(L to R) Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, and James Hong in A24’s ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’
As awards season trundled onward, Sunday night saw the Critics Choice Association Awards handed out at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
The star-studded affair (albeit slightly less star-studded thanks to the super-spreader event that was the Golden Globes, which saw the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell all laid low with Covid) blends film and TV awards, and in an attempt to keep the running time to a strict three hours (successfully, as it stands) weirdly squashed together certain categories, which meant that the likes of ‘Barry’s Henry Winkler and ‘Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph ended up taking the stage at the same time, and taking turns to give their speeches one after the other.
That was still better for those in some other categories, such as Cinematography and Best Animated Series, which were burned through in brief on-screen mentions without any of the recipients coming up to accept their trophies.
Hosted by Chelsea Handler, the show had the usual mix of celebrity presenters, memorably Seth Rogen, who joked that the CW, where the awards show was airing, had zero nominations at the ceremony.
It was another good night for the team behind ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, which won five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan, Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay.
Though the movie’s Michelle Yeoh had been predicted to repeat her run of wins as Best Actress, that award went to Cate Blanchett for ‘Tár’, as the Critics Choice Ceremony had the feel of Everything Wins Something.
Brendan Fraser in director Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Whale’ from A24.
Brendan Fraser continued his own winning streak, offering up an emotional speech as he accepted Best Actor for ‘The Whale’. Angela Bassett gave a stirring speech as she took home Best Supporting Actress for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. Popular action movie ‘RRR’, meanwhile, was named Best Foreign Language Film along with winning Best Song for “Naatu Naatu”.
Other buzzed about movies made do with one win each, such as ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’s effects, and ‘Elvis’ hair and make-up team.
On the TV front, it was a triumphant night for ‘Better Call Saul’, the ‘Breaking Bad’ spin-off enjoying some well-earned respect for its final season as it won Best Drama, Best Actor in a Drama for star Bob Odenkirk and Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for Giancarlo Esposito.
‘Abbott Elementary’ continued to do well, winning two awards, while Jennifer Coolidge was back on another stage, offering another funny speech as she won another trophy for ‘The White Lotus’.
Blending first-timers (such as Jeremy Allen White for ‘The Bear’) and repeat winners (Jean Smart for ‘Hacks’ or Winkler for ‘Barry’), the TV categories, like their movie counterparts also spread the love around various shows.
‘The Dropout’, which stars Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, won for Seyfried and Best Limited Series, while ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’ landed Best Actor (for Daniel Radcliffe, who wasn’t present) and Best TV Movie.
Jean Smart in ‘Hacks’ Season 2 for HBO Max. Photos by Karen Ballard.
There has been some disturbed chatter in the last couple of days about video game adaptation ‘Borderlands’, which ‘Hostel’ and ‘Cabin Fever’ director Eli Roth shot way back in 2021 (it was long enough ago that star Cate Blanchett has had time to shoot ‘Tár’, which has just hit theaters).
But with word that Roth has stepped away from the film ahead of some re-shoots, there was naturally concern that it’s all gone a little wrong and that the director has somehow been fired.
Lionsgate is stepping up to do a little damage control and now comes word via Deadline that it’s more to do with a schedule clash.
Roth, you see, is finally ready to make the full-length movie ‘Thanksgiving’, spawned from a fake trailer he made to contribute to Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’ ‘Grindhouse’.
It was popular enough that there was talk of a full movie based on the trailer, but while Roth has sometimes mentioned it, he’s finally ready to make it a reality.
‘Thanksgiving’––in fake trailer form at least––features a slasher who makes his own carving board out of the inhabitants of a Massachusetts town during the annual turkey day. One of the pivotal scenes involved Roth himself, separated from his head while in the throes of passion with a date in a convertible.
(L to R) Director and actor Eli Roth and Brad Pitt in ‘Inglourious Basterds.’
Now, of course, there could be more to it than anyone is willing to admit––given the long post-production process of ‘Borderlands’, surely there has been time for Roth to schedule making ‘Thanksgiving’ so that it doesn’t clash with ‘Borderlands’. But movie shooting schedules can be tough to figure out with so much that needs to happen, so perhaps it really is just timing.
Still, the addition of Tim Miller––who last made ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’––is an interesting one. He’s got plenty of experience with the sort of effects load that might be involved in even re-shoots of something along the lines of the game adaptation.
‘Borderlands’ adapts the popular game title and stars Blanchett as Lilith, an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful man Atlas (Edgar Ramirez).
Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Kevin Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Jack Black), a persistently wiseass robot.
These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.
Naturally, ‘Borderlands’ has yet to announce a release date, but it’ll certainly need to impress to keep up with the current trend of successful movies and shows based on games.
Cate Blanchett as treasure hunter Lilith in Lionsgate’s ‘Borderlands.’
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A stop-motion-animated adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s 1883 fairy tale novel of the same name, the film is a long-in-development passion project of Del Toro, who’s co-directed it with veteran animation director Mark Gustafson.
Pinocchio reworks the classic fable into a tale of fathers and sons, of the virtue of disobedience, and – like so much of Del Toro’s work – of the dangers of fascism.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Guillermo Del Toro about the film’s inspirations and its unique style of animation.
Director Guillermo del Toro for ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.’
You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview with Del Toro about ‘Pinocchio.’
Moviefone: One of the interesting things about ‘Pinocchio’ is that rather than recall other animated movies, it shares the emotional immediacy of Italian Neorealism and Luis Bunuel‘s films from the 1950s. How did you approach balancing its real life horrors with its fantasy elements? Did you take much the same approach you did with ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’?
Guillermo del Toro: Yeah, it’s very much the same. I mean, it’s instinctual partially, certainly in shaping the first iterations of the tale. Then you’re really, really careful on the composition of the scenes and how they flow from one another. Tonally, it’s a movie that is going to fluctuate between moments of musical comedy or comedy to drama, to melodrama, to conversations that have a gravity for me and an importance for me that is almost existential.
So you have to be able to circulate between Mussolini arriving in a Tex Avery Warner Brothers Cartoon limousine and Pinocchio having a conversation with a fellow bedmate in a fascist reeducation youth camp. So that’s what is difficult. But every time I think about one of my movies, it is that disparity of flavors that attracts me. ‘Shape of Water’ was a love story between a cleaning woman and an amphibian man done by Douglas Sirk with musical numbers. So it is not exactly easy, but it’s what I do. I don’t know if I do it well or not, but I do it.
MF: You’ve said that in making this film you sought to avoid the pantomime shorthand that infects so many animated films today and overly hip characters and how instead you called upon the animators to animate silence and “failed physical acts.” How did you develop this technique?
GDT: It started when I was younger and I saw ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ for the first time. (Director Hayao) Miyazaki has a moment in which the father goes to put on a shoe and he fails to get the shoe in the first and the second time, and finally gets the shoe in. I was transfixed. I thought, “This is amazing.” I read more about Miyazaki of course, and at one point or another, the master Miyazaki said, “If you animate the ordinary, it will be extraordinary.” I decided that real life, in animation, lives in the portions that nobody animates in North America, in the West, in the
industrial animation scene. I started trying it on ‘Tales of Arcadia’ – ‘Troll Hunters,’ ‘3Below,’ and ‘Wizards’ – which were three series that we developed for Netflix and Dreamworks. Little by little I realized, A, how difficult it was, and B, how rewarding it was. So we decided to put eight rules of animation together for the animated crew on ‘Pinocchio.’ I guaranteed them that no one would interfere with our movie, that I would protect it from notes or previews or changes that we didn’t want. I guaranteed them that and I was able to deliver and they invested themselves into animating it as subtle and as naturalistic as they possibly could.
Arriving on Netflix (following a brief theatrical run) on December 9th, Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of ‘Pinocchio’ marks the second major adaptation to arrive this year.
And this is, by a long distance, a much more satisfying, very different version than the Disney offering that landed on Disney+ back in September.
In fact, we’ll go so far as to say that there is more inventiveness, care and technique in one wooden finger of this passion project from the director of ‘Hellboy’, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ and ‘The Shape of Water’ than in the entire Disney effort, which offered minor charms and little reason to justify its existence.
A passion project of the Mexican director for many years, representing several false starts and financial frustrations, that it’s arriving at all is miracle enough, but that it’s this good is even more reason to celebrate.
Yet this is also no sanitized, completely family-friendly affair. There is a darkness and element of horror at the heart of del Toro’s film, which feels even more in keeping with Carlo Collodi’s moral fable.
Drawing on the classic tale, the stop-motion musical follows the extraordinary journey of a wooden boy magically brought to life by a father’s wish. Brought, it should be said, to life by a wood sprite creature that wouldn’t look out of place in one of del Toro’s live-action fantasies, and voiced by Tilda Swinton, whose character has a sibling in the spirit of Death, whom Pinocchio meets more than once on his travels.
And continuing a theme he established in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, del Toro uses war and totalitarianism as the backdrop for the narrative. Set during the rise of Fascism in Mussolini’s Italy, this is a story of love and disobedience as Pinocchio (voiced by Gregory Mann) struggles to live up to his father Geppetto’s (David Bradley) expectations.
If Disney’s take featured the now-iconic version animated version of the main character overlaid with a CG sheen, its hard angles lovely sanded down to a smooth, kiddie-pleasing finish, so del Toro and co-director Mark Gustafson opt for a gnarly, more realistic puppet that looks like it was carved from waste wood, all knots and stumpy bits of carpentry. Though this living marionette is no less appealing.
An agent of chaos from the off, Mann’s Pinocchio chafes against rules and regulations, finding fun in disobedience, and needing to learn that there’s a time and place for such behavior.
Still, he’s a loveable lad, singing his way through some memorable numbers and encountering fear from the townsfolk. And he has his conscience present and correct––living (literally) in his heart––in the shape of Ewan McGregor’s Cricket.
The expected beats of the story––Pinocchio tempted away from attending school by the lure of fame from manipulative, cruel showman Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz)––are all found here, but this take on the take expands it beyond those boundaries to explore death, disobedience and those (such as Ron Perlman’s Podesta, who fervently believes in the darkness spreading across his country) would champion hurtful ideologies. After all, it’s not every adaptation of ‘Pinocchio’ that would dare to have Mussolini as a character, and then have the lead sing a song that roundly insults him.
Del Toro worked on the screenplay Patrick McHale and Matthew Robbins, and the result of their toil is a clear-eyed and timeless fable.
Voice-wise, the cast is spot on. Mann (doing double duty as Geppetto’s late son Carlo in a flashback to how the poor land died and as the central character) is charming without ever tipping over into precociousness.
David Bradley, who might be better known to audiences as the grumpy Argus Filch from the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise, here infuses Geppetto with real humanity: by turns mournful or frustrated, loving and chastising. Around them, there are the talents of actors such as Waltz, Swinton, McGregor, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman and voiceover regular Tom Kenny.
When you have Oscar winner Cate Blanchett showing up to provide guttural screeches for simian character Spazzatura, you know the phrase “embarrassment of riches” creeps into the casting discussion (and yes, Blanchett is excellent).
But the voices would be nothing without the beautiful animation and it’s here that that the new effort truly comes alive. Like its central figure (and again, in keeping with its co-director’s sensibilities), this is an authentic, very practical and darkly hewed world, bursting with fascinating little details, such as the skeletal rabbits who guard the link between the world of the living and the dead (and amuse themselves with card games).
Every single puppet, prop, landscape, building and gesture is created with deep attention to detail, and lavish craft.
Though the running time is a hefty one for a movie aimed at families at nearly two hours, it doesn’t waste a moment of that time. And yes, while parents might find themselves having difficult discussions with children about the subjects of death and hatred (and whether Mussolini was a poopy baby), they are themes worth exploring, and the film does so with heart and brains.
There really is no comparison between the two ‘Pinocchio’ films––for all the Disney-friendly fun offered by the Robert Zemeckis movie, del Toro’s makes it look like a bargain bin knock-off with plastic parts. This movie, for all its grungy, darker elements, bears the seal of quality and careful carving. An artisan piece of work that skips pretentiousness and instead bristles with chaos and imagination.
If you only watch one (of the approximately 572) adaptations of Collodi’s story, we recommend this one. Del Toro has been planning this one for nearly two decades––and it has been more than worth the wait and effort.
‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’ receives 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Currently available on Netflix is the fantasy comedy ‘The School for Good and Evil,’ which is based on the popular novels of the same name by Soman Chainani and was directed by Paul Feig.
The film stars Sophia Anne Caruso as Sophie, a young girl from the village of Gavaldon who wants to be a princess. Sophie’s dreams come true when she and her best friend the cynical Agatha (Sofia Wylie) are selected for The School for Good and Evil, but Sophie’s dream becomes a nightmare when she is admitted to the School of Evil and Agatha is delivered to the School for Good.
Upon arrival, they meet the Dean of the School for Good, Prof. Clarissa Dovey (Kerry Washington), and the Dean of the School for Evil, Lady Leonora Lesso (Charlize Theron), as well as the mysterious School Master (Laurence Fishburne).
Believing a mistake has been made, Sophie and Agatha must now find Sophie’s true love and receive her true love’s kiss in order for her to be accepted at the School for Good, and so Agatha can return to Gavaldon.
Paul Feig may have begun his career as an actor on ‘Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,’ but he has transitioned into an acclaimed writer and director, and one of the most successful filmmakers working today.
Feig has directed such beloved television shows as ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ ‘Arrested Development,’ ‘The Office,’ ’30 Rock,’ and ‘Mad Men.’
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Feig about his work on ‘The School for Good and Evil,’ adapting the source material, his casting process, working with Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington, using practical vs. visual effects, his next project, and the possibility of making more ‘Good and Evil’ movies.
Paul Feig attends the World Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘The School For Good And Evil’ at Regency Village Theatre on October 18, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.
You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview with Paul Feig about ‘The School for Good and Evil.’
Moviefone: To begin with, how did you get involved with this project and what excited you about the characters and mythology established in the source material?
Paul Feig: I got sent this from Netflix almost three years ago, and fantasy’s never been top of my list of genres to do. But when I read it, I just so fell in love with this friendship between these two leading characters. I’m always looking for good, three dimensional roles for women. It just really spoke to me and I realized that the fantasy genre was such a great way to explore it, and to challenge it, and to have it ultimately come out on top. So, I was in the minute I read it, I should say.
MF: The film deals with themes such as finding your power and your place in the world, nature versus nurture, and the thin line between good and evil. What were some of the themes of the novel that you really wanted to explore with this movie?
PF: Well, those are all part and parcel with it. I’m very fascinated with the idea of good and evil, and how I think it’s such a simplistic dynamic that we rely on that causes most of our problems. The fact that we’re so divided right now, and it is because we’re going like, “Your side is evil, and our side is good.” I thought this was a really non-preachy, interesting way to deconstruct that so that the message is there, but we’re not hanging a hat on it.
So that really, I do love. Then as far as finding out who you are, that’s a theme I feel like I explored my entire career and will continue to do that. Because I think so many of us just don’t know our place in the world, or don’t feel like we know what our place in the world is and truly who we are. It takes a big event to focus you on that and to be challenged, and then have that challenge make you have a little more clarity. I mean, do we ever fully have clarity? No, probably not. But I think life is a constant movement towards trying to figure that out.
MF: Can you talk about your casting process in general and specifically in terms of this movie?
PF: Yeah, I cast like a fan. I don’t have people in mind, especially when I’m writing something. I tend not to write for anybody because I just explore the characters. But when something comes to me that I haven’t written the first draft of, you start to get ideas and you start to see archetypes in your head of who could play things. Then I just really spend a lot of time being thoughtful, like “Who would be great in these roles?”
It’s been said before, one of the biggest things a director does is cast the movie. Because once you’ve got the right cast, then it makes my job easier in that regard because I know those people are then going to make it great. It’s just up to me to make sure I record them correctly and I give them the right direction to steer them into different places with it. But I also want their creativity from it.
So, it’s really just who’s going to bring the most to these roles? Not just show up and read the lines, but who’s going to add their personality into it? Who’s going to add their creativity to it? So, it’s my favorite part of the process and we work very hard on it when we’re putting it together. The casting is a really long process, but at the same time I always walk out of it going like, “Oh man, I think we got a great cast.”
MF: Can you talk about the friendship between Sophie and Agatha and also casting Sophia Anne Caruso and Sofia Wylie in those roles?
PF: Yeah, I always amass people in my travels and watching stuff. A friend of mine was an investor in ‘Beetlejuice’ on Broadway. So, I went to see that and saw Sophia Anne Caruso in the lead. This was before I even knew ‘The School for Good and Evil’ existed. I was just like, “Who is that young woman? She’s amazing.” So, I kind of wrote her name down, and said “Okay, remember her, we got to put her in something.”
Then when we started casting though, I didn’t know Sophia Wiley, I hadn’t seen ‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’ or anything. But she was just somebody who had sent an audition tape. So, I was watching that and just going, “Who is this young woman? She’s so good.”
But there was a few candidates and I was kind of like, “How do I decide?” I was like, “You know what, let’s have them record the big death scene at the end.” And even my casting director was like, “That’s really a hard thing for somebody to do on their phone.” I was like, “I know, but let’s just see what happens.” Literally, this is every actor’s nightmare.
I was out for a walk, my morning walk, with my phone and my earbuds in and just was like, “Oh, let me watch that audition.” Which is terrible. It’s a really, really terrible way to do it. But she was so good, and I was literally crying as I’m walking. If you can make a director impressed when they’re watching on their phone walking through their neighborhood, that was it. But then what we had to do is, you always kind of end the process of casting a duo by having them do a chemistry read.
Normally what you’ll do is you’ll fly them in or have them come into the office and sit together and do the scene, and you kind of watch how they play off each other. But we were in COVID, so we couldn’t do that. So, we had to do it on Zoom. I had to do a chemistry read between our two leading actors on Zoom. Their chemistry was so strong through the computer, that I was like, “Okay, if they can kill it on Zoom, then when they get together on the movie set, it’s going to be magic.” And it was.
MF: What was it working with iconic actors like Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Michelle Yeoh, and Laurence Fishburne?
PF: I’d worked with Charlize back in 2005 on ‘Arrested Development’ and we’d had a ton of fun together. So, we always stayed in contact of “What do we do together? We got to find something to do.” So, when I read Lady Lesso, I was like, “Okay, this is Charlize, she will just absolutely destroy this role.”
Kerry is somebody who I’ve been dying to work with. I became friendly with her because one of my best friends is Betsy Beers, who’s Shonda Rhimes‘ producing partner. So, I was always like, “You got to introduce me to Kerry.” We met and hit it off. Again, same situation, “What do we do together? We got to find something.” It was when I saw her on ‘Saturday Night Live’ when she hosted that time, I was like, “Oh my God, Kerry’s really funny.” So, I was just like, there’s no other Professor Dovey that I want than Kerry Washington.
Then Michelle Yeoh and I had worked together on ‘Last Christmas,’ and she’s one of my closest friends. I was just like, “Would you come in and do this? It’s not a giant part, but it’s a really fun part.” She’s like, “Of course.” She came in and quarantined for 10 days in Belfast. I was like, oh my God, that’s a real friend that will come in and do that, especially when you’re about to win an Oscar, which I’m sure she’s going to, if there’s any justice in the world.
Then Laurence Fishburne I’d never worked with before, but I was always a fan and he’s just delightful. Absolutely a delightful person. So, that was great. Then Cate Blanchett, who I’ve kind of had the same thing with. We had lunched a few years ago and we’re always trying to figure out something to do, and when we had this, I was like, “Oh Cate, would you want to play the voice of a pen?” And she’s like, “Sure.” I said, “Okay, cool.”
MF: Obviously you’ve used visual effects before in movies like ‘Ghostbusters,’ but can you talk about using VFX versus practical effects in a fantasy film like this?
PF: Well, I love it. It’s really fun, but my goal is always to make sure we do as much as we can in camera, practical. Even if it’s something that then we’re going to augment with CG. But I just never want my cast acting against tennis balls in front of a green screen. So, it’s really important to me to build these sets. Those sets are all real. I mean we built those giant sets, all the interiors of the school, that’s ours.
We did a little bit of green screen on some of the outdoor work, but even when they’re in the forest, the blue forest, that looks like CG, but that is a real place. I’m telling you. We added some of the blue smoke, but otherwise it’s this place called Big Dog Forest, which is outside of Belfast. It’s about two hours outside and is one of the hardest locations to get into. It’s just in the middle of nowhere. I’ve never seen something that looked like this in a movie. So, we slept out there and worked in the rain for several days.
But our wolf guards are real, those are guys in animatronic suits. Even when we’re doing things that are full CG, like Hester’s demon that comes out of her tattoo, we built these big green screen puppets and we had this puppeteer named Mikey who would then put on a green suit and he would fly around, run around and actually act out the thing with the actors. So, the actors are interacting with it. Then we just replace it with CG. But again, it’s not a tennis ball, they’re actually getting to act and I’m getting to see how I’m going to shoot it because I know what’s in the frame.
MF: Finally, you have both a sequel to ‘A Simple Favor’ and ‘Spy’ recently announced, which movie do you think will be your next project?
PF: Well, we’re figuring that out right now, to be honest. There’re about three different projects that are kind of in contention to go next. I’m just trying to figure out which one I want to do. Scheduling wise, Hollywood is a rough business. Just trying to get everybody’s schedules together is literally impossible.
So, one of those, but then hopefully another one of these, if we continue doing as well as we are on the platform so far, we’d love to make more. I mean, there’s six plus books in the series, so there’s a lot more to explore in ‘The School for Good and Evil.’
MF: Do you have a dream project? A movie that you are dying to get made?
PF: Well yeah, I’ve got a few. I don’t know if they’ll ever get made. I got my monster movie over at Universal, ‘Dark Army’ that I love. Whether it’ll get made, I don’t know. But that, and I’m dying to do a musical. I don’t even know what it is. We’ve been trying to develop an original musical for a while, we still aren’t happy with what we have, but at the same time, that would be fun.
I just want to work my way through all the genres. I think that’d be really fun. One of my heroes is Howard Hawks, who went from screwball comedies to a gangster movie, to a Western, just so effortlessly. That’s fun, I want to live in that world.
(L to R) Jeff Kirschenbaum, Soman Chainani, Kit Young, Charlize Theron, Jamie Flatters, Laurence Fishburne, Patti LuPone, Sofia Wylie, Paul Feig, Sophia Anne Caruso, Kerry Washington, Michelle Yeoh, Laura Fischer, Kane Lee, and Jane Startz attend the World Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘The School For Good And Evil’ at Regency Village Theatre on October 18, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.
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It has also been an effort fraught with changes and false starts, but he’s finally going to deliver in December via Netflix, which has put out a new trailer for the movie.
Collodi’s tale was originally published in serial form as ‘The Story of a Puppet’ way back in July 1881. The publication stopped at Chapter 15, but popular demand meant it resumed in February 1882. Re-released in single book form in 1883, it has been hailed as one of the greatest works of Italian literature.
It has been adapted many times for the screen – probably most famously in Disney’s 1940 animated version, which took home Oscars for original song and score.
‘Pinocchio’ is releasing in theaters in November before launching on Netflix in December.
As for del Toro, he’s been aiming to get his ‘Pinocchio’ made since at least 2008 and the movie has grappled through different combinations of filmmakers on its journey to the screen, struggling to find studio support for the ambitious, darkly hewed story. For this version, del Toro co-directs with Claymation veteran Mark Gustafson (who was director of animation on Wes Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ in 2009) and the script is from del Toro, Patrick McHale, Gus Grimly and Matthew Robbins.
This new trailer is narrated by Sebastian J. Cricket (voiced by Ewan McGregor), the latest incarnation of the character who usually serves as an advisor to the central character, a puppet who longs to become a real boy. In true del Toro style, here he’s not simply a funny character along for the ride – he lives in Pinocchio’s heart.
Along with his quest to become truly real, Pinocchio has another mission – he’ll mend the heart of his creator/father figure, the woodcarver Geppetto, who is mourning the loss of his son. But it won’t be an easy task, and Pinocchio’s journey is fraught with danger. He’ll have to learn that disobedience can be as crucial to growing up and becoming who you’re meant to be as blind loyalty.
Thankfully, for those who want to experience del Toro and his team’s work on the big screen, Netflix is releasing this one in theaters in November ahead of a December launch on the streaming service.
‘Pinocchio’ is releasing in theaters in November before launching on Netflix in December.
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Photo of Guillermo del Toro courtesy of mandraketheblack.de and Netflix
Guillermo del Toro is the sort of director/producer/writer who always has plenty of potential movies and TV shows bubbling away either in his head or set up at various studios. An animated adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s classic tale ‘Pinocchio’ has long been a passion project for the ‘Nightmare Alley’ filmmaker, and it is finally headed to our screens this December via Netflix, as a new teaser announces.
The brief look at the stop-motion style of animation focuses on Sebastian J. Cricket (voiced by Ewan McGregor), the latest incarnation of the character who usually serves as an advisor to the central character, a puppet who longs to become a real boy. In true del Toro style, here he’s not simply a funny character along for the ride – he lives in Pinocchio’s heart.
Quite what else del Toro is planning for the story remains to be seen, but Netflix’s plot synopsis is roughly in keeping with the original: “a wooden marionette is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto.”
Most of their roles are unknown right now, though the cast list mentions Waltz playing the scheming Fox and Perlman taking on the part of Mangiafuoco, the owner of a marionette theatre who proves to be a real threat in Pinocchio’s life.
Collodi’s story, ‘The Adventures Of Pinocchio’ was originally published in serial form in an 1880s Children’s magazine before being collected as a book in 1883. It has been adapted many times for both movies and TV, though possibly the most famous version remains Disney’s 1940 ‘Pinocchio.’ The studio is making its own new adaptation, a live-action ‘Pinocchio‘ starring Tom Hanks, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Luke Evans, and Cynthia Erivo, which is directed by Robert Zemeckis. It’s also due this year, and headed to Disney+. Looks like we have ourselves a puppet-off. Or a Pinocchio-off?
Del Toro originally announced his stop-motion movie back in 2008 and has been through different combinations of filmmakers on its journey to the screen, struggling to find studio support for the ambitious, darkly hewed story. Currently, del Toro and Claymation veteran Mark Gustafson (who was director of animation on Wes Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ in 2009) are listed as co-directors, and the script is credited to del Toro and Patrick McHale, though Gus Grimly and Matthew Robbins have both contributed through the years.
The teaser simply lists the film as coming in December of this year – with luck, Netflix will give it a theatrical release ahead of its appearance on the streaming service. After all, don’t we want to see a fantasy film from Guillermo del Toro on a big movie screen?
Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jennifer Lawrence in ‘Don’t Look Up’
Currently in theaters before streaming on Netflix on December 24th is the new comedy from director Adam McKay (‘The Big Short,’ ‘Vice’) called ‘Don’t Look Up.’ The film is a political satire that follows two scientists as they desperately try to convince the media, the President, and a politically divided United States that an asteroid scheduled to collide with Earth in six-months will destroy all life on the planet.
The new movie features a very impressive cast that includes Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio (‘The Revenant’), Jennifer Lawrence (‘Silver Linings Playbook’), Mark Rylance (‘Bridge of Spies’), Cate Blanchett (‘Blue Jasmine’), and Meryl Streep (‘The Iron Lady’), as well as Jonah Hill (‘Moneyball’), Tyler Perry (‘Gone Girl’), Timothée Chalamet (‘Dune’), Ron Perlman (‘Drive’), and pop singer Ariana Grande. The result is a clever comedic satire that has something important to say about the world we live in and presents it in an entertaining way with fantastic over-the-top performances from the entire cast.
The film begins when astronomers Kate Dibiasky (Lawrence) and Dr. Randall Mindy (DiCaprio) discover an asteroid larger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs will crash into Earth, destroying all life in approximately six months. They immediately notify NASA and are sent to Washington to debrief President Orlean (Streep) and her son and Chief of Staff, Jason Orlean (Jonah Hill). However, preoccupied with getting her Supreme Court nominee passed by the Senate and a personal scandal of her own, President Orlean dismisses the scientists and declares that they will “sit on this,’’ and not report it to the media.
Frightened for the future of mankind and not trusting that the President will do the right thing, Mindy and Dibiasky contact a newspaper and agree to go on a popular political morning show hosted by Brie Evantee (Blanchett) and Jack Bremmer (Perry). But when the talk show hosts don’t take the scientists seriously, Kate loses her composer and blurts out on TV that “everyone is going to die.” In the aftermath, Kate becomes a national laughingstock and Dr. Mindy becomes a hero for being the “handsome scientist.” He eventually gets caught-up in his own celebrity and leaves his wife and family for a relationship with Brie. But, when the President’s approval ratings begin to go down, she starts to take the crisis seriously, realizing that saving the planet is the only way she will be reelected.
Working with the scientists, the President enacts a plan to send Colonel Ben Drask (Perlman) into space to blow up the asteroid. However, just as the plan is about to work, tech billionaire Peter Isherwell (Rylance) contacts the President asking her to abort the mission, and she agrees, much to the dismay of Randall and Kate. Isherwell has discovered that the precious minerals required to make cell phones and computers will soon be depleted on Earth, and that the asteroid possesses an endless supply of the needed materials, which will make them billions of dollars in the process. Their plan is to allow the asteroid to get into our orbit, then send tiny drones to land on it and begin drilling so that pieces fall to Earth but are small enough that it does not destroy it. This news divides the country, with those against it trending on Twitter with #JustLookUp, and its supporters chanting at rallies, “Don’t Look Up.” As the world debates and waits to see if Isherwell and the President’s plan will work, Kate and Randall try to pick up the pieces of their own personal lives, which have been devastated by their new-found celebrity.
Writer and director Adam McKay, who began his career helming Will Ferrell comedies like ‘Anchorman’ and ‘Talladega Nights,’ made a stark turn to political satire with 2015’s brilliant ‘The Big Short,’ which earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He followed it up with the 2018 biopic ‘Vice,’ which also earned him Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. ‘Don’t Look Up’ is not quite as good as ‘The Big Short,’ which in my opinion is a recent classic. But it is a much stronger film than ‘Vice,’ which was a slow movie that was really only carried by Christian Bale’s commanding performance as former Vice President Dick Cheney. Basically, using the plot of ‘Armageddon’ as a mirror to the pandemic and how our divided country became more divided because of a worldwide health crisis, was a stroke of brilliance and creates the poignant comedy of the film.
McKay’s script also spoofs several real-life people, as Streep and Hill are clearly playing Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, respectively, Cate Blanchett is a version of cable news hosts Megan Kelly and Mika Brzezinski, and DiCaprio’s Dr. Mindy is a substitute for Anthony Fauci. But while the world of ‘Don’t Look Up’ clearly mirrors our own, McKay makes it clear that this is a fictional universe as comedian Sarah Silverman and journalist Ashleigh Banfield play characters similar to whom they really are, a podcast host and a reporter, respectively, but are given fictional names to demonstrate that this is not happening in “our” world yet, but it certainly could.
While I loved almost all of the performances, let me start with the one I liked the least, and that was Mark Rylance. The Oscar winner is playing Peter Isherwell as a Steve Jobs/Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk type of character, and he does it quite well, except he’s basically playing the same role he did in ‘Ready Player One.’ Since the characters are so similar, I would have appreciated another casting for Isherwell, or at the very least having Rylance portray the character in a different way.
Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio give very strong comedic performances and have a nice chemistry together in the film. They both balance the comedy and drama well, but it’s DiCaprio who is surprisingly hilarious as a decent family man who gets wrapped up in his own celebrity. Lawrence’s character is a little one-note for the first half of the film but reaches a new level when paired with Timothée Chalamet in the third act. Rob Morgan (Mudbound) is also worth mentioning and is very good as a scientist who helps Randall and Kate.
Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett steal every scene they are in as a mock-version of MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe,’ but it’s Blanchett who is truly wonderful as a news anchor more obsessed with power and celebrity than the truth. She is the character that tries to corrupt Dr. Mindy and challenges his values, and the actress is great opposite DiCaprio. I think Blanchett’s performance is so good that she would definitely be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar if it wasn’t for one thing … and that one thing is Meryl Streep!
Meryl Streep’s brilliant and commanding performance as essentially a female version of Donald Trump is all anyone is going to talk about after seeing this film and unfortunately, it will take the oxygen out of any conversation that might have taken place about nominating Blanchett. In some ways, correctly so, as Streep is certainly the comedic centerpiece of this film and gives a completely believable over-the-top performance. Streep will probably get a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role, as she usually gets nominated for just about every film she makes. But this time it will be well deserved as the movie only works if you buy into her ridiculous character, which thanks to her performance, you do.
I also have to mention Jonah Hill, who as the President’s son and Chief of Staff, gives one of the most sarcastic, funny yet mean-spirited performances of his career. The actor creates a pathetic and outrageously obnoxious character that you absolutely hate but still look forward to seeing in every scene he’s in because you know he’ll have the funniest lines. In the end, Adam McKay has delivered another funny, smart, and poignant political satire, the kind of movie that is not made much anymore, that features strong performances and an important story that reflects our own society.
Rooney Mara and Bradley Cooper in ‘Nightmare Alley’
Opening in theaters on December 17th is the new neo-noir thriller from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro entitled ‘Nightmare Alley,’ which is based on the novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham. The film stars Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper (‘A Star is Born’) as a 1940s carnival con-man turned famous mentalist who meets his match in a psychiatrist played by Oscar winner Cate Blanchett (’Blue Jasmine’).
In addition to Cooper and Blanchett, the movie also features an impressive cast that includes Academy Award nominees Rooney Mara (‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’), Toni Collette (‘The Sixth Sense’), Willem Dafoe (‘Platoon’), Richard Jenkins (‘The Shape of Water’), and David Strathairn (‘Good Night, and Good Luck), as well as Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen (‘Melvin and Howard’). The result is another absolute masterpiece from Guillermo del Toro, a visually stunning and extremely disturbing movie that actually gets better the more you think about it after viewing, which features Bradley Cooper in the best performance of his career thus far.
The film begins by introducing us to a mysterious drifter named Stan (Cooper), who gets a job at a carnival doing odd jobs in the early 1940s. One of his jobs includes working with Clem (Dafoe) running the “freak show.” The “freak,” as Clem explains, is a “fake,” and is actually just a local drunk that they bribe with booze to eat live chickens in front of an audience. Eventually, Stan befriends Pete (Strathairn) and Zeena (Collette), who are “mentalists” at the carnival, but are actually just con-artists. Pete begins teaching Stan some of his tricks, but Stan wants to learn more and attempts to read Pete’s book of secrets. Stan soon starts a relationship with Molly (Mara), who plays the “electric lady” in the show. When a local sheriff threatens to close down the carnival, Stan steps up and uses his new “powers” to convince the cops to let them go. Stan and Molly eventually marry and leave the carnival to start an act of their own.
The film then flashes forward several years, and we find the couple performing a successful “mentalist” act for wealthy socialites in the big city. Stan and Molly now have a very extravagant life, living in hotels and driving fancy cars, a long way from their carnival days. Molly is happy, but yearns for more attention from Stan, who is obsessed with his own fame and ambition. The trouble begins during one of their performances, when a psychiatrist named Dr. Lilith Ritter (Blanchett) challenges Stan and is skeptic of his abilities. Stan is able to “con” his way out of it but becomes captivated with Lilith and eventually becomes seduced by her to con wealthy businessman, Ezra Grindle (Jenkins). But when the con goes wrong, it will threaten not only Stan’s relationship with Molly and everything he’s achieved, but it will also threaten his life.
With ‘Nightmare Alley,’ director Guillermo del Toro is able to infuse the film with all the strange elements of the macabre he loves including societal outcasts and the supernatural, which creates a tone and a mood that is completely del Toro’s own. While based on the original novel, technically it is a remake, since the source material was first adapted into the 1947 movie starring Tyrone Power. However, del Toro has made a film that stands completely on its own, and in many ways is his most very personal movie.
I have to admit, I wasn’t really sure how much I enjoyed the movie while I was actually watching it, but I have not been able to stop thinking about it since I saw it, and the movie just gets better the more I relive it in my head. Del Toro has a vision that is truly unique to him, and the Oscar winning filmmaker masterfully builds the suspense and mystery throughout the film. While I did guess the twist ending before it happened, I believe del Toro spread clues throughout the movie like breadcrumbs, so the audience could play along and “solve the mystery” before the conclusion was actually revealed. This gives the entire story a “predetermined nature,” in a sense saying that there was nothing Stan could do, he was always destined for this outcome, something that the character shockingly says out loud in the movie’s final moments.
Del Toro filled the film with some of the best character actors working today including Richard Jenkins, Tim Blake Nelson, Clifton Collins Jr., Mary Steenburgen and, del Toro’s constant collaborator, Ron Perlman. Willem Dafoe feels right at home playing the untrustworthy Clem, who is really our introduction to the carnival world. But it’s Toni Collette and David Strathairn as Stan’s mentalist mentors Zeena and Pete Krumbein, respectively, who really stand out. Collette gives a warm yet vulnerable performance, while you sympathize with Strathairn’s down-on-his-luck character. Rooney Mara is also wonderful as Molly, the best thing that ever happened to Stan, unfortunately he doesn’t know it. Mara plays her character with a sweetness and a naïveté that is in stark contrast to Stan’s unbridled ambition.
Coming off of very strong performances this year in both ‘The French Dispatch’ and ‘Don’t Look Up,’ Cate Blanchett gives another marvelous turn that could earn her an Oscar nomination. As Dr. Lilith Ritter, Blanchett is cold and calculating, and every bit of a match for Stan. Blanchett’s role embodies the idea of a Femme Fatale, and the actress is excellent at conveying her character’s motivations in the subtlest of ways. The actress is absolutely electrifying in the role and has great chemistry with Cooper. But it’s Bradley Cooper’s magnetic, powerhouse performances that really makes ‘Nightmare Alley’ worth seeing. Cooper puts on a masterclass of acting and absolutely loses himself in the role.
I absolutely loved ‘A Star is Born’ and thought Cooper deserved an Oscar for that role, but this is easily the best work of his career. While we all know that it has been predetermined that this is “Will Smith’s year,” and that he will definitely win an Oscar for ‘King Richard,’ I wouldn’t be cleaning off the mantelpiece just yet if I was the former-Fresh Prince as Cooper could definitely give Smith a run for his money this coming award season. Cooper’s performance is multi-layered, as playing Stan requires him to really portray three different types of characters at once, including a mysterious but ambitious young man, a successful socialite, and a washed up drunk. The actor excels at portraying all three aspects of the character and delivers a believable, well-rounded performance.
In the end, ‘Nightmare Alley’ may be based on previous source material but feels completely like it originated in the head of Guillermo del Toro. The material is synonymous with the filmmaker’s sensibilities and is a haunting piece of neo-noir cinema, grounded by an outstanding performance from Bradley Cooper.
‘Nightmare Alley’ receives 4 out of 5 stars.
Del Toro insists that this is a new adaptation of the 1946 William Lindsay Gresham novel (a book that the director recently told us was given to him by Perlman) and not a remake of the 1947 Tyrone Powermovie. Considering the source material involves a traveling circus and a conman teaming up with a mystic, we think that this is right up del Toro’s (wait for it) alley.
Shooting is scheduled to start in early 2020 and we would be very surprised if this wasn’t an awards contender by late 2020.
