november 2015

$8.95
nZ $10.20
 004 NOVEMBER 2015

Affleck figures out how to

break into the Bat-suit. Find
out how he does it on page 52.
Contents 11.15

Features
36 The 15 Smartest Cameos
Not including Stan Lee, whose Marvel
pop-ups would fill the entire damn issue.

52 Batman V Superman:
Dawn Of Justice
Zack Snyder whacks icons together like
the Large Hadron Collider smashes
particles. Only with billowier capes.

66 Crimson Peak
Triple-bill it with Crimson Tide
and Dante’s Peak, then have a weird
dream about Pierce Brosnan in a
haunted submarine.

72 Bridge Of Spies
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks build a
bridge and presumably get over it.

78 The Walk
Robert Zemeckis gets high.

85 The Empire Interview

The Intern’s Robert De Niro and Anne
Hathaway shoot shit. Rejected headline:
You Talkin’ To Me, Anne? You Talkin’
To Me, Anne? You Talkin’ To Me, Anne?

90 Fatal Attraction
Bugs the office rabbit has been in hiding
since this was commissioned.

004 NOVEMBER 2015

 006 NOVEMBER 2015

USE VIEWA
HERE! SCAN
PAGE FOR THE
EMPIRE HUB!
Contents 11.15
This month
on Viewa!
See below for how
to get the viewa
app, then scan this
page for a bevvy of
interactive content,
including…

IN CINEMAS
Trailers and clips and
more, for all the films!

VINCENT PRICE
TRAILERS
And more schlock
horror choice bits.

Then, head to…

113 CAPTION COMP

Regulars A dinoaur and his “dog” in Pixar’s

The Good Dinosaur p.14.
For a chance to win a
superb poster book.

10CommentOr, The Undying Wonder And

Delight Found In Reading Upturned Cans
42 THE MARTIAN ★★★★★
97Re.ViewLots of new releases for the
devoted, and… a nine-disc collection of
44 MISTRESS AMERICA ★★★★★
Of Spleen. (Working title). vintage Vincent Price horror madness:
LEARNING TO DRIVE ★★★★★

13Premiere
Let’s transact, dear friend!
45 THE WALK ★★★★★
Sly Stallone and Michael B.
Jordan and ordnance-obsessed
pensioners who fancy Catherine
46 PAN ★★★★★
THE INTERN ★★★★★
THE LOBSTER ★★★★★
98The Viewing Guide
Did you know: George Miller
originally wanted to shoot Fury Road on
Zeta-Jones (Dad’s Army). Plus: what 47 THE DRESSMAKER ★★★★★ Ramsay St?

109Masterpiece
kind of dinosaur have they cooked up in LIFE ★★★★★
that lab? Knowing Pixar, one that 48 CUT SNAKE ★★★★★
cuddles for sport. Trapped in a cabin MISS YOU ALREADY ★★★★★ A bona fide classic from
with QT. In a nutshell: Reservoir Logs. THE VISIT ★★★★★ a time when French cinema was

26Too
HOW TO CHANGE THE… ★★★★★ actually life or death. No, not The
Much 49 SICARIO ★★★★★ Pink Panther.
Information
114Classic Scene
50 UNINDIAN ★★★★★
Stats and facts on the Sundance Kid, ALEX & EVE ★★★★★
Robert Redford. Only thing missing? THE WRECKING CREW ★★★★★ Christian Bale goes Sith.
Whether or not he can dance some. MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS Other actors who have impersonated

32The Grill
★★★★★ Darth Vader in a movie: Rick Moranis,
51 EVEREST ★★★★★ Ethan Hawke, Keanu Reeves and Seth
John Waters fires up the barbie, Rogen. S’true!
resists urge to put dog poop in it.

Watch

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006 NOVEMBER 2015

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Credits NOVEMBER 2015

(... and the paint-named colour of our cape)
EDITORIAL
EDITOR DANIEL MURPHY 02 8268 4621
(Ranch Dressing)
SENIOR EDITOR DAVID MICHAEL BROWN 02 8114 9495
(Inky Black)
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I
(Limp Bone)
ART DIRECTOR CRAIG CARROLL 02 8114 9433
T’S ALMOST A CERTAINTY HE KNOWS IT, BECAUSE (Salmon Mist)
hell-if-it-ain’t-true. Marvel production supremo Kevin Feige is responsible PHOTO EDITOR LEWIS ASTRIDGE 02 8114 9444
for a complete revolution in the way we consume screened culture. By tying (Pantone 185C)
together different films about different protagonists into a combined
Marvel Cinematic Universe, then expanding it onto small screen versions, CONTRIBUTORS
he — and the rest of the creative team at Marvel — have opened Pandora’s Box, Michael Adams, Liz Beardsworth, Elizabeth Best, Simon Braund, John Catania,
Phillip Clear, Simon Crook, Nick De Semlyen, Phil De Semlyen, James Dyer,
creating a formula for success and imaginative exploration that is now being Angie Errigo, James Evans, Ed Gibbs, Luke Goodsell, Chris Hewitt, David Hughes,
adapted by everyone with the material and wherewithal to give it a nudge. Dan Jolin, Danny Mackenzie, Ben McEachen, Jim Mitchell, Ian Nathan, Kim Newman,
Thus, Disney are rapidly blasting new Star Wars myths into their universe Helen O’Hara, David Parkinson, Patrick Peters, Nev Pierce, Olly Richards,
(Lucasfilm had form here, of course: The Clone Wars and the, erm, Star Wars Mark Salisbury, Damon Wise, Cameron Wood

Holiday Special ) with Rogue One, plus a young-Han Solo film (for regular
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don’tcha Chris Miller and Phil Lord!) and more. There are even rumours that the Brand Manager, Men’s Lifestyle Aaron Morton 02 9263 9744
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‘Why?’ might be as important a question as ‘How?’ Sales Director, NSW Jo Clasby
But the reason we are here this month is to discover the spark of inspiration Sales Director, Victoria Andrea Salmon
Group Manager, Brand Advertising Strategy Simon Davies
behind Zack Snyder’s foundation for the DC Cinematic Universe (DCCU, Director Of Sales Tony Kendall
anybody?). What started as a Man Of Steel sequel has quickly scaled up into a
grand play, an extended narrative and whole new pool to play in and pour films MARKETING AND CIRCULATION
from. As The Avengers evolve and grow to include/interchange Marvel’s Marketing Director Matthew Dominello 02 9282 8915
Marketing General Manager Natalie Bettini 02 9282 8442
enormous roster of lesser known characters, it’s a nice moment to be able to Brand Manager Kimberly Omodei 02 9282 8038
witness the rebirth of DC’s big game players Batman, Superman and Wonder Circulation Manager Charlotte Gray 02 8268 4620
Woman (and to a lesser extent Aquaman), together at last. Our exclusive, Group Circulation Manager, Men’s & Specialist Paul Weaving
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In a final note for this month, a great big shout out to the organisers of and PRODUCTION
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for photos of the hundreds of people snapped in front of our giant cover. General Manager Prepress James Hawkes
Viewa Campaign Manager Melody Li
For now, enjoy the issue.
EMPIRE UK
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“I think the first Assistant Editor Ian Freer
Associate Editor Liz Beardsworth
thing we mentioned was International Director Simon Greves
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DANIEL Publisher Cornelia Schulze
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involuntarily weep.”
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008 NOVEMBER 2015

 Blu-Ray Collection

9 Chilling Classics From The

“Master of Menace”

AVAILABLE AT
 010 NOVEMBER 2015
Comment
LETTER of the MONTH
APPLAUSE FOR WARS
When I got my October issue of
Empire I was amazed — The Force
Awakens looks great and I can’t wait
to see it. It reminds me of the
Original Trilogy that has long kept
me entertained. In the excitement I
created these — hope you enjoy.
ZAC FAHEY (AGE 13), VIA EMAIL
Nice work Zac — the old and the
new fit together surprisingly well!
Every letter printed
this month scores the
writer a very special
prize indeed: a DVD of
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell
No! You’re welcome.
010 NOVEMBER 2015
EMPIRE MAGAZINE, LEVEL 9, 54 PARK STREET, SYDNEY, NSW 2000 /
@EMPIREMAGAZINE (#EMPIREAUST) / FB.COM/EMPIREAUST
THE FANDOM AWAKENS
A trilogy of paragraphs regarding the
holiest of movie universes on the
appropriately numbered page 66 is why
Empire is my go-to magazine. It begins
with an eloquent insight into the
ownership of Star Wars from its first new
caretaker. Next an extraordinarily clever
turn of phrase, rejuvenating an immortal
sense of dread uttered in the original
movie and transposing it to our universe
(midi-chlorians; SHUDDER). Wrapped up
with a comforting reassurance from this
episode’s maker: “quintessential Star
Wars”. I enjoyed the prequels. I LOVED the
original trilogy. I, like you, see a new hope
in the future movies from Lucasfilm. And
knowing you have the same admiration is
evident in your finely crafted reporting:
enough info without spoilers, told with
reverent irreverence, and polished with a
scoundrel’s wink. See you in the queue!
STEPHEN SCOTT, BRISBANE, QLD
Not if we see you first, Gold Leader.
TROOP GOOF?
First I must state that like many Star Wars
fans, I am incredibly excited about the new
movie! And happy to see the latest edition
of your great mag has two awesome
covers, although I am a little confused
though as the “villains” edition, when
unfolded, shows the rear view of
stormtroopers from the older movies, not
the newer improved models. Is this a slip
up on your behalf? Or is there battalion of
old troopers still hanging around since the
demise of the Empire?
MARK TURNER, BUDERIM, QLD
The cover images came directly from
Lucasfilm themselves, Mark, so interpret
that how you will…
COUNTING DOWN
I’m currently deployed overseas and am
fortunate enough to have my wife forward
CONTACT US VIA:
EMPIRE@BAUER-MEDIA.COM.AU /
me my Empire subscription. While putting
up the posters was at first a way of
changing my spartan living quarters, it’s
become more a countdown clock to going
home! Just need a few more, keep it up!
B. THURGAR, VIA EMAIL
Happy to oblige for your completely
SPINE QUOTE excellent countdown system, B.
HONOUR ROLE
JAGSHEMASH, EMPIRE!
You wonderful folks never fail to impress
with each edition, especially your list of 10
#175 funniest characters which features that
ambassador of political incorrectness
“That scene with Borat and his favourite quote,
the dogs around “jagshemash”. However, after researching
the garbage…” a moderate amount of automatic
translation websites — I’m a fierce
THE FILM researcher, can’t you tell? — I could not
While We’re Young verify that this is in fact a valid
(2014) Kazakhstani word. Far be it for me to
expose Borat as a charlatan, because as it
THE CONNECTION turns out, ‘jagshemash’ sounds pretty
Said by Adam much the same as the Polish phrase “Jak
Driver, who also sie masz”, which simply means “How are
appears in The you?”, and is very similar to the Ukrainian
Force Awakens. and Czech equivalents, so he’s at very
least remaining loyal to that larger chunk
THE WINNER of Eastern Bloc nations. If you want to
Laura Griffiths, know how I worked out this useful little
via email morsel of knowledge, just check my you
beaut surname, it’s a dead give away.
THE REWARD RAY MILCZARSKI, HAMILTON VIC
An Empire cap for Top sleuthing, Ray! Is nice.
you! Send answers
to empire@ LETHAL MISTAKE
bauer-media I have no choice but to castigate my
.com.au fellow readers for a startling omission
among the ‘100 Greatest Characters’.
Just where the hell are Lethal Weapon’s
Riggs and/or Murtaugh? Danny Glover is
sadly underrated. Democratic immunity?
It’s just been revoked!
ALEX LISTER, VIA EMAIL
A valid complaint, Alex — Riggs and
Murtaugh aren’t too old for this shit.

ART ATTACK
Great mag, have been collecting for a
while now, love the posters and always
put them up before I start reading. Just
thought I’d send you some fan artwork
I’ve painted recently. The Wolverine
painting I did because I couldn’t wait to
see Hugh Jackman get into the iconic
costume. The Darth Vader drawing was
completed due the build up to the new
movie and the Judge Dredd I did because
I was glad the way the Dredd movie
turned out. Hope you enjoy!
JOHN H LYNCH
Thanks for sharing, John! Anyone else
got some movie inspired art they want
to share? Send ’em in!
COBRA BOTHER
As a self-proclaimed G.I. Joelogist, I feel
the need to point that the acronym that
appeared for COBRA in the Mission
Impossible feature is factually inaccurate.
While it is true COBRA has been
attributed to many acronyms over the
years, the word from the creator of
COBRA, Larry Hama, has stated that it
doesn’t stand for any thing, and it’s just a
cool name for a group of villains. Yes, I
know this makes me petty and a fanboy
but it’s something I’m proud off. Other
than that, keep up the great work guys.
MATTHEW DANSIE, VIA EMAIL
An actual G.I. Joeologist? We salute
your A-grade nerdery, good sir!
R.I.P. WES CRAVEN
It was with great sadness that I heard
about the loss of one of horror film’s true
masters — Wes Craven. From his absolutely
brutal first features Last House On The
Left (made with Sean Cunningham, who
later directed Friday The 13th) and The
Hills Have Eyes, the criminally underrated
Serpent And The Rainbow, to his game
changers A Nightmare On Elm Street and
NOVEMBER 2015 011
Scream, Wes showed us an understanding Above: Dredd judges; a timeline of the history of digital effects.
of the genre and an affinity for storytelling Hugh-verine; Darth and The first use of CGI to create a living
and characterisation that perhaps only a cloaked friends. creature was attributed to Jurassic Park. It
handful of directors could hope to touch. was my understanding that this landmark
Thanks to you, I will always have fond can be attributed to Jim Henson’s
memories of seeing young Johnny Depp Labyrinth, which features a CGI owl in the
sucked into a bed and subsequently opening title sequence and pre-dates
ejected as a fountain of gore. R.I.P. Wes, Jurassic Park by seven years. Incidentally,
we have lost a giant of the genre. George Lucas acted as a producer on the
DANIEL MCBRIEN, VIA EMAIL film and ILM provided the visual effects.
Well said, Daniel. Turn to page 30 for Apologies if I’m calling you out on a
Empire’s tribute. non-existent mistake, but should Labyrinth
instead be the film credited as featuring
JURASSIC MISTAKE the first CGI living creature?
Reading the ‘Joy Of SFX’ (issue 174), I LACHLAN BOWES, VIA EMAIL
recognised what may be a mistake in the You’re… correct! Oops.
IN THE OFFICE THIS MONTH
TWEET US!
Going out to
purchase BOTH
copies so I have
2x @Deadpool-
Movie posters to
put up. Thank you
@EmpireAust!
@B1ackSword
Just got the new
@EmpireAust Star
Wars edition...
sorry Heroes, the
Villain cover was
just too cool to
pass up! Straight outta Empire, crazy motherflipper named JJ! Reviews Editor James
#DarkSide Jennings got to shoot the shit recently with Straight Outta Compton’s O’Shea
@bigmuzzAUS Jackson Jr. (Ice Cube) and Ice Cube (er, Ice Cube). No caps got popped.
NOVEMBER 2015 011
 NOVEMBER 20155 013

Premiere
THE FACE

THE NEW ROAD

FOR ROCKY
MICHAEL B. JORDAN ON
TRADING PUNCHES WITH
ROCKY HIMSELF FOR CREED

How did you react when director Ryan

Coogler approached you about playing
Apollo Creed’s son?
We were shooting Fruitvale [Station]
when he told me about it. I was like,
“Let’s do it!” Creed was very important
to him — it came from his relationship
with his father, a huge Rocky fan. That’s
something powerful and honest, the type
of film I want to be involved in. After
that I started boxing training in secret.

Were you a Rocky fan?

I didn’t have as strong a connection as
Ryan, but I’m definitely a fan. II and IV
were my favourites.
• © KWAKU ALSTON/CORBIS OUTLINE

Did you study any other movie boxers?

No, I wanted to do my own thing.
Adonis is kind of an unrefined, scrappy
version of Apollo Creed. I watched a lot
of tapes of Tim Bradley [WBO
welterweight champion]. He’s got a real
wild technique.

NOVEMBER 2015 013

 014

THE GOOD DINOSAUR

DIRECTOR PETE SOHN EXPLAINS HIS UNIQUE DESIGN CHALLENGE

WORDS DAN JOLIN

What was your first impression of Sly?

He started to show me how to shadow
box right there in his office. He hit me a
body blow and I was like, “Damn, he still
got some bite!” He was a great
collaborator. We were constantly working
together to make scenes better. He’s got a
crazy work ethic and energy. Rocky is
such a huge part of his life, he’s got so
many stories, always something
entertaining going on. And he’s got no
filter at all. He’ll tell you anything.

What was his most ‘entertaining’ story?

Can’t tell you that, man [laughs]. That’s
guy talk.

What can you tell us about Adonis?

He’s a guy who’s lived his whole life in the
shadow of a father he never knew. He’s
got a lot of identity issues and he’s trying
to figure out who the fuck he is. At heart
he’s a guy who grew up without a dad and
he’s trying to fill that hole.

You trained for a year as a boxer?

I worked with a guy named Rob Sale,
who worked with Sly on Grudge Match.
He really laid down the fundamentals for
me. And Ryan is friends with Andre Ward
[reigning WBA super-middleweight
champion], one of the best fighters in the
world. So I got to learn from the best and
I got my ass kicked by the best.

You really took a beating? The “Dog”

Sure. I like to be ‘method’. If I’m playing
a fighter, treat me like a fighter. I wanted
full contact, as much as Ryan and the
insurance company would allow. And it’s
a Rocky movie — you can’t half-ass it,
know what I mean?
What was the worst hit you took?
It was for a shot we couldn’t fake. I had to
take a real punch to the head. I felt like
I’d been in a car crash for three days.
SIMON BRAUND
CREED IS OUT ON NOVEMBER 26 AND WILL BE
REVIEWED IN A FUTURE ISSUE.
SPOT, HOMO SAPIENS
“Designing Spot was more than tough.
To believe that this character was not
going to make ‘human’ decisions, you
really had to sell his animal behaviour. It
was all about trying to find the
behaviour of a dog — you know, like the
classic is the sideways head-nod — you
can capitalise on, in terms of, ‘Oh, this
animal is trying to think about
something.’ Even the simple idea of my
eyes locking onto you: humans do that a
lot, but animals do not. Spot has all
these little gestures that keep him
animal, so that when Arlo is reacting to
him it’s not on this ‘human to human’
level. That sincere little connection, and
how that could grow, really charged me.
It’s not like a standard buddy film where
these two guys are in conflict with each
other. It’s part-survival movie, too.
There are a lot of tests and challenges
for Arlo that this little ‘dog’ can help out
with. And that has been the heart of it,
in terms of this dog filling a hole in this
young ‘boy’, helping him to mature and
to become who he wants to be.”

014 NOVEMBER 2015

 NOVEMBER 20155 0155
The “Boy”
ARLO, APATOSAURUS

“We were trying to find the boy in the
dinosaur — something connectible and
appealing, but also youthful. Even
though he walks on all fours, what
gestures can we give him that make him
feel like that kid who just didn’t get all
the right cards dealt for him? At the
same time, his design incorporates the
way he moves, and we put in all this
work in terms of making the physics
right, so he is grounded in the world.
When you see his dad, he has much
more of that sense of a big, 40-ton
dinosaur, with column-like legs moving
at a certain rate. So we are
capitalising on what we love
about dinosaurs, but at the
same time it’s all about the
character informing
everything in the design,
and then the movement.”
THE GOOD DINOSAUR IS
OUT DECEMBER 26.

“It’s really a boy

and his dog story…”
DIRECTOR PETE SOHN

NOVEMBER 2015 015

 WORLD EXCLUSIVE!
DAVID O. RUSSELL AND J-LAW
TEMPT OSCAR WITH JOY
E HAVE THE
same team, we love
what we do and it gets
rather intense...” David
O. Russell is snatching a
few minutes away from editing to talk to
Empire about his latest genre-slaloming
comedy-drama kind-of-but-not-really-
biopic, Joy.
Just as American Hustle started out
as the true-life tale of con artist Melvin
Weinberg and morphed into a
fictionalised caper, so Joy began life as
the real story of businesswoman Joy
Mangano — written by Bridesmaids
co-writer Annie Mumolo — and evolved
at Russell’s keyboard into a more
wide-reaching, family epic, inspired by
other women in Russell’s life, including
016 NOVEMBER 2015
his mother. “It’s an ambitious one that
covers over 30 years and goes deep into
the soul of my first woman protagonist,”
he says. “I mean, Jennifer is a very
strong presence — as are Amy Adams
and Melissa Leo — in the previous
films, but now... Really it’s all inside of
her heart and soul. It’s a big step for all
of us.”
Mangano was a single mother with a
knack for invention, whose self-wringing
Miracle Mop went on to sell $10
million-worth a year, boosted by her
charismatic appearances on a home
shopping channel. Fans of snazzy
cleaning products will be delighted to
know that the mop has made it into the
movie, but the screen Joy is a wilder
concoction — ambitious in the extreme,
prepared to go to any lengths. “There are
a lot of deep, dark chapters in this story,”
says Russell, “which is what made me
want to do it.”

Above: Lawrence. As well as Lawrence, other returning
Top right: De Niro and members of the David O. Russell
Édgar Ramírez. Travelling Repertory Company include
Above right: Cooper. Bradley Cooper, as an exec at the
Below: Russell. shopping network, and Robert De Niro,
as Joy’s father. Virginia Madsen is Joy’s
mother, a vulnerable figure who is
“almost like one of Jennifer’s other
children”, while Isabella Rossellini plays
her formidable financier. “It’s ambitious
in the different voices that it has,” says
Russell, who mentions The Godfather,
Citizen Kane and It’s A Wonderful Life
as tonal reference points, in terms of
films dealing with the loss of your soul.
It clearly resonates for a man who felt
he’d lost his way as a filmmaker — he
underrates I Heart Huckabees, which
was followed by the disastrous,
abortive production of Nailed
(eventually released a couple of
months ago, pseudonymously, as
Accidental Love) — before The
NOVEMBER 2015
Fighter put him back on the map. This is
now his fourth picture in a row expected
to be a serious Oscar contender, but
more important to him is what it means.
“Joy is the theme of the picture, because
there are a lot of times where joy seems
to have vanished from your adult life
and it’s a faint memory from
innocent childhood,” he says. “That’s
difficult to get through, those
grown-up moments. And sometimes
you never get through them.
Sometimes you end up as someone
who forgets what joy ever meant
— or it’s some broken shadow of
what it ever meant. That’s
another essential question of the
whole movie: ‘Even if you do
succeed, what are you left with
inside your scarred soul? Is it
worth it?’” NEV PIERCE
JOY IS OUT ON DECEMBER 26.
017
AWARDS TALK
CAN
FURIOSA
WIN AN
OSCAR?
IS CHARLIZE THERON
A DARK HORSE?
AT THE MOMENT, THE BEST
Actress Oscar race seems
to be a fairly staid affair, a
line-up of the usual suspects
— Blanchett, Lawrence,
Streep — in Oscar-friendly
roles with doggedly worthy
Oscar-friendly fare. But don’t
rule out the darkest of dark
horses just yet: Charlize
Theron, for her turn as
Imperator Furiosa in Mad
Max: Fury Road.
It’s unlikely, but Fury
Road had such a critical
impact that the film itself,
and George Miller, should
lodge in the Academy’s mind
when it comes to
nominations, so why not
Theron? Her intense but
layered performance gives
Miller’s film its heart and
balls, while the Academy is
not averse to nominating
blockbuster turns: just look
at Johnny Depp for the first
Pirates Of The Caribbean or,
more pertinently, Sigourney
Weaver, who was nominated
for Best Actress for Aliens
back in 1986.
We’d love to see it — a
left-field choice that would
show that the
Academy still has
teeth. And Theron
can always nip
by the Dolby
Theatre on her
way to the Bullet
Farm, and pick
up a little
golden guy.
NOVEMBER 2015 017
 018 NOVEMBER 2015
WEATHER FORECASTING
Forecasters can predict the second it will stop raining. “That was a
joke, but also to solve a problem — if it’s raining you wouldn’t see
wires on the car. But we didn’t want rain for the rest of the scene.”
We’re not quite there yet… “But there’s an app that almost does
that, which is amazing.”
FLYING CARS
The only way to get around Hill Valley. “We knew that wasn’t
going to happen. People have a hard enough time driving in two
dimensions — probably not a good idea giving them a third!”
MR. FUSION
The portable fusion generator that powers Doc Brown’s car. “It
was the most wonderful, optimistic thing we could think of to
show in the future,” says Gale. “We knew the cleanest version of
nuclear power would be fusion power.”
HOVERBOARDS
A futuristic skateboard, this is the single-most requested invention
from the sequel. “We envisioned it because of the maglev trains that
were coming out then. If you can levitate a train, you can levitate a
skateboard!” Car company Lexus recently unveiled a working
hoverboard they’ve developed.
018 NOVEMBER 2015
SPECIAL REPORT
GREAT
SCOTT!
SCREENWRITER BOB GALE ON
WHAT BACK TO THE FUTURE
PART II GOT RIGHT — AND
WRONG — ABOUT 2015
DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE SEEMINGLY THOUSANDS OF
fake memes telling you otherwise: October 21,
2015 is the day that Marty McFly and Doc go to
the future in Back To The Future Part II. And it’s
finally upon us. Co-writers Robert Zemeckis and
Bob Gale came up with a dizzying array of
predictions for their future Hill Valley. Some were
inspired, and one or two were way off the money…
FAX MACHINES IN THE HOME
Old Marty gets fired by fax. Yes, by fax. “We didn’t predict
the smartphone,” laughs Gale. “We had all those fax machines in
Marty’s house!”
JAWS 19
Sadly, Steven Spielberg’s son, Max, hasn’t followed him into
filmmaking; nor has he churned out 15 Jaws sequels in time for his
October deadline. “The film hasn’t happened yet, but look at what we
did predict,” says Gale. “Imax 3D, and that people would still be
interested in shark movies!”
THE REHYDRATOR
A handy unit that expands dried food in seconds. “That was
a great gag,” says Gale. “Doesn’t seem like anybody’s working on
it, though.” Indeed — Black & Decker’s website, sadly, lists no such
product. Get on it, B&D R&D.
DRONES
Look closely at the picture. “There’s a USA Today photo drone that
comes down when Griff (Thomas F. Wilson) is arrested,” laughs
Gale. “That’s a pretty damn good prediction!”
THE MICROSOFT KINECT
In the Cafe 80’s, two kids (including a young Elijah Wood)
dismiss Wild Gunman as “a baby’s toy” because Marty has to
use his hands. It’s not referenced directly, but they’re clearly
familiar with a system like the Kinect.
SELF-DRYING CLOTHES
Wet clothes? In this version of 2015, that’s no problem.
“That technology may be beyond people’s ability,” says Gale.
“You’d need fusion batteries to make that happen.” Maybe in 2045,
for the reboot.
 WORLDVIEW ENTERTAINMENT & EXCLUSIVE MEDIA PRESENT A DRAGONFLY ENTERTAINMENT / SOBRAS INTERNATIONAL PICTURES PRODUCTION THE GREEN INFERNO
LORENZA IZZO ARIEL LEVY DARYL SABARA KIRBY BLISS BLANTON SKY FERREIRA MAGDA APANOWICZ NICOLÁS MARTINEZ AARON BURNS
IGNACIA ALLAMAND RAMON LLAO AND RICHARD BURGI CASTING BY KELLY MARTIN WAGNER, CSA (USA) DOMINIKA POSSEREN (USA) MOIRA MILLER (CHILE)
SPECIAL MAKEUP EFFECTS BY GREGORY NICOTERO AND HOWARD BERGER SPECIAL EFFECTS PATRICIO AGUILAR VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR RODRIGO ROJAS ECHAIZ EDITED BY ERNESTO DÍAZ
MUSIC MANUEL RIVEIRO MAKEUP & HAIR FELIPE FIGUEROA COSTUME DESIGN ELISA HORMAZÁBAL PRODUCTION DESIGN MARICHI PALACIOS DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY ANTONIO QUERCIA
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MARIA CESTONE SARAH JOHNSON REDLICH HOYT DAVID MORGAN CO-PRODUCERS AMANDA BOWERS GUSTAVO SÁNCHEZ MICHAEL ROMERO
High impact PRODUCED BY ELI ROTH MIGUEL ASENSIO LLAMAS NICOLÁS LÓPEZ CHRISTOPHER WOODROW MOLLY CONNERS
violence, blood
and gore
 020
THE NEW TARANTINO
THE
HATEFUL
EIGHT
QUENTIN TARANTINO
REVEALS EIGHT THINGS
ABOUT HIS LATEST WESTERN
After the script leaked,
Tarantino secretly continued to
work on it.
“I pretty much knew after I did
the live script-reading in LA
that I was probably gonna do it as a
movie. I was already working on another
draft of it anyway, because I was
planning on publishing that, at the very
least. And then once I got the actors I
wanted and went up there and did it, and
it played so well, I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll
stop being a jerk and I’ll do it.’”
The poster you saw in Empire
was a start-of-shoot
announcement.
“We had that image of a
wagon haemorrhaging blood
and it was a really neat look. That was
one of the concepts that they came up
with for a pre-sales idea and I thought,
020 NOVEMBER 2015
‘Since we like it now, let’s just premiere
that in Empire and say we’re gonna shoot
it.’ That was the official announcement,
as opposed to having a press conference.”
Shooting on 70mm was not the
original intent.
“Shooting on 70mm kind of
evolved as time went on.
Everyone knows I’m not a
fan of shooting on digital, but I’m not
even a fan of digital projection. By
losing film projection, we’ve already
ceded too much ground to the
barbarians. So I thought, ‘Well, if I
shoot in 70mm, then they’re going to
have to screen it in 70mm.’”
The lenses alone are the
biggest in the business.
“We were first looking for
cool ’Scope, 70mm lenses,
but then we found these ones. It’s the
biggest format available. I remembered the
movies they shot with them. But it’s not
that they used the same type of lenses on
Ben-Hur — they used these lenses. They
only made one set of them. So these are
the lenses that made Ben-Hur, The Battle
Of The Bulge and Mutiny On The Bounty.”
The widescreen format isn’t
just for shooting snakes
and funerals.
“People keep saying to me,
‘We’ve heard that most of
the film is in one place. So what’s the
point of shooting 70mm for that?’ I’m
really looking forward to the film
breaking the notion that 70mm is for
shooting deserts and mountains. A big
lens and a big, wide screen can be very
intimate — the close-ups can be
devastating. You really see people.”

Cold comfort: Tarantino
between takes on the
‘shelter’ set where most
of the action takes place.
It’s a conscious throwback to his
early career.
“Not perhaps in the sense that I
was gonna, like, just do a
Western version of Reservoir
Dogs. It really was nothing quite as solid
and planned as that. But I agree that
there was definitely a kind of going back
to my roots aspect about it. That’s even
reflected in the cast. There’s a very ’90s
feeling to some degree about this movie.”
“I’m using the
70mm lenses that
made Ben-Hur.”
Quentin Tarantino
NOVEMBER 2015
The shooting script isn’t the
one you may have seen on
the internet.
“The whole last chapter is
very different. I’d introduced
things in the first two drafts, but I
hadn’t paid them off. ’Cause I was
waiting ’til the third and final draft to
pay them off — I just wanted to be
fully immersed in this world. I can’t be
more clear ’cause I’ll be giving away
plot points, ’cause it is a mystery. And I
wanna fool you.”
021
Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh)
going through the wars.
Above: John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth (Kurt
Russell) threatens Major Marquis
Warren (Samuel L. Jackson).
The film’s release is going to be
an event in the US.
“Harvey and Bob [Weinstein]
got really excited about the
whole idea because it’s like
their rock promotion days, as far as
hitting one big city in most states. And if
the theatres don’t exist, we have to create
them and bring our own 70mm projectors
in there.” DAMON WISE
THE HATEFUL EIGHT IS OUT ON JANUARY 14 AND
WILL BE REVIEWED IN A FUTURE ISSUE.
NOVEMBER 2015 021
 022 NOVEMBER 2015 THINGS WE’VE LEARNED

BEST OF TIMES/WORST OF TIMES

Benicio Del Toro
TALKS PAUL McCARTNEY, BOLIVIA AND HAVING HIS BUTT FIDDLED

Michael Fassbender is a fan of Brit

snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Insert your own joke about long
wood and big tips here.

MOMENT
One time I had Paul McCartney call my name out in My first scene on The Usual Suspects. I had a line,
a room. I was like, “Is this really happening? Is he and I was going to mumble it. I panicked and went
calling my name?” That was here in LA, around to my trailer and said my lines out loud, without
2002. I went over and talked to him — it was cool. what I had planned to do. It just sounded worse,
so I said, “I gotta do my Fenster thing.”
Cara Delevingne likes to pull
funny faces during selfies,
Christopher Walken gave me I was doing a scene once, the wag. (Seen here with
a note one time. He said, and I was saying my lines while Empire’s Phil de Semlyen.)
“If you don’t know what PIECE OF taking off my coat. And
you’re doing in the scene, DIRECTION someone said, “Never say
don’t do anything.” a line while taking off an article
of clothing.” What? I just
don’t understand that.

I remember going in one time and I had …and by the time I got home I got a
seven lines... I did the audition basically message from my representatives to
the way I was trained as an actor; if you
don’t know the lines as it’s written, try to
AUDITION call them back. Basically, they asked if
I had been drinking. The feedback was
put it into your own words. I did it like terrible. You never know in this
that and felt I was getting somewhere… business. You really never know.
At an Independence Day:
Resurgence event, Brent Spiner
Being in La Paz, Vegas, for Fear gave $20 to journos who didn’t ask
Bolivia, for Che. And Loathing. about his death in the original.
The Copacabana
was the hotel we
LOCATION I remember being
sick in the hotel,
stayed in, and it the Tropicana, and
hadn’t changed. trying to open the
It was really window. But you
impressive being can’t open the
there. The location windows of the
helped the picture. hotels in Vegas.

I’ve done a lot of movies, man, I got a deep
closet. Perhaps the black jacket and the red
shirt in The Usual Suspects, when I get
arrested. We came up with that very much
at the last moment.
On The Usual Suspects, there was a pair of
COSTUME pants I was wearing that were really tight.
I remember breaking them over and over. I had
people fiddling with my butt all day long. CH Donald Trump loves Jean-Claude
Van Damme’s Bloodsport,
SICARIO IS OUT NOW. but fast-forwards through
the talky bits.

022 NOVEMBER 2015

Available in stores now
*While stocks Last
 024 NOVEMBER 2015

START
HERE

MALE Are you male or female? FEMALE

WHICH
Are you part of an
awkward love triangle
Are you built like
with your own twin
a brick shithouse?
brother and another

MOVIE TWIN
man?

NO YES
ARE YOU? YES NO

IDENTICAL, FRATERNAL OR Do you evoke

Are you goofy, NOCTURNAL (LIKE A BAT): USE a sense of
blood-curdling
sweet and OUR HANDY QUIZ TO FIND OUT dread in others?
innocent?
WHICH CINEMATIC SIBLING
YOU’RE A DEAD RINGER FOR You are:
LEIA
SKYWALKER NO
WORDS NEIL ALCOCK
NO YES (Carrie Fisher)
Do you possess
unusual powers?
from the original
Star Wars
trilogy
Do you sing loudly
and annoyingly on
aeroplanes?
You are: YES
PETER
NO MAXIMOFF You are:
You are: NO YES
aka Quicksilver WANDA
ALEX WAGNER (Aaron Taylor- MAXIMOFF
(Jean-Claude Van Johnson) from aka Scarlet Witch
Damme) from Avengers: Age (Elizabeth Olsen)
Is that because
Double Impact Of Ultron you look from Avengers:
remarkably like Age Of Ultron
Don’t take this Adam Sandler?
the wrong way,
but are you NO
a dangerously You are
violent, YES You are: JULIUS
notorious CHAD WAGNER BENEDICT YES NO
gangster? (Jean-Claude Van (Arnold
Damme) from Schwarzenegger)
Do you have a hot Double Impact from Twins
twin sister?
YES

NO YES Have you ever

YES harboured You are: You are:
inappropriate JILL ONE OF THE
feelings towards SADELSTEIN GRADY GIRLS (Lisa
her?
Do you wear (Adam Sandler) and Louise Burns)
glasses that make from Jack from
you look like a And Jill The Shining
Are you more television
than five You are:
newsreader from
feet tall? the 1960s? NO LUKE
SKYWALKER (Mark
Hamill) from the
original Star Wars
NO YES NO YES
trilogy

You are:
You are: GEORGE
FRED WEASLEY WEASLEY
(James Phelps)
Do you have all (Oliver Phelps)
from the Harry
your ears? from the Harry
Potter films
You are: Potter films
You are:
VINCENT JACK You are: You are:
BENEDICT SADELSTEIN REGGIE KRAY RONNIE KRAY
(Danny DeVito) (Adam Sandler) (Tom Hardy) from (Tom Hardy) from
in Twins from Jack Legend Legend
YES NO
And Jill

024 NOVEMBER 2015

 Withavis
nD
Jaso MOVIES
A’S end
JABB7’s Week
On ise
Sunr
&
$10 Tickets*
ro m
NY f
QUINpanova
Su

$9 CINEBUZZ*
*$1.20 booking fee

SPECIAL ANIME
SCREENING
AKIRA
31st JULY, 7pm

HIGHLANDER GREASE PREDATOR CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

4 September, 7pm
th
18 September, 7pm
th
2 October, 7pm
nd
OF THE THIRD KIND
16th October, 7pm
HALLOWEEN DOUBLE
7pm: SEVEN / THE DARK KNIGHT THE GOONIES DIE HARD
10pm: EVIL DEAD 2 13th November, 7pm 27 November, 7pm
th
11 December, 7pm
th

30th October

TM

Design and Illustration by Richard de Carvalho. Lunacraft ProductionsTM © 2015 In The House. Event CinemasTM George Street.

BOOK NOW AT EVENTCINEMAS.COM.AU

#InTheHouse /InTheHouseEventCinemas
 026
Too
THE ROBERT REDFORD much
PIE CHART information
43 9 32
Films as
actor
Films as
director
Films as
producer ROBERT REDFORD 5 THE LIFE, TIMES AND FILMS
Films he
has directed
but not
2
Oscar Wins
(Best Director for
Ordinary People; an
OF THE SUNDANCE KID appeared in Honorary Award in 2002)
IN SADDLE BAGS
OF PURE DATA

BORN
Best and worst U.S. Box Office
4
Avengers
worked with
2
Times worked with
Paul Newman

AUGUST 1936

18
His first name
NOT TO BE
is actually
Charles Captain America: CONFUSED
The Winter Soldier (2014) WITH
ROBERT British opera singer
RADFORD
THANKS, BOB! from the 1920s

Redford has been given “Special Thanks” in the

credits of the following films: Natural Enemies
(1979), 84 Charlie MoPic (1989), The Brothers
McMullen (1995), Committed (2000), Requiem For
The Company THE REDFORD MENU*
A Dream (2000), The Opportunists (2000), Stay You Keep (2013) Starter
Until Tomorrow (2004), Born Into Brothels:
Calcutta’s Red Light Kids (2004), The Motel

* Sample menu at Zoom, a restaurant owned by Redford in Park City, Utah. Head chef: Jordan Harvey
(2005), An Inconvenient Truth (2006), Sweet Mud
(2006), Tomorrow Is Today (2006), Eagle Vs.
Shark (2007), Baggage (2008), Lymelife (2008), Salmon Flatbread
The Cove (2009), GasLand (2010), Circumstance He won a BAFTA for Best Actor H
House Cured Salmon, Naan, Crispy Kale
ale
(2011), Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), Here in 1971 for three films (Butch
Ma
Main
(2011 – credited as “Our Deepest Gratitude”), Cassidy And The Sundance Kid,
Buck (2011), Little Birds (2011), Homecoming Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here and
(2011), Smashed (2012), Night Moves (2013), A Downhill Racer)
Most Violent Year (2014)

Tomahawk Pork Chop

p
1960 Redford buys Redford stars as The Redford It becomes the Pencil Cob Grits,
Grits Collard Greens,
Greens
two acres of
land in Utah
’69 Sundance Kid in
Butch Cassidy And
founds The
Sundance
’81 ’85 Sundance Film Festival,
although this isn’t made
Beer Nut & Pretzel Crust, Pork Jus

Dessert
for $500 The Sundance Kid Institute official until 1991

THE SUNDANCE TIMELINE

Buys Timp Haven ski
resort in Utah, changes
name to the Sundance
Mountain Resort
’68
ON THE ART OF AGEING GRACEFULLY: “I AM NOT A FACELIFT PERSON. I AM WHAT I AM.”
The Utah/US Film The Utah/US Film The Sundance Channel
Festival launches in Salt Festival moves to – now known as Strawberry Rhubarb
Lake City. Redford is
the inaugural chairman
’78 ’81 Park City, Utah, and
opens in January
SundanceTV –
is launched 1996 Shortcake
Vanilla Custard, Strawberry Sherbet,
Balsamic Reduction

026 NOVEMBER 2015

 027

BEST MOVIE QUOTES

“Don’tt tell me how to

“Don
rob a bank. I know
how to rob a bank.”
FROM BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID

BEST AND “Suppose I were to

WORST ON ROTTEN
TOMATOES offer you one million
dollars for one night
20%
Little Fauss
And Big Halsy
with your wife.”
INDECENT PROPOSAL

96%
• THE NEW YORK TIMES/EYEVINE

“Hail Hydra.”
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Quiz Show

NOVEMBER 2015 027

 028 NOVEMBER 2015

FIRST LOOK EXCLUSIVE!

DAD’S
ARMY
WHO DO YOU THINK YOU
ARE KIDDING, MR. HITLER?
SERGEANT
WILSON
(Bill Nighy)

M
An underling of
Mainwaring’s in the
ICHAEL GAMBON unit and the bank, the
is holding court in a more competent
snug Yorkshire boozer Wilson endures
made even cosier by his disappointing LANCE
the veritable circumstances with CORPORAL
Buckingham Palace of British acting wryness and unfailing JONES
royalty crammed inside it. The cast of CAPTAIN politeness. “He’s (Tom Courtenay)
Dad’s Army are today under the timbers MAINWARING a very kind, diffident “He’s not as brave as
of the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard (Toby Jones) man,” says Nighy, he makes out,” says
platoon’s local, The Royal Oak, for a big Commanding. Precise. “but he’s found Courtenay of the
third-act reveal. Between takes, Gambon Lethal. None of these himself slightly off venerable ex-regular.
and Bill Paterson deliver a stirring words is applicable to the beaten path.” A veteran of The
rendition of the Russian national George Mainwaring, Sudan, his military
anthem. “Michael just said, ‘Sounds like the platoon’s leader. credentials turn out
a lot of fun, let’s do it,” says director “No matter how crazy to be surprisingly
Oliver Parker of Gambon. “And this was things get, he’s flimsy. “When
before he’d even read the script.” endlessly optimistic Mainwaring leans on
The pressures of recreating the and resilient. He has him, he finds it a bit
beloved BBC comedy for the big screen a Corinthian spirit.” disappointing,” adds
don’t seem to be telling. “If I look at the actor.
Michael or Bill, it’s impossible to keep a
straight face,” says Blake Harrison. “But
then if I look at Toby [Jones], I’m fucked
too.” Mr. Hitler (and his giant arrows)
might have met his match. “Originally I
think [the film] was seen as a funny old
nostalgic thing,” says Jones, “but I think
it’s got much more life in it, much more
potential.” PHIL DE SEMLYEN

DAD’S ARMY IS OUT ON FEBRUARY 25, 2016.

028 NOVEMBER 2015

 NOVEMBER 20155 0 9
029

PRIVATE
WALKER
(Danny Mays)
Walmington’s
resident spiv, Walker
runs a well-stocked
PRIVATE PIKE black market and
(Blake Harrison) keeps the village in
PRIVATE At the midway booze, cigarettes and
FRAZER point between silk stockings. “He
(Bill Paterson) Frank Spencer and recognises that this
A lugubrious PRIVATE Douglas Fairbanks community is an
Scotsman with a GODFREY is Pike, a mother’s absolute goldmine,”
doomy demeanour, (Michael Gambon) boy who daydreams says Mays. “He’s a
Frazer brings an air Vague and a bit of silver-screen classic rogue.”
of Calvinist severity doddery, the Great adventures. “His
to the mayhem. War veteran moves attention span is
“They all have slowly and talks like a puppy seeing
quibbles with softly. But does a butterfly,” Harrison
Mainwaring,” explains he carry a big stick? explains. “He thinks
Paterson, “but Frazer Not really. “He’s such he should be an
is a burning critic.” a lovely bloke,” says action star.”
Gambon, “but he’s
not quite with it.”

NOVEMBER 2015 029

 030
TRIBUTE
THE
SCREAM
KING
KIM NEWMAN ON HOW WES
CRAVEN REINVENTED HORROR
HEN THE
great Wes Craven
passed away at the
end of August,
following a brief battle
with brain cancer, horror lost a legend.
Our own Kim Newman perhaps
summed it up best when he tweeted,
“Wes Craven reinvented horror at least
four times — most directors don’t even
manage it once.” Here, the horror expert
explains just how Craven did it again
and again and again.
1 THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972)
The rape-and-revenge plot of Ingmar
Bergman’s mediaeval fable The Virgin
Spring redone in a divided America, this
is a rough, brutal, confrontational horror
that’s as hard to forget as it is to watch. A
near-pornographic exploitation movie
(Craven had worked in X-rated films), it’s
among the nastiest of the video nasties
suppressed in Britain in the ’80s, while
Krug (David Hess) is one of the most
appalling screen villains of all time. It’s
all-out ruthless, disreputable and angry,
THE CHEAT SHEET
THE
NIGHTMARE
030 NOVEMBER 2015
perfectly catching the Manson/Altamont/
Vietnam vibe of its era.
KEY MOMENT: After the horrific abuse and
murder of two teenage girls, even the
quartet of psycho villains are shattered
by what they’ve done.
2 THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977)
Just as Last House passes on a power-tool
and a vision to The Texas Chain Saw
Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes restates
the normal family versus mutant family
theme as an updated Western, with a
stranded RV replacing a covered wagon
and irradiated cannibals instead of
Apache. It’s as hard-hitting a portrayal of
American violence as Last House, but
exhilarating rather than depressing —
with an almost gleeful descent into
savagery as the embattled survivors
bloodily defend themselves. Craven also
edited, and his action and shock beats are
timed to razor-edged perfection.
KEY MOMENT: Beast, the Lassie-style heroic
dog, brings down the unforgettable-
looking cannibal goon Pluto
(Michael Berryman).
Just another horror film, eh? No. The
Nightmare is a documentary. But it may
also be the scariest film of 2015.
How come? It’s about sleep paralysis, a
phenomenon in which people become
‘frozen’ while falling asleep or waking.
Doesn’t sound so scary. Well, sufferers
have reported having terrifying
hallucinations, often of dark figures,
while they’re paralysed.
3 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)
Uncredited, Craven helped send the
slasher cycle into overdrive by editing
key sequences of Friday The 13th (1980),
but when he eventually came in on the
flagging teen-kill sub-genre in 1984, he
completely turned its fortunes around.
With its dream-stalking mythology,
archetypal suburban setting (far removed
from the grunge of Last House and
Hills), resilient heroine and surreally
gruesome nightmare set-pieces, it’s a
franchise-founding fairytale. Freddy
Krueger (Robert Englund) developed
into the great monster of the 1980s:
sequels made him a joke, but in his
debut he’s darkly humorous yet
utterly terrifying.
KEY MOMENT: “One two — Freddy’s
coming for you!” The monster appears,
with elongated arms to scrape the walls,
1
in the dream of his next victim.
4 SCREAM (1996)
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, in
which Craven plays himself and
Freddy manifests in real life, was a
postmodern horror film that didn’t
2
click with audiences — but Scream,
scripted by Kevin Williamson, ushered
in a new slasher franchise and style,
with self-aware deployment of
admitted clichés and a glossier style that
didn’t preclude genuine nastiness. The
flip side of irony is callousness, and the
theme of the Scream films is cruelty
— murder for kicks, murder for fame,
3 murder for no reason at all. The
multiple-identitied Ghostface became a
new franchise fiend — with his Munch
Scream mask and mocking telephone
trivia quiz of death.
KEY MOMENT: “What’s your favourite
scary movie?” In the famous opening,
Drew Barrymore at first flirts with the
cold-calling killer, then is terrified by his
4
horrific game. • KEN TOWNER/EVENING STANDARD/REX SHUTTERSTOCK
Ulp. And Rodney Ascher, who directed
Room 237, recreates some hallucinations
in dark, disturbing scenes that have
reportedly caused audiences to cry out.
So it is a horror film? Of sorts. But it’s
also a fascinating look at a disorder.
Please, don’t have nightmares.
Couldn’t have said it better ourselves. CH
THE NIGHTMARE IS OUT ON HOME FORMATS
OCTOBER 29.
 TICKETS
ON SALE NOW
 032 NOVEMBER 2015

THE GRILL

JOHN WATERS
THE ICONIC DIRECTOR LIKES HIS
STEAK LIKE HIS FLAMINGOS. PINK.

Who was your

On a scale from one to 10, how famous out. I think that was called Heavy DID YOU
are you? Equipment. KNOW?

first movie
A two. Because half the world has
never seen my movies — and never On a scale of one to 10, how hairy is His pencil

crush?
will. I would be put to death in half your arse? ‘tache is his
the countries in this world if they saw Again — in what country? In Greece, a homage to

Margaret
my movies. [Laughs] Not only would one. In Tokyo an eight. Little
I not get good reviews, I’d be put Richard.

to death!
Who were you in your first school play?
The Little Engine That Could. It’s about
a train that keeps saying, “I think I can,
I think I can, I think I can…” I’ve never
thought about it before but that’s exactly
what I’ve turned into a career! You think
it sounds a bit like self-help? I believe in
self-help — what do you think all my
books are?
Hamilton.
Which film have you seen more than
any other? His first
The Wizard Of Oz… Now I almost never short film
mounted. There’s also the leg of lamb watch a movie twice. Life’s too short. I was called
prop that Kathleen Turner beat gotta see a new one. Hag In A
somebody to death with in Serial Mom. Black
When were you the most starstruck? Leather
Can you play a musical instrument? Oh, I know the most ridiculous time! I Jacket.
My mother forced me to take piano was at Roddy McDowall’s house for
lessons, and I was really bad at it. dinner, and he said, “Oh, John, do you He guest
But if I could sing, or play a musical know Dale Evans and Roy Rogers?” I starred in
instrument… are you kidding? I’d be turned round and they were standing a Season 8
• GETTY IMAGES / © MATT GROENING

Have you ever kept any souvenirs from a on tour NOW! there, alive — barely — fully dressed in episode of
movie shoot? cowboy outfits. The
A little sign that was on the lawn in Do you approve of 3D? Simpsons,
Pink Flamingos that said 3900, which Oh yes, I’m for it, especially for porn. Have you ever had a paranormal called
was the address of Connie and I remember Comin’ At Ya — that was experience? Homer’s
Raymond Marble. It was my own one of the earlier ones. And The Isn’t every day that, in a way? Phobia.
house at the time. Someone stole that Stewardesses — where giant breasts hit DAMON WISE
for me after I moved from there, you in the face. There was also a gay one
because it was a rental, and had it where… well, life itself came gushing HAIRSPRAY IS AVAILABLE NOW ON DVD.

032 NOVEMBER 2015

 NOVEMBER 2015 033
CLASSIC PIC

BOOGIE KNIGHT
WHEN BATMAN WAS NOT SO SERIOUS
THE ELEMENTS IN THIS SHOT ARE ONLY A CAN OF
shark repellent short of what people found too flouncy about the
pop artastic Batman TV show. Here Adam West’s Caped
Crusader, apparently spellbound by giggling villain the Pharoah,
performs the Batusi in the 1966 episode The Curse Of Tut. Camp
as a summer holiday, yes, but also rather great. DM

NOVEMBER 2015 033

 0 4
034
INSIDE STORY
COULD AN OSCAR-WINNER COME FROM NETFLIX?
I
N 2016, WE MAY SEE AN
Oscar ceremony in which one of
the front runners has been seen in
cinemas by only a handful of
people, and not because it’s small
and arty and about something depressing,
but because it just isn’t in cinemas. Beasts
Of No Nation, the new film from Cary
Fukunaga, director of True Detective’s
first season (the really good one), is the
flag-bearer in a whole new era for film.
Netflix, which has already upended the
traditional TV model, is looking to
reinvent how and where we watch film.
It used to be that going straight to
the small screen was a sign of a very bad
034 NOVEMBER 2015
movie, or a movie with very low
ambition, but now that most people do
the majority of their film viewing on a
screen at home, Netflix figured, “Why
not make a small-screen debut a
prestigious event?”
Making Beasts Of No Nation its first
title (the film will have a very limited
theatrical showing in the States) is a very
definite statement of intent by the US
company. It’s an exquisitely made story
of a young boy in an unnamed African
country who, as war rends his family
apart, finds himself under the dubious
care of the charismatic leader of a group
of mercenaries (Idris Elba). It’s political,

Down The
Stream
MORE NETFLICKS
HEADING YOUR WAY
CROUCHING TIGER,
HIDDEN DRAGON 2
The sequel to the action epic
may be Ang Lee and Chow
Yun-fat-free, but the
presence of returning star
Michelle Yeoh — plus martial
arts legend Donnie Yen, and
Woo-Ping Yuen as director
— excites us.
THE RIDICULOUS SIX
The first of Adam Sandler’s
four-picture deal with Netflix,
this comedy Western debuts
on December 11. Sandler’s
star has been waning, but his
films are huge on Netflix.
Hopefully this can be a
return to form.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS
Ricky Gervais writes, directs
and co-stars in a pointed
media satire about two radio
journalists (Eric Bana and
Vera Farmiga) who fake their
own kidnapping.
Above: Idris Elba as PEE-WEE’S BIG HOLIDAY
Commandant in Beasts The return of Paul Reubens’s
Of No Nation. man-child hits next March.
Left: Ted Sarandos, Cary Judd Apatow produces. Let’s
Fukunaga, Ricky Gervais. hope it’s more Big Adventure
than Big Top.
MASCOTS
Christopher Guest is getting
most of the old Spinal Tap/
Best In Show gang back
together for an improvised
comedy set in the world of
sporting mascots.
ON THE RADAR
violent and heartbreaking. Audience-
pandering fluff it is not. But it blew
Netflix chief Ted Sarandos away.
“It very much put me in the mind of
the chaos of Apocalypse Now,” he has
said of his decision to snap up the film.
“I think people will be discovering this
film for years.”
Beasts Of No Nation was not made
for Netflix. The $6 million movie was Cate Blanchett is about to have
completed with independent financing, a ball. A Lucille Ball, that is, in a
but when Fukunaga and his producers biopic of the legendary US sitcom
came to sell it, Netflix came in with a star. We apologise for that joke.
$12 million offer that they couldn’t
turn down.
“It’s a complicated question for a
director,” says Fukunaga, shortly after
the film’s premiere at the Venice Film
Festival, where it drew raves.
“Historically, I’ve had movies screen in
cinemas. You can’t deny there’s a certain
level of prestige to being a cinema
director, versus a director for television,
not that I have any less respect for my
fellow television directors… But what I
know in my heart is that I want people to
watch my movie. The advantage of If Jason Bourne wants to assert
having 65 million subscribers — and his supremacy, he’ll have to get
that’s just subscribers; there are more past Vincent Cassel in Paul
viewers for each subscriber — and being Greengrass’s Bourne 5.
able to reach all those people, you can’t
pass that up just to guard a perception
of being a ‘cinema director’.”
The times, they are a-changin’. The
paradigms, they are a-shiftin’. Netflix is,
of course, not the only new kid on the
block — Amazon is getting into the film
production business, while Apple is
reportedly making tentative plans to dip
its iToe into the water. But Sarandos and
co. are certainly leading the way. As well
as acquiring independently financed
movies, Netflix also has many in
production that it’s funded itself (see Cinderella and Thor helmer
left). As its TV arm has shown, with the Kenneth Branagh will direct an
likes of David Fincher and Marvel on adaptation of Artemis Fowl
board, the company has a USP that pulls for Disney.
in the big names. “One thing that Netflix
movies will do differently than direct-to-
video movies is they will be in the
culture,” Sarandos has said. “These
movies will matter.”
It remains to be seen whether the
Academy will be able to get its grey old
head around this new way of doing
things and recognise Beasts, which in any
year would be considered an obvious
addition to the nominee mix, but home
viewers already have their prize: one of
the best films of the year without the
wait for DVD. OLLY RICHARDS Olivia Cooke is on the shortlist to
star in both Spielberg’s Ready
BEASTS OF NO NATION WILL DEBUT ON Player One and Star Wars: Episode
NETFLIX ON OCTOBER 16. VIII. Pull an all-nighter, Olivia.
NOVEMBER 2015 035
 THE LIST
SMARTEST
CAMEOS
FROM WEIGHT-LOSS HITCHCOCK, TO
STOP-MOTION COCKER, TO MICHAEL MANN’S
‘TRANSPORTER TRIBUTE’… EMPIRE SALUTES
CINEMA’S CLEVEREST WALK-ONS
WORDS PAUL WILSON
Sean Connery in
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991)
“I will not allow this wedding to prosheed,” says Sir
Sean, in a last-minute appearance at the marriage
of Robin and Marian, “unlessh I’m allowed to
give the bride away.” Cue kiss, and if you’re quick
enough with the remote you can call a halt to
proceedings before Bryan Adams kicks in over
the credits.
WORD UP In Robin And Marian, when Connery
was Robin, King Richard was played by Richard
Harris, who in Camelot was King Arthur, who
Connery played in First Knight.
036 NOVEMBER 2015
Christopher Lloyd in
A Million Ways To Die
In The West (2014)
A genius sight gag in Seth MacFarlane’s genius-lite
comedy Western. A white-haired man sheepishly covers
a DeLorean with a sheet. “What’s that?” asks Seth Mac.
“A weather experiment,” says Lloyd, as Doc Brown
in all but name. It’s not only a nod to the Western-set
Back To The Future: Part III, but to BTTF itself, in which
he uses the same line on a suspicious 1955 cop.
WORD UP Lloyd has also Doc Browned for
adverts, theme-park rides and a 1990 US TV
special for Earth Day.
Jonah Hill in
Django Unchained (2012)
In cinema’s third funniest Ku Klux Klan scene (after
Blazing Saddles and O Brother, Where Art Thou?), Hill
— who was originally to play a bigger role in a segment
that got cut — reveals himself while a Klan posse
debates the impairment of vision they get under their
masks. A-holes discussing eyeholes, if you will.
WORD UP Earlier on, Franco Nero, the original
Django, makes a brief appearance. Jamie Foxx,
Django here, has even less screen time as a Django-a-
like bookending the end credits of A Million Ways
To Die In The West.
Alfred Hitchcock in
Lifeboat (1944)
His first thought was to make his traditional blink-
and-miss appearance as a corpse floating past the
boatful of shipwreck survivors. But instead Hitch
devised his most ingenious cameo: as the before
and after pics of a weight-loss drug ad in a newspaper
that also survived. Continuing the joke, his cameo
in Rope, four years later, was on a billboard for the
same drug.
WORD UP Other helmers partial to a cameo include:
Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese,
John Landis and Roman Polanski.
Marcel Marceau in
Silent Movie (1976)
Mel Brooks’s silent comedy, an homage to silent
comedy, features a truly great joke. Brooks, playing
director Mel Funn — not a truly great joke — rings
mime legend Marcel Marceau, playing himself, to
ask him to appear in a silent movie. Marceau answers
“NON!” very loudly, the only spoken line of dialogue
in the film.
WORD UP Marceau was inspired by watching
a Charlie Chaplin film. Chaplin’s final role was
a cameo in his own 1967 movie, A Countess From
Hong Kong, playing chief steward of a cruise ship.
Cate Blanchett in
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Simon Pegg’s city cop Nicholas Angel goes to say
goodbye to his ex before taking up his new countryside
posting. She, Janine, is a CSI on the job, and because of
a mask and hazmat suit, we can only see her eyes and
hear her perfect English accent... But it’s only bloody
Cate Blanchett! “I’d met her in LA and knew she was a
fan of Shaun Of The Dead,” said director Edgar Wright,
who thought it would be “subversive” and funny “in a
weird way” to put a heavyweight in such a small role.
WORD UP Garth Jennings, director of Son Of
Rambow, and Peter Jackson also cameo in Hot Fuzz.
Christopher Walken in
Pulp Fiction (1994)
“Now, little man, I give the watch to you.” So endeth the
lesson from Walken’s Captain Koons, who spends three
minutes and 45 seconds relating the tale of his army
buddy’s determination not to lose the family watch to
the enemy in Vietnam. Greatest single-scene/
monologue in contemporary cinema?
WORD UP A similar, one-scene, movie-stealing
turn occurred in 1992, with Alec Baldwin’s ultimate
workplace pep talk in Glengarry Glen Ross. The scene
does not exist in the original play; David Mamet,
adapting his own work, added it because the play was
too short to film. ❯
NOVEMBER 2015 037
 Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Jay
And Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
It’s take five of scene 16 of Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting
Season. Of course it is, and Jay and Silent Bob have
wandered on set. Damon and Affleck prepare then play
out a scene which ends with Damon blowing away a
perp and Affleck delivering the pay off, “Applesauce,
bitch.” Gus Van Sant, director of Good Will Hunting, also
cameos, counting his filthy follow-up film lucre.
WORD UP In EuroTrip, Damon cameoed as
a rock-band singer whose song, Scotty Doesn’t
Know, is about him sleeping with the lead
character’s girlfriend.
Jason Statham in
Collateral (2004)
Tom Cruise saunters through LA airport. The Stathe
strides toward him. They bump into one another; Jase
drops a briefcase; Tom picks it up. Bags switched. But
wait! Statham. Delivering. Package. Transporting
something? Does a Michael Mann film really tip its hat
to The Transporter? No-one has ’fessed up to it, but…
WORD UP The only movie in which Statham’s had
less screentime is Fast & Furious 6, in which he plays
the driver of the silver saloon that causes mayhem
in the post-credits sequence... Though that, of
course, ignited the fuse that led to Fast & Furious 7’s
box-office explosion.
038 NOVEMBER 2015
Jarvis Cocker in
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Cocker is seen briefly, in stop-motion clay form,
strumming a banjo and singing Fantastic Mr. Fox/Petey’s
Song. He actually recorded a narration
for the whole film, but it was cut after US test
audiences didn’t like what that goddamn Enger-lish
guy was talkin’ about.
WORD UP Cocker also fronted an in-house
band, The Weird Sisters, in Harry Potter And
The Goblet Of Fire, which was made up of
Pulp, Radiohead, All Seeing I and Add N
To (X) members.
Bill Murray in Zombieland (2009)
The Ghostbusters theme plays on the soundtrack of this
undead comedy… then in shambles a zombified Bill
Murray! Emma Stone’s Wichita, understandably,
hits him with a golf club. But he’s not undead. Murray’s
playing Murray, one of humanity’s last standing, who
wears zombie make-up to blend in and get “nine holes
at the Riviera. Just walked on. Nobody there.”
WORD UP “I’ve seen every one of your movies
a million times,” says Woody Harrelson’s Tallahassee
to Bill. In that case, he’ll have seen Jim Jarmusch’s
Coffee And Cigarettes, a film made up of more than
20 actors and musicians cameoing as themselves
in multiple vignettes.

Everyone in Anchorman 2: The
Legend Continues (2013)
It begins with Sacha Baron Cohen’s BBC man, ends with
Will Smith of ESPN calling in an airstrike to “cook these
fools”. In between: Harrison Ford, Tina Fey, Jim Carrey,
Marion Cotillard, Liam Neeson and Kanye West. It’s so
over-the-top it could be read as a parody of comedy-
movie joke cameos.
WORD UP Actual newsreaders sprinkle real-world
glitter with cameos in movies. For example, Channel
7’s Chris Bath in The Man Who Sued God and Matt
Lauer in Will Ferrell’s sci-fi comedy Land Of The Lost.
Samuel L. Jackson in
Iron Man (2008)
The post-credits scene has Tony Stark returning to his
amazing house, only to find a bepatched leader-type
talking very seriously about something called “the
Avenger initiative”. It’s RDJ versus SLJ for 20
tantalising seconds: Marvel’s idea of a linked series of
films made flesh by Nick Fury’s debut, and the first of
many, many Marvel movie cameos.
WORD UP That was 2008: seven years earlier,
Marvel’s ‘Ultimate’ strand redesigned Fury to look
so much like Jackson that the character joked about
being played by him in a film. It was Marvel’s carrot
for its hoped-for Fury, and it paid off.
THE LIST
Everyone in Into The Night and
Spies Like Us (1985)
In 1985, two John Landis comedies were released:
first was Into The Night, which had around 20 cameos
from writers and directors, including David
Cronenberg, Jim Henson and Frank Oz (who appears in
four more Landis movies). Second was Spies Like Us,
featuring Joel Coen, Sam Raimi and five other
behind-the-camera talents.
WORD UP Raimi gave Landis short scenes
in Darkman and Spider-Man 2. And one
S. Spielberg came and went sharpish in Landis’s
The Blues Brothers.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in
Last Action Hero (1993)
Actors have played small roles in films in which they
also star (Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, Eddie Murphy
in Coming To America) but to cameo as yourself in a
film in which you’re the headliner? Arnie did in the very
meta Last Action Hero, when he — Arnie playing Arnie
— attended the premiere of the film-within-a-film
starring his character, Jack Slater.
WORD UP When asked to list the people who have
portrayed a Terminator on screen, you should include
Sylvester Stallone: in Last Action Hero, he’s on a
video-shop standee for the Slater-world Terminator 2.
NOVEMBER 2015 039
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 InCinemas
EDITED by JAMES JENNINGS
★★★★★ EXCELLENT ★★★★ GOOD ★★★ POOR ★★ TRAGIC ★
NEW MOVIES REVIEWED AND RATED | OCTOBER 12 — NOVEMBER 1, 2015
UNMISSABLE
The Martian
★★★★★
OUT NOW / RATED TBC / 141 MINS.
THE EMPIRE MOVIE GUIDE |
DIRECTOR Ridley Scott
CAST Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain,
Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel
Ejiofor, Kate Mara, Michael Peña
PLOT On a manned mission to Mars,
astro-botanist Mark Watney (Damon)
is caught in a fierce space storm and
left behind by his crew. Watney must
survive on his wits while a team at
NASA and beyond figure out how to
get him home.
042 NOVEMBER 2015
TOWARDS THE END OF THE
Martian, Matt Damon’s stranded
scientist, Mark Watney, in a moment of
mini-triumph, shouts, “In your face, Neil
Armstrong!” It’s indicative of the film’s
irreverence — so rare in the usually sterile
spacesuit genre. After a lugubrious run
taking in Body Of Lies, Prometheus, The
Counsellor and Exodus: Gods And Kings,
Ridley Scott’s 23rd film as director is the
most fun he’s had in ages: a mash-up of
sci-fi, disaster movie and character study.
Spinning off from Andy Weir’s everyone-
was-reading-it-on-the-bus bestseller, as
much as it is a Robinson-Crusoe-in-
space, it’s also a jet-black comedy about
laughing in the face of mortality.
Instantly joining E.T. and Bruce
Dern’s Freeman Lowell (Silent Running)
in the pantheon of cinema’s greatest
space gardeners, Damon’s Watney is the
actor at his most engaging, by turns flip
and desperate. Following a lacerating
storm, Watney is left to survive on his mad
gardening skills, three years’ worth of
potatoes and old episodes of Happy
Days. Scott has a blast putting Damon/
Watney through the mill. There is
self-surgery. There is an experiment that
goes horribly wrong. There is a
coquettish selfie. When The Martian
is on Mars, it rocks.
Away from Watney, the movie flits
between the remaining Mars mission
members making their way home and
NASA — chiefly Jeff Daniels’s director,
Kristen Wiig’s PR flunky, Chiwetel
Ejiofor’s Mars expert and Sean Bean as
the brilliantly named Mitch Henderson,
possibly NASA’s most unlikely flight
director — dealing with the fallout.
There are crisis meetings, hastily
assembled press conferences, eulogies,
a hook-up with a Chinese space agency
Matt Damon goes rogue and botched attempts at rescue. Much
in the Beige Zone. like Apollo 13, the joy of The Martian is
watching smart people work through
unsolvable problems and succeeding, only
to have bigger obstacles hove into view.
For all of Scott’s visual prowess
and Damon’s human centre, the
unsung hero might be screenwriter
Drew Goddard, lacing the storytelling
with wit, energy and an approach to the
science that is graspable without being
over-simplistic. He also solves the book’s
interior-monologue problem. If this is a
cosmic Cast Away, Watney’s Wilson is a
vlog that is a receptacle for his inner
thoughts, be he moaning about the
disco soundtrack left behind by Jessica
Chastain’s captain — the ’70s disco
floor-fillers make for a refreshing
soundtrack — or pondering colonising
Mars as a space pirate. When he finally
gets in touch with Mission Control
through a jerry-rigged instant messaging
system, typing in cinema has rarely been
so joyous.
It isn’t perfect. The film’s supporting
cast feel under-served, the idea that
Watney’s plight draws crowds of people
in Trafalgar Square waiting for the
outcome feels forced, and at 141 minutes,
it’s a bit long. But, ultimately, it’s a film
where the lead character realises he is
going to die, then wilfully refuses to
accept it. It’s an ennobling, uplifting
thought, delivered with sass and bite. Or,
as Watney puts it, “Fuck you, Mars.”
IAN FREER
VERDICT Anchored by another great
turn from Matt Damon, The Martian
mixes smarts, laughs, weird character
bits and tension on a huge canvas. The
result is Scott’s most purely enjoyable
film for ages.
NOVEMBER 2015 043
 Mistress
America
★★★★★
OUT OCTOBER 29 / RATED MA15+ / 84 MINS.

DIRECTOR Noah Baumbach

CAST Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke,
Matthew Shear

PLOT A freshman in New York, Tracy

(Kirke) forms a friendship with older
stepsister-to-be Brooke (Gerwig).

IF WHILE WE’RE YOUNG IS NOAH

Baumbach’s ‘A’ film of 2015, then
Mistress America has the feel of a side
project dashed off with maximum verve
and energy. Reuniting the director with
his creative and romantic partner Greta
Gerwig, it is a return to the portrait of a
young-woman-in-crisis of 2012’s Frances
Ha. But if that picture channelled the
French New Wave, Mistress America
borrows the energy of Howard Hawks
and Preston Sturges to examine the lives
of narcissistic New Yorkers. Few
filmmakers are as good on characters
trying to find their place in the world
and, in Baumbach’s hands, the result is
smart, funny and breathless.
At its heart, Mistress America is the
study of a female friendship between
freshman Tracy (Lola Kirke) and live wire
Brooke (Greta Gerwig, who co-writes), a
relationship forged by their status as
prospective stepsisters. Tracy is an
overwhelmed freshman at Columbia,
clinging to the first guy she meets and
intent on joining the secret literary soc.
If dizzying choice cripples Tracy, Brooke
thrives on it, an interior designer/
spin-cycle instructor/social-media maven
with an idea for a TV superhero,
“We have the same
haircut — sorry, but
one of us clearly has
to leave.”
Mistress America. It’s a meeting of
opposite minds, but Gerwig and Kirke
make you believe it every step of the way.
What plot there is centres on Brooke’s
efforts to launch a restaurant-community
centre-store called ‘Mom’s’ and Tracy’s
clandestine use of Brooke as a character
in a short story, but for the first half at
least we just hang out with the two girls
as Tracy comes under the thrall of
Brooke. It’s a series of conversations full
of quotable wit, alive to the delusions of
its two heroines and perfectly attuned to
the self-absorption of twentysomethings.
At the heart of the movie is a long
sequence set in the Connecticut suburbs
where Brooke, Tracy, Tracy’s friend Paul
(Matthew Shear) and his hilariously
over-jealous girlfriend (Jasmine Cephas
Jones) descend on Brooke’s “nemesis” to
get the money she feels she is owed. It’s a
brilliantly modulated exercise in
intelligent farce, with Baumbach
conducting entrances, exits, bizarre LIKE THIS,
characters (a pregnant houseguest, a WATCH
nosey neighbour) and outlandish THIS
situations with a perfect touch, letting
the laughs escalate without tippling over
into bathos.
Kirke, the trailer trash who diddles
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl, registers in
a quiet, intense way that is no mean feat
in the face of Gerwig’s tour de force. She
blows through scenes like a hipster
tornado yet reveals vulnerabilities and DAMSELS IN
generosity that continually spins how DISTRESS
you feel about her. Gerwig has funny 2012
bones and so much more. The 2016 Greta Gerwig heads
Oscar race for Best Actress starts here. up Whit Stillman’s
IAN FREER excellent satire on
campus life. Sharp,
VERDICT Noah Baumbach’s great run funny and
continues. Sharp, fast and witty, it’s old impeccably turned
school screwball comedy with a cool out, why this isn’t a
modern twist. And Greta Gerwig is a huge cult hit by
bona fide genius. now is a mystery.

Learning To Drive opposite. The actual learning to drive

★★★★★
OUT NOW / RATED TBC
DIRECTOR ISABEL COIXET
CAST BEN KINGSLEY, PATRICIA CLARKSON,
GRACE GUMMER
After being dumped by her husband and
inadvertent chauffeur, Wendy (Clarkson)
must recover from losing both her
marriage and her privileged life. And in
order to visit her out-of-town daughter
she has to get her licence. Enter driving
instructor Darwan (Kingsley), a
moonlighting taxi driver who witnessed
the split and socialite Wendy’s polar
here is a metaphor, driven home (sorry)
by the fact it’s impossible not to see
Darwan as a Gandhi-like sage, his worldly
wisdom masquerading as car skills (“read
the signs”, “you have the light”).
Learning to Drive avoids making
Darwan Wendy’s MacGuffin, giving him a
rich side story. Unfortunately though,
even though Wendy’s journey is meant to
be life-affirming, the only thing that
changes is her ability to operate a car.
Still, strong performances from the leads
prove thoughtful characterisation can
elevate a film that would be otherwise
pedestrian (sorry). ELIZABETH BEST

044 NOVEMBER 2015


The Walk
★★★★★
OUT OCTOBER 15 / RATED PG / 123 MINS.
DIRECTOR Robert Zemeckis
CAST Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le
Bon, Ben Kingsley, James Badge Dale
PLOT 1974. French high-wire artist
Philippe Petit (Gordon-levitt) and his crew
Plan a daring heist to fulfil petit’s dream:
to wire walk between NYC’s twin towers…
JAMES MARSH’S OSCAR-WINNING
2008 documentary concerning French
high-wire artist Philippe Petit’s
improbable (and meticulously planned)
1974 walk between the top of New York
City’s 110-storey-high Twin Towers was a
thrilling, engrossing spectacle, despite two
considerable drawbacks: Petit’s penchant
for being both inspiring and irksome in
equal measure (in real life he celebrated
completing the walk and the resulting
media attention not with his dedicated
girlfriend, but by shagging some random),
and the fact that no film footage of the
event existed (instead a series photographs
of Petit undertaking his gravity-defying
walk was used).
Director Robert Zemeckis — still
keeping things skybound after 2012’s
Denzel Washington drama Flight and
sensing an opportunity to use 3D to
inflict dizzying vertigo — uses his
considerable technical prowess to solve
the latter problem. The first conundrum,
despite Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s best
efforts, is a much trickier proposition.
Zemeckis unwisely chooses to frame
the film with narration from JGL’s Petit
that is spouted from the top of the
Statue Of Liberty, an apparent effort to
make the character come off as a
whimsical French pixie with Big Dreams
in the land of opportunity. Instead the
device comes off as cloying and cheesier
than a truck wheel of Camembert — and
that’s before you take into account the
ill-advised decision to place Gordon-
Levitt in contact lenses and a dubious
wig (and an occasionally dubious French
accent). Whether miscasting, a
sometimes irritating, often selfish
character or bad make-up is to blame (or
a combination of all three), you are
constantly aware that you’re watching
Gordon-Levitt play dress ups — and the
effect is distracting.
The Walk is at its best when it focuses
on Petit and his group of accomplices
(including Cate Le Bon as girlfriend
French Yoda was way
hotter than
Dagobah Yoda.
Annie, Ben Kingsley as mentor Papa
SKY HIGH Rudy and others, all of whom are
underserved and, as it seems in real life,
were used solely as props to help Petit
OTHER FILMS achieve his goal) executing the daring
TO MESS WITH heist. If the film was to shave off the
YOUR SENSES narration and several other flabby
AND GIVE YOU elements (namely Petit’s training and the
A NASTY DIZZY
SPELL mercifully condensed six years worth of
planning), instead focussing solely on the
mission to infiltrate the Twin Towers, a
far more cracking yarn would emerge.
Still, the promise of The Walk is to
place the audience directly on Petit’s wire
Vertigo and experience the death-courting walk
★★★★★ through his eyes. In this regard it
resoundingly succeeds: Petit’s skill,
bravery and touch of madness congeal in
a cinematically dazzling sequence that is
in no way recommended for those with
even a small fear of heights. It’s here that
Mission: Petit’s awe-inspiring accomplishment
Impossible gets the kudos it deserves, even if the
— Ghost Protocol magician behind the curtain is, for the
★★★★★ most part, a bit of a self-serving prat
with a dodgy accent.
JAMES JENNINGS
VERDICT Despite deficits in the form of a
flabby run-time and a main character
Die Hard who tends to irritate, The Walk offers a
★★★★★ sky-high climax worth the ticket price.
NOVEMBER 2015 045
 The Intern
★★★★★
OUT NOW / RATED M / 121 MINS.
DIRECTOR Nancy
Meyers
CAST Robert
De Niro, Anne Hathaway,
Adam DeVine
Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give)
returns to the acting legend/young star
formula that served her so well in 2003’s
Diane Keaton/Keanu Reeves flirtation,
teaming up Robert De Niro (aged intern)
and Anne Hathaway (boss) but shifting
the relationship to something more
familial. Meyers’s insights into ageing are
wry and moving, and there are fun twists
as De Niro’s widowed workie instantly
charms the hipsters at Hathaway’s
internet start-up. Yet while the
performances engage, as more hackneyed
crises hit (extra-marital affairs,
motherhood versus career etc.),
sentiment overpowers any tantalising hint
of Nora Ephron-style salt. LB
The Lobster
★★★★★
OUT OCTOBER 22 / RATED MA15+ / 118 MINS.
DIRECTOR Yorgos Lanthimos
CAST Colin
Farrell, Rachel Weisz,
Léa Seydoux,
In some ill-defined future or alternative
present, the recently single or perpetually
unattached are required to book into a
hotel where they have 45 days to find a
romantic match or be turned into the
animal of their choice (a disappointingly
peripheral process). Farrell’s forlorn
architect David, ditched by his wife, has
decided upon a lobster because he likes
the sea. Greek New Waver Lanthimos’s
Kafkaesque sci-fi is a surreal exploration
of the rules of attraction that, we think,
set us above animal kind. The results are
inordinately strange and tiresomely glum,
but in spots hideously funny. IN
046 NOVEMBER 2015
Pan
★★★★★
OUT NOW / RATED PG / 111 MINS.
DIRECTOR Joe Wright
CAST Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller,
Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara
PLOT Orphan Peter (Miller) is kidnapped
and whisked away to Neverland, where
he teams up with James Hook
(Hedlund) and warrior Tiger Lily (Mara)
to save Neverland from Blackbeard
(Jackman).
IT IS A WELL-KNOWN PART OF
Joe Wright’s biog that, as a child, he
worked at his parents’ puppet theatre in
Islington, London. This sense of play is
all over Pan, his prequel to J.M. Barrie’s
Peter Pan that reimagines young Peter
and Hook (he has no hook yet, it’s a
fantastic coincidence) taking on
Blackbeard for the future of Neverland.
Like another Pan remix, Hook, it hits
and misses, making you wonder if the
better option would be to employ all this
expertise, flair and sense of fun to a
retelling of the tale that works.
Pretty much from frame one — Peter’s
mother (yes, it’s Amanda Seyfried)
abandons him on the doorstep of an
orphanage — Pan teems with vision and
creativity: kids cherry-picked from beds
by bungee jumping pirates, flying
galleons versus spitfires, bioluminescent
forests, clouds of fish, a battle played out
with colour-bombs (Rufio would be at
home here), beautifully animated
backstories (bravo Andrew Huang) and Hugh Jackman’s
unfeasibly otherworldly mermaids (all Blackbeard aboard his
Cara Delevingne) rescuing our heroes impressive flying ship/
from leaping crocs. If you love cinematic
ego extension.
craft and daring, this has it in spades.
But for all the razzle-dazzle, it’s in
the dramatic meat where the film falters.
The bones of Jason Fuchs’s story —
a boy’s search for his mother — are
touching, but the film never really
catches the heart. Early scenes in an
orphanage, all cockernee scamps and
Kathy Burke as a matron with a fuck-off
wimple, feel too ‘Kids movie 101’. Miller
gets better as he goes along, Hedlund
channels Han Solo’s reluctant heroism
but adds little else and Mara (sporting
Toyah eye make-up circa 1981) makes for
a feisty feminist Tiger Lily. Jackman,
leading the Lost Boys in Nirvana and
Ramones singalongs, swaggers as
Blackbeard without ever making him a
truly memorable villain.
Perhaps the most compelling scene
in the picture is the first meeting of Peter
and Blackbeard, an odd encounter
charged with menace and melancholy.
“Childhood ain’t so jolly,” Blackbeard
tells him, “it’s frightening.” Wright’s film
isn’t afraid to hint at the blackness in
Barrie — Blackbeard’s rejuvenation
malarkey is plain weird — but could
have gone further. Visually, Pan
might be an awfully big adventure;
just a shame it’s not emotionally.
IAN FREER
VERDICT In many ways, Pan feels like a
kids’ film made by a big kid. It has
fantastic flights of fun and imagination
but doesn’t deliver on the soul-stirring
oomph and finesse to let it soar.
The Dressmaker
★★★★★
OUT OCTOBER 29 / RATED M / 119 MINS
Jocelyn Moorhouse
DIRECTOR
CAST Kate
Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam
Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving, Sarah Snook
PLOT Hate, revenge and haute
couture converge when Tilly (Winslet)
returns to her remote home-town,
having spent years away following a
murderous scandal.
UNFORGIVEN WITH A SEWING
machine. That’s how Australian director
Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof) has summed
up her first feature in almost 20 years.
Such tweet-friendly provocation isn’t too
far off. The Dressmaker’s fine swag of old
West looks and feels is woven into a rural
1950s Australia setting — by way of an
Amelie make-over of surreal realism.
Striving for a heightened fairytale
able to pull heart-strings doesn’t always
end in Chocolat. But when stylish
seamstress Tilly comes back home, the
unusual ramifications warmly and
enjoyably walk the tightrope between
OTT and resounding.
Largely confined within fictional
Dungatar — imagine the set of Dogville
with houses, nestled in Victorian pastures
— Moorhouse runs elegantly wild with
Rosalie Ham’s bestselling novel. Special
applause for Don McAlpine’s
cinematography and Roger Ford’s
production design; each add high-plains
grandeur to outback eccentricity.
Revenge is a key if unclear factor in
the shocking homecoming of Tilly
(played with vintage aplomb by Kate
Winslet). Continuing to reverberate
through this one-street town of secrecy,
Life
★★★★★
OUT NOW / RATED MA15+ / 111 MINS.
DIRECTOR Anton Corbijn
CAST Dane DeHaan, Robert Pattinson,
Joel Edgerton, Sir Ben Kingsley
Odd to say, but Robert Pattinson is
quietly becoming one of our most
interesting young actors. Here he shows
sides of fragility and frustrated
tenderness as photographer Dennis
Stock, photographing nascent star James
Dean (a playful and sensual DeHaan) for
Life magazine. Director Corbijn has of
course photographed everyone from The
slander and repression is the impact Tilly
had on it as a child. Most vividly, the
madness of her mother Molly (Judy
Davis) constantly reminds of how Tilly
left — and why she’s back to confront it.
What seems a straight-up dose of
payback proves otherwise. One of The
Dressmaker’s most engaging elements is
the mosaic of tone, genre and storytelling
it confidently corrals. For all its film-
making fabrics, the spinning of this
creative yarn could have been a garish
mess. Take the kitsch Australiana that
routinely arises. Barry Otto’s hunched
zealot or Rebecca Gibney’s gabby
shopkeeper represent well the perilous
extremes flirted with. But Moorhouse’s
light touch reigns in our cringes, guiding
us through comic conflict into potent
drama about repression and identity.
At a time when domestic violence
remains, ashamedly, on the national
agenda, the poignancy of The
Dressmaker’s undercurrent of men
abusing women can sneak up on you.
Particularly, the cycles of acceptance
(although a sex scene involving a cad and
his comatose wife verges on needless
shock). Cathartic stabs of violence and
comeuppance are played most for
Rolling Stones to Joy Division (the
subject of his first feature film, Control)
but what the film doesn’t do is justify its
dwelling on a drama-light quest — the
snapper’s attempt to get the star to pose
for a soul-baring photo shoot — over
virtually all of its running time. There is
only so much time you can sympathise
with a coy pin-up and his ambitious
attendant, no matter how gifted the
performers. This is a movie that is pretty
sure it has Something To Say, though
isn’t quite sure What That Is. Similarly
the ending reaches for the sky, because it
doesn’t quite know where to land.
NEV PIERCE
lingering impact, not merely to milk our Outback glamours: Judy
basest emotions. Davis, Sarah Snook and
Kate Winslet in The
Crucial to our feeling something
Dressmaker.
about Tilly’s search for self is
Moorhouse’s cast. One of the most
consistent and fully utilised Australian
ensembles in some time provides excellent
foil, farce and grist to the core players.
Davis as the biting but damaged
Molly shall instantly be regaled with
“born to play” plaudits. So great to see
her trading barbs and sorrow with
Winslet, their bond ensuring The
Dressmaker doesn’t sag into saccharine.
Winslet’s international standing and poise
are made for Tilly, yet it might be Liam
Hemsworth who nabs top honours.
Like some sort of bush-hunk spin on
Atticus Finch, Hemsworth’s charming
commoner Teddy encapsulates what is to
savour about The Dressmaker. Moments
of cack turn up during his earnest
interaction with Tilly. But, just as
Moorhouse does throughout, Hemsworth
navigates assuredly with knowing panache
and palpable emotion. BEN MCEACHEN
VERDICT An odd and effective novelty
that harnesses comedy, drama and
kooky Australiana with heart and punch.
NOVEMBER 2015 047
 Cut Snake
★★★★★
OUT NOW / RATED MA15+ / 94 MINS.

DIRECTOR Tony Ayres

CAST Sullivan Stapleton, Alex Russell,
Jessica De Gouw, Megan Holloway,
Robert Morgan, Jack Daye

PLOT In mid-’70s Melbourne, newly

released criminal Pommie (Stapleton)
threatens to upend the seemingly
idyllic life of his former cellmate
Sparra (Russell).

“YOU THINK YOU’RE DONE WITH

the past. But the past is not done with
you.” The words of Joel Edgerton’s creepy
Gordo in recent psycho-thriller The Gift
could just have easily sprung from the
mouth of hulking, freshly released crim
Pommie (Sullivan Stapleton, Animal
Kingdom) in crime noir Cut Snake.
Like Gordo, the mercurial,
malevolent Pommie is an unwelcome
guest from the past, a threat to the future
inveigling his way into unsuspecting lives.
With a determined sense of entitlement,
Pommie is back to make good on a
promise from his former cellmate, the
young and handsome Merv, nicknamed
‘Sparra’ (Alex Russell) who is now on the
straight-and-narrow and engaged to the
beautiful Paula (Jessica De Gouw) in the
outskirts of mid-’70s Melbourne.
While there’s the expected return to
crime for both men, it’s not the endgame.
Ayres and screenwriter Blake Ayshford
(whose screenplay took some 13 years to
come to fruition) are interested in
something deeper and much less opaque,
though hardly unsurprising. At the risk of
caginess, the less said about the turn the
plot takes, the better. Suffice to say, it adds
another stakes-raising dimension to a
scenario crackling with a frisson of
unease, sexual tension and barely-dormant
violence. Much of that has to do with the
fierce turn of Stapleton as the interloper, a
performance seething with rage and
hidden vulnerability. There’s shades of
Australian cinematic crime luminaries —
Eric Bana’s Chopper Read for one — but
it’s a performance all his own. Not to
sideline the strong turns from Russell and
De Gouw in this three-hander, but
Stapleton commands the screen — his Pommie (Sullivan
character and the story demands it. Stapleton) possibly
In his third film as director, Tony leading astray the young
Ayres keeps a steady hand, choosing not Sparra (Alex Russell).
to overegg the ’70s stylings and the crime
noir panache (though there’s references
aplenty — Pommie’s real name is James
Stewart) in an often gripping tale. In
keeping with true film noir, there’s a
pervading sense that whatever the ending
of this story bookended in flame, it won’t
be a happy one. JIM MITCHELL
VERDICT Tense and taut, Cut Snake is an
often gripping if familiar crime noir
charged by a fiercely memorable
performance from Sullivan Stapleton.

ALSO
OUT

Miss You Already The Visit How To Change The World

★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★
OUT NOW / RATED M / 112 MINS. OUT NOW / RATED M / 94 MINS. OUT NOW / RATED M / 114 MINS.
DIRECTOR Catherine
Hardwicke DIRECTOR M. Night Shyamalan DIRECTOR Jerry Rothwell
CAST Drew Barrymore, Toni Collette CAST Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould CAST Bill Darnell, David Garrick

A valiant if flawed attempt to make a
candid film about living with breast
cancer through the prism of the lifelong
friendship of Jess (Barrymore) and Milly
(Collette). It’s an important subject but it
deserves a more detailed film. IF
Bloodied but unbroken by his recent run
of big-screen flops, M. Night Shyamalan
has gone low-budget and lo-fi in this
hoot-inducing tale of two siblings who
discover that their grandparents go
berserk after dark. Decent twist, too. NDS
Despite access to the Greenpeace
archive, this account of the pioneering
eco-movement spends more time on the
tensions between the film’s dominant trio
than their landmark campaigning.
DAVID PARKINSON

048 NOVEMBER 2015

Sicario
★★★★★
OUT NOW / CERT. MA15+ / 121 MINS.
DIRECTOR Denis Villeneuve
CAST Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro,
Josh Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya
PLOT When FBI kidnap-response
specialist Kate Macer (Blunt) begins
working with two shady “Department Of
Defense advisers” (Brolin and Del Toro),
she finds herself on a morally blurred
new front in America’s War On Drugs.
IF YOU’VE SEEN INCENDIES,
Prisoners or, most recently, doppelgänger
drama Enemy, you’ll know that Denis
Villeneuve doesn’t do moral certainty. So
he’s perfect directorial casting for
Sicario, which broadly is to the War On
Drugs what Zero Dark Thirty is to the
War On Terror — though it’s entirely
fictional and at the same time more
honest (brutally so) about the ethical
cost of its desperate measures. To the
degree that, by its end, you’ll be
wondering if you even know what is
right and what is wrong anymore.
Don’t let that put you off. Sicario
may at times be a gruelling test of your
sensibilities but it is an entirely brilliant
thriller. Its snaking, slow-burning fuse of
a plot sparks when Emily Blunt’s FBI
“thumper” makes a gruesome discovery
during a raid, then zigzags across the
US/Mexican border via intense
shoot-outs, violent interrogations and
merciless assassinations. “Sicario”, after
all, is Spanish for “hitman”.
For the most part, both the audience
and its proxy, Blunt’s character Kate, are
kept in the dark as to what the precise
mission is here. Ostensibly it’s to tackle an
increasingly belligerent Juaréz-based
cartel. But how? Coiled, fuming and taut,
Kate asks schlubby DOD guy Matt (Josh
Brolin, rolling on thongs) what their
objective is. “To dramatically overreact,”
is his shrugged reply. He tells her to watch
and learn, but proves a don’t-show,
don’t-tell kind of mentor. Then there’s
Matt’s laconic wingman Alejandro
(Benicio Del Toro), an inscrutable
Colombian with a reptilian-cool
demeanour, but who wakes screaming to
nightmares in Kate’s presence.
First-time screenwriter Taylor
Sheridan (aka Sons Of Anarchy’s Deputy
Chief Hale) at times allows his
characters to slide into cliché-speak
(“This is a land of wolves now”), but
Blunt and Del Toro transcend this with
superbly nuanced performances. Her
straight-arrow-sharp determination
becomes painfully dulled; he is an
exhausted monster, somehow inviting
sympathy while radiating danger.
If there is justice in the world, Sicario
will be an all-round Oscar-magnet. Del
Toro and Blunt are strong shouts, but so
is Villeneuve himself and this should
really, finally, be the year that 12-time
nominee Roger Deakins wins for
cinematography. Through his eye, often
peering down from a cloudless sky,
tracking the undulating shadow of an
Top: Just say no: Blunt under-the-radar jet, the land south of the
and the FBI get serious. border becomes a threatening, crater-
Above: Benicio Del Toro’s riven otherworld. Perhaps that’s a
inscrutable agent being deliberate visual metaphor. We are, after
actually quite scrutable. all, in a morally alien landscape.
Villeneuve and Deakins revel in the
twilight — definitely a deliberate visual
metaphor. The entire film has a
gorgeously crepuscular quality. Its most
resounding gracenote presents us with an
apocalyptic sunset. Against it, Delta
Force warriors become stark shadows,
dipping down and disappearing one by
one into a literal underworld: a
dead-of-night-dark tunnel that slices
clean through the border. An image so
powerful it’s impossible to shake.
DAN JOLIN
VERDICT A beautifully murky, hard-
edged thriller. Quite simply, one of the
best films of the year.
NOVEMBER 2015 049
 DID
YOU
KNOW?
Renaissance
man Brett
Lee has his
own fashion
line and
released
albums UNindian Alex & Eve
with band ★★★★★ ★★★★★
Six & Out. OUT OCTOBER 15 / RATED M / 106 MINS. OUT OCTOBER 22 / RATED M / 87 MINS.
DIRECTOR Anupam Sharma DIRECTOR PETER ANDRIKIDIS
CAST Brett Lee, Tannishtha Chatterjee, John Howard, Heather CAST RICHARD BRANCATISANO, ANDREA DEMETRIADES, ZOE CARIDES,
Maltman, Gulshan Grover TONY NIKOLAKOPOULOS, RYAN O’KANE

When beach-blond Aussie boy Will falls for Indian Australian
Meera (Chatterjee) in Sydney, the stage is set for a less than
subtle rom-com of cultural clash. “How do I pick up an Indian
chick?” asks Will (former cricketing great/commentator Brett
Lee is likeable, if unsteady), a teacher of Australian slang and
you guessed it, amateur cricketer, before manoeuvring through
awkward meet-cutes and the judgement of the local Indian
community. UNindian tries its best to be a frothy cross-cultural
comedy in the tradition of Bend It Like Beckham but it’s often
hamfisted, no more so than its awkward shoe-horning of
stakeholders — from Tourism NSW to a cochlear implant
provider — into the premise. JIM MITCHELL
Based on a series of stageplays by Alex Lykos and set when
Greece won the 2004 European Football Championships comes
this moussaka of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Bend It Like
Beckham. There’s even a little Romeo And Juliet thrown in…
well, if Romeo was a Greek Orthodox schoolteacher, Juliet was a
Lebanese Muslim lawyer, and it didn’t all end in a suicide pact.
Apart from being a ridiculously good-looking couple, the leads
have a natural chemistry that radiates off the screen. Which is
good, because some moments between Alex and his students
feel stilted and awkward. Still, scenes between the warring
families and a colourful supporting cast ensure this delightful
Aussie film hits its mark. ELIZABETH BEST

DID
YOU
KNOW?
The film was
finished in
2008 but
needed a
Kickstarter
campaign
to raise The Wrecking Crew Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
over $300K ★★★★★ ★★★★★
for music OUT NOW / RATING PG / 101 MINS. OUT NOW / RATED M / 132 MINS.
licensing and DIRECTOR Denny Tedesco DIRECTOR Wes Ball
production CAST Brian Wilson, Dick Clark, Cher, Nancy Sinatra, Carol Kaye CAST Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster,
costs. Ki Hong Lee, Patricia Clarkson
Entertaining, poignant and ridiculously catchy, this tells the story
of the band of session musicians whose genius lit up history’s The first Maze Runner dropped us right into the action and left us
greatest pop music: Sinatra, Elvis, The Beach Boys, Phil Spector’s without resolution, beyond our heroes’ escape from the maze.
‘Wall Of Sound’, The Monkees — they did them all and, as This loose adaptation of the second book similarly dispenses with
six-stringer Al Casey points out, “either augment or totally such luxuries as a beginning or end and just races with Dylan
replace the band.” Guitarist Tommy Tedesco (his son directed the O’Brien’s Thomas and his friends as they run from the mysterious
film) is the court jester, drummer Hal Blaine talks movingly about WCKD organisation, the genuinely scary, zombie-like Kranks that
working as a security guard when the gigs dried up, but best of all roam the burned-out Scorch and the gangs of the desert fringes.
is bassist Carol Kaye who proudly boasts she used to make more There are Spielbergian nods, colourful characters — Giancarlo
money than the US President (the bass line in Good Vibrations is Esposito is an eccentric gangster and Alan Tudyk runs a nightclub
worth every penny). It won’t win awards for innovation — but like for the terminally decadent — and thoughtful moments amid the
20 Feet From Stardom, a compelling story about music’s unsung mayhem. So while it’s a woefully incomplete middle chapter, at
heroes. IAN FREER least it’s never boring. HELEN O’HARA

050 NOVEMBER 2015


Everest
★★★★★
OUT NOW / RATED M / 121 MINS.
DIRECTOR Baltasar Kormákur
CAST Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh
Brolin, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright
PLOT In 1996, experienced guide
Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) leads a
group of climbers up Mount Everest.
But too many rival amateur
expeditions and bad weather
lead to an unprecedented disaster.
LAST YEAR, DRAMA-
documentary Beyond The Edge recreated
Edmund Hillary’s 1953 ascent of Mount
Everest in spectacular 3D. This true-life
disaster movie plays like a downbeat
sequel to that heroic effort, and one-ups it
with even more vertiginous, stereoscopic
imagery of the highest place on Earth,
using footage shot on the mountain along
with cleverly selected lookalike locales.
It’s almost an illustrated version of a
lecture delivered early on by a guide to
the perhaps-foolhardy tourist climbers:
the lower slopes of Everest, marked by
deep, shifting ice crevasses, are technically
more dangerous to cross than the higher
stretches, but the thin air and extreme
cold at the top are inimical to human life.
Nevertheless, byte-sized character
infodumps explain why the likes of
alpha dog Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin),
jolly mailman Doug Hansen (John
ALSO
OUT
Black Mass
OUT NOW / RATED MA15+ / 122 MINS.
DIRECTOR ScottCooper
CAST Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton,
Benedict Cumberbatch
Johnny Depp ditches the goofy
make-up and goes for a more
menacing set of prosthetics as
notorious Irish crim Whitey Bulger in
this much vaunted return to form.
Crimson Peak
OUT OCTOBER 15 / RATING TBC / TBC MINS.
DIRECTOR Guillermodel Toro
CAST JessicaChastain, Tom Hiddleston,
Mia Wasikowska, Charlie Hunnam
Edith (Wasikowska) marries charmer
Climb every mountain: Jason
Hawkes) and peak-collector Yasuko Sir Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston) and is
Clarke is climber Rob Hall.
Namba (Naoko Mori) are so keen to whisked away to live in (literally) the
‘summit’ Everest. house from hell with him and his
The story of the 1996 cluster-mess on demented sister (Chastain).
the slopes is fascinating, but this telling
spreads the focus too widely and crams in Bridge Of Spies
too many star names (though it’s OUT OCTOBER 22 / RATED TBC / TBC MINS.
lesser-known performers like Jason DIRECTOR Stephen Spielberg
Clarke and Hawkes who carry the CAST Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance,
weight). The film finds room for Peter McRobbie, Alan Alda
contrasting guides in laidback Scott
Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) and The Beard is back, reuniting with Tom
professional Rob Hall (Clarke), waiting Hanks after their last collaboration
wives Jan Hall (Keira Knightley, (2004’s The Terminal). Hanks plays a
pregnant and Kiwi-accented) and Peach lawyer tasked by the CIA to help
Weathers (Robin Wright, nervous in retrieve a US pilot from the Soviets.
kitchen cutaways), and mumsy base
camp organiser Helen Wilton (Emily The Last Witch Hunter
Watson) and low-temperature doctor OUT OCTOBER 22 / RATED TBC / TBC MINS.
Caroline Mackenzie (Elizabeth Devicki). DIRECTOR Breck Eisner
All have dramatic tales, but too many end CAST VinDiesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah
up standing around until the snow Wood, Julie Engelbrecht
obscures them.
Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur Vin is immortal Kaulder, the last hag
(Jar City) handles the crisis well and the hunter of the title. Expect him to be
Nepalese mountains are endlessly fast and/or furious as he goes
impressive, but the drama falls between broomstick to broomstick with a Witch
soap and saga, while having some odd Queen (Engelbrecht) to save mankind.
priorities about the real-life characters. By
contrast, 127 Hours, with its single Our Brand Is Crisis
sufferer, had much more dramatic force, OUT OCTOBER 29 / RATED TBC / 108 MINS.
though objectively the stakes were lower DIRECTOR David Gordon Green
in Danny Boyle’s film. KIM NEWMAN CAST Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob
Thornton, Zoe Kazan
VERDICT Spectacular and well-acted, this
suffers from much the same problem as Based on the documentary of the
the situation it depicts — too many same name, this stars Bullock and Billy
people on the mountain and too many Bob as political consultants caught
threads to follow so that affecting between a Bolivian presidential
individual stories get lost in the snow. candidate whose popularity is flagging.
NOVEMBER 2015 051
052 NOVEMBER 2015
THEY ARE

The Dark Knight and

the Man Of Steel face
off at long last in
Batman V Superman:
Dawn Of Justice.
Empire reveals
how director
Zack Snyder turned
a straightforward
sequel into the
big bang for a new
cinematic universe
WORDS IAN NATHAN

NOVEMBER 2015 053

 THE CREATORS OF BATMAN V
Superman: Dawn Of Justice do not
refer to their new movie as a sequel, or
an episode, or the next phase. They call
it an expansion.
There had never been any doubt that
Man Of Steel was the start of something.
Did you spot those cunningly placed
Easter eggs? Logos for LexCorp and
Wayne Industries, the acknowledgement BRIEFING
G

BATMANN V
of a world far bigger than simply
Smallville and Metropolis. But when it

S MAN:
SUPERMAN:
came to it, sitting down to imagine where
their newly rebooted and suited

DAWN OF
Superman franchise might go next…
Well, this happened.

S CE
JUSTICE
Think of this as our pre-credits
sequence. A boardroom. Day. Possibly
the very boardroom where Empire is REL : March
RELEASED: ch 24
currently sitting opposite director Zack C O : Zack
DIRECTOR: k Snyder
Snyder. The Synder brain trust is deep
STARRING:: Ben
B Affleck,
into a meeting about who might serve as Henry
H y Cavill, Gall Gadot,
the villain in the second Superman Jesse Eisenberg,g, Amy
movie. They consider Brainiac, what they A
Adams, Jeremy y Irons,
might do with Lex Luthor; all are Diane
D Lane,, Jason
on Momoa
determined it couldn’t be another STORY:: After
te the
t e
alien-invasion movie. Then the director destruction
dest uct o ofo half
alf of
just puts it out there... Metropolis,
p p et Earth
planet
“‘We should put Batman in the isn’t sure about Superman
second movie,’” says Snyder, reliving the (Cavill).
( ) Is he a friend
riend or a
historic moment. “Actually, I think the threat?
t eat? To o seasoned
first thing we mentioned was the movie Gotham vigilante
g e Batman
(Affleck),, he’s the
e latter.
would end with some Kryptonite being
One
O e which c needs
eeds to be
delivered to Wayne Manor. Da-dah! neutralised,, fast..
Everyone was like, ‘Oh shit!’”
WHAT ABOUT THE
HE
What is it about this showdown that
J
JUSTICE UE? Not so
LEAGUE?
stirs such excitement? The two most fast.
ast. Thiss movie
o e sets the
legendary superheroes going Batmano a stage
g for the DC C Universe
Supermano. The comic books have tried superteam
p (clue’s
’s in the
the dust-up/team-up from all angles title),, but that’s a few
(most effectively as ageing titans in ❯ movies away y yet.
y t.

054 NOVEMBER 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 055
 “First we had the Justice
League concept. The other
films support that.”
Frank Miller’s hugely influential The
Dark Knight Returns). In Will Smith’s
post-apocalyptic hit I Am Legend, a
deserted Times Square displays a
Batman Vs Superman hoarding — an
in-joke referring to a previous Warner
Bros. attempt to pit the two heroes
against one another on the big screen
(hopefully, the new film doesn’t prefigure
a global apocalypse). There were plans in
Tim Burton’s aborted Superman Lives to
have Michael Keaton’s Dark Knight gaze
upon Nicolas Cage’s Kryptonian hero
from a rooftop. Who is this alien dude in
the blue pants? It’s been lurking in the
zeitgeist — the idea of it. The potential
of it. Batman V Superman.
“Once you’ve said it out loud, you
can’t put it back in the box,” Snyder
laughs: good ideas, really good ideas are
like genies. “It started to evolve from
there, to the point where we said, ‘The
bad guy, in a way, is Batman…’”
OKAY, DC IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN IN
a really, really big way. A Marvel-sized
way, but let’s not get too caught up in the
whole Marvel V DC thing just yet.
056 NOVEMBER 2015
Zack Snyder
Leastways, from that Batman epiphany
has sprung an extended universe
(commonly: EU) based upon the
catalogue of Marvel’s rival comic book
house, Detective Comics (commonly:
DC). A many-limbed saga of superheroes
and supervillains branching forth from
the Justice League, the supergroup of DC
big-hitters led by, yes siree, Batman and
Superman (at some point, it is safe to
assume, they will have to set aside their
differences and bro up). “What we are
doing is ground-up all the way,” stresses
Snyder. “It is one giant story.”
Indeed, if you want the narrative
ground zero for their exponential epic, it
is when Superman switches on the scout
ship in Man Of Steel. The same thing
that Zod saw, other beings saw. Other
beings like Aquaman and Wonder
Woman. A world began to stir…
Snyder’s personal headquarters are
concealed in a quiet corner of leafy LA
suburb Pasadena — a suite of offices
with a spare, warehousey vibe. In
reception, the latest DC editions of Red
Lanterns, Constantine, Supergirl et al lie
in neat rows alongside Produced By
Clockwise, from above: magazine and Variety. Only the
Henry Cavill in Clark background subwoofer rumble of closely
mode, with Lois (Amy scrutinised scenes tells you that a major
Adams) and Perry White film is being nudged towards completion.
(Laurence Fishburne); Gal Somewhere deep in the Snyder-cave is
Gadot’s Diana Prince, aka a whiteboard upon which the entire DC
Wonder Woman; Ben EU is sketched out. “Kind of a timeline
Affleck’s Bruce Wayne, of what every movie is,” says producer
with Alfred (Jeremy Deborah Snyder, who follows her
Irons) in the ruins of husband into the Empire interrogation,
Wayne Manor. “where it is going, and where the films fit
in in relation to each other.”
The inner council, those who circle
such not-likely-Ikea conference tables, is
comprised of Snyder, Deborah Snyder,
producer Chuck Roven (who helped steer
the Dark Knight trilogy to greatness),
screenwriter Chris Terrio (who has
plotted the through-line from Batman V
Superman into back-to-back Justice
League movies) and Geoff Johns,
Chief Creative Officer at DC Comics,
keeper of the lore.
“The first thing we had was the
Justice League concept,” says Snyder.
“The other movies, in a way, have to
support that. That is our Wonder Woman,
our Aquaman. They have their own

creative concepts that support them, but
they do serve Justice League in the
coming together of those heroes.”
It’s the inverse of The Avengers. We
will meet Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman
first in Batman V Superman, and then
her origin will be fleshed out in Patty
Jenkins’s (who was once set to direct
Thor 2) stand-alone Wonder Woman
movie. We will meet Jason Momoa’s
Aquaman properly in The Justice League
— he gets an elusive introduction in
Batman V Superman (“You will
understand he exists,” teases Snyder)
— before tackling his own adventure.
“I want all the other directors of the
other films to be able to stretch their legs
and do what they want, but at the same
there is a big interconnected universe.”
Snyder remains the creative heart of the
enterprise, the facilitator of a coherent
DC style; indeed, the Brainiac of the EU.
“I have given everyone amazing access to
our story, to me, and what we are doing.
All the films have like-minded conceptual
jumping-off points.”
No-one is about to devise a hilarious
romantic comedy featuring Cyborg.
ROUGHED-OUT
HOW THE OTHER LEAGUERS MIGHT
“We call it the sandbox,” says Chuck
Roven when Empire visits him the next
day at Atlas Entertainment, which
occupies a hushed floor of a Beverly Hills
high-rise. “It has borders around it, but
everybody gets to play in the sandbox. On
Suicide Squad, David [Ayer] has a lot of
specific control over his area of the
sandbox. Even if he crosses the line a little
bit, we see if we can push our boundaries
back a little bit.”
Logistically it is staggering. As
Batman V Superman gains its coat of
special effects, and the various stages of
editing, scoring, grading and sound
mixing are completed, Deborah Snyder,
along with Roven, is watching over a
sandbox that stretches around the world.
Jenkins is in London prepping Wonder
Woman, which will shoot there this
spring. Suicide Squad, which was filmed
in Toronto under the earthy gaze of
Ayer, wrapped at the end of August.
“I do watch the dailies,” she promises,
enthusing about the film’s “street
quality”. They are already doing soft
prep for The Justice League, which will
begin shooting next autumn, and
JUSTICE
FIT INTO THE SNYDERVERSE
Wonder Woman
AKA: Princess Diana of Themyscira,
Diana Prince
ORIGIN: Amazonian warrior princess.
POWERS: Super-strength and
agility, flight, owns the Bracelets Of
Submission, the Lasso Of Truth,
a super-sharp sword. Also an invisible jet.
THE CHALLENGE: Fitting the pseudo-Greek
myth into Snyder’s ‘real’ world; keeping her
micro-skirt semi-decent; the invisible jet.
The Flash
AKA: Barry Allen. Or Wally West.
Or Jay Garrick. Or Bart Allen.
ORIGIN: Depends on which Flash. If
Ezra Miller’s playing Barry, then
he’s a scientist transformed by
lightning-struck chemicals.
POWERS: Super-duper speed.
THE CHALLENGE: The CW’s bright, breezy
Flash TV show is already proving popular.
Would a ‘darker’ take wash?
Aquaman
AKA: Arthur Curry. Or Orin, The King
Of The Seven Seas.
ORIGIN: His dad’s human, his mum’s
from Atlantis.
POWERS: Underwater breathing,
super-swimming, sealife control.
THE CHALLENGE: Thanks to Entourage, he’s a
bit of a joke hero… Though Jason Momoa’s
casting suggests a very different approach.
Green Lantern
AKA: Hal Jordan, John Stewart and,
oh, a bunch of other guys.
ORIGIN: Whoever’s Green Lantern
gets their power from an alien ring
which makes them a member of the
intergalactic Green Lantern Corps.
POWERS: Flight, conjuring green ‘constructs’.
THE CHALLENGE: Ryan Reynolds’s
stand-alone Lantern failed to fly. Should
they really try again?
Cyborg
AKA: Victor Stone
ORIGIN: Genius kid who, after being
mauled by a monster, has most of his
body replaced by super-prosthetics.
POWERS: Super-strength, flight,
enhanced senses, weaponry.
THE CHALLENGE: He’s the easiest to Snyderise.
As long as he’s not beaten to the screen by a
Six Million Dollar Man reboot. DAN JOLIN
NOVEMBER 2015 057
058 NOVEMBER 2015
“There is just this gravitas to
Batman. He is operatic.” Zack Snyder

NOVEMBER 2015 059

 THE CAPE WAR EVERY SCREEN BATMAN. EVERY SCREEN SUPERMAN (PLUS ONE FROM
RADIO). ONE MASSIVE TOURNAMENT. WHO WINS? WORDS ADAM SMITH

CHRISTIAN BALE ROBERT LOWERY WILL ARNETT VAL KILMER

V TOM WELLING V BUD COLLYER V CHANNING TATUM V CHRISTOPHER REEVE
ROUND I

Swoonsome former Abercrombie model
Welling was a smash as Clark in 218
episodes of the excellent Smallville. But,
y’know, he’s up against Bale. Out he goes.
WINNER! CHRISTIAN BALE
’40s action-man Lowery starred in the
New Adventures Of Batman And Robin in
1949. But Collyer played Supes on radio
and in two animated series.
WINNER! BUD COLLYER
Tatum’s a charmer as the voice of Superman
in The LEGO Movie, but Arnett had far more
screen time and is even getting his own
LEGO Batman movie in 2017.
WINNER! WILL ARNETT
Kilmer’s single appearance as the Caped
Crusader in Batman Forever (1995) was
marred by on-set tantrums. Christopher
Reeve’s, er, wasn’t.
WINNER! CHRISTOPHER REEVE

CHRISTIAN BALE WILL ARNETT

V BUD COLLYER V CHRISTOPHER REEVE
ROUND II

No-one’s played either character more
than Collyer (2,000 radio episodes from
1940 to ’51, plus toons). But Bale’s
Bat-turn brought a thrilling darkness
that’s certain to endure.
WINNER! CHRISTIAN BALE
CHRISTIAN BALE
V DEAN CAIN
ROUND III
Arnett was one of the highlights of
LEGO’s $260 million-grossing box-office
behemoth, but Reeve’s four outings
earned (adjusted for inflation) just over
$1 billion domestically.
WINNER! CHRISTOPHER REEVE
THE FINAL
CHRISTIAN BALE V
CHRISTOPHER REEVE
Was it always going to come down to
this?* Reeve’s Superman is a
performance against which all Men Of MICHAEL KEATON
Steel are measured. Bale’s embracing of V CHRISTOPHER REEVE

Cain’s romantic take was heavily infected
by Reeve’s timeless turn, but Bale’s
Batman gave the genre a new realistic
spin, and in Heath Ledger’s Joker, he
battled the greatest villain in any comic
book medium.
WINNER! CHRISTIAN BALE
ADAM WEST V DEAN CAIN
West’s campery proved something the
ROUND II
The Dark Knight’s tortured contradictions Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) founded the
set the template for the superhero in the modern comic book film cycle, but
modern world. It’s obviously a draw. But… Superman (1978) was the first superhero
Christopher Reeve was in Superman IV: blockbuster. And Reeve made $150 million
The Quest For Peace. Not only was he in more than Keaton’s $830 million
it, he was largely responsible for its (adjusted) in the role.
disastrous story. Copybook thus tragically WINNER! CHRISTOPHER REEVE
blotted, Kal-El retires bloodied to the
Fortress Of Solitude, leaving Bale’s
Batman triumphant!
FINAL WINNER! CHRISTIAN BALE
MICHAEL KEATON
V KIRK ALYN

later films needed to escape. Cain’s deft “Superman ruined my career,” lamented
turn in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Alyn after Columbia canned the serials in
Of Superman (1993 to 1997) was funny 1950. Birdman shows that donning the
and touching. Batcape has hardly been disastrous
WINNER! DEAN CAIN for Keaton.
WINNER! MICHAEL KEATON
(*YES. WE RIGGED THE DRAW.)

GEORGE CLOONEY ADAM WEST LEWIS G. WILSON MICHAEL KEATON

ROUND I

V DEAN CAIN V GEORGE REEVES V KIRK ALYN V BRANDON ROUTH

Clooney was a shoo-in for the suave,
minted Bruce Wayne, but strangely
underpowered as the vigilante in the
notorious franchise-slayer Batman &
Robin (1997). Cain wins!
WINNER! DEAN CAIN
Reeves’s easygoing Clark Kent was the
lynchpin of his ’50s TV Supes, but West’s
’60s take on Batman nailed a campy
KERPOW! style that defined the character
for a generation.
WINNER! ADAM WEST
Wilson’s Batman (1943) might have
beaten Alyn’s Superman to the screen,
but Alyn dominated for two series, in
Superman (1948) and Atom Man Vs.
Superman (1950).
WINNER! KIRK ALYN
Routh’s winsome take was Superman
Returns’ key asset but his outing failed to
birth a franchise. Keaton, however,
launched the grandaddy of the modern
superhero cycle.
WINNER! MICHAEL KEATON

060 NOVEMBER 2015

 overseeing the script for Aquaman, which
James Wan will direct. Kirk Johnstad,
Snyder’s writing partner on 300, is
fathoming (sorry) how the Atlantean
king will fit into their real-world ethos.
Deborah Snyder raises her eyes to the
ceiling, shuffling through a comic-rack in
her brain, “and we have Flash we are
working on, too.”
It is an obvious question, but it
needs to be asked. How does their EU
compare with what Marvel has
established to the tune of billions? “Top
down it is a different universe,” replies
Snyder, more than ready for this line of
enquiry. “Right from the beginning it is
different tonally from where those
movies are. You know, DC is an ancient
world in a lot of ways.”
Deborah Snyder meets the question
with her perfect smile. “I can see how
people would want to make it this big,
“Our films deal with
things that are a
little darker.”
intense rivalry. Listen, they are so great. I
loved Guardians Of The Galaxy… Our
films are a bit more serious. They deal
with things that are a little darker.
Things that place them in our world.”
THERE WAS A MOMENT DURING
the casting of Man Of Steel when they
knew they had their man. It’s dinner-
party material now, how Henry Cavill
strode out for his screen test garbed in
Christopher Reeve’s old Superman suit
and no-one laughed. He felt so emphatic,
so real. Well, Ben Affleck had been
immersing himself in the comic books
and had seen an image of Bruce
Wayne.“I need my hair to look like this,”
he informed his filmmakers, brandishing
the comic book in question.
“I remember not being too sure,”
admits Deborah Snyder. Later, she and
Snyder were in Michigan busily readying
Deborah Snyder
Above: Jesse Eisenberg the shoot, with Affleck still in Los
as the nefarious Lex, Angeles taking meetings with head-of-
complete with lovely hair Chase Heard. A photo arrived of
long locks. that hair. “It was perfect — he looked
like Bruce Wayne.” The producer was
delighted to be proved wrong. “It was
that moment: ‘Oh, we gotta do this.’”
Truthfully, it’s nothing drastic.
Affleck wears a wig in the movie that
makes concrete Wayne’s age and
experience. It instantly made him their
Bruce/their Batman: older than ever
before. Older, in fact, than Affleck (42).
“We are playing him 45 or 46,”
explains Snyder. “He has been Batman
for 20 years. All the history is there. Was
there a Robin at one time? Possibly.”
Suicide Squad is a key crossover film
in this respect. Jared Leto’s Joker is the
Affleck-Batman Joker. As Snyder
confirms, Batman’s had a relationship
with the Joker, Harley (Quinn), all the
Belle Reve reprobates in Ayer’s inverted
team-up movie. He put those guys in
prison. There have even been sightings of
Batman on their Toronto set. You can
also imagine that somewhere out there is
a Riddler, a Penguin and a Two-Face. A
rebooted Catwoman...
“We want to assume that Batman
has reached this point in his life and
NOVEMBER 2015 061
 1
“I have done two
iconic things in my
career. There was
Godzilla [for Roland
Emmerich in 1998],
which wasn’t very well
received. Hopefully,
people will like the
Batmobile better. It
was the first thing
I designed. I mean,
I am not going to
start with Lois’s
apartment. I did
some sketches, which
placed it in the
Batcave. There were
two or three designs
afterwards, but in the
end my first sketch
was the Batmobile
we used…”

2
“It is truly an 3
emotional process —
it’s about what feels “He is not driving a
right. I showed Zack Formula 1 car, he’s
and Zack said, ‘Cool.’ driving a tank that is
Sometimes it just very sexy-looking.
clicks. These films are Batman is rougher,
very grounded. There tougher and grungier.
will be tons of CG, but So everything is
also a lot of real stuff rough: the weapons,
— especially with the suit and the car.
Batman. Of course, There are machine
building a car from guns mounted on the
scratch is challenging. front. When you first
The car drives, jumps, see the Batmobile, it
pretty much does is being fixed. It is not
everything. We got — boom! — coming out
the best people. ” of the garage
brand-new. It is
scratched, damaged.”

062 NOVEMBER 2015

 “HE IS DRIVING
4
A TANK THAT IS
VERY SEXY-
“Batmobiles are often
designed very low to
the ground,
something classical.
That didn’t feel fully
LOOKING…”
comfortable for us.
I thought the Tumbler
was a revolutionary
design, with the
suspension very high PRODUCTION DESIGNER PATRICK
up. I wanted to TATOPOULOS ON REINTERPRETING
combine the two
BAT-MYTHOLOGY: “IN A SENSE THE
vehicles. I wanted
BATMOBILE DEFINES THE
something of a
motorcycle, too: big
LOOK FOR BATMAN…”
wheels, suspension,
exhausts.”
“REALLY AND TRULY WE
stick to the mythology,”
announces Patrick Tatopoulos.
“It is not as if we steer away
completely.” Tatopoulos loved
reinventing the look and feel
of Superman on Man Of Steel
— Krypton, Metropolis, the
suit, the Fortress Of Solitude
— but there is nothing like
the chance to put his own
stamp on the Bat-mythos.
“Batman,” he relishes, “has
his own language.”
Through director Zack
Snyder’s lens, their Batman
is more seasoned and
world-weary. So his world
needed to feel lived-in. The
Batcave wasn’t to feel
opulent, but part of the
world, carved out of the rock.
Bruce Wayne now lives in
what they call the Glasshouse,
on an idyllic lakeside
5 (wherefore Wayne Manor?).
“Its footprint is minimal,”
says Tatopoulos, “it is part of
“With The Justice nature.” And given his
League coming, it director’s passion for
influences my designs architecture, it is assumed to
of the Batcave, the be the work of famed
Batmobile, the modernist architect Mies van
Batwing. We are der Rohe. “You are designing
creating a world for a house that would have been
Batman — every set, designed by van der Rohe,
every prop, is real. how ballsy is that?” laughs
We have to be ready the designer.
for what’s next.” Wayne is still wealthy
beyond belief, and has
technology at his command,
but everything needed to pass
a could-be-real test: his
Bat-armour, his Bat-weapons,
his Bat-pack of goodies
including a grappling hook
launcher and grenades. His
opponent might fly and “do
stuff with his eyes”, but
their universe must never
feel surreal.
“There are other things
happening too,” adds
Tatopoulos excitedly, “Gotham
is a very different city from
Metropolis. Metropolis is
Toronto on steroids. Gotham
is Detroit.”
But beyond such “grungy”
aspects, Tatopoulos
emphasises that character
plays as big a part in his
thinking. For instance, Jesse
Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor has a
massive pad filmed in a
Detroit museum, but you
never get to see the bedroom.
“Everything is a façade,”
Tatopoulos notes. “You have
no access to what is inside
Lex.” Whereas we see right
into the heart of the small
apartment where Clark and
Lois have moved in together.
“Bruce is the Bruce
Wayne you know,” says
Tatopoulos. “He’s a playboy,
he’s got money. He has this
strength, but also an artistic
sensibility. He’s got a past, a
family who got him where he
is today.” Like his director, he
is the kind of guy who would
live in a van der Rohe.
NOVEMBER 2015 063
 career as a superhero, and Superman
represents a sort of philosophical
change,” says Snyder keenly. “He is a
paradigm shift for Batman: ‘I’ve been
fighting criminals all my life, trying to
find justice, and now I am confronted
with a concept that is transcendent to
me.’ In the face of Superman, a man
robbing a bank doesn’t matter.”
We have arrived at the heart of the
proposition: the why of the V. Batman
witnessed the devastation of Metropolis
(they call it the ‘Black Zero Event’) and
fears Superman is a beacon for aliens
like Zod, bent on destruction. To his
mind, this only gets worse. “He has lost
those that are near and dear to him,”
says Roven, hinting at a more immediate
motivation, “and not necessarily from
old age or disease.” There are striking
shots in the recent trailer of a Wayne
Enterprises skyscraper being levelled.
How can we even know Superman?
We live by his good graces. We make the
assumption that he will always be good
and never turn on us… Can we trust
him? These are themes similar to those
that orbited Superman-satire Doctor
064 NOVEMBER 2015
Manhattan in Snyder’s Watchmen.
Superhero or god?
“He’s having a crisis of conscience,”
says Snyder of his Dark Knight: “‘Am I
really just a vigilante who stalks the
alleys of Gotham?’ It is rich stuff that he
deals with. Ben does an amazing job.”
A brief flashback to the set in June
2014: Ben Affleck squinting into the
Michigan sunshine. The air a blizzard of
dust. The cowl covers Bruce Wayne’s
good looks, but curiously, Batman is
wearing a Spaghetti Western-style duster
coat and carries a machine gun.
“Initially I thought, ‘I’m older, it
doesn’t seem like the right sort of fit for
me,’” Affleck says, as wind machines are
carefully repositioned. “Then Zack
pitched me his concept for this older,
more broken, kind of fucked-up Batman.
It was something we hadn’t seen.”
He likens the role to Hamlet, or
James Bond. Hardy perennials that
thrive under different conditions.
Anyway, this isn’t a Batman movie,
Affleck insists. It’s Batman V Superman.
“We have seen that Batman is willing to
cross the line in order to protect people,”
Above: Batman V he elaborates. “That vigilantism has been
Snyder-Man... a part of this character all along, and we
Above right: ...and V a are tapping into that mentality when
very angry Superman. faced by something as potentially deadly
as Superman.”
Snyder loves his size: at six-four in
that suit, Affleck is a giant. “There is just
this gravitas to him. He is operatic.”
Superman, for his part, is not
convinced Batman is an entirely healthy
concept either. This vigilante who is
judge, jury and executioner all rolled into
one black suit?
Roven explains that their Superman/
Clark Kent “is a natural extension of
what happened in Man Of Steel”. That
dilemma of where he belongs hasn’t gone
away. He is still troubled.
Another flashback: Cavill on set,
rising like a Greek god. The set is the
steps of the Capitol Building. He is
suited, but the digital cape comes later.
“In this movie, everyone has split
into different directions as to how they
feel about this alien,” Cavill says,
summarising Kal-El’s plight. “Some
people love him, some hate him. Other
people fear him. Is he a tyrant? It’s the

“Everyone is split
on how they feel about
this alien.”
Henry Cavill
human outlook on Superman, and that
includes Lex and Batman, which is why
such a major thing happens.”
He means the escalation. The big
showdown. This almighty face-off that
encouraged the filmmakers not to leap
straight into The Justice League. How it
becomes a fair fight is as much about
Batman’s ingenuity as Superman’s power.
Think Bat-armour. Think Lex Luthor.
Think Kryptonite being delivered to
Wayne Manor.
Which makes this a paradigm shift
for an audience naturally rooting for
Batman. “It’s a point-of-view thing,”
responds Snyder, suggesting Batman is
and isn’t the bad guy. “That is why Dawn
Of Justice is the full title. What it does is
allow us to start this conversation. That
is where Wonder Woman came from in
the movie.”
Deborah Snyder admits she cried
when Gadot first walked onto set as
Wonder Woman. It was another of those
moments. Gadot had blown them away
in her audition. They were down to a list
of five, each filming a scene with Affleck.
But Gadot somehow was Wonder
Woman. “She is this feminist icon,” says
the producer proudly of the character.
“It is so timely, gender has been a hot
topic.” Plus a fine opportunity to
puncture some testosterone-fuelled egos.
“Not just the men,” she laughs, “but how
ridiculous the situation seems.”
Vitally, they haven’t treated her
action scenes any differently to the men’s.
She might fight in her own style, but she
is just as intense and brutal. Snyder notes
that Wonder Woman (aka Diana Prince)
is a key catalyst in shifting the story
towards The Justice League.
And let us not forget Luthor, a
young man with a plan, as assayed by
the intriguing choice of Jesse Eisenberg.
Think of this as a post-credits sting for
a forthcoming issue with more from
Lex, Clark, Bruce, Lois, Diana,
Zack, Deborah, Chuck, Metropolis
and Gotham.
Warner Bros. is still game for further
solo outings for the grand dames of DC.
Affleck, together with Geoff Johns, is
writing a definitively Batman movie that
he will direct as well as star in. Which
redoubles the point that Snyder hasn’t
made a Batman movie. “If it was a
Batman movie it would be a much more
difficult proposition,” he admits, “because
of how good Chris’s movies are.”
Ah yes, the elephant in the
conference room: executive producer
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
Snyder admits Nolan had been taken
aback when he revealed he wanted to
reinterpret Batman alongside Superman,
but is fully supportive.
“We live in gratitude to those
movies,” Snyder urges. “Chris set a tone
for the DC universe, and separated us
from Marvel in a great way. We are the
legacy of those movies.”
Stylistically, at least, that makes
them prequels.
BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE IS
OUT ON MARCH 24, 2016 AND WILL REVIEWED IN
A FUTURE ISSUE.
BATTLE OF
THE BRANDS
TWO HUGE ICONS, ONE BIG
BATTLE. EMPIRE LOOKS AT THE
BIG ‘BATMAN V SUPERMAN’
CLASHES ELSEWHERE
IN CULTURE…
Apple V Android:
Dawn Of Not-Just-OS
Steve Jobs’s mobile operating system
seemed set to be the world-beating
conversation annihilator. But then Google
went and designed their own.
LIKELY VICTOR: The Cupertino Crusher, Apple.
Less evil. Probably.
Pepsi V Coca-Cola:
Dawn Of Best-Served-With-Ice
The war of the tooth-rotters has rumbled
since upstart Pepsi entered the market
a mere seven years after an Atlanta boffin
patented Coca-Cola, his “potion for mental
and physical disorders”, in 1886.
LIKELY VICTOR: Pepsi consistently wins in
blind taste tests until people find out what
it is. So it’s The Real Thing.
The X-Factor V Dancing With
The Stars: Dance Of Justice
Sure, we’ll eventually run out of talent — it’s
like oil after all — the battle betwixt 7’s
talent fandango and — also 7’s — ballroom
smackdown regularly turns living rooms
into battlegrounds.
LIKELY VICTOR: Your mum prefers DWTS.
Your little sister likes El Facto. It’s
Saturday. You are down the pub. Draw.
X-Box V PlayStation:
Pwn Of Justice
The days of ‘platform exclusives’ have long
since become ‘platform you’ll have to wait a
couple of months for’, so the question is
whether you prefer to switch weapons with
a green triangle or a yellow Y.
LIKELY VICTOR: PlayStation.
Amazon V Not Buying
It From Amazon: Dawn
Of One-Click Purchase
Jeff Bezos originally pondered naming his
modest online retail outlet relentless.com
(try typing it in). Yup. Figures.
LIKELY VICTOR: Amazon. Now if you’ll excuse
us, we’re waiting for a drone to drop off a
delivery of dunny roll. ADAM SMITH
NOVEMBER 2015 065
 Guillermo del Toro gives us a tour of his brand-new haunted house
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT

066 NOVEMBER 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 067
 THE INSIDE OF GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S MIND IS
exactly what you might expect: dense, layered, cluttered and
packed to the brim with astonishing, haunting imagery. But it
isn’t where you might expect. It’s erupted out of his head, onto a
soundstage at Pinewood Toronto, where it’s taken the form of
Allerdale Hall, a crumbling English mansion built on a clay mine,
that plays host to the key action of his new film, Crimson Peak.
Three storeys high, virtually self-contained (only a couple
of rooms are absent, located slightly off the main hulk), with a
level of art design that boggles the brain, it’s an incredibly,
intricately detailed nightmare-scape that might just be the most
astonishingly complete set upon which we’ve ever set foot. It’s
the sort of place you wouldn’t want to walk around alone. So
Empire’s thankful its chief architect is giving us a guided tour.
First up, a long corridor lined with unsettling, spiked
doorways, through which we tread gingerly. It’s like Pinhead
went shopping at IKEA. “This is the negative shape of a human
form,” del Toro explains. “We have everywhere in the house a
sense that someone is there, even if no-one is there.”
There’s the Latin motto of Allerdale Hall’s owners, the
Sharpe family, which translates as, “To the hills, we raise our
eyes.” There’s the vast library, dominated by a portrait of the
Sharpes’ forbidding, sour matriarch. It’s the most unnerving Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska)
movie painting this side of Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters explores her spooky new home,
II, a giant canvas that took months to complete. Del Toro Allerdale Hall.
twinkles as he tells us that it was based on a photograph of a
Toronto resident taken by the daughter of David Cronenberg.
“She had this super-friendly look,” he laughs.
Everything feels decrepit. The chairs creak when you sit on Guillermo del Toro
them, and there’s a sense of oppressiveness that, were it not for illuminated within the
del Toro’s ebullience, could seep into your bones. It’s all shadows of the vast set.
gloriously lived-in (the library is filled with real volumes) and
deeply, deliciously creepy, but the house absolutely reflects the
meticulous mindset of its creator. Del Toro is renowned for
several things: his complete control of his projects (he prefers
not to work with a second unit, shooting everything himself);
his incredible artistry (he has notebooks filled with designs,
sketches and ideas that he updates every single day); and his
commendable work ethic, with several projects on the go at any
one time. “I learned the hard way,” he says. “I know that out of
10 projects, only one happens.” This might, of course, be a
reference to what happened with The Hobbit, which he left
during development. “I’m 100 per cent making up for lost time.
But I only get involved with things I’m crazy about.”
As a result, Crimson Peak is many things. It’s a Gothic
romance, charting the relationship between Mia Wasikowska’s
American writer, Edith Cushing, and Tom Hiddleston’s Sir
Thomas Sharpe, the English inventor who sweeps her off her feet

068 NOVEMBER 2015

 and spirits her several thousand miles back to his ancestral home
where madness and potential death await. At one point, del Toro
— who openly admits to having had a problem with romance in
his previous movies — points out a bedroom. “This is the
bonking room,” he cackles. “It gets a lot of mileage!” It’s also
unashamedly a horror film, as Edith discovers that Allerdale Hall
is home to more than a few ghosts. It’s the first of del Toro’s
American movies to mine the same thematic and visual ground
as his hugely acclaimed Spanish-language movies, The Devil’s
Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth. And it’s a visual treasure trove,
filled with details so small that even the most eagle-eyed viewer,
on the biggest screen, would struggle to spot. But for del Toro,
knowing they’re there is absolutely vital. “If you pay attention,
engraved on the furniture and the walls you can find a word,” he
says, pointing at the wallpaper in one corridor. Empire peers
closer. Sees nothing. Squints again. And then, like a malevolent
magic eye painting, it’s revealed. Four letters, in tiny, spidery
writing, repeated over and over again on the walls. F. E. A. R.
In Allerdale Hall, fear is everywhere.

IA WASIKOWSKA IS COUGHING. SOFTLY

at first, then gradually it becomes a rasping,
hacking throat-burner as her embattled heroine,
Edith Cushing, stumbles out of the stifling
confines of Allerdale Hall into a drift of fake snow. It flurries
around her as the coughing gets harsher, until finally, battered by
the elements, she retreats into the main hall, where the walls are
belching up blood-red clay from the mines below. “It’s pretty
physical,” says Wasikowska. “The continuity of the cough is

“For Edith, it’s

tough — is there too much coughing? They’re blowing all that
shit around and you end up inhaling it, which helps. But it’s kind
of a pain in the ass. No more sick characters after this. Only

about learning to healthy, angry people.”

A sensitive soul who can see the presence of the many
spirits that roam Allerdale Hall, Edith is far from being the

fear the living, conventional scream queen. “She’s a very intelligent and strong
character, but one who finds it hard to accept any help at the

not the dead.”

Mia Wasikowska
The “insular, narcissistic,
violent, vengeful” Lady Lucille
Sharpe (Jessica Chastain).
beginning of the movie,” says del Toro. “She came from Edith
Wharton. [Her surname, of course, came from Hammer horror
legend, Peter Cushing] I was thinking about a girl, at the right
moment when the suffragists are succeeding, who still has to
fight the notion of what a young woman needs to be.”
Swept off her feet by Hiddleston’s dashing, Byronic Sharpe
(“Women also have their bad boy phase,” laughs Wasikowska),
it’s not long before Edith realises Crimson Peak may be the last
place she ever sees. And it might not be the ghosts that get her.
“For Edith, it’s about learning to fear the living, not the
dead,” she says. “At the beginning, Edith is afraid of ghosts…
but they can’t break your fingers.”

ESSICA CHASTAIN ONLY LEARNED TO PLAY

the piano a few weeks ago, but you wouldn’t know it.
Hunched over a keyboard in her trailer, Chastain is
carefully picking out the melody to a lullaby, Let The
Wind Blow Kindly, written specially for the film and for her
character, Lady Lucille Sharpe. It’s a gorgeous, haunting, dainty
little thing. At her feet plays her three-legged dog, Chaplin. It’s
a picture-book moment, spoiled only slightly, perhaps, by the
gruesome images of death and decay that litter the walls of her
trailer. “There’s really a lot,” she says, apologetically. Allerdale
Hall’s influence is pervasive and extends even this far, it seems.
Well, that, and the fact that Lucille, the sister of Hiddleston’s
Sir Thomas, is… Complicated. By way of illustration, Chastain
reads from the mammoth biography that del Toro prepared for
her (and, indeed, for all the actors) before filming began. ❯

NOVEMBER 2015 069

 “Positives,” she says. “‘Loyal, determined, observant, passionate,
sensitive, unwavering.’” Then, with relish, like Father Ted Crilly
moving from “liars” to “twats” in his Golden Cleric acceptance
speech, Chastain segues to Lucille’s negatives. “‘Insular,
narcissistic, violent, domineering, possessive, agoraphobe,
germaphobe, vengeful…’” We could go on. If the images on
Chastain’s wall, allied with her current choice of reading
material (Death Poems is one happy volume) and the movies
she’s been watching as preparation (including Misery and
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane), it seems clear Lucille may
be a few Cornish beam engines short of a working mine.
Later, Empire watches, agog, as Chastain proves this in
glorious fashion. Long hair finally let down and looking like a
rabid lioness, Lucille stalks around Allerdale Hall, hissing the
C-word at a foe whose identity we’ll conceal for the time being,
and… Well, doing something very bad. Crimson Peak may be a
ghost story, but there’s no question about who the real villain
of the piece is. “In the grand scheme of things she is,” laughs
Chastain, “but I’m playing her, so I can’t see her that way. All
she’s trying to do is preserve her happiness…”

OM HIDDLESTON IS CRYING, AND IT’S ALL

our fault. Well, really, it’s del Toro’s fault. After all, he was
the first to make Hiddleston cry, by sending him the script
for Crimson Peak just a few weeks ago. Hiddleston smiles,
sheepishly, as he recalls how he was so scared reading it for the
first time that he cried. “That’s what happens to me,” he says.
“Some people, the hair on the back of their neck stands out. If
I’m frightened, I involuntarily weep. If we were sitting around a
campfire telling ghost stories, I’d be like, ‘No, keep going,’ but Here: Sir Thomas Sharpe
there would be tears streaming down my face.” (Tom Hiddleston) woos
We’re not sitting around a campfire, we’re in Hiddleston’s “sensitive” Edith.
trailer, where we’ve been chatting over Coke and HobNobs for Below: Del Toro’s haunted
the past hour or so, but it’s time for some ghost stories mansion in all its glory.
nonetheless. “Do you believe in ghosts?” he asks, and we’re off,
swapping tales of what may be supernatural experiences. It’s like
a weird game of brinkmanship, the scars scene in Jaws, but with
spooks. Empire talks about a ghostly presence in our teens;
Hiddleston responds with a sighting of two old women at the
end of his hotel bed in Rimes. “I felt I couldn’t move. I said,
‘What are you doing here?’ The smaller one leant forward and
said, ‘No, what are you doing here?’ I swear on my life.” Empire
recounts a strange bit of business after the death of a parent, and
he comes back with a teenage encounter with what may have
been a spectral horse. “I heard a galloping…” he whispers, in
conclusion, then laughs. Loki, God Of Mischief, is squirting a
few. “Look, my eyes are watering! That’s exactly what happens!”
Del Toro, who dubs Hiddleston ‘Cushing’ because of his
razor-sharp cheekbones (“I’m taking that as the greatest
compliment,” laughs the actor), cast him as Sharpe because he’s
“literally the embodiment of the dark, brooding hero”. But then,
hero might not quite be the word when it comes to Sir Thomas.
“The one thing I wanted to do was show what happens when you
finally marry Mr. Darcy. You get Mr. Darcy, and one morning

“I love being on
you open the door and he’s doing something unspeakable…”

ACK ON SET, DEL TORO IS ORCHESTRATING

set more than

something unspeakable. This involves a stuntperson
and a hefty drop to the (padded) stone floor below.
Sitting at del Toro’s side for an entire day is
illuminating. The Mexican director is a hugely gregarious figure
on set, constantly doling out meaty slaps on the back or shoulder
punches. He’s also aware that shooting on the same set for weeks
anything else.”
can be oppressive, so he’s not above busting some balls. At one
Guillermo del Toro
point he tells Hiddleston a take where he screams in anguish was

070 NOVEMBER 2015

 LIKE
THIS?
WATCH
THIS!

a bit “Barrymore”, referring to the melodramatic style of John
Barrymore, and a hint for Hiddleston to dial it back. Yet the
attention to detail never wavers. “That was very good!” he
proclaims of one take, “and very bad. Do it right.”
In a few weeks’ time, the set will be, inevitably but somewhat
tragically, struck. On a movie set, all things must pass, but del
Toro is something of a collector, the sort of guy who has a house
in Los Angeles dedicated to memorabilia, props and souvenirs. He
calls it Bleak House, and he’s earmarked pieces of Allerdale Hall
that will fit in nicely. “I’m keeping the portrait,” he says. “And the
crest, the automaton, four books I’ve found in the library that I
like.” His wife also wants him to keep the balcony. “I have
nowhere to put it,” he laughs. “She says, ‘You’ll figure it out.’”
Del Toro admits recently he experienced “the biggest low of
my life”. It wasn’t his departure from The Hobbit, but the
collapse of his H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, At The Mountains Of
Madness, which would have starred Tom Cruise (and still might,
someday). Del Toro was deep into development on that
big-budget R-rated movie when the plug was pulled, but since
then he’s thrown himself into original properties, with Pacific
Rim 2 (although there are whispers it’s now delayed indefinitely)
following Crimson Peak, which in turn followed the first Pacific
Rim. He’s never been busier, and he’s never been happier.
“I love being on set more than anything else,” he smiles.
“Real life is hard. Real life is my job.” He looks around him, at
the house that sprung fully formed from his imagination; at the
inside of his mind. “This is my life.”
CRIMSON PEAK IS OUT ON OCTOBER 15.
VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN
ANOTHER TWIST ON
OLD-SCHOOL GOTHIC…
REIMAGINED? REMADE? THIS
Frankenstein is remixed, really —
sampling the best of the backlog of
adaptations, to create an entirely new
monster. “We’re having fun with it,”
says director Paul McGuigan. “We don’t
have reverence to it, you know? I think
sometimes the Shelley book becomes
quite reverent — quite right because
there’s this great idea — but when I
read it I didn’t identify with it very well.
It’s almost like if you hate the book,
you’ll love the movie!”
“I hope he means that!” says
Daniel Radcliffe, who is playing Igor,
confidant to the titular doctor (James
McAvoy) and the man who tries to save
him from his desperate plans to create
new life. “There are elements from the
book that have clearly inspired
[screenwriter] Max Landis, but he’s also
been inspired by every movie or song
or reference to Frankenstein in some
way. I think we can be honest about the
fact that it’s not like a faithful Mary
Shelley adaptation, ’cause anyone who
OUT MARCH 10, 2016
goes in expecting that will be really
quite disappointed!”
For McGuigan, the film is less a
period piece or traditional horror than
it is a grand adventure. It could be said
to be science fiction, both in its playing
with biology and how it treats Britain
during the industrial revolution.
“Victorian London is like the future! It’s
all about invention and science. So we
have a London that is under
construction itself, it’s getting reborn
itself. David Lynch did a bit of it in
The Elephant Man, where he had all the
machinery and it was that idea
of machines taking over.”
From what Empire has seen, it
promises an inventive, surprising take
on some familiar material. If Kenneth
Branagh’s Frankenstein was a Gothic
original, this is an inventive punk-pop
cover version. “You have to make it
feel like it’s grounded in some real
world,” says McGuigan. “And then
let the audience just go with you and
the adventure of it!” NEV PIERCE

NOVEMBER 2015 071

072 NOVEMBER 2015
NOVEMBER 2015 073
 1
was the editor of
Empire magazine,”
Steven Spielberg
reminds Tom
Hanks, about his
20th anniversary
guest-edit of this
very publication’s
UK edition. “My biggest claim to fame
was I got Jack Nicholson to talk about
The Shining, which he had never done
before. Fortunately, I had an ‘in’ because
our daughters are best friends. I called
Jack up and said, ‘Jack, Stanley’s been
dead now for 10 years, this would be
such a great thing.’ And he talked about
The Shining.”
“Man oh man,” says Hanks in
awe. “See what happens when The Big
Dog calls?”
It’s a Monday afternoon — 4.15pm
— and Spielberg, Hanks and Empire are
at Playtone, Hanks’s HQ, to talk Bridge
Of Spies, their fourth collaboration as
director-actor. Named for the fictional
record company in Hanks’s directorial
debut, That Thing You Do!, Playtone is
074 NOVEMBER 2015
one serene set-up: classy, exposed
brickwork, ’60s space-age posters and
classic typewriters (Hanks collects them
like Indiana Jones obtains rare
antiquities). There are even cushions that
bear a remarkable resemblance to the
carpet of The Overlook Hotel.
When Spielberg and Hanks get
together they usually chew the fat about
everything from planes and war to
“arcane documentaries” and American
history. The latest geek-out topic is
favourite spy cameras: Spielberg
plumps for the Russian ambassador’s
pocket-watch camera from Dr.
Strangelove; Hanks opts for something
from his childhood.
“At the height of the James Bond
thing, I had an Agent Zero M Spy
Briefcase made by Mattel,” says Hanks.
“It was a plastic briefcase that inside had
this pistol and a silencer you could
assemble. It also had this cheap camera
that actually worked. You could put the
briefcase on the table, lean on it and it
would take a picture. It was the coolest
thing in the world.”
Their love of gadgetry is tangible.
Both were AV Club monitors in school, 1 Spielberg in his
carting projectors and equipment trademark trilby
between classes. But, in all the mix of (the baseball caps
their passions, there is one thing the pair went years ago)
surprisingly rarely discuss: film. directing Hanks on
“You can’t talk about movies with Bridge Of Spies.
him because he knows everything,” says 2 Mark Rylance as
Hanks. “He’s got the vocabulary so Rudolf Abel.
deep in his head. [Adopts doofus voice] 3 Austin Stowell’s
‘I like that movie, too.’ That’s about all I Francis Gary Powers
can say.” awaits his fate.
“I know a lot about movies until I
get into a room with Marty Scorsese,”
admits Spielberg. “Then I realise I don’t
know nuthin’ compared to him.”
WHILE LAPPING WITH W AGENT
G
up David Lean and making precociously
brilliant 8mm films as a teen, Steven
Allan Spielberg lived under the threat of
thermonuclear annihilation during the
US-USSR standoff that dominated the
’50s and ’60s. He vividly remembers
classroom films depicting what to do if
you saw a big, white flash — a
“photograph from God”, as Empire Of
 emboldened him to direct rather than
produce — chiefly that Donovan was
willing to scupper the entire Powers-Abel
exchange if he couldn’t get imprisoned
Yale student Frederic L. Pryor (Will
Rogers) out as well.
2 “There is a moral drive to the
story that really appealed to me,
especially coming off Lincoln,” says
Spielberg. “People who make strong
decisions based on what they believe in
the most, which is constitutional law.
Donovan would sacrifice a lot with his
family, with his friends, with people no
longer respecting him, because he is
certain he is doing the right thing. And
who better to represent the moral centre
of anything…”
“Yeah, that’s me, man,” interrupts
Hanks. “The moral centre of everything.
You guys are such fools.”

C U
“THE ACTUAL MORAL CENTRE OF
everything” is a pretty apt description of
how Spielberg has utilised Hanks over
their four-film collaboration, using the
actor’s persona — trustworthiness,
decency, understated strength — smartly
3 across a wide range of roles. The pair first
met in 1984 when Spielberg’s Amblin
Entertainment produced early Hanks
BRIEFING

BRIDGE
“I used to be absolutely
The Sun had it — and math lessons
interrupted by duck-and-cover air-raid
OF SPIES drills. Living in Phoenix, Arizona, he was

terrified of the end of

RELEASED: close to Tucson, home to US ICBM
October 22 bases, a “definite target for a 50-megaton
DIRECTOR: hit”. During the Cuban Missile Crisis,

the world.”
Steven Spielberg with his parents out at a party, he filled
STARRING: Tom every sink and bathtub in the house,
Hanks, Mark Rylance, fearful of a poisoned water supply. “I Steven Spielberg
Amy Ryan, Alan Alda,
was absolutely terrified of the end of the
Austin Stowell
world,” he freely admits.
STORY: In 1962,
insurance lawyer Evincing this atmosphere of narrative”, but he thought Charman’s comedies The Money Pit and Joe Versus
James B. Donovan anti-Russian paranoia, Bridge Of Spies script needed another spin so sent it to The Volcano, with Spielberg considering
(Hanks) is hired to started with a pitch from Brit writer Joel and Ethan Coen. Back when Blood directing his sister Anne’s script for Big
defend Soviet spy Matt Charman. In 1957, during the heat Simple came out, a deeply impressed before deciding he didn’t want to crash
Rudolf Abel (Rylance) of the Cold War, American lawyer James Spielberg had called them in for a meet her party. Yet it took some 12 years for
on charges of B. Donovan (Hanks) was hired to defend and greet — “We sat and talked for a the pair to work together. “I had to get
conspiracy. He is later Russian spy Rudolf Abel (Wolf Hall’s couple of hours about how they raised older, to tell you the truth,” says Hanks.
deployed by the US
Mark Rylance) on three counts of money from doctors and dentists” — Given Hanks’s post-League Of Their
government to
conspiracy for passing secrets in a and he later went on to executive Own/Philadelphia gravitas, Spielberg cast
negotiate the safe
release of imprisoned hollowed-out coin. Coming under produce 2010’s True Grit. Not wishing to him as Captain John Miller, the English
U-2 pilot Francis Gary increasing pressure both professionally reinvent the wheel, the Coens mainly teacher-turned-ranger fighting to keep his
Powers (Stowell), and personally (his house was shot at) tinkered with the intense negotiations humanity on the battlefields of France in
using Abel as a for representing a Red, Donovan lost the that form the meat of the drama. Saving Private Ryan.
bargaining chip. case but saved Abel from the death “Their language is ultra-juicy,” says “I had never worked with The Boss
CHECKPOINT: The sentence. Five years later, he became the Hanks, a Coens vet following The before,” says Hanks. “I did not know
production shot at lead negotiator in a spy-swap, exchanging Ladykillers. “When they delivered their how fluid he was going to be. I thought
the actual Glienicke
Abel for captured US pilot Francis Gary stuff you could see their patina to it. The he’d be this kind of auteur who would
Bridge, where the
Powers, whose U-2 spy-plane was shot dialogue was more odd, but at the same be, ‘This is what I want in my shot! Get
handover took place.
Even German down over Soviet territory during a time more colloquial, buyable.” out of my shot!’ He never did that. If
Chancellor Angela reconnaissance mission in 1960. While Spielberg admits the pair you are in the shot, you have input in
Merkel came down to For Spielberg, the real-life story had “write with a great sense of irony”, there what’s going on.”
observe the shoot. “the symmetrical beauty of a fictitious is something heartfelt in the story that If anything binds Spielberg and ❯

NOVEMBER 2015 075

 4 5
“Yeah, that’s me, man,
the moral centre of
everything. Fools!”
film and Hanks together, it is their shared
fascination with and respect for World
War II. As chance would have it, the pair
were separately sent Robert Rodat’s
Saving Private Ryan screenplay on the
same day. At this stage, it was a more
straightforward adventure movie, with
jingoistic clichés, action set-pieces and
wisecracks. Spielberg committed to the
concept but not the script and called
Hanks, who was then editing That Thing
You Do!.
“Steven said, ‘We’re going to throw
all that out and it’s just going to be
completely authentic,’” recalls Hanks.
“‘We’re going to show what it was really
like to be on Omaha Beach. It’s going to
be the bloodiest place you’ve ever seen.’
I said, ‘Thank you. Am I still in
the movie?’”
The result earned Spielberg a Best
Director Oscar, reinvented combat on
film, spawned two HBO mini-series
Tom Hanks
(Band Of Brothers, The Pacific) and
became a touchstone for what D-Day
means to an entire generation. Its
‘making of’ is a story of constant
reinvention, a towering testament to
Spielberg’s ability to think on the fly and
never settle. He enlisted Frank Darabont
6
to expand the D-Day opening from six
pages to 28. Screenwriter Scott Frank
faxed Spielberg new material from LA
on a daily basis — “Remember the fax
machine?” says Hanks — adding, among
other things, the “Earn this” notion that
Miller utters with his dying breath.
“There was a lot of improvisation in
terms of the story structure,” says
Spielberg. “I totally made up the whole
thing about Upham, the young
translator, not being able to make it up
the stairs to save Mellish. It’s always fun
and a little risky to change character and
make up dialogue. But to materially alter
the structure of the movie, that’s the
 biggest risk you can take because it
might not work.”
Such on-the-hoof ingenuity even
stretched to the action scenes.
“My Thompson submachine gun
always jammed because when you are
using half-loads, the magazine spring
sticks,” says Hanks. “When I knew I was
going to be seen to be firing, I went and
preset two other machine guns. I would
jump into a hole with a jammed machine
gun and pick up the other one and go
DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA! in order to
keep it going.”
“If war could only be like that,”
says Spielberg.
The pair next reunited for Catch Me
If You Can, a caper comedy-drama
about Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo
DiCaprio), a teen confidence trickster
who lived the high life posing as a pilot,
a doctor and a lawyer, all the while
pursued by pen-pushing FBI agent Carl
Hanratty (Hanks, with a thick Boston
accent). “I thought it would be such a
lark to tell this story,” Spielberg says
simply. The result is as fizzy as
champagne, with surprising emotional
depths (hello, Christopher Walken!), and
the kind of movie you catch five minutes
of on late-night TV and wind up
4 Rylance, Hanks and watching until the wee small hours.
Spielberg share a Next came The Terminal (2004), a
lighter moment on set. Jacques Tati-esque airport comedy
5 Baseball cap (or tracing the travails of Viktor Navorski,
military?) #1: caught in limbo at New York’s JFK
Spielberg and Hanks after his (fictional) country of Krakozhia
shooting 1998’s Saving falls foul of a civil war. If Carl Hanratty
Private Ryan. is a delicious comic portrait, a dogged
6 Baseball cap #2: dork in horn-rimmed glasses hell-bent
Leonardo DiCaprio, on catching his man, Navorski is a
Spielberg and Hanks gentler variant on the Spielberg-Hanks
on 2002’s hero, an innocent in an increasingly
light-hearted caper, complex world, the performance gaining
Catch Me If You Can. extra frisson by the most American of
actors playing an illegal immigrant
(Hanks wanted to pay tribute to his
Bulgarian father-in-law). The Terminal
ultimately didn’t connect with a US
audience (grossing $77.8 million
domestically), joining The Sugarland
Express, 1941 and Always in the
Lesser-Seen Spielberg category.
“I was sort of sad that they kind of
missed out here,” levels Spielberg.
“I think they missed out on something
great. It’s become quite a popular
movie internationally.”
“The perspective of getting to
America and getting through an airport
carries a weight [overseas] that it doesn’t
necessarily carry here,” suggests Hanks.
“It seems as though it doesn’t really have
any purchase, but it does. I loved it that
when he finally gets out, he really only
has one night in America but it is
the most wonderful night that he’s Bridging Shots
ever spent.”
SPIELBERG WH LIKES LOADS
O SA
WITHOUT TOO MUCH PHYSICAL S SCENE THR
BRIDGE THAT ASF R
transformation, Hanks is an underrated
chameleon of an actor. He needs to be.
Every Spielberg-Hanks outing is THE SUGARLAND
completely different from the others. EXPRESS (1974)
Following a World War II drama, a Lou Jean Poplin
jazzy, jaunty caper and a fish-out-of- (Goldie Hawn) and
water comedy, Bridge Of Spies is firmly escaped-con hubby
character-driven thriller territory. Clovis (William Atherton) are on the lam
Spielberg cites Witness For The from the cops. Crossing a bridge, Lou Jean
Prosecution, 12 Angry Men, The closes her eyes as a truck barrels towards
Ipcress File and The Spy Who Came them. “Keep to the right of the truck!”
In From The Cold as memorable
examples of the sub-genre. Hanks opts INDIANA JONES
for The Conversation and “things with a AND THE TEMPLE
lot of silence”. OF DOOM (1984)
“I thought, ‘We’ll be in fine shape With Thuggee guards
because eventually this movie comes approaching, Indy
down to waiting for a phone to ring at (Harrison Ford) does the unthinkable and
Checkpoint Charlie,’” continues Hanks. starts hacking at the supporting ropes.
“We are all waiting for some word from “He not nuts,” says Short Round (Ke Huy
some other place and the stakes are so Quan). “He’s crazy!”
high. I just thought The Boss would have
a field day with… waiting… for… the… EMPIRE OF
phone to ring.” THE SUN (1987)
“I can identify with that because as a As the Japanese
young person trying to get hired by invade Shanghai,
Hollywood, I sat around for days waiting the Waibaidu Bridge
for the phone to ring,” says Spielberg. over Suzhou Creek is crammed with
“I know what that suspense is like.” panicking crowds. And don’t forget Jim
The title Bridge Of Spies, a reference (Christian Bale) is writing a book called
to the Glienicke Bridge where the Contract Bridge.
handover takes place, only emerged into
the public domain relatively late in the A.I. ARTIFICIAL
day. For a long time the interweb INTELLIGENCE
thought the film was called St. James’s (2001)
Place. But, following the tradition of Hitching a ride to
Watch The Skies (Close Encounters Of Rouge City (with a
The Third Kind) and This Boy’s Life (E.T. very young Adrian Grenier), David (Haley
The Extra-Terrestrial), this was Joel Osment) and Gigolo Joe (Jude Law)
Spielberg’s cover title, his own piece of speed along a ridiculous bridge adorned with
deception and spycraft. female heads (designed by Chris Baker).
“I only called it that because when
I was making movies in the UK in the WAR OF THE
’80s, I stayed at the St. James’s Club WORLDS (2005)
near Piccadilly. It was my home for Aliens fire laser bolts
four movies. They said, ‘Quick, into the Bayonne
what’s the title?’ And I said, ‘Err, St. Bridge in New York
James’s Place.’” as the Ferrier family, led by dad Ray (Tom
“I wanted to call it Donovan Kicks Cruise), scarper for their lives. This shot
Some Ass,” says Hanks, “but that didn’t was put early in the schedule so it could
fit on the poster.” be included in the Super Bowl ad.
“Shall I say the title the Coen
brothers put on the cover page of the TRUE GRIT (2010)
script?” Spielberg asks Hanks. “Every Spielberg produced
time the Coen brothers emailed me, the the Coen brothers’
subject header was always ‘Hanks Versus Western which
The Commies.’” centred on grizzly
Deputy US Marshal Rooster Cogburn,
BRIDGE OF SPIES IS OUT ON OCTOBER 22 played by Jeff… (That’s enough Spielberg
AND WILL BE REVIEWED IN THE NEXT ISSUE. bridges — Ed).
 Robert Zemeckis and Joseph
Gordon-Levitt on how they
reconstructed “the artistic
crime of the century”
WORDS IAN FREER

078 NOVEMBER 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 079
 A
AT DAWN ON AUGUST 7, 1974,
amid the hubbub surrounding Richard
Nixon’s fall from grace, French
performance artist Philippe Petit made
his first tentative step on a high wire
strung between the twin towers of New
York’s World Trade Center. The cable
was suspended 408 metres above the
early-morning traffic and Petit had only
a pole for balance. Yet once he reached
the other side, rather than taking the
plaudits of the slowly amassing crowd
“It was
below, he decided to turn around and
walk back. He traversed the wire some
eight times over the next 45 minutes,
a ballet on
walking, crouching, even lying on the
line, before the Feds arrested him, a razor’s
edge.”
frogmarching him downstairs past
cheering construction workers.
“It was a ballet on a razor’s edge,”
says Robert Zemeckis, who is recreating
Petit’s adventure for The Walk. “One Robert Zemeckis
false step and it’s over.”
If you recognise this story, it is
probably because you’ve seen James an outsider, the yankophile Petit — like a feckless slacker. “Everything was
Marsh’s excellent Oscar-winning obsessed with the structures since ingenious,” says Zemeckis. “There were
documentary Man On Wire. But good as glimpsing them in a magazine in a so many points where it could have fallen
it is, Marsh’s film does not contain one dentist’s waiting room — to sprinkle the apart and it kept going.” The director
frame of what Petit called ‘Le Coup’. It is Twin Towers with magic. has given these New York sequences the
the mission statement of The Walk to Given the events of September 11, grit and swagger of a ’70s crime film. But
put you on that wire and make you 2001, everyone connected to The Walk is at its centre, it’s a heist with a heart.
experience what it feels like to tiptoe fully aware of the responsibility involved “It’s a caper film but nobody is trying
among the clouds. in depicting the World Trade Center to steal or destroy anything,” continues
“It’s really experiential cinema and correctly. The company line insists the the director. “It has been described as the
does that thing no YouTube video could film is a “love letter” to the iconic towers, artistic crime of the century and that’s
ever do,” says Tom Rothman, chairman a valentine to a magical moment. kind of what it is. There are no victims.
of Sony Pictures and a producer on the “I think it’s important to remember It’s a caper of love.”
film. “This movie will put you in a place that ‘The Tragedy’, as Petit calls it,
where only one man has ever been.” doesn’t erase what was beautiful,” says “It’s Time To Put Your Dick
Gordon-Levitt, who plays Petit. “It’s On The Window Sill”
“A Caper Of Love” also important not to let those towers Like The Polar Express, The Walk came
It might seem like heresy to say it now just become a symbol of disaster but to Zemeckis via a children’s picture
but, when construction started in August to also remember them in this moment book. The Man Who Walked Between
1968, the World Trade Center was a of beauty.” The Towers (2003) by Mordicai Gerstein
source of controversy. For the Yet all this is not to say that laid out Petit’s journey from Parisian
architectural cognoscenti it was an Zemeckis has fashioned an airy-fairy street performer to New York daredevil
eyesore, “just glass-and-metal filing allegory. For most of its running time, in 12 or so images. Zemeckis originally
cabinets” according to writer Lewis The Walk is a heist movie, with Petit saw it as a performance-capture picture
Mumford. For native New Yorkers, it recruiting a team of “conspirators” and but the expense and the failure of Mars
was a day-to-day pain, kettling traffic then planning his “coup” with a Needs Moms put paid to that. When the
and clogging up the waterfront. It took precision that makes Danny Ocean look project died at Disney, Zemeckis’s Cast

080 NOVEMBER 2015


Away cohort Tom Rothman, who
was looking to fill his TriStar
production slate with original material,
resurrected it.
Even in live action, Zemeckis always
saw The Walk as “a magnificent fable”,
relatable to any foolhardy act of courage
that we undertake in our daily lives. As a
filmmaker, he found an even more
personal core. “What speaks to me is
that it’s the idea of this artist who will
risk everything to create his art,” he says.
“I completely relate to that thing that
happens when you must do something at
all costs.”
“Zemeckis had a funny metaphor for
it,” chimes Gordon-Levitt. “He said it’s
about those moments in life where it is
time to put your dick on the windowsill.
It’s a very profound thing explained in a
humble way. That’s very him.”
“Sweet Movie Goodness”
On a huge Montreal soundstage, the
platform at the top of the World Trade
Center’s North Tower has been
fastidiously recreated in steel and
Above: Joseph concrete, surrounded by a stadium of
Gordon-Levitt recreates green-screen with a similar precipice at
the wirewalk. the other end. Zemeckis, dressed in a
Above right: Director flowery shirt that makes John Lasseter’s
Robert Zemeckis talks wardrobe look muted, has his key team in
Ben Kingsley and a huddle and is explaining the next set-up
Gordon-Levitt through a to them. It will start with Petit arriving at
scene. Right: The real the bottom of the Twin Towers and
Philippe Petit celebrates looking up. Without a noticeable cut, the
Man On Wire’s Oscar win. camera will speed up to the top of the
building where Petit will walk out onto
the platform as the camera arcs around to
reveal ’70s New York in all its glory.
One of the main reasons Zemeckis
wanted to make The Walk was to find a
story where 3D and IMAX would “come
from within the story” rather than feel
grafted on later. Inspired by the idea that
“when we see Cirque du Soleil, there is
only ever one perspective”, he wants to
induce cinema’s biggest bout of vertigo
since Jimmy Stewart dangled from a roof.
“If you’ve got a serious fear of heights,”
he says with glee, “you’re not going to be
comfortable watching a lot of this movie.”
Today’s workload picks up the end of
the shot, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
repeatedly walking out onto the platform
and surveying the city. A huge wind
machine whips up a deafening blowjob,
the cellophane sheeting tied to the railings
on the tower flapping like the clappers.
The rehearsal is meticulous, Zemeckis
cueing Gordon-Levitt earlier then later,
shouting directions to get things just
right. Even watching the shot on
simulcam — a monitor that furnishes
each take with a non-rendered CG
cityscape — it’s the kind of dizzying,
dazzling shot-making you only get in
Zemeckis’s films.
“A hallmark of a Robert Zemeckis
movie is that, on a visual level, they’re
just full of sweet movie goodness,”
marvels Gordon-Levitt, himself a
director with Don Jon under his belt.
“But there’s always an underlying
foundation in human characters that you
can genuinely feel for. When the
DeLorean has to go to 88mph, it looks
amazing, but if you didn’t really care
about Marty McFly and Doc Brown,
that sequence would not have worked.”
Gathering in Gordon-Levitt’s room,
the young cast playing Petit’s accomplices
would eat bad food and watch a nightly
Zemeckis retrospective, voting on his
best films. “We were on iTunes and I
paid for all the movies,” says Charlotte
Le Bon, who plays Petit’s girlfriend
Annie. “Forrest Gump is so freakin’
good. Cast Away is so good. Every time
‘Robert Zemeckis Presents’ came up, we
would scream.”
Which film came bottom of the vote?
“Why are you all about the negative?”
“This Is A Risky Venture”
When Philippe Petit was walking across
his wire on the East Coast, 22-year-old
Robert Zemeckis had just graduated USC
Cinema School and was trying to ply his ❯
NOVEMBER 2015 081
 trade as a writer. He began directing under
the protective wing of Steven Spielberg (I
Wanna Hold Your Hand in ’78, Used
Cars in ’80) and, along with his mentor,
ushered in the blockbuster age with
Romancing The Stone, Back To The
Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
The creative climate was very different
from that of today.
“You could a get a movie made
like Back To The Future that was very
wacky, and outside of the box,” says
Zemeckis, fiddling with his laces in the
quiet of his office. “The films trying to do
new things now seldom have the support
of a huge distribution system behind
them. They are made, but no-one gets to
see them.”
Yet in 2013, Zemeckis gained a
useful ally. Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity did
everything that The Walk is hoping to
achieve. It took an original, thoughtful
story that put the audience through a
visual, visceral, emotional wringer and did
so to the tune of seven Academy Awards
and $716 million. Whether The Walk
would exist without Gravity — “Good
question, maybe not” — Zemeckis knows
the challenge of getting les bums sur seats
represents perhaps an even bigger coup.
“This is a risky venture. It’s not
082 NOVEMBER 2015
based on a comic book or a recognisable
title. It’s unique. And whenever you do
anything unique, it’s risky.”
“That Was Kind Of An
Asshole Move”
On the night Man On Wire nabbed an
Academy Award for Best Documentary,
the abiding image of the win was Petit
flawlessly balancing the Oscar on his chin
(genius or pillock — you decide). Prior to
the ceremony, Petit asked Woody Allen,
whom he knew a little, to borrow his
Oscar to practise with in case Man On
Wire won. It’s the perfect metaphor for
the mixture of whimsical inspiration and
precision planning that lies at the heart of
“If you start Petit’s art.
For his own precision prep,
Gordon-Levitt worked for eight days
thinking, ‘I’m with Petit, starting on tape along the
floor before progressing to wires 4m off
up high,’ you’re
the ground.
“When you are acting in a movie
there is chaos around you,” he says. “You
done for.”
have to not think about it. It’s the same
on the wire. If you start thinking, ‘I’m up
high,’ or, ‘I could lose my balance,’ you’re
done for.”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt Gordon-Levitt is quick to point out
that The Walk isn’t a biopic of the man.

It is selective about his life. One of the
quirks of Petit’s story is that he chose to
celebrate his achievement and release
from police custody not with Annie, but
by nailing a random on a waterbed. “That
was kind of an asshole move,” says Le
Bon. “That was my first question to Bob.
He said, ‘We are not going to put that
in.’” The other thing Zemeckis will not
do is spoonfeed you easy motivations.
“I asked him if he was thinking about
how this walk would affect people,” says
Gordon-Levitt. “He said, ‘I was drawn
by this beautiful idea and trusted if I
follow it, it will have some kind of impact.
It’s not up to me to figure out what that
impact is.’”
“You can never ask a filmmaker,
‘Why did you make a movie?’”
sympathises Zemeckis. “The answer is:
watch the movie. It’s the same here.
The answer is complex. It can’t be
boiled down.”
Tom Rothman, with the no-nonsense
candour of a CEO, manages to boil it
down. “The guy was nuts,” he laughs,
“but in that way all obsessed, brilliant
dreamers are.”
THE WALK IS OUT ON OCTOBER 15 AND IS
REVIEWED ON PAGE 45.
LIKE
THIS?
WATCH
THIS!
Above: Baptism of wire:
STEVE JOBS
Philippe Petit THE OTHER BUSTLING BIOPIC ABOUT
(Gordon-Levitt) takes it A MAN WHO LIVED LIFE ON THE EDGE
easy at 1,340 feet.
Left: Petit woos Annie VISIONARY, TECH WIZARD AND
(Charlotte Le Bon). the man who put that little ‘i’ in front
of our lives, Steve Jobs’s name sparks
genuflection in Silicon Valley. To the
unitiated, he was a Buddhist and
a business genius, a walking TED
Talk with Bono on speed-dial. But
there’s a yang to this yin, and Michael
Fassbender’s Jobs — a human firework
attached to the shortest
of fuses — could be Danny Boyle’s
scariest character since Begbie.
“I’ve always thought of our Jobs
as a monster made beautiful by
language,” explains the director.
“And by two women.”
The lyricism comes courtesy of
Aaron Sorkin, a writer who ruffled the
feathers of Mark Zuckerberg with
The Social Network. His approach to
bringing the often ferocious, always
unbending Jobs to life in a 180-page
screenplay stretched both director and
star. “It’s a beast of a role,” says Boyle.
“Michael drives every scene. We
chopped the scenes up in the edit — it’s
OUT JANUARY 14, 2016
a film, not a play — but there’s an
immediacy and power to his
performance which is by turns funny,
frightening and mesmerising.” The
“two women” — his daughter Lisa
Brennan-Jobs (played, at different
ages, by Makenzie Moss, Ripley
Sobo and Perla Haney-Jardine)
and her mother, Chrisann Brennan
(Katherine Waterston) — may have
a fair amount of beautifying to do.
The film also features Kate Winslet as
business guru Joanna Hoffman and
Seth Rogen as partner Steve Wozniak.
For Boyle, the challenge is
to cut together three key chapters
in Jobs’s life into a satisfying whole
without “collapsing the soufflé”
that is Sorkin’s “almost cut-proof”
screenplay. It’s a fiendish jigsaw puzzle.
“Luckily I’m working with
a brilliant editor, Elliot Graham, and we
are having fun figuring it all out,” says
Boyle. “No person on a movie is
more important than a great editor.”
PHIL DE SEMLYEN
 The interview 085

WHO’S THE BOSS?

WORDS SIMON BRAUND PORTRAITS BRIAN BOWEN SMITH

Empire meets the year’s most unlikely double act:

Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro, creating
generation-gap-spanning chemistry
in office comedy The Intern

NOVEMBER 2015 085

 The interview

LIKE A GENDER-SWAP HAROLD

And Maude for the Instagram generation
(without the May-December nookie and
simulated suicides), The Intern makes
strange bedfellows of Robert De Niro
and Anne Hathaway to charming effect.
Written and directed by Nancy Meyers
(Something’s Gotta Give, It’s
Complicated), the film casts De Niro as
Ben, a recently bereaved retiree who
becomes an intern at a booming online
fashion company. His boss is workaholic
go-getter Jules, played by Hathaway, who
is no stranger to the fashion world
thanks to The Devil Wears Prada and
reaffirms her comedy chops here after an
Oscar-winning turn in Les Misérables
and forays into sci-fi with The Dark
Knight Rises and Interstellar.
As Ben, a man’s man in a manchild’s
world whose old-school gentility slowly
wins Jules’s trust and friendship, De Niro
is on less familiar ground — miles away
from the tough guys and curmudgeons Clockwise from above: Why were you scared? for fulfilment strike a chord with you?
of Grudge Match, American Hustle and Robert De Niro’s Ben with HATHAWAY: I was scared because I didn’t DE NIRO: I think when you get to my age a
The Family. Still, he’s obviously relishing start-up boss Jules (Anne want to lose the part. It was such a great lot of people can relate to that. Those
the change of pace. Hathaway); Hathaway in part, such a great story, directed by one things are givens, they’re truths. In one
Talking to Hathaway and De Niro in The Devil Wears Prada; of my favourite directors, starring one of form or another, that’s pretty accurate.
Manhattan, it’s gratifying to see that their receiving her Oscar for my favourite actors. It was like, “Please What you do about it is another thing.
inter-generational chemistry spills over Les Misérables; De Niro don’t mess this up, Hathaway.” But the description of those feelings that
from the screen, transcending even De in Raging Bull; and Nancy wrote is… It’s pretty good.
Niro’s notorious shyness. She is bubbly receiving his Oscar Ben is a gentle, courtly fellow, not the
and vivacious, sleekly designer-clad. He is for the film. kind of character you’re usually You’re notorious for the research
reserved and thoughtful, comfy in T-shirt associated with, Robert. Did you find and preparation you put into playing
and shorts — an ensemble Ben would him easy to relate to? a character. Do you still do that as
have frowned on, despite the presence of a DE NIRO: I always say you use the aspects diligently as ever? Did you learn tai
businesslike Biro in his top pocket. of yourself that are applicable to the chi and how to speak Mandarin to
character you’re playing. So there are play Ben?
What was it about this movie and these some things about Ben I can directly DE NIRO: I learned enough tai chi for the
characters that brought you on board? relate to, there are others that are more scene where I’m doing it. I learned the
DE NIRO: I was aware of what Nancy’s distant to me. line of Chinese I had to say, which wasn’t
been doing and I was very happy when easy. I mean, I didn’t go be an intern at
she offered me the part. I just thought it In one scene he’s being schooled on an online fashion company to get into
was a great story. Then it was a matter of Facebook. Is that one of the things you character. There are many things I can
finding the female lead, and as soon as can directly relate to — are you up to do without having to research them, and
we got Anne that was it. speed with social media? also the way Nancy writes the script,
HATHAWAY: You’re very generous. I had DE NIRO: Younger relatives have shown she’s done a lot of the work for you.
to audition... me how to use Facebook. But I don’t
DE NIRO: You did? I didn’t think you had know. How do people do it? Facebook, How about you, Anne? What
to audition. Instagram, Twitter... When do you have preparation did you do?
HATHAWAY: Yes, I had to audition [laughs]. the time for all this stuff ? [Laughs] HATHAWAY: If you’re asking me whether I
You were super-supportive from day one, created an online startup, then no, I’m
so I was happy to. I was scared but I was Does the aspect of Ben being a retiree not that dedicated [laughs]. But I met
happy to. and having diminishing opportunities with Sophia Amoruso at Nasty Gal, she

086 NOVEMBER 2015

 The interview
showed Nancy and I around her
offices. The people at Mango were
very helpful, and I talked to a few
girls who were bloggers and who started
their own businesses.
Did you feel you had a duty to
clothes shop online, purely in the name
of research?
HATHAWAY: Yeah, I did it two days ago.
Net-A-Porter was having a 70 per cent
off sale, so I was like, “Nice! Time to buy
The Row.” [De Niro looks at her with an
amused expression, as if she’s speaking
in tongues.]
You said Robert is one of your
favourite actors. Did working with him
live up to expectations?
HATHAWAY: It did. It’s always fun to
work with more seasoned actors,
someone whose work you respect. I
think of age as a fluid thing. But when
you get to work with someone like
Bobby, you have such a beautiful range
of work to learn from before you even
meet them. And then getting to see up
close how that body of work came into
being is tremendous. But then, when I
worked with Emily Blunt [on The Devil
Wears Prada], she floored me every
single day and I hadn’t seen any of her
previous work.
Do you still get nervous when you meet
an icon like him?
HATHAWAY: I get nervous walking down
the street. But, yes, Bob gives me a
special thrill [laughs].
Did you know each other at all before
the movie?
HATHAWAY: We’d met, right?
DE NIRO: Yeah, we met a few times.
Did it help that you’re both
Oscar winners?
HATHAWAY: [To De Niro] Did that
intimidate you about me?
“It was such a great
DE NIRO: A little bit [laughs]. That’s all
fine, it’s all good, but it has nothing to do
with what we’re really doing.
story, starring one Does working with Robert De Niro count
of my favourite actors.
as a learning experience, Anne?
HATHAWAY: I think I’m still learning.
It was like, ‘Please
DE NIRO: You don’t have anything to learn
from me [both laugh].
HATHAWAY: I think you’d be a fool as an
don’t mess this up, actor to work with Bob and not just
observe what he does, his magic and his
Hathaway.’”
talent. But I know that what I’m going to
strive for for the rest of my career, is the
level of grace that Bob has on set, the
ANNE HATHAWAY way he takes care of the crew, the way he
087
treats everyone. We’d have a long, hard
day and suddenly there’d be the greatest
mozzarella sandwiches in the world right
there. He’s a thoughtful, respectful man
and I really admire him.
Robert, do you find you still have
something to learn from younger
co-stars like Anne?
DE NIRO: Oh sure. I know how hard
[acting] is for me, so I’m always amazed
when I see someone who makes it look
as easy as Anne does. She’s giving, she’s
professional, there’s no… It was all
about us, helping each other and
making the relationship work. We had
a terrific time.
Are you happy to be thought of as an
elder statesman these days?
DE NIRO: Yeah, I like to give advice to
younger actors. I like young people. I get
a kick out of them.
Have either of you ever interned?
HATHAWAY: I have. When I did my
character research for The Devil Wears
Prada, I interned at Christie’s for two
weeks. It was great. I got to see beautiful
art and talk to interesting people. And
they let me reorganise their library,
which made my nerd self very happy.
Do you remember getting your first-ever
pay cheque?
DE NIRO: In my case it was a movie with
Brian De Palma, The Wedding Party, his
first feature [it was made in 1963 and
released six years later]. I was 19 and I
was with my mother. She had to sign the
cheque because I was under age. We were
looking at the contract and it said, “50
dollars”. I thought it meant 50 dollars a
week. My mom said, “No, it’s 50 dollars,
period. That’s what you’re getting for the
whole movie.”
HATHAWAY: That’s similar to me, actually.
DE NIRO: Really?
HATHAWAY: Yes. I was 13 years old and I
was an extra in a stage production of
Gigi starring Gavin MacLeod, and I got
paid 50 dollars, too.
DE NIRO: For how long?
HATHAWAY: Thirteen weeks’ work.
DE NIRO: Wow.
Do you remember how you spent it?
DE NIRO: Oh God, no. Do you?
HATHAWAY: I do. Leather pants. I still
have them.
What do you think of senior internships
as a concept?
DE NIRO: I think it’s a great idea. I don’t
know whether it happens much already. ❯
NOVEMBER 2015 087
 088 The interview

Maybe it will after the movie comes out.

Especially in America, we’re not as
respectful of older people. It’s like,
“Move on, we don’t need you anymore.”
In other cultures, in European countries,
in Japan, in Asia, they seem to have more
reverence for the elderly, to have a place
for them. That’s my perception anyway.
HATHAWAY: I think anything we can do to
get away from the thinking that human
beings have an optimal shelf life is a
healthy thing. I think if we treat each
other right, no-one’s a burden.

This is a real New York movie. Why is

New York such an evocative place,
especially on film?
DE NIRO: [To Hathaway] You wanna
go first?
HATHAWAY: Yeah. I had a meeting with a
director a little while ago and he said,
“I’ve been having the oddest day in
New York. I keep meeting ghosts of
myself.” And I knew exactly what he was
talking about. I was walking down 6th
Street the other night, just off 2nd
Avenue, and I passed a building I used to
live in 12 years ago. It’s not a building
anyone else would notice, but I stood
and stared at it and thought, “I was such
a different person back then.” New York
Above: Double act Hathaway
is like that. It keeps changing, but your
and De Niro.
roots stay the same. And I’m going to
Below: Jules and Ben attempt
talk about New York before Robert De
to bridge the generation gap.
Niro. Jeez Louise!
DE NIRO: The city has changed so much,
in ways I could never have imagined. It’s Intern’s appeal is for audiences?
amazing. Areas that I knew as a kid have HATHAWAY: It’s a very heartfelt movie,
become totally gentrified. It’s like looking uncommonly smart. The humour is deft
back to another world, another planet. and sophisticated. I’m really proud to be
in it. And I think if people give it a shot
Do you think it’s changed for the better, they’ll really enjoy it.
or do you miss the old days of Mean DE NIRO: Yeah. It’s not the type of movie
Streets or Taxi Driver? you see much these days, especially
DE NIRO: New York is what it is. I miss the because of the way Nancy does them.
old days. But the old days are the old I’m used to making movies that way,
days; now is now. And 15, 20 years from taking a long time to shoot. But I think
now, people are going to be saying, “I she had difficulty getting this one made
wish it was like it was back in 2015.” because of the idea. It’s an older guy
with a young girl and it’s not a romance.
Did you realise when you were making So the studio, or whoever’s putting the
Taxi Driver that, among many other money in, are wary. It’s not a formula-
things, it would become the definitive
vision of New York in that era? “It’s not the type of type thing, “Oh yeah, we put these actors
together and… You know what? We
DE NIRO: I mean… We all liked the script
that Paul [Schrader] wrote, Marty and I, movie you see much... don’t even care what the script is, just do
it!” They do that, and then you spend

It’s an older guy with

the producers, we all wanted to do it.
The script meant something to us. We
knew it was special. But people’s
reactions… That happens when it
happens. We do what we do; we tell the
a young girl and it’s not
millions fixing it as you go along. This
wasn’t like that. It was planned down to
the very last detail.
HATHAWAY: I think it’ll appeal to anyone
who has a beating heart. They really

a romance.”
story. You have no way of predicting don’t make movies like this anymore.
how it’s going to affect people.
THE INTERN IS OUT NOW AND IS REVIEWED ON
Point taken. But what do you think The ROBERT DE NIRO PAGE 46.

088 NOVEMBER 2015

 It was the most talked-about movie of its time,
a true phenomenon that delivered shock twists and
a boiled bunny. Empire presents the definitive oral
history of Fatal Attraction
WORDS MARK SALISBURY ILLUSTRATION PETER CROWTHER
*PLEASE NOTE: NO BUNNIES WERE HARMED DURING THE MAKING OF THIS FEATURE. WE DID IT WITH CGI.

090 NOVEMBER 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 091
 When Fatal Attraction
was released in 1987 it
was an immediate
sensation, a box-office
smash that found itself
dubbed everything from
a metaphor for AIDS to
an attack on feminism,
and which was later
nominated for six Oscars
including Best Picture.
It also popularised the term ‘bunny boiler’. Directed by British
ad man-turned-Hollywood hit-maker Adrian Lyne
(Flashdance), Fatal Attraction concerns a happily married
lawyer, Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas), who engages in a
spot of hanky panky with book editor Alex Forrest (Glenn Above: Dangerous
Close), then finds his family threatened when Alex wants more liaisons: Dan Gallagher
than a one-night stand and won’t take no for an answer. (Michael Douglas) and
As the opening title credit “written by James Dearden Alex Forrest (Glenn Close).
based on his original screenplay” hints, Fatal Attraction began Right: Anne Archer plays
life as a short film called Diversion, written and directed by the pretty, innocent wife
fellow Brit Dearden, starring Stephen Moore, Morag Hood and Beth Gallagher.
Cherie Lunghi as the other woman.

Eye contact
James Dearden, screenwriter: Diversion was basically the first act
of the movie. It was loosely based on personal experience. I did
have a similar episode with a girl when I was at university who
cut her wrists, not deeply, a little less theatrically than in the
movie. It was a short cautionary tale and was supposed to go
out with Golden Girl, a film about an American female athlete
falling in love with a handsome Russian at the Moscow
Olympics, which the Americans boycotted, so the film never saw
the light of day. And my film sat in limbo. Then one day I met
Stanley Jaffe in London.
Stanley R. Jaffe, producer: I saw three of James’s shorts. I saw in
Diversion the potential for something really wonderful. I sent
them to my partner Sherry Lansing.
Sherry Lansing, producer: We flew James out from London to
have a brainstorming session in our offices at Paramount. I kept
coming back to this short film, saying, “Can’t we do a longer
version of it?” Stanley, rightfully, would say, “But what? The
wife either throws him out or forgives him. It’s a kind of
domestic drama that’s better done on television.” A whole day
went by and at one point I remember saying, “What if she’s
pregnant? Because that changes everything.” James went,
“Woah,” and in less than 48 hours had the outline for the whole
script. Stanley loved it. James went off and wrote a brilliant
script and originally he was supposed to direct it.
Lansing: Stanley was on a plane with Michael Douglas. He
brought the script up. Michael read it and loved it.
Michael Douglas, Dan Gallagher: It was a great concept. It was
grounded in a very simple idea that had wonderful thriller
aspects to it.
Dearden: Every six months we’d all meet in New York, go over
the latest draft, and I’d write another. They were very subtle
changes. A lot of it was Michael wanting to be more proactive
or less passive, and not just be a victim. At the time the studios
were not behind the movie. They kept saying, “This is a guy
who cheats on his wife. There are only villains in this except for
the wife and she’s a secondary character.”
Douglas: I understood the dangerous aspect of it. Who do you
root for? But I thought what they missed, and which audiences
completely picked up on, was once the family unit was
threatened, people were willing to forgive somebody for a
mistake. Sides were taken. Glenn became the villain.
Lansing: Every studio passed on it at least twice. People would
throw the script in my face and say, “I’m a happily married

092 NOVEMBER 2015

man, I would never cheat on my wife for absolutely no
reason.” They were really offended by it. LEXICON Douglas: I thought she was wrong before she came in and I
thought she was absolutely right after she came in. She had that

Flirtation STAND-OFF
Fatal Attraction
sexy, erotic, dangerous quality.
Lyne: She was quite remarkable. In fact, I think she was better
in that test than she was in the movie in one of those scenes.
Lansing: About 20 directors passed on it. It was a very long gave the world You could see the chemistry was there. I remember thinking her
process. I can’t begin to tell you how many years it was. the term ‘bunny hair was a disaster, but that’s what people remember, that kind
Dearden: Then Brian De Palma read one of my drafts and boiler’, but it’s of Medusa hair.
said, “I love it, but I’ve got some ideas…” not the only gift Jaffe: I think 99.9 per cent of producer/director teams would have
Lansing: Brian De Palma wanted certain changes. But that cinema’s given gone with Glenn as the wife because it was always assumed a man’s
convinced Paramount to say yes. the dictionary… head would turn for a prettier girl. But Anne Archer against
Dearden: I did a draft for Brian, which ended up with her Glenn was a really interesting choice. This no way denigrates
running around the suburbs in a Kabuki mask on Gaslighting Glenn’s looks. She was magnificent and looked beautiful.
Hallowe’en night with a nine-inch knife. Which everybody Strictly, Gaslight Douglas: It’s always easier to do it with a frumpy wife, but, my
hated. But by the time I’d delivered it, he’d pulled out. was a play before God, why would you cheat on this beautiful, stunning wife? That
Lansing: We were in pre-production and Brian said, “I have it was a film, but was a brave casting decision and made it more complicated.
a problem. I can’t do the movie with Michael Douglas. I two film versions
don’t think he’s sympathetic.” We were stunned. Michael
was not a big star then. He had not done Wall Street, [but]
(1940, 1944)
popularised the Captivation
was unbelievably gifted. Basically, Brian was saying, “It’s term, which has Lyne: Five or six years earlier I had been involved in a film
me or Michael.” We told Brian that as much as we’d love to recently been Michael was producing called Starman. I spent six months
have made a movie with him, we couldn’t do this. It was revived. In preparing the thing and I got to know him very well.
immoral. We never told Michael. He only found out many Gaslight, the evil He became a friend, and I remember thinking, why had I
years later, after he was so hugely successful. He thought it husband tries to never seen this endearing quality he had with me on film? It
was funny. At the time it would have really hurt him. convince the wife was the quality one needed, because what he did [in the film]
Douglas: I will always be eternally grateful. Stanley and she’s going mad. wasn’t likable.
Sherry stood up for me and said, “We want Michael.” And In current use, it Douglas: At one point, early on, I was trying to lose some
Brian walked away. So I’ve always carried a grudge with refers to media weight. Adrian was, “Don’t worry about it, it’s fine.” Then,
Bri. We didn’t get it resolved for like 20 years, when he came spin or internet about a third of the way into the movie I came through a
up to me at some party to try and explain. I just said, duplicity that door and he had a low angle shot, and in dailies it was [adopts
“Brian, it’s too late. Twenty years is too late.” attempts to Lyne’s English accent], “Jesus Christ, he looks like fucking
Lansing: In all fairness to Brian, when he saw the movie he persuade many Orson Welles!” [Laughs] He was great. We all loved working
called and said, “I was absolutely wrong.” people that the with him and it didn’t feel like work. You just let it go and
Dearden: Then Adrian Lyne became involved. truth is a lie. find things out.
Adrian Lyne, director: They sent me the screenplay. It was a Lyne: I love working with the actors. When he’s at home, and
page-turner and something people could identify with. Stepford just been on the phone to his wife, and wants to make it look as
Lansing: He was the perfect director. The studio loved him Wives if he has been sleeping at the place, instead of just ruffling up
because of his hit movies — at Paramount, ironically — and This was a book the sheets, he gets into bed with all of his clothes on and turns
they greenlit it. Then we faced every actress turning us down. before it became one way and the other. It was screamingly funny. And I didn’t
1975’s The know he was going to do it. Suddenly you like the guy.

Attachment Stepford Wives,

but the expression
Douglas: When we first screened it, the audience laughed at that
scene. Sherry grabbed me and said, “Oh my God, they’ve
Lyne: Glenn Close pursued it. Everybody was aware of her caught on because already forgiven you.” That was probably one of the earlier
being a good actress but I was reticent because she had of the distinctive times in my career I learned I had, for whatever reason, the
always played sweet, stay-at-home women. look of the film ability to take these sort of grey characters, certainly not
Lansing: I remember saying to Fred Spector, her agent, characters, those heroes, darker characters and kind of win over audiences by
“She’s just not what we have in mind.” She was much more eerily, too-perfect the time the movie was over. I think we were all surprised how
of an Earth mother type. But he kept coming back. housewives. early they forgave me.
Glenn Close, Alex Forrest: I didn’t know until I was given Lyne: I always shoot on location if I can. It’s better for you,
an award by Sherry several years ago how much they didn’t The Usual better for the actors, because it’s real. We shot the “Are you
want me. I thought I could bring something very real to it Suspects discreet?” scene in a place called La Goulue off Madison
and not be just an evil person, though a lot of people think “Round up the Avenue and I got her to play footsie with him underneath the
of her as evil. usual suspects” table without him knowing it was going to happen. It was lovely
Lansing: Finally her agent said, “She doesn’t care, she — it wasn’t even the effect on his face it had.
knows you don’t want her, but she wants the opportunity to the most famous Douglas: I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Little
read with Michael Douglas.” Stanley and I went in the line from footsies under the table and me thinking, “What’s going on
other room, because we didn’t want to have to reject her. Casablanca (1942), here?” He’s good Adrian, really good. It frustrates me he’s not
Fifteen minutes later Adrian comes into the office and says, a film which has done more pictures.
“You should come in.” And there is Glenn looking zingers in almost Close: It was so much fun working with Michael. At first I was
completely different, in a black V-neck, low-cut dress, hair every scene, but very intimidated by him because he’s Hollywood royalty, so to
kind of wild. thanks to Bryan speak. But when we started working together, we clicked.
Close: It wasn’t a low-cut dress. It was the ’80s so all the Singer’s masterful Douglas: Sex scenes are hard to pull off because everyone’s a
dresses had these great shoulder pads. My hair has always 1995 crime thriller, judge, so if you do it well it borders on being uncomfortable. So
been a problem for me. It was long at the time and very it slipped back into that sequence where I take her from the kitchen over to the bed,
frizzy. So I came with it the way it was in life. the language. I had my pants down, and I came up with this sort of waddle. ❯

NOVEMBER 2015 093

 We got a laugh, and the laugh relieves you of that tension
and pressure. LEXICON
Lyne: They had many drinks. They drank champagne together.
I’ve always thought that helps.
Douglas: Glenn certainly did margaritas in the elevator
STAND-OFF
continued
sequence. I remember Glenn telling the prop man she wanted a
margarita every half an hour. High Noon
Close: We were in the Meatpacking district, in a big warehouse, Before 1952’s
in that elevator. We went to rehearse and there was [prop master] High Noon, people
Tommy Saccio, who I’d known from my first movie, at the were colloquially
controls. I said, “Tommy, I can’t do this with you here.” It’s like ‘shot at dawn’… or
doing it in front of your brother. He said, “Glenn, it’s either me had to get out of
or him,” and pointed to this really rough-looking guy who town by sundown.
worked for the building. I said, “Okay, Tommy, I want you, but After Gary Cooper
you have to give me a pitcher of margaritas.” met the outlaw
coming in on the

Obsession midday train, the

time of day
Lyne: Doing the bunny scene was ghastly. It’s a real rabbit. It associated with
wasn’t alive, patently. We took the innards out, ’cause when you crisis definitively
boiled it the smell was awful. We tried to do it without its skin changed to
but it didn’t work. The stench was unbearable. high noon.
Dearden: It’s great [‘bunny boiler’] entered the lexicon. Nobody
could have anticipated it and the term isn’t actually in the script, Paparazzo
it’s just a clever term some wit used. I wish I could say it was me. Federico Fellini’s
Jaffe: It’s a big term. I’m married to an Englishwoman so I La Dolce Vita
know. It’s more used in England than here, but everybody (1960) not only Above: Director Adrian Lyne on
set with Glenn Close.
understands what it means. I thought it was a great scene and depicted the new
Here: The bunny in happier days.
was going to get a real reaction. breed of
Dearden: We didn’t think she was a villain. At the beginning, aggressive,
anyway. Adrian always said, “She’s got to break your heart.” exploitative
We all fooled ourselves that the audience was going to feel sorry photojournalist
for her. which sprung up in
Close: Her backstory is so shady. In the scene where I’m spying the 1950s, but it
on the little girl being given the rabbit, I run to the bushes and also named them.
throw up. I asked psychiatrists what would cause that behaviour From 1960 on,
and they came back with, if she’d been forced to have oral sex, paparazzi were
incested at an early age, she would have an automatic reaction so-called in
to seeing a child that age with her father. homage to the
Jaffe: I find her tragic, not villainous. That’s why it works. If screen character
one portrayed her as the devil incarnate, you have no movie. of Paparazzo
Close: We shot a scene where she did a pregnancy test and she (Walter Santesso).
was pregnant. They didn’t have that in the movie. So people
could think she’s just crazed. I thought if she hadn’t gotten Catfishing
pregnant she never would have gone back to him. Subtle things Henry Joost and
like that made me love her. Ariel Schulman’s
2010 documentary

Fracture Catfish was about

a specific case
Dearden: The original ending was Alex at the New York of someone
Metropolitan, watching Madame Butterfly, surrounded by manufacturing a Above: Let battle commence: a knife-wielding
people, next to an empty seat. Then, instead of seeing her cut wholly fake social Glenn Close with Anne Archer.
her throat in the bathroom, we would have reprised Madame media indentity Here: Dan takes comfort from wife Beth.
Butterfly committing hari-kari on stage, presuming the audience and duping others
would make the deduction. But everybody worried they wouldn’t. into illusory
They never got round to shooting the opera because they ran out relationships. Now
of money. So Adrian improvised this brilliant switching of the the term has come
light on and off. They did shoot the scene in the bathroom, which to stand for the
was pretty gruesome and unpleasant, although very powerful. relatively new, but
Lansing: We loved it. It was beautiful. To me, it was a kind of surprisingly
poetic justice — your actions have consequences. widespread,
Dearden: I’d always conceived it as a film noir and film noirs phenomenon.
end badly, by definition, and it was meant to end badly for him. KIM NEWMAN
She kills herself with a knife with his fingerprints on it and gets
him from beyond the grave. One of my early drafts, the last shot

094 NOVEMBER 2015

is him in the electric chair.
Lansing: The studio loved it. Then you test-screen it.
Jaffe: We had four previews. All reflected the same thing.
When Anne says to Glenn on the phone, “You come near my
family again and I will kill you,” the audience cheered. They
wanted revenge but they did not want it self-inflicted.
Lansing: I think Stanley and Michael Douglas always thought
there were problems [with the ending].
Douglas: Glenn was such a great villain, you could not let her
get away with doing herself in. That was not rewarding for the
audience. Somewhere around the point where she boiled the
rabbit the gloves were off, so this intellectual, thematic ending…
No way. No way.
Lyne: We were sort of perplexed about what to do. It was
Stanley who said, “The only one who is blameless is Anne
Archer.” She’s the only one who could do anything.
Jaffe: Frank Mancuso [then CEO of Paramount] was terrific. He
said, “I think if you change it, you have a monster hit here.” We
reluctantly agreed to change the ending.
Dearden: I got a call from Stanley. “The studio loves it. It’s
going to be a monster hit.” The second call was, “Disaster, the
studio aren’t even going to release the film unless we change it.
You’ve got to get on a plane and write a new ending.”
Lyne: One thing that always enrages me is there’s a rewriting of
history about the ending, that they cobbled together a Hollywood
ending that would make more money. We all liked the ending.
But when you saw the movie with an audience, it felt flat. So it
came from trying to get it right dramatically.
Dearden: The [new] ending was based on Diabolique.
Lyne: Her coming out of the water was in Diabolique. I ripped
it off.
Lansing: I remember how upset Glenn was when we told her.
Lyne: Glenn was violently against doing it. We had all
committed and she was the last holdout, if you like.
Close: The original ending was truer to who that character was.
As soon as you changed it that made her much more of a
villain, more in line with Shakespeare or the Greeks, where you
have an ordered family and something comes in to disrupt that
family, and order can only be restored when blood is shed.
Douglas: We had a tough time with Glenn, which I understand
because not only did she stand strong for her character, it was a
great ending for her. But sometimes you’ve got to make what’s
best for the movie on top of what’s best for the character. That
change made it a very commercial film.
Close: I don’t know how much James was under duress but I
was certainly under duress. I had a series of meetings with
Adrian and Michael Douglas and Stanley Jaffe and for two
weeks I said, “No, I can’t do that, it’s a total betrayal of this
character.” It was a profound dilemma for me. I was told they
wouldn’t let the movie be released unless I did the [new] ending.
I consulted some of my friends who said, “You’ve made your
point, now you have to give in to the majority.” So I did. I
learned a great deal out of that process, as painful as it was:
“When the feminists were
so against Alex, it was kind
of a shock to me.”
GLENN CLOSE
that catharsis is a very, very strong compulsion for an audience.
Lyne: What she was anxious to avoid was being this knife-
wielding psycho. She’d just bought a loft in Manhattan, there
was no furniture in it and we were sitting on the floor and were
confronted with how to do the scene where she appears in the
mirror. I remember saying, “What if it’s just dangling by your
side, so you’re not coming in like a threatening lunatic? And it
could be cutting into her dress.” I remember getting very excited
at the thought that if it goes through the dress it could go into
her skin, and she could cut herself.
Close: I remember vividly a meeting with Adrian, saying she
was more self-destructive than destructive. I came up with the
idea of gouging my leg with the knife to try and remind people
she was self-destructive. But the knife overrode everything.
When you show up in someone’s house with the intent to kill
that basically seals your fate.
Lansing: We shot it on the Paramount lot. He sat me on this
stool and ran the [editing] machine, and when you see Glenn
Close in the mirror, I jumped. You have to understand, I had
been there every day we shot this movie. I had been there every
day of the reshoot. I knew what was happening. And I jumped.
Then we had that thrilling moment of going into the
Paramount Screening Room for a test screening and I saw 300
people jump out of their seats and scream.
Closure
Dearden: They distributed it really well. They platformed it in
about 40 or 50 cinemas for six weeks and it built and built, then
they went wide on 4,000 prints, and it was a humungous hit. For
six weeks nobody could get in, it was packed.
Lyne: One of the ushers at The Bruin in Westwood, which at
the time was the best theatre in LA, took me down to the screen,
in the last minutes, and there were people jumping into each
other’s laps. It was incredible to watch, people were so frightened.
Douglas: There wasn’t one friend who didn’t go, “Boy, thanks a
lot!” as everyone was dragged by their wife to the movie. In
France the press kept telling me: “This is no big deal, everybody
has mistresses.” And it was a huge hit, because every wife took
their French husband and said, “This is what could happen.”
Dearden: It’s a very identifiable story. But, at the time, it was
bigger than that, because of AIDS, because of the reaction
against the permissive society which was happening partly as a
result of AIDS, because of feminism. It outraged a lot of
women because it seemed to be saying women weren’t happy if
they didn’t have a man and if they weren’t at home looking
after the kids, which it wasn’t saying at all. It was ridiculously
twisted into a diatribe against feminism.
Close: I was playing a very specific character. You don’t play a
generality. You don’t play every single working woman. She just
happened to be single. She just happened to have a job in
publishing. So when the feminists were so against her it was
kind of a shock to me. It touched a tender nerve. It was
perfectly placed for where our culture was at the time.
Jaffe: We shot a movie about a guy who wanders from his marriage
for a one-night stand and winds up in a nightmare. We did not
think we were making a societal statement. Clearly it hit a button.
Lansing: As a producer, you want to make movies that affect
the way people think or feel, that affect the culture. It was
wonderful. It entered the zeitgeist.
Close: The changes that were made with the ending, for better
for worse for Alex, made it into the sensation that it became.
The fact she ended up dead made it much more controversial. I
think she’s a great tragic figure, I really do, and I’m proud to be
part of that movie. It’s part of our collective consciousness.
NOVEMBER 2015 095
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Re..View
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OCTOBER 12 — NOVEMBER 1, 2015 EDITED by DAVID MICHAEL BROWN

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098
The key moments in the year’s
greatest surprise: strap in again
for Mad Max: Fury Road!

MASTERPIECE

The
h overlord
l d of mid-20th
d th century
t y hhorror
glistens to gory life on Blu-ray
p107 109
The French classic survived
two invasions and an
enormous storm.

CLASSIC SCENE

114
Cultural appreciation in a world
apparently full of unseen dragons.

DVD BLU-RAY ULTRAVIOLET NETFLIX PRESTO QUICKFLIX STAN iTUNES GOOGLE PLAY

NOVEMBER 2015 097

 098
Mad Max:
Fury Road
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED MA / DIRECTOR GEORGE
MILLER / CAST TOM HARDY, CHARLIZE
THERON, HUGH KEAYS-BYRNE, ROSIE
HUNTINGTON-WHITELEY, ZOË KRAVITZ,
RILEY KEOUGH, ABBEY LEE KERSHAW
DRIVE ANGRY
THERE’S A BLESSED
purity to Mad Max: Fury
Road. It roared in on
monster-truck treads
without an ounce of
storytelling baggage. Is
Tom’s Max the same as Mel’s? Is this a
sequel to Beyond Thunderdome? Who
cares? George Miller doesn’t. His
concern is the iconography, Western to
the core: the silent stranger sucked into
another hellish misadventure. There’s
no ‘brain trust’: you just trust the brain
of Miller. As Hardy puts it: “You’re
not really in a movie. You’re in
George’s head.”
Though it’s hardly shallow. We
weren’t expecting the ‘men’s rights’ lot
to get their dicks in a twist over the
feminist agenda in a Mad Max movie,
but the women, from Charlize
Theron’s Furiosa (the real lead) down,
do the real driving. The men killed the
world and can now only hope to be
judged “reliable” — the men, that is,
who aren’t corpulent, rapist tyrants.
Miller is 70. His last film was
Happy Feet Two. And this year he
reminded everyone how you craft an
action movie. He took ’em all to the
old school and taught ’em new tricks.
For that, he’s surely awaited in Valhalla.
EXTRAS A respectable 90 minutes bear
something else out too: the storytelling
is purely, fantastically visual, built
from 3,500 storyboards and powered
by kinetic energy. DAN JOLIN
098 NOVEMBER 2015
SPOILER
ALERT!
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT
1:58
CHAPTER 2
DIRECTOR GEORGE MILLER TALKS US
THROUGH THE YEAR’S MOST CRUNCHING
ACTION FILM
Angel Interceptor
In an interesting move, Max only gets
to drive his iconic V8 Interceptor for
30 seconds. “Max has to let go of his
identity,” explains Miller, “to have a
chance at renewal. And in a way, the
vehicles are characters too.”
CHAPTER 1
0:18
CHAPTER 2
“My name is Max.”
10:59
Most of Tom Hardy’s lines come at the start of the movie.
“We wanted to see if we could do it silently, with no voice-over,”
explains Miller. “But when I saw it, we just didn’t have enough.
We had to get inside his head.”
Return To Oz
This Is Max
1:07
CHAPTER 1 The film was shot in Namibia in
A fan theory posits that this Max 2012, but Miller reckons the action
wasn’t Max Rockatansky at all, but takes place, as with the others, in
the Feral Child from Mad Max 2, all Australia. “The coastal cities have
grown up. “No,” refutes Miller. “The been razed and the gangs have
Feral Child grew up to be the leader marauded across the landscape
of the Great Northern Tribe, and an like locusts. It’s Australia 50 years
old man. He couldn’t be Max.” after the apocalypse.”
 NEW RELEASES 099

13:30
CHAPTER 2

Rictus Erectus And

Corpus Colossus
Immortan Joe’s yin and yang sons — “a
child in a man’s body and a man in a
child’s body” — are played by Nathan
Jones, an Aussie bodybuilder, and CHAPTER 3

28:46
actor Quentin Kenihan, who “suffers
from brittle bone disease and won’t let
it bring him down”. Originally, only
Rictus Erectus was in the script, until
Kenihan contacted Miller. “He said, ‘Is
there anything I can do?’ I thought the

“What
two would be a really good balance.”

A Lovely,
Lovely Day!”
The movie’s most quotable line,
delivered by Nicholas Hoult’s Nux, also
became the movie’s tagline. “From his
perspective, it was a lovely day,”
laughs Miller. “Going into this storm
was a sign that he was going to soon
end up in Valhalla.”

17:05
CHAPTER 2

The Doof Warrior

The movie’s breakout image was of a mad axeman, shredding a flamethrowing guitar atop a moving
truck. “If you’re leading an army, you need the music of war,” Miller says. Fun fact: musician iOTA was
playing live. Funner fact: The Doof Warrior’s mask is the dessicated face of his dead mum.

22:05 33:43
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4

The Cars That

Ate Gas Town
The Buzzards of Gas Town’s spiky dune
buggies weren’t intended as a homage
to Peter Weir’s The Cars That Ate Paris.
“Brendan McCarthy did beautiful concept
drawings, influenced by a lizard in the
Australian desert with spikes on it. When
I saw them I said, ‘That looks like The
Cars That Ate Paris.’ He hadn’t seen it!”
Furiosa
The movie belongs to Charlize Theron’s
wheel-trooper as much as it does Max. “She
rose out of the initial notion of the movie, in
which the MacGuffin was human: five wives
running away from the warlord who uses
them as breeders,” explains Miller. “It had
to be a female warrior, and she had to be a
road warrior in her own right.”

NOVEMBER 2015 099

 100

58:53 1:29:15
CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 9

The Killing The People Eater’s Feet

Of Splendid The People Eater (John Howard) enjoys downtime by
The movie’s most shocking having a pedicure. Pity the poor War Boy scrubbing
moment sees the heavily his grotesquely swollen feet. “Everyone had in some
pregnant Splendid Angharad way to be damaged by The Wasteland,” says Miller of
(Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) the metal-beaked maniac. “I imagined he had some
fall beneath the wheels of elephantiasis-like disease. He was a bean counter
Joe’s car. “It’s a moment on who survived because of his brainpower.”
which the whole movie pivots,”
explains Miller. “It affects Max
very deeply. He smiles for the first
time in the movie and a moment
later she’s lost. He then becomes
committed to going along for the ride,
rather than being all for himself.”

1:05:57
CHAPTER 7

Immortan Joe’s Look

The look of Fury Road’s arch-villain
was as practical as it was designed
to strike fear into the hearts of his
enemies… And followers. “He needed
a breathing mask, but it couldn’t look
like an invalid’s mask,” explains Miller.
“He had to have that chest plate

1:32:09
because he had diseased skin, so he CHAPTER 10
had this carapace built so it would look
from afar like armour and skin.” Those
enormous chompers on Joe’s mask:
horse’s teeth.

Ride Of The Valkyrie

If Miller’s Justice League movie had gone ahead, we’d have
seen Megan Gale as a warrior long before she shows up in
Fury Road as The Valkyrie. Miller had cast her as Wonder
Woman, and when Fury Road kicked into gear he
remembered the Australian model. “She’s fantastic,” he

1:14:47
CHAPTER 8 says. “I knew she would step up.” Intriguingly, The
Valkyrie was meant to survive, but life had other plans.
“Her partner’s an elite footballer in Australia and they
wanted to have a baby. So we had
to kill her off fairly quickly,
schedule-wise, so she
could go back to
Australia.” That baby, a
The Scavengers boy named River, was
As Max and the Furiosettes drive through what was the Green Place, we see a born in 2014.
startling vision of strange creatures on stilts, traversing the sludge. “They are
the Vuvalini who stayed behind,” Miller says, referencing the troop of warrior
women Max and Furiosa later meet. “As the Green Place became a toxic
quagmire, the most efficient way to get across it was on stilts from tree to tree.
Their clothes are made of crow feathers and netting.”

100 NOVEMBER 2015

 101

1:46:23
CHAPTER 11
The Toughest Shot
The sandstorm has CG elements, of
course, but Miller is proud that the film’s
chases were done practically, with
elements later composited into place. The
most complex? The shot of the War
Rig flipping, blocking off a chasm,
and freeing Max and Furiosa to
head to Joe’s Citadel. “Initially, I
thought there was no way I was
going to ask a stuntman to flip that
vehicle,” says Miller. Options,
including CGI and model work, were
considered, before brave soul Lee
Adamson volunteered. “We only had
one take to make sure we got it exactly
where it needed to be.”

1:48:37
CHAPTER 11

Max And Furiosa, In A Tree?

Although Max willingly becomes Furiosa’s blood bag to save her life, there was no talk of a romance
between the two. “The world was too fast and brutal for them to have a chance of that,” Miller says.
“But love in a sense is making a gift of oneself to another. In a sense, Max gives her her Green Place.”

1:53:00
CHAPTER 12

The Final Shot

The last image is of Furiosa rising into
Joe’s Citadel, Max having melted into the
crowds. “Very early on, I had him going
up to the top of the Citadel with them,”
discloses Miller. “But Tom Hardy picked
that up very early — Max would never go.
He wasn’t even remotely ready for that.
We end on the idea of Furiosa and the
others taking over all the resources. It
asks the question: are they going to do
any better?”

NOVEMBER 2015 101

 102
ILLUSTRATION INFOMEN

2
ALSO OUT

Gemma Bovery
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED MA15+

When a Brit couple with relationship

issues move into a provincial French
village, Martin, the local baker, finds his 3
Flaubert-like dreams start to come true. 4

MOVIE
Fabrice Luchini turns Gallic cliché to his
advantage as the baker piqued by
Gemma Arterton’s romantic escapades.
But, while the Norman vistas are glorious,
the storytelling lacks charm. PP

MAPS
Jordan
1

Superfast And
Superfurious WHERE TO FIND ICONIC LOCATIONS FROM TV AND FILM... WORDS HELEN O’HARA
★★★★★
FROM OCTOBER 21 / RATED M

From the wits that brought us the

Scary Movie films comes this Fast &
Furious spoof full of dim gags that
seem both written by and targeted at
pre-teen boys who think sophistication
is a deodorant brand. You may snicker
occasionally, and rightfully hate
yourself afterwards for doing so. JJ
1 2
The Martian (2015) Wadi Rum The Hurt Locker (2009) Amman
This is the place to go if you’re going to Mars without The capital of Jordan is an ancient one, but that didn’t
actually going to Mars; it also played our space- stop Kathryn Bigelow from staging explosions for her
neighbour in Red Planet and The Last Days On Mars. Iraq War drama. After considering Morocco, Bigelow
Better, this stunning landscape has both real and decided Amman’s architecture was a better match for
cinematic history with Lawrence Of Arabia, interesting Iraq. There, you can also see the Dead Sea Scrolls, the
rock-climbing and loads of eco-tourism options. impressive Amman Citadel and a huge Roman theatre.

Cop Car
★★★★★
3 4
FROM OCTOBER 15 / RATED M

High on concept, low on budget, this

dark thriller sees Kevin Bacon’s
corrupt sheriff and his ’tache try to
reclaim his car from two kids on a joy
ride... With a corpse in the boot. Tense
and efficient, it fizzles out before the
end, but there’s more than enough to
hint at what director Jon Watts could
do with a budget on Spider-Man. CH
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) Al-Jafr
Swathes of Lawrence were filmed in Jordan, but cost
issues and illness moved most of the production to
Spain. Still, the famous mirage scene that sees the
entrance of Omar Sharif (which he estimated to
involve a 5km trek but was probably more
like a half of one) was filmed here at Al-Jafr.
Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
(1989) Al Khazneh, Petra
As well as being the resting place of the Holy Grail, the
Treasury is one of the highlights of the ancient city of
Petra. It’s one of the New Seven Wonders Of The
World and a magnet for modern-day crusaders — but
try not to damage it by touching the porous rocks.

102 NOVEMBER 2015

 103

We Are Still Here

★★★★★
FROM OCTOBER 21 / RATED MA15+

You just can’t keep a good Scream

Queen down. After resurrecting her
career in Adam Wingard’s You’re Next,
Barbara Crampton (the blonde sexpot
who made Re-Animator such an
eye-opening experience) is back in the
horror game in this haunted house
frightfest. Directed with glee by
card-carrying Lucio Fulci fan Ted
Geoghegan, this gory spooker is a slow
burn but Crampton, playing a grieving
mother who moves into a killer new
pad, remains engaging. With nods to
The Fog and The Beyond, We Are Still
Here is an old school horror that’s
“I got an earring. bloody and fresh. DMB
Hoo-ah!”
BONUS FEATURE

Danny Collins LIKE THIS,

Plummer is a scream as Danny’s loyal

★★★★★
long-time manager and voice of reason,
Frank, who calmly negotiates his artiste’s
extremes with deliciously dry one-liners.
WATCH
THIS TED GEOGHEGAN
THE DIRECTOR TALKS
FROM NOW / RATED M / DIRECTOR DAN Annette Bening, as the primly suited OLD SCHOOL HORROR
FOGELMAN / CAST AL PACINO, ANNETTE manager of the modest hotel to which
BENING, JENNIFER GARNER, CHRISTOPHER Danny retreats, radiates warmth and Can you talk about your influences?
PLUMMER, BOBBY CANNAVALE good humour, resisting his relentless The films of Lucio Fulci were a huge
seduction shtick in scenes of bantering influence; in fact my film is pretty much a
repartee that evoke sparkling comedies tribute to his The House By The Cemetery.
PACINO ROCKS IT of yesteryear. Jennifer Garner, as the The characters in We Are Still Here are
daughter-in-law, is the graceful, STILL CRAZY named after characters or actors from
grounded eye in the father-son storm 1998 the film. John Carpenter’s The Fog also
WE THOUGHT WE’D that rages once Danny presents himself
hims h th
When the kkeyboard
b d h d a greatt effectt on th
had the fillm’s ddesign.
ign.
seen it all when it came to at his stranger son’s New Jersey l
player of ’70s rockers k
Al Pacino. And now he suburban home. The biggest score here he is
i t
Strange Fruitt ttries tto l fillms are renownedd for their
Fulci’s
comes out singing. Danny teaming Pacino with Bobby Cannavale
Cannava reform th
the bbandd hhe hhas oon-screen violence...
l
Collins is far more comedic as the resentful son, Tom. The two haveha t llure th
to them from th their We recreated t d hhis shocking
h k outburststbursts
than most musician- worked together on stage (in Glengarry
Glengar d
now mundane llives.. oof hhorror andd gore. I’m also l a
searching-for-redemption tales and a Glen Ross)) and they are a pitch-perfect
pitch-perfe l h fil
slasher film geekk so I wanted
nted
vindication for Pacino, for so many years duo in every note of comedy, tragedy,
tragedy th t bbrashh stab
that t b off adrenaline,
d naline,
now given to eccentric and florid excess. anger and tentative tenderness. b t with
but th a ’70s sensibility.
bility.
Playing a rock star with fame and riches Inspired by the true incident of
and the obligatory hot, young girlfriend English folk singer Steve Tilston’s Itt mustt hhave bbeen a thrill
may not be a huge stretch, but it’s discovery that Lennon had written to ggetting
tti Re-Animator
R i t r’s
wonderful to see he still has the craft to him in 1971, Dan Fogelman has given his i BBarbara
b Crampton. t
dial it down from 11 in some beautifully cast a smart, sharp script, laugh-out- BBarbara
b is a ddear ffriend
iend
low-key moments. He summons empathy loud funny, that flirts with the clichés of mine, I mett hher when I
and enormous charm in Danny’s without surrendering to them. Without
Witho wwas ddoing
i PR on You’re
Y u’re
determination to recapture everything he giving it away, the final shot is killer, Next.t. When
h I wrote t the
pissed away. He’s also hilarious. worth the price of admission and fifillm, andd th h ter of
the character
It helps, and no doubt raised Al’s investment in a packet of tissues. AAnne started
t t d tto come iintoto her
game, that the cast assembled around EXTRAS None. oown, I realisedli d I was writing
iti
him is exceptional. Priceless Christopher ANGIE ERRIGO BBarbara.
b DMB

NO
NOVEMBER 2015 103
 104
ALSO OUT
Love & Mercy
★★★★★
FROM OCTOBER 28 / RATED M
A thoughtful portrait of Beach Boys
genius-in-residence Brian Wilson, Bill
Pohlad’s film flits between two distinct
phases in Wilson’s life: the ’60s Wilson
(Paul Dano), struggling with his demons
to create his masterpiece, Pet Sounds,
and the ’80s Wilson (John Cusack), a
broken, mentally ill man under the
shady scrutiny of therapist Eugene
Landy (Paul Giamatti). The film is great
on the realities of making music but
equally fascinating on Wilson’s
deterioration as Landy battles for his
soul with girlfriend Melinda (Elizabeth
Banks). Perfectly played by both leads,
it’s the film Wilson’s talent deserves.
EXTRAS Deleted scenes, more.
IAN FREER
Barely Lethal
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED M
Megan (Hailee Steinfeld), raised in a
secret-agent training facility by a Nick
Fury type (Samuel L. Jackson), wants
to be a normal teenager. She fakes her
death to go to high school, posing as
an exchange student. Her nemesis
(Sophie Turner) pursues her, but
Megan has more trouble with dating,
parties and the lunchroom social
strata than fighting off assassins. A
cute, undemanding teen movie which
lets Steinfeld be likeable and Turner be
hissable. It’s predictable, but the
dialogue is smart, Jackson and special
guest villain Jessica Alba have fun and
the mix of sweet, salty and tough appeals.
EXTRAS Behind-the-scenes.
KIM NEWMAN
104 NOVEMBER 2015
“All this time, you’ve
been UFC world
champion?!”
Entourage
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED MA15+ / DIRECTOR DOUG
ELLIN / CAST ADRIAN GRENIER, JEREMY
PIVEN, HALEY JOEL OSMENT, KEVIN
CONNOLLY, KEVIN DILLON, JERRY FERRARA
BOOGIE KNIGHTS?
AS THE GAGGLE OF
celebrity exposés on
American TV can attest, the
Caligulan decadence of
Hollywood excess makes for
compulsive viewing. It was
as part-parody, part-exploit of this that
Doug Ellin wrote 2004’s Entourage for
HBO, a half-hour series about a vacuous
A-list movie star and his close-knit circle
of friends-cum-hangers-on. The Player
cut with a line of Swingers and snorted
through a rolled up Playboy.
The show ran for eight years but
there’s little catching up required. Box
office darling Vincent Chase (Grenier)
spends time off-camera with less
successful older brother, Drama (Dillon);
driver, Turtle (Ferrara); and manager, E.
(Connolly), all of whom hail from his
hometown of Queens. That established
and the finalé’s resolutions hastily
unpicked, the film slips effortlessly back
into the familiar medley of celebrity
worship, bacchanalia and languid drives
through LA traffic.
All of which is gravy for long-time
viewers, whose reunion with the gang is a
welcome one, recapturing some of the
energy lacking in later seasons. Vince is
as flakey and vapid as ever, cluelessly
stepping on his own career while trying
LIKE THIS,
to throw a leg over Gone Girl’s Emily
Ratajkowski, E. juggles casual sex with WATCH
impending fatherhood and a newly svelte THIS
Turtle has his heart stolen (and head
pounded) by UFC star Ronda Rousey.
Throw in some Drama drama and it’s
like we never left. The actors have been
at this long enough to know their marks
and hit them well, using the all-but-
incidental story to tie their absurd antics
together. Piven is, no surprise, the
standout, Ari Gold having lost none of
his irascible appeal in the move from BOWFINGER
role-wrangler to corporate bigwig. His 1999
vein-throbbing tirades and withering Steve Martin stars as
put-downs make up the movie’s Bobby Bowfinger, a
undisputed high points. down on his luck
Of course, one of the reasons producer shooting a
Entourage works so well is the characters film around unaware
are just as superficial and morally Hollywood action star
ambivalent as the world they inhabit; Kit Ramsey using his
resistant to change, betterment or lookalike brother Jiff
anything approaching actual growth. For (both played by Eddie
newcomers, however, they’re a quartet of Murphy). The funniest
grade-A douchebags. Ellin makes some film about filmmaking.
effort to smooth the twat pack’s rougher
edges and Haley Joel Osment’s redneck
financier provides a more flattering
contrast, but they’re still far from
sympathetic. Add to that a reliance on
familiarity for many of the gags to land
and newcomers will struggle. None of
that will be a problem for stalwarts, for
whom the sight of E. wandering through
a party with a Viagra-induced erection
or Drama masturbating furiously over
Skype will prompt fond guffaws instead
of awkward cringes. What will
disappoint, however, is the lack of
ambition. Yes there are cameos galore
and the final send-off is more fitting than
the televised conclusion but there’s
nothing here we haven’t seen before.
EXTRAS Featurettes, interviews, more.
JAMES DYER

Poltergeist
★★★★★
FROM OCTOBER 21 / RATED M / DIRECTOR GIL
KENAN / CAST SAM ROCKWELL, ROSEMARIE
DEWITT, KENNEDI CLEMENTS
THEY’RE HERE. AGAIN.
BE CAREFUL WHAT
you wish for: director Gil
Kenan made a lively debut
with the Steven Spielberg-
produced Monster House,
which lovingly resurrected
the PG-horror vibe of the 1980s, but
almost a decade later finds himself
spinning his wheels with this flavourless
remake of one of that era’s genuine
classics. Competent but wholly
Spy
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED MA15+ / DIRECTOR PAUL
FEIG / CAST MELISSA MCCARTHY, JUDE LAW,
JASON STATHAM, ROSE BYRNE
THE SPYING GAME
BEFORE STRAPPING
on the Ghostbusters proton
packs, Melissa McCarthy
and director Paul Feig team
up for this amiable Bond
spoof. CIA analyst Susan
Cooper (McCarthy) is the eyes and ears
for Law... Jude... (sorry, agent Bradley
Fine) — agile, debonair, smug. That is,
until things go south, and only
McCarthy can possibly infiltrate the
sanctum of slippery Russian arms dealer,
Rayna Boyanov (a terrific Byrne). After
a sluggish start, Spy is redeemed by
McCarthy’s endearing willingness to
exploit her size and loud mouth for
comedy. Pratfalls abound, and they
mostly deliver decent laughs. As Susan
unnecessary, Kenan’s Poltergeist does
nothing to distinguish itself from
Spielberg and Tobe Hooper’s original,
consigning itself to the junkpile of
countless cynical remakes in the process.
Opening with a clever-enough spin
on its predecessor’s famous intro — the
camera pulling back from an iPad
instead of a TV — 2015’s Poltergeist has
potential, with its suburban family now
obsessed with flatscreen devices and dad
(Sam Rockwell) unemployed due to the
economic crisis. But the updates are
superficial, and ultimately inferior: the
digital glitches aren’t explored with the
same bracing intensity of the original’s
nightmare analog static, Jared Harris’s
reality-TV ghost-hunter is no Zelda
Rubenstein, and the advanced CGI is far
less convincing — or memorable — than
’82’s optical effects spookshow.
EXTRAS Extended cut, trailers, more.
LUKE GOODSELL
goes full method into her kick-ass agent
role, the violence (and McCarthy’s
vulgar, apparently improvised, outbursts)
jump start the film’s pulse. Miranda Hart
steals scenes as Susan’s clueless CIA best
friend and Statham is a hoot (yes, you
read that right) as a cocky but hopeless
hard-man bragging about his
ridiculously unlikely heroism. Plus,
where else can you see McCarthy use a
frypan with deadly force?
EXTRAS Featurettes, interviews, more.
JOHN CATANIA
105
“What do you mean this The Rewrite
movie is cursed?” ★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED M
In premise, The Rewrite may feel
formulaic — a has-been screenwriter
(Hugh Grant) is forced to take a job
teaching scriptwriting and gets involved
with a mature student (Marisa Tomei)
— but has more smarts and textures
than the trailer would have you believe.
There are no surprises where any of this
is going but Grant adds an appealing
sad-sack quality to his dry-wit charms,
the support acts (Tomei, Allison Janney,
J.K. Simmons) are classy and the
screenwriting class scenes have enough
School Of Rock charm and Hollywood
in-jokery if you know your three act
structures. Predictable, easy-going but
thoroughly likeable.
EXTRAS Making of, more. IAN FREER
Bring Me The Head Of
The Machine Gun
Woman
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED R18+
You don’t expect Chekhov from the
title, but this Chilean action flick is so
cartoonish it barely fills its 70-minute
Rightly, Mel was not running time. Gangsters force a DJ to
a big Aqua fan. bring them Machine Gun Woman, a
bounty hunter who dresses like a
Victoria’s Secret model and who’s
prone to fellating .45s and wanting sex
seconds after having a bullet plucked
from her toned torso. Styled like a
grindhouse video game — there’s a
scratched-celluloid aesthetic and
first-person shooter POVs and score
supertitles — this is GTA as imagined
by a Tarantino wannabe.
EXTRAS Trailer. MICHAEL ADAMS
NOVEMBER 2015 105
 106
ALSO OUT
The Bird With The
Crystal Plumage
★★★★★
1970 / FROM NOW / RATED MA15+
Like that other feathery film fiend
classic The Maltese Falcon, this twisty
thriller leaves a couple of loose ends
after the murderer has been revealed.
But you’ll forgive denouement
dilemmas because debuting Dario
Argento lays on so much stylish
suspense as American writer Sam
Dalmas (Tony Musante) dices with a
demented serial killer in Rome. Apart
from vacuous screamer Suzy Kendall,
the eccentric characters pop and,
though tame by later giallo standards,
the set pieces remain tendon-
tighteningly effective.
EXTRAS None.
MICHAEL ADAMS
Vampyros Lesbos
★★★★★
1971 / FROM NOW / RATED R18+
One of the more accessible of Jess
Franco’s often unwatchable sleaze-
fests, Vampyros Lesbos maintains many
of the Spaniard’s trademarks: lethargic
pacing, copious nudity, hilarious use of
the zoom shot and stylised acting — but
it still holds a few aces up its sleeve.
The stunning Soledad Miranda, as a
bloodsucker with an insatiable lust for
female plasma, has a mesmerising
on-screen presence; the psychedelic
designs are a retina-burning delight and
the score, sampled by Tarantino in
Jackie Brown, is a fuzzed-up hipster
dance party waiting to happen. And it’s
about lesbian vampires.
EXTRAS Interviews, featurette, more.
DMB
106 NOVEMBER 2015
Firewalker
★★★★★
1986 / FROM NOW / RATED PG / DIRECTOR J.
LEE THOMPSON / CAST CHUCK NORRIS,
LOUIS GOSSETT JR., MELODY ANDERSON
CHUCK WALK WITH ME
A SPIRITUAL
changeling to King
Solomon’s Mines, this
Cannon Films plonker
also features khaki clad
fortune hunters (here ’80s
videotape legends Norris and Gossett
Assault On
Precinct 13
★★★★★
1976 / FROM NOW / RATED R18+ / DIRECTOR
JOHN CARPENTER / CAST AUSTIN STOKER,
DARWIN JOSTON, LAURIE ZIMMER
UNLUCKY FOR NONE
JOHN CARPENTER’S
tightly wound suspense
classic fuses the Howard
Hawks western Rio Bravo
with George Romero’s
Night Of The Living Dead
and adds ‘70s urban minimalism while
cranking up the unhinged
claustrophobia. The siege set-up is
simple: cops and prisoners trapped in a
police precinct that is closing down;
heavily armed gang members outside
trying to free their incarcerated comrade.
It’s a slow burn, greatly assisted by
Carpenter’s throbbing electro
soundtrack, brooding camera work
(looking great in this cracking new
“You’re the screenwriter?
You shall pay dearly,
my friend.”
LIKE THIS,
Jr.) and a plucky blonde (Flash Gordon’s
Anderson) seeking ancient gold in a WATCH THIS
jungle thick with restless indigenes (this
time Native Americans and/or Mayans,
as personified by Predator’s Sonny
Landham); is again directed by J. Lee
Thompson and — again — John
Rhys-Davies makes an ill-advised cameo.
But, this Raiders Of The Cost Cut at
least has a sense of self-deprecation and
the chemistry between LGJr and the ROMANCING
Chuck elicit moments of mirth. Yet it’s a THE STONE
slog, with more sparks from the 1984
non-existent fire-walking than in the The best of the films
romance between Norris and Anderson, “inspired” by Indiana
which is like watching your uncle crack Jones, with Michael
onto your sister’s friend at her 21st. Douglas and Kathleen
EXTRAS None. Turner hunting
DANIEL MURPHY treasure in the jungle.
“Open up and say
high-def transfer), a forceful turn by
‘dead’, a-hole.”
Blaxploitation star Austin Stoker and
that shocking ice-cream scene. Vanilla
twist, anyone?
EXTRAS John Carpenter commentary,
interviews, isolated score, trailers and the
director’s cut of Carpenter’s debut
feature Dark Star. Which is nice.
DAVID MICHAEL BROWN

The Vincent
Price Collection
★★★★★
1959 — 1972 / FROM NOW / RATED R18+ /
DIRECTORS WILLIAM CASTLE, UBALDO B.
RAGONA, ROGER CORMAN, MICHAEL REEVES,
ROBERT FUEST
THE PRICE IS RIGHT
IN THE ’60S, THE
name Vincent Price was
synonymous with
spine-tingling terror. Like
his fellow gentlemen of the
genre Peter Cushing and
Christopher Lee, no matter what he did
to persuade audiences there was more to
him than his devilish velvety tones, he was
always brought screaming back to terror.
This nine film box-set is an almost perfect
summation of the great man’s career,
dipping into some of his greatest
collaborations and most chilling and
complex characters.
House On Haunted Hill was Price’s
first film with the great showman William
Castle (The Tingler), here playing a
millionaire who challenges five people to
stay in his haunted house overnight.
Filmed in ‘Emergo’ with ‘ghosts’ on wires
flying over ducking audiences’ heads —
alas, not replicated in this set.
House Of Usher (1960) marked the
beginning of his relationship with Roger
Corman. Their Edgar Allen Poe films,
including The Haunted Palace (1963),
Tomb Of Ligeia (1964), and their
masterpiece The Masque Of The Red
Death (all included here) were visually
sumptuous Grand Guignol chillers that
gave Price the platform for some
maniacal moustache twirling.
Vincent Price with
Valli Kemp in 1972’s Dr.
Phibes Rises Again…
…as Frederick Loren
in 1959’s House
On Haunted Hill…
…clad in The Masque Of The
Red Death (1964)…
…and causing grevious In The Last Man On Earth (1964),
bodily harm to alleged Price played mankind’s sole survivor in
witches in ’68s gruesome the finest adaptation of Richard
Witchfinder General. Matheson’s novel I Am Legend. His
performance in Michael Reeves’s
Witchfinder General, however, is the
master of menace’s finest. Shorn of the
camp melodramatics, this bleak
exploitation film follows the torturous
witch-hunting exploits of Matthew
Hopkins. It’s a grim watch.
By the time Price is singing
Somewhere Over The Rainbow over the
end credits of Dr. Phibes Rises Again, the
fabulous sequel to the even better The
Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), his place in
horror history is sealed forever
EXTRAS Trailers. DMB
107
The Town That Dreaded
Sundown
★★★★★
1976 / FROM NOW / RATED R18+
Charles B. Pierce had a thing for
swamps and mysteries. As with Boggy
Creek, both feature in his docu-drama
inspired by Texarkana’s Phantom
Slayer. An early stab at the slasher, it’s
also the only horror to feature death by
trombone. Still chilling, despite unwise
comedy interludes. SC
Far From The Madding
Crowd
★★★★★
1967 / FROM NOW / RATED PG
Terence Stamp, Alan Bates and Peter
Finch are the suitors snared by Julie
Christie — dazzling as the blithely
narcissistic Bathsheba. A flop on
release, now a Hardy perennial, its
lasting power is in its vision of love as
elemental force, bolstered by Nic
Roeg’s brilliant cinematography. SC
Jean De Florette
★★★★★
1986 / FROM NOW / RATED PG
Based on Marcel Pagnol’s novel, this
captures a bucolic ’20s France as a
devious man (Yves Montand) and his
gormless nephew (Daniel Auteuil)
sabotage their neighbour’s (Gerard
Depardieu) farm, hoping to drive him
away and acquire his land. A poignant
tragedy that requires pt. 2 Manon Des
Sources for the full experience. JJ
NOVEMBER 2015 107
 108
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
KAREEM
ABDUL-
JABBAR
FROM THE NBA TO 221B,
THE FLYING HIGH STAR’S
CAREER TRAJECTORY
IS ELEMENTARY...
WORDS NICK DE SEMLYEN
S MYSTERIES GO, IT’S A
veritable three-piper: how did
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar go
from basketball legend to
author of a book about
Sherlock Holmes’s brother? “That’s been
the fun part of it: people going, ‘What?!’”
chuckles the seven-foot-plus former
NBA star. “When I was a boy, I watched
the Basil Rathbone movies every
Saturday. Then, when I was 22 and
starting off in professional basketball,
someone gave me a compilation of all
the stories. I grabbed it as I was going
out on a trip, and I was hooked.”
Employing Holmes’s tricks on the
court — “I found you could make
deductions, little things that helped you
anticipate someone’s next move” —
wasn’t enough. So a few years ago
Abdul-Jabbar retreated to his mind
palace to plot out his own tribute to
Arthur Conan Doyle. The result,
Mycroft Holmes, sends Sherlock’s big
brother on a globe-spanning adventure
which takes him to Trinidad on the
trail of alleged blood-sucking monsters.
“I read a lot of Victorian almanacs
for research,” he says. “The rest was
pure imagination. Mr. Doyle didn’t go
into depth about Mycroft in the
couple of stories he’s featured in, so that
leaves a lot for all us newcomers to
ponder. My publisher wants to talk
about the sequel.”
This new career has slowed his run
of TV and film cameos — he’s appeared
as himself in everything from The
Simpsons to New Girl — but there’s no
shortage of screen offers. He became
friends with Stephen King after being
108 NOVEMBER 2015
Above: Abdul-Jabbar back invited to the set of Pet Sematary in
in his NBA heyday; Flying 1989; Chevy Chase was such a big LA
High; The Simpsons. Lakers fan that he asked him to appear in
Below: Abdul-Jabbar Fletch. But the movie that’s had the
now, as the writer of biggest impact is Flying High. “I spent 10
Mycroft Holmes. days sitting next to Peter Graves — and
by the way I was a giant Mission:
Impossible fan, so I had to keep pinching
myself — and somehow it’s still a big
part of my life. Bob [Hays — Ted
Striker] and I did a commercial for the
Wisconsin Tourist Board last year. And
that little kid I act against, I ran into his
wife at LAX three years ago. I can’t
believe he’s in his forties now.”
Flying High has also changed his
experience of going on an airplane.
“I’ve been invited into a lot of cockpits,”
he laughs. “Once, in Europe, we were
taxiing out and the pilot came over and
said, ‘Sir, will you come with me? I want
to be able to tell everybody that we flew
with Murdock.’”
MYCROFT HOLMES IS OUT NOW.
ALSO OUT
Dolls
★★★★★
1987 / FROM NOW / RATED M
Following the taste-busting
Lovecraftian splatter of Re-animator
and From Beyond, director Stuart
Gordon cleaned up his act, almost, with
this M-rated VHS generation slumber
party favourite. Pre-dating Child’s Play
by a year, this creaky old dark house
story is a hoot as soaked stragglers
trying to escape a storm find
themselves under the care of a couple
of eccentric senior citizens — and
hordes of killer dolls. Gordon delights in
toying with his audience using bargain
basement stop motion to bring the
titular killers to life.
EXTRAS: Commentary, interviews,
storyboard comparisons, more.
DAVID MICHAEL BROWN
The Honeymoon Killers
★★★★★
1969 / FROM NOW / RATED M
Reportedly François Truffaut’s favourite
American film, this indie maverick —
one of several about the grubby serial
“Lonely Hearts Killers” Raymond
Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco) and Martha
Beck (Shirley Stoler) — creaks with age,
but still possesses an eerie style. A
young Martin Scorsese was sacked
after three weeks for taking too long
and one can’t help but wonder what the
little master would have produced.
Instead, one-time filmmaker Leonard
• © MATT GROENING
Kastle doesn’t have the ear to shave
the necessary 20 minutes off his own
script. Worth marinating in DOP Oliver
Wood’s sublime monochromatic
photography, though.
EXTRAS Trailer. DANIEL MURPHY

“Emotional
swells are
grounded by
wry wit and
humour.”
Les Enfants
Du Paradis
1945 / OUT NOW / RATED PG
ART AND SOUL
E
VEN TAKING HARRY LIME’S POINT ABOUT
the greatest art often emerging from the harshest
portions of history, Les Enfants Du Paradis is
something close to a miracle. Standing alongside
La Règle Du Jeu as perhaps France’s greatest film
and, at the time, definitely its most expensive, this sumptous
historical epic was made under the watchful eye of the Gestapo,
had extras so malnourished they stole food from its period
banquet tables, saw its vast Nice sets destroyed by a storm, and
was finally forced to decamp north to Paris. The shoot was
delayed by not one but two invasions. One of its cast was
sentenced to death as a collaborator. Never mind France’s Gone
With The Wind: this was The Abyss, Apocalypse Now and a
particularly arduous episode of ’Allo ’Allo! rolled into one.
For director Marcel Carné, galvanising 2,000 extras and
keeping his Jewish production designer and composer from the
Nazis were formidable pressures, complicating a production
schedule that already charted a tale of enormous scale. Carné
and his friend, the poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert, had
conceived a story of unquenchable passions, both romantic and
violent, set against the hustle of 19th-century Paris. It was split
into two parts, spanning seven years and three hours of screen
time. Three of its characters — venomous criminal Lacenaire
(Marcel Herrand), lovelorn mime Debureau (Jean-Louis
Barrault) and flamboyant, vain actor Lemaître (Pierre Brasseur)
— were lifted directly from the pages of history, while a fourth,
cynical nobleman, Comte de Montray (Louis Salou), offered its
audiences a hissable villain to stand as proxy for the hated Nazi
occupiers and their ever-vigilant censors.
MASTERPIECE #110 109
The film’s grand centrepiece is the
teeming Boulevard du Crime, a kind of
Gallic Leicester Square crammed with
actors, pickpockets, jugglers and all the
hubbub of Parisian life. The set, a
100-metre-long recreation of early-19th-
century life, was a huge mosaic of
improbable statistics. Thirty-five tons of
scaffolding. Five hundred square metres
1 of glass. Twelve weeks of building work.
Two edifices — the opulent Grand
Theatre and the rough-and-tumble
Funambules —reconstructed as temples
of art, both high and low. With the usual
procurement channels shuttered by the
war, it’s safe to assume that Nice’s black
marketeers had a merry 1943 Christmas.
Through this river of humanity flows
Arletty’s graceful beauty Garance, a
courtesan pursued by those four
contrasting males. The actress’ single-
2 word moniker denoted a popularity and
fame that would survive even the
notoriety of a wartime affair with the
enemy. “My heart is French but my ass is
international,” she reportedly said,
laughing off her dalliance with a dashing
Luftwaffe officer. The post-Liberation
authorities weren’t so blasé. She’d spend
her film’s premiere night (and some time
afterwards) under house arrest.
Audiences present for the film’s
release on March 9, 1945, witnessed the
3 performance of a true movie star. Like a
softer, gentler Garbo, Arletty believably
inspires fanatical devotion in every man
1 The spectacular she encounters. Even the brutal, ruthless Lacenaire, a thief
Boulevard du Crime set. masquerading as a scrivener, is a puppy in her presence. The
2 Jean-Louis Barrault sensitive, androgynous Debureau, played by the great actor and
(left) as mime artist mime Jean-Louis Barrault, is all but lost. What passes between
Baptiste Debureau. Garrance and Debureau is the soul of the film. His misguided
Barrault was already but sincere passion for her overwhelms even his art — at one
famed for his talent point her very presence backstage brings his performance to a
as a mime before taking grinding halt — while her often conflicted needs for
the role. independence and connection mark her out as a character of
3 Barrault with Arletty’s true complexity. Garbo may have talked, but Arletty suffered.
femme fatale Claire Prévert’s dialogue grounds all these emotional swells with
Reine, aka Garance. wry wit and humour. “I’ll walk head held high,” growls the
much-wanted Lacenaire, “until it falls into a basket.” Playful
thesp Lemaître, meanwhile, grumbles about the ubiquity of
lions in stage plays, throwing Pygmalion into the mix for good
measure. This was a film that took its title from the people in
theatre’s lofty cheap-seats, the “children of paradise”, and
neither writer nor director were about to lose sight of who they
were making it for.
Despite those near-heroic feats of directorial endurance
and Les Enfants’ rapturous reception, Carné’s stock fell after
the war. The grit and lyricism of the poetic realist movement
he’d helped pioneer fell from favour as a new generation of
filmmakers jumpstarted French cinema in the ’50s and ’60s. Yet,
like The Red Shoes, the passing of time has seen it enshrined as
a timeless celebration of love and the impulse to perform and
create. Even those puckish young tyros bowed to that. “I would
WORDS give up all my films,” noted one of them, “to have directed
PHIL DE SEMLYEN Children Of Paradise.” That devotee? François Truffaut.
NOVEMBER 2015 109
 110 BOOKS

ALSO OUT

The 2001 File

★★★★★
AUTHOR CHRISTOPHER FRAYLING
OUT OCTOBER 22

This is as much
art book as film
tome, but then,
2001: A Space
Odyssey never
feels entirely
contained by the
term ‘film’.
Frayling explores 2001 through the
prism of designer/NASA conceptualist
Harry Lange (who appealed to Kubrick
as he’d literally “worked with rockets”)

Planet According world at large) and part-cinematic family

Iron Sky: more camp than a and the quest to divine the future,
drag queen full of glitter. tree (and, according to the book’s pr, “10 including a stunning compendium of

To The Movies per cent racial profiling handbook”). Lange’s blueprints. IN

Tying it all together is Fennell’s irreverent
humour and gift for particularly colourful They Drew As They
★★★★★ descriptors (“You could ladle glitter Pleased: The Hidden Art
AUTHOR MARC FENNELL / OUT OCTOBER 19 directly into the anal cavity of drag queen Of Disney’s Golden Age
RuPaul and it would still not be as camp ★★★★★
IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD as Iron Sky,” he writes). AUTHOR DIDIER GHEZ / OUT NOW
The first nation thrown under the

F
scientifically dubious microscope is our While the
OR HIS SECOND BOOK neighbour New Zealand, which is, Fennell legendary Nine
Planet According To The claims, a country geographically Old Men
Movies, Australian film critic compromised of the two main land powered Walt
Marc Fennell (Triple J’s That masses of Hobbiton and Mordor and the Disney’s 1930s
Movie Guy and host of SBS’s ‘Secessionist Republic of Butt-fucked golden age,
The Feed, amongst a bunch of other Sheep’. And while your nan may not this tome showcases the influential,
things) has chosen the (pun not intended) approve of the salty language scattered often kookier animation of four less
novel approach of viewing the world throughout, she will learn a thing or two heralded talents. Their eye-popping
through the lens of a film camera and about films as ubiquitous as NZ sketches are augmented by
deciphering planet Earth via the medium sheep-shagging jokes as well as correspondence with the boss man
of movies. If civilisation as we know it undiscovered gems that even the most himself. The joy, though, is in perusing
was wiped out and all that future ardent film nerd may have overlooked. early incarnations of beloved
generations had were films to understand From there it’s a film geek tour of the creations. PDS
us as many varied nations, they would be globe, with occasional fun stopovers
forgiven for assuming the lot of us were along the way (e.g. which country has the The Big Bad Book Of
completely and utterly insane. best spies; the Philippines, apparently.) Bill Murray: A Critical
The book (subtitled Awesome, Weird Occasionally it skirts with being a Appreciation Of The
And Wonderful Flicks From Four Corners smidge self-satisfied, but there’s no World’s Finest Actor
Of The Globe) presents itself as part- doubting Fennell’s deep knowledge and ★★★★★
collection of film reviews, part-brief passion for films both mainstream and AUTHOR ROBERT SCHNAKENBERG
history lesson (of both cinema and the obscure. Fun and informative. JJ OUT NOW

FURTHER READING Few actors merit an

entire encyclopedia
devoted to their
career and quirks.
Bill Murray is one
SOME MORE of them. This
BOOKS FROM — glossy guide is
AND ABOUT — FILM Life Itself The Greatest Movies Talking About Pauline curated with love
CRITICS AND (Roger Ebert) You’ll Never See Kael: Critics, Filmmakers, and filled with obscure ingots of
THEIR PASSION The memoir by the (Simon Braund) And Scholars Remember Murraybilia (he once called John Candy
FOR CINEMA… celebrated film critic; it Empire critic Braund’s An Icon at 4am to thank him for being
was also the title of the fascinating look at films (Wayne Stengel) Canadian). Everything’s here, in fact,
great 2015 Ebert doco. that could’ve been. It’s all there in the title… except his fabled 1-800 number. NDS

110 NOVEMBER 2015

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 112 GIVEAWAYS & PUZZLERS

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21 22 EVERYBODY DO THE DINOSAUR! THE THIRD

ACROSS
7 Lindsay, Oscar-nominated for her
role in Places In The Heart (6)
8 Sci-fi feature in which Joseph
Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis
portrayed the same man (6)
9 Palindromic title that starred Mark
Strong (4)
10 As noted by Judi Dench and Cate
Blanchett (1,7)
11 Indecisive title that featured Chloë
Grace Moretz in 2014 (2,1,4)
13 Gugu Mbatha-Raw portrayed the title
character (5)
15 Coloured like Natalie Portman’s
swan (5)
16 In which Sandra Bullock voiced
Scarlett Overkill (7)
18 Al Pacino’s 2002 lack of sleep (8)
19 The kind of mountain that linked
Jude Law and Nicole Kidman (4)
21 Danny, Oscar-nominated for Do The
Right Thing (6)
OCTOBER ANSWERS ACROSS 1 Get Hard, 5 Scott, 8 Alpha Papa, 9 Eve, 10 Shane, 12
Matinee, 13 Cameron Bright, 15 Mad Cows, 17 Dates, 19 Liv, 20 Scooby-Doo, 22 Enron,
23 Spy Game. DOWN 1 Grams, 2 Tap, 3 Amateur, 4 Dead Man’s Shoes, 5 Shaft, 6
Overnight, 7 The Heat, 11 Almodovar, 13 Camille, 14 Rude Boy, 16 Orson, 18 Smoke, 21
D.O.A. ANAGRAM Tom Cruise
22 It was sudden for Clint Eastwood and
deep for Téa Leoni (6)
DOWN
1 Man, Lady, Sky or Eagle maybe (4)
2 It’s home to Indominus Rex (8,5)
3 There was plenty of drive in this
Ethan Hawke vehicle (7)
4 Still — (Julianne Moore starrer) (5)
5 Was this 1996 release sub-standard
for Kelsey Grammer? (4,9)
6 Noel Nail becomes Mrs. Lasse
Hallström (4,4)
12 Sounds dark, this cinematic genre
(4,4)
14 Did this provide James Cameron with
a sinking feeling? (7)
17 Square that housed Mira Sorvino and
Tammy Blanchard (5)
20 Scarlett Johansson’s whole
brainer (4)
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Trilogy on BD
GO BACK IN TIME. AGAIN. MARTY MCFLY AND DOC
Brown have been polished up again for their
30th birthday with a brand spanking new disc
of extra features including a new short Doc
Brown Saves the World, two episodes of Back
To The Future: The Animated Series and more.
TO WIN, TELL US WHAT YEAR YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO, AND WHY.
WIN! Planet According
To The Movies
MARC FENNELL’S NEW BOOK PROMISES
“Awesome, weird and wonderful flicks
from four corners of the globe” and
delivers with witty aplomb. Ten lucky
winners will learn all about Calamari
Wrestler and a Turkish remake of E.T. in a
cinematic world you never knew existed.
TO WIN, TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE FOREIGN MOVIE IS, AND WHY.

112 NOVEMBER 2015

 GIVEAWAYS & PUZZLERS 113
CAPTION COMPETITION
WIN! The Vincent Price Collection
on Blu-Ray
FIVE LUCKY WINNERS WILL GET AN INSTANT
Vincent Price collection with this nine
film boxset that features many of the
master of macabre’s finest moments
including The Abominable Dr. Phibes,
Witchfinder General, The Masque Of The
Red Death and The Tomb Of Ligeia.

TO WIN, TELL US YOUR FAVOURITE VINCENT PRICE CHARACTER, AND WHY.

WIN! Bring Me The Head

Of The Machine Gun
Woman on DVD
WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A DJ SETS
out to kill a ferocious female mercenary, with
a penchant for leather, for an evil gang boss?
Well 10 lucky DVD winners will find out just
The Night
that in this Latin exploitation flick loaded
with gun-toting action and naked flesh.
Before
CAST SETH ROGEN, LIZZY CAPLAN, JOSEPH

TO WIN, TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE EXPLOITATION FLICK IS, AND WHY. GORDON-LEVITT, ANTHONY MACKIE /
DIRECTOR JONATHAN LEVINE

WIN! Jonathan Strange & Mr

Norrell on Blu-ray
CAPTION THE PICTURE
ABOVE AND WIN SOME SWAG!

COULD IT BE MAGIC? IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE

magic is real! Where magic is in the air! JINGLE BELLS! SETH ROGEN, JOSEPH
That’s where Jonathan Strange and Mr. Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie
Norrell live in this magical, cough, British have made a Christmas movie but it
mini-series. To win one of five BD copies doesn’t look like they will be getting
of the lauded show, just magic up an any presents. Playing three lifelong
answer the question below. friends whose lives have taken
different paths, they get together
TO WIN, TELL US WHO YOUR FAVOURITE TV MAGICIAN IS, AND WHY. for one last Christmas Eve bender
that will definitely get them on

WIN! Love & Mercy

on DVD
Santa’s naughty list. This month’s
winner will get the complete
Volume 1. of Empire’s awesome
SURF’S UP! PAUL DANO AND JOHN CUSACK BOTH Greatest Movie Posters
play Brian Wilson, the musical genius four-book set ($59.99 in all good
behind The Beach Boys. God only knows book stores November 1). Yes,
(see what we did there sonic surf fans?) putting it together nearly killed us.
this is a prize you will want to win so
harmonise like an angel and one of 10 THE NIGHT BEFORE IS OUT DECEMBER 3.
coveted DVDs could be yours.

TO WIN, TELL US YOUR FAVOURITE BEACH BOYS SONG, AND WHY. SEPTEMBER 2015 WINNER

HOW TO ENTER
To win any of these prizes, email us at
empiregiveaways@bauer-media.com.au, write the prize HOW TO ENTER
in the subject line, your preferred format if there are Use the free viewa
both DVD or Blu-ray options and complete the answer app to scan this
in 25 words or less, not forgetting to include your page. Then fill in the
on-screen form with
contact details. All competitions are open to both your 10 words or
Australian and New Zealander Empire readers. less caption and hit
Entries close November 4. SUBMIT. The winner “We’re out of strawberry jam! Aaaaargh!”
For conditions of entry visit www.bauer-media.com.au/ will be published in
the January 2016
terms/competition-terms edition of Empire. Congratulations Jarrod Wood! You win the Indiana Jones Quadrilogy,
Ray Donovan S1 & S2 and The Godfather Trilogy on DVD! Result!

NOVEMBER 2015 113

 114

INT. NORTHUMBERLAND CASTLE
— NIGHT
Hunkered down in a candlelit keep to
stay out of sight of marauding dragons,
a community of survivors have gathered
Child: Did you make that up, Mr. Quinn?
Quinn: Course I did.
He taps the child on the head with his
make-believe lightsaber.

CLASSIC for the evening’s entertainment. Ranks

of children watch, enthralled, as Quinn Creedy: Alright, kids, time for bed.

SCENE (Christian Bale) and Creedy

(Gerard Butler) re-enact a classic
work of drama.
Children [together]: Nooooooo!
LIKE THIS,
WATCH
THIS
Quinn: Tomorrow.
Quinn: “Join me!” the black knight says.
“And we can end this conflict forever.” The children boo.

Creedy: “Never!” Quinn [cont.]: No, no, no, prayers first.

They joust with the sticks they’re holding, One child [amid boos]: The Lion King!
one red, one blue. The children gasp.
Quinn: No, not tonight, prayers first.
Creedy: “I’ll never join you,” the white [Everyone kneels] Okay. Ready? What do CLERKS
knight says. “You killed my father.” we do when we wake? (1994)
More meta Star Wars

Reign Of Fire
2002
“I AM YOUR FATHER.”
SETTING THE SCENE Rob Bowman’s
post-apocalyptic fantasy flick is notable
for three things:
1) Its excellent poster, with dragons
and helicopter gunships duking it
out above Big Ben, a sight that isn’t
in the actual film.
2) Matthew McConaughey’s
mega-macho character name:
Denton Van Zan.
3) This scene, in which two of our
heroes recreate the end of The Empire
Strikes Back. There are no cinemas in
the future, after all.
He snarls and goes on the offensive. Quinn, Children [together]: Keep both eyes on fun, as slacker
who is wearing a black helmet, gets the the sky. wage-slaves discuss
better of him and forces the weapon out of politics aboard the
his hand. Creedy hides his hand inside his Quinn: What do we do when we sleep? Death Star.
sleeve, so it looks like it’s been chopped off.
Children: Keep one eye on the sky.
Quinn: The black knight stares through
the holes in his shiny mask, and he speaks Creedy: What do we do when we see
words that burn into our hero’s heart them?
forever. [Breathing heavily and staring at
Creedy for a long beat] “I am your father.” Children: Dig hard, dig deep, run for
shelter and never look back. ZOMBIELAND
The children are stunned. They watch, (2009)
mouths agape. Quinn: Well done. Ghostbusters
recreated, sort of:
Creedy: “NOOOOOOOOO!” Creedy: Goodnight, guys. Woody Harrelson is
Venkman, while Bill
Candles are blown out and the stage is Quinn: Bed time. Bed time! Murray himself plays
plunged into darkness. Everyone applauds. Stanz. Hoovers fill in
Creedy and Quinn bow and wave. Creedy: Goodnight. for proton packs.

114 NOVEMBER 2015

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Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Morgan
Jones (Lennie James) set to butt heads
in The Walking Dead S5? (p.46).
Contents
09And now for… The News 45Summer Preview
Abigail Spencer, a world-first look at
The Bastard Executioner and London Spy, plus
how to become Daredevil. First: find some toxic
material that both blinds and enhances…
22
The US Fall Preview
As far into the future as the televisual
universe will allow, EmpireTV gazes forward
and talks to the stars and creators of the shows
the Americans will see this year, us next year.
You’re welcome.
30
Insight:
Cartoon Network
Is this the most anarchic, successful creative
place on Earth? The output would suggest so,
and the secret seems to be: just let everyone rip!
38
The EmpireTV Interview:
Ben Mendelsohn
The Bloodline star on being choked by Tom
Hardy, and losing with (sexy) Ryan Reynolds.
Watch
1 2
004 SPRING 2015
EmpireTV tells you what shows you’ll
want to be watching as the weather heats up!
THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 5: Andrew
Lincoln is getting grimier by the second as he
leads the survivors all over the place trying to
escape the flesh-eating masses…
ASH VS. EVIL DEAD: Bruce Campbell is back!
In a supermarket! With a chainsaw! Being
attacked by, erm... the Evil Dead!
PLEASE LIKE ME SEASON 3: EmpireTV goes
on set to see Josh Thomas and pals bring
Season 3 of their brilliant show to life.
NO ACTIVITY: Two cops sit in a car and have a
chat. That’s it. No, it’s brilliant. Really!
THE PRINCIPAL: It’s Heartbreak High all over
again for Alex Dimitriades. But with murder.
And angry students.
Download the free Hold your phone or tablet
viewa app from over the page where you see
the App Store or the viewa logo and watch
Google Play. the content come to life.
82 Funny People
TV TRAILERS GALORE!
Use the free viewa app to scan the page
and see trailers and clips for television
shows featured in the mag!
Does what it says on the tin. The folk
who tickle your funny bone on the telly, all here.
SHAUN MICALLEF: The funniest Aussie comic
of his generation? We’re saying yes, muchly.
JEFFREY TAMBOR: The Larry Sanders Show,
Arrested Development and now Transparent.
Jeffrey Tambor knows how lucky he is.
ROB SITCH: Mr. Sitch welcomes EmpireTV into
his funny-as-hell Utopia.
AMY SCHUMER: Fresh off her Trainwreck
success, the comedy ‘it’ girl of the moment has a
chat with EmpireTV. Cue swooning and laughs.
99 Re.View
DVDs! Blu-rays! Streaming! More!
114Classic Scene
Twin Peaks goes red. And bonkers.
 “Better Call Saul doesn’t just look unmissable,
it looks like the new Breaking Bad.”
– THE TELEGRAPH (UK)

YOURS ON BLU-RAY™ & DVD NOW

PATRICK
C BRAMMALLL E
EMMA BOOTH
OO

G CH
S SO ONE
SEASON O
THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON

WO
WOULD YOU
OU
“HAUNTINGLY
U G GOO
GOOD R S YOUR MARRIAGE
RISK GE
UNMISSABLE”
U SS ” TO SAVE
S IT?
?
- Who Magazine
g

YOURS YOURS
ON DVD ON DVD
OCTOBER 1 OCTOBER 1
© 2015 Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia Pty Limited. All Rights Reserved.
 006

Credits SPRING 2015

(... and the film we think would make an intriguing TV show)
EDITORIAL
EDITOR DANIEL MURPHY 02 8268 4621
(The Deer Hunter)
SENIOR EDITOR DAVID MICHAEL BROWN 02 8114 9495
(Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!)
REVIEWS EDITOR JAMES JENNINGS 02 8116 9310

E
(Straight Outta Compton)
ART DIRECTOR CRAIG CARROLL 02 8114 9433
AGLE-EYED OBSERVERS OF OUR EMPIRETV BIANNUAL (Groundhog Day)
special editions will notice a subtle shift in what we have written about and PHOTO EDITOR LEWIS ASTRIDGE 02 8114 9444
when. In essence, if it’s available to see right now on free-to-air, catch-up (Toy Story)
channels, cable stations as first run, or on the streaming services, then
we’ve approached it on the assumption that you have either CONTRIBUTORS
a) Not yet seen it, or… Michael Adams, Liz Beardsworth, Elizabeth Best, Simon Braund,
Bartosz Czartoryzki, Nick De Semlyen, James Dyer, Alex Godfrey, Chris Hewitt,
b) Have seen it but might still be interested in the savoury mix of comment Rob Leane, Danny Mackenzie, Ben McEachen, Jim Maloney, Michele Manelis,
and insight that Empire and EmpireTV holds dear. Jim Mitchell, Anthony Morris, Ian Nathan, Helen O’Hara, Olly Richards,
Thus, Netflix’s excellent family thriller Bloodline launched in February, but I’d Bennett Ring, James White, Paul Wilson, Damon Wise
wager Senior Editor David Michael Brown’s entire laserdisc collection that the
majority of our readers have yet to see it. Thus we talk about it — and a marvellous, ADVERTISING
varied career — with star Ben Mendelsohn on page 38. Brand Manager, Men’s Lifestyle Aaron Morton 02 9263 9744
South Australian Advertising Nabula El Mourid 08 8267 5032
Or Utopia, the ABC’s clever comedy from the team that brought us Frontline and
Queensland Advertising Jo Maroney 07 -3101 6502
The Castle — only a couple of episodes are left on its Wednesday night run. Big woop! West Australian Advertising Vikki Stacy 08 9449 9908
Odds are you’ll want to binge it on iView anyway. Or, hands up who’s seen anything of Sales Director, NSW Jo Clasby
Amy Schumer beyond a few clips on YouTube and the excellent, salty rom-com film Sales Director, Victoria Andrea Salmon
Group Manager, Brand Advertising Strategy Simon Davies
Trainwreck? Not you! But 10 bucks* says page 92 is the first page you flick to, thanks Director Of Sales Tony Kendall
to her being the hottest astral being in the comedy universe right now. Both are part of
our collection of Funny People that begins on page 82. MARKETING AND CIRCULATION
But fret not, Fans Of TV Shows Yet To Be Shown Beyond A Marketing Marketing Director Matthew Dominello 02 9282 8915
Marketing General Manager Natalie Bettini 02 9282 8442
Presentation. Between world-exclusive first-looks at The Bastard Executioner (page 10) Brand Manager Kimberly Omodei 02 9282 8038
or London Spy (page 12), or our six page US Fall Schedule preview (page 22), or our Circulation Manager Charlotte Gray 02 8268 4620
ginormous Summer Preview and more, there are more than 67 first run or new seasons Group Circulation Manager, Men’s & Specialist Paul Weaving
of killer shows covered. We talk to the brains on- and off-screen for Stan’s hotly Research Director Justin Stone 02 9282 8283

anticipated Ash Vs. Evil Dead (page 52), Season 6 of The Walking Dead (page 46), PRODUCTION
Season 3 of excellent comedy Please Like Me (page 56), new Doctor Who (page 68), or Production Controller Ian Henn 02 9282 8333
the improv madness of No Activity (page 72). Production Co-Ordinator Dominic Roy 02 9282 8691
As the man with the thing in the place once said: “There is something for General Manager Prepress James Hawkes
Viewa Campaign Manager Melody Li
everyone!” So rip into it, friends, and pass the remote.
Who’s got the chips? EMPIRE UK
Acting Editor-In-Chief Ian Nathan
Assistant Editor Ian Freer
“I’m very grateful Associate Editor Liz Beardsworth
International Director Simon Greves
for Tom Hardy’s
BAUER MEDIA
EDITOR
professionalism because I Publisher Ewen Page
DANIEL have no doubt that had he Publisher Cornelia Schulze
CEO David Goodchild
MURPHY approached it differently, Empire is published in Australia by Bauer Media Action Sports Pty Limited, part of the Bauer Media Group, ACN 079 430 023, 54-58
*Not an actual bet. Who’s we may not be here Park Street, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000. © 2013, under licence from Bauer Consumer Media Limited. All rights reserved. The
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got 10 bucks? Sheesh.
doing this interview.” Heathcote Road, Moorebank, NSW 2170, (02) 9828 1350. Distributed by Network Services, 54-58 Park Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. Empire

p.42
accepts no responsibility for loss of or damage to unsolicited contributions. ISSN 2205-0183
DMB’s collection should be
safe, though. Whatevs: chips?
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CLASSIC p.97
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seen, actually.”
SPRING p.12

006 SPRING 2015

Diploma Practical Filmmaking, Digital Content Producing & Short Courses
Emerging Filmmakers Fund, Production & Development
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Subscribe to our fortnightly Newsletter for industry news, events, jobs,

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 And now for... SPRING 2015 009

TheNews
The News
THE FACE

TWIN
PEAKS
ABIGAIL SPENCER ON HER
BIG YEAR

T
HERE’S NO SURER
indication that you’ve
“made it” than appearing in
key roles in two premium
TV dramas simultaneously.
Still, even after 16 years of small and big
screen credits, Abigail Spencer, 33,
remains surprised. “It was just weird. I
forget people will see them eventually,”
she muses. The Florida native starred this
year as ex-wife of Colin Farrell’s alcoholic
• DEREK KETTELA / TRUNKARCHIVE.COM / SNAPPER MEDIA

detective in S2 of Showcase’s True

Detective and reprised her acclaimed turn
as the dedicated but thorny Amantha in
SBS’s mystery-drama Rectify. “It’s been
such a joy,” she says of the character. “I
feel the remnants of her.” So it must have
been fun then to let her character’s hair
down last season to play stoned? Yes and
no.“During one of the scenes, I sat on a
red wasp. Everyone thought that I was
being stoned and improv-ing,” she laughs.
“I was like ‘No, I actually feel like I’m
going to die.’” JIM MITCHELL

TRUE DETECTIVE: S2 AND RECTIFY: S3 ARE

ON ITUNES NOW.

SPRING 2015 009

 010

WORLD EXCLUSIVE

THE BASTARD
EXECUTIONER
KURT SUTTER FOLLOWS UP
HILLBILLY SHAKESPEARE
SONS OF ANARCHY WITH HIS
OWN GAME OF THRONES

4TH CENTURY
C U W
WALES S
l
looks as decidedlyy grim
g as the
s o s ttitle.
show’s t e. The
he Bastard
asta d
Executioner set duringg the reign
Executioner, g
of Kingg Edward III, is the latest
offering from Kurt Sutter (Sons
( Off
Anarchy).). Its titular character is Wilkin
Brattle, a warrior knight eager to
relinquish his life in battle, only to be
forced into one arguably worse when a
divine messenger commands him to take
on the role of executioner.
Today on a rainy afternoon outside
Baron Ventris Castle, north west of
Cardiff, Episode 5 (Piss Prophet) of
Season 1 is filming. Knee-deep in mud
stands the executioner himself, previously
unknown Aussie actor Lee Jones,
preparing for a fight with a stunt man
soon to be replaced by Stephen Moyer
(True Blood) who plays Milus Corbett,
Brattle’s nemesis and a manipulative
chamberlain with political aspirations.
The set is a typical medieval village with
half a pig and two skinned rabbits
hanging in the market square. On closer
inspection, Jones’s thrilled how-did-I-get-
here? demeanour seems genuine. Without
much of a resume to speak of, this theatre
actor and brief Home And Away star is
indeed far from home. “I sent Kurt Sutter
a tape. And it was that old thing of if you
want a job, book a holiday. The next
thing I knew, it was 10pm and I got the “This isn’t about King Arthur,
this isn’t about knights on
call that I had to be in London the next
day for the audition. It was very chaotic.

horses, it’s just one man’s

Bearing in mind the high
expectations for Sutter’s first project
post-Sons Of Anarchy, it might seem
risky to cast an unknown in the lead role.
Sutter sees it differently. “I don’t look at journey.” KURT SUTTER
010 SPRING 2015
And now for...The News
Home & Away alum
Lee Jones working
his way up to becoming
The Bastard Executioner.
SPRING 2015 011
it as taking a chance. We were very
fortunate. We found him like a needle in
a haystack. We saw some great British
actors but a lot of them are very
polished. I told my casting people to get
some Aussies because they tend to be a
little less polished and a little more gruff.
I realise that’s a wild generalisation but
that’s been my experience.”
Says Jones, “As soon as I was cast
they chucked me straight on a horse;
then it was two weeks of night school
and fight training.” It’s difficult being far
from home but the physicality of being
in Wales is a great thing to have on your
side, though this is definitely a gruelling
role. The weight of the costume is no
joke. Luckily this character has turned
his back on being a knight but the fight
scene you just watched me do really took
it out of me.”
With a slew of swords-and-savagery
pieces in recent years, Sutter was
determined to make his Bastard stand
out. “This isn’t about King Arthur, this
isn’t about knights on horses, it’s just one
man’s journey. All the metal, swords and
costumes are a fantastic backdrop to the
stories we’re telling.” Shooting in Wales
instead of a Hollywood studio brings a
distinct authenticity. Says Sutter,
“Thanks to Edward I, there are more
castles per capita in Wales than anywhere
else in Europe.”
Cast opposite Lee Jones is Stephen
Moyer, and it seems wherever he goes,
blood follows. Moyer explains. “I handed
the script to Anna [Paquin, his wife] to
read. She just looked at me and said,
‘Dude! We’re going to Wales.’ And as far
as my character goes, I play a soldier and
thug for hire who has found himself in a
position of power he never expected.
And it’s so nice to use my own accent
and not some posh one I learned at
drama school.” And will there be a part
for his Oscar-winning wife? “Well, she’s
in Wales,” he smiles. “So, who knows?”
Any actor who has worked on a
Kurt Sutter set, especially one ensconced
in such violence, is well aware they could
find themselves the subject of an
untimely death. Surely this makes the
actors nervous? Sutter says matter-of-
factly, “I don’t have the patience nor the
people skills to work with assholes. And
if I do, quite often they find an untimely
death. But trust me, anybody who has
left my shows in that manner; it was a
mutual decision because they didn’t want
to be there either.” MICHELE MANELIS
THE BASTARD EXECUTIONER WILL PREMIERE
SOME TIME IN 2016.
SPRING 2015 011
 012 SPRING 2015
ON-SET EXCLUSIVE
A Q TO A KILL
UST DOWN THE ROAD FROM
Angel tube station, EmpireTV is
ushered through a concealed door,
down a makeshift flight of scaffold
stairs, and into a vast open space
that is completely invisible from street
level. A series of pillars encircle several
floors of grey concrete, like the bastard
lovechild of Shakespeare’s Globe and a
multi-storey car park. It couldn’t be more
London, or more conducive to spying,
making this defunct music hall an apt
setting for a show called London Spy.
“We’re trying to unpick London
from a spy perspective,” says Child 44
author Tom Rob Smith, the creator of
the new BBC series. “We want old
cobbled streets and surprising locations,
not Big Ben and the London Eye.” This
hunt for unique locales has paid off, with
even the lead actor dumbfounded by his
012 SPRING 2015
And now for...The News
BEN WHISHAW, BOND’S SIDEKICK FROM SKYFALL
AND SPECTRE, ENTERS THE WORLD OF ESPIONAGE
HIMSELF IN SMALL-SCREEN THRILLER LONDON SPY
surroundings. “What even is this place?
What is it? Does anyone know?” asks
Ben Whishaw, who’s stepping up from
his supporting role as Q in the Bond
franchise. “London is a great place for
mysteries to happen, because there’s so
much hidden.”
The city is a key backdrop in
espionage lore, and this claustrophobic
cavern isn’t the only way Smith is
utilising his surroundings. “We don’t
visit Somerset House,” he says, “but all
the bridges are steeped in spy history,
and we begin on one of them.” The fact
that London’s bridges connect MI6
headquarters with the gay scene in Soho
was the inspiration for the series — and
its central relationship — in the first
place. “It’s an interesting geographical
fluke,” the writer muses. “You have MI6
there, and the hub of gay clubbing on the
other side of the river, so I thought, ‘Let’s
take one person from that side, and one
from the other, and have them collide.’
It’s an accidental love story.”
Said love story is between covert
operative Alex (Edward Holcroft from
Kingsman: The Secret Service; the spy
connections just keep on coming) and
Danny (Whishaw), a recovering drug
addict. After an eight-month romance,
Alex ends up dead in an
uncharacteristically sordid setting (the
term “erotic asphyxiation” is used on
set). Suspicious, Danny sets out to
infiltrate the murky world of agents and
double agents to uncover the truth. Over
five episodes, dark secrets are revealed,
with Whishaw’s character relying on his
wits to stay alive. “It’s a brilliant story,”
enthuses the star. “It’s very smart and
unexpected, but satisfying. The series is
really my character encountering a lot of
strange people, like Alice In Wonderland.
It’s unlike Bond. It’s unlike any other spy
story I’ve ever seen, actually.”
ROB LEANE
LONDON SPY IS YET TO FIND A HOME
ON AUSTRALIAN TV. EXPECT IT IN 2016.
 014
4 SPRING 20155
COOL DOCO
WHAT
HAPPENED,
MISS
SIMONE?
THE SONGSTRESS GETS RADICAL
IN THE NEW DOCO ON HER LIFE...
HAT
Happened, Miss
Simone?, a new
documentary from
Oscar-nominated
filmmaker Liz Garbus (Killing In The
Name, Bobby Fischer Against The World)
and currently streaming on Netflix,
charts the remarkable, turbulent life of
Nina Simone — jazz singer, songwriter,
classically trained musician, firebrand
civil rights activist and notorious diva
who died in 2003. “In my view,” says
Garbus, explaining the project’s appeal,
“Simone is one of the great artists of the
20th century. But, especially in the
States, she’s not appreciated as such.”
In telling Simone’s story, which she
does with riveting archive footage and
interviews with friends and family,
Garbus makes giant steps towards
rectifying that. “In America,” she says,
“Nina’s been buried to a certain degree,
due to her radicalism, to her being
effectively blacklisted here and because
she didn’t follow a purely commercial
path. To reveal an artist like that to
people is wonderful. It’s also the story of
014 SPRING 2015
a woman battling mental illness, who
experienced and participated in domestic
violence; a very complex character who
produced extraordinary art.”
It is also, claims Garbus, the story of
racism in America from the Jim Crow
era of the 1930s to the present day.
“When we were in the editing room,” she
says, “it was around the time of the
Michael Brown murder [Michael Brown,
an unarmed 18-year-old black man, was
shot and killed by police in Ferguson,
Missouri, on August 9, 2014]. We
were watching images of how the
police and military dealt with the
civil unrest after that, and they were
exactly the same as the images we
were editing from the ’60s. So it’s a
particularly ripe time to remember
Nina and her music. Her role as a
performer was to provoke, to force
people to confront things like race
relations. Her songs are still painfully
resonant today.”
SIMON BRAUND
WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?
IS STREAMING NOW ON NETFLIX.
 “AN HONEST-TO-GOD
PHENOMENON
VA R IET Y
”

OUT NOW ON
BLU-RAY & DVD
™

© 2015 AMC FILM HOLDINGS LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

 06
016
SEASONR5S
SPOILE
THE RUMOUR MILL
THE UNKNOWN WORLD
WITH PRODUCTION ON IN EUROPE, EMPIRETV SIFTS THROUGH THE INTERNET
TO DELIVER THE SUREST RUMOURS ABOUT GAME OF THRONES SEASON 6
On-Air Date
1 6
Pundits have deduced that over the years
the producers have preferred a Sunday at
the end of March, early April or
thereabouts to launch each season,
provided it isn’t Easter. Thus, the
likelihood is that Sunday April 3rd, 2016
will be the air date in the US. It will be
fast-tracked no doubt by Showcase
locally, on Monday the 4th. Woof!
2
No Croatia!
Yes Spain!
Last month HBO released the news
that the production won’t be filmed in
Croatia, indicating a potential limit to
the storylines offered by S6:
Dubrovnik is home to King’s
Landing’s exteriors. Meanwhile Spain
— home to Dorne and to Braavos — is to
double if needed. Northern Ireland is full
of cast at the mo, including Rory
McCann, who plays Sandor ‘The Hound’
Clegane, left to die in the Vale at the end
of S4. Interesting…
Directors
3
Slate Confirmed
Time magazine reported last month that
five directors will helm two each of the
10 episodes in S6. Three are Known
World vets — Jeremy Podeswa,
Mark Mylod and Miguel Sapochnik.
Two Westeros freshers join the ranks:
veteran of TV Jack Bender (who shot
38 episodes of Lost) and Daniel
016 SPRING 2015
Sackheim (who has The X-Files, The
Americans and House in a lengthy
resume). Good news, Miguel
Sapochnik — the director of
2 Season 5’s Wildling/
White Walker/Night’s
Watch battle episode Hardhome
— the director trusted with
enormous battle scenes.
4
Bran’s Back!
4
Rickon Returns!
Brandon Stark (Isaac Hempstead-
Wright), who sat out Season 5 north of
The Wall honing Warg skills with the
Three-eyed Raven (portrayed by legend
of screen Max Von Sydow in for S6)
returns. Meanwhile, the youngest Stark,
Rickon, was last seen in Season 3, on his
way to the Last Hearth, bastion of House
5 Umber, for safekeeping. Actor Art
Parkinson (pictured) has since hit
puberty, has been spotted in Northern
Ireland dining with Natalia Tena, who
plays Osha.
5 It’s Epic-er
Emilia Clarke told the LA Times in July
that the series’ tendency to “set the scene”
and build to shocking set pieces and
action makes way for a more
furious approach in S6. “It’s just go,
7 go, go, go,” said the actress.
“Shocking moment to shocking
moment. Epic moment to epic
moment. It’s mental; it’s epic. And
definitely, Dany’s a part of it,” she
enthused. Colour us excited.
Not Dead
Snow?
Kit Harington’s famously still-long locks
have the entire GOT fanbase a-froth
about the possibility that he may
do-a-Jesus courtesy of Lady Melisandre’s
dark magic, who, in a departure from the
books, is loitering around Castle Black at
the time of his demise. After all, fellow
clergy of the God Of Light, Thoros Of
Myr seemed able to give Beric
Dondarrion a cat’s number of lives
despite heinous injury in Season 3.
Despite protests from Harington, David
Benioff and D.B. Weiss that “dead is
dead”, Harington has also been spotted in
Northern Ireland.
Another
7
Greyjoy!
Fans of certain excised storylines from the
books will rejoice that Euron Greyjoy,
uncle to Alfie Allen’s Theon, has been cast
— and rather brilliantly. Danish actor
Pilou Asbæk, who starred in the Danish
political thriller Borgen and plays Pontius
Pilate in Timur Bekmambetov’s Ben-Hur
remake, will captain the Iron Islands
vessel Silence, whose crew are mute
courtesy of Euron ripping their tongues
out. Ahoyrgh! Added bonus: he even
looks like Theon.
GAME OF THRONES S6 WILL RETURN TO
SHOWCASE IN MARCH OR APRIL 2016. SEASONS
1-5 ARE CURRENTLY AVAIABLE ON ITUNES,
BLU-RAY AND DVD.
 NEED TO KNOW
After Matt Murdock waved a smelly cheese
at Tony Hayers, Netflix has given Daredevil a
second season, which will stream next year.
SPRING
G 2015 017
INVESTIGATION
Powers

HOW
CATHOLICISM Matt Murdock’s visual
Start by taking disability has enhanced his
Rite Of Christian other senses.
Initiation Of Adults Neuroscientist Dr. François

TO BE...
classes and participate in Champoux of Montreal
church life for a whole University says that
liturgical cycle “enhanced tactile abilities
of a year. can be developed as early
as minutes following

DAREDEVIL
blindness”. Dr. Lore Thaler
of Durham University says
perhaps 20 to 30 per cent
of totally blind people “can
echolocate by making
sonar emissions”. Don’t try
this at home, mind.
FANCY YOUR CHANCES
AS A CRIME-FIGHTING BLIND
LAWYER-VIGILANTE-
SUPERHERO TYPE? HERE’S Legal
WHAT YOU’LL HAVE TO DO…
training
Matt and Foggy Nelson

Fighting starting their own law

practice early in their careers
In the Netflix show, Matt is possible, according to US
Murdock trained under employment lawyer Branigan
sensei Stick for his whole Robertson (who recommends
COSTUME
adolescence. For the rest specialising). Studying in the
Artyfakes quote
of us, learning to fight like States, your three-year
an absolute minimum of
a ninja is a lifetime’s work. degree will likely cost you
$5500 for a custom job in
British Ninjutsu Grand north of $150k, so you’ll be
leather. Three weeks or so is
Master Gary Stone paying off that debt. And
COSTUME the usual timeframe, but “most
achieved 8th Dan last year, while you don’t technically
“I’d go for heavily costume makers have a good
after more than 40 years need much to run an office,
modified bike leathers few months’ waiting list”. A
of study. Showrunner essentials like legal
or BMX-type armour,” says prop billy club would be
Steven S. DeKnight says, education and malpractice
cosplayer Sam Phillips. That about $350.
“We wanted him to have a insurance mean your
could set you back $200 to
classic boxing training and start-up costs are likely at
$13000 (Kevlar
some jiu-jitsu and martial least another $15k.
is about $25
arts, and mix it up into one
a foot).
very dirty technique.” DAREDEVIL S1 IS ON NETFLIX NOW.

EVERYBODY STAND-UP! THE BEST COMEDY SPECIALS TO BE FOUND ON NETFLIX

CARL BARRON: A ONE DEMETRI MARTIN: LIVE PROBLEM CHILD: AZIZ ANSARI LIVE AT SAMMY J AND RANDY IN HELLO KITTY FLANAGAN ARJ BARKER: JOY
ENDED STICK (AT THE TIME) LESLIE JONES MADISON SQUARE GARDEN BIN NIGHT The Weekly With Charlie HARVEST
Australia’s king of Yet another law school Before she proves once The Park & Recreation star Before you check out Pickering and Utopia The San Franciscan
deadpan hits Brisbane dropout turned comic, and for all that busting and close friend to Kanye their debut ABC TV comedian teams up with comic who now calls
and waxes lyrical about occasional The Daily Show does indeed makes you West (seriously — google comedy series Sammy J her sister Penny Flanagan Melbourne home goes
expensive bananas; also contributor and all-round feel good in Paul Feig’s his hilarious bit about And Randy In Ricketts in a stand-up comedy all New Age-y in this
grabs his guitar to prove funny guy Demetri Martin Ghostbusters reboot next hanging out with West for Lane, peep the special that presumably 2012 stand-up special
he should play Paul Kelly has released his latest year, check out Leslie the first time) offers up award-winning duo has very little to do with based on his beloved
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about the singer’s life. Netflix exclusive. stand-up chops. Netflix exclusive. live on stage. cartoon cats. The Talking.

SPRING 2015 017

 018 SPRING 2015 And now for...The News

TOP FIVE
FAKE REALITY SHOWS

THERE’S NOTHING FUNNIER THAN A

GLIMPSE OF FAUX REALITY BECAUSE
NORMALLY IT’S REAL. ISN’T IT?

THE HOTWIVES
OF ORLANDO
These women
bitch, backstab
and bicker while
living the good
life like their
Real Housewives
THE PHENOMENON inspirations, but for
maximum comedic

SO REAL
impact. So, like the
real show, then.

DEAD SET
Contestants locked
down in the Big
Brother house are
STAN’S UNREAL HAS BEEN THE TOAST OF WINTER unaware of a

I
zombie outbreak

“
outside the
USED TO THINK THE fascinating. And it’s covered in Adam (Freddie Stroma ) compound.
cost of my soul was $50 sequins and ponies and dresses, which and Anna (Johanna
million,” former producer of I love, too.” Braddy) lock eyes as ANOTHER PERIOD
The Bachelor Sarah Shapiro thinks audiences gravitate a spa guy (Matt Ellis) The Real
Gertrude Shapiro says. to the show because it’s all scarily talks dirty. Housewives Of
“Like, what would it cost me to torture relatable. “We’ve all sold our souls for Downton Abbey
another woman? Turns out it was $1500 a pay cheque... And the princess with a dollop of
a week without benefits.” fantasy is so potent. We drill it into Drunk History.
But rather than complain that she’d little girls that if you’re pretty enough
“sold her soul to the devil”, Shapiro and skinny enough, that everything will BARELY FAMOUS
began storing ideas for her own scripted be okay... That feels really human.” Real-life sisters Sara
drama. The result is runaway hit But while audience reaction has and Erin, daughters
UnREAL, a show set behind the scenes been positive, some former colleagues of grammy
of a suspiciously Bachelor-like show say UnREAL is hard for them to award-winning
called Everlasting. watch; it cuts too close to the bone. Yet David Foster, do a
A feminist, Shapiro never felt right that sentiment was not echoed by sketch comedy
producing a show that pitched women Bachelor host Chris Harrison, who’s reality show about
against each other. And the only thing said the show is “complete fiction” and how they would
worse than working somewhere that “terrible”. “We’re glad he watched it,” never stoop to doing
conflicted with her morals was was Shapiro’s cheeky reply at the time. a reality TV show.
discovering it may just have been her “The plot is fiction but it’s
calling. “It was really hard that I was so thematically accurate,” she says. “We MILF ISLAND
good at [manipulation]... that made me threw out any obligations of making it Okay so this one
feel like I didn’t understand myself — 100 per cent real in service of making doesn’t exist; it
like sending a vegan to a slaughterhouse great television. But the basics of it, was pitched to NBC
and telling them they’re really good at from what I remember, are pretty close. in TV’s 30 Rock.
killing cows.” “I think, in the end, the machine of But who wouldn’t
She also realised the off-camera antics reality TV is like an unbeatable chess watch a Survivor
— the “truth” — was stranger than the game and no matter how smart you spinoff where MILFs
fictional reality they were creating. “I think you are, you can’t win… that’s throw their bikini
realised the reality TV genre is such a rich fascinating to watch.” into the fire when
place to set a show,” she explains. ELIZABETH BEST eliminated with the
“Producers are performing, like, line “I no longer
CIA-level interrogations and that’s UNREAL IS CURRENTLY STREAMING ON STAN. want to tap that”?

018 SPRING 2015

Available in stores now
*While stocks Last
 020 SPRING 2015
ADAPTATIONS
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
THE BEAUTIFUL LIE PUTS TOLSTOY’S ANNA KARENINA IN MODERN AUSTRALIA
E-IMAGINE TOLSTOY,
and they will come —
“they”, of course, being the
cream of Australia’s acting
crop. Taking elements
from the Russian author’s revered Anna
Karenina and reinterpreting them for a
middle-class Melbourne setting, The
Beautiful Lie boasts a cast that includes
Sarah Snook as Anna (the surname
being “Ivin” in this iteration) and
Benedict Samuel as Skeet, Anna’s lover
and the man that helps set off a series of
events that cause her life to unravel (the
sizable cast also includes Sophie Lowe as
Skeet’s fraught fiancée Kitty, plus Rodger
Corser, Catherine McClements, Celia
Pacquola, Daniel Henshall, Alexander
England, Dan Wyllie, Gina Riley and
Robert Menzies).
“It was all about getting the central
trio of Anna, Skeet and Kitty right,”
says producer Imogen Banks. “We knew
that once we had that right then we
could build outward from there.”
“Anna, in some ways, can be an
unappealing character, so you have to
ask: who do you want to go on this
020 SPRING 2015
And now for...The News
journey with? Imogen and I agreed it Tolstoy story: (clockwise
had to be Sarah Snook,” says producer from above) Skeet
John Edwards (he and Banks’s other (Benedict Samuel) and
credits include Offspring, Puberty Blues Anna (Sarah Snook)
and Tangle). “I feel like we slam dunked explore forbidden love;
it with the cast across the board.” Snook; Celia Pacquola and
Co-scripting the series is screenwriter Roger Corser; Daniel
Alice Bell (Puberty Blues, Rush), whose Henshall and Pacquola;
task it was to adapt elements of the Gina Riley; Sophie Lowe
novel for modern day. “I hadn’t read the and Samuel.
book, but then John took me to see the
play and it all made sense how it would
work,” she says. The result is work Bell is
particularly proud of (“It’s like the
favourite child right now, but don’t tell
the others,” she jokes), and one that
managed to elicit a few tears. “I was
crying at my desk when I wrote the last
episode,” she says. “Other cast and crew
got teary too. I’ve tried to invoke a lot of
different emotional reactions with my
writing, but I’d never set out with the
intention of making people cry before…
so I guess I achieved that!”
JAMES JENNINGS
THE BEAUTIFUL LIE PREMIERES SUNDAY,
OCTOBER 18 AT 8.30PM ON ABC TV.
 NEED TO KNOW
Liotta became “obsessed” with
horseriding while filming Texas Rangers
and is considering making it a hobby.
021

Liotta jumped at the chance to do

a western. “Texas Rising is as close
to a western as you can get,” he
says. “The story moved me. My
character Lorca is a farmer and a
religious man whose family is killed
by Mexican soldiers. He takes
revenge before finding redemption
at the end. I’ve always admired
[director] Roland Joffé too.”

He’s not overly fond of comic book

movies: “There’s more interesting
work being done on television and
you get to evolve the character and
the story. When I started out there
were tons of indie movies beating
out bigger movies for Oscars. But
things have changed. Now I’m
filming a TV cop show directed by
Barry Levinson — Shades Of Blue.”

Liotta was a lost soul post-high

school: “I had no idea what I
wanted to do. I was an average
student and I figured I might go
into construction. But then I drifted
into a mediocre college where I was
going to take liberal arts but when I
was told I needed to take a math
and history class I stepped over
into the line for drama classes.”

He realises fame runs hot and cold:

“Twenty five years ago I was the
guy. I had a break with Goodfellas
but I thought back then that the

RAY LIOTTA
business was about acting. I tried
to do different parts but they didn’t
connect in financial terms so all of
a sudden I was in nowhere land. It
was horrible. I was doing stuff, but
not the stuff that I wanted to do.”

He’s no fan of awards: “Everyone is

so competitive. The industry makes
it competitive with all these awards
• ROGER ERICKSON/LICKERISH/SNAPPER MEDIA

shows — the best this, the best

that, you know? Like, fuck that!
How do you measure? How do you
compare what Michael Keaton did
in Birdman with what Eddie
Redmayne did in The Theory Of
Everything? They are just so
different. Apples and oranges.”

TEXAS RISING AIRS NOW ON FX.

SPRING 2015 021

 022 SPRING 2015

U.S. FALL PREVIEW

THROUGH THE
LOOKING GLASS
THE FAMOUS U.S. FALL SCHEDULE IS A WINDOW INTO OUR
TELEVISUAL FUTURE. EMPIRETV LOOKS AT WHAT’S PREMIERING
IN AMERICA TODAY AND WHAT WE’LL SEE THIS YEAR AND NEXT

WORDS MICHELE MANELIS

Shades Of Blue
PLAYERS: Jennifer Lopez,
Ray Liotta, Drea de Matteo
PLOT: Lopez is a cop torn between the
safety of her own family and loyalty to
her police family when she finds herself
unwittingly becoming a police informant.
PITCH: J-Lo’s first foray as the star of a
series sees her surrounding herself with
experienced talent (Ray Liotta is the
patriarchal figure in her police
department, and Sopranos vet Drea de
Matteo provides excellent back-up).
PAYOFF: It’s not the first time we’ve
Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in the
hair-gelled rock ‘n’ roll, coke-soaked
early’ 80s. A motley and colourful crew
of drug dealers, journalists and rockers
comes together to try to solve a murder.
PITCH: Crime anthology series created
by Steven Baigelman (Get On Up) set in
the City of Angels circa 1980 when that
all-important mantra ‘I’m with the band’
was the golden ticket.
PITFALLS: Gratuitous violence.
PAYOFF: Getting to witness vicariously
the hard-partying lifestyle of the
pre-AIDS, pre-selfies LA party scene.

Hot & Bothered

seen conflict and divided loyalties in a
police department but J-Lo should bring
viewers who will enjoy the fact that her
character is relatively low-key-looking (no
glam American Idol-style blowouts here)
and part of an impressive ensemble.
PLAYERS: Eva Longoria, Jencarlos
Canela, Diana Maria Riva, Jose Moreno
Brooks, Alex Meneses, Amaury Nolasco,
Jadyn Maria, Izzy Diaz
PLOT: Longoria is Ana Sofia, a TV

Wicked City
superstar who finds her cast and crew
competing to steal her own spotlight.
PLAYERS: Ed Westwick, Erika PITCH: Eva Longoria takes centre stage

Christensen, Taissa Farmiga, Gabriel
Luna, Karolina Wydra, Anne Winters
PLOT: Detectives hunt serial killers on
playing a successful TV star (think Sofia
Vergara-type-famous). Longoria has
plenty of experience at this game for real
thanks to the long running
Desperate Housewives, and should
be able to bring some genuine
insider scoop to help this show
both connect with and wink at
its audience.
PAYOFF: The success of Jane
The Virgin has shown that soapy
series rule currently. Hot &
Bothered’s steady stream of
backstabbing, narcissistic
actors and badly behaved
players all round might
become a guilty pleasure.
Limitless
PLAYERS: Jake McDorman, Jennifer Carpenter,
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Hill Harper
PLOT: A crime procedural based on the 2011
Bradley Cooper movie adapted from Alan Glynn’s
novel about a man’s ability to use 100 per cent of
his brain capacity thanks to super-drug NZT. In
the television series, only certain people can
survive the effects of the drug. Brian Finch
(McDorman) is one of those special people who
finds himself floundering in life before being
abruptly recruited by the FBI to use his
super-intellectual powers
for good. Says McDorman, who also starred with
Cooper in American Sniper, “Playing Brian Finch

022 SPRING 2015


before he encounters the drug to once he’s on
the drug, is a huge attractive quality for an actor.
I’m playing two versions of one character and
that was the main selling point that Bradley
brought up when he talked to me about the
project. He said, ‘Hey, this is an actor’s dream.
You get to play multiple people’.”
PITCH: Hollywood heavyweight Bradley Cooper
is executive producer of the spin-off series which
is directed by industry veteran Marc Webb (The
Amazing Spider-Man). Cooper does double duty
and brings some Oscar-nom cachet when he
appears as his original character, Eddie Morra, in
a recurring role.
McDorman continues: “Bradley was incredibly
involved from the pre-production phase and
is still involved. He has every intention of
returning, obviously based on his schedule,
but to executive produce and still play his
role as Eddie is incredible.”
PITFALLS: The film itself did well with Cooper
perfectly cast and a plot that seemed new and
exciting. Isn’t it too soon for a spin-off starring a
lead who, given the pilot anyway, doesn’t seem to
have Cooper’s same star quality?
PAYOFF: Watching the side effects, good and
bad, of NZT might not be quite as fictional a
premise as we imagine. The supporting cast
(Jennifer Carpenter, Mary Elizabeth
Mastrantonio, Hill Harper) is also exceptional.
023
Scream Queens
PLAYERS: Lea Michele, Emma Roberts,
Abigail Breslin, Jamie Lee Curtis, Syler
Samuels, Keke Palmer, Ariana Grande
PLOT: A mysterious death occurs on the
grounds of a college campus in 1995. 20
years later it happens again. While
the case is being investigated, more
murders take place.
PITCH: Executive producers Ryan
Murphy and Brad Fulchuck (Glee,
American Horror Story) team with Ian
Brennan (Glee) for an appealing amalgam
of horror and comedy.
PITFALLS: May be a little over-the-top
for some.
PAYOFF: An original modern take on the
classic whodunit, it will include nods to
movies past, including original scream
queen Jamie Lee Curtis.
Code Black
PLAYERS: Marcia Gay Harden, Luis
Guzman, Raza Jaffrey, Benjamin
Hollingsworth, Bonnie Somerville,
Melanie Chandra, Harry Ford
PLOT: A dark, gritty drama centred on
staff and residents of the busiest, most
notorious ER in the nation, and the
obstacles they face (lack of beds and
instruments, etc.) in order to treat their
emergency room patients.
PITCH: Based on the 2013 award-winning
documentary of the same name from a
resident doctor-turned-director at the LA
County Hospital Emergency Room.
PITFALLS: Could provide too much
reality for some viewers.
PAYOFF: A more realistic version
of TV’s ER.
SPRING 2015 023
 024 SPRING 2015
Minority Report
PLAYERS: Meagan Good, Stark Sands, Wilmer
Valderrama, Nick Zano, Daniel London, Laura Regan
PLOT: Set in Washington 15 years after events which
transpired in the 2002 film (which starred Tom Cruise and
Colin Farrell), we follow Dash (Sands), one of the three
Precogs who can predict crimes before they happen.
Leading a miserable life fraught with grim visions of the
future, Dash meets a detective (Meagan Good) who helps
him find peace with his strange abilities.
PITCH: Produced by Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment,
the TV series is a sequel to the famed novel of the same
name by Philip K. Dick.
PITFALLS: Tom Cruise was a compelling film lead but
that version didn’t do quite the business it was expected
to. Will a lesser-known lead be able to produce more?
PAYOFF: The premise remains a fascinating one and the
TV series takes a new slant from the film, showing life
from the psychic Precogs’ point of view.
024 SPRING 2015
And now for...The News
Damien
PLAYERS: Bradley James, Barbara
Hershey, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Omid
Abtahi, David Meunier
PLOT: Based on horror classic The
Omen, Damien (James) is now an adult,
yet no less creepy than the character was
as a ’70s kid. Set 25 years later, the show
presents Damien, war photographer
with no memory whatsoever of his
ghoulish past.
PITCH: Former Walking Dead
showrunner Glen Mazzara takes the
horror classic and makes it his own
with minimal special effects and
plenty of realism.
PAYOFF: See Damien all grown up
and ready to face his true destiny as
the Antichrist.
Dr. Ken
PLAYERS: Ken Jeong, Suzy Nakamura,
Tisha Campbell-Martin, Dave Foley,
Jonathan Slavin
PLOT: Based on the real life of Ken
Jeong, best-known as The Hangover
franchise’s Mr. Chow, the show follows
this real-life doctor as he abandons his
medical career for one in showbiz.
Starting in stand-up, Jeong soon
lands The Hangover, Community, and
an entirely different career he must
juggle with his therapist wife and two
kids in tow.
PITCH: Multi-cam comedy created,
written and co-executive produced by
Ken Jeong.
PITFALLS: Some predictable humour
rooted in racial stereotypes.
PAYOFF: Jeong pulls it off — his
hilarious bedside manner veering far
from political correctness.
The Alienist
PLAYERS: Domingo Jose Cruz Delgado,
Oliver Cruzdaza, Aldo de Anda
PLOT: One of the first reported serial
killers is on the loose in late 1800s New
York City. Dr. Kreizler, reporter John
Moore and police commissioner
Theodore Roosevelt track down the killer
using unorthodox means based on the
principles of psychology.
PITCH: Adapted from the best-selling
Caleb Carr novel of the same name, The
Alienist comes from True Detective
producers Anonymous Content and
features Cary Fukunaga (True Detective
Season 1) as one of its directors.
PITFALLS: Will the complexity of Carr’s
famed novel translate to the screen?
PAYOFF: Fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat
thriller based on excellent material.
The Grinder
PLAYERS: Rob Lowe, Fred Savage,
William Devane
PLOT: Dean Sanderson (Lowe) is an
actor famous for playing a lawyer in a
successful TV show. When the show ends
he returns to his family’s home town
where his brother, a real lawyer (Savage),
is poised to take over the family law firm
from their father (Devane). When his
charming sibling shows up, well-versed in
‘grandstanding’ on camera and knowing
at least a little law, it seems the un-real
lawyer might be better-suited to the task.
PITCH: Director Jake Kasdan (Bad
Teacher, Sex Tape) brings plenty of
humour to a show that benefits hugely
from Rob Lowe in the driver’s seat.
PITFALLS: Hollywood eats itself: Lowe,
a successful actor, plays a successful
actor, filming a show within a show.
PAYOFF: Considering legal
representation? You might be better off
hiring a fake lawyer.
 025

Heartbreaker
PLAYERS: Melissa George, Don Harry,
Dave Annable, Don Hany, Shelley Conn,
D.L. Hughley, Jamie Kennedy,

Lucifer
Maya Erskine, J. Louis Mills,
Joshua Leonard
THE PLAYERS: Tom Ellis, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Lauren German, Rachael Harris, D.B. Woodside, Len PLOT: Alex Panttiere (Melissa George) is
Wiseman (director), Mike Carey (writer) a world famous heart-transplant surgeon
PLOT: Bored in Hell, Lucifer (Ellis) relocates to sunny Los Angeles to run an upscale nightclub. Like juggling a complicated personal life with
most out-of-towners, he takes to the LA lifestyle and navel-gazes with his therapist (Rachael Harris) the onerous demands of her high-
on a regular basis. A handsome devil and successful entrepreneur, he lives the high life until one pressured professional life.
fateful night when life ceases to exist as he knows it: a pop star is murdered outside his hip piano bar, PITCH: Based on the 2010
Lux. Against his better nature, Satan is struck with compassion and works alongside a detective from autobiography, Heart Matters: A Memoir
the LAPD (Lauren German) to solve the murder. His ‘do-good-ing’ alerts God who sends the angel Of A Female Heart Surgeon by Dr. Kathy
Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) to remind him of his true day job: committing heinous acts. Magliato, the procedural drama is written
Brit-born actor Ellis says, “Lucifer doesn’t take himself too seriously and that’s what really and executive-produced by Jill Gordon
appealed to me about the character. There are a lot of shows that are very, very earnest and dark. (Cupid) and produced by Amy
That’s great, and I don’t have a problem with that, but this is something that suits my personality Brenneman and husband Brad Silberling
because it has an element of fun; that’s a big one for me and that’s what I loved about the script when (Reign). The series is based on the real
I first read it.” life of Magliato, an alpha female who
Executive Producer, Jonathan Littman concurs, “Lucifer was nothing like what I’d expected it to be. pushes the boundaries of medical science
I’d read the book, read the comic and I wasn’t expecting something this funny. The script has such a in a male-driven world.
sense of humour and I’d never really seen it in this genre before. It was so original and refreshing. It PITFALLS: Might get squashed amidst a
surprised the hell out of us.” glut of new medical dramas.
PITCH: Adapted from the comic book character created by Neil Gaiman for The Sandman, Satan PAYOFF: A truly unique female
retiring his dark side is reminiscent of Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III who famously said, character played with spunk by George.
‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.’ The show recently leaked online, which may or

You, Me And
may not have been deliberate. Even Gaiman has acknowledged in the past that piracy has increased
some of his sale by as much as 300 per cent. “I started to realise that actually you’re not losing sales

The End Of
by having stuff out there.” Time will tell.
PITFALLS: A huge leap of faith is required from viewers.

The World
PAY-OFF: Good versus evil turned on its head just might work, especially with the compelling Ellis as
lead. And director Len Wiseman knows quite a bit already about all matters Underworld.
PLAYERS: Rob Lowe, Jenna Fischer,

E
Megan Mullally, Mathew Baynton
XCITED ABOUT THE Considering Hollywood is so strict PLOT: Slough, a small town near London,
upcoming TV series Lucifer on piracy, this steady stream of leaks looks like being the site where a 12

TV PILOT but not sure you can wait

until 2016? Good news: the
year-in year-out seems strange. The
obvious reason is that they’re the
kilometre wide comet will collide with the
Earth. Meanwhile, a rogue priest (Lowe)

LEAKS pilot recently leaked online. Just like

the Supergirl pilot did earlier this year.
And the pilot of the TV version of
Minority Report. And… you get the idea.
Unlike recent leaks of established
shows like the first four episodes of this
year’s GOT, pilot leaks don’t come from
easily identifiable sources. They’re
good quality, free of watermarks and
timecodes that would suggest they’ve
been snuck out of a production facility,
and they’re usually based on comic
books or are similarly high-concept.
shows that appeal to the people who
have the access and technical ability to
put shows online. But the high standard
of these leaks suggests an alternative.
Could it be that the networks are
leaking their own shows to build hype?
If that’s their scheme, they’re not
telling: US networks almost never
comment on pilot leaks. For
organisations publicly opposed to
piracy, even a hint that they’re happily
exploiting it for publicity might be hard
to explain. AM
meets an eclectic group of people en
route to seek refuge in an underground
bunker where they hope to watch the
imminent apocalypse live on television.
As you do.
PITCH: Sci-fi comedic drama directed by
Michael Engler (30 Rock) and created by
Iain Hollands (Beaver Falls). Will these
misfits become the future of mankind?
PITFALLS: The premise is perhaps a bit
too wacky. Just kidding.
PAYOFF: A stellar and likeable group of
seasoned actors.

SPRING 2015 025

 026 SPRING 2015
Blood And Oil
PLAYERS: Don Johnson, Chace
Crawford, Rebecca Rittenhouse,
Amber Valletta
PLOT: A working class couple, Billy
(Crawford) and Cody (Rittenhouse),
moves to North Dakota seeking riches
after the biggest oil discovery in US
history. But life is rarely as easy as it
seems, especially when they’re dealing
with the local oil tycoon and town
bigwig (Johnson).
PITCH: How many actors can pull off the
kind of swagger necessary to be a
convincing oil tycoon? Don Johnson is in
his element.
PITFALLS: Didn’t Dallas happen already
— on small and big screens?
PAYOFF: An old-fashioned saga elevated
by great talent.
Containment
PLAYERS: David Gyasi, Christina Moses,
Chris Wood, Kristen Gutoskie, Claudia
Black, George Young, Hanna Mangan
Lawrence, Trevor St. John
PLOT: Atlanta is quarantined after a
lethal virus has broken out separating
the community, with those inside fighting
for survival. Humanity takes a turn for
the worse and citizens inside the cordon
stoop to dangerously unethical levels as
everyone fights for their own survival.
Loved ones are torn apart between those
trapped inside while their significant
others are rendered helpless outside.
Meanwhile, local and federal officials
frantically search for a cure.
Executive producer Julie Plec
says, “It’s very sad but I love
stories where people of disparate
backgrounds and different
personalities are put in a situation
that they can’t escape from.
It brings out parts of you
you didn’t know, and it
changes you. It’s a
very human story.”
PITCH: Adapted
from the Belgian
series, Cordon,
026 SPRING 2015
And now for...The News
Blindspot
THE PLAYERS: Jaimie Alexander, Sullivan Stapleton, Audrey Esparza, Rob Brown, Marianne
Jean-Baptiste, Ukweli Roach, Ashley Johnson
PLOT: A very beautiful and very naked amnesiac (Alexander) inked from head-to-toe, is found in a
duffel bag in Times Square. Each tattoo that adorns her body is a direct link to a crime which FBI
agent, Kurt Weller (Stapleton) will investigate. And equally confounding, why is his own name
tattooed across her back? Once the puzzle is solved her identity will also be discovered. Says
writer Martin Gero, “The tattoos are a treasure map, and as with all treasure maps, there needs to
be an end point. There needs to be somebody that made it.”
Says Alexander of the chemistry between her character Jane Doe and Weller’s, “They have a
connection. They get each other; they help and need each other.” She says he’s not your typical
FBI agent either: “I’m the tough ‘guy’, I punch people, I’m the FBI! That’s not him.”
PITCH: From executive producer Greg Berlanti (Arrow, The Flash) with writer Martin Gero
(Stargate Atlantis) and director Mark Pellington (The Mothman Prophecies), the cast are in good
hands in this fast-paced thriller. Says Alexander, “It’s so intense and dark. The show moves really
quickly, more like a film, and doesn’t follow the format of most procedurals. I’ve passed on a lot of
roles and I’ve been waiting to do something like this for a long time. TV is really paving the way for
strong female characters that are relatable.” Gero, meanwhile, admits, “it’s a bonkers premise.” He
had long wanted to tackle a show about treasure maps, having been fascinated by them as a child.
“However we tried to ground this series in a Michael Mann or Paul Greengrass type of vibe.”
PITFALLS: The plight of the cinematic amnesiac is a little tired.
PAYOFF: If you liked Chris Nolan’s Memento…
Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries) and cannot be contained by usual civilian
producers Matt Corman and Chris Ord means. We were consulting with members
(Covert Affairs) set themselves apart of the Centers For Disease Control And
from the upcoming glut of supernatural Prevention, epidemiologists and members
and fantasy-inspired TV shows. For those of the Atlanta police department when
zombie-fatigued viewers, Containment is we were creating the pilot and getting
based in harsh reality (think Sierra Leone ready in pre-production. They said this
when Ebola struck) and works off the could all absolutely happen. This scenario
premise that truth is scarier than fiction. is entirely realistic.”
Claudia Black (Dr. Sabine Lommers) says, PITFALLS: The show’s storyline skews
“I play the highest ranking federal official dangerously close to Under The Dome.
who comes in at the top level when it PAY OFF: When the going gets tough,
becomes clear that this [virus] unlikely heroes emerge.
 And now
n for...The Newss SPRING
NG 2015 027

Grandfathered
PLAYERS: John Stamos, Josh Peck,
Paget Brewster, Christina Milian,
Kelly Jenrette, Ravi Patel

Superstore
PLAYERS: America Ferrera,
Ben Feldman, Lauren Ash
PLOT PLOT: Employees at a discount
A coming-of-age megastore in Middle America deal with
story about a career romance, work, happiness and the
bachelor (Stamos) very minutiae of life.
surprised to discover he has PITCH: Single-camera comedy created
both a son (Peck) and a by writer-producer Justin Spitzer (The
granddaughter. It’s time Office) who’s well-versed in the dynamics
for this 50-year-old to of working relationships and the nuances
grow up. of employee/customer politics.
PITFALLS: Will The Office-at-Big W
premise work?
PAYOFF: Big laughs about relatable
everyday situations.

PITCH
TV veteran Stamos has a
good track record for
choosing successful
comedies, as do director Chris
Koch (Malcolm In The Middle,
Scrubs) and writer Danny
Chun (The Office).

PITFALLS
Not the first
Rosewood
PLAYERS: Morris Chestnut, Jaina Lee
man-child project Ortiz, Gabrielle Dennis, Clancy Brown
we’ve seen. PLOT: Dr. Rosewood Jr. (Chestnut), a
uniquely talented pathologist and owner
of one of the most sophisticated labs in
the US, can effortlessly read the secrets
within dead bodies that others miss. In
doing so, he becomes an integral part of
Miami’s law enforcement when he teams
up with detective Villa (Ortiz) to solve
murders in the city.
PITCH: Executive-produced by Todd
Harthan (Psych) and directed by
PAYOFF Richard Shepherd (Girls), the drama is
Stamos uses his fast-paced and combines legal and
smarmy and disarming medical viewpoints.
appeal to its best PITFALLS: Too similar to the failed
advantage in an drama Forever, about an immortal doctor
unconventional who helps a detective solve crimes.
comedy. PAYOFF: Medic and detective meld well
to create wide-reaching appeal.

SPRING 2015 027

 028

THE GRILL

LUKE
ARNOLD PORTRAIT JAKE NOWAKOWSKI

BLACK SAILS’ LONG JOHN

SILVER FRIES UP A MESS OF
PARROT FILLETS. ARRRR…

Who’s you’re hero, as an actor?

I guess it changes all the time. I was a
massive Johnny Depp fan growing up, of
his character. I’m lucky that I get to have
that opportunity to slip into other
people’s skins, and other worlds. It does
change all the time. So when I was
younger, Johnny Depp and Harrison Ford ARNOLD
were the ones I really looked towards. FACTS?
When you’re younger, you look up to the
big, broader strokes. As I got older, it’s Favourite
more Jeff Bridges and Sam Rockwell, show? Louie.
guys who always seem so spontaneous. “Wherever I
That’s more what I’m impressed with am, I have to
now, the little things over the big things.
Who were you, stabbed in the eye by Jason Isaacs, who
was playing Hook. I still have the scar on
track it
down.”
What is your earliest memory?
The first thing that burns in there… When in your very first my eye where it hit. It did have a
protective nib, but it still managed to cut, Had barely
my first dog got trapped under the house.
Because it was the first time I was really school play? I was bleeding out of my eye and my
nose. I was blind for about half an hour.
been on a
boat before
scared, wondering whether or not we
would get him back. I remember the smell I was Bender, If you woke up as Bruce Willis, what would
Black Sails.

of the dust under the house and his eyes.

from a school play you do?
[Long pause] I… I’m trying to think of
Currently
filming Half
Who’s the most famous person in your
phone contacts? version of The who’d I’d call. Probably Tarantino and be
like “Let’s work together again.”
Magic, the
writing-
Most recently is Warren Ellis from Nick
Cave And The Bad Seeds. I met him in Breakfast Club. Beatles or Stones?
directing
debut for
/ WSPIX
• JAKE NOWAKOWSKI/NEWSPIX

L.A. recently. Stones. Heather

Have you ever knowingly broken the law?
Aww, yeah… [Laughs] I’m trying to think
of what to say. I’m a pirate! People would
expect it of me.
G h
Graham.
gel, walk out into the middle of the desert What’s the worst thing you’ve put in
till you were on your own and have your your mouth?
shower. It’s a fantastic feeling… it was my I recently had a cricket taco in L.A. But
favourite part of every day. that’s the weirdest.

When was the last time you were
naked outdoors?
At Africa Burn, which is like a Burning
Man Festival in Cape Town. There were
no showers and we were there for five
days so every morning you had to go out
and take your bottle of water and shower
What’s your nickname?
Duke. Someone in drama school just
started calling me “The Duke”.
What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?
When I was working on the Peter Pan
film, when I was 18 in Queensland, I got
One more question. On a scale of one to
10, how hairy is your arse?
About one. You’ve seen it in Never Tear
Us Apart.
BLACK SAILS S3 RETURNS TO SHOWCASE IN 2016.
SEASONS 1 AND 2 ARE OUT NOW ON DVD,

028 SPRING 2015

And now for...The News SPRING 2015 029

CLASSIC PIC

DONE
LIKE A…
TV DINNER!

H, THE SHOT
without context — just
because. And here
we have it — the
TV Dinner.
Versions of frozen meals had been
around for decades, but the first “TV
Dinner” (so named for the shape of
the tray) was produced in 1954 by
C.A. Swanson & Sons. The
compartmentalised meal was simply
taken out of the freezer and put in the
oven, then eaten from the tray,
presumably while listening to
neighbours having sex in the
apartment next door and
contemplating just how life had
gotten to this point.
It never really took off here in the
nausea-inducing presentation we have
to the left, but anyone who has
watched American television knows
the TV Dinner is the metaphoric
equivalent of living in your mother’s
basement at the age of 40.
Didn’t stop the Yanks inhaling
them though. According to Wikipedia
— and who are we to doubt it? — the
original TV Dinner was 98c and
budgeted to sell 5000 in the first year.
It sold more than 10 million.
Now, who’s for a Lean Cuisine?
DANIEL MURPHY

SPRING 2015 029

 030 INSIGHT

030 SPRING 2015

 031

EMPIRETV GETS DRAWN INTO CARTOON NETWORK’S MAGICAL

PAST, MANIACAL PRESENT AND WILD FUTURE.
WORDS SIMON BRAUND

SPRING 2015 031

 032 INSIGHT
TEPPING THROUGH
the doors of the
Cartoon Network’s
Burbank HQ, you’re
met by pretty much
what you’d expect from
the hippest animation
studio around — sunlit,
airy lobby featuring
swathes of scrubbed
brick and acres of
honey-hued hardwood.
There’s the immaculate retro pool table
and framed posters of the network’s hit
shows, shelves crowded with action
figures, vintage board games (Rock’em
Sock’em Robots and Buckeroo rather
than Ludo or Sorry) and pop-culture
knick knacks. Adorning the bright white
walls are paintings and prints of various
CN characters, a dazzling collage of
works by various artists in unbidden
tribute to their favourite shows. And
there’s plenty to inspire artistically
inclined fans, from venerable oldies like
Johnny Bravo, Cow And Chicken and
Powerpuff Girls to the new crop of
favourites: Adventure Time, Regular Show,
Uncle Grandpa et al. The highly significant
piece de resistance is a huge LCD screen
streaming live footage of animation being
done elsewhere on the premises. It
announces immediately that this is an
operation that puts creative talent to
the forefront.
According to CN’s executive vice
president and chief content officer Rob
Sorcher the company, first launched in
1992 by parent company Turner
Broadcasting System, is entirely “board
led”. That doesn’t mean things are run by
a committee of po-faced bean-counters
032 SPRING 2015
cloistered around a giant table; very much
the opposite in fact. The board he’s
referring to are the cork panels that line
the walls of almost every available space
in the building (even the board room,
ironically), and on which artists lay out
hand-drawn, scene-by-scene templates for
each episode of a show.
“Everything is designed with the
visual artist in mind,” says Sorcher,
sporting nerd-cool glasses, check shirt and
jeans, and exuding the boundless
enthusiasm and bounce-off-the-walls
energy of a real life cartoon character.
“They are the people running every single
show we have.” Writers play a vital role,
he says, but, unusually, their input comes
later. Shows at CN do not begin with a
finished script but with a basic story
outline that is then fleshed out into a
fully-formed episode by the storyboard Above Left: We Bare Bears
artists — who are often the writers, too. creator Daniel Chong.
A graphic illustration of the process is Main: Best office ever!
provided by Kent Osbourne, storyboard
artist and writer on trippy fairytale show
Adventure Time. He points out the single ARTOON NETWORK
page story outline pinned to the wall, a debuted on October 1
puny scrap of paper next to the vast, 1991, heralded by a
fluttery expanse of Post-It notes, each rendition of The Star
adorned with a sketch, that it spawned. Spangled Banner (a
“We keep 3M in business,” jokes tradition with all new
Osbourne, referring to the volume of Turner-owned
sticky tabs the studio gets through. networks) and
“Our unique process is ‘drawing and introduced by
doing’,” says Sorcher. “It’s not about a lot lugubrious toon dog
of talking and having meetings. Droopy. The first
Executives look at the outline for a show. cartoon broadcast was the classic 1946
After that, it’s all in the hands of the Daffy Duck short The Great Piggy Bank
talent. That’s how we get an Adventure Robbery. And that very much set the tone
Time, that’s how we get a Regular Show. for the next few years. Launched as an
It’s a huge creative risk, but we’re getting outlet for Ted Turner’s extensive library
good at it.” of classic animation, amassed from

various deals with other studios, CN’s
programming initially comprised re-runs
of pre-1950 Warner Bros. shorts (the
iconic Looney Tunes and Merrie
Melodies), plus older material from
Walter Lantz (creator of Woody
Woodpecker) and Fleischer Studios
(home of Popeye), classic MGM cartoons
(notably Droopy and the immortal Tom &
Jerry) and shows from Hanna-Barbera
Productions (The Flintstones, Scooby-
Doo, Wacky Races etc), which Turner
Entertainment purchased in 1991.
CN’s first original show was 1993’s
The Moxie Show, a cartoon anthology
presented by Moxie, a 3D animated dog,
and Flea, bass player out of the Red Hot
033
REGULAR GUY
CN’S SUPER-SURREAL
TOON REGULAR SHOW
IS ANYTHING BUT.
CREATOR JG QUINTEL
EXPLAINS WHY…
Where did the idea for
the show originate?
When CN asked me to pitch, I
cobbled together some characters
from my student films. Pops came
from a game called ‘48-Hour Films’
where you picked a title out of a hat
and made a film of it over a
weekend. The word was ‘lollipop’ so
Pops is a lollipop-headed man. The
next word was ‘candy’, which
generated Benson, a gumball
machine. Then I created Mordecai [a
blue jay] and Rigby [a raccoon], who
are like me and my friends.
And the title?
The show looks really bizarre - a
yeti and a gumball machine, a
high-five ghost. But I wanted the
tone to be like a regular sitcom. I
considered calling it Normal Shit but
Regular Show won out.
Which animators influenced you?
Mike Judge, Matt Groening, and I
really like The Far Side. Funny
dark stuff.
Was it a childhood ambition to
make cartoons?
I really wanted to be an animator.
But I couldn’t draw. Then I realised
that the cruder, Far Side style was
easier to do — and funnier.
Chili Peppers (actually a 3D animated
flea). The network’s first original series
was 1994’s Space Ghost Coast To Coast, a
mash-up of artfully edited Hanna-
Barbera clips and live guests that
re-invented ’60s HB superhero Space
Ghost as a cheesy, late-night chat show
host. Space Ghost consolidated Cartoon
Network’s appeal to adults as well as kids
and did much to establish the strong
streak of irreverence that still
characterises its original output.
Throughout the following years, CN
continued to build a loyal audience — of
all ages — with content acquired from
other studios (in 1996, following Turner
Broadcasting System’s merger with Time
SPRING 2015 033
 034 INSIGHT

Warner, CN gained access to Warner air hockey tables, chill-out areas, candy
Bros. entire animation library) and a counters and coffee bars. What is unusual
growing slate of original shows, The is that here the distractions are
Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, deliberately spaced out on different floors
Johnny Bravo and Courage The Cowardly to encourage the notoriously hermetic
Dog among them. From these emerged a animators to leave their cubicles and
distinctive, if broad-ranging, style — mingle, thus promoting the creative juices
wildly inventive, anarchic, self-referential to flow. “We have to do it,” says Sorcher,
and endearingly lacking the pristine sheen during a tour of the facilities. “And the
of other studios’ product. The latter is a best way to do it is food.” He turns to an
principle so dear to CN’s heart that it associate. “Weren’t we going to put the
developed a customised modification to disco ball here?” he asks. “Oh right. It was
Photoshop for its new hit series We Bare the giant bears.”
Bears to give the clean lines of CG
animation a hand-crafted look.
Along the way, the network also
acquired a clutch of sister channels
and off-shoots. Adult Swim, launched in
2001, caters to teens and adults and airs
between 8:00pm and 6:00am on the CN
channel, although it is considered a
separate network. Toonami (1997), is
geared mainly to action animation and
Japanese anime. Boomerang, originally a
programming block on CN in 1992 but
granted independent channel status in WHAT ALSO SETS CARTOON
April 2000, is aimed at Baby Boomers, Network apart from other studios is the
featuring Warner Bros., MGM and unprecedented freedom they give to their
Hanna-Barbera classics as well as artists. The apotheosis of this is their
souped-up vehicles for such venerable Global Shorts program, a means of
characters as Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry nurturing new talent and creating new
and Bugs Bunny. shows without the intrusion of meddling
Along the way they also developed a executives or irksome focus groups. “It’s a
certain way of doing things, and this is fully international program,” says Sorcher.
reflected in the prevailing environment at “We look for around 11 short films a year
CN Towers. It’s not unusual for a hi-tech from filmmakers from around the world.
creative company to take the Willy We put them to work on their idea,
Wonka
W k approach
pp h tto iinterior
t i d design,
ig drawing and doing, not talking to us
althoughg CN have some enviably y cooll about it, because a lot of them can’t do
shit: a p
pancake p printer from the Sheraton aton that.” Selected filmmakers are not
Hotel
H in Petaya,
y Thailand; a soda expected to pitch an entire show. Instead,
machine that taps p directly y into the they’re given the means and the
Coca-Cola
C C mainframe in Atlanta to opportunity to make a short film for
deliver infinite flavour combos;; a broadcast that may become something
cookie
coo e machine
ac e modelled
ode ed o on else down the line. “Once we have that
those
t end-of-the-pier
p arcade short, then we can develop it into a
games
g where yyou attempt p to series,” slays Sorcher. “It’s a development
snag
s g rubbish p prizes with a tool. We just don’t over-analyse that seven
mechanical
m claw ((designed
g by
y minutes too early. We let them make the
Rob
R Sorcher, incidentally); y) and d film the way they want to make it, then go
the
th expected
p d arrayy off in and say, ‘Okay, how do we make this
foozeball,
f ping-pong
p g p g and into a TV series?’”

“We put people to work

on their
heir idea, drawing
and
a doing, not talking
to
t uss about it.” ROB SORCHER

Main: Now that is a white board!
Below from left: Regular Show;
Uncle Grandpa; Adventure Time.
035
What Sorcher describes as “a little
incubator, a laboratory on the side,” has
so far yielded eight TV series for the
network, among them Steven Universe,
the Emmy Award-winning Regular Show,
Uncle Grandpa and brand new smash We
Bare Bears, the quirky adventures of
three adorable, clueless bears attempting
to integrate into human society. “In the
past we had regular development for
comedy and we had a shorts program to
test things out,” says Sorcher. “Today,
the Global Shorts program accounts for
90 per cent of our TV development. It is
the model now. We Bare Bears is one of
our most recent launches, and it’s now
the number one show on the US channel.
It’s very rare for something to come out
of the gate like that. Usually in children’s
television it’s repetition that creates
ratings. We were able to achieve that
because of our process.”
ND IT’S FAITH IN
that process that has
propelled Cartoon
Network to the next
level, that of
multi-platform
programming.
Mighty
Magiswords
(created
by Kyle A. Carrozza, the man
responsible for MooBeard The Cow
Pirate), the network’s first original
digital series, chronicles the antics of
brother-and-sister warriors for hire
Vambre and Prohyas and their madcap
quests to track down and collect an
array of magical swords. What makes it
a game-changer is its interactive
narrative, deployed in 15-second
episodes that allow users to choose from
a selection of Magiswords, their
selection effecting the outcome of the
story. It was originally created as content
for the Cartoon Network Anything app,
which delivers a constant stream of
micro series, video clips, games and
sundry other activities. It is now
available across all platforms where CN
is available. And there are, inevitably
plans to turn it into a TV series (albeit
without the interactive element). Once
again, it’s an inspiring example of what
can happen when creative talent is given
free reign. To Rob Sorcher it’s something
more than that. “It’s not just a TV
show,” he says, voicing, you feel, the
opinion of the entire network, “it’s
where the world is going.”
SPRING 2015 035
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 038 The interview

HENDERSON KID, LEADING MAN, OUTCAST, CHARACTER ACTOR AND

NOW HOT PROPERTY, BEN MENDELSOHN’S ROAD TO
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS HAS BEEN LONG AND HARD. “THAT’S
WHAT’S SWEETEST ABOUT IT,” SAYS THE STAR OF BLOODLINE.
WORDS DANIEL MURPHY PORTRAITS JAMES CANT

038 SPRING 2015

• JAMES CANT / RAVEN & SNOW
 040 The
He was born Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn,
but to Australia’s film-going Generation
X he is simply “Mendo”. Not typically
handsome but with a puckish gleam and
authenticity to burn, he seemed an
unlikely leading man in the bronzed
Australia post-Crocodile Dundee, but his
rumpled ambiguity and mercurial larrikin
charm came to embody versions of
Australian masculinity that actually
meant something to a generation coming
of age in the late 1980s. In The Year My
Voice Broke, The Big Steal, Metal Skin,
Idiot Box, Mullet and more, Ben
Mendelsohn was the face of Australia
cinema in the 1990s.
Then, in the new millennium… not
much. While dozens of Australian actors
— his peers and friends — began claiming
Hollywood as their own with what
became a seemingly unique Antipodean
blend of talent, work ethic and relaxed
professionalism, Mendo seemed to loiter
on the fringes amid rumours of a
Herculean appetite for party and a
perception that maybe he couldn’t really
give a fuck.
The world has woken up. At 46,
Mendelsohn is a highly sought after
character actor; startling turns in Animal
Kingdom and Beautiful Kate planted seeds
that took root in The Dark Knight Rises,
The Place Beyond The Pines, Killing Them
Softly, Exodus: Gods And Kings and
Netflix’s acclaimed family drama,
Bloodline, for which he has been
nominated for an Emmy (the results of
which were announced the night before
this magazine went on sale: how’d he do?)
This year (2016 in Australia) he shares top
billing with Ryan Reynolds in the
heralded gambler drama Mississippi Grind
and has begun shooting Rogue One: A
Star Wars Story. It’s been 30 years in the
making, but Mendo has arrived.
Which is why, naturally, in a suite at
the QT Hotel in the old Gowings building
in Sydney, he is making EmpireTV a
coffee. The trademark lopsided grin is in
place and the blazing blue eyes wrinkle at
the edges as he looks back on a brilliant
career… that’s just taking off.
040 SPRING 2015
interview
Top to bottom: Ben
Mendelsohn and Kyle
Chandler in Bloodline; with
Joel Edgerton in 2010’s
Animal Kingdom; with
Maeve Dermody in
Beautiful Kate (2009); as
crim Robin in The Place
Beyond The Pines (2012);
and Viceroy Hegep in
Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods
And Kings (2014). Nice tan.
Let’s talk Bloodline. The part of black
sheep Danny Rayburn feels tailor-made
for you. A black sheep…
Well that seems what The Kessler brothers
and [Daniel] Zelman [Bloodline creators]
were thinking. They were talking amongst
themselves that they wanted to do
something that was about family and they
had various shared experiences. So they
came up with this idea about a respectable
family that have had to sacrifice on the
altar of expediency their difficulties and
put them onto this one guy, he’s gone and
now he wants to come back. So they
approached me about what they were
wanting to do, it was going to be on
Netflix and would be seen potentially by
many, many millions of people, so it made
a lot of sense. There was no one else in it
at that stage, no one I knew about that
was going to be in it or any of that. The
rest of it just came on and it was a great
surprise. Once I knew they had gotten
Kyle [Chandler] I knew it was a big deal,
because Kyle was the most desired
forty-something in the television
landscape, in terms of an actor that was
available to be hired.
Plus there’s Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard,
John Leguizamo…
I know, right? If you had have told me
back in The Henderson Kids days that that
was going to happen, I could have died a
happy boy then and there. It just wasn’t
even on the radar of what I thought was
going to happen or was possible or
anything like that. Not back then.
When did it start to seem that it was
going to be possible?
After Animal Kingdom a lot of things
which started to feel like a pretty remote
consideration did start to feel
conceptually possible, if not specifically
possible. I mean there was a lull after
Animal Kingdom for a year, maybe it was
even two years where nothing really
happened. Then one job came about just
out of circumstance: Trespass, the Joel
Schumacher film with Nicole Kidman
and Nic Cage. Anyway, that happened
then after that nothing for a while. Then
Andrew[Dominik]’s film Killing Them
Softly came up and, again, that was a very
last minute thing. Then when I was there I
got badgered to put something on tape
for Batman. Now Christopher Nolan,
tellingly and very importantly, from where
I was coming from, hadn’t seen Animal
Kingdom so it was more or less a cold,
“Ah. Him.” Then once that happened I
felt like things might go okay. It was really
at the point after The Place Beyond The
Pines came out things started to feel solid.

You became the face of various forms of
young manhood in the 1980s and 1990s.
Did you ever think to yourself ‘Hang on,
I’m doing something that might be
culturally relevant’?
There would be odd references by certain
people in a journalistic fashion that would
say that this was the most authentic
representation of what an Australian guy
is — stuff like that. That did give me a
feeling of solidity. I mean it’s very easy to
feel unsure as to what’s going to happen
next as an actor and it spills. I think part
of what I’m most proud of is just having
gotten a true lifetime of work from the
age of 14 to 45. There have been periods
where I’ve been “a name”, in inverted
commas, but most of it’s just been doing a
job, doing a job and in that way, in
Australia, I think I became part of the
landscape of “our thing”.
There was a point at which I realised
‘Hey you know I can probably keep
doing this forever now’ and that was
pretty good. But there were some very
thin years, some really dreary fucking
years. From a working point of view,
although life-wise wasn’t that dreary.
Things were going well for a lot of other
people and I would always get this, “Why
aren’t you going to America?” type
questions and stuff like that. Stuff just
wasn’t happening. And look, that’s fairly
typical of being in this business long
term too. But at some stage or another
things go quiet, people aren’t thinking of
you or have had enough of you, whatever
it is, whatever combination of events. It
was generally a really bad time in the
industry too. I think it was around the
GFC and everything went quiet for a
couple of years, when there was literally
next to nothing. I think one year I
earned nothing. Around about that time
I had to start to think, ‘Well, okay. I’m
thirty-whatever and I’m going to have to
think about what I do now.’ So that
became something that I did think about
for a while.
What was the top of your list?
Well, I didn’t really have anything, you
know I just thought I’d just find a job
doing something. I’d done jobs in the
early years. I’d worked in an abattoir, I
worked at a bakery, I worked on building
sites, I’d picked up glasses in a nightclub,
shit like that. So I’d done jobs, you know
pick-up jobs. I just figured that’s what I
was going to do. I’d wash dishes. Just
before I did Cosi I was washing dishes in a
fucking place.
That looked like a ball of fun, and what a
cast — Toni Collette, David Wenham,
The
Top to bottom: With
Barry Otto in Cosi (1996);
running wild with
Jeremy Sims in Idiot Box
(1996); as Eddie Maloney
in David Caesar’s 2001
film Mullet; with Anthony
Hopkins in 1992’s
Spotswood; grateful for
Tom Hardy’s
professionalism in The
Dark Knight Rises (2012).
interview 041
Rachel Griffiths, Aden Young…
It’s got a really strong cast. The other one,
if you look at the cast, which is also a
Mark Joffe film, was Spotswood. It’s Toni
Collette’s first time out of the box, it’s
Russell Crowe before Romper Stomper
— I mean it’s a very bellwether type of
production in that way. It was Anthony
Hopkins right after he had done Silence
Of The Lambs but, tellingly, before
Silence Of The Lambs had come out. But
they’re both Mark Joffe films and Cosi I
had done the play, so I felt a significant
enough ownership of that part.
So you’re in this place at the moment…
Oh it’s fantastic; I mean I’ve never had it
this good. There was this period of time
in the late ’80s to the very beginning of
the ’90s, which was a very good time too.
But, what I’d seen happen was you’d see
people and you’d see them everywhere for
a couple of years and then they’d be gone.
I was very concerned when I was at that
age. It felt to me like I was sort of
everywhere at that moment in time and I
didn’t feel like I’d earned that. I mean,
that was a very important part of it,
feeling like I was able to be good at the
job and I felt very concerned about that,
at that period of time.
Animal Kingdom and Beautiful Kate
seemed to re-steer the ship.
They came at the end of a real flurry of
work, but they did end up becoming a
significant one-two punch. They both
travelled overseas, to various festivals and
places where people who watch these
things saw them. They were both
differentiated enough to give an idea that
this is a person that can do the work in
some way or another. Then for other
people the one-two punch was involved
with Killing Them Softly and The Place
Beyond the Pines, so there was a
combination of those films. And it was
very good that there was a sense of a
one-two because it seemed to give it a
bottom end if you like, more of a “thing”
than just one performance or one film.
The international success and recognition
that’s arriving to you now, it feels like it’s
the right time for you.
Yeah, that’s probably what’s sweetest
about it. Naomi Watts was my hero in the
acting world for a long time. Because
Naomi went to America, might’ve done a
job or two over the 10 years she was there
and you know nothing really happened,
and then Mulholland Drive, which she was
fucking awesome in, which is a stone-cold
classic and then, of course, after that she
became like… you know. So she was my
SPRING 2015 041
 042
hero, because she exemplified this idea of
just going along without getting a lot of
love for it and something happening. That
kind of idea kept me going for a long time
and there were plenty of people I knew
that would say, “Look, just keep going.
Just keep going”.

Your character in The Dark Knight Rises,

Daggett, gets choked out by Bane. Is Tom
Hardy’s grip as strong as it looks?
Tom’s a strong guy; he’s a very strong
fella. Tom was very, very professional
about what he had to do and I’m very
grateful for his professionalism because I
have no doubt that had Tom decided to
approach it differently, we may not
necessarily be here doing this interview.

There’s a couple of big personalities in

that film. Christian Bale and Hardy are
intense guys and you have a reputation of
stretching actors in scenes, going for it.
Yeah… Look, Tom, I had only worked
with then and I haven’t worked with him
other than that, so I can’t claim to know
Tom particularly well. Christian, I know a
little bit better because we’ve actually
done three films together. I’ve got to say
though, when the Batman job came

Sounds like you’ve moved on from

about, I was aware that I was going to be
working on what was, at the time, the

method performance?
biggest film shooting on Earth. But what
struck me about it was what a great set

Method acting is the most significant

those guys run. It’s very quiet, it’s very
unfussy, it’s relatively fast and it’s

advancement in acting, but how do you get

relatively painless. It’s really an
extraordinary achievement. Yeah, I was

to what Jim Carrey does under that banner?

very struck by that. It’s counterintuitive.

And what he does is extraordinary.

You’ve worked with Nolan, Malik, Scott...
That’s three biggies. I mean, there’s
Schumacher too, who is very different,
but added a lot to the canon of American
cinema. But I think the thing you find is
that the size of the name and the bigness
they all feel from the outside looking in,
they’re all people that you want to do
something for as an actor, with qualities
that make you want to give them the best
you’ve got. That’s not because their
tyrants, it’s because they’re appealing
people. All of those people have really
significant charm and they’re all very, very
likeable. That doesn’t mean I suppose
they’re accessible outside what they do; I
think there’s a certain amount of
preservation to concentrate on the work
that those people have found a way of
travelling within. But when you’re inside
that world with them it’s special. As far as
an actor goes, this is the way I approach
it. My thing is that I really do just want to
try and make the scenes as good as they
are and can be and that’s the job for me in
terms of filming television. You’ve got
one scene then you got another then you
got another and another. They all break
down into that thing and the shots in
them. The concentration and the ability
to keep going with that, that’s remarkable.
Speaking of intensity, the internet reckons
you were going to knock out your front
teeth for The Place Beyond The Pines.
I wouldn’t believe everything you read.
What, on the internet?!
Look, it’s fair to say that I think you want
to have an attitude as an actor that the
thing you’re doing is the most important
thing there is, and that you’re going to
give a lot of yourself to make it sing.
What is the craziest thing you’ve done for
a role?
I’m not entirely sure. It used to be back
when I was young [laughing] — and I
can’t even remember what job this was for
— but I would put slices of cold meats in
my shoes and walk around in them to
have this idea, to feel embarrassed about
something. You just do stuff, I mean half
of it’s mucking around, just giving
yourself a laugh, but look none of that
stuff actually matters per se, none of
that’s important. The only thing that
matters is what you actually do between
the times they say, “Action!” and “Cut”.
You can do all the preparation of this or
that or the other in the world but if you
can’t come up with something in that
MENDO!
Use the free
time, then none of the rest of it matters. viewa app to
scan the page
So what part hands down has been the and see trailers
for Bloodline and
most fun to play? Mississippi Grind.
God, the most fun… Trevor Leishman in

042 SPRING 2015


The Year My Voice Broke was the most
fun. Because it was so unbridled, it was
[director] John [Duigan] being a real horse
whisperer and there wasn’t a real pressure.
If you have to distil it down to one thing
and say, ‘What is it without which things
would never be that way?’, it’s got to be
that one. Because that took me from
series television in Melbourne to film,
which then took it out into a whole
different thing. So that ends up becoming
the one which is the most singular but it’s
very hard to see that happening without
the good old Henderson Kids. That show
still matters to people and I love that.
I remember when the buzz was on for
Romper Stomper your name was bandied
around as a dead cert for it and then it
came out with Russell. Was that one that
you regret missing?
It looked like that was the way it was
going to go and it didn’t. Look, it did very
well for him. There’s a couple of jobs
back in those days and even later that
were things I nearly did that ended up
being very good and very good for the
people that were in them. I think it
happens the way it happens and you’ve
got to just strap your seatbelt in and stay
in for the ride, mainly. Because you don’t
know where it’s going to go and
sometimes the road can be a little bit long
and you might feel like saying, ‘Are we
there yet?’
With many a winding turn.
Yeah. But it is like that, all syrupy clichés
aside. It ends up being that way and had it
have been another way it wouldn’t be like
this. I don’t know if I’d still matter, as it
were. I don’t know if there would still be
things that would be hitting people. I
don’t know if I would still have had the
hunger to do the type of work and the
approach of work I have. I don’t know
that if I’d gotten it I would have to throw
everything I’ve got.
You co-starred in Slow West. I did read
that one of your heroes is Clint Eastwood.
Is it really hard to not ‘Clint On’ when
you’re in a western?
It’d be harder to ‘Clint On’, I think. That’s
the thing, I think some of the greatest
performers and the most iconic people on
Earth have real defined edges to where
they go and you know right where they
live, they live right between there and
then. But boy, they’re solid, they’re
dependable. John Wayne I loved. Yeah, I
loved Clint, I still do.
The best thing about doing this is
somehow or some way you get to be
somewhere in that large Parthenon. It’s
The
Top to bottom: Mendo,
Loene Carmen and Noah
Taylor in The Year My Voice
Broke (1987); befurred in
2015’s Slow West; losing
with Ryan Reynolds in
Mississippi Grind (2016);
arguing with Scoot
McNairy in 2012’s Killing
Them Softly; as father to
Jack O’Connell in the 2013
prison drama, Starred Up.
interview 043
only just over a hundred years old, the
whole business, so you can still touch the
beginnings of it somewhere. There is still
someone somewhere that worked with
someone that goes right back to the start
of the entire artform.
And we get to see you with Ryan
Reynolds in Mississippi Grind in 2016.
It’s hard to understate or overstate, rather,
how proud I am about Mississippi Grind.
Now it’s the first time I do a lead, if you
like, in an American film. They —
meaning [co-directors] Ryan Fleck and
Anna Boden — had seen The Place
Beyond the Pines, they’re in the same
rough family of filmmakers. They thought
I was a guy Derek [Cianfrance, TPBTP
director] found locally up in Schenectady.
They offered it to me in the meeting I had
with them, and then we had to wait for a
dance partner. Then Ryan [Reynolds] said
yes and we had a dance and look, I’m
immensely proud of that film.
Ryan’s got this weird combination of
this comic fucking brilliant timing and
he looks like a strong leading guy and he
obviously had some stuff which could’ve
gone this way but went that way instead
and that just makes me feel all the more
close to him. Essentially it’s a buddy
movie about these two gamblers, they
gamble their way down the Mississippi
and one of them is fucking completely
hopeless and the other one you’re not
quite sure who he is and that’s Ryan. I
think we do have a very genuine and
good chemistry. We did something I’m
very, very proud of.
Like you and Scoot McNairy in Killing
Them Softly…
Yeah and that was a different one. Scoot
and I, we lived together while we were
doing that film and trust me, we got to the
point where we could fight very easily, so
by the time we get to that scene where
we’re driving, when we’re bickering and
fighting, there’s one shot and you’ll see it,
I am enraged and deeply humiliated by
him because we were fighting as we were
doing it. Same thing in Starred Up, when
Jack [O’Connell] and I get to the final
scene and we fought, we had sort of a
thing. It was just before we went in and
we were so upset, that it allowed for that
big bang at the end. Basically you do a bit
of elbow work with people; the chances
are you’re going to get a better result than
if you didn’t. That’s the basic take away
from that.
BLOODLINE S1 IS AVAILABLE ON NETFLIX NOW.
MISSISSIPPI GRIND WILL BE AVAILABLE ON HOME
FORMATS IN FEBRUARY 2016.
SPRING 2015 043
 S E ASON ONE VOLUME TWO

“IT’S SHEER
PLEASURE, NO
GUILT ALLOWED”
- THE NEW YORKER

THE EPIC CONCLUSION

OF THE FIRST SEASON

YOURS ON BLU-RAY™
& DVD OCTOBER 1 YOURS ON DVD NOW

S E A S O N F I V E

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I’ve ever seen”
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the COMPLETE
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& DVD OCTOBER 1 NOVEMBER 26
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 045

Summer
Preview
NO NEED FOR SUNSCREEN DURING THE CRICKET SEASON THIS YEAR
— THERE IS ALL MANNER OF GOODNESS (AND DELIGHTFUL EVIL)
HEADING TO A SCREEN VERY NEAR YOU. PREPARE THE COUCH AND
THE DEFIBRILLATOR: IT’S EMPIRETV TIME

SPRING 2015 045

 The
Book of
Exodus

WORDS BARTOSZ CZARTORYSKI

046 SPRING 2015

 THE WALKING DEAD 047

THEY MIGHT HAVE FOUND THE SAFE HAVEN THEY WERE

LOOKING FOR, BUT IT’S NOT THE END YET. WHO WILL SURVIVE
AND WHAT WILL BE LEFT OF THEM? THE WALKING DEAD CAST
TALKS THE HIGH STAKES OF SEASON 6
WORDS BARTOSZ CZARTORYSKI

SPRING 2015 047

 RICK GRIMES AND HIS
stubbornly holding-on-to-life
companions are doomed anyway, but
before they fall victim to the deathly
virus cruising in their veins, they’re going
to shoot another season or two… or 10.
Since Halloween of 2010, every
spring, millions of people glue their
eyeballs to whatever screen is at hand for
another bloody serving of zombie —
sorry, walkers — induced mayhem. It
may have already been said thousands of
times before, but the success of The
Walking Dead rests upon its intentionally
low-key magnitude as it scales down the
global apocalypse from macro to micro,
making it, for the lack of a better word,
personal. To make even a rough sketch
of complex character portraits of a
bunch of people involved in the end of
the world, 145 issues of a comic book
(and counting) or six seasons of a hugely
popular television show may, simply put,
not be enough. But make it they will: just
a tiny peek at the sizable ratings is
enough to dispel any doubts about the
future of The Walking Dead, which is
048 SPRING 2015
bright and shiny (or grim and dank, if local church, finally settled down… sort BRIEFING
we’re speaking in the visual language of
the show). “There is a ceiling to
of. Alexandria, a safe-zone, is as close to
having a taste of a pre-apocalypse life as
THE WALKING
everything, but we are so outside the one can get on a walkers-ridden DEAD: S6
PREMIERES: Monday
expectations,” Gale Anne Hurd, continent. But for every survivor it
executive producer of the show, tells us. means something completely different. October 12 on FX.
SHOWRUNNER:
“You know the bell curve? We are so “His M.O. for this situation is to
Scott M. Gimple.
outside of it.” continue survival and to live some STARRING:
Although Robert Kirkman, the semblance of the life that he had,” says Andrew Lincoln,
creator of the original comic book series Steven Yeun about his character Glenn Norman Reedus,
that the show is based on and inspired Rhee’s tough ordeals. “And now, when Steven Yeun,
Lauren Cohan,
by, has recently confirmed he has a he has someone to be with, he wants to
Chandler Riggs,
concept for an ending, Hurd is far from fortify the place where they are Danai Gurira, Melissa
entertaining such outrageous thoughts: completely, to mirror the old world. McBride, Sonequa
“I think everyone went, when The Everyone is looking for safety, for Martin-Green,
Walking Dead started as a comic book, housing, but he is looking for a place he Michael Cudlitz,
‘How long can it last?’, and it simply can be unequivocally not stained by the Lennie James
STORY: After Rick’s
hasn’t been a problem.” Fellow executive darkness of the world.”
ruthless delivery
producer David Alpert echoes her Unfortunately for The Walking of justice, can the
sentiments: “I think we’ve gotten up to Dead’s protagonists, the darkness Yeun group continue to
about the 90th issue, so we probably have refers to creeps both outside and inside live at cloistered
two, three years of material already Alexandria’s high fences. In the comics, Alexandria? And
written, but in this two or three years reaching the safe-zone didn’t mean where are the
psychos, The Wolves?
Rob [Kirkman] will also be writing.” reaching a promised land, so one can
HERE WE GO AGAIN?
In the last season, Rick and the expect the survivors’ will to survive to be Whaddaya want? A
gang, after they left the cannibal asylum tested again… and again, and again. show about farming
of Terminus and hung out a little bit in a “Alexandria is giving Abraham a quiet and making cider?

“People wondered how long
The Walking Dead could last,
but it simply hasn’t been a
problem.” GALE ANNE HURD
time, time to reflect, time to think, time
to be inactive,” says Michael Cudlitz
about his character’s impression of the
new home sweet home. “It is something
incredibly satisfying and it makes him
not only feel useful, but alive.” Asked
about the same thing, Danai Gurira
expresses hope: “Michonne has been
trying to stabilise in a place where they
can actually thrive. Believing that, once
she chose to live, there is going to be a
way we live beyond this. There has to be
a society in this world, there cannot just
be Terminus and the Governor, that can’t
be all this world has come to. It’s really
this belief of hope she was carrying,
came to fruition in a sense, when they
You might want to see a doctor abou that: three of
the frightful faces waiting to chow down on the
Walking Dead survivors of Season 6.
were found by Aaron [played by Ross
Marquand].” But with the hope, says
Gurira, also comes disillusionment: “The
idea is how you integrate into this
society, into this community. So she
follows the idea that ‘I’ll put up my
sword, I’ll put on this wretched looking
polyester outfit and walk around with a
tie on. I’ll do these things because I want
to find a new way of being in this world
and I can’t do that without a risk.’ She
still favours the idea she can work with
these people. But what happens really
proves Rick’s point — they might need a
little bit of shock therapy to help them
understand the world they live in. She
had to put her sword back down. So the
049
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST...
“NO ONE’S SAFE” IS THE WALKING DEAD ’S MANTRA.
HERE’S WHO CAN HEAVE A SIGH OF RELIEF IN S6…
AND WHO MIGHT END UP SIX FEET UNDER
RICK GRIMES (ANDREW LINCOLN)
IMPOSSIBLE
The Walking Dead is,
basically, Rick’s odyssey.
Of course, Game Of
Thrones has already shown us that
even the main protagonists can be
unceremoniously butchered. But
Robert Kirkman is not as bloodthirsty
as George R.R. Martin… right? Right?!
DARYL DIXON (NORMAN REEDUS)
UNLIKELY
Fear not, ladies and
gentlemen, your fan
favourite redneck with
model looks is safe; they simply can’t
kill the goose that lays the golden
eggs. And, of course, if Daryl dies, we
riot. You don’t want to put this bold
statement to the test, Mr. Gimple.
GLENN RHEE (STEVEN YEUN)
POSSIBLE
Steven Yeun has already
hinted that it might
happen at some point
and (SPOILER ALERT) Glenn kicks the
bucket in the comics (it isn’t binding,
though, as we have witnessed once or
twice), so the matter is not “if”, but
possibly “when”… but hopefully not just
yet, though.
CAROL PELETIER (MELISSA MCBRIDE)
POSSIBLE
Kind of a lousy character in
the book, Carol turns into
a real badass on screen.
It’d be a real pity if they kill her off, as
she’s one of the few original cast
members left. But her prominence in
the last season may suggest that if she
goes, she’ll go with a bang.
MORGAN JONES (LENNIE JAMES)
ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE
Just do the math: if Rick
stays, Morgan has to go.
A macho brawl and a
couple of bruises are expected, but his
demise is also likely. However, before
he’s eaten/stabbed/bludgeoned/shot,
he’ll definitely put a cat among the
pigeons and stir things up.
BC
SPRING 2015 049
 050
THE STORY CONTINUES...

EMPIRETV TALKS TO JAY BONANSINGA, AUTHOR OF

THE WALKING DEAD BOOK SERIES
Are you a fan of the show?
Oh wow, I am an uber-geek, ultra-nerdy fanboy... I
ADORE THE SHOW! I am star-struck when I get to
meet the cast. And when I actually get to go out
drinking with them, as I did recently, I am over the
moon with happiness.

How did you end up writinga series of The Walking

Dead novels?
I told Robert Kirkman that I would mow his lawn and
give him free back massages and car washes for life. All
kidding aside, I went after the job hard and relentlessly
because I felt as though I had been building up to this
all my life and career. I also remember playing the
George Romero card — I worked with Romero in the
1990s on an aborted project based on my first novel,
The Black Mariah.

Since The Walking Dead: Descent, you don’t have to

rely on the comic book as source material. Was it
liberating for you as a writer, or was it difficult to
say goodbye to Rick and the gang?
Yes, I do happen to miss not writing scenes with Rick
and the gang any more… but I do get to work with
iconic figures a little in the video game realm as I
worked on the Telltale mini-series. And yes, it is totally
wonderful to be able to paint on this great canvas of
Kirkman’s but use my own story ideas.

The Walking Dead: Invasion is coming out soon. Can

you reveal some juicy bits about it?
A cast of thousands... literally... and more violence than
a Peckinpah film on crystal meth... really! And HUGE
character developments and twists that will change
everything from this point on.
Robert Kirkman said that he already has
the grand finale in mind. How would you
end Rick’s story?
I could give you so many joke answers, but in
all honesty I would end Rick’s story with a
heroic death scene. I would have Rick go out
in a blaze of glory… like John Wayne
or Gandalf! BC
question is: what’s she gonna do now?”
Cudlitz shares her scepticism: “We’re still
working on integrating our group into
Alexandria, and that affects us all. As
Rick says, if we can’t get them to bend to
us, we’ll take them. And we’re potentially
seeing the beginning of this. Is our group
united or is this safe-zone destroying us?”
After seeing the trailer for Season 6,
it is quite obvious that Rick’s bullet-to-
the-head style of leadership is not
favourably looked upon in the land that
chomps democracy for breakfast. The
sudden and unexpected return of
Morgan Jones (Lennie James), the
no-bullshit-guy-who-knows-what-this-
world-has-gone-to-but-sticks-to-his-
principal-values-anyway, foreshadows
the inevitable internal conflict within the
group. “On one level, that image on the
poster could be literal or could be
symbolic of the theme that’s gonna run
through Season 6,” James says in regards
to promotional materials showing his
and Andrew Lincoln’s characters back to
back. “About the dynamic Morgan
presents and the dynamic that Rick
presents, and how that would permeate
in conflict between other people.”
Showrunner Scott M. Gimple is also
keeping his cards close to his chest: “I
won’t confirm or deny, but I’ll say there
are conflicts within this crew. Lenny says
to Daryl that all life is precious. And
what he sees in Alexandria after Rick
shot a man in the face, he knows there
has to be a different approach there. But
there are also other characters that have
strong opinions about things.” Answers
about what exactly we are going to see in
S6 are, unsurprisingly, a secret guarded
better than Fort Knox, but Steven Yeun
has a rosy promise to make. “When you
see what we did this season, you guys are
gonna crap your pants,” he grins. “The
plotline is about survivors trying to
survive in a zombie apocalypse and it’s
the general plotline of every season. It’s
repeated, but if you look at what’s
actually happening from the standpoint

0 0
050 S G 2015
SPRING 20 5

“When you see what we did this
season, you guys are gonna crap
your pants.” STEVEN YEUN
Clockwise from top left: of how the characters develop, that
Glenn Rhee (Steven Yuen) changes all the time. I think that’s where
takes aim; a walker has a the show finds its true beauty.”
bit of a knot in his The pop culture kingdom ruled by
stomach; Daryl Dixon Robert Kirkman (“He has three TV
(Norman Reedus) shows, a film he produced, comics, and
survives… we hope. his own comics imprint, Skybound,”
Scott M. Gimple sums up) is constantly
on the move, conquering new lands. Its
latest addition is spin-off/companion
series Fear The Walking Dead, which
premiered last month. Fear expands the
‘walker-verse’ and, as make-up effects
artist/occasional episode director Greg
Nicotero says, “It is not really a genre
show, it’s a drama that has a really loose
connection to the unravelling of society.”
The expectation is that Fear will
zombie-walk its way to a life of its own,
not necessarily having to rely on the
towering juggernaut that is its older
cousin. “I’m very excited to see it,”
enthuses Sonequa Martin-Green, who
plays pragmatist Sasha. “I think it’s
going to be refreshing, haunting,
something we all have been looking
forward to for a long time. In the
[Walking Dead] pilot there is that break
where we don’t know what’s happening,
we’re experiencing it through Rick’s
coma. So we are comatose in that time as
well, we don’t know how it [the
apocalypse] happened; we wake up in the
middle of it. That was something I’d
always think about. What happened in
that period of time? Not to mention the
rest of the country or even the world.”
Adds Cudlitz: “For me, as a fan, it’s
getting more that I like. And we only
know our world; we haven’t been able to
get out from the Atlanta region for six
seasons, so two and a half years passed
in the show. Our present is not
necessarily their future.”
The question remains: what future
awaits the survivors? Nobody knows but
God… and, of course, Robert Kirkman.
THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 6 PREMIERES
ON FX MONDAY OCTOBER 12.
051
ALSO SHOWING
800 Words
CREATORS JAMES GRIFFIN, MAXINE FLEMING / CAST
ERIK THOMSON, BRIDIE CARTER MELINA VIDLER,
BENSON JACK ANTHONY / CATCH-UP CHANNEL
SEVEN, PLUS7, ITUNES (TBC) / FROM SEPTEMBER
Packed To The Rafters’ Erik
Thomson stars as new widower
George Turner who packs his kids
up for a Trans-Tasman sea change
leaving Sydney as a popular
newspaper columnist for the
relative obscurity of a quaint
New Zealand coastal town.
Feel-good Australian / New
Zealand co-production vying to be
the next Rafters.
A Very Murray
Christmas
CREATORS SOFIA COPPOLA, BILL MURRAY, MITCH
GLAZER / CAST BILL MURRAY, GEORGE CLOONEY,
AMY POEHLER, MILEY CYRUS / CATCH-UP NETFLIX /
FROM DECEMBER TBC
The “Murray Christmas” meme
becomes a reality in this ode to
classic variety shows with Bill
Murray as host, hoping that a New
York snow storm won’t deplete his
star guest list. Spoiler alert — it
doesn’t. Murray collaborator Sofia
Coppola directs.
American Horror Story:
Hotel
CREATORS BRAD FALCHUK, RYAN MURPHY /
CAST KATHY BATES, LADY GAGA, MATT BOMER,
ANGELA BASSETT, EVAN PETERS / CATCH-UP
ELEVEN, TENPLAY, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM OCT 7 US
[TEN TO CONFIRM]
The revolving casting door in
this twisted horror anthology
continues with Jessica Lange
checking out and Lady Gaga
checking in. Aptly, the lover of
meat-couture will play the
bloodsucking owner of the Hotel
Cortez, the setting for this fifth
season. Fans, look out for a
return to the original “Murder
House” of Season 1.
 Ash
Can,
Man!
SSAM RAIMI,, BRUCE CAMPBELL AND
T EIR GR
TH G OOVY COLLABOR O ATOR
O S
S ARE THEIR JOY AT RETU
SH URNING
TO OL
O D-SCHO OOOL EVIL DEAD FO
OR TV…
S JAM
O DS J E
S WHITE
ES
WOR

052 SPRING 2015

 ASH vs. EVIL DEAD
I
T’S BEEN 23 YEARS SINCE
original flavour Evil Dead splashed
gore and goo across cinemas in
Army Of Darkness. In the years
since, the ravenous fan base for
Bruce Campbell’s Ash and the torture he
goes through at the hands of movie
mastermind Sam Raimi has been
clamouring for more. With Campbell and
those annoying supernatural Deadites all
returning, this time to small screens in the
shape of TV spin-off Ash Vs. Evil Dead,
the trailer for the series, full of the
madness, mayhem, and violence we expect
from the people behind the three original
Evil Dead movies, was greeted with wild
cheers at Comic-Con this year.
“The fans are not going to be ripped
off,” enthuses Campbell to Empire.
“Unless everyone in the audience was a
lying bastard and a really good actor, I
think they liked it! We don't want to let
them down. The fans are important to us,
they put us on the map, and they’ve
sustained us over the years.” For
Campbell, director/producer Sam Raimi
and co-writer/producer Ivan Raimi, it was
a welcome chance to bring the faithful the
experience they’ve been craving for years,
especially after the bloody, but nowhere
near as fun reboot from 2013. And, after
years of rumours about a proper new film
featuring the goofball hero and his
tribulations, Raimi, Campbell and
producer Rob Tapert finally settled on a
TV version, but on paid cable, which
means much more freedom than even the
movies could offer. “We feel good,
because we’re able to bring it to fans in
the way that they need it,” says Campbell.
“We needed unrestricted content and we
finally got it. We’re not going out there to
offend anyone intentionally or to take
advantage of that. It’s just we don’t want
anyone going, ‘Oh, but you need to shoot
an alternate version of that, where you
say ‘golly’ instead of ‘fuckface...’ What’s
going to be the experience here? Are we
going to be able to do what we want, and
have fun doing it, or always be looking
over our shoulder? I can’t tell you how
boring that gets. Now we get to say
whatever we want! It’s liberating.”
On this first season of 10 half-hour
episodes, the only real restriction was
what elements Raimi and his writing team
could feature. So while most of the films’
touchstones are present and correct, don’t
expect to see the S-Mart store, for
example. “For licensing reasons, I only
had the right to call upon things from Evil
Dead 1 and 2, so anything that came from
Army Of Darkness, I couldn’t use,”
explains Raimi. “I don’t know who does
have the rights. I try not to let that get in
053
the way of fans’ enjoyment of what we ALSO SHOWING
were doing. So you won’t see any
references to Army Of Darkness. But still,
most of Ash’s developments come from
the first two.” Despite the episodic length, Arrow: S4
CREATORS MARC GUGGENHEIM, GREG BERLANTI,
don’t go thinking this is a sitcom, though ANDREW KREISBERG / CAST STEPHEN AMMELL /
there will be plenty of the films’ CATCH-UP GO! / FROM OCTOBER 7, US [NINE TO
trademark splatter-schtick. “We wanted CONFIRM DATE]
the half-hour running time to keep the Seismic change is coming this
pace up,” explains Campbell. “Because if season for Oliver Queen (Ammell)
you’re going to have comedy as an a.k.a The Hood/Arrow and his entire
element of it, you need pace. If you go to world as he finally becomes the
an hour format, you have to slow hero-of-a-more-recognisable
everything down, get into their backstory moniker, Green Arrow.
and bleh, bleh, bleh, bluh... I don’t think
modern audiences want that. You want The Big Bang Theory: S9
CREATORS CHUCK LORRE, BILL PRADY / CAST JIM
more? Watch another episode. You’re
PARSONS, JOHNNY GALECKI, KALEY CUOCO-
done? Okay, watch the next season.” SWEETING, SIMON HELBERG, KUNAL NAYYAR /
We catch up with Ash as he is now, CATCH-UP CHANNEL NINE, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM
after years of living in isolation trying to SEPTEMBER 21 US [NINE TO FAST TRACK]
avoid everything and everyone, working at The lovable nerds are back and in
a Value Stop store and generally trying to turmoil after last season’s multiple
avoid responsibility. But when a new cliffhangers left us asking: will
Deadite plague threatens the world and Sheldon (Parsons) ever get to
his peace and quiet, Ash must team up propose to Amy (Mayim Bialik)?
with Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly And will Leonard (Galecki) and
(Dana DeLorenzo) to re-ignite the fight. Penny’s (Cuoco-Sweeting) wedding
Which would be easier if he wasn’t a get back on track?
murder suspect and, even more
dangerously, considered the main reason Episodes: S4
CREATORS DAVID CRANE, JEFFREY KLARIK / CAST
the plague is happening in the first
MATT LEBLANC, TAMSIN GREIG, STEPHEN MANGAN,
place… “It’s great to be able to play with KATHLEEN ROSE PERKINS / CATCH-UP BBC FIRST,
Ash after so long, because we like him FOXTEL GO, FOXTEL PLAY, ITUNES [TBC] /
and we wondered what happened to him,” FROM NOW
says Ivan Raimi. “We left him in a place The subversive sitcom that pillories
where it wasn’t completely finished. And Hollywood is back, as are Brit
there’s a lot more story to tell with him, so writers Sean and Beverly (Mangan
it’s fun to tell the story when he’s older and Greig), back into the fray as
now. He still has the same, or more their Matt LeBlanc-starring sitcom
problems. And less insight…” Pucks is resurrected “like Jesus,
For Campbell, properly coming back if Jesus was a shitty sitcom
to the role was a genuine pleasure. He no-one watched.”
remains proud of the work they’re doing,
helped by experienced crews that brought Ballers
CREATOR STEPHEN LEVINSON / CAST DWAYNE
Raimi and the rest back to their old TV
JOHNSON, JOHN DAVID WASHINGTON, OMAR
stomping grounds of New Zealand. MILLER, ROB CORDDRY / CATCH-UP SHOWCASE,
“People ask us why we’d go there, it’s the FOXTEL GO, FOXTEL PLAY, ITUNES [TBC] /
other end of the Earth,” he smiles. “It is, FROM NOW
but these are crew members that were New to HBO’s comedy dy stable,
t bl
weaned on Hercules and Xena and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ k Johnson
h
Spartacus. They know how to do stunts, stars as retired pro-footballer
tb ll
special effects, sword play, explosions, turned fledgling
edgli financiall
these guys can do anything. The work manager Spencer,
Spe who
h
that they have been doing, they recreated along with fellow
fell
one of the original, I’ll just say, sets. It players in Miami
Mia —
gave me chills when I walked in there, I both retired anda d
was, like, ‘Holy fuck... I’m back here current —
again.'’” Asked to elaborate on what that whe
struggles when
set might be, Sam Raimi just winks and it comes to
changes the subject. You didn’t hear it life off the
from us, but think a certain familiar old field. Rob
cabin in the woods. Groovy. Corddry
features as
ASH VS. EVIL DEAD PREMIERES ON STAN ON “la
Spencer’s “larger- -
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31. bos .
than-life” boss.
 054 DA VINCI’S DEMONS

Da Vinci’s
IT’S HISTORY,
ONLY PERVIER...

Demons
Another new feature
this season is the
‘Pleasure Palace’— a
jaw-dropping set built
in the sprawling stage
complex at a business
park in Swansea,
THE THIRD SEASON OF THE COLOURFULLY BONKERS Wales, which is the
DA VINCI’S DEMONS RAMPS UP EVERYTHING unlikely setting for

I
T’S LEONARDO DA VINCI
— but not as we know it. For
those of you who enjoyed the fun,
frolics and, let’s face it,
foolishness of the first two
seasons of this colourful ‘historical’
romp, visions of a long white-haired and
bearded old man were brushed aside for
a vibrant, young swashbuckling fighter.
It’s classic Starz TV nonsense with
hocus-pocus, Vatican secrets and sinister
societies, but entertaining, nonetheless,
and S3 is just as outlandish as ever.
You’ll recall, no doubt, our hero
searching for the mysterious Book Of
Leaves, which may or may not contain
the answers to life, the universe and
everything. At the same time, he is
looking for his missing mother who
seems somehow connected with all of
this. The Pope was discovered to be an
imposter, the powerful Medici and Pazzi
families sought influence over the
Catholic church and the cult known as
the Sons Of Mithras informed Leo that
he has the power to not only see the
future, but to shape it. Oh yes, and along
the way he invented the submarine and
realised planets revolve around the sun.
‘Renaissance Italy’.
Run by a new
The series finale had the Turkish character named
fleet sighted off the coast of the city of Madame Sing, who
Otranto. Cue lots of nervousness until runs underworld
Leo has another spark of genius — Florence, here the
cannonballs filled with gunpowder. And city’s wealthiest and the Star Wars films, and he is very much
so he gets ready to fire… until Leo’s dad, most perverted of the adage that if you can do it
Piero, who has been peering through a citizens can enter a yourself then you should. So this season
telescope, rushes towards his son. “The lavish underground I have swung on ropes, crashed into walls
woman on the deck standing next to the brothel to indulge in and had explosions go off in my face. It’s
Ottoman prince… That is your mother,” their most extreme all been quite dangerous!”
he announces. What a time to find out. fantasies. Entrance is There are other changes too, brought
“He has a difficult decision to make,” down the ‘vagina’ in by new showrunner John Shiban, who
Tom Riley, who plays Leo, tells us during staircase with its took over from creator David S. Goyer.
a break. “Which is whether to fire on his fountain of water, “John was keen to delve even deeper
mother in the boat or to save her. past naked women into the characters, so where previously
“The jeopardy this year is through and men and phallic we trotted around the world and got to
the roof for every character. I can’t think shaped topiary. hang out in South America, this year we
of many shows that are this Here there are stay in Italy and the rest of the world
unpredictable,” he continues. “When we dignitaries eating comes to us!,” explains Riley. “And there
started Season 1 and we were vacillating food off naked bodies. are longer, meatier dialogues with the
between Rome and Florence I never Large hinged discs characters making ambiguous moral
thought we would end up in a Peruvian can be swivelled to choices. John spent three seasons on
corn field the following season, running reveal a different Breaking Bad, which is the perfect
around in loin cloths!” fantasy from ‘nuns’ example of a show that delves in moral
Riley teases that he nearly set fire to pouring hot wax on a grey areas.”
himself filming a stunt for a new episode, man to a ‘devil’ A big element of the show’s success
but won’t disclose the details. whipping some poor is the public’s on-going fascination with
“We have a new stunt team led by soul. JM Leonardo Da Vinci, of course, boosted
Nick Gillard, who worked on some of in years by Dan Brown’s pot boilers.

Hell On Wheels
senior year — there’s a tremendous sense
of upcoming nostalgia coming down the
pike. What’s great is that everybody is
really soaking it up. We’re just trying to
ANSON MOUNT LOOKS BACK ON HALF A make the most of our time together.
DECADE IN THE SADDLE AS SEASON 5 WRAPS
Your favourite moments on the show?
cholesterol… is something wrong?” And
the doc’s like, “You’re the age where
these things start to happen.” And I’m
like, “Oh fuck.” And there’s a mirroring
with where Cullen is, he’s starting to
realise that he’s not going to be able to
work at this pace for the rest of his life.

F
OR FIVE SEASONS, ANSON
Mount has been carving a path
across 1860s America as Hell
On Wheels’ gunslinging railway
foreman Cullen Bohannon. With the end
in sight, he looks back at a character
who traded destruction for construction.
How does it feel to be on the last season?
Bittersweet. I’ve been jokingly telling
people it’s like the final semester of
My last episode with Common was
terribly sad. He was a hard dude to say
goodbye to — we became really good
friends and enjoyed working with each
other. Otherwise, getting snowmobiled to
the top of Fortress Mountain to act was
pretty cool, it’s hard to beat that.
Any idea how Cullen’s going to end up?
I’m 42, and I had that trip to the doctor
where I said “I got this thing going on,
and you’re telling me I’ve got high
Is it tough letting go?
Saying goodbye to a character that
you’ve been playing for six years, it’s a
really weird thing. There’s a thousand
different ways to go and you’re never
going to make everybody happy, but
that’s not our goal. We want to send him
off right. ANTHONY MORRIS
HELL ON WHEELS S5, PART 1 AIRS WEDNESDAYS
AT 8.30PM ON FX. PART 2 AIRS IN 2016.

054 SPRING 2015


“Leonardo is a constant enigma,”
says Riley. “Although people claim to
Leonardo Da Vinci (Tom
know a great deal about him, he remains
Riley) lifts the shroud.
shrouded in mystery. There are huge gaps
in our knowledge of him. Barely a
month goes past without a newspaper
article saying, ‘We may have discovered
he did a completely new way of painting
frescoes’, or ‘The Mona Lisa’s skull
might be in a churchyard in France’ or
‘Maybe there was a code at the back of
his painting of The Last Supper’. People
are constantly examining him because
his intelligence was so ahead of its time
— we struggle to understand how he
could possibly be that advanced. Most
people are interested in his later life —
the achievements and the masterpieces
he left behind. But they also don’t know
what a difficult, rude person he could be!
Particularly as a young man.”
JIM MALONEY
DA VINCI’S DEMONS S3 PREMIERES ON FX ON
SUNDAY DECEMBER 13 AT 7.30PM
From Dusk
Count Riario (Blake
Ritson) looks on as
Till Dawn
DIRECTOR ROBERT RODRIGUEZ TALKS ABOUT BRINGING
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN TO THE SMALL SCREEN FOR S2
“I
T’S BONKERS,”
exclaims an ever
enthusiastic Robert
Rodriguez as he
discusses the final
episode of Season 2 of From Dusk
Till Dawn: The Series, the TV version
of his 1996 fright fusion, co-scripted
by Quentin Tarantino, that about
turned a hard-boiled crime flick into a
bloodthirsty vampire romp.
“The band is playing a song
onstage during the big kill and it’s a
seven-minute sequence,” the director
continues. “I wrote the music, the
band sync it out, and I choreograph
the action to it. I then edit it together
055
so it looks like an MGM musical, an
action musical. It was so much fun,” he
boasts. “I like to take my inspiration
from classics like Dirty Harry and Mad
Max, but then go off on my own riff.”
The first season introduced D.J.
Cotrona, Zane Holtz and Eiza González
in the roles that George Clooney,
Tarantino and Salma Hayek made
famous. The second adds Rodriguez
regulars Danny Trejo and Jeff Fahey
into the mix but without that element of
surprise. Or that snake dance. Rodriguez,
however, knows this new slice of
mayhem will still thrill the converted.
“It’s my favourite movie I’ve done,”
he smiles. “And one the fans are always
coming up to me to talk about. I love the
character of the anti-hero; I like that
there’s light and dark. You’ve got the
two brothers, they’re criminals but in
their world, they’re heroes. You have to
think, ‘Who would be a villain to a bad
guy?’ So you’ve got the bad-bad guys
and the good-bad guys!” he
laughs. “It steps up the drama a
lot more than if you just have
good versus bad!”
MICHELE MANELIS
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN:
THE SERIES S2 PREMIERES
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3 AT
7.30PM ON FX.
SPRING 2015 055
 The
Odd
056
Couple
SPRING 2015
AS SEASON 3 OF PLEASE LIKE ME APPROACHES, EMPIRETV VISITS THE
SET TO SPEAK TO ON (AND OFF) SCREEN BFFS JOSH THOMAS AND
TOM WARD, DISCOVERING HOW THEIR SHOW IS INCREASINGLY
BLURRING THE LINE BETWEEN FACT AND FICTION…
WORDS JAMES JENNINGS

SPRING 2015 057

 058
M
AY, 2015. EMPIRETV
is deep somewhere in
the unseasonably
warm Melbourne
’burbs, idling inside
the catering tent at an on location shoot
for Season 3 of Josh Thomas’s lauded
dramedy series Please Like Me. As cast
and crew come streaming in for their fill
of grub, the atmosphere is collegial and
abundant with bonhomie: everyone
seems to be smiling (Thomas for good
reason — his producer has just gifted
him with two tickets to Mark Ronson for
his birthday); even more so when
Thomas’s terminally chill 8-year-old
Cavoodle, John, weaves his way through
the crowd like the beloved team mascot
he’s become. If first impressions are
anything to go by, this is one big, happy
family — and at the centre of it are a
couple of old friends turned colleagues.
“Is Josh my ‘The One’? Oh God… if
that is true then I don’t think I have the
emotional strength to admit it, so I’m
not gonna answer that ’cos I don’t think
I’ll get through the rest of today if I say
it’s true,” comes co-star/co-writer Tom
Ward’s deadpan response when asked if
Josh Thomas is his “The One”, a joke
proposition made in the final episode of
S2. Ward, who’s known Thomas since
they met on the first day of high school
15 years ago (“I hated him, but then he
made me laugh and then I had to face
the fact that I found him slightly more
funny than I did annoying, and that
meant that he had to be my best friend”),
likens their relationship to an old
married couple. “There’s just no
surprises. That’s our problem when we
hang out now — there’s nothing that
either of us can say now where the other
will go ‘I didn’t see that coming!’. If we
were married, we should definitely be
getting divorced, but we’re not going to.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a pretty good
summary of me,” says Thomas — Please
Like Me’s star, co-writer, producer and
soon to be episode director — in
reference to Ward’s funny-to-annoying
ratio assessment. “He’s just the same [as
back then] — I don’t think he’s ever
changed. I dunno, he’s just sort of…
there,” Thomas laughs. “I laugh at his
058 SPRING 2015
PLEASE LIKE ME
BRIEFING
PLEASE LIKE
ME S3
AIRS: Premieres on
ABC Thursday,
October 15 at 9.30pm
CREATED BY:
Josh Thomas
STARRING:
Josh Thomas,
Thomas Ward, Caitlin
Stasey, Keegan
Joyce, Emma
Barclay, Debra
Lawrance, David
Roberts, Renee Lim,
Hannah Gadsby.
DO YOU LIKE
THEM? Why yes, yes
you do. Last year the
show picked up
jokes! He would never laugh at my jokes increasingly blurred: “It was Josh’s several prestigious
now, he’s just a bit worn down. We’ve birthday recently, so Tom [Ward ], Emily industry awards in Oz
never had a fight, which is pretty [Barclay, who plays Tom’s new girlfriend and was nominated
for an International
impressive considering we now work Ella] and I were making a card for him.
Emmy Award for Best
together.” In terms of the apparent cast We were cutting things out with scissors, Comedy Series.
and crew camaraderie, Thomas says it’s and we needed another pair, so we made DOES JOHN THE
not a case that we’ve just caught them on Tom call reception and say, ‘Hi, we’re CAVOODLE
a good day: “The crew are always telling doing some craft and need an extra pair RETURN?
me how nice it is to work on and how of skizz-ors’ [a S2 episode sees Josh make Oh yes. In a Godzilla
costume, no less.
friendly everyone is, so that’s what you Tom order a pizza and mispronounce
want, that’s good. It only takes one “jalapeños” by asking for extra “jall-a-
douchebag, one c#&t, and then your penos”]. We do that a lot — we live the
whole day’s ruined.” show a bit.” Barclay overhears our
“We are just as friendly with each conversation and enthusiastically shows
other off set [as we are on the show],” says EmpireTV a video of the prank on her
25-year-old Keegan Joyce, who plays phone, while we wonder if Joyce is ever
Josh’s on/off love interest from S2, the concerned aspects from his private life
sweet but mentally fragile Arnold. Joyce will be written into the show.
adds that the line between real life and “Sometimes you tell a story, then you
what we see on the show are becoming worry that it’s going to wind up in the

Clockwise from top left: show,” he says. “I was a bit scared at first,
Josh Thomas smiles for but I got over it. Now I’m hoping
the camera; Josh something will get in the show. It started
(Thomas), Arnold (Keegan as a fear, now it’s a want!”
Joyce) and Claire (Caitlin “I’ve started being careful about how
Stasey) get cosy; much I claim the show is based on real
‘Johnzilla’ gets ready to life because of some of the situations in
wreak havoc; Josh and it,” Ward laughs. “I used to be ‘Yeah it’s
Tom (Tom Ward) check out autobiographical, we just write what
some chicks. happens to us in real life’, but then
there’s a scene where I call up a sex
worker because I’m feeling sad, but then
when she turns up I hide in the bathroom
until she goes away. That hasn’t actually
happened to me in real life, so I’m gonna
stop saying the whole show is based on
real life, because then I can’t show my
girlfriend’s parents the show then go out
to dinner with them and try and
convince them I’m a good guy.” He adds,
however, that sometimes real incidents
wind up in the show “inappropriately
quickly”: “I was breaking up with a girl
and having the worst argument I’ve ever
had. We were screaming, there was tears,
and as she was saying something to me I
“I’m now more careful about claiming
the show is based on real life because
of some situations in it.” TOM WARD
was making a mental note to put into a
show to include how she’d said that I had
fat cheeks [laughs]. While crying I was
like, ‘That’s going to be a great scene’.”
Thomas is fine with real life feeding
into the show “as long as we’re not
making fun of someone who hasn’t given
us permission to”, but is experiencing the
odd situation of the show’s fictions
informing his personal life. “The seasons
always wind up feeding back into our
lives — like when we were writing the
show Tom and I had never really lived
together, but then after the show went to
air Tom wound up moving in with me,”
Thomas explains. “And in the show my
Dad has a Thai girlfriend, something
that at the time wasn’t based in reality,
and then that wound up coming true
afterwards. There are quite a few things
now where I can’t remember if we made
them up or if it was from my life… it’s
getting a bit weird. I don’t know which
version of a story is the real thing
anymore — if it happened or if we
embellished it for the show.”
059
IKE MOST THINGS YOU
see on television or in a movie, the
share house that on-and-off screen
pals Thomas and Ward call
home on Please Like Me
looks a lot smaller in real life. What the
camera doesn’t fully pick up, though, are
all the minute details within its walls: a
corner where Ward’s drawings of animals
with human faces are displayed and an
enviable collection of second-hand
hipster bric-a-brac (“We’re going to have
to come up with a storyline about how
Josh and Tom are always hanging out in
op shops,” Thomas quips.) Inside the
living room, EmpireTV witnesses an
incredible sight: a cardboard miniature
city, resplendent with lights, bridges and
astonishing attention to detail (cast and
crew have been regularly adding to it; the
latest buildings created by series’ director
Matthew Saville and his kids). As
Keegan Joyce darts about looking for a
mint due to an imminent scene where he
and Thomas kiss, we ask Thomas if this
scene — which includes John the
Cavoodle dressed in a Godzilla costume
— is Season 3’s most elaborate scene.
“It’s definitely the stupidest,” he laughs.
“That’s just an indulgence, isn’t it? I
mean, if I can’t have a Cavoodle dressed
as Godzilla walking around a cardboard
city, then who can? There’s a place for
that on my show. Is there no place for it
SPRING 2015 059
 060
anywhere else in the world, and if so, is
that really the kind of world we want to
live in? I don’t think so.”
As the cast assemble — Thomas,
Ward, Barclay, Joyce and Caitlin Stasey’s
Claire (currently outfitted in a dinosaur
onesie that has had cameo appearances
in both S1 and S2), fear grows that the
magnificent cardboard metropolis is not
long for this world. Soon enough
director Saville calls “Action!”, and
‘Johnzilla’ is let loose: he trots through
the cityscape, wonderfully oblivious to
the absurdity of it all. The second the
scene ends the cast and crew erupt into
applause and laughter. “If that’s not
going to win us a Logie, nothing will,”
jokes Thomas. “Thank God there’s not a
journalist here who can see us wasting
tax payers’ money…”
Everybody present admits they’re
thrilled with how Season 3 has panned
out. “I love it, I think it’s our best season
yet,” enthuses Ward. “I’m so excited for
people to see it.” Considering Ward’s
character was in a low place at the end
of S2 — spending inordinate amounts of

“As you get older you get him what happened and he gets very
happy because I’ve just given him a
Tom, Josh, Arnold and Ella
(Emily Barclay) reenacting

better at making choices, and

storyline.” EmpireTV posits that his that scene from
pain, ultimately, equals entertainment Zoolander. Possibly.
for the masses. “Yeah. I’m like Jesus,”

that’s a bit dull, isn’t it?”
time getting stoned in a hot tub while
listening to sad music — we wonder if
we’ll see Tom break out of his fug in S3.
“I guess I’m making the same types of
mistakes and pretending it’s not my
fault,” says Ward. “But yeah, my
character was in a low place, if by ‘low
place’ you mean Tom telling Josh
everything was fine and he didn’t need a
girlfriend and then there’s a final shot of
him masturbating in front of a computer.
That is a pretty low place. You’d think
that by S3 he really would’ve sorted his
stuff out and we get to see Tom rise to
the top, but that’s not the case [laughs].”
Keegan Joyce sheds some light on
where his character is at when S3 kicks
off: “After Arnold had his panic attack
on the beach at the end of S2 — and
later we see Arnold tell Josh he’s not
ready to be boyfriends — this season
picks up not long after with Arnold
calling Josh and them eventually
attempting to have a relationship. It gets
intense, but Arnold also gets to have
more fun — he’s not always in tracksuit
pants in a hospital this time! I get to
JOSH THOMAS
wear nicer outfits, which I’m excited
about. It’s going to be a great season.”
Thomas reiterates that along with
the laughs there will be some hairy
moments for certain characters. “There’s
some pretty intense stuff… we try and
get into Josh and Dad’s relationship a bit
more,” he reveals. “The first episode is
like a proper romantic comedy with Josh
and Arnold sorting their shit out — or
not sorting their shit out, who knows? I
think we do quite a lot of things that
we’ve not done before. Plus we’ve got
Emily Barclay playing Ella, who is just
delightful. I think [this season] is better,
but maybe I’m wrong. I don’t really have
any idea now that I’ve had to watch it
17,000 times,” he laughs. “I’m just numb
to it. That’s inspiring, isn’t it?”
As for further seasons of the looping
real-life-turned-show-turned-real-life
series, Ward says it could happen — but,
he notes, it could come at a cost. “As
long as neither of us become properly
happy, the show could go on forever,” he
deadpans. “Sometimes I’ll see Josh and
say, ‘I had the worst morning!’, then I tell
he responds drily. “No, I can’t say that
because Josh claims that he’s like Jesus
— we can’t both claim to be like Jesus.
If Josh is Jesus,” he laughs, “I’m way
more likely to be Judas.”
“Tom does these things and tells me
about it and I’m just so pleased at the
awful choices he’s constantly making,”
jokes Thomas. “I’m quite jealous of
Tom though, he has a lot more going on
than me. He’s had more partners, he’s
had all these fights. My life is quite
stable and boring — my boyfriend’s
delightful. Tom keeps getting in these
disgusting situations, and I’ve been fine
for the past three years. I keep begging
my boyfriend to break up with me, but
he won’t do it.” Thomas ponders if the
responsibility to make stupid mistakes
might soon fall to him rather than his
foil/BFF. “He’s in a happy relationship
right now, I’m really worried about
him… now I’ll have to be the one to go
and make horrible choices! It just gets
harder as you get older. I mean, I used
to! We’ve just used a lot of them in the
show. As you get older you get better at
making choices, and that’s a bit dull,
isn’t it?”
PLEASE LIKE ME S3 PREMIERES ON ABC
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15 AT 9.30PM.

060 SPRING 2015

 061

Krysten Ritter getting

ready to kick ass and
take names in Marvel’s

Jessica Jones
Jessica Jones.

Netflix’s second Marvel series after the

universally worshipped Daredevil.
Originally in development in 2010 for
ABC, the show was picked up and
reworked in 2013 by the on-demand
streaming network.
Doctor Who’s David Tennant (who
KRYSTEN RITTER AND DAVID TENNANT BREATHE HOT LIFE INTO MARVEL’S also stars in Broadchurch) plays opposite
ASS-KICKING LADY FROM THE BIG APPLE, JESSICA JONES. Jones as villainous Dr. Zebediah Kilgrave
(aka The Purple Man). “My character
goes back to the ’60s. He was a standard
HILE One of Jones’s superpowers is superhero who wore his underpants
traditionally the her ability to fly. “Well, she outside of his trousers, a kind of purple
superhero genre aims doesn’t fly well. She’s not a great jumpsuit. There’s a lot of nods to his very
for a pan-generational superhero,” Ritter laughs. But purpleness throughout the show,” he tells
appeal, Jessica Jones is she does careen around on a Empire with a wry laugh.
definitely one for the grown-ups. Krysten cool motorbike. “I didn’t need It’s quite an adult comic and there’s
Ritter (Breaking Bad) plays the titular much training because I grew up a history between Kilgrave and Jessica,”
role in this upcoming Marvel Universe on a farm and had four-wheelers says Tennant. “That is the engine of the
series about the former superhero who and a moped.
moped I’ve always operated story And I think these days, stories
story.
was jettisoned from her elite gang of heavy machinery.”
mac y a
about superheroes
p aree not just about the
immortal colleagues. And now, leaving But the
th p
petite model-turned actress whizzes and the bangs, gs, it’s about the
her day job as superhero behind her, did undergo
underg some extensive physical characters and the emotional
motional life of
she’s the boss of her own private training due
du to Jones’s other these people.””
detective agency. “Jessica doesn’t know impressive traits — extreme The rest of the cast
ast is Australia-
where else to use her particular skill set strength and
an resistance to injury. heavy, featuring Rachael
hael Taylor, Eka
and these abilities are at her fingertips,” “I was eager
eag to do the training and D
Darville and Wil Traval
val as characters.
explains Ritter of her alter-ego’s new began even b before
f I got the
h part. I “They all had dialect coaches,” explains
profession. started with
wit boxing and weight R
Ritter, “but do some amazing accents
But it seems for Jones, her status as training and
an then went on to a would often stay
and y in character.” The
‘bad girl’ has its advantages in myriad circuit training.
trai g It was a huge g cast also
a so includes
c udes Thee Matrix
Matrix’s
ways. “She gets to have sex with this departure for me because up until Carrie-Anne Moss and nd Erin Moriarty.
beautiful man, Luke Cage [Mike Colter], this part I had just done yoga and Very little is known
wn about the
my ideal Marvel man. It’s a strong girlier things.
thin Now I can do push- backstory of how Jones nes went awry. “We
female character and it’s set in the real ups.” She smiles.
s “I kick ass and I d
don’t know at the beginning
ginning but during
world. She’s strong and tough but also know how to throwh a punch.
h the course of the series,es, we will figure out
vulnerable and she’s trying to survive in a So, look out.”
o ” why she’s the asshole that she is.”
very dark world. She’s everything I’ve Create byy Brian Michael
Created MICHELE
C MANELIS S
ever wanted to play in one role and I Bendis andan Michael Gaydos,
think the show will stand on its own as a Jessica Jones
Jon is part of the J SS C JONES
JESSICA JO S ISS OUT
OU ON NETFLIX
great drama,” she says. Defenders line-up and marks O
IN LATE NOVEMBER.

SPRING 2015 061

 Over
theTop
THE CAST AND CREW OF MIXED MARTIAL
ARTS DRAMA KINGDOM PULL NO
PUNCHES IN THEIR QUEST FOR
DOMINANCE.
WORDS SIMON BRAUND
I
F YOU’VE EVER WONDERED
what it’s like to portray a mixed
marital arts fighter on a hit TV
show — and who among us
hasn’t? — Matt Lauria sums it up
succinctly. “It’s brutal,” he says, talking to
EmpireTV on the set of Kingdom, FX’s
bare-knuckled drama set in the world of
MMA. “It’s fucking torture.”
On the show, which is gearing up for
its second season this Spring, Lauria plays
Ryan Wheeler, a one-time champion
fighter trailing a dark past and carrying
some very heavy baggage indeed. The first
season opened with Wheeler returning to
the Navy St. Gym in Venice, California,
and to the coach who trained him for
superstardom. “He’s a broken man,” says
Lauria. “He’s come out of jail after four
years and he’s emerged penitent and
humble. He’s a man trying to reassemble
the shreds of his life.”
Created by writer and showrunner
062 SPRING 2015
Byron Balasco, Kingdom’s narrative
linchpin is gym owner and MMA trainer
Alvey Kulina (played by the great Frank
Grillo — Minority Report, End Of Watch,
Captain America: The Winter Soldier).
Struggling to keep the Navy St. Gym
afloat with the help of his girlfriend Lisa
(Kiele Sanchez), Alvey must also deal
with the fluctuating fortunes of his two
sons, Nate (Nick Jonas — yes, that Nick
Jonas) and Jay (Jonathan Tucker), both
of them MMA fighters. Jay has a serious
addiction to drugs and alcohol, a demon
that he struggles to conquer to keep his
fight career alive. In this he has more
success than Alvey’s ex-wife Christina
(Joanna Going), a junkie hooker who
drifts unpredictably in and out of his and
his son’s lives. On top of all that, Ryan,
his one-time protege, walks back into his
life throwing up a whole new fund of
psychological and emotional issues. Alvey
is keen for Ryan to get back in the game,
and training him for another
championship will be much needed
publicity for the gym. Lisa is not so keen,
and with good reason. She was Ryan’s
fiancee and rock-like support before he
went to jail.
The Navy St. Gym, focus for the
intense drama and much of the action in
Kingdom, is not actually in Venice at all:
it’s a meticulously detailed set built in a
converted warehouse in the arid wastes of
North Hollywood, hell and gone from the
beach and the Boardwalk. A huge open
space featuring the compulsory exposed
brick and rusted steel beams, its concrete
floor is strewn with crash mats, tractor
tires and those slightly weird, gimp-like
dummies that martial artists train with.
Heavy punch bags and a forest of ropes
hang from the ceiling; dotted around are
sundry instruments of the torture Lauria
referred to, utterly baffling to the
uninitiated. In the centre is the fight cage.
SPRING 2015 063
 064
A raised octagonal structure bounded by
high steel posts and industrial grade
fencing, a single small door in its side,
there’s something primitive and
intimidating about it. As inviting as a
snake pit, it makes a standard boxing
ring look like a toddler’s playpen.
“I've been a long time fan of
MMA,” says Byron Balasco on where
the idea for Kingdom began. “I was
fascinated by the men and women who
pursue this life for relatively little reward.
They walk into something 99 per cent of
us spend our lives avoiding at all costs
— physical violence. The more I learned
about these fighters the more I was
interested in their individual stories and
culture. It felt like a great world to set a
family drama in.” In that sense, and in
keeping with all sports movies and TV
shows, Kingdom is not really about the
sport that provides its backdrop. To
Balasco, the show is less about mixed
martial arts, and more about “Identity,
love, loss of love and trying to figure
one’s place in the world.” To that end,
all the characters have undergone
momentous character arcs in Season 1
— Jay struggling with addiction; Nate
coming to terms with his sexuality; Ryan
agonising over his past and future as a
fighter; Alvey and Lisa attempting to
keep the plates spinning, the family
together and Navy St. in business.
Everything is poised, then, for a
riveting second season. “Everybody’s
doing really well,” says Balasco, with
064 SPRING 2015
KINGDOM
studied economy. “But it’s been a
painful ascent.”
Lauria is a little more forthcoming
on what Season 2 has in store for Ryan.
“The vampires of his life start to suck at
him again,” he says, somewhat
enigmatically. “You could surmise, given
the events that brought him to where he
is at the end of Season 1, that he doesn’t
deal well with success. I will say this:
he’s a different man than he was in the
first season.”
“The second season is really about
humility for Jay,” says Tucker. “There’s a
sense of maturing. I really hold up a
mirror to my mother to reflect the pain
she’s causing herself and others. I take a
moment to focus on myself and allow
myself to enjoy what I see others
enjoying — and that turns out to be a
trap for me. I end up taking my eye off
the drive that I need to take care of my
family, which is a job I didn’t finish in the
first season.”
If you’re even vaguely aware of the
show, you’ll know that Season 1 closed
with the bombshell that Nate is gay.
Sadly, Nick Jonas declined to contribute
to this article so we’ll have to wait and
see where that goes.
Later, elsewhere on the set, Jonathan
Tucker is doing a photo shoot. Wearing
boxer briefs with the Navy St. logo on
the behind and sporting a mohawk, he’s
even more scarily ripped than Lauria.
Someone hands him a championship
belt; he strikes a rock god pose,
From left: Kiele Sanchez displays ownership of
the Navy St. Gym; Frank Grillo as patriarch Alvey
Kulina; you have Jonathan Tucker’s attention.
Previous page: Matt Lauria’s Ryan Wheeler,
pumped for redemption.
BRIEFING strumming it like a guitar. Halfway
KINGDOM S2
AIRS: Premieres on
through a merciless fast to lose 14kg, he
looks like an illustration out of Grey’s
Anatomy, his eyes blazing with the light
FX Thursday, October
15 at 7.30pm of true fanaticism. His day, he tells
CREATED BY: EmpireTV, started at 5:00am with a run,
Byron Balasco followed by two and half hours in the
STARRING: makeup chair, then a full day’s shoot.
Frank Grillo, Matt When the rest of the cast and crew break
Lauria, Kiele
Sanchez, Jonathan
for lunch, he stays behind doing crunches
Tucker, Nick Jonas on the gym floor. He has consumed just
STORY: The highs two glasses of water in the last fourteen
and lows of the hours. When the shoot wraps this
mixed martial arts evening, he will run again then hit the
gym Navy Street
gym. “I’ll get through this whole pack of
owned by Alvey
Kulina (Grillo) and
gum before we finish this interview,” he
Lisa Prince (Sanchez) laughs, as we settle in to talk on the patio
continues as the of Alvey and Lisa’s house. “I feel like an
pair train up fighters, addict, food is the only thing I can think
including their sons about. But I’m so keenly aware that this
Nate (Jonas) and
is one of the great opportunities of my
Jay (Tucker).
FIGHTING TALK: life, I won’t let go for a second. I won’t be
Popster Nick Jonas responsible for even the tiniest scratch on
had to be careful the record.”
bulking up for the “Last year’s mantra,” says Lauria,
role of Nate as he is “was ‘All In All The Time’. This year it’s
a Type 1 diabetic. He
went from eating
‘Unreasonable commitment’. And we
3000 calories a take that seriously. You’re the only one
day to ,200 under who can lie. I’m the only person who
the watchful eye of knows whether my commitment is
a doctor. unreasonable or not. And Tucker is
unreasonable in his unreasonable
commitment. The demands are real, and
they’re steep.”
“This is not a show where you work
from ‘Action’ to ‘Cut’,” agrees Tucker,
“or from your call time to wrap. You

have to go home and do your homework.
And it’s not just the physical stuff, it’s the
spiritual stuff as well because there’s so
much going on with these characters,
within them and between them. It deals
with universal themes — love, sacrifice,
accomplishment, addiction.”
Nevertheless, to the layman, it is the
unprecedented physical demands that
Kingdom laces on its principal actors that
are most extraordinary. To emphasise the
point, Lauria in skimpy trunks, buzzcut
and bushy of beard, strolls onto the
patio carrying two gorilla-head kettle
bells like bags of groceries. Each of them
weighs 35kg. His day also began at
5:00am with him donning two pairs of
leggings, two pairs of sweat pants, three
sweatshirts and two beanies, then shadow
boxing in the sauna. “We have a great
time and we love each other,” he says.
“But the feeling here is ‘iron shapes iron’.
Like I said, it’s fucking brutal man. But I
hope we go seven seasons.”
Tucker, still furiously chewing gum,
has his sights firmly set on a more
short-term objective. “I get to eat on
Thursday,” he says with considerable
feeling, his eyes positively blazing. “You
can’t tell anyone this, but you know Joe’s
Pizza on Sunset [8539 Sunset Blvd., West
Hollywood, CA 90069 to be precise]. They
have a truck, so I bought the pizza truck
for the whole crew.”
KINGDOM S2 PREMIERES ON FX ON
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15 AT 7.30PM.
065
ALSO SHOWING
Gruen
CREATORS JON CASIMIR, ANDREW DENTON /
CAST WIL ANDERSON, TODD SAMPSON, RUSSEL
HOWCROFT / CATCH-UP ABC1, IVIEW /
FROM NOW
With a singular title for its 12th
iteration, the singular panel show
that delves into advertising,
marketing and PR spin — and the
ABC’s only commercial-sanctioned
zone — is back after a lengthy
hiatus with sharp-tongued host Wil
Anderson and advertising industry
stalwarts Todd Sampson and
Russel Howcroft.
Hemlock Grove: S3
CREATORS BRIAN MCGREEVY, LEE SHIPMAN /
CAST FAMKE JANSSEN, DOUGRAY SCOTT, BILL
SKARSGÅRD, LANDON LIBOIRON, MADELEINE
MARTIN / CATCH-UP NETFLIX / FROM SEPTEMBER TBC
It’s been an under-the-radar entry
in Netflix’s stable but the grisly
gothic drama has its fervent fans
who can look forward to this final 10
episode season. “Knowing it will be
our last gives us the opportunity to
“I feel like an addict. go out in a mushroom cloud of
clever and soul-shattering
Food is the only
mayhem,” says showrunner Charles
‘Chic’ Eglee.
thing I can think The Knick: S2
CREATORS JACK AMIEL, MICHAEL BEGLER /
about. But I won’t
CAST CLIVE OWEN, ANDRÉ HOLLAND, GRAINGER
HINES, MICHAEL ANGARANO / CATCH-UP SHOWCASE,
FOXTEL GO, FOXTEL PLAY, ITUNES [TBC] /
let go for a second.”
FROM OCTOBER 21
Director Steven Soderbergh’s bold
and gritty medical period drama
was highly praised for adding
JONATHAN TUCKER uncharted panache to the genre
and Clive Owen received plaudits
too for his turn as a pioneering
surgeon. Owen promises a broader
canvas in Season 2, and expect
more blood to flow.
SPRING 2015 065
 066

Quantico
THIS SLICK ACTIONER ASKS BIG QUESTIONS

T
ERRORIST CONSPIRACIES ARE GOOD
for TV business. But this new action-drama from
producers Joshua Safran and Jake Coburn —
starring Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra as an
FBI recruit framed for a devastating terrorist
attack in New York (and named for the Feds’ training facility)
–— nods to that most sensitive tragedy in modern American:
9-11. The producers like asking questions of the audience.

The show’s been described as ‘Grey’s Anatomy meets Homeland’

and from early footage that looks reasonably apt.
Jake Coburn: We’re flattered to be compared to two enormous
hits and we have incredible respect for both of those shows. There
are some similarities, but we’re creating a show that’s exciting and
different.
Joshua Safran: I pitched it as Grey’s Anatomy meets Homeland to
the network!

Themes of the show will be racial profiling and terrorist ideology.

How bold did you feel you could be on a commercial network?
JC: ABC [US ] has encouraged us to tackle these issues head on
and to examine questions of race and ethnicity. I wouldn’t say
that racial profiling is the centrepiece of the show, but questions
of identity are — whether its race, sexuality, religion, or culture.
Those questions are always at the forefront of our storytelling.

Narcos
JS: The network has been really open-minded and has actually
asked us to delve into these issues even deeper than we thought that characterised the 1980s cocaine
we’d be able to, given that it is a network television show. trade, which Escobar ruled with an iron
JC: I think it’s also important to acknowledge that we don’t fist. “The intention of the show is to tell
pretend to have all the answers. We are really striving to ask the the story as authentically as possible,”
right questions and spark the right debates among our viewers. NETFLIX PULLS NO says Pascal. “The information we’re
PUNCHES ON ITS PABLO using comes directly from the source.
In the internet and spoiler age, audiences are savvier now more than ESCOBAR THRILLER Boyd Holbrook [who plays Steve Murphy,

A
ever. How hard is it to balance reveal and mystique?
JC: For a show that hasn’t even premiered yet, those are
champagne problems. We hope that people are talking about our FAMILIAR FACE
show enough that spoilers are a problem! JIM MITCHELL to fans of Game Of
Thrones, in which he
QUANTICO WILL BE FASTRACKED FROM THE US ON SEVEN AND ON AIR played sexed-up
IN EARLY OCTOBER. super-warrior Oberyn
Martell (aka The Red Viper), Pedro
Pascal changes his game with the
Netflix original series Narcos.
Pascal, born in Chile but raised in
the United States after his parents
fled the Pinochet regime in 1975,
plays Javier Peña, one of two DEA
agents dispatched to Columbia to
head up the US investigation of
cocaine baron Pablo Escobar. “Having
blown up a commercial airliner, he’d
been declared an enemy of the state,”
says Pascal. “Their mission was to
Priyanka Chopra (left)
capture him, or to kill him.”
stars as Alex Parrish
with Jake McLaughlin An engrossing drama that pulls
(centre) as Ryan Booth no punches, Narcos is riddled with
in Quantico. the violence and ruthless brutality
Peña’s partner] and I went to Virginia to
meet our real life counterparts. We did a
week’s training with them at Quantico.
We hung out, had dinner, drank beers.
They told us their story and we told
them ours.”
Much of the show’s air of
authenticity stems from its refusal to
paint the situation, or the characters
involved, in black and white. Peña and
Murphy have all the flaws of real men.
“That’s a major facet of it,” says Pascal.
“The bravery-slash-insanity of these
people and what kind of character would
take an assignment like that, allow it to
shape their lives.” By the same token,
their infamous quarry (played by
Brazilian actor Wagner Moura) is more
than an omnipotent force of evil. “He
was a man,” says Pascal. “We humanise
him. Which makes him all the more
terrifying.” SIMON BRAUND
NARCOS IS OUT NOW ON NETFLIX.

066 SPRING 2015

 067

The Player ALSO SHOWING

BOND-MEETS-BOURNE-MEETS-BLADE SUPERGIRL
CREATOR ALLAN CUBITT / CAST MELISSA BENOIST,
DEAN CAIN, CALISTA FLOCKHART / CATCH-UP GO! /
FROM OCTOBER 26, US [NINE TO CONFIRM DATE]
S TV ACTION GETS EVER MORE
cinematic, higher value stunts and bigger set-pieces One of the most anticipated new
gather speed, even on free-to-air. If the trailer is to shows of the US Fall season,
be believed, The Player, starring Wesley Snipes, Supergirl, a.k.a. Kara Zor-El, a.k.a.
Philip Winchester and Charity Wakefield, will Kara Danvers, finally makes it to
ratchet up the kapow to Schumacherian levels. Creator/ TV. Cast includes former TV
Showrunner John Rogers confirms a big ballistic ballet awaits. Superman Dean Cain and Helen
Slater who starred as Supergirl in
You’ve said you were going for ‘pulp’ when it comes to the feel of the maligned 1984 movie.
the show. How so?
Very high concept, high drama, big characters, clean plots with WITH BOB AND
good, solid structural twists, and, in particular, the pacing. The DAVID
CREATORS BOB ODENKIRK, DAVID CROSS / CAST
classic pulps pulled you through the story, we want to try to BOB ODENKIRK, DAVID CROSS / CATCH-UP NETFLIX /
mimic that relentless pacing. It’s very difficult across the FROM TBC
commercial breaks in broadcast television, but we’ll give it a go. Having created the Monty
Pythonesque cult sketch comedy
The stars were game to do their own stunts. Only a good thing… Mr. Show With Bob And David in the
Above: It not only builds a sense of connection with the audience, but ’90s — with a detour through
Wagner Moura as helps with the pacing and energy. Whenever you cut away to a mainstream fame in Breaking Bad
a “humanised”
stuntman, or someone who’s face you don’t see, you break the and Arrested Development
Pablo Escobar.
Below: Pedro Pascal connection with the audience. When Wesley Snipes disarms a respectively — Bob Odenkirk and
and Boyd Holbrook guard on camera, he can act all the way through the action David Cross return with this
portray the narcos sequence. This is a big problem for me in most action sequences four-part sketch show “after being
of the title. — we stop the acting for what’s effectively so much camera dishonourably discharged from the
noise, lose track of the emotional stakes of the scene. Knowing Navy Seals.”
that’s Phil on the bike, Wesley doing the fight, Charity hanging
from a harness off a building during a gunfight — which she SHERLOCK
did! — helps bond the audience with the characters. CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
CREATORS MARK GATISS, STEVEN MOFFAT / CAST
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, MARTIN FREEMAN,
The show’s
ow’s premise — a consortium that bets on crime and
ANDREW SCOTT, UNA STUBBS / CATCH-UP STAN,
recruitss Philip Winchester’s security expert to wreak vigilante CINEMAS, [ITUNES] / FROM DECEMBER [TBC]
vengeance
g nce — is far out! How did you sell it to Wesley Snipes? After three seasons set in the
I wasn’t
It n’t hard. Wesley’s a big fan of The Blacklist, which has a modern day (and a long hiatus
similar high concept, and the idea of Mr. Johnson — this between new episodes), genius
incredibly
bly ethical man who’s decided that the most moral thing detective Sherlock Holmes
to do iss defend a brutally corrupt conspiracy — intrigued him. (Benedict Cumberbatch) and
T
That, and the promise of kicking a little ass every week. JM offsider Watson (Martin Freeman)
time-shift back to Victorian London
THE PLAYER
AYER WILL BE FASTRACKED FROM THE US ON SEVEN IN
where it all began — to deerstalkers,
LATE SEPTEMBER.
pipes and old-fashioned sleuthing at
221B Baker St. Fan screenings will
also be happening in cinemas.
 068

Back
ON-SET EXCLUSIVE

Heroes
Reborn

the Box
in
THE X-MEN RIFF STAGES A REMARKABLE
COMEBACK. EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
JAMES MIDDLETON SPILLS HOW

TV reboots are big again in Hollywood. Why do you think

we’re mining the past and resurrecting these ideas?
There’s an obvious attraction that studios and networks
have to marketing titles which have a pre-existing awareness
in the potential audience. It helps them break through the
clutter of everything in the marketplace vying for our AS DOCTOR WHO BLOWS UP COMIC-CON
attention. But, ultimately, the strength of the reboot concept is
most important. That’s what gets you the green light. Because, AND TURNS STAR PETER CAPALDI INTO
while it’s nice to have pre-existing awareness, that also comes
with pre-existing expectations for excellence. So, nobody is A ROCK GOD, HE EXPLAINS WHY IT’S
under the illusion that a pre-existing title is enough to attract
and retain viewers. The show has to rock on its own merits BEEN “A MAGICAL THING”
— it’s as simple as that. And, by the way, it does. WORDS ALEX GODFREY

How did you balance the original mythology with adding fresh
elements to the concept to keep old fans and gain new ones?
Tim Kring, the creator of the show, knows fans want to see
some of the characters they love and miss. How could they not?
And they will see a number of them. But, if that’s all we did,
our fans would ultimately be very disappointed. So we’ve
created a fine balance between the mythology and characters of
the previous seasons with new characters and storylines. In our
mythology, the advent of people with powers is a global
phenomenon; we can easily introduce very cool new characters
who fit within the overall mythology. It’s an ever-expanding
universe. I know the audience will have fun with these new
characters and it’s also cool to see how characters from the
previous seasons react to the very different world they face.

How much will we see the original cast popping up throughout?

Well… answering that would spoil the fun wouldn’t it? But part
of the answer to that question is that Jack Coleman, the
peerless Primatech Company man from previous seasons, is
number one on our call sheet. JIM MITCHELL

I
HEROES REBORN WILL PREMIERE ON SEVEN IN LATE SEPTEMBER.
T’S IMPOSSIBLE, I HATE IT,
it’s evil, it’s astonishing,” scowled
Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor,
somewhat sexily, in the first
trailer for Series 9. “I want to kiss
it to death.”
Kiss what now? Life? Death? Some
sort of cryogenic spider? As ever, the
Doctor’s a tease, which is exactly what he
should be, every viewing grabbing us by
our hair and flinging us somewhere
unexpected. Other than an admirable
array of unspecified monsters, the
Hands up! Zachary high-octane trailer, first unveiled at
Levi as Luke Collins Comic-Con, at least revealed that Missy
in Heroes Reborn. (Michelle Gomez), our current
incarnation of the Doctor’s über-nemesis
The Master, is already back to vex him,
despite being disintegrated last time we
saw her. Also, we have Maisie Williams,
playing a Mysterious Woman From The
Doctor’s Past (there’s always one), whose
reference to him as “old man” raises one
of his formidable eyebrows.
Elsewhere we’ve been promised
Vikings (on a spaceship, natch), but most
notable to EmpireTV was the trailer shot
of him rocking a mean pair of shades
and an electric guitar. Sci-fi may well be
the new rock ’n’ roll, and in front of 7000
people at Hall H last July, Capaldi was
indeed treated like a rock god. In his
inaugural season last year, he hit the
ground running. And shouting, and

068 SPRING 2015


fighting. Sterner and scarier, he was
steelier than David Tennant, colder than
Matt Smith, and went down a solar
storm. He spent much time pondering if
he was a good man, but that’s dealt with
now, says Capaldi; he might not always
be a nice man, as such, but he’s certainly
an ass-kicking Time Lord.
“I think due to the Doctor’s
understanding of the nature and
darkness of life he’s decided that he’s
gonna have a good time. However, no
good time goes unpunished in Doctor
Who,” Capaldi laughs of Series 9. “There
are things moving under the surface.” Is
his somewhat unempathetic Doctor
warming to his human allies? “I think
with my Doctor, what it is is more that
he’s alien,” he says. “He’s not actually a
human being, so he’s not that bothered
with manners. But he likes humans, so
he’s trying to make more effort. It’s not
lack of empathy… it’s that his empathy is
on a different scale.”
As well as ratcheting up the fun,
Doctor Who has been getting bigger,
bolder, more cinematic. The hiring of
Ben Wheatley for last season’s thrilling
debut episodes certainly spoke of
showrunner Steven Moffat’s ambition.
“I felt Ben’s episodes were almost like
movies I’d seen in the ’70s and forgotten
about,” says Capaldi. “I think we need
this kind of vision in the show. It has to
slip between the epic and the domestic.
The great trick of Doctor Who is that
he’ll be at the edge of the galaxy
watching stars being born, but he’ll drop
you off in the mall outside KFC.”
Speaking of which, Capaldi
presumably gets his fair share of
attention on the street. How’s Doctor
Who adulation treating him? “The
wonderful thing is, people are pleased to
see me,” he smiles. “Largely because they
don’t know me! It’s Doctor Who who
they see. And that is delightful.” It’s a
very different reaction from the ones he
got while playing The Thick Of It’s
Above: Peter Capaldi’s walking swearathon, Malcolm Tucker.
darker shade of Doctor. “Yes, but that was great fun too.
Above right: The Master You’d meet a lot of young people,
(Michelle Gomez) is back clever people, and they’d want me to
to cause more bother. swear at them and shout at them and
abuse them in the street, which I was
happy to do. But people don’t really do
that much anymore. And that’s lovely
too. It’s a magical thing.”
Magical is the word. And in a
current televison landscape of home
renovation programs and endless singing
contests, the Doctor’s return is a shot in
the arm.
DOCTOR WHO: SERIES 9 AIRS 7.30PM SUNDAYS
ON ABC.
069
ALSO SHOWING
The Flash: S2
CREATORS GREG BERLANTI, ANDREW KREISBERG,
GEOFF JOHNS / CAST GRANT GUSTIN, TOM
CAVANAGH, KEIYNAN LONSDALE, JESSIE L. MARTIN
/ CATCH-UP FOX 8, FOXTEL GO, FOXTEL PLAY, ITUNES
[TBC] / FROM OCTOBER 7
After making an, er, flash in Season 1,
the superhero quicker than lightning
(Grant Gustin) comes into his own this
season, said to be bigger, bolder and
faster than ever. He’ll need to be with
the emergence of super villain Atom
Smasher, played by former WWE
wrestler Adam “Edge” Copeland.
The Good Wife: S7
CREATORS MICHELLE AND ROBERT KING / CAST
JULIANNA MARGULIES, MATT CZUCHRY, CHRISTINE
BARANSKI, CHRIS NOTH / CATCH-UP CHANNEL TEN,
TENPLAY, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM OCTOBER 4 US [TEN
TO CONFIRM DATE]
One of the best dramas on the box,
never afraid to upheave its characters
(and viewer expectations with them),
not least of which is namesake Alicia
Florrick (Julianna Margulies) who has
transformed from mousy house wife to
legal mover and shaker and now, could
it be, to First Lady?
Gotham: S2
CREATOR BRUNO HELLER / CAST BEN MCKENZIE,
CAMERON MONAGHAN, ROBIN LORD TAYLOR /
CATCH-UP GO! / FROM SEPTEMBER 21, US [NINE TO
CONFIRM DATE]
The Batman universe origin series, its
lynchpin a young Detective Jim
Gordon, ramps up its roster of
burgeoning villains this season
including the rise of The Joker
(Cameron Monaghan) and — Arnie take
note — a fresh take on Mr. Freeze.
Flesh And Bone
CREATORS MOIRA WALLEY-BECKETT, LAWRENCE
BENDER / CAST SARAH HAY, BEN DANIELS, DAMON
HERRIMAN / CATCH-UP STAN / FROM NOV 9
From Breaking Bad writer Moira
Walley-Beckett, the ballet drama Flesh
And Bone promises all the grit and
gristle of Black Swan. It follows the
trials and triumphs of self-destructive,
ambitious young dancer Claire (Black
Swan’s Sarah Hay) in New York.
Co-stars Aussie Damon Herriman.
SPRING 2015 069
 Darthh
Strikes
es
Back
ck
THE SITH IS ABOUT TO HIT THE FAN
AS THE HEROES OF STAR WARS
RREBELSS GET ON VADER’S RADAR
WORDS JAMES
S JENNINGS
GS

AKING ON A REBEL
fleet single-handedly,
setting fire to a settlement of
people and almost making
teenage hero Ezra behead
himself with his own lightsaber: just a
selection of the villainous badassery
unleashed by Darth Vader in the Star
Wars Rebels S2 movie-length opener The
Siege Of Lothal. And while Sith does
indeed get real, series showrunner Dave
Filoni says audiences should only expect
to see the masked menace sporadically:
“I’m very cautious because he’s a
character you don’t want to overplay and
make common. He’s pivotal to Star
Wars, so you want to make sure you
don’t put him in a light that would
diminish him in any way. That’s why we
wanted him to come across as so
powerful — not just physically, but in a 10 years, and he said ‘David, you’ll have Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams). “It’s Above: Vader shows
strategic way that our heroes aren’t used to walk me through this, I haven’t done always a possibility — we just have to do Kanaan who’s boss.
to dealing with. He doesn’t even look at this in a while”, and it’s like ‘James, it in a way that’s organic to the story and Above right: Chopper,
[Jedis] Kanaan and Ezra as obstacles — you’re doing it right now!’ [Laughs] You for a good reason,” says Filoni when Ezra, Kanaan, Hera, Zeb
just a nuisance.” just don’t want anyone else playing Darth quizzed if more familiar faces will pop and Sabine are back to
As with the films, Vader was voiced Vader, right? We were fortunate that he up in the show. “So far we’ve done that. cause more trouble for
by James Earl Jones, an experience that was so generous with his time and he When we did the Lando Calrissian the Empire.
thrilled Filoni. “It’s fantastic! It was very brought some real gravitas to the show.” episode in S1 it seemed like a pretty
surreal,” he beams. “He hadn’t Besides Vader, The Siege Of Lothal simple episode, but then you see it has
performed the voice of Darth Vader in also features an appearance from Lando important implications when it comes to

070 SPRING 2015


“Whatt Rebels
bels does has
r ons for Rogue One
repercussions
andd The
h Force
orce Awakens
Awakens, and
vice
i versa.”
.” DAVE FILONI
the S2 opener.” Also confirmed for S2
are Clones Wars fan favourites Ahsoka
Tano (Anakin’s former padawan) and
clone trooper Captain Rex. “We had to
learn who Ezra, Kanaan, Hera, Sabine
and Zeb were in S1, and now that we’re
past that we can start to have more
connective tissue characters from both
the original trilogy and The Clone Wars,”
says Filoni. “It’s bridging together two
eras — The Clone Wars and A New Hope
— and you start to better understand the
time gap and how people have aged.”
With a new, ever-expanding Star
Wars universe developing, eager fans
want to if Rebels feature Easter eggs that
connect it to upcoming films The Force
Awakens and Rogue One. “Yes, and I
don’t know if I’ve ever given such a
direct answer,” Filoni reveals. “Things
that are happening in Rebels are things
that have happened in the same universe
as Rogue One and The Force Awakens.
So what we do on the show has real
repercussions for those, and vice versa.
That’s why I’m constantly in touch and
working with the Lucasfilm story team
and why I’ve spoken to Rian [Johnson,
Episode VIII director] and Gareth
[Edwards, Rogue One director] and J.J.
071
Guardians Of The Galaxy
MARVEL TELEVISION’S CORT LANE ON
TURNING GROOT AND CO. ANIMATED
Was the animated series greenlit after GOTG was a hit?
Marvel felt very confident about how unique the film was
and its prospects, even though the audience had no idea
who the characters were. About a year before the movie’s
release I read the script and I was really into the characters
— they were so funny. The songs were listed in the script, so
I would play them as I was reading, and I just went crazy for
it. So we began working on it a while ago.
Does the show retain the movie’s unique humour?
The best humour in the movie I think is character driven, so
we’ve been focussed on delivering that. How the characters
get along, or mostly don’t get along. I think of the show as
an action comedy. We’re targeting it toward kids, but we
believe fans of all ages will like the show.
Are there any storylines and characters you can’t touch
because of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2?
No, because we were writing the scripts when they were
still working on the first film. We incorporate a lot of
characters from the movie, including some cameos — like
Cosmo, who’s the Russian cosmonaut dog with telepathic
and telekinetic powers. Nothing was off limits. We stay
close to the film’s continuity, but aren’t exactly in the same
continuity — we can tell our own stories.
Will there be any ‘70s music?
Yes! I was given a library of 800 songs from the ’70s to
[Abrams] about stuff and keep up to date pick from, which I whittled down. It’s the most fun I’ve ever
on what they’re doing, because we all had working on a series. JJ
want to have this interconnected thing.”
Although he’s enjoying playing in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY WILL PREMIERE ON DISNEY XD
the space that exists between Episode III SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9 AT 8AM.
and IV, Filoni says it comes with unique
challenges. “We’re in between films,
which is a tricky thing because you’re not
trying to upset one thing or the other,”
he says. “J.J. is on, I guess you could say,
the fun end because he’s out there 30
years after everything, so he’s got a lot of
room to expand into. There can be one
or two lines from the prequels or The
Clone Wars or the original trilogy that
can sink an idea that we’re trying to do
[on Rebels] because we have to be
beholden to it for continuity. It just
makes you be creative in figuring out
ways to get around things. Obviously
with The Force Awakens forging ahead
you wanna give that as much room as
possible to be creative — you don’t want
to limit that with something we’re doing.
But it’s hard to imagine that happening
because it’s set so far after us, and that’s
been beneficial.”
STAR WARS REBELS SEASON 2 PREMIERES ON
DISNEY XD AT 8:30AM, SUNDAY OCTOBER 18.
 072 NO ACTIVITY

a keo u t
072
St
SPRING 2015

EMPIRETV BATHES IN IMPROV WITH THE CAST AND
CREW OF STAN’S FIRST ORIGINAL CREATION, COP
COMEDY NO ACTIVITY.
WORDS DAVID MICHAEL BROWN
073
Y
OU KNOW YOU ARE
on to a winner when the
entire crew of a comedy
show cannot last through
a single take without
stifling laughter. EmpireTV is on the set
of production company Jungleboys latest
comedy No Activity and a cursory glance
around at the smirking team behind the
camera reveals they are on to a good
thing. The comedy team are here making
the first Aussie production for new
streamers on the block Stan, after
tickling funny bones with A Very Moody
Christmas and the follow-up The Moodys
for the ABC.
The premise is simple: there are three
set ups. Two criminals, played by David
Field and Dan Wyllie, are holed up
waiting for a package. Two police
detectives, Patrick Brammall and Darren
Gilshenan, are sitting in a car outside
staking out the joint. And two voices
from radio dispatch are talking to the
cops, played by Genevieve Morris and
Harriet Dyer.
“It really started when we were doing
A Moody Christmas,” begins series
director Trent O’Donnell. “Having
Patrick and Darren together, ad-libbing
and riffing on the script. They constantly
lifted scenes; I thought they were special.
It was on set, after we had shot a scene,
that I said we should do something where
it’s all this. The first thing I thought of
was cops on a stakeout. A situation
where it’s high stakes but the reality is a
lot of time just chewing the fat.”
The plot behind this central conceit
was inspired by Melbourne’s biggest ever
drug bust, as O’Donnell explains, “That
was certainly the kernel of the idea. The
first idea was firstly to do an improvised
series that had a very slight procedural
element to it. Like all the bits in between.
To have these big important things
happening but to let that go along at a
snail’s pace focusing on the character’s
personal lives. We’d shot some stuff
about the cops, we then found out about
a 2009 ecstasy importation case, Italian
Mafia with ecstasy in tomato cans, it was
a huge haul that came in to Melbourne, I
read a bit about that, how long it takes,
all the processes, and thought that could
be fun. A large scale operation with so
many boring bits in between.”
“And then Dave Field came into the
office one day,” adds producer Jason
Burrows, “and said ‘Oh, what have you
guys been up to?’, and we showed him
some of the clips because originally it
was just interstitials. Dave, who like any
actor is looking for a part for himself,
goes ‘Aw, I could play a crim.’ So Dave
SPRING 2015 073
 074
Field played like a crucial two minutes
of the journey of it [saying] ‘Aw, what if
there were crims inside?’, and we went
‘Alright, yep’, and then we started to
expand it from there.”
As EmpireTV enters Studio Four of
the Fox backlot in Sydney, there isn’t
much to see. A car, a Holden no less, is
motionless, surrounded by green screens.
Two cameras are positioned peering
through the car’s windows to capture
Brammall and Gilshenan’s often
hilarious, and improvised, discussions.
Today it’s the cops turn to wax lyrical.
“He looks like he writes for Empire!”
declares a grinning Gilshenan as we
approach the pair. “It’s our big day in
the car,” declares the comedian, who
recently starred as Oscar-winning Aussie
costume designer Orry-Kelly in Gillian
Armstrong’s Women He’s Undressed.
“Side-by-side in a sweaty car for 10
hours, it’s probably one of the best jobs
you could ever do. You’re sitting on your
arse all day, making shit up constantly.
You don’t have to remember a script,
which is nice. Playing around with
someone you enjoy playing with, which
is great.”
It’s been a busy year for Gilshenan’s
partner-in-crime Brammall. Not only
did he take the lead role in Brendan
Cowell’s Ruben Guthrie but he took
on confused undead in the ABC’s
drama Glitch, but now he is
back doing funny. “You ease
into it as the day goes,” he
explains. “Last night both of
us were thinking, ‘How are we
going to do it?’ The two of
us and Trent got together
and discussed the stories
and the scenes so we have
a loose structure for every
bit we are going to do
074 SPRING 2015
NO ACTIVITY
BRIEFING
NO ACTIVITY
PREMIERES: TBC
2015
DIRECTOR: Trent
O’Donnell
STARRING:
Patrick Brammall,
Darren Gilshenan,
Harriet Dyer, David
Field, Genevieve
Morris, Dan Wyllie,
Tim Minchin
STORY: Two male
cops sit in their car
staking out two
criminals and talking
rubbish to each other
Tim Minchin shooting
and two women cops
his big moment in radio dispatch.
in L.A.. DID YOU KNOW?
The crew also
headed to L.A. to
and within that we can play with it.” shoot Tim Minchin
“Dare I say it,” declares Gilshenan, and Jurassic
“but it’s Larry David Curb Your World’s Jake
Johnson in special
Enthusiasm style where we leap from
cameo roles.
bullet point to bullet point, but how we O’Donnell worked
get there is anyone’s guess.” Brammall with the American
adds, “One of the joys of the process is actor while directing
going off on some tangent. If Darren has New Girl with
a weird way of articulating something or Zooey Deschanel.
stumbles on a word, I’ll pick up on that
Patrick Brammall chats with
as you would in life. Or I would, because
Minchin (in beanie) and series
I’m a pain in the arse. ‘Sorry, you just
director Trent O’Donnell.
sounded like you said that?’ ‘No, I didn’t
say that, I said…’” “‘But what did you
mean by that?’” Gilshenan joins in, Brammall, EmpireTV sitting back and
laughing. “Then you have to stop and try becoming a spectator in the Patrick And
and articulate what’s going on in your Daz Show. “It’s un-scriptable. When we
head with a half-formed thought.” shot the original stuff we used as a
“I think that’s the joy, that’s the stuff selling tool, or pilot, I was just struck by
that you can’t script,” continues how fresh the whole thing felt. You just
don’t see that kind of stuff. It’s like a
modern day Seinfeld, except they did
have scripts. You don’t know what’s
happening here and that’s what makes it
engaging. Just like life.”
“We have the opportunity to overlap
and create comic musicality in a way,”
Gilshenan finishes as the pair are called
to their car seats. “We’re all on top of
each other continuously… not literally,
I’m not on top of you.”
“Give it time, the day is young.
We’ve got 10 hours together,” Brammall
quips, “swapping man air.”
The pair then gets into
character and let loose. What
follows is a hilarious two-man
show full of bizarre
discussions, bickering
arguments and rapier wit. A
petty argument about the
pronunciation of the phrase
‘Making hens meet’ being the
highlight of this particular
verbal joust. It’s fascinating

“We’re all on top of each
other continuously, not
literally. We’ve got 10 hours
together, swapping man air.”
to watch the dialogue evolve as the
actors and their director fine tune each
take, every tweak or refinement ensuring
that the funny still drives the plot. And
the pair nail it every time. “Patty and
Darren rarely corpse,” notes O’Donnell
from behind the monitor. “They will
always hold it together.”
“We don’t really analyse it too much,
Patty and I,” explains Gilshenan taking a
breather and discussing the actors almost
complete lack of research or
development of a back story. “It’s really
a case that we both just open up to each
other and listen and respond quite
honestly, in the moment, without
thinking about it too much. The weird
stuff just swims around our heads. But
having said that we’re always looking at
conflicting or contrasting moments.
That’s the key to it really, being at odds
about all sorts of things. Occasionally we
agree on something and go off on a
mutually shared tangent together…”
“And that’s a childish joy,” agrees
Brammall. “The comedy’s still a
contrast, the two cops are meant to be
on a stakeout but they’re acting like little
children. We were talking last night
about how our thing works together and
Daz really articulated it well when he
PATRICK BRAMMALL
said generally speaking, my character is
more the obsessive who is specific about
ideas and Daz is the more oblivious
one.” Gilshenan tries to give more depth
the detectives: “I guess professionally,
Patty’s character is a very ambitious cop
who wants to succeed in this job we’re
thrust in, where as I couldn’t give a rat’s
arse. I’ve got bigger problems at home
with my wife and all the rest of it.”
“And you’re a bit older,” jokes
Brammall, always jumping on the
chance to crack a funny.
“So you keep saying,” replies a
mockingly crestfallen Gilshenan before
his partner declares, “I’m committed to
the truth. Sue me.” And with that, the
actors return to their positions.
As the director and producer look
on and the two funnymen jump back
into character and start to discuss
Gilshenan’s vasectomy face, Jason looks
over at EmpireTV and smiles. “Stan has
very much encouraged us, whether in
language or territory, to push it. The
creative freedom they have given us…”
“Trusting. Too trusting,” interjects
O’Donnell before Burrows replies
laughing, “Way too trusting!”
NO ACTIVITY IS COMING SOON ON STAN.
075
ALSO SHOWING
Ready For This
CREATORS JOANNA WERNER, DARREN DALE,
MIRANDA DEAR / CAST MADELEINE MADDEN, AARON
MCGRATH, LIAM TALTY, MAJEDA BEATTY,
CHRISTINE ANU / CATCH-UP ABC3, IVIEW / FROM
OCTOBER 5
Australia’s first indigenous teen
drama series comes from the
makers of Redfern Now and Dance
Academy, set in Sydney youth
hostel Acadia House where six
teenagers move to the big smoke
to pursue their respective dreams
and encounter the challenges that
come with them. Stars Glitch’s
Aaron McGrath and Christine Anu.
Exchange Student Zero
CREATOR PATRICK CRAWLEY / CAST ROVE MCMANUS,
MARG DOWNEY, PETER ROWSTHORN / CATCH-UP
CARTOON NETWORK, FOXTEL GO, FOXTEL PLAY,
ITUNES [TBC] / FROM SEPTEMBER 26
Following on from the 2012
telemovie, this wacky, anime-mash
follows the adventures of Perth
school mates John and Max (Rove
McManus) who inadvertently
conjure up to life Hiro (McManus
again), a manga-type warrior prince
from their favourite fantasy card
game. Naturally, they pass him off
as an exchange student.
Fargo: S2
CREATOR NOAH HAWLEY / CAST PATRICK WILSON,
KIRSTEN DUNST, TED DANSON, BRUCE CAMPBELL /
CATCH-UP SBS / SBS2, SBS ON DEMAND, ITUNES
[TBC] / FROM OCTOBER US [SBS TO CONFIRM DATE
AND CHANNEL]
The critically acclaimed film-to-TV-
transfer takes the prequel route in
Season 2. Set in 1979, a younger Lou
Solverson (Patrick Wilson, formerly
played by Keith Carradine), a
Vietnam Vet and Sioux Falls state
trooper is caught up in a Mafia-
linked murder investigation,
referenced in Season 1. Look out for
as Ronald
Bruce Campbell as… ld Regan..
The Fall: S2
CREATOR ALLAN CUBITT / CAST GILLIAN
ANDERSON, JAMIE DORNAN,
DORNA JOHN
O LYNCH CH
/ CATCH-UP SBS1, SBS ON DEMAND,
ITUNES, NETFLIX, GOOGLE
GOOGL PLAYY/
FROM TBC
Gillian Anderson is
mesmerising as classy
cl and d
cool Detective Superintendent
Sup t d t
Stella Gibson on theth hhuntt for
kille Paull
Belfast serial killer
Spector (Fifty Shad Off
Fifty Shades
Grey’s Dorn
’s Jamie Dornan). h
This
season, hunter and h t d
hunted
finally come face to t face..
 076
ALSO SHOWING

Holland’s Hope
A Place To Call Home
FOXTEL BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO THE BELOVED WWII MELODRAMA
CREATOR FRANKY RIBBENS / CAST MARCEL

HENSEMA, KIM VAN KOOTEN, MARTIJN LAKEMEIER,
AMBER ROBIN BERENTSEN / CATCH-UP SBS2, SBS
ON DEMAND, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM NOW
In this Dutch drama, down-on-his-
luck forensic psychiatrist Fokke
Augustinus (Marcel Hensema)
transplants his dysfunctional family
to his inherited farm. He’s also
inherited the attention of crims
thanks to the massive weed
plantation hidden there.
Homeland: S5
CREATORS ALEX GANSA, GIDEON RAFF / CAST CLAIRE
DANES, RUPERT FRIEND, MANDY PATINKIN, F.
MURRAY ABRAHAM, MIRANDA OTTO / CATCH-UP
CHANNEL TEN, TENPLAY, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM
OCTOBER 4 US [TEN TO CONFIRM]
After the return-to-form reboot of
Season 4, the spy thriller that rips
storylines from the headlines again
ups the ante, shifting forward some
two years and location, to Berlin
where Carrie (Claire Danes) finds
herself in self-imposed exile from the
C.I.A. But for how long? Miranda Otto
joins the cast as Berlin Station Chief.
Master Of None
CREATORS AZIZ ANSARI, ALAN YANG / CAST AZIZ
ANSARI, H. JON BENJAMIN, ERIC WAREHEIM, LENA
WAITHE / CATCH-UP NETFLIX / FROM NOVEMBER 6
Comic, actor and author Aziz
Ansari who created this comedy
with his Parks And Recreation
co-star Alan Yang plays the
art-replicating-life game (almost)
as a version of himself, a 30-year-
old New York actor named Dev in
this “intensely personal” series.
Archer’s H. Jon Benjamin co-stars
and Claire Danes guest stars.
A
YEAR AGO, A PLACE
To Call Home was
finished. Despite solid
ratings, Channel Seven
had decided to axe the
locally-made melodrama set at country
homestead Ash Park in the wake of
World War II. The cliffhanger conclusion
planned for S2 had been replaced with an
ending that wrapped up loose ends, the
sets were torn down, the cast and crew let
go. “We sold, gave away, destroyed or
recycled all the costumes,” says producer
Chris Martin-Jones, “all the props, all the
dressings, all the jewellery was gone.”
Then Foxtel stepped in. “It was in
response to the A Place To Call Home
fanpage,” says Martin-Jones. “They saw
there was still a large fanbase devoted to
the show. Foxtel realised it might be
worthwhile for them to get on board, so
they approached Seven, and here we are
a year later producing the show again.”
Marta Dusseldorp, who plays nurse
and Holocaust survivor Sarah Adams,
didn’t hesitate to return. “Everyone who
was involved came back, cast and crew.
Which was a sign of just how much we
all enjoyed doing it.”
With the return Foxtel were very
clear that they wanted the same show
they’d seen on free-to-air TV, but that
didn’t mean they wanted more of the
same. “They said we’d love it to be
slightly racier and edgier,” says
Dusseldorp. “It was a mandate of ‘Do
what you were doing, but go harder, go
faster’. But I think the show can take it.”
One thing that has changed with the
shift to Foxtel is that series creator Bevan
Lee has moved on, though he’s still
credited as a consultant.
“We pick up the threads where Bevan
left off,” says Martin-Jones. “Season 3
was already pretty well mapped out when
the word came through from Seven so we
had a lot of things in place already.
Bevan spirit’s definitely been honoured
all the way through, we’re following the
path he laid down for his characters.”
For Dusseldorp, that means a serious
shake-up for her formerly reserved nurse.
“What happens to Sarah is quite different
in Season 3. Before there was a certain
amount of control she had over
situations because she didn’t panic, but
now there’s an amount of vulnerability
there that we haven’t seen in her before.”
According to Martin-Jones, there’s
no shortage of future stories to explore.
“The beauty of Bevan’s plans was that he
had way too many stories. So we have a
lot of ideas — there’s so much going on
to carry forward into S3 and beyond.”
Dusseldorp believes the heart of the
show remains unchanged. “The show is
about compassion, and people
connecting. It has a beautiful heart to it.”
ANTHONY MORRIS
Noni Hazlehurst and Sara
A PLACE TO CALL HOME S3 PREMIERES Wiseman return in A Place
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 27 AT 8:30PM ON SOHO. To Call Home Season 3.

iZombie: S2
CREATORS DIANE RUGGIERO, ROB THOMAS / CAST
ROSE MCIVER, MALCOLM GOODWIN, DAVID ANDERS,
ALY MICHALKA / CATCH-UP STAN / FROM OCTOBER 7
It’s not your typical DC Comics TV
fare but this zombie detective
procedural (surely a genre
first?) has proved
popular. This season,
Liv (Rose McIver, right)
the brain-guzzling
detective must align
herself with zombie
crime lord Blaine
(David Anders) to
stop a zombie
cull. Oh, and
they’ll be more
zombie rats.

076 SPR G 20
SPRING 20155

Alison (Ruth Wilson) and Noah (Dominic
West) continue their illicit relationship.
The Affair
THE BEST ADULT DRAMA OF LAST YEAR GETS STEAMIER
HE AFFAIR WAS ONE
of those television
phenomenons that had the
audience in its grip from the
get-go. The premise, albeit
clichéd, is about a somewhat happily
married man with four kids, Noah
Solloway (Dominic West), who whilst
lunching with his family in upscale
Montauk (rich folks’ preferred summer
spot in The Hamptons) meets and falls
for a somewhat less than happily married
waitress, Alison Bailey (Ruth Wilson).
While there’s certainly nothing original
about the adultery theme alone, the series’
unique innovation is the story being
driven from each character’s perspective.
Some scenes are in flashback to the
distant past, others jump to the future,
but each has different versions based on
the individual’s recollection and
viewpoint. It doesn’t hurt that West and
Wilson have the sort of screen chemistry
casting directors dream of. But the series
can’t sustain itself on sex alone; there’s a
murder to spice things up further. The
victim is Alison’s brother-in-law, and both
she and Noah are under suspicion.
It’s both alarming and amusing that
the male/female recollections differ so
significantly, particularly pertaining to
memories regarding sexual encounters,
even to the extent that each has a different
perspective on which party instigated the
affair. The audience is left to ruminate on
whether one of them is lying and, more
often than not, Noah’s testimonies come
off as the least credible. Says West, “It’s
not a revolutionary idea to film both
perspectives; it’s certainly been done
before but it’s a realistic view of life. And
MCNULTY AIN’T THE ONLY EX-BALTIMOREAN GRACING
for me, it’s interesting because I get to
play two characters. I’m more a bit of a
dick, which I get to play to the full in her
viewpoint,” he laughs. “In my
recollections I’m much more likeable.”
Incidentally, each of the characters is
also better dressed in their own
recollection of events.
By the end of S1, it is revealed
that the once-clandestine pair, no
longer duplicitous, have made their
significant others (Maura Tierney as
Helen Solloway; Joshua Jackson as
Alison’s husband, Cole) aware that
they are indeed a bonafide couple.
S2 is cut into four perspectives
and more layers of interpretation, not
only from the two key players but from
their jilted partners as they deal with the
aftermath. Tierney’s Helen grapples
with divorce and Alison’s place in
her children’s lives. Offers Tierney,
“My character is losing her mind a
bit and she’s trying to deal with
everything with grace.”
With the new couple’s relationship
legitimised, or at least out in the open,
there is plenty of sex. Wilson sounds
unimpressed with that aspect of the
show. “For me, I feel the sex scenes
are often the least interesting.” In a
total parallel with conflicting
recollections on-screen, West sees things
very differently. “It’s a challenge to come
up with new ways to have sex but we’re
getting very good at it. We could be
porn stars really.”
MICHELE MANELIS
THE AFFAIR S2 AIRS ON SHOWCASE FROM
MONDAY OCTOBER 7 AT 7.30PM.
077
WHO’S UP ON THE WIRE?
SCREENS AT PRESENT…
JOHN DOMAN
PLAYED: William Rawls
NOW: Indelible as the hard-talking Rawls, Doman is
also in The Affair, playing Ben Butler. He’s also having
a ball as Carmine Falcone in Nine’s Gotham.
LANCE REDDICK
PLAYED: Cedric Daniels
NOW: Plays Irvin Irving on Bosch — also starring fellow
Wire-alumnus Jamie Hector (Marlo Stanfield) — and is
one of the ensemble in the video game/TV
“experience” Quantum Break. Also found on big screens
in John Wick and The Guest.
MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS
PLAYED: Omar Little
NOW: After several seasons on Boardwalk Empire as
gangster Chalky White, Williams has enjoyed bits in
big screen fare like The Road, RoboCop, Inherent Vice
and 12 Years A Slave, before the lead in comedy
mini-series The Spoils Before Dying.
SETH GILLIAM
PLAYED: Det. Ellis Carver
NOW: Gilliam is one of three Wire alumni to appear in
The Walking Dead, along with Chad L. Coleman (Dennis
‘Cutty’ Wise/Tyreese) and Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.
(D’Angelo Barksdale/Bob Stookey). Both of the others
are dead, but Gilliam’s craven priest Father Gabriel lives on.
ANDRE ROYO
PLAYED: Reginald “Bubbles” Cousins
NOW: The Wire’s drug-addicted criminal informant
Bubbles plays a politician in Amazon’s 2015 series
Hand Of God, starring Ron Perlman as a judge who
believes God wants him to deliver retribution.
AIDAN GILLEN
PLAYED: Mayor Thomas Carcetti
NOW: One of the several British cast (along with
Dominic West and Idris Elba) who blended into the
Baltimore story, Gillen is schemer Littlefinger, aka Lord
Petyr Baelish, in Game Of Thrones.
IDRIS ELBA
PLAYED: Russell “Stringer” Bell
NOW: Baltimore’s bookish badass plays Heimdall in the
Thor films and the titular legend in Mandela: Long Walk
To Freedom, plus was in Prometheus and Pacific Rim.
Brit TV fans love him as Luther, who’s back on TV
this summer.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
PLAYED: Wallace
NOW: One of the brilliant child actors in The Wire,
Jordan is on the make, starring in 2014’s Fruitvale
Station, 2015’s Fantastic Four and the title role in Creed,
along with Wire alum Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale).
SPRING 2015 077
 Heartbreak
High
ALEX DIMITRIADES HEADS BACK TO
SCHOOL IN KRIV STENDERS’S RACIALLY-
CHARGED HIGH SCHOOL MURDER
MYSTERY, THE PRINCIPAL.
WORDS DAVID MICHAEL BROWN
S EMPIRETV ARRIVES ON
the sun-scorched set of the
self-proclaimed “Punchbowl
noir” The Principal, coils of
barbed wire top the high
perimeter fences of Cronulla High
School, playing the fictional Boxdale
Boys High. It’s a disarming juxtaposition
(especially for those familiar with the
internecine race politics of Southern
Sydney). A cathedral of learning for
young minds now looks more like a high
security prison. Who said school days
are the best days of your life?
The Principal marks director Kriv
Stenders first foray into television. The
former indie helmer (Blacktown, Boxing
Day) turned box-office boomer (Red
Dog) is directing all four episodes of the
series starring Alex Dimitriades as Matt
Bashir, an idealistic headmaster, and
Aden Young as Adam Bilic, a pessimistic
homicide detective who meet when a
dead body is found on school grounds.
Produced by Ian Collie (Rake, Jack Irish)
and written by Alice Addison (Devil’s
Playground) and Kristen Dunphy (East
West 101), the show, heavily influenced
by British thriller Broadchurch and
Scandi sensation The Killing, covers
headline-bait topics like racism,
immigration and youngsters turning to
terrorism. Controversy is sure to be
knocking on this principal’s door.
“I hope so!” laughs the ever affable
Stenders before Collie chips in, “I think
078 SPRING 2015
it will but it’s not controversial for
controversy’s sake. Issues like [one of the
students] Sami going to fight overseas
will hopefully provoke discussion.”
“But the show deliberately pushes
buttons,” argues Stenders as he huddles
under a makeshift cover to protect the
monitors from the glare of the sun. “It
plays on a lot of people’s prejudices
against Muslims and what they perceive
as Muslim. It also portrays a very
positive and very progressive view of that
world. I think it’s important to tell
stories about what Australia looks like
and is like now. We’ve gone out of our
way to be very responsible and accurate
about how we are presenting that world.
“It’s bold in a number of ways,”
continues the director. “It’s bold in its
subject matter; it’s bold in terms of its
storytelling style and the visual approach
we’ve taken. I think it’s really bold in
terms of performance and the way we
have cast it. We’re dealing with an
all-boys school so we’ve gone out on a
limb using unproven talent, but they are
definitely proving themselves.
“We started the David Field acting
bootcamp!” laughs the director. “For a
couple of weeks Dave ran them through
their paces. Some of them had never
been in front of a camera — he brought
them up to a level when they are camera
ready. It’s not just saying your lines.”
Partly taking inspiration from the
headline grabbing Punchbowl Boys High
 079

SPRING 2015 079


School and its former principal Jihad
Dib — the Lebanese-Australian teacher
(now NSW politician) who turned the
notoriously tough school into a picture
of educational bliss — research was a
major part of preparation, says Collie.
“We did meet with Dib. The two writers
did quite a bit of research, both on the
education front and the police homicide
front. They consulted with Dib and
other headmasters and headmistresses
from the South West and Western
Sydney area to get a feel for the issues
that schools are facing and to see how
kids relate to teachers.
“It’s a really tough job,” continues
the Aussie producer. “Bashir’s kids are
constantly being cajoled and disciplined,
kids are just fucking around and it’s
difficult for teachers to show some
empathy toward individuals. It’s stressful
and exhausting for little reward. You
start to really respect them. We haven’t
really seen teachers on television like this
since Heartbreak High when Alex was a
kid. He’s graduated big time.”
Dimitriades, preparing to shoot a
scene where the Principal greets
unenthusiastic kids arriving to school, is
no stranger to risky television after
working on the original Underbelly and
The Slap. He was instantly attracted to
the part of Matt Bashir, not that he used
his own school days as inspiration.
“Funnily enough I didn’t, but I did
pay a visit to hang out with the Principal
of Cronulla High School,” says the actor
as he continues to explain why the
character of Bashir spoke to him. “It’s
his bravery that drew me in — he’s a
pioneering thinker. He remains focused,
given the fact that he has everyone
080 SPRING 2015
BRIEFING
THE PRINCIPAL
PREMIERES:
October 7
DIRECTOR:
Kriv Stenders
STARRING:
Alex Dimitriades,
Aden Young,
Mirrah Foulkes
STORY: Matt Bashir
returns to his
childhood school as
the Principal, full of
ideas to change his
students lives. Then a
dead body is found
on school grounds...
WOOF: Stender’s
went from shooting
The Principal to
filming Blue Dog,
the sequel to the
box office smash
Red Dog.
against him. He is committed to seeing
things through but ultimately he’s flawed
so it gives the show a sense of realism.”
As the bell rings for lunch, a relaxed
Aden Young joins in on the chat. “The
crime of course creates conflict between
all the factions of the school. Bashir is a
noble man, full of ideas and reform, who
meets my guy, who is just jack of it. One
of the things he says to Bashir is ‘You’d
be amazed how many people I meet who
started out their day with good
intentions.’ From a homicide detective,
that’s not a good thing,” he smirks.
The Rectify star expands on his own
character. “Bilic represents the rule of
law and the law of history. In some ways
he is the author of ‘this is un-Australian’
and he is using the court of law to assert
that. He’s not a racist, he’s not a bigot,
and he’s not xenophobic. He’s just seen
the monster that they are all running
from. When they get here to start new
lives, that monster is allowed out again.
We don’t want that monster. Whether
you’re a third generation Anglo Saxon or
you’re from Lebanon.”
Stenders returns to the fold,
preparing for a scene where a severed
cow’s head is delivered to the school as
an act of retribution. He enthusiastically years but I think that’s filtering and From top: The death of a
discusses the stylised look of the show. coming down everywhere which is really student causes unrest;
“We wanted to create something that is a great — the bar has been raised for us Matt Bashir’s students
lot more cinematic,” he explains. “Red all. You have to find out why something looking less than
Riding and Shadow Dancer both used a does or doesn’t work and tell the best inspired; Detective Bilic
lot of really interesting compositions; story you can, whether it’s on TV or film (Aden Young) on the case.
very moody, very Scandinavian Noir, and now it’s all blurring anyway,” he
which we tried to transfer into an urban adds before jumping behind the camera.
setting. Audiences expect a certain kind “Those boundaries are all crumbling.”
of storytelling style, a certain kind of
rhythm and scale. It’s obviously THE PRINCIPAL PREMIERES ON SBS ON
happened in America over the last 10 WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 7 AT 8.30PM.

ALSO SHOWING
The best of the rest
STILL GOT MORE TV WATCHING TIME UP YOUR SLEEVE?
HERE’S MORE TELEVISUAL NUTRITION TO KEEP YOU HAPPY…
A-Z
CREATOR BEN QUEEN / CAST CRISTIN MILIOTI, BEN FELDMAN,
KATEY SAGAL / CATCH-UP STAN., ITUNES [TBC] / FROM NOW
Though critic pleasing, this rom-com was
cancelled after one season. Sons Of
Anarchy’s Katey Sagal narrates the
romance of Andrew (Feldman) and Zelda
(Milioti) who dated for eight months,
three weeks, five days, and one hour.
F Is For Family
CREATORS BILL BURR, MICHAEL PRICE / CAST BILL BURR,
LAURA DERN, JUSTIN LONG / CATCH-UP NETFLIX / FROM TBC
Comic Bill Burr’s semi-autobiographical
adult ’toon take on a ’70s family, “a time
when you could smack your kid, smoke
inside and bring a gun to the airport”.
Halt & Catch Fire: S2
CREATORS CHRISTOPHER CANTWELL, CHRISTOPHER C.
ROGERS / CAST LEE PACE / CATCH-UP SHOWCASE, FOXTEL GO,
FOXTEL PLAY, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM NOW
Season 2 of one of AMC’s least showy
dramas skips to 1985 and the early
genesis of the internet as a band of Texas
tech visionaries strive for the next big
thing in personal computing.
Home And Away: An Eye For
An Eye
CREATOR ALAN BATEMAN / CAST DAN EWING, LISA GORMLEY,
LYNNE MCGRANGER / CATCH-UP PRESTO / FROM TBC
The first local production commissioned
by Presto, a joint venture between Seven
and Foxtel, is slated as a “Summer
event”. Former cast members Dan Ewing
and Lisa Gormley return.
Longmire: S4
CREATORS HUNT BALDWIN, JOHN COVENY / CAST ROBERT
TAYLOR, KATEE SACKHOFF, BAILEY CHASE / CATCH-UP
NETFLIX, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM NOW
Netflix revives this previously axed
western starring Aussie Robert Taylor for
a fourth season. Aptly, Season 4 will
focus on second chances.
Lost Girl: S5
CREATOR MICHELLE LOVRETTA / CAST ANNA SILK, KRIS
HOLDEN-RIED, RICHARD HOWLAND / CATCH-UP STAN, ITUNES
[TBC] / FROM NOW
As this sci-fi series wraps up, succubus
Bo (Anna Silk), who feeds on human
sexual energy, will finally come face to
face with her biggest foe: her father.
Modern Family: S8
CREATORS STEVEN LEVITAN, CHRISTOPHER LLOYD /
CAST ED O’NEILL, SOFÍA VERGARA, TY BURRELL / CATCH-UP
TEN, TENPLAY, ITUNES [TBC], GOOGLE PLAY [TBC] / FROM
SEPTEMBER 23 US [TEN TO CONFIRM AIR DATE]
America’s favourite family (they’ve
proved spectacularly popular globally
too), the Pritchett-Dunphy clan, are still
going strong. Expect another cavalcade
of witty one-liners on modern family life.
Nurse Jackie: S7
CREATORS LINDA WALLEM, LIZ BRIXIUS / CAST EDIE FALCO,
MERRITT WEVER, ANNA DEAVERE SMITH / CATCH-UP ELEVEN,
TENPLAY, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM TBC [TEN TO CONFIRM]
As it comes to a close, this award-
winning series continues to confound
genre boundaries by combining edge
with heart, lead by a knockout
performance by Edie Falco.
Peter Allen: Not The Boy
Next Door
CREATORS RORY CALLAGHAN, KERRIE MAINWARING /
CAST JOEL JACKSON, SIGRID THORNTON, REBECCA GIBNEY /
CATCH-UP SEVEN, PLUS7, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM SEPTEMBER
[DATE TBC]
Continuing Seven’s run of music-centric
bio mini-series, Joel Jackson plays
Peter Allen, Rebecca Gibney his
mother Marion and Sigrid Thornton
screen legend Judy Garland.
Scorpion: S1 Part 2
CREATOR NICK SANTORA / CAST ELYES
GABEL, ROBERT PATRICK, EDDIE KAYE
THOMAS / CATCH-UP TEN, TENPLAY, ITUNES
[TBC] / FROM NOW
Inspired by the exploits of
tech genius Walter O’Brien
(Gabel) and his team of
misfits, this action-filled series
follows the team’s attempts to
thwart high-tech threats.
081
Selfie
CREATOR EMILY KAPNEK / CAST KAREN GILLAN, JOHN CHO,
ALLYN RACHEL / CATCH-UP STAN, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM NOW
Cancelled after one season, this is a
modern sitcom retooling of Pygmalion.
Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan is social media
addict Eliza and John Cho is her Henry, a
spin-master who plans to “remarket” her.
The Daily Show With
Trevor Noah
CREATORS LIZZ WINSTEAD, MADELEINE SMITHBERG /
CAST TREVOR NOAH / CATCH-UP COMEDY CHANNEL, FOXTEL
GO, FOXTEL PLAY / FROM SEPTEMBER 29
Controversial new host Trevor Noah has
his work cut out to win the cred of
former host Jon Stewart who became
one of America’s most influential media
voices during his 17 year tenure.
Above left: A-Z; The Leftovers: S2
Above right: The Muppets; CREATORS DAMON LINDELOF, TOM PERROTTA / CAST JUSTIN
THEROUX, AMY BRENNEMAN, CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON /
l : Nurse
Below: N Jackie.
k e.
CATCH-UP SHOWCASE, FOXTEL GO, FOXTEL PLAY, ITUNES
[TBC] / FROM OCTOBER 15
This season is said to be a retooling of
the Rapture-themed event series to be
set in a new town, though a core of
series regulars are still in the mix.
The Muppets
CREATORS JIM HENSON, BILL PRADY, RANDALL EINHORN /
CAST STEVE WHITMIRE, ERIC JACOBSON, DAVE GOELZ /
CATCH-UP SEVEN, PLUS7 / FROM SEPTEMBER 22, US [SEVEN
YET TO CONFIRM AIRING THIS YEAR]
The Muppets return to TV with a
more adult focus on the personal
lives of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie,
Gonzo and co.
Z Nation: S2
CREATORS CRAIG ENGLER, KARL SCHAEFER /
CAST PISAY PAO, KEITH ALLAN, ANASTASIA
BARANOVA / CATCH-UP SYFY, FOXTEL GO,
FOXTEL PLAY, ITUNES [TBC] / FROM NOW
The zombie apocalypse
survivors continue their search
for Murphy (Allan), their only hope
to save the world.
SPRING 2015 081
FROM ANSARI TO SCHUMER, EMPIRETV GETS
THE GIGGLES COURTESY OF SOME OF THE
PLANET’S FINEST WITS AS THEY PONY UP
TO UNLEASH NEW MATERIAL.
 FUNNY PEOPLE

084 S G 2015
SPRING 20 5

ON TV, SHAUN MICALLEF HAS DONE IT ALL: SKETCH, TALK
SHOW, SATIRE, PASH SIGRID THORNTON. THIS OCTOBER, HE
SHRINKS THE WORLD FOR A FORMER TITAN IN THE EX-PM
S
WORDS DANIEL MURPHY
TEPHEN FRY ONCE DESCRIBED PETER COOK
as “funny, the way beautiful people are beautiful.” In
other words his ability to produce laughs was innate,
defying qualitative analysis. The same could be said for
Shaun Micallef. For those that get him — and there are
millions of us — he’s a South Australian Jerry Lewis-cum-John
Cleese, a deluxe pratfaller and literate absurdist who somehow
managed to host a game show.
He is indeed Australian comic royalty, so it feels natural that
the next object of his lampooning affections would be a former
Prime Minister in The Ex-PM, the fictional — and deliciously
named — Andrew Dugdale, whom he plays. “I like the lyrical
repetition of the D,” he says. “Also the G is quite helpful. ‘Dale’ is
a little valley, and Dug fits in there quite nicely. He’s basically
digging his own grave.”
Top: On the short-lived
Micallef Tonight with
guest Dannii Minogue.
Middle: Acting his age
on game show Talkin’
’Bout Your Generation.
Bottom: A guest spot as
Sigrid Thornton’s love
interest in SeaChange.
FUNNY PEOPLE
When you meet him, as EmpireTV does at production
company CJZ where he’s editing the first episode of The Ex-PM,
his looming incandescence is cloaked in an accommodating
stoop and spectacles with lenses that dwarf his comically blazing
eyes. He’s far more relaxed than his stage self, but no less quick
with the unlikely and piquant metaphor, giving glimpses of the
insouciant through his self-deprecating affability. Self-
deprecation, or self-realisation, is the germ for The Ex-PM.
“The idea came about after learning a story about John
Howard. I assume it’s true, it feels like it would be true, but it
might be apocryphal,” he says with a gleam. “So six months after
he had been voted out, he and Janette had gone shopping and
just having a natter as they were crossing the car park. They both
got into the back seat of their own car and both realised for a
moment ‘Oh wait, one of has to drive’. I thought that was really
nice, the expectation of plenty, being used to it and being the
king, and then suddenly not to be the king. Paul Keating
would’ve been around my age when he finished up, and then
what do you do after that?
“So, [Dugdale] has been out of office for about 18 months,”
he says about the show’s ex-PM. “He’s sold his memoir rights to
a publishing company, he’s accepted the money and he’s got a
rather dodgy business manager who has tied his money up so he
can’t access it. Now, my favourite movie is It’s A Wonderful Life,
and the idea of an angel coming in and making someone look at
their life and see that it is actually worth living is the main idea
behind this. So a ghostwriter, Ellen [Le Blanc, played by Lucy
Honigiman],visits to write the book for him in six weeks,
interviewing him, asking him questions to look within himself
and get him to see whether his life was wonderful or not. He ends
up distracting her so much that they never really get around to
writing the book. It’s as if Jimmy Stewart’s character completely
distracted Clarence and got him drunk, caught up in his own life
S
and forgot what he was meant to do in the first place.”
INCE DITCHING A CAREER IN LAW AT THE
age of 31, Micallef has been gracing TV screens for the
past 22 years, punctuated by a brief stint in commercial
radio, “after the Tonight show was rightly cancelled”.
In the televisual comic spectrum, he’s done it all: sketch
(Jimeoin, Full Frontal), sitcom (Welcher & Welcher, Mr & Mrs
Murder), late night variety (Micallef Tonight), parody
(Newstopia), a game show (Talkin’ ’Bout Your Generation), satire
(Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell) and something that combines
the lot (The Micallef P(r)ogram(me)). And that’s just the stuff
he’s produced. But he’s never properly acted, except perhaps as a
love interest for Sigrid Thornton on SeaChange.
“I had wanted to do a bit more acting. But I didn’t want to
do my usual ‘half-acting’. I wanted to really get on top of this
one: know my lines, not try and adlib my way out of a situation;
I could improvise and muck around and get a laugh, but I
wanted this to be a proper, believable character. I’m a comic
performer and best served by the stuff I write for myself. I know
my deficiencies as an actor.”
Like the great comedies Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and The
Office, it has six episodes. He laughs, “The original idea was 10.
There wasn’t a plan to follow the chemistry of those other far
SPRING 2015 085
 more impressive shows. I’m happy
someone wants to draw links, ‘Well, I’ll
say this about The Ex-PM, it was
certainly the same number of episodes as
Fawlty Towers’. Just to be mentioned in
the same breath.”
Even so it’s a neat if small number, the
latter attribute perhaps emblematic of the
mind that created it. “I do get bored with
stuff very quickly,” he confirms. “I have to
watch that. I have done a lot of things
because I’m bored with it. I also came to it
pretty late; I came to the world of
entertainment when I was 31. I like to keep
my ears open and make sure I am not
presenting something that is a museum
piece to the audience. I love physical
comedy, but I appreciate that not everyone
is a big fan of Buster Keaton. But I can
still stick some of that into The Ex-PM.
It’s like mushing up some vegetables,
putting it into a potato salad. People will
eat the salad but get a bit of nutrition.”
Australian comedy is in an interesting
place at the moment. After a quietish
decade since Kath & Kim, the last few
years have been a purple patch for
narrative comedy. Utopia (see page 91),
Upper Middle Bogan, The Moodys, Please
Like Me (see page 56), Laid and It’s A
Date have all been upper shelf telly. If
you’re sensing a theme here, you’re right:
it’s all on the ABC. With the exception of
Foxtel’s Open Slather (a sketch show,
Comedy is
anyway), the commercial networks simply
aren’t funny anymore, opting instead for
more and more reality TV or imported
best built on
stuff. Micallef, who has at one stage or
another made TV for all of the free-to-air
stations, has a theory of why that is.
“Comedy is best built on the factory
the factory
floor,” he says with a nod. “It can’t be
forced together or fabricated in an office
with a bunch of network executive
floor, not
producers. That model lends itself nicely
to reality TV: they have a bunch of people
who are just happy to be there, they can
fabricated by
film the shit out of the day, and then send
it up to the edit suite and the guys in ties
can come in and get involved in the
production; gives them a chance for them
executives.
to feel like they are being creative.
Whereas comedy doesn’t work like that
and we see enough programs that come
out of a certain unnamed commercial
station who would love to make a comedy
show that kicks, but because they fiddle around with it, doing
things to it in the way they do with reality shows and even their
own drama projects, that it ends up like a bland blancmange. If
you don’t have an organising principle, somebody’s point of
view, then you’ve just got Full Frontal.”
He’s not as dismissive about the show that gave him his
start as that sounds — “Anything I know about writing for
television came from Full Frontal under Ted Emery, it was a
great training ground.” But the idea of a signature tone interests
him far more than “churning out 26, hour-long episodes a year!
086 SPRING 2015
Top: Micallef with
Kat Stewart in Mr
& Mrs Murder.
Middle: On Shaun
Micallef’s Mad As Hell with
Tosh Greenslade.
Bottom: As former
football legend Milo
Kerrigan on Full Frontal.
Very difficult.” Perhaps predictably,
his humour heroes were pioneers.
“Norman Gunston always amused me
more than Paul Hogan. There was
something that the laconic Aussie
character who seems to be the go-to type
for Australian comedy that just didn’t
speak to me at all. So when I discovered
Gunston, I thought ‘Wow, this is more it
for me’, in terms of Australian comedy,
as well as Barry Humphries. Neither of
them seem to belong to any lineage, but
they’re probably the best for me. Then
you’ve got John Clarke, the humour of
Clive James… At 13, I had no
appreciation of the fact that they are so
well read, or erudite, or smart — I just
thought, ‘They’re funny.’ Whereas I don’t
think other Australian comedians are as
funny. And those four are probably the
T
most enduring.”
HE EX-PM EXISTS
allegedly because a budget
shortfall in the back half
of the ABC’s 2015 meant
the return “bookend”
season of Mad As Hell was spiked. “Not
that I’m complaining,” Micallef grins. “I
get to do The Ex-PM as well, and a doco
[another series of Stairway To Heaven,
about religious fervour, for SBS].”
Plus, the magnificent whiplash-
inducing news-satire will return in 2016.
“Mad As Hell seems to be the best
distillation of what I could do. I like the
disposability of it, the fact that it turns
around in a week. That helps prevent me
getting bored with something. Having
said that, I didn’t get bored during The
Ex-PM. But if something ran for 12
seasons I might think, ‘Well you know,
I’ve had enough of that.’
“The ABC is a very comfortable place
to work,” he continues. “They seem to
trust me. Mad As Hell is purpose-built for
the ABC, just as [Talkin’ ’Bout Your]
Generation was purpose-built for Channel
Ten. If you were to swap the venues of
those shows, it wouldn’t make any sense. I
can’t see Mad As Hell or even some vague
cousin working on commercial TV.”
After an hour during which we
discuss his admiration for US sketch
comedians Key & Peele, how ‘dramedy’
is a bullshit term, “neither fish nor fowl”,
and how Paul Keating is the ex-PM most likely to be most
miserable post-office (“Talk about keepers of their own
flames… he feels he’s been shortchanged by history”), Shaun
Micallef has shown no real signs of boredom — a relief for all.
It’s time the restless man returns to sculpting the life of his
restless ex-PM. With a handshake the eyebrows waggle, the grin
widens and, with a polite wave, he’s off.
THE EX-PM BEGINS ON WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14,
9PM, ON ABC. MAD AS HELL RETURNS TO THE ABC IN 2016.
 FUNNY PEOPLE
You must get the rock star treatment
at conventions…
It’s funny, ‘cos you go to these things and
then see that around one in 10 people are
dressed up as something from Adventure
Time — they’re just so rabid for it. Our
fan base is not casual base — if you watch
Adventure Time, you watch it religiously.
087
cool person, but that wouldn’t be very
wise on my part to go and do that.’
So we can assume you’ve been
propositioned by fans in the past?
Yes, you can make that assumption!
[Laughs] Some people are quite bold.

Jeremy Shada Do you ever encounter fans who are

THE VOICE OF ADVENTURE TIME’S FINN,
18-YEAR-OLD JEREMY SHADA, ON HOW
BEING ON A CARTOON CAN GET YOU THE
ROCK STAR TREATMENT…
Are you surprised at the strong reaction
Adventure re Time gets from fans?
It’s kinda crazy
razy — it’s become this cult,
worldwidee phenomenon. Before the show
went to air, I thought ‘Oh, it’s this cool
little animated
mated show’. You don’t expect it
to be the
he biggest thing ever. But then it
airs, and
nd people love it. When I went to
San Diego Comic-Con for the first time,
that’ss when I realised it was huge. I did a
p nel and walked out to see this sea of
panel
p ople in Finn hats, and it was just ‘Wow!’
people
maybe a little too enthusiastic?
[Laughs] Well I guess there’s never a fan
that’s too enthusiastic — there might be
the occasional fan who might be a little
bit crazy who don’t know personal
boundaries, there’s a few of those. But for
every person you meet who is nuts, there
are a hundred that are awesome. That’s
why I have handlers — to shield me from
people who wanna do weird things!
Have you had any weird fan requests?
Yeah, people who come up to you and
want you to sign your name in weird areas
or do things to you physically and you’re
like ‘Ahh, I can’t really do that!’ Or people
will ask me to go hang out with them
afterwards, and I’m like ‘You seem like a
There’s a lot of Adventure Time fan fiction
out there. Have you read any?
Five per cent of it is actually fan fiction
and the rest is like gross stuff, like
characters hooking up. But the five per
cent stuff is cool — a few ideas from there
made it onto the show and became
characters and storylines.
You also play in a band. Where do you get
the most groupies — gigs or conventions?
[Laughs] I’m probably better known for
Adventure Time at the moment, so I’d say
I’d get propositioned more at comic-cons.
A lot of the fans at our gigs are teenage
girls though, so maybe it’s equal!
JAMES JENNINGS
ADVENTURE TIME S7 PREMIERES ON THE
CARTOON NETWORK IN DECEMBER.

A Ansari
Aziz sari
IN MASTER
MA OF
F NONE
NONE, AZIZ
ANSARI PLAYS DEV, A
30-YEAR-OLD NEW YORK
ACTOR WHO CONFRONTS
LIFE’S ETERNAL DILEMMAS
Is the show based on your stand-up or is
it all completely new territory?
I’d say more the latter. Some things from
my stand-up weave their way in, but there
are definitely ideas I want to explore on
the show that I wasn’t able to do with the
stand-up. I’d say it’s maybe a blend of
both. Cool question. Thanks.
You’re welcome. Do you also draw on
your book, Modern Romance?
There are experiences I had doing the
book that inform some things. There’s an
episode called Old People where I spend
the whole time hanging out with a
grandma. I spent a lot of time in
retirement homes when I was doing the
book, talking to people about
relationships. But we’re doing a wide
breadth of subject matter.
Will there be guest stars?
Claire Danes. She was awesome.
I knew her from friends of friends; we
didn’t hike Kilimanjaro together or
anything. I’d never seen her do pure
comedy before so I thought she’d be an
interesting choice, and it worked out
really well.
Was this a very different experience to
Parks And Recreation?
On Parks I was playing a character named
Tom who works in a parks department.
That’s not really related to me. I love
Parks, obviously, but this is like dumping
my head and heart into a show, and it’s as
personal to me as my stand-up.
How alike are you and Dev?
He’s not exactly like me, but there’s
definitely stuff in there that are versions
of things that have happened to me.
Is that why you cast your real dad as
your dad?
We auditioned some other Indian guys,
but I told Netflix, ‘There’s not a ton of
old Indian actors out there. I think my
dad is uniquely funny and we can make
it work.’
And your mum?
She’s on the show. She didn’t want to be,
but I told her, ‘If you love me, you’ll do
it.’ SIMON BRAUND
MASTER OF NONE PREMIERES ON NETFLIX ON
NOVEMBER 6.

S
SPRING
G 2015
0 5 087
 J rey Tambor
Jeff recalls.
s. “It was a very fast turnaround
because the turn-out was so
can change you. It’s made me a better
person, certainly made me more
THE GOLDEN
GO G O
GLOBE-WINNINGG STAR
S O
OF overwhelming.
whelming. I don’t know anything present, and I think it has made me a
T S
TRANSPARENT T RELISHES MAKING HIS about it and I love not knowing. I used to better parent.”
SG
TRANSGENDER C C
CHARACTER HUMAN, be an actor who had to know everything, Some will see Maura as a brave
C VERSA
AND VICE SA and I used to arrive at the theatre three or character for Tambor to play but he
f
four hours before to do the performance doesn’t see it that way; this is bigger than
twice. Now I sort of relish not knowing.” simply acting — Maura is a way of life. “I
’VE HAD A BIT OF A When Tambor first frocked up for have a huge responsibility. I was learning
trifecta here!” ggleefully
y exclaims parent, put on some lipstick and
Transparent the life, about transition, the trans-
character actor Jeffrey Tambor as becameme Maura, it was a nerve-racking experience, and I am still learning. I am a
h talks to EmpireTV
he V while but revelatory
velatory moment, despite the fact cisgender male [a term to describe
p
preparing to shoot Season 2 of that the
he actor had played transvestite someone who is happy with the gender
The Transparent Transparent. “The Larry Sanders Show Show, judge Alan Wachel in ’80s cop show Hill supplied to them at birth] who has been
family, from left: Arrested Development and now this.” The Street Blues for 29 episodes. “I knew that given this wonderful opportunity. I would
Judith Light, Gaby Golden Globe-winning role of Maura I was throw-up-nervous to do that say my politics were to make her as
Hoffman, Jeffrey Pfefferman, the transgender woman coming out scene with my daughter human, as real, as possible. My acting
Tambor, Amy formally known as Morton Pfefferman, [Sarah, played by Amy Landecker]. I was teacher used to always say ‘You act as if
Landecker, was a remarkable part to land for the shaking; I wanted to do that right. It was your life depended on it’,” he smiles
Jay Duplass. character actor, a familiar face on TV a very, very important scene. I knew I had before finishing. “And now I have an
since playing a medical examiner in to get over that hump. Then I realised experience where other
Kojak in 1977. “I’ve been lucky to get that’s the exact hump that people’s lives depended
one,” he laughs. “I like a high diving Maura has to get over. So on it.”
board. It’s very nice at the end of the day my hands were shaking, I DMB
when you’re doing a role like this to go, was very nervous and
‘I’m doing something which is it’s all there in the TRANSPARENT S2
challenging, I get to use more than my scene,” he boasts PREMIERES ON STAN
pinky.’ You have to understand, every proudly before DECEMBER 4.
time I do a scene with Maura I don’t continuing, “It’s very
really know how to do it, but neither does nice when a role
Maura. That’s terribly exciting.”
Tambor is also in the dark
about the second season. “We
got picked up literally two
weeks after we premiered,” he

088 SPRING 2015

 Uzo Aduba & Is there any direction you’d like to see that contains the soup [laughs].
your character go?

Taylor Schilling
THE ORANGE IS THE NEW
LACK STARS ON HOW TO
BLACK
TIR STIR (HINT: IT’S SOUP)
STIR
With
ith all new episodes of the hit
comedy-drama
medy-drama being shot, Taylor
Schilling
hilling (Piper Chapman) and Uzo
Aduba
duba (Suzanne ‘Crazy Eyes’ Warren)
talk about the OITNB soup and spill the
beans
ans on what to expect from Season 4.
What can you tell us about Season 4?
UZO ADUBA: There’s going to be a Season
4. And I’m in it.
Do you know what’s going to be in store
for your characters?
UA: I don’t. I don’t know about anyone
else, but I’ve got no idea what’s in store
for Suzanne [laughs]. The only way we
ever find out is when there’s a wild
costume change or something.
TAYLOR SCHILLING: One of the first things I
learned working in television is to give
up any hopes or expectations and just
put yourself in the hands of the writers.
Do you think OITNB has some value
beyond pure entertainment?
UA: I think in the way it deals with
representations of women, with gender
identity issues, the conversation it has
about race, it has the potential to spark
social change. And its depiction of the
penal system itself, how that directly
affects the socio-economic structure.
Would you say it’s still essentially a
comedy show? If so, how do you balance
the comedy with the serious stuff?
TS: It’s like a soup. Some scenes are
written with a very light tone and then
there are some wrenching, tender,
emotional moments. Some characters are
written in a kind of absurdist way; others
are more serious. But what’s exciting is
that it all exists in a wider context. It’s a
soup and what Uzo was saying is the pot
Which ingredients in the soup do fans
respond to most?
UA: All parts. If we’re going to ride the
soup metaphor, let’s say it’s a vegetable
soup. Some people really like the carrots,
other people like the celery. Mainly they
respond to how all those ingredients
come together.
Do you get a response from former
inmates?
UA: We do, and people who have been
incarcerated tell us that that is what
prison is like. As someone who’s never
been in prison, I take their word for it.
Did you visit a prison for research?
TS: Right now I’m doing some work with
the Women’s Prison Association so I’ve
been spending time with some ladies
there. But I wouldn’t call that research.
UA: I did not. But I used to watch a lot of
Locked Up. SIMON BRAUND
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK S1-3 IS ON NETFLIX.
S4 PREMIERES IN JUNE, 2016.

Sammy J
THE MAN/PUPPET COMEDY
SENSATION GO FROM STAGE
TO TV IN SAMMY J AND
RANDY IN RICKETTS LANE
How was it adapting your stuff for TV?
It was a challenge. We thought it would
be easy, but we quickly realised it wasn’t
going to work because so much of our
live stuff is based on audience interaction
and improvising. We threw everything
out and just kept the characters and the
same sense of humour.
You see Randy ride an alpaca in Ep 1…
We wrote an alpaca into the script, and
we just assumed at some point the
producers would tap us on the shoulder
and say “Sorry, you have to remove
that”, but during pre-production, a lady
arrives from an alpaca farm with five
different alpacas standing in the car
park, and we got to go audition them, so
Randy had a turn riding each one. That
was the moment were I thought “Shit,
we’re getting away with this.”
Will we hear new songs on the show?
We thought we could wedge the old ones
in, but it didn’t work. In the end, all but
two of the 17 songs were written just for
the show. We wanted all the songs to get
their laugh and then piss off, so the
longest song lasts for about 80 seconds.
Were any ideas considered too OTT?
The only thing they said no to was a
scene where Borkman, my character’s
boss, is sitting at his desk stroking a bird
of prey. We put it in there just to see
what would happen. We got a call from
the producer saying “That’s not going to
happen.” If we get a S2 though, we’ll
make sure we have one in the first scene.
What can audiences expect?
The show is half a tribute and half a
pisstake of old sitcoms. If the idea of a
man and a puppet living together plus a
gimp and songs and vomit hasn’t got
people on board, then there’s nothing
more we can offer them. JJ
SAMMY J AND RANDY IN RICKETTS
RI LANEE IS ON
O ABC
ABC IVIEW NOW AND WILL AIR ON C FROM
OM
A 9
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14 AT 3 .
9.35PM.

S
SPRING
G 2015
0 5 089
 Michael
Showalter
DIVE IN TO WET HOT AMERICAN

I
SUMMER: FIRST DAY OF CAMP

F YOU LIKE YOUR COMEDY

as broad as a barn door and
poised precariously on the
boundary between side-splittingly
funny and sphincter-shrivellingly
excruciating, then point your modem at
Netflix’s Wet Hot American Summer:
First Day Of Camp, a prequel to the cult
2001 movie. Paying a return visit to the
Tituss Burgess and
ramshackle Camp Firewood circa 1981, Ellie Kemper create
the show follows the fortunes of the Unbreakable laughs.
horny counsellors and their pre-pubescent
charges as they settle in for the season. It

Tina Fey, Ellie Kemper,

reunites a stellar cast that includes Amy For Robert and Tina: What did you see
Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, in Ellie that persuaded you to write a

Robert Carlock and

Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, show for her?
Molly Shannon, Elizabeth Banks and TF: We’d been working with NBC to

Tituss Burgess
creator and co-writer Michael Showalter. develop a new show after 30 Rock ended
“We had a tenth anniversary reunion and they said, ‘Is Ellie Kemper someone
five years ago,” says Showalter, “and that you’d be interested in developing for?’ We
got a lot of press. People love the movie, THE TEAM INSIDE UNBREAKABLE immediately said yes. One, because she
we always loved the characters and it had KIMMY SCHMIDT REFLECT ON THE doesn’t write…
been in the back of our minds to do MAKING OF A BREAKOUT HIT RC: And she didn’t want a producer credit.
something. Then when Netflix came
along with their way of doing things, kind Ellie, is it true Jon Hamm was your
of a merger between a movie and a TV The show was originally made for NBC. teacher in high school?
series, we thought, maybe we can do a Now you have the freedom Netflix EK: Yes. He attended my high school, then
sequel. Or in this case, a prequel.” allows,
l ws, will the tone of the second went to college and then came back to
In the 14 years since Wet Hot first hit season differ from the first — more teach theatre for a year. I took an acting
screens, the career trajectories of the cast swearing,
earing, nudity, etc? class with him in the ninth grade. He was
has soared. Surely getting the band back NA FEY: I think the tone feels set. We’ve
TINA a wonderful teacher.
together was a serious headache. “We sent s had
ad so many people say, ‘My 13-year-old
an email to everyone,” says Showalter. “It and I love the show’ and I’d hate to ruin Tituss, your signature song, Peeno
said, ‘We’re thinking of doing this. Would
W that in Season 2. I don’t think you’ll hear Noir: An Ode To Black Penis (‘Peeno
you be interested?’ And the response was profanity or see nudity. noir, Caviar, Myanmar, Mid-size car’)
an absolute ‘yes’ across the board. It was has become a sensation. How often do
just like old times,
time no egosgos at all.”
all ” Not Did it surprise you that it appealed so people ask you to sing it for them?
even from Bradley
Bradl y Cooper,
p whose star strongly
ongly to 12- and 13-year-olds? TITUSS BURGESS: Not as often as people
has risen higher than anyone
y TF: It did at first. My guess is that it’s the sing it for me. It gets randomly sung in
else’s in the ensemble.
ense “Bradley sunniness
nniness of Kimmy’s character, her view the streets all the time, which is lovely.
came in while he h was in LA for off the world that appeals to young girls. TF: Do you get free bottles of Pinot Noir?
the Oscars,” says
say Showalter. OBERT CARLOCK: Our goal is always to use
ROBERT TB: I do. I’ve been drunk since the
“That was a little
litt surreal, the rather — what’s the right adjective for show aired.
knowing that while
w he was our premise?
shooting his scenes
sce for TF: Dark? Potentially dark? What did you learn from the first
Wet Hot,, he was
wa up for C: Our potentially dark premise to tell
RC: season, and how is S2 shaping up?
a Best Actor Oscar
O for relatable stories. I think with all the TF: From the original draft of the
Snip r a
American Sniper, characters, with Ellie leading the way, pilot to the final version, we realised
very similar film to that comes through. the show was a lot sunnier and
ours. In fact, that’s
th brighter than we thought. We were
the next one: Wet
W The show was created with you in mind, trying to be respectful to the weight of
Hot American Ellie. Do you see yourself in Kimmy? the premise, but then it became clear —
Sniper.” SB ELLIE KEMPER: I think — I hope — the we can tell Kimmy’s story without
show
how plays to my strengths. I am an too many depressing flashbacks. SB
WET HOT AMERICAN
AMERIC upbeat person and I tend to have an
Y
SUMMER: FIRST DAY optimistic outlook. Kimmy has a UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT S1 IS
OF CAMP IS OUT NOW
O resilience and a fierceness I aspire to have. OUT NOW ON NETFLIX. S2 WILL PREMIERE
ON NETFLIX. It’s not too far a jump for me to play her. IN 2016.

090 20 5
SPRING 2015
Rob Sitch
THE STAR, CO-WRITER AND DIRECTOR (ALL ROB) SKEWERS OFFICE POLITICS others as the only useful bit they needed.
AND POLITICAL OFFICIALS SIMULTANEOUSLY IN UTOPIA’S SECOND SEASON Then they just had to manage the fact
that he should never find that out.

S ONE OF THE COLLECTIVE
Working Dog, responsible for
properly iconic comedies The
D-Generation, The Castle,
The Dish and Frontline,
Rob Sitch’s ear is finely tuned to the
ridiculous. Which is why he really enjoys
the little things about battling the
bureaucrats at the Nation Building
Authority (NBA), the fictional
government body trying to build quality
infrastructure, but stymied at every turn.
Welcome back to Utopia.
What was the eureka moment for Utopia?
We were talking about offices and
absurdity. Offices look very efficient but
underneath it all there is a real inefficiency
to modern office life. It’s very easy to feel
that an office life is humming along and
yet you’ve spent the morning doing an
EpiPen demonstration and the afternoon
doing Movember and a HR meeting.
So, office politics alongside the bigger
picture of nation building.
Everything is side by side. There’s a clip
on YouTube of when Obama first won the
presidency. He walks onto Air Force One
and the valet asks him whether, with his
burger, does he want fries or not fries.
And he goes, “No, well, actually…”
Suddenly he went from President to an
indecisive person ordering a side dish.
That micro-beside-macro is very amusing.
Utopia seems to ratify everyone’s worst
suspicions about big government projects.
Yes, because it’s not actually a conspiracy,
everyone means well. The conflicts of
interest produce a result like… you know
the old adage about the camel — it’s a
horse produced by committee. But you
actually don’t come out with anything
alive. You dream about the camel.
Your character, NBA-boss Tony Woodford,
is the most sensible.
He’s skilled. We wanted to lift him up.
The backstory for us is he was dragged
back in. He had said, ‘Never again.’ The
public service and politics are full of very,
very persuasive people. They promise
everything and, ‘This times it’s different.’
We think there is modernity and
sophistication but in fact the absurdity
scales up with modernity. You think
because we have digitised and
computerised the world we are slowly
carving off stupidity, but it doesn’t work
that way. It’s absurdity with a dashboard.
A nice change from Frontline’s Mike
Moore, who was without skills.
No, Mike had an instinct for presentation
and emoting which was identified by
Top: Rob Sitch’s Tony You, Tom Gleisner and Santo Cilauro have
Woodford is flanked by been writing together for three decades.
Luke McGregor (left) and Does it get easier?
Dave
a e Lawson
a so in Utopia’s
p as It’s
ts ddifficult and it’s uncertain. I’m either
seco d seaso
second season.. g
gettingg dumber or something because, as
we refine these things, it becomes more
d cult.
diffi t. Over the years, we’ve done 10 or
more drafts
rafts of everything. But there’s sort
off a sweet
eet spot you can sense out there. It
never just pops up and says, ‘Here I am!’
Kitty
K y Flanagan,
lanagan, Anthony Lehmann, Luke
McGregor,gor, Celia Pacquola: Utopia is cast
entirely
y from stand-up comedians…
It was intentional.
ntentional. Stand-ups are used to
p
precision.
on. They are used to going up and
speaking for 50 minutes; that’s like
learning all of the lines from Hamlet. And
if they can act, they tend to be very
precise. A lot of our scripts are very
precise. I was asked yesterday if there is
much improvisation. I take it as a
compliment because there’s none, but if
you can make it look like there might be,
that’s great.
So, would you say it’s a sitcom?
We don’t really have the term for what this
type of thing is. There are threads of
things in it which I love. I love bullshit for
example, which is what Thank God You’re
Here is. For years we were trying to figure
out what it is. Someone bullshitting is
trapped, someone improvising is not. It is

It’s hilarious to watch someone

hilarious to watch someone bullshit, when
they’re
h ’ trapped. d
D
DANIEL MURPHY Y

bullshit when they’re trapped. UTOPIA

O S2 ISS O
AT 9
ON ABCC ON
9PM TIL OC O
OCTOBER
O WEDNESDAY
7 AND ISS O
S NIGHTS
G S
C IVIEW..
ON ABC

S
SPRING
G 2015
0 5 09
091
 • STYLING: ANGIE SMITH, WWW.ANGIESMITH.CO.UK. FASHION ASSISTANTS: DANIELLE WHITEMAN AND HANNAH KRALEV.
After three seasons of MODEL GROOMING: PAULA RECABARREN USING NUSKIN AND SCHWARZKOPF PRO.

Inside Amy Schumer, the

writer and star of last month’s
cinema smash Trainwreck
is the hottest discovery of 2015.
And she will see you now.
WORDS OLLY RICHARDS PORTRAITS DAVID VENNI

092 SPRING 2015

• AMY WEARS DRESS BY DOLCE & GABBANA. MODEL WEARS VEST BY CALVIN KLEIN AND JEANS BY NUDIE.

AMY SCHUMER,
PHOTOGRAPHED
EXCLUSIVELY FOR
EMPIRE AT THE SOHO
HOTEL, ON JUNE 4, 2015.

SPRING 2015 093

094 SPRING 2015

BY
Y THE TIME YOU YO READ THIS,, AMY SCHUMER
may be the most famous person in the world. She will perhaps have another armful of
awards to go with the ones she’s already won in 2015.
20 She iss a box-office star in America.
Maybe she will be president of a small country, or have branched out and started curing
disease. If you still don’t know who she is then you’re about to, because eventually
everyone will. She’s that good. Right now, there seems no limit to how high Amy
Schumer might go.
“I DON’T THINK ANYBODY KNOWS
who the fuck I am.” Schumer is sitting on
the corner of a residential street on
Manhattan’s Lower East Side, between
takes on her first movie, Trainwreck. It’s late
evening on July 17, 2014, and sticky, so
we’re outside on the sidewalk, unmolested
by the crowds. While Schumer’s assertion is
untrue, it is accurate to say that the
33-year-old New Yorker is not the one
• AMY WEARS DRESS BY DOLCE & GABBANA. MODELS WEAR TUX AND SHIRT BY TIGER OF SWEDEN AND BOW-TIE BY TOPMAN.
grabbing the most attention today.
Members of the public are stopping to
gawp at director Judd Apatow, or at John
Cena, her co-star and monolithic wrestler.
Mostly, they’re stopping to coo at the
poodles sent through the scene to freak out
Schumer’s character, a men’s mag journalist
who keeps her wine glass and her bed full
with whatever’s to hand until she falls for a
doctor she interviews (Bill Hader).
At this point Schumer is ‘cable
famous’. She’s just finished the second
season of her sketch show Inside Amy
Schumer, which broadcasts on Foxtel’s
Comedy Channel to great reviews and a US
audience (on Comedy Central) of around
one million, so your early-adopter friends
would know her but your parents will likely be clueless. Judd
Apatow means to change this. The man who launched Seth
Rogen, Jonah Hill and Lena Dunham picked Schumer as his
latest protégé, before her show had even aired.
“I’d seen a little bit of her stand-up, but not much, and then
I heard her doing a very long interview on The Howard Stern
Show,” says Apatow. “I was very taken by her and how she was
this very frank, warm, interesting woman with an edgy sense of
humour. I just felt like movies would be a good format for her.
That’s not always true of comedians. You don’t see them doing
stand-up and think, ‘Wow, I wish this were a movie.’ But I could
tell she had a writer’s mind.” So he arranged to meet her.
“Meeting with Judd was about the biggest thing that had
ever happened to me,” says Schumer. “I flew to LA. I told him I
was going there already but I went there just to meet him. I
couldn’t sleep the night before because I was nervous and excited.
I drove up, parked in David Mamet’s spot by accident, then as
soon as I saw Judd I knew we were good. He was in khaki shorts,
FUNNY PEOPLE 095
socks to his knees and he just looked like a dad. He was super
cool. We talked and I left feeling almost like I was on drugs.”
Apatow sent Schumer off with homework, to come up with a
movie script about something in her life. She had a good life to
siphon.
phon. She’d grown up wealthy, thanks to her dad’s furniture
company,
mpany, but then become poor when he went bankrupt. Her
home
me had been loose and funny, “not one where it was like, ‘You
don’tt say that.’ Everybody was relaxed. My mom would rarely
wear a bra and was very out there.” She’d tried stand-up on a
whim, found she was good at it and then came fourth on reality
showw Last Comic Standing
Standing. She was a woman talking about
whatever the hell she wanted in the very male world of stand-up.
UMER But she didn’t want to use any of that. Schumer returned
with something that was “too high-concept… which I think we’re
kidding ourselves we might still make one day”, so Apatow sent
her off again and she produced something that laid bare some of
the most potentially upsetting parts of her life, for comic effect.
“I sat down and thought, ‘What’s going on with me right
now?’” says Schumer. “I was a girl in her
early thirties trying to navigate that
behaviour that you develop as a defence
mechanism but isn’t really working
anymore and is not that cute at this point.
[The movie Amy] gets thrown off course
and accidentally falls in love and nothing
could scare the shit out of her more. So
there’s some self-sabotage, some
addiction, fear of being hurt… All good
fun.” It’s all loosely based on her life, to
the point that she included a father with
MS, which her own father has, and a little
sister who’s more responsible than her
(Schumer’s younger sister is her manager).
“My dad was excited I had my mom be
dead in the film, even though she’s alive in
real life.” Her parents are divorced.
Apatow loved it and decided this was
not just going to be the next film he would
produce, but his next film as a director, his
first from another person’s script. “That
first meeting with Judd was maybe four
years ago,” says Schumer. “I left that
meeting feeling nothing would come of
this or everything might come of this.”
“SO HAVE YOU SEEN MAD MAX
yet?” Schumer asks a model while he
Top: Amy picnics with clenches his bronzed abs at her and she stares with camp
Tina Fey, Patricia astonishment at his crotch, because you have to find something
Arquette an Julia Louis to talk about when you’re addressing someone’s genitals. It’s
Dreyfus in the ‘Last June, 2015, and things have changed. Schumer is glossed up for
F@&kable Day’ skit from EmpireTV’s In Bed With Madonna-themed shoot. She is big of
Inside Amy Schumer. hair, tight of dress, and her legs are covered in shiny stuff. “It’s
Bottom: Director Judd wizard jizz,” she explains.
Apatow and Bill Hader Schumer’s moment has come. The positive buzz for
enjoy Amy’s “edgy Trainwreck translated into dollars in a major way last month (at
sense of humour” on time of writing it was just shy $10m in Australia; $102m in the
set of Trainwreck. US) thus putting Schumer in a position to become an in-demand
leading lady, just as Bridesmaids, which Apatow produced, took
Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy from moderately known to
super-famous. That is, if she wants it. Schumer’s not sure she
does. “I don’t know if I want to be in movies,” she says,
matter-of-fact, ruining the arc we were going for. She’s had
numerous offers since Trainwreck but she’s turned every one
down. “I want it to be good. I don’t want to be, like, somebody’s ❯
SPRING 2015 095
 fat friend.” Having done the audition
I want it to
rounds, she’s not keen to do it again. “It’s
like this. You read a script and it says,
‘She’s pretty, but not gorgeous; the
be good. I
funniest person in the room.’ Then you go
in and the casting director says, ‘Wow,
that was good!’ Then your agent says,
don’t want to
‘They LOVED you,’ then you call a week
later and say, ‘Have we heard anything?’
and they say, ‘No, but you’re still in the
mix!’ Then you forget about it and that
be, like,
summer you see the role is being played by
Jessica Biel. It seems like [movies are] the
brass ring. But after doing one I get that
somebody’s
that’s appealing, but it’s not like, ‘Well,
now I’ve done a movie I can’t possibly go
back to my stupid TV show.’”
fat friend.
You can see why she’d not want to
ditch the day job. Inside Amy Schumer
drew attention for hitting hot-button
topics with a light touch, like a sketch that
tackled rape in the military via the
medium of video games and is a lot funnier
than this sentence suggests. The third season has been a talking
point every week. For the first episode Schumer recruited Tina
Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Patricia Arquette for a sketch about
a woman’s “last fuckable day”. Another episode recreated 12
Angry Men, but debating Schumer’s attractiveness. Recently she
managed a very funny bit based around the Bill Cosby rape
allegations, arguing in court that people should be spared the
pain of not being able to enjoy old shows because someone might
have done something bad. It is the bravest, funniest show on TV.
“Originally I just had these girls in a rape support group and
096 SPRING 2015
they wouldn’t say who did it, but they’re
• AMY WEARS DRESS BY TOM FORD AND HEELS BY CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN. MODEL WEARS PANTS BY CALVIN KLEIN
all wearing Cosby sweaters and eating
Pudding Pops and Jell-O,” she says.
“Then we thought, ‘Let’s do a scene and
talk about people’s experiences of it.’
There’s this thing where we feel, ‘Ooh,
Michael Jackson might have fucked a
AND BOW-TIE BY TOM FORD. MODELS: ELLIS HARMAN AND MATTHEW OVENS OF W ATHLETIC.
bunch of kids, but I really love the song
Beat It!’ People who annoy me are the
ones who choose not to believe it could
have happened so they can appreciate
the work without questioning
themselves for liking it. Of course, there
are also scenes like, ‘Amy gets to a
bachelor party and realises she’s
stripping for a bunch of dogs.’ Some are
just stupid.”
It would be a crying shame if
Schumer didn’t make more movies
because she has a voice that could tell
any number of stories in any number of
ways. She has funny/tragic shades of
Woody Allen, one of her heroes and also a
m n you could easily imagine being tackled on her show. She’s on
man
fire but seems like she’s barely caught alight. It’s impossible to
p dict what’s next (although here’s hoping it’s the comedy she’s
predict
b n writing with new BFF Jennifer Lawrence in which the pair
been
w uld play sisters).
would
“You know,” she says, nodding her head and frowning, “I’m
t nking of going to dental school.” Oh.
thinking
TRAINWRECK
AINWRECK IS OUT ON ON HOME FORMATS ON NOVEMBER 12. SEASON 4 OF
INSIDE AMY SCHUMER SCREENS ON FOXTEL’S COMEDY CHANNEL IN 2016.
 Chas Licciardello & Craig Reucassel
THIS CHASER PAIR ARE FRONT OF HOUSE FOR THE SECOND
SEASON OF GAME SHOW-CUM-NEWS SATIRE, MEDIA CIRCUS
The Chaser’s Media Circus is hard to
define: game show-meets-weekly news
satire. But it’s unlikely to get them
arrested (The War On Everything) or
sued (The Checkout, The Hamster
Decides). Hosted by Craig Reucassel
with ‘fact-checking’ interjections by a
laptop-bound Chas Licciardello, its
unscripted nature is just the start of it.
How does the ‘fact checking’ happen?
Chas: I have about 100 clips ready to go
that are in any way relevant to the topics
we have planned. I have to buzz Craig
when I have a clip. Let’s just say that
when he’s got some momentum, he
doesn’t hear that buzzer.
Craig: I just know you don’t have
anything good.
Craig, did you every think you were
going to be a game show host?
Craig: No, I certainly didn’t. It’s a bit
weird. It’s funny, we have some segments
planned for takes on Showcase so we
were literally watching 1990s game
shows yesterday, like The New Price
Is Right.
Chas: Because the nature of the
show is so dependent on the
week’s news we don’t
always know what
games we are doing.
But there are some
we’re quite keen
on, so we’re
going to
• YIANNI ASPRADAKIS
have to engineer the news. So, we are
going to commit a couple of murders,
but don’t worry, the games will be great.
Cluedo?
Chas: Exactly! Classic parlour games!
Nick Xenophon was a guest last year
— any politicians this year?
Craig: Ye-e-s, a couple of pollies, we
hope. We have to throw them a lure:
‘You either come on our show or we
show up on your doorstep again.’
Chas: I don’t care who they are, as long
as they spill the dirt on their colleagues
and make their lives a misery. DM
MEDIA CIRCUS AIRS ON THE ABC AT
8PM, THURSDAYS TIL NOVEMBER 26.
Chelsea Handler
THE COMEDIAN-ACTRESS-
AUTHOR TALKS ABOUT HER
UPCOMING NETFLIX TALK
SHOW. KIND OF.
What can you tell us about the new show?
I can’t say much about the show. I’m
focusing on the documentaries right now
[a series of five full-length documentaries
to be broadcast on Netflix — Chelsea
Does Marriage, Chelsea Does Racism,
Chelsea Does Silicon Valley and Chelsea
Does Drugs]. They were an amazing
experience for me, some very personal,
very mind-opening. When we’re done
editing them, we’ll focus on the talk show.
It wasn’t my intent to do a nightly talk
show. It’s going to be like 60 Minutes, but
faster and cooler.
For Chelsea Does Drugs, do you actually
do drugs?
Yeah. All kinds of things, with a
neuroscientist giving me mental and
physical acuity tests — after Adderall,
after Ambien, after Ambien with alcohol.
And we’re flying to Peru and doing
Ayahuasca, which I’ll do on camera.
What was your favourite?
Well, I haven’t done Ayahuasca yet, that’s
supposed to be an interesting experience.
The episode isn’t to glamorise or glorify
drugs. I’ve had a fun time with drugs in
my life, but it isn’t about that. It’s about
illustrating what’s good and what’s not
good, what’s abuse and what’s not abuse.
Ayahuasca is a bonkers hallucinogen.
How will you show the effects of that?
I don’t know. It’d be great if they could
hook a machine up to my brain and, all
of a sudden, cartoons started spitting out.
But I think we’ll just see what happens.
What makes you laugh?
A lot of things. I don’t go to stand-up
shows. I think when you’ve done stand-up
you’re over it. My assistant makes me
laugh. She’ll start talking about online
dating. I can listen to that for hours. SB
BOTH CHELSEA HANDLER’S UNTITLED TALK
SHOW AND CHELSEA DOES DOCOS WILL BE
ON NETFLIX IN 2016.
SPRING 2015 097
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MASTERPIECE
EDITED by DAVID MICHAEL BROWN

Win!
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 100
Gotham: S1
★★★★★
FROM SEPTEMBER 23 / RATED MA15+
Batman when he was a costume-free
kid? Bad idea for a show. Focusing
instead on Detective Jim Gordon’s
attempts to clean up mobster-run
Gotham while the really crazy criminals
start to take hold? Much better idea.
The results are still wildly hit-and-miss
though, especially when it comes to the
youthful Bat-villains. The Penguin is
entertainingly oily and sinister, The
Riddler is a mess and Catwoman has
decent chemistry with teen Bruce
Wayne. But it’s the building mob war in
later episodes that provides the real
excitement; it seems traditional crime is
what Gotham cops do best.
EXTRAS: Deleted scenes, more.
ANTHONY MORRIS
Better Call Saul: S1
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED M
While it seemed a long shot, Vince
Gilligan’s prequel spin-off to Breaking
Bad pays off handsomely, with this
origin story of skeezy lawyer Saul
Goodman shaping up to be just as
compelling as its predecessor. Bob
Odenkirk is immensely sympathetic as
decent guy Jimmy McGill, who’s taking
care of his mentally ill superstar lawyer
brother as he tries to carve out his own
legal-eagle career. But fate stalks
Jimmy at every turn, pushing him ever
closer to becoming the slippery Saul we
know and love. This is slow-burn,
top-shelf TV.
EXTRAS Commentaries, more.
MICHAEL ADAMS
100 SPRING 2015
“No, I do not know
Khe Sanh!”
Aquarius
★★★★★
FROM OCTOBER 29 / RATED TBC / CREATOR
JOHN MCNAMARA / CAST DAVID DUCHOVNY,
GETHIN ANTHONY, GREY DAMON
CHARLIE’S FAMILY
CHARLES MANSON,
the man who killed the ’60s,
has had a patchy life on
screen. He’s been played by
Steve (Lifeforce, Turkey
Shoot) Railsback and
Jeremy (Saving Private Ryan) Davies in
two separate television movie
adaptations of Vincent Bugliosi’s book
Helter Skelter; gore guru Jim Van
Bebber turned the cult leader’s minions
into grindhouse groupies in the little seen
The Manson Family and Charlie has even
made a South Park appearance. Now in
Aquarius, he has a police procedural
show. C.S.I: Haight-Ashbury, anyone?
Set two years before the infamous
Sharon Tate murders — when Manson
went nutzoid and turned his “family”
into killing machines — this is Manson,
creepily played by Game Of Thrones’s
Gethin Anthony, in young sexy messiah
mode. This is the man who wanted to be
bigger than the Beatles and had no
problem wooing young girls into his clan
with acoustic ballads and devilish charm.
LIKE THIS,
Hot on his heels is David Duchovny,
back in the suit-and-tie combo he’ll no WATCH
doubt be dry-cleaning for the THIS
forthcoming The X-Files series, but his
seen-it-all-before LAPD Detective Sam
Hodiak is a million miles from Fox
Mulder’s wide-eyed search for the truth.
Asked by Grace (Michaela
McManus), an ex-lover, to find her
missing daughter Emma (Emma
Dumont), Hodiak, along with THE FALL
undercover narcotics officer partner 2013
Brian Shafe (Grey Damon), soon A tense game of cat
discover that the young girl has been and mouse as Gillian
sucked into Manson’s world. As a hook Anderson’s Detective
it’s a killer, but the pair’s search for Superintendent trails
Emma is regularly derailed to catch the Jamie Dornan’s serial
“bad guy of the week”. The cops also killer family man in the
slip into caricature too often, Hodiak’s streets of Belfast.
gruff old-school methods at odds with
Shafe’s new way of thinking. Sometimes
it’s cute — Hodiak’s baffled reaction to
the newly written Miranda Rights he
now has to read — but often the banter
doesn’t deliver, despite a sterling
performance from Duchovny.
Brimming with period detail and an
ear-popping soundtrack of rock classics
(the first five minutes alone feature The
Byrds, The Who and Jefferson Airplane),
the vibrant sexual, racial, and political
revolution of the ’60s should have been
Aquarius’s must-watch point of
difference. Alas, the stoic adherence to
modern television tropes ensure the show
doesn’t soar like it should.
EXTRAS Featurettes, more.
DAVID MICHAEL BROWN
 NEW RELEASES
[Moody from Californication]. I react to
whatever is in front of me. What I like
about this guy was he really reminded me
of war guys from the ’50s like Robert
Mitchum and Lee Marvin. He was not so
articulate and he was not the guy that
talks about his feelings. He’s a pre-’60s
guy. I don’t see that many of them to play.
I often play more articulate people, and I
liked that he wasn’t a talker, he wasn’t
necessarily a “feeler”. So I liked all that.
And I loved L.A. Confidential, I love that
world, I love that movie, I love what
Russell Crowe did with The L.A. Noir
school. I wanted to try and exist as a
character in that world.
How old were you when the Manson thing
was actually happening? You were young…
Thank you for calling me young [laughs].
I think that it all happened around
’68/’69, and I was born in 1960. So I was
about eight or nine. It was a different
media back then. It was really a East
Coast, West Coast kind of thing. Most
murders happened on the West Coast. I’m
101
screeching halt in 1969 with Manson, it’s
an interesting story to tell.
Will Aquarius continue to tell Charles
Manson’s story?
Yeah! That’s McNamara’s six-year plan,
13 episodes each. We also go beyond the
murders; it’s really a meditation on the
history, and what happens after this
famous murder. Two of the main
characters fall, but in many ways the
world reacts to the other murders. It was
senseless, and the interpretation was that
this was where the ’60s is gonna take us,
to this crazy drug-fuelled violence.
Did you have a great time engulfing
yourself in the ‘60s? It must’ve been great
to walk on set...
It was great but sometimes it was difficult.
Like my ’60s car did not have air
conditioning, so sometimes I did hunger
for more recent conveniences. But you
know the clothes on my guy, he’s not yet
in the ’60s. He really stuck to the
’40s/’50s. But then I watch the show with

THE HEX-FILES
THE TRUTH IS FAR OUT FOR DAVID DUCHOVNY
INTERVIEW BY How did you get involved with Aquarius?
DAVID MICHAEL I wasn’t necessarily looking to do another
BROWN TV show right away. I pretty much just
got off Californication. I was vaguely
looking around but not really; I was sort
of hoping nothing would pass my eye so I
wouldn’t have to work [laughs]. Then this
came around and it was a fascinating way
into a broad canvas of the ’60s, using this
famous murder spree as the wedge in.
So I met with John McNamara and he’s
a terrific, terrific man; a really good
showrunner.
What attracted you to Sam? Were you
wary of playing another suited sleuth?
I don’t normally react off stuff I’ve done
in the past to make decisions for the
future. It’s not that I don’t do it
constantly, it’s not something that I think
about, “Oh that’s not Mulder [Fox Mulder
from The X-Files]” or that’s not Hank
sure they were covered in The Times or this nostalgia for the clothes, the hair, the
the New York papers but we weren’t look and the music especially. One of the
obsessed with it. What happened was a nicest things McNamara has done for me
few years later there was a book called is that he’s put one of my own songs on
Helter Skelter that chronicled the whole the soundtrack. So I get to act like I had
thing, and that was really my introduction music in the ’60s.
to the whole idea of Manson. I remember
Bugliosi [the writer] would discuss
Manson in terms of the Satanic, and
when you’re a 12-year-old kid you’re like
“Oh my God, the Devil, nobody told me!”
It’s interesting that the show starts with
Manson’s early days.
Well, yeah. It was a time of utopian social
movements. Charlie Manson was like a
mixture of anarchy and L. Ron Hubbard,
he had a really good rap, or a good
enough rap to work on under-age kids
— I’m not kidding. He talked some good
shit sometimes. In the show you
sometimes think, “Well that’s some decent
poetry,” or “That sounds like Romy or
Lebron or Buddha, I could go with that.”
I don’t see it leading to murder. It’s an
interesting study, to watch a guy turn in
many ways. I don’t know if he could’ve
ever had a happy ending. But a lot of the
stuff that Manson says was persuasive at
the time. A lot of it was looking towards
the light. The fact that the ’60s come to a

“Charlie Manson was like

a mixture of anarchy and
L. Ron Hubbard.”
SPRING
S G 2015
0 5 101
01
 102
ALSO OUT

The Walking Dead: S5

★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED MA15+

With AMC’s zombies in rude health, still

scaring up huge ratings, this fifth year
brims with confidence, barrelling from
one creepy location to another As Rick
Bang bang, he shot
Grimes and co. try and keep one step me down.
ahead of death. There are slow bits, but
enough astonishing kills to make

Romero’s head spin. NDS
The Flash: S1
★★★★★
FROM SEPTEMBER 23 / RATED M
Spun off from Arrow, The Flash hit the
ground running with a charming lead
performance from Grant Gustin as
speedster Barry Allen, a batch of clever
ideas and an overarching plot that,
while sometimes silly, managed to dig
up real emotional stakes. Good luck to
the DC film universe in making the
character as fun. JW
Glitch
★★★★★
FROM OCTOBER 1 / RATED M / CREATED BY TONY
AYRES, LOUISE FOX / CAST PATRICK
BRAMMALL, EMMA BOOTH, EMILY BARCLAY
UN-DEADLY
WHAT IF SOMEONE
you’d already buried and
mourned came back to life?
In a country town, Sergeant
James Hayes (Patrick
Brammall) is called to
investigate a disturbance at the cemetery.
There he finds open graves and a group
of grubby, confused, naked people. Being
a rational Aussie, he chalks the scene up
to a massive bender, a theory debunked
swiftly when one of them turns out to be
his wife Kate, who died two years ago.
During production, Brammall LIKE THIS,
predicted viewers would “come for the WATCH
corpses, stay for the heartbreak”. He’s THIS
right. Glitch is The Walking Dead meets
A Country Practice — and much more
than the “zombie thriller” it’s been
touted as. The reawakened townsfolk
are not zombies and their resurrection
creates emotional ramifications for
both themselves and those they left THE STRANGE
behind. Why are they there? How and CALLS
when did they die? Why can’t they 2012
leave? Though uniquely Australian, Glitch isn’t Patrick
Glitch feels like it could go up against Brammall’s first foray
the HBO big guns; it feels expensive. into cop vs. weird
And no, it’s nothing like The Returned, goings on. In comedy
a US drama with a similar premise but The Strange Calls he
which veers in a less intriguing plays a dickish
direction. Emotionally grounded Sergeant to a cop
performances, a great grasp on the dealing with bizarre
genre and haunting cinematography nocturnal emergency
make for an eerily plausible plot and calls in a small town.
highly engrossing viewing.
EXTRAS None.
ELIZABETH BEST

BONUS FEATURE

TALKING DEAD
GLITCH’S SHOWRUNNER LOUISE FOX ON RAISING THE DEAD
Humans Where did Glitch’s concept come from? We tried to look at it on YouTube, but none of
★★★★★ [Executive Producer] Tony Ayres and a friend of his originally us spoke French! A few things came along with a
FROM SEPTEMBER 30 / RATED MA15+
came up with the idea, and he brought it to me. The basic similar premise during our development, but we have our
pitch was “six dead people crawl out of their graves in perfect definite points of difference.
This examination of the implications of
health in a small country town”, so we spent some time with
A.I., set in the near future, is an eerie
some other writers fleshing it out, and it was probably the Will there be a second season?
treat, the fate of several rogue ‘Synths’
easiest brainstorming I’ve ever been a part of — the idea was We’d like to think the show is returnable — we haven’t finished
working both as thriller and thoughtful,
incredibly generative, the stories just kept on coming. telling the story. There is definitely a moment at the end of
even touching exploration of what
Season 1 where you go “What the fuck?!”, and I’m a great
‘being’ means. Arguably more
It’s a similar concept to French TV series The Returned… believer in leaving people wanting to know more and what
compelling when it is raising questions
We heard about it about midway through our development. happens next. JJ
than answering them, this is still one of
the freshest British dramas in years. LB

102 SPRING 2015

 103

GHOSTBUSTER
THE ENFIELD HAUNTING’S MATTHEW MACFADYEN ON SPOOKS’N’FACIAL HAIR

What did you know about the story
before being in The Enfield Haunting?
Nothing, nothing at all. The script was
the first I’d read about it. I met the real
Guy Playfair, which was fascinating. I
went along to his flat in Earl’s Court
— he’s very old now but still very
switched on. He played me some
recordings from the house [in Enfield],
which were scary [laughs] but I was
expecting to be more frightened. It was
actually fascinating. He was explaining
how the noises couldn’t have been made
[by humans] because they were analysed
by a sound bod somewhere and they’re
not percussive noises.
In the first episode, you’re thrown across
a bedroom and land next to a poster in
such a way that you look like the third
member of Starsky & Hutch. Was that
deliberate? How was it to shoot?
[Laughs] Yes, it was a poster of them. It
was quite fun [to film]. It was all
harnesses and they’re always very
technical, those things. There’s always
health and safety people shouting, “ARE
YOU OKAY? IS HE ALRIGHT?”
There were three or four stunt guys
trying to lift me in the air and I’m not a
slight man. But it was good fun.
Is it fair to say actors are probably a little
more hardy than people think?
I would agree. Actually, you want to do
your own stunts, but producers get very
worried about it.
Timothy Spall, your co-star, said he was
a little scared of the subject matter.
Where’s your fear threshold?
I wasn’t scared and I wasn’t dismissive of
it either, I tried to keep an open mind. I
felt agnostic about the whole thing,
which seemed right [for the character].
You hear a whole bunch of stories from
sensible people about seeing ghosts and
all that kind of stuff. I hope the show
plays with the idea of what’s real and
what you’re projecting onto things. Am I
doing this or am I being manipulated
into seeing something?
Guy Playfair boasts impressive
sideburns. Are those real?
They are. I kept the same ones
from Ripper Street. Keeley
[Hawes], my wife, kept
saying, “Can’t you just get
stick-on ones?”
And you boasted that even
more impressive moustache in
Anna Karenina.
My children wouldn’t allow
me to walk them to school.
They were disgusted. “You
have to walk behind us, daddy.”
INTERVIEW BY Halt & Catch Fire: S1
PHIL DE SEMLYEN ★★★★★
FROM OCTOBER 8 / RATED M
Arriving on our shores hot on the
heels of Mad Men’s finale, it’s hard not
to compare this fledgling AMC period
drama with its celebrated predecessor.
Both revolve around mysterious,
ambitious master salesmen — here it’s
The Hobbit’s Lee Pace as ’80s PC
innovator Joe MacMillan — against a
(fictionalised) backdrop of an industry
and society rapidly changing. Matching
the sex appeal of Adman Don Draper
sipping an Old Fashioned after a
lunchtime quickie with talk of
motherboards, however, ain’t an easy
sell. Pace is eminently watchable
though, and may wind up giving Jon
Hamm a run for his money yet.
EXTRAS Three featurettes, episode clips.
JIM MITCHELL
The Blacklist: S2
★★★★★
FROM NOVEMBER 12 / RATED TBC

The Enfield Haunting After a first season that promised

★★★★★
FROM NOVEMBER 18 / RATED M
Although the scares are abundant, this
retelling of one of the UK’s most infamous
poltergeist cases (documented in Guy
Playfair’s book This House Is Haunted;
Matthew Macfadyen plays the author
here) is far more than a cheap fright-fest.
Timothy Spall is typically excellent as
paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse (a
man who’s lost a daughter), who seeks to
help terrorised Janet (a girl who’s lost a
father). As much a study of the nature of
grief as a glimpse at the unexplained, it
moves and unsettles in equal measure.
She sees dead people. EXTRAS None.
JAMES JENNINGS
twisty spy drama and delivered
formulaic spy nonsense, Season 2 of
The Blacklist lifts its game a little. Not
at first, however: after the so-so shocks
of the Season 1 climax, things revert
back to a criminal-of-the-week blacklist
hunt while a few sinister subplots
bubble away underneath. But guests
like Peter Stomare and Mary Louise-
Parker keep things interesting while
James Spader’s Red Reddington
continues to act mysterious while
chewing the scenery, and eventually
the subplots develop some real bite. It’ll
never be a great series; at least now it’s
a watchable one.
EXTRAS: Featurettes, behind-the-scenes.
ANTHONY MORRIS

SPRING 2015 103

 104
ALSO OUT
Sleepy Hollow: S2
★★★★★
FROM OCTOBER 28 / RATED MA15+
What started out as a smart, funny,
rapid-fire supernatural thriller bogged
down hard in year two. Fish-out-of-
water jokes and action-packed
monster fighting were replaced by dull,
drawn-out story arcs even a mid-
season course correction couldn’t fix.
Bringing Tom Mison's 18th century
time traveller Ichabod’s true love
Katrina (Katia Winter) to the present
didn’t help. At least Ichabod’s
chemistry with modern-day partner
Abbie (Nicole Beharie) remains strong.
When this remembers it’s a wacky
buddy cop show (with monsters), the
thrills remain.
EXTRAS Featurettes, more.
ANTHONY MORRIS
Sons Of Anarchy: S7
★★★★★
FROM SEPT 23 / RATED MA15+
So Sons Of Anarchy comes to a bloody
close, visiting the sins of the father,
mother, son and virtually every club
member and, well, everyone else within
reasonable killing distance. Show
creator Kurt Sutter’s uber-violent
two-wheeled Shakespearean tragedy
jumped the shark a few seasons back,
devolving into ever-more ridiculous
bikie backstabbing and macho
posturing. But it remained a guilty
pleasure nevertheless, and this
splatter-’em-all final season
satisfactorily nails all the coffin lids
down tight as angsty anti-hero Jax
Teller unleashes spree-killer levels
of psycho revenge, all gloriously
pointless thanks to gnarly old
Gemma’s treachery.
EXTRAS Deleted scenes, more.
MICHAEL ADAMS
104 SPRING 2015
Empire: S1
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED M / CREATORS LEE
DANIELS, DANNY STRONG / CAST TERRENCE
HOWARD, TARAJI P. HENSON, TRAI BYERS,
JUSSIE SMOLLETT, BRYSHERE Y. GRAY
WATCH THE THRONE
THE RISE OF AN
aspiring R&B/hip-hop
musician who deals drugs to
make ends meet to world
famous artist and head of a
multi-million dollar
(fictional) record label that various
devious parties want to control is perfect
fodder for TV drama, co-creators Danny
Strong and Lee Daniels (director of
Precious and The Butler) milking the
concept to maximum effect. In a real-life
parallel to the show’s arc, Empire started
as a humble mid-season replacement and
rose up to become the highest rated
scripted program in the 2014-2015 U.S.
television season, inspiring its very own
power struggle (Marvin Gaye’s son
Marvin Gaye III is filing a lawsuit
against Daniels and Fox claiming the
idea was stolen from him). A dramatic
development to be sure, but nothing to
compare to the backstabbing, betrayal
and delicious melodrama of the show’s
wildly successful first season.
Besides a particularly ripe concept,
the show’s other major strength is the
cast: Terrence Howard perfectly captures
the rags to riches to reality-averse
megalomania of Empire Entertainment
CEO Lucious Lyon, a man diagnosed
with ALS who has to decide which of his
“I though I was doing
the ‘shawooby-
dooby-doo-wop’!”
three sons — business savvy, bipolar
Andre (Trai Byers); gay, musically LIKE THIS,
talented Jamal (Jussie Smollett) or WATCH
hotheaded aspiring rapper Hakeem THIS
(Bryshere Y. Gray) — will inherit Empire
once he steps down from the throne.
Smollett and Gray sell their musical
performances adroitly (and Byers is
convincing as a powder-keg set to
explode), but the real star of the show is
Howard’s Hustle & Flow co-star Taraji P. POWER
Henson as the boys’ recently-released 2014 — PRESENT
from-prison mother, Cookie Lyon: a shit Produced by Curtis “50
talking, tough as nails tornado who Cent” Jackson, this
recalibrates any scene she’s in into The rags to riches tale tells
Cookie Show, and Empire is all the better the story of an NYC
for it. It’s a feat that even a regular slew drug dealer/nightclub
of big name guest stars — Cuba owner trying to go
Gooding Jr., Naomi Campbell, Jennifer legit and presumably
Hudson, Snoop Dogg, even Courtney get rich (or die tryin’).
Love — can do nothing to dim the
electric charge that Henson produces
whenever she’s on screen.
There’s no doubt that the world of
Empire is a heightened one, but for the
first half of the season the double-
dealing melodrama is believable enough.
Things derail as the season pulls to a
thoroughly over the top close, however,
when the main characters switch
allegiances with such rapid regularity
that it becomes almost impossible to
keep track of who hates who and why
(co-creator Strong has likened the show
to a cross between King Lear and
Dynasty, but by the final episode it
resembles the latter far more than the
former). Still, it’s an imminently
watchable hip-hop soap opera that may
not have jumped the shark just yet, but
has certainly measured the distance
needed to clear it for future reference.
EXTRAS Uncut musical performances,
fearturettes, music videos.
JAMES JENNINGS
 BLUFF YOUR BOX SET

SPOILER
ALERT!

STAR WARS Hannibal and co. rocking

REBELS
their Sunday best.

Hannibal: S3 lurid beginning to television’s most

outlandishly nightmarish show and things
AS THE FORCE AWAKENS, GET TO GRIPS only get more extreme. The body count
WITH THE SMALL-SCREEN SMASH HIT. ★★★★★ soars, the murders somehow grow more
IT’S NOT JUST FOR KIDS! FROM STREAMING NOW / DISCS JAN 13, 2016 / appalling (death by eel, anyone?), the
RATED TBC / DEVELOPED BY BRYAN FULLER / relationship between Hannibal and Will
WORDS NICK DE SEMLYEN CAST HUGH DANCY, MADS MIKKELSEN, Graham (Dancy) becomes all-consuming,
GILLIAN ANDERSON and eventually the series gets around to
where it all began with a (very) loose
1 4 7
adaptation of the first Hannibal Lecter
DO SAY: DON’T SAY: DO SAY: SILENCED BY THE RATINGS novel, Red Dragon. The days of Hannibal
“Showrunner “Freddie Prinze “Did you clock being a police procedural are long gone:
David Filoni Jr.’s voicework David Oyelowo’s garishly flamboyant, full of surreal
recently was way better voice as Imperial AFTER MAYBE (OR imagery and unforgettable horrors, this is
confirmed that as Future Jim and spy Agent Kallus? maybe not) murdering the one of the strangest, most beautiful and
a clone trooper Future Tim in Kim He has a dream entire main cast at the end bizarrely compelling series ever made.
could outgun Possible: A Sitch and it involves of Season 2, we find Always on a knife-edge ratings-wise,
a stormtrooper. Of In Time. And feeding dodgy Hannibal (Mikkelsen) it’s a wonder it lasted three seasons. But
course, a Koopa I don’t care what intel to Bothans.” hiding in plain sight in those three seasons – this one especially
Troopa could take anyone says to Rome, his shrink-hostage-lover — were perfect.
them both out.” the contrary.” (Anderson) watching on as he murders EXTRAS TBC.
8
his way to a plumb museum job. It’s a AM
DON’T SAY:
2 5
“Nobody cares
DON’T SAY: DO SAY: what happened
“They’ve gone a “The design for between Sith and
bit overboard with hefty hero Zeb A New Hope.
the CGI this time, was based on I want to know
haven’t they?” Ralph McQuarrie’s how Caravan Of
original concept Courage links to
art for Chewbacca. the Holiday
3
He looks like Special.”
DO SAY: a Ribena Berry
“The second on steroids.”
9
season is
getting darker, DO SAY:
6
which makes “This is the first
sense since it’s DON’T SAY: time we’ve seen American Horror Story: Cabinet Of Curiosities’ in 1952, this poses
got lots of “Spinning the planet Kessel Freak Show S4 the question “who are the real freaks?” (if
references to lightsabers are all on screen. With ★★★★★ you guessed “normal people”, you win)
The Empire well and good, slave-operated FROM OCTOBER 8 / RATED R18+ while padding out numerous barely-related
Strikes Back. but I highly doubt spice mines and plots with the usual mix of murder, sex,
We even get they’d pass a population of After a largely scare-free third season, stunning visuals, guest stars, and mildly
Mr. Throat- Imperial health energy spiders, it’s American Horror Story brings out the big startling jump scares. Real tension is in
Chokey himself, and safety not doing so well guns: an evil clown. There’s also musical short supply; guess gore will have to do.
Darth Vader.” regulations.” on TripAdvisor.” numbers (covering David Bowie and EXTRAS A slew of featurettes including Two
Nirvana), which are scary in a different Heads Are Better Than One and Twisty:
STAR WARS REBELS S1 IS OUT NOW ON BD AND DVD. way. Set in circus sideshow ‘Fraulein Elsa’s Behind The Mask of Terror. AM

SPRING 2015 105

 106
ALSO OUT
Mr. Robot
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED MA15+
Anxious hacker Elliot (Rami Malek) joins
Christian Slater’s Mr. Robot’s cyber
takedown of Evil Corporation in order
to save the world. Thrilling, funny and
sharply written and acted, with boss
cinematography and soundtrack, this is
a scathing depiction of a world where
one percenter oligarchs and politicians
screw over the debt-slaved masses. MA
Bloodline
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED MA15+
Fact: this Netflix potboiler sounds less
than gripping. Adult siblings squabble
while family mysteries snowball.
Shrug. But from the first episode’s
brazen glimpse of where we’re going, a
freshened batch of intrigue heats up.
Ben Mendelsohn steals it. His ruthless
but empathic prodigal brother glues
everything together. BM
Sense8
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED MA15+
It might read like Heroes 2.0, but the
Wachowskis’ superhuman series is a
more subtle beast. Eight strangers,
psychically linked, pop in and out of
each other’s minds at will. The whys and
hows are explored and a conspiracy
unravels, but that takes a back seat to
eight discrete character dramas that
stand up just as well on their own. JD
106 SPRING 2015
CATCH-UP
iZombie
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED M / CREATORS DIANE
RUGGIERO, ROB THOMAS / CAST ROSE
MCIVER, MALCOLM GOODWIN, RAHUL KOHLI
IN THE FLESH
A GOODY-TWO-SHOES
medical resident slums it at
a party only to become a
victim of a zombie
outbreak. Now Liv Moore
(geddit?) is dead — well,
undead — and, fearing the damage she
may do to her loved ones, breaks up with
her Ken-doll fiancé Major, distances
herself from her family and takes a job
in the morgue, where she can access
post-mortem brains. This show turns
zombie tropes on their head; Liv isn’t the
B-grade monster we’re used to; she’s not
a decaying oaf slurring for braiiiins — in
fact, other than her albino chic
makeunder, Liv seems totally normal.
And as long as she keeps eating grey
matter she’ll stay that way. As a bonus,
UnREAL
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED MA15+ / CREATORS MARTI
NOXON, SARAH GERTRUDE SHAPIROX / CAST
SHIRI APPLEBY, CONSTANCE ZIMMER
PLASTIC FANTASTIC
IF YOU LOVE THE
Bachelor, look away lest
your dreams be shattered:
it’s not real. That’s the
premise of UnREAL, a
blacker-than-black dramedy
that unveils the mechanics behind
making car-crash television at its finest.
And with former Bachelor producer
Sarah Gertrude Shapiro at the helm,
there’s more than a kernel of truth in the
neverending parade of fakeness. It
follows producers of The Bachelor — er,
sorry, “Everlasting” — on their quest to
pair up a suitor with his perfect Barbie
doll — er, sorry, wife. Cutthroat
showrunner Quinn “cash bonuses for
nudity, 911 calls and catfights” King
(Zimmer) is relentless in her pursuit of
“When I said stick
it to the man…”
devouring flesh gives her flashes of her LIKE THIS,
meal’s memories that just so happen to WATCH THIS
help her solve crime. Based on a comic,
iZombie’s rapid-fire wit and pop-culture
references will appeal to fans of the
Whedonverse; its weekly murder
mystery/overarching conspiracy format
will satisfy lovers of crime procedurals;
and the whole zombie thing has a
ready-made audience. iZombie feels DEAD SET
Buffy-like in its ability to mine the 2008
comedy in dramatic situations without Despise reality TV?
trivialising them. It’s bubble-gum What better way to
confection with a hot-sauce kick and the celebrate your hatred
end of Season 1 will have you crying for than to watch vapid Big
more brains. Brother contestants
EXTRAS None. have their grey matter
ELIZABETH BEST eaten by zombies.
“Stare off!”
the perfect storyline — whether it
happened or not. What follows is a
manipulation melee, as producers cajole
contestants to say what they need to
manufacture fireworks. Witty one
moment, soul-crushing the next,
UnREAL is so nasty it’s delicious. Even
if you do feel the need to scrub yourself
clean in the shower after each episode.
EXTRAS None.
EB
Daredevil: S1
★★★★★
FROM NOW / RATED MA15+ / CREATORS BILL
EVERETT, DREW GODDARD / CAST CHARLIE
COX, DEBORAH ANN WOLL, ELDEN HENSON,
VINCENT D’ONOFRIO
BLIND JUSTICE
IN THE WAKE OF BEN
Affleck’s abysmal Daredevil
film and the Marvel
Cinematic Universe empire
reigning supreme over the
world of comics, it seemed
very unlikely that an honest Daredevil
reboot could take place. However,
Everett and Goddard’s Daredevil Netflix
series has not only hit the nail on the
head, given much credit and triumphant
justice to the Man without Fear, but has
opened up a much darker side to the
MCU that no one could have seen
coming. Daredevil is the perfect vigilante
story, taking considerable pointers not
from the MCU wheel method of story,
but from Nolan’s Batman trilogy. The
THE DETAIL IN DAREDEVIL
SHOWRUNNER STEVEN S. DEKNIGHT ON MARVEL’S BLIND VIGILANTE, BINGE-WATCHING AND THE MCU
Daredevil hooks you from the get-go and
feels like a completely new corner of the
MCU. Is that something you set out to do?
Absolutely. I always give Marvel huge
kudos for taking this kind of risk, because
there’s absolutely no reason. They
certainly didn’t need to take this risk,
things were working out very well for
them. But to say, ‘Yeah, there are
characters that lend themselves to a
darker corner of the cinematic universe,
so let’s experiment with them and see if it
works.’ So we went off to do a gritty,
grounded crime drama that lends itself to
Daredevil and we couldn’t be more
thrilled that they let us do it.
How much did the binge-watching steer the
storytelling? Did it give you the confidence
to have a character disappear for several
episodes, knowing people wouldn’t forget
who they were?
It definitely influenced the way I
approached the story. I didn’t feel like if
“That is not how you
parallel park!”
world of Hell’s Kitchen is not riddled
with villains bent on world domination
who die only to be resurrected later, nor
features humorous Stan Lee cameos and
incessant references to the films (though
there are some quick, digestible nods in
this series).
Rather, it is a grounded story of a city
riddled with injustice thanks to the events
of the first Avengers film in NYC, taking
the eyes of the world off low-level crime,
sending one blind lawyer with hyper
senses, Matthew Murdock (Charlie Cox),
to try and cure it. Cox provides a stellar
performance as the man in red, providing
wit, intelligence, and some tremendous
you brought a character in, you have to
bring them in again. You can wait. With
the introduction of Wilson Fisk, the fact
that we could wait three episodes and just
talk about him until you saw him
wouldn’t have been nearly as effective if
you saw him week by week.
The show is brutal. Was that influenced by
things like The Raid?
Oh yeah. I came into it and said, ‘We have
this gritty, grounded world and I want to
do the same thing for the action’,
referencing Oldboy, The Raid 1 and 2, the
Bourne movies, to make it more visceral
and really feel the hits. Marvel let us do it,
they let us push how we portray the
violence in relation to the MCU. That
makes people feel it’s a little more violent
than it is. Having done Spartacus, my level
of violence is very, very high. I didn’t
want to go there. The end of episode 4,
with the decapitation by car door, you
never actually see the door swinging into
athleticism in the realistic fight sequences
peppered throughout the series. These
gritty punch-ups balance gory, bone-
breaking action with stealthy takedowns
that would put the Dark Knight to shame.
Cox is surrounded by a solid supporting
cast, but Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk
deserves special praise as the 100 per cent
not-to-be-fucked-with organised crime
boss, disguised as an honest businessman
poised to “save” his city.
Captain America isn’t going to hire
Daredevil for his Civil War any time soon,
but maybe instead he’s the hero we need.
EXTRAS None.
DANNY MACKENZIE
his head and crushing his skull, you see INTERVIEW BY
the result and at the end of episode 3 with CHRIS HEWITT
the bowling ball, you never see the impact
but you see the splatter and the rest is left
to your imagination. But we did want to
have a certain level of violence. You will
see bones poking through skin here and
there and Matt gets bloodied up. I could
not be more thrilled that
tha Marvel wanted
to roll the dice. It seems like a no-brainer
now that the show is successful,
suc but it was
completely new and this could backfire..
Can Matt Murdock and Daredevil fit into
the movies?
I would love to see that happen. I would
be shocked if it happened
happene in Civil War.r I
would love to see Daredevil
Dared pop up in
some of these movies down
do the line.
Obviously when you sign
sig a contract
with Marvel as an actor,
actor you sign a
multi-year contract for movies,
m
television, everything, so I
hope it happens.
S
SPRING
G 2015
0 5 107
07
 Russell ‘Stringer’ Bell (Idris Elba)
and Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris)
talkin’ ‘the game’ in The Wire.

108 SPRING 2015


The Wire
2002-2008 / RATED MA15+
PIONEERING ‘TELEVISION NOVEL’ AS GOOD AS IT GETS
HERE IT IS: THE WIRE
is the best police procedural
ever played on television, but
so much more: it’s a life
procedural, each season
examining segments of Baltimore at the
point of commerce, power and crisis. The
murder-rife drug trade and police
response (Seasons 1, 3), the demise of
working waterfronts (S2), the ethical
compromise and fiscal nightmare of
municipal government (S4, 5), the
dollars-starved education system failing
to equip kids for the world (S4), and the
dearth of journalism in a digitally-
induced downsizing age (S5). Forget
Game Of Thrones, this is world-building
and Greek tragedy of complete scope,
and, through it all, corruption small and
large, consequential and deep. That
Baltimore is a microcosm of an America
and Western world at the point of ruin
goes without saying.
It’s a dizzyingly bleak world view, but
creators David Simon and Ed Burns
ensure that over the 60 episodes, the full
human experience is laid out in the
details: characters love, fight, scheme,
laugh and hope, no matter their
circumstances. Heroes are utterly jaded,
brutal villains want more, the good are
desperate to effect change but brutalised
by either violence or bureaucracy to
completely dilute any real hope. Our entry
is ostensibly through Jimmy McNulty
(Dominic West) — the bright, fearless,
boozin’, screwin’ cop determined to take
down murderous Avon Barksdale (Wood
Harris) and Stringer Bell’s (Idris Elba)
retail drug operation. But the ensemble
rapidly expands to the estate kids selling
drugs and the echelons of police and
beyond. The intensity makes it sexy
(death and power often is), empathetic,
and often hilarious; in one scene,
Detectives ‘Bunk’ Moreland (Wendell
Pierce) and McNulty expertly investigate
a murder scene, each forensic discovery
punctuated by a drawled “Fu-u-ck.” As
David Simon told The New Yorker, “The
Wire was never a cop show. We were
planning to move further and further out,
to build a whole city.”
Simon and Burns came into cop
storytelling from the perfect
MASTERPIECE #04
WORDS DANIEL MURPHY
backgrounds: Simon a reporter
on The Baltimore Sun, Burns a character and
casting, it’s
city homicide detective. Like
Michael Mann’s Heat (which
began life as movie length
TV-pilot L.A. Takedown) the pair
honed the milieu of The Wire with
previous incarnations — the seven
seasons of the fine network TV
Homicide: Life On The Street and, more
notably, the acclaimed 1996 mini-series
The Corner. They conceived the five
seasons as a whole narrative, each
episode a chapter in what Simon told his
friend writer-producer George Pelecanos
was, “a novel for television… about the
social aspects of crime.” Thus, it became
the first show to dispense with a
villain-of-the-week pillar, opting only for
long story arcs that combine like fibre.
As a marriage of scripts, characters,
casting and film-craft, it’s nigh on perfect.
Fully realised characters are fleshed out
by a stellar cast — many of them children
— and concreted into reality by a
supporting cast of non-actors often
picked from the streets, classrooms and
news desks of the city itself. Half of the
old stagers filing copy at desks on the
show’s Baltimore Sun in S5 are David
Simon’s colleagues from his days on the
actual paper. And how many shows have
a character based on a real person, who
then plays another recurring supporting
role? Delaney Williams plays homicide
Sgt. Jay Landsman; the real Jay
Landsman plays Lt. Dennis Mello. Meta!
The filmmaking is first-rate.
Camera-work eschewed the prevalent
handheld and jump-cuts of cop shows at
the time, instead focussing on a more
filmic, leisurely linger on conversations.
Meanwhile the Baltimore location is the
apex of a cliché — a character in itself. It
seems like barely a back-alley has been
unused in the quest for verisimilitude. An
example of the kind of hyper-attention-
to-detail found in every minute of the
show is in the new Blu-ray transfer. Shot
in 4:3 aspect ratio mainly because it was
cheaper, the adjustment to high-def 16:9
meant over 100 shots have been adjusted
in an attempt to maintain the visual
metaphor first envisaged. A special
mention should go to the use of Tom
109
“As a
marriage
of script,
perfect.”
Waits’s Way Down In The Hole as the
opening credits theme song, each season
by a different artist: The Blind Boys Of
Alabama (S1), Waits (S2), The Neville
Brothers (S3), DoMaJe (a group of
Baltimore teens recruited from a local
choir; S4), and Steve Earle (who also
plays Bubbles’s sponsor Walon; S5).
Like much of the output from initial
HBO’s golden bloom — The Sopranos,
Oz, et al. — it confounded free-to-air
stations here. The density of the dialogue,
with note-perfect argots — whether in a
cop briefing, mayoral budget meeting, or
power wrangle in the drug-trade — and
intricate long-form plotting meant that,
more than any other show, catching an
episode out of context was baffling. And
it takes time, caring less for the
expectations of the audience than it does
for the delivery of the story and that
story’s complete authenticity. Slow-burn,
intense and crammed with busy, coded
dialect, it’s the ultimate binge-watch.
Season 5 takes perilous leave of
reality as McNulty and Lester Freamon
(Clarke Peters) fabricate murders to free
up city funds so they can finalise a drug
case, while a crooked journalist fabricates
stories at The Sun only to win the Pulitzer.
Simon and Burns’s wearily cynical “Fuck
you!” to power is a smarmy flourish at
odds with the sober realism in the other
four seasons. But the power of the
statement after five seasons illustrating
how money corrupts all, how power
murders reform, how parents fail their
children, how the system is forfeiting all
but those willing to get arse-up,
head-down in the trough… “Fuck you”
may be the only thing to say.
You feel me?
SPRING 2015 109
 110 HARDWARE
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
INSIDE THE SUBSCRIPTION VIDEO-ON-DEMAND PLAYERS, DEALS,
DOS-DON’TS-CANS-AND-CAN’TS IN A POST-NETFLIX WORLD WORDS BENNETT RING
T
HE MOMENT EMPIRETV
readers have all been waiting for has
finally arrived. After years of “Surely
it’ll land next year…”, Netflix has
arrived in Australia, delivering a
library of crisp HD movies and TV over your
broadband internet connection for a small monthly
fee. It’s known as a Video-On-Demand (VOD)
service, because viewers can watch anything on the
service, whenever they want (hence “on demand”).
There’s no need to pop down the DVD store in your
PJs in the pouring rain. With Australia about to
implement a tough ‘three strikes and you’re out’
policy towards illegal movie downloads (you’ll get
two warnings — the third will likely be a fine), the
range of VODs couldn’t have come at a better time.
Netflix
PRICE $8.99 FOR SINGLE STANDARD DEFINITION STREAM; $11.99 FOR TWO HIGH DEFINITION STREAMS; $14.99 FOR FOUR
4K RESOLUTION STREAMS / SIZE OF LIBRARY (HOURS) MOVIES 2161; TV 5342
THERE IS NO DENYING THAT NETFLIX HAS
the best user experience of all four services, and it
can even be used to show off your shiny new 4K TV,
provided you can actually find a 4K show (there
aren’t many). You’ll also need a rather fast internet
connection to suck down that 4K single — Netflix
recommends at least a 20Mbps connection, which
most ADSL2+ connections don’t come close to. The
service has a healthy range of shows, with Netflix
original titles such as House Of Cards and Orange Is
The New Black being its main strength, but it’s
lacking the big name shows found elsewhere.
110 SPRING 2015
With the arrival of the biggest VOD supplier in the
world, the Aussie online video subscription scene is
set for a massive shakeup. But which one is the best
value, or the best fit for your unique viewing
circumstances? Let’s find out.
We have to thank http://gyde.tv for coming up
with a way to see exactly how much content each
VOD service offers. They see which services are
hosting each piece of content, and also supplied us
with accurate information on the overall size of each
service. In the following reviews, library length refers
to the total number of hours of content currently
hosted by each service at time of writing, split
between movies and TV series, and accurate as of
August 2015. (Presto did not want their most recent
figures shared, so we’re using Presto data from May.)
Unfortunately the library is nowhere near as big as
the US version, which is roughly six times the size,
for a similar price! Tech-savvy users can unlock
access to this by using a VPN service, which costs
around $5 per month — Google will show you just
how easy it is to set up, but it is a legally grey area to
do so. Netflix recently announced that it will allow
Aussies to see the full global library of content
sometime in 2016, when its unique country-based
services are all rolled into one, international service.
As of June, Netflix had a whopping 1.039 million
subscribers in Australia.
TOP 5 TIPS FOR CHOOSING
YOUR VOD SUBSCRIPTION
VOD movies are usually
1
streamed rather than
downloaded. This allows the viewer to
start watching the movie within
seconds of picking their film or TV
show. However, streaming still eats up
a huge chunk of data; expect a 90
minute HD movie to gobble anywhere
between 2GB and 5GB. With most
Australians stuck with internet plans
that have a data limit, it’s easy to chew
through that limit if you are going to
watch lots of VOD content. You’ll need
to either change to a more expensive,
unlimited internet plan, or use a VOD
service that is “Zero-Rated” for
downloads with your ISP. This means
anything you download over your VOD
service doesn’t count towards your
data cap. For example, Netflix is
zero-rated for customers of Optus,
iiNet and iiNet’s subsidiaries (with
some exclusions though; satellite
customers aren’t covered by the
Zero-Rating).
How many people in your house
2
will be using the service at the
same time? Some services allow you
to pay more to stream to more devices
simultaneously, allowing the kids to
watch The Lego Movie downstairs
while Mum and Dad research Fifty
Shades Of Grey in their bedroom.
What kind of content do you
3
want to watch? Each VOD service
draws its content from different local
partners. One might excel at new
release movies, while another is
excellent for children’s content. Some
services favour TV series over movies.
4
Only Netflix currently offers 4K
content, but thankfully most
offer HD content as a standard. Notice
we said most, as Presto unfortunately
sticks with SD. Also check to make
sure it’ll work on your intended device;
some services have better support for
tablets and gaming consoles, while
others have more widespread
SmartTV support.
Don’t be afraid to try before you
5
buy. Many of the services offer a
free introductory month, which is the
perfect way to dig into their digital
delights without getting tied into yet
another monthly subscription.
Stan
PRICE $10 PER MONTH FOR THREE HIGH DEFINITION STREAMS / SIZE OF LIBRARY (HOURS) MOVIES 2088; TV 5665
STAN HAS A LIBRARY LARGER THAN
Netflix’s, coming in at 7753 hours in total. It’s a
quality line-up as well: Amazon shows Transparent
and Better Call Saul, plus new Sherlock from the
BBC and delivering blockbusters like the LOTR and
The Hunger Games series. Plus, it’s delved into new
homegrown material with No Activity; next year is
the TV series for Wolf Creek. The interface is almost
Presto
PRICE $9.99 FOR TWO STANDARD DEFINITION STREAMS OF EITHER MOVIES OR TV (NOT BOTH). $14.99 FOR TWO
STANDARD DEFINITION STREAMS OF BOTH MOVIES AND TV / SIZE OF LIBRARY (HOURS) MOVIES 1561; TV 2448
(AS OF MAY)
PRESTO IS A SPIN-OFF OF FOXTEL AND
Seven West Media, and sits around the middle of
the pack in terms of library size, with a total of
4009 hours of content ready to go. Sadly it’s all in
Standard Definition, i.e. DVD quality, whereas
every other service offers HD for many of their
shows. The one ace up Presto’s sleeve is a deal
with HBO, hosting 15 different HBO shows
as easy to use as Netflix’s, and it’s compatible with a
wide range of devices, including Apple and Android
Tablets, AppleTV, ChromeCast and mobile phones.
Quality varies depending on how fast your internet
connection is; 6.5Mbps will give you a shiny 1080p
HD image, while a mere 3.5Mbps is required for the
still-sharp 720p resolution. In May, Stan had 91,000
customers. Expect this to have climbed considerably.
including the Aussie exclusive of Boardwalk
Empire. It’s also got Showtime on board, which
brings Deadwood, Dexter and other titles to the
service. One of the newest series on the service is
Mr. Robot, a fantastic techno-thriller. A free 30
day trial allows punters to try Presto before
signing up for a subscription. As of May this year,
Presto had 97,000 Aussie customers.
MORE CONTENT,
LESS PIRACY
NOW THAT AUSSIES HAVE CHEAPER, FASTER
access to content, surely our world-
leading piracy rates would start to drop,
right? Fiona Phillips, Executive Director
at the Australian Copyright Council,
believes that it’s just one facet in
fighting the war on illegal downloads.
She says, “Availability of content in a
timely manner and at a reasonable
price is certainly a key aspect in
addressing online copyright
infringement. But it is not the whole
picture. Having appropriate laws in
place and addressing community
attitudes is also important.” On the
matter of Netflix having less content
than our US cousins, she believes that
it’s “… more likely to affect people’s use
of VPNs to access content from
overseas rather than out-and-out
piracy.” The Council has a PDF available
for download that tries to clear up the
grey area around VPNs, yet we found it
ultimately confusing. It can be
downloaded from:
http://www.copyright.org.au/acc_prod/ACC/
Information_Sheets/Geo-blocking__VPNs___
Copyright.aspx?WebsiteKey=8a471e74-3f78-
4994-9023-316f0ecef4ef
SPRING 2015 111
 112
FOXTEL FACES VOD FOES

WITH NETFLIX SOARING TO OVER A MILLION

subscribers since its Aussie launch in
March, one company in particular is
surely feeling the pressure — Foxtel. Yet
as of August this year, Foxtel still had
2.8 million Aussie subscribers, growing
by 9 per cent over the previous year
despite the arrival of Netflix. Bruce
Meagher, Group Director of Corporate
Affairs, Foxtel, believes there’s plenty of
scope for everyone. “Foxtel is a
premium service offering a lot more to
subscribers, including live sport, news,
the most recent dramas from Australia
and overseas, whereas Netflix serves as Quickflix
PRICE $9.99 FOR STREAMING PACKAGE (THREE HIGH DEFINITION STREAMS); PREMIUM NEW RELEASE MOVIES $5.99 TO
an add-on to free-to-air users who don’t
RENT; PREMIUM NEW RELEASE TV EPISODES FROM $2.99 / SIZE OF LIBRARY (HOURS) MOVIES 1003; TV 1917
watch much TV. We expect both Foxtel
and SVOD to grow and in time the
majority of Australians will have one or QUICKFLIX IS AN ODD ONE, AS IT HAS THE but you’ll pay for the privilege. Think of this as a
the other or both.” least amount of streaming content, but allows replacement for your local DVD store, whereas the
He echoed the concerns of the viewers to rent new-release films for $5.99 a pop. As other services are more like signing up for a cable
Australian Copyright Council regarding such, it has by far the most current range of TV channel. Quickflix had 43,000 Aussie customers
piracy, stating that government support blockbuster films, with over 60,000 movies on offer, as of May.
is as important as better access. “As
evidenced by the music industry, it
takes more than content availability. We
need more than just a market based
approach, [with] regulations that
support the creative industry.”

TELSTRA TV

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT WE WERE WELL

served by digital video suppliers, along
comes Telstra with its own dedicated
offering called Telstra TV. Arriving in
September, it’s a mish-mash of existing
services, offering Presto, Stan and
Netflix, alongside current catch-up TV
services from our free-to-air channels.
There will even be new release films
from the BigPond movies service. We’re
guessing each service will come with its
own price tag, and it’ll all be served to
customers on a Roku media streamer.
Stay tuned for more info once it hits
Foxtel Play
PRICE GENRE PACKS: $25 FOR ONE, $35 FOR TWO, $45 FOR THREE, $50 FOR FOUR. PREMIUM PACKS AN
Telstra stores.
ADDITIONAL $20 FOR PREMIUM MOVIES OR $25 FOR SPORTS / SIZE OF LIBRARY (HOURS) N/A

ACCORDING TO FOXTEL, ITS ONLINE major issue — all content is streamed at SD

VOD-service offers almost identical content to
the cable/satellite based service, which probably
explains why it’s by far the most expensive
service in the roundup. However, unlike its other
services, Play doesn’t require a lock-in contract,
and this flexibility will likely make it much more
appealing. Unfortunately it’s also got another
resolution. In this day and age of 4K TVs, SD
simply isn’t good enough, and it looks very
average even when running on a standard HD
TV. Considering the high price, Foxtel really
needs to pull its finger out and upgrade to
HD as a minimum. As of May this year, Play
had 40,000 subscribers.

112 SPRING 2015


GIVEAWAYS
WIN! Sons Of Anarchy: The Complete
Series Deluxe Blu-ray Boxset
TO CELEBRATE THE CLIMATIC SEASON OF THE AWESOME SONS OF
Anarchy, we have 10 copies of the complete season to
give away. That’s all seven seasons, on a whopping 23
Blu-ray discs, plus over 13 hours of extras, packaged in a
deluxe collector’s case! Rev up your engines, put on
your leather jacket and enter now!
TO WIN, TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE SONS OF
ANARCHY MOMENT IS, AND WHY.
WIN! Aquarius
on DVD
FOX MULDER, OR DAVID DUCHOVNY, TAKES ON CHARLES MANSON
in this ’60s set cop show that uses the backdrop of the
swinging decade to get all groovy and procedural. Turn
on, tune in, drop out and enter to win the first season
on DVD. You dig?
TO WIN, TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE TV COP SHOW IS, AND WHY.
WIN! Starsky And Hutch: The
Complete Series on DVD
IN THE ’70S, STARSKY AND HUTCH RULED THE TV DETECTIVE
roost. Cardigan models David Soul and Paul Michael
Glaser, and their red and white 1975 Ford Gran Torino,
became poster icons the world over. To see how cool
they were, win one of 10 DVD boxsets.
TO WIN, TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE ’70S SHOW IS, AND WHY.
WIN! Farscape: The
Complete Series
SHOT IN SYDNEY, WITH MONSTERS BY THE JIM
Henson Creature Workshop, Farscape
re-invented the classic sci-fi TV show
formula. Oh, and it had an alien called Rygel
that farts helium. Ten BD sets up for grabs.
TO WIN, TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE SCI-FI TV SHOW IS, AND WHY.
WIN! Glitch
on DVD
FUNNY GUY PATRICK BRAMMALL PUTS HIS SERIOUS HAT ON PLAYING A
small town Aussie cop who is called to the local cemetery
when six dead people have risen from the grave in perfect
health. Why is it happening? Is it a conspiracy? Find out
why by bagging one of 10 DVDs.
TO WIN, TELL US WHICH DEAD TV CHARACTER YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE BACK, AND WHY.
HOW TO ENTER
To win any of these prizes, email us at empiregiveaways@bauer-media.com.au, write the prize in the subject line, your preferred format if there are both DVD or
Blu-ray options and complete the answer in 25 words or less, not forgetting to include your contact details. All competitions are open to both Australian and New
Zealander Empire readers. Entries close January 3, 2016. For conditions of entry visit www.bauer-media.com.au/terms/competition-terms
GIVEAWAYS 113
WIN! The Enfield Haunting
on DVD
GET READY TO HIDE BEHIND THE COUCH, THINGS ARE GOING TO
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SPRING 2015 113

CLASSIC SCENE
Twin Peaks:
The First
Visit To The
Red Room
(S1, E2)
1990
“I KNOW WHO KILLED
LAURA PALMER!”
SETTING THE SCENE After retiring to his
hotel room, Agent Cooper (Kyle
MacLachlan) falls asleep and Twin Peaks
took a twisted, historic turn. Audiences
drawn into the mystery of who killed
Laura Palmer began to freak out: this
was no simple whodunit. Rather, it was a
dark journey into the crazed brain of
David Lynch, and after this dream
sequence ended the second episode,
television was never the same again.
INT. RED-DRAPED ROOM
We see a large, windowless, sparsely
furnished, red-draped room with a table
and three easy chairs. Dale Cooper, 25
years older, sits in one of the chairs. Next
114 SPRING 2015
to it is a coffee table with a model of
Saturn. The Man From Another Place
— a small man in a red suit, a little over a
metre tall — stands with his back to
Cooper, shaking violently. Two of the easy
chairs are close together. A beautiful
young woman who looks exactly like
Laura Palmer sits across from Cooper in
one of the chairs.
Cooper stares at the beautiful woman and
she stares back at him. He turns to look
at The Man From Another Place. He
stops shaking, turns to Cooper and claps
his hands once.
The Man From Another Place: Let’s rock!
He moves over and sits in a chair beside
the beautiful woman, then closes his eyes
and rubs his hands slowly together,
producing a ringing sound.
Cooper looks at the beautiful woman, who
is still staring at him. She smiles
enigmatically, then slowly puts a finger to
the side of her nose and then lowers her
hand, almost pointing at him as it drops.
As The Man From Another Place rubs his
hands, a shadow of a bird passes in the
background behind the red drapes.
Both The Man from Another Place and
the beautiful woman’s speech is oddly
stilted, but Cooper’s is normal. The Man
From Another Place stops rubbing his
hands, opens his eyes and turns to Cooper.
The Man From Another Place: I’ve got
good news! That gum you like is going
to... come back in style.
Cooper quietly listens and turns to the
beautiful woman. The Man From Another LIKE THIS,
WATCH
Place turns to look at the woman, then
back to Cooper. THIS
The Man From Another Place: She’s my
cousin... but doesn’t she look... almost
exactly like Laura Palmer?
Cooper: But it is Laura Palmer. Are you
Laura Palmer?
NORTHERN
Beautiful woman: I feel like I know her, EXPOSURE
[distressed] but sometimes my arms (1990-1995)
bend back. For a more
mainstream slice
The Man From Another Place: She’s of 1990s quirk, this
filled with secrets. Where we’re from, the comedy about
birds sing a pretty song... and there’s small town life
always music in the air. above the Arctic
Circle pulls laughs
Strange saxophone music filters into the and heartstrings.
air. The Man From Another Place hops
off the chair and begins to do a strange
dance. A light strobes The beautiful
woman rises, goes over, and gently kisses
Cooper on the mouth. She then softly
whispers something in his ear.
INT. DALE COOPER’S HOTEL
ROOM — NIGHT
Cooper shoots up out of bed, waking from
the strange dream. He turns on the light,
fumbles for the phone and dials.
Cooper: Harry, it’s Cooper, meet me for
breakfast, 7:00am, at the hotel lobby. I
know who killed Laura Palmer. [Replying
to unheard conversation] No, this can wait
till morning.
He hangs up and starts to snap his fingers
to the sound of the music from his dream.
 Available 7 th October

9 Chilling Classics From The

“Master of Menace”

Strong horror
themes and
violence

AVAILABLE AT
* available at selected stores only
 *

Image: Production still from AFTRS student film Moth. Photo by Regis Lansic.
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AND
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