Star Wars hits cinemas today with one extra dimension than we saw back in 1999 when the movie was first released, back then there was so much hype and anticipation for the movie that everyone thought was going to be the greatest prequel of all time. Unfortunately, although the movie made an absolute fortune, it is inherently rubbish (feel free to disagree in the comments below) making you want to punch the screen in anger.

This video has found it’s way onto YouTube and is a special MTV screening from 1999 at Skywalker Ranch that George Lucas put on for as many celebs as possible before anyone had really seen it. Like I say, the movie had so much hype that literally everyone wanted to be there as this video shows.

In the video, we get to see interviews with a very young looking Elijah Wood, Justin Timberlake (as part of N-Sync at the time), Ozzy Osbourne, Tori Spelling, Katie Holmes (before she’d married her now-husband Tom Cruise) to name but a few all with The Backstreet Boys playing in the background. It’s all rather surreal but what get’s me is the anticipation for something so great!

If you want to know what we thought of the movie in 3D, have a read of Jon’s review here.

Anyone know who the heck ‘Maxwell’ is?!

So if you’ve missed it, last night I put up all our red carpet video interviews from the 14th Annual British Independent Film Award. All that is missing is the interviews following the award ceremony with many of those who were lucky enough to win an award. I was so pleased to see that Senna won the Best Documentary award. It’s thoroughly deserved and after not getting onto the Oscar long-list, this is a massive morale boost for the intrepid and amazing film-makers.

We also catch up with Nick Moran, talk again with Michael Fassbender for his role in Shame, Michael Smiley after winning Best Supporting Actor in Kill List, Maria Djurkovic for her win for Best Technical Achievement on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Ron Howard after awarding Paddy Considine for Best Debut Director for Tyrannosaur and Olivia Colman & Producer Diarmid Scrimshaw for their Best Film award also for Tyrannosaur.

Scroll down and check out the interviews which were conducted by  Laura Hills.

The full list of award winners can be seen here and the Red Carpet interviews of which there are aplenty are here!

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This evening (well, it’s now 6.45 am so I guess it was last night!) Laura and I headed off to the brilliant venue, Old Billingsgate near London Bridge in the City of London to attend the 14th Annual Moet British Independent Film Awards. We’d never been to the event before and after seeing the incredible list of people attending, we had to go along!

I’ve literally been up editing footage from the event all night so I won’t be writing too much now but the list of people that we got to interview is rather endless and total 37 interviews in one night! Rather than do one long video with them all in, I’ve broken them all into separate ones and placed them below.

I’ve decided to break them up into sections, this post will be Red Carpet Arrivals and the one that will follow will be the post award interviews that we got with the winners of the awards as they came back to walk the carpet. We also got interviews with some of those presenting awards so keep your eyes peeled.

I’ll probably add a little more commentary to this in the morning but for now, enjoy interviews with: Abi Morgan, Dominic West, Chris O’Dowd, Dawn Porter, Michael Fassbender, Manish Pandev, Asif Kapadida, Kenneth Branagh, Ralph Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave, Ruth Wilson, MyAnna Buring, John Boyega, Will Poluter, Yasmin Paige, Craig Roberts, Elliot Grove,  and Benedict Cumberbatch.

P.s. Thanks to all those celebs who have us a HeyUGuys shout out! There were many of you!

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Sket is released in the UK today and if you missed it, you can see the trailer for the movie here. Our friends from Upbeat got to chat with the director, Nirpal Bhogal and cast-members Aimee Kelly (Kayla), Adelayo Adedayo (Kerry), Riann Steele (Shaks) and Varada Sethu (Kiran) about what it was like shooting the movie and what we can expect from it.

Sket also stars Ashley Walters, Lily Loveless, Riann Steele and Emma Hartley-Miller.

Kayla (Aimee Kelly), a young sixteen-year old, faces the harsh London streets of gangland culture alone. Her mother already dead, her only protector and loving elder sister, Tanya (Katie Foster-Barnes), is one day brutally murdered by violent, misogynist gang leader Trey (Ashley Walters). Swearing vengeance, Kayla joins a girl gang led by the violent, damaged Danielle (Emma Hartley-Miller) who has her own reasons for helping Kayla seek retribution.

This evening, Ben and I headed to London’s Westfield Shopping Centre to attend the World Premiere of EOne’s new movie, The Three Musketeers. Many of the cast and filmmakers were present including Orlando Bloom, Logan Lerman, Matthew Macfadyen, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Freddie Fox, Gabriella Wilde, Milla Jovovich and her husband who also directs the movie, Paul W.S. Anderson. We also spoke to one of the writers of the movie,  Alex Litvak, one of the Producers, Jeremy Bolt and Evanna Lynch of Harry Potter fame who was attending the premiere as she was a fan of the movies. We got to chat with most of them about the film, why the got involved and what we can look forward to seeing when it hits the UK on October 12th.

As an aside, we asked Ray Stevenson about whether he’ll be appearing in any upcoming Marvel movies i.e. The Avengers. He steers us off into telling us about filming G.I. Joe 2 but ends saying ‘he is very hard to kill off’ with a semi nod and a wink so we’re wondering if that does indeed mean we’ll see him next summer.

I also spent today at the junket getting 1:1 interviews with all the above so hopefully if we didn’t get the answer you were looking for at the premiere, you’ll get it next week when the interviews go live. In the meantime, have a watch of the premiere footage and interviews below and scroll down to view my collection of photos which you can click to enlarge.

This past weekend I was able to attend the world premiere red carpet event for the new romantic comedy “What’s Your Number?” The film stars Chris Evans and Anna Faris. Monday night I was able to interview a few members of the cast including Heather Burns, Kate Simses, Farris and the screenwriters Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittenden.  We will be posting a more in-depth conversation next week with Evans and Farris from our roundtable conversation, so be on the look out for those.  Until then, enjoy a look from the red carpet of “What’s Your Number?” opening in the US and UK September 30th, 2011.

No surprises here people but Deadline hae just released this press release from Warner Bros. stating that the eighth installment of the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part has become the highest worldwide grossing movie of 2011. People are still going to see it at the cinema in droves and you can expect these figures to keep rising.

“As of August 8, the film had earned $344.8 million domestically and $801.5 million internationally, for an astounding worldwide box office gross of $1.146 billion, making Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2the third-highest-grossing film worldwide of all time.”

Crazy numbers but a crazy franchise! Will we ever seen numbers like this again in our life-time? I guess we’ll have to wait and see! – or just wait until J.K. Rowling brings out another book!

If you missed all our Potter coverage, you can go back and look at the multitudes of posts right here.

BURBANK, CA, August 9, 2011 – Warner Bros. Pictures’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 has now become the top-grossing release of 2011 in all categories: domestic box office, international box office and worldwide box office. The announcement was made today by Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, Dan Fellman, and President of International Distribution, Veronika Kwan-Rubinek. The last installment of the blockbuster motion picture franchise has broken numerous box office records around the world in just under a month since its July opening. As of August 8, the film had earned $344.8 million domestically and $801.5 million internationally, for an astounding worldwide box office gross of $1.146 billion, making Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2the third-highest-grossing film worldwide of all time.

Veronika Kwan-Rubinek stated, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 can truly be called a global phenomenon. The filmmakers and cast, who dedicated their talents to the success of these films for over a decade, share in this piece of cinema history. We congratulate and thank them all.”

Dan Fellman said, “This is another incredible milestone for the last chapter of this historic film series, and for the Harry Potter franchise as a whole. In a crowded and very competitive summer, it is a tribute to both the film and the people behind it that moviegoers are still turning out to enjoy it—whether for the first time or for a repeat viewing.”

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reprise their roles as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The film’s ensemble cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt, Jason Isaacs, Matthew Lewis, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, Julie Walters and Bonnie Wright. The film was directed by David Yates, and produced by David Heyman, David Barron and J.K. Rowling. Steve Kloves adapted the screenplay, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Lionel Wigram is the executive producer. It is the first Harry Potter film to be released in both 3D and 2D. Concurrently with its nationwide theatrical distribution, the film is being released in select IMAX® theatres. The film is being distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. It has been rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence and frightening images.

This Friday sees the release of Disney Pixar’s latest movie, Cars 2 and yesterday morning, the UK premiere was held with director John Lasseter, stars Sir Michael Caine, Jason Isaacs and producer Denise Ream all in attendance. Our friends from Upbeat were there to interview them all and have very kindly passed over their footage. Check out the interviews in the video below.

Cars 2 is directed by legendary John Lasseter and features a voice cast which includes Owen Wilson , Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Caine , Emily Mortimer , Bonnie Hunt , Tony Shalhoub , Cheech Marin , Jason Isaacs , Joe Mantegna , Peter Jacobson , Thomas Kretschmann , Guido Quaroni , Lloyd Sherr , Paul Dooley, John Ratzenberger , Jenifer Lewis, Michael Wallis , Katherine Helmond , John Turturro , Franco Nero , Vanessa Redgrave , Eddie Izzard , Bruce Campbell, Michel Michelis, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip , Lewis Hamiltonand David Hobbs. Rather extensive eh!

You can keep up to date with all our Cars 2 coverage here and watch it when it hits UK cinemas 22nd July.

Synopsis: Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy ) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2″ when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

This Friday, 15th July sees rather a big event at the cinema as it’s the day that the final Harry Potter movie is set to be released! If you’ve missed all our coverage of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 then you can catch up on it all right here and let me warn you, it’s rather extensive!  Our review of the film can be read here and our World Premiere report is live for all the world to see here.

To celebrate the release of the movies and especially the final one, every day this week we’re going to have interviews with the cast and crew who made the films possible. We have interviews with Producers, David Heyman and David Barron, Director David Yates and four of stars stars of the movie, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton and Matt Lewis.

Keep your eyes peeled for the interviews as we progress. We think you’ll very much enjoy them! If you missed any, you can keep track here.

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Here it is people, the final interview from our Harry Potter interview marathon and it’s with Ron Weasley himself, Rupert Grint. In the interview (conducted by James Kleinmann) we get to here about how Rupert thinks Ron has changed over the past 8 films, and what he thought of the ageing process that we get to see right at the end of the movie. He also gives us a little insight into the kiss that he has with Emma Watson who plays Hermione Granger which has been coming since the day they met!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our interviews, if you missed any of them, make sure you click here and check out all our Potter coverage. Enjoy the film!

This Friday, 15th July sees rather a big event at the cinema as it’s the day that the final Harry Potter movie is set to be released! If you’ve missed all our coverage of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 then you can catch up on it all right here and let me warn you, it’s rather extensive!  Our review of the film can be read here and our World Premiere report is live for all the world to see here.

To celebrate the release of the movies and especially the final one, every day this week we’re going to have interviews with the cast and crew who made the films possible. We have interviews with Producers, David Heyman and David Barron, Director David Yates and four of stars stars of the movie, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton and Matt Lewis.

Keep your eyes peeled for the interviews as we progress. We think you’ll very much enjoy them! If you missed any, you can keep track here.

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Today we have our final two interviews with Emma Watson and Rupert Grint both conducted by our friend James Kleinmann. If you missed the previous batch, you can watch them all here. So, without further ado, here’s our penultimate interview with Emma Watson who plays Herminone Granger. In the interview she talks bout how her character has changed over the past ten years, and what we can expect from this final movie. She talks about working with Helena Bonham Carter and working in the high-heels which was a challenge for Hermione! Finally she talks about how we can prepare for the final installment!

Have a watch of the below and check back later for our interview with Rupert Grint.

Who could have escaped the fact that today, 15th July sees the release of the final movie in the Harry Potter franchise with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows : Part 2. To celebrate, we’ve teamed up with the awesome costume website, Rubies Masquerade / Jokes.co.uk to give away a couple of rather awesome prizes.

A couple of days ago we put up the chance to win an adult Harry Potter robe and today to celebrate the release of the final movie, we have the chance for our younger audience (or their children) to win a child version of the same thing. This robe has been officially endorsed by Warner Bros. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is directed by David Yates , stars Daniel Radcliffe , Rupert Grint , Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter , Jim Broadbent , Robbie Coltrane , Warwick Davis, Tom Felton , Ralph Fiennes , Michael Gambon , Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt , Jason Isaacs , Matthew Lewis, Gary Oldman , Alan Rickman , Maggie Smith , David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Bonnie Wright and is released 15th July in the US and UK.

If you’ve missed all our coverage of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 then you can catch up on it all right here and let me warn you, it’s rather extensive!  Our review of the film can be read here and our World Premiere report is live for all the world to see here.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. The much-anticipated motion picture event is the second of two full-length parts. In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort . It all ends here.

So, back to the prize! The robe is advertised as fitting children aged 5-6 years.

To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Which actor plays the character, Ron Weasley in the JK Rowling Harry Potter film series?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 25th July at 23.59 GMT
• No prize alternative is available to that stated above
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

TM & © Warner. Bros Entertainment Inc.

Harry Potter and Publishing Rights © JKR.

This Friday, 15th July sees rather a big event at the cinema as it’s the day that the final Harry Potter movie is set to be released! If you’ve missed all our coverage of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 then you can catch up on it all right here and let me warn you, it’s rather extensive!  Our review of the film can be read here and our World Premiere report is live for all the world to see here.

To celebrate the release of the movies and especially the final one, every day this week we’re going to have interviews with the cast and crew who made the films possible. We have interviews with Producers, David Heyman and David Barron, Director David Yates and four of stars stars of the movie, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton and Matt Lewis.

Keep your eyes peeled for the interviews as we progress. We think you’ll very much enjoy them! If you missed any, you can keep track here.

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The last couple of days we’ve heard from the filmmakers but for today and tomorrow we get to hear from the cast again in the form of Tom Felton, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

Today it’s Tom’s turn interviewed by Faye Daniels. In the interview he talks about how Draco Malfoy has changed over the past decade, and how he fits into the Malfoy family!He also gives us a little snippet of information from Rise of the Planet of the Apes and how he fit into that role. He goes onto talk about 3d and how he thinks it fits in with this movie and why he thinks it’ll work so well in their eighth movie.

Check back tomorrow for our final two interviews or click here to view the previous ones.

Who could have escaped the fact that this Friday, 15th July sees the release of the final movie in the Harry Potter franchise with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. To celebrate, we’ve teamed up with the awesome costume website, Rubies Masquerade / Jokes.co.uk to give away a couple of rather awesome prizes.

Today we have the chance for you to win a Harry Potter Adult robe meaning you can look just like everyone’s favourite wizard! This robe has been officially endorsed by Warner Bros. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is directed by David Yates , stars Daniel Radcliffe , Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter , Jim Broadbent , Robbie Coltrane , Warwick Davis, Tom Felton , Ralph Fiennes , Michael Gambon , Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt , Jason Isaacs , Matthew Lewis, Gary Oldman , Alan Rickman , Maggie Smith , David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Bonnie Wright and is released 15th July in the US and UK.

If you’ve missed all our coverage of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 then you can catch up on it all right here and let me warn you, it’s rather extensive!  Our review of the film can be read here and our World Premiere report is live for all the world to see here.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. The much-anticipated motion picture event is the second of two full-length parts. In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort . It all ends here.

So, back to the prize! The robe is a standard size and will fit anyone up to a jacket size of 44.

To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, simply answer the following question using the form below (and keep your eyes peeled for our second competition which might be more suited to our younger audience!):

Which actor plays the character, Harry Potter in the JK Rowling film series?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 20th July at 23.59 GMT
• No prize alternative is available to that stated above
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

TM & © Warner. Bros Entertainment Inc.

Harry Potter and Publishing Rights © JKR.

This Friday, 15th July sees rather a big event at the cinema as it’s the day that the final Harry Potter movie is set to be released! If you’ve missed all our coverage of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 then you can catch up on it all right here and let me warn you, it’s rather extensive!  Our review of the film can be read here and our World Premiere report is live for all the world to see here.

To celebrate the release of the movies and especially the final one, every day this week we’re going to have interviews with the cast and crew who made the films possible. We have interviews with Producers, David Heyman and David Darron, Director David Yates and four of stars stars of the movie, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton and Matt Lewis.

Keep your eyes peeled for the interviews as we progress. We think you’ll very much enjoy them! If you missed any, you can keep track here.

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Yesterday we heard from Producers, David Barron and David Heyman and got their take on the final memories of Harry Potter. Today, courtesy of James Kleinmann who conducts the interview, we get to hear from the Captain of the ship, David Yates who directed the final movie. In the interview he talks about how to contain the emotion with all the main characters while creating something so epic. He then talks about how he created a movie that is suitable for a younger audience while still making the movie scary enough to carry the story across. It’s a great interview and you’ll love it!

This Friday, 15th July sees rather a big event at the cinema as it’s the day that the final Harry Potter movie is set to be released! If you’ve missed all our coverage of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 then you can catch up on it all right here and let me warn you, it’s rather extensive!  Our review of the film can be read here and our World Premiere report is live for all the world to see here.

To celebrate the release of the movies and especially the final one, every day this week we’re going to have interviews with the cast and crew who made the films possible. We have interviews with Producers, David Heyman and David Barron, Director David Yates and four of stars stars of the movie, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton and Matt Lewis.

Keep your eyes peeled for the interviews as we progress. We think you’ll very much enjoy them! If you missed any, you can keep track here.

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Earlier today we heard from Producer, David Barron and now we hear from his colleague, co-producer David Heyman. In the interview conducted by James Kleinmann, we get to hear what we can expect from the eighth movie, how he found working with the young cast and how they transitioned into in such a mature cast. He also talks about the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema at this years awards ceremony.Finally he talks about The Room of Requirements and the all the props that are present in there. He gives a few hits of what you can expect to see in that scene for eagle eyed viewers.

This Friday, 15th July sees rather a big event at the cinema as it’s the day that the final Harry Potter movie is set to be released! If you’ve missed all our coverage of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 then you can catch up on it all right here and let me warn you, it’s rather extensive!  Our review of the film can be read here and our World Premiere report is live for all the world to see here.

To celebrate the release of the movies and especially the final one, every day this week we’re going to have interviews with the cast and crew who made the films possible. We have interviews with Producers, David Heyman and David Barron, Director David Yates and four of stars stars of the movie, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton and Matt Lewis.

Keep your eyes peeled for the interviews as we progress. We think you’ll very much enjoy them! If you missed any, you can keep track here.

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Today, courtesy of our friend James Kleinmann who conducts the interview, we get to hear from the film producers, David Heyman and David Barron about what it takes to make the Harry Potter movies. First up we get to hear from David Barron who talks about the 3d in the movie, why he thought it would work well and how they learnt to work with the new technology. He goes on to talk about Hogwarts and how it felt to see the epic sets destroyed. Finally he talks about what it was like to work with such an amazing cast.

This Friday, 15th July sees rather a big event at the cinema as it’s the day that the final Harry Potter movie is set to be released! If you’ve missed all our coverage of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 then you can catch up on it all right here and let me warn you, it’s rather extensive!  Our review of the film can be read here and our World Premiere report is live for all the world to see here.

To celebrate the release of the movies and especially the final one, every day this week we’re going to have interviews with the cast and crew who made the films possible. We have interviews with Producers, David Heyman and David Barron, Director David Yates and four of stars stars of the movie, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton and Matt Lewis.

Keep your eyes peeled for the interviews as we progress. We think you’ll very much enjoy them!

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Starting today with Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), we get to hear from the man who has been in all 8 movies and who’s role has evolved into rather a vital one throughout the last decade. Faye Daniels talks to Matt about his role, what we can expect from the film and how he thinks his character of Neville has grown up and changed over the course of the films.

Last night saw the biggest premiere the UK has ever seen with the eighth and final movie in the Harry Potter franchise. Thousands of fans were there with millions more tuning in to the live online broadcast (which you can still watch highlights of here). This one has the title Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and since it was the final movie, Warner Bros. pulled in pretty much everyone from the franchise to be at Trafalgar Square for the event which was simply EPIC!

We were there and you can have a read of Ben’s report from the event very shortly but to capture the interviews on video, our friends from Upbeat were on the enormous red carpet armed with their video camera ready to record interviews with… *deep breath*… Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Matt Lewis, Evanna Lynch, Michael Gambon, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, David Thewlis, Julie Walters , Jason Isaacs, Miriam Margolyes, author J.K. Rowling, director David Yates, and producers David Heyman & David Barron.

Have a watch of the awesome interview set below and make sure you click here to view all our Potter coverage including our review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

The movie hits UK and US cinemas 15th July.

Having brought you our review of the fascinating but troubling nuclear weapons documentary Countdown to Zero and an exclusive interview with Oscar-winning producer Lawrence Bender, we now have an additional video to add to our coverage so far.

In this video which has been conducted and given to us by our friends at Upbeat, the writer and producer Lucy Walker talks about some of the themes and emphases of the documentary, interspersed with clips from the film itself that give a helpful indication of some of what it covers.

Although Countdown to Zero will no doubt struggle to find a extensive nationwide release falling as it does amidst the summer blockbuster season, it deserves to be seen and I would encourage you to track it down.

Set for release in UK cinemas on the 13th of May and in the US on the 30th of September, The Way is the latest directorial effort from Emilio Estevez and stars his father, Martin Sheen.

Martin Sheen plays Tom, a man who, following the death of his son (played by Estevez), decides to walk the El camino de Santiago, a famous route for pilgrims from France to Northern Spain.

We were lucky enough to sit down with both Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen and also the film’s producer David Alexanian and you can read their thoughts on the film below. There will also be a bonus post later today which will feature more from Martin Sheen, including some very nice audio.

What Martin Sheen feels The Way is about.

Martin Sheen: It’s really about a guy [Tom] who’s lived a really isolated, conservative existence. He belongs to a country club, he has a private practice. He’s a doctor but he’s not into third world doctors. He’s not giving anything to anybody. He’s a widower who lives by himself. He has a son [Daniel] who is very near his PhD who disappears. Daniel’s an anthropologist who has gone out into the world and disappointed his father by not getting his PhD from Berkeley. So they become somewhat estranged and suddenly he doesn’t have a son any more. He goes overseas to collect the lad and bring him home for burial and he learns that the boy was on this journey. What’s this journey all about? And he decides he will take him on the journey, that he will try to make up his life for him. In the process his son leads him across the Camino and the man becomes himself. He’s freed and becomes a citizen of the world.

The Way’s location.

David Alexanian: It’s a storied pilgrimage. People have been walking for centuries and you want to hope that some of that original idea is preserved. And obviously as an American, unfortunately we have made tourist attractions out of wonderful places in our own country. You couldn’t help but be a little frightened when we got there that maybe that there was some way of commercialising it and somehow it’s just maintained its original character. Spain sometimes struggles to market itself abroad but you feel the benefit of that when you’re there because it feels very private, very natural, very organic and that helped in the making of the film.

Emilio Estevez: We were such a small crew, 55 with the four principals. We shot super 16, very guerilla filmmaking style. We had a tremendous lens package. Many of the vistas that you enjoy in the film were the result of being in the right place at the right time with the proper lens. It was hard to point a camera anywhere in Spain and not come up with something magnificent.

The people local to the Camino.

Emilio Estevez: They were intrigued by us. They were also entrusting one of their natural treasures to us. So when we first started scouting  locations it was me, David and my son, who lives in Burgos and is married to a girl he met on the Camino, driving around from town to town doing the grip and grin saying we’re going to come back and make this movie. They looked at us and we were bearded and long haired and I don’t know if they took us seriously until we kept coming back. And our group would grow and finally there would be a van load of us and we’d say we’d like to shoot here in your establishment and then they they finally took us seriously.

Emilio Estevez’ experience working with his father on The Way and how the project came into being.

Emilio Estevez: This really came out of some gentle nudging initially from Martin saying lets go to Spain, hey your son lives there, lets make this documentary [the idea quickly moved from a documentary to a fiction film]. Finally I got a bruised rib and I said okay I’ll pay attention to something you’re obviously passionate about. Let me see if I can get my head around what I think the dramatic narrative could be. He was off on this sentimental story and none of this appeals to me. What I think the story is ultimately is a father son story. And he said, okay I like that. He said, how about on the journey the bag goes in the river and I said okay that’s a good idea. I would try and incorporate a lot of his ideas organically into the screenplay. His idea of the gypsies stealing the bag and I was forced with the task of now having to write that. He is collaborative but also he’s kind of out there with his ideas and it was up to us to try to make these ideas reality on film and budget and schedule for them. The idea of going into the river now involves twelve safety guys and a stunt guy. Which we ended up not using. Martin insisted on going in himself. Our stunt guy chickened out.

I had to get Martin to play Tom not Martin. Martin has a tendency to want to play himself. In between takes he was jumping into the crowds, signing autographs and speaking Spanish. He is a citizen of the word and Tom isn’t. I had to break him of a lot of his habits. I wanted him to feel more isolated, I wanted him to be more conservative. There was a time when in the film I organically wanted that wall to break down and that was my choosing and I didn’t want him to give us glimpse of that before it happened.

Martin Sheen’s experience working with his son Emilio.

Martin Sheen: I adore him. This is the best. It’s funny, someone asked me how I got this part. The truth of it is that if we’d been a Hollywood company there’s not a chance in hell I would have got that part. Can you imagine how many guys would have loved to play that part, and rightly so… I never would have gotten this part if it hadn’t been written for me and he hadn’t directed it. There’s no way!

The religious/spiritual aspects of the film.

Emilio Estevez: I think the most difficult thing Martin found about the film was playing a lapse Catholic. He would say ‘ a Catholic would do this, a Catholic would do that’. I would say you’re not a Catholic, you are a lapse Catholic, you’re not a practising Catholic. Your faith is re-ignited on this Camino, you have to forget what you know.

It’s more of a spiritual film than it is about religion. I think it’s about self discovery more than about a specific religion because religion has a tendency to divide us. What we experienced on the Camino, that the film accurately portrays, is that most of the pilgrims that we met were non-believers, or struggling with their faith or from all walks of life and different parts of the world. For me I thought it was important to see someone, the Dutch man, out there who is out there trying to get physically in shape and Jimmy who is a Protestant who is saying he has problems with the church and won’t even go in one. She’s [Sarah - Deborah Kara Unger] out there for forgiveness and redemption. Tom doesn’t know why the hell he’s out there.

It’s very difficult to go anywhere in Spain, point a camera and not see a church. They’re everywhere. I felt that the iconography would represent the historical aspect of the role Catholicism has played in Spain throughout the centuries and that would be enough. I felt that would drive the point without us having to bang the audience’s head over with it.

The place of pilgrimage in the modern world.

Martin Sheen: Long before I came to the Camino the idea of pilgrimage, because of my Catholic background, had been something I’d been familiar with since I’d been a child but it seems to me that it seems to be an effort to touch the scared. By doing it in a public demonstration you’re given a safe place to explore the journey. It seems to me that all pilgrimages are a metaphor for our lives. I believe our whole lives are an effort to unite the will of the spirit to the work of the flesh and that’s how we’re made whole. I  didn’t make the rules, it just seems… normal. Everyone’s seeking a transcendent experience. I think for our health we need to explore our inner life and we ask those questions, who am I, why am I here and that’s why we go on pilgrimage. And as we do we find other people who are equally interested in the journey and are equally broken and in need of all things that are human. We all need food, clothing and to be housed. But there are deeper meanings that are even more necessary. We need to know that we are loved.

… Christians and many other religions believe that God became human. Wow, what a concept. The genius of God to choose to dwell where we’re least likely to look find him, in ourselves. This is the first step towards embracing ourselves and we begin to understand that through no fault of our own we’re loved and we’re broken. We’re put on this earth to engage with this journey.