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Kristen Stewart suits up for battle in ‘Snow White’

Posted by  on 26 July 2011, 12:39 pm

Kristen StewartKristen Stewart dons armor and wields a huge sword and shield for her next movie. Rest assured, it will not be your mother and father’s Snow White.

Stewart joined other cast and crew Saturday at the Comic-Con fan convention for a preview of next year’s “Snow White and the Huntsman,” an action-packed twist on the fairy tale.

The “Twilight” star told a Comic-Con crowd that doing a sweet, traditional Snow White was not something “I was jumping at.” What attracted her was that this Snow White was a bold leader with her feet firmly on the ground. “Also, I get to have a sword and stuff,” Stewart said. “Really cool weapons.”

The movie is due out next June and is one of two “Snow White” movies Hollywood has coming. The other, due out next March, features Julia Roberts as the evil queen. The cast of Stewart’s “Snow White” includes Charlize Theron as the wicked queen, Chris Hemsworth as a rugged huntsman and Sam Claflin as a prince.

The movie starts shooting in a few weeks. Director Rupert Sanders showed off photos of the stars in costume, among them Stewart in her fighting outfit and Theron in a sleek black gown with savagely high and sharp collars.

How evil is Theron’s queen? “She’s a serial killer,” Theron said. “I’m pretty much preparing to play a serial killer.”

Sanders also showed a photo of the dwarves that accompany Snow White in this version, all standing in a row looking scruffier than a gang in a police lineup. The actors playing them include Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost and Toby Jones.

There are eight dwarves rather than the usual seven. Sanders said “there are eight because there are a few great lines when one of them gets killed.”

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Fast Five Movie Art Print

Posted by  on 21 July 2011, 5:32 am

Fast Five Movie Poster

Fast Five Movie Poster

11 in. x 17 in.

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Fast Five – 2011

Fast Five (alternatively known as Fast & Furious 5 or Fast & Furious 5: Rio Heist) is a 2011 action film written by Chris Morgan and directed by Justin Lin and the fifth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. The film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Dwayne Johnson and was first released in Australia on April 20, 2011 followed by a United States release on April 29, 2011. Fast Five follows Brian O’Conner (Walker), Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and Mia Toretto (Brewster) as they plan a heist to steal $100 million from corrupt businessman Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) while being pursued for arrest by U.S. DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson).

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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Poster

Posted by  on 21 July 2011, 3:40 am

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides Poster

Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides Poster

22 in. x 34 in.

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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – 2011

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a 2011 adventure fantasy film and the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. In the film, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is joined by Angelica (Penélope Cruz) in his search for the Fountain of Youth, confronting the infamous pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane). The plot draws inspiration from the novel On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, which also inspired the LucasArts game The Secret of Monkey Island. It was directed by Rob Marshall, written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

Detailed information for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

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Super 8 Double-Sided Poster

Posted by  on 21 July 2011, 3:34 am

Super 8 Double-Sided Poster

Super 8 Double-Sided Poster

27 in. x 41 in.

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Super 8 – 2011

Super 8 is a 2011 American science fiction film written and directed by J. J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, and Kyle Chandler and was released on June 10, 2011 in conventional and IMAX theaters. The film tells the story of a group of children who are filming their own Super 8 movie when a train derails, releasing a dangerous presence into their town. The movie was filmed in Weirton, West Virginia and surrounding areas.

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Conan the Barbarian Original Poster

Posted by  on 21 July 2011, 3:29 am

Conan The Barbarian Original Poster

Conan The Barbarian Original Poster

27 in. x 40 in.

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Conan the Barbarian 3D – 2011

Conan the Barbarian (previously titled Conan 3D) is an upcoming 3-D sword and sorcery film based on the character Conan the Barbarian created by Robert E. Howard. The film is a new interpretation of the Conan mythology, and is not related to the films featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It stars Jason Momoa in the titular role, alongside Rose McGowan, Stephen Lang, Ron Perlman, Bob Sapp and Rachel Nichols, with Marcus Nispel directing.

The film had spent seven years in development at Warner Bros. before the rights were shifted to Nu Image/Millennium Films in 2007, with a clause wishing for immediate start on production. Lionsgate and Sony Pictures entered negotiations for distribution, with the film seeing many directors, prominently Brett Ratner, before settling on Nispel in 2009 and has since brought together a cast and crew. Filming began on March 15, 2010 and concluded on June 5, 2010. The film will be first released in France and Belgium on August 17, 2011 and then in the United States, Canada and Spain on August 19, Switzerland on August 21 and the United Kingdom on August 26.

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The Adventures of Tintin Double-Sided Poster

Posted by  on 21 July 2011, 3:26 am

The Adventures of Tintin Double-Sided Poster

The Adventures of Tintin Double-Sided Poster

27 in. x 41 in.

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The Adventures of Tintin – 2011

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is an upcoming 2011 American performance capture 3D film based on The Adventures of Tintin, a series of comic books created by Belgian artist Georges “Hergé” Remi. It is directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson, and written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. The script is based on three of the stories: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure.

Spielberg first acquired rights to Tintin after Hergé’s death in 1983, and re-optioned them in 2002. Filming was due to begin in October 2008 for a 2010 release, but release was delayed to 2011 after Universal opted out of producing the film with Paramount, who provided $30 million on pre-production. Sony chose to co-produce the films. The delay resulted in Thomas Sangster, who had been cast as Tintin, departing from the project. Producer Peter Jackson, whose company Weta Digital is providing the computer animation, intends to direct a sequel. Spielberg and Jackson also hope to co-direct a third film.

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Cowboys and Aliens French Style Poster

Posted by  on 21 July 2011, 3:22 am

Cowboys & Aliens French Style Poster

Cowboys & Aliens French Style Poster

12 in. x 18 in.

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Cowboys and Aliens – 2011

Cowboys & Aliens is an upcoming American science fiction Western film starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde. The film, directed by Jon Favreau, is based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. Cowboys & Aliens is scheduled to be released in the United States and Canada on July 29, 2011 and in other territories on ensuing weekends.

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New Poster for Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Posted by  on 5 May 2011, 1:01 am

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Paramount Pictures has released a new poster for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. There is tiny human lead actors (Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) in the foreground, gigantic Optimus Prime in the background. The film also stars Josh Duhamel, John Malkovich, Patrick Dempsey, Ken Jeong, John Turturro, Frances McDormand, Peter Cullen, and Tyrese Gibson. Transformers: Dark of the Moon opens in 3D on July 1st.

Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. When a mysterious event from Earth’s past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to Earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us.

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Abbie Cornish too Excited to Feel Pressure

Posted by  on 4 May 2011, 2:37 pm

Abbie CornishTo call Abbie Cornish’s astute, china-delicate performance in “Bright Star” a “breakthrough,” as so many critics this year have done, is to do something of a disservice to her similarly remarkable work in a pair of underseen Australian titles.

No informed viewer should be taken off-guard by the tart questioning and quiet sensuality she brings to the role of Fanny Brawne, the teenaged lover of famed Romantic poet John Keats, in Jane Campion’s period biopic.

What’s surprising is that, after winning a bevy of Australian awards at the age of 22 for Cate Shortland’s 2004 coming-of-age drama “Somersault,” and following it up with a searing turn opposite the late Heath Ledger in Neil Armfield’s harrowing junkie romance “Candy,” it’s taken three years for another starring role to come her way.

In that time, Cornish dipped her toe into international waters with supporting roles in ill-fated vehicles like “A Good Year,” “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” and “Stop-Loss” – though if those lean years were troubling to the Next Big Thing monitors, they weren’t to Cornish, who had “Bright Star” on her radar all along.

“I was sent the script for the film about two-and-a-half years ago, and I fell in love then and there,” the 27 year-old actress tells me over the phone, gentle Australian twang very much intact. She’s in Los Angeles to pick up her younger sister, before returning to the Vancouver set of Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch.”

On “Bright Star,” she continues: “It’s such a gorgeous piece, so truthful, so beautifully written. It’s about that eternal love that everyone should experience once in their lives – but told in such a mature, unsentimental way.”

Her immediate affection for the script began with Fanny herself. “The story presents so many firsts for her – love, poetry, loss – and she’s so open and new to it all. But Jane wrote her as such a full character. She’s so present, so charismatic, yet at the same time, terribly sensitive and shy. And then her interest in design and fashion gives her another dimension – she’s very alive, spiritually.”

Cornish had portrayed burgeoning teen sexuality in a decidedly more contemporary context in “Somersault,” the film that put her on the map. But while she describes the films as “worlds apart,” the 19th-century milieu of “Bright Star” wasn’t the determining factor in self-described “different lens” she adopted to play Fanny. Indeed, as several critics have noted, Cornish’s is a distinctly modern characterization, unhampered by period mannerisms and shot through with forthright teenage yearning.

“Jane was adamant from the beginning that she didn’t want to make a ‘period film,’ as such, and I completely understood that,” she explains. “Some period pieces can feel quite dense with detail, but this one… it has lungs, a breath of its own.”

“This is a story about real people, acting and feeling is a real, universal way. For me, Fanny’s core was a human one – though she lived almost 200 years ago, you could put her in any era, and her feeling wouldn’t change, even if her social circumstances would. So my approach was just to let her be, to let the period happen around her.”

Fanny’s emotional journey is affectingly counterpointed by a more literal (and literary) education, as her desire for Keats compels her to dive headlong into a world of poetry she barely understands. As a poetry enthusiast herself, Cornish took a keen interest in this side of the character’s development – though as someone initially unfamiliar with Keats’s work, her research partially mirrored Fanny’s own progress.

“I had so much fun doing the research, as he’s such a beautiful poet to explore,” she says, singing the praises of dialect coach Gerry Grennell for helping her find the emphases and cadences in Keats’s words. “There’s such a sharp dichotomy in the poems – he can explore light and dark in the space of a single verse. You can linger on a line forever. It was a total exploration for me.”

Cornish is, of course, the latest in a rich run of Campion leading ladies, following in the formidable footsteps of Holly Hunter, Nicole Kidman, Kate Winslet, Meg Ryan and Kerry Fox, though she admits to feeling no pressure in this regard. “It was certainly an honor to be cast, but I didn’t even think about that,” she laughs. “I just knew working with Jane was going to be awesome – the audition had been kind of a 2-hour workshop, so I already had a sense of what the experience would be like. I was too excited to feel pressure.”

Meanwhile, her current project – Zack Snyder’s wild, female-powered action fantasy “Sucker Punch” – couldn’t be a sharper change of pace for the actress. “I find every project I work on, the tone of the film is reflected in the shoot. On “Bright Star,” the rehearsal was very focused, very methodical, the shooting was very intimate. Next thing, it’s “Sucker Punch” and we’re singing and dancing one minute, firing guns the next… it’s like entering another world.”

As an actor, she cherishes such contrasting, immersive experiences – which is partly why she’s not committed to any future projects at present. “I enjoy the concentration of being completely submerged in one film at a time. I find it very engaging, just diving in and popping out the end of a wormhole. I can’t think or plan too far ahead… I prefer to stay in the moment.”

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The tide is turning for Greta Gerwig

Posted by  on 4 May 2011, 1:35 pm

Greta Gerwig

The New York Times may have identified her as “the definitive actress of her generation” but, until very recently, if you didn’t know where to look for Greta Gerwig, it’s unlikely you would have found her.

The languid, pretty, deadpan, 27-year-old Californian made 10 films within three years of graduating from college in 2006, but the chances are you saw none of them. Spontaneous and unapologetically ramshackle, with young casts, improvised dialogue, blasé nudity and obscure titles such as LOL, Baghead or Hannah Takes the Stairs, all were made on an almost non-existent budget for an almost non-existent audience. Unsure quite what to make of them, one critic lumped them together in a new, somewhat dismissive sub-genre, “mumblecore”, and the name stuck.

“If no one had ever seen Hannah Takes the Stairs, in some ways, it wouldn’t have totally mattered,” says Gerwig, perched on a sofa in the Dorchester Hotel, in a short black dress. “It would have been a bit of a bummer, but it didn’t cost that much to make, so our only obligation was to our weird movie that we wanted to make.”

This weekend, Gerwig can be seen in another weird movie – albeit one conceived on a rather grander scale. Arthur is a big-budget remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore comedy about an alcoholic, infantile English millionaire who falls in love with a working-class New Yorker (Liza Minnelli). This time round, Russell Brand plays the titular twerp, Gerwig takes the Minnelli role, Helen Mirren and Nick Nolte turn up in supporting roles, and the script, by Borat writer Peter Baynham, ties itself into all kind of knots trying to fathom how on earth, in 2011, to make a stinking rich narcissistic addict come across as a lovable clown.

If there is a reason to watch Arthur, Gerwig is it. Even when delivering lines that smack of the typewriter, her charm is so easy, her acting style so unobtrusive that it’s easy to believe she isn’t acting at all. Indeed, she has perhaps the most effortlessly captivating presence of any young American actress since Scarlett Johansson mooched her way through Lost in Translation.

Greta Gerwig in Baghead.

Greta Gerwig in Baghead.

Hannah Takes Stairs

Hannah Takes Stairs

Greta Gerwig in Greenberg.

Greta Gerwig in Greenberg.

Both on screen and in person, Gerwig has a slow, deliberate way with words, as if you’d just stopped her on the street to ask for directions to a place she loves but whose location she can only hazily remember. The effect is to make her sound at once both certain and vague, and to lend an undertow of irony to her sunny, straightforward Californian demeanour.

“When people ask me what I do, I still feel strange saying, ‘I am an actress’, but I do say that now.” She pauses and smiles wryly. “And people say, ‘But what is your day job?’”

She can still recall the nervous moment when, aged 14, she announced to her mother, a nurse, that she was going to become an actress: “My mum said sternly, ‘Do you think you are as good as Meryl Streep?’ And I said to her, ‘I only have to be as good as me’.”

She liked growing up among the farmsteads and municipal offices of Sacramento in northern California, she says, but never felt she quite belonged there. In the New York films of Woody Allen she glimpsed an alternative vision of a more exciting, grimier, cleverer, more complicated life, and as soon as she could she left home for the Big Apple. “It sounds silly to say out loud, but those films have so much to do with how I have defined the narrative of my own life,” she says. “Annie Hall is like what I thought love was when I was young.”

Throughout college in New York Gerwig acted in student drama – “in the sidekick roles,” she says, “I was kind of like a secondary character in life always” – before moving into film. Her ticket out of mumblecore obscurity came last year when New York director Noah Baumbach, himself a fan of Hannah Takes the Stairs (which Gerwig co‑wrote), cast her opposite Ben Stiller in his angsty comedy Greenberg. As in Arthur, Gerwig plays the ordinary girl pursued by a peculiar older man – in this case Stiller’s egocentric former musician recovering from a mental breakdown. Her bewitching performance gave the film its heartbeat and earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead, pitting her against the year’s Best Actress Oscar nominees, including Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman.

Gerwig hasn’t looked back. She could recently be found in multiplexes in Ivan Reitman romcom No Strings Attached with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, and this summer will star in the long-awaited new film from revered Metropolitan filmmaker Whit Stillman, his first since The Last Days of Disco in 1998. She is also planning to direct one last low-budget film of her own, based on a screenplay she has recently completed.

To be a director, she thinks, “you have to be a bit desirous of being the king of your own little kingdom. You have to want to be godlike.” Does she? “I am not sure.” Again there is a pause, a bashful smile. “I think I might.”

Her favourite filmmakers, she says, are writer-directors such as Stillman, Mike Leigh or Todd Solondz, “filmmakers who with each new film build another little piece of their own very specific world”. Is there a very specific Greta Gerwig world? “If there is, I hope that it has a sweetness to it,” she says. “I see the world as a good place, which is strange because I think a lot of times people make art out of complaint, they have bones to pick, and I don’t have that. But maybe that is because I have grown up in America with a tremendous amount of privilege, so of course I think the world is a good place.” Or maybe it is because, as one of the brightest prospects in American cinema, everything is going her way.

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Kate Hudson talks new film Something Borrowed

Posted by  on 4 May 2011, 11:25 am
Kate Hudson

Kate Hudson talks new film Something Borrowed.

In the romantic drama Something Borrowed, based on the best-selling novel of the same name, actress Kate Hudson goes against type by playing the Darcy, the best friend of Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin), a woman who realizes her true love is the man that Darcy is about to marry. Best friends since childhood, Darcy and Rachel have a relationship that has become somewhat toxic, with Darcy always getting what she wants and Rachel never speaking up for her own desires. So, when Rachel finally tells Dex (Colin Egglesfield) her true feelings, all hell breaks loose, and the one person that Darcy could always count on does something that very well may be unforgivable.

At the film’s press day, Kate Hudson talked about how fun it was to play such a hilariously self-centered character, the challenge of making a very unlikeable character someone that audiences want to root for, her personal feelings on infidelity, and why the role of Linda Lovelace was appealing enough to make Lovelace her next project. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

Was it delicious to play Darcy?

Yeah, she was really fun. At the time, I really didn’t want to work. I didn’t want to do anything. Hilary [Swank] and Molly Smith, the producers, came over and were like, “Just read the book.” I didn’t even look at it because I was like, “No, I’m not working.” But, I started reading the book and Darcy was just such a hilarious character to me because she’s just so deeply self-centered. I’d never really played a part like that before, so I thought, “Well, this is going to be fun.” Hopefully, in a sequel, I’ll get to take that character and really, really turn her around. There are two books. There’s a book called Something Blue and, in that, she is pregnant and she goes through all these hormonal changes, loses everybody and has to re-establish what she is, who she is and who she’s been. It’s a good book.

Was it difficult to play such an unlikeable character?

It is challenging to take a character that is just written as very unlikeable. It was very easy to make her the villain. That would have made it easier for Dex and Rachel. I thought it was really more real and interesting to make all of the characters who they are, but somewhat likeable. It makes you question the whole dilemma.

Do you think Darcy just has a great lust for life?

Yeah, I think she likes to have fun, but just on her terms. She’s the kind of person that, if people don’t want to go where she wants to go, she’ll sulk all night. Then, she’ll talk about how much better the place that she’d wanted to go would be. She’s just so all about her.

Why didn’t you want to work, at the time this script came up?

Because I had just finished a movie. I had just done Nine, and then I went and did a film called Earthbound, and I just was ready to be home. But, they shot this in New York. It was one of those things where the decisions really become about where you are and where it’s going to take you, and the family and everything. It just all worked out perfect.

Do you think Darcy could ever forgive Rachel for this?

Well, you’ll have to read (the book’s follow-up) Something Blue. I don’t know, maybe.

Could you forgive infidelity, in your own life?

I think that’s a personal question. I think everybody has their own ideas of that. I don’t know. For me, personally, I don’t know if I could. I just say that nothing is forgivable, if it’s not honest. It’s hard to go back to something and to trust people who’ve been dishonest. Forgiving is actually an important thing to do, but I don’t know.

Something Borrowed

Kate Hudson as Darcy and Colin Egglesfield as Dex in Something Borrowed.

In your various movies, how many wedding dresses do you think you’ve tried on?

I think I’m at seven. There was About Adam, Dr. T and the Women, Bride Wars, Four Feathers. My Best Friend’s Girl was a bridesmaid dress. I’m missing some.

How was it to do the dance to “Push It” with Ginnifer?

When we were doing it, at first, it was one of those things where I thought, “Okay, here comes that moment in the movie where we dance.” Ginny and I were like, “If this is bad, can we please cut this out of the movie?” Then, we started doing it and it brought back so many memories of doing dance routines as a little girl. For me, it was Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation.” I specifically remember the routine that me and my friends would do to that. So, it did actually end up feeling right. It was easy and fun.

Have you ever been used by a friend, like Rachel is used by Darcy?

Maybe because I was always watching people with my parents, and I had a very good objective opinion on how people treated my parents at times, I have a pretty good radar for bullshit, so I don’t think I’ve ever really been in that situation. I feel like, any situation you find yourself in, you have to take responsibility for it yourself. If you’re in a relationship with a friend who’s using you, you have to take some responsibility for not recognizing that that’s what they were doing. But, I’ve never had a situation similar to this.

With Almost Famous just having come out on Blu-ray, do you have a different take on that breakout film, all these years later?

That experience was amazing. Working with Cameron [Crowe] was incredible. It opened a passage for me to work with some other amazing directors. I guess it’s just a part of the full journey. My mom’s a Buddhist, so we don’t live in the past, but that, to me, was just a moment and an experience that I will take with me forever. All of those experiences become a part of your fabric. That one, in particular, was just phenomenal, from the writing, to the experience, to the actors that I worked with that are still my friends. It was a very long shoot. I’ve only had one other movie that was as long, and you really become a family.

What was the other movie?

Fool’s Gold was six plus months. And then, the critical attention that Almost Famous received was mind-blowing for me because I was young, falling in love, getting married and doing the whole awards circuit. It was all new, and it was great.

Is it increasingly important to you to play roles that you’ve never played before, like with Darcy?

There are always different shifts, in times in your life, especially when you have kids, and now I’m pregnant, where your focuses are in your career change. Sometimes, you just want to have fun and you want to play a part where you don’t have to think too much about it. This was probably the last time that I would be able to do something on a whim. I was like, “Yeah, I’ll go make that movie in New York.” Now, I’m going to have two kids, and then it really becomes about filmmakers.

Is it tough to balance everything?

No. It’s tough, if you get stressed out and allow yourself to be stressed out. But, if your priorities are your kids, it’s the best. All is good.

Is your pregnancy very different this time?

Yes. It’s a totally different pregnancy, completely. Everything couldn’t be more opposite. This time, I’m actually set up, whereas with Ryder, I didn’t even have a nursery. I was trying to get the nursery together. I didn’t really have a home until I was seven months pregnant. This time, it feels like I actually got to paint a nursery. I actually have a color in a room. I’m going with neutral colors. I don’t know what the sex is, so it’s neutral. Yellow is a good, sunny color for kids.

Is Ryder excited about being a big brother?

Yes, he is, but he’s already a brother. He’s got a sister (from his dad). But now, he’s really enjoying it. He likes making fun of me. He’s a kid. He loves it. He’s like, “You’re huge!” He’s very protective. I put spicy stuff on my food and he goes, “Mom, don’t eat that. The baby might not like spicy food.” All of a sudden, he doesn’t want me to drive a car. I can’t get up on anything high. He’s very protective. It’s pretty cute.

When would you decide on whether you’ll do the Linda Lovelace movie?

That would be after the baby.

Is that still in the works?

Yeah, it’s still in the works.

What drew you to that role?

It’s a great role. It’s a very, very, very heavy script. She had an interesting life. The script is really interesting because it’s non-linear, in the way it’s written. It portrays an outside perspective of what she is, and then takes you through a journey of what was really happening. As a real person, her life is quite controversial because you don’t really know, in doing the research and looking into who she really was. She dealt with a lot of abuse and obviously a very difficult childhood, which brought her into this world of pornography. And, there is still that question of, “Was she really being held at gunpoint to do this, or was this really a choice of hers?” She ended up doing a lot of feminist movement work with Gloria Steinem. It’s a really interesting role, and I look forward to doing it.

Filed under INTERVIEWS, Kate Hudson Interview, Warner Bros. Pictures. Tagged , ,
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Kat Dennings talks Daydream Nation and Defendor

Posted by  on 3 May 2011, 6:58 am
Kat Dennings

Kat Dennings talks Daydream Nation and Defendor

So I was wondering, was Defendor a project you went after or was it a project that came after you?

Kat Dennings: Ah, you know what, it felt a little bit of both. I got the script and went bananas for it. It was just really original and dark and messed up, really messed up and it was beautiful at that same time. And the role, for me, was… and a really long time before anybody else was attached… it was just the story. And my role is, on the page, she’s a crack addicted-hooker; just as a little kid smoking crack and selling herself. So it’s a really daunting thing to take on and I was just sort of thinking, “I don’t know if I can pull this off. I’ve never felt any of the things that she’s feeling. I’ve never done any of the things she’s doing, you know? So in that sense I kind of went after it immediately and I knew they were interested but I think [writer / director] Peter Stebbings, a pretty normal person looking person, and he was kind of like, “Can you do this?” and I was like, “I don’t know, man.” And he had me come in and I auditioned with other girls and I guess he showed the tapes to Woody or whatever and it came together. It’s amazing. I’m pretty happy because I got it.

Speaking of Woody, he’s known for improvising a lot and I was wondering what was it like working with him knowing he has that style?

He might be like me and that certain thing that I like to improvise a lot and other times I stick to straight to the page. It really depends. Like maybe once in a while like he and I would change a line but pretty much we pretty much set it totally to the script. There might have been one or two words that were changed, but barely.

Do you prefer actors who improvise a lot and that sort of style on-set?

No, I mean I think in comedy it’s sort of like there’s a bigger opportunity for improv, depending on what you’re doing, but like Judd Apatow is improv, you know? And it obviously works, for me anyway. But with drama, it depends. It depends. I mean it depends on how you’re both feeling and kind of improves the scene. If it improves the scene, great, if not, just forget about it. 

Right. I was actually doing some research for the interview last night and I noticed you’ve kept up a personal blog since 2002.

Yeah. Right? Isn’t that crazy? Oh my God… 8 years.

Yeah. And I was wondering as you become more successful over the years, has it been difficult to keep up with blogging? Do you wish you could post more? Or do you find that Twitter is sort of a better way?

No. it’s sort of almost like a… I don’t know… you know I have had this blog forever and I used to write in it like twice a week or once a week or whatever, and now, you’re right, it is really hard and the thing is kind of like rushed half-assed posts, but I kind of don’t want to. And I mean like if I post I want it to be really well thought out and that’s sort of why… it’s the blog is kind of winding down. I mean, I’ll leave it up for the archives but for the most part, yeah, I mean I doubt I’ll be doing that because I have a Twitter now, which is so… you know, whatever what you’re doing but it easier because it’s a couple of sentences and you’re done. And it’s your problem if you make it fun to read.

All right, no. I’m on Twitter and I feel it’s entertaining as long as you’re not “I’m eating a sandwich now …”

Right, exactly. And you can do that with irony but it’s, yeah, it’s a funny challenge for a writer and yeah, I enjoy it. I like it. I like it a lot actually. There’s some amazing people on there.

There are, yeah. Roger Ebert is like the most interesting guy. It’s weird that he… I wouldn’t have thought of him you know from “At the Movies” but he’s amazing on Twitter.

Really? I don’t have his thing…you know who’s on there is Nick Frost and…

… and Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright.

Yeah, Simon Pegg and my friend Edgar. They’re all on there and they are hilarious.

Yeah, they are fantastic. I think it’s when they started slash-fic-ing Hot Fuzz.

Oh my God, that was outrageous.

That was the best.

That was so stupid. I just love when they talk to each other. Brings me great nerd joy.

Kat Dennings

Kat Dennings talks Daydream Nation and Defendor

Indeed. So I was wondering, did you ever think you were going to be involved in Marvel’s…. one of Marvel’s biggest super hero movies with Thor?

No. I mean I had hoped. I mean it’s the kind of thing as a little kid that you want to do, you know? I mean my brother had all those comic books and he had action figures and I grew up with that stuff. So yeah, it’s almost like wanting to be a Princess. It’s like you want to be a superhero, too. It’s incredible. It’s such a dream. I really can’t believe I’m in this movie. I’m so excited. I’ve been thinking about it. It’s almost like when little kids know they’re going to Disneyland and they get really excited and start counting the days. That’s how I am.

So, I mean I know filming has started but have you shot your scenes yet or is that still coming up?

No. All my stuff is towards the end, yeah, towards the end of the shoot. I just can’t wait. Everytime… I remember when I had fittings like before I left I had a bunch of fittings and a bunch of hair and makeup tests and I was so excited. I would wake up like an hour or two early. Because I mean it’s Kenneth Brannagh man. I mean he is one of the greats. One of the legends.

Absolutely. You can only really think of him with something…. Thor is so different and getting the guy who directed Hamlet.

Yeah. I mean, it’s such an incredible idea. I mean he is the…first of all besides being obviously one of the greatest living actors, he’s the nicest man. The nicest, most wonderful man. I’m just so excited. I’m like everybody.

So I take it, are you a comic book geek?

Yeah, totally. Totally, yes, yes, yes.

Have you sort of… is your character in the comics?

No. She’s not. She’s a new invention. Yeah.

Okay. I believe I read, and correct me if I’m wrong, that your character is a friend of Natalie Portman’s character?

Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know how much I can say.

Okay. Are you actually a god in the film?

I can’t tell you…

Can’t tell me? Can’t tell me anything? Okay.

No, I can’t tell you.

That’s fine. Are you prepared to go to Comic-Con with this movie?

Oh God. If they need me to go, I’ll go. I don’t know if I’m going to have to go but if they… believe me I will do anything. I will follow Thor anywhere.

Excellent. Excellent.

I hear Comic-Con is crazy.

It’s absolutely insane. I went last year and the “Iron Man” panel alone was just insane.

Oh God.

Just one of the craziest moments ever.

I can only imagine.

Yeah. So, is Thor going to be, do you know if it’s going to be a long shoot? I mean when are you planning to shoot and are you doing any movies in between?

I just did… they started shooting in January, I believe. And I did a film… I just got back from doing another one. So yeah, I did one in between, but I am…. yeah Thor is a very long shoot, but again, it has to be a long shoot. It’s an epic.

Right. Have you seen sort of any of the costumes or anything because a lot of people are wondering, you know, this one is so different from “Iron Man” or even “Captain America” because it’s taking place between two different worlds? It’s sort of like a weird mix of “Lord of the Rings” and “Spiderman” almost. At least that’s what it seems like from the plot synopsis.

I don’t know, you know? I’ve seen some amazing, amazing things. And listen believe me, I’ve been where you are and wanting to know stuff because, you know, it’s Thor. It’s part of all of our childhood. But the thing is, I signed maybe 25 confidentiality agreements about this kind of thing.

Right, right. Okay.

So I understand and I feel your pain, but I can’t tell you anything.

No, no I don’t want to press you on that. I definitely know they’re trying to keep it under wraps and I think you kind of have to.

Listen to me, listen to me. It’s going to be worth every moment of waiting. I promise.

Okay. When they moved it back from this year to 2011, a part of me died inside.

I know. Believe me like I’ve got so many frantic like fan-boy questions and I’ve been like “I understand. I’m so sorry. I wish I could say more, but I can’t.” But I assure you, like it far surpassed any of my wildest fantasies about what this movie could be. I mean it far surpassed it. It’s just going to be glorious.

Excellent. So, the film you’ve done in between, is that Richard Linklater’s Liars (A-E)?

No. It was…. that one’s on hold. But I have this movie called Daydream Nation, which is another small budget movie. Another Canadian filmmaker. Amazing script, amazing Josh Lucas is in it with me. He’s incredible. Andie McDowell is in it. Obviously also incredible. And Reese Thompson-amazing. Everyone was great. Really good movie. Really, really different role for me. But that’s another…

Can you talk about your role in that film a little bit?

Yeah. I play this girl called Caroline Wexler and she moves kind of from a bigger city to a very little tiny hick town sort of in the middle of nowhere. And she finds herself falling, I guess, for 2 men. One who is a man, Josh plays her teacher, and one who’s a boy who’s her age or a little younger. And it just starts off with a chain of events and it’s a very beautiful kind of languid movie. Like it’s a little bit…. the filmmakers said like it referenced Badlands. I don’t think it’s anything like Badlands but it sort of has that dreamy quality to it, but it’s very, very, very suspenseful. Like it’s really, really cool.

So it’s not like Badlands but it’s definitely sort of a suspenseful small movie?

It’s suspenseful. I mean it hasn’t been cut together but from what I gleam of it and from what I felt when I was doing it, is it’s sort of like a mystery 30’s love story but it’s very dark and kind of you know, it’s her teacher and she’s lying and there’s a lot of…. there’s murder and there’s…. just…

All that good stuff that we all go through in high school.

Yeah, all that stuff I love about movies. I’m really excited. I’m pretty proud of this movie, so we’ll see.

Cool. I just wanted to roll back to Defendor because one of the things I noticed about it and how it deconstructs the superhero and Watchmen, did that 20 years ago in comics but now we have comic-book movies, and you get the Watchmen movie and ­Defendor and Kick-Ass coming up and I was just wondering sort of what are your thoughts on that?

Oh well yeah, it seems like it’s sort of like the time, you know? But that said, I grew up with my brother’s comic books and his super hero…is action figure collection and all that stuff. It’s almost like fairy tales are always around in one way or the other. They are kind of fairy tales when you think about it. So yeah, the thing about this one is that it’s not glossy. I mean he doesn’t have a cape. He doesn’t have any powers, you know? Or does he? He’s like a hero. He’s a true hero is the point of the story and yeah, he fights crime with marbles and bees and lime juice. But he’s as much of a hero, if not more, than any other super hero. So and yeah it’s a dark film. It’s very sad. It’s very beautiful and very funny. You know, so it’s not your typical comic book film. I mean it’s really, I’d say more sort of a real character… Woody is outrageous. I mean he’s good at everything but he’s really incredible in this movie. I really want people to see it. I mean, if you’re a movie buff, if you love movies I know it’s hard to find this one. I know it’s going to be in like 2 theatres or something but I mean it’s really worth it. It’s worth it.

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