As I’m sure you wonderful gore-hounds know by now, we love every weird and wonderful sub genre the twisted world of horror has thrown our way over the years. Sit this particular horror fan down to watch the latest splatterfest, zombie massacre, creature feature or slasher flick, to name but a few, and I’d be happy as a pig in shit. Happier in fact. Folk horror and witchcraft is one subgenre that I’ve grown to increasingly appreciate over the years, and most recently the work of Robert Eggers, for example, has had me enthralled. It was his 2015 folk horror, The Witch, that first introduced me to his nuanced, macabre yet beautifully crafted movies, and everything he’s produced since has been a must see. The trailer for his take on Nosferatu has just dropped at the time of writing this video and it looks immense. However, with...
- 9/9/2024
- by Adam Walton
- JoBlo.com
Ileen Maisel, who served as a studio executive at Paramount, Lorimar and New Line Cinema and as a producer on films including Onegin, Ripley’s Game and The Golden Compass, has died. She was 68.
Maisel died Feb. 16 of cancer in London, her home for the past 34 years, her sister, Hollywood publicist Cheryl Maisel, announced.
Maisel received a BAFTA nomination for best British film for producing Samuel Goldwyn’s Onegin (1999), starring Ralph Fiennes, and was said to be most proud of her work on the Fine Line Features thriller Ripley’s Game (2002), starring John Malkovich.
In addition to the New Line fantasy The Golden Compass (2007), which starred Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig and grossed $372.2 million at the global box office, her other producing credits included Twelfth Night (1996), Inkheart (2008), and Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism (2015).
Born in Los Angeles on April 6, 1955, Ileen Marla Maisel began working for entertainment journalist Rona Barrett...
Maisel died Feb. 16 of cancer in London, her home for the past 34 years, her sister, Hollywood publicist Cheryl Maisel, announced.
Maisel received a BAFTA nomination for best British film for producing Samuel Goldwyn’s Onegin (1999), starring Ralph Fiennes, and was said to be most proud of her work on the Fine Line Features thriller Ripley’s Game (2002), starring John Malkovich.
In addition to the New Line fantasy The Golden Compass (2007), which starred Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig and grossed $372.2 million at the global box office, her other producing credits included Twelfth Night (1996), Inkheart (2008), and Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism (2015).
Born in Los Angeles on April 6, 1955, Ileen Marla Maisel began working for entertainment journalist Rona Barrett...
- 3/26/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Editor’s note: Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age writer Julian Fellowes has written a heartfelt salute to his friend and colleague, the producer Ileen Maisel, who died in London on February 16 aged 68.
Ileen Maisel was born in Los Angeles, California, where she was raised. In fact, her father had moved there from Alabama to work in retail sales, so she had no immediate help with a career in show business, but it was clearly enough that she breathed the same air as the great filmmakers of the past and present. It is no surprise to learn that by the age of 15 she was working for the entertainment journalist Rona Barrett.
From then on, she embraced, bathed in, and generally loved the film industry until the end of her life. There was never much doubt as to where she was headed and she was still young when she entered the industry.
Ileen Maisel was born in Los Angeles, California, where she was raised. In fact, her father had moved there from Alabama to work in retail sales, so she had no immediate help with a career in show business, but it was clearly enough that she breathed the same air as the great filmmakers of the past and present. It is no surprise to learn that by the age of 15 she was working for the entertainment journalist Rona Barrett.
From then on, she embraced, bathed in, and generally loved the film industry until the end of her life. There was never much doubt as to where she was headed and she was still young when she entered the industry.
- 3/26/2024
- by Julian Fellowes
- Deadline Film + TV
Ahead of the first episode dropping on March 19, the podcast Black Velvet Fairies has been officially announced with an audio trailer this afternoon, and you can listen below.
Black Velvet Fairies comes from Mike Monello, Gregg Hale, and Eduardo Sanchez, the minds behind the found footage horror classic The Blair Witch Project.
From podcast publisher Prx, Black Velvet Fairies is the audio diary of Lucy Verdell, a woman whose grandmother leaves her four black velvet paintings of fairies. But not twinkly, little sprites – these are grim warriors, kings and queens.
As she investigates her family’s history with the artwork, disturbing dreams and unexplained encounters pull Lucy toward a dark and dangerous fairy world that some believe is real.
Black Velvet Fairies will be available free on demand across all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Overcast, with new episodes of the 13-episode series released on...
Black Velvet Fairies comes from Mike Monello, Gregg Hale, and Eduardo Sanchez, the minds behind the found footage horror classic The Blair Witch Project.
From podcast publisher Prx, Black Velvet Fairies is the audio diary of Lucy Verdell, a woman whose grandmother leaves her four black velvet paintings of fairies. But not twinkly, little sprites – these are grim warriors, kings and queens.
As she investigates her family’s history with the artwork, disturbing dreams and unexplained encounters pull Lucy toward a dark and dangerous fairy world that some believe is real.
Black Velvet Fairies will be available free on demand across all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Overcast, with new episodes of the 13-episode series released on...
- 3/12/2024
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Ben Radcliffe in The Shepherd Photo: courtesy of Disney
Most short films are relatively low budget affairs and, accordingly, exercise caution about the challenges they take on, but that’s not the only way to make them. Amongst those shortlisted for this year’s Oscars is Iain Softley’s The Shepherd, which follows the journey of pilot Freddie (Ben Radcliffe), who finds himself in unexpected peril when he suffers a catastrophic instrument failure whilst flying alone in a small plane at night. All Freddie wants is to get back home to his girlfriend for Christmas, but as time passes, in a strange world defined by bright stars and an enormous moon, he is forced to reckon with his mortality.
Iain has made some highly successful features in the past, from The Wings Of The Dove to Inkheart, but here he explores the short form for the first time. It’s all the more exciting then,...
Most short films are relatively low budget affairs and, accordingly, exercise caution about the challenges they take on, but that’s not the only way to make them. Amongst those shortlisted for this year’s Oscars is Iain Softley’s The Shepherd, which follows the journey of pilot Freddie (Ben Radcliffe), who finds himself in unexpected peril when he suffers a catastrophic instrument failure whilst flying alone in a small plane at night. All Freddie wants is to get back home to his girlfriend for Christmas, but as time passes, in a strange world defined by bright stars and an enormous moon, he is forced to reckon with his mortality.
Iain has made some highly successful features in the past, from The Wings Of The Dove to Inkheart, but here he explores the short form for the first time. It’s all the more exciting then,...
- 1/14/2024
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The path to getting a movie from script to screen can be a long one even for short films. That was certainly the case for the latest Disney+ short “The Shepherd,” which stars Ben Radcliffe and John Travolta as two fighter pilots in the 1950s. The story, adapted from Frederick Forsyth’s novella, follows Radcliffe as a young pilot who, on Christmas Eve, flies home to England. However, mid-way through the flight, his plane malfunctions and the electrics fail, leaving Radcliffe lost and stranded. What happens next makes for a heartwarming Christmas tale akin to “A Christmas Carol” and the like. I attended a special Q&a screening in London with director Iain Softley and John Travolta with critic Mark Kermode moderating.
“I don’t have many projects I’ve ever invested my heart and soul into and this is one of the only ones,” explained Travolta. The actor seemed...
“I don’t have many projects I’ve ever invested my heart and soul into and this is one of the only ones,” explained Travolta. The actor seemed...
- 12/1/2023
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
Christmas comes early on Max, as the streamer adds a bevy of holiday movies to its library for the month of November, alongside new TV debuts, a noteworthy documentary and more. “Elf,” “Christmas Vacation,” “Arthur Christmas,” “The Shop Around the Corner” and “Four Christmases” are some of the holiday films arriving on the streaming platform on Nov. 1.
This month also sees the Season 2 premieres of “Rap Sh!t” (on Nov. 9) and “Julia” (on Nov. 16) and the series premiere of “Two and a Half Men” creator Chuck Lorre’s new sitcom “Bookie” starring Sebastian Maniscalco (on Nov. 30).
On Nov. 11, check out the documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” in which the comedian, actor and filmmaker’s best friend Rob Reiner peppers him with questions about his life and career.
And Chip and Joanna Gaines renovate a 100-year-old building in “Fixer Upper: The Hotel,” which premieres on Nov. 8.
Check out the full list...
This month also sees the Season 2 premieres of “Rap Sh!t” (on Nov. 9) and “Julia” (on Nov. 16) and the series premiere of “Two and a Half Men” creator Chuck Lorre’s new sitcom “Bookie” starring Sebastian Maniscalco (on Nov. 30).
On Nov. 11, check out the documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” in which the comedian, actor and filmmaker’s best friend Rob Reiner peppers him with questions about his life and career.
And Chip and Joanna Gaines renovate a 100-year-old building in “Fixer Upper: The Hotel,” which premieres on Nov. 8.
Check out the full list...
- 11/3/2023
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
It’s a lean month for new original content on HBO/Max. November will see the return of two scripted series in Julia and Rap Sh!t, both of which are debuting their respective second seasons, but this month’s fresh highlight is likely to be Bookie, a new comedy series from the partnership of The Big Bang Theory creator Chuck Lorre, and Nick Bakay. The show tracks an LA bookie called Danny (Sebastian Maniscalco), whose business is in peril as California movies to legalize sports gambling.
Elsewhere in November, there quite a few interesting documentaries to keep an eye on, and two that jump out as “must watch”. The first is Albert Brooks: Defending My Life, which chronicles the aging comedian’s life and career. The second is the previously-released Little Richard: I Am Everything, which tries to peel back the whitewashed canon of Richard Penniman in a true...
Elsewhere in November, there quite a few interesting documentaries to keep an eye on, and two that jump out as “must watch”. The first is Albert Brooks: Defending My Life, which chronicles the aging comedian’s life and career. The second is the previously-released Little Richard: I Am Everything, which tries to peel back the whitewashed canon of Richard Penniman in a true...
- 11/1/2023
- by Kirsten Howard
- Den of Geek
Max out your November viewing with Max! The streamer is starting the new month with a wide variety of additions to its combined library of HBO and Max exclusives, plus titles from Food Network, Cartoon Network, HGTV, and more.
While also racing toward the official holiday season with dozens of Christmas classics like “A Christmas Story” and “Elf,” you can also stream new documentaries on Albert Brooks and Little Richard, catch the premieres of new seasons of “Rap Sh!t” and “Julia,” and much more.
Check out The Streamable’s top picks for what’s new this month on Max, and then continue below to see the full list of everything new in November!
7-Day Free Trial $9.99+ / month Max via amazon.com
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What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Max in November 2023? “Rap Sh!t” Season 2 | Thursday, Nov. 9
Issa Rae is back on her “Rap Sh!
While also racing toward the official holiday season with dozens of Christmas classics like “A Christmas Story” and “Elf,” you can also stream new documentaries on Albert Brooks and Little Richard, catch the premieres of new seasons of “Rap Sh!t” and “Julia,” and much more.
Check out The Streamable’s top picks for what’s new this month on Max, and then continue below to see the full list of everything new in November!
7-Day Free Trial $9.99+ / month Max via amazon.com
Get 20% Off Your Next Year of Max When Pre-Paid Annually
What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Max in November 2023? “Rap Sh!t” Season 2 | Thursday, Nov. 9
Issa Rae is back on her “Rap Sh!
- 10/31/2023
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
Sarah Lancashire and David Hyde Pierce in ‘Julia’ season 2 (Photograph by Sebastein Gonon/Max)
Max’s November 2023 schedule includes season two of Julia starring Sarah Lancashire as Julia Child and the return of Rap Sh!t with Aida Osman and Mia KaMillion. Bookie, a new comedy about sports gambling created by Chuck Lorre, makes its debut on November 30th with Sebastian Maniscalco starring as an LA bookie.
HBO documentaries Albert Brooks: Defending My Life and South to Black Power will stream on Max this November, along with CNN Films’ Little Richard: I Am Everything.
Series & Films Arriving On Max In November 2023:
November 1
Act of Valor (2012)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Aliens (1986)
The Ant Bully (2006)
Arthur Christmas (2011)
The Avengers (1998)
The Bachelor (1999)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Bells Are Ringing (1960)
Black Beauty (1994)
Boys’ Night Out (1962)
Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984)
Brigadoon (1954)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
A Christmas Carol (1938)
Christmas Cookie Challenge, Seasons...
Max’s November 2023 schedule includes season two of Julia starring Sarah Lancashire as Julia Child and the return of Rap Sh!t with Aida Osman and Mia KaMillion. Bookie, a new comedy about sports gambling created by Chuck Lorre, makes its debut on November 30th with Sebastian Maniscalco starring as an LA bookie.
HBO documentaries Albert Brooks: Defending My Life and South to Black Power will stream on Max this November, along with CNN Films’ Little Richard: I Am Everything.
Series & Films Arriving On Max In November 2023:
November 1
Act of Valor (2012)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Aliens (1986)
The Ant Bully (2006)
Arthur Christmas (2011)
The Avengers (1998)
The Bachelor (1999)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Bells Are Ringing (1960)
Black Beauty (1994)
Boys’ Night Out (1962)
Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984)
Brigadoon (1954)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
A Christmas Carol (1938)
Christmas Cookie Challenge, Seasons...
- 10/26/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Literature’s all-time jilted spinster, Miss Havisham, has been played by Martita Hunt, Anne Bancroft, Gillian Anderson and Helena Bonham Carter while also inspiring other memorable screen personalities, most notably “Sunset Boulevard’s” Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). In “Peaky Blinders” showrunner Steven Knight’s adaptation of “Great Expectations,” Olivia Colman dons the tattered veil of the iconic character to whom unwitting orphan Philip “Pip” Pirrip (Fionn Whitehead) turns as he pursues social repute in Victorian England.
Though Knight’s amendments to Charles Dickens’ source material have gotten a mixed response, the show continues to draw praise for its production value. Costume designer Verity Hawkes, whose credits include “Snatch,” “Inkheart” and “Black Mirror,” recently gave an interview to IndieWire’s Sarah Shachat in which she detailed her approach to the unenviable task of distinguishing Knight’s rendition of the character from more than a dozen others.
See ‘Great Expectations’ creator Steven...
Though Knight’s amendments to Charles Dickens’ source material have gotten a mixed response, the show continues to draw praise for its production value. Costume designer Verity Hawkes, whose credits include “Snatch,” “Inkheart” and “Black Mirror,” recently gave an interview to IndieWire’s Sarah Shachat in which she detailed her approach to the unenviable task of distinguishing Knight’s rendition of the character from more than a dozen others.
See ‘Great Expectations’ creator Steven...
- 4/19/2023
- by Ronald Meyer
- Gold Derby
This year, for Christmas, Netflix is giving subscribers a wealth of new releases.
These include films you would have had a chance to see in the cinema in November – films like Glass Onion, which is Rian Johnson’s sequel to Knives Out.
There are also new Guillermo del Toro (Pinocchio), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Bardo) and Noah Baumbach (White Noise) films being added from the beginning of the month, right through to New Year’s Eve,
TV wise, there will be a new series of Emily in Paris to tear through while slumped on the sofa post-Christmas dinner, as well as a prequel spin-off to The Witcher and a spy series called Treason.
Fun for all the family, then. Find every movie and TV show coming to Netflix in December 2022 below.
And a rundown of everything being removed from the service from now until the end of the year here.
Nb:...
These include films you would have had a chance to see in the cinema in November – films like Glass Onion, which is Rian Johnson’s sequel to Knives Out.
There are also new Guillermo del Toro (Pinocchio), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Bardo) and Noah Baumbach (White Noise) films being added from the beginning of the month, right through to New Year’s Eve,
TV wise, there will be a new series of Emily in Paris to tear through while slumped on the sofa post-Christmas dinner, as well as a prequel spin-off to The Witcher and a spy series called Treason.
Fun for all the family, then. Find every movie and TV show coming to Netflix in December 2022 below.
And a rundown of everything being removed from the service from now until the end of the year here.
Nb:...
- 12/1/2022
- by Jacob Stolworthy
- The Independent - TV
This year, for Christmas, Netflix is giving subscribers a wealth of new releases.
These include films you would have had a chance to see in the cinema in November – films like Glass Onion, which is Rian Johnson’s sequel to Knives Out.
There are also new Guillermo del Toro (Pinocchio), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Bardo) and Noah Baumbach (White Noise) films being added from the beginning of the month, right through to New Year’s Eve,
TV wise, there will be a new series of Emily in Paris to tear through while slumped on the sofa post-Christmas dinner, as well as a prequel spin-off to The Witcher and a spy series called Treason.
Fun for all the family, then. Find every movie and TV show coming to Netflix in December 2022 below.
And a rundown of everything being removed from the service from now until the end of the year here.
Nb:...
These include films you would have had a chance to see in the cinema in November – films like Glass Onion, which is Rian Johnson’s sequel to Knives Out.
There are also new Guillermo del Toro (Pinocchio), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Bardo) and Noah Baumbach (White Noise) films being added from the beginning of the month, right through to New Year’s Eve,
TV wise, there will be a new series of Emily in Paris to tear through while slumped on the sofa post-Christmas dinner, as well as a prequel spin-off to The Witcher and a spy series called Treason.
Fun for all the family, then. Find every movie and TV show coming to Netflix in December 2022 below.
And a rundown of everything being removed from the service from now until the end of the year here.
Nb:...
- 12/1/2022
- by Jacob Stolworthy
- The Independent - Film
Brendan Fraser was recently filmed sobbing at Venice Film Festival.
The actor had just received a six-minute standing ovation for his role in Darren Aronofsky’s new drama The Whale, in which he plays a 600-pound gay man confined to a wheelchair.
He tried to leave the theatre but that only intensified the rapturous applause.
It’s the kind of career apogee that The Mummy star probably wouldn’t have believed possible for much of the last 20 years.
Over the course of the last two decades, Fraser has been largely Mia, confined, as my colleague aptly put it, to a Google search: What ever happened to Brendan Fraser?
The answer now? He’s back.
Fraser was one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men in the 1990s and 2000s
Fraser’s vanishing act was no mean feat; at the beginning of the Noughties, he was at the height of his appeal,...
The actor had just received a six-minute standing ovation for his role in Darren Aronofsky’s new drama The Whale, in which he plays a 600-pound gay man confined to a wheelchair.
He tried to leave the theatre but that only intensified the rapturous applause.
It’s the kind of career apogee that The Mummy star probably wouldn’t have believed possible for much of the last 20 years.
Over the course of the last two decades, Fraser has been largely Mia, confined, as my colleague aptly put it, to a Google search: What ever happened to Brendan Fraser?
The answer now? He’s back.
Fraser was one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men in the 1990s and 2000s
Fraser’s vanishing act was no mean feat; at the beginning of the Noughties, he was at the height of his appeal,...
- 9/21/2022
- by Tom Murray
- The Independent - Film
Brendan Fraser was recently filmed sobbing at Venice Film Festival.
The actor had just received a six-minute standing ovation for his role in Darren Aronofsky’s new drama The Whale, in which he plays a 600-pound gay man confined to a wheelchair.
He tried to leave the theatre but that only intensified the rapturous applause.
It’s the kind of career apogee that The Mummy star probably wouldn’t have believed possible for much of the last 20 years.
Over the course of the last two decades, Fraser has been largely Mia, confined, as my colleague aptly put it, to a Google search: What ever happened to Brendan Fraser?
The answer now? He’s back.
Fraser was one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men in the 1990s and 2000s
Fraser’s vanishing act was no mean feat; at the beginning of the Noughties, he was at the height of his appeal,...
The actor had just received a six-minute standing ovation for his role in Darren Aronofsky’s new drama The Whale, in which he plays a 600-pound gay man confined to a wheelchair.
He tried to leave the theatre but that only intensified the rapturous applause.
It’s the kind of career apogee that The Mummy star probably wouldn’t have believed possible for much of the last 20 years.
Over the course of the last two decades, Fraser has been largely Mia, confined, as my colleague aptly put it, to a Google search: What ever happened to Brendan Fraser?
The answer now? He’s back.
Fraser was one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men in the 1990s and 2000s
Fraser’s vanishing act was no mean feat; at the beginning of the Noughties, he was at the height of his appeal,...
- 9/20/2022
- by Tom Murray
- The Independent - Film
Click here to read the full article.
After years away from the leading-man spotlight, Brendan Fraser is set to make a splash in Toronto with The Whale. The Darren Aronofsky drama has been touted as a career revival and received a rousing reception upon premiering in Venice. Fraser was last at TIFF in 2004 for Paul Haggis’ star-studded Crash.
The actor joined castmembers including Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle and Terrence Howard at the premiere for the film that examined race relations in Los Angeles through a series of intertwining storylines; one centers on District Attorney Rick Cabot (Fraser) and wife Jean (Bullock) experiencing a traumatic carjacking. Despite a mixed critical response, the movie picked up steam during awards season and notched an upset best picture win over presumed frontrunner Brokeback Mountain.
Fraser hasn’t been a lead in a studio release since 2008’s Warner Bros. fantasy adaptation Inkheart.
A THR opinion...
After years away from the leading-man spotlight, Brendan Fraser is set to make a splash in Toronto with The Whale. The Darren Aronofsky drama has been touted as a career revival and received a rousing reception upon premiering in Venice. Fraser was last at TIFF in 2004 for Paul Haggis’ star-studded Crash.
The actor joined castmembers including Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle and Terrence Howard at the premiere for the film that examined race relations in Los Angeles through a series of intertwining storylines; one centers on District Attorney Rick Cabot (Fraser) and wife Jean (Bullock) experiencing a traumatic carjacking. Despite a mixed critical response, the movie picked up steam during awards season and notched an upset best picture win over presumed frontrunner Brokeback Mountain.
Fraser hasn’t been a lead in a studio release since 2008’s Warner Bros. fantasy adaptation Inkheart.
A THR opinion...
- 9/10/2022
- by Ryan Gajewski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Eliza Bennett has been cast in the role of Amanda Carrington on The CW’s “Dynasty.”
Bennett joins Season 4 in a recurring guest star role, with her first episode being “The British Are Coming” on Aug. 27. She will be a series regular in the forthcoming fifth season.
The original 1980s primetime soap opera “Dynasty” featured Catherine Oxenberg in the role of Amanda for the first three years of the character’s existence. (Her apt entrance was in the fifth season episode titled “Amanda.”) Karen Cellini stepped in in recasting.
This version of Amanda is described as a long-lost Carrington relative who was born and raised in Europe but arrives now “holding a treasure trove of secrets” — both from her past, as well as the Carrington family’s past. She is also described as smart and confident, a character who can hold her own against those who come at her. She is a lawyer,...
Bennett joins Season 4 in a recurring guest star role, with her first episode being “The British Are Coming” on Aug. 27. She will be a series regular in the forthcoming fifth season.
The original 1980s primetime soap opera “Dynasty” featured Catherine Oxenberg in the role of Amanda for the first three years of the character’s existence. (Her apt entrance was in the fifth season episode titled “Amanda.”) Karen Cellini stepped in in recasting.
This version of Amanda is described as a long-lost Carrington relative who was born and raised in Europe but arrives now “holding a treasure trove of secrets” — both from her past, as well as the Carrington family’s past. She is also described as smart and confident, a character who can hold her own against those who come at her. She is a lawyer,...
- 8/19/2021
- by Danielle Turchiano
- Variety Film + TV
Uncharted Territory and Rise Pictures have joined forces to produce “Igraine the Brave,” a 3D-animated fantasy adventure based on the novel by bestselling author Cornelia Funke.
The story follows 12-year-old Igraine, the only one in her family who is not interested in magic, but is instead pursuing a headstrong plan to become a knight. Just when her brother accidentally turns their parents into pigs, their beloved home, Pimpernel Castle, is besieged by the knight Rowan Heartless and his master, Osmond the Greedy. They plan to steal her family’s singing books of magic to become all-powerful. It’s up to Igraine to save her family — even if it means facing giants and three-headed dragons.
“Igraine the Brave” will be produced by Uncharted Territory’s Volker Engel, Gesa Engel and Lucia Scharbatke, who are partnering with Rise Pictures’ Ulrich Schwarz and Sven Pannicke executive producing, with L.A.-based Robyn Klein and Jeremy Ross co-producing.
The story follows 12-year-old Igraine, the only one in her family who is not interested in magic, but is instead pursuing a headstrong plan to become a knight. Just when her brother accidentally turns their parents into pigs, their beloved home, Pimpernel Castle, is besieged by the knight Rowan Heartless and his master, Osmond the Greedy. They plan to steal her family’s singing books of magic to become all-powerful. It’s up to Igraine to save her family — even if it means facing giants and three-headed dragons.
“Igraine the Brave” will be produced by Uncharted Territory’s Volker Engel, Gesa Engel and Lucia Scharbatke, who are partnering with Rise Pictures’ Ulrich Schwarz and Sven Pannicke executive producing, with L.A.-based Robyn Klein and Jeremy Ross co-producing.
- 3/1/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Jason Isaacs, Colin Morgan and Jess Barden attached to star.
Sony Pictures International Productions has acquired UK and Ireland rights to Iain Softley’s dark comedy thriller The Dead Spit Of Kelly, which worldwide sales agent Myriad Pictures will continue to discuss with buyers at the virtual EFM next week.
Jason Isaacs, Colin Morgan and Jess Barden are attached to star for Grand Pictures and Forthcoming Films.
Softley will direct the UK-Ireland dark comedy from a screenplay by Johnny Ferguson set in turn-of-the-century Dublin where a diligent taxidermist Murphy (Morgan) is tormented by his boss, the vile and volatile Kelly...
Sony Pictures International Productions has acquired UK and Ireland rights to Iain Softley’s dark comedy thriller The Dead Spit Of Kelly, which worldwide sales agent Myriad Pictures will continue to discuss with buyers at the virtual EFM next week.
Jason Isaacs, Colin Morgan and Jess Barden are attached to star for Grand Pictures and Forthcoming Films.
Softley will direct the UK-Ireland dark comedy from a screenplay by Johnny Ferguson set in turn-of-the-century Dublin where a diligent taxidermist Murphy (Morgan) is tormented by his boss, the vile and volatile Kelly...
- 2/25/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Take a look at movie/TV titles streaming July 1, 2020 on HBO Max, including "The Batman vs Dracula", "Mars Attacks!", "Dirty Harry" and a whole lot more:
Streaming July 1, 2020 on HBO Max
Absolute Power, 1997The Adventures of Pinocchio, 1996The Amazing Panda Adventure, 1995American Graffiti, 1973 (HBO)American History X, 1998Angels in the Outfield, 1951Angus, 1995August Rush, 2007The Bachelor, 1999Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, 1998Batman and Harley Quinn , 2017Batman vs. Two-Face, 2017The Batman vs. Dracula, 2005
Batman: Assault on Arkham, 2014Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, 2016Batman: Under the Red Hood, 2010Batman: Year One, 2011Beautiful Creatures, 2013Beerfest, 2006The Big Year (Extended Version), 2011 (HBO)Bishop's Wife ,The, 1947Blade 2, 2002Blade, 1998Blade: Trinity, 2004
Blazing Saddles, 1974Blood Work , 2002Born to Be Wild, 1995Boy Who Could Fly, The, 1989Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason, 2004 (HBO)Catch Me If You Can, 2002Clara's Heart, 1988The Conjuring, 2013Cop Out, 2010Creepshow, 1982Death Becomes Her, 1992 (HBO)The Departed, 2006Dirty Dozen, The, 1967
Dirty Harry, 1971Doc Hollywood,...
Streaming July 1, 2020 on HBO Max
Absolute Power, 1997The Adventures of Pinocchio, 1996The Amazing Panda Adventure, 1995American Graffiti, 1973 (HBO)American History X, 1998Angels in the Outfield, 1951Angus, 1995August Rush, 2007The Bachelor, 1999Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, 1998Batman and Harley Quinn , 2017Batman vs. Two-Face, 2017The Batman vs. Dracula, 2005
Batman: Assault on Arkham, 2014Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, 2016Batman: Under the Red Hood, 2010Batman: Year One, 2011Beautiful Creatures, 2013Beerfest, 2006The Big Year (Extended Version), 2011 (HBO)Bishop's Wife ,The, 1947Blade 2, 2002Blade, 1998Blade: Trinity, 2004
Blazing Saddles, 1974Blood Work , 2002Born to Be Wild, 1995Boy Who Could Fly, The, 1989Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason, 2004 (HBO)Catch Me If You Can, 2002Clara's Heart, 1988The Conjuring, 2013Cop Out, 2010Creepshow, 1982Death Becomes Her, 1992 (HBO)The Departed, 2006Dirty Dozen, The, 1967
Dirty Harry, 1971Doc Hollywood,...
- 6/29/2020
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
HBO Max is set to enter into its second month of existence. And you know what that means: it’s Christmas in July!
HBO Max’s list of new releases for July 2020 is highlighted by one prominent Christmas movie: last year’s Emilia Clarke-starring Last Christmas. But the real cause for Christmas in July is all the exciting animated DC content coming our way on the first of the month. July 1 sees the arrival of just about every animated Batman project ever created. July 1 also features the arrival of just about every Justice League animated series ever created as well.
If that weren’t enough, July 1 is also when every live-action Superman movie (save for Man of Steel) makes it streaming debut. July is starting to look like a month where HBO Max establishes its real potential and geek culture bonafides…despite an at-times difficult rollout.
The HBO original...
HBO Max’s list of new releases for July 2020 is highlighted by one prominent Christmas movie: last year’s Emilia Clarke-starring Last Christmas. But the real cause for Christmas in July is all the exciting animated DC content coming our way on the first of the month. July 1 sees the arrival of just about every animated Batman project ever created. July 1 also features the arrival of just about every Justice League animated series ever created as well.
If that weren’t enough, July 1 is also when every live-action Superman movie (save for Man of Steel) makes it streaming debut. July is starting to look like a month where HBO Max establishes its real potential and geek culture bonafides…despite an at-times difficult rollout.
The HBO original...
- 6/23/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Inkheart’s Iain Softley to direct based on Flann O’Brien short story.
Jason Isaacs, Colin Morgan and Jim Broadbent will star in UK-Ireland black comedy The Dead Spit Of Kelly, which Myriad Pictures has introduced to worldwide buyers here.
Iain Softley will direct from Johnny Ferguson’s adaptation of the short story by Irish writer Flann O’Brien about a taxidermist (Morgan) who kills his cruel boss (Isaacs) and uses his skills to wear the dead man’s skin and live a double life.
The film is a co-production between Grand Pictures (Dark Lies The Island) and Forthcoming Films...
Jason Isaacs, Colin Morgan and Jim Broadbent will star in UK-Ireland black comedy The Dead Spit Of Kelly, which Myriad Pictures has introduced to worldwide buyers here.
Iain Softley will direct from Johnny Ferguson’s adaptation of the short story by Irish writer Flann O’Brien about a taxidermist (Morgan) who kills his cruel boss (Isaacs) and uses his skills to wear the dead man’s skin and live a double life.
The film is a co-production between Grand Pictures (Dark Lies The Island) and Forthcoming Films...
- 11/8/2019
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
There are some big changes coming to Netflix in July.
From new shows and movies, to shows and movies leaving the service, it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up to speed on all the movers and shakers.
That's why we'll be running this monthy article with all the information you need about these changes.
The biggest premiere on the streaming giant in the month of July will likely be Stranger Things Season 3, which is getting a Thursday launch on July 4th.
The extra long weekend should give viewers ample time to binge the eight-episode third season of the sci-fi drama.
Related: Stranger Things Season 3 Gets Premiere Date at Netflix
Orange is the New Black is also back in July, but it will be the final season. The streamer confirmed last year that it was time to bring the groundbreaking series to a close.
13 new episodes remain, and they debut July...
From new shows and movies, to shows and movies leaving the service, it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up to speed on all the movers and shakers.
That's why we'll be running this monthy article with all the information you need about these changes.
The biggest premiere on the streaming giant in the month of July will likely be Stranger Things Season 3, which is getting a Thursday launch on July 4th.
The extra long weekend should give viewers ample time to binge the eight-episode third season of the sci-fi drama.
Related: Stranger Things Season 3 Gets Premiere Date at Netflix
Orange is the New Black is also back in July, but it will be the final season. The streamer confirmed last year that it was time to bring the groundbreaking series to a close.
13 new episodes remain, and they debut July...
- 7/1/2019
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
Netflix has confirmed that 44 new original series, movies and specials will be debuting on the streaming service in Ju;y including: season 3 of “Stranger Things”; season 4 of “Queer Eye”; season 7 of “Orange is the New Black”; and season 11 of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”
Among the new films on offer are: several installments of “Bangkok Love Stories”; a remake of “Point Blank” starring Anthony Mackie; the documentary “The Great Hack”‘; and the mockumentary “Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein.”
Below is the full schedule of everything that is coming and leaving Netflix in July 2019.
Sign Up for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions
Available July 1
“Designated Survivor: 60 Days” (Netflix Original)
“Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room” (Netflix Original)
“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”
“Astro Boy”
“Caddyshack”
“Caddyshack 2”
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)
“Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke”
“Cloverfield”
“Disney’s Race to Witch Mountain”
“Frozen River”
“Inkheart...
Among the new films on offer are: several installments of “Bangkok Love Stories”; a remake of “Point Blank” starring Anthony Mackie; the documentary “The Great Hack”‘; and the mockumentary “Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein.”
Below is the full schedule of everything that is coming and leaving Netflix in July 2019.
Sign Up for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions
Available July 1
“Designated Survivor: 60 Days” (Netflix Original)
“Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room” (Netflix Original)
“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”
“Astro Boy”
“Caddyshack”
“Caddyshack 2”
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)
“Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke”
“Cloverfield”
“Disney’s Race to Witch Mountain”
“Frozen River”
“Inkheart...
- 6/30/2019
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
Netflix has everyone’s Fourth of July entertainment covered.
Hitting the streaming platform on July 4 is “Stranger Things” season three, which is finally returning two years after its predecessor. Martin Scorsese fans are also sure to be excited once they see four of the director’s films (“Taxi Driver” “Mean Streets” “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and “Who’s That Knocking at My Door?”) ready to stream on the first day of the month.
Additionally, Fourth of July celebrants can look back on history with Netflix’s own revisionist features such as “Inglourious Basterds” before enjoying some family fun with more kid friendly options like “Megamind” and “Princess and the Frog.”
See the full list of titles below.
July 1
“Designated Survivor: 60 days”
“Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room”
“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”
“Astro Boy”
“Caddyshack”
“Caddyshack 2”
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)
“Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke”
“Cloverfield...
Hitting the streaming platform on July 4 is “Stranger Things” season three, which is finally returning two years after its predecessor. Martin Scorsese fans are also sure to be excited once they see four of the director’s films (“Taxi Driver” “Mean Streets” “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and “Who’s That Knocking at My Door?”) ready to stream on the first day of the month.
Additionally, Fourth of July celebrants can look back on history with Netflix’s own revisionist features such as “Inglourious Basterds” before enjoying some family fun with more kid friendly options like “Megamind” and “Princess and the Frog.”
See the full list of titles below.
July 1
“Designated Survivor: 60 days”
“Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room”
“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”
“Astro Boy”
“Caddyshack”
“Caddyshack 2”
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)
“Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke”
“Cloverfield...
- 6/28/2019
- by Dano Nissen
- Variety Film + TV
It’s almost July. We know that because Netflix has come through with its list of new content being added in July, and what titles are being removed from the streamer throughout the month.
Most notably, “Stranger Things” Season 3 is dropping on July 4, so you can watch fireworks And be reunited with Eleven, Will Byers, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Max, Nancy, Jonathan, Steve Harrington, Joyce and Hopper at long last, all in one day.
“Queer Eye” Season 4 is comin’ at ya July 19, along with new episodes of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.” The seventh and final season of “Orange Is The New Black” comes July 26.
Also Read: Netflix Renews 'The Rain' For a Third and Final Season
This month is your last chance to watch the first two “Austin Powers” films, “The Matrix” trilogy, the first three “Mummy” movies, “Cool Hand Luke,” “Definitely, Maybe,” “Dumb and Dumber,” and all...
Most notably, “Stranger Things” Season 3 is dropping on July 4, so you can watch fireworks And be reunited with Eleven, Will Byers, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Max, Nancy, Jonathan, Steve Harrington, Joyce and Hopper at long last, all in one day.
“Queer Eye” Season 4 is comin’ at ya July 19, along with new episodes of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.” The seventh and final season of “Orange Is The New Black” comes July 26.
Also Read: Netflix Renews 'The Rain' For a Third and Final Season
This month is your last chance to watch the first two “Austin Powers” films, “The Matrix” trilogy, the first three “Mummy” movies, “Cool Hand Luke,” “Definitely, Maybe,” “Dumb and Dumber,” and all...
- 6/19/2019
- by Margeaux Sippell
- The Wrap
Red Joan starring Dame Judi Dench is releasing in cinemas nationwide from Friday 19 April and to celebrate we are giving 3 lucky winners the chance to win a copy of the novel on which the film is based on.
The year is 2000 and Joan Stanley (Dench) is living in contented retirement in suburbia at the turn of the millennium. Her tranquil life is suddenly disrupted when she’s arrested by MI5 and accused of providing intelligence to Communist Russia.
Cut to 1938 where Joan is a Cambridge physics student who falls for young communist Leo Galich and through him, begins to see the world in a new light.
Working at a top-secret nuclear research facility during WWII, Joan comes to the realisation that the world is on the brink of mutually assured destruction. Confronted with an impossible question – what price would you pay for peace? – Joan must choose between betraying her country...
The year is 2000 and Joan Stanley (Dench) is living in contented retirement in suburbia at the turn of the millennium. Her tranquil life is suddenly disrupted when she’s arrested by MI5 and accused of providing intelligence to Communist Russia.
Cut to 1938 where Joan is a Cambridge physics student who falls for young communist Leo Galich and through him, begins to see the world in a new light.
Working at a top-secret nuclear research facility during WWII, Joan comes to the realisation that the world is on the brink of mutually assured destruction. Confronted with an impossible question – what price would you pay for peace? – Joan must choose between betraying her country...
- 4/18/2019
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Even after winning Best Picture and Director for “The Shape of Water” last year, Guillermo del Toro is still most beloved by many for “Pan’s Labyrinth.” His breakthrough film was one of the best-reviewed of 2006, won three of the six Academy Awards for which it was nominated, and displayed his fairytale-loving sensibility in a way that continues to resonate. So much so, in fact, that he’s revisiting it by co-writing “Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun” with Cornelia Funke (“Inkheart”).
That title is a nod to the film’s original Spanish-language name of “El laberinto del fauno,” which translates to (you guessed it) “The Labyrinth of the Faun.” Described as a transformation of the film, it will include short stories that expand the folklore on which “Pan’s Labyrinth” is based. Del Toro had more ideas for the world he created than could be made explicit onscreen,...
That title is a nod to the film’s original Spanish-language name of “El laberinto del fauno,” which translates to (you guessed it) “The Labyrinth of the Faun.” Described as a transformation of the film, it will include short stories that expand the folklore on which “Pan’s Labyrinth” is based. Del Toro had more ideas for the world he created than could be made explicit onscreen,...
- 4/5/2019
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
There are a lot of films out there that are adaptations of books or graphic novels and it’s alway cool when it is the other way around.
13 years after Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 hit Pan’s Labyrinth was released in theaters, it’s set to get “an epic and dark fantasy novel for readers of all ages.” The novelization of the film comes from director and writer Guillermo del Toro and Inkheart author Cornelia Funke.
If you haven’t seen this movie yet, Do So. Once you do you will understand why this movie needs this book. What makes the novelization so cool is the fact that it will give del Toro a chance to expand on the richness of this world and add details the maybe we missed in the movie.
Here’s the official synopsis for the upcoming book Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun:...
13 years after Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 hit Pan’s Labyrinth was released in theaters, it’s set to get “an epic and dark fantasy novel for readers of all ages.” The novelization of the film comes from director and writer Guillermo del Toro and Inkheart author Cornelia Funke.
If you haven’t seen this movie yet, Do So. Once you do you will understand why this movie needs this book. What makes the novelization so cool is the fact that it will give del Toro a chance to expand on the richness of this world and add details the maybe we missed in the movie.
Here’s the official synopsis for the upcoming book Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun:...
- 4/4/2019
- by Billy Fisher
- GeekTyrant
Lionsgate has debuted the trailer for the adaptation of Jennie Rooney’s best-selling novel ‘Red Joan’ starring Judi Dench.
Directed by Trevor Nunn, the cast is led by multi-award winning actress Judi Dench (Skyfall, Shakespeare in Love) and Sophie Cookson (Gypsy, Kingsman: The Secret Service) who star as the eponymous central character, Stephen Campbell Moore (The Child in Time, Goodbye Christopher Robin) as Max, a physics professor and Young Joan’s mentor, Tom Hughes (Victoria, London Town) as Leo, a young communist and Young Joan’s first love, Ben Miles (The Crown, Woman in Gold) as Joan’s son and lawyer Nick and Tereza Srbova as a fellow Cambridge University student and Young Joan’s confident.
Also in trailers – Tessa Thompson and Lily James star in trailer for ‘Little Woods’
The film is out in cinemas April 19th
Red Joan Synopsis
The year is 2000 and Joan Stanley (Dench) is living...
Directed by Trevor Nunn, the cast is led by multi-award winning actress Judi Dench (Skyfall, Shakespeare in Love) and Sophie Cookson (Gypsy, Kingsman: The Secret Service) who star as the eponymous central character, Stephen Campbell Moore (The Child in Time, Goodbye Christopher Robin) as Max, a physics professor and Young Joan’s mentor, Tom Hughes (Victoria, London Town) as Leo, a young communist and Young Joan’s first love, Ben Miles (The Crown, Woman in Gold) as Joan’s son and lawyer Nick and Tereza Srbova as a fellow Cambridge University student and Young Joan’s confident.
Also in trailers – Tessa Thompson and Lily James star in trailer for ‘Little Woods’
The film is out in cinemas April 19th
Red Joan Synopsis
The year is 2000 and Joan Stanley (Dench) is living...
- 1/16/2019
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
In an age where special effects reign supreme, there’s one aspect of the filmmaking process that hasn’t gone through a radical transformation — music. Some of the best movies in any given year would be sorely lacking without their memorable scores, and this has remained true well into the first two decades of the 21st century.
Read More‘Logan’ Composer Marco Beltrami on R-Rated Wolverine Minimalist Score
Film composers play an integral part in the filmmaking process, and there are a handful whose bodies of work stand out in recent years. Of course, this list of 12 major composers only begins to scratch the surface of the talent out there. There are plenty of other worthy contributors to the medium who didn’t make the cut — Danny Elfman and John Williams, we’re looking at you — but rest assured that this top dozen represent the cream of the crop.
Hans Zimmer...
Read More‘Logan’ Composer Marco Beltrami on R-Rated Wolverine Minimalist Score
Film composers play an integral part in the filmmaking process, and there are a handful whose bodies of work stand out in recent years. Of course, this list of 12 major composers only begins to scratch the surface of the talent out there. There are plenty of other worthy contributors to the medium who didn’t make the cut — Danny Elfman and John Williams, we’re looking at you — but rest assured that this top dozen represent the cream of the crop.
Hans Zimmer...
- 8/7/2017
- by Gabrielle Kiss
- Indiewire
Simon Brew Jun 15, 2017
Brendan Fraser seemed on the verge of being a major movie star in the late 1990s. But it never came to be. We look at why…
I remember going in to watch 1994’s Airheads at the cinema, at the time tempted to do so more by the name of Michael Lehmann on the end credits than Adam Sandler and Brendan Fraser above the title. Steve Buscemi’s presence helped too, of course. But Lehmann had, after all, come to the project off the back of the unfairly maligned Hudson Hawk, and also, this is the man who gave the world Heathers. Can’t grumble with that.
I’d not seen Brendan Fraser on the big screen before, although even by this stage, he’d earned some currency. Encino Man – California Man in the UK – had overcome savage reviews to prove a decent hit. School Ties, that I...
Brendan Fraser seemed on the verge of being a major movie star in the late 1990s. But it never came to be. We look at why…
I remember going in to watch 1994’s Airheads at the cinema, at the time tempted to do so more by the name of Michael Lehmann on the end credits than Adam Sandler and Brendan Fraser above the title. Steve Buscemi’s presence helped too, of course. But Lehmann had, after all, come to the project off the back of the unfairly maligned Hudson Hawk, and also, this is the man who gave the world Heathers. Can’t grumble with that.
I’d not seen Brendan Fraser on the big screen before, although even by this stage, he’d earned some currency. Encino Man – California Man in the UK – had overcome savage reviews to prove a decent hit. School Ties, that I...
- 6/11/2017
- Den of Geek
German mini-major Constantin Film has begun production on the animated feature Dragon Rider, based on the best-selling fantasy novel by author Cornelia Funke (Inkheart).
Johnny Smith, one of the screenwriters on Disney's 2011 hit Gnomeo & Juliet, adapted Funke's novel for the screen, with award-winner German shorts animator Tomer Eshed directing in what will be his feature debut.
Funke's 1997 book, which has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, follows the adventures of Firedrake, a silver dragon who teams up with a human boy and the Brownie Sorrel to search for a mythical land where Firedrake's family can live...
Johnny Smith, one of the screenwriters on Disney's 2011 hit Gnomeo & Juliet, adapted Funke's novel for the screen, with award-winner German shorts animator Tomer Eshed directing in what will be his feature debut.
Funke's 1997 book, which has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, follows the adventures of Firedrake, a silver dragon who teams up with a human boy and the Brownie Sorrel to search for a mythical land where Firedrake's family can live...
- 6/8/2017
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fear is an intricate emotion, which triggers visible physical reactions but profoundly affects one’s psyche in ways far more destructive. It thrives on uncertainty as it serves to prevent us from facing danger and experiencing pain. It’s because of this that death, the most certain part of our mortal lives, ranks high on the list of things we fear. It can happen anywhere, at any time, for countless reasons, it’s permanent, and yet its aftermath is unknown.
Enthralled by this idea, Edgar Allan Poe explored humanity’s relationship with its fatal destiny by writing fiction that focused on the supernatural, on evil, and alternate realities, attempting to decipher this terrifying concept. “Extraordinary Tales," Raul Garcia's animated anthology, takes five of these stories by revered writer and transforms them into stylistically distinct shorts that are as visually striking as they are spine-chilling.
The Spanish animator became fascinated with Poe and his otherworldly stories at an early age, but worked on an array of projects before finally bringing one of his favorite authors to the screen by simultaneously honoring numerous other artists that have influenced his career. Each of the five segments in "Extraordinary Tales" is inspired by a different aesthetic, which makes for an eclectic showcase of what 3D animation could be beyond the mainstream conventions.
To make the film an even more compelling affair, Garcia was able to recruit some of the most important and iconic voices in genre cinema. Bela Lugosi reappears from beyond the grave thanks to a previously unreleased recording, Christopher Lee returns to horror one final time to narrate one of the episodes, Roger Corman continues to demonstrate his love for Poe by voicing one of the characters, and Guillermo del Toro shows his voice acting talents in an unexpected fashion.
During our conversation Garcia talked about his artistic influences, being an independent animator today, getting to work with his childhood heroes, and the biggest mistake horror films make when trying to instill fear.
How did you fall in love with Edgar Allan Poe's stories? What was the seed that sparked this fascination with his work that compelled you to create this beautiful animated anthology?
Raul Garcia: The seed was planted when I was bout 12-years-old because the firs adult book I read was a compilation of Poe’s stories. That was the first book for grown-ups I read [Laughs]. Then there was my passion as an avid comic book and graphic novel reader. I’ve always leaned towards the dark side, so it was the perfect combination. Since then, I’ve been a fan of horror literature and science fiction and fantasy as well. That first book was the seed that started it all.
Edgar Allan Poe’s stories have been adapted countless because it seems like they lend themselves to interpretation and experimentation. How did you approach the material to make your animated versions distinct from the rest?
Raul Garcia: There are thousands of different film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s works everywhere. Obviously, the ones that most of us know are the ones done by Roger Corman in the 60s with Vincent Price, which were not really adaptations because they only used the titles as an excuse to make a horror film. When I decided to make my version of Poe’s stories, I wanted to respect the original material or to at least get closer to what his stories are really about. Most other adaptations I’ve seen sort of follow the story but they never satisfy me as an audience member or as a reader. I wanted to get closer to the spirit of the stories more than than to the text itself. I didn’t necessarily want to do it verbatim, but there are some lines of dialogue that I’ve taken literally from Poe’s writings. I wanted to make adaptations that distilled the essence of what attracted me about these stories in the first place.
Each segment has a very particular stylistic approach. While they are all beautiful in their own right, each showcases an eclectic mix of textures and influences. How did each visual style originate?
Raul Garcia: Everything started with “The Tell-Tale Heart," which was the first short I made for this project, which originally was supposed to be a one-off. This was a story that I wanted to tell with art inspired by one of the greatest comic book artist there is, Alberto Breccia. He was Argentine comic book artist. It was about adapting his style to this story. Departing from this decision I created a set rules for myself, which I would apply to the rest of the stories. Since for this first story I had used Breccia’s art as the basis, I thought that for the rest of the stories I would try to reconnect with all the artistic influences I’ve had in my life and apply them in a way that had something to do with the spirit of the each story. I searched for things that attracted in terms of artistic styles and I tried to adapt them into the world of animation to make these short films.
For example, in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the idea was for the characters to look as if they were carved out of wood, like if they were figures that belonged to Czech animator Jirí Trnka. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the biggest influence was Egon Schiele and Bruegel. Egon Schiele worked with oil paint, but he used very thin layers of paint which made his works look like watercolors. I tried to resemble that to create moving painting for that’s story. That short is one of my favorites, because in Poe’s original story there is no dialogue except for the line that’s in the short. It’s all very descriptive. This really represented a challenged that allowed me to have fun during the process of creating it. I’ve always tried to find those distinct approaches because this is a 3D animated film and I wanted to stay away from the style that all 3D animated films have today. They are all rendered in the same manner with photorealist textures. I tried to make something much more pictorial, so that the audience wouldn’t know if they were watching something done in 3D, 2D, in oil paintings, or made out of cut-outs.
The segment based on “The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar” looks very much like if it was a 2D animated film. It's interesting to hear it was all 3D.
Raul Garcia Yes. Poe wrote that story as if it was a real case or the study written by a scientist taking notes from an experiment. When it was published people thought that the case in the story actually happened. People though that what they were reading were the notes taken by a scientist that had brought a corpse back to life. Having this in mind, my approach to find the right style was to look at medical illustrations and to make the animation look like if it was taken from a medical journal. However, and because I think I should also tell you about the bad experiences, I have to admit that approach didn’t work. I didn’t like how it looked. It felt very cold and calculated. But then, I reread the story and realized that this story was over the top, very exaggerated. Then I thought about the horror comic books that I read when I was kid, which shared this outrageous and exaggerated spirit.
That’s when I decided to make this story based on the look of horror comic books from the 50s, which were printed on cheap paper and only used four different color inks. They were printed using the Cmyk color model, so the color spectrum used was very small. Colorists, who used to be very underpaid, did what they could with these four colors. Sometimes in one panel a face was blue and in the next one the same face was red, and nobody cared about having any sort of continuity [Laughs]. I applied this color limitation to this story. Besides the fact that the style is very much inspired by those comic books, the animation is also animated as if it was 2D. In computer animation each second is created by 24 frames and each one of these 24 frames is different. In 2D animation, to save time and money, you create 12 drawings and each drawing is used twice. In one second created of 24 frames you really only have 12 frames. I tried to do it this segment using this process as if it was 2D because it gives the animation a different cadence in comparison to the rest of the stories.
Then you have “The Pit and the Pendulum,” which is in a sense hyperrealist even though it still feels like there are elements of fine art in it.
Raul Garcia: That one was interesting because the original story takes place in a prison and there is only one character. When I started thinking about how to make these stories, what I wanted was to experiment with different types of animation and see how far we could get in terms of technology. Initially, I wanted to make this segment using motion capture. At the time I thought that films made using motion capture always looked bad, and I wanted to know why! [Laughs]. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a motion capture team to make it. At that moment the challenge changed, and we decided to make something hyperrealist - something I personally hate [Laughs]. I decided we should make something hyperrealist but with more traditional 3D animation and see how refined and subtle we could make it without using motion capture or any real life references. That’s how the style for this one came about, which I think it’s a blend between Goya and Nicéphore Niépce and the beginning of photography, mixed with those prisons that Piranesi drew in his carvings. What I’ve tried to do is give myself the pleasure and luxury to explore the universes of the artists I admire.
One of the many remarkable qualities of the film is that every segment captures the unsettling tone of the stories. The macabre atmosphere, regardless of which style you are using, is subtle but always present. At times it's truly terrifying.
Raul Garcia: Let’s remember that one of the biggest problems with horror cinema is showing too much. When horror turns into gore, when you show the monster, the killings, and the blood, it loses its suggestive powers. It loses part of what makes a horror film a horror film, which is that the images you see develop in your brain and you become the one imagining what you are not seeing on screen. You give the audience a bit of information, and he or she fills in the blanks with the most horrifying things they can think of. That was a key element I wanted to preserve. I didn’t want to make to make something very graphic, but instead maintain that mental introspection so that the viewer could put himself in that situation and imagine what’s happening.
In terms of the voice cast, you managed to put together and incredible cast including a voice from beyond the grave in a sense. The legendary Bela Lugosi returns thanks to your film. How did you obtain this recording?
Raul Garcia: It was a stroke of luck. I’m originally from Spain, so I’ve always read Edgar Allan Poe’s works in Spanish and at some point I wanted to enjoy the original material in English. For several years now I’ve been collecting narrated versions of Poe’s works. When I was getting ready to make “The Tell-Tale Heart, “ I discovered a recording of Bella Lugosi narrating this tale on Ebay. It was a cassette tape that was a copy of the original. It was the copy of the copy, of the copy, of the copy [Laughs]. When I finally got it the first thing I did was contact Bela G. Lugosi, his son who handles the Bela Lugosi’s state, and I discovered that this recording had never been published or released. Bela G. Lugosi didn’t even have in his archive, as it had been lost. Nobody had heard it and it hadn’t been exploited at all. I restored it as best as I could, but since I made that short in 2006 the technology was probably not as good as it's now. I tried to digitally polish it as much as possible to remove the static sound. But even though I wasn’t completely successful, I think that this static you hear gives the narration an unsettling quality. It sounds like something from another time that has returned after many years.
He was an icon in the horror genre, which makes it even more special for a film like "Extraordinary Tale."
Raul Garcia: Absolutely. This was the first short I did, so when I decided that it would instead be an anthology of several shorts, the bar was very high in terms of the voices that I could use. If the first one is someone as big as Bela Lugosi, who could be next? That pushed me to seek voices that meant something in the world of science fiction, fantasy and horror. The next short I made was “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and evidently Christopher Lee was the number candidate on my wish list.
How did you manage to get Christopher Lee to be a part of the film? "Extraordinary Tales" is the last film project he worked on before, unfortunately, passing away.
Raul Garcia: Unfortunately, as you point out, it's his last film appearance. But on the other hand, we were so fortunate to have his talent because it was really an incredible experience to work with him. It was very emotional for me, I was working with my childhood idol. It was great. When I recorded his voice, Christopher Lee was 89-years-old. He wasn’t very interested in revisiting horror cinema because at the time he was focused on becoming the lead singer of a heavy metal band [Laughs]. He was recording an album that was sort of like a heavy-metal-rock-opera based on the Charlemagne’s life. He was so passionate about it. It was hard to believe that an 89-year-old man had so much energy to do that. When I showed him the artwork he changed his mind and he agreed to do it. It was also funny that he didn’t want to go to a recording studio to do it. We set up a recording studio in his home so he could record it whenever he felt inspired.
Then you have Guillermo Del Toro, who has become Hollywood’s genre master working in horror, fantasy, and science fiction, and more recently in animation. How did he come on board?
Raul Garcia: Guillermo and I have been friends since the time he lived in Spain, and when I was searching for voices that were meaningful and important in the horror and fantasy genres he was high on my list. I know that deep inside Guillermo has a thing for acting, which he never talks about [Laughs]. I asked him to narrate the short and he agreed immediately. Then we had to chase him for a couple years because he has been extremely busy in the last few years, and we could never find the right time to do it. In the end we did it and Guillermo really gave it his all. His narration is very interesting and intriguing because it’s not the Guillermo we know. It’s a different facet of his talent that nobody knew about
Tell me about the process of creating the frame narrative in which Poe, in the shape of the iconic raven, has a dialogue with Death. This conversations connect the five major segments and give insight into the tormented mind of the artist.
Raul Garcia: I wanted to make a feature-length work and I didn’t like the idea of just putting one short after the other. It felt to me like it would look like a shorts program at a festival without any relationship between them, when in fact the relationship between them is Poe and his personal story. These interludes or framing segments where the last to be produced and at that point we were out of money, out of time, out of patience, out of everything [Laughs]. As I was working on each of the shorts the framing story that would unite them changed. Initially I wanted to unite the stories with this epic framing narrative where we would see the last day in Poe’s life as he went drunk from bar to bar until he dies. Then it changed to a story where Poe was lonely walking down the street towards the cemetery and finding different things that would remind him of his stories along the way.
As we got farther into production of the five major segments the framing narrative kept on changing and becoming shorter. In the end it became this dialogue between Poe and Death, which is like Scheherazade and the One Thousand and One Nights, where they tell each other stories. Poe wants to postpone his own death, while Death wants to convince him that if he is so miserable he might be better off dead. The biggest problem I faced, and which was truly a nightmare, is that as a viewer I don’t really like anthology films where there are connecting segments in between the stories, like George A. Romero's "Creepshow." As a viewer, when we get to the interludes or the framing narrative, what I’m thinking is, “Come on, Come, on, start the next story already!” [Laughs]. That’s why I really thought about the rhythm of these segments to try to precent the viewer from thinking, “I don’t want to see this. I want to see the next story.” I also wanted to give the viewer small doses of information needed for the whole story to make sense and for it to have structure.
Why do you think Edgar Allan Poe became so fascinated, even obsessed, with death and the darker and more disturbing aspects of the human condition?
Raul Garcia: Poe lived in a very romantic time. His life was the life of the typical tortured artist. His mother died when he was very young and his wife also died very young. In the Victorian era the health standards and life expectancy weren’t very high, thus death was a constant possibility lurking around. Besides this, his turbulent life turn him into a taciturn man with mental health issues. I think this really had an effect in the obsession he had with death. More than with death in general, he was obsessed with the possibility of being buried alive and discovering that he had to hold on to life even after death.
His work definitely set a precedent in the horror genre and in literature as a whole.
Raul Garcia: He was the first one to write horror stories. Without Poe probably Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t have been written because when Poe wrote the adventures of Dupin, like The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter, he was setting up the basis for what would become the detective novel. In a way Poe was a big influence for Conan Doyle to create Sherlock Holmes. I think he really did influence many artist of the time like Baudelaire, who was a big fan of Poe, and who was the one that brought attention to Poe’s work in Europe. That’s how another generation of writers like Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, and many others were influenced by Poe’s stories.
Besides working in the U.S. you've worked in animated projects in Spain and Latin America, what's the most difficult aspect about creating animation in countries that are not necessarily seen as animation producers or that perhaps haven't fully developed the infrastructure for it?
Raul Garcia: I’ve worked in animation for a long time. I started in Spain and I wanted to make feature films. That desire to figure out how to make animated features brought me to the U.S. to work for Disney. Now things are different, in recent years technology has made it easier to make animated films than it used to be maybe 15 or 20 years ago. This has made it possible for the latent talents that are in countries without a tradition in animation to explore, learn, and create work. The biggest problem in countries that don’t have a tradition in animation or a film industry, is that precisely, that it’s not an industrial activity as it is in Hollywood where there are clear production procedures. Because of this we all become snipers making our films any way we can and crossing our fingers to get distribution so people can see them.
In a certain way working in animation has become very democratic because now anyone with the right technology can at least prepare a project from home in order to attract investors. Some people can even set up a small home studio and start working. Making features is much more complicated and expensive, but on the other hand, and thanks to this ubiquity and the decentralization of animation, anyone even in a small town can work with an animation program, stay in touch with people in other parts of the world, and manage to produce a film. That’s what we’ve done with "Extraordinary Tales,”although the film is a co-production between Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain and the U.S, in the end Mexican talent worked on it, people all over Spain worked on it, and even people in Honduras worked on it doing some modeling. With small teams across the world we managed to unite everyone’s talent to make the film.
"Extraordinary Tales" is finally opening in the U.S. Now that the cycle for this film is getting to its final stage, are you already working on your next project? Are you pursuing another horror writer to adapt into animation?
Raul Garcia: Independence can be tough. Without a studio to back you up, when you finish a feature and want to start a new project you have to start from zero. The next thing I want to do is to bring to the screen a novel by Cornelia Funke, she is also the voice of Death in “Extraordinary Tales.” She is a German author who wrote the novel “Inkheart,” which was made into a film a few years ago. The book I want to adapt is called “Young Werewolf,” but my version would be titled “Bitten." I’m still trying to find the initial financing that will allow me to get started and get things going. Once the initial financing is secured the rest becomes easier, and just like with “Extraordinary Tales,” we can make a film with the cooperation of several small studios. For example, another film I worked on was the Mexican animated feature “El Americano,” which was mostly made in Tijuana but also had teams in Puebla and Los Angeles. It’s possible, but you do have to have the financial infrastructure behind you so this can work. In the world of independent animation there are many projects that are never completed because they lack that structure.
"Extraordinary Tales" is now playing in L.A. at the Sundance Sunset Cinemas and In NYC at IFC Center.
Enthralled by this idea, Edgar Allan Poe explored humanity’s relationship with its fatal destiny by writing fiction that focused on the supernatural, on evil, and alternate realities, attempting to decipher this terrifying concept. “Extraordinary Tales," Raul Garcia's animated anthology, takes five of these stories by revered writer and transforms them into stylistically distinct shorts that are as visually striking as they are spine-chilling.
The Spanish animator became fascinated with Poe and his otherworldly stories at an early age, but worked on an array of projects before finally bringing one of his favorite authors to the screen by simultaneously honoring numerous other artists that have influenced his career. Each of the five segments in "Extraordinary Tales" is inspired by a different aesthetic, which makes for an eclectic showcase of what 3D animation could be beyond the mainstream conventions.
To make the film an even more compelling affair, Garcia was able to recruit some of the most important and iconic voices in genre cinema. Bela Lugosi reappears from beyond the grave thanks to a previously unreleased recording, Christopher Lee returns to horror one final time to narrate one of the episodes, Roger Corman continues to demonstrate his love for Poe by voicing one of the characters, and Guillermo del Toro shows his voice acting talents in an unexpected fashion.
During our conversation Garcia talked about his artistic influences, being an independent animator today, getting to work with his childhood heroes, and the biggest mistake horror films make when trying to instill fear.
How did you fall in love with Edgar Allan Poe's stories? What was the seed that sparked this fascination with his work that compelled you to create this beautiful animated anthology?
Raul Garcia: The seed was planted when I was bout 12-years-old because the firs adult book I read was a compilation of Poe’s stories. That was the first book for grown-ups I read [Laughs]. Then there was my passion as an avid comic book and graphic novel reader. I’ve always leaned towards the dark side, so it was the perfect combination. Since then, I’ve been a fan of horror literature and science fiction and fantasy as well. That first book was the seed that started it all.
Edgar Allan Poe’s stories have been adapted countless because it seems like they lend themselves to interpretation and experimentation. How did you approach the material to make your animated versions distinct from the rest?
Raul Garcia: There are thousands of different film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s works everywhere. Obviously, the ones that most of us know are the ones done by Roger Corman in the 60s with Vincent Price, which were not really adaptations because they only used the titles as an excuse to make a horror film. When I decided to make my version of Poe’s stories, I wanted to respect the original material or to at least get closer to what his stories are really about. Most other adaptations I’ve seen sort of follow the story but they never satisfy me as an audience member or as a reader. I wanted to get closer to the spirit of the stories more than than to the text itself. I didn’t necessarily want to do it verbatim, but there are some lines of dialogue that I’ve taken literally from Poe’s writings. I wanted to make adaptations that distilled the essence of what attracted me about these stories in the first place.
Each segment has a very particular stylistic approach. While they are all beautiful in their own right, each showcases an eclectic mix of textures and influences. How did each visual style originate?
Raul Garcia: Everything started with “The Tell-Tale Heart," which was the first short I made for this project, which originally was supposed to be a one-off. This was a story that I wanted to tell with art inspired by one of the greatest comic book artist there is, Alberto Breccia. He was Argentine comic book artist. It was about adapting his style to this story. Departing from this decision I created a set rules for myself, which I would apply to the rest of the stories. Since for this first story I had used Breccia’s art as the basis, I thought that for the rest of the stories I would try to reconnect with all the artistic influences I’ve had in my life and apply them in a way that had something to do with the spirit of the each story. I searched for things that attracted in terms of artistic styles and I tried to adapt them into the world of animation to make these short films.
For example, in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the idea was for the characters to look as if they were carved out of wood, like if they were figures that belonged to Czech animator Jirí Trnka. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the biggest influence was Egon Schiele and Bruegel. Egon Schiele worked with oil paint, but he used very thin layers of paint which made his works look like watercolors. I tried to resemble that to create moving painting for that’s story. That short is one of my favorites, because in Poe’s original story there is no dialogue except for the line that’s in the short. It’s all very descriptive. This really represented a challenged that allowed me to have fun during the process of creating it. I’ve always tried to find those distinct approaches because this is a 3D animated film and I wanted to stay away from the style that all 3D animated films have today. They are all rendered in the same manner with photorealist textures. I tried to make something much more pictorial, so that the audience wouldn’t know if they were watching something done in 3D, 2D, in oil paintings, or made out of cut-outs.
The segment based on “The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar” looks very much like if it was a 2D animated film. It's interesting to hear it was all 3D.
Raul Garcia Yes. Poe wrote that story as if it was a real case or the study written by a scientist taking notes from an experiment. When it was published people thought that the case in the story actually happened. People though that what they were reading were the notes taken by a scientist that had brought a corpse back to life. Having this in mind, my approach to find the right style was to look at medical illustrations and to make the animation look like if it was taken from a medical journal. However, and because I think I should also tell you about the bad experiences, I have to admit that approach didn’t work. I didn’t like how it looked. It felt very cold and calculated. But then, I reread the story and realized that this story was over the top, very exaggerated. Then I thought about the horror comic books that I read when I was kid, which shared this outrageous and exaggerated spirit.
That’s when I decided to make this story based on the look of horror comic books from the 50s, which were printed on cheap paper and only used four different color inks. They were printed using the Cmyk color model, so the color spectrum used was very small. Colorists, who used to be very underpaid, did what they could with these four colors. Sometimes in one panel a face was blue and in the next one the same face was red, and nobody cared about having any sort of continuity [Laughs]. I applied this color limitation to this story. Besides the fact that the style is very much inspired by those comic books, the animation is also animated as if it was 2D. In computer animation each second is created by 24 frames and each one of these 24 frames is different. In 2D animation, to save time and money, you create 12 drawings and each drawing is used twice. In one second created of 24 frames you really only have 12 frames. I tried to do it this segment using this process as if it was 2D because it gives the animation a different cadence in comparison to the rest of the stories.
Then you have “The Pit and the Pendulum,” which is in a sense hyperrealist even though it still feels like there are elements of fine art in it.
Raul Garcia: That one was interesting because the original story takes place in a prison and there is only one character. When I started thinking about how to make these stories, what I wanted was to experiment with different types of animation and see how far we could get in terms of technology. Initially, I wanted to make this segment using motion capture. At the time I thought that films made using motion capture always looked bad, and I wanted to know why! [Laughs]. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a motion capture team to make it. At that moment the challenge changed, and we decided to make something hyperrealist - something I personally hate [Laughs]. I decided we should make something hyperrealist but with more traditional 3D animation and see how refined and subtle we could make it without using motion capture or any real life references. That’s how the style for this one came about, which I think it’s a blend between Goya and Nicéphore Niépce and the beginning of photography, mixed with those prisons that Piranesi drew in his carvings. What I’ve tried to do is give myself the pleasure and luxury to explore the universes of the artists I admire.
One of the many remarkable qualities of the film is that every segment captures the unsettling tone of the stories. The macabre atmosphere, regardless of which style you are using, is subtle but always present. At times it's truly terrifying.
Raul Garcia: Let’s remember that one of the biggest problems with horror cinema is showing too much. When horror turns into gore, when you show the monster, the killings, and the blood, it loses its suggestive powers. It loses part of what makes a horror film a horror film, which is that the images you see develop in your brain and you become the one imagining what you are not seeing on screen. You give the audience a bit of information, and he or she fills in the blanks with the most horrifying things they can think of. That was a key element I wanted to preserve. I didn’t want to make to make something very graphic, but instead maintain that mental introspection so that the viewer could put himself in that situation and imagine what’s happening.
In terms of the voice cast, you managed to put together and incredible cast including a voice from beyond the grave in a sense. The legendary Bela Lugosi returns thanks to your film. How did you obtain this recording?
Raul Garcia: It was a stroke of luck. I’m originally from Spain, so I’ve always read Edgar Allan Poe’s works in Spanish and at some point I wanted to enjoy the original material in English. For several years now I’ve been collecting narrated versions of Poe’s works. When I was getting ready to make “The Tell-Tale Heart, “ I discovered a recording of Bella Lugosi narrating this tale on Ebay. It was a cassette tape that was a copy of the original. It was the copy of the copy, of the copy, of the copy [Laughs]. When I finally got it the first thing I did was contact Bela G. Lugosi, his son who handles the Bela Lugosi’s state, and I discovered that this recording had never been published or released. Bela G. Lugosi didn’t even have in his archive, as it had been lost. Nobody had heard it and it hadn’t been exploited at all. I restored it as best as I could, but since I made that short in 2006 the technology was probably not as good as it's now. I tried to digitally polish it as much as possible to remove the static sound. But even though I wasn’t completely successful, I think that this static you hear gives the narration an unsettling quality. It sounds like something from another time that has returned after many years.
He was an icon in the horror genre, which makes it even more special for a film like "Extraordinary Tale."
Raul Garcia: Absolutely. This was the first short I did, so when I decided that it would instead be an anthology of several shorts, the bar was very high in terms of the voices that I could use. If the first one is someone as big as Bela Lugosi, who could be next? That pushed me to seek voices that meant something in the world of science fiction, fantasy and horror. The next short I made was “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and evidently Christopher Lee was the number candidate on my wish list.
How did you manage to get Christopher Lee to be a part of the film? "Extraordinary Tales" is the last film project he worked on before, unfortunately, passing away.
Raul Garcia: Unfortunately, as you point out, it's his last film appearance. But on the other hand, we were so fortunate to have his talent because it was really an incredible experience to work with him. It was very emotional for me, I was working with my childhood idol. It was great. When I recorded his voice, Christopher Lee was 89-years-old. He wasn’t very interested in revisiting horror cinema because at the time he was focused on becoming the lead singer of a heavy metal band [Laughs]. He was recording an album that was sort of like a heavy-metal-rock-opera based on the Charlemagne’s life. He was so passionate about it. It was hard to believe that an 89-year-old man had so much energy to do that. When I showed him the artwork he changed his mind and he agreed to do it. It was also funny that he didn’t want to go to a recording studio to do it. We set up a recording studio in his home so he could record it whenever he felt inspired.
Then you have Guillermo Del Toro, who has become Hollywood’s genre master working in horror, fantasy, and science fiction, and more recently in animation. How did he come on board?
Raul Garcia: Guillermo and I have been friends since the time he lived in Spain, and when I was searching for voices that were meaningful and important in the horror and fantasy genres he was high on my list. I know that deep inside Guillermo has a thing for acting, which he never talks about [Laughs]. I asked him to narrate the short and he agreed immediately. Then we had to chase him for a couple years because he has been extremely busy in the last few years, and we could never find the right time to do it. In the end we did it and Guillermo really gave it his all. His narration is very interesting and intriguing because it’s not the Guillermo we know. It’s a different facet of his talent that nobody knew about
Tell me about the process of creating the frame narrative in which Poe, in the shape of the iconic raven, has a dialogue with Death. This conversations connect the five major segments and give insight into the tormented mind of the artist.
Raul Garcia: I wanted to make a feature-length work and I didn’t like the idea of just putting one short after the other. It felt to me like it would look like a shorts program at a festival without any relationship between them, when in fact the relationship between them is Poe and his personal story. These interludes or framing segments where the last to be produced and at that point we were out of money, out of time, out of patience, out of everything [Laughs]. As I was working on each of the shorts the framing story that would unite them changed. Initially I wanted to unite the stories with this epic framing narrative where we would see the last day in Poe’s life as he went drunk from bar to bar until he dies. Then it changed to a story where Poe was lonely walking down the street towards the cemetery and finding different things that would remind him of his stories along the way.
As we got farther into production of the five major segments the framing narrative kept on changing and becoming shorter. In the end it became this dialogue between Poe and Death, which is like Scheherazade and the One Thousand and One Nights, where they tell each other stories. Poe wants to postpone his own death, while Death wants to convince him that if he is so miserable he might be better off dead. The biggest problem I faced, and which was truly a nightmare, is that as a viewer I don’t really like anthology films where there are connecting segments in between the stories, like George A. Romero's "Creepshow." As a viewer, when we get to the interludes or the framing narrative, what I’m thinking is, “Come on, Come, on, start the next story already!” [Laughs]. That’s why I really thought about the rhythm of these segments to try to precent the viewer from thinking, “I don’t want to see this. I want to see the next story.” I also wanted to give the viewer small doses of information needed for the whole story to make sense and for it to have structure.
Why do you think Edgar Allan Poe became so fascinated, even obsessed, with death and the darker and more disturbing aspects of the human condition?
Raul Garcia: Poe lived in a very romantic time. His life was the life of the typical tortured artist. His mother died when he was very young and his wife also died very young. In the Victorian era the health standards and life expectancy weren’t very high, thus death was a constant possibility lurking around. Besides this, his turbulent life turn him into a taciturn man with mental health issues. I think this really had an effect in the obsession he had with death. More than with death in general, he was obsessed with the possibility of being buried alive and discovering that he had to hold on to life even after death.
His work definitely set a precedent in the horror genre and in literature as a whole.
Raul Garcia: He was the first one to write horror stories. Without Poe probably Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t have been written because when Poe wrote the adventures of Dupin, like The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter, he was setting up the basis for what would become the detective novel. In a way Poe was a big influence for Conan Doyle to create Sherlock Holmes. I think he really did influence many artist of the time like Baudelaire, who was a big fan of Poe, and who was the one that brought attention to Poe’s work in Europe. That’s how another generation of writers like Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, and many others were influenced by Poe’s stories.
Besides working in the U.S. you've worked in animated projects in Spain and Latin America, what's the most difficult aspect about creating animation in countries that are not necessarily seen as animation producers or that perhaps haven't fully developed the infrastructure for it?
Raul Garcia: I’ve worked in animation for a long time. I started in Spain and I wanted to make feature films. That desire to figure out how to make animated features brought me to the U.S. to work for Disney. Now things are different, in recent years technology has made it easier to make animated films than it used to be maybe 15 or 20 years ago. This has made it possible for the latent talents that are in countries without a tradition in animation to explore, learn, and create work. The biggest problem in countries that don’t have a tradition in animation or a film industry, is that precisely, that it’s not an industrial activity as it is in Hollywood where there are clear production procedures. Because of this we all become snipers making our films any way we can and crossing our fingers to get distribution so people can see them.
In a certain way working in animation has become very democratic because now anyone with the right technology can at least prepare a project from home in order to attract investors. Some people can even set up a small home studio and start working. Making features is much more complicated and expensive, but on the other hand, and thanks to this ubiquity and the decentralization of animation, anyone even in a small town can work with an animation program, stay in touch with people in other parts of the world, and manage to produce a film. That’s what we’ve done with "Extraordinary Tales,”although the film is a co-production between Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain and the U.S, in the end Mexican talent worked on it, people all over Spain worked on it, and even people in Honduras worked on it doing some modeling. With small teams across the world we managed to unite everyone’s talent to make the film.
"Extraordinary Tales" is finally opening in the U.S. Now that the cycle for this film is getting to its final stage, are you already working on your next project? Are you pursuing another horror writer to adapt into animation?
Raul Garcia: Independence can be tough. Without a studio to back you up, when you finish a feature and want to start a new project you have to start from zero. The next thing I want to do is to bring to the screen a novel by Cornelia Funke, she is also the voice of Death in “Extraordinary Tales.” She is a German author who wrote the novel “Inkheart,” which was made into a film a few years ago. The book I want to adapt is called “Young Werewolf,” but my version would be titled “Bitten." I’m still trying to find the initial financing that will allow me to get started and get things going. Once the initial financing is secured the rest becomes easier, and just like with “Extraordinary Tales,” we can make a film with the cooperation of several small studios. For example, another film I worked on was the Mexican animated feature “El Americano,” which was mostly made in Tijuana but also had teams in Puebla and Los Angeles. It’s possible, but you do have to have the financial infrastructure behind you so this can work. In the world of independent animation there are many projects that are never completed because they lack that structure.
"Extraordinary Tales" is now playing in L.A. at the Sundance Sunset Cinemas and In NYC at IFC Center.
- 10/24/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Out now in select theaters and on iTunes is Extraordinary Tales, an animated film anthology adapting five Edgar Allan Poe stories and boasting a voice cast that includes late legends Sir Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi, as well as Julian Sands, Roger Corman, and Guillermo del Toro. For our latest Q&A feature, we caught up with director Raul Garcia to discuss his film's amazing vocal lineup and much more.
Thanks for taking the time to converse with us today, Raul. Based on the trailer for Extraordinary Tales, you obviously have a real passion for the works of Edgar Allan Poe. When did you first become a fan of his fiction?
Raul Garcia: Since a very early age, I was addicted to reading comic books and I especially loved horror comics. When I was 12 or so, I read Extraordinary Tales by Edgar Allan Poe, my first "grown up" book I ever read,...
Thanks for taking the time to converse with us today, Raul. Based on the trailer for Extraordinary Tales, you obviously have a real passion for the works of Edgar Allan Poe. When did you first become a fan of his fiction?
Raul Garcia: Since a very early age, I was addicted to reading comic books and I especially loved horror comics. When I was 12 or so, I read Extraordinary Tales by Edgar Allan Poe, my first "grown up" book I ever read,...
- 10/23/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Sound of Music, a new film The Trapp Family - A Life in Music is in production in Salzburg. The film, which tells the story behind the legend, is based on the autobiography of Agathe von Trapp, the eldest daughter.
23 year old British actress Eliza Bennett leads the cast as Agathe, starring with Matthew Macfadyen as her father Georg von Trapp alongside an international cast, whilst Vanessa Redgrave plays the older Agathe.
Eliza (represented by Independent Talent) starred in Nanny McPhee and Inkheart as a child, and more recently in thrillers F and Confine, she also appeared in the second series of Broadchurch.
The Trapp Family - A Life in Music tells the story of Agathe, who has been searching for her path in life since her youth: She is the eldest daughter among many siblings, and her relationship with her father, the...
23 year old British actress Eliza Bennett leads the cast as Agathe, starring with Matthew Macfadyen as her father Georg von Trapp alongside an international cast, whilst Vanessa Redgrave plays the older Agathe.
Eliza (represented by Independent Talent) starred in Nanny McPhee and Inkheart as a child, and more recently in thrillers F and Confine, she also appeared in the second series of Broadchurch.
The Trapp Family - A Life in Music tells the story of Agathe, who has been searching for her path in life since her youth: She is the eldest daughter among many siblings, and her relationship with her father, the...
- 4/18/2015
- by noreply@blogger.com (ScreenTerrier)
- ScreenTerrier
For every Harry Potter or Hunger Games series, there are those franchises that didn't quite set the world on fire...
Since Insurgent came out, I’ve been thinking about those less fortunate: the franchise wannabes. While Divergent may have succeeded financially, (a film that rode on the coat-tails of the even more lucrative The Hunger Games franchise) there are others who didn’t quite make it into the movie world’s big leagues. These are the franchise-starters that flopped, the films produced with the optimistic hope that they will bring in the readies and kick-start Hollywood’s latest franchise. Worse luck for them, really.
For the sake of simplicity, this list will zero in on Ya franchise-starters, films adapted from a young adult novel or with that audience in mind. There are plenty of more mature films that struggled such as Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time, The A-Team...
Since Insurgent came out, I’ve been thinking about those less fortunate: the franchise wannabes. While Divergent may have succeeded financially, (a film that rode on the coat-tails of the even more lucrative The Hunger Games franchise) there are others who didn’t quite make it into the movie world’s big leagues. These are the franchise-starters that flopped, the films produced with the optimistic hope that they will bring in the readies and kick-start Hollywood’s latest franchise. Worse luck for them, really.
For the sake of simplicity, this list will zero in on Ya franchise-starters, films adapted from a young adult novel or with that audience in mind. There are plenty of more mature films that struggled such as Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time, The A-Team...
- 3/25/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Sam Rockwell, Jared Harris and Rosemarie DeWitt bring Poltergeist to a whole new generation in a frightening trailer for this year's reboot.
This updated version of the Steven Spielberg-produced horror classic brings the terror of the vengeful spirit world to a modern family.
The Bowens (Rockwell and DeWitt) must bring their family together to rescue their young daughter when demons invade their home to kidnap her.
Horror genre legend Sam Raimi is producing this version of Poltergeist, which is directed by City of Ember filmmaker Gil Kenan. The updated screenplay was adapted by Inkheart writer David Lindsay-Abaire.
Rockwell has described this updated version of Poltergeist as more of a kids' movie than true horror.
Poltergeist opens on May 22 in the UK and the Us.
Watch Digital Spy's preview of this year's biggest blockbusters below:...
This updated version of the Steven Spielberg-produced horror classic brings the terror of the vengeful spirit world to a modern family.
The Bowens (Rockwell and DeWitt) must bring their family together to rescue their young daughter when demons invade their home to kidnap her.
Horror genre legend Sam Raimi is producing this version of Poltergeist, which is directed by City of Ember filmmaker Gil Kenan. The updated screenplay was adapted by Inkheart writer David Lindsay-Abaire.
Rockwell has described this updated version of Poltergeist as more of a kids' movie than true horror.
Poltergeist opens on May 22 in the UK and the Us.
Watch Digital Spy's preview of this year's biggest blockbusters below:...
- 3/20/2015
- Digital Spy
Exclusive: ICM Partners has signed British actress and singer Eliza Bennett. The 22-year-old performer is best known for her role opposite Helen Mirren and Paul Bettany in New Line’s Inkheart; she’ll next appear opposite James D’Arcy on the upcoming second season of ITV crime drama Broadchurch, and also currently stars on the fifth season of Cinemax’s action series Strike Back. Bennett got her screen start in 2004’s The Prince and Me and followed with turns in Nanny McPhee, From Time to Time, Perfect Life, and horror pics The Expelled and Roadkill. Upcoming films include a turn in Derrick Borte’s indie thriller H8TRZ with Abigail Spencer and Jeremy Sisto, which ICM is repping. Bennett, who recently hit the West End stage in geek musical Loserville, is also repped by Independent in the UK and manager Melanie Greene.
- 12/6/2014
- by Jen Yamato
- Deadline
This weekend sees the release of Escape from Planet Earth, a family film that follows a hapless alien who’s trapped on the dangerous Planet Earth, and his attempt to escape a horrible fate at the hands of the humans. Brendan Fraser provides the voice of Scorch Supernova, the blue-skinned extraterrestrial hero, in a role that sees the loveable actor continue his run of family-friendly movies after Furry Vengeance and Inkheart, and as an aside to his more independent, serious fare such as Gimme Shelter and Breakout.
When we spoke with the actor we expected a straight-forward interview. How very wrong we were; the following conversation includes some singing, a bit of ice cream tasting, and a dash of Charlie Chaplin, proving why Fraser is the go-to guy if you’re looking to give your movie some spark. Read on on and enjoy.
Hi Brendan, how are you doing?
I...
When we spoke with the actor we expected a straight-forward interview. How very wrong we were; the following conversation includes some singing, a bit of ice cream tasting, and a dash of Charlie Chaplin, proving why Fraser is the go-to guy if you’re looking to give your movie some spark. Read on on and enjoy.
Hi Brendan, how are you doing?
I...
- 3/7/2014
- by Gary Green
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Coming back from the gym with an unusual payload, Julianne Hough returned home in West Hollywood with her arms overflowing with Christmas presents on Thursday (December 19)!
The "Safe Haven" hottie was all smiles in her workout attire: a gray hoodie and tee, sexy yoga pants, and a pair of running treads, with her hair pulled back, looking as if she could fall over at any moment due to the weight of her gifts.
In related news, the 25-year-old blondie is also hard at work on a brand new movie, named "Curve," coming at us from "Inkheart" director, Iain Softley in 2014.
According to the thriller's synopsis, "A young woman becomes trapped in her car after a hitchhiker causes her to have an automobile accident."...
The "Safe Haven" hottie was all smiles in her workout attire: a gray hoodie and tee, sexy yoga pants, and a pair of running treads, with her hair pulled back, looking as if she could fall over at any moment due to the weight of her gifts.
In related news, the 25-year-old blondie is also hard at work on a brand new movie, named "Curve," coming at us from "Inkheart" director, Iain Softley in 2014.
According to the thriller's synopsis, "A young woman becomes trapped in her car after a hitchhiker causes her to have an automobile accident."...
- 12/21/2013
- GossipCenter
This overblown melodrama mistakes sensationalism for story, and is yet another repulsive tale of women’s friendships as toxic. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
I have not read the source material
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Traumatized Micky (Tuppence Middleton: Trance) has survived a terrible fire that took her memory and killed her bestest childhood friend, Do (Alexandra Roach: Anna Karenina). As she struggles to overcome her amnesia, flashes from the past begin to hint at something darker in the cause of the fire than an accident and something nefarious in her recent reconnection with Do, whom she hadn’t seen in years. Aaaannnnd… then it becomes clear that this is gonna be yet another example of the genre Bitches Be Crazy, subgenre Women’s Relationships Are Actually Terrifying Toxic Nightmares Of Psychotic Lesbian Obsession. Based on the novel...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
I have not read the source material
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Traumatized Micky (Tuppence Middleton: Trance) has survived a terrible fire that took her memory and killed her bestest childhood friend, Do (Alexandra Roach: Anna Karenina). As she struggles to overcome her amnesia, flashes from the past begin to hint at something darker in the cause of the fire than an accident and something nefarious in her recent reconnection with Do, whom she hadn’t seen in years. Aaaannnnd… then it becomes clear that this is gonna be yet another example of the genre Bitches Be Crazy, subgenre Women’s Relationships Are Actually Terrifying Toxic Nightmares Of Psychotic Lesbian Obsession. Based on the novel...
- 11/6/2013
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
The new Doctor will reportedly revealed on Sunday 4 August 2013, at 7pm; news which would send any right-minded person crazy with anticipation. (You'd probably have to be as crazy as John Simm's Master to *not* be excited about Doctor Who...)
There's been much speculation as to who the 12th Doctor could be, ranging from Rory Kinnear to Burn Gorman to Patterson Joseph (apparently the favourite to play the 11th Doctor before Matt Smith got the role). While many of these possibilities are intriguing, there's one name that hasn't been spoken of enough in connection of the role of The Doctor:
Paul Bettany.
And here's why he'd be perfect to play The Doctor, one of the best, most complex, and most entertaining roles of all time:
He's Geoffrey Chaucer.
Regardless of how well or otherwise the character may be as a representation of the historical writer, Chaucer is awesome as a character in A Knight's Tale.
There's been much speculation as to who the 12th Doctor could be, ranging from Rory Kinnear to Burn Gorman to Patterson Joseph (apparently the favourite to play the 11th Doctor before Matt Smith got the role). While many of these possibilities are intriguing, there's one name that hasn't been spoken of enough in connection of the role of The Doctor:
Paul Bettany.
And here's why he'd be perfect to play The Doctor, one of the best, most complex, and most entertaining roles of all time:
He's Geoffrey Chaucer.
Regardless of how well or otherwise the character may be as a representation of the historical writer, Chaucer is awesome as a character in A Knight's Tale.
- 8/3/2013
- Shadowlocked
With a series of major Hollywood productions to his name, starring some of the biggest names in the industry such as Angelina Jolie and Kevin Spacey, director Iain Softley has returned to his roots somewhat with his latest picture Trap for Cinderella, and we were fortunate enough to speak to the filmmaker ahead of the films July 12 release.
The man behind the likes of K-pax, Inkheart and Hackers returns to his hometown of London, directing his first contemporary picture in the capital. He discusses the joys of working on a more modest sized production, and how important it is for a director to get casting right – having taken a risk with relative newcomers Tuppence Middleton and Alexandra taking on the lead roles. He also tells us of the importance is going in to Trap for Cinderella with as little knowledge as possible, while likening the role of film director to...
The man behind the likes of K-pax, Inkheart and Hackers returns to his hometown of London, directing his first contemporary picture in the capital. He discusses the joys of working on a more modest sized production, and how important it is for a director to get casting right – having taken a risk with relative newcomers Tuppence Middleton and Alexandra taking on the lead roles. He also tells us of the importance is going in to Trap for Cinderella with as little knowledge as possible, while likening the role of film director to...
- 7/11/2013
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
NBC’s Believe appears to be heading toward nerdy super group status. The Alfonso Cuaron/J.J. Abrams pilot just added Resident Evil star Sienna Guillory and Once Upon a Time's Jamie Chung to a cast that already includes Savages' Jake McLaughlin and The Chicago Code's Delroy Lindo. You may also recognize Jamie Chung from Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and The Hangover Part II and Sienna Guillory from the family fantasy, Inkheart. They are also joined by newcomer Johnny Sequoyah who plays Believe’s lead character, Bo.
Alfonso Cuaron will write and direct the pilot, which has an I am Number Four quality to it. Believe revolves around Bo, a young girl who possesses great potential powers, and her guardian who is sworn to protect her for seven years. After sever years, these powers will be at full strength, and one can only assume Bo will...
Alfonso Cuaron will write and direct the pilot, which has an I am Number Four quality to it. Believe revolves around Bo, a young girl who possesses great potential powers, and her guardian who is sworn to protect her for seven years. After sever years, these powers will be at full strength, and one can only assume Bo will...
- 2/27/2013
- by Sara Castillo
- FEARnet
Digital Release Date: Feb. 26, 2013, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D & DVD Release Date: March 12, 2013
Price: DVD $29.99, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.99, Blu-ray 3D Combo $54.99
Studio: DreamWorks Animation/Paramount Home Entertainment
Jack Frost, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy aren’t just myths in DreamWorks Animations’ Rise of the Guardians.
In the movie, the children of Earth are being attacked by the evil spirit Pitch (voiced by Jude Law, Hugo). So the immortal guardians — Jack (Chris Pine, People Like Us), Santa (Alec Baldwin, Rock of Ages), the Bunny (Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables) and the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher, Bachelorette) — join forces for the first time to protect the children and defeat Pitch.
Based on the book by William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians was directed by Peter Ramsey (Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space) with a screenplay by David Lindsay-Abaire (Inkheart).
Rated PG, the movie grossed $101.6 million in theaters in the U.
Price: DVD $29.99, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.99, Blu-ray 3D Combo $54.99
Studio: DreamWorks Animation/Paramount Home Entertainment
Jack Frost, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy aren’t just myths in DreamWorks Animations’ Rise of the Guardians.
In the movie, the children of Earth are being attacked by the evil spirit Pitch (voiced by Jude Law, Hugo). So the immortal guardians — Jack (Chris Pine, People Like Us), Santa (Alec Baldwin, Rock of Ages), the Bunny (Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables) and the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher, Bachelorette) — join forces for the first time to protect the children and defeat Pitch.
Based on the book by William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians was directed by Peter Ramsey (Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space) with a screenplay by David Lindsay-Abaire (Inkheart).
Rated PG, the movie grossed $101.6 million in theaters in the U.
- 2/22/2013
- by Sam
- Disc Dish
DreamWorks Animation's fantasy caper causes sun to set on Twilight, ahead of The Hobbit's expected journey to first place
The winner
For most movies, a successful opening weekend is vital for hanging on to play dates and show times. With Christmas flicks, it's more of a steady jog than a sprint, and cinema bookers understand that playability will be strong right through to 24 December, and particularly solid after schools break up for the holiday. DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians hardly turned heads when it landed in third place last week, behind Skyfall and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.
Now it's top of the heap, thanks to a slender decline of just 19%. Three-day takings of £1.60m push the 10-day tally to £4.06m. Fellow festive offering Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger! fell an almost identical amount (20%) and has totalled £4.38m after 17 days. It now remains to be seen how...
The winner
For most movies, a successful opening weekend is vital for hanging on to play dates and show times. With Christmas flicks, it's more of a steady jog than a sprint, and cinema bookers understand that playability will be strong right through to 24 December, and particularly solid after schools break up for the holiday. DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians hardly turned heads when it landed in third place last week, behind Skyfall and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.
Now it's top of the heap, thanks to a slender decline of just 19%. Three-day takings of £1.60m push the 10-day tally to £4.06m. Fellow festive offering Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger! fell an almost identical amount (20%) and has totalled £4.38m after 17 days. It now remains to be seen how...
- 12/11/2012
- by Charles Gant
- The Guardian - Film News
Sienna Guillory ( Resident Evil , Inkheart , Love Actually , Eragon ) has been cast to play Luther's new love interest in series three of Neil Cross's critically acclaimed drama series, which started filming last week. Luther is back under intense pressure, with two conflicting crimes to investigate and a ruthless ex-copper determined to bring him down. Luther's life is his job; that is, until love crosses his path and offers him a chance of happiness. Guillory plays Mary, who works in a vintage clothes shop. She meets Luther in a chance encounter. Guillory says: "You realise why Luther is so good when you read Neil Cross.s scripts, and then you meet Idris and understand what 'untamed' means. There is no other set I'd rather be on, and I love the disastrous fun of...
- 11/26/2012
- Comingsoon.net
For all that it is, I enjoyed Rise of the Guardians as a film that offers a twist to the iconic holiday and mythological characters adults tell their children about, and does so in a way that doesn't taint what attracts us to these characters in the first place. This isn't to say you should expect anything too far outside the norm from a storytelling perspective, but the fact it's based on the book by William Joyce, whose magical animated short film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore won the Oscar last year, should give some allusion to the imagination that inspired it into being. Adapted by David Lindsay-Abaire, whose genre reach spreads from Inkheart to Rabbit Hole as well as a hand in scripting an upcoming Poltergeist remake, Rise of the Guardians begins by introducing us to the titular Guardians -- Santa Claus (voiced by Alec Baldwin...
- 11/21/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
DreamWorks just released a new set of character posters for its upcoming holiday-mascot mash-up fantasy, Rise of the Guardians.
Based on the Guardians of Childhood series by acclaimed author William Joyce, the film proposes that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman are all members of some kind of supergroup who fight evil and protect children the world over.
The film features voice acting from Hugh Jackman, Chris Pine, Jude Law, Isla Fisher, Alec Baldwin and Dakota Goyo.
Peter Ramsey (Monsters vs. Aliens) is directing the film from a script by the book’s author William Joyce and screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire (Inkheart).
Rise of the Guardians is scheduled to light up theaters November 21st, 2012.
Posters:
Click to continue reading New Rise Of The Guardians Character Posters...
Based on the Guardians of Childhood series by acclaimed author William Joyce, the film proposes that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman are all members of some kind of supergroup who fight evil and protect children the world over.
The film features voice acting from Hugh Jackman, Chris Pine, Jude Law, Isla Fisher, Alec Baldwin and Dakota Goyo.
Peter Ramsey (Monsters vs. Aliens) is directing the film from a script by the book’s author William Joyce and screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire (Inkheart).
Rise of the Guardians is scheduled to light up theaters November 21st, 2012.
Posters:
Click to continue reading New Rise Of The Guardians Character Posters...
- 11/7/2012
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
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