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Tag: teresa-palmer

  • ‘Mix Tape’ Exclusive Interview: Teresa Palmer

    Teresa Palmer in 'Mix Tape'. Photo: R&C/PMK.
    Teresa Palmer in ‘Mix Tape’. Photo: R&C/PMK.

    Making its world premiere at the SXSW Conference & Festival on March 9th is the new Irish-Australian miniseries ‘Mix Tape’, which is based on the novel of the same name by Jane Sanderson, and stars Teresa Palmer (‘Warm Bodies’) and Jim Sturgess (‘Cloud Atlas’).

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Teresa Palmer about her work on ‘Mix Tape’, her character, her own love for mix tapes, working with Jim Sturgess, and premiering the series at SXSW.

    Related Article: Actress Teresa Palmer Talks Psychological Thriller ‘The Twin’

    Teresa Palmer in 'Mix Tape'. Photo: R&C/PMK.
    Teresa Palmer in ‘Mix Tape’. Photo: R&C/PMK.

    Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to this character and why you wanted to play Allsion?

    Teresa Palmer: I just thought Allsion was interesting. She’s navigated intense trauma in her life. Then my version of Allsion, the older Allsion, has completely reinvented her life and rewrote her narrative, and has shape shifted. It’s a very interesting thing to do to completely leave behind your past, and it’s almost like she’s having a bit of an identity crisis. I just thought all of that was so interesting to explore. The trauma is so far pushed down within her that it starts to manifest in all these little ways in her dynamic with her husband, and how she’s such an enigma, and she’s quite observant. Then she reconnects with her first love, and it’s like he pulls this little thread, and she starts to rapidly unravel, which was so interesting. So, I was like, “Yes, please.”

    MF: Are you a fan of mix tapes? Did you make your own mix tapes when you were younger?

    TP: Of course. I got so many mix tapes. I made mix tapes. Everyone was like, “Were you of the mix tape era,” and I was. In 2002, I started driving at 16. I had my own car, my yellow Hyundai Accent with my little cassette tape player. The first year, it was cassettes, so I was using tapes. Then it moved on to burning CDs for people. But that’s all I had. I remember my little CD holder and they were just all burnt CDs with all the names of the songs numbered, and it was so fun. I loved it.

    Florence Hunt in 'Mix Tape'. Photo: R&C/PMK.
    Florence Hunt in ‘Mix Tape’. Photo: R&C/PMK.

    MF: Did you work with the actress that played the younger version of your character to compare notes?

    TP: No, they shot a lot in Ireland, and we shot mainly in Sydney, and then I had maybe four days of work in Ireland. I met Florence (Hunt) and Rory (Walton-Smith) very briefly. We had a 10-minute interaction where we spoke to each other, and we took a photo together, and that was it. So, we didn’t have any interaction at all. Lucy Gaffey, our director, was so on point with making sure that the essence of these characters all felt the same so that the younger versions of us and the older versions, there was a real synergy there. So, it felt like the same person was playing this character. But Florence wasn’t cast until I had basically finished. I had a couple of days left and she was cast. So, we didn’t get the chance to talk about the character or anything. But yeah, she had footage that I had done that I think she got to have a look at. But that’s just props to great casting is that they figured out the right people for the role.

    MF: What was it like working with Jim Sturgess on this series?

    TP: I love Jim. He is just gorgeous. We met so many years ago. I tested for this movie he did called ‘21’. So, I met him in the test and the audition, I didn’t end up getting it, but I connected with him, and I was like, “What a legend.” Then I saw his career just blow up and I watched a bunch of his movies, so coming back together to work again, we were like, “Oh, my god, we got on so well at the audition and we’ve both gone off to live these big lives, have kids, get married, and work a lot, and we’ve come back.” It’s like we got to catch up on all those years in between that we hadn’t seen each other. Not too dissimilar to these characters as well. So, it was nice. He’s a beautiful, generous actor. He’s very good. He cares about the work so much that he was a gorgeous scene partner.

    Jim Sturgess in 'Mix Tape'. Photo: R&C/PMK.
    Jim Sturgess in ‘Mix Tape’. Photo: R&C/PMK.

    MF: Finally, the series is premiering at SXSW this year. What are you most excited to have audiences experience with this series?

    TP: I think people are going to feel very nostalgic. I honestly think that that’s going to be the biggest takeaways. It makes you think about your own first love, and your youth, and the process of getting older, and just the journey of life in general. It’s a commentary on all those big life things. Watching it, I was really moved. Also, it just made me realize how fast time flies. So, I hope that audiences connect with that and love the music. The music is basically another character in this show. It’s so important, but it sets the tone for the feeling, and the feedback has been so gorgeous so far. I think that that’s one of the big takeaways is just youth and that feeling of falling in love for the first time.

    Editorial Note: Krisily Fernstrom conducted this interview and contributed to this article.

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    What is the plot of ‘Mix Tape’?

    In Sheffield in 1989, a blossoming romance develops Alison (Teresa Palmer) and Daniel (Jim Sturgess). Many years later, and living in opposite sides of the world, they reconnect over a shared memory they have of a song.

    Who is in the cast of ‘Mix Tape’?

    (L to R) Teresa Palmer and Jim Sturgess in 'Mix Tape'. Photo: R&C/PMK.
    (L to R) Teresa Palmer and Jim Sturgess in ‘Mix Tape’. Photo: R&C/PMK.

    List of Teresa Palmer Movies and TV Shows:

    Buy Teresa Palmer Movies On Amazon

     

  • Movie Review: ‘The Fall Guy’

    Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers and Emily Blunt is Judy Moreno in 'The Fall Guy,' directed by David Leitch.
    (L to R) Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers and Emily Blunt is Judy Moreno in ‘The Fall Guy,’ directed by David Leitch.

    Opening in theaters on May 3rd is ‘The Fall Guy,’ starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke, Stephanie Hsu, and Teresa Palmer.

    Initial Thoughts

    The best part about ‘The Fall Guy’ is its clear affection and loving respect for stuntpeople and the incredibly dangerous work they do to make movies as exciting as possible. Some of the film’s many – almost too many – action sequences are designed just for this. It’s too bad, then, that the rest of the film is hampered by a sloppy script and halting pacing that the undeniable charm of Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt can only do so much to smooth over. It’s all in the execution, and ‘The Fall Guy’ never commits to what kind of film it wants to be.

    Related Article: Ryan Gosling Starring in ‘The Fall Guy’ for director David Leitch

    Story and Direction

    Director David Leitch and Ryan Gosling (as Colt Seavers) on the set of 'The Fall Guy.'
    (L to R) Director David Leitch and Ryan Gosling (as Colt Seavers) on the set of ‘The Fall Guy.’

    ‘The Fall Guy’ is based loosely – very loosely – on the hit 1980s TV series starring Lee Majors as a stuntman who uses his skills to moonlight as a bounty hunter. Aside from the title and the main character’s name, however, nothing else remains of the series in this film from stuntman-turned-director David Leitch (‘John Wick,’ ‘Deadpool 2,’ ‘Bullet Train’). In this version, Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is quite satisfied with just being a stuntman – even if the star he’s been doubling for six years, the insecure and self-obsessed Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), earns all the glory for Seavers’ risky, often awe-inspiring stunts.

    All that comes crashing down, however, when Colt suffers a severe injury on the set that takes him out of commission for a year, reduces him to working as a valet, and sends him into a deep depression. It also estranges him from his girlfriend, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), an aspiring director who in the interim lands her feature directorial debut – a sci-fi blockbuster starring none other than Ryder.

    But then Colt gets a call out of the blue from the movie’s producer, Gail (Hannah Waddingham), who insists that Colt fly down to Australia to perform stunts on the film. Fearful of getting back on that horse, so to speak, Colt nevertheless heads down to the set in the hope that he can pick up his career and rekindle the spark with Jody. But when it turns out that Ryder has gone missing from the shoot, Colt is tasked with finding him – and discovers that Ryder’s disappearance may be part of a much more sinister plot than most Hollywood thrillers.

    Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling attend as Universal Pictures presents a special screening of 'The Fall Guy' at the AMC Grove in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
    (L to R) Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling attend as Universal Pictures presents a special screening of ‘The Fall Guy’ at the AMC Grove in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Photo: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages. Copyright: ©2024 ABImages.

    There’s no question that Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt both have charisma and screen presence to spare, and their verbal jousting and fast-paced repartee often provides enough entertainment to just get by when ‘The Fall Guy’ lags in the pacing department. There’s also no question that David Leitch loves the profession he came up in, and the movie goes to great lengths to show just how stuntpeople do their jobs – you may come away from the movie with a newfound respect for the craft (and an understanding of why stuntpeople really do deserve to get their own Oscar category).

    But the movie itself is never quite sure what it wants to be. Is it a rom-com? A movie industry satire? An action thriller? It tries to be all three, but the script by Drew Pearce (‘Hotel Artemis’) never leans fully into any of those genres, creating a tonal and narrative hodgepodge that doesn’t quite come together as a cohesive whole or has much of anything to say. The tonal shifts give ‘The Fall Guy’ a herky-jerky feel, with some scenes coming to a standstill while the action sequences are frantic if exceptionally well-staged (although one highly destructive chase through the streets of Sydney has one wondering, even in the reality of the film, why not a single cop shows up).

    Of the narrative’s three threads, the mystery involving Ryder’s disappearance is the weakest and most easily dispensable: it comes across as merely a means to create some action scenes. The romance probably plays the strongest, thanks to Gosling and Blunt’s chemistry, but even aspects of that are contrived (it’s kind of murky why the relationship ended in the first place). As for the film’s satirical aspects, they jump in and out of the story, fighting for space with Leitch’s yearning to show the below-the-line folks in the best possible light.

    No Stunt Casting Here

    Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers in 'The Fall Guy,' directed by David Leitch.
    Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers in ‘The Fall Guy,’ directed by David Leitch.

    Anyone who watched the Oscars could see that Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt had comic chemistry together as presenters, and that connection is evident in ‘The Fall Guy’ as well. The two leads are the strongest aspect of the movie. Gosling’s comedic chops are on full display again, and he can’t help but be endearing and watchable even if he is playing a variation on the lovable but dim persona we’ve seen in ‘Barbie’ and ‘The Nice Guys.’ His Colt Seavers can barely articulate himself in front of Blunt’s Jody as the story begins, locked in his own sense of failure, but his character does evolve by the climax.

    Like Gosling, Blunt is always a striking, strong presence on screen, and her Jody is someone who lets her own ambitions – her heartfelt desire to become a director – get in the way of real life to a degree. One of the best aspects of the movie is the way in which Jody and Colt initially communicate through the action they’re staging on the set; as she sets him on fire over and over again, among other things, they keep talking about how to fix the movie’s third act, when clearly they’re discussing what happened to their own broken relationship. Moments like that are clever indicators of the movie’s better intentions.

    Stephanie Hsu, Hannah Waddingham and Winston Duke attend as Universal Pictures presents a special screening of 'The Fall Guy' at the AMC Grove in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
    (L to R) Stephanie Hsu, Hannah Waddingham and Winston Duke attend as Universal Pictures presents a special screening of ‘The Fall Guy’ at the AMC Grove in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Photo: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages. Copyright: ©2024 ABImages.

    The most hilarious supporting character is Taylor-Johnson’s Tom Ryder, who also represents the film’s most satirical aspects (we have to wonder which major real-life A-lister this narcissistic, petty, spoiled man-child was patterned after). His complete insecurity in the face of Colt’s immense physical talents, his inclination to believe that his delivery of even the most brainless rallying-cry speech to a crowd of extras is some sort of Shakespearean monologue, and the post-it notes that cover his apartment – constant little reminders to himself that often contradict each other – are spot-on, and Taylor-Johnson plays him at a slight remove, as if the Ryder persona is just another role for this rather small person.

    The rest of the cast are terrific in smaller roles, even if many of them don’t get much to do. Hannah Waddingham (‘Ted Lasso’) fares best as Gail, the producer who knows exactly what to say to everyone and how to manipulate them to get what she wants, while Winston Duke (M’Baku from the ‘Black Panther’ movies) is a welcome wingman who we’d like to see more of. Stephanie Hsu (‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’) and Teresa Palmer (‘A Discovery of Witches’) also make good impressions even if they largely disappear from the second half of the film.

    Final Thoughts

    Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers in 'The Fall Guy,' directed by David Leitch.
    Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers in ‘The Fall Guy,’ directed by David Leitch.

    ‘The Fall Guy’ has crowd-pleaser written all over it: a couple of big, attractive leads in a zany rom-com scenario, a mystery of sorts at its center, and a parade of “watch this one” action setpieces serving as its spine. Some of its elements get their chance to shine, but only intermittently, and not enough to make ‘The Fall Guy’ the fully satisfying popcorn picture it’s clearly engineered to be.

    Luckily, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt have enough sheer star power to keep the movie from becoming the kind of empty tentpole that it pokes fun at (with ‘Metalstorm,’ the ‘Dune’ knockoff movie inside the movie), and if David Leitch and Drew Pearce found a more seamless way to blend their romance with a bit more satirical zing, we’d be rooting for them all the way.

    ‘The Fall Guy’ receives 6 out of 10 stars.

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    What is the plot of ‘The Fall Guy’?

    After a severe injury sidelines him for a year, stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is recruited to perform stunts for action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) in a new epic directed by Colt’s ex-girlfriend, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). Ryder’s sudden disappearance from the shoot, however, not only complicates Colt’s attempt to get back in Jody’s good graces, but finds the fall guy enmeshed in an increasingly sinister plot.

    Who is in the cast of ‘The Fall Guy’?

    • Ryan Gosling as Colt Seavers
    • Emily Blunt as Jody Moreno
    • Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Tom Ryder
    • Hannah Waddingham as Gail
    • Winston Duke as Dan
    • Stephanie Hsu as Alma
    Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers and Emily Blunt is Judy Moreno in 'The Fall Guy,' directed by David Leitch.
    (L to R) Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers and Emily Blunt is Judy Moreno in ‘The Fall Guy,’ directed by David Leitch.

    Other Movies Similar to ‘The Fall Guy:’

    Buy Ryan Gosling Movies On Amazon

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  • ‘The Clearing’ Interview: Teresa Palmer and Miranda Otto

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    Premiering on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ throughout the world on May 24th is the new Australian TV series entitled ‘The Clearing,’ which was directed by Jeffrey Walker and Gracie Otto.

    What is the plot of ‘The Clearing?’

    ‘The Clearing’ is an eight-part psychological thriller based on the best-selling crime thriller ‘In The Clearing’ by author J.P. Pomare, inspired by the darkness of real-life cults in Australia and around the world. The series follows a woman (Teresa Palmer) who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future. The series burrows under the skin and inside the mind, blurring the lines between past and present, reality and nightmare in a truly unnerving way.

    Who is in the cast of ‘The Clearing?’

    ‘The Clearing’ stars Teresa Palmer (‘Warm Bodies,’ ‘The Twin‘) as Freya, Miranda Otto (‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,’ ‘The Homesman‘) as Adrienne, Guy Pearce (‘L.A. Confidential,’ ‘Memento’) as Dr. Bryce Latham, Hazem Shammas (‘Alex & Eve‘) as Yusuf Joe Saad, Mark Coles-Smith (‘Last Cab to Darwin‘) as Wayne Dhurrkay, Kate Mulvany (‘Hunters‘) as Tamsin Latham, and Julia Savage as Amy (‘Blaze’).

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Teresa Palmer and Miranda Otto about their work on ‘The Clearing,’ their approach to their characters and their unusual relationship, the show’s use of flashbacks, Adrienne’s power over the children, what kind of mother Freya is, and what it was like for Otto to be directed by her sister.

    Teresa Palmer and Miranda Otto star in Hulu's 'The Clearing.'
    (L to R) Teresa Palmer and Miranda Otto star in Hulu’s ‘The Clearing.’

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Palmer, Otto, and Guy Pearce.

    Moviefone: To begin with, Teresa, your character has experienced a lot of trauma throughout her life. Can you talk about the challenges of playing a character like that?

    Teresa Palmer: I have to say I was very immersed in a dark place throughout the four months, but really it was only reserved for when I was filming because I have four children at home. So I’d have to come to work, get into the head space, and then leave it at the door, so I could go home and show up and be with my kids. But a lot of it was researching. I did so much research. I read journals. I watched documentaries on different cults around the world, and I wanted to get beneath the fabric of who this person was and why she is making the choices she’s making in her life. So it was a dark head space to be in. It was pretty harrowing, but certainly it was needed.

    MF: Miranda, you play your character at different points of her life, did it feel at times like you were playing different characters and what was your approach to playing Adrienne?

    Miranda Otto: Well, that’s a tricky one because we’re trying not to give away too much because there are so many reveals as the show goes on throughout the eight episodes. But yes, I’m definitely playing Adrienne over a breadth of time and it was challenging to keep coming up with the different ways she was at different times. It really was like a massive jigsaw puzzle. I mean, at one stage I think we were shooting six episodes at once. That’s just how it turned out because of people’s availability. So we were shooting six episodes and you’re trying to piece all the little fragments of the story together and remember exactly what happened where. It’s just so intricate this script, that was a big part of the puzzle for me. I really could have had a full-time assistant helping me with that, but I did not have that. It was me trying to put the pages together and work it all out. But I have to say, costume, hair and makeup were amazingly helpful, and I always feel like once you’re dressed and everything’s all done, it’s sort of like the character kind of begins to reveal itself to you.

    Miranda Otto stars in Hulu's 'The Clearing.'
    Miranda Otto stars in Hulu’s ‘The Clearing.’

    MF: Teresa, the series features flashback scenes to when your character was younger, that you do not physically appear in. How did reading those scenes about Freya’s past help inform your performance in the present day scenes?

    TP: I think it very much does. I get to have a little look into the history of my character, how she was in the past and the choices that she made. I also took another step further and I asked to see some of the scenes that Julia Savage had filmed. Julia is the young actress who played the younger version of me in the show. She was so beautifully nuanced and there was such a fragility, bravery and strength, and all these wonderful colors that she was able to show. But I was like, “Okay, A, I’ve got to bring it. And B, I was looking for these specific things that she did with her hands, with her face and what were her mannerisms that I could sort of bring into the later ages where we see my character. So it’s complicated when it turns out that way, but I really enjoyed the process. It was just an extra little challenge.

    MF: Miranda, can you talk about the power that Adrienne has over the children and especially with Freya?

    MO: She’s definitely a hugely powerful figure in the series with the children. I think her power is very much about withholding from them, giving to them as a special moment and telling them how special and important they are when she wants something from them or she needs them to behave in a certain way, but then completely cutting off from them once that’s complete. It’s very transactional for her. She gives certain things to get things, and then she cuts off from them entirely. She seems to see them more as a photograph than actual real human beings. There’s sort of a definite lack of empathy.

    Teresa Palmer stars in Hulu's 'The Clearing.'
    Teresa Palmer stars in Hulu’s ‘The Clearing.’

    MF: Teresa, having grown up with Adrienne, what is Freya’s relationship like with her children now and what type of mother is she?

    TP: I think Freya really wants to give her children opportunities that she was never afforded as a child herself. So a lot of her parenting is reactionary because she’s in a place now where she’s able to love on that child as much as she can and give them so much. But also, her past manifests itself in being a little bit overbearing. She is a little bit paranoid, she’s a little bit controlling, and she feels safer when she can isolate herself. So I think she’s doing the very best that she can with what she knows and what her experiences are. But of course, when I have a look at her, I realize that probably Billy, her young son, is being negatively impacted because Freya is sitting in such a fear-induced place.

    MF: Miranda, what has it been like for you to work on this series and create the complex relationship between Adrienne and Freya with Teresa?

    MO: It was fantastic. I really enjoyed this shoot so much. Also, my sister was a director on it, so that was a heap of fun, and who’s also a friend of Teresa, so that was really nice. But I just enjoyed working with Teresa so much. She made it look so easy, and I thought when I read it, “Wow, that is a very complicated, heavy role to kind of carry through the whole thing.” But Teresa is such a light and effervescent person on set, and that was such a lovely thing because you could end up in a very dark place playing that role. So it was an absolute joy.

    Miranda Otto stars in Hulu's 'The Clearing.'
    Miranda Otto stars in Hulu’s ‘The Clearing.’

    MF: Teresa, what was it like for you working with Miranda on this project?

    TP: I feel like in every interview, all I’ve been saying is this is a performance of a lifetime for Miranda. It’s unbelievable to have to hold the performance of someone from age 30 all the way up to their 80s. She did it so beautifully, and it was so nuanced. I’ve said this before, but I felt like we really trusted each other. So we were in a scene together and she would give me something and I would give her something, and it was like this beautiful dance, and each take would be so different and have its own colors. So it just felt like we were able to play and we were also given the freedom to do that by the writers and also the wonderful directors, including Gracie Otto, Miranda’s sister. So it was wonderful.

    MF: Finally, Miranda, what was it like being directed by your sister? Had you ever worked with her before?

    MO: It was great, actually. We’ve never worked together before. She’s worked with my dad, my husband and my daughter. It was fantastic because we got to spend a lot of time on weekends talking about what she wanted to do and how she was going to set up the shots. So it felt like I had an in insider lane into knowing ahead of time what she was hoping to get, and it just made working together really fast.

    Teresa Palmer stars in Hulu's 'The Clearing.'
    Teresa Palmer stars in Hulu’s ‘The Clearing.’

    Movies Similar to ‘The Clearing:’

    Buy Teresa Palmer Movies on Amazon

    Buy Miranda Otto Movies on Amazon 

  • Filmmakers Taneli Mustonen and Aleksi Hyvarinen Talk ‘The Twin’

    Tristan Ruggeri and Teresa Palmer
    (L to R) Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot and Teresa Palmer as Rachel in ‘The Twin.’ Photo Credit: Heikki Leis/Shudder.

    Opening in theaters, On Demand, digital, and streaming exclusively on Shudder beginning May 6th is the new psychological horror thriller ‘The Twin,’ which was co-written and directed by Taneli Mustonen (‘Lake Bodom’).

    Co-written and produced by Aleksi Hyvarinen, the film revolves around Rachel (Teresa Palmer) and Anthony (Steven Cree) who movie their family from the United States to Anthony’s birthplace of Finland, after a tragedy that kills their young son, Nathan (Tristan Ruggeri). Following the move, his surviving twin brother Elliot (Ruggeri) begins to communicate with his deceased sibling.

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director and co-writer Taneli Mustonen and producer and co-writer Aleksi Hyvarinen about their work on ‘The Twin.’

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    You can read our full interview with Taneli Mustonen and Aleski Hyvarinen below or watch our interviews with Mustonen, Hyvarinen, and actress Teresa Palmer by clicking on the video player above.

    Moviefone: To begin with, what can you tell us about your writing process together and how you broke the story for this movie?

    Taneli Mustonen: Oh, wonderful question. We met in film school and actually Aleksi wrote my first feature. It was a family film. So, we started from there and we’ve been working, running our company together ever since then. With this particular film, after “Lake Bodom”, we wanted to write something bit more adult-themed. Basically, we wanted to create a really proper character study in a horror film, because ‘Lake Bodom’ for us was trying to come up with something new in the slasher genre that we really love. Then with this, we wanted to pay homage to those awesome films from the ’70s and early ’80s like ‘Don’t Look Now,’ ‘The Omen’ or ‘The Changeling’ by the wonderful Peter Medak.

    So, we started from there. But basically, as parents, we wanted to really write a story about what grief can cost you, especially when losing one’s child, and that’s every parent’s worst nightmare. We noticed that in many horror films nowadays, it seems that tragic loss is usually used as a setup, but we wanted to really focus the story on creating a scary adventure ride, but really deal with the fact of what losing your child can do to you.

    Co-writer and director Taneli Mustonen and Co-writer and producer Aleksi Hyvarinen
    (L to R) Co-writer and director Taneli Mustonen and Co-writer and producer Aleksi Hyvarinen at ‘The Twin’ premiere at the Landmark Theatre, Los Angeles, CA.

    MF: Can you talk about the idea of a mother losing her child and dealing with that grief, and how you wanted to explore that in this screenplay?

    Aleksi Hyvarinen: The thing about horror as a genre is that you actually get to write and work with a story that is super entertaining in a scary way, but at the same time, you actually deal with themes and subject matter that are super archaic and deals with your ultimate fears basically. I think that’s something both of us have always loved about horror, that even in “The Twin”, you deal with the biggest fear of being a parent. We are both dads and obviously that was kind of the starting point for us. What is your ultimate fear as a parent? Anybody who’s a parent probably that is their ultimate fear and it becomes an entertaining ride at the same time.

    TM: Basically, we wanted to create horror films that paid homage to those awesome films that we grew up with and really make it the scariest thing you ever seen. That was our main focus when writing, but we really wanted to make it about the characters. Let’s create complex in-depth characters and cast Teresa Palmer as the role of Rachel. She’s pretty much in all of her scenes and at the same time, it felt important to us that we also drive the audience towards a certain rabbit hole, you could say.

    When viewing the film, we are also asking the question, what is real and what is not? I think that those are the things that everybody can relate to, even though you don’t have to be a parent to be afraid of losing your sanity. I feel it’s a film that really makes you question the true nature of evil and if there’s an evil entity, what would be his way of getting to you? So, those were the things we were actively doing with this one.

    Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, and Teresa Palmer as Rachel
    (L to R) Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, and Teresa Palmer as Rachel in ‘The Twin.’ Photo Credit: Shudder.

    MF: Can you also talk about using classic horror movie tropes to throw the audience off from what is really going on in the film?

    AH: You know, I often talk about with Taneli that when you’re watching a horror film, it’s basically a fairy tale for adults and your kind of watching it on two levels. It’s always the adult who’s looking for those clues in the plot, but also finding references to the horror films we all love, which is, as I said, ‘Don’t Look Now,’ Peter Medak’s ‘The Changeling’ and all of those great ’70s, ’80s horror films that Taneli and I grew up with. So, that’s one level.

    The other level is you as a kid and just being scared to the bone and really living the story on that emotional level. That is something we love about horror. It also makes it fun to write. It’s something we already exercised a bit in our previous horror film ‘Lake Bodom,’ introducing a character, a theme, and then flipping them around a couple times. It’s a bit of fun and we just feel that it’s always one of the greatest things in horror, even though it’s going to be super scary and super touching, it’s also a kind of a game as an audience member.

    MF: Taneli, can you discuss how you planned your camera moves and your uses of shadows and light to create the unique mood and tone of the film?

    TM: Thanks for pointing that out. It’s definitely the case that we wanted to have the villagers and the village all together as a character on its own. So, for the visual style, we went back and re-watched our favorite films for quite some time, and also watching the films of awesome filmmakers like James Wan, and his work on ‘The Conjuring‘ and especially ‘Insidious.’ But also, you could say our surroundings and what we learned from ‘Lake Bodom’ was how the use of nature started working on its own. We also wanted to create this kind of isolation in the characters. Rachel is put in a very fish out of water situation. She doesn’t know the language and she fears it.

    When it comes to lensing and the visual styles, we also had a wonderful production designer working with us for the first time. We would love to work with her again, because as soon as we found the house and the surroundings, we shot the film in Estonia where we were working on another film, which was a comedy. Aleksi and I started talking about it and said, “Oh my God, we’re walking on these locations for ‘The Twin,’” and everything grew quite organically from there. But, like I said, it’s one of those things that we wanted to really invite the audience to this strange world of Finland and, and I hope we pulled it off.

    Teresa Palmer in 'The Twin.'
    Teresa Palmer as Rachel in ‘The Twin.’ Photo Credit: Shudder.

    MF: Why was Teresa Palmer the right actress to play Rachel and what did she bring to the role?

    TM: We wrote the script and then it started circulating through our agents and managers back in LA and finally we got this call from Teresa’s agent, and we thought that it was one of those introductory calls. Maybe she was just thinking, does she want to do it or not? But as soon as she answered the phone, she was like, “I’ve read the script a couple of times now and I’ve been discussing it with my husband all through the night.” We were blown away by her reaction. She really understood what we were aiming with the film and with the story.

    I mean, it was just an amazing ride for us as filmmakers as well. From the very first take when we started to shoot, she was Rachel, and it was such an amazing creative process, which I’ve never had before, even though this is my sixth feature. I was learning every day from Teresa and there is a really good reason why she’s as huge a star as she is.

    AH: It was something we never dared to imagine. Even at times, we felt that Teresa knew her character better than we did as writers. It was amazing. Obviously, she is a mother and really kind of dove into that. We’ve been joking with our crew later on that there were times where all of us just basically forgot that we were shooting and ended up watching the monitor. Our focus puller basically almost forgot to pull focus. We were just lacking popcorn because it felt like a movie. It was pretty amazing.

    And whenever we had a new crew member come on set, their jaws dropped, and they were just mesmerized by the performances. I have to say; the whole cast was really doing a great job. It was quite a peculiar process. We were shooting in the middle of lockdown and it became this really concentrated atmosphere and you rarely met anybody outside of the set and the crew. It was a fun experience and there was a lot of concentration on set.

    MF: Finally, since you mentioned you were shooting during COVID, did the isolation of lockdown add to the mood and tone on set?

    TM: For sure. It was just us and we really didn’t get the chance to meet anybody else. We were basically also locked down. But we were like happy campers working on the film. We went on this journey and we created this story. Luckily, we were able to shoot so many scenes chronologically, even with our limited budget that we had. We had such amazing discussions about where we want to take the story and it took everything. As a director, you just want to encourage everybody to follow it.

    There were so many moments throughout the shoot that we really connected with everybody and it felt that we were living that story. So, I would say definitely, yes, the COVID, it was a big pain in the ass, but it also contributed a lot and it made everybody focus more. So, it’s an isolation horror movie in that sense, and I think it definitely worked to benefit us and the film.

    Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, Teresa Palmer as Rachel, and Steven Cree as Anthony
    (L to R) Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, Teresa Palmer as Rachel, and Steven Cree as Anthony in ‘The Twin.’ Photo Credit: Heikki Leis/Shudder.
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  • Teresa Palmer Talks ‘The Twin’

    Teresa Palmer in 'The Twin.'
    Teresa Palmer as Rachel in ‘The Twin.’ Photo Credit: Shudder.

    Opening in theaters, On Demand, digital, and streaming exclusively on Shudder beginning May 6th is the new psychological horror thriller ‘The Twin,’ which was co-written and directed by Taneli Mustonen (‘Lake Bodom’).

    Co-written and produced by Aleski Hyvarinen, the film revolves around Rachel (Teresa Palmer) and Anthony (Steven Cree) who movie their family from the United States to Anthony’s birthplace of Finland, after a tragedy that kills their young son, Nathan (Tristan Ruggeri). Following the move, his surviving twin brother Elliot (Ruggeri) begins to communicate with his deceased sibling.

    Teresa Palmer has been working professionally as an actress for over 15 years and has appeared in such movies as ‘Bedtime Stories,’ ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,’ ‘I Am Number Four,’ ‘Take Me Home Tonight,’ ‘Warn Bodies,’ ‘Knight of Cups,’ ‘Point Break,’ ‘Triple 9,’ and the Oscar-nominated ‘Hacksaw Ridge.’ But she is probably best known to TV audiences as Diana Bishop on the hit series ‘A Discovery of Witches.’

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Teresa Palmer about her work on ‘The Twin.’

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    You can read our full interview with Teresa Palmer below or watch our interview with Palmer, director and co-writer Taneli Mustonen, and producer and co-writer Aleksi Hyvarinen by clicking on the video player above.

    Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about how you got involved with this project and what was your first reaction after reading the screenplay?

    Teresa Palmer: I got involved through my new agency, ICM. They brought it to my attention. I was shooting the last season of ‘A Discovery of Witches’ and I was really looking for a film to do after being on that production for these long six months stints. So, I was looking for something to pop in for a couple of months and then be done.

    Then they brought this to my attention. I looked at the filmmaker’s last film, which is called ‘Lake Bodom’ and I was really intrigued by what I saw. I thought it was really great storytelling and just interesting. I loved the twists and the turns.

    So, I read the screenplay and I was completely blown away by the subject matter, but also just the little red herrings along the way. I loved going back and discovering what the micro-clues were to the big shock twist at the end of the movie. But the character was just so rich. She was rich and complex and imperfect, which I really loved.

    So, my reaction to the screenplay was one of shock and horror. I was immediately drawn to the character. She was intense and layered and complex and very vulnerable. There was this beautiful, imperfect nature to who she was and how she was handling the situation that she finds herself thrust in.

    So, I loved her, the humanity in her, but then really my favorite thing about it was that it felt like a standalone movie. It could be a drama where we are looking at the dynamic of a family after having experienced a really intense traumatic event in their life, and how they’re picking up these fractured pieces of their lives and trying to put them together.

    So that was standalone for me and really interesting. Then of course, they then pull the horror element in and they wove that into this beautiful, delicate and fractured family. I loved both elements of the screenplay and it’s really the thing that made me decide to do it.

    Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, Teresa Palmer as Rachel, and Steven Cree as Anthony in 'The Twin.'
    (L to R) Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, Teresa Palmer as Rachel, and Steven Cree as Anthony in ‘The Twin.’ Photo Credit: Heikki Leis/Shudder.

    MF: As you mentioned, the movie uses classic horror film tropes to throw the audience off from what is really happening in the story. Can you talk about that and how it really makes the movie standout from other horror films?

    TP: Yes, I found it really refreshing and I know that they had a lot of amazing inspirations from lots of very iconic horror films. But they made it its own beast. I found that it was quite a complex story to have to tell. It’s very delicate because it’s dealing with the ramifications of a family who have lost one of their children, especially when it may or may not have been one of the parents doing, it’s hard to tread that path. You have to do it lightly, beautifully and delicately, but you also have to make sure that the horror elements sit in it comfortably as well.

    So, I thought that the director, Taneli, and the producer, Aleksi, did a really beautiful job of telling the story and it really serves its purpose. But for me personally, it was a really challenging one because I was pregnant throughout the whole filming and then having the heaviness of a mother losing her child as the subject matter, that was pretty hard.

    Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, and Teresa Palmer as Rachel
    (L to R) Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, and Teresa Palmer as Rachel in ‘The Twin.’ Photo Credit: Shudder.

    MF: Can you talk about how as an actress you approached the physical and emotional challenges of playing a mother who has lost her child?

    TP: I found it really challenging playing the character. I think initially I thought it would be okay for me to just turn it off at the end of the day, and I would just go back to my kids it would be fine. But I think it was also because of what stage in my pregnancy I was. I started the movie when I was about 13 weeks pregnant and finished around 22 weeks pregnant.

    You’re transitioning into the second trimester and you’re feeling your baby move for the first time, but I had to deal with the joy of new life in me whilst still simultaneously playing the horrifying feelings of, and the isolation of, a woman having lost a child. So, it was pretty polarizing.

    I had to put this protective shell around me and I figured that, I’m going to show up, I’m going to be in the moments from action to cut, but I have to find a process of moving through and unpacking these feelings so that I’m not carrying it with me. I’m not affecting this pregnancy. I’m not taking it home to the kids. I felt like I was able to do that.

    Subconsciously it was still there with me. I would wake up in the middle of the night, many times with a sense of dread, and I would look around and I’d count all my many children to make sure they’re all safe. So, it definitely had an impact on me. I read a lot of things to prepare. There’s a couple of women I follow on Instagram who have lost their children in accidents. So, they didn’t have the time to prepare for a loss like that, and it just was very sudden.

    One of them in particular, she’s very open, beautiful and vulnerable with her journey of grief. I would read her writings late at night and really sort of sink into the feelings that she was so generously sharing with us. But my husband sometimes had to cut me off because I’d just be sobbing. But it’s such an important story to talk about when you’re dealt such a huge life changing event. Everyone else stops and they’re there to support you, love you, encourage you and lift you up.

    But everyone’s life continues on, and their children get older and they grow up. But you as the central character in this nightmare, it’s just with you every day. So that’s very isolating and that’s what I wanted to portray in this character.

    Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, Teresa Palmer as Rachel, and Steven Cree as Anthony
    (L to R) Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, Teresa Palmer as Rachel, and Steven Cree as Anthony in ‘The Twin.’ Photo Credit: Heikki Leis/Shudder.

    MF: Can you also talk about how that trauma affects her relationship with her husband, and creating that dynamic with Steven Cree?

    TP: They’re kind of in parallel lives, they’re both living their own existence, but they’re not even really coexisting at this point. It feels that Rachel is very much in her bubble of grief, and she holds a lot of resentment and a lot of anger towards her husband who feels really disengaged in their remaining child. I think that you just see such damage in their relationship.

    Often you read about when a traumatic event happens in a family, oftentimes it’s very hard to keep that family unit together and you hear more often than not these marriages end in divorce. So, I think you’re kind of looking down the barrel of divorce with these two, and that’s why they decide to make this radical big shift to go and pick themselves up and move to another country.

    They’re just running away from the same feelings and the same problems that are just going to follow them there. It’s a very intricate, delicate, sad, traumatizing thing to witness on screen. They’re so broken, both of them are really broken in their own ways and are both just trying to make the best choices in the moment.

    But again, another thing that I love, and I really wanted to explore, it’s not often I see that on camera, and that is the dynamics of a family after a child has passed away, and how broken that is and the humanity in that. So, I very much enjoyed exploring that relationship dynamic as well.

    Teresa Palmer as Rachel and Steven Cree as Anthony in 'The Twin.'
    (L to R) Teresa Palmer as Rachel and Steven Cree as Anthony in ‘The Twin.’ Photo Credit: Shudder.

    MF: Finally, what was it like working with director Taneli Mustonen and watching him execute his unique vision for this project?

    TP: It was wonderful. Taneli is like an excited little puppy dog. He loves horror, he just thrives and blossoms in that environment. So being on set, he’d get really excited. He’d come up with these great ideas and it was very spontaneous, and moment to moment.

    I definitely felt like, as a performer, it’s quite liberating because it’s not as traditional as what I’ve experienced before when shooting American films or even Australian films, where you have your call sheet, you know exactly what you’re doing from the very first moment you’re on set to the last moment when you leave, and this was the sort of thing that you had a loose idea of the scene that you’re shooting and then on the day you are just in it.

    So, you’re coming up with things, and it’s very collaborative. I felt as though I could throw in so many big ideas and plot ideas as well, and Taneli was just so open. He was so open to hearing things and trying things. It gave me the freedom to really be bold in some of the performance choices that I was getting to make, because I felt like anywhere I was landing, Taneli was accepting it and liked it.

    I think because my character is suffering from a mental health breakdown, there was a lot there to explore. I mean, there were really no boundaries. I could take it in any direction I wanted to. Taneli was like my dance partner in that, which was really wonderful.

    Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, Steven Cree as Anthony, and Teresa Palmer as Rachel in 'The Twin.'
    (L to R) Tristan Ruggeri as Elliot, Steven Cree as Anthony, and Teresa Palmer as Rachel in ‘The Twin.’ Photo Credit: Shudder.
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  • ‘A Discovery of Witches’ Finally Coming to US

    Sky One

    Lucky British folks have already enjoyed the fantasy series “A Discovery of Witches,” which premiered there in September.

    Now the series, based on the books by Deborah Harkness, finally has a US release date. Beginning January 17, the full 8-episode season will be available for streaming on both Sundance Now and Shudder, according to EW.

    The series stars Teresa Palmer as Diana Bishop, who happens to be a witch and a historian of science. A long-lost book leads her to vampire Matthew de Clermont (Matthew Goode).

    If you didn’t know, witches and vampires aren’t supposed to consort with each other, so their romance is as forbidden, as, say, Selene and Michael’s in “Underworld.”

    [Via EW]

  • This ‘Lights Out’ Trailer Will Make You Really Afraid of the Dark

    Lights OutScared of the dark? Well, the new “Lights Out” trailer is going to give you nightmares — if you can even go to sleep!

    The premise of the horror movie is pretty simple: A monster terrorizes a young woman and her kid brother when the lights are turned off. The monster’s name is Diana and was friends with their mother as children. But something terrible happened to Diana, and now she haunts the entire family.'Lights Out' (2016) Trailer 2

    Fear of darkness is something that many people had as kids (or even as adults), and the movie plays brilliantly to that. The few glimpses we get of Diana are creepy, and the family dynamic adds drama to the basic scares.

    “Lights Out” stars Maria Bello, Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, and Charlotta Losten, and opens in theaters July 22.

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  • Teresa Palmer Facts: 9 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About ‘The Choice’ Star

    %Slideshow-361713% Teresa Palmer‘s acting career started a little over 10 years ago, but she’s about to become a household name thanks to her role in the latest Nicholas Sparks flick “The Choice.” From befriending kangaroos to how she got her start in Hollywood, she is one interesting lady.

    Before you catch the movie, here are nine things you might not have known about the actress. Premiere Of Lionsgate's "The Choice" - Arrivals
    [Source: IMDB]

  • Christian Bale Got Trolled, Believed Actress Teresa Palmer Was a Stripper

    Is it a compliment to be a really convincing stripper? Christian Bale and Teresa Palmer both star in Terrence Malick‘s upcoming movie “Knight of Cups.” Because Malick is Malick, he doesn’t do things the usual way, with introductions and pre-planned scenes. That can lead to some misunderstandings, as it did for Christian and the “Warm Bodies” actress.

    Christian recently had a nice long interview with the Evening Standard, and talked about how the director gave everyone else script pages, except for him. Malick was fond of pushing Christian into scenes without giving the actor a clue what he should say or do — or whether he was in a scene with an actor or a non-professional, since Malick cast both.
    “Even when they were actors, Terry would still tell me they weren’t,” Christian said. “We were filming in a strip club, and Teresa Palmer’s there in her little silver hotpants and I’m asking her how long she’d been dancing for? Does she enjoy it? What got her into it? I had no idea that she was an actress until about a week after working with her. Suddenly I saw a billboard with her face on it and I went ‘What?’”

    Poor guy, trolled by both Teresa Palmer and Terrence Malick. Do you think Teresa thought he was just in character or did she know he was clueless? Either way, hopefully she got a few $50s off him.

    “Knight of Cups” is scheduled for release March 4, 2016.

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  • First ‘Point Break’ Remake Trailer Pulls a ‘Fast & Furious’

    If Michael Bay, “The Fast & the Furious,” and XTreme Sports had a baby, it would be the trailer for the “Point Break” remake.

    Our first look at the film — from director Ericson Core, the cinematographer for the first “Fast and Furious” movie — takes a page from that franchise’s playbook in terms of delivering a crime thriller with crazy, adrenaline-fueled action scenes. Unlike the “Fast & Furious” films, this remake seems to have a very serious tone as FBI Agent Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey) struggles to take down a team of Xtreme athletes-turned-crooks lead by Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez).


    In between shots of the bad guys literally skydiving through piles of money and jumping off cliffs without parachutes, the trailer drops uh-maz-ing bits of dialog — like this one from Agent Utah:

    “I believe that, like me, the people behind these robberies are extreme athletes… Using their skills to disrupt the international financial markets.”

    There is life before, and life after, that line.

    “Point Break,” which also stars Teresa Palmer, hits theaters Christmas Day.