Paramount Pictures are letting fans decide if they are naughty or nice in these two new trailer for BABYLON.
The A-list cast include Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, P.J. Byrne, Lukas Haas, Olivia Hamilton, Tobey Maguire, Max Minghella, Rory Scovel, Katherine Waterston, Flea, Jeff Garlin, Eric Roberts, Ethan Suplee, Samara Weaving, Olivia Wilde.
From Damien Chazelle, BABYLON is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.
See BABYLON in theaters this Friday, December 23rd.
Diego Calva plays Manny Torres and Brad Pitt plays Jack Conrad in Babylon from Paramount Pictures.Brad Pitt plays Jack Conrad and Li Jun Li plays Lady Fay Zhu in Babylon from Paramount Pictures.
From Damien Chazelle, Babylon is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood. The bigger the dream, the greater the fight.
Damien Chazelle’s BABYLON starring Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Diego Calva opens in theatres everywhere December 23 and WAMG is giving away to five of our lucky readers Fandango codes to see the film.
EMAIL michelle@wearemoviegeeks.com to enter.
YOU MUST BE A US RESIDENT. PRIZE WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED TO US ADDRESSES. NO P.O. BOXES. NO DUPLICATE ADDRESSES.
WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
Lukas Haas plays George Munn, Brad Pitt plays Jack Conrad and Spike Jonze plays Otto Von Strassberger in Babylon from Paramount Pictures.Margot Robbie plays Nellie LaRoy in Babylon from Paramount Pictures.
Happy Fourth of July all you Marvel movie maniacs! We Movie Geeks hope you had a fun time at all the barbeques and at the big fireworks shows. But all the excitement won’t end with that final bottle rocket. Just a couple of days later everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood web-spinner will be swinging back into the multiplex in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING. Hard to believe that Peter Parker’s been in feature films for over fifteen years now. This got us to thinking about all the actors who have played him on the big AND small screen, those who have donned the skin-tight spandex and those who have given him a voice. So. let’s take a leisurely stroll down Marvel memory lane with this top ten list. For fun, let’s go from the earliest to the latest, from cartoons and TV to the movies. So, make sure your web-shooters are filled as we begin with…
10. Paul Soles (“Spider-Man” animated series on ABC 1967-1970)
It’s 1966, the year that the Batman TV grabbed the public and proved to be a rating powerhouse. Since the nation’s kids were swept up in Batmania, the broadcast networks scrambled to bring these “funny underwear” characters to Saturday mornings (while soaps and game shows filled the airwaves Monday thru Friday, kids shows filled the weekend mornings back in those pre-cable days). While many of the heroes were original creations (“Space Ghost” on CBS, “Birdman” on NBC). ABC opted to base two of their biggest new shows on the hip, very popular Marvel comics characters (although CBS did have Filmation Studios’ “The New Adventures of Superman”). Toon’ factory Hanna-Barbera adapted Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s “Fantastic Four” (with designs by the great Alex Toth), while “Spider-Man” came from the smaller Krantz Films and Gantray-Lawrence animation house. Originally Spidey was part of the “Marvel Superheroes” cartoons for syndication (he would rotate with Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America), but when the network “came a’ callin'”, the Sub-Mariner took that fifth slot. Giving voice to Peter Parker and Spider-Man was Canadian actor Paul Soles. He was already providing the soundtracks to Rick Jones, ‘Happy’ Hogan, and the Incredible Hulk/Bruce Banner for the aforementioned syndicated package. Prior to that he was one of the voice artists for the Rankin/Bass company, the same folks behind many perennial holiday specials. In fact, he was the voice of Hermey, the “wannabe’ dentist” elf in “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (along with the “Smokey the Bear” and “King Kong” TV shows). Soles made a vocal distinction similar to what Bud Collyer did on the Superman radio show. Peter’s voice had a lite tenor lilt while Spidey was a deep, dynamic baritone. He provided the vocals for all 52 episodes, including the bizarre, trippy third season ones directed by Ralph Bakshi assisted by the great Gray Morrow. In 1979 he returned to the role for a guest spot on ABC’s “Spider-Woman” cartoon series. Mr. Soles has kept busy over the years, in films, TV, and in animation. And he’s part of the Marvel “movie-verse” playing pizzeria owner Stanley (or is it Stan Lee) in 2008’s THE INCREDIBLE HULK.
Now, let’s jump briefly from cartoons to live action with…
9. Danny Seagren (“The Electric Company” PBS 1974-1977)
Name not ringing a bell? Okay, here’s some “back story”. In 1969 “Sesame Street” revolutionized educational TV shows for kids. Naturally, a couple of years later, the PBS network and the CTW (Children’s Television Workshop) were hoping to expand , to succeed with a half hour show aimed at a slightly older audience, to sharpen their grammar and reading skills. In 1971 they premiered “The Electric Company” which used a fast pace similar to Sesame, but without Jim Henson’s Muppets. Instead, they showcased a troupe of veteran performers and up and coming young actors. Those newbies included Skip Hinnant (voice of Fritz the Cat) and future Oscar winner Morgan Freeman, while the ‘old pros” were “EGOT” Rita Moreno and… ahem.. bill cosby. A couple of well known characters like Batman and the Roadrunner had made a trek to Sesame, so the producers decided to license Spider-Man. not for just a quick cartoon spot or two, but as a series regular in 1974. To cast him they called on the Henson company and hired young Muppet performer and puppet designer Danny Seagren to don the red and blue leotard. Each episode of the five-day-a-week show included a Spider-Man segment, usually about 3 or 4 minutes complete with faux comic book cover and theme music (“Spider-Man…nobody knows who you are…”). The other cast members interacted with Spidey, even though he only “talked” in “word balloons”, so Seagren was basically doing a mime performance. And you never saw him remove his mask to become Peter Parker. While the backgrounds were comic art, none of Spidey’s supporting characters (Aunt May, etc. ) or villains (Green Goblin, etc.) were featured. His TV appearances were so popular that Marvel released a tie-in comic book “Spidey Super Stories” designed for younger readers. Spider-man was part of the Electric Company right up to its final season in 1977, when Seagren returned to “Muppet-land”, and later puppet designing and performing.
Which leads us to another “live” web-slinger…
8. Nicholas Hammond (“The Amazing Spider-Man” CBS 1977-1979)
In 1977, CBS execs knew there was “something in the air”, probably before STAR WARS changed pop culture that May. They, along with Universal Studios, had optioned several of the Marvel superheroes for possible TV movies and hopefully some hit weekly TV shows. That eventually did happen with “The Incredible Hulk”, though there were two Captain America TV movies and a solo Dr. Strange TV “movie of the week” (Iron Man, Thor, the Sub-Mariner, and the Human Torch never went into production). But Spidey was not part of that deal, he was with Charles Fries Productions over at Columbia, though he beat the Hulk to the air by two months. The September “movie special” was a modest hit for the network, buoyed by the casting of an actor who was part of one of the big box office hits of all time. A dozen years before he was Peter Parker, Nicholas Hammond was best known as the eldest Von Trapp son, Friedrich in THE SOUND OF MUSIC (two years prior to that he was Robert in LORD OF THE FLIES). In the years between he kept busy in films and TV (boyfriends on “The Brady Bunch” and “The Waltons”). In the pilot show we see the twenty-something actor as a college intern bitten by that spider who’s accidentally doused with radiation. On the way home he discovers his new abilities and later fashions a costume to hide his identity while creating his “web-shooters”. Peter is then hired as a photographer for the NYC newspaper, the Daily Bugle, reporting to the editor/publisher J. Jonah Jameson (David White of “Bewitched” in the pilot, replaced by Robert F Simon when it goes to series). Later Pete becomes pals with Jameson’s assistant Rita (Chip Fields, mother of Kim Fields of “The Facts of Life”). The second episode doesn’t air till early 1978 and would run sporadically thru 1979. Rumor is that it was never given a consistent series night after a CBS “big wig’ was teased at a party when someone said that CBS now stood for “Comic Book Shows” (after they picked up “Wonder Woman” from ABC). Stan Lee would complain that it was more like a “cop show” since none of the super-villians from the comics were used and Michael Pataki became a regular as cranky cop Captain Barbera. The constraints of TV budgets hampered the fantasy elements of the series. The Spidey suit was ill-fitting, with odd one-way glass in the mask’s eye pieces (later they’d be white), and a white “utility belt” and white plastic bracelets (for the web cartridges). That webbing resembled kids’ party “silly string” and bad guys had a web net thrown over them from off camera (some were webbed by reversing the footage or “back-winding”). Stuntman Dar Robinson worked a wire that made it look as though he was crawling up the sides of buildings (though he feet and hands barely touched the surfaces as he was whisked up). For its third season a rival reporter, Julie Masters played by Ellen Bry, was brought in generate some Lois and Clark romantic sparks, but it was too little, too late as the erratic scheduling finally sent the series to rerun heaven. Several episodes were edited together to make syndicated movies (a few played foreign theatres). Hammond said that there was talk in 1984 about doing a reunion movie that would have him meeting up with the Bixby/Ferrigno Hulk, but nothing materialized. Since then, Mr. Hammond has kept busy both in front of and behind the camera as a screenwriter.
And now back to the Saturday morning cartoons!
7. Dan Gilvezan (“Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” NBC 1981-1983)
It’s another Saturday morning show, another network for the ole’ webhead. ABC had a weekend staple with different versions of the Hanna-Barbera classic, “Super Friends”, which began with the partnership of DC comics icons Superman, Batman (with Robin), Wonder Woman, and Aquaman along with “regular” teens Wendy, Marvin, and their mutt Wonder Dog (other members of the Justice League along with the alien Wonder Twins would be added in future seasons). It was only natural that the “peacock network” would want their own “super-team” toon’. When Marvel bought the Depatie-Freeling Animation Studios (becoming Marvel Animation) they pitched and sold a show originally called “Spider Friends”, but airing as “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” from 1981 to 1983. Those friends were former X-Men Bobby Drake AKA Iceman ,voiced by the prolific Frank Welker (the original Fred on “Scooby Doo” and the current “Garfield”) and Angelica Jones AKA Firestar, voiced by Kathy Garver (Cissy on the sitcom classic “Family Affair”), an original character that was perhaps a female sub for the troublesome (to network watchdog groups) Human Torch. She could fly, control and emit warm temps, and toss fireballs. The three heroes shared the upper floor of a Queens boarding house run by Pete’s beloved Aunt May (voiced by the legendary June Foray) and her excitable pooch Ms. Lion. With the turn of a trophy (and other triggers) the common living room turned into a high-tech anti-crime center (mainly a big computer with flashing lights). Oh, and Peter Parker was voiced by a St. Louis native, the very busy (in front of the camera and behind the mike) Dan Gilvezan. Besides Spidey, Dan’s best known cartoon roles may be as the father of “Dennis the Menace” and as fan favorite autobot Bumblebee of “The Transformers”. But back to those “Spider pals”, each half hour would begin with breathless narration from comics co-creater Stan Lee and pit the trio against new and established villains from Marvel . And sometimes they’d get an assist from other comics heroes (this show had the first animated appearance of Wolverine). After the end of its network run, the show became part of Marvel’s big animation syndication strip (Monday thru Friday) package. And the talented Mr. Gilvezan continues to be much in demand.
6. Christopher Daniel Barnes (“Spider-Man” Fox-Kids 1994-1998)
Eleven years later Spidey leaps to another network, Fox (technically its branch for youngsters, Fox Kids). The still young “net” (begun in 1987) wanted to establish thmeselves as an after-school staple for the nation’s pre-teens, so they brought in Marvel (now thru New World Entertainment Films) for weekday adventures of the X-Men (turning them into multi-media titans) and new tales of everyone’s favorite wallcrawler. These were tight adaptations of classic stories using villains and heroes from the entire Marvel comics universe (the even did a “secret wars” mini-series). Spidey’s core group of supporting players included Sara Ballantine as Mary Jane Watson and Ed Asner, the former Lou Grant, as another news editor, J. Jonah Jameson. And voicing Peter Parker was a terrific young actor named Christopher Daniel Barnes, who lent his pipes to another toon’ hero, Ariel’s adored Prince Eric in the Disney classic THE LITTLE MERMAID.This was around the same time he co-starred in the live-action NBC sitcom “Day by Day” (prior to that he was in the ABC TV adaptation/sequel to STARMAN). Later he would earn great praise for his turn as another pop culture icon, Greg Brady in 1995’s THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE and its sequel the following year. The five day-a-week “Spider-Man” show would amass 65 episodes and boast a stellar roster of voice actors (Eddie Albert as the Vulture, Oscar-winner Martin Landau as the Scorpion, Marc Hamill as the Hobgoblin, and Brian Keith as Uncle Ben, among many others). Since the end of production, Barnes has been very active in many projects (including several Spidey shows and games).
5. Neil Patrick Harris (“Spider-Man: The New Adventures” MTV 2003)
Five years pass, a big box office blockbuster is released, and Spidey is back on the small screen on yet another network, this time it’s that basic cable institution MTV. The thirteen episode series is a loose adaptation of the Marvel Comic hit spin-off book “Ultimate Spider-Man” filtered through the events of the recent Sam Raimi-directed smash film. And it’s a very different look to Pete and his pals. Rather than they “hand-drawn” 2-D “painted” cel animation, the characters and backgrounds are fully rendered in CGI (computer animation ala’ Pixar). As at the end of the 2002 hit, the main characters are young college students. Harry Osborn is voiced by “Beverly Hills 90210 vet Ian Ziering while singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb voiced Jane Watson. Whoah, this time around Spidey is voiced by none other than the “notorious NPH”, self-professed comics geek Neil Patrick Harris! This was ten years after his breakout TV role as “Doogie Howser, MD” and just a couple of years after his hoped-for return to series TV with NBC’s “Stark Raving Mad”. But just two years later he’d be back in the spotlight stealing scenes in HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE and in another couple of years he’d begin his nine season run as the leg…wait for it..endary Barney Stinson on the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”. His Spidey would face off against an army of “re-tooled” comic villains including Michael Clarke Duncan reprising his role as Wilson Fisk AKA the Kingpin from the then recent DAREDEVIL feature starring Ben Affleck. Harris continues to delight as he wins Emmys and Tonys, stars in big feature films (THE SMURFS, GONE GIRL), and headlines the Netflix show based on the popular childrens books “A Series of Unfortunate Events”, but still makes time lend his voice once more to his favorite “webhead’ in the video game “Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions”.
4. Drake Bell (“Ultimate Spider-Man” Disney XD 2012-)
And this brings us to the current-day voice of Spidey on yet another channel, Disney sister station Disney XD. This show, still in production, owes much to the Marvel movie universe, yet also harkens back to an earlier animated incarnation. It’s got a looser, more “cartoon-y” look which supports its fast. frenetic pace. Spidey’s exploits have caught the attention of the spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D., so they bring him in for a high-tech upgrade. But in return, they want him to mentor four heroes-in-training as they attend Mid-Town High, now run by principal (and undercover agent ) Phil Coulson (actor Clark Gregg reprises his film and TV role…and the design looks just like him). Hmm, sounds a bit like the ole’ “Spider Friends” idea. Those friends are the high-flying Nova (voiced by Logan Miller) and teen versions of the invulnerable Luke cage (Ogie Banks) along with martial artists Iron Fist (Greg Cripes) and the White Tiger (Caitlyn Taylor Love). Oh, and the “Big Apple” is peppered with massive video screens of J Jonah Jameson (voiced by Oscar-winner J.K, Simmons) decrying the “Spider-Man menace”. Whoops, almost forgot, voicing Spidey is Drake Bell, half of the hit Nickleodeon “Drake & Josh” and star of the live-action movie satire SUPERHERO MOVIE. This hit series show no signs of slowing down is it engages in crossovers with the other Marvel animated shows that feature the Avengers and the Hulk.
That’s it for the toons’, now let’s head to the multiplex…. 3. Tobey Maguire (SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-MAN 2, SPIDER-MAN 3 2002-2007)
After years of court battles, the movie rights to Spider-man were finally awarded to Sony Pictures. With the astounding box office response to the X-MEN movie in 2000, Sony was eager to give the web slinger the big budget treatment he richly deserved. The directing reigns were handed off to Sam (THE EVIL DEAD) Raimi, a long time comics fan, who began the long casting process. Nearly every twenty-something up and coming actor did a screen test, but the coveted role went to Tobey Maguire. A working thespian since his teens, Maguire had been steadily making a name for himself, graduating from TV work (an episode of “Walker, Texas Ranger” for gosh sake) to the movies with a high-profile role as Leonardo Di Caprio’s best bud in THIS BOY’S LIFE (the two remain good friends). He’d follow this up with memorable work in acclaimed films such as THE ICE STORM, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, WONDER BOYS, and PLEASANTVILLE. As Peter Parker he was paired with Kirsten Dunst as love interest Mary Jane Watson, James Franco as pal/roomie Harry Osburn, Rosemary Harris as Aunt May, and Willem Dafoe as master villain the Green Goblin AKA Norman Osborn. The script began with the “accident” during Pete’s senior year in high school and focused on his new job at the Daily Bugle newspaper run by the hotheaded J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons) and his staff including Betty Brant (Elizabeth Banks) and ‘Robbie’ Robertson (Bill Nunn). Sure this first outing was action-packed, but it also worked as a romance, with a love triangle (Pete, MJ, and Harry) creating sparks. After the film broke box office records, a follow-up was put into production with Alfred Molina as iconic baddie Doctor Octopus AKA Otto Octavius. For many (yours truly included) this was a superior sequel, giving us the lovable loser we’d read for years, while exploring the MJ/ Pete dynamic. It quickly became the biggest movie of 2004. Unfortunately the next film three years later, was a bit of a let-down. Rumors circulated that Raimi was not ready with a the script as the studio wanted to get another blockbuster out. That pressure might have been the reason for the addition of two new villains, seminal bad guy the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and newer, fan favorite, the alien Venom, who takes control of Bugle reporter Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) while Harry Osborn became a sleeker version of the Goblin. With the addition of Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) as a rival to MJ, and the alien taking over Pete (in one horrific sequence “emo Peter Parker” dances down a city street), this 2007 flick was a disjointed muddled mess. Nobody seemed to be happy with it Later director Raimi denounced it in the fan press. Still Sony wanted another, but Raimi along with stars Maguire and Dunst were done. Mr. Maguire would go on to star in THE GREAT GATSBY and PAWN SACRIFICE (as chess master Bobby Fisher) and produce several films including Spike Lee’s 25TH HOUR, ROCK OF AGES, and THE 5TH WAVE.
It would be 5 years until Spidey swung on screen once more. And to cast him, Sony shot a web across the Atlantic…
2. Andrew Garfield (THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2012, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 2014)
For the 2012 “reboot” Spider-Man, the all-American hero, would be played by a Brit, Andrew Garfield. He had made a name for himself in the UK through his stage, film and TV work (the “Red Riding” TV movies) and had prominent roles in the futuristic NEVER LET ME GO and David Fincher’s docudrama THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Marc Webb (appropriate) would helm this different take on the hero. There’s no MJ here, instead Pete is smitten with “whiz kid” Gwen Stacy (Oscar-winner Emma Stone) while dealing with her no-nonsense pop, Police Captain Stacy (Denis Leary). We’d get a flashback at the film’s start which would show Pete’s birth parents Richard and Mary Parker (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz) and hint that their demise was planned by the sinister Oscorp company (its founder, Norman, is never really shown). And they had a hand in the “accident” that gave Peter his arachnid abilities. But this time Peter invents the web-shooters (as in the comics) rather than the organic “spinnerets” that shot weblines from his wrists in the Raimi trilogy. And now another Oscar-winner (twice), Sally Field, wears the apron of Aunt May. Another early comics villain, the Lizard AKA Dr, Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) would challenge our hero. The story often stalled while concentrating on the shadowy Oscorp shenanigans and the CGI Lizard seemed to be plucked out of a video game, but audiences responded to the chemistry between Garfield and Stone (which for a time transferred off-set). So much so, that a sequel was in theatres two years later. Pete and Gwen graduate from high school while things get stickier with Oscorp. Turns out they’re bankrolling baddies like the Rhino (Paul Giamatti) while turning one of their employees, Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) into the shocking Electro. Plus Oscorp heir, and old school chum of Pete, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) returns to town, tinkering with a top-secret formula (and weaponry) that will turn him into the Green Goblin. As with Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN 3, too any cooks…er..villains spoiled the broth, and the charming romance of Pete and Gwen was lost amid the noise and destruction. The film “under-performed” at the box office. Director Webb and star Garfield would not return. The latter would continue in several acclaimed films like 99 HOMES and SILENCE. He would earn an Oscar nomination for HACKSAW RIDGE last year. But Mr. Garfield would not be slipping on the mask once more. Sony was at a crossroads. They had too much invested to give up on the character and lose a potentially still-lucrative franchise. Perhaps someone familiar with Spidey would have some ideas…
1. Tom Holland (CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR 2016, SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING 2017, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR 2018)
Sony, along with all of the other studios, were astounded by the incredible success and box office gold generated by Marvel Studios since they released their first film, IRON MAN, back in 2008. Many in Hollywood thought they would flop since they didn’t control the movie exploits of several of their most popular characters. The X-Men and the Fantastic Four were with Fox while their corporate symbol (their “Mickey Mouse”), Spider-Man was with Sony. But after the 2014 flick, Sony made a call and Marvel listened. They would co-produce the Spidey series, with Marvel handling most of the creative direction. In turn, the webhead would be a part of the ever-expanding “Marvel movie-verse”. And what better way to introduce the new hero than with lots of the other heroes during an epic European airport tarmac battle in 2016’s CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR. In the smash hit film, Cap and Iron Man are at odds and the Avengers are split. In order to prevent Cap from helping his pal Bucky AKA the Winter Soldier. Tony Stark recruits a little extra “muscle” for his squad (War Machine, Black Widow, the Vision, and another new movie hero, the Black Panther). We first meet this new “recruit’ in the hallways of a Queens, NY apartment building. It’s fifteen year-old high school whiz (and ‘dumpster diver”) Peter Parker played by yet another Brit (!) Tom Holland, who at 20 he’s the youngest actor to play the role. A former “Billy Elliot” on the London stage, he made critics take notice with his powerful performance in the true-life disaster drama THE IMPOSSIBLE. Later he co-starred with Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, in Ron Howard’s epic IN THE HEART OF THE SEA. In CIVIL WAR. we also meet his new Aunt May, Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei. After donning his new Stark-designed, tricked out Spider-suit, Pete takes on the Falcon, Cap and Bucky while tossing out wisecracks. And when team Stark freaks out when Ant-Man becomes Giant-Man, Pete keeps a level head and takes him down by recalling a “really old” movie. Holland is an energetic delight, a charmer who steals nearly every scene. And this Friday, he gets his first solo adventure. Pete’s back in Queens, living with May, and being mentored by Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr) via his right-hand man ‘Happy’ Hogan (Jon Favreau). Our hero yearns to be a full-fledged Avenger while Tony wants him to keep his sights, and profile, low (“Just be your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man”). Pete’s going to challenge that when he keeps running into the heavily armed gang of Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) AKA the Vulture (the second villain he faced in the comics). But Mr. Parker may get that chance for the big leagues sooner than he expected, since it’s been confirmed that he will be in next year’s AVENGERS: INFINITY WARS. But, first things first, don’t miss him in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING playing everywhere this Friday
And, to paraphrase that wonderful song, spidey “spins a web any size, catches moviegoers just like flies..look out.. here comes the SPIDER-MAN!!!”
Sibling rivalry can really put a family through the ole’ ringer, really it can be “H-E-double hockey sticks. But for writers it’s heaven sent, a ready to order formula for drama with a conflict going way, way back to Cain and Abel. It certainly works for all movie genres and formats, even the animated feature films. While a great majority of cartoon heroes and heroines are solo offspring from single parent homes (like Belle and Jasmine) and others are orphans (Aladdin and Mowgli), there have been some siblings mixed in there. There were 99 dalmatians, Ariel had several sisters, and both Wendy Darling and Princess Merida had rambunctious brothers. Oh, and we can’t forget the sister superstars, Elsa and Anna of FROZEN (although many parents may want to after hearing “Let it Go” on a near continuous loop). Now comes an animated tale of two brothers with the rivalry ramped to a fever pitch, mainly because the new arrival is “running the show” because he is THE BOSS BABY.
The older brother Tim narrates the film as an adult (voice of Tobey Maguire), wistfully recalling the golden days of “only child-dom”, or is it “only child-hood”? Well, however you wish to phrase it, five year-old Tim (Miles Christopher Bakshi) “rules the roost”. His Mom (Lisa Kudrow) and Dad (Jimmy Kimmel) absolutely dote on their ‘golden boy”. Before bedtime he’s treated to a multitude of songs, stories, and kisses. But the party must end some time, and the festivities screech to a halt with the arrival of Tim’s baby brother. But this is not your normal infant, since he isn’t brought by the stork, rather he steps out of a taxi. And he’s dressed in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase. All of the attention goes to the Boss Baby (Alec Baldwin). Then, when the parents are out of the room, Tim discovers that his lil’ brother can talk! After confronting “B.B.’, Tim makes him fess up. Via a magic pacifier, the truth is revealed. BB has been sent there on mission assigned to him by his own bosses at “Babycorp.” to spy on his folks. They’re working for a big rival to Babycorp, and their new project must be stopped. BB tells Tim that if he helps him complete the mission he’ll return to his company, never to return (all memory of the BB will be erased). Can these arch enemies possibly work together, and return things to normal?
The marketing folks are pushing Baldwin’s voice work as the film’s title character (probably due to his sky-high profile via an invigorated Saturday Night Live), and he really carries the script. This baby’s a great mixture of that SNL role and his other big TV role, Jack, the cut-throat network exec on “30 Rock”. In one glorious bit, Baldwin pokes fun at one of his iconic movies. We know he can be funny, but somehow he manages to pluck at our heartstrings when BB’s tough exterior begins to soften as he finds that there’s more to life than that plush office. Maguire exudes a folksy charm as the teller of the tale, while his younger counterpart Bakshi is all youthful energy and exasperation. Kudrow and Kimmel hit all the right notes as the loving, but fairly clueless parents, putting a zany spin on “June and Ward” cliches. Saved for the film’s second half, the terrific Steve Buscemi steals several scenes as their boss, the daffy deranged Francis Francis, with a wacky sing-song line delivery. The “adult boss” turns on a dime from affable to sinister with Buscemi as a great partner/nemesis to Baldwin.
Escaping the jungle of MADAGASCAR and its sequels, director Tom McGrath finds just the proper pace for the film’s opening act, establishing an off-kilter setting for the slapstick. There is that late second half lull that plagues many comedies, but he wisely switches gears, aiming for the heart rather than the “funny bone”. Sure, they’re playing up the pathos, but the last few scenes are more moving than manipulative, especially for anyone dealing with sibling conflict. The design elements really mesh well. The backgrounds have a smooth retro look, evoking the suburbia of the late 50’s. That’s until the action shifts to a neon bedazzled Vegas right out of that 60’s Elvis classic (complete with lots of “king” gags). I really enjoyed the look of Tim’s fantasy daydreams, looking like a florescent, thick brushline homage to the Ralph Phillips shorts from the great Chuck Jones. Babies are difficult to cartoon (either lil’ pink blobs or odd Churchill/Hitchcock hybrids), but the artists achieved the perfect mix in BB with his large expressive eyes and inflated upper cranium. My favorite of the infants may be BB’s “muscle” Jimbo, a “no-necked” baby behemoth only clad in a diaper who could be a distant cousin of MOANA’s Maui. As for the adults, I enjoyed the look of another henchman, Francis’s dimwitted aide Eugene, a CG riff on Mugsy, a gangster who was no match for Bugs Bunny. The script from Austin Powers scribe Michael McCullers (from the book by Marla Frazee) sneaks in just the right amount of adult humor that will zip over the wee one’s heads, while still providing plenty of “gross-out’ diaper gags for them. As for the film’s soundtrack, like many Dreamworks efforts it’s a tad overloaded with pop tunes (did I hear the old Banana Splits theme song?), but they’re not relying on them and pop culture references for easy chuckles. Though the film doesn’t approach the wonders of their HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON or KUNG FU PANDA series, there are loads of laughs to be had by hanging out with THE BOSS BABY. 3.5 out 5
The kid faces the champion, loses, fights his way back, and takes the rematch. It’s a familiar sports trope and PAWN SACRIFICE, the biography of volatile chess champ Bobby Fischer, is as formulaic in its own way as ROCKY (or if you prefer, SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER). The good news is that it’s an intense and fascinating drama capable of involving those who know little about chess as well as avid players.
Raised by his single Jewish mother, Brooklyn native Fischer was born in 1943 and was proficient on the chess board by the age of six. A self-taught player, he continued mastering his game though his early teens, when he defeated star players. As an adult (played by Tobey Maguire) Fischer’s success at the game grows, but his mental state begins to unravel and he suspects the government is watching his every move. Two men enter Bobby’s life to help manage his career – attorney Paul Marshall (Michael Stuhlbarg) and Father Bill Lombardy (Peter Sarsgaard), a heavy-drinking ex-chess champ. Much of the second half of PAWN SACRIFICE focuses on Fischer famously winning the world title from defending champion Boris Spassy in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1972.
Fischer’s story seems a natural for a movie, yet it’s a tricky one. Tasked with the challenge of making a two-player strategy board game seem cinematic is Ed Zwick, director of big-scale epics like GLORY and THE LAST SAMURAI and he does a terrific job working on a smaller battlefield. If you’re expecting close-ups of pawns and rooks being shuffled about in slow motion while dramatic music plays, there is a little of that, but Zwick wisely saves it until the film’s final half hour. He makes other good choices, including having the first match between Fischer and Spassky take place off-screen. Screenwriter Steven Knight provides an insightful look at not only chess but serious mental illness, the psychology of competition, and a battle the film refers to as “World War Three on a chessboard” that would prove to be a major propaganda win for America during the Cold War. James Newton Howard’s score has the right combination of wonder and the hint of something sinister. Period details are impeccable – not just in the costuming and art design but in the vintage newscasts about the event that are perfectly chosen and incorporated along with references to Watergate and the Vietnam War.
PAWN SACRIFICE is anchored by the outstanding performance of Tobey Maguire as Fischer. Mercurial and highly-strung, his interpretation of this tortured genius is textured and complex. There may bit a bit too much focus on his paranoia (how many times do we have to see him dismantling his phone?), but Maguire makes Fischer’s journey from a swaggering “ego-crushing” genius to a shaken shell of a man believable. Liev Schreiber, 90% of whose part is spoken in Russian, is perfect as the arrogant, confident Spassky. Bobby Fischer eventually descended into madness, arrests, crazed outbursts and allegiance to a religious doomsday cult before his death at age 65 from kidney disease. The film addresses some of this in a brief addendum complete with startling archival footage. Fischer’s bizarre post-Spassky life might one day make for an interesting film of its own.
4 1/2 of 5 Stars
PAWN SACRIFICE opens in St. Louis Friday September 18th exclusively at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Theater
PAWN SACRIFICE is a gripping true story set during the height of the Cold War. American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire. Also starring Liev Schreiber and Peter Sarsgaard, PAWN SACRIFICE chronicles Fischer’s terrifying struggles with genius and madness, and the rise and fall of a kid from Brooklyn who captured the imagination of the world. PAWN SACRIFICE is produced by Gail Katz, known for her work on such films as AIR FORCE ONE, IN THE LINE OF FIRE, and THE PERFECT STORM. She has numerous projects in development including a television series based on the international hit board game “The Settlers of Catan.” Maxim Dlugy is a chess Grandmaster. He was born in Moscow, USSR. He arrived with his family in the United States in 1977. He was awarded the International Master title in 1982. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1985. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1986 for his result at the World Chess Olympiad in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he played on the U.S. team that was in first place going into the last round.
Both Gail Katz and Maxim Dlugy were in St. Louis to promote PAWN SACRIFICE and We Are Movie Geeks sat down with them to ask questions about the new film, their careers and the man at the center of their new project, Bobby Fischer.
Interview conducted by Tom Stockman September 3rd 2015 (this was part of a round-table interview with several other journalists. The questions from We Are Movie Geeks are identified as such)
Question: A significant portion of this film was Bobby Fischer’s anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories though apparently he had Jewish heritage. I’m glad you didn’t avoid that in the film. Tell me about writing the script and including that in the right way.
GAIL KATZ: The idea to do this movie was mine. It was something that had occurred during my lifetime and I remember how important it was. To me Bobby Fischer at the time was this great Jewish American hero. I’m Jewish and my parents are Holocaust survivors. I decided to do this movie about him even though knowing what had happened to him. I just recalled that the summer of 1972 was a most remarkable summer with a chess game just captivating the world. When I started this project in 2004, Bobby was in Japan and about to leave. Shortly after I started it, he was arrested (on charges that he attended a 1992 match in Yugoslavia in violation of a U.S. ban). So there was a time there when I was working on this that Bobby was still alive and still communicating with the world at large with his anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism and all of that. So there was concern about doing a movie about him and there was a question on how to portray this. Our feeling was that this was a story about a remarkable human being who certainly had mental problems and issues. It was something we needed to show as accurately as possible. I consulted several psychiatrist and experts on what he might have had in terms of his mental illness to make it accurate. That was something we had to address. It was very much a part of him, as much as the early part of his life, the rise of him being a genius and taking over chess world. At one point I consulted with a rabbi who’s a friend of mine. I did not want to support what Bobby Fischer believed in, but we had to show had warts and all. His mother was Jewish and his biological father was Jewish as well so the question becomes ‘where does this come from?’. The movie doesn’t really answer that because I don’t think anybody knows but it raises a lot of interesting questions and discussion.
We Are Movie Geeks: Didn’t that get much worse as his life went on after 1972?
GAIL KATZ: Yes, much much worse.
WAMG: You address it a little bit at the end in the addendum and some of that footage is quite startling. You could make a sequel.
GAIL KATZ: ‘Bobby the Later Years, yeah’. There’s no question that we had to address it. The seeds of it were there. There were anti-Semitic comments that had come out and he was difficult in many ways. That was part and parcel with his mental problems.
Q: I think it was great that you showed his sister saying “but we’re Jewish”, because that would express for many Jewish people the outrage of somebody raising that.
GAIL KATZ: He’s the best kind of anti-Semite, one that says “some of my best friends are Jewish”. Paul Marshall (Fischer’s attorney and manager) was also Jewish – it doesn’t say so in the movie but he was as well.
Q: I think it was good that you tied it into his mental illness.
GAIL KATZ: That was part of his paranoia and mental decline. I think it was very tied up with his mother. As far as I know he never saw a psychiatrist nor was officially diagnosed. We had to do with the research that we had.
WAMG: Fischer claims in the film that the Russians were cheating, that they were stacking the deck. He wrote a famous article in Sports Illustrated called The Russians Are Cheating At Chess. How much of that was in his head and how much of that was true?
MAXIM DLUGY: Of course there was some truth to that because in any competition when you have a situation where it’s possible that your competition is colluding, then you are disadvantaged by definition whether or not they are. Just the possibility. If there are six Russians playing and only one American, and they could lose games to each other to bring up one of the players to win and you see one of them winning then you think that may have happened for a reason or it may have happened by accident.
GAIL KATZ: Isn’t it true that they were able to do that because it was a round Robin format, and then they changed The rules after because of Bobby’s article and his campaign to change things and he succeeded in getting it changed to a pyramid format so that that couldn’t happen again?
MAXIM DLUGY: Fischer was the first chest professional. Chess players are extremely indebted to him because he basically created professional chess. Before him there was no professional chess. He not only created it, he commanded it and changed the rules. People are now using those rules, things with the clock and other things. He was always thinking about the game. He was a very interesting character.
WAMG: Did you ever get to meet Bobby Fischer?
MAXIM DLUGY: I did have the occasion twice. Once when I was fighting for the world championship and I qualified to play in a tournament in the US, A mutual friend of ours told him about that and he said that he would be glad to help me and another player prepare. I made a mistake when I told him I had a budget from the American chess foundation of $5000 to help prepare. But when he realized that the money was coming from Jews, he said no and refused to help. And in 1991 The same friend said that Fisher was ready to play a young upcoming player but he didn’t play until the next year when he played Boris Spassky again.
WAMG: Did you know Boris Spassky?
MAXIM DLUGY: Yes I know him very well. He had a heart attack recently but he’s recovering. When Spassky visited Fischer’s grave, he said that he wanted to be buried next to him.
WAMG: They should’ve put that in the movie!
GAIL KATZ: Yes this is my first time hearing that! We’ll have to put that on the DVD.
Q: Bobby Fischer raised the pop culture profile for chess like Tiger Woods did for golf. Can you comment on that.
MAXIM DLUGY: Yes, he created professional chess. I think Tiger Woods helped propel golf but for Bobby Fischer there was no chess in popular culture so I think he did more. For Bobby, there was a Soviet supremacy. The Soviets didn’t care how much they earned because all of the money was taken by the sports ministry.
WAMG: Why do so many great chess players come from Russia historically?
MAXIM DLUGY: It was a way to prove that communism was a good ideology because they’re smarter and they can play chess well. Now that that has receded, you see top players from all over the world. A couple of people from Russia but there’s no domination like there used to be. Chess is becoming part of the culture in places like India and China and Norway of course.
Q: How old were you when you started playing chess?
MAXIM DLUGY: I learned to play when I was six. When I was seven I was playing in Estonia. People would call me the new Bobby Fischer not the new Boris Spassky.
Q: Why were you drawn to chess?
MAXIM DLUGY: My grandparents played it and when I started playing it, I just loved it.
Q: Let’s talk about the casting process for the film. How did you settle on Tobey Maguire?
GAIL KATZ: I approached Tobey in 2004. I pitched the idea to two writers I wanted to work with. We worked out the story and met with Tobey. Producers make lists, so I made a list of actors that could be Bobby and obviously Tobey was on that list. He didn’t have the physical characteristics, but in certain pictures he looked a lot like Bobby.
WAMG: Who else was on that list?.
GAIL KATZ: Oh gosh, I can’t remember right now. That was over 10 years ago. Tobey at the time was one year younger than Bobby was in 1972, so I thought he was perfect. We pitched it to Sony Pictures and they bought it. We developed it for nine years. At the top of my list for Boris Spassky was Liev Schreiber from day one. I thought he was a doppelgänger and there was no question. He had the perfect look and he’s an amazing actor. With Tobey it was interesting because Bobby was over 6 feet tall. Tobey not so much, but Tobey has very long elegant fingers and the way Bobby handled chess pieces was very unique so we felt like Tobey could really do that and the camera can make you act tall. Tobey has these qualities that we really wanted. He’s very endearing and has a humor like Bobby had, and he can certainly summon up the fiery attitude that he needed to be able to play the part.
Q: How do you make the film accessible to those that don’t know anything about chess?
GAIL KATZ: I should ask you that question. The fact is it’s not a movie about chess. It’s a movie about a man who has amazing odds against him mentally. It’s really about his journey and his struggles and also about the times. To me I always thought it was going to be a cold war thriller. I never had the attitude that I was working on a chess movie it was more a cold war thriller set in the world of chess.
WAMG: “It’s World War III on a chessboard” is a line from the film.
GAIL KATZ: Yes, a great line thanks to screenwriter Steve Knight.
Q: I like that you included dialogue where they would talk about chess by trading moves and speaking the moves without even needing a board. Tell me about the part of the chess advisor on this film?
GAIL KATZ: We shot the movie in Montreal so it looks like it’s everywhere in the world. We shot one and a half days of exteriors in Iceland and two days in Los Angeles. Other than that, everything was shot in Montreal. Our first chess advisor was Richard Berube, who is head of the Quebec Chess Federation. He started with us in preproduction helping to train our actors, to make the moves and help set up every board and every move for every shot. He was vitally important to us to make sure we had everything right. We wanted to make it is accurate as we could possibly be.
WAMG: Were you concerned about making this board game cinematic or did you leave that concern in the hands of the director?
GAIL KATZ: Not at all. I’ve seen movies that are cinematic about a guy blinking an eyelash. It’s how we shot. We had a brilliant cinematographer and Ed Zwick is a director that makes movies bigger then you can imagine so we were only constrained by our budget.
Q: As a Grandmaster, how did the final film impress you?
MAXIM DLUGY: I thought it was very true to life. My first coach was Bobby Fischer’s coach. I revered Bobby since I was 12 years old. It’s a battle of wills. Like most of sport played at the highest level, it’s about strategy and endurance and talent.
WAMG: Was the movie fictionalized at all?
GAIL KATZ: You might find little moments. You’re not in the room to hear every conversation but the big events, all of those things were in it and the idea was to make it as accurate as possible. We were making a movie, not a documentary so there are times when you have to take some license. You combine a few characters and move things around but there was very little of that. At the beginning of the movie it says it is based on a true story or and there are lawyers that vet that and allow you to say that. Some of it is so ludicrous that you can’t believe this happened. Taking months to even decide to go to Iceland, we couldn’t have made that up!
Look for the We Are Movie Geeks review of PAWN SACRIFICE later this week!
Coming to theaters in two weeks is director Ed Zwick’s riveting PAWN SACRIFICE.
It’s the story of Bobby Fischer, America’s foremost chess player, who faced the reigning champion, Boris Spassky of Russia, in a series of matches that held the world spellbound.
For fans of 1972’s “Match of the Century,” the film is everything you’re hoping for. Zwick’s movie is flawless right down to the re-enactment of the 1971 interview with Dick Cavett.
Bobby Fischer first makes waves in the elite world of chess as a 6-year-old whiz-kid from Brooklyn famous for his laser-like concentration and ability to dominate all challengers. By his teens, the boy wonder has gone from chess savant to international grandmaster, but his meteoric rise is punctuated by unpredictable personal behavior and escalating demands that raise hackles in the conservative chess establishment.
As he travels the globe with manager Paul Marshall (Michael Stuhlbarg) and coach Father Bill Lombardy (Peter Sarsgaard), Fischer crushes the world’s top players in the relentless pursuit of his ultimate quarry: indomitable Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber).
In 1972 the volatile New Yorker earns the right to face the Russian veteran in the hotly anticipated “Match of the Century,” a 21-game competition in Reykjavík, Iceland, that could end 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Chess Championship. Even the infamous Game 6 shows Spassky joining the audience in applauding Fischer’s win.
But Fischer’s paranoia and growing obsession with conspiracy theories disrupt the match and his erratic behavior unnerves the normally unflappable Spassky. With the competition increasingly mirroring the tense geopolitics of the Cold War era, even his closest advisors are unsure if Fischer’s actions are the calculated antics of an antisocial eccentric or signs that he is truly unstable. PAWN SACRIFICE is a revealing portrait of the troubled genius who sparked an international chess craze and captured the imagination of the world.
Lakeshore Records will release the PAWN SACRIFICE – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on Friday, September 11, 2015. The album features original music by composer James Newton Howard (NIGHTCRAWLER, MALEFICENT).
James Newton Howard is one of the most versatile and respected composers currently working in films. To date, Howard has received eight Oscar nominations, including six for Best Original Score for his work on DEFIANCE, MICHAEL CLAYTON, THE VILLAGE, THE FUGITIVE, THE PRINCE OF TIDES, and MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING. He was also nominated for Best Original Song for the films JUNIOR and ONE FINE DAY.
Howard, along with Hans Zimmer, won the 2009 Grammy Award for the score for THE DARK KNIGHT. He has also received Grammy Award nominations for music from BLOOD DIAMOND, DINOSAUR, SIGNS, and the song from ONE FINE DAY. In addition, he won an Emmy Award for the theme to the Andre Braugher series GIDEON’S CROSSING, and received two additional Emmy nominations for the themes to the long-running Warner Bros. series ER and the Ving Rhames series MEN. Howard has also been nominated four times for Golden Globe Awards for his massive orchestral score for Peter Jackson’s blockbuster remake of KING KONG; for the songs from JUNIOR and ONE FINE DAY; and for his provocative symphonic score for DEFIANCE.
Howard’s upcoming projects include THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2 and CONCUSSION.
Before you watch the movie, catch filmmaker Liz Garbus’ documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World. TRAILER
Read the book “Fischer/Spassky: The New York Times Report on the Chess Match of the Century”
Bleecker Street presents PAWN SACRIFICE in select theaters September 16, 2015 and in St. Louis on Friday, September 18.
Sit down with Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber and director Edward Zwick as they explore the genius behind the madness of American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer in a new featurette from Bleecker Street’s PAWN SACRIFICE.
In a gripping true story set during the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire. Also starring Liev Schreiber and Peter Sarsgaard, PAWN SACRIFICE chronicles Fischer’s terrifying struggles with genius and madness, and the rise and fall of a kid from Brooklyn who captured the imagination of the world.
“The political moment of confrontation between East and West is such an interesting and rich moment dramatically,” says Zwick. “The idea of this kid from Brooklyn going up against the great Soviet Bear was irresistible on so many levels. Then, it also deals with the odd and sometimes inevitable correspondence between genius and madness.”
The year 1972 was packed with watershed events across the globe, including the winding down of the war in Vietnam, the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, the Watergate break-in and Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking trip to China. But it was an international event of a very different kind that dominated headlines that summer.
In Iceland, Bobby Fischer, America’s foremost chess player, faced the reigning champion, Boris Spassky of Russia, in a series of matches that held the world spellbound.
Around the world, people were captivated by a mano-a-mano fight between two masters of the so-called “game of kings.” Eastern European players dominated the chess scene, and Fischer unknowingly became an avatar for the United States and its Cold War battle for dominance with the Soviet Union.
PAWN SACRIFICE chronicles Bobby Fischer’s pursuit of the chess world’s ultimate prize and the price he paid for his victory.
With a screenplay by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) and the score from James Newton Howard, PAWN SACRIFICE opens in select theaters on Wednesday, September 16th.
Check out Tobey Maguire & Liev Schreiber as they square-off in the new trailer from Bleecker Street’s PAWN SACRIFICE.
From director Edward Zwick (Glory) and writer Steven Knight (Locke), the gripping true story about American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer and the greatest chess match every played opens in select theatres on Friday, September 18th.
In a gripping true story set during the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire. Also starring Liev Schreiber and Peter Sarsgaard, PAWN SACRIFICE chronicles Fischer’s terrifying struggles with genius and madness, and the rise and fall of a kid from Brooklyn who captured the imagination of the world.
PAWN SACRIFICE opens in select theatres September 18th.
Control the board with the new poster from Bleecker Street’s PAWN SACRIFICE.
In a gripping true story set during the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire.
Also starring Liev Schreiber (Boris Spassky) and Peter Sarsgaard, PAWN SACRIFICE chronicles Fischer’s terrifying struggles with genius and madness, and the rise and fall of a kid from Brooklyn who captured the imagination of the world with the greatest chess match ever played.
The film had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
Alex Billington of First Showing.net wrote, “There’s no better praise than to say I was fully engaged in Pawn Sacrifice from start to finish, fascinated by the politics and the sport, but also intrigued by Bobby Fischer and his peculiar mind.”
Ian Gilchrist of HeyUGuys.com said Tobey Maguire gives, “a riveting performance.”
Directed by Edward Zwick and written by Steven Knight, the upcoming thriller hits select theatres on Friday, September 18th.
