Arriving on Disney+ on April 6 with the first two episodes (and six more to follow on a mostly weekly schedule) is ‘Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord’, the latest step in Dave Filoni’s animated adventures set in the galaxy far, far away.
While his recent promotion to joint chief of Lucasfilm means he won’t have quite as much time to play in the ‘Star Wars’ sandbox, Dave Filoni is still enjoying the chance to expand the reach of George Lucas’ creation, this time continuing the story of the former Darth Maul.
By layering in crime thriller genre tropes and adding more to Maul himself, Filoni has delivered another smaller-scale animated success.
Working with Matt Michnovetz to develop the series, Filoni blends the likes of ‘Heat’ with the ‘Star Wars’ milieu for a fun mix that gives Maul fans (yes, we know you’re out there) plenty to enjoy.
And beyond the lead, there are several compelling characters contained within superior scripts.
On the directorial front, supervising director Brad Rau brings a stylish noir touch to the show, while also keeping it of a piece with previous animated outings.
Sam Witwer continues to find interesting new directions to take his character, and has really owned the role. Aside from him, Wagner Moura is good value as hard-bitten police detective Brander Lawson, aided by sidekick droid Two-Boots, voiced by a game Richard Ayoade.
On the villainous side, Filoni continues his obsession with comedy droids, with this show’s MVP being Spybot (David W. Collins), a cackling delight.
Even if you only know Maul from ‘The Phantom Menace’, chances are you will find something to enjoy here –– the action is intense, the characters compelling and the show as a whole fits well into the ‘Star Wars’ universe while also feeling fresh.
‘Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord’ receives 75 out of 100.
What’s the plot of ‘Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord’?
Set after the events of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars,’ this pulpy adventure finds Maul plotting to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire. There, he crosses paths with a disillusioned young Jedi Padawan who could be the apprentice he is seeking to aid him in his relentless pursuit for revenge.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of sitting down in-person with director George Clooney and actor Joel Edgerton to talk about their work on ‘The Boys in the Boat.’
They discussed the new movie, why Clooney wanted to adapt the book and the themes he wanted to explore, Edgerton’s approach to his character, the challenges of shooting the rowing sequences, what Edgerton learned about filmmaking from watching Clooney direct, and what Clooney was looking from the young actors he cast for the rowing team.
(L to R) Director George Clooney and Joel Edgerton talk ‘The Boys in the Boat.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Clooney and Edgerton, as well as Callum Turner and Hadley Robinson.
Moviefone: To begin with, George, can you talk about developing this project? What intrigued you about the real story it’s based on, and what were the themes you wanted to explore as a director with this movie?
George Clooney: The book was one of my favorite books. I read the book, we went after it, we didn’t get it. It took a long time. We hired a terrific screenwriter named Mark Smith, who I’d worked with before, who I loved. He wrote a beautiful screenplay for us. Well, first, it’s an underdog story. I love sports films, I always have. I wanted to tell a story about people coming together. I love the idea of people, even the depression obviously drew people together, but it was more than that. It was just about, by yourself you can’t do it, with everybody is the only way you can do it, and I like that.
MF: Joel, can you talk about your approach to playing Al Ulbrickson and did you draw any inspiration from coaches, teachers or mentors that you’ve had in your life?
Joel Edgerton: So many coaches I had in my life that I watch on television, and with a certain naivety, you look at them and go, why are you even doing this? You look like you have no joy in your life whatsoever. You just look so bitter and close to a heart attack. I think it’s because of how much they care, and they will show their enjoyment usually when there’s a big trophy around. But more than anything, those relationships remind me of certain father-son dynamics. Every coach I ever had, created that energy to me where I was like, I want to impress you because I feel like you’re not impressed by what I was doing. Probably because I was a terrible athlete, so I was really excited about playing that rather than some overly warm, fuzzy coach who probably never wins, because he’s like, it doesn’t matter, you’re doing great.
MF: George, can you talk about the challenges of shooting on the water and creating the rowing sequences?
GC: Yeah, they were fun to do. Listen, it’s hard to shoot on water. Anybody who has any understanding of shooting would understand why water is so tricky. The wind blows and all the boats ended up in 15 different directions, and you’re trying to get all these young men who’d never rowed before to row and look good, and then they’re rowing against a bunch of people who really know what they’re doing. There’s historical accuracy, so you must have the boats in the right order all the time. There’s constantly a battle of like, hang on a minute, you can’t be ahead of Hungary at this point. It was all very complicated, but we just had to be prepared, that’s all. If you’re prepared, you can kind of cover almost anything.
MF: What type of preparation was needed to execute those shots?
GC: Well, everything. I mean, we had photographs of the races at each quarter, so we would know where they were, where they’re staying. We had radio broadcasts of some of them, but then you must spend the days and nights figuring out, okay, we were shooting one reservoir that was shallow because of the boats, you couldn’t anchor them, so we would have scuba divers underwater holding the boats steady before they started just to get things off. You just had to have that kind of thing.
MF: Joel, in addition to being an actor, you’re also a director. In addition to being a director, Mr. Clooney is also an actor. What was it like for you working with him and specifically what did you learn about filmmaking from watching the way that George makes movies?
JE: I’m sure George has felt this too, but the sacred awesomeness of being an actor and deciding at some point you’re going to direct, or when you do, is that you’ve had a front row seat watching so many different directors conduct themselves over a month’s long shoot, and you get to learn and kind of observe. You see someone do a certain thing, even if it’s like the way they run a rehearsal or I love learning about conduct as well, just going, oh, that’s learning gratitude from a director. The way they appreciate a crew. Anyway, I mean, I think George obviously has understood all that stuff, plus this incredible ability to tell a story well. I’ve been a huge fan of the movies he’s made since the very beginning, and it was great to pick his brain about some of the creative resourcefulness that he put into some of his earlier films too, kind of in-camera tricks, which are just so awesome to hear about. Stuff that you don’t get to know unless you’re sort of sitting side-by-side having a chat. I had a great time.
MF: George, as a director that is also an actor, what is it like for you directing an actor who is also a director?
GC: I have to say, when you work with an actor who has directed and has directed beautifully, what you get with that is, you get all the shortcuts, he understands we’re losing the light and we’ve got to get this. He’ll say, “If I walk over from here to here, I can shorten that issue,” and you go, that would really be nice if you could do that. For us, I think it was a real shorthand in that way, because I could just say, well, we’re trying to do this, and he’d go, “Got it”. It’s a big deal. It makes a big difference when you work with an actor who also happens to be a wonderful filmmaker.
MF: Finally, George, can you talk about casting the actors that play the rowing team and what were you looking for from them in terms of emotionality and physicality for these roles?
GC: Well, physicality was important because these guys are all giants. That was one of the parts of it that was important. But then you must have actors. We did that stupid thing where we asked them all if they were athletic, because I said, “If you’re not athletic, we won’t be able to keep you on.” But every actor would lie about that. We lie about everything on our resumes always. Do you juggle? Certainly, I juggle. I juggle a lot of balls. But they ended up training hard and doing a spectacular job of rowing.
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What is the plot of ‘The Boys in the Boat’?
The non-fiction novel describes the University of Washington crew that represented the United States in the men’s eight at the 1936 Summer Olympic games in Berlin, including the coaches, boatbuilder George Pocock (Peter Guinness), and the working-class student athletes involved, especially rower Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), who was effectively abandoned by his family and left to fend for himself at a young age.
In theaters on December 25th, ‘The Boys in the Boat’ is George Clooney’s ninth film as a director, but it’s so disappointingly average that it feels like an earlier effort, or even a backwards step from one of his previous, more inventive movies.
Certainly it has the benefit of a compelling true story, yet it never quite lives up to it.
Should you and your crew see ‘The Boys in the Boat’?
When a movie is based on “the incredible true story”, you rather hope that the result is something that lives up to, or at least reflects, that concept. It’s with regret, then, that Clooney’s new movie, a straight-down-the-line biographical look at the team from the University of Washington crew who overcame enormous odds (and some much better funded/experienced teams) to get to the Olympics and… well, some would argue that to reveal what happens might be a spoiler but considering that the real events happened in the 1930s, we’d say that Wikipedia (and history) already spoiled it for you.
Still, there will be those who don’t know the story, and one of the pleasures of a movie like this is filling in the details that the records of medals and timings don’t offer. But even here, they’re presented in such bargain basement fashion as to offer little real entertainment.
Daniel James Brown’s book offers plenty to mine from the story of the team, and it’s here adapted by Mark L. Smith, the writer behind movies such as ‘The Hole’, ‘Martyrs’, ‘The Revenant’ and Clooney’s 2020 thriller ‘The Midnight Sky’.
Smith chooses to go the straightforward route, sticking mostly to the facts while focusing on one of the rowers in particular (Callum Turner’s Joe Rantz) and the team’s coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton). One presumes Rantz was the target because of his tough upbringing, which should be fuel for a dramatic underdog story to rival the team’s own, but it all feels like stories we’ve heard before and rarely gets under Rantz’ skin. Scenes of he and the team celebrating or courting future wife Joyce (Hadley Robinson) are right from the biopic playbook.
As for Clooney’s direction, he knows how to corral and ensemble, and he gets solid work from Turner and Edgerton, but for an inspirational true story, the direction here is just… well, uninspired. There are the expected shots of sun-dappled water and sweaty rowers going through the motions. Scenes where the plucky grump of a coach goes up against the authorities to insist that his methods –– particularly sending his junior team to a crucial Olympic qualifying race against better judgement –– are all too familiar.
And the scenes invented to string between the rowing triumphs and the hard work put in to make it happen just don’t have much in the way of flair or true interest. In fact, half of the movie has the impression of something like a parody of inspirational true-life movies.
Given that he brought such freshness to films including ‘The Ides of March’, and particularly ‘Good Night, and Good Luck.’, this is a frankly bland effort. It’s even more surprising given that he’s worked well with period sporting drama in the past with ‘Leatherheads’.
As we mentioned, this is very much a film about Joe Rantz and Al Ulbrickson, which means the film falls on the shoulders of Callum Turner and Joel Edgerton.
Turner does what he can with the role of the noble, headstrong Rantz, who rose from a hardscrabble upbringing to be one of the key rowers on the team. Mostly, he’s called upon to be taciturn or celebratory, and he brings the man to life with convincing passion. It’s just a shame that the role doesn’t really break out of the standard type.
As his college sweetheart Joyce, meanwhile, Robinson is essentially filling The Girlfriend role. But she’s at least sparky and watchable.
Edgerton has a little more to work with, since Ulbrickson gets to be driven, angry, careworn and triumphant, battling his own fears of failure with his sheer belief in what he’s doing. He’s aided in the role by Courtney Henggeler as his wife, Hazel, who is a funny, smart match for him.
Around them, the rest of the team are little more than sketches, each given one character trait if they’re lucky (Jack Mulhern’s Don Hume is musical and gets sick once the team reaches the Berlin Olympics, putting his place at risk). And Ulbrickson’s fellow coaches, played by James Wolk and Sam Strike, are little more than sounding boards for him. Finally, we have the quiet, wise boat builder George Pocock (Peter Guinness), who becomes something of a mentor to Joe and offers homilies about boat wax and pain leaching into the wood by way of guidance.
‘The Boys in the Boat’ is not a bad movie per se, it’s just so resolutely by-the-numbers that it does the true story portrayed little justice.
Honestly, if you’re after a full portrait of the inspiring story of working class rowers triumphing against more privileged types (and fascism), then you’re better off with the book. And that’s a sad sentiment to write about a movie, especially one from someone as experienced as Clooney.
‘The Boys in the Boat’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the story of ‘The Boys in the Boat’?
Adapted from the non-fiction book written by Daniel James Brown, the film follows the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin.
It’s the inspirational tale of a group of underdogs at the height of the Great Depression as they are thrust into the spotlight and take on elite rivals from around the world.
Who is in ‘The Boys in the Boat?
The movie’s cast includes Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner, Peter Guinness, Sam Strike, Thomas Elms, Hadley Robinson, Chris Diamantopoulos and Courtney Henggeler.
Opening in theaters, on digital, and On Demand beginning December 16th is the new action comedy ‘High Heat’ from director Zach Golden (‘The Escape of Prison 614’).
The movie stars Olga Kurylenko (‘Quantum of Solace’) as Ana, an ex-KGB operative turned chef, and Don Johnson (‘Knives Out’) as her husband, Ray. As Ana’s new restaurant opens, mafia boss Dom (Dallas Page) sends his enforcers to burn it down and collect the insurance money to pay back Ray’s debts.
Now, Ana must rely upon her lethal skills as she goes on a deadly rampage taking out the entire crime syndicate one-by-one to save her restaurant, her marriage, and survive the night. But she will also have to face off against her former friends, assassins Mimi (Kaitlin Doubleday) and Tom (Chris Diamantopoulos), a suburban couple that moonlight as deadly killers for hire.
Actor Chris Diamantopoulos has appeared in such popular films and TV programs as ‘Red Notice’ with Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds, ‘The Sopranos,’ ’24,’ ‘The Office’ and ‘Arrested Development.’ But he is probably best known for playing Russ Hanneman on HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’ and Moe Howard in the Farrellybrothers’ ‘The Three Stooges.’
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking to actor Chris Diamantopoulos about his work on ‘High Heat,’ balancing the action and comedy, creating his unique character’s backstory, working with Kaitlin Doubleday, and meeting the great Don Johnson, as well as working with George Clooney on ‘The Boys in the Boat.’
Chris Diamantopoulos in ‘High Heat.’
You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Diamantopoulos and director Zach Golden.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about how you got involved with this project and what was your first reaction to the outrageous screenplay?
Chris Diamantopoulos: I’ve long been a fan of both Don’s and Olga’s. That was really the genesis of my interest in the film because the notion of getting a chance to work with them and see them in process was really enough to engage me. Then, I love capers and I love this genre of film, which I think was really prevalent in the mid to late 90s and early 2000s.
We don’t see it as often anymore. I mean, this is really a prototypical hybrid action comedy, but with real emotional moments. At the risk of sounding cheesy or a boiler plate, I think there really is something for everyone in this movie.
MF: Can you talk about your approach to playing Tom and the dynamic between him and his wife, Mimi?
CD: I really love working with Kaitlin. I think she’s such a dynamic actor and she’s super collaborative. I enjoy finding characters in roles that allow me to try something different than I may have tried in the past. A character like Tom is one of the first times I’ve played someone that’s a wallflower, maybe a little henpecked and a little trepidatious about throwing his weight around, or maybe he lost his confidence somewhere along the way.
I look to the writing and then within the collaboration with my scene partner with Kaitlin. We find a dynamic that feels organic and funny, and that allows for a little crackle to it. It was a lot of fun.
Kaitlin Doubleday in ‘High Heat.’
MF: The characters of Tom and Mimi are so rich, you could really have a series of spinoff movies just about them. Did you and Kaitlin Doubleday talk a lot about your characters’ backstory and what did you create for yourselves?
CD: Totally. No, they’re great characters and we talked a heck of a lot about the backstory, actually. On a film like this, as you can imagine, there’s so much to service, particularly with Don and Olga’s characters, there just isn’t enough time to extrapolate some of the other roles to the degree that would be perhaps as satisfying as we might like. Maybe if it were a miniseries, that’d be a different story.
But Kaitlin and I talked at length. The writers and Zach, the director, to his credit, they were very flexible about us adapting, adjusting, and shifting dialogue to help point in the direction of ideas that we had found, Kaitlin and I, that felt natural for the characters and allowed us to perform in a way that felt not stilted and really over the moment.
MF: In addition to comedy and action, you have a few really emotional moments in the movie. Can you talk about balancing all the different tones of the film?
CD: Comedy can really only be funny if there’s a real emotion behind it. I mean, I’ve had the great fortune of being able to play some pretty big, broad, funny characters in my career. I find that the ones that resonate the most are the ones whose insecurities or vulnerabilities are the most true or the most prevalent.
So, it really comes down to, would I, the actor or the character, would I buy what’s happening to me? Is it real? Would I actually feel something about this situation? How would it make me feel? That was particularly gratifying playing Tom because he has moments where he’s so henpecked by Kaitlin’s character, by Mimi, that it pulls us in, in a way where we almost feel sorry for him.
Then he has some moments where he actually opens up about who he was and who he wants to be again for her. Those are really human ideas. I don’t think that there’s a person out there that can’t relate to the notion of maybe having lost part of the dream version of who they wanted to be when they were younger. Life got in the way and they’ve gone down a path that maybe isn’t the path that they thought they would go down in terms of who they have become. It’s really a question of finding the road back to the character and to what makes Tom tick. But that was fun to look into.
(L to R) Don Johnson and Olga Kurylenko in ‘High Heat.
MF: You mentioned being excited to work with Don Johnson and Olga Kurylenko. I know you don’t share any scenes with him, but did you get to meet Don Johnson? What was he like and was it everything you were hoping it would be?
CD: He’s Sonny Crockett! He’s a movie star, and he’s terrific! A film like this, which is a down and dirty quick movie to make, and a fun film to produce and put out there, it really requires everybody to come in with their best attitudes and just collaborate as best they possibly can. That’s what happened in this instance. Everybody was super prepared and super professional. It was great to watch and see why these pros are as successful as they are.
MF: What was it like working with director Zach Golden and watching him execute his unique vision for this project?
CD: He’s a really talented young director. I think we’re going to see a lot more from him. He’s very communicative. At the core of it, a director’s job is really to be direct and to know what their vision is for the film, and to put the actors at peace by being able to let them know that the director knows where this movie is beginning and where it’s ending.
Zach, to his credit, did a really great job of that. He was fun to be around. We had some crazy hours, a lot of night shoots in the cold, and he had a great attitude that kept everybody engaged. That was really a lot of fun.
(Right) Chris Diamantopoulos in ‘High Heat.’
MF: Finally, while we are talking about directors, I understand that you just worked with George Clooney on his upcoming movie ‘The Boys in the Boat.’ What was it like working with an actor and director of his caliber on that project?
CD: I mean, it’s everything I would’ve hoped it would’ve been and so much more. When I grow up, I want to be George Clooney, and that’s the understatement of the century. I mean that’s a guy that’s been doing this for so long and you can feel his love for it is still so potent. I think what impressed me the most about him was how present he was and engaged in the moment. I never saw him on his phone.
He never disappeared into a director’s tent or into a trailer. He was on set all day. Those lighting setups and camera setups can take a great deal of time, and he stayed there engaged, engaged with the extras, talking with the crew, and talking with the actors. He kept the energy of the process going. He, I feel like, single-handedly held it up as we went along.
Then add to that a steely confidence with regard to the movie that he was making. So that if I had any questions about a moment, a scene, or a line, I’d need nothing more than to look to him and there was just such a placid resolve of, “No, we got it. We’re good.” I never wondered, “Do we need another one, did you get that, or do I need to do this?”
If he needed something, he gracefully would ask for it. If he didn’t ask for something, you knew that we were in great shape. I said this to him, that I was going to have a real hard time going to any other project after doing that because I was working with the best of the best on every level and making an epic feature about such a beautiful story. If you haven’t read the book, you should because it’s just a gorgeous read. That could be your holiday read, curl up and read that book and you’ll thank me for it.
Olga Kurylenko in ‘High Heat.
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