‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ will be released on July 1st. Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures.
If you felt that 2015’s ‘Minions’ didn’t go far enough in uncovering the backstory of the squat, chattering troublemakers from the ‘Despicable Me’ movies, new sequel ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ is here to fix that.
Picking up a few years after ‘Minions’ (which you may recall ended with the creatures meeting wannabe supervillain Gru, voiced, as ever, by Steve Carell), this new movie is set in the heart of the 1970s, amid a flurry of feathered hair and flared jeans. Gru is growing up in the suburbs. And he’s the biggest fan of supervillain supergroup the Vicious 6, with a plan to become evil enough to join them.
Luckily, he gets some mayhem-making backup from his loyal followers, the Minions. Together, Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto — a new Minion sporting braces and a desperate need to please — deploy their skills as they and Gru build their first lair, experiment with their first weapons and pull off their first missions.
When the Vicious 6 oust their leader, legendary fighter Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin), Gru interviews to become their newest member. It doesn’t go well (no shock there), and only gets worse after Gru outsmarts them and suddenly finds himself the mortal enemy of the apex of evil.
On the run, Gru will turn to an unlikely source for guidance, Wild Knuckles himself, and discover that even bad guys need a little help from their friends.
2JCg2p1p
This latest look at the movie offers fresh footage of Gru’s various attempts to be a supervillain, his encounters with the Vicious 6 and, from the later segments, hints of some magical powers at work, especially given the transformed Minions at the end.
In addition to them, the cast also includes Michelle Yeoh (as a character called Master Chow, a kung fu practicing acupuncturist) and RZA, and the returning likes of Julie Andrews (playing Gru’s mother, Marlena), Russell Brand in the part of Dr. Nefario and Pierre Coffin, who as usual voices Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and other minions with their trademark babbling.
The ‘Despicable Me’ franchise (which expands to five movies with this latest entry), has earned more than $3.7 billion at the worldwide box office so far, and seems likely to keep rolling for a few years yet.
Originally scheduled for release in July 2021, ‘The Rise of Gru’ was shifted by Illumination and Universal to avoid the continued closure of cinemas due to the pandemic. Following a premiere at the Annecy animation festival in France on June 13, the movie will hit theaters in the States on July 1. Banana!
‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ will be released on July 1st. Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures.
fyyZZE0fHG5HsQjoRBIbx6
Ben Schwartz from Netflix’s ‘Space Force’ Season Two.
Premiering on Netflix February 18th is the second season of the popular comedy ‘Space Force.’ The series is a workplace comedy that revolves around a group of people tasked with establishing the sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces, the United States Space Force.
Moviefone recently had the opportunity to speak with actors Ben Schwartz, Jimmy O. Yang, Diana Silvers and Tawny Newsome about their work on ‘Space Force’ season two.
96tKol17
You can read the full transcript of our interview below, or watch all the interviews in the video played above.
Moviefone: As season two begins, the US Space Force is really having to prove its worth. Ben, as the social media director and the publicist, what is Tony’s biggest challenge this season?
Ben Schwartz: By the way, you’re exactly correct, that is what is happening. Tony’s biggest challenge is trying to spin this thing into something that looks positive. He has to spin this thing into showing that Space Force is worthwhile and keeping these people who work there is worthwhile.
Somehow, now he is the underdog trying to keep the story of what’s happening as positive as possible, to give people hope that this thing could actually be wonderful for our country and things like that. So, there’s a lot more on his shoulders, but also failure is just a skip away. He is very aware that he may have to start looking for another job.
MF: Jimmy, what is Chan dealing with personally and in the workplace this season?
Jimmy O. Yang: I’m not sure of the Chan and Angela possibilities. Will they, or won’t they? Relationships can cause HR complaints, but you know, it’s happening. So, I think he’s a capable scientist. He approaches everything like science, like a math problem. So, he really has to learn how to grow as a human being with his interpersonal relationships.
But it’s not just with Angela. It’s also his bromance with Tony, Ben Schwartz’s character, him being a mentee to John Malkovich’s character, almost mentoring this new intern, all while under the family umbrella of General Naird. It’s all very, very fun with very relatable human family dynamics and circumstances, even though it’s set in the very high stakes and grand scale of ‘Space Force.’
MF: Tawny, does Captain Ali have a larger role this season than she did in the first season?
Tawny Newsome: Yeah, for sure. You know, I think the writers did a great job of not ignoring the fact that she did this wild thing. She literally went to the moon. She was the first black woman on the moon. Then to just come back and kind of jump into everyday life is a big ask. So, she definitely has some tumult going on. I think we got to play with it in a really fun way.
You know, (producer) Greg Daniels had asked me, do you have like something that you do? We need an outlet for her or whatever. I was like, well, I play the drums. Could she be drumming somewhere? He’s like, yes. So, the writers ran with that. Then when I got the scripts later, I was like, oh wait. So, she’s drumming in the middle of the night in an apartment complex. That’s a serial killer move, who does that? That’s truly insane to drum, even to drum in a house, in a regular neighborhood, or in an apartment. So, that told me a lot about where she’s at and the amount of F’s she was giving at that moment, which is less than zero.
MF: Diana, your character has matured a lot between season one and season two. What happened to her between seasons that helped her to grow so much?
Diana Silvers: I think especially at that age, everything is kind of life or death. Because your emotions are heightened, you’re hormonal and there’s just a lot going on. You truly are the center of everything that revolves around you. You are the center of your universe. I think in season one, Erin felt like she wasn’t. She felt like a side character in someone else’s life. I think when, that big event happened with her mom and General Naird, she actually sees that she does matter.
She means something, and she is kind of like the center of not just her universe, but her family’s universe. I think it allowed for her to get grounded again and reground herself. So, going into Space Force and finding a parental figure in Mallory and having like two parents in a way again. Having a support system and being around other adults that genuinely care about her, she was able to explore her own identity and figure out what she wants for herself and where she wants to go with her life.
‘Space Force’ season two premieres February 18th on Netflix.
(L to R) John Malkovich, Tawny Newsome, Lisa Kudrow, Steve Carell, Jimmy O. Yang, Ben Schwartz, and Diana Silvers in ‘Space Force’ Season Two. Photo Courtesy of Netflix.
It’s been years since Steve Carell and John Krasinski were co-stars on the hugely successful sitcom ‘The Office’, and while the pair has teamed up from time to time on other things, they haven’t made a movie together before. Krasinski is looking to change that with new fantasy comedy ‘IF’.
The film, which Krasinski is planning to write, direct, produce and appear in (like he did for both ‘A Quiet Place’ movies), already has Ryan Reynolds in the lead. ‘IF’ – then called ‘Imaginary Friends’ – was first announced back in 2019.
Based on an idea by Krasinski, the story has officially been listed as “a child’s journey to rediscover their imagination”, and reportedly follows a man (Reynolds) who can see and communicate with other peoples’ imaginary friends, who, it turns out, are not so imaginary. He befriends those who have been forgotten or discarded, but some become irretrievably evil, and he must find a way to stop them.
It all sounds like a cross between 1991’s Phoebe Cates comedy ‘Drop Dead Fred’ and the ‘Doctor Dolittle’ concept (though he could talk to animals, not fantasy friends). Will it also manage to make us all cry like Bing Bong in Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’?
And Carell is only one of the new cast members that Krasinski has rounded up to co-star in the movie. There’s also Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator and star of comedy series ‘Fleabag’ who also adapted and ran the first season of ‘Killing Eve.’ Fiona Shaw, one of the stars of ‘Killing Eve’, is also joining ‘IF’, along with young ‘Minari’ breakout Alan Kim and veteran actor Louis Gossett Jr., probably best known for movies such as ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ and ‘Enemy Mine’ in the 1980s.
Carell, of course, is no stranger to screens – though ‘The Office’ boosted his profile even higher than it already was, he’s since gone on to movies including the ‘Despicable Me’ franchise (with a new entry due this summer), ‘The Big Short’ and ‘Vice’, both for director Adam McKay.
Krasinski has increasingly been working as a director and producer, though he also still stars in the ‘Jack Ryan’ TV series for Amazon and will be heard on cinema screens this year in the animated ‘DC League Of Super-Pets’, playing Superman. He’s also developing a third ‘Quiet Place’ movie, though he won’t direct that one.
Paramount Pictures is making the new movie, and both Krasinski’s Sunday Night and Reynolds’ Maximum Effort production companies have deals there.
The movie is scheduled for release on November 17, 2023.
Sometimes just saying a filmmaker’s name can conjure up the mood and atmosphere of their entire oeuvre. This is the case with Robert Zemeckis, who has delighted the world with endless invention and innovation over the course of his career and whose movies feel, more often than not, exciting, scary and fun, but always deeply emotional and resonant. You care about the characters, no matter what oversized scenario Zemeckis has invented for them to tumble around in. He is a treasure and every one of his movies should be treasured; they’re as polished, beautiful and intricate as any jewel.
His latest jewel is “Welcome to Marwen,” a based-on-a-true-story fantasy adventure about a man (Steve Carell) who, after a violent beating, copes by making a tiny miniature village behind his home, populated by versions of the people in his own town. Given that this is a Zemeckis movie, and as a filmmaker who never shies away from cutting-edge technology, the dolls themselves are brought to life via motion-capture performances, done by all the same actors and actresses (Leslie Mann, Janelle Monae, Eiza Gonzalez). The entire thing conjures up a world that only Zemeckis could create, both earthbound and emotional and still fantastically out-there at the same time.
Our conversation darted around all over the pace, from the Zemeckis shout-outs included in “Ready Player One” to his failed motion-capture “Yellow Submarine” remake, and to maintain that goofy spirit, it is included below.
WB/Amblin
Wanted to ask first about “Ready Player One,” which had so many references to your films. What was your reaction?
I thought it was very nice. It was a great tribute. It was really fun.
Yeah, he told me what was going on. We chatted a little bit. But I think all of that was in the book.
This can be applied to your entire career and certainly to “Welcome to Marwen,” but when choosing projects, how much are you drawn to the story and how much are you drawn to some crazy technological hurdle that you’re looking to overcome?
Well, I think it’s usually a blend of both. But I think it’s always the human emotional story first. Because that’s the only way I know how to make the movie. And then I do honestly ask myself the question, So how can we do this in a way that has never been seen before? How can we make this a reason to go to the movies, to present a story that should be done as a work of cinema? And tell the story as cinematically as we possibly can.
You haven’t used performance-capture this extensively since you stopped making completely performance-capture movies. Was it fun to integrate the disciplines?
Yeah it was. There was a lot of performance-capture in “The Walk” but you didn’t know it.
Really?
Oh yeah. But yes … the answer to the question is yes.
Now I want to know about the performance-capture in “The Walk!”
No, it’s okay. There are always things happening all over the place these days.
It was interesting to read the press notes and learn that you were going to build the entire town.
Well, yeah, we went through every process. We did our due diligence to figure out what would be the way. The key thing that we wanted to do was that we never wanted to lose the power of the human performance, translating it to the doll. So we tested everything and ran through every conceivable idea. Then we landed on what we’ll call “enhanced performance-capture,” and we tested it a lot to make sure it could deliver, before we ever stepped on the set.
Your last few movies have either been based on real events or been set in a historical framework. Is that a response to getting out of animation and dealing with actors? Or where does that inclination come from?
I don’t know. I don’t think about it consciously. I did read a quote from Francois Truffaut who said, “Every filmmaker’s decision to make a film is a reaction to the film they just made.” So whatever that means! It might be something to do with that.
Disney
This is 30 years after you made “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” but there’s still the same mixture of live-action and animated elements.
A little bit.
What has changed the most?
Oh god everything is easier. Every frame of “Roger Rabbit” was drawn by hand. Anybody can do “Roger Rabbit” now since we have computers. But that was backbreaking work back then.
Do you ever want to return to that world?
Well, look, there’s a really good script at Disney for a sequel but I don’t think it’s on their agenda. There are no princesses in it. [laughs]
Roger Rabbit was in the parks for a long time.
Well, we still have Toon Town.
That’s true. Do you ever go on the ride?
The Roger Rabbit ride? The Car Toon Spin? Oh yeah of course. I like it. I think Toon Town is kind of cool. You know what I like about Toon Town?
What?
It makes you nervous. When you’re in Toon Town, I get anxious, because it’s kind of nuts. I think they really captured the thing that was the essence of Toon Town from the movie. It’s almost like, at certain points, you say, “I’ve got to get out of here.”
Speaking of Disney, I’m mildly obsessed with your proposed “Yellow Submarine” motion-capture remake. Can you talk about what that was going to be?
It was going to be a dimensionalized 3D remake of the original movie, with massive improvements to the story, with a lot of effort made to bring the characters of the Beatles into the story as best we could.
Are you still looking to do more performance-capture movies?
Again, I don’t look to do movies based on a technological thing. If a story comes along that it works with, like “Marwen,” then good. But I’m not out there going, “I’ve got to get me a performance-capture movie!” No way.
One of my favorites of your performance-capture work is “Beowulf.” And I’d heard you wanted to do a PG-13 version for regular cinemas and NC-17 for IMAX. Is that true, at all?
I floated the question about … It wasn’t NC-17 but it was unrated … So I said, “Why can’t we, since we’re going to be on a limited number of screens and people have to pay a premium to play IMAX, just try that?” And I’ve asked that a couple of times. And they always say no, it gets too complicated, they can’t do that, somebody will walk into the wrong theater and write a letter to the MPAA and they didn’t want to deal with that. But now it doesn’t matter anymore because the only time the ratings of movies matter is in movie theaters. Everything that’s being streamed is unrated. Anybody can watch anything.
You’re in the unique position of having a big movie opening in a bunch of screens nationwide and having a hit show on television at the same time (“Manifest”). There’s this big debate about where people should see movies and how they should see them and wanted to see where you fell in?
I’ve kind of given up on it the debate, because everything is becoming this giant stew. I don’t think anybody knows what’s going on. It’s a free-ball. I personally love the cinema. I love the cinema experience. I love audiences collectively experiencing something. I love the idea like in the movie “Jaws,” when Roy Scheider steps into water that’s inside the boat, when the shark is attacking, that the audience screams even though there’s no possible way the shark is in that boat. Audiences who see the movie in isolation don’t get to experience that. So just the idea that the collective audience experience is something that I personally like and I make my movies like that and then if you see it on your phone, you see it on your phone.
I just have to ask this question, because it’s so weird: there’s a deleted scene/outtake on the “Back to the Future” box set where Michael J. Fox does an entire scene as a cholo. Do you remember this?
Yes I do.
Why did he do that?
He was just goofing and we rolled the camera. He just showed up one day and wanted to do that. He just walked in that day and started that, and I said, “Hey, roll.”
