that in mind when you wrote it, or did the title come about later?

‘Not even Shakespeare or brutus or Julius Cesar themselves invented ambition or hubris, backstabbing politics. I think that’s been around since men and women could stand upright and hit each other with clubs, It definitely was at the back of our minds. Really we just set out to write a contemporary tale about a young man dealing with some pretty universal and difficult moral choices.’

The Republican primary is going on at the moment…

‘This film could just as easily have been about Republicans. It just so happens that Govenor Mike Morris in the movie is a Democrat, and a fairly liberal one, but you could have switched over to the other side of the isle, because it’s really not a movie about politics, it’s a movie about desire and ambition and loyalty, and that can be true in any number of worlds, whether it’s politics or finance or at home, sibling rivalry. I think it’s poignant right now because there’s quite a happening across the states, but I hope it transcends any given political moment.

Just a short post here, Branagh on Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe. (see all our BAFTA coverage including the full winners list and other interviews here).

What was it like for you to play such an iconic character against such an iconic character?

‘The big learning curve was just watching Michelle Williams transform into Marilyn Monroe. On the first day her coming on to set and watching every head turning, and you got this sense of what [The Marilyn Effect must have been], she walks on and just stops time. She walks on – well, she floats on, and everything stops. The thing that Marilyn – Michelle did, was to, not only recreate this icon, so she had the look and the voice and the sound and the hair and everything, but she also just kept making you feel that she was real, that she was believable in the here and now, so I found that great inspiration –to play the human being, not just the pictures and the legend as it were.’

‘It was fun every morning to go in and meet before going to the makeup trailer and be a little beaten up at five AM, and then you’d go in there and I’d wink at here, and I’d put my headphones on and listen to Lawrence Olivier reading the Bible, and then they’d put my prosthetic chin on and I’d turn around two or three hours later and Michelle had gone, she’d left the building. Instead Marilyn Monroe was there, seemed bigger in the chair, seemed as though there was a kind of aura around her. I felt that every day was a journey back in time, and I felt that I was getting a trip to the movies myself through seeing the magic she created.’

Another quickie – This time it’s Tom Hooper discussing how much more enjoyable the ceremony is without the pressure of a nomination, and talking about Les Miserables. (see all our BAFTA coverage including the full winners list and other interviews here).

I presume you get invited to these forever now that you’re a winner.

‘I know. I’m presenting this year, but it’s amazingly relaxed. I can’t tell you the difference between last year. There’s a lack of stress arriving in the car, but it’s obviously nice to be here having won last year, that’s the nicest way to do it.’

Presumably though last year it was almost a foregone conclusion.

‘Not from where i was, and not at this stage in the year. In fact, when I started I never thought I could win the Oscar, so in a way the pressure mounts the more it’s possible rather than decreases.’

And obviously back in the saddle this year with Les Mis.

‘Yeah, I start shooting in five weeks time in Pinewood Studios with Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Sascha Baron-Cohen, Helena Bonham-Carter, Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne. It’s an outrageously wonderful cast.’

Anyone you’ve not cast in it?

‘Unfortunately Victor Hugo didn’t write enough parts to get every wonderful actor, but I’ve got a few’

At the start of this year it was being touted as a 2012 release, but there have been rumours that it will slip to 2013. Is there any truth in that?

‘We’re still looking to make the December date. Because it’s very tight we’re all being careful about it, but we’re still on the December date’.

And now we have Paul Feig, up for awards for his movie, Bridesmaids (see all our BAFTA coverage including the full winners list and other interviews here).

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This was a bit of a surprise awards hit.

‘Yeah, who would have thought? When you do comedy you don’t expect this, you just have to hope that it will do well at the box office, and then suddenly you’re getting nominated for awards. It’s thrilling. It’s just a testament to how good these women are in this film.’

Did you ever expect it to be so successful, even at the box office?

‘Not as successful as it was. You always kind of hope. Sometimes you get in your head, ‘if we can do over $100million, it’ll be great’, so once we hit that I thought ‘oh good’, and then it kept going, and to do well internationally, was really exciting, because you don’t normally expect an American comedy to do well overseas, but I think think it’s a very emotional, human story that everybody can relate to, and it wasn’t too referential to our culture. I’m thrilled.’

A result of it doing well is that there’s now  pressure to make a sequel. I understand that there’s not a lot of desire to make this, but let’s speculate – if you were to get together to make one, what would it be about?

‘I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re all a little hesitant, because we’re not sure. I think the reason Bridesmaids workers well is because of a get personal story of a woman going through a nervous breakdown. If you just make it about a wedding, and the craziness of a wedding, we’ve seen that movie a million times, so I don’t know, we really would have to think of something really great, so that’s why I think we’re all a little like, ‘this one worked, maybe we step away’. But never say never. I’m confident this talented group of people could really figure out something good together.’

Next we have our interview with the Director of Senna, Asif Kapadia which is up for three awards (see all our BAFTA coverage including the full winners list and other interviews here).

Senna walked away with two awards this evening which we are very, very pleased about! MASSIVE congrats!

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At this stage now, walking up the carpet for BAFTA,did it ever occur to yo, when you began making a movie about a racing driver barely known to non- Formula One fans, that this would be the result?

‘No, not at all. While you’re making the film you’re just trying to get through the process. You’re not really thinking about this side of it,. What happened quite early on, because the nature of the film – made entirely out of archive – it’s not like you have a development process with the script. You had the material, we’d edit it and we’d show it to people. Once we’d got people into the room and showed it to them, they liked it. So we knew very early on there was something there, but it took two,three years of editing to get it right. But right from the beginning people would come back again and against and again to watch the film as it was changing, and they’d bring their friends. Most of them were not into Formula One. Quite young people in the office, whose Dads tried to get them to watch a race, and they’d never seen a race in their life, but they’d come back again and again because there’s something about Senna and his charisma that pulled them in, and people would laugh and they would cry.’

The film is up for best editing as well…

‘Yeah, which is amazing. It’s really great For them to be recognised with Hugo and those huge movies, and to be the only doc, to break out of the documentary category is great.’

Were you disappointed to miss out on an Oscar nomination?

‘At the time it was disappointing, because we were considered by  people to be one of the favourites for the longlist at least. We didn’t make the top 15, which is a bit of a surprise, but that’s part of the process of making movies, you shouldn’t take it as if it’s going to happen. If it happens, enjoy it, if it doesn’t, don’t take it too seriously. That’s what we have to do really.

How difficult was it to create a coherent narrative from archive material?

‘That was a gamble, that was a big gamble. Everyone kept saying to us ‘When We Were Kings’ has interviews, ‘Touching The Void’ has interviews, ‘Man on Wire’ has interviews – go and interview someone, but I think it’s all here. We did need to do interviews for research, but my instinct was – play it like a drama, even though it’s a doc, play it like a drama and just let the images tell the story. That was hard; it took a couple of years to get everyone to believe it, but bit by bit people thought this was the only way to make the film. The problem is when you’ve got a hole in your story. Normally you just go and interview someone and you plug the hole, but we had to go looking all over the world for the particular scene that would go perfectly between that scene and that scene to tell the story. I never like doing it the easy way. I don’t want to make it complicated, but if it’s worth the journey of trying and experimenting, as well as trying to communicate a particular story, when it comes off it makes you particularly happy.’

Next up in our Red Carpet interviews, Sarah Smith, writer/director Arthur Christmas. (see all our BAFTA coverage and other interviews here)

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Congratulations, it’s an astonishing achievement to be nominated against Steven Spielberg and Gore Verkinski certainly.

‘It’s hilarious that it happens to be the year that those two people made movies, but it’s hilarious to be up there in that company.’

Obviously there’s been some contention over whether Tintin is an animated film or not. Putting aside the fact that you’re in the same category, what are your views on that?

‘I don’t object to any director using any method to tell the story they want to tell. At the same time, I have a huge admiration for what animators do, which is take a lifeless puppet and make them live, and that isn’t the same to me as mo-cap, so I don’t have any problem with people using mo-cap, but I also love and respect what animation is, and I wouldn’t want people to say ‘it’s easier and cheaper, let’s use mo-cap’, because to me it’s not the same art. Effectively you’re following the art of the actor, and animation follows the art of the animator.’

Do you feel it’s a shame the category has only got three nominees?

‘No, given that I’m one of the three, I think that’s plenty to be going on with.’

What are you following up with?

‘At the moment I’m completely not. It takes five years to make an animated movie, and we only finished about five minutes ago it feels like, so I’m just taking a gap and trying to imagine ever doing it again.’

I’m currently sat in the media centre at BAFTA, trying to warm up after spending several hours in the freezing cold. Still, it was all worth it as I managed to snag some great interviews with the nominees and attendees. To make it even more worthwhile, I’ll be posting the interviews as soon as they’re transcribed.

First up, Thelma Schoonmaker, Editor of ‘Hugo’.

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You’ve been editing films for a while now. What do you think it is about your work on Hugo that has got it recognised this year?

‘That’s an interesting question, because it’s not as ‘splashy’ editing as some of our films that I’ve been nominated before like The Aviator or Departed or Raging Bull. I think the magic of silent filmmaking is what really has attracted people to the movie. It’s funny because many people didn’t think we even needed to shoot it, now it’s become the favourite part of the movie watching George Mellies in his glass house, lit by the sun only, bouncing around making wonderful movies, and I think that’s why it’s been nominated.’

Obviously this isn’t the only film that has it’s feet in the past that’s been recognised this year. Were you taking stylistic cues from silent era film?

‘Definitely. Sorsese showed us many silent films, all of George Mellies films -not all of them, but quite a few – and then also other films that he was referencing. 3D films like ‘Dial M For Murder’ – in 3D is a whole new experience, and there’s going to be a new Blu-ray of it soon, in 3D so people can see it. ‘House of Wax’, wonderful things like that, we were referencing all of those things.

How important do you and your peers consider this as part of the circus you have to perform.

‘It’s very important. Actually in the past it was much better  at recognising our work than the Americans were. I got a BAFTA for ‘Raging Bull’, but ‘Goodfellas’ was the one that we lost in America at the Oscars – we lost to ‘Dances With Wolves’, and Marty and I and many other people got honoured by BAFTA and that was wonderful.’
And they actually are recognising him again with the fellowship tonight.

‘I’m so proud of that because Scorsese has done so much for the history of British cinema, particularly my late husband Michael Powell, and Emwick Pressburger, his great partner, no one has done more than he has to bring their films back to the world – to bring them back to the world. He brought my husband to America and my husband got reimersed in the film world again, Scorsese has restored his films, and so it’s so important  that BAFTA recognise the great works he’s done, not only for Michael Powell, but also for me.’

Cindy Lowry is an American environmental activist and the former executive director of Greenpeace in Alaska who has dedicated more than 25 years to protect marine wildlife and the marine environment. She is also the founder of Oceans Public Trust Initiative, developed out of a concern over the rapid expansion of offshore renewable energy development, as well as oil and gas.

Back in September 1988, she played the lead role in the rescue of Gray Whales trapped in the ice off the coast of Barrow, Alaska, and is the inspiration behind Drew Barrymore’s Greenpeace activist character, Rachel Kramer, in the new family film Big Miracle.

We spoke to her about meeting and bonding with Barrymore, as well as events leading up to the dramatic global rescue, as well as what issue she finds most pressing.

What were your first thoughts when you were told the events of September 1988 were going to be made into a feature film?

Cindy Lowry: I was really excited. They seemed very interested in my perspective of the event. Knowing they had picked Drew Barrymore to play me was great – I just couldn’t think of a better person, such a great actor and also just really down-to-earth as I am. She is also passionate about the issues she cares about. So I thought this was like a great opportunity.

Even thought Drew’s character is very much based on you, why is she called Rachel in this?

Cindy Lowry: I guess it’s just part of the creative licence that the movie companies take because it’s not a documentary. I know they could have used my name – I gave them the rights to do that.

Can you describe what it was like first meeting Drew, and how you helped her get into the part?

Cindy Lowry: We first met in New York and for whatever reason we just had this instant bonding. We just started talking immediately; at first I think she wanted to get my voice down and just talk about experiences – she had her iPhone and she was recording my voice for a while. It was over several hours as we were just walking New York together, and we just connected in a great way. She and I are both dog people so we talked about our dogs, and not just about the whale rescue – I spent ten years in Alaska with Greenpeace and so many other years with other projects. We talked about how I approach issues and my internal playbook that I use when I approach issues, and how I take some of these things on. She wanted me to come out to California later that summer and spend time with her at her home. We got along so well – she set aside the tape recorder thing. We just spent time together.

Then we went up to Alaska together – I was there for about three weeks. The first few days we really spent a lot of time together walking around where I used to live then I took her to some of my favourite places out in the wilds of Alaska to hike – she had one of her dogs with her at the time. It was fun. I think it really helped that we connected on such a deep level and just talked about life issues as well, childhood and things like that. We had a lot of similarities.

Did you both get to see some whales out there? 

Cindy Lowry: We didn’t up in Alaska; I did take her out to Turnagain Arm that feeds into Cook Inlet [south of Anchorage, Alaska]. Usually Beluga whales are in, and we did go out there a couple of times but we didn’t see any Belguas. We did see the typical things like moose. One of the places I wanted to take her hiking, I didn’t, just because I knew the bears were coming down and getting ready to den – I didn’t want Drew to have too much of an up close and personal experience [laughs]. Of course, there were tonnes of migratory birds because it was in the fall – we saw eagles, but no whales.

Casting your mind back to events in September 1988, what were your very first thoughts on seeing the three California Gray whales trapped under the ice?

Cindy Lowry: I spent a couple of days making a million calls to get things going – I talked to the Governor’s office; they weren’t interested in helping at the time with the US Coastguard. I knew we had a Moscow office so that’s how I first started talking with folks about getting the Soviets involved – I knew we had an agreement between the Soviets and the US, even though it was during the Cold War: If a ship was in trouble we would help each other. That kind of got rolling, and I went up to Barrow a day and a half later, and flew out in a helicopter with an NBC crew.

It was just so heartbreaking because there were two holes, one was a little larger than the other, but even in the larger hole only two of the three whales could come up and breathe at the same time. My immediate reaction was this was definitely one of those moments you wished you were Superman and you could just go in and swoop them out of there. All bets were off; whatever it took to get them out of there, we’ll do it.

Did the real-life rescue differ from the film version?

Cindy Lowry: We definitely had our ups and downs over a two-and-a-half, three-week period. Looking back on it, it’s interesting to me how everything happened at the right time, at the right moment. We’d go a day or two, and we’d be thinking the barge was coming to help and find out that it wasn’t. Then the brothers from Minnesota came up in the eleventh hour with their de-icer, which we called the ‘Whale Jacuzzi’. I mean we were out on the ice thinking the whales might not survive that night as it was like 30-40 degrees below zero and we were getting really slushy ice in the holes, and the whales were having a hard time coming up through the slush. We were thinking, I don’t know how we’re going to keep these things open. We tried out the de-icers, and amazingly enough they worked. Some seemed to come in at the last moment all the time, like the Inuits being able to chainsaw all the holes and then me getting word from my Washington D.C. office that the Soviets would come.

We weren’t inundated with the news crews just, but maybe later on. They did not want to be up there in the middle of the night. At lot of the time I was out there during the night, which were really my favourite moments when it was quiet. One of the moments that was really lovely between me and the whales was the night or two before the Soviets finally came in – they were making their first try coming in, and were supposed to stay out a mile or so and actually came in much closer. When you’re out 12 miles on the ice it’s pitch-black. We had a little spotlight at the last hole so the whales knew where to come, and a few other lights. We had to keep filling up the generators every few hours or they would run out of oil, so at that time we had five or six holes that were still open that the whales were using.

I think the whales could sense that there was open water close by because they started getting really frisky, and started swimming back and forth really fast between the last four or five holes. They would come up to the last one, and a wave of water would go over the last part of the hole. Folks were worried that some of the ice might start splitting because the icebreaker was coming in too soon, so they were asking us to get off and move back. So I thought I want to say goodbye, and I just knelt down by that last hole, and they were just so frisky and were becoming more like their true selves, and one of them came up and just blew water out of its blowhole all over me. As it was 30 or 40 below, my hair just frosted and I had this entire frozen whale breathe on my Parka. He just came up and rested his head or his chin on the ice in front of me. I didn’t pet him as they had been through enough, but I did have the most amazing eye contact with him and thought, oh gosh, you guys are going home. That was just an incredible moment for the whale and me to have by ourselves.

What was the moment like when they were finally free and swam off?

Cindy Lowry: I didn’t actually see them leave in that moment. Once the icebreaker came through, I think it shows in the film that the whales turned around and went in the wrong direction because there was so much commotion going on. They actually ordered everybody off the ice to give them a chance to move out. It was getting dark and some of the whale biologists who were good friends of mine, they told me they would stay with the whales that night because I was really worried about them surviving until the icebreaker could come through. The next morning we went out and they were gone.

What is the most pressing environmental issue that the public should know about that isn’t getting due attention?

Cindy Lowry: I continue to work on ocean issues and different marine manual issues like sea otters and the whales. But the one I’ve been working on here for the last eight years is the offshore wind development in Nantucket South. It’s the first project they’ve wanted to do in the US, and unfortunately, it’s in one of the worst places you can think of, as far as harming whales and other marine life. So I’ve been trying to get folks to start looking at marine spatial planning and ecosystem planning, and look at the global aspect of it. There are Right whales there and there are only 300 left in the world and they are in that area. Therefore we have been pushing for these things to be developed in other places, and also come up with an offshore wind development national policy on how you look at sites and where you put them. We all want green energy but it has an impact like every other energy does. I do have a website, oceanmiracle.org, were people can find out more.

I think folks can look more at their own communities and find issues that they’re interested in and want to help with – I think you can do it both locally and nationally.

Big Miracle is in cinemas from 10 February.

When it comes to interviewing people in the film industry, there are a great many unwritten rules if you want to be considered professional: Be reasonably respectful and polite, don’t beg for autographs and don’t dribble on yourself. Beyond that it helps to have some idea what to ask, and it’s certainly considered a bit beyond the pale if you become a dribbling wreck.

As a general rule, I like to think that I stick to these. I certainly try to. Unfortunately, there are times when it’s not that easy, and certainly my recent interview with Miss Piggy was one of those. If you heard our recent round table interview with Piggy, Kermit and director of The Muppets, James Bobin, you’ll realise that even being in the same room is a hilarious and surreal experience. It’s even weirder when it’s just you, a Muppet and a film crew. So weird, in fact that not only did I start laughing like an idiot mid way through, but we ended up talking about fluffing.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I talked dirty to Miss Piggy.

The Muppets hits UK cinemas tomorrow and you can read our review of this awesome movie right here.

Just as we’ll always associates Daniel Radcliffe with Harry Potter, we’ll be associating Kristen Stewart with her role as Bella Swan in the immensely popular Twilight franchise. The final movie, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 is released in November later this year but before we see it, we’ll have Universal Studios’ new movie, Snow White and the Huntsman. The marketing for the movie has been rather great and I am actually very much looking forward to seeing it.

French magazine, “One” or could it be “Un” interviewed Kristen about her role in the new movie and compared the two characters with one another telling us that both characters are like one another as they are ‘Women who take care of their family above all” but she goes onto talk about punching Chris Hemsworth who plays ‘The Huntsman’ in the movie and has recently played Thor. Read on for the more.

What do Bella Swan and Snow White have in common?

“Yes, and they have like a hundred common points. They’re both kind of matriarch. Women who take care of their family above all. I don’t see Snow White as the cartoon’s character who’s stuck in everyone’s head. When I was little, my parents didn’t read me fairytales, I don’t this culture. A lot of people tell me that they can’t wait to see the movie because it’s kind of a rereading of the myth, but it’s all new for me. I didn’t know what to expect when I was reading the script. It was the same for Twilight. I’d never heard any vampire stories.”

How did you find being this action fighting character?

“I don’t have the physical appearance of a fighter, but I identified myself to this young woman’s state of mind, who have huge compassion. Snow White is not capable of hating, but she has to find the strength to fight and this movie opened my eyes. We don’t need to hate our rival to fight him. Snow White is the last hope for the people, she has some kind of spiritual connection with the others. She deeply feels things and forgets to think about her to concentrate on others. When she has to kill, it breaks her heart and I’ve never seen any movie action where the heroine is torn to fight.”

How do you find being a role model to so many people?

“I’m not better than them and I don’t have any particular wisdom to share with them. I don’t like being put on a pedestal. Why is my opinion suddenly important? It doesn’t make sense! I haven’t changed. I’m exactly the same person that I was before Twilight and back then, no one was asking my opinion.”

Will we see you in the role as Snow White again?

“I don’t like to plan my future, but Snow White may turn into a trilogy. If the movie succeeds, we could do a next chapter and so I could be in another franchise. But I’d love to play Snow White again.”

What was it like when you hit Chris Hemsworth?

“It was like in a movie, I’d never hit someone and I realized that I really hit him hard. Me! It was really exciting to knock Thor out! It’s comforting to know that a little girl like me can beat someone as strong as Chris. you’ll see this take in the movie, the director kept it.”

Source: Kristen Stewart France and thanks to CBM for the heads up.

The last time I sat down with Hammer president Simon Oakes Let Me In was about to roll into cinemas and he was in similarly upbeat fashion this time, just returned from the Paris premiere of Hammer’s latest film, The Woman in Black and with a big opening weekend in America behind him we talked about the secret of the film’s success and where Hammer is heading next.

Oakes was heavily involved with the film’s production, with one eye in the enduring legacy of one of the most famous studios in the world and the other on the new direction he is taking.

The Woman in Black is a good old-Fashioned ghost story, and a damn effective one. With a focus on the oppressive atmosphere and serving up carefully timed moments of genuine terror it calls to life the spirit of Robert Wise’s The Haunting and succeeds as a well told ghost story, unencumbered by the post modern gorestory malaise.

Oakes expands on the decisions made in the adaptation, the thinking behind the revised ending and a few familiar faces we might be seeing resurrected from the vaults of the house of Hammer.

There are SPOILERS here, but I have marked those in the text below.

HeyUGuys:  The Woman in Black opened very well in the US last week, the biggest ever for a Hammer film.

Simon Oakes: It did, it was by far the biggest. CBS did a very good campaign, they didn’t emphasis Daniel [Radcliffe]‘s presence until the final weeks. There was an excellent campaign built online in which they created a nursery rhyme about The Woman in Black which gave the impression that it was a part of American cultural life. It was a very clever piece of marketing and we opened wide, on 2,800 screens.

And it’s done very well here critically, it’s a good old fashioned ghost story but done very well.

Well, look at the revival of Dickens at the moment, when something’s classic it has a longevity. Susan’s novel was a throwback to the Wilkie Collins novellas from the Victorian age. I don’t think people get tired of the haunted house trope. People are getting really scared, whereas what is, in modern terms, called horror you’ve got what I call the gornography of some of these films. I don’t think they have the same emotional response, there’s a visceral response certainly but [The Woman in Black] goes deeper. Very rarely do people say they don’t believe in ghosts…

Or tell me a good ghost story and I’ll believe you…

That’s it. I think what Jane [Goldman] did was to take what Susan Hill imagined on the page and made it happen, it’s a beautiful screenplay. Then James [Watkins] assembled a great team and they found a great location, we looked all over the country for the right house. It had to be gothic without being pastiche gothic.

What struck me was how straight everything was played, and when you’re dealing with a film centered around a haunted house, something which is almost beyond parody, you have to be very careful.

There’s been the observation that the film ‘does what it says on the tin’ and that’s fine. What I think James, Daniel and Jane brought to it is the thematic undertow about the sense of loss and children, how far would you go to protect your child… And if you remember at the start of the film he’s told by his boss that he has to complete this job so he’s trapped in this situation.

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One of the elements which surprised me the most that ending, and how that thematic undertow find a release.

Yes, that was created for the film.

It’s different to the book of course, what made you go for a ‘happier’ ending?

I’d say it’s bittersweet, wouldn’t you? It’s a victory for both; it’s a victory for Kipps because he’s reunited with his wife and she with her child and for The Woman in Black because she’s seen him off. We played around with a couple of endings, but we never wanted to return to London but keep it within the same world. There was one ending we were toying with and that was having Kipps try to entice The Woman in Black into the light and Jane and James decided that it wasn’t really going to work. But I think it’s a brave ending, it’s an upsetting one certainly but one that leaves you fulfilled

Well, he’s free in the end, he’s not trapped in his job which he hates, not trapped in the world without his wife. In the end it’s the Woman in Black who frees him.

That’s true.

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Did you have to change anything to get a 12A rating rather than a 15?

Not really – it was always going to be whatever we got. It was hovering between 12A and 15 but in this day and age having a film like this come out as a 15 certificate is pretty crazy. I’ve seen the film with 13, 14 year olds and they see so much on the internet now. There were a number of scenes which we thought might worry the censor, the burning girl for example. I mean, there are a few more frames you could have there but we didn’t tinker radically with it.

So, there’s nothing that was omitted?

No, a film that suggests things can be much more frightening that one which just shows it and the whole certification debate would have been around whether the film could have been psychologically disturbing for a young person. We’re working on the Blu-ray right now and there’s a lot of interviews we’re doing but there’s nothing horrific lying on the cutting room floor. Less is more, and to show too much could have a negative effect. So with the burning girl or the three girls at the beginning you make a choice about how to show it, and we left it to the imagination.

The Woman in Black, like the other films Hammer have recently been involved with (Wake Wood, The Resident, Let Me In), is a standalone film, and in an industry and a genre which has so many sequels, is this a deliberate choice?

If the properties lend themselves to a franchise then fine, in fact we’re looking at a situation right now where we might return to Eel Marsh House forty years later but we wouldn’t make a ‘sequel’ sequel. But Let Me In was interesting, I remember talking to Matt Reeves about Chloe’s character, who is a vampire – she never dies, so what happens when Chloe is 18 – does she come back and reprise the character. I said to Chloe ‘We’ve worked it out now – vampires age when they fall in love,’ which is a good twist… In terms of endless sequels I don’t think Hammer is designed like that really, unless the series is there already. We’ve found one called Boneshaker, which is the Cherie Priest steampunk novels, set in Seattle in the 1860s with zombies and we recently announced we have the film rights and the screenplay has just been delivered.

On the red carpet for The Woman in Black you spoke to my colleague Ben Mortimer and talked about looking back to the Hammer films and I wondered if you are considering remaking any of the classic Hammer horror films?

Certainly rebooting them, not remaking them. I think Hammer should make a contemporary Dracula and I think if we can find a route in, which we’re looking at right now, then the answer is yes. The thing is that most of the films are remarkable as such, they’re caught in a time capsule of their own but we should a contemporary Dracula, we should do our version of a Frankenstein film. We’ve done a vampire film, we’ve done a haunted house film, we’re looking at a monster movie right now as Hammer did The Abominable Snowman and The Reptile, so we are looking at them. But more rebooting than remaking. If you look back at the old Hammer films there was a strong literary background, it followed on the history of that. There’s an elegiac quality to the films and Let Me In carries on from that, and The Woman in Black is the same. We wouldn’t make a down-the-road exploitative horror, today we’ve announced that we’re starting pre-production on The Quiet Ones which is a poltergeist movie. So wherever possible we like to have a strong story base. I think you can achieve a lot with old-fashioned filmmaking.

We’ve talked about the horror side of Hammer but in the past there were sci-fi films, Quatermass for example, would you consider moving back into that genre?

Definitely, we are. We are developing Quatermass at the moment. Completely contemporary, but rooted in his character. If you look at the BBC’s Sherlock it’s got enough DNA there, so you could bring him forward and say that this is what Bernard Quatermass would be like today. So he’d still be gruff, an outside, contrary, fighting authority but what would he be doing today? He wouldn’t be doing the Rocket Group because the world has moved on since the 1950s. We’re going to be announcing something about that soon.

The Woman in Black is out in cinemas tomorrow. It’s great.

Hammer is a part of Exclusive Media.

Eddie Redmayne is an absolute gent. I got to meet him when I interviewed him for My Week with Marilyn a few months ago and I could have chatted with him all day long. He’s such a nice guy, humble and is one of Britain’s best upcoming actors. He’s currently up for the Rising Star Award at this year’s BAFTAs (which take place this Sunday 12th February) and I hope that he wins it.

BAFTA Guru have done a great interview with  Eddie about his acting career, where it started and where it’s going which I’ve placed below. If you’re not familiar with BAFTA Guru, it’s a site for all things movies, giving you advice on how to get into the industry from some of the finest filmmakers and actors in the world. If you’ve not been there, you must check it out.

In this interview, Eddie also gives advice on how to get into acting and also talks about what inspired him to get into the craft in the first place. Have a watch below and make sure you keep your eyes peeled for his career going forward as I’m expecting great things.

Hitting DVD this week is Albatross, a coming-of-age comedy-drama about a Emelia (Jessica Brown Findlay), a verbose, would-be writer’s incendiary effect on a struggling author, Jonathan (Sebastian Koch), and his respective family, including wife Joa (Julia Ormond) and daughter Beth (Felicity Jones).

The film, which premiered at last year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival to wide acclaim, is BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Niall MacCormick’s feature film debut.

Late last week, HeyUGuys had the opportunity to speak to Niall about what initially attracted him to Tamzin Rafn’s screenplay, the process behind finding the perfect actress to play Emelia and his thoughts on the difference between TV and film.

Here’s how it went down:

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HeyUGuys: What was it about Tazmin Rafn’s screenplay that interested you the most about Albatross?

It was the relationship between the two girls. To me, the film is really about the beautiful imperfection of friendship. I haven’t had an experience like that myself, so I’m not sure why I felt so moved. Well, I suppose I have with childhood friends. When you spend so much time with someone, then it goes wrong and you sort of reflect on that afterwards. Even though you really don’t want to hang around with that person anymore, that experience changes you.

What was your relationship like with Tamzin? Did you work well together?

We did. I’m not sure if you’ve met Tamzin, but she’s very funny, and very witty. I mean, what can I say, she’s got an answer for everything. She was a bit like Emelia, I suppose. The way I worked with her I was trying to wrestle out of her the emotions of the story, and she was trying to wrestle out of me delivery on the comedy. I think that would be a good way to characterise the nature of our relationship. It was good, you know. I think it was a good relationship. It was fraught at times as all writer-director relationships are, but I’m very glad that I had that experience with her.

Would you be willing to work with her again?

Yeah, I’ve asked her since. It’s all about finding time, but one day, yeah. I think comedy is a terrific way of opening people up to subjects which have meaning. And she’s got talent for that, you know.

Did you have much input in the casting process? I, for you, think you were spot-on with your choices, particularly Julia Ormond and Jessica Findlay-Brown.

Yes, I did, of course. One of my jobs as the director was to choose the cast, which, of course, always has to be approved by the financiers. But, no, I loved that process. I mean, Jessica, who was billed as this person who’d never acted before, had something about her. She just really shone at the audition. I was very cautious about it, though, because as a low-budget production there’s not a lot of shooting time or rehearsal for someone who doesn’t know how to act. But she did it, and being surrounded by the quality of acting ability really helped her acting ability come out. I was very, very proud that performance, and I’m very happy that she seems to be capitalising on a really strong, and awards-worthy performance.

How was the experiencing of launching your directorial debut at the longest continually running film festival in the world?

Do you know what? I have to say I wasn’t even there because I live in a different country and I had prior commitments that I couldn’t get out of. So, all I can say is that, you know, people tell me all the time how well received it was and what a cool place it was to be. I’m just delighted that they liked it and that they took it on in the first place. I only wish I could have been there.

How do you feel about the US release? Have you had much feedback?

No, not at all. I haven’t heard anything, actually. I mean, I read some reviews, mixed reviews. There were some that said “Don’t waste your time with this” and others saying that it’s a really charming British film. I’ve read some really positive things about it over there. I’m just happy that the producers were very pleased with it, the performance were great, the actors are very happy and I believe Tamzin, on balance, is happy with what we achieved. So, I think, what more can you ask for?

How different is directing a feature film than an episode of an established TV series or movie? Do you prefer one to the other?

Not really, no. I mean, it’s all about money really, about resources. I think I’ve made quite a lot of TV with more resources than Albatross had, because TV programmes often reach a wider audience and so the people who work in TV have to be more inventive with how they do things on a lower budget. Whereas, people who work on films have to be more precise, because the production schedules are a lot tighter. I think, though, at the low-budget level there’s not much of a difference. It’s only when you start talking about films with bigger budgets that things change.

Are there any directors you try to emulate in your work?

No one in particular. I mean, I’m relatively new to the drama process. If I’m honest, I never had this huge ambition to make films, I sort of fell into it in a way. I’m hoping my interest will evolve and I’ll start to take on more and more references. But, at the moment, it’s just a case of whether I connect with what’s written on the page. I’m pretty eclectic in my own personal taste. I like anything from the action films with the IMAX experience to films like We Need to Talk About Kevin. I’m not a niche player, yet, but maybe that will happen.

Do you have any projects currently in the work that you’re able to talk about?

Yes, but none that I can really talk about because they’re too far off down to line to say what’s happening. But I’m busy. I’m in that process of developing, and I’m almost certain that what comes next will be a television project. There is, however, feature film stuff in the pipeline.

For those who might not know much about Albatross, could you sum up the film in a snappy sentence?

A comedic film about the portrayal of friendship.

Thank you very much for your time, Niall.

Albatross is out on DVD now. Click here to read my review.

We’re now only days away from the creepiest and most upsetting movie in years hitting cinemas (our review here). It’s already been well received in the US, where it made back its budget this weekend, and in case you haven’t read our review, we thought it was rather good.

Last week we published our premiere coverage, where we spoke with the cast and crew of the film but we got to speak with Radcliffe in rather more depth a few days beforehand, where we discussed horror movies, missing out on school trips, and just where all the freaky props used in the film came from.

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Given that you’ve come off the biggest franchise of all time and you’re one of the more bankable actors of the moment, you could have chosen more or less any role. What drew you to a small British horror?

“I’ve done the franchise thing and I loved it, but I know I’ll never be in a film as commercially successful as that again, so in a way there’s no pressure to try and be. I read the script and it was fantastic, and I thought it was a really compelling story that I think will have an appeal to a wider audience than just me; then I met the director, James who’s wonderful, then it became a really exciting prospect, because it was to do something – it was to make, what would be a very effective horror film, but also a film about loss, and about grief, and where the relationships and characters feel real, which is a thing that’s becoming less and less common in horror. That, I suppose is what drew me to it.”

You Speak as if you’re a horror fan.

“You know what, I’m not really. I think that was one of the things that drew me to the script, that it was so – I didn’t expect to enjoy it. When somebody said, ‘this is a horror film script that you have to read’ – I knew The Woman in Black, obviously I was aware of the play and that there was a book.”
Had you seen the play?

“I hadn’t seen the play, no. I missed that particular school trip. Everyone I know seems to have seen it on a school trip, and I spent less time than I perhaps should have at school. But I was reading it, and I was so into it and I hadn’t expected to be, and that drew me in even more. I think this is a film for people, both buffs of the genre who love it will really enjoy the film, because it gives them a lot of respect. It’s not about gore, it’s about suggestion. It’s about the fact that James, our director keeps the audience in a state of slight tension throughout the film, so when there are those moments that get you, they’re heightened.”

On set is a very artificial environment, but was there that tension for you?

“Actually, it was a pretty relaxed set. We actually had quite a lot of fun. What would happen sometimes is that James would let the camera run, and would let me explore the space with a Steadicam following me around. Those were the moments that got quiet enough, and when the camera’s behind you, you could convince yourself for a second that this is all there is. There are a couple of moments you can work up a sense of fear and panic inside yourself, but generally speaking, it’s a very relaxed set. It’s like kissing. You can be kissing the most beautiful woman in the world, on a film set it suddenly becomes not quite what it would be in real life, because you’ve got people watching.”

On this you’re working with people you have worked with previously, Ciaran for instance,

“Yes, he’s going to be beside me. I’m going to have it written into my contract. Every film I do will have Ciaran Hinds in it at some point.”
Was there a hangover [from Potter] with some of the crew and some of the cast?

“Quite a lot. In fact, Simon Wilkinson, props, who had looked after my glasses for ten years on Potter was doing this as well. The AD team from second unit on Potter came over. Who else was there? In fact, Peter Cavaciuti came in and did some Steadicam work, and he worked on the early Potter films. That’s what’s lovely now about having worked on these massive British films for 10 years. I will never work on a film in Britain again where I don’t know at least one person on the crew. It’s a nice feeling of safety so it’s not like your first day of school every time you walk in.”

You mention the props master, was his job just to assemble the creepiest props? That room, that bedroom. Who would give their children those toys?
“Simon’s job actually was to make sure I didn’t break any of those toys. Those toys are all unbelievably expensive, and I think I’m right in saying, come from one woman’s house in America. They’re all part of her private collection. I think one of them’s worth upwards of 50 grand, and was made in the 1870s or something. They’re incredible, they’re unbelievably creepy and I hope she’s – they’re made to look very beautiful in the film, so I hope wherever she is, she’s pleased with how they come off.”

How To Stop Being A Loser arrives on the small screen on Monday, 6th February. You can see what we thought of this at times laugh out loud funny British comedy here and indeed you can win yourself your own copy right here if you get your skates on.

As part of our coverage of this film, I enjoyed spending a few minutes this week speaking with Gemma Atkinson, who plays the pivotal character of Hannah. She was a delight to interview, open and honest and hopefully will go far in what is obviously a pretty competitive marketplace. I started by asking her how she came to be cast in Loser:-

Gemma Atkinson: My agent took a call from (director) Dominic Burns and he sent the script through for me to look at the role of Hannah. I was flattered as I would usually expect to have to audition for a role, so it was good to be invited to look at it instead. I thought the script was hilarious and that James was a really good character to be playing opposite. Although I was initially concerned that Hannah was just going to be eye candy, I could see that she developed into more than that and I was glad to see her develop through the course of the script into a more interesting character. There was a scene that was eventually cut out where Hannah is slagging James off to her Dad while he listens to his headphones and I felt this was a good decision as it was better left for the film to develop at the end to the point where we see Hannah’s true colours.

HeyUGuys: Was all of Hannah there in the script or were you able to add anything yourself? Did those more unpleasant traits of hers come to you naturally, or was it a stretch?

GA: I have an older sister, so it was quite easy to find those dimensions. I actually found it hard to be so mean to Simon [Phillips, who plays the eponymous Loser, James] as we got on really well during filming, but in the end I just imagined I was talking to my sister.

HUG: Had you known Simon Phillips and Dominic Burns previously?

GA: No, but I could tell from the very first scene that we were going to get on.

HUG: What is Dominic Burns like to work with as a director?

GA: He was always open to suggestions from me and we would each have our own notes. He has a really good eye for the characters as well. We have worked again since on Airborne and he has really taken me to new and different places as an actress on that film. He is very relaxed on set and always polite and respectful to the crew. I’ve worked with some directors who are really specific about saying a line on a particular step or turning your head on cue. Dominic was much more open.

HUG: Airborne looks like being on a very different scale to Loser, how did the two shoots compare?

GA: Well they were both very cold, but with Airborne I was surprised that they had a whole aeroplane for shooting; I was expecting a set with a few seats in it. It was a really interesting change of style to go from a comedy to a horror/thriller.

HUG: Will you be able to work with Dominic and Simon again?

GA: They’ve said that they have a few scripts in the pipeline, but they want to wait until they are ready, but I would love to work with them again if I can.

HUG: You have worked now in TV and film, do you prefer one over the other?

GA: I find with TV work that although it is more comfortable, playing the same character every day, it is not as much of a challenge. Film work tends to be more varied and you play a different character each time and there is the challenge of having to create and build the character before you start filming.

HUG: Finally, do you have any dream roles, or are there other genres you would like to work in?

GA: I do a lot of kickboxing training, so I would love to do something like Haywire. I would also love to do a period drama at some point.

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Below are some clips and the trailer for How to Stop Being a Loser (plus fun new DIY trailer maker here) give you a bit of an idea what to expect. Do by all means seek it out.

When it comes to being a jack of all trades, Quentin Dupieux wrote the book.  He can write, produce, shoot, edit, score, and these abilities have led to an extremely successful career both in music and film.

His last film, Rubber, the story of a killer car tyre with psychic powers was a runaway success at Cannes festival and has now earned him a following among cult film fanatics.  Recently Quentin returned to the festival circuit with his new film, Wrong.  The film loosely centers around a strange young man named Dolph who wakes up to find his best friend in the world, his dog, Paul, has gone missing.  In the search to reclaim his lost pet, he leads the audience on a journey through a strange world where all the rules associated with reality are simply tossed out the window.

I had a chance to sit and talk with Quentin about his new film while visiting Sundance this year:

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HeyUGuys: Where did you get the idea for Wrong?  To me it had the appearance of being just like a dream.  It had that kind of reasoning where things just happen and they happen for no reason.

Quentin: Yeah a dream is a good analogy.  I’m trying to get the ideas from my subconscious without trying to control them.  But then I have to create some kind of logic even if it’s kind of dreamy. You need some kind of logic or else people get bored within 20 minutes.  So it’s a mix between random ideas and really precise things.

But there is still sort of a linear story to it.

That’s enough to make people wait til the end to see what happens.  Between these random ideas there is of course this week plot of trying to find a dog and discovering what happened.  I think that’s enough.  My main goal was to put everyone in the audience in a strange position.  Suddenly you have to work a little bit. You can watch the movie just for entertainment without trying to think about anything and it’s still fun.

Why is it called Wrong?

It just felt right.  It’s quite catchy, and I think it’s a good title.  It works with the movie in a way because there are a few beats where you can see “Oh yeah that’s wrong, and that’s wrong”.  It’s just a fun title

How did you end up getting into film?

I started when I was very young.  I was playing with video cameras at age 15, and I was trying to recreate some scenes of movies I was watching at the time.  Then later around age 18 or 20, I needed music for my film so I bought synthesizers and started scoring my short films. Later I discovered Dance music and suddenly I was mamking music without the need for visuals.

How did you get Alexis Dziena on board for this film?

Strangely she did an audition for the movie.  I have this great casting director Donna Morong who sent me auditions of random people she chose, and Alexis was one of them.  I have been lucky because the other girls were terrible.

She’s really fun to watch because she just sort of captures you’re complete attention.

She’s incredible and she’s not pretending you know?  When she moves to Dolph’s place you believe it.  She’s the type of person who is really different in real life, and when she’s in front of the camera she becomes a whole different person.

She just becomes the character?

Totally, and I love this because I write and shoot the movies myself, and sometimes because of this, it’s embarrassing if somebody doesn’t get into the role.  You end up just hearing this bad version of your dream.  I have been so lucky because all my actors were incredible and totally into the roll.

You wrote, directed, edited, scored and did the cinematography for this film. Do you ever feel like you’re doing too much, or do you just need to have full control of your vision?

It’s not about control at all, it’s about pleasure.  When we shoot the movie the production company wants me to have a driver take me to the location, and I like to drive so I take my car.  It’s the same concept.  I love to edit.  Editing is the best thing in the world.  You have everything done, you’re relaxed, the movies shot, and then you start to edit.  It’s just the best part.  I’m used to computers because I do music obviously, so editing is just so much fun and so pleasurable.  That’s why I do it.  Even if somebody else does it for you, you’re just going to be standing behind the guy anyway directing him.

So you’re just cutting out the middle man?

It’s easier and it’s faster.  Same for cinematography, same for music.  It’s just faster. From the first day that I started writing, to the end of editing, I think it all happened in 9 months, but that’s probably because I did things all myself.

Your films get a mixed reaction for viewers at times.  Is it your absurd approach to storytelling that makes your films so challenging?

What movie gets only good reviews, and which movie only gets bad reviews?  You put 200 people in theater, 100 people will love it and 100 people hate it.  I think it’s part of the process.  Probably this one is harder because you have to accept a lot of stupid rules while you watch it.  For example, yesterday in Salt Lake City, it was just incredible because everybody just kind of clicked immediately.  If you accept these types of rules the movie is easy to enjoy.  Then if you’re trying to turn this into what some consider a ‘real movie’, obviously it’s not a good movie because there is no climax, and the story is weak.  It’s just a different kind of movie and that’s what I was trying to make.  I’m not trying to please everyone, I just wanted to do something a little bit different with different kind of rules.  So many people are doing movies and some people are just really good at it with the perfect script, and the perfect visuals, perfect emotion and perfect climax.

That’s not you?

No.  Even if I was trying to do that, I would like to be better than the others, which is almost impossible.  You can’t beat the masters.  It’s better for a guy like me to be creative and to try things, not to be stuck in some kind of structure.

You don’t want try and imitate, you just want to be yourself?

Yeah that’s the point.  Take Tarantino for instance.  He’s really good and I enjoy his movies, but he’s just making movies from other movies you know?  I would love to be able to do that, to be able to shoot Kill Bill just for fun, being inspired by older films, but I’m just not able to do this.

Who is Tahiti Boy? I saw he had a music credit alongside you but I’d never heard of him before.

He’s a young Parisian guy I found randomly.  I was giving away some old drum machines on Twitter, and this guy Tahiti Boy comes and I gave him the 808 machine.  We had a quick chat and I really loved the feeling of the guy, so I decided without listening to his stuff that he was right for the job.  I just felt like he was just perfect, and I was right because he did a great job.

I loved the score you did for the soundtrack but it seems very different from the stuff you produce under Mr. Oizo.

It has to be!  When I’m doing dance music it’s always got to have these certain types of drums and be heavy, and this doesn’t work for movies.

Does Bruce Willis know about your song ‘Bruce Willis is Dead’? He’s here at the festival.

[Laughs] Really? I would love to know if he has ever heard it.  That’s so funny!

How would you pitch this somebody that’s not familiar with your work?

That’s a hard question.  My last film Rubber was so easy to pitch because it was about this killer tire and there was a built in audience for this kind of absurd film, but this time it’s about a guy who has lost his dog and it just sounds shitty, so it’s hard to say.

Do you have another new Mr. Oizo album in the works?

Yeah I just recently released Stade 2, and I have another one coming out very soon.

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Want to learn more about Quentin Dupieux’s fabulous new film Wrong?  Check out a Teaser from the film below!

The Woman in Black is a scary film. Ben reviewed the film and called it the scariest film he has ever seen and I can attest to that as I was sitting next to him in the screening

We’ve done our best to shout our love for the film from the rooftops of the internet and now, one week ahead of its release you can watch the first scene right now, if that’s your bag.

The Mighty Yahoos placed this online earlier and had Daniel Radcliffe do a little piece to introduce it. That was nice of them.

Here’s your video, it’s not that nice really. In fact it’s pretty nasty but it sets the tone just perfectly…

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island hits UK cinemas today (our review of the movie is up here) and we got the chance to chat with Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) who stars in the sequel to to the 2008 movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth. This time, it’s Dwayne who takes over the lead role from Brenden Fraser for some pec-popping fun (see the trailer intro here to see what I’m on about!).

In our interview, we get to hear what attracted him to the movie, how often he works out and what it was like to work with legendary actor Michael Caine and relative newcomers, Josh Hutcherson and Vanessa Hudgens.

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HeyUGuys: How would you describe Journey 2: The Mysterious Island?

Dwayne Johnson: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is an epic 3D adventure. It’s fun, it’s visually stunning and it’s groundbreaking in many ways because of the 3D technology we used to make the movie. After James Cameron completed Avatar he adapted and improved the technology of the 3D cameras – and we are the first production to benefit from these advances in technology. We can take this new technology that’s never been seen before and apply it in an expansive way to our movie. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island was written, designed and created specifically for 3D, so it’s incredibly impressive.

How would you describe your character in the movie?

I play a guy called Hank in the movie. Hank is a hardworking, blue-collar guy. He is a man of integrity and a man of his word. He demonstrates great perseverance in the movie, but he also demonstrates a legendary move called the ‘pec pop of love’. He’s one hell of a guy.

What can you tell us about the story of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island?

The story follows a teenager called Sean Anderson and his stepfather, Hank. Sean and Hank embark on an incredible journey to a mysterious island written about by the famous author, Jules Verne. Along the way, there’s a helicopter crash, a run-in with a giant lizard and you get to see the amazing lost city of Atlantis, as well as Captain Nemo’s submarine, the Nautilus. Every attention is paid to detail and that can be seen with the stunning visuals. It’s been an amazing project to work on.

What attracted you to this project?

I was in the mood to make an epic 3D adventure because 3D is something I’d never done before. I’d spent nearly two years playing intense roles, so I wanted to make a big, fun movie. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island was the answer.

How much input did you have into the movie and your character?

I had a lot of input into the movie and the character, which is why I became a producer on the project. The singing in the movie and the ‘pec pop’ scenes were all my ideas.

How did you come up with the ideas?

The mysterious island in the movie is sinking, so there’s a lot of tension, but I started to think about how we could inject some fun into the storyline. How can we implement something that the audiences will enjoy? I was travelling on a plane with one of the producers and we were reading over the script when we discussed the 3D technology we were using in the movie. I wanted to do something fun with my body, so I said, “What if I did something where my chest is popping out in 3D to the audience?” The producer said to me, “Yes, that’s funny. That’s entertaining. We’ve never seen anything like that before, but what else can we do?” He was eating nuts at the time, which is why he then said, “I’ve got it. What if somebody throws berries at your chest and the berries then pop out into the audience?” I thought that was a great idea and then added, “What about if it is rapid fire into the audience?” It was brilliant. The studio loved it. The director loved it and it wound up being the highest testing scene in the movie.

How would you describe the comedy of the movie?

We thought it was incredibly important to take advantage of the wide audience that our movie was going to reach. When it comes to comedy, there’s something for everyone in Journey 2. There’s great comedy for younger children, great comedy for adults – and great comedy for everyone in between. Comedy is crucial in a movie like this because the tension is high and the humour helps to release that tension. For me, a lot of the comedy comes from my character’s verbal spars with Michael Cain’s character. In fact, one of the great joys of working on this movie was the back-and-forth sparring between Michael and me.

How much time was there for improvisation on set?

There was a lot of time for improvisation. However, the key with improvisation is to make sure you’re staying within the same space and spirit of the scene. I have worked with actors who tell me they are going to improvise during a scene, but they end up going miles away from the story. When that happens, you have to reel them back in – but that never happened with the cast of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. When you’re working with people like Michael Caine and Luis Guzmán, you know that everybody is going to keep it on track.

How much of the comedy was written in the script and how much was added on set through improvisation?

There was a good amount of comedy in the script when I first read it, but the tone of the comedy was very different to what you see in the finished film. When I first read the script, my character in the movie was very different. At that time, he was a Brendan Fraser-esque character, but then the writers and the producers started to add layers that would fit more to my strengths. After that, we added a lot of the comedy, such as the ‘pec pop’ scene and the song I sing in the movie. The verbal jabbing was also added because we changed the relationship between my character and Michael Caine’s character. Now, Hank’s locker room humour collides with the dry, British, stinging humour from Michael Caine. I love British humour. It’s very witty, it’s very dry and it’s very funny. It works really well in our movie.

What was it like to work with Sir Michael Caine?

It was a complete honour to work with Michael Caine. What a great guy’s guy. I was really happy to meet him and I was even happier to discover that he is incredibly down to Earth. He’s the kind of guy you want to hang out with all the time. He tells great dirty jokes, but at the same time he’s a gentleman to everybody on set. He’s amazing.

What was it like to work with the younger actors in the cast?

Vanessa Hudgens and Josh Hutcherson are great young actors who really impressed me. Making movies is not easy. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s a lot of hard work and it’s tough to find that balance when you’re a teenager. It’s tough to stay smart and not get wrapped up in a lot of the nonsense found in Hollywood. It’s very easy to fall out of clubs and get swept away with being a celebrity, but not these two. They are both very smart and they both have wonderful, solid families. Both of them have really great mothers and if you have a great mother then you have a fantastic shot at being decent.

Click NEXT to read the second part of the interview.

At this week’s second UK premiere* for A Dangerous Method, we spoke to Viggo Mortenson about the attraction of working with David Cronenberg.He explained,
“He makes what can sometimes be a very trying or difficult job, or emotionally demanding, he makes easy and fun. He never loses sight of the fact that, after all it’s play, it’s make believe. It should be fun, there’s no reason for it not to be, and he helps you feel that way too. There’s a lot of directors – I would say, more often than not, directors forget that. They feel the pressure, or they take themselves or what they’re doing too seriously.”

When asked whether he was referring to directors he has worked with he continued,

“I don’t think there’s many directors like him, who are so secure as people. That have such technical knowledge, and actually like actors – a lot of directors don’t. Don’t understand them, don’t want to understand them, feel threatened by them and the suggestions that they have. He’s not.”

Now file this under speculation, but I’m guessing Peter Jackson doesn’t count as one of the ‘secure’ people, at least not in Mortensen’s eyes. The actor hasn’t been brought back for a cameo in the Hobbit, in spite of seeming quite keen to do so. Perhaps this could be why.

During the evening we also caught up with Kiera Knightly, who explained that the film was very nearly much more tame,

“I was in doubt about doing it because of two specific scenes in the film that are of a sadomasochistic nature, and I actually phoned up David and I said, ‘look, I love you, I love your work, I love the script but I don’t know if I want to do this. It’s the age of the internet, we know what the British press are like’, and he said, ‘OK, we’ll take them out’.”

Fortunately she managed to talk Cronenberg round,

“I actually thought, the reason I’d phoned him up to turn it down is because I thought it was really important that they were in there. I didn’t think it was gratuitous to have them in there. I thought it was incredibly important, if you were going to make a film about Freud and Yung, and about this woman who was torn apart by her sexual desires, in that medium you can’t not see what you’re talking about. So anyway, we talked about it and talked about it and kind of got into what it was in her that meant that she needed to do that, and exactly how he was going to shoot it. And the fact that he didn’t want to make it sexy or voyeuristic, but kind of brutal and strangely clinical, I went, ‘OK, let’s do it’.”

*You read that right. It originally premiered at the London Film Festival in October, but apparently that doesn’t count, so we got another one.

I think it’s safe to say that Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan have pretty bright futures ahead of them.  They’re relationships with each other on screen are believable, brought on by incredible circumstances and full of tension.  Not unlike any relationship you or I might be in. That, in my opinion, is the core foundation on which this film is built.  It’s grounded in reality in such a way that it feels like your watching so much more than a typical superhero movie.  You’re watching these three build a relationship onscreen that culminates in some pretty incredible things we are able to experience right along with them.

Among other things, I was curious, as they are relatively young actors in their early to mid-twenties, how they felt about this YouTube generation of filmmakers, including their Director Josh Trank (His interview), making a name for themselves in Hollywood. Being early in the day I’m happy with the answers I received back on all counts during my interviews.  It’s also always wonderful to interview young actors before they have stock answers embedded into their press junket persona.  Check out my exclusive interview with Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan and Alex Russell.