Bruce Willis seems eager to reprise his "Die Hard" role in another installment of the action film series, planning to start shooting for "Die Hard 5" in 2011. In a recent interview with MTV, the actor stated, "I think we're going to do a 'Die Hard 5' next year."
Willis later revealed that he would hire Len Wiseman, the man behind the fourth "Die Hard" film "Live Free or Die Hard", to direct the upcoming project. Talking further about the film, the depicter of John McClane shared his idea for the possible plotline, saying "It's got to go worldwide."
MTV additionally has got a chance to ask Willis about the plan to make a follow-up to his film "Unbreakable". Affirming that director M. Night Shyamalan still wants to make the sequel, the 54-year-old said, "I talked to [Shyamalan] over the holidays, and he is still thinking about doing the fight movie between me and Sam[uel L. Jackson] that we were going to do." He then added, "As long as Sam can make it, I'm up for it."
"Die Hard 5" will serve as the follow-up to "Live Free or Die Hard" which was released in 2007. The story still centers on protagonist John McClane and takes place twelve years after the third film. The movie received generally positive reviews, earning total international box office gross receipts of $383.5 million.
Meanwhile, "Unbreakable" is a 2000 psychological thriller which tells the story of Bruce Willis' David Dunn, who slowly discovers that he is actually a real life superhero as he never gets injured. In contrary, Samuel L. Jackson's Elijah Price is diagnosed with Type I osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare disease in which bones break easily. The film grossed approximately $250 million in box office totals.
Die Hard 5
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I can hear Die Hard fans say, "Live Free or Die Hard."
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Two 'Iraq war' movies, one BAFTA
by Mamoon Alabbasi
James Cameron's "Avatar" and Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" had battled for best film and best director at the BAFTA awards on Sunday.
Bigelow's so called Iraq war movie won best film and director awards. It also picked up gongs for original screenplay, cinematography, editing and sound.
Cameron's computer-animated blockbuster, the world's biggest-ever grossing movie, won only two awards; for special visual effects and production design.
The two movies will also be competing for nine awards each at the Oscars in two weeks time, where the odds are in favour of "Avatar", already in possession of two Golden Globe awards.
But the two movies which have been and will be competing head-to-head for the same awards have more in common than the fact that their directors have been once married to each other.
Both films, in their own ways, 'touch on' the Iraq war, a theme that still haunts the world of politics, almost seven years on since the US-led invasion.
Ironically, and contrary to official film labelling, for many Iraqis "Avatar" is seen as the most accurate Iraq war movie so far, while "The Hurt Locker" might appear as more 'alien' to them.
The link to Iraq in "Avatar" is apparent to many from the outset of the film, but it is further entrenched with the use of terms like "shock and awe" and "fighting terror".
However, the plot thickens. The blue humanoids in "Avatar" appear more humane than their human invaders, who came from earth to steal the resources of their planet.
While in the "The Hurt Locker", where we follow an adventurous US bomb squad in Iraq, the Iraqis in the movie appear to serve just as a background that shows how heroic the film's stars are.
Almost faceless and voiceless, they are - like in the world of politics - robbed of their humanity.
It would be more accurate to say that "The Hurt Locker" is an action movie that uses Iraq as a background than to brand it as an 'Iraq war movie', and less so as the 'Iraq war drama'.
The film does not really address the Iraq war, the reasons for the presence of the US squad or even the bombs they are supposed to defuse, and most importantly it ignores the views and feelings of Iraqis.
Contrary to the claim made by some film critics arguing that the film is non-ideological, the very fact that the war context is left out makes the movie very political.
It sells war as a heroic adventure, hiding the true toll on all sides involved and brushes aside the suggestion of accountability. This seems very ideological.
But in the world of entertainment, it won the 'hearts and minds' of the BAFTA board.
According to the BBC's Will Gompertz, "the general feeling among the cognoscenti I spoke last night (Sunday) was that Hurt Locker won more for its subject matter than for the quality of the movie."
Perhaps, influenced by a noble deep-seated British tradition, BAFTA sided with the underdog film, given the public success that Cameron had swept.
But for a lot of Iraqis, "Avatar" is the film of the underdog. For many of them who feel de-humanised by some parts of the media, the positive depiction of blue non-humans is welcome.
If some humans can relate to the 'humanity' of non-humans in fiction, then surely they would find it easier to identify with the true humanity of de-humanised humans in real life?
Or would that be too much to expect?
Maybe someday all sides would be able to look each other in the eyes and say the film's most moving and symbolic words: 'I see you'.
Avatar vs. Hurt Locker in BAFTA
--
Who will win best film, Avatar or Hurt Locker? Who will be best director, James Cameron or Kathryn Bigelow? Can't wait for BAFTA.
James Cameron's "Avatar" and Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" had battled for best film and best director at the BAFTA awards on Sunday.
Bigelow's so called Iraq war movie won best film and director awards. It also picked up gongs for original screenplay, cinematography, editing and sound.
Cameron's computer-animated blockbuster, the world's biggest-ever grossing movie, won only two awards; for special visual effects and production design.
The two movies will also be competing for nine awards each at the Oscars in two weeks time, where the odds are in favour of "Avatar", already in possession of two Golden Globe awards.
But the two movies which have been and will be competing head-to-head for the same awards have more in common than the fact that their directors have been once married to each other.
Both films, in their own ways, 'touch on' the Iraq war, a theme that still haunts the world of politics, almost seven years on since the US-led invasion.
Ironically, and contrary to official film labelling, for many Iraqis "Avatar" is seen as the most accurate Iraq war movie so far, while "The Hurt Locker" might appear as more 'alien' to them.
The link to Iraq in "Avatar" is apparent to many from the outset of the film, but it is further entrenched with the use of terms like "shock and awe" and "fighting terror".
However, the plot thickens. The blue humanoids in "Avatar" appear more humane than their human invaders, who came from earth to steal the resources of their planet.
While in the "The Hurt Locker", where we follow an adventurous US bomb squad in Iraq, the Iraqis in the movie appear to serve just as a background that shows how heroic the film's stars are.
Almost faceless and voiceless, they are - like in the world of politics - robbed of their humanity.
It would be more accurate to say that "The Hurt Locker" is an action movie that uses Iraq as a background than to brand it as an 'Iraq war movie', and less so as the 'Iraq war drama'.
The film does not really address the Iraq war, the reasons for the presence of the US squad or even the bombs they are supposed to defuse, and most importantly it ignores the views and feelings of Iraqis.
Contrary to the claim made by some film critics arguing that the film is non-ideological, the very fact that the war context is left out makes the movie very political.
It sells war as a heroic adventure, hiding the true toll on all sides involved and brushes aside the suggestion of accountability. This seems very ideological.
But in the world of entertainment, it won the 'hearts and minds' of the BAFTA board.
According to the BBC's Will Gompertz, "the general feeling among the cognoscenti I spoke last night (Sunday) was that Hurt Locker won more for its subject matter than for the quality of the movie."
Perhaps, influenced by a noble deep-seated British tradition, BAFTA sided with the underdog film, given the public success that Cameron had swept.
But for a lot of Iraqis, "Avatar" is the film of the underdog. For many of them who feel de-humanised by some parts of the media, the positive depiction of blue non-humans is welcome.
If some humans can relate to the 'humanity' of non-humans in fiction, then surely they would find it easier to identify with the true humanity of de-humanised humans in real life?
Or would that be too much to expect?
Maybe someday all sides would be able to look each other in the eyes and say the film's most moving and symbolic words: 'I see you'.
Avatar vs. Hurt Locker in BAFTA
--
Who will win best film, Avatar or Hurt Locker? Who will be best director, James Cameron or Kathryn Bigelow? Can't wait for BAFTA.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Mark Strong Is 'Green Lantern' Villain
Mark Strong has officially signed on to star as the villain in "Green Lantern". The actor's involvement in the film is confirmed by Geoff Johns, the writer of comic book "Green Lantern: Rebirth", who tweeted on Sunday, February 21, "Back from an amazing trip to Green Lantern town a.k.a. New Orleans!! Ryan IS Hal. And Mark Strong is going to be a brilliant Sinestro."
Back in January, Strong was linked to the role of Green Lantern's nemesis after director Martin Campbell stated the 47-year-old was in consideration to play Sinestro. The filmmaker additionally praised the British star, saying "He's not only a wonderful actor, but he looks like Sinestro. If you look up old pictures of Sinestro, he's very like him."
Mark Strong is well known for his villainous characters in several movies such as Archy in "RocknRolla", Septimus in "Stardust" and Lord Blackwood in "Sherlock Holmes". Later, he can be seen starring as Frank D'Amico in "Kick-Ass", which is set to hit U.S. theaters on April 16.
"Green Lantern" itself will follow Hal Jordan, an ordinary man who was chosen by a dying alien named Abin Sur to receive a green energy-powered ring used for protecting the planet. Ryan Reynolds has been tapped to play the titular character in the movie, which is expected to start production soon for June 17, 2011 release in the U.S.
Mark Strong in Green Lantern: Rebirth
--
I'm sure Green Lantern fans will wait for the movie, Green Lantern:Rebirth. Will Mark Strong live up to the expectations?
Back in January, Strong was linked to the role of Green Lantern's nemesis after director Martin Campbell stated the 47-year-old was in consideration to play Sinestro. The filmmaker additionally praised the British star, saying "He's not only a wonderful actor, but he looks like Sinestro. If you look up old pictures of Sinestro, he's very like him."
Mark Strong is well known for his villainous characters in several movies such as Archy in "RocknRolla", Septimus in "Stardust" and Lord Blackwood in "Sherlock Holmes". Later, he can be seen starring as Frank D'Amico in "Kick-Ass", which is set to hit U.S. theaters on April 16.
"Green Lantern" itself will follow Hal Jordan, an ordinary man who was chosen by a dying alien named Abin Sur to receive a green energy-powered ring used for protecting the planet. Ryan Reynolds has been tapped to play the titular character in the movie, which is expected to start production soon for June 17, 2011 release in the U.S.
Mark Strong in Green Lantern: Rebirth
--
I'm sure Green Lantern fans will wait for the movie, Green Lantern:Rebirth. Will Mark Strong live up to the expectations?
Thursday, February 25, 2010
‘Shutter Island’ premieres at the Berlin Film Festival
by Stephen Schaefer
Leonardo DiCaprio experienced a bit of deja vu in Berlin.
Ten years ago he stood on the Berlin Film Festival red carpet in front of screaming fans when “The Beach” premiered. This weekend, the “Titanic” heartthrob showed that he still had the stuff as he signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans who were waiting for the world premiere of the thriller “Shutter Island.”
In the film, based on the 2003 bestseller by Boston’s own Dennis Lehane, the Hub has a big supporting role. Peddocks Island stood in for the title location, and scenes were also shot on Nahant Beach, East Boston, Hyde Park and the North End.
The Berlin screening received an extended ovation, and DiCaprio took the stage with director Martin Scorsese and castmates Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams and Ben Kingsley.
“Danke schoen,” said DiCaprio, son of an Italian-American father and German-American mother whose character, a U.S. marshal, is bilingual. “I’m happy to be back and bring a little bit of my heritage in speaking German.”
The complex tale takes place on a fearsome island institution for the criminally insane. “We all were more moved by this book than we could ever have foreseen,” he said.
That sentiment was echoed by several first-nighters for the film, which opens in Bostonon Friday:
“So very impressive. Such good acting and cinematography and so suspenseful. One of the best Scorseses of the 21st century.” - Jochen Moelck, 42, Berlin.
“I liked it because you don’t know which way the story turns. There was a bit too much horror for my taste but I thought it was a great story.” - Christian Goeseke, 42, Berlin.
“A wonderful twist at the end and the emotion it created was difficult to come out of. It makes you wonder what’s real.” - Dirk Sonneborn, 43, Berlin.
“I’ve been discussing it with my two friends since we walked out and we have three different interpretations of what the ending means. I really liked it!” - Lelda Ozola, 43, Latvia.
“I can’t say I liked it. It just confused me. I couldn’t see the sense behind it.” - Stefan Berger, 45, Berlin.
“Oh I really, really liked it. Especially Leo DiCaprio and how he played that man. Great tension and the ending was a shock.” - Tjorven Bornsen, 30, Berlin.
Shutter Island premieres in Berlin Film Festival
--
I can't wait for this masterpiece from DiCaprio and Scorsese! I love Martin Scorsese!
Leonardo DiCaprio experienced a bit of deja vu in Berlin.
Ten years ago he stood on the Berlin Film Festival red carpet in front of screaming fans when “The Beach” premiered. This weekend, the “Titanic” heartthrob showed that he still had the stuff as he signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans who were waiting for the world premiere of the thriller “Shutter Island.”
In the film, based on the 2003 bestseller by Boston’s own Dennis Lehane, the Hub has a big supporting role. Peddocks Island stood in for the title location, and scenes were also shot on Nahant Beach, East Boston, Hyde Park and the North End.
The Berlin screening received an extended ovation, and DiCaprio took the stage with director Martin Scorsese and castmates Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams and Ben Kingsley.
“Danke schoen,” said DiCaprio, son of an Italian-American father and German-American mother whose character, a U.S. marshal, is bilingual. “I’m happy to be back and bring a little bit of my heritage in speaking German.”
The complex tale takes place on a fearsome island institution for the criminally insane. “We all were more moved by this book than we could ever have foreseen,” he said.
That sentiment was echoed by several first-nighters for the film, which opens in Bostonon Friday:
“So very impressive. Such good acting and cinematography and so suspenseful. One of the best Scorseses of the 21st century.” - Jochen Moelck, 42, Berlin.
“I liked it because you don’t know which way the story turns. There was a bit too much horror for my taste but I thought it was a great story.” - Christian Goeseke, 42, Berlin.
“A wonderful twist at the end and the emotion it created was difficult to come out of. It makes you wonder what’s real.” - Dirk Sonneborn, 43, Berlin.
“I’ve been discussing it with my two friends since we walked out and we have three different interpretations of what the ending means. I really liked it!” - Lelda Ozola, 43, Latvia.
“I can’t say I liked it. It just confused me. I couldn’t see the sense behind it.” - Stefan Berger, 45, Berlin.
“Oh I really, really liked it. Especially Leo DiCaprio and how he played that man. Great tension and the ending was a shock.” - Tjorven Bornsen, 30, Berlin.
Shutter Island premieres in Berlin Film Festival
--
I can't wait for this masterpiece from DiCaprio and Scorsese! I love Martin Scorsese!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart to Present at Oscars
Though "The Twilight Saga's New Moon" does not score any nomination at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart are going to show up on stage of the event. The Academy has announced on Monday, February 22 that the two "Twilight" stars are set to present kudo for winner at the upcoming show.
Other young actors who are also tapped to be presenters at the 2010 Oscars are Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron. While the job will mark Lautner and Stewart's first appearance on the broadcast, this will be the second time for the "Hannah Montana" cutie and the "High School Musical" hunk attending the prestigious show after their appearance in 2008.
Before the news is made official by the Academy, Stewart has actually spilled her involvement in the annual awards show when telling E! Online, "Yeah, I'm going. Me and Taylor are going to present." Sharing her preparation for the event, the actress said, "I've been looking at shoes. I'm trying to pick shoes that I know I won't fall down in."
The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be held on March 7 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles and is set to be aired live by ABC Television Network. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin are tapped to host the show, though it was recently revealed that Sacha Baron Cohen was the first choice for host.
Twilight stars at the Oscars
--
Twilight stars in the Oscars? I guess the Twilight fans will be all-glued on their TV sets or computers.
Other young actors who are also tapped to be presenters at the 2010 Oscars are Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron. While the job will mark Lautner and Stewart's first appearance on the broadcast, this will be the second time for the "Hannah Montana" cutie and the "High School Musical" hunk attending the prestigious show after their appearance in 2008.
Before the news is made official by the Academy, Stewart has actually spilled her involvement in the annual awards show when telling E! Online, "Yeah, I'm going. Me and Taylor are going to present." Sharing her preparation for the event, the actress said, "I've been looking at shoes. I'm trying to pick shoes that I know I won't fall down in."
The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be held on March 7 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles and is set to be aired live by ABC Television Network. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin are tapped to host the show, though it was recently revealed that Sacha Baron Cohen was the first choice for host.
Twilight stars at the Oscars
--
Twilight stars in the Oscars? I guess the Twilight fans will be all-glued on their TV sets or computers.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Asian films bag major honors at the Berlin Film Festival
It’s been a galvanizing year for Asian films at the 60th Berlin Film Festival, with movies from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan scoring awards.
Chinese director Wang Quan’an’s festival opener "Apart Together," a period romance about a fugitive soldier reuniting with his lover after 50 years of separation, took home the Silver Bear for best script.
Japanese actress Shinobu Terajima won a Silver Bear for best actress for her role in Koji Wakamatsu's "Caterpillar." The film explores the impressions of war on civilian life in post-WWII Japan, played out in the sadomasochistic relationship between a mutilated war hero and his wife.
Hong Kong's "Echoes of the Rainbow," directed by Alex Law Kai-yui, won the city's first-ever Crystal Bear award for best feature film in the Generation category. Although the movie has not yet screened back home, it's already creating waves with news that the film's old-town location is set to be torn down under urban redevelopment plans.
Budding Taiwanese auteur Arvin Chen’s "Au Revoir Taipei," a romantic comedy, won the best Asian film award from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema at the festival.
Asian Films in Berlin Film Festival
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Go, Asians!I hope there will be more Asian films in the next few years.
Chinese director Wang Quan’an’s festival opener "Apart Together," a period romance about a fugitive soldier reuniting with his lover after 50 years of separation, took home the Silver Bear for best script.
Japanese actress Shinobu Terajima won a Silver Bear for best actress for her role in Koji Wakamatsu's "Caterpillar." The film explores the impressions of war on civilian life in post-WWII Japan, played out in the sadomasochistic relationship between a mutilated war hero and his wife.
Hong Kong's "Echoes of the Rainbow," directed by Alex Law Kai-yui, won the city's first-ever Crystal Bear award for best feature film in the Generation category. Although the movie has not yet screened back home, it's already creating waves with news that the film's old-town location is set to be torn down under urban redevelopment plans.
Budding Taiwanese auteur Arvin Chen’s "Au Revoir Taipei," a romantic comedy, won the best Asian film award from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema at the festival.
Asian Films in Berlin Film Festival
--
Go, Asians!I hope there will be more Asian films in the next few years.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Will Hollywood at last Catcher?
The death of Catcher in the Rye author J.D. Salinger in New Hampshire at the age of 91 on Wednesday could clear the way for film adaptations of his work to be made, published reports indicated today (Friday).
In a handful of interviews that the reclusive writer has given over the last 40 years, he had indicated that he had continued to write "for myself, and I want to be left absolutely alone to do it." He suggested, however, that all of his work might eventually see the light of day after his death.
In an interview with the French news agency Agence France-Presse on Thursday, publisher Roger Lathbury remarked that nobody knows what Salinger had locked away. "I assume [the unpublished manuscripts] have been preserved. They then become part of his literary estate which will be administrated by whoever his will designates."
AFP reported that the BBC, Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein have each attempted to make a film adaptation of Catcher in the Rye -- "but each time they were rebuffed by Salinger."
--
Catcher in the Rye of J.D. Salinger must really look good in film that producers and directors are dying to get it adaptation.
Will Hollywood at last Catcher?
In a handful of interviews that the reclusive writer has given over the last 40 years, he had indicated that he had continued to write "for myself, and I want to be left absolutely alone to do it." He suggested, however, that all of his work might eventually see the light of day after his death.
In an interview with the French news agency Agence France-Presse on Thursday, publisher Roger Lathbury remarked that nobody knows what Salinger had locked away. "I assume [the unpublished manuscripts] have been preserved. They then become part of his literary estate which will be administrated by whoever his will designates."
AFP reported that the BBC, Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein have each attempted to make a film adaptation of Catcher in the Rye -- "but each time they were rebuffed by Salinger."
--
Catcher in the Rye of J.D. Salinger must really look good in film that producers and directors are dying to get it adaptation.
Will Hollywood at last Catcher?
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Alex Reid plans career in Hollywood
Alex Reid has set his sights on launching a career in the Hollywood film industry, a report has claimed. The cage-fighting star has been inspired by winning the last ever series of Celebrity Big Brother.
Reid, who is reportedly engaged to reality TV star Katie Price, won the Channel 4 show with 66% of the public vote.
He told a Sunday newspaper that he is hoping to use the connections he made with Stephen Baldwin and Vinnie Jones to help launch a career in Los Angeles.
He is reported in the Daily Star Sunday as saying: "I'd love to go to Hollywood and get a career out there.
"I think it's totally amazing that Stephen and Vinnie have said they will help me.
"I still have a fight in three months so I am focusing on that at the moment but in the back of my mind I'm thinking I am an actor."
The 34-year-old also confessed that he had found it "tough" being separated from Price while inside the Big Brother house.
He confessed: "The hardest thing was being separated from Katie in the house.
"Even though I was using my common sense, there was a part of doubt that slipped in and I thought, `Is she going to want to be with me when I come out?'
"It was incredibly hard because I missed holding her."
--
It seems that there's no other way to get to Hollywood faster than be a reality TV star. I hope Alex Reid will make it.
Alex Raid on Hollywood
Reid, who is reportedly engaged to reality TV star Katie Price, won the Channel 4 show with 66% of the public vote.
He told a Sunday newspaper that he is hoping to use the connections he made with Stephen Baldwin and Vinnie Jones to help launch a career in Los Angeles.
He is reported in the Daily Star Sunday as saying: "I'd love to go to Hollywood and get a career out there.
"I think it's totally amazing that Stephen and Vinnie have said they will help me.
"I still have a fight in three months so I am focusing on that at the moment but in the back of my mind I'm thinking I am an actor."
The 34-year-old also confessed that he had found it "tough" being separated from Price while inside the Big Brother house.
He confessed: "The hardest thing was being separated from Katie in the house.
"Even though I was using my common sense, there was a part of doubt that slipped in and I thought, `Is she going to want to be with me when I come out?'
"It was incredibly hard because I missed holding her."
--
It seems that there's no other way to get to Hollywood faster than be a reality TV star. I hope Alex Reid will make it.
Alex Raid on Hollywood
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Brangelina slams break-up reports
Hollywood power couple 'Brangelina' have slammed reports of a break-up after spending a cozy night out and displaying open affection towards each other.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie stepped out Saturday night to attend the Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles and observers say the couple were as happy as can be, People magazine reported.
"They looked very giggly," an onlooker told the publication.
45-year-old Pitt, who was at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza to introduce his 'Inglourious Basterds' director Quentin Tarantino, was an attentive companion to 34-year-old Jolie.
Pitt pulled out a chair for the 'Original Sin' star and touched her back throughout the night as they chatted animatedly with Tarantino at a table of colleagues from their film.
"They look like they are having a fun time, It's definitely a date," another onlooker said.
--
Brangelina break up will not die down because a lot of people envy them. They are a beautiful and powerful couple, that's why.
Brangelina break up
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie stepped out Saturday night to attend the Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles and observers say the couple were as happy as can be, People magazine reported.
"They looked very giggly," an onlooker told the publication.
45-year-old Pitt, who was at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza to introduce his 'Inglourious Basterds' director Quentin Tarantino, was an attentive companion to 34-year-old Jolie.
Pitt pulled out a chair for the 'Original Sin' star and touched her back throughout the night as they chatted animatedly with Tarantino at a table of colleagues from their film.
"They look like they are having a fun time, It's definitely a date," another onlooker said.
--
Brangelina break up will not die down because a lot of people envy them. They are a beautiful and powerful couple, that's why.
Brangelina break up
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Woman on the edge of a Hollywood breakthrough
by Craig Mathieson
Teetering on the brink of fame with her role in the upcoming Edge of Darkness, Bojana Novakovic is the latest in a long line of successful Australian acting exports.
AUSTRALIA has two constant, bountiful exports: iron ore and talented actors. If the former, via Port Hedland in Western Australia, is a simple matter of quantity, then the latter, thanks to institutions such as NIDA and our theatre companies, is concerned with quality.
For a comparatively small country, Australia produces a stream of thespians who, all too often, carve out an international reputation.
We do leading men (Russell Crowe, Eric Bana, Hugh Jackman), gifted chameleons (Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette) and idiosyncratic character actors (Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush); starlets and pretty boys not so much.
Sometimes it appears that the names change but the narrative stays the same: 2009 was the year of Ryan Kwanten, who managed to turn a stint on the Home and Away production line into a breakthrough role as oversexed zealot Jason Stackhouse in True Blood, the hit US gothic vampire television drama.
Another Home and Away graduate, Chris Hemsworth, is already in the box seat for 2011, playing the title role in the big-budget comic book adaptation Thor alongside Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins.
A month into 2010 and it's already clear that this year's wave will break three actors in Hollywood.
The first is Mia Wasikowska, the ethereal 20-year-old from Canberra, who will play an adult Alice to Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's forthcoming Alice in Wonderland. The second is Kodi Smit-McPhee, the preternaturally gifted child actor who crosses the hellish post-apocalyptic landscape of The Road with Viggo Mortensen.
The third is sitting on an ornate armchair at Spring Street's Windsor Hotel, legs tucked beneath her and a faded blue flannel shirt over a simple black dress to ward off a surprisingly chilly January morning in Melbourne.
The outfit is incongruous but functional, and that's what matters to Bojana Novakovic. She cares about getting the job - or jobs, she's a committed multi-tasker - done. Image, and competition, come a distant second.
''I was talking to an Australian actor and he was saying that there is no point in us being jealous of each other because we're all making that bridge wider and better,'' says the 28-year-old, who was born in Serbia and migrated to Australia with her family when she was seven.
''Let's just keep at it - it's good for all of us if one of us gets a job.''
Bojana Novakovic has had several jobs over the past few years, but only now is the public starting to see them. Last year, she had a small role as a vengeful gypsy's granddaughter in Spider-Man director Sam Raimi's horror film, Drag Me to Hell, while on February 4 she has a pivotal supporting role in the contemporary thriller Edge of Darkness.
Novakovic plays scientific researcher Emma Craven, who returns home to her widowed father, Boston police homicide detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson), with a secret that she's unable to reveal before she's murdered in front of him. The movie, which marries paternal vengeance to national security issues, moves fast, with Emma as first the troubled catalyst and then the voice of stillness.
''When I got offered Edge of Darkness I also got offered another film with a much bigger role - a really big role - but it just wasn't what I wanted,'' recalls Novakovic. ''This was the one I liked. It had something.''
It's the ease with which Australian actors meet the challenges of the material that earns them Hollywood commissions. Smit-McPhee, for example, won the part of The Boy in The Road because his audition tape included a compelling take on a crucial scene where his father teaches him how to commit suicide in case he is captured by cannibals. He was the only 13-year-old filmmaker John Hillcoat saw who could both inhabit and then put aside such material.
The original Edge of Darkness was an award-winning British miniseries from 1985. The same director, Englishman Martin Campbell, did both notably distinct versions 25 years apart (in between he did two of the better Bond flicks, 1995's GoldenEye and 2006's Casino Royale), although with hindsight that was one of the less curious elements of the production.
Novakovic freely admits her first day on set was overwhelming. She had to shoot a crucial, dialogue-heavy scene with Gibson, who she realised was an Academy Award winner (best director for 1995's Braveheart). She looked around and saw screenwriter William Monahan, (best adapted screenplay for 2006's The Departed), then producer Graham King (best picture for The Departed).
''The whole thing felt huge,'' she sighs. ''I was telling myself not to be superficial, but there's this huge fan blowing rain at us and all I can think about is the drought here. Too much was going on in my head - 1000 miles an hour stuff.''
Once her professionalism kicked in and the process started, someone on set casually mentioned that no one was worried about her. The concern was Gibson, who was shooting his first feature film in six years after a tumultuous period that included making anti-Semitic remarks after a drink-driving arrest, a stint in rehab and separating from wife of 25 years, Robyn.
''It was our first day shooting, after one rehearsal and we're meant to look like we've been father and daughter for 24 years,'' says Novakovic. ''Mel was shitting himself as much as I was. In fact, I was told that he was shitting himself more than I was, that he was really frightened, although I didn't believe them.''
Novakovic has nothing but praise for her co-star, who was one of the first Australian actors to be snatched up by Hollywood 30 years ago. At one stage she lay on the floor for six hours, not moving lest she ruin the continuity of the fake blood, as she and Gibson filmed her death scene.
''He jokes around a lot, which I can now see is really healthy, although I found it hard to understand at the time because I was being a very serious person,'' admits Novakovic, who has a healthy streak of self-deprecation. ''It's an amazing way of focusing, because he takes attention off your fear and puts it on to a punchline.''
Robert De Niro was meant to be a co-star as well, but he arrived on set and then, reportedly after a disagreement with Campbell, departed, never to return. English actor Ray Winstone took his part as a security services officer.
''It's a different business at that level,'' observes Novakovic. ''Drama should stay on the stage and screen.''
She missed De Niro's brief arc because she flew back to Sydney from Boston three times so she could direct Family Stories, a Serbian play she translated for Ride On Theatre, a fringe company with which she is an artistic director. As with Cate Blanchett and the Sydney Theatre Company, Novakovic draws creative satisfaction from the stage, as opposed to stewing over her film career; her arrival on the Edge of Darkness set was put back a day because she had to help Ride On load out after a Melbourne season in Northcote.
Achievement and varied experience, not status, matter to her. ''There will always be someone better, someone wealthier, someone with a better role, someone who has adopted more children,'' she says.
Novakovic's sense of self-acceptance stems from spending much of 2008 and 2009 in Los Angeles. Her previous Australian credits - the low-budget crime thriller Solo and a season of the Foxtel sex worker drama Satisfaction - didn't open many doors in LA, but she promised herself she would stick at it for three months.
Perseverance and a willingness to acclimatise are shared characteristics of the Australian actor diaspora - Naomi Watts famously endured almost a decade on Hollywood's fringe before she got David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. Novakovic found herself with nowhere to live, $80 to her name and an email from her boyfriend in Australia breaking up with her.
Then, in 2008, she auditioned for a supporting role in a film that she is too diplomatic to name but which went on to become one of 2009's biggest blockbusters. The part called for a ''six-foot-three blonde Russian Playboy model'', recalls Novakovic.
She turned a bimbo part into a comedic role, improvising dialogue. The producers were so impressed they spent six weeks trying to hire a famous comedic actress to play the retooled part. When that failed they came back to Novakovic, but financiers wouldn't sign off. Novakovic was told she had the role, and then that she didn't. She hasn't seen the finished film, although the character appears to bear her influence, but getting close enough was what she needed.
The tide turned, and even when she shot scenes for the Will Smith melodrama Seven Pounds that were cut in post-production due to story difficulties, she had self-belief without the attendant ego.
''There are people who want to get famous, who want to look good, who want their photo taken for a magazine - Los Angeles is the place to go for that. There are a lot of those people pursuing fame for fame's sake,'' she points out.
''But if I did a film for the hope of being famous, then I'd probably just spend every day thinking about how I should be painting sets for Ride On.''
Novakovic now divides her time between creative hubs. There is theatre work in Melbourne (she is about to workshop a play she wrote at the Malthouse), low-budget features in Belgrade (for her last performance, in Skinning, she played a murderous neo-Nazi), and studio films in Los Angeles (her next film is supernatural thriller Devil). She keeps a suitcase in various cities now, storage space elsewhere.
''Success in Hollywood doesn't make you any better than you were. It just breeds a lot more choice,'' reasons Novakovic. Her contemporaries would agree: Mia Wasikowska is currently working on Gus Van Sant's next feature, while Kodi Smit-McPhee will play the male lead in the American remake of the acclaimed Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In.
As she sits in her chair, no hint of an entourage, Novakovic flexes her tattooed arms and pushes herself up, balancing on the chair arms as if she is about to take off. Career-wise she just might, having learnt, as numerous others have before her, to take Hollywood as it is and deal with all it has to offer on her own terms.
''It is weird that something depends on a look or your demeanour in front of a camera, but that's film,'' she says. ''It's not for me to limit myself any more, that's for other people to do.''
--
Another import from Australia. Bojana Novakovic may be the next IT girl in Hollywood.
Bojana Novakovic in Hollywood
Teetering on the brink of fame with her role in the upcoming Edge of Darkness, Bojana Novakovic is the latest in a long line of successful Australian acting exports.
AUSTRALIA has two constant, bountiful exports: iron ore and talented actors. If the former, via Port Hedland in Western Australia, is a simple matter of quantity, then the latter, thanks to institutions such as NIDA and our theatre companies, is concerned with quality.
For a comparatively small country, Australia produces a stream of thespians who, all too often, carve out an international reputation.
We do leading men (Russell Crowe, Eric Bana, Hugh Jackman), gifted chameleons (Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette) and idiosyncratic character actors (Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush); starlets and pretty boys not so much.
Sometimes it appears that the names change but the narrative stays the same: 2009 was the year of Ryan Kwanten, who managed to turn a stint on the Home and Away production line into a breakthrough role as oversexed zealot Jason Stackhouse in True Blood, the hit US gothic vampire television drama.
Another Home and Away graduate, Chris Hemsworth, is already in the box seat for 2011, playing the title role in the big-budget comic book adaptation Thor alongside Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins.
A month into 2010 and it's already clear that this year's wave will break three actors in Hollywood.
The first is Mia Wasikowska, the ethereal 20-year-old from Canberra, who will play an adult Alice to Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's forthcoming Alice in Wonderland. The second is Kodi Smit-McPhee, the preternaturally gifted child actor who crosses the hellish post-apocalyptic landscape of The Road with Viggo Mortensen.
The third is sitting on an ornate armchair at Spring Street's Windsor Hotel, legs tucked beneath her and a faded blue flannel shirt over a simple black dress to ward off a surprisingly chilly January morning in Melbourne.
The outfit is incongruous but functional, and that's what matters to Bojana Novakovic. She cares about getting the job - or jobs, she's a committed multi-tasker - done. Image, and competition, come a distant second.
''I was talking to an Australian actor and he was saying that there is no point in us being jealous of each other because we're all making that bridge wider and better,'' says the 28-year-old, who was born in Serbia and migrated to Australia with her family when she was seven.
''Let's just keep at it - it's good for all of us if one of us gets a job.''
Bojana Novakovic has had several jobs over the past few years, but only now is the public starting to see them. Last year, she had a small role as a vengeful gypsy's granddaughter in Spider-Man director Sam Raimi's horror film, Drag Me to Hell, while on February 4 she has a pivotal supporting role in the contemporary thriller Edge of Darkness.
Novakovic plays scientific researcher Emma Craven, who returns home to her widowed father, Boston police homicide detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson), with a secret that she's unable to reveal before she's murdered in front of him. The movie, which marries paternal vengeance to national security issues, moves fast, with Emma as first the troubled catalyst and then the voice of stillness.
''When I got offered Edge of Darkness I also got offered another film with a much bigger role - a really big role - but it just wasn't what I wanted,'' recalls Novakovic. ''This was the one I liked. It had something.''
It's the ease with which Australian actors meet the challenges of the material that earns them Hollywood commissions. Smit-McPhee, for example, won the part of The Boy in The Road because his audition tape included a compelling take on a crucial scene where his father teaches him how to commit suicide in case he is captured by cannibals. He was the only 13-year-old filmmaker John Hillcoat saw who could both inhabit and then put aside such material.
The original Edge of Darkness was an award-winning British miniseries from 1985. The same director, Englishman Martin Campbell, did both notably distinct versions 25 years apart (in between he did two of the better Bond flicks, 1995's GoldenEye and 2006's Casino Royale), although with hindsight that was one of the less curious elements of the production.
Novakovic freely admits her first day on set was overwhelming. She had to shoot a crucial, dialogue-heavy scene with Gibson, who she realised was an Academy Award winner (best director for 1995's Braveheart). She looked around and saw screenwriter William Monahan, (best adapted screenplay for 2006's The Departed), then producer Graham King (best picture for The Departed).
''The whole thing felt huge,'' she sighs. ''I was telling myself not to be superficial, but there's this huge fan blowing rain at us and all I can think about is the drought here. Too much was going on in my head - 1000 miles an hour stuff.''
Once her professionalism kicked in and the process started, someone on set casually mentioned that no one was worried about her. The concern was Gibson, who was shooting his first feature film in six years after a tumultuous period that included making anti-Semitic remarks after a drink-driving arrest, a stint in rehab and separating from wife of 25 years, Robyn.
''It was our first day shooting, after one rehearsal and we're meant to look like we've been father and daughter for 24 years,'' says Novakovic. ''Mel was shitting himself as much as I was. In fact, I was told that he was shitting himself more than I was, that he was really frightened, although I didn't believe them.''
Novakovic has nothing but praise for her co-star, who was one of the first Australian actors to be snatched up by Hollywood 30 years ago. At one stage she lay on the floor for six hours, not moving lest she ruin the continuity of the fake blood, as she and Gibson filmed her death scene.
''He jokes around a lot, which I can now see is really healthy, although I found it hard to understand at the time because I was being a very serious person,'' admits Novakovic, who has a healthy streak of self-deprecation. ''It's an amazing way of focusing, because he takes attention off your fear and puts it on to a punchline.''
Robert De Niro was meant to be a co-star as well, but he arrived on set and then, reportedly after a disagreement with Campbell, departed, never to return. English actor Ray Winstone took his part as a security services officer.
''It's a different business at that level,'' observes Novakovic. ''Drama should stay on the stage and screen.''
She missed De Niro's brief arc because she flew back to Sydney from Boston three times so she could direct Family Stories, a Serbian play she translated for Ride On Theatre, a fringe company with which she is an artistic director. As with Cate Blanchett and the Sydney Theatre Company, Novakovic draws creative satisfaction from the stage, as opposed to stewing over her film career; her arrival on the Edge of Darkness set was put back a day because she had to help Ride On load out after a Melbourne season in Northcote.
Achievement and varied experience, not status, matter to her. ''There will always be someone better, someone wealthier, someone with a better role, someone who has adopted more children,'' she says.
Novakovic's sense of self-acceptance stems from spending much of 2008 and 2009 in Los Angeles. Her previous Australian credits - the low-budget crime thriller Solo and a season of the Foxtel sex worker drama Satisfaction - didn't open many doors in LA, but she promised herself she would stick at it for three months.
Perseverance and a willingness to acclimatise are shared characteristics of the Australian actor diaspora - Naomi Watts famously endured almost a decade on Hollywood's fringe before she got David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. Novakovic found herself with nowhere to live, $80 to her name and an email from her boyfriend in Australia breaking up with her.
Then, in 2008, she auditioned for a supporting role in a film that she is too diplomatic to name but which went on to become one of 2009's biggest blockbusters. The part called for a ''six-foot-three blonde Russian Playboy model'', recalls Novakovic.
She turned a bimbo part into a comedic role, improvising dialogue. The producers were so impressed they spent six weeks trying to hire a famous comedic actress to play the retooled part. When that failed they came back to Novakovic, but financiers wouldn't sign off. Novakovic was told she had the role, and then that she didn't. She hasn't seen the finished film, although the character appears to bear her influence, but getting close enough was what she needed.
The tide turned, and even when she shot scenes for the Will Smith melodrama Seven Pounds that were cut in post-production due to story difficulties, she had self-belief without the attendant ego.
''There are people who want to get famous, who want to look good, who want their photo taken for a magazine - Los Angeles is the place to go for that. There are a lot of those people pursuing fame for fame's sake,'' she points out.
''But if I did a film for the hope of being famous, then I'd probably just spend every day thinking about how I should be painting sets for Ride On.''
Novakovic now divides her time between creative hubs. There is theatre work in Melbourne (she is about to workshop a play she wrote at the Malthouse), low-budget features in Belgrade (for her last performance, in Skinning, she played a murderous neo-Nazi), and studio films in Los Angeles (her next film is supernatural thriller Devil). She keeps a suitcase in various cities now, storage space elsewhere.
''Success in Hollywood doesn't make you any better than you were. It just breeds a lot more choice,'' reasons Novakovic. Her contemporaries would agree: Mia Wasikowska is currently working on Gus Van Sant's next feature, while Kodi Smit-McPhee will play the male lead in the American remake of the acclaimed Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In.
As she sits in her chair, no hint of an entourage, Novakovic flexes her tattooed arms and pushes herself up, balancing on the chair arms as if she is about to take off. Career-wise she just might, having learnt, as numerous others have before her, to take Hollywood as it is and deal with all it has to offer on her own terms.
''It is weird that something depends on a look or your demeanour in front of a camera, but that's film,'' she says. ''It's not for me to limit myself any more, that's for other people to do.''
--
Another import from Australia. Bojana Novakovic may be the next IT girl in Hollywood.
Bojana Novakovic in Hollywood
Monday, February 1, 2010
Legion : Angels with machine guns
by Triwik Kurniasari
The poster for the movie Legion, which depicts the heavenly body of actor Paul Bettany with a pair of wings protruding from his back, sends a clear message to moviegoers: it's an angel movie, people.
It's Hollywood doing the angel thing again. While in other movies the angels usually appear to be the ones being turned to for help, Legion offers a different line.
The film is not the typical angel story where an angel, winged or otherwise, falls to Earth and in love with a mortal, as with Nicholas Cage in City of Angels or Denzel Washington in The Preacher's Wife.
Legion provides a darker and gloomier story than other angel flicks, bringing more action, full of machine-gun blasts.
The fantasy-action-thriller gives us a world where God has lost faith in humankind. So what does God do when He feels that way?
"The last time God lost faith in man, He sent the flood. This time, He sent angels," says the archangel Michael, played by Englishman Bettany, who rose to fame as Silas in The Da Vinci Code.
Michael is a fallen angel sent by God to Earth.
But he decides to break the rules that bind him to the Almighty, and chooses to take a stand with humans, trying to protect one woman's unborn child - the one who is said to be the only hope for humanity to survive.
Besides the chaos around the globe, life goes on as normal for Bob Hanson (Dennis Quaid), the owner of a roadside diner in a dusty desert, and his only son Jeep (Lucas Black).
Charlie (the luscious Adrianne Palicki), a pregnant waitress, works for Bob.
The problems begin when the TV reception dies and the phones go out, and the diner's crew and customers realize they have lost all communication with the outside world.
As they wonder what's happening, an old woman (Jeannette Miller) arrives and orders a steak.
Not long after her meal arrives, the fragile old lady turns into a powerful woman, striking fear into everyone in the diner.
Enter Michael, complete with an arsenal of stolen weapons, telling Charlie that her unborn baby is now humanity's only hope. And he is willing to do whatever it takes to save the baby.
This modest, backwater diner in the desert suddenly becomes the silent witness to, and ground zero for, the Earth's final battle.
The world has become an unstoppable nightmare for the last people on the planet as hordes of zombie-like killers arrive and an army of warrior angels closes in, with rival archangel Gabriel looking to finish the job.
Gabriel is played by Kevin Durand, previously from X-Men Origins: Wolverine and several episodes in the series Lost.
Directed by visual effects master Scott Stewart (Iron Man, Night at the Museum, Superman Returns), this film is equal parts action movie, supernatural thriller and horror, with a sprinkling of drama.
Despite its heavy action scenes, it leaves several gaping plot holes by skimming over some subjects.
There is no reason given for why Michael has been ordered to kill Charlie's unborn baby, even though it is said the baby will save mankind, whatever that means.
Quaid, playing the token loner, helps out a lot with his acting talent, giving a surprisingly good performance.
Verdict: A well-built angel carrying machine guns offers (forgettable) fun for the weekend.
--
Angels are on the loose again in Hollywood! Can't wait to fall in line in Legion!
Angels in Hollywood
The poster for the movie Legion, which depicts the heavenly body of actor Paul Bettany with a pair of wings protruding from his back, sends a clear message to moviegoers: it's an angel movie, people.
It's Hollywood doing the angel thing again. While in other movies the angels usually appear to be the ones being turned to for help, Legion offers a different line.
The film is not the typical angel story where an angel, winged or otherwise, falls to Earth and in love with a mortal, as with Nicholas Cage in City of Angels or Denzel Washington in The Preacher's Wife.
Legion provides a darker and gloomier story than other angel flicks, bringing more action, full of machine-gun blasts.
The fantasy-action-thriller gives us a world where God has lost faith in humankind. So what does God do when He feels that way?
"The last time God lost faith in man, He sent the flood. This time, He sent angels," says the archangel Michael, played by Englishman Bettany, who rose to fame as Silas in The Da Vinci Code.
Michael is a fallen angel sent by God to Earth.
But he decides to break the rules that bind him to the Almighty, and chooses to take a stand with humans, trying to protect one woman's unborn child - the one who is said to be the only hope for humanity to survive.
Besides the chaos around the globe, life goes on as normal for Bob Hanson (Dennis Quaid), the owner of a roadside diner in a dusty desert, and his only son Jeep (Lucas Black).
Charlie (the luscious Adrianne Palicki), a pregnant waitress, works for Bob.
The problems begin when the TV reception dies and the phones go out, and the diner's crew and customers realize they have lost all communication with the outside world.
As they wonder what's happening, an old woman (Jeannette Miller) arrives and orders a steak.
Not long after her meal arrives, the fragile old lady turns into a powerful woman, striking fear into everyone in the diner.
Enter Michael, complete with an arsenal of stolen weapons, telling Charlie that her unborn baby is now humanity's only hope. And he is willing to do whatever it takes to save the baby.
This modest, backwater diner in the desert suddenly becomes the silent witness to, and ground zero for, the Earth's final battle.
The world has become an unstoppable nightmare for the last people on the planet as hordes of zombie-like killers arrive and an army of warrior angels closes in, with rival archangel Gabriel looking to finish the job.
Gabriel is played by Kevin Durand, previously from X-Men Origins: Wolverine and several episodes in the series Lost.
Directed by visual effects master Scott Stewart (Iron Man, Night at the Museum, Superman Returns), this film is equal parts action movie, supernatural thriller and horror, with a sprinkling of drama.
Despite its heavy action scenes, it leaves several gaping plot holes by skimming over some subjects.
There is no reason given for why Michael has been ordered to kill Charlie's unborn baby, even though it is said the baby will save mankind, whatever that means.
Quaid, playing the token loner, helps out a lot with his acting talent, giving a surprisingly good performance.
Verdict: A well-built angel carrying machine guns offers (forgettable) fun for the weekend.
--
Angels are on the loose again in Hollywood! Can't wait to fall in line in Legion!
Angels in Hollywood
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