Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2015 i Empire Australasia

ON THEIR SUBLIME 2006 LIVE ALBUM SONGS FROM SELF Saucing, musical-comedy trio Tripod gave Empire-beloved director Peter Jackson a gentle serve with the song, King Kong. The thrust of it, indeed the chorus, is “get to the fuckin’ monkey,” as the band lamented the movie’s length and, in particular, the leisurely way it got to the motherflippin’ monkey. So while we have jested and japed in the office this month that the Editor’s Letter should be about everything else apart from the Lucasian simian in the room, it was tempting to do just that: take an age to get to that monkey smashing stuff. So, I could go on about the splendid stuff in this issue that isn’t from a galaxy far, far away — stuff like the wide-ranging…

UNLIKE BRIDESMAIDS’ Annie, life is definitely not biting Kristen Wiig in the ass right now. The actor-writer-current Ghostbuster’s cachet is measurable in that most reliable of movie-star metrics, projects she can’t really talk about. Before the ’busting (“We’re having so much fun”) comes Ridley Scott’s The Martian (“Ridley is amazing”), in which she plays a PR guru. First up is a project she can merrily discuss, The Diary Of A Teenage Girl , a frank ’70s-set coming-of-age indie that flaunts her dramatic chops. “I love doing drama,” she enthuses, “but I also love doing comedy and music. I’d prefer to do a whole variety of things.” The period setting struck a chord. “I’d have been happy to walk away in any of the…

EXPERIENCE 1984 Gremlins Writer I’d run the pages to Steven Spielberg’s office, he’d write some edits in the margins while I waited as he was having a meeting with someone like Harrison Ford. It was a graduate school of filmmaking. 1985 The Goonies Writer When I was doing Harry Potter, the 21-year-olds on the set would say, “That film changed my life.” I thought they meant Home Alone, but it was always Goonies. 1985 Young Sherlock Holmes Writer I’m a Sherlock Holmes fanatic. I was obsessed with David Lean when I was writing and saw Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, and I thought, “I want to set this in Victorian England.” I did a lot of research in the era, I wanted it to be authentic and when I finished…

1 While doing boxing training back in the day, Shane went the full Rocky, slurping raw eggs. It held him in good stead for his role as chicken farmer “Swampy” Marsh in Oddball. In one scene he cracks eggs straight into his mouth. “Eating raw eggs is not as bad as you think,” he assures. “Eating them one after the other, I once had 13 of them, I don’t recommend that!” 2 “Penguins are just funny,” Shane explains about his many co-stars, as an island colony of the little blighters are saved from extinction thanks to Swampy’s titular hound in Oddball. “They are like God’s very own visual comedians. No one does slapstick comedy better than a penguin! They all just look a bit drunk, like they just haven’t got…

Who were you in your first school play? The Scarecrow. I was trying to get hold of Dorothy, but she ran off with the Tin Man. Have you ever kept any souvenirs from a movie shoot? Every shoot. My favourite is Thomas Button’s chair from Benjamin Button. There’s a zombie apocalypse. Where do you hole up? Hide out in an abandoned house at the Colony in Malibu. There’s nothing in front of you but ocean, so you’d only have to guard one way. If you could start one rumour about yourself, what would it be? Jason Flemyng is very picky about the projects he does. Aliens land and ask to see a Jason Flemyng double bill. What would you show them? The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and Shifty. Because…

RELEASED: Out now DIRECTOR: Christopher McQuarrie STARRING: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris STORY: Soon after resolving the events that unfolded in Ghost Protocol, top IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) finds himself up against a deadly terrorist organisation known as The Syndicate. RINGS A BELL… That’s because The Syndicate was the IMF’s prime foe in the TV series, first mentioned in Season 1’s 17th episode — though it was basically the Mafia.…

Fast & Furious 7 FROM NOW / RATED M / DIRECTOR JAMES WAN / CAST VIN DIESEL, PAUL WALKER, DWAYNE JOHNSON, JASON STATHAM DIESEL POWER SUBTLETY IS NOT A watchword of the Fast & Furious franchise, Hollywood’s most ludicrously enjoyable treat, but then neither is boredom. Furious 7, as it’s termed in the US, matches the giddy heights of the bonkers Fast 5, and offers an escape from any reality you like. This time, Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and company are recruited by a secret government agency led by Kurt Russell to track down Jason Statham’s vengeful Deckard Shaw — while Shaw hunts them at the same time. Shaw will do ‘til a Terminator gets here, managing to convincingly threaten not only Vin Diesel’s Dom but also Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs.…

You’re in the enviable position of juggling huge box office success with what seem to be more personal films… I am having the career that I always dreamt of having, but I’m also having the career that I worked on having. I was always conscious to not be pigeonholed. We are much bigger and broader than the ideas that people have about us. Is that why you wanted to work on Infinitely Polar Bear? I thought it handled a tricky subject in a humorous and kind way. I have family members who are bipolar, and as scary as that disease is, they are still people and they still have a sense of humour and they are still decent and sweet. It must have been a blast getting the Avengers gang…

When Season 2 of House Of Cards ended with Doug Stamper getting his head bashed in, most people thought that was the end for President Francis Underwood’s right hand man. But Michael Kelly reveals it takes more than a rock to put down television’s most ruthless enforcer… Did you always know Doug had survived his beating? I did. Funnily enough, it kind of got misconstrued a bit — when we shot it, showrunner Beau Willimon said “It’s a really exciting cliffhanger”, and the script said “We see Stamper lying there, barely breathing, but indeed breathing”. But the first piece of press that came out was “I can’t believe they killed Stamper too!” The other press ran with that and then the public picked up on it, so we had to…

POOL OF RADIANCE (1988) Top-notch ’80s technology brought D&D to life with 3D dungeoneering and isometric wizard battles. Magic missiles all round. EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (1991) This riffed on FTL’s Dungeon Master to create a first-person romp complete with floating, spell-flinging eyeballs. PLANESCAPE: TORMENT (1999) Unsuccessful at the time but now a cult classic thanks to a dark storyline, great dialogue and its undying antihero. BALDUR’S GATE II: SHADOWS OF AMN (2000) BioWare claimed the RPG throne with this sequel, which saw the triumphant return of Minsc and Boo. NEVERWINTER (2013) The Forgotten Realms go massively multiplayer. Not as engaging as earlier titles but by far the best-looking.…

BUT WHAT ABOUT… I’ve read the ‘100 Greatest Characters’ September issue, and while I generally did not have a problem with it, it is clear that your readers have not seen the excellent Falling Down, as I have no doubt that William “D-Fens” Foster (Michael Douglas) belongs on this list! And don’t even get me started about: Napoleon Dynamite, Buzz Lightyear, Paul Kersey (Death Wish! C’mon people!), Predator, Dracula, Captain freakin’ Kirk… I could go on forever… and I will! Dr Evil, Austin Powers, Willy Wonka, Jay and Silent Bob (should be considered as one character). That will do for now! DANIEL MCBRIEN, VIA EMAIL All good picks, Daniel, but alas there’s only so much space in the mag! …AND WHAT ABOUT… After reading your article on ‘The 100 Greatest…

GEORGE LUCAS AND STEVEN Spielberg may never have been style icons, but their get-up while filming Raiders Of The Lost Ark on location in Tunisia in 1980 — although clearly incredibly dorktastic for the time — looks precisely like the kind of thing you’d find any number of inner-city hipsters sporting in 2015. Fashion wasn’t the only forward-thinking going on: Lucas wanted a film studio to pony up for the full $20 million budget in exchange for him owning over 40 per cent of the film and collecting almost half the profits after the studio grossed a certain amount. Despite boasting the creative team behind Jaws (!), Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (!!) and Star…

WE GET UNDER THE HOOD OF NEW DROID BB-8 BB-8 STARTED LIFE AS A NAPKIN. Specifically two circles, one large and one small, sketched on said item by J.J. Abrams. Everyone knows R2-D2 is the real hero of the Star Wars saga (he saves every major hero at least once) — this doodle was to become his successor. Enter the wizards in Neal Scanlan’s creature shop, who were determined to make BB-8 as tangible and ‘real’ as his co-stars, so set about building an articulated model. “BB-8 can cock his head over and look away, he can double take, he can look scared, he can look angry. We managed to find a whole vocabulary of movement for him,” says puppeteer Brian Herring. “We worked out a whole bunch of stuff.…

The Stunt Man (1980) Lucky (Steve Railsback) suggests to mad director Eli Cross (Peter O’Toole) that the daredevil World War I pilot hero of the film they’re making would celebrate a victory by doing a Charleston on the wing of his biplane in mid-air. Cross then makes him do it. The real wing-walker in the film is really John Kazian, who did similar stuff in The Great Waldo Pepper. Commando (1985) Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) clings to a wheel as a Western Airlines DC10 takes off (at over 115km/h), then lets go mid-air and falls safely in a swamp. Because it was almost impossible to substitute a stunt double for Arnie, he did most of this sequence himself. A mock-up wheel was used for close-ups, but most of this is filmed…

RELEASED: Sept 10 DIRECTOR: Wes Ball STARRING: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Aidan Gillen, Giancarlo Esposito, Thomas Brodie-Sangster STORY: Amnesiac Thomas (O’Brien) and his fellow survivors have escaped the Maze only to find themselves at the next level of the ‘game’, where they have to traverse a particularly treacherous wasteland. WHAT’S THEIR NEXT CHALLENGE? Having to become proper grown-ups and get boring jobs. Either that, or an adaptation of writer James Dashner’s third Maze Runner book, The Death Cure.…

The Day Of The Locust (1975) Among the celebrity lookalikes attending the 1938 Tinseltown premiere that degenerates into a riot in this adaptation of Nathanael West’s uncompromising novel is Dick Powell Jr. — posing as his crooner father, star of many Busby Berkeley musicals and later a notable screen tough guy. Edith et Marcel (1983) Before Marion Cotillard won an Oscar playing songstress Edith Piaf, Evelyne Bouix took the role in this Claude Lelouch production which focuses on the romance between Piaf and boxer Marcel Cerdan, who was played by his own son, Marcel Cerdan Jr.. NB: Piaf wasn’t his mother, which is good because that would have been weird… Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1990) In addition to playing herself in this TV movie biopic, Loren also plays her…

1 Meet Deckard (CHAPTER 1, 1:00) We’re introduced to Jason Statham’s bad guy, Deckard Shaw, in spectacular fashion — as he levels a hospital to talk to baby brother Owen (Luke Evans). “Jason and myself were the new kids,” says director James Wan. “I wanted to make a statement with my opening scene. This is a slightly different Fast & Furious film — it doesn’t involve cars to the extent that they had in the past.” 2 The Shaw Brothers (CHAPTER 1, 1:18) At the end of the film, both Shaws are still alive. It almost went a different way. “I pitched a version where, as he leaves the room, Statham unplugs Owen’s life-support and mercy-kills his brother. But there’s potential down the road for the brothers to team up…

1 The Transporter Refueled (2015) Place du Palais De Justice, Nice Ed Skrein steps into Jason Statham’s shiny brogues and scuffs them on the solar plexuses of henchmen all over the Riviera. One scene sees him pick up Loan Chabanol’s Anna at Nice’s Palais de Justice, disguised as a Monaco bank, while we also visit Nice’s airport. 2 The Jewel Of The Nile (1985) Villefranche-sur-Mer port If you’re lucky enough to have a yacht handy, perhaps bought with proceeds from the sale of a huge emerald, you could do worse than park it here, just outside Nice. That way, you can waterski by day while your other half writes romance novels, and head into town to meet rich-but-despotic rulers at night — or just admire the town. 3 Ronin (1998)…

WIN! The Flash, Arrow and Gotham DVD packs CAN’T GET ENOUGH SUPERHERO ACTION IN YOUR LIFE? DO YOU NEED another hit of bulging spandex comic book heroism? Well, KAPOW! We have five sets of televised DC Comics action to get your capes flapping, including The Flash S1, Arrow S3 and Gotham S1. Enter now! TO WIN, TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE DC COMIC IS, AND WHY. WIN! The Walking Dead Season 5 on Blu-ray WILL OUR HEROES ESCAPE TERMINUS? WILL they discover a cure for all of the flesh-munching nastiness? Will Rick Grimes calm down? The fifth season of The Walking Dead answers all, garnering accolades galore. Enter now to win one of 10 Blu-rays of TV’s bloodiest…

A BIT MORE BITE Our family loves your magazine and I really enjoyed reading through your 100 greatest characters, but was disappointed not to see Bruce The Shark (Jaws) on your list. I understand that there were only 100 but having watched the movie several times, and appreciating the effect Jaws had on people and how they felt about sharks and the ocean, it seems to me that it was a pretty outstanding character. CURTIS LAWRENCE (AGE 11), EAST BRUNSWICK, VIC You’re 11 and your parents have already let you watch Jaws several times?! Coolest parents ever! Every letter printed this month receives a DVD copy of Spring , a creepy horror/romance/sci-fi about a young guy who hooks up with a girl who possesses rather disturbing transformative…

TONY MONTANA’S LITTLE FRIEND Colt AR-15 with M203 Grenade Launcher attachment PACINO BY NUMBERS 170cm HEIGHT 9 “HOO-AH!”S IN SCENT OF A WOMAN 4’33 ” DURATION OF HIS INCHES SPEECH IN ANY GIVEN SUNDAY OSCARS NOMINATIONS: 1973: Best Supporting Actor, The Godfather 1974: Best Actor, Serpico 1975: Best Actor, The Godfather Part II 1976: Best Actor, Dog Day Afternoon 1980: Best Actor, …And Justice For All 1991: Best Supporting Actor, Dick Tracy 1993: Best Supporting Actor, Glengarry Glen Ross OSCAR WINS: 1993: Best Actor, Scent Of A Woman HEAT VS. RIGHTEOUS KILL PEOPLE OFFED BY MICHAEL CORLEONE IN THE GODFATHER TRILOGY: * Killed by Michael Corleone’s own hands. The rest are murdered at his request BOX OFFICE $134,966,411 THE GODFATHER $26,282 TWO…

HOW’S THIS FOR PRECOCIOUS? Having kicked off his film career playing Richard Ayoade’s idea of a Welsh teenager in Submarine, Craig Roberts is now a director at the age of 24. And a writer. Oh, and the star as well. “I had stories of me growing up in Wales,” Roberts says modestly of Just Jim. “So I just put something together, and added an American.” That American is Emile Hirsch, who today is standing alongside Roberts and Aneirin Hughes in a field in the rain, pretending that it’s a golf course. Not all the locations have been cheated though: Just Jim is autobiographical enough that it’s being shot in the village of Maesycwmmer, where Roberts grew up. “I didn’t need to do any location scouting ,” he says. Jim even…

ADAM SANDLER CAREER GRAPH* (US DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE ONLY) THE TOP 10 BEST PICTURE WINNERS (US DOMESTIC) 1 TITANIC $600.8 MILLION 2 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING $377.0 MILLION 3 FORREST GUMP $329.6 MILLION 4 GLADIATOR $187.7 MILLION 5 DANCES WITH WOLVES $184.2 MILLION 6 RAIN MAN $172.8 MILLION 7 A BEAUTIFUL MIND $170.7 MILLION 8 CHICAGO $170.6 MILLION 9 SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE $141.3 MILLION 10 PLATOON $138.5 MILLION MOVIE INFLATION IN 1988, DIE HARD’S HANS GRUBER ATTEMPTED TO STEAL $640 MILLION IN BEARER BONDS FROM THE NAKATOMI CORPORATION. TODAY, THAT WOULD EQUATE TO… $1.286 BILLION…

SPEAR A contemporary Aboriginal story told through movement and dance, from Bangarra’s Stephen Page. HIGHLY STRUNG Scott Hicks’s (Shine) doco about classical music and rare instruments collector’s spend millions buying. GIRL ASLEEP A girl turns 15 and finds herself flung into a strange parallel universe. Based on the Windmill Theatre play. SAM KLEMKE’S TIME MACHINE In 1977, teen Sam Klemke began to obsessively narrate and film his life. An intimate doc about being human.…

SEPT 1 Holy cricket! Harry Potter starts school at Hogwarts on this day in 1992. SEPT 2 The world’s wettest film festival opens in Venice. Everest kicks things off. Hope they haven’t peaked too soon. SEPT 3 Take a celebratory sip of tiger blood — Charlie Sheen is 50 today. Or, in Charlie Sheen years, he’s 489. SEPT 4 “Ze plane! Ze plane!” The 3’11” Hervé Villechaize, Fantasy Island’s Tattoo and Bond henchman Nick Nack, died on this day in 1993. SEPT 5 If you’re red hot lucky, there might still be tickets to the Sydney Theatre Company’s The Present , starring Richard Roxburgh and Cate Blanchett. SEPT 6 It’s Film Festival month, alright, and Telluride — which started…

THE MUST-SEE  KYLO REN IS NOT A… HE WORKS for... uh, do you mind holding on for a moment?” And with that J.J. Abrams is gone. The director has been speaking to Empire from the airport at the tail end of a family holiday. For the past hour we have been delicately teasing out information about The Force Awakens, arguably the year’s most closely guarded secret. We finally start to make headway at the exact moment Abrams reaches security. His phone, and with it Empire, is abruptly confiscated and placed in a tray alongside shoes, belt and wallet. As it trundles down the conveyor towards X-ray, only the customs official can hear our scream of frustration. Black-robed and badass, Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren is the character who launched a thousand…

DOUBLE SUNDANCE WINNER. THREE words to strike fear into the heart of any regular multiplex-goer. A catch-all category phrase that at best invokes Bryan Cranston shouting, at worst calls to mind a) aggressive whimsy, b) intense navel-gazing or c) both. But Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is the exception that proves the rule. It’s the story of teenage filmmaker Greg Gaines (Thomas Mann), who is coerced into befriending leukaemia-stricken Rachel (Olivia Cooke). So far, so Fault In Our Stars. But while the A plot peddles a fresh brand of smarts, comedy, satire, poignancy and gut-wrenching emotion, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s charmer of an indie also delivers a neat affectionate sideline in movie-buff gamesmanship through the little films made by acned auteur Greg and his “co-worker”, Earl Jackson (RJ Cyler). The…

Infinitely Polar Bear FROM SEPTEMBER 23 / RATED M Inspired by her own experience with mental health, Maya Forbes’s crowd-pleasing indie flick tackles the subject of bipolar disorder with kid gloves, avoiding any grand pronouncements. Mark Ruffalo is typically engaging as the troubled dad, Cameron, desperate to win his family back at any cost. When he gets the chance, with wife Maggie (Zoe Saldana) heading off to business school, the task proves predictably challenging. Sweet and low-key, the film wears its heart happily on its sleeve. EXTRAS Featurettes. ED GIBBS Ex Machina FROM SEPTEMBER 10 / RATED MA15+ Alex Garland fashions a film noir bordering on horror as Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac apply the Turing Test to Alicia Vikander’s fembot fatale, Frankenstein’s Promethean portents are reworked for the Apple…