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 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.’

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.

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.

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.

Josh Trank is the first guy to tell you that he invites comparisons of his newest film “Chronicle”.  While the film attempts, and succeeds,  to do something unique, Josh has stated that he pulled a lot from projects that inspire him. There are obvious similarities to films you’ve seen before but on a whole “Chronicle” comes at a perfect time in 2012 as we are about to be inundated with well-known properties we’ve already seen.  “Chronicle” is altogether a product of its environment and at the same time breathes new life into a predictable sub-genre of filmmaking.  It’s a little bit “Star Wars” meets “Jackass” with a smidgen of “Donnie Darko/Spider-Man” thrown in for good measure. I think that covers the gamut and proves there’s something in this film for everyone. Especially if you ever tried to move something with your mind. (DON’T LIE, YOU KNOW YOU’VE TRIED IT)

In this interview Josh and I talk about the future of filmmaking as it relates to the ever-growing, up and coming YouTube generation.  Also, the flying in the film is exquisite and I just had to hear how he conceptualized such a successful tool within the film.  I really admire Tranks first feature film and truly believe the sky is the limit for him.  Check out our exclusive interview with Writer/Director Josh Trank and then by yourself a damn ticket to the movie when it opens next week.

Chronicle opens in UK Cinemas today! See what we thought of it here (we loved it!).

Last night saw the UK premiere of This Means War, the spy-action-rom-com-bromance starring Chris Pine, Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon, and we braved the cold weather and the gangs of dispossessed posh people marauding around Kensington to cover the event.

You may have already seen the clip from the video where McG serenades me. Remarkably that wasn’t even the first time that had happened that day. In addition to the full interview with McG, where we spoke about his hopes for the movie, the influence the Bond franchise and Oceans 11 have had on the film, and the ‘R’-rating it originally received in the US.

We also spoke with Chris Pine about the relationship between the male leads in the film, and got a quick snippet from Reese Witherspoon about the appeal of This Means War, and her love of small dramatic movies.

Check out the interview below, and check back in a few weeks time for our interview with McG. This Means War is released March 2nd.

Martha Marcy May Marlene first premièred at Sundance in 2011 and finally arrives in UK cinemas this week. After receiving very positive reviews in Sundance the film has gone on to receive acclaim both for the assured and distinct direction and the excellent performances, especially from relative newcomer Elizabeth Olsen.

Myself and three other journalists were lucky enough to speak to director Sean Durkin and actor John Hawkes at a roundtable junket last year and you can read the results of this interview below.

John, you worked closely on this film with two first timers, as an experienced actor how was that for you? Did you have to bring anything different because of that?

John Hawkes: No, I learn from whoever I work with. Some more than others. I was certainly able to learn a great deal from Lizzie and Sean. For Lizzie, her first lead role in a film, and for Sean, directing his first feature, they both just seemed fully formed to me. I felt like I was among equals, among peers. And so I never give a second thought to how much experience or not people have if they show up and they know what they’re doing. And these two did. It’s just another experience telling a story basically.

Sean, for you as a first timer how was it directing more established people such as John?

Sean Durkin: I mean, I don’t think about those things to be honest. I don’t know, stopping and thinking about things like that is really dangerous. I could get nervous about someone like John coming to the set, or Sarah or Hugh, I could get nervous but if anything like that ever crosses your mind you have to push it away because it’s all just fear and that will eat you up. You can’t make a movie if you’re scared. It was an amazing experience overall, just so collaborative with all our actors.

There were connections made in my head to the Manson family, stories in Helter Skelter, Leslie van Houten and the link between John singing and Charles Manson singing. Was that a conscious thing on your part or was that just something that an audience member, like myself, might bring?

Sean Durkin: No, not conscious in the sense that I was trying to do that, we actually tried to stay away from a lot of those things and approach it in a different way. I’m aware of all those things and read about all those things so I’m sure that some of those things stick but I quickly got away from those things and became focused on creating our own group and learning from experiences of people I met and making it specific, emotionally specific, to them and to the farm. The farm really came first, a lot of the character and the way of living grew out of that. From saying, ‘we’re in this region, we have this abandoned farm, what do people do if they take it over? What kind of life do they live?’. It really came very naturally out of all that.

Did you write more back story that we don’t see, for instance rules to farm? And was there a lot of that which came out during the filming or was it all pre-planned?

Sean Durkin: There was that upfront, there’s definitely more in the script. We always cut it back. John and I worked a lot to cut back anything that wasn’t needed so it was definitely following the script, and then even further in the editing. You always just keep trimming away. Getting it down to its core, what really needs to be there.

You managed to create a very particular atmosphere and feel to the way that people are living at the farm. I was just wondering how you went about creating that, was there a lot of preparation? Did you spend a lot of time there before shooting?

Sean Durkin: I spent a good amount of time there. A couple of weeks I lived there when we were preparing the film. I spent a lot of time just walking around, finding locations for things and then my production designers came and then that’s when it really started to take shape. We started to craft it to look how we really wanted it to look. That was really exciting. You just feel things out.

John Hawkes: For my part, I don’t think that I saw the farm until we began to shoot. Maybe the day before perhaps but that was more out of my hands and more of a great gift to show up and have this place be its own kind of character in the movie and to just look around there and try to pretend and use that to our ends as best we could I suppose.

Sean Durkin: It definitely felt alive when we were there too. That was the place that I had first because it’s actually our producer’s family’s farm so we’ve been going there for a couple of years. You mentioned the music before, the music just came from a place where that’s just what happens when you’re sitting around there. When we were shooting, people would just be picking up guitars, there’s no TVs, there’s a communal living situation, there’s guitars and music.

John Hawkes: The fact that there was no cellphone reception or internet really helped us. You couldn’t wander away like everyone does with their device. We were there together, I think that it really informed us as a community in a really fantastic way.

Sean, I read a quote where you said that you hate flashbacks. Is this like your unique take, a little screw you to flashbacks?

Sean Durkin: [laughs] No, I never operate that way. I’m never out to like prove anything. I can’t think of a film with flashbacks that I really like. I never thought of these as flashbacks. For me it’s a completely linear story, because it’s Martha’s emotional journey and it’s linear to Martha’s emotion. So the idea for telling it in this form was that there’s a little bit of this Buddhist based thing in the cult. It was a little bit more in the script and one of the principles that I thought would be appropriate for their way of living, in terms of that way of focusing on the moment and living off the land, is that there’s no future and there’s no past there’s only the present. So that was a feeling that they were living in, that everything happened in the present. Then for Martha leaving there, she’d be in a state of confusion and she’d be carrying over this feeling that everything happens in the present. I addition there’s this feeling that there’s no clocks or calendars, and that’s really common in groups like this. So no-one knows how long they’ve been there. And I also thought that would also play into time so it seemed to make sense that she’s experiencing it all at the same time.

Was that always there from the beginning?

Sean Durkin: Yeah, once I decided it would be the two worlds I decided to do that.

Were there any difficulties in the writing or the editing, specifically in matching those two up? Obviously there are a number of match cuts but also tonally. They seem like bad people and good people in both sides so were there difficulties in that?

Sean Durkin: Nah, it was all easy. [Laughs] Everytime you sit down to write something, anything, it’s difficult and any time you sit there in the edit room it’s difficult. Yeah, when you said about good and bad people that’s really important to me. I don’t believe in good and bad, there’s everybody. People with good intentions do bad things, people with bad intentions do good things. There’s so much grey, so I wanted to create that. The whole process was just very difficult balancing it. Re-writing and re-writing and you try and get the script as close as you can and then you shoot it and realise what you don’t need. And then you edit and realise what you don’t need. It’s this ongoing puzzle piece, like do we switch this around. A few key transitions were scripted and we knew what we were going to do, storyboarded it and shot it. And some other ones you find in editing. You’ve got four scenes in a row and all of a sudden you don’t need the two middle ones so the next two fall together and you have a transition that you never thought was there. So it’s this combination and you go through and do all these crazy things. Five days before we finished the film we were like, ‘is this working?’ and then you have this breakthrough, a twenty-minute breakthrough where you put this piece here, this piece there and this piece here and all of a sudden you’ve got the middle hour of the film working like you want it to. It’s a really crazy process. You just work and work and work and then [snaps his fingers] it just happens.

Sean spoke about the greys and a lot of people are going to find Patrick to be a reprehensible character, do you have to find the good in him John in order to play him?

John Hawkes: Sure, I tend not judge who I’m playing particularly. I don’t think evil people spend the day thinking, ‘I’m so evil, God I’m so evil, I’m so reprehensible. I’m scum.’ I think that it was more alive for me to think of Patrick as someone who believed that what he was doing was vital and right and best for those around him. I wasn’t at all interested in approaching him as an evil person. Certainly the story would be poorly served if the moment we meet Patrick he’s the devil incarnate, he’s some kind of easily identifiable charlatan or con-man because the story isn’t about Patrick, it’s about Lizzie’ character Martha. If we’re going to follow her through the film I think the more interesting and subtle and nuanced and complex she can be the better it is for us, as an audience, to watch her journey. If when she meets Patrick, and I think that’s pretty much the same time the audience meets Patrick, if he tips his hand too much and we know what he is from the top I don’t think we’re as apt to be interested in her. If on some level we can believe that, or sympathise or understand why, she might fall in with this group of people or this guy in particular then I think we’re more likely to be interested in her trip. Which is what the movie is.

You have this very interesting theme of how with both of her lives, as it were, there are certain restrictions in the way the world is. Certain ways the world expects her to behave and act. Were you wanting to draw parallels between the way society expects certain people to behave?

Sean Durkin: No, it really just came from a place of just following what she was doing. There’s definitely a lot of actions that are mirrored and that just came from a place of, as opposed to comparing, just being like, ‘what do people do when they’re on vacation at their lake-house and what do people do when they’re living on a farm and working?’. There just happen to be things that overlap and are very similar just because that’s what you would do. So it always came from a place of what would she do, what’s real for her to be doing? As opposed to thinking of it as some kind of social commentary. But I also make a film and believe that I put a certain amount of information in it, it’s like a puzzle and you give it a very specific amount of information in every frame. Every piece of information, every detail is very carefully placed at the same time and some of that is open to interpretation and whatever an audience member takes from the screening is good. There’s no right answers, there’s no wrong answers, whatever someone experiences when watching the movie is the right experience because it’s their own. I’m a big believer of that. So any comparisons someone wants to make or say that this is what’s happening is great, that’s totally cool. Were they my intentions? No. Were they on a subconscious level? Who knows. I’m just very open to response and different repsonses.

Martha Marcy May Marlene is released in UK cinemas on the 3rd of February.

To mark the release of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on DVD and Blu-ray this Monday, 30th January, Studio Canal have given us five copies to give away on Blu-ray Double-Play.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy finds George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a recently retired MI6 agent, doing his best to adjust to a life outside the secret service. However, when a disgraced agent reappears with information concerning a mole at the heart of the service, Smiley is drawn back into the murky field of espionage. Tasked with investigating which of his trusted former colleagues has chosen to betray him and their country, Smiley narrows his search to four suspects – all experienced, skilled and successful agents – but past histories, rivalries and friendships make it far from easy to pinpoint the man who is eating away at the heart of the British establishment.

An acting masterclass from the crème de la crème of British film (Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Tom Hardy (Inception), Mark Strong (Kick Ass), Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) and inspired direction from Let the Right One In’s Tomas Alfredson make this gripping and tense adaptation of John le Carré’s classic spy novel essential viewing.

DVD Extras: Commentary with Gary Oldman & director Tomas Alfredson / John Le Carré interview / deleted scenes

Blu-Ray extras: Commentary with Gary Oldman & director Tomas Alfredson / John Le Carré interview / deleted scenes / Smiley featurette / ‘Inside The Circus’ featurette / Shadow World featurette / Interview with Gary Oldman / Interview with Colin Firth / Interview with Tom Hardy / Interview with Director Tomas Alfredson & screenwriter Peter Straughan / UK premiere featurette / Sky Movies featurette / Photo gallery / Trailers

To be in with a chance of winning the prize, simply head to the next page to answer the question using the form.

Here’s an odd but great video interview courtesy of the guys from Lost at E Minor which shows A-Lister Angelina Jolie interviewed when she was just 16 years old. The video seems to have made its way onto the interview after years of being ‘lost’.

The interview doesn’t really tell us much but I thought it was a great insight into what Jolie was like before becoming a mega-star. I’ve never met her but hope to one day and I imagine that other than being much more media savvy, she hasn’t changed very much. The video was posted on YouTube back in 2009 so you may well have seen it before but if not, scroll down…..

Have a watch below and let me know your thoughts:

Source: Lost at E Minor via Becky Joseph @NowinColour

There are none so inspiring in recent political history than Burmese pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi who remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 out of 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her most recent release on 13 November 2010.

The Lady is Luc Besson’s heartbreaking but compelling love story about Daw Suu’s (“Mother Suu”) long-distance relationship with her British husband, the academic and writer Dr Michael Aris, set against political turmoil that ends in tragedy. We were honoured to meet former Bond girl and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Michelle Yeoh who not only plays one of the most important roles of her career as Daw Suu, but also got to meet The Lady herself under house arrest.

Here, Yeoh talks about that memorable meeting in Burma, her feelings on what Daw Suu personally gave up in her fight for her people’s freedom, as well as the poignant moment she experienced first-hand with Besson and Suu Kyi’s youngest son, Kim, when Daw Suu’s 2010 release was announced by the military junta.

The Lady co-stars David Thewlis as Dr Aris and his twin, Jonathan Raggett as eldest son Michael Aris and Jonathan Woodhouse as Kim, and includes the powerful moment Suu Kyi wins the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and hears her son Michael give his speech over the radio.

This time yesterday,  I had never met Boris Johnson and had never been to the famous Harry Potter set, Diagon Alley but by midday this afternoon, both those dreams had come true! This morning, I got to travel back to Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire (see our first trip here) which is he home of the brand new Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour. We were there to interview the London Mayor  on the set of Diagon Alley which was announced today to be part of the tour when it opens its gates to the public on March 31st 2012.

Walking onto the (as yet incomplete) set that is Diagon Alley was truly amazing. I still remember when I was at university in Cheltenham and my friend Lauren McConnell (and now recently married as Lauren Jewhurst YAY!) told me that I MUST watch this ‘phenomenon’ called is Harry Potter. She gave me a crib sheet that she made for me detailing who everyone was an gave me an outline to the story. I was doubtful that this would be anything big at the time and just thought Lauren had gone a bit balmy as she saw it at the cinema some crazy amount of times. She can correct me if I’m wrong but I think it was nine! Thing is, turns out she couldn’t have been more right as these movies have really set a new benchmark in a modern day movie franchise and since that time in 2001 has indeed become the biggest movie franchise of all time. Back then, no one could have predicted just how huge Harry Potter would go and I never dreamt that the time of watching it that one day I (and you in a few months) would get to walk on the amazing sets. One of my stand-out memories of Potter was watching Hagrid take Harry into Diagon Alley through the bricks that moved apart at the touch of a wand.

So, back to today! Boris Johnson was given a tour of the new studio by Warner Bros. UK President, Josh Berger followed by a Q&A with me and a few other people about the studio, what it would bring to London and what we can expect when it opens next year. I caught the whole thing on video and have embedded it below for your viewing pleasure. My favourite bit has to be when he places a wand in Ollivander’s (John Hurt in the movies) shop window followed by a fabulous thumbs up!

I said it previously when I visit the studio back in October to interview some of the cast of the movie but the attention to detail on these sets is something that you honestly cannot appreciate until you actually visit them for yourselves. Tickets are on sale now and you can pre-order then here. If you’re a fan of Harry Potter and are in the UK, you have to go and visit the studio as you’ll have one of the best movie experiences you’ve ever had!

I got a little snap happy on the set so have placed all the images below. I hope you enjoy them and please click them to enlarge. You’ll notice that not all the windows are fully dressed, this is simply because Leavesden is still a construction site hence me wearing a high visibility jacket and hard hat and looking dashing! All this will be complete for the tour when it opens which I am now more keen to see than ever!!

Several of our writers at HeyUGuys, including our two editors, have young children, and therefore a legitimate excuse to watch Children’s TV. I, on the other hand, don’t. On the other hand, I am barely employed (and barely employable), so am far better versed in the ins-and-outs of children’s TV than I have any right to be. Consequently, when I was asked to head to the Park Lane Hilton to film my far more respectable colleague Paris Davis as she interviewed the arrivals on the red carpet, I leapt at the chance. After all, it’s not every day I get to be in the same room as Dick and Dom, Mr Tumble and Helen Skelton. Certainly not all at once.

Of course, it wasn’t just children’s TV presenters, and during the course of the night we spoke to Simon Farnaby, Bunny and the Bull’s ‘Bunny’ about the feature script he is writing with Julian Barratt, and comedian Jack Whitehall about auditioning for Harry Potter and The Hobbit. We also found out TV legend John Craven and BBC political editor Nick Robinson’s favourite films.

And if that wasn’t enough for you, we also caught up with Warwick Davis in the press room, shortly after he had collected the first of two awards won by Harry Potter films during the evening. During our conversation he spoke about how it felt to be collecting an award on behalf of the Harry Potter cast and crew, as well as his desire to have his own talk show.

Earlier this year, I got to go to Leavesden Studios to see a few of the brand new sets that are being built for Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter Studio Tour London. It was one of my personal highlights from working on HeyUGuys and if you missed my interviews with the Weasley Family and Tom Felton, Warwick Davis and Natalia Tena talking about the studio, you can catch up here and here.

While we were there, we took the opportunity to chat with the cast members Julie Walters, Mark Williamson, Oliver and James Phelps and Bonnie Wright about the release of the Blu-ray which lands in UK shops 2nd December. During the interview with the most famous Ginger family in the world (that would be the Weasley Family!), I got to ask them about their favourite memories of filming over the past 11 years, and whether they now all meet for Weasley Family Christmas! The interview takes place in the actual Great Hall that was used in the movies and it’s also the one you’ll be able to go to see when the tour opens in April. You may notice that Julie asks me why I’m doing another intro, this is because the videos were separate and it made me laugh so much, I thought I’d leave it in!

Have a watch of the interview below and I really hope you enjoy it.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 releases on Blu-ray Triple Play, DVD and Digital Download December 2^nd, 2011 and you can order your copy here.

Last week, I got to sit down with the legendary Robin Williams to talk about his new movie, Happy Feet 2. We got chatting about how he finds his voice for the characters , what he thinks about the future of the world and other deep stuff like that! I’ve transcribed the interview with the mega-talented man and I hope it comes across OK. Throughout the interview, he’s doing voices and keeping myself and the others that attended the interview thoroughly entertained.

Happy Feet 2 is released in cinemas this Friday, December 3rd and also stars Elijah Wood, Elizabeth Daily, Sofía Vergara, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Hank Azaria, Magda Szubanski, Pink and Hugo Weaving.

Keep your eyes peeled for the Elijah Wood interview which should hit tomorrow.

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HeyUGuys: George Miller (The Director) brings the actors in together to the same recording session but you play two voices! Can you do them at the same time?!

Robin Williams: At the same time, no! Simultaneous quantum recording, no! I usually do Ramon first just because he’s more active and then you do Lovelace later because he’s got that deeper Barry White thing going. Usually we’d do Ramon and the amigos because vocally it’s easier.

How did you find your own penguin within yourself?

My own Latino penguin? It’s a small fierce side of myself! Being a hopeless romantic of my own and in real life I’m lucky to have my own Carmen. With Lovelace, it was just Barry White. I grew up in Detroit so I heard a lot of Baptist preachers and I could find that voice very easily.

How was it coming back?

Really great because it’s the same people. All the amigos were these Latin comics and add to that Elijah who’s the sweetest man in show business and on top of that you have Sofía Vergara. She’s so sweet and so sexy and is just a gift! She makes the room 3d! It was like a reunion.

You said the voices are easy to find but how exactly do you find them?

Well with George (the Director) on the first day we met, an Adelie penguin lives on the top of Argentina in Patigonia so he said let’s try a Latino. With Lovelace I just saw that look because he’s big and heavy and he just looked to me like Barry White or Don King!

You’ve done a lot of animations recently, do you still like doing live action?

I still like to act. I did a film with Robert De Niro recently called The Big Wedding. But doing the voice is a gift. It’s literally like a paid vacation where you go to Australia and work with these guys for 2 weeks and then come back. The weird thing is how long it takes – three years. I think when we did the first sessions, it was a year ago since we did the last session.

Robert De Niro is the opposite of you, very shy, how is it working with him?

We’ve been friends for years It’s great, he’s my greatest friend in the world. He’s the best. He’s very sweet.

Does he make you laugh?

Big time!! I broke his nose when we were doing Awakenings. We were doing this scene where we were supposed to be having a struggle and I caught his nose with my elbow and he comes up and says: “I’m OK” and I went “Oh f*ck he’s alive!”. Actually his doctor says  I clicked it back in from when he broke it in Ranging Bull! He makes me laugh because everyone thinks of him being that way but he’s really articulate and really funny.

This film deals with many issues, global warming being one of them…..

Totally. The opening scene when we see the iceberg break off has been recorded from satellite imagery that George used as research. As it’s melting it’s making more oil available which continues the cycle. To ignore it would be insane. George is now saying that it’s melting so much that the penguin populations are forced into smaller areas and there’s an overlap. The saddest thing in this movie is that polar bear holding onto that small bit of ice and an orca’s coming along – you know that isn’t going to end well!

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Take Shelter, the latest pairing of director Jeff Nichols and actor Michael Shannon, arrives in UK Cinemas this week. The film is a fascinating and often moving story of a practical man, Curtis, going through an emotionally and psychologically difficult time.

A large percentage of the film rests heavily on the shoulders of Michael Shannon in this central role of Curtis and Shannon turns in a truly remarkable and powerful performance.

Myself and four other journalists were lucky enough to speak to him about the film at a roundtable junket last month and you can find the fruits of that interview below.

What attracted you to take the part in Take Shelter?

I worked with Jeff [Nichols] on Shotgun Stories, his first movie, and I just really think he’s unique. I can’t really think of any other director, young director in America today, who is as focused as he is, has as distinctive of a vision as he does. He showed me this script and I could relate to the material because I was having similar experiences. It’s a story about a young father who is having anxieties about trying to protect his family and I was starting a family myself. I’d recently had a daughter and I was having some similar anxieties, obviously not to the extent that Curtis is in the movie. I wasn’t having dreams about storms but I think anyone who starts a family has empathy for what Curtis is going through in the movie, wanting to protect your family. And some other things were similar, Curtis’ father had just passed away and my father had just passed away. So there was some synchronicity I suppose between what Curtis was going through and some of the experiences I was having in my own life. So that’s kind of what drew me to it.

Do you know if he wrote it with you in mind?

No, he absolutely did not. It was a very personal movie for him, he was basically just writing about some things that he was going through. It just happened that we were both having similar experiences at the same time. But he didn’t say ‘I want to write another movie for you’, he just wrote it because it was what he was going through at the time. It’s funny, it wound up being a very topical movie and there’s a lot of other films about the apocalypse or the end of the world and whatnot but for Jeff the genesis of it was very personal.

What kind of research did you do? Did you talk to schizophrenic people?

No, I didn’t think about mental illness at all. To me this isn’t a movie about mental illness. I mean mental illness is a possibility, it’s on the spectrum of possibilities. Because I do think in this culture, in this modern era, we’ve all become acutely aware of it and we’ve been instructed to be on the lookout for it but I don’t ultimately think that is what Curtis is experiencing. I’ve even heard so much as Jeff say that the whole storyline with the mother [she suffers from schizophrenia] is, not so much a red herring because that would be manipulative, but it’s just not what the film is about. It’s not about mental illness. I don’t think anxiety is a mental illness, I think anxiety is healthy. People who don’t have any anxiety about anything are strange. Also, I didn’t want to know more about what Curtis was going through than Curtis did. Because I don’t think Curtis knows very much about what’s happening to him, it’s a mystery. That’s part of the journey of the film, him trying to figure out what’s happening to him. I didn’t want to be ahead of him.

How do you think it plays watching the film a second time knowing the ending? Were you aware of the ending from the beginning?

I was, I was very aware of the ending. The ending was actually one of the first things Jeff thought of. It wasn’t something that he kind of tacked on at the end, no pun intended. It wasn’t like at the end of the process, ‘oh, what if we ended it this way’. It was one of the original thoughts he had about making the film. But I think the ending is a bit tricky. I think there’s a big shift in tone in the movie. I think it alternates between a very super-realistic blue-collar kind of gritty Americana everyday slice of life whatever but I also think there’s a very poetic and lyrical element to it. For me personally I think that is alright because it’s a film about dreams so the dreams themselves are in and of themselves establishing a duality of consciousness, your waking life and your dream life. The end of the film, to me, is not necessarily meant to be taken literally and it’s not necessarily saying Curtis was right or Curtis was wrong. It’s not necessarily the point of it because the fact of the matter is that the world is in the process of destructing. It is. That’s not open to discussion. I mean the way I look at it. I mean who could argue against that. It’s more about how you deal with it. The important thing about the end is that the family is together. That’s the difference between the beginning of the movie and the end of the movie. At the beginning of the movie you are seeing a man standing in his car park looking up at the sky by himself and at the end he’s not by himself anymore.

Do you see it as a kind of happy ending then?

Yeah, I mean that’s the way Jeff describes it. And I can’t necessarily debate that with the fortitude that he can because it’s ultimately his vision, it’s not my vision. I only have my own interpretation. He’s always said it’s a hopeful ending.

Did you have any influence on the development of the film while shooting it?

Not really, Jeff is very thorough when he writes. When Jeff shows up he knows what he wants to do and you can’t really surprise him with a question because he’s considered every angle. He’s very rigorous in his writing style and with himself. So it wasn’t like I showed up and he was like, ‘So what do you want to do with this Mike? What do you think should happen here?’ He had it all pretty well thought out. I think the reason we’re pretty good together is because I can always tell where he’s going with something. There’s a kind of unspoken understanding we have.

Sometimes actors play a big role in for example choosing costumes, or even in terms of the blocking of scenes. Was it blocked around you guys having rehearsed a scene in that space or were you guys given blocking?

I mean blocking’s a different issue. I mean Jeff always wants to know what feels right or what feels natural but he does have compositions in his mind, pictures in his mind. And he collaborates with this DP, Adam Stone, I think very well. They work together very well, because he’s an extremely visual filmmaker. And he’s making those decisions about costumes and whatnot. At the end of the day I don’t really mind what I’m wearing, I could show up and he could be like ‘put this bunny suit on’ and I’d be like ‘okay, if that’s what floats your boat I’ll do it’. I’m more focused on the activity of the scene. I really trust Jeff visually, now I’ve worked with him twice. Every time I see the film I’m very impressed with the way it looks and I’m always very impressed with Adam’s work, the DP. Jeff is old-fashioned, he insists on shooting with film. He shot his first film 35mm anamorphic, his entire budget was just film stock. He basically got everything else for free. He’s very devoted to the old school style of filmmaking.

How was it working with Jessica and what are the qualities that make her so in demand these days?

I think it’s a pretty time-tested formula, if you’re a good person people want to have you around. That’s where it starts y’know. She’s a very considerate, humane person. She has a very big heart. You always see her in films with children and I think there’s a reason for that, I think she’s very nurturing and she’s much more concerned with the child than she is with herself. Always making sure that they’re happy and comfortable, that they know what’s going on. She’s not a diva. Somebody asked me earlier if with all these films coming out, do you think it’s going to go to her head and I can’t imagine someone being less like that than she is. I don’t think anything will ever go to her head because she’s a very grounded person. She’s into the craft of acting, she’s classically trained. It’s not a fluke, it’s not an accident. She actually really challenged Jeff a lot, a lot more than I ever do. Asking a lot of questions. It was fun to see Jeff squirm a bit because he was used to me just showing up and saying, ‘what do you want me to know?’, ‘oh, okay’ and I just do it. It’s not necessarily that that way is better or that Jessica’s way is better, it’s just different. But Jessica never asks a stupid question. Every question she asked was always very provocative and interesting.

Does that approach that you just mentioned apply just in your collaborations with Jeff or is that your general approach with acting? How would you describe your approach, your craft?

I don’t know, it’s very instinctual. I don’t like to talk to much about something before I do it because I feel like it saps the spontaneity out of it. For me the most important thing is to make sure that whatever is exciting or interesting about a scene happens in front of the camera not off-camera. That’s why the first time I worked with Jeff on Shotgun Stories, we showed up, the cast showed up and Jeff was kind of confiding in me because, let’s put it this way, at the time I had the most credits. A lot of the other people were amateur or non-professional actors or not even actors at all. So Jeff said should we research, what should we do. I said, don’t do anything because probably the most exciting things these people are going to do will be the first time they do it. The more you try and talk to them about it, make sure everyone understands everything the less likely something spontaneous is going to happen. That’s my approach. I have a very fertile imagination when I read things, I have a vision that comes to me in my imagination. It’s very childlike to me. It’s not super sophisticated.

Was there much of a rehearsal period before making Take Shelter?

No, because I came right from just finishing Boardwalk [Empire]. I finished Boardwalk on a Friday, the first season, and on Monday I was shooting Take Shelter. We shot just outside Cleveland, Ohio and I met Jessica for the first time in my life on that Saturday. So we had like one day to hang out and get to know eachother and Monday morning we were shooting. I was really lucky that it was Jessica, because if there was any trepidation on the part of the woman playing Samantha, if there was any fear there, I don’t know if we would have been able to pull it off. Jessica just leaps into things, she’s just fearless with herself. It really made a huge difference.

And the children, was it as easy to work with them straight off?

Yeah, Tova is sweet. She’s actually deaf and Jeff deliberated that for a long time. He was like, maybe it would be easier to cast a girl who could hear because it would be easier to communicate with her or whatever. But ultimately there’s no way he could have cast someone better than Tova because she’s deaf but it doesn’t mean she’s not intelligent. She really understood what’s happening. Every scene that she’s in she didn’t really need much of an explanation, she read the script and like I was saying earlier, it’s very childlike. Children can do this. You give them the story and what happens and they can figure it out themselves. I think the struggle more than anything is to try and hold onto that without losing it. Not to get sullied by the business of it all.

Take Shelter is released in UK cinemas on the 25th of November.