In Julia Loktev's The Loneliest Planet, Gael García Bernal and relative newcomer Hani Furstenberg (Yossi & Jagger) play a young engaged couple backpacking through the Caucasus Mountains in the former Soviet republic of Georgia the summer before their wedding. Their stunning journey is guided by a local villager, but the vast terrain crowds an emotional upheaval that threatens to tear down their promising life together. Loktev spoke with ML about her own visit to the country that inspired the film which has won praise at festivals this year and is headed into theatrical and VOD release this weekend. The making of The Loneliest Planet was a journey unto itself though everyone on board was determined to make it all happen.
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Everything is connected in Cloud Atlas, a few things more directly than others: actor Jim Sturgess portrays one heroic, kind-hearted soul through its evolution from a seafaring 19th century lawyer to a Korean freedom fighter in the futuristic Neo Seoul, many lifetimes (and some controversy-courting Asian make-up) later. When he first read the script, adapted from David Mitchell's novel by Lana & Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, Sturgess understandably had some questions. For starters: Why?
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Wu-Tang rapper-turned-actor and composer RZA makes an explosive directorial debut with The Man With The Iron Fists, a vibrantly stylized homage to martial arts cinema that could only have sprung from the mind of the lifelong kung fu fanatic, hip-hop fixture, and Quentin Tarantino protege. Who else would think to set a Shaw Brothers-esque opening fight sequence to the infectious battle anthem "Shame on a Nigga," a Wu-Tang classic that RZA also used to inject a little of his late cousin and bandmate Ol' Dirty Bastard into Russell Crowe's swaggering Jack Knife?
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As a tough Detroit cop in Rob Cohen's Alex Cross Rachel Nichols (G.I. Joe, Conan) hunts a maniacal serial killer (Matthew Fox) alongside Tyler Perry, who attempts to crossover from his niche following to the mainstream with the James Patterson crime thriller. But it's not the first time the co-stars shared a scene, as Nichols recalled with a laugh: "It took me four days to say, 'You know what’s really funny? We were in Star Trek together!'"
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Ben Lewin’s The Sessions (formerly The Surrogate) emerged as the undisputed hit of Sundance 2012, landing a $6 million sale with the unlikeliest of subjects: A paralyzed man’s quest to lose his virginity, based on the life and writings of Bay Area poet Mark O’Brien.
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After spending six years playing hero on ABC's LOST, Matthew Fox crossed over to the dark side for role in the James Patterson adaptation Alex Cross, in which he plays a master assassin named Picasso whose perverse precision and meticulous skill make him a deadly foil to Detroit cop/psychological profiler (Tyler Perry).
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In a sea of lumpy Spandex, half-assed Harry Potter costumes and face paint, Bruce Campbell set quite a sartorial standard at New York Comic-Con on Saturday. The square-jawed actor — who's currently seen in the USA Network cable TV series Burn Notice but built a hardcore following by playing the character of Ash in Sam Raimi's groundbreaking 1980s The Evil Dead comic-horror trilogy — wore a beacon-like red tuxedo jacket and complementary black-and-red patent leather shoes. more »
Jason Blum had produced a dozen projects before he hit upon 2007's sleeper phenomenon Paranormal Activity, a micro-indie horror pic with no stars that in turn became the model for Blumhouse Productions, his own genre-leaning multimedia label. Fast forward just five years and Paranormal Activity 4 is set to continue the series' low-budget thrills (with webcam technology!) next week, while the Blum-produced Sinister, about a writer (Ethan Hawke) contending with a house haunted by insidious forces, opens today. (For a third new venture, The Blumhouse of Horrors, Blum & Co. take over a historic theater in downtown Los Angeles. More info here.)
Movieline caught up with the man behind many of the most profitable — and cost-effective — horror hits in recent memory for a peek behind the curtain: What's the Blum secret to success?
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Mary Elizabeth Winstead needed to prove herself.
After years of hopping from genre to genre, she wanted to shed her Scott Pilgrim vs. the World dye job and bloody Final Destination 3 history and find a complex role that would be a game-changer for her career.
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Barbara Broccoli was born into the world of James Bond; along with co-producer Harry Saltzman, her father, Cubby Broccoli, brought 007 to the big screen with Dr. No when Barbara was only two years old. It would be inaccurate to say Broccoli inherited the Bond legacy — she’s made it her own, serving as producer from Goldeneye onwards, and in many ways, ushering cinema's favorite secret agent into the modern era. The Skyfall producer rang Movieline to talk about the early days, Bond's role in the cultural conversation over the years, and what the future holds for the character who, fifty years later, is still synonymous with effortless cool.
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Hollywood veteran Martin Landau earned an Oscar in his first collaboration with Tim Burton, 1994's Ed Wood, and for Burton's latest and most personal picture, Frankenweenie, the filmmaker cast his erstwhile Bela Lugosi as the eccentric but inspirational Mr. Rzykruski — the science teacher who nurtures young Victor Frankenstein's budding talents and encourages him to forge his own path. It's a fitting role for the 84-year-old Landau, who lit up as he discussed Frankenweenie and his longtime parallel career as an acting coach to the likes of Jack Nicholson, Anjelica Huston, and many more Hollywood greats under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.
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Ti West (House of the Devil, The Innkeepers) delivers a slow burn with a killer pay-off in his contribution to this weekend's horror anthology V/H/S, a road trip-cum-nightmare starring fellow indie veterans Joe Swanberg, Sophia Takal, and Kate Lyn Sheil. Before departing to Georgia to film his next feature, The Sacrament, West rang Movieline to discuss his V/H/S short, filmed on the road with a camera and no crew other than his three actors, how to recreate their L.A.-to-the-Grand Canyon V/H/S adventure, the creative struggles involved in making personal independent films at increasing scale, and — of course — the magical phenomenon that transforms strangers into compatriots within the confines of a karaoke bar.
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The unshakeable bond between a shy nerd from the ‘burbs and his faithful dog is the heart of Frankenweenie, the black and white stop motion picture (in theaters today) Tim Burton refers to as a “memory piece.” Drawn from his own childhood memories of growing up in Burbank, California, it’s an ode to the kooky neighborhood kids and adults Burton knew, the monster movies that shaped him, and, as Burton told Movieline with a smile, his way of teaching kids about one of the toughest facts of life: Death.
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Indie auteur Joe Swanberg has established himself as the reigning poster child of mumblecore, for better or worse, but as the most surprising filmmaker contributing to the Sundance hit horror anthology V/H/S (in theaters Friday) he begins branching out of his comfort zone with a newfound energy; his entry, The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger, was filmed using Skype — and a script! — and is also one of the more memorable and inventive shorts in the midnight crowd-pleasing omnibus.
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It's been a frustrating four years for Joe Dante, whose latest feature, the kid horror flick The Hole, has endured a rough road to release since filming in 2008. The effective and spooky chiller, about two brothers (Chris Massoglia, Nathan Gamble) fighting the stuff of nightmares with their neighbor (Haley Bennett) after opening a mysterious void in their basement, was one of the first recent films to film in 3-D — but, as Dante recalled to Movieline, being at the forefront of filmed 3-D was ironically also what hurt The Hole's distribution hopes.
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