On Saturday night at Comic Con in San Diego, director James Gunn and actor Chris Pratt announced a sequel to Marvel’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. July 28, 2017 to be exact.
It was also officially announced that actor Josh Brolin can be seen and heard as the villain Thanos in Gunn’s upcoming film, opening in theaters this Friday, August 1st.
Brolin will also play Thanos in future movies for Marvel Studios.
“Josh brings all the weight and stature necessary for a character as iconic and significant as Thanos,” said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. “We’re incredibly excited for fans to see more of him as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand.”
Yes, I’m writing and directing the sequel to #GuardiansoftheGalaxy for theaters July 28 2017. But first go see the first one out next week! — James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 27, 2014
Many of us here at WAMG have seen the film and it’s terrific. Unlike anything you’ve truly ever seen, the epic space adventure is one you’ll definitely want to experience in IMAX 3D.
The action-packed Marvel’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits—Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand – with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.
Marvel also revealed at the panel that Corey Stoll and Evangeline Lilly are joining the cast of ANT-MAN as Hope Pym and Darren Cross. Starring Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas, the film hits theaters July 31, 2015.
Lastly, the stars of Joss Whedon’s THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON were in Hall H to discuss the film with the audience and show new footage.
Whedon couldn’t be here because of an injury. Feige said, “Scarlett couldn’t be here because she’s pregnant.” Then she introduced a clip via video from Age of Ultron in which the team, in a penthouse, play a round of trying to pick up Thor’s hammer. Tony Stark puts his Iron Man hand on, Captain American makes a go. Then Ultron crashes the party. Iron Man gets in a big super suit as apocalypse dawns again. A lot of crash-bang-boom, like the finale of the first film. Playing throughout the trailer is a child singing, “I Got No Strings” from Disney’s Pinocchio. Last shot in the clip shows all the Avengers lying dead, with Tony Stark the only one standing alive. The audience gave the clip a standing ovation. Amplifying the room’s mood was Josh Brolin walking in as Thanos.
Directed by Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers”), the film returns its iconic cast, including Robert Downey Jr. (“Iron Man 3,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as Tony Stark/Iron Man along with Chris Hemsworth (“Thor: The Dark World,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as Thor, Mark Ruffalo (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Now You See Me”) as Hulk, Chris Evans (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as Captain America, Scarlett Johansson (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner(“American Hustle,” “Marvel’s The Avengers,”) as Hawkeye, and Samuel L. Jackson (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as Nick Fury.
Joining the cast are Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Godzilla,” “Kick Ass 2″) as Quicksilver, Elizabeth Olsen (“Godzilla”) as Scarlet Witch and James Spader (“The Blacklist,” “Lincoln”) as Ultron.
Set for release in the United States on May 1, 2015, Marvel’s AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON is produced by Kevin Feige. Executive Producers are Louis D’Esposito, Jeremy Latcham, Victoria Alonso, Patricia Whitcher, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, and Jon Favreau.
On Thursday, DC Entertainment gave fans a new image of Ben Affleck as Batman at Comic Con 2014.
On Saturday, director Zack Snyder, Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck surprised the crowd in Hall H with the first footage from Warner Bros. Pictures’ BATMAN v SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE and revealed the first photo of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.
From Hall H Variety reported on the early footage:
Superman’s red eyes stared down Batman’s phosphorescent white ones in the teaser from Warner Bros. Batman, played by Affleck, unveiled his newest night sky bat sign, and as the camera moved, Superman, played by Cavill, hovered in its way, frothing and red eyes ablaze.
Awkward silence and brooding ensues, but the packed house of 6,500 loved it so much that moderator Chris Hardwick played the footage again. Affleck and Cavill walked out onstage shortly after alongside Snyder and Gadot, who plays Wonderwoman.
“We have to go back to finish the movie,” he before exiting with the actors. Aside from Synder’s remarks about filming, no one offered commentary from the stage in Hall H.
Filming began in May on the highly anticipated action adventure from director Zack Snyder, starring Henry Cavill in the role of Clark Kent/Superman, and Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman.
The movie also stars Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, with Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane returning from MAN OF STEEL Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred, and Holly Hunter in a role newly created for the film.
Set to open worldwide on May 6, 2016, BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE is based on Superman characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Batman characters created by Bob Kane, and Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston, appearing in comic books published by DC Entertainment.
There was a TV show in the early 70’s called “Night Gallery” from Rod Serling.
The Twilight Zone creator’s 3 season series was filled with episodes containing black comedy as well as horrifying tales of the macabre. Over the years, the show has gained a cult following and is still creepy television.
Serling would begin the show with, “Good evening, and welcome to a private showing of three paintings, displayed here for the first time. Each is a collector’s item in its own way—not because of any special artistic quality, but because each captures on a canvas, suspends in time and space, a frozen moment of a nightmare.”
In the same bloody vein as “Night Gallery” comes a new horror movie from filmmaker Kevin Smith. The director ventured to Comic Con on Friday and gave the Hall H crowd a first look at the trailer for his latest film TUSK.
The carpenter and the walrus. Good night nurse, definitely the stuff of delicious and terrifying nightmares.
TUSK opens in theaters September 19.
Head over to the movie’s official site tuskthemovie.com where you can listen to Smith’s Smodcast.
Today, at San Diego Comic-Con 2014, star Daniel Radcliffe, director Alexandre Aja and novelist Joe Hill sat down in a small press room to talk about their new film HORNS, which is scheduled to be released in theaters on Halloween of this year. Check it out below!
Blamed for the murder of his girlfriend and ostracized by everyone he knows, a small-town guy (Daniel Radcliffe) awakens one morning to find he’s grown a pair of horns. Armed with the supernatural powers they possess, he sets out to find the true killer.
When Kathy Kaiser reviewed EVERGREEN: THE ROAD TO LEGALIZATION here at We Are Movie Geeks, she wrote: “Whether you are for or against marijuana’s legalization – EVERGREEN will put it all into perspective for you, as it brings to life both opposing views. If your state decides to travel the path to legalization, you will know the facts and principles of each side after viewing this film – thanks to Morton and his team of filmmakers – thus educating yourself before you too have to place your vote for-or-against on election day.” (read all of Kathy’s review HERE)
This weekend St. Louisans can educate themselves when EVERGREEN: THE ROAD TO LEGALIZATION screens at Webster Universtity’s Winifred Moore Auditorium (located at 470 E. Lockwood Ave.)
EVERGREEN: THE ROAD TO LEGALIZATION plays at 7:30pm July 25 through July 27.
Admission is:
$6 for the general public
$5 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools
$4 for Webster University staff and faculty
Free for Webster students with proper I.D.
Advance tickets are available from the cashier before each screening or contact the Film Series office (314-246-7525) for more options. The Film Series can only accept cash or check.
Note: Last-minute changes may occur. Please call 314-968-7487 for updated information. Discount admission passes are available.
For the last few years, Summertime has been super-hero time at the multiplexes. It seems ever other week another costumed character with incredible abilities is battling away for a big chunk of the box office pie. But what about the original amazing avenger? Sure the MAN OF STEEL was here last Summer and is gearing up for his return (when he’ll face off against another hero). Nope let’s go way, way back to the real original, that demigod HERCULES. The superstar of Greek mythology has been a cinema staple since the late 1950’s when American Steve Reeves laced up his sandals in two surprise hits imported from Italy. Reeves was the first of many famed body-builders to portray him right through 1969 with Arnold Schwarzenegger in HERCULES IN NEW YORK and 1983 with TV’s Hulk Lou Ferrigno in a pair of low-budget epics from Cannon Films. The man of muscle also went animated, first with a series of syndicated shorts (with a snappy theme song) in the 1960’s and in the 1990’s Disney did a full-length musical feature (around the same time that actor Kevin Sorbo became a syndicated TV staple in a long-running live-action series). Why just this past January the import THE LEGEND OF HERCULES starring Twilight series hunk Kellan Lutz left an (ahem) aroma in theatres. The body builders have had their time, how about a wrestler? No doubt, this guy’s the biggest movie star to come out of the ring. Make way for Dwayne (“the Rock”) Johnson as HERCULES.
As the film begins, an off-screen narrator relates that oft-told origin story: fathered by the king of the gods Zeus, birthed by a human woman, cursed by Hera, fought fearsome giant creatures as part of his twelve labors. Said narrator is Iolaus (Reece Ritchie), Hercules’s nephew and public relations man. But some nasty pirates have heard enough and decide to execute the motor mouth. But Iolaus has bought enough time for the big man, Herc (Johnson) to find him. The lion-hooded hero and his posse’: greedy Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), seer sage Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), Amazonian archer Atalanta (Ingrid Bolso Berdal) and wildman Tydeus (Aksel Hennie), make short work of them. Turns out the real Herc is not just a good Samaritan, he and his band are hired mercenaries and they soon get wind of a new job. The ruler of Thrace, Lord Cotys (John Hurt) needs them to aid and train his army of farmers against the menace of the mysterious Rhesus (Tobias Santelmann) who supposedly has an army of demons and centaurs! The promise of gold and the pleading of Cotys’s widowed daughter Ergenia (Rebecca Ferguson) convince Hercules to take the job. But as the mission begins, somethings just don’t add up, as Ergenia wonders just what happened in Athens that got Herc exiled.
Seeing him swinging his big club (watch it!) and pulling on the lion’s head, you wonder why Johnson hasn’t taken on the role before. He seems born to play the son of Zeus. Yeah, sure he’s got the physicality, but Johnson has the acting chops required for this very different take on the big “H”. He needs to sell himself as the myth in order to intimidate his foes and get hired for new jobs. Often he seems to be an early “mythbuster”, proving that the Hydra was a group of men wearing reptile hoods (like a certain cartoon great Dane’s teen buddies). And somehow, he makes the larger than life muscle-man more human and vulnerable than ever seen on-screen. He’s haunted by ghosts of his past and is hesitant to open his heart once more. Fortunately his pals understand. Ritchie is entertainingly energetic as the teen sidekick who tires of being the team’s “carnival barker”. And McShane has a snarky laid-back charm as the mystic who is certain of his fate which allows him to be foolishly fearless on the battlefield. And Hurt lends the proper authority to his regal role. The whole cast is equally comfortable with swordplay and wordplay.
Kudos to director Brett Ratner for keeping the movie rolling along at a brisk 100 minutes (something that directors of action epics would be wise to emulate) and for making excellent use of 3D. Spears, arrows, and swords appear to hover just above the audience reminding us of the fun gags of those 1950’s flicks (the paddleball guy in HOUSE OF WAX). Plus there’s excellent outdoor photography in the bright sunlight as opposed to the muddy skies of the green screens of the 300 films. There seem to be more real sets than many other fantasy flicks which help sell the sequences of countless forces gathering (I know they’re combining things with pixels, but it’s well done). Some of the battles go on a bit too long and are too chaotic to easily follow (c’mon, let us catch a breath!) while much of the carnage is too tidy, perhaps to avoid a dreaded “R” rating. But the film is much better than it needed to be, certainly miles above the feeble effort from earlier in the year, and it even has some of that old studio Cecil B.DeMille kitchy fun. If you’re needing a nice nostalgic trek back to those matinees (or weekend afternoons in front of the tube) starring beefy sword and sandal heroes than HERCULES will more than deliver the goods, along with the muscle (to spare).
How can a film exist somewhere between being an ambitious Hollywood oddity and a wacky hot mess of a film? Days after seeing Luc Besson’s new film LUCY I’m still trying to figure this out. Going into a Besson film you have to expect a strong female-centered action-fest. The French director has made a career of this going back to LA FEMME NIKITA, to THE FIFTH ELEMENT, all the way to his more recent Indiana Jones and Allan Quatermain inspired period piece THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE OF ADELE BLANC-SEC (which exists relatively unnoticed and is worth checking out if you’re a fan of pulp adventure stories). However LUCY kind of exists in a different conversation than these previously mentioned films for a lot of reasons. First of all, despite her stunning features, Johansson’s Lucy is nowhere near as memorable as some of the leads in these other films. But the most obvious difference is the simple fact that LUCY is such a bizarre movie even for a director known for occasionally dabbling in risky material.
If the opening shot of what is believed to be the earliest form of humanity drinking from a creek doesn’t signal that we might be in for more than what the trailers for the film have promised, just wait till Besson starts cutting back and forth between shots of a crime deal in a hotel and deadly animals hunting one another in the wild. Scarlett Johansson as the title character is the unlucky lady who gets coerced into delivering a briefcase to a gang of Asian mobsters led by Choi Min-sik (OLDBOY, I SAW THE DEVIL). The tense showdown culminates in her being forced to act as a drug mule for a new drug that is described as a chemical mothers inject into their child naturally during pregnancy. It’s described as igniting new cells through reactions between existing cells. All doesn’t go as planned when Lucy is kidnapped on her way to the airport by other bad guys (I guess?) – this girl has the worst luck – and hit and kicked in the stomach by her captors. And just as you can expect, she suddenly experiences extreme changes in her mental and physical self due to the large dosage now streaming through her body.
The premise of the film explains that humans only use 10% of our brains. You will need less than 10 minutes to do a little bit of research and find out that that statistic is completely made up. Of course this doesn’t stop Besson from announcing throughout the film her gradual mental increase from 10% to 20% and so on and so on. While much of the “science” explained in the film by a researcher played by Morgan Freeman is treated in a serious tone, LUCY also seems to be smirking a bit at the audience. Some of the sequences and dialogue are so outrageous and occasionally silly that you almost get the feeling that the film is poking fun at the idea that its presenting. There’s a fun and breezy manner to how the film effortlessly bounces between pseudo-intellectual theories, car chases, evolutionary theories, and gun battles. Fans hoping for a more action-centric thriller like the trailers seem to promise might be disappointed that LUCY at times feels more comfortable sitting in an art-house theater and getting high while watching 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY than pretending to be a Liam Neeson or Jason Bourne wannabe.
LUCY may strive at times to be a “big idea” film like THE MATRIX or the previous mentioned Kubrick masterpiece, and while it doesn’t come close to the lofty heights of those films, you have to applaud the film for striving to be more than most of the films that Besson has produced as of late (TAKEN 2, COLOMBIANA, LOCKOUT). Many critics will be quick to compare this to TRANSCENENCE from earlier this year; especially considering the theme represented by the ending. But while that film from earlier this year got wrapped up in its own long and boring lectures, LUCY keeps it short and entertains far more in 90 minutes straight than just 5 minutes of that earlier slog.
Even amidst all the highbrow intellectualism, there are plenty of exploitation elements that make this feel like a trashy grindhouse film. Johansson runs around in a see-through white top with exposed black bra for almost the entire film and shoots more innocent bystanders than actual bad guys – for instance a cab driver gets a bullet to the head simply because he can’t speak English. It is moments like this where you find yourself with your mouth agape more than you mind expanding like our superhuman heroine.
Depending on your mood, you might be more open to some of the heavily stylized visuals and directions Besson and cinematographer Thierry Arbogast take it. Watching animals being born or stalked by rival beasts as seen in LUCY can be taken out of context and seem absolutely ridiculous. However the film delivers such imagery with such confidence and gives off a feeling that it knows exactly what it wants to be – even if the audience is constantly in-flux as to where they might fall with their opinion on the film.
Left to right: Timothée Chalamet, Matthew McConaughey and Mackenzie Foy in INTERSTELLAR; from Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers Entertainment.
On Thursday afternoon at Comic Con, director Christopher Nolan and actor Matthew McConaughey made a surprise appearance and brought along the new trailer for one of 2014’s most anticipated films, INTERSTELLAR. It was also the first time either of them had ever been to the yearly convention.
Nolan told the crowd in Hall H, “I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.”
Variety reported that during the Q&A, McConaughey explained his character:
“Cooper is a pilot, an engineer, and a widowed pilot of two children where civilization is just sustaining. There’s food, clean water, but they don’t need any explorers, no new bright ideas. Then something happens and the dream of being a pilot again knocks on his door.” The chance becomes “the greatest mission” he’s ever taken on.
Nolan explained that the spaceship, its interiors and exteriors were designed to be as “realistic as possible for the actors.” That meant actual views out the windows, for example.
As to the footage shown, Adam B. Vary from BuzzFeed says:
The trailer featured brand new scenes of what that mission would entail — with McConaughey and fellow astronauts played by Anne Hathaway and David Oyelowo visiting planets that appear barren, icy, or filled with vast oceans filled with enormous waves. Nolan’s ambition here appears to be nothing less than epic; during the panel, he specifically cited Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as a key inspiration and guide for this movie. “We really have an ambition with this film, not to do what that film did, because I don’t think we ever could,” he said, “but to tell a similarly ambitious story in terms of the scope and scale.”
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn and Michael Caine, the movie chronicles the adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
INTERSTELLAR opens in cinemas on November 7th, 2014.
I ORIGINS, the second feature film from writer and director Mike Cahill, tells the story of Dr. Ian Gray (Michael Pitt),tells the story about a molecular biologist studying the evolution of the eye, and finds himself in a struggle between science and spirituality. Recently, I sat down with director Mike Cahill and star Michael Pitt to talk about the film Check it out below!
He finds his work permeating his life after a brief encounter with an exotic young woman (Astrid Bergès- Frisbey) who slips away from him. As his research continues years later with his lab partner Karen (Brit Marling), they make a stunning scientific discovery that has far reaching implications and complicates both his scientific and spiritual beliefs. Traveling half way around the world, he risks everything he has ever known to validate his theory.
What is the impetus of the idea?
MIKE CAHILL : This idea was floating around in my head for a decade. But it wasn’t until I met Michael [Pitt] on a general meeting in Brooklyn that the abstraction became concrete. I had a lot of research – I had researched the eye, the fact that eyes are unique, all of our irises are unique, I was fascinated by the fact that the eye forms when you’re in your mother’s womb and stays the same your entire life, identical twins have different eyes – and if you look at the poster, it’s aesthetically beautiful and feels very spiritual in a way, but it also feels very scientific and like a nebula in space. But again, it wasn’t until I was given the opportunity to meet Michael – I leapt at the opportunity because I had admired him from afar for a very long time as an artist for all the choices he makes; whenever he’s in a film, I’m super-excited to see it just because his choices are surprising and bold and thoughtful in the role and in the scenes. So we chatted, artist to artist, and it was in the middle of the conversation – I was swept up by his amazing sense of humor and personality, and incredible wisdom and insights on the world – and it was interesting because Michael as an artist has such integrity and the things he does are for the purpose of the art. In many ways, that’s very similar to Ian who is doing the purpose of the work. It felt like to capture the truth of a Ph.D. student whose prime goal is discovery, something just gelled, and right in that moment I said, ‘Michael, can I tell you a story?!’ I told him about the duplicate eyes and Ian Grey and he was very encouraging and said, ‘You’ve got a future, kid.’ (Laughs)
MICHAEL PITT : He explained to me the story as though it was something he read in the science journal about duplicates coming up, and I was like, ‘This is amazing. This is true?’ and he was like, ‘No, I just made it up.’ (Laughs) I was like, ‘Who the fuck is this guy?’ But then two really interesting things happened when he did that: 1) I wasn’t surprised. In thinking about it, I wasn’t surprised. I wanted to read up on it, what was going on, but there was this weird realization for that minute that I believed he was informing of something that had just occurred. I wasn’t surprised. That was really interesting. And then, I was like, ‘At the end of the movie or later at some point, if you can put the audience in the same place that you just put me where they believe it or want to believe it or go on a suspension of disbelief, I think we can do something really cool.’
What about the leap of faith aspect and the balance of science versus religion?
MIKE CAHILL : Throughout history, science and spirituality have collided. This is not a new thing at all; this has been going on forever.
MICHAEL PITT : It used to be dangerous to discover scientific things.
MIKE CAHILL : Yeah, burned at the stake. But I had this feeling that science and spirituality don’t have to be at odds with each other. There’s an experiment Karen does in the film, which is based on a real experiment, which is modifying worms that have two senses – smell and touch – and modifying them to have vision. Scientists can do that in a laboratory today. They do, do that. When I learned about that, that blew my mind, and all of a sudden it shed a lot of light on how science and spirituality actually are right, not on the same plane, but they don’t have to be colliding with one another. If this worm all of a sudden has access to another world that we know is there, it’s right there on top of it – light, sound is all around – and sound and light are indirectly influencing each other – the light of the sun will warm an apple and the worm can smell that – and through that metaphor, you understand how, first of all, five sense are by no means the limit. That’s too much hubris to say we’re the top of the sensorial perception species. So it follows that there must be more domains that we don’t have access to; that’s the metaphysical. There are so many religions – there’s like five or six huge religions with hundreds of millions of followers – and we’ve been trying to create narratives to explain that which is only having its echoes in our tangible, touchable, testable realm. And when you can wrap your head around that thought – the worms – you find that you can reconcile the two quite easily. I find. Does that make sense?
Which comes first for you – the scientific what-ifs you’re asking, or the characters?
MIKE CAHILL : For me, as a writer the way it works is, concept comes first, and then the imperative story within that concept emerges. So with Another Earth, it was string theories, concept of multi-verse and duplicate earth, and who needs to meet themselves most – so that’s where the character emerges. With this, it’s iris biometrics, the iris returning, whose story do we need to tell in that paradigm – so all this science stuff is just the texture, but the story is about a man who loves deeply and loses that love, then loves again in a totally new and different way, and coming to terms with that loss and the different types of love, which you could tell without science-fiction at all, but it just makes it cooler.
So you’re a bit of a romantic then?
MIKE CAHILL : Yeah, totally. No, not at all.
MICHAEL PITT : The kid’s a Romeo.
You said that you would like to challenge your audience with the roles that you take. Is there any particular role or challenge that you are looking for next?
MICHAEL PITT : I have a couple of projects that I’m developing right now. I probably shouldn’t talk about them. [Laughs] What I’m trying to do right now in my career is… I’ve had a really amazing career where I’ve gotten to work with some amazing directors who’ve sort of taken me under their wing. They’ve had huge resumes, and have changed cinema in a lot of ways. I’m really trying to be active in working with the new generation of filmmakers – Mike being one of them. I’m putting what i’ve learned into that, and supporting that. Also, being more active and not sitting around waiting for the projects to come, because if you are selective it can… Before I did ‘Boardwalk Empire’ I had just done a film with Michael Haneke, who’s an amazing director. He may be the smartest director – most intellectual director that I’ve ever worked with. [Looks at Mike Cahill and laughs] He’s in his 70’s though, so you’ve got some time.[Laughs]
MIKE CAHILL : I bow down. [Laughs]
MICHAEL PITT : You know, working on a level – you know, some of his films are really hard to watch. It’s not necessarily a pleasant experience – but working with him… that guy is working on a whole nother level. After having that experience, it kind of messed with my head… a little bit. I was like “I’m not going to work on something if I’m not positive. Unless creatively it interests me. I’m not going to go backwards after having that experience.” and I didn’t work for three years. I was either going to have to move out of my house in Bed-Stuy, and I was like “First of all, aren’t I supposed to be some sort of a famous actor? Second of all, where do you go when you have to leave Bed-Stuy? [Laughs] Where the fuck do you go?” Luckily, [Martin] Scorsese gave me that project. What was amazing about meeting him was he saw my choices. It had a lot to do with it, and when that happens you’re just like ‘Whew!’ [Laughs] You’re not doing it for nothing. There are people…
Both Michael and Brit seem to have that same language where they’re both trying to be choosey in their roles. What is that like, as a director, to work with actors that are so responsible with their careers, and what they want to do, and their storytelling?
MIKE CAHILL : I mean, it’s a huge privilege. It’s no secret that this movie is a very inexpensive movie. You know everyone who’s involved is passionate about it. They’re not coming for a paycheck. They’re coming because of the art form. What I was so impressed with everyday in working with Michael and continuing to work with Brit is the amount of work that they put into it – building up to it – to build these characters. He doesn’t just show up on set. He’s so involved. Ian Gray is his. He created Ian Gray, and that involved spending time in the laboratory, working with scientists, learning the mundane movements that they would do, extracting DNA, eye cleansing with saline solution, and burning gels.These guys would soak it up and make these mannerisms baked in to their own DNA. I witnessed the shift in energy. We called Michael Ian when we were filming, the entire time. Even when the cameras weren’t rolling. It was as if an ionic charge of all his cells became Ian. It’s something that is really, really hard to describe… but really easy to witness, or to pinpoint and see. You know that people are coming together because they want to be there, and they want to do the work. It just makes life a lot easier.
How much does location inform an actor, because obviously New York, you live there, you film there… there’s an energy…
MICHAEL PITT : …I love California though… I want to say that for the record. I’m not a hater. [Laughs] People assume that if you’re from New York that you hate California.
No, no, no. I’m leading somewhere different…
MICHAEL PITT : Sorry. [Laughs] What was the question?
When you go to New Dehli, how does that inform you – the environment there? Most people will never get an opportunity to partake in that landscape, so…
MICHAEL PITT : What do you mean?
Didn’t you shoot in India?
MICHAEL PITT : That was a set.
MIKE CAHILL : No. That was a set!
That was a set?
MICHAEL PITT : No, I’m just kidding! [Laughs] We did that in the studio.[Laughs] That would be amazing! One thing, that I’m super blessed to do… One of the advantages of being an actor is that you do get to travel to these places, all over the world. Early on in my career, it just so happens that I was digging a lot of filmmakers were doing in Europe, so I got a chance to go there, and work there, and I kind of went the other way. I mean, I love traveling. People ask me ‘What place don’t you like?’ and I’m like ‘None!’
Did you sense the spirituality there?
MICHAEL PITT : Oh! That place is a pulse. It’s a giant place of spirituality, science, corruption, extreme beauty, extreme tragedy. I had to shoot a film right after. If I didn’t, and this is not that uncommon, I probably would have gotten lost for a couple of months.
This movie was a breath of fresh air because I had just watched ‘Hannibal’, and then there you are [in this film] looking beautiful. You’re not crazy… Safety!
MICHAEL PITT : It’s safe for my mother! ‘Can I watch this one?’ [Laughs] Poor mom.
You’re saying you warned her about THE DREAMERS?
MICHAEL PITT : Ahh… yeah. She was warned about that.
You have made such interesting choices. Obviously, you’ve kind of touched on that. I know it may seem like a very simplistic question, but what was it in Ian? What kind of muscles did you get to stretch, or what was it that you got to do that you haven’t really gotten to explore before in your character?
MICHAEL PITT : Well, I’m constantly trying to learn. I would be very nervous if I get to the point where I wasn’t. I just don’t even know where you would go after that. It’s a character that I haven’t been able to… I haven’t played yet. It’s kind of something that I think… It was really technical. It was a seriously challenging role. I wish I had more time with that role. That’s kind of normal. I always feel that way, but this one in particular wasn’t easy. Just getting over the scientific jargon… I don’t say line that I don’t understand, so you’ve got to get a general understanding of the lines. Mike was amazing because he spent a lot of time with me. Also, his brother was a scientist who really taught me to understand the basis of what they are doing. That’s just like a technical thing. And then, he’s {Mike Cahill] just, like, this creative genius who’s got a short hand in science. It wasn’t that uncommon for him to get inspired at 2 o’clock in the morning and say ‘Oh! I just wrote a three page scene.’ [Laughs] So, there were those technical things, just character things, that were needed to technically run its repetition. But then, on a more instinctual level, I loved playing this character. It was… he was so passionate about science, and so, sort of… in one direction about data, and proof, and trying to create this little light that’s burning about what he believes… and in another sense, how does a guy who’s a little socially awkward, what does he look like. That was fun, but difficult. It was a really challenging role.
Did you empathize with the plight of losing someone that you love right in front of them, and then starting the next chapter of his life, and starting over again… letting love be rebirther to him, and seeing something new?
MICHAEL PITT : Do you mean at the end?
Not to give too much away, but after the tragic element occurs in his life, he allows himself, with Karen…
MICHAEL PITT : Yeah.
… to love again.
MICHAEL PITT : Working with Brit, and deciding how we were going to approach that relationship was really interesting. We gave a lot of thought to it. It was something that’s difficult. The way that I looked at it was that these things were, this love was happening. He had no idea that this was evolving, and then in that scene when they kiss, I think it was as surprising to him, at that moment. It came out of a really desperate moment, that these two bonded, and it was like that they had been turning into this relationship and from that moment fourth moment, I never played it in a way where that was ever shaken. He new that she was the one. The only thing that through that off balance was when tragic things happen is not having closure. It’s important to take the time to close whatever chapter, whatever that means. He never did it. He kind of lived with it. Stuffed it aside and lived with it. Of course, at some point it comes back.
I ORIGINS is in select theaters now, opens everywhere tomorrow
In their annual Comic Con issue, Entertainment Weekly had the first photos for Joss Whedon’s AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. You may have seen them in EW’s magazine or online, but in case you missed them, we got them all for you right here.
In addition, Marvel also revealed new concept art posters from the film.
Earlier this year when shooting began in March and before CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER was released in April, producer Kevin Feige discussed how it related to AGE OF ULTRON.
“CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER was set up to be the Phase 2 lynchpin between MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS and AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. The Marvel Cinematic Universe changes dramatically by the end of the film, and that was by design.”
“We really wanted Captain America to be responsible for altering the Cinematic Universe so that when we meet all of our characters at the beginning of “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” things are very different than when we left the characters at the end of “Marvel’s The Avengers” and partially that’s the experience Tony Stark went through in “Iron Man 3” and partially that’s the experience of what Thor went through in “Thor: The Dark World,” but primarily it’s because of the adventure that Captain America goes on in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”
The film took in a whopping $95 million on it’s opening weekend. Read Jim Batts’ review HERE.
Directed by Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers”), the film returns its iconic cast, including Robert Downey Jr. (“Iron Man 3,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as Tony Stark/Iron Man along with Chris Hemsworth (“Thor: The Dark World,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as Thor, Mark Ruffalo (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Now You See Me”) as Hulk, Chris Evans (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as Captain America, Scarlett Johansson (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner (“American Hustle,” “Marvel’s The Avengers,”) as Hawkeye, and Samuel L. Jackson (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as Nick Fury.
Joining the cast are Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Godzilla,” “Kick Ass 2″) as Quicksilver, Elizabeth Olsen (“Godzilla”) as Scarlet Witch and James Spader (“The Blacklist,” “Lincoln”) as Ultron.
Set for release in the United States on May 1, 2015, Marvel’s AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON is produced by Kevin Feige. Executive Producers are Louis D’Esposito, Jeremy Latcham, Victoria Alonso, Patricia Whitcher, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, and Jon Favreau.
