Moviefone Editorial

Tag: exclusive

Exclusive: Go Behind-the-Scenes with ‘The Sisters Brothers’

Annapurna

“The Sisters Brothers” is one of the year’s very best movies, dark and hilarious, contemplative and wild, and very soon it’ll be coming to a theater near you. And in celebration of that rollout, we are absolutely thrilled to debut an exclusive featurette about the making of the movie and the history that inspired it. This clip gives a great outline of what the central storyline is, with great anecdotes by costar and producer John C. Reilly. If you aren’t excited about seeing “The Sisters Brothers” yet, after watching this, you will be positively jazzed.

In “The Sisters Brothers,” Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix play outlaw siblings hired by their boss to kill a prospector (Riz Ahmed), who has come up with a scientific formula for discovering gold. This puts one of the brothers’ confederates (Jake Gyllenhaal) in a sticky situation; he’s been hired by the brothers to keep an eye on the prospector. At turns violent, hilarious, and deeply beautiful, Jacques Audiard’s “The Sisters Brothers” is a movie you simply cannot miss and while it’s playing in Los Angeles and New York City now, it’ll be rolling out more and more in the next few weeks (see the complete list below). Yee-haw!

Annapurna

September 25, 2018
Exclusive: See Brand New, Awwww-Inspiring ‘Christopher Robin’ Posters

Disney

Next week see the release of Disney’s “Christopher Robin,” which is based in part on the A.A. Milne stories of Winnie the Pooh and, of course, the animated fare that began with the theatrical featurette “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree,” released way back in 1966. In “Christopher Robin,” Ewan McGregor plays a grown Christopher Robin, who has lost touch with the carefree spirit he once was. That is, until Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings) finds Robin in postwar London. Soon enough, the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood friends show up and teach Robin a lesson about where he came from – and where he should head from here. If that synopsis isn’t enough to make you squeal with cuteness, then these exclusive new posters certainly should.

They feature the furry characters peaking out and capture the mystery and the adorableness of “Christopher Robin” (which opens everywhere on August 3^rd).

Disney

July 27, 2018
Exclusive ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 5’ Deleted Scene: Jack Sparrow Teaches Henry a Lesson
Yo ho, Johnny Depp‘s latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” adventure won’t be available in the U.S. until Tuesday, Sept. 19 on Digital HD, and Oct. 3 on Blu-ray/DVD/4K Ultra-HD. However, if you happen to live in Australia, you’re in luck, ’cause you get it this week.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” extras include bloopers, deleted scenes, and several behind-the-scenes making-of stories featurettes. (See below for full list.)

Here’s an exclusive look at one of the deleted scenes, with Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) learning a lesson or two from the witty and clever Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp):Here’s the full list of bonus features, via Disney:

• Dead Men Tell More Tales: The Making of a New Adventure – Get unique access into the making of this exciting new “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie with this collection of revealing and entertaining stories that you can view individually or as a “play all.”
1. A Return to the Sea – Two talented filmmakers, Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, team up to bring “Pirates of the Caribbean” back to the screen. Hear how this new chapter of the tale was developed.
2. Telling Tales: A Sit-down with Brenton & Kaya – Meet Brenton Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario, the young actors behind Henry and Carina. The two sit down together for a revealing conversation on becoming a part of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film franchise and its continuing legacy.
3. The Matador & The Bull: Secrets of Salazar & The Silent Mary – Oscar-winner Javier Bardem reveals more about his menacing new character and the foreboding ship he helms.
4. First Mate Confidential – Go on-set along with Kevin McNally, the affable actor behind the feisty Mr. Gibbs, Captain Jack’s reliable first mate from all five movies.
5. Deconstructing the Ghost Sharks – Peer below the depths at how these ferocious, mythical monsters were designed and brought to life.
6. Wings Over the Caribbean – Captain Jack has a memorable encounter with Sir Paul McCartney – rock ‘n’ roll royalty.
7. An Enduring Legacy – Take one more look at the “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” experience and the impact of “Pirates of the Caribbean” — the movies, the ride and beyond.
• Bloopers of the Caribbean
• Jerry Bruckheimer Photo Diary

• Deleted Scenes
1. Highwayman
2. Henry Turner Learns a Lesson from Captain Jack
3. A Whale in Poseidon’s Tomb
4. Alternate Coda: Murtogg & Mullroy “Flogging”
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August 28, 2017
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Teases ‘Hope’ for Jaime Lannister

If you think Jamie Lannister’s walking a tightrope between good and evil, just wait until you meet Nikolaj Coster-Waldau‘s new character

The “Game of Thrones” star’s new film “Shot Caller” present an even more stark portrait of moral side-choosing. Coster-Waldau plays Jacob, an affluent stockbroker and family man responsible for a fatal drunk driving accident who in a sincere effort to make good accepts a sentencing that places him among the most hardened and deadly prison population, and his efforts to survive his incarceration lead to a startling transformation into Money, one of the prison gang’s most ruthlessly effective members.

It’s a harrowing performance from one of TV’s most charismatic presences, and a role he relished for its all-too-human nuances. He’s no fan of clear-cut good guy or bad guy roles, he tells Moviefone — and that’s why he’s still not picking a side for Jamie, either.

Moviefone: What a dark and disturbing world you entered into.

Nicolaj Coster-Waldau: I know!

In your preparation, what was eye-opening about the world that you were going to depict?

There were quite a few moments of where I was like, to be honest, of disbelief. I love the script. I was blown away by the script by that whole world. But of course my question to the director Ric Roman Waugh was was like, “How real is this? Can it really be so?” Then doing the research, meeting the prisoners, going to prison, realizing that it’s very authentic. It’s a fictional tale, but it’s very much based on real stories.

I met a guy who had been a shot caller, who was one of the exceptions to the rule. He left. He was out, but he had gone to prison as a 20-year-old. He was a non-violent offender, and he kind of went through that same thing, being dropped into the shark tank, refusing to be a victim, fighting back. Then joined the gang to survive. Doing the whole thing, learning how to be extremely violent, and that was an eye-opener. You always hear about these things, that prison is tough, and criminals are made in prison. But to actually find out that the reality is almost worse than what I imagined was really eye-opening and shocking.

Obviously, what I hope for is, first and foremost and most importantly, that people enjoy the movie, and entertain, and find it thrilling. Hopefully after you might think a little bit about this world. We’re wasting so many resources with our prison system. It doesn’t make sense that the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world incarcerates more people than any other country. That we lock so many people up, that we put so many non-violent offenders together with very violent offenders, and that’s creating even more hardened criminals. It’s just a waste of resources and a waste of lives.

Was there a particular scene or aspect of the film that took a lot of work on your part? That you really had to get yourself in the right place to pull it off?

One of the key moments in the journey is when he is asked to stab a guy for the first time, which is kind of a turning point in the life of Jacob. It’s kind of when Jacob becomes Money, if you will. I kept trying to understand, first of all, I understood that he would do it because he was so afraid. I understood the whole fear. These guys are just in fear all the time, and spend so much energy trying to not show that fear.

But what actually happens in your mind when you stab someone for the first time — I spoke to a guy who had done that. I asked him about it, and he was like,”First of all, you’re more afraid than anything else.” And then, when you finally do it, he said he felt, and the blood started flowing, he said he felt like a sense of empowerment and a sense of control that he hadn’t had since he was thrown in prison.

But that was a tricky moment because I had to understand it on a very … I can’t explain it better than a basic level of the character. Then on top of that, of course there were the challenges of the physical aspect of getting ready to do the part was challenging, but it was also an easy thing. I knew I had to get to get to a certain size. I had to add some pounds of flesh, if you will. I think the biggest challenge was the psychological, trying to make the ends meet.

Did putting on the physical part — the hair, the mustache, the tattoos, the muscles — get you there easier?

Of course, yeah. Of course. Also, I think it was crucial for the audience as well, that you can see it. I think it wouldn’t have worked if we hadn’t done that. It has to be a tangible transformation. Also, that’s what happens. You see these guys post-prison, they do do all that, because they put on the armor.

I asked this one guy about it. I asked the guy, “Are you all like white supremacists? What all these German Iron Cross — what’s all that?” He said, “No, we’re not. We’re gangsters. We’re a gang. Yes, you can find a few guys who understand the ideology, but most of us, we’re just gangsters. We put on this to put fear in you.” And I said, “Well, it works.”

But it also worked for the character. It worked for me. Because in the end, he is terrifying. The other guys respect him and fear him, which is important. You have to believe that. You have to believe that someone like The Beast or Jon Bernthal and those guys, they’re very menacing when you see them. You have to understand and believe that they would fear this guy who, when he ends his prison, is a pretty shaken up man.You’ve been playing Jaime Lannister right on the razor’s edge of good and bad. He does appalling things, and yet he still shows enough humanity that some of us still root for him.

Listen, the appalling things, that’s also human. That what we have to remember, and that’s what I love about “Shot Caller.” We live in a world where we like to divide up into them and us, between nations, and between the color of your skin, and between gender, and we do between people — when you’re a criminal and you’re put away in prison, then you become them, and you’re no long one of us. I think we have to understand that them, they are us, and we are also them.

The key to these characters, like with Jaime Lannister, even though he does something horrific, like pushing a innocent kid out of a window, he’s still a human being, and he does it because he had some reason. It doesn’t make his action is horrific, but it’s a very human thing to do, unfortunately.

As we see Jamie getting pulled in different directions now, are you rooting for him? Are you rooting for Jaime to have a redemption? Or are you rooting for him to go full evil?

I’ve never thought of him as being torn between the dark side or redemption. I hope that he finds a path that works for him, also when it comes to his messed up relationship to his sister. He’s torn between this extreme sense of loyalty to his family and to his sister, and I think it’s starting to get in the way of his judgment, to put it lightly.

August 18, 2017
Nathalie Emmanuel Talks High Tech vs. Fast Cars, ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 7

Whether she’s part of an ever-growing army that includes fire-breathing dragons or a tight-knit team of street-racing ex-criminals, Nathalie Emmanuel is right at the epicenter of pop culture.

After turning heads with her breakout role in HBO’s fervently followed fantasy series “Game of Thrones” as Missandei, the multilingual right-hand woman to the increasingly powerful Daenerys Targaryen, the British-born actress joined the globally adored “Fast and the Furious” franchise as the tech-savvy Ramsey with its seventh installment, returning as a full-fledged member of Dominic Toretto’s crew in this year’s blockbuster “The Fate of the Furious.”

In anticipation of “Fate of the Furious’s” July 11 Blu-ray debut, and the July 16th premiere of “Game of Thrones” Season 7, Emmanuel joined Moviefone to reflect on her place in two of the most popular entertainment franchises in the respective histories of film and television.

Moviefone: Having stepped into the “Fast” family in the seventh film, what was it like coming into “Fate of the Furious” as an established part of the group?

Nathalie Emmanuel: It was a lot of fun. It was like that feeling of going back to school after summer holidays and seeing all your friends, and just feeling excited to be back with them, and excited to be another adventure together. It was really cool. I really enjoyed going back and seeing everyone again. I’d seen them throughout the year, but like working together and getting to hang out all the time was fun.

You already knew what it was like to be part of something that was having phenomenal international success with “Game of Thrones,” but how did being part of this franchise change things up for you? Did it open up an even bigger world?

Yeah, for sure. I guess I’m visible to people that might not have known me before. “Game of Thrones” has a huge following, but I think, for a long time at least, there was a very, sort of, specific audience. So having joined the car movies / action film genre with, like, these epic names, I think it just made me a lot more visible to people that might not have seen “Game of Thrones” or had a big interest in that kind of genre.

I definitely felt a shift when I joined that cast. Instantly, as soon as I was announced as joining the cast, the fans were just so supportive and were instantly like, “Yay, we’re excited!” I just felt their presence immediately.

This franchise was one of the earlier action films to put the female characters right at the center of the action and have them be just as capable and tough as the male characters. What did it mean to you to be able to take on a role in the “Fast” films where, even though you’re not necessarily behind the wheel, you’re just as tough and capable as anybody else on the team?

Absolutely! The reason why I loved Ramsey was the fact that she wasn’t a car girl, she wasn’t a racer. She came with a very specific skill set that she was very good at. It got her into trouble, but she certainly can do some amazing things. She totally has earned her place and has proved her value to the team without having to drive a car. I love that. She’s a very strong, intelligent woman who has her own agency, and certainly her own independence as well.

In your own life, are you more of a tech person, or a car person? In which area are you more proficient?

I’m probably more proficient with technology, just because I guess I use it more. I don’t actually drive. I use technology more — it doesn’t mean I’m good at it!

You’ve had these two great platforms as an actress. What are you looking for next? Are you still of a blockbuster mind? Or do you want to do something smaller and more intimate? What’s on your acting bucket list?

I’ve mostly been reading independent film scripts, to be honest. Definitely looking for some smaller, more intimate films. At the end of the day, any project, it has to be right. I have to feel really passionate about it. If another big action film came along, or big blockbuster film came along, and I was excited about playing the part, and I was passionate about it, then I wouldn’t necessarily say no. But I’m definitely more focused at the moment on doing some more intimate stories and storytelling.

Now that you’re closer to the end of “Game of Thrones” than the beginning, how do you feel about the whole phenomenon and your part in it?

I don’t want to think about it, because I’m in denial about the fact that it’s ending! No, obviously, it’s been life-changing for me. It put me in a position that I could never have dreamed of. I was a huge fan of the show since before I’ve been a part of it. Such a blessing.

When I got that job, I was very out of work — yeah, I was very much out of work! — so it came at the perfect time. I was ready to go back to school and choose … just do something productive, because I wasn’t necessarily given the opportunity to act at that time. So it came at the perfect time, and it really gave me a platform to get back into auditioning, and people were then wanting to see me because the show had such great credibility.

For me, it’s just meant working with such incredible people who are so excellent at what they do: actors, special effects, stunts, the producers, the writers — everyone. Just witnessing such exquisite work, for me, has been amazing. What it means to the world at large, I think it’s different for everybody. We’ve just been so invested in these characters and in this amazing story that George [R.R. Martin] has wrote. It would be sad to see it go. I think people will miss it. I think people will miss it — because I will miss it! As a fan and as an actress.

I’ll miss it as well, but I’m glad we still got plenty more to come. I don’t know what you can and can’t say about the new season, but can you offer us a little tease? She was in such an interesting place at the end of the season, right there at Daenerys’s side, ready to go to that next level. Are you able to give a little sense of where we see her go?

I’d be very cautious in what I said, but obviously, I think it’s been very clear that it’s all sort of coming to a head now. The stories are all sort of colliding, and everyone’s sort of coming together in ways that we have not seen before, and the stakes are much higher.

Everything that we’ve been working up to for the last six seasons. In terms of Missandei, like her role as advisor to Daenerys just keeps growing. She has her own things to deal with this season, too. And the reality of this impending war that’s coming is very, very real for her for many reasons. So yeah, we get to sort of see that unfold too, which is cool.

July 11, 2017
‘Preacher’ Season 2: EP Confirms More Comic Book Canon, New Twists

“Preacher’s” Jesse Cutler, Tulip, and Cassidy have finally hit the road together in the horror-comedy’s second season, just as they were when they were first introduced in the Vertigo comic book. But executive producer Sam Catlin reminds you: even when things feel familiar to die-hard fans, the series promises a fresh twist around every corner.

A veteran of the “Breaking Bad” writers room who teamed with actor Seth Rogen and his longtime screenwriting partner Evan Goldberg (“Superbad,” “Pineapple Express,” “This Is the End“) to develop the comics series first launched by writer Garth Ennis and the late artist Steve Dillon, Catlin tells Moviefone that — after a first season that played much like a prequel to established mythology — while the show’s leaning closer to its roots — fan-favorite the Saint of Killers has arrived, and Herr Star is close behind — there are plenty of unexpected surprises on the road ahead as the characters start to feel more and more like the TV incarnation’s own.

Moviefone: What were the creative lessons from the first season that you wanted to carry over into Season 2?

Sam Catlin: I just felt like there were certain things that we kind of discovered that only our show could sort of pull of, and we wanted to just do more of that. There’s so much great TV out there, interesting TV, but there are certain things that we realized that only our show could get away with. So we tried to do more of that, in terms of the violence, and the comedy, and the perversity, and stuff like that.

I think we’re excited by the fact that Jesse’s sort of drive is an external one, and not sort of an internal one, a philosophical one. He’s looking for God, not in himself, and not in the stars, but he’s down the road somewhere and I’m going to find him. And sort of giving him a real external drive was really exciting and liberating for us as writers.

From the start, Season 2 is going to skew a little closer to what the comic book is, but you guys are still going to color outside the lines. So tell me about knowing that you’ve got this road map that you can follow, but you’re making the show your own, you’re making different creative choices and doing what you’re able do for TV.

I think — and Garth [Ennis] will tell you this — you couldn’t shoot the comic books as a TV show. And it’s not even just a question of how much money it would cost you to be in the south of France and ancient Ireland from episode to episode. It’s not just that — it’s just that we would actually run out of story pretty quickly.

So what we want to do is we always want to make “Preacher” feel like “Preacher,” and we delve a little deeper into some of these, what look like little pit stops on the road in the comic book become whole episodes, or several episodes, or stuff like that.

We meet Herr Starr. How did Herr Starr become Herr Starr? What is this place, the Grail? How did the Grail start? The Saint of Killers — what’s in it for him? Why is he going after Jesse? What’s his reward if he gets him? Stuff like that. So, hopefully, it feels like the show, in the sense of, it’s a road show about a guy looking for God, and anything can happen, and has all these different genres, and we know all these characters. There’ll be new characters – there just have to be. We’re not going to leave any of the great set pieces, or the great characters, on the shelf for very long.

Give me some characters that you were excited making a little bit bigger. The Saint of Killers is one, I expect …

The Saint of Killers — having him in our world with Jesse and Tulip and Cassidy is very exciting. I think we’ll probably spend some time and learn a little bit, we’ll introduce the Grail, and some of its components — very excited about that!

We’re going to tease a little bit more about what happened to Jesse after his father was killed, and where he ended up after that, and how that sort of informs his search for God. We’re going to learn a little bit more about Tulip back in the day, and when she and Jesse were sort of outlaws together, and what sort of drove them apart, and where she ended up as a result of their breakup.

And we’re going to learn more about Cassidy in terms of, we’re going to start to understand some of the wreckage that he left behind, and bridges that he burnt, and how will he try to make amends to people that he betrayed in the past, and how will that end up making things much, much worse as a result.

So, yeah, we get to sort of expand the world in a lot of different ways. We’re getting much more in terms of, we’re starting to pull more and more of these characters into the world, which is exciting.

Tone is the trick on any television show. You guys are standing right on that barbed wire fence with your mix of violence and comedy, and how you’re able to portray it. Working with the network to know how far you can go, deciding amongst yourselves creatively how far is too far, and going over the edge when it can be fun. How do you work through those things?

The tone of the show — it’s a tricky tone. We’re just borrowing and stealing from all these movies, and things that we like, that all work independently, but we’re trying to put them all in the Monty Python, and Sam Peckinpah and Quentin Tarantino, and trying to put them all into one world where they don’t sort of capsize each other. That’s definitely part of the trick.

But I feel like the show can sustain more than I thought it could, in terms of its absurdity and all of that, in Season 1 for sure. In terms of the network, we definitely had more fretful calls from the network this year, but really, fewer. Whatever people are picturing in terms of handwringing, and you can’t do that, I think everyone signed up for Garth’s “Preacher,” and that’s what they’re getting. American culture is so bereft and decayed at this point, that I think network executives have rightly just thrown up their hands and given up!

I love the show’s use of music, often to a great comedic effect but still always with an awesome song. That’s got to be a very tricky thing, too, to find those great pieces of music that are also commenting on the scene or enhancing a scene. So tell me a little bit about that aspect of it.

Yeah, that’s the work of us and our music supervisors. Yeah, a lot of the fun is finding that right song. For “Come on Eileen,” that was going to be something else. It didn’t wear well over time. Then we were sort of running out of time because the actors had to learn the song.

It’s a sort of nostalgic song. It’s a sort of peppy song. It’s a song that you shouldn’t really enjoy, but you do, but you secretly do. So yeah, finding that right song is a lot of fun.

As you said, I’m sure at the beginning you thought, “How long can we sustain this with the material that we have to draw from?” I get the sense that you feel like you’re pretty confident there’s a lot of stories for you to tell, digging into the different corners of this world. Tell me about getting from there to here and realizing, “Oh, this is richer than I initially might have thought.”

Oh, for sure. For this season, I won’t say, but we were going to have like this season be two halves, and we were going to end up with one arc, and then move on to a whole other world for the second half. Then we kept pushing it off. It’s like, “Well, maybe we can get to that world for the last four episodes.” Then maybe just the last two.

Then we realized, there’s so much story with this world that we’re just with these characters that we’re just bringing in, and we don’t want to shortchange this other world that we’re really excited about getting to. So yeah, it’s exactly what you say: sometimes it’s just a couple of issues in a comic book of places that Jesse winds up, but they’re whole worlds for us on a TV show that we can really delve into.

Seth and Evan have known each other forever, worked together forever, and now you guys are a trinity.

Wait, no one’s asked this! Is the question, who’s who? Evan is Tulip. No, Evan is Cassidy! Evan is Cassidy. I’m probably Jesse because I’m the sort of the grim, distraught one. I guess that means Seth is Tulip. He’s Tulip.

To have found your creative vibe together — and you guys have your fingerprints on this in a lot of different ways, like getting behind the camera to direct — how is that creative partnership experience now this deep into it all?

Oh God, it could have been a disaster. It really could have been a disaster. But they’re great. It has all the elements of a failure to it, in a sense that you’re bringing Seth and Evan, movie stars with a passion project of this thing that they’ve been loving for so long, and then bring it to me. They don’t know me. I’m just some TV hack that they brought in. So it could have been fraught, and it just hasn’t been.

I feel like, really from the beginning, we’ve wanted to make the same show. We talked about the same show. I think we see the show in the same way. There’ll be times like, “Oh, that doesn’t make sense.” But in terms of the overall vision of the show, there’s never been any arguments, really.

How often do you check in with Garth, either with a question or just to talk through ideas?

When was the last time I talked to him? Maybe a month or so ago. He’ll just send an email saying, “The Saint wouldn’t have that type of ammo.” It’s weird, because I know he really likes the show and is behind the show, but the details that he insists on when he insists on them, it’s like, “Absolutely! Whatever you say, we’re going to do that.”

But I love Garth. He’s also been a great collaborator. There’s another thing that could have gone horrendously wrong, which is, my character, that’s not the story. And he’s been so gracious and generous with his magnum opus with us. He’s just trusted us. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just the cash, the simple money. It’s a money grab for him, that greedy Irish immigrant! So yeah, keep watching it so we can enrich Garth Ennis.

June 22, 2017
How Amber Stevens West Went From Beverly Hills High to Sitcom Star

So it isn’t exactly a long way from Beverly Hills High School to Hollywood, but “The Carmichael Show” star Amber Stevens West is determined to make the most of the journey.

Daughter of the famed radio personality, TV announcer and actor Shadoe Stevens, the 30-year-old actress came of age in the heart of fabled 90210 community among the offspring of many other entertainment industry figures both in front of and behind the camera, making a move into modeling and acting a seemingly natural career path given her natural beauty and charismatic energy.

But now, following a lengthy stint on the collegiate dramedy “Greek” and her current leading role on the issues-driven NBC sitcom headlined by Jerrod Carmichael, Stevens West admits that her course wasn’t always as clear as some of her fellow alumni, but now that she’s found her comedic voice she hopes to mine it for all that it’s worth.

Moviefone: Give me some teases for what you in particular as Maxine will be dealing with in the new season.

Amber Stevens West: Oh goodness — there’s a lot that happens! This season’s been amazing. I don’t think there’s a bad show in the bunch. Not that there ever has been! There’s a lot of really strong topics, some dramatic stuff, some hilarious awkward stuff.

Maxine, now, is out of school, so she’s a working woman. Her opinions have just become stronger — they’ve just become stronger and louder — so her point of view is always going to be heard on the show. She’s not easy to budge. So there’s more of that. Yeah, it’s a lot of really kind of fun and interesting conversations that we get to have.

You guys are unafraid to take on some hot button topics.

Oh yeah, certainly. There’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing that I have never seen on television before, approaching subjects in a completely different way, with new angles and perspectives that haven’t been shown before, and I think that’s when our show is at its best, that’s what we’re doing.

We’re not having conversations that you’ve already had at home with your family. We’re trying to find at least one new perspective, whether it’s my character that has it or someone else in the cast, that you haven’t really heard said out loud. Maybe you’ve thought it before. We have a new angle on the subject, so I think that’s what sets our show apart from everyone else. And we certainly do that with every single episode this year.

Three seasons in, what do you love about working in comedy in this tried-and-true TV format?

I think this is the way that a lot of people really like to consume their entertainment. It’s 22 minutes of thought-provoking, but, like, silly fun. I really enjoy having a live audience. I love that we get to rehearse all week with each other, and really find the conversation that needs to be had.

At the beginning of the week, the scripts may not have all the perspectives that we’re looking for, so by putting it on its feet and giving ourselves the few days, we have the time to find it and really nail down exactly what we’re trying to accomplish. So I think that this multi-camera medium works so well for the show that we do.

Working in comedy is the best job in the world. I get to laugh all day long, and I get to have the live audience every week, and get that instant feedback. It’s super gratifying. I would be fine doing only this the rest of my life.

Give me your take on the dynamic between you and Jerrod, because you have to have a certain kind of chemistry to sell both your relationship and the comedy at the same time. Tell me about how you guys have developed that over the course of three seasons.

Yeah. The more you work with somebody, the more comfortable you become with them. But quite honestly, when Jerrod and I first met, it was instant chemistry. And I just mean that in the sense of, like, we immediately felt like old friends. There was just something that was naturally there between us.

So of course over these last few years together, we’ve gotten more and more comfortable with one another. And I think that you can tell that on the show. People who have been in a long term relationship, you can guess that almost right off the bat, if they’ve been dating for a long time, or if they’re brand new, but based on like how comfortable they are with one another.

I think in the show we’re able to show that we truly love each other, and that we’re on the same team, but we can have real arguments. We differ on opinions on a lot of things on a regular basis, but at the end of the day, we have respect for one another to say, “Okay fine, that’s your opinion and this is my opinion.” We like to hear each other’s side of the conversation because we respect one another’s side of the conversation. I think that we get along really well in real life, and I think that you can tell that on the show as well. I hope you can!

Tell me about the shows that you grew up watching that were the ones that made you both laugh and think, like this show does.

I did certainly grow up watching a lot of sitcom. I was a huge fan of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” That was a show that kind of would get me to think. Even like older shows like “Mary Tyler Moore” and “Rhoda,” I thought they were progressive and thought-provoking. But to be quite honest, my favorite show of all time is “Friends,” and it’s not always making you think, but God, that was a good show!

I like to watch shows that make you think, but also characters that you love, that you feel like you know. And I think “The Carmichael Show” also is that. It’s a family that you feel comfortable with. I think a lot of people that I meet who watch the show feel like we are their family, and I’m really grateful that they feel that way, because we certainly feel that way with one another.

How early in your acting aspirations did you want to do comedy? I know some actors love to do the really emotional gut-wrenching thing, but then they find out that they’re good at comedy. So where were you on your desire to do it early on?

I always wanted to do it. It was really the only thing I ever wanted to do. Now, I’m not like the funniest person, but I sure enjoy being around funny, and a lot of jokes, and silly, and making light of things, and just having fun. I’m that way in life, too.

I was really introduced to acting firsthand by watching my dad on a sitcom. He was on a show back in the ’90s called “Dave’s World.” I would go every single week with my mom and my baby sister, and we would watch the live tapings. I didn’t know at the time that that was something that I wanted to do, and how much it was influencing my decisions later in life. But I knew that it looked fun, and I knew my dad was having the best time.

So as I got older and I kind of found my way into acting, I always liked the live audience aspect and doing comedy, and not having to go into some dark place and think about scary, sad things in order to get to some emotional place in order to do some heavy scene on some drama. Those moments are fun, and you can certainly feel like you’re doing some serious acting. But comedy’s also hard and it’s challenging, but it’s so gratifying at the end.

What were some of the other lessons, either directly, or just by osmosis, that you picked up about a career in Hollywood from watching your dad at work and hearing about his experiences?

It all kind of happened really naturally for me. Growing up here in Los Angeles, I was around the entertainment business from my peers, and their parents, and what they did, and then my family being a part of it. It just seemed like kind of like the family business. It’s like an easy thing for me to find my way into, and the only real job I knew anything about.

I was actually modeling through high school. I started modeling in middle school, and just doing things here and there. I just thought it was fun because I got to cut class and go take some pictures for Macy’s or whatever. But then I was earning some money and thought that was cool, and it turned into doing commercials, which turned into like meeting a manager who said, “Hey, if you want to be an actor, I’d be interested in representing you. I recommend maybe taking this acting class and seeing how you feel about it.”

Then I kind of just slowly found my way into this world without truly seeking it out. I know that sounds really annoying, but that’s just the truth. I’m just still riding the wave, and I can’t believe this is my career. I’m very, very grateful and pinch myself every day. It’s weird to me still when someone asks me what I do for a living, and my answer is that “I’m an actress.” It’s so weird. It’s so weird.

You went to Beverly Hills High School, and in my very first job when I moved to Los Angeles, I covered the high school and the school system for the local newspaper in Beverly Hills.

Oh my gosh, that’s great. Yes, that’s where I went to school. I was student body president. Very involved. Loved going to high school. I loved that school. I had a great time.

One thing that is unique about it is that a lot of people that go there have family in showbiz, and, like you, find their way into the family business. Do you still see a lot of people that you went to high school with working in your industry?

Yeah, there are a few. This Is Us,” and she’s done a ton of stuff. She’s super successful. We were good friends growing up, so it’s really cool to see her doing so well.

But there are people who work also behind the scenes, like who work for Fox and work at CBS and work for different movie producers. I do catch people around town doing a lot of stuff. It is very cool to see people as adults working in the industry. Leighton Meester also went to my high school for a little while. She didn’t graduate with us — maybe she went to home school or something after a while; I don’t know what she did. But she was there for a while. She was in the same class as me.

People have an endless fascination — maybe because of things like “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Clueless” — with Beverly Hills High. I was always taken with how “high school” it really was. It’s just like any other high school, in many ways.

It’s a public school. It was a very diverse school. We certainly had more kids driving Range Rovers to school than your average high school. But there was still a lot of middle class families. Kids were, like, too cool to go to spring dance or whatever, and the football team wasn’t very good.

We were just like your average little high school, which is part of the reason I joined student counsel, because I wanted to create really fun memories and try to make it more like TV, I think — like more of what I thought it should be. Because everyone was so blasé about it, and was like, “Whatever, it’s just high school.” I was like, “Come on, these are supposed to be the best days of our lives. I’m going to be in charge of lunch time activities, so everyone can have great memories from high school.” Very glass half full.

June 7, 2017
Exclusive: Leave Your Legacy With This ‘Book of Henry’ Clip

In this exclusive clip from “Jurassic World” director Colin Trevorrow’s “The Book of Henry” (out everywhere on June 16th), the title character (played by Jaeden Lieberher from “Midnight Special“) describes what he wishes his legacy to be. It’s a touching sequence, off kilter and affecting like the rest of the movie, and much like the movie’s marketing materials so far, purposefully mysterious. In order to get to the bottom of the clip (and the movie), we spoke to Lieberher. Get ready to open “The Book of Henry” with Henry himself.

When I asked Lieberher to describe the movie (which also stars Naomi Watts, Sarah Silverman, Lee Pace, and Dean Norris), since it is a film that pretty much defies classification, he gave a great response. “It’s a family movie about a mom and her two sons. One of her sons, Henry, is a genius who takes care of his family and wants to protect them,” Lieberher explained. “And he sees that next door some dark things are happening. Nobody really sees it except for Henry. So he tries to do the right thing and save her.” (Having seen the movie, I can confirm that this is a very good encapsulation.)

As for the exclusive clip, I asked if this was a good example of who Henry is as a character. “It is,” Lieberher said. “It’s the first time you see how he views the world and how he views other people. And it also shows the great qualities in Henry and how much of a good person he is.” Lieberher went on: “Right there and then, clearly he is a genius but during that speech he’s a normal boy. So he’s easier to get into. He’s just around the other students and telling it like it is.”

When I brought up the fact that between “The Book of Henry” and the highly underrated “Midnight Special,” he’s cornered the market on characters that have a little something extra going on, Lieberher said it was a fun aspect to play. “It’s pretty cool playing someone that is not exactly normal,” Lieberher said. “It’s pretty fun playing those types of characters, you get to play around with their personalities and develop who they are.”

And while Lieberher might be a young actor, working so closely with a trained actress like Watts, he didn’t feel the need to pepper her with annoying questions (which is probably what I would have done) but instead chose to observe her. “I paid attention to how she worked and how she acted, because when you’re working with someone like that it’s easy to learn a lot,” Lieberher said. When I asked what the biggest takeaway was, he said, “She doesn’t just use her words when she’s acting, she uses her whole body. I think I learned a lot from her.”

“The Book of Henry” is a smaller, quieter movie that is obviously being released in the middle of summer, a time usually reserved for superhero movies, plus-sized sequels, and animated epics. I asked Lieberher to explain why people should take a chance on something as esoteric and emotional as “The Book of Henry.”

“Well I think you see big movies like those, there are only a few feelings you get from it. Maybe you’re excited by the action. But this movie brings a lot to the table and makes you feel so many emotions and feelings,” Lieberher said, sounding like the preternaturally gifted character he plays in the movie. He continued: “It’ll make you feel for the family, it’ll make you excited, it’ll keep you on the edge of your seat, and maybe you’ll cry or laugh. That’s what makes this movie really great and interesting.”

“The Book of Henry” opens on June 16.

June 6, 2017
Bambi and Thumper Voice Actors Are Still Thumpin’ 75 Years Later

Seventy-five years later, Bambi and Thumper — and the no-longer-little fellas who gave them voice — are still pretty captivating.

The fifth animated feature film to come out of Walt Disney‘s animation studio in the summer of 1942, based the book “Bambi, a Life In the Woods” by on Austrian children’s author Felix Salten, “Bambi” marked multiple turning points for Disney’s now-fabled pantheon of classics.

Creatively, the film saw the animation art form blaze new trails with its extremely realistic depiction of its woodland creatures and its colorfully impressionistic, atmospheric background art that allowed the lavishly animated lead characters to better pop onscreen in audience’s eyes.

Behind the scenes, “Bambi” would be the last Disney full-length feature released to the public for the duration of World War II, during which Disney and his team labored on government-contracted animation and musical cartoon anthologies until the war ended and work commenced on the studio’s next masterpiece, 1950’s “Cinderella.”

Today, as “Bambi” receives a fresh new Blu-ray and Digital HD release to celebrate its diamond jubilee, two of its most charming contributors are raising their voices once again to share their experiences making the film.

As the voice of and visual reference for the wide-eyed fawn Bambi, actor Donnie Dunagan was the veteran of the duo, with several films to his credit (including 1939’s “Son of Frankenstein“) by the time he stepped into the recording studio for Disney. He’d go on to a long and distinguished career in the United States Marine Corps: the youngest-ever drill instructor, he was wounded multiple times in combat in Vietnam and earned three Purple Heart medals and a Bronze Star.

Peter Hehn was the four-year-old son of ’30s-era screenwriter Henry Behn (“Hell’s Angels“) when he was cast as the giggly voice of the precocious bunny Thumper, and would leave Hollywood behind when his family relocated when his father began teaching English courses; he’d later attend Yale and enjoy a long career in real estate.

And even as octogenarians, it’s clear that being a part of Disney’s magical legacy remains enchanting for Dunagan and Behn, who joined Moviefone for one more walk in the forest.

Moviefone: What specific memories do you still hold from recording the voices of Bambi and Thumper? Do you have vivid things that are still stuck in your brain from those experiences?

Donnie Dunagan: Precisely. This was my eighth film total — first animated — so I wasn’t, I hope, jaded, but I was a bit older. I remember well how courteous, and professional, and gentle with children Disney staff people were. I’m sure they got a bit tired of me pestering them: “What’s the storyline?” Nobody ever scolded me for that. “What is this all about?” I was eager to know.

And a nice lady I don’t think we ever saw again got ahold of one of the books from 1923, translated by Whittaker Chambers in ’28, and sat us down in a room with the young lady that played Faline, and she read parts of several chapters to us, and then gave us her own oral summary what the story was about. I was thrilled! But up to that point, I’d be fibbing to you if I told you I knew what it was about. I didn’t have a clue.

But once I had a sense of the storyline, then it mattered a great deal more when the prompting lady in the booth would say, “Say this, say that, say that:” “What’s a meadow? Mother, mother, mother,” etc.

Peter Behn: I think the mechanics of the operation were more memorable to me than some of the other aspects. Very honestly, I don’t think I knew the storyline until I saw the movie in 1942. Because the recording operation was, like, sentence-by-sentence in the sound booth, with the proper inflections of course, directed by the director.

So what I remember most is the mechanics of the recording: the big recording device had a 20-inch disc on it, and a big arm that came over. Actually, it carved a groove in the record, the disc, and plastic came off the end. There was like scraps of this long ribbon that came off. So the different kinds of impressions of what went on. That’s what I most remember.

Do you have any specific recollections of your interactions with Walt Disney himself?

Dunagan: Oh yes, yes — I would call him, in Marine Corps vernacular, a leader by example, setting the example. He was all over the place. I was there for a long, long time, first as the facial model, from the spring of 1940 forward. Two months would go by, they’d come back, come back, come back, come back, and then the voice. So I saw him often, and if I was behaving myself and quiet, they’d forget you were there.

He was all over the place — all over the place! And leading by, I would call, by example. A bit later, toward the end of my experience — and reasonably good memory — my sense was that he was taking a long time to produce, and there was some concern and urgency about this. “We need to get this done, get this done.” I remember asking my mother a bit about that, but she didn’t have a clue either. We were both aware of things, but we didn’t have any spies anywhere. There was some concern that a blind person could see that this was taking a long, long time, and that they needed to get this out.

Then what happened? Pearl Harbor. The hearsay was that Mr. Disney might have wanted to release it Thanksgiving/Christmas of ’41. Perfect timing, right? The pressure was on. We’re not in the war yet. Then December 7th, Pearl Harbor, changed everything, and he did not release it until about this time [of year in 1942]. Peter and I had a chance to see it up in the [San Fernando] Valley in 1942. I remember well the impression that adults had and children had on the first couple of viewings in regular theaters — they loved it!

A lot of folks were bothered by the mother being killed. To this day, we hear about that! A grandmother will come up to my wife and I at some charity thing we’re at and say, “I remember when the mother …” I smile every time, like I’ve never heard it before, right? “I remember the mother, the mother, the mother, the mother …” One time, because the environment was happy, I said, “How about me? I got shot, too!”

Behn: I saw him a couple of times. Once, outside there was a small zoo on the lot with animals for the animators to observe. I went out to the zoo with him at one point and saw the animals. Held the bunny — there’s a picture of me holding the little bunny, Thumper. So that was my most memorable recollection of meeting him. I didn’t spend as much time at the studio. The recording sessions were several months apart over a two-year period.

There was a period when “Bambi” was a role that you played as a kid, and that’s what it was for a lot of years. Then “Bambi” came back into your lives as the fans became curious about you and what became of you. You were welcomed into the extended Disney family again. What’s that been like for you as adults to participate in that community of people who just love Disney and love “Bambi”?

Behn: In my youth and growing up in college and all those areas, we really never mentioned it to our friends, and it just wasn’t in the forefront of consciousness. I became more comfortable with occasionally telling somebody, usually by asking if they’ve seen “Bambi.” It’s literally almost impossible to find somebody who’s not seen the movie. Then I say, “You remember Thumper?” Yes they do, and I would tell them that I was the voice of Thumper — primarily, to bring a little joy. People really get a kick out of realizing that they met the person who was the voice.

Tell me about the experience you had this year, 75 years later, to see the film on the big screen with audience full of fans, artists who have been inspired by the film and your work in the film, family members of people who worked on the film. That was a really singular kind of moment for you, I imagine.

Behn: It was as if I saw it for the first time, because of the talk that [film historian] Leonard Maltin and [contemporary Disney animator] Andreas Deja gave regarding [“Bambi” production artist] Tyrus Wong’s art, and the impact it had. And Walt, when he saw it, he said was what he wanted. It allowed me to view the movie more from the background than the foreground. I thought that was very revealing. I got an appreciation of it as a moving piece of art, more than just the film.

And to go back to the emotional aspects of the film, Donnie’s right, it’s very emotional when the mother gets shot. But to me, the intensity of the fire scene, and the father and Bambi working their way through and out into safety, was a lot scarier, and more prolonged, and very emotional, and just so incredibly well-conceived and done from an artistic point of view. It’s the part of the movie that I find very memorable.

Dunagan: There’s the same quality of shared emotion people have with that film. The story, from birth all the way to maturity — not many movies do that, not many novels do that, and people can relate. Any age can relate to things that happen in “Bambi,” something that a friend, a family member or that we experienced. They have matching sensitivity experiences to “Bambi.”

I’m not a behavioral scientist, but I pay attention to human beings, and they have matched experiences. We hear about it all the time. I had a very unique one to “Bambi.” When Bambi was shot, after the mother is down, animals that are large, four-legged, on-the ground animals, heavy respiratories, they get down, they don’t get up. That respiratory can kick in and they die.

That’s why farmers and animal-sensitive people like Peter try to get them up in real life. “Bambi’s down” — the culture of 1941-42, a lot of farmers, a lot of ranchers, they understand what that means. [The filmmakers] wrote this brilliantly in from the book: Here comes Bambi’s father. Big rack standing there, very majestically, right? “Bambi, get up! Get up! You must get up!”

Many years later, in August of 1967, I’m shot for the second time in Vietnam. I’m down, and I’ve got to get up. I’m the only officer left in a big patrol unit. The only one that is equipped up here to call in fire support and things. I’m half-conscious. A wonderful young sergeant, who survived the war, came up over me. “Skipper! Skipper! Get up! Get up! You must get up! We need you, get up!” I was able to get up enough against a bamboo thing to be able to call in fire support. Then they evacuated several of us.

Think of the irony of that for a matching life experience!

June 6, 2017
Tituss Burgess on ‘Lemonading’ and Viral Songs in ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ Season 3

When “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” gave Kimmy’s roommate Titus Andromedon relationship lemons, star Tituss Burgess made lemonade: Beyonce’s “Lemonade,” to be precise.

As the Netflix sitcom returns for a third season May 19th, one of the most hotly anticipated sequences teased in the trailers is Titus’s recreation to the pop superstar’s hugely popular song sensation of 2016, complete with some baseball bat bashing, after his burgeoning romance with Mike the construction worker hits a rocky patch. And even though the sequence inspired a little initial trepidation, Burgess admits he eventually dove right in — literally.

“They showed me some songs in advance of the table read,” recalls Burgess, “and I’m reading it and I’m like, ‘This rhyming scheme is awfully close to … ‘Lemonade!’ And then I saw the f*cking water that I was supposed to be in and I wasn’t a fan because I do not swim. Ultimately, there was a lot of people around to make sure I didn’t drown!”

“I was mostly curious as to where it fit in the scheme of the narrative,” he admitted. “It’s one thing to do a parody, but it’s another thing to do an homage and to use it as a dramatic device. And it seemed so lovely and so appropriate that that’s how he’d exorcise his demons in the face of heartbreak. So it was lovely — and I love Beyonce, so what was there not to love about that episode?”

Burgess joined Moviefone to offer a peek into the equally unbreakable Titus’s Season 3 path, as well as to reveal how performing in an outrageously funny comedy has had some serious emotional resonance in his life.

Moviefone: We left Titus in an interesting space at the end of the season. Tell me where we pick up with him and especially his relationship journey. He’s got this job that kind of threw a monkey wrench in his plans.

Tituss Burgess: That is correct: a little monkey wrench into their relationship, which was still early on for those two. He gets an opportunity to go on a cruise. Titus rarely lands an audition gig, so he gets this gig, he goes on this cruise — and he comes back prematurely. He literally sort of washes ashore.

He’s trying to keep it a secret why he’s back, and what happened, but we’ll find out later on — particularly in Episode 8, we’ll find out what happened, and what this big secret is. It’s still Titus flailing about, doing the best he can in an attempt to be a good person. You’d be surprised at the number of situations Titus finds himself in, trying to be a good person.

One of the things that I really love about this show is you guys go wall-to-wall with the funny, but you’re still saying something with the show. These characters are still traveling through life and trying to better themselves. Tell me what you like about being able to play that with so much funny on top of it.

It’s largely how I live my life. I musicalize some very traumatic moments in an attempt to move through life. Truly, even sitting in traffic; when the horns are honking I’ll notice how they’re harmonized. Do you know what I mean? So being inside the world of “Kimmy Schmidt,” it makes perfect sense for me — for us — to be able to shove a lot of heart, a lot of human sentiment, into the most preposterous of comedic moments.

How has this role and this job changed your life?

It has given me, and the world will soon see, an opportunity to bring light to some issues concerning minorities and people in the LGBTQ community that we’ve not seen before. It’s given me an opportunity to be sort of … how’s the proper way to say this? Someone people can look to as a means of relief, be it comedic relief or musical relief, whatever. That’s very important to me.

I’m sure many celebrities have had moments like these, but the stories I hear from people who follow me and watch the show are so moving. It’s just more than just being on a TV show and being famous. I’ve had this one lady come up to me. She said she was depressed. Her husband had just divorced her. It was a long story, but the long story short, she said “It was so lovely that I could have you in my home as often as I needed you.” That’s a big deal. That’s a big deal. So it doesn’t go lost on me, what we do, and I think we need some relief now more than ever.

You get to play some of the show’s biggest, most outrageous moments. Some of the comedy they give you to do is almost cartoon-level brilliant. Can you tease a good one without ruining the joke?

There’s a song that we sing about a particular part of the female anatomy. That’s what I’ll tell you. And it will be every bit as ridiculous as “Peeno Noir” was.

Is it going to go viral, do you think?

I don’t know, I don’t know! You guys decide. I didn’t even think “Peeno Noir” was going to be a thing. So I will let you all tell me.

When did you realize you had such a great aptitude for comedy? The music aptitude, I imagine, was something you probably knew pretty early on in life.

I’m an only child, so I spent a great deal of time entertaining myself. I didn’t need other people around to tell me when something was particularly funny — I don’t know if this is coming out right! Yeah, and since I had no one to bounce things off of, I’d spend a great deal of time sitting back and watching the world, and less time participating in the world. And the world produces some pretty peculiar things, so I just report on them.

Are we going to be seeing you in anything outside of the show sometime soon?

Yeah, I’m filming a movie this summer called “Departures,” and I’m in negotiations for another project … but I better not say it! But yes, you will. And, yes, soon.

May 18, 2017