With less than four months to go until its release, it’s a testament to the promotion of Ridley Scott’s upcoming sci-fi actioner that we’ve still not got a clear hold on what the film’s about. Though we’ve been teased by quite a bit in recent months, we’re still pretty much in the dark, which is a great place to be in my books.

The first trailer that landed just before Christmas was brilliant, without giving anything away, and I’m hoping that things stay that way up until its release this summer.

In keeping with the lack of reveal and increase of intrigue, a new image has surfaced of two of the leads in their now-familiar space suits, and judging from the direction of their gaze (i.e. up), it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to imagine that they might be looking at the giant head that we’ve been seeing over the past few months.

“Ridley Scott, director of “Alien” and “Blade Runner,” returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.”

The new image shows us Logan Marshall-Green and Noomi Rapace futuristically kitted out, and we can also look forward to a great cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Rafe Spall, and Patrick Wilson.

Prometheus will be with us here in the UK on 1^st June, and whatever it is, I can’t wait. For now, the great new image of Marshall-Green and Rapace. As usual, you can click to enlarge.

Source: ComingSoon.net.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fortunately she managed to talk Cronenberg round,

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

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

In this age of super-saturation with film marketing, Prometheus has admirably bucked the trend. Of all of the teaser trailers launched lately, it has kept its cards closest to its chest, saved more surprises for us the humble viewers and succeeded in generating much more interest as a helpful by-product.

Much of the response to what we have seen of Prometheus so far (and we have helpfully gathered it all together for you here) has been more questions – what is that statue? Why is that person screaming? Who is the vaguely humanoid creature jumping down? How does this fit into the rest of the Alien Universe? It is perhaps a sign of the times that some are annoyed or disgruntled by the teasing drip-feed we are getting, when we should instead be applauding the slow-burn approach being taken by Ridley Scott and his team.

All we have that is new for now (though in due course we are sure to get a more fleshed out trailer) is a still, showing the human head statue that we have seen before, but better lit and more clearly on show. Not much admittedly, but impressive looking nonetheless and with great surrounding detail of what is likely to be the interior of the doughnut ship from Alien and the Prometheus teaser trailer.

More as we get it, with thanks to ComicBookMovie.com for this.

News of Darren Aronofsky’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning film, Black Swan, first surfaced back in June last year, when it surfaced that he was looking to make a big-budget epic film based on the story of Noah’s ark, entitled, Noah. Christian Bale was first in talks for the titular role, but his involvement in the upcoming Terrence Malick films forced him to exit the project.

When news on that exit came, Michael Fassbender was announced as being eyed for the role in his place, with production hoping to start this spring. The Playlist are now reporting a few interesting updates, that involve a bit of potential hear-say, but it sounds like reliable sourcing.

During the latest Oscar Poker chat between Sasha Stone and Jeff Wells, Wells said that he’d been speaking to Aronofsky’s frequent collaborator, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Black Swan, Requiem For A Dream, Pi).

“…And he was telling me about ‘Noah’ and what the script is like. They’re going to start shooting in July in New York and Iceland and he says it’s really a good script. They’re really doing the story of Noah, a very unlikely subject you might think for a cutting edge fellow like Darren Aronofsky, but that’s what they’re doing. It’s going to be more likely a Fall 2013 release,” Wells shared.

Libatique’s frequent past collaborations with the writer-director would certainly suggest that he’s a credible source, and that he’ll know what Aronofsky’s expected shooting schedule is. As The Playlist note, if Noah does shoot this summer, that could potentially create a clash with Fassbender’s schedule, returning to work with his own now-frequent collaborator, Steve McQueen, on Twelve Years A Slave. As such, the lead role could well be there for the taking once more.

And not only that, but Wells says that Libatique told him that there’s another interesting role in the script that calls for a villain:

“That’s the hangup right now, they haven’t cast Noah yet. But it’s got a guy in his 40s so it’s not going to be young. It’s going to be 40s. And there’s a big villain part, gotta have a villain in the story of Noah,” Wells added. “Someone who’s saying ‘Listen, don’t listen to him. We’re fine! We don’t need to build any ark. Don’t be so alarmist! Don’t be so fundamentalist.’ You know? One of those guys. So it sounded like a lot of fun, actually.”

So potentially two male roles that we can look forward to being cast in the coming weeks or months. The original script was written by Aronofsky and producing collaborator Ari Handel (Black Swan, The Wrestler), with the brilliant John Logan (Gladiator, The Last Samurai) handling a rewrite. I can’t wait for this to start taking more shape.

To celebrate the release of ‘A Dangerous Method’ on 10th February we have 5 copies of John Kerr’s novel to give away.  A Dangerous Method is directed by David Cronenberg and stars Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley.

On the eve of World War I, Zurich and Vienna are the setting for a dark tale of sexual and intellectual discovery. Drawn from true-life events, A DANGEROUS METHOD explores the turbulent relationships between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung, his mentor Sigmund Freud and Sabina Spielrein, the beautiful but disturbed young woman who comes between them.

Sensuality, ambition and deceit set the scene for the pivotal moment when Jung, Freud and Sabina come together and split apart, forever changing the face of modern thought.

Click below to see the question and the entry form.

Fancy getting your hands on an exclusive Shame quad poster signed by star Michael Fassbender and director Steve McQueen? We have one to give away so read on to find out how to enter.

Brandon (Fassbender) is a 30-something man living comfortably in New York balancing a busy job and active social life. When his wayward Sissy (Mulligan), turns up at his apartment unannounced, Brandon’s carefully managed lifestyle spirals out of control.

Shame is in cinemas now and we loved the film. Loved it.

For more info on this film make sure to follow @shamefilm on twitter

To be in for a chance of winning this fantastic prize, click Next to be taken to the question and entry form.

While the recent look at the Space Jockey mask gave further hints at the links between Alien and Prometheus there’s something a little more tangible on offer today with this new image from Ridley Soctt’s film from the L.A. Times (via Coming Soon).

Lining up behind Noomi Rapace are a couple of space jockey suits and there’s a far bet that Nooms has just caught a glimpse of what goes inside one of them. Man, this is a tease-a-thon isn’t it? Only a few months to go until we get the chance to see Scott’s film, easily one of the most anticipated of the year.

Here’s the pic, click to make everything big,

And check out this high-res version from Noomi Rapace Tumblr in which you can make out the Weyland patch on the sleeve of her left arm. You know, because that’s cool and stuff.

This is a lovely scene from Shame which comes from the dudes at Digital Spy and shows Carey Mulligan singing a slowed down version of New York, New York while Michael Fassbender looks on. It’s a beautiful scene which sets the mood beautifully for this fabulous film. If you missed our review, you can see it here but suffice to say, we liked it a lot.

Shame stars Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie, Hannah Ware, Elizabeth Masucci and is directed by Steve McQueen who previously worked with Fassbender on Hunger. This new movie deals with the topic of sex addiction with a script from Abi Morgan and it’s hard hitting stuff but it’s beautifully shot at this five minute scene with Carey singing is just fantastic.

Shame is released in UK cinemas today and you can see all our coverage here.

Synopsis: Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is a New Yorker who shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his wayward younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon’s insular life spirals out of control.

There are pictures doing the rounds today which appear to offer further proof that Ridley Scott’s forthcoming Prometheus shares more than a little DNA with his Alien film.

Cinemart claim these pictures come from a trustworthy source deep in the design department of the production and show a mask resembling that of the sad old Space Jockey from Scott’s 1979 film.

The source told the site that this mask was for ‘the alien’ from the film, and that it would feature in the film with ‘very little CGI’ enhancement. For a bit of context the filmmaker spoke to MTV  about the place of the Space Jockey in his new film,

I have to design — or redesign — earlier versions of what these elements are that led to the thing you finally see in “Alien,” which is the thing that catapults out of the egg, the face-hugger… I don’t want to repeat it. The alien in a sense, as a shape, is worn out… maybe we’ll come up with something completely different.

Scott then expanded on the central role of the Space Jockey,

What we’re going to try to do is squeeze in two prequels. . . if you explain who he was and where did he come from. . . then you may want to find out where they came from, you might want to go to him and go to the place where his people come from.

Here’s one of the pics, there’s another angle over at the site,

IMAGES REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF THE STUDIO

Last night I went to a preview screening of Shame that was followed by a live Q&A session with director Steve McQueen and writer Abi Morgan, streamed straight from the Curzon Mayfair. With Michael Fassbender a shoo-in for a Best Actor nomination at the upcoming Oscars and Mulligan giving her best performance to date, Shame is a stunning portrayal of one man’s meticulously planned and concealed lifestyle that is thrown into chaos by the arrival of his extroverted younger sister. Be warned that there are rather a lot of spoilers in what follows and I strongly advise going into the film knowing as little as possible. Shame is released on Friday, so make sure you check back here after you’ve seen it to learn more about the fascinating process behind the film.

What conversation was it that brought you to the themes of sex addiction?

SM – It was kind of cathartic in a way. We started by talking about the internet and pornography and then you click with someone (Abi) and by the end of the conversation we thought we had a good idea. Then the next day we realised we really did had a very good idea, so we thought let’s run with that.

What were your methods in regards to research?

AM – Was I running with instinct with sex addiction?! Well, I think it was a free holiday to New York, quite frankly! What’s been fascinating is working with a director from the start. I knew I wanted to physically make the film with Steve.

SM – it was a little bit like Miss Marple and Columbo, fumbling and stumbling. We had no idea where to look for clues. When I first heard of sexual addiction I laughed, as many of us do. But then you find out, like with alcohol addiction, people have to relieve themselves 25 times a day or more. It ceases to become funny. We had no idea if this was a film, but when we’d gathered all the information we finally realised, yes, this was a film.

Abi, how did you land on the character of Brandon?

AM – Primarily, we wanted to talk to people in the UK, but it was very difficult as there wasn’t the same sort of recognition of the addiction, so that’s why we went to New York and started to talk to experts and men, really. It was much harder to talk to women, and that’s what gave us the steer on Brandon. But also what was fascinating was looking at the diversity of the men we met, Brandon being a kind of everyman. We just chose to channel many of the people we met and the experiences we had in Brandon.

SM – I mean, the door was shut in London, we couldn’t get anyone to talk to us about sexual addiction. At the time, the Tiger Woods thing had happened and no one wanted to speak to us. I think it’s to do with the media. Alcohol addiction and drugs are a stigma – sexual isn’t. It’s similar to the 80s with how people with AIDS were treated. People with sex addiction would be laughed at or shunned, so we were very fortunate to talk to specialists in America who could link us to addicts and former addicts.

So Abi, as you were developing your script, was there a point when you were gathering all this information that you realised you had to be delicate in portraying a composite world within such a controversial subject matter?

AM – There was a sort of rhythm to our trips. We did two big trips to New York that were about ten days, and we wrote the majority of the film out there in the Standard Hotel where a lot of key scenes take place. But the main thing I took was the way New York affected you and the feeling it left you with. We’d often spend the whole day walking around, meeting with and talking to people and then we’d be getting into a car to get to the airport. We’d travel from Manhattan to JFK, Steve and I would go ‘wow’ that was great and then silence would descend on us. We’d be left with this weight and an incredible sadness. We were talking to people and afterwards thinking, ‘wow. I do that’. There was a very strange feeling that you realised there was a very fine line between the very compulsive behaviour these men had and the normal way we all live our lives. So Brandon isn’t really even a composite. For me he’s the vessel that literally carries the overwhelming emotion that I certainly felt in these men and which Steve certainly nailed in the title – Shame.

SM – He’s not a freak. He’s one of us – this is the whole point. He’s not a man with sweaty palms and a rain jacket. Far from it.

Was it important for you to stress the ritual of his working life?

SM – The fact he’s a human being one doesn’t have to stress too much, he’s just going about his daily life, but he’s got this secret.

We must bring in the character of Sissy, played by Carey Mulligan. She enters his life and he obviously is holding her at a distance and we immediately begin to question why he is doing this and what their relationship’s about. We’re also wondering why she’s so needy in his presence, which leads us to their background. But you decide not to give it to us easily. What discussions did you have between the two of you on their background?

SM – They come from the same background, but react very differently – one exploding, one imploding, with Sissy being this extrovert, which is why I decided to make her a singer as it’s all about getting it out. She’s a little bit too much. And of course Brandon is the complete reversal of that; the insular. I wanted to get that across, people dealing with a similar situation in their life, in the past, but in a very different way. And what Carey does is bring the past into the present, and that’s what Brandon doesn’t want to deal with.

Brandon’s very much an introvert for his slick exterior. For us, Sissy is very much a way for the audience to get to him as well as later in the film where he goes on the date with Marianne. Did you find dramatically that Sissy and Marianne were ways for us to see into Brandon?

AM – I think questions like that are really interesting as you don’t necessarily ask yourself them when you’re writing. I think what was important with Marianne was to show the almost old-fashioned nature of ‘the date’. And when I watch it, the scene where they’re walking to the subway, I can feel that sense of ‘is it going to go any further, or are they going to leave each other?!’ Now we’re in a world with Facebook and Twitter and before you even have dinner with someone you can find out where they were last Christmas and what they did last night, so I think there’s that playing out and I think the women carry some of that, but I think the women are kind of truth speakers. But with the majority of men we met, we didn’t know their back-story. It wasn’t something that they told us. And in a way I didn’t need to know that to carry the actual symptom and the effect. And I think that’s why we constructed the back-story that we kept bringing back and throwing away, and bringing back and throwing away.

SM – I mean, in everyday life we meet people and we have no idea who they are. We get to know them and we get to be their friends and we get to socialise with them, and maybe after a while within the present we get to know a little about their past. And that’s exactly what I wanted with Brandon. I wanted to be truthful and honest with his character. A lot of people, not just men, don’t really speak. I didn’t want a situation on screen where a guy just talks to his best friend, no – that’s not Brandon. There’s a sense of familiarity with him. We see his actions and his actions are something he’s trying to get away from and deal with. Sometimes he’s not even communicating with himself, he doesn’t even know what’s wrong with him. And maybe at the end he has some sort of understanding that he needs help, possibly.

Let’s talk a little bit about the making of the film. At what point did you bring Michael Fassbender on board and where do you think he took the character of Brandon? How much room do you give him to interpret that character and where do you think he took Brandon in a way you may not have perceived?

SM – I know Michael very well and I don’t take it for granted – it’s all about the script really and if he likes it. And so I gave him a script and it was similar with Mulligan who is extraordinary as well in this film and I think the most surprising point was actually her, because of course I knew Michael. But Carey was the surprising discovery for me, because of the way she took Sissy on paper – it’s a small part – but I love that every time she’s on screen she’s fierce. She’s ‘boom’, she’s ‘bang’. Because of course, she doesn’t have a lot of time to play with, but she nailed it every time. The first time she appears on screen in the shower, when she’s in the club, every time she’s on screen she’s like ‘wow’, so I think in some ways she for me was – though I knew I was working with two of the very best actors of their generation – just ‘wow’. And Michael of course is Michael. What Michael brought to the role, in a way, is a certain focus, a real focus. And sometimes after a take he’s almost like being in the boxing corner, you know you slap the Vaseline on and take the gum shield out, but sometimes I don’t have to do that, he is in the zone and he just continues to be Brandon and that’s it. But he’s interesting because he can just switch on and switch off.

Is Fassbender an actor who carries roles with him? Because Brandon is a tough character.

SM – I think he does. I mean, he says he doesn’t, but I think he does. He’s a very sensitive and beautiful person, so when you carry a character like that, you carry the shit with you – forgive me for swearing on TV. He’s a kind of effeminate guy, he’s very beautiful and not afraid of himself in any way and so he does carry it with him, but he has the capacity to detach. And obviously he’s been so busy over the last twenty-two months that he’s had to switch very quickly from character to character and so I’d imagine that it hasn’t been such a bad thing after all.

I’d like to talk about a few scenes that stick in the mind, certainly in my mind and I’m sure in the minds of the people who have seen the film. You mentioned a scene with Carey Mulligan in the club where we close in on her face and she’s singing New York, New York and it’s a hugely arresting scene and Abi, I’m sure you can give us some context there. Can you remember when you were writing that scene and what brought you to that scene of terms of introducing her to us?

AM – We were sitting up in that bar! And we talked about that song. We were sitting up in the Boom Boom Bar where that scene was shot and the song was Steve’s idea, and it was the audacity of it, and I remember us having that conversation of, you know, what’s the most clichéd song about New York that we could we get away with it. When you broke down the lyrics of New York, New York, it’s absolutely the most perfect song because it’s about the story of Brandon, in a way, about coming somewhere and trying to reinvent yourself and in a way I always feel the film was written with an incredible view of the Hudson – if anyone knows the Standard, the view that you see is incredible – and that’s very inspiring because it’s very bleak and beautiful at the same time and you can see New Jersey across the way and I always sort of felt that there was this piece of water that they crossed, be it from Ireland or New Jersey or wherever it was, that there was something very poignant about that song. So it worked for me. But I’m sure Steve can elaborate on it.

You said earlier that it came to be a New York film almost by accident with your research taking you there and that’s where you found yourselves writing it. How much in retrospect do you think it is a film about New York and a New York film?

SM – Well, people keep telling me it’s a New York film and I suppose it is, I don’t know. I suppose with the access and excess of New York, possibly, the twenty-four hour city can be facilitated with this particular character, so possibly. And I think we could talk about consumerism all night and all day!

It presents New York to us in a certain way – the scene where Michael Fassbender is jogging through the night is highly arresting, block after block after block and I’d love to hear about the shooting of that particular scene and why you decided to do it in one shot, how easy it was.

SM – It was very easy to do. We were set up in a golf cart with a steady cam on it and we got the police to block off a couple of streets and Michael did four takes of it and at the end of the street, where you see the stop sign with the green hand and the red man, the traffic lights had been broken. There was a hot dog van that we’d moved, but it had knocked into the actual stop sign and it fell down. And I thought that was f****** brilliant, excuse my language, and I just thought that was it. It was very simple, and I know people talk about that shot, but it’s just ‘get on with it, keep shooting’. And that’s it. Next!

And going back to thinking about you working with Michael Fassbender, actually, when you’re asking an actor to be in numerous sex scenes, to shoot nude in physically demanding scenes, does it help to have an actor who you know where his boundaries may be, what he’s willing to do?

SM – Well, I think if you’re an actor there should be no boundaries – don’t be an actor then! Don’t be an actor, I’m not working with you, I’m not interested I mean, you wouldn’t ask a dancer to dance on one leg. That’s what reality’s about, otherwise what’s the point?

But Fassbender’s obviously an actor who’s willing to go that distance with you.

SM – Well, I would only want to work with actors who CAN go that far. I’m new to the game, but if there’s someone who doesn’t want to do it I’ll get someone else to do it. It’s not about getting someone to do something embarrassing, but portraying reality. The only analogy I can think of right now is the contemporary dancer. You know, do it, try it, go on, that’s it otherwise what’s the point! There’s nothing embarrassing about it – that’s the movie stars, I’m not interested.

Do you find that there’s a real creative dialogue between you and Michael Fassbender, then, and that you DO want to work with him and that you do want to put him in these situations and that you get good work from him – is there an interesting conversation going on the whole time with him about the character?

SM – Well, yeah, absolutely, but he also does what I say! He finds his way and that’s it – it’s all about work. W-O-R-K.

Let’s take questions here from the floor and the Twitter feed as well.

Hi, I really, really enjoyed it. I deliberately made sure I didn’t know very much about it before I came to see it, so the question that came up for me while I was watching it was, ‘what was it about the subject matter that grabbed a hold of you and would not let you go?’

SM – Sex! Erm, I just liked the idea of sexual addiction! Because, it’s not so far removed from any of us at all, in fact. Absolutely not. We’ve all had that craving for sex and we want it now and you do whatever you can to satisfy that craving in that moment in time. I’m not an alcoholic, I’ve never been, I’m not a drug abuser, but I just like the idea that it’s not something exotic from us – it’s something very close to us and that’s what was very exciting to me.

AM – Yeah, I think it’s not like any other addiction – you can’t give it up in order to be a living breathing part of the world, one needs to be sexual. Sex is the thing we do and it’s fun. But it’s also the thing we can violate ourselves and other people with, so I think the complexity of that was really interesting and I think truthfully, from my point of view, what picked me up and wouldn’t let me go was hearing from the men we met and that really stayed with me and I felt I saw them everywhere and I identified with things in myself and I think that’s definitely what held me.

SM – It was that and it was also, for me, technology. The whole idea that the thing facilitates this addiction more than anything else. I remember when I was growing up as a kid, the nearest I got to pornography was the top shelf at a newsagents and that one guy at school who got hold of a magazine and everyone would flock to him. And now, there’s a certain kind of self-contained ness, in a way.

AM – My first experience of porn was walking the dog and seeing a ripped page in the bushes and I was fascinated. I look at my kids now who are playing on the internet and there’s a pop up. And you realise that suddenly it can spiral off into an incredibly explicit world. The access thing is what’s changed; the kind of courtship of relationships has changed.

SM – Everyone in this room knows what we’re talking about – over 80% of internet traffic is pornography.

I’m interested in your process. There’s a fantastic rhythm to your films and I just wanted to hear you talk a little more about how much that rhythm is pre-planned or discovered?

SM – I talk a lot with my cameraman, Sean Bobbitt, who I’ve worked with for eleven years and he’s amazing so we firstly talk about subject matter, but it’s about finding things. The first section, ‘Brandon’, I thought, ‘let’s just get the sex addiction idea out of the way as soon as possible’. So the first nine minutes of Brandon getting out of bed etc are to understand who this guy is and to some extent what his morning ritual entails. It’s about trusting the camera movements, the long takes. The rhythm is set then, I don’t do storyboards. Sometimes you just have to find it within the room where I set the camera.

How do you go about co writing the script? Does one write the lyrics and one the melody?

AM – I guess. It’s back and forth really. I type, Steve sits, we order a lot of room service. He reads and shouts. We both shout. We go for long walks, read magazines, sit silently. It’s what’s often not being said. What’s been fantastic in collaborating with him is that we started together, so there was a real shorthand when we got to the set.

SM – Things take time! We were often doing crosswords, not sexy! But then things move swiftly on.

At the end, is there hope for Brandon and Sissy, or does the cycle continue?

SM – I don’t know. I’m hoping there is hope, but I don’t know. I don’t want to detach my responsibility from the characters, but I don’t want to give you some sort of happy ‘War Horse sunset’, but I hope, that’s all.

AM – I think addiction’s active. We all know the cliché, ‘one day at a time’, but I think that’s true.

SM – Once an addict, always an addict.

In the film it seems lots of technology features, acting as a vector of keeping people apart from contacting properly – Skype, answer phone etc. Where you trying to make a point about modern technology pulling people apart? Or was that not a factor?

SM – I was just commenting on way we live now. Skype is great sometimes, but that’s just how it turned out in the film. There’s a shorthand now that I imagine is less intimate then face time was, but that’s just how we live now.

AM – I love the internet, I love technology, but it’s also a symptom and a great thing of a fast changing world. It is a faux intimacy, but the shortcut that takes us right into the heart of someone’s being. There’s something bizarre about that, but it’s just a fact of life now I think.

Has the NC-17 certificate in the US had an impact on the film’s success?

SM – When I first heard of NC-17 I thought it was a rap band, I had no idea. I don’t care, I’ll be honest, I’m not interested. I have a lot of respect for Fox Searchlight who bought and distributed in the United States. They never asked me to cut or alter the film and they’re very supportive in a way I never thought a US distribution company would be. I’m very happy we got it released in the States.

Throughout the film it’s hinted that there’s a sexual intimacy between Brandon and Sissy. Was that the point? That there’s no limit to how low a sexual addict would go?

SM – A lot people ask this. I don’t know if there’s a relationship on that level. Obviously they’ve encountered something unpleasant in their past, but I don’t know how brothers and sisters react with each other and I don’t know what’s acceptable. Of course it’s awkward. Something’s going on, but I can’t tell what it is.

Tailing off from that, it’s a peculiar relationship – you don’t stand there seeing your sister naked in the shower. Is it right to think people assume he became a sex addict from something that happened with his sister? He seems like a normal guy, so were you worried people would think he became an addict because of something that happened with his sister?

SM – I don’t necessarily agree, it was never spoken about. The relationship from Sissy was sexual-ISED, but never sexually implied. There’s some kind of craving for intimacy from her that borders on an uncomfortable boundary that tests Brandon. I never thought of the intimacy.

AM – It’s difficult, as I have my background to the scene, but I think it’s interesting to keep the debate going, so I won’t disclose it. I think it’s about a man whose boundaries are confused and the sibling relationship is challenging within the context of the film – she’s the one woman he probably shouldn’t screw, bringing an element of danger. It’s more for me about boundaries that have become corrupted.

SM – There’s more than one back-story. Michael, Carey, Abi and I all have our own. That’s very important. They’re damaged people which is why I didn’t want to go into the yarn of what happened in their past. Who knows why people do what they do. There’s always something to say about it, but I didn’t want to set one particular stencil. In rehearsal we talked a lot about it, but what was wonderful was that when I first introduced Michael and Carey I thought ‘oh no, they don’t like each other’ – it was very awkward. What was going on was that they had started acting at that moment. I thought the chemistry wasn’t working, but it wasn’t supposed to be bloody working. They had different ideas about what had happened in the same way I imagine they would have in reality. That’s what makes them great actors. That was huge in adding to the process.

What message do you want the viewer to leave with?

SM – Hopefully it will stay with them for a little longer than an hour and then people can have a conversation about it. A movie for me is like an object – it’s the starting point of a conversation as much as any artwork can do.

AM – I don’t think about the message. I remember visiting a woman whose son had been murdered for another project and everyone make a joke at the end – a few years after his death. And everyone laughed but she laughed two beats longer than everybody else and I thought, ‘you’ve gone mad’. And I think I’m always looking for that moment, trying to convey it and hope they can ‘get’ that, rather than leaving a message. Just a series of, sometimes, oddities. Just things that feel real, that are incongruous. An audience is very intelligent and can work it out for themselves.

You both mentioned reality. Do you think this film is realistic and why is reality in film important?

SM – I think it’s way far away from reality, but it’s about triggering moments of reality for me. It’s artificial and plastic, but it triggers moments of reality, like when Sissy is singing TO Brandon, what happens is that these oddities are just right. So through the song I hope the audience understand how the past arises in the present through this abstraction, this song – through the most sort of undescriptive manner the abstract can come a reality. The moments I’m hoping for are an understanding of what can occur in these moments that are so farfetched from reality in some ways.

AM – Huge question! I think people often ask what the message is – but it’s kind of what I do, it’s my job. And the great privilege of what I do is that for these past six months, a year, I’ve connected with people and we’ve tried to express this world. I hope you write from a place within yourself that feels truthful. I write about what interests me. This was inspired from a connection with Steve and I hope that was portrayed onscreen and I hope that in itself feels truthful. But reality’s shifting and is different for you than it is for me, but I hope there is somewhere we connect on it.

SM – its like when in your daily life a song comes on the radio that hits you between the eyes because it answers a lots of question and evokes a lot of emotion from within you. It’s something that hits you from an angle that you never expected, but opens up many doors – that’s what I’m hoping for and would love from the cinema, really.

You may choose to see the first five minutes of Steven Soderbergh’s latest film with the other eighty-eight when the film is released on the 18th of January but those of you who want to see Gina Carano pummeling Channing Tatum early – this is the video for you.

Craig gave the film an excellent review on the site and he highlighted the scene comprised of Carano and Michael Fassbender in a hotel room which has been shown in many of the trailers and the opening five minutes shown here have a similar feel with the impact of the action greatly enhanced by the soundtrack choices made.

Hulu had this video,

Lots of new images out tonight courtesy of USA Today, including this new look at Noomi Rapace in Ridley Scott’s Alienverse bound tale of the search for the origins of mankind in the eagerly awaited Prometheus.

There’s not a lot to go on here, although the glowing paper bag looks…intriguing and I love the design that we’ve seen so far from the production.   If you haven’t seen the trailer which came out just before Christmas then click here to take a look.

Rapace stars alongside Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron. Personally I can’t wait.

Here’s your picture,

There’s nothing quite like a bit of quality violence to shake the early morning from your bones, and this new trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire is just the ticket.

In truth this new peek starts out in a similar fashion to the first trailer we saw – people meet, they hit, then all hell breaks loose, but as with most Soderbergh films there’s an excellent cast backing this one this.

Gina Carano leads the film and has Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender along for the ride, and be warned there are some very quick moments in the trailer which do reveal the fates of some.

Eyes down to be hit with a synopsis,

Mallory Kane is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive.

Using her black-ops military training, she devises an ingenious—and dangerous—trap. But when things go haywire, Mallory realizes she’ll be killed in the blink of an eye unless she finds a way to turn the tables on her ruthless adversary.

Here’s your trailer,

Today we give thanks to Crave, for ’twas there who gave us this.

In recent years we have seen Hollywood tap a variety of different resources in its ongoing search for new ideas. Stopping just short of sticking its hand down the side of the sofa and rummaging for loose inspiration, Tinseltown has instead chosen to adapt everything from the usual books, video games and television shows, to comic books, websites, theme park rides and – I still can’t quite believe it –  even board games. So, why not an entire year?

If 2011 were a movie, aside from reflecting such recent events as The Royal Wedding, the London riots, the Eurozone crisis and those pandas arriving at Edinburgh zoo, it would also have to reflect the trends and tendencies prevalent in the films it has seen released during its tenure. As such, it would most likely be a remake of a foreign language prequel, a motion-capture throwback and a steamy tale of friends with benefits, with no strings attached.

If 2011 were a movie it would star Michael Fassbender as a man haunted by an unsuppressable Irish accent, Ryan Gosling as someone who can wear clothes really well, and Natalie Portman in the midst of what must amount to the most productive pregnancy ever. Stellan Skarsgård would play a man with a hidden agenda, Felicity Jones’ character would ultimately win your heart and Justin Timberlake would appear as a surprisingly capable actor.

If 2011 were a movie it would be set in Rio de Janeiro, where birds come to mate, the fast are as fun as they are furious, and vampires routinely honeymoon.  At least, that is, until Michael Bay crashes a Transformer into it, forcing our heroes to set sale, on stranger tides, in search of the secrets of a unicorn. On a Zeppelin. It would see McLovin slay some vampires, James Bond team up with Indiana Jones, and Queen Amidala wooed by a bunch of carrots and a period mix.

If 2011 were a movie it would be called 2011: The Movie – Part II Of The Rise Of The Planet of The Apes Of The Moon 3D. It would have more punctuation than characters, more dimensions than punctuation, and in all likelihood be prefixed with Green. It would be a kid’s film by Martin Scorsese, a superhero movie by Michael Gondry, a live action movie by Brad Bird and an animated movie by Steven Spielberg.

If 2011 were a movie it wouldn’t be as good as the book, the original or the trailer for Sucker Punch made it out to be. It would miscast Liam Neeson, boast too much Nicolas Cage, and at some point feature a fat character shaving his head and shitting into her dress. Worst of all, however, New Year’s Eve would kill the finale. And it would be inexplicably steampunk.

More importantly, however, if 2011 were a movie I would pay to see it. I would marvel at its melancholy, gasp at its production values and laugh unabashedly at its failure to kill Bono. It would be surprisingly heartfelt for a summer blockbuster, unexpectedly jaw-dropping for a low budget Norwegian flick, as funny as the TV show, and a fitting conclusion to a much loved franchise.

If 2011 were a movie, 2012 would have a lot to live up to.

And it’s about time…

Teased beyond the point of parody we now have the chance to see what Ridley Scott and screenwriter Damon Lindelof have been working on for what seems like an age. The highly anticipated film has gone from being a full on Space Jockey-centred prequel to Alien to a far grander sci-fi tale, telling us the story of a discovery of the origin of life in the universe.

The trailer hints at the links, not least the slowly revealing font, Gigeresque corridor and it looks like we’ll see what happened to the ship where it all started in Alien. Oh, and the flash at 00:26 is very interesting…

Ridley Scott has a very interesting cast in the form of Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green and Charlize Theron but it is the return of the director to the sci-fi genre that is the real draw here.

Here’s your trailer, which we hope to have in HD soon. The film is out in the UK on the 1st of June.

Tis the season to pump out new trailers for some of the biggest films of 2012 clearly and the curious question of how to keep the flames of anticipation for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus stoked while competing trailers pop up around it has given rise to a daily tease for the unveiling of the first look of Scott’s return to the world of Space Jockeys and acid blooded xenomorphs.

This new look is in keeping with teases one and two in that the director talks briefly about the project while new footage flickers on-screen for seconds at a time. Thank goodness the trailer hits tomorrow…

There’s also a new pic from the all-singing Empire which is below, featuring Michael Fassbender who once described his character as a ’10-pound rent boy’, though it has long been rumoured that he is an android cut from the same circuit boards as Ash and Bishop.

Here’s the IN 1 DAY… trailer,

Haywire looks splendid. Check out all of the trailers, clips and other content we’ve assembled for you here and then come back and see the latest poster for Steven Soderbergh’s latest offering, which employs genuine ass-kicking MMA star Gina Carano as a betrayed government agent, fighting for her life as all and sundry come for her. As far as we can tell so far, all and sundry get kicked in the head quite a lot.

The latest poster goes for the moody monochrome look, with everyone except Carano going for the glowering, frowning, furrowed, intense look. For my money, Bill Paxton wins the line up, though there are strong entries from Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas.

Haywire will be punching its way onto screens in the UK on 18th January 2012 and in the US a couple of days later (yay for the UK!). Until then, enjoy the lovely line up below, courtesy of lovely types as IMPA.

If you’re not already adrift in the seemingly endless torrent of trailers we’ve seen today there’s a little more for you.

Earlier this evening we posted a short teaser for the imminent trailer for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, a film which commands huge expectation and which has, so far, been relatively shrouded in secrecy. Now there’s a second teaser which has a little more footage from the film.

I’m happily posting this here because I know there are people out there who will want to see anything from Prometheus as soon as possible, so while the concept of a trailer for a trailer boggles my mind there’s some brief glimpses to pour over until the trailer arrives on Thursday (or so we’re led to believe).

Here’s your trailer for the trailer part two,

Merci to Alien Prequel News (via Bleeding Cool)

Tonight has gone completely nuts! Not only do we have the theatrical trailer for The Dark Knight Rises (which if you haven’t seen you MUST!) but now Fox have also released a trailer for the trailer (sort of a mini featurette) for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus three days before it’s set to hit!

Prometheus stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Charlize Theron and is set for release Summer 2012.

Enjoy it below!

Ridley Scott, director of “Alien” and “Blade Runner,” returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

Source: Apple

One of the highlights of this Summer’s Big Screen event was the screening of a scene from Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire. It featured lead actress Gina Carano and Man of the Year Michael Fassbender going at it after a romantic dinner in a hotel. The difference is that the ‘it’ I mean and the ‘it’ you’re thinking of are very different things.

The scene was very powerful, and did a lot to set up expectations for the film which opens in the UK on the 18th of January. We’ve heard some very good things about it and today we’ve got an exclusive image from the film below.

Haywire stars Channing Tatum​​, Michael Fassbender​​, Ewan McGregor​​, Michael Angarano​​, Antonio Banderas​​, Michael Douglas​​, Gina Carano​​ and Bill Paxton​​.

This dynamic action-thriller directed by Oscar® winner Steven Soderbergh (Traffic) boasts a talented cast that includes Channing Tatum (GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra), Ewan McGregor (The Ghost Writer​​), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class), Antonio Banderas (The Legend of Zoro), Bill Paxton (“Big Love​​”), Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps), Michael Angarano (Almost Famous​​ ); and introduces mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar Gina Carano as Mallory Kane, in a demanding lead role that has her performing her own high-adrenaline stunts.

Mallory Kane is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive.

Heading up the gallery below is the exclusive image,