On the surface, BROOKLYN is about a young Irish woman in the 1950s moving to American to start a new life, but it is also about anyone growing up and moving away from home, whether that is going away to college or moving away to a new city for a job. The film deals with the loneliness, the homesickness, and the strangeness of being somewhere new, and all the adjustments and changes that brings. It also deals with how it feels to go back home after that. It is a story that will make anyone who has experienced that ache with remembered things. It is a meditation on identity, self-discovery and life-choices, full of nuances and shadings, set in a lovely nostalgic landscape.
Beautifully photographed and beautifully acted as well, BROOKLYN is a lovely film based on Irish writer Colm Toibin’s novel of the same name, and directed by John Crowley (“Boy A”) with a screenplay written by Nick Hornby. Set in Toibin’s small rural hometown, the story is about a young Irish woman, Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), who moves to America in the 1950s and then later returns to Ireland after a family tragedy. Eilis is struggling with only a part-time job, working for a boss who belittles her at every opportunity, in her small rural Irish town. At the insistence of her affectionate older sister (Fiona Glascott), who sees only a limited future for Eilis in Ireland, their mother (Jane Brennan) writes to an Irish priest (Jim Broadbent) living in New York, asking him to find her a job and place to stay in America. Eilis herself is less sure about he move but, shy, uncertain and frightened, she boards a ship for the trip across the ocean.
Many American families have stories of an immigrant ancestor, tales they tell of grandma or grandpa coming from the Old Country, stories tinged with nostalgia. BROOKLYN evokes some of that with its period setting and old-fashioned atmosphere. At the same time, this is tale for any young person leaving home, a timeless experience.
In Brooklyn, the kindly priest has found her a room at a boarding house with other Irish immigrant girls and a job at a department store. She quickly learns that Brooklyn, a place full of immigrants like herself, is not the New York she imagined. It is all very strange, and Eilis aches with homesickness. But the sympathetic priest helps her adjust and the landlady (Julie Walters) at the boardinghouse is a kind of sharp-tongued mother hen, who helps Eilis figure out her new home. A sophisticated supervisor at work (Jessica Paré) helps her learn to dress like an American woman, and fellow residents at the boardinghouse, who were once as green as she is, help her figure out life in Brooklyn as well.
She meets a young Italian man, Tony (Emory Cohen) who is smitten with her, while she is more cautious. In one funny, charming scene, Eilis’ friends at the boardinghouse help her practice how to eat spaghetti properly, twirling it on her fork, so she can eat dinner with Tony’s almost stereotypically Italian family without embarrassing herself.
A family tragedy brings her back home to Ireland. Like everyone who has gone away, she sees the place through new eyes, and the people back home see her in a new way as well. Looking polished and poised in her fashionable American clothes, Eilis possesses a new self-confidence and presence. She draws the attention of a young local aristocrat, Jim (Domhnall Gleeson), someone who never would have noticed her before, and the frisson of the new romantic possibility forces her to consider whether to stay or go back to Brooklyn.
The two suitors are stand-ins for the two homes as much as anything, but one of the strengths of the film is its ability to work well on several levels. It is both a personal story and a universal one, a love story and a metaphor for life, a period piece and one of the present. Credit for that has to go to many people – Toibin for his haunting, complex yet simple story, Nick Hornby for his adaptation and John Crowley for his skillful direction. And to star Saoirse Ronan, whose performance in her first really grown-up role is brilliant and effecting, a performance already being mentioned for an Oscar nomination.
All the story takes place in landscapes that have a nostalgic period loveliness, from the old-fashioned brink streets of Brooklyn to the polished ’50s department store, to the charm of the little Irish town and Eilis’ pretty ’50s costumes. In one scene, Tony takes Eilis to Coney Island, and in a quiet, open corner, he talks about building a home there and starting his own business. It is a scene that evokes visions of what lies ahead for the country – growing suburbs and news businesses in the economic boom of the later ’50s and ’60s, but these are unknowns to Eilis and the characters in the film. In a parallel scene, Eilis and Jim with a pair of friends have a day at the seashore in Ireland, a visually beautiful scene, where she contemplates her choices and future, while gazing across the ocean.
Because it works so well on so many levels, BROOKLYN is a near-perfect film about growing up, leaving home and returning, and about choosing one’s own life.
BROOKLYN opens in St. Louis on Friday, November, 20, 2015.
Film fans of a certain…ahem…age are often grousing about the current state of cinema, saying that “they don’t make em’ like they used to”. BROOKLYN is the rejoinder to that tired dismissal. Of course it helps that the story’s setting is over sixty years in the past. But to quote another “old chestnut” it’s a love story that’s timeless. Well, it’s more of a coming-of-age love story, told through the wide eyes of Ellis (Saoirse Ronan), a sweet colleen barely past her teens. And yes she is Irish, with the film’s plot originating from the “emerald isle”. It is 1952 and she is eager (and a tad anxious) to begin a new adventure, for thanks to her connections at the local church, she is leaving her beloved mother and older sister to start a new life in America. We’re on board with her in the meager steerage cabin of the ocean liner for the often turbulent voyage. Once off the boat, she’s living with several single girls (some from the “old sod”) in a boarding house run by the supportive, but firm, Mrs. Kehoe (Julie Waters), and working the counter at a department store, a job procured by the sympathetic Father Flood (Jim Broadbent). Ellis battles homesickness, but her spirits are lifted by an unexpected romance with a sweet Italian-American, Tony (Emory Cohen). But when a tragedy forces Ellis to return home, things have changed in her little Irish village. She’s afforded employment and meets a new man, lanky local Jim (Domhnall Gleeson). Ellis promised Tony that she will return to NYC, but, well…what’s a young woman to do?
BROOKLYN is anchored by a confident mature performance by Ronan in the first of no doubt many leading adult roles. The supporting players are superb, including two actresses from celebrated US TV shows. John Crowley doesn’t rush the pace, and never overwhelms the charms of the screenplay by Nick (ABOUT A BOY) Hornby from the novel by Colm Toibin. The dazzling cinematography from Yves Belanger paints the authentic period sets and fashions with a warm, golden glow. BROOKLYN lets us all experience one hopeful immigrant’s journey and wraps us up in a cozy blanket of romance and nostalgia.
BROOKLYN screens at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre on Friday, November 6 at 7 PM as part of the 24th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival. Purchase tickets here
From Fox Searchlight comes the new poster for director John Crowley’s BROOKLYN.
BROOKLYN tells the profoundly moving story of Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn. Lured by the promise of America, Eilis departs Ireland and the comfort of her mother’s home for the shores of New York City.
The initial shackles of homesickness quickly diminish as a fresh romance sweeps Eilis into the intoxicating charm of love. But soon, her new vivacity is disrupted by her past, and Eilis must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.
Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters also star.
Opening in select theaters on November 6, BROOKLYN made its premiere at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and is an “Official Selection” at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Lakeshore Records will release the soundtrack featuring the score by Golden Globe Nominee Michael Brook (INTO THE WILD).
In just a few weeks the multiplexes will give way to the big, brash Summer blockbusters. Too late for last year’s Oscars (in the US at least) is this historical true-life romantic drama, which, oddly enough, shares several figures and settings from one of last year’s award nominees. MR. TURNER told the story of one of the nineteenth century’s most celebrated painters. Many of that film’s scenes were set at the prestigious Royal Academy of Art, where the merits of different works were vigorously debated. One of the strongest voices was that of John Ruskin, fellow artist, historian, and critic. Now comes the story that didn’t make it into the Timothy Spall biopic, a scandalous tale concerning the marriage of Mr. Ruskin and the much younger EFFIE GRAY.
At the film opens, the narration tells us of the courtship of now nineteen year-old Effie (Dakota Fanning) and the more nature John (Gerg Wise). They met during her childhood years and later married in Scotland, and now travel to the Ruskin family estate in London. There Effie is warmly greeted by John’s father (David Suchet) while the matriarch Margaret (Julie Walters) is more than a tad chilly towards the new family member as she rushes to dote on her “angelic boy”. That night, as Effie disrobes, the horrified John shuns her and departs from their bedroom. As the weeks drag on, Effie continues to be neglected. Thankfully, she accompanies John to the formal Royal Academy of Arts dinner. There she meets rising painting star John Everett Millais (Tom Sturridge), and is taken under wing by the academy president Sir Charles Eastlake (James Fox) and his wife (Emma Thompson). Later, on a visit to the Ruskin home, Lady Eastlake tends to the frail, ill Effie, much to the disdain of Margaret. Months pass until John takes Effie on a research trip to Venice. John remains writing in his hotel room while Effie finally experiences joy thanks to a flirtation with one of their hosts. Upon their return home, John hires Millais to paint his portrait outside a waterfall in Scotland. Effie joins the two in a secluded cabin in the forest. As John continues to ignore her, a deep friendship develops between Effie and the young artist. But Effie is trapped in a loveless, abusive marriage with no hope of escape. Or is she…?
Fanning puts her best foot forward as she continues the transition from juvenile roles to more adult characters. She is more successful than in last year’s THE LAST OF ROBIN HOOD, which was dominated by Sarandon and Kline, but she’s not as compelling as her work as one of THE RUNAWAYS. Perhaps it’s due to the passive nature of Effie, who’s never allowed to indulge fully in her passions or emotions. Luckily she’s still able to project a vulnerability, even in the most shocking scenes. Her best efforts may be opposite Thompson who is almost Effie’s protective, sympathetic older sibling, often maternal. Lady Eastlake injects much-needed humor and spirit into the story, especially in her exchanges with Fox in a marriage of equals, and dear friends, the polar opposite of John and Effie. Wise as John makes the cold intellectual one of the oddest villains we’ve seen on-screen, wishing to possess Effie as trophy, while avoiding any type of affection. His heartlessness is matched by Walters as a mean movie mother to rival Cate Blanchett’s recent CINDERELLA role. She fawns over her son’s every move, but can never muster any civility toward his wife. Sturridge handles the role of the smouldering, desirable other man with ease. The film boasts great small supporting turns by British film vets Robbie Coltraine and Derek Jacobi, plus a most welcome, rare appearance by still radiant sixties screen goddess Claudia Cardinale.
First the good news: this movie looks gorgeous from the costumes to the carriages with wonderful location photography in the wilds of Scotland and along the canals of Venice. Everyone almost glows in the golden sunlight and candlelight. Unfortunately the film’s look overwhelms a fairly lifeless story that never fully engages us. We root for Effie, but it seems like an eternity before she, or anyone else, acts on the slights against her. It isn’t helped by the deceptive marketing of the film. Thompson is featured much more prominently in the ads than Fanning, although she is in only a handful of scenes. Perhaps this is because Thompson provided the film’s screenplay which is not close to her superb work on SENSE AND SENSIBILITY or even the NANNY MCPHEE flicks. Director Richard Laxton fails to breathe life into this true tale, which could be the opposite of a crackling “bodrice-ripper”: (perhaps an “un-ripper”). She’s lovely to gaze upon, but EFFIE GRAY will have you wishing you were in those exotic locales, rather than enduring a long, long visit to the cinema.
1.5 Out of 5
EFFIE GRAY opens everywhere and plays exclusively in the St. Louis area at AMC’s Creve Coeur 12
Coming to theater on April 3rd is the film EFFIE GRAY.
The film explores the fascinating, true story of the relationship between Victorian England’s greatest mind, John Ruskin, and his teenage bride, Euphemia “Effie” Gray, who leaves him for the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais.
EFFIE GRAY is the first original screenplay written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Emma Thompson. In this impeccably crafted period drama, Thompson delicately and incisively probes the marital politics of the Victorian Era, and beyond.
Dakota Fanning stars as Effie Gray Ruskin. The cast includes Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Tom Sturridge, David Suchet, Greg Wise, Claudia Cardinale, James Fox, Sir Derek Jacobi and Robbie Coltrane.
The film is produced by Andreas Roald (Terrence Malick’s VOYAGE OF TIME) and Donald Rosenfeld (Malick’s TREE OF LIFE and VOYAGE OF TIME).
Producer Donald Rosenfeld spent 1987 to 1998 as President of Merchant Ivory Productions, in charge of the financing and production of such titles as James Ivory’s “Mr and Mrs Bridge” (1990), Simon Callow’s “The Ballad of the Sad Café (1991), James Ivory’s “Howards End” (1992) and “The Remains of the Day” (1993), Christopher Menaul’s “Feast of July” (1995) and James Ivory’s “Jefferson In Paris” (1995), and “Surviving Picasso”, among others.
He produced Chris Munch’s “Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day” (1996), which won Best Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival, for which he recreated the Yosemite Valley narrow Gauge Railroad. Rosenfeld produced Ric Burns’ “New York: A Documentary Film” (1996-2003) and was executive producer of Taran Davies’ film about the people of Chechnya, “Mountain Men and Holy Wars” (2003).
He produced the romantic drama “Forty Shades of Blue”, which won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance in 2005. He produced Ric Burns’ first feature film, the four hours long “Andy Warhol” (2006), and he made “Anton Chekhov’s The Duel”, directed by the Georgian director Dover Kashashvili.
In-between, he was the executive producer of “Jodorowsky’s Dune”, the story of the Chilean director’s doomed attempt at bringing Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel to the screen.
EFFIE GRAY marks Rosenfeld’s third collaboration with Emma Thompson.
I spoke with the producer about EFFIE GRAY and what went into making this beautiful film with modern feminist themes.
WAMG: EFFIE GRAY is such a gorgeous, visceral movie. It’s magnificent.
Donald Rosenfeld: Thank you. We did strive for beautiful production values and we tried to do it at a low cost. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I hope we will continue for another fifty more.
WAMG: What is the film about?
DR: It’s the story of a marriage out of a horror movie. John Ruskin was a child genius who turned into a major thinker in the Victorian Era. He marries a girl two decades younger than him. She is placed in a house with nothing to do while he does his work. His parents psychologically abuse her. It’s the story of a failed marriage and her escape. It’s the story of an early divorce because in Victorian England it was pretty rare. I think there are two divorces on record.
Effie conspires with a local, aristocratic lady whose husband runs the Royal Academy that employs Ruskin. Lady Eastlake, played by Emma Thompson, orchestrates her escape and the divorce. It’s an intriguing, suspense film. A little bit of horror, but it’s also a period marriage.
The film is filled with so much beauty as it was shot in Venice, Scotland and England.
WAMG: When did you get involved in the movie?
DR: I had previously worked with Emma on HOWARD’S END and REMAINS OF THE DAY. I cast her in HOWARD’S END – she was an unknown then and then went onto win the Oscar. On REMAINS OF THE DAY, the financers wanted Anjelica Huston because at the time she was the bigger star. I fought for Emma. I said look at Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins. It will be looked at by the audience as sort of a sequel – from HOWARD’S END to REMAINS OF THE DAY.
In the end, Emma was cast. Then we went onto to make another movie in Chile eight years later about the Pinochet regime and the Chilean singer, Víctor Jara, but in the end because of various actual death threats from the Chilean Junta that were still in power, we had to get out of there. We were even threatened in Paraguay on the way home. We decided not to make that movie – it was a life or death decision. I said, one day we’ll do something else.
She called me one day, five years ago and said she had written a script set in Victorian England. I told her I had written my college thesis on Victorian England, let’s do this. It was set in 1851 and we went onto make it.
WAMG: It looks like a period film, but it doesn’t feel like the viewer is in Victorian England. It has more of a modern vibe to it and it segues between the two.
DR: Exactly. It’s the beginning of the modern age. All these ideas that we formed about art and life seemed to have started there. When Mr. Ruskin talks about his new carriage or the money that he’s made and what it can buy, he sounds like a person from today. It’s a kind of post-war materialism, it’s incredible. I think you’re right and it’s totally relevant.
I think Emma wrote the female characters with the mind of today too because I think she wanted them to have, in a sense, the vision that women do today of both their rights and empowerment that weren’t really available to women then.
Effie is a great exception that she was able to take this, and generally she would have either been sent to an insane asylum or she would have been locked away. That’s how they dealt with a difficult wife, not like today. We gave her her freedom and in reality Effie falls in love with John Everett Millais at the end of the movie. They had eight children together.
WAMG: 20 year old actress Dakota Fanning carries the film and her portrayal will resonate with women. She’s superb as Effie.
DR: She is unbelievable. The casting director called me one day and we were looking for women around 20 years old and ideally English because of the accent. Celestia Fox who did HOWARD’S END and REMAINS OF THE DAY with me suggested Dakota Fanning. I had just seen her in a film where she was seven years old and that was ten years ago. Now she was seventeen. I met her and offered her the part immediately. The director, Richard Laxton, asked me later, “don’t I have anything to say?” I said no, not in this case. (laughs)
She went to work on the movie and we cast her little sister, Elle Fanning, as the little sister Sophie Gray six months before we started. But two months before we started, Elle had grown four inches taller than Dakota, so we couldn’t make her the little sister in the film. We had to recast it, but Elle and I are going to make another movie called OLIVE’S OCEAN. It is sad, but sometimes you have to recast based on things like that when people are young and they change rapidly.
WAMG: Emma Thompson writes the unemotional Ruskin (Thompson’s real-life husband Greg Wise) with some sense of sympathy.
DR: She says it was very hard to get used to Greg when they first got married because he was from the north of England, right at the border of Scotland and he’s very Victorian. She said it was hard to communicate with him in the beginning, but eventually warmed him up. It was in his nature to be that character – it was sort of going back to their beginnings. He was kind of this cold fish from Newcastle. Who knew that Newcastle created this lack of warmth, it was very funny.
WAMG: How was composer Paul Cantelon (THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL and THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY) chosen for the movie? His score, with the piano motif, is both haunting and simply lovely.
DR: I had just done a movie the year before where the composer lived in Florida. I kept having to go down there and I literally said, “I want somebody next door.” We were editing on 12th Street and this agent called and said there’s this guy Paul Cantelon and he’s about a block away from you. I went to see him and realized he did THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY and I loved that score.
His music for EFFIE GRAY is breathtaking and I thought he did a great job.
WAMG: It’s perfect with cinematographer Andrew Dunn’s (“Gosford Park”, “The Madness of King George”) scenes of the Scottish Highlands, London, and Venice, Italy.
DR: It’s wonderful. I think it all comes together in a real depiction. We wanted to make those paintings come to life and match the landscape to them. Andrew Dunn is a genius and I’m so glad we got him. He was such a voice of reason. The Scottish train – we didn’t have more than one shot. He operated his own camera and he’s just a lovely guy.
WAMG: What’s your next project?
DR: The next one is called THE TUNNELS OF CU CHI written by Gary Trudeau who wrote “Doonesbury.” It’s set in 1968 Vietnam and it’s a war movie.
WAMG: You were producer on Terrence Malick’s TREE OF LIFE, one of my favorite movies of the decade. Every time I watch it I find something new.
DR: Thank you. It’s true and I think that’s how he works.
WAMG: And once again on the THE VOYAGE OF TIME.
DR: If you liked TREE OF LIFE you will love THE VOYAGE OF TIME. It’s magnificent. It will come in a forty minute IMAX version and a feature.
THE VOYAGE OF TIME was being worked on before TREE OF LIFE. When I first met Terrence, we were going to make a movie about Che Guevara in Bolivia where he’s executed, but with the other film CHE the field was too crowded. I asked him, “what do you really want to do?” He said, “I want to make this movie about nature and the beginning of the universe.”
We’re making the whole thing for about $20 million and it’s been wonderful. Douglas Trumbull (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY) has been doing the special effects.
WAMG: Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are still attached?
DR: Both have always been there. By the way, Emma Thompson did some voice overs at Abbey Studios with Terry, but Cate was much more right for the part. As Terry said, Emma was a little too English.
WAMG: Is there a release date yet for THE VOYAGE OF TIME?
DR: It will come out at Cannes ideally in 2017.
WAMG: What would you like for audiences to take away from EFFIE GRAY?
DR: No matter how bad the world gets, you can fight for your freedom. If you find yourself in a terrible situation get yourself out of it. I think she did and she finds a perfect life for herself. That’s the next movie and we don’t show that here.
One of the distributors early on wanted me to add a text that says she went on to marry Millais. I don’t do that. If I don’t film it, I don’t put a text in. In MR. AND MRS. BRIDGE, Miramax wanted us to put a coda in at the end and my feeling is make the movie you make and let the audience dream a little afterwards. You don’t have to make everything all sealed up, all packed up.
Imagine if we did what one of the minor financers on TREE OF LIFE wanted – to take out the nature footage?
WAMG: There’s definitely an audience out there for EFFIE GRAY.
DR: I think so. You don’t see movies like this too often.
EFFIE GRAY is edited by Emmy nominee Kate Williams (“Empire Falls”, “Anton Chekhov’s The Duel”). Emmy-winner James Merifield (“Little Dorrit”) is the production designer, with Juliana Overmeer (“Anton Chekhov’s The Duel”) and threetime Emmy-winner Paul Ghirardani (“Game of Thrones”, “Little Dorrit”) as art directors. Twice Academy Award-nominated Ruth Myers (“LA Confidential”, “Emma”) designed the costumes and the hair and make-up was designed by Konnie Daniel (“Mr Selfridge”).
Just what we need, another cute kids’ movie about a lovable, talking animal. Children can’t seem to get enough of these movies, despite how dreadfully awful they usually are, by most adults’ standards. Spy on parents some time while they treat their little ones to these chatty creature films and you’re likely to find most of them struggling to grin and bear the experience. Yeah. See what I did there?
Normally, you’d be hard pressed to find me caught anywhere near one of these movies. There are, of course, always those rare exceptions that lead you to eat that bitter N word… “never.” This is why I try and never say never about a film, unless its in the title. PADDINGTON (2014) is a family-friendly film, and by that I mean its friendly for the entire family, children and adults. The film is based upon the beloved books by author Michael Bond, who wrote his first Paddington piece n 1958, inspired by the childrens programs he worked on for the BBC at the time.
I will be honest. When I first heard about the new PADDINGTON movie, what went through my head was the cliched assumption that they’ve yet again — or, still — run out of original ideas. This ended up being an unfair assumption about a movie that works surprisingly well. The reason for the film working out this well is simple. PADDINGTON is written and directed by the same person — always a promising sign — and that person is Paul King. For the coolest of our readers, you’ll likely know this name as the director of the quirky British series The Mighty Boosh (2004-2007). For a show recognized as possibly being created while on acid, and could be described as the love child of Wes Anderson and Pee Wee Herman, parents may be alarmed to learn it eventually led a feature-length PADDINGTON film. Fear not. The only addictive substance being consumed here is freshly made marmalade.
Those familiar with The Might Boosh will notice the little influences of this style from the very beginning, as PADDINGTON opens with an old newsreel about an explorer named Montgomery Clyde, who ventured out into “Darkest Peru,” where he stumbled upon a rare species of highly intelligent bears. Befriended a young bear cub (Paddington), his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) and Uncle Pastuzo (voiced by Michael Gambon), Montgomery Clyde left more of an impression on the bears that he could have ever imagined. Fast forward several years, and natural disaster in Darkest Peru has Aunt Lucy sending Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) off to London to find a nice family to take him in and raise him as their own. London is about to host its first ever talking bear, and with him all of his accompanying adventures.
The Brown family are an average lot, but display a familiar hint of dysfunction. Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville) is a work-aholic risk analyst with a tendency towards OCD, while Mrs. Brown (Sally Hawkins) is a loving, free-spirited illustrator of childrens stories. Judy Brown (Madeleine Harris) is a typical angst-ridden teenage girl and Jonathan Brown (Samuel Joslin) is a curious, adventurous adolescent boy. One day, the Browns happen upon a young talking bear whilst walking through Paddington Station, hence the origin of the title character’s human name. His bear name becomes one of a handful of low-key running jokes that are sprinkled delightfully throughout the film. Under pressure from Mrs. Brown and Jonathan, Mr. Brown caves and Paddington finds himself the newest addition to the Brown family.
As Paddington assimilates into his new family, he must also avoid the fiendishly obsessed desires of Millicent, the villainous taxidermist set upon capturing Paddington and adding him to her personal collection of permanently preserved wildlife specimens. Millicent, played by Nicole Kidman, is portrayed as a more modern Cruella Deville. Kidman relies heavily on textbook villain tactics, providing an acceptable but minimally impressive performance. Even her name Millicent is strangely similar to Maleficent, and despite being a family film, she offers little in the way of believable danger. As for the remainder of the supporting cast, here lies one treat after another. Mrs. Bird (played by Julie Walters) is a tough, but oddly grounding force within the Brown household. Mr. Gruber (played by Jim Broadbent) is a funny old survivor who helps Paddington find what he’s seeking. Mr. Curry (played by Dr. Who‘s Peter Capaldi) serves as a sort of sub-villain turned anti-hero and strange neighbor to the Browns.
PADDINGTON exploits modern computer technology to bring the talking, accident-prone bear to life. Even ten years ago, it’s unlikely this film could have succeeded on any respectably mature level. Its this technical mastery that adds half of the character’s charm, from his appearance to his mannerisms to numerous sight gags, but the other half is courtesy of Paul King’s playfully odd sense of humor. Subtle puns, plays on words, silly observations and misunderstandings, these are all tools in King’s box of tricks that are used to give the film its well-rounded appeal. On many levels, I could stretch my analysis and call PADDINGTON an analogy for immigration and society’s difficulty in accepting change and the arrival of outside influences. There is definitely a correlation there, but I’ll let you read into that as much or as little as you feel comfortably inclined.
Visually, PADDINGTON is thoroughly engaging, filled with action, visual gags and no shortage of hijinks put innocently into play by the well-meaning Peruvian bear cub, struggling to adapt and find his place in a foreign land. The 95-minute running time falls nicely between being too long and feeling rushed. With all this said, there is still clearly the element of filmmaking for kids, which is only to be expected. Fortunately, these elements are well incorporated and never overwhelmingly present. Combine this with a vivid color palette and you have a film that should do remarkably well with boys and girls alike.
PADDINGTON tells the story of the comic misadventures of a young Peruvian bear who travels to the city in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone, he begins to realize that city life is not all he had imagined -until he meets the kindly Brown family who read the label around his neck that says “Please look after this bear. Thank you,” and offer him a temporary haven. It looks as though his luck has changed until this rare talking bear catches the eye of a museum taxidermist. The film features an entirely computer-generated bear who interacts with a cast of esteemed actors.
The film stars Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Nicole Kidman, and Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington.
Directed by Paul King, PADDINGTON opens in theaters January 16.
Ready for an adventure with this adorable bear? WAMG invites you to enter for a chance to win passes (Good for 4) to the advance screening of PADDINGTON on Saturday, January 10th at 10AM.
We will contact the winners by email.
Answer the following:
Who was the very first illustrator to draw Paddington?
What’s the name of the first book?
TO ENTER, ADD YOUR NAME, ANSWERS AND EMAIL ADDRESS IN OUR COMMENTS SECTION BELOW.
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.
On the night of June 9th 2007, a new television reality show called ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ went on air in the UK. On its first ever broadcast, a shy, unassuming man opened his mouth to sing the famous operatic aria ‘Nessun Dorma’, delivering a beautiful, stirring rendition that would change his life from that moment forward.
Swept up in the contagious emotion of Giacomo Puccini’s stunning aria, and the unlikely figure with crooked teeth and diluted confidence who had crooned it for them, the show’s three judges – Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan – stared in awe at what they had just witnessed, while the audience of 2,000 at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff erupted in a standing ovation.
Britain was instantly won over by Paul Potts, who was then working as a manager at the Port Talbot branch of The Carphone Warehouse, and followed him on his journey to becoming the first ever winner of the new talent show and, subsequently, a world-famous opera singer.
Potts’ unanticipated vocal prowess didn’t stay confined to UK shores for long, blazing a scorched trail around the globe as news of his improbable audition went viral and millions watched it for themselves on YouTube.
But despite his own admission before going on stage that he was lacking in confidence, few knew the herculean effort it had taken for Potts to reach that point, and the trials, tribulations and monumental setbacks he had suffered along the way.
As thrilling as Potts’ on-air success was to behold, it was the story leading up to his ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ appearance that the filmmakers of ONE CHANCE wanted to tell: the tale of a steelworker’s son from south Wales who fell in love with opera at an early age and, despite bullying, skepticism and physical hardship, never gave up on trying to achieve his dreams. And by the way, it’s a comedy.
Today, Yahoo and The Weinstein Company have announced that the U.S. pre-theatrical release of the film ONE CHANCE will be exclusively on Yahoo Screen beginning this fall.
“We’re so thrilled to be partnering with Yahoo on this first venture in bringing ‘One Chance’ to audiences online before it hits theaters. In today’s digital era, technology has developed and changed the landscape of how many people watch movies and TV. Our partnership with Yahoo has allowed us to adapt and expand our reach to limitless audiences,” said David Glasser, COO and President of The Weinstein Company.
From the director of “The Devil Wears Prada,” ONE CHANCE is the remarkable and inspirational true story of Paul Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant by day and an amateur opera singer by night.
Fresh from celebrating his Tony Award-winning Broadway run in ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’, BAFTA winner James Corden (THE HISTORY BOYS) stars as Paul Potts. The cast also includes Julie Walters (MAMMA MIA!, CALENDAR GIRLS, BILLY ELLIOT), Mackenzie Crook (THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN), Colm Meaney (GET HIM TO THE GREEK), Jemima Rooper (KINKY BOOTS), Valeria Bilello (PAZZE DI ME) and rising star Alexandra Roach (THE IRON LADY).
Directed by David Frankel (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, MARLEY & ME, HOPE SPRINGS) and written by Justin Zackham (THE BUCKET LIST), ONE CHANCE is produced by Mike Menchel, Brad Weston, Kris Thykier (KICK-ASS, THE DEBT, I GIVE IT A YEAR), Simon Cowell, and executive produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
The hilarious new trailer for PADDINGTON has arrived. (along with some pretty hilarious mock-horror memes that have gone viral.)
PADDINGTON is adapted from Michael Bond’s books for children, which have been published in 40 languages and sold 35 million copies. The story is about a young bear from Peru who longs to visit England and decides to travel to London. He reaches the huge Paddington Station and realises he is lost and alone in a big city that was barely what he had expected, but a sympathetic family adopts him and he finds the peaceful haven he had dreamt about – until a taxidermist sets her sights on him.
The first ever live action film inspired by Bond’s best-selling books, stars BAFTA Award- nominee Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Iris, Notting hill) as Mr Brown, Academy Award-winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, A Single Man, Bridget Jones’s Diary) as the voice of Paddington Bear and Academy Award-winner Nicole Kidman (The Hours, Rabbit Hole, Moulin Rouge) as the evil taxidermist determined to wreak her revenge.
Actor, director, Comédie Française member and recent César award winner Guillaume Gallienne will be lending his voice to the popular bear in a duffle-coat in the French version of PADDINGTON.
The cast includes Golden Globe Award-winner Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky, Layer Cake, Made in Dagenham) as Mrs Brown, Academy Award- nominee Julie Walters (Billy Elliot, Educating Rita, Harry Potter) as Mrs Bird the housekeeper and Academy award winner Jim Broadbent (Iris, Harry Potter, the Iron Lady) as Mr Gruber the owner of the antiques shop.
Directed by Paul King, PADDINGTON is produced by David Heyman (the HARRY POTTER saga, GRAVITY…), and the special effects come from Framestore (Oscar-winning team behind GRAVITY and HARRY POTTER).
From the Weinstein Company, the adventure begins in the UK November 28th, stateside December 12, 2014.
Hi guys! Melissa here with a BRAVE new tale. This week I had the chance to attend the BRAVE press day Monday, June 18th at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, California. Kelly Macdonald (Merida), Kevin McKidd (Lord MacGruffin and Yound MacGruffing), and Craig Ferguson (Lord Macintosh) were all present, as well as Mark Andrews (Director) and Katherine Sarafian (Producer). Below, you will find the Q&A from Kelly Macdonald, Kevin McKidd, and Craig Ferguson.
Set in the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland, Disney•Pixar’s “Brave” follows the heroic journey of Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald), a skilled archer and headstrong daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). Determined to change her fate, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the unruly and uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane), unleashing chaos in the kingdom. When she turns to an eccentric Witch (voice of Julie Walters), she is granted an ill-fated wish and the ensuing peril forces Merida to harness all of her resources—including her mischievous triplet brothers—to undo a beastly curse and discover the meaning of true bravery. Directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, and produced by Katherine Sarafian, “Brave” is a grand adventure full of heart, memorable characters and signature Pixar humor.
Q&A With CRAIG FERGUSON, KELLY MACDONALD, & KEVIN MCKIDD
Q :We all know the Disney Princess franchise is huge.
KELLY :Yes.
Q :Number one, what was your first feeling when you knew you were going to be the newest Disney Princess? And secondly, do you have any plans to continue with the voice of Merida in any future projects, whether they be toys or more films?
KELLY :Um, I, ah, um, attention to detail is not my strong point and – and I have, it – it quickly passed my by that I was going to be the first female protagonist in a, in a Pixar movie until quite recently, until, really until I started doing interviews. Um, and I – I’m kind of glad that I didn’t know what I was doing, because it would have been a lot of pressure. But, um, it, I don’t think, I – I don’t think I personally have watched a Pixar movie and – and felt – felt wronged in that there wasn’t a female protagonist. I think that, you know, they make films about fish, and toys, and robots, and, you know, and there’s some really strong female characters in those films and in the INCREDIBLES and – and Jessie from TOY STORY. So I never felt like I was, um, missing out on that. But I am very, I feel very privileged having said all that, I am very privileged. And what was the second part?
Q :Are you continuing with the voice in any future parts?
KELLY :No, I – I mean, I – I – I’ve been doing, ah, there is kinds of kids games, Leapfrog games and – and video games. I actually did more voice work on the video game then I did in the actual movie.
CRAIG :Disney is so powerful that Kelly no longer owns her own voice. [Laughs]. So, ah, as she speaks to you now, she begins to owe the Disney Corporation money.
KELLY :Money. Yeah. [Laughs]
CRAIG :I will now answer all of her questions. [Laughs]
Q : Oh, thank you. Kelly, first of all, I’m sorry. Two things, are you the go to girl now for Scottish heroines?
CRAIG :Scottish heroin.
KELLY :I know, Scottish heroin. I don’t know where you heard that nasty rumor, ah, no.
Q : But to what extent could you identify with this character? I mean, was there any aspect of it that you could relate to?
KELLY :I think what you, I wasn’t, I wasn’t Merida-like when I was a teenager. I was, I was, she’s very adventurous and outdoorsy and energetic, and I was not. I was indoorsy and, um, just not. Um, but I – I was a teenage girl, so that was the – the thing that I can, ah, I, ah, zoned in on really. I, like I – I, you know, it’s that all teenagers are awful, but teenage girls are kind of worst I think, than teenage boys.
Q : What about her rebelliousness?
KELLY :What about her rebelliousness?
Q : Can you relate to that?
KELLY :No, well, I, my mom was really, I could have done with a bit more of that to be honest, something to rebel against. I didn’t really, she was very, um, easy-going and I didn’t have much to rebel against. I kind of, you know, I moved, I moved, I moved away from home when I was 17 and that was fine. And, you know, I – I made my own choices quite early on.
Q : For all three of you, great performances. I just wanted to ask you, most of the time in animation, the voice actors go into a booth by themselves and the director is there and someone’s there feeding them lines and so forth. Did any of you have an opportunity to work either with each other in the booth or with anyone else during the whole process.
KEVIN :No, no, not at all. I mean, everyone was in different areas of the country and parts of the world. So there wasn’t, it was a shame, but I think (Producer) Katherine Sarafian so often says that, we never would’ve gotten any work done if we were all in the same room, you know.
KELLY :That’s true.
KEVIN :Um, but no, it was a shame we didn’t get a chance to do sessions together, but no we didn’t.
KELLY :Did they normally do that, I don’t know if that’s the norm?
KEVIN :Don’t know.
KELLY :I think, I think it, I think it’s the norm when, that you’re on your own.
KEVIN :Yeah.
KELLY :And – and you concentrate on that one – one voice.
Q : So how was it being solo rather than working with some people?
KEVIN :It’s great because it’s all about you. [Laughs] You know, because …
CRAIG :I think, I think it’s nice because you make the movie in your head …
KEVIN :Yeah.
CRAIG :… while you’re doing it. You can, you can work when you, you know, you close your eyes and – and see the film in your head and just participate in it. And what the interesting thing about this film is when – when I saw the film, after I had seen it in my head, it – it was better. Um, [Laughs], which – which means that Pixar, are – are better than me at making [Laughs], ah, animated films. But I – I think, I think that that’s not going to be news, you know.
Q : So we all know animation is a long process that takes many years and the story continually develops through that. How did your characters change as the story developed?
KELLY :Well I – I – I – I’m kind of the late comer to the – the movie. I, I mean, they started making this seven years ago and I’ve only been involved for the past sort of 18 months. So I think I, I think they pretty much had Merida down and knew what that, what was going on there. But I think you probably had more experience.
KEVIN :Um-hum. Yeah.
CRAIG :Well, ah, Kevin’s character, um, changed a lot, you’ve been on for a long time.
KEVIN :Yeah, I was, I was, I started I think four years ago and Young MacGuffin, I was only cast as Young MacGuffin to start with. And then at that time he was going to end up winning Merida’s hand in marriage. And then the story …
KELLY :I didn’t know that.
KEVIN :Yes, but …
CRAIG :But no one would’ve believed that. That’s what I’m saying. Once you got, once you got … See this is why we have to work as separately. [Laughs] Because … [Laughs]
KEVIN :Exact, and so, but, the shift, I think it was a good shift, you know …
KELLY :Right… because of the whole point, the whole message is that – that this protagonist is – is – is as you said, I’m going to find you one in my own sweet time, you know? And, um, so I was guided that poor Young MacGuffin didn’t get to win the hand of Merida. But, um, I think for the greater good of the, of the film and the, and the message it was a good thing. Um, and Lord MacGuffin was always kind of as he was based on a grumpy big proud old man, you know.
Q : This is for all three of you. I want you to think long and hard about this. If you could turn your mom into an animal, what animal would you choose to follow in their footsteps?
KEVIN :Wow. [Laughs] Okay.
KELLY :Careful now.
CRAIG :I – I – I would …
Q : Well you couldn’t actually turn her into it, but you could help see the ground work of it.
CRAIG :So you could sort of be involved in a conspiracy to turn your mother into a … [Laughs] I don’t, I don’t think, I – I don’t think I would ever have done that.
KELLY :No, uh-huh.
CRAIG :I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t have thought my relationship would have been improved by her having claws. [Laughs]
KELLY :I agree.
KEVIN :Yeah.
KELLY :Oh, I – I can’t even think of an animal that, I mean, she – she’s a homebody, my mom. I would, I would, I think I would turn her into a cat, because I think she would be very happy.
KEVIN :Aahh.
KELLY :In front of the fire.
KEVIN :I don’t know what I would turn my mom into. [Laughs] But it all feels like every answer’s going to be bad. Um …
KELLY :Insulting.
KEVIN :Ah, yeah. I mean, turn her into a beautiful hummingbird, so she could fly and be free, there you go, so, yeah.
KELLY :Awe.
CRAIG :Oh, yeah, that’s very nice, yeah.
KEVIN :My mom will like that. [Noise] [Laughs]
CRAIG :I’ll be alright, I’ll be alright, I’ll be alright. [Laughs]
KEVIN :I’ll give you my real answer later.
Q : Given the way that North American actors tend to mangle Scottish accents when they play Scottish parts, going back to, “I cannot do it captain,” do you all feel gratified that this is a cast of people mostly doing their own accents? And are your voices in the film close to your speaking voices?
CRAIG :I didn’t understand a word of that. [Laughs]
Q : I’m very sorry. Most …
CRAIG :No, no, no, no, no, no. [Laughs] I think it, I think it’s – it’s very, I think it’s just like a sign of the times. I think the world is different than it was maybe 20, 30 years ago, when, ah, regional accents were a very exotic and odd thing. But – but, you know, with – with, ah, the internet and with the YouTube and with, you know, with all the different, ah, communication systems that exist in the world, I think regional accents are, people’s ears are much more tuned to – to authenticity and accents now. And I think that’s part of the smart planning of – of this film. The, and also, if you’re going to make a film about Scotland, it’s probably a good idea to have Scottish people. [Laughs]
KELLY :But also, I, having, ah, I – I am Scottish, and I also read things that have said that I have a terrible Scottish accent. So – so …
CRAIG :Really?
KELLY :Yeah. What people don’t know, they don’t know, you know. It’s like, um, yeah, so.
KEVIN :Wow.
Q : I’m still hoping that by the end of this press conference we’ll all get kilts. My question is, you know, how Pixar is always famous for going to the place and research the place really well, like they did with UP, and they did the same thing here for BRAVE. Did you give your contribution to Chapman and Andrews about the looks and the vibe for the film? Like, oh we don’t do that in Scotland, or characters, or anything like that? Did you give any suggestions or any inputs to it?
KEVIN :Well, you know, the film was very well formed by the time I – I joined it. And the story was pretty much set and all that stuff. So they just, I think they just wanted us to really bring our voice, you know, you voices into, and to – to, they were very open to us in, you know, they said, this is the line of dialogue. And we’d say, yeah, we could say it that way, but it would be more natural, or a Scottish person would say it more like this. Or it could be funnier if you say it this way. So they were very open to us, you know, changing things and giving them different options. You know, as far as, the look of it, I think they had all that stuff sorted.
CRAIG :Yeah, they – they – they kind of know what they’re doing. I think it would be a bad idea to, as a voice actor, to run over to Pixar and tell them it doesn’t look very good. [Laughs] I – I don’t know, I don’t know how long you would be working there. [Laughs]
KEVIN :Yeah. [Laughs]
KELLY :Also I – I think the filmmakers have seen more of Scotland than I’ve seen it.
CRAIG :They’ve been around a lot.
KEVIN :Yeah.
KELLY :Yeah, they’ve seen a lot.
CRAIG : They’ve seen a lot of it, yeah.
Q : I think you may need to stand up so they can see you.
KELLY :Oh, hello.
KEVIN :Hello.
Q : This is for Kelly. What’s the best part about playing Princess Merida?
KELLY :The best part is that, um, I had so much fun. I got to play, um, I got to play this part that I would never get to play in a live action film. Because I’m not a teenager and, um, I got to be really cheeky and obnoxious to my mom, which was quite fun. Um …
KEVIN :Um-hum.
KELLY :Yeah, I – I, it was just, it was just the most fun I – I – I’ve ever had at work without having to wear a costume and get my hair done.
Q : This is for Kevin. How did you go about developing two distinct tonal influences for the two voices that you’re doing?
KEVIN :Yeah. Well, I started as Young MacGuffin and, um, it took us a while because they wanted the Young MacGuffin to be kind of that, you know, nobody could understand a word he says in the film because his Scot-, his accent’s so thick. And we started messing about with this sort of made up words and all that. And, um, and that didn’t seem to work, and I suggest this dialect which is from my area in Scotland called the Doric, which my grandfather spoke and it’s a very thick, almost Norwegian style, um, dialect, you know, that’s quite strange. And, um, so I did that and then we started going, well you’re going, and then they offered me Young, Lord MacGuffin, the older character, the dad. And I, we started doing sessions where I do both of at the same time and I ended up just sort of meeting somewhere in the middle, kind of neither, between a rock and a hard place. So we just had to kind of, we’d do it in the mornings with Lord MacGuffin because my, because I’ve just woken up and my voice was all … And then after lunch we would do Young MacGuffin was the – the thing we landed on. Um, and, you know, I just kind of like basically channeled my dad for Lord MacGuffin, because he’s grumpy and old and I’ve channeled myself, um, as a Young, because I was a very, very painfully shy, um, boy. Um, that’s why I became an actor. So I channeled that painfully shy, young boy that I was.
Q : Is there a network of Scottish people in Hollywood? Do you guys get together and read stories? [Laughs]
CRAIG :We can’t tell you that. [Laughs] Or we’d have to kill you. (inaudible). [Laughs].
Q : This is for all three of you. I know we’ve talked a lot about the voice work, I mean, you’ve captured the essence of these characters. My question is, during the voice work, did you know or have a feeling, and when was that, that this film was special?
KELLY :I think as soon as I was asked to – to go in and meet some people from Pixar, I mean, just the name Pixar, you know it’s going to be special. And so, I had no doubt in my mind that the finished product was going to be, ah, just really special and – and – and cutting edge, you know, that – that – that’s the great thing about Pixar, is like every movie that they bring out is like the most cutting edge technology. And, um, but you look back at the films, and TOY STORY was, ah, 15 years ago and you don’t, you don’t look back and think, oh, if they had the technology they have now it could be such a better film. It’s still, it stands up and it – it – it’s extraordinary, what they do is extraordinary and to think that comes from the, from the top John Lasseter is a very special man and – and just the, um, it’s just people that love their jobs and do their jobs very well.
Q : But it’s more than just the creative, I mean, it’s more than the creative, the voice work was phenomenal and was there a moment when you were in the booth that you knew, you had a special feeling, or you knew that this would turn out to be something great, all of you?
CRAIG :I don’t know, I don’t know how productive it would be to – to have that special feeling while you’re doing the work. You know, I think that it would be counterproductive. I – I think it’s better to – to do, ah, particularly in – in an environment where so much of what, of what the performance is, is not you, you know, you do the voice and you have that. But there are so many things that are outside of your control. So trust is involved. When – when you see the name, when you, when the name Pixar is on the offer, what it is, it’s not really an offer, it’s more of summons.
KELLY :Yeah, um-hum, yeah.
KEVIN :Um-hum, yeah, yeah.
CRAIG :It’s like Pixar requires your presence in this film.
KEVIN :Yeah.
CRAIG :And you go or you’re a fool, you know.
KELLY :Yeah.
CRAIG :And so that’s kind of like what happens, is that, they’ve earned that right by the – the, they’re, by – by what they’ve done. And so, what I, what I think the special feeling, if you have any special feeling, ah, but it’s not a, you know, any kind of judgment on your own performance, but other than – than – than realizing what these people have done, trusting that they will be able to do it again, and letting them. And that’s really what it is, it’s really trust if there’s any emotion involved.
KEVIN :Um-hum. Yeah, no …
Q : I’d like to ask Craig, could you contrast this experience on BRAVE with doing Gobbler in HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON?
CRAIG :I – I could …
Q : Are they very different or the same?
CRAIG :Well, um, it’s a different person, ah, ah, it’s a different person, so – so – so that’s different, but the technique of doing it is – is much the same. Ah, the – the – the, ah, you know, it’s not the biggest stretch in the world to go from one Scottish speaking character to another Scottish speaking character. But – but that’s – that’s kind of, ah, I assume that’s why they asked me to do it, you know. But, um, the contrast if any, I think was the, ah, the personality of the character involved.
CRAIG :It was a different personality. That’s really what it is.
Q : A lot of fun on both then?
CRAIG :Oh, lots of fun. I – I was always kind of interested in the accent work when I did the – the character before the Viking character with the Scottish accent that, many of you people over here said, how come the Viking sounds Scottish? And no one said, how come the Young Viking sounds American? No one asked me that? [Laughs]
KEVIN :Yeah.
Q : Kevin, sorry, I need to go here, but Grey’s has such a disastrous ending with losing little Grey and all that. Can you talk a little bit about the deaths in the cast? And since your one of the few characters who knows he has his job, you weren’t on the plane and you didn’t finish your Residency, what do you hope for the next season?
KEVIN :Well, you know, it’s – it’s, it was a really dramatic finale. I mean, they’re – they’re brilliant writers on that show, you know, they really know how to grab people and keep them especially in their finales and their season premieres. You know, they, you know, they’re killing people off, having planes crash, I amazed that, you know, a plane crashing into a mountain side and only that many people died, you know, it’s like. Um, but they really do a great job and it was, it was sad to see Chyler Leigh go, you know, um, very sad. And it, we don’t know, I mean, I don’t know what’s going to happen next.
KEVIN :I mean, they – they keep their scripts very close to their chest, we start back shooting through, in three weeks, four weeks’ time. So, I could tell you more then, but, I mean, I know as far as what the premiere’s going to be, it’s going to be pretty intense, you know? Um, I mean, it’s going to, it’s a real game changer, you know, doing something like that to a show, killing people and making people go through a trauma like that, it’s a game changer. So, it be, it’ll be fun to see where we all go there, you know.
Q : Hi there. To expand a little bit on what you were talking about, Craig and also for the both of you. In addition to these two characters, you brought Al to back to live in such a wonderful way. Are you finding animated characters to be any more complex, layered, more interesting to you than real life characters? And for you guys like of the same way. I guess you’ve done more animated than the other two right?
KELLY :I’ve done, nothing. This is my first. Yeah.
CRAIG :I think that, I – I think that it – it – it’s good for me because I’m not a very good actor. So what I do is … [Laughs] I – I don’t get in my own way. I, what I’ll do is, I’ll do the voice. I’m pretty good at voices and then people who are good at acting can draw in good acting. So – so I – I do the voice and then they draw in good acting. Because I may, I – I think I get in my way, I think I would get in my way with a lot of that. Plus, I have a day job and so I can’t go and make a film. I can go to the Valley and for a couple of hours and work on one, but I can’t, I can’t go away and make a film, I can’t go on location, I can’t, I can’t do any of that.
CRAIG :Not that anyone is asking me, but I, but even – even [Laughs]. Beware, you know, I – I – I’m not, I’m not available, so don’t even bother. You know, so, but that – that’s what I think is. Also, the thing that is about it, that – that I like about it, is that you’re not limited, and – and Kelly said this, you’re not limited by who you are physically.
KEVIN :Um-hum.
CRAIG :You know, you can play anybody and anything. So – so the world that, the worlds and the, and the – the opportunities that are available to you as an actor, are – are expanded by just working only with your voice. Not, they’re not lessened, it – it – it’s, there’s, you can do anything and be anywhere. And we have a tradition where we are from, I don’t know if you did much, but – but certainly Kevin and – and I did radio work.
KEVIN :Um-hum.
CRAIG :In Scotland and you, and you do that when you start out, or you certainly you used to, and doing radio drama, radio comedy it – it’s kind of, it’s very similar to what we do here I think.
Q : I wanted to ask, I believe the theme of the movie is taking control of your destiny or whatever. Is it something in your life that was kind of out of control for a bit that you took control over?
KELLY :Are you asking that to Kevin? I think she’s asking you that.
KEVIN :Ah, yeah, I mean, I guess, I was from a wee town in the northeast of Scotland and, you know, and there was nobody up there that, I think I was about eight or nine when I suddenly wanted to do this crazy acting thing. And I had no clue how to ever pursue that up there, you know, there was no theater, you know, national theater in Scotland or anything up there, you know, there’s sheep, and, ah, fields …
CRAIG :And they’re a very tough crowd. [Laughs]
KEVIN :Exactly. And so, yeah, it was like, you know, I kind of just had to really take matters into my own hands and sort of really doggedly pursue this thing, which I tried to eventually – managed to get to be lucky enough to get to do. So, yeah, I mean, I think the message is a very powerful one for young people. Um, because I really took, you know, it’s like this – this kids who’s on one path, you know, I was going to be a plumber like my dad essentially and I manage, and I kind of changed that. Now there’s probably good sides and bad sides to me changing my own fate, you know.
CRAIG :Very difficult to get a good plumber in Los Angeles.
KEVIN : [Laughs] Exactly. So, you know, there, I think that’s another subtle message in the film that, do you really want to change your fate or not, you know, there’s always a payoff, you know.
Q : I want to know how you prepared yourself to do such wild character? And what is the wildest thing that you have done in your life?
KELLY :Oh, dear.
KEVIN :The wildest thing? [Laughs]
CRAIG :You have no idea, who you just asked. [Laughs] I – I can’t tell you even now, the wildest things that I’ve done in my life. But I, ah, I – I think that, ah, I think the preparation is done for you in a way that, in a sense that, I think that – that, movies are good if they’re cast well. Certainly, and what I think they have done, is they may have cast people who are likely in these roles. So, it’s not a huge leap for me to – to be this character in this film. I don’t think it’s an enormous leap for either the, of my two colleagues here to do the same thing. It’s about, it’s about you cast the right actor for the role and that, I think that’s – that’s 90 percent of the preparation right there. I get, you trust that they’ve done that. And you bring to whatever you have to it.
KEVIN :Yeah.
Q : Yeah. Kelly, did it make a difference in your performance to be aware of this character Merida, to have this curly hair, red hair?
KELLY :No, I – I mean, I, like I said, I – I – I became involved about a year and a half ago. So they had, you know, they knew what Merida was going to look like and – and, but I didn’t, you know, when I went in for my recording sessions, there wasn’t photos of … You know, I keep saying photos, like she’s a real person. Drawings of her, um, up in the sound studio or, you know, I didn’t think about it too much. It was very like, ah, Craig said, it was kind of you, I kind of forgot about that and just got on with the job in hand. And – and then and I, you know, I had it all in my head. And luckily, we had, ah, Mark Andrews at the helm, who’s the most energize – energetic kind of, ah, amazing presence. And he would bring it, would bring it to life and that really helped me actually. Um, but I didn’t think about the hair, I didn’t think about any of that stuff, um, for no particular reason. So when I saw the finished product, I was completely, it was, it was almost like a total surprise, you know.
Q : I actually had wanted to ask a accent question, but I don’t know if we’ve covered that ground way too much. So let me throw to another one. You didn’t get to work with him because of the nature of the making these, but I think that everyone that we’ve ever had a chance to interview, who’s related to Scotland, has stories about Billy Connolly and being impacted by him, probably over the last 25 years he’s had such influence. Can you talk a bit about that in the sense of even though you didn’t get to actually work with him directly, being in a film with him and what his humor has meant to you?
KEVIN :Wow, I mean, you know, I remember a few years ago, I think it was about 15, maybe 20 years ago, he did a tour of the north, of – of all the little villages halls and the whole Scotland. He went around and did all the kind of Town Halls of Scotland. And he came to my town Elgin and because I was this theater, oh, so sort of theater rat, you know, um, in Elgin. I got to do a follow spot for two nights in Elgin Town Hall.
KELLY :Oh, wow.
KEVIN :And I couldn’t keep the follow spot still because I was laughing so hard and the follow spot was going like that. And he started making jokes about me, you know, he was like, you up there, (inaudible) or stay still with the follow spot. He’s been, I mean, I, he’s like the god of, you know, the granddaddy of Scottish comedy and he’s been unbelievable and, you know, it’s, I’ve – I – I still haven’t properly met him. I’ve done his follow spot, but I still haven’t properly met him. [Laughs]
CRAIG :Billy would, Billy is, ah, ah, Elvis to me. Billy’s Jackie Robinson as far as I’m concerned. Billy changed the game. You know, when I was a kid, when I was at school, Billy released an album, a comedy album called Solo Concert. And now, if you listen to young black comedians talk about Richard Pryor, that’s who Billy is to me. You know, that – that just, I had never seen anyone do anything who sounded like me, who came from the same socioeconomic group as me and did that. I’d never seen that before.
CRAIG :I had seen English actors pretend to be Scottish. I had seen characters of Scottish people, but I had never seen anything like that. So – so Billy to me is like, you know, it’s something, I think John Lennon said before Elvis there was nothing, I think it was John Lennon that said that. And that’s kind of how I feel about Billy. Before Billy there was nothing, you know, I – I, it was, it was a – a different thing, it was, it was a different game. So in one sense he is, ah, um, ah, found of Billy, god. [Laughs]
KELLY :No, for me, I hurled myself at Billy Connolly when I first, I, he was in, he was doing a session when I first went in to read for the part, ah, Billy had just been doing a session before me. And, before – before I even knew what happened, I was like around his neck like a monkey. And I thought, what am I doing? [Laughs]. So, yeah, I, it’s not just a male thing.
KEVIN :Is he coming tonight?
KELLY :No, I don’t think so.
CRAIG :Don’t think so, I think he’s in Australia.
KELLY :We’re sort of past the halfway point, so (inaudible). She’s still alive, she’s alive, she’s alive.
Opens on June 22, 2012, in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters. “Brave” is rated PG by the MPAA.
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