Now, though, Wright is executive producing a new animated adaptation of O’Malley’s work, with O’Malley and Ben David Grabinski as executive producers, writers and showrunners, with Science SARU as the animation studio bringing it all to life.
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Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim in director Edgar Wright’s ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.’
What’s the story of ‘Scott Pilgrim’?
The new series looks to be a new adaptation of O’Malley’s original books, which chronicle how slacker Scott (Cera) goes from dating the enthusiastic Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) to becoming obsessed with the cool courier Ramona Flowers (Winstead).
Trouble is, when Scott starts dating Ramona, he learns he’ll also have to battle her seven evil ex-boyfriends to unlock the power of love and truly win her heart. You know: that old boy-meets-girl-boy-fights-exes-learns-life-lessons story.
Set in “the magical land of Toronto”, the story also brings in garage bands (since Scott plays with a scruffy local outfit called ‘Sex Bob-Om’, crazy video game references and dueling musical acts. Part of Scott’s problem is that he also has an ex, Envy Adams (Larson), who has since gone on to become a huge rockstar.
Evans will be Lucas Lee, one of the exes, while Routh plays Todd Ingram, Envy’s new boyfriend and bandmate. Plaza is aboard as Scott’s sweary nemesis Julie Powers, while Anna Kendrick is his sister, Stacey. Schwartzman, meanwhile, is calculating ultimate evil ex Gideon Graves.
Fellow Sex Bob-Om bandmates include Young Neil (Johnny Simmons), Stephen Stills (Mark Webber) and Kim Pine (Pill).
Here’s what Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski had to say about the new series:
“We’re getting the band back together! Cera and Winstead, Bhabha, Culkin, Evans, Kendrick, Larson, Pill, Plaza, Routh, Schwartzman, Simmons, Webber, Whitman and Wong. A stellar cast, perfectly assembled by Edgar Wright. We can’t wait for fans and newcomers alike to see what we and our partners at Science SARU have been cooking up. It’s going to be a wild ride.”
And Edgar Wright adds,
“One of the proudest and most enjoyable achievements of my career was assembling and working with the dynamite cast of ‘Scott Pilgrim’. Since the film’s release in 2010 we’ve done Q&A’s, remembrances and charity read throughs, but there was never the occasion to reunite the whole gang on an actual project. Until now… Original creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, along with writer BenDavid Grabinski have conjured up an anime series of ‘Scott Pilgrim’ that doesn’t just expand the universe, but also…well, just watch it. I’m more than happy to announce that I have helped coax the entire original cast back to voice their characters on this epic new adventure. You are in for a treat.”
The film was bursting with visual imagination and geeky puns, but the series promises to be even wilder given the advantages of animation. Netflix has yet to announce a release date for the show.
Chris Evans as Lucas Lee in director Edgar Wright’s ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.’
Other Movies Similar to ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World:’
When Marvel Studios yanked the rights to bring Daredevil stories to screens and Netflix unceremoniously cancelled their ‘Defenders’ series, which included the Man Without Fear, Charlie Cox, the Man with the red suit, might have feared that he’d taken down his last baddie.
Yet Marvel boss Kevin Feige had other ideas, bringing the British actor back for a cameo in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ and a memorable, funny, and charming recurring guest spot on ‘She-Hulk’, in which his Matt Murdock (the lawyer alter ego of Daredevil) meets and, er swaps legal briefs with Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters.
All that, though, was simply to re-introduce the character ready for a full show of his own, in which he’ll once again have to deal with the nefarious, powerful Kingpin, played by Vincent D’Onofrio (who got his own MCU introduction via ‘Hawkeye’ last year).
Now, with ‘Daredevil: Born Again’, to be overseen by ‘Covert Affairs’ veterans Matt Corman and Chris Ord, Murdock will be back, albeit slightly different as befits a Disney+ series.
“This has to be a reincarnation, it has to be different, otherwise why are we doing it?” Cox tells NME in a new interview. “My opinion is this character works best when he’s geared towards a slightly more mature audience. My instinct is that on Disney+ it will be dark, but it probably won’t be as gory.”
Marvel Studios’ ‘Daredevil: Born Again.’
And for anyone keeping their fingers crossed for a full-on continuation of the bloodier Netflix series? “I would say to those people, we’ve done that,” he says. “Let’s take the things that really worked, but can we broaden? Can we appeal to a slightly younger audience without losing what we’ve learned about what works?”
More surprising to the actor is the sheer number of episodes that will comprise the new series. Unlike the other Disney+ Marvel offerings, which have largely been around 8-9, ‘Born Again’ will be a whopping 18-episode first run.
“I’m fascinated to discover why they’ve chosen to do 18,” he says. “I’m imagining there’s going to be an element to it that is like the old-school procedural show. Not necessarily case-of-the-week, but something where we go deep into Matt Murdock the lawyer and get to see what his life is like. If that’s done right and he really gets his hands dirty with that world… I think there’s something quite interesting about that, to spend a lot of time in a superhero’s day-to-day life and you really earn the moments when he suits up.”
Cox claims he’s yet to see scripts or outlines, which sounds more like an actor choosing to be diplomatically evasive and avoid potential spoiler questions. But he did talk about the schedule, which sounds like he’ll be a tad busy next year… “They said to me, ‘We’re going to be shooting in 2023’,” says Cox. “I said, ‘Great, when?’ They said, ‘All 2023’. I start shooting in February and finish in December.”
In addition to Cox and D’Onofrio, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ will feature Margarita Levieva, Michael Gandolfini and Sandrine Holt. No release date has been given for the show, but given that filming schedule, we can’t imagine it’ll hit screens much before the middle of 2024.
In related MCU Disney+ news, ‘WandaVision’ spin-off ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’ added a legend of the stage.
Three-time Tony winner Patti LuPone is the latest recruit for the show, which will focus on Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness.
The troublemaking witch, who caused so many problems for Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff. That is, until Wanda (drawing on more of her Scarlet Witch power) condemned Agatha to live as Agnes, the nosy neighbor character that she’d created to infiltrate the fantasy world Wanda had built for herself over Westview, New Jersey to hide from the grief of losing Vision (Paul Bettany).
While ‘WandaVision’ was built around sitcoms that represent Wanda’s happy place, we don’t yet know what sort of show ‘Coven of Chaos’ will be, other than it presumably sees Agatha regaining her personality somehow.
We have learned about some of the people who will be populating the new series, as Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke, Ali Ahn, Sasheer Zamata and Maria Dizzia are all new recruits for the series. Emma Caulfield Ford, meanwhile, will return as her ‘WandaVision’ character Dottie Jones––though given that that was the fantasy persona created by Wanda, we may well see her more as her actual town resident Sarah Proctor.
This being Marvel, there has of course been no official statement confirming any of the casting or specifying who the cast beyond Hahn play, though Plaza is reportedly taking a villainous role. It’ll be fun to see Hahn and Plaza interact whatever the latter ends up doing, since while Hahn sometimes appeared on ‘Parks and Recreation’ (where Plaza was one of the leads), they rarely shared scenes.
The same goes for LuPone, though Deadline has heard that she’ll be playing a witch. Sounds like it could a fantastic role for her.
‘Coven of Chaos’ comes from Jac Shaeffer, who created and served as head writer on ‘WandaVision’ and returns for this. That’s not the only series she’s guiding. At a much more embryonic stage is ‘Vision Quest’, which would see the return of Bettany’s synthetic being following the events of the show.
As for LuPone, she’s a musical mainstay who has won two Olivier Awards and two Grammy Awards for her accomplished theater career. She will next be seen in ‘Beau Is Afraid’, an upcoming surrealist comedy horror film written, directed, and produced by Ari Aster and starring Joaquin Phoenix.
Marvel Studios’ ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos.’
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The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s TV arm is expanding to such a degree that now there are spin-offs of spin-offs. ‘WandaVision’, the first official show launched under Kevin Feige’s watch on Disney+ (as opposed to, say the Netflix “Defenders” shows or ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’) is already spawning its own follow-ups.
First off the blocks (at least in terms of development) is ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’, which has been in the works for a while and will see the return of Kathryn Hahn’s troublemaking witch Agatha Harkness, who caused so many problems for Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff. That is, until Wanda (drawing on more of her Scarlet Witch power) condemned Agatha to live as Agnes, the nosy neighbor character that she’d created to infiltrate the fantasy world Wanda had built for herself to hide from the grief of losing Vision (Paul Bettany).
While ‘WandaVision’ was built around sitcoms that represent Wanda’s happy place, we don’t yet know what sort of show ‘Coven of Chaos’ will be, other than it presumably sees Agatha regaining her personality somehow.
We have at least learned about some of the people who will be populating the new series, as Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke, Ali Ahn and Maria Dizzia are all new recruits for the series.
This being Marvel, there has of course been no official statement confirming their casting or specifying who they’ll play, though Plaza is reportedly taking a villainous role. It’ll definitely be fun to see Hahn and Plaza interact whatever the latter ends up doing, since while Hahn sometimes appeared on ‘Parks and Recreation’ (where Plaza was one of the leads), they rarely shared scenes.
Locke, meanwhile, has become a rising star after the first season of Netflix’s ‘Heartstopper’ and while his character is also a mystery, speculation has already begun that he could be an older version of Wanda’s son Billy Maximoff. We will, of course, have to wait and see.
Ahn and Dizzia both appeared on ‘Orange is the New Black’, though Ahn was more recently seen in ‘Raising Dion’ and Dizzia was among the cast for HBO Max based-on-truth drama ‘The Staircase’.
And they’re just the newcomers to the MCU – Emma Caulfield Ford, who played Dottie in ‘WandaVision’ revealed to Vanity Fair that she’ll be back as Dottie, one of the townsfolk of Westview whose personalities were altered as part of Wanda’s giant spell.
Jac Shaeffer, who created and served as head writer on ‘WandaVision’ is overseeing the new show also.
And that’s not the only series she’s guiding. At a much more embryonic stage is ‘Vision Quest’, which would see the return of Bettany’s synthetic being following the events of the show.
The team behind The Hot Mic podcast is reporting that the new series could conceivably draw from comics that saw Vision looking to regain his memories and emotions. At the end of ‘WandaVision’, the version of Vision built by S.W.O.R.D. operatives to battle the one in Wanda’s spell, known as “White Vision,” due to his pale appearance and mind wiped personality, flew off, presumably to start his own search for meaning and personality.
First, though, Shaeffer will see ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’ start shooting early next year, with the director(s) still to be announced. ‘WandaVision’ helmer Matt Shakman is, after all, going to be a little busy…
The new movie follows Amber (Brie), the manager of an Italian restaurant chain who wins the opportunity to attend the franchise’s educational immersion program in Italy.
But what she thought would be an exciting getaway devolves into chaos when she begins a romantic triangle with the restaurant chain’s wealthy owner Nick (Alessandro Nivola) and his assistant, Kat (Aubrey Plaza).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Alison Brie about her work on ‘Spin Me Around,’ writing the screenplay with director Jeff Baena, her character’s journey and romance with Nick, and working with Aubrey Plaza.
Alison Brie as Amber in ‘Spin Me Round.’
You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Alison Brie and co-writer and director Jeff Baena.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about the genesis of the idea for the film and the process of writing the screenplay with director Jeff Baena?
Alison Brie: So, Jeff brought the idea to me, and it was something that he had been thinking about since we shot ‘The Little Hours’ in Italy. I think he had a strong desire to get back to Italy. He had read some articles about a similar immersive management program that may exist in real life, and how lackluster it might have been, or how Americanized it might have been.
He saw a great idea in bringing a fun ensemble together to watch them navigate that kind of program. When he brought me into the fold, I think I was really drawn to the idea that the movie is going to take this journey through a bunch of different genres, and that we’re following a character who doesn’t take a lot of action in her life.
She just lets things happen to her, but over the course of this movie, she tries to take her destiny into her own hands, but it ends in total chaos. I also really liked the idea of unfulfilled expectation. Something we were playing with is that sometimes when you take a big trip, you think it’s going to be really life changing and that you’re going to get back on the other side as a totally different person, and often, that doesn’t happen.
In life versus the movies, you get home and your life is kind of the same. I think we wanted to show that there actually can be an internal shift, however subtle, even if there’s not an external shift.
MF: Can you talk about the journey that Amber goes on and how it changes her through the course of the movie?
AB: We’re watching Amber become a more self-empowered person, ultimately. At the start of the film, you get the sense that she’s really stuck. She’s been a manager at this Italian restaurant chain for nine years. She is a bit of a pushover. She tried to start another restaurant with her boyfriend, but that wasn’t really her idea. She has trouble saying no to people. She goes with the flow too much. She’s not going to take her life into her own hands.
Through her experiences on this trip, and the people that she meets, specifically Aubrey Plaza’s character, I think she kind of sees a different type of dangerous person and is a little bit inspired by that. At the end of the film, it’s like the trip isn’t going to change the fact that she works at this restaurant. So, it doesn’t get her out of debt, but I do think there is a subtle enough shift of her starting to empower herself, have a voice and say the things that she wants.
(L to R) Aubrey Plaza as Kat and Alison Brie as Amber in ‘Spin Me Round.’
MF: Can you talk about Amber’s sudden friendship with Kat and working on that odd relationship with Aubrey Plaza?
AB: We always had Aubrey in mind for the role. So, it’s always nice when you get to write a character for an actor. But it’s so fun to work with Aubrey. She’s such a great actress, and she brings a really exciting, impulsive kind of energy to all of her roles that is really unexpected.
So, it’s really easy to shoot scenes with her, and she and I have worked together a bunch before. So, it’s really comfortable and fun. I think, with those scenes, it’s sort of the rawest that you see my character. She goes into this trip being fed movies like ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ and you get the sense that maybe she watches ‘The Bachelorette’ and ‘The Bachelor’ a lot, and that’s kind of what she has in mind for this trip.
Aubrey’s character shakes it up, and you see her feeling real things in the moment that she hasn’t maybe felt before. She gets a bit of inspiration from her character, and the way that she just is unabashedly who she is.
MF: Finally, can you talk about Amber and Nick’s relationship, how he is able to win her over, and how she feels when she discovers his true intentions?
AB: Poor Amber is so naive, but I also think there’s a sense to her that is just too polite also. Some of the interactions that she has early on in the movie with Nick are based on real interactions that I’ve had with men in life when I was much younger. I think that she wants to be naive, because the prospect of this rich, handsome, restaurateur sweeping her off her feet is very exciting. She’s able to ignore the red flags, because she’s just the type of person who is uncomfortable with rocking the boat, no pun intended.
So, it takes her a little while longer to realize what’s going on with Nick. It really takes a lot of courage from her, again, not being a person who ever speaks up for herself or asserts herself. It takes a lot to get her to say anything. She almost would rather think that a whole different set of things were going on than admit what was in front of her.
(L to R) Alessandro Nivola as Nick Martucci and Alison Brie as Amber in ‘Spin Me Round.’
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The new movie stars Aubrey Plaza (‘Safety Not Guaranteed’) as Emily, who saddled with debt, gets involved in a credit card scam that pulls her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Aubrey Plaza and Theo Rossi about their work on ‘Emily the Criminal,’ reading the script for the first time, their characters and their relationship to each other.
(L to R) Aubrey Plaza and Theo Rossi for ‘Emily the Criminal.’
You can read our full interview below or click on the video played above to watch our interviews with Plaza, Rossi, and writer/director John Patton Ford.
Moviefone: To begin with, Aubrey, what was your first reaction when you read the screenplay, and what were some of the aspects of Emily’s personality that you were excited to explore in this movie?
Aubrey Plaza: My first reaction was, “Wow, that was an amazing script.” I could not put it down. It flew by. I was like, “Who is this guy? Who is John Patton Ford?” I loved it. It reminded me of a 90s erotic thriller in some ways. There was just something about it that felt like movies that I came up loving and that made me want to be in movies.
Then the character, I just found her so relatable in so many ways. I just loved the idea of playing that type of person and drawing upon those kinds of experiences of just being a fish out of water, and just trying to make it in a world that makes it so hard.
MF: Theo, how would you describe Youcef in your own words, and what did you want to bring to the character as an actor?
Theo Rossi: I think that what I love about Youcef is that we’re all just trying to figure out who we are, no matter how old we are, no matter where we’re getting, we’re just discovering ourselves every day. Sometimes people come in that make you find something else about yourself that you didn’t know.
I think that we’re also sometimes doing things that we might not necessarily want to be doing, but we’re thrust into it. Youcef just happens to be in a, for lack of a better word, family business, but he has bigger dreams. It isn’t until the interruption in a way, or the chance meeting of someone like Emily, that reveals who he truly is.
(L to R) Theo Rossi and Aubrey Plaza in ‘Emily the Criminal.’
I just love that because it’s so similar to life, right? We don’t know, we meet people, we work with people, we hang around people and it reveals something else about us. We start to see the stuff with his mom and who he really is. I just loved the humanization of him, because you think he’s one person in the beginning and then he’s someone else.
That to me is why I go to the movies. I want to see characters grow. I want to see the journey that they take me on, and the ride that they go on. I think it’s amazing to see Emily and her story play out. It’s incredible.
That’s why we’re all doing this because we want to go on these journeys. We want to go on these fast paced, incredible stories that make us think and talk like we are now. So, I’m just happy to be a part of it.
MF: Finally, Aubrey, Emily is really torn between two worlds. There is the world of legitimate society that she wants to be a part of, but also the criminal underworld, which she is drawn to.
At a certain point, she has to make a clear decision which world she is going to be a part of. Can you talk about the predicament she finds herself in and how she comes to make that decision?
AP: There’s a very clear moment in the script and the movie where she is kind of confronted with this fork in the road and she has a decision to make. I think it’s obvious to her when it happens. The system is broken and she’s just not willing to play that game anymore. Nowadays, I think a lot of people can relate to that. It’s a catch-22. It’s just a broken system.
What’s so interesting about that point in the movie is that she has kind of come into herself. She finds herself being a boss in a way, but just not in the way that she thought she would be, or that is kind of expected or traditional in an office with a suit on. But she is a boss. She gets her power, but she just uses it in a different way than most people decide to use it.
Aubrey Plaza in ‘Emily the Criminal.’
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(L to R) Michael Caine, director Lina Roessler, & Aubrey Plaza on the set of ‘Best Seller’
Born in Toronto, Canada, Lina Roessler studied English and creative writing at Concordia University. She also received a degree in acting from American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, as wella an MFA in film production from York University. After appearing in Canadian and Canadian-based productions like ‘Lost Girl’ and ‘Supernatural,’ Roessler started working behind the camera. Her shorts have played in festivals around the world, and she honed her filmmaking craft at talent labs sponsored by the TIFF and Berlinale festivals. ‘Best Sellers’ is her feature film directorial debut.
As Lucy Stanbridge (a dynamic Aubrey Plaza) attempts to keep the publishing house she inherited from her father afloat she discovers that Harris Shaw (a wonderfully cranky Michael Caine), the reclusive best-selling author who put them on the map in the 1970s, contractually owes her a new book. The two form a hasty alliance as she takes him on a book tour after publishing his first novel in decades. After Harris becomes a viral sensation it looks like things for Lucy are about to turn around, until an old secret is revealed. An incisive look at the publishing world, featuring charming, heartfelt performances from its two leads, ‘Best Sellers’ is a cozy autumnal treat.
Lina Roessler spoke to Moviefone about her directorial debut.
Moviefone: How did you first get involved in this project?
Lina Roessler: It’s kind of a fun story. I’m an actor and a writer, and I did a few shorts. I was invited to this TIFF talent lab. And there, you had to do a little self-portrait, which is probably everybody’s worst nightmare – it was mine. You do a little video, kind of describing yourself, tell a story about yourself. So I did that, and Cassian Elwes, the producer, was one of the mentors. He saw that little short and loved it. After the lab, he sent me the script for ‘Best Sellers’ and asked me to read it. At that time, now when I tell the story it sounds kind of silly, but I didn’t really conceive of this idea that he would actually be looking at me to potentially direct it. I thought it was maybe, you know, we would discuss the script, talk about it. In the end, I really connected with the script. I loved the characters and I loved the story. I could see where I might want to enhance some things. So we had a great discussion about it, and it really kind of took off from there. It was his daughter Arielle Elwes who found the script originally and, and this it’s this fun Cinderella story of me going down to New York and meeting them and us dedicated to do this together. We started working. I started working with Anthony Grieco, the writer, and the sort of dominoes started to fall, and now I’m talking to you.
MF: That’s exciting. You never know what’s going to come from a film festival. I think, though they’ve really, most people don’t think about how much gets developed at festivals, not just released.
Roessler: Exactly, you never know. When things like that do happen, it’s always like a fun little miracle, and you look back, and you think, wow, how did that happen? How did that happen? You know?
MF: How did Aubrey Plaza then become involved?
Roessler: Well, obviously, everyone knows how talented she is and her work. And, but it was Cassian who saw her hosting the Independent Spirit Awards, which he got to see in person live. His socks were knocked off. He thought, oh, wow, this could be a really interesting choice. We sent her the script, and we spoke over Zoom. I can’t remember who came first, Michael or Aubrey at the time, but together we thought, imagine this combo, it’s totally unexpected. Aubrey was more well known for her comedic kind of sensibilities, and Michael is of course a jack of all trades. A knight of all trades, I should say. So together I think the combo was really interesting, especially for this film where I wanted them to tap into all those sides, to do a really authentic kind of performance about two real people in this kind of silly situation.
MF: They had really great chemistry together in their scenes. What was it like as an actor-director to direct someone like Michael Caine?
Roessler: I think what makes him so great is that he is such a genuine, authentic, humble, generous human being. So that translates into his work as an actor. To be so open. To be ready and available to give and receive. That’s what you’re doing when you’re acting. The first day, I was terrified, to be honest. It was my first feature, and I’m also an actor, so it was strange. But it was a joy, and it was a blessing, and it was amazing to watch him work. To watch him mold things a little bit, to try things in a different way. It was awesome to just sit and watch him every single day do little things like an eye twitch. I got to see how he was controlling things, and sometimes when he went out of control sometimes, I don’t know, it was really an education for me. He’s got such command over his instrument, his voice, how he uses that, how he marked certain things with intention, how he delivered something, how just an eye movement or something like that will translate into so many different kinds of emotions. It was really fun. I learned a lot.
MF: Can you talk about working with the orange cat in the film?
Roessler: The cat was the best cat. That cat deserves awards. We love that cat. Finding the cat was… we don’t have time for this today [laughs]. Maybe another day, if we ever meet for coffee, I’ll tell you all the stories about the cat and how we found the cat and why it was hard to find the right cats and some cats were busy working other engagements. This one in particular is just a superstar. That’s true of the cat, but also to the trainer on set. She knows what she’s doing and what the cat’s doing. That opening shot with the cat took a lot of rehearsal, a lot of tests for camera movement and just to get things the right way to get the cat trained. But the cat was a joy. Michael and the cat really did have a very nice bond, just in real life. Things like that translate on screen. If anyone needs a cat, I highly recommend this cat.
MF: Could you talk about the visual inspirations for the film?
Roessler: When Cassian sent me that script, before we went down to New York, he asked me to make a look book of images. From day one, I had a very specific idea of what Lucy’s place looked like, what it reflects in her character, even its color scheme, versus his bookshelves. I think it says a lot. I wanted the colors to reflect earthy tones from Michael. That goes with the lenses and the lighting and also with my cinematographer, Claudine Sauvé, we decided how we were going to shape the look, and how we’re going to present these two worlds. So Lucy’s was cold and square and very kind of proper. When they go on this trip together, she starts getting more loose and losing it a little bit, getting more into his world with these warmer, messier colors and feelings.
MF: Can you talk about the film’s screwball tone?
Roessler: It was a challenge for me because the script itself was on this line between a really funny screwball comedy on the one half, but then on the other side, there was this emotionally true story that was going on between these two characters. So that was a challenge all along to setting up both worlds, so we can all laugh but keep some of the story’s more serious issues. Aubrey is so great at this kind of comedy, but she’s got this other emotive, deeper side. The challenge was to make sure to not steer the ship too far off course on one end or the other, so that when we finally get to the end of the film, it doesn’t feel like it’s coming out of nowhere. Hopefully, we pulled it off.
MF: I loved when she finds the YouTube video of him giving an interview in the 1970s. Was that a deep fake?
Roessler: No, not to do a spoiler, but that’s really Michael Caine doing an interview back then. It was a true interview that he gave as himself. Those are his words. But at the same time, they’re Harris’s words, how he would speak about his wife in the film.
MF: I had noticed at the end of the film it was dedicated to your dad.
Roessler: My dad actually met Michael Caine once in a department store 1000 years ago. They kind of looked the same. My father passed away right before we started shooting, and the film has a sort of father-daughter relationship very much at its core. My dad gave me his love of books, so all those things were quite personal for a lot of us working on the film. My father passing away right before made it really hard, obviously, to start, but also it was interesting to work in that way, to just jump into this film after that time. But also, Cassian and his daughter Ariel, who found the script, this was their first film that they worked on together as producers. So again, it’s this father-daughter relationship stuff. It was really interesting to have all those connections, feeding into the story. When we screened the film in the Czech Republic a few weeks ago, a couple of people came up to me after in tears, sharing how it reminded them of their father. So I think there’s something in there that resonates with people.
MF: Could you recommend another film directed by a woman that readers should seek out?
Roessler: I’ll do a shout-out to some of my friends, a lot of whom I’ve met through these labs. There’s a director named Nathalie Álvarez Mesén. She just had a film called ‘Clara Sola’ that played at Cannes. I did another lab at Berlinale with Prano Bailey-Bond, she has a film called ‘Censor’ that’s getting a lot of love. I think it’s fun to seek out films like that, and I also think it’s great to support your colleagues.
Clara Sola – directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
Wendy Chinchilla Araya in ‘Clara Sola,’ directed by directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
Costa Rican-Swedish writer-director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén holds a B.F.A. degree in Mime Acting from the Stockholm University of the Arts in Sweden and an M.F.A. in Film Directing/Screenwriting from Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program in NYC. The short film she co-wrote ‘Entre tú y Milagros’ with director Mariana Saffon debuted at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. Her stirring feature film debut ‘Clara Sola’ debuted at the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Set in a remote Costa Rican village, Wendy Chinchilla Araya stars Clara, a 40-year-old woman who has a sexual and mystical awakening as she defies the expectations of her oppressively religious community. Picked up out of Cannes by Oscilloscope Laboratories, ‘Clara Sola’ is still playing festivals ahead of a planned theatrical distribution in late-2021 or early-2022.
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Censor – directed by Prano Bailey-Bond
Director Prano Bailey-Bond on the set of ‘Censor’
Welsh writer-director Prano Bailey-Bond studied at London College of Printing before turning to directing short films and music videos. Her debut feature, the horror film ‘Censor,’ premiered as part of the Midnight section of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Niamh Algar stars as Enid, a British film censor who finds a disturbing connection between a recent horror film and the horror film and the mysterious disappearance of her sister. ‘Censor’ was released to widespread critical acclaim by Magnolia Pictures earlier this summer.
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“Chucky is a toy,” someone says in the first full trailer for the new “Child’s Play” reboot.
But what if a toy had all the tech access of Alexa and an evil spirit residing in it? That’s Chucky! The demonic doll gets a major upgrade in the reboot, able to control cars, drones, and smart (now scary) homes.
Aubrey Plaza plays a young mom who gives her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) a Buddi, a hot new toy capable of Alexa-ing your gadgets. Andy soon realizes that his version, called Chucky (voiced by Mark Hamill), has a sinister nature — and it out to wreak death and destruction.
“We didn’t want to do something that felt too familiar [to] the Chucky that was so successful in the original series,” producer Seth Grahame-Smith told Entertainment Weekly.
“We knew we wanted to reintroduce a new design because we’re also reintroducing a new concept for what Chucky really is. That led us to, okay, if a company like Apple or Google or Amazon was going to design and market a child companion toy, what would that toy look like? What would its features be? And that drove the design more than anything.”
The reboot of “Child’s Play” has unveiled the first full image of the demonic doll.
A teaser trailer gave us a taste of the havoc that this Chucky will wreak, and we can expect a full trailer this week.
The 1988 horror classic gets a modern update, with an interactive tech/robotics company introducing a new, advanced doll called “Buddi.”
Aubrey Plaza plays a young mom who gives her kid a Buddi, not realizing just how dangerous this toy will turn out to be. Nor that the doll’s name really might be Chucky and death and destruction will follow in his wake.
The first trailer for the reboot of “Child’s Play” is here to fuel your nightmares with visions of psychopathic dolls. The 1988 horror classic gets a modern update, as the trailer shows a modern interactive tech/robotics company introducing a new, advanced doll called “Buddi.”
Aubrey Plaza plays a young mom who gives her kid a Buddi, not realizing just how dangerous this toy will turn out to be. Nor that the doll’s name really might be Chucky and death and destruction will follow in his wake.
It’s definitely an interesting twist on the terrifying tale, making Chucky not so much a possessed doll but a robot on the rampage (more like a toy-sized Terminator).
Ah, Fantastic Fest. The international film festival, which highlights genre films of every stripe, takes place at Austin, Texas’ Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar every fall. It’s one of the greatest film festivals in the world, period, even if it does show a lot of very odd movies that your parents would probably disapprove of you watching.
This year, the lineup was totally stellar, with a number of very high profile debuts and just as many interesting screenings of movies that have picked up hype over the last few months. It was an incredible event (as always), and while we didn’t get to see everything, we did get to see a lot. Here’s hoping we’ll see even more in 2019.
15. ‘Madam Yankelova’s Fine Literature Club’
On paper, it’s very easy to get behind a zany Israeli cannibal comedy-of-manners, but — whew, boy — watching is something very different indeed. Instead of there being any punch to the concept, “Madam Yankelova’s Fine Literature Club” is, instead, a tedious bore, full of mixed-up gender politics, suspense set pieces with very little tension, and a dopey love story at its center.
Listen, they’re not all going to be winners.
14. ‘An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn’
Univerrsal
Jim Hosking, the bizarre British filmmaker behind “The Greasy Strangler,” is back. Consider yourself warned.
Instead of some crazed version of a horror movie, he’s doing some crazed version of a romantic comedy, with Aubrey Plaza playing a woman in love with a mysterious illusionist (Craig Robinson). Of course, her hired hand (Jemaine Clement) is in love with her. Oh, and Emile Hirsch plays her husband. The entire thing is incredibly off-putting, with a mixture of nonprofessional actors and actors behaving in incredibly nonprofessional ways. “An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn” heightened and icky, although there are a few laughs to be had along the way (even if immediately after laughing you feel the need to take a shower).
13. ‘Burning’
CGV
Well this movie was … something. “Burning” is the latest film from South Korean master filmmaker Lee Chang-dong and, what’s more, it’s based on a short story by international literary phenomenon Haruki Murakami. Sadly, it is a very dull movie.
It’s essentially a very protracted murder mystery, with very little murder or mystery, that might have some sociopolitical or cultural dimensions that I just didn’t pick up on but I couldn’t quite figure it out. (Keep in mind, it competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes and is South Korea’s official Foreign Language Feature selection.) At 148 minutes, it’s at least 45 minutes too long, too.
12. ‘Overlord’
Paramount/Bad Robot
J.J. Abrams‘ secretive World War II thriller made its long-awaited debut at Fantastic Fest, and while most fell in love with the bloody carnage, I remained cooler.
“Overlord” is the story of a group of soldiers (led by Jovan Adepo), dropped into Nazi-occupied France on the eve of D-Day, who encounter, along with an enemy-operated radio tower, lots and lots of zombies. Unlike many of the other movies at Fantastic Fest, you could tell that “Overlord” has gone through a number of revisions (there are two credited cinematographers) and the seams show. There’s never really any escalation to the action, and much of the horror feels ho-hum.
11. ‘One Cut of the Dead’
Fantastic Fest audiences went nuts for this wry Japanese zombie comedy (it was a smash in its native land, too) and while it’s easy to admire, it’s harder to actually love.
The first 37 minutes are a single shot (the “one cut” of the title), following a film crew as they shoot a zombie movie but are – surprise! – attacked by actual zombies. Then the movie takes a very fun twist that puts it squarely in “Ed Wood” territory (the less said about it, the better). Sure, “One Cut of the Dead” is charming and strange in a satisfying way, it also feels cheaply made (the music is atrocious) and, for a zombie comedy, could have used a little more bite.
10. ‘Lords of Chaos’
Vice
“Lords of Chaos” is a based-on-a-true-story story so bizarre that you’ll undoubtedly look up the actual case the second the movie is over. (It checks out.)
Music video visionary Jonas Åkerlund co-wrote and directed the film (based on the nonfiction book of the same name), which charts the meteoric rise of Norwegian death metal, focusing mostly on the band Mayhem. What makes the movie work so well is its expert tonal control; most of the movie plays like a younger version of “This Is Spinal Tap,” with a bunch of messy kids (led by Rory Culkin) trying to make a name for themselves and self-seriously piling on all of the offensive iconography and Satanic kitsch they can find.
Of course, once they start actually tapping into that darkness (church burnings! Murder!) is when the movie exerts even more power. If you’ve never been a head-banger, you can still easily love this film.
9. ‘Apostle’
Netflix
If you’ve seen the trailer for “Apostle,” the brand new Gareth Evans movie debuting on Netflix on October 12, you get the general gist: a man (Dan Stevens) travels to a far away island to rescue his sister from a dangerous cult (led by Michael Sheen). But, really, that’s only a sliver of the story and to say anything more would probably get me banished.
But know this: there are dark forces at work on that island and what begins as a fairly creepy horror movie along the lines of “The Wicker Man,” soon turns into a probing examination of what faith can do to people, and concludes with a wonderfully WTF moment that will require much discussion. Just know that Evans’ move away from action to more sustained atmospherics was a fruitful one indeed.
8. ‘Hold the Dark’
Netflix
Another movie that was maybe purposefully misdirected in the marketing materials is “Hold the Dark,” now available on Netflix. As expressed in the trailer, the film is the tale of an Alaskan woman (Riley Keough) who hires a wolf expert (Jeffrey Wright), after she claims her young son was murdered by a local wolf. Now, that set up alone is great and it’s a very big part of the movie, but there’s a lot more to it than that. (Not that it’ll be spoiled here.)
Director Jeremy Sualnier knows how to craft almost painfully thrilling set pieces, and he never allows the bleakness to overcome the movie’s inherent beauty. Throw in some performances as chilling as the Alaskan air, and you’ve got a cult favorite in the making.
7. ‘Halloween’
Universal/Blumhouse
40 years later, we finally have a worthy successor to the original “Halloween.” This installment all but ignores every other sequel, remake, or spin-off, picking up where the events of the first film left off … only 40 years later.
Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has become a backwoods survivalist, convinced that relentless killing machine Michael Myers will one day come for her (spoiler alert: he does!) What could have been a fairly standard, nostalgia-dipped slasher movie, instead becomes something deeper and more thoughtful, focusing on the way that the effects of violence and trauma can ripple through generations. (Thank director and co-writer David Gordon Green.)
It’s just one of the many ways that expectations are inverted and subverted into something even newer and more exciting. (It’s a testament to how outstanding Fantastic Fest’s programming was this year that there are even six movies better than “Halloween.”) Also, this movie is going to make so much money.
6. ‘The Night Comes For Us’
Netflix
October 19. That’s when “The Night Comes for Us” premieres on Netflix. I’m just letting you know so that you can drink plenty of water and maybe bolt yourself to the furniture or something because this movie kicks that much ass.
It’s the tale of a member of the triad’s elite killing squad who turns his back on the mafia after being ordered to murder a child, and ends up taking the heat from the entire criminal organization. Indonesian filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto stages the action with gleeful, gory abandon, as wide shots take in all of the bone-crushing carnage. And it never, ever stops.
This movie shows you just how lame and tired American action filmmaking has become, but makes you hopeful because, clearly, there are others out there still doing it right.
5. ‘The Standoff at Sparrow Creek’
RLJE
Talk about an ingenious set up for a low budget thriller: There’s been a shooting at a police officer’s funeral. A local militia convenes and discovers that one of the group’s automatic weapons is missing, and that one of the men is responsible for the crime. What follows is an increasingly tense whodunit, as a former cop (James Badge Dale, also excellent in “Hold the Dark”) starts to investigate which one of them is lying.
That’s about all that you can say about “The Standoff at Sparrow Creek” without giving anything away, but writer-director Henry Dunham, making his feature debut, has put together an incredibly exciting, wonderfully photographed yarn that is apolitical in ways you would never expect, leading to much post-viewing discussion. Get ready.
4. ‘The World Is Yours’
It struck me as odd that more people weren’t talking about “The World is Yours,” a zippy, incredibly engrossing French crime comedy from filmmaker Romain Gavras. The title, of course, comes from the mantra of Tony Montana in “Scarface,” and it’s a purposeful misdirect; instead of aspiration-minded gangsters who want nothing but the latest guns, shoes, and silk shirts, it follows a fairly straight, low-level goon who is just trying to make enough money to get a popsicle franchise off the ground in Africa. (Yes, seriously — it’s adorable.)
Of course, things get rather complicated along the way, with each new wrinkle being introduced with almost surgical precision (my favorite subplot involved Vincent Cassel being consumed with Illuminati conspiracy theories). Add in a wicked supporting performance by Isabelle Adjani, and a killer score by Jamie xx and Sebastian, and you’ve got a comic soufflé too delicious to pass up.
3. ‘Bad Times at the El Royale’
Fox
The festival’s closing night film seems like something of a no-brainer: It’s a twisty turny, noir-tinged story of double-crosses and people pretending to be something they’re not. But what makes “Bad Times at the El Royale” transcend those fairly obvious genre trappings is how much heart writer-director Drew Goddard injects into the material, and what marvelous, full-bodied performances stars like Fantastic Fest MVP Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth, Jeff Bridges, and breakout Cynthia Erivo provide.
Some folks groused about the movie’s lengthy 140-minute running time; I was happy to luxuriate with the colorful band of lowlifes. Checking into the El Royale, it’s best not to know much of anything except, of course, that you’ll have a ball.
2. ‘Piercing’
Universal
Well, “Piercing” was a huge surprise: Nicholas Pesce‘s follow-up to 2016’s dour, black-and-white horror movie “The Eyes of My Mother” turns out to be a bright, vibrant, very screwed-up romantic comedy (of sorts). Christopher Abbott plays a straight-laced businessman who, fighting back homicidal urges, checks into a hotel and orders a prostitute, luring her to her doom. Except, of course, the prostitute is Mia Wasikowska and, well, you know what they say about best-laid plans.
Alternately horrifying and hilarious, Pesce’s sophomore feature is more human and alive than his debut, complimented by unassumingly oddball production design (all of the exteriors of buildings are miniatures) and featuring a musical bedrock full of obscure cuts from movies like “Cherry 2000” and “Tenebre.”
1. ‘Suspiria’
Amazon Studios
When “Suspiria,” “Call Me By Your Name” filmmaker Luca Guadagnino‘s autumnally hued take on Dario Argento‘s 1977 candy-colored classic, made its debut at the Venice Film Festival reactions were, um, muted, to say the least. So it was something of a surprise that “Suspiria” exploded at Fantastic Fest the way it did; nobody quite knew what they were getting into (and not just because it was the never-officially-announced secret screening). But, make no mistake, this new version of the ballet-school-run-by-witches tale is vitally alive and unlike any other movie released this year (or, potentially, any other year).
Instead of a remake or sequel, it’s a straight-up transformation, taking the original conceit and making it sexier, weirder, more political, and more distinctly feminist. The results are a fascinating, electric work of art, featuring sublime performances by Dakota Johnson (as the naïve waif), Tilda Swinton (as the plotting witch — plus a couple of other characters), and Mia Goth (as the delicate ballerina-turned-detective).
It’s almost impossible to describe, but this intricately staged masterpiece (with new music by Thom Yorke) will carry you away. It’s bloody brilliant.
