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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 04 June 2011

Gifted filmmaker JJ Abrams was recently in Australia for the premiere of Super 8, one of my favourite films so far this year.  I was lucky enough to have a chat over the phone with him and here’s what he had to say…

You can download an abbreviated podcast of the interview by clicking here.

Matt:  This morning I’m speaking with a writer-producer-director whose career keeps on climbing.  He created television shows such as Felicity, Alias and Lost.  On the bigger screen he’s directed Mission Impossible 3 and the latest Star Trek reboot.  I’m excited because this is the first film that I’ve given an A-grading to in the last 4 months… so let me say good morning to JJ Abrams.

JJ Abrams:  You’ve made my day.  Thanks very much.  It’s great to be here. 

Matt:  So many of the projects you’re associated with take this approach but it’s great to see a film withhold so much from the audience prior to seeing it.  The posters give away nothing and the trailers are very cryptic.  As the director, can you command that kind of control over the marketing and the promotion of the film?

JJ Abrams:  Thanks for all that.  The idea for Super 8 was to try and preserve the experience for the audience.  I don’t know if you’ve ever had this but you see a trailer or watch a commercial and you literally feel like you’ve seen the whole movie and you don’t have a burning need to go see it.

Matt:  I feel that all the time.

JJ Abrams:  I just think it is a little overbearing and it speaks to an entitlement to information that people seem to have now with the computer age.  For me, it’s not a question of being coy and trying to play it overly clever.  It’s about saying “look, here are the characters and here is the situation.”  Clearly we’re telling more as we get closer to the release but we don’t want people to feel the experience is spoiled before they’ve even been there.

Matt:  I wish more filmmakers took that approach.  I should ask though because I want to be careful not to give too much away about this film.  What do we tell people that it’s about?

JJ Abrams:  The story, which I’m happy to talk about, focuses on this kid in the late 70s in an American small town.  He’s got a ridiculous group of friends that all make these movies on super 8 film.  This particular boy, before the movie even begins, has recently lost his mother in an accident at the local steel film.  He’s been left with his father with whom he doesn’t have a very strong relationship.  He’s getting on with his life as best he can but he’s still devastated by the loss of his mum. 

He’s with his friends making movies and while filming at a train station one night, they witness this crazy train crash.  They don’t see what it is but something escapes from the train that will change everything in their town.

The story about this boy and the "creature" is really just a catalyst to tell the story of first love, the story of family, the story of going from a follower to a leader, and ultimately realising that you can go through a horrible tragedy and be stronger afterwards.

Matt:  About half way through the film I was thinking that it reminded me of one of my favourite movies growing up, The Goonies.  Please tell me you’re a fan...

JJ Abrams:  I am a fan of The Goonies but it’s funny, I wasn’t a huge fan when I first saw it as a kid.  I became a fan when I watched it with my kids.  They just loved it and I had this newfound respect for it.

The thing that I loved about it was how wonderfully messy the dialogue was with the kids and how it constantly overlaps.  It made that movie feel like it was real – the kids were acting like kids.  If you’ve ever watched a bunch of kids hang out that age, they’re not polite and they don’t wait for the other one to finish before they talk.  That was a great lesson from that film.

Matt:  I want to give you as much credit as possible but I can’t help but mention these kids.  They’re so relaxed and are having so much fun on the screen.  How did you get them to do that and look so natural?

JJ Abrams:  First of all, they’re just an incredible group.  Part of it was casting kids that didn’t feel like professionals acting as children.  We were lucky to find among the group Joel Courtney and Riley Griffiths, both who had never been in anything or even on the set of anything before this film.  It was wonderful to work with them and allow them to bring a natural dynamic and personality to the movie. 

It was just a blast to work with them and Elle Fanning is just “off the charts” brilliant.  The whole experience was really wonderful with these actors.

Matt:  Is there one of these kids that you moulded on yourself growing up and I can watch the film thinking that’s the young JJ Abrams?

JJ Abrams:  The truth is that I'm like the kid who makes the movies but I was never as confident as he is.  I was also like the main character but probably not quite as shell-shocked.  I loved blowing things up too and filming them but I wasn’t as obsessed about it as Cary so I guess I’m somewhere in the middle.

Matt:  I mentioned the posters before and one thing they do say in big blaring letters is Steven Spielberg’s name as he is a producer on the film.  I know a producer can have varying roles on a projects but I’m curious to know how involved Spielberg was with this particular project?

JJ Abrams:  You know I still haven’t met him…. just kidding.  This movie would never have happened without him for many reasons and most are probably obvious.  When I was a kid in that time making super 8 movies, the work of Steven Spielberg was a profound influence.  The films he made, the films George Lucas made, the films John Carpenter made were huge for me and my friends. 

As soon as I had this idea to do the film, I called Steven and asked if he’d be interested.  He immediately said yes as he remembered what it was like to make the movies he did when he was a kid.  Over the course of development of the script, casting, production, editorial, scoring, mixing… he was part of the every process and was incredibly helpful.

It is an Amblin film as was The Goonies and a number of other movies.  It really allowed me to feel free to embrace the qualities of Amblin films – often involving children and stories of spectacle and other worldly events.  They were stories about family and friendships that weren’t afraid to get emotional and pull at the heart strings.

Matt:  Well you’ve done a fantastic job but I want to ask you one more question about what cool projects you’re working on that we’re going to see in the near future?

JJ Abrams:  We’ve got Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol which comes out in December that Brad Bird is directing.  We’ve got a couple of new TV shows – one called Alcatraz and the other called Person of Interest.  We’ve got a number of other things we’re playing with in various stages of development that hopefully we can talk about soon.  One of those is another Star Trek movie that we’d love to get up and running sooner rather than later.

Matt:  When do you sleep?  It sounds like you have so much on?

JJ Abrams:  The hardest thing about sleeping is not my professional life but it’s having three kids – that’s what makes sleep so precious.

Matt:  Well I’m sure they’re going to love this movie and JJ Abrams, thank you for speaking with us this morning.

JJ Abrams:  Thank you so much for your kind words.

You can check out my review for Super 8 by clicking here.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 01 June 2011

Luke Donald – Woohoo!

I have to open with some golfing related news.  For those who don’t know, I have a love for both film AND golf.  The two streams only seem to clash when they make a movie about golf (e.g. Happy Gilmore, Tin Cup) but that’s not very often.

Last Friday I was elected to the Board of Golf Queensland which is a great honour and will keep me busy promoting the game over the next two years.  Should be fun.

Just as importantly, I stayed up until 3:30am on Sunday night / Monday morning to see Luke Donald win the BMW PGA Championship and become the new number 1 golfer in the world.  Donald has been my favourite golfer for the past 6 years and I’ve followed him through highs and lows.  It’s kind of hard to believe that he’s now the top ranked golfer in the world but it’s well deserved and I couldn’t be happier for him.  I back him in every major so hopefully a U.S. Open trophy will adorn his mantelpiece in a few weeks time.

The Hangover: Part 2

Studios take fewer and fewer chances when it comes to sequels and never has that been more evident than with The Hangover: Part 2.  It feels like a carbon copy of the original!  The guys wake up in a filthy hotel room (this time in Bangkok) with no recollection of the previous night.  One of them is missing and the rest have roughly 24 hours to track him down and make it to the wedding on time.

Has there ever been a sequel with such a similar plot?  I can’t think of one off the top of my head.  Let me say that I still enjoyed the film but I’m just surprised that it played it so “safe”.

The irony is that the film has made a ridiculous $137m in its first 5 days of release in the United States.  It took $86m over the Friday to Sunday period and to put that into perspective, only two R-rated comedies have ever broken the $50m barrier – Sex & The City (if you can call that a comedy with $57m) and Jackass 3D (with $50.4m).

The numbers were similar here in Australia.  The film took in $11.3m – the biggest 4-day opening for a film so far this year.  It’s well beyond the $3.4m that was earned by the original film in its first 4 days.

I guess there’s a lesson to be learned here.  If you’re a big Hollywood studio and you want guaranteed cash, stick with a winning formula.  Don’t change anything!

Snowtown

It’s been dwarfed at the box-office by The Hangover 2 but I want to point out that the Snowtown is still performing strongly.  I’m sure its controversial subject matter is contributing to people’s intrigue.

It dropped just 19% in its second weekend (that’s good, trust me) and has now earned $389,000 in its first 11 days.  That’s pretty good for a movie showing on just 17 screens.  By comparison, Pirates Of The Caribbean is on 600 screens.

I’m a fan of the film and so am very happy to see the Australian public getting behind it.

The Tree Of Life

I didn’t get a chance to mention it last week but Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life took the top prize, the Palm D’or, at the Cannes Film Festival.  I’ve mentioned my keenness to see the film a few times and this will only add to the build up.

The reclusive Malick didn’t turn up to the ceremony to accept his prize but it turns out he was in attendance at the Cannes premiere.  It looks like he made a concerted effort to avoid the camera but someone managed to snap a photo.  You can check it out and a quick story on the Awards Daily website by clicking here.

A friend said it best with “privacy is the new celebrity”.  The fact that we know so little about Malick (he hasn’t given an interview since 1973) and yet he’s such an acclaimed director only adds to his mystique and makes us want to know more.

The Tree Of Life is out on June 30 but the Palace Centro is offering a preview for its movie club members on June 17.  If you’re not a member, now’s the time to join!

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 20 May 2011

Geoffrey Rush was recently in Australia to promote Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and I was able to grab 10 minutes with him over the phone to talk about the film and few other things.  Here's what he had to say...

Matt:  He’s in Sydney at the moment for the premiere of the new Pirates Of The Caribbean movie and we’re lucky enough to be joined this morning by one of Australia’s finest actors.  Born in Toowoomba and raised in Brisbane, he’s won an Academy Award for movies, a Tony Award for theatre and an Emmy Award for television.  Before I get too jealous let me say good morning to Mr Geoffrey Rush.

Geoffrey:  Good morning sir, how are you?

Matt:  Very well thank you.  I’ve been following your movements over the past 10 days.  You were in Los Angeles, then London, then Cannes and then now in Sydney, is that right?

Geoffrey:  Yeah and you can throw in 10 hours in New York somewhere in there.

Matt:  How are you feeling?

Geoffrey:  I’m drinking something with “isotonic” written on the front of the bottle.  I hope that works.

Matt:  Where are you based at the moment?  Here in Australia or do you live over in the United States?

Geoffrey:  No, my home is in Melbourne.

Matt:  You’ve chalked up all these awards over the years – the Oscars, the Emmys, the Tonys, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes.  Where do you keep them all?  Do you have a “pool room” somewhere in your home where you can show them off?

Geoffrey:  They’re on various ledges here and there.  Trying to look aesthetically indistinct and blending in with the furniture.

Matt:  You must be running out of room by now?

Geoffrey:  It’s been a wonderful ride that still looks as though it’s got legs.  They’re already talking about Pirates 5 so at least I’ve got a job.

Matt:  We’ve mentioned you’re from Queensland – born and raised here.  Do you get back up to Queensland very often?

Geoffrey:  Not as much as I’d like to.  My mum’s still living up on the Sunshine Coast with my sister so I’m hoping to get back up there as the weather gets colder in Melbourne, I’ll go up and have a visit.

Matt:  When Pirates 5 ever gets released, we’ll have to get you up here and try to lure the premiere to Queensland?

Geoffrey:  I’d really love to do that.  Johnny, Penelope, Will and director Rob Marshall and this wonderful bunch of young kids – Sam Claflin and Astrid Berges-Frisbey, this gorgeous French woman who plays a mermaid.  We were all on the road together for the premiere in Disneyland which was just insane.  25,000 people on the black carpet.

It’s a good way to get to know the fans and have a sense of the extraordinary energy and loyalty they’ve been showing to these films since 2003.  It’s like having all these people who you never get to see the film with come along on the one night and endorse what you’ve been doing with these storylines.

Matt:  Many of the original cast like Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy and Jonathan Pryce didn’t come back this time.  How did they lure you back into this pirate franchise?

Geoffrey:  The trilogy came to an end and all those storylines got tied up.  Their characters, Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner, went into a strange marriage and they’ve now got a 10 year old boy and they’re now living quietly up in the Daintree forest.  I’m not sure.

Everyone agreed it was an ideal time to bring in fresh ideas and go back to the initial excitement of creating this series in the first place.  It gave an opportunity to bring in some bold, fabulous, big new characters.  It’s a story that stands alone by itself.

Matt:  I know actors often go through a lot of preparation to get ready for a role but how does it work with a film like this.  Given you’ve played the character before, can you just rock up to the set on day 1 and say “let’s do it” or do you still need time to prepare?

Geoffrey:  I wish I could!  It’s a bit like that but there’s always been a monstrous sword fight that I’ve got to get my head around for the end of the movie.  I really quite like having to learn that and it does take a couple of months in preparation.

Matt:  How much training do you have to put in each day with those sword fights?

Geoffrey:  The stunt guys will come and grab you.  They show you the routine and it’s probably got about 80 moves in it and you think “my brain will never remember that”.  Also, I have a leg missing and I’ve got my crutch so I’m a multi-weaponed fighter.

After a while you get it down and they say “well that was about 30% of speed and now we want you to go 50%” and then by the day you’re shooting you’re up to 100% and you go “this is really cool, I’m not dead yet”.

Matt:  How does it work with the wooden leg?  Is that special effects or have you got the leg tied behind you?

Geoffrey:  We tried the leg tied behind and putting on a prosthetic leg but I went to a professional amputee guy and said it takes 18 months to get your muscles to trained up to be able to handle this new situation for your body.  So I knew the CGI guy would do me proud.

I had a set of stockings – a blue stocking for when I’m in the jungle and a green stocking for when I’m at sea.  When you see the film, everyone’s absolutely convinced I did a Daniel Day Lewis and chopped my leg off for the character.

Matt:  These films are so fun to watch but is it really fun on the set with the gunfire and running all over the place or is it hard work?

Geoffrey:  It’s a bit of both.  Some days you go there and you think it’s insane.  Particularly when you get to something like the Fountain Of Youth and you have three major plot lines converging.  I think it took about 6 weeks to film that massive last scene.

You’re on an pretty dangerous worksite and there’s a lot of care and safety that goes on but it’s part of our job.  We’ve got to look like we’re making it up as we go along so yes, we are having some fun.  Hopefully whatever fun we do have making the film spills over into the audience.

Matt:  I have to mention the man himself – Johnny Depp and this iconic character that he’s created.  I’ve seen giant billboards around Brisbane and all they have is an image of Captain Jack Sparrow.  It doesn’t even have the title of the film because everyone knows exactly what we’re taking about.  Is all his crazy dialogue scripted or do you get to throw ideas back and forth between each other or is it pretty well scripted?

Geoffrey:  The scripting is very sharp.  Like most films, even for a pirate movie, you go into a hotel room somewhere before you start shooting and rehearse the scenes as much as you can.  It’s pretty hard to imagine that you’re in a bamboo forest in Hawaii when you’re in a Marriott suite.

Johnny is always very investigative and very improvisational.  Stuff comes out of the weird part in the back of his brain where Jack Sparrow lives.  He always manages on the day of shooting to keep a couple of wildcards up his sleeve and as an actor, it’s great to match wits with that because he keeps you on your toes.

Matt:  I can’t pass up the opportunity to say congratulations on the success of The King’s Speech.   $30m it made at the box-office here in Australia.  I almost got tired of people telling me how much they loved it.  I loved it too.  Did you meet anyone who didn’t like it?

Geoffrey:  Not personally but you never do.  No one ever comes up and says “that film sucks”.  We wait for some of the critics to say that and we say yeah, but how come so people seem so keen to see it.  Maybe you better take a look at it again.

Matt:  Did you have any that it was going to be that big when you were making it?

Geoffrey:  No.  Everyone liked the story and thought there was something really interesting going on in there but to have the idea of two middle aged men sitting around in a room together talking about their problems didn’t immediately scream blockbuster.

Matt:  I’ll let you get back to it and hopefully you can get some rest over the next few days after all your travel.  Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is out now and Geoffrey Rush, thank you for speaking with us this morning.

Geoffrey:  Thank you.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 17 May 2011

Review Embargoes

I’m a day late with this week’s Film Pie blog but for once, it isn’t due to my own laziness and/or busy schedule.

I was able to catch a sneak preview of Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on Sunday night but sadly, there was a review embargo in place until Tuesday 5pm.  This was to ensure that no reviews popped up in Australia prior to the Sydney premiere which Geoffrey Rush was attending.

The embargo has now passed and my review can be read.  I wish I could fill you with exciting news but I’m going with the majority consensus so far and giving Pirates 4 the thumbs down.

Embargoes are always interesting to talk about in the film world.  The reason they’re often in place is because studios don’t want to take a chance and run the risk of bad reviews ruining business.

When I saw Thor a few weeks back, I actually had to sign a declaration saying that I would release my review or saying anything about the film until a certain date.  You can see me signing my life away right here - http://twitpic.com/4kwydy.  Apparently whatever I was signing was governed by the laws of the State of California.

It feels somewhat contradictory because when a studio gets their hands on a smaller film that needs all the publicity it can get, they’re more than happy for you to see it weeks in advance and write glowing reviews (hopefully).

There isn’t much we can do however as critics.  I’m grateful for any preview invitation I can get my hands on and I’m not in much of a position to be able to complain.  I’ve mysteriously disappeared off invitation lists over the years (only to be added back on later) and the reality is the studios and distributors have the power.  If they don’t want you talking about a film before it’s release, they’ll make sure of it.

Cannes Film Festival Update

The Cannes Film Festival is now in full swing and the big talking point over the last 24 hours has been the premiere of Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life (which I blogged about last week).  The reclusive Malick didn't show up for the press conference but he did sneak into the official premiere.  The film has been slated for a release on June 30 in Australia and the early reviews suggest it’ll be one of the strangest film-going experiences of the year.  Here’s a quick sample of what’s been posted on Rotten Tomatoes so far…

“An impressionistic metaphysical inquiry into mankind's place in the grand scheme of things.” – Todd McCarthy (Hollywood Reporter)

“Metaphysical in narrative, ambitious in goal, and gorgeous in visual style, this is Malick's career-summation work, one that he has been preparing himself to make for decades.” – Emanuel Levy

“There are times when the film seems more like a religious experience than narrative cinema” – Derek Malcolm (This Is London)

“Few American filmmakers are as alive to the splendor of the natural world as Terrence Malick, but even by his standards, The Tree of Life represents something extraordinary.” – Justin Chang (Variety)

“It's a cosmic-interior epic of vainglorious proportions, a rebuke to realism, a disavowal of irony and comedy, a meditation on memory, and a gasp of horror and awe at the mysterious inevitability of loving, and losing those we love.” – Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

Also gathering attention at Cannes is the Australian film Sleeping Beauty (starring Emily Browning).  It’s a film that seems to have divided most critics so far but it’s certainly sounds like it’s not afraid to take a few chances.  Blogger Jeffrey Wells described it as “a highly refined, carefully poised erotic mood piece with oodles and oodles of milky nudity.”  It’ll be interesting to see what the Australian public makes of it when released here on 23 June 2011.

Spanish Film Festival

Most of us can’t make it to Cannes but it doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy our own slice of international cinema in Brisbane.  The Spanish Film Festival kicks off in Brisbane on May 18 and runs for 12 days.  There are 36 films being screening in total and they were shot in countries including Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Spain and Venezuela.

I didn’t realise it until I read through the press notes but apparently Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world (behind Mandarin).

You can check out the full program on the Spanish Film Festival website by clicking here and I hope to get along to the Palace Barracks and Centro to see a few of the films.  Tickets are $17 for most sessions.