Moviefone Editorial

Tag: time-travel

  • ‘Aporia’ Interview: Director Jared Moshé

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    Opening in theaters on August 11th is the new time traveling drama ‘Aporia,’ which was directed by Jared Moshé (‘The Ballad of Lefty’).

    What is the plot of ‘Aporia’?

    Since losing her husband Mal (Edi Gathegi) in a drunk-driving incident, Sophie (Judy Greer) has struggled to manage crippling grief, a full-time job, and the demands of parenting her devastated teenage daughter (Faithe Herman). When her husband’s best friend Jabir (Payman Maadi), a former physicist, reveals that he has been building a time-bending machine that could restore her former life, Sophie will be faced with an impossible choice—and unforeseeable consequences.

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    Who is in the cast of ‘Aporia’?

    Judy Greer (‘Ant-Man‘) as Sophie, Edi Gathegi (‘X-Men: First Class‘) as Mal, Payman Maadi (‘13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi‘) as Jabir, Faithe Herman (‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods‘) as Riley Rice, Whitney Morgan Cox (‘Animal Kingdom’) as Kara Brinkley, and Veda Cienfuegos (‘Circuit Breakers’) as Aggie.

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with filmmaker Jared Moshé about his work on ‘Aporia,’ developing the screenplay, the themes he wanted to explore, the rules of time travel, creating the look of the time machine, Sophie and Mal’s relationship, how things change when he returns, their obsession with “fixing time,” and assembling his excellent cast.

    Judy Greer and Edi Gathegi in Well Go USA Entertainment’s 'Aporia.'
    (L to R) Judy Greer and Edi Gathegi in Well Go USA Entertainment’s ‘Aporia.’

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.

    Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about developing the screenplay and the themes that you wanted to explore with this movie?

    Jared Moshé: So the idea for the screenplay came about when I was becoming a dad for the first time. Suddenly, the world became a lot scarier, everything felt a lot more uncertain. It just became scarier. I was trying to figure out how to wrestle with that. I found that as an artist, the best way to do that is sometimes through my art. So I wanted to do a movie that explored someone grappling with uncertainty, and trying to find a way to control the world, to a way that they understand it and bring it back to that place. While I was trying to figure out how to do that story, I remember this weird, crazy idea I’d had for a gun that could murder people in the past. I had this idea and I was like, “I don’t know what I’m going to do with that.” And then I was like, “Oh, what if a character has to use that to try to regain control of her life?”

    Judy Greer in Well Go USA Entertainment’s 'Aporia.'
    Judy Greer in Well Go USA Entertainment’s ‘Aporia.’

    MF: So, it’s sort of playing off of the “going back in time to kill Hitler” idea, is that right?

    JM: Right. It’s totally like that. But on a much more personal level. One of the things I think, is we like to talk about the world and this big space, but our worlds are really small, and our worlds are the lives we build for ourselves. So it’s a lot easier for someone to justify using it for their world, than it is for like, “Oh, well, I’m going to kill baby Hitler,” because who knows what that would do?

    Payman Maadi and Judy Greer in Well Go USA Entertainment’s 'Aporia.'
    (L to R) Payman Maadi and Judy Greer in Well Go USA Entertainment’s ‘Aporia.’

    MF: Every movie or TV show has their own specific rules about time travel. What were the rules of time travel that you wanted to establish for this story?

    JM: I wanted to try to keep it as simple as possible, when I was putting up this world. For this story, I thought about how to do it in a way that felt somewhat scientifically plausible and didn’t give any easy answers. So the rules I set forth with the machine, I thought it was a particle accelerator, and it could create a particle and it could send it back in time. If somehow you get it in someone’s head, it can cause basically, an aneurysm or a stroke. I was like, “All right, well if you’re doing that, the machine can only do really one thing. Kill someone.” Because if you shot a particle back in time to a wall, what’s going to happen? So the machine can only kill. Then two, you can’t un-kill. It’s like you fired the bullet, it’s out of there. So there’s no take backs. Then three, being sort of inspired by the way quantum physics works and relativity, I figured if you use the machine, you observed a change in the timeline. So you remember the original timeline, not the new one you’ve created.

    Related Article: ‘Aporia’ Exclusive Clip

    Payman Maadi in Well Go USA Entertainment’s 'Aporia.'
    Payman Maadi in Well Go USA Entertainment’s ‘Aporia.’

    MF: Can you talk about designing the look of the time machine? What did you want that to look like on screen?

    JM: I wanted it to look like a piece of crap. I wanted the most powerful machine in the world to look like a piece of junk. I gave my production designers two instructions. So I had two production designers on this movie. Kati Simon, who handled the world and everything else, and Ariel Vida who handled the machine. I gave her two pieces of instruction, direction. First was that it’s a particle accelerator. The second one was, make it look like a fire hazard. I want this thing to feel like it’s going to burn down. It’s more likely to burn down the building than it is to actually do what he says it does. She went in there and she learned how to weld. She grabbed things from junk shops. She would take stuff she found on the side of the street, like old jukebox parts. She rented the main part of it and then just went crazy. Our philosophy was, we don’t know what actually works and what doesn’t work, because our characters don’t know what actually works and what doesn’t work. They’ve tried to build this thing so many different times, and so many different times it’s caught on fire, blowing all the fuses. The fact that it does the work is just almost a miracle.

    Faithe Herman and Edi Gathegi in Well Go USA Entertainment’s 'Aporia.'
    (L to R) Faithe Herman and Edi Gathegi in Well Go USA Entertainment’s ‘Aporia.’

    MF: Can you talk about how Sophie and Riley are dealing with Mal’s death in the original timeline, and how their lives change after Jabir offers Sophie this rare opportunity to bring Mal back?

    JM: So I think Sophie, played by Judy Greer, my idea for this character is she’s created her life to be this very controlled thing. She went to nursing school, she became a nurse because she understood there’s always going to be need for nurses. We’re always going to have our life in front of us. She built this little life. They’re not rich, they live month to month. They rent, they’re not particularly well off, but they built out a little life that they’re really proud of and live in. And it’s been taken, when the movie starts, that’s been ripped away from her. Suddenly this one thing that she’s sort of built her whole life towards is gone and that grief is overwhelming. It’s like, the expectations of what you’re setting out to be just change completely. Adding to that grief is the fact that she has always been the provider for her family. Her husband Mal, played by Edi Gathegi, was kind the stay-at-home dad. He got his disability checks and he stayed at home. He raised their daughter Riley, played by Faithe Herman. So not only was she struggling with her life being blown up in a way she doesn’t understand, but also, she suddenly has to take on this whole other role. She’s not just the provider anymore. She’s the provider and the mother, and she has no clue how to do that, and no trust in her abilities to do that. Meanwhile, Riley, played by Faithe Herman is struggling so hard to connect to her mom. To try to find a place in this world when the one figure who was always there for her, her dad, was gone. It’s just suddenly made the world a lot darker and a lot scarier. So when Mal returns, things are still more complicated than Sophie thought, because as much as she thought she wanted this life back together, they spent the last year essentially apart because he was killed eight months ago. She remembers the eight months where he’s dead. He’s living in the eight months where he’s alive. Riley’s living in the eight months where he’s been alive. So suddenly, Sophie finds herself like this outsider in her own family, and she’s struggling to understand why, and what’s going on? What is all she missed? What does that mean about her connection with Mal? Meanwhile, Mal notices how strange Sophie is acting, because Sophie’s almost gushingly excited. “I have you back. You’ve been dead. This is amazing.” He has no clue. It’s like, “Why are you hugging me so much? This is weird. Why aren’t you being your normal self?” So it creates this disconnect that she wasn’t expecting, and they both have to grapple and figure out how to make it work.

    Edi Gathegi and Judy Greer in Well Go USA Entertainment’s 'Aporia.'
    (L to R) Edi Gathegi and Judy Greer in Well Go USA Entertainment’s ‘Aporia.’

    MF: Can you talk about the bond that Sophie, Mal and Jabir form together and their obsession with “fixing time”?

    JM: Well, I think it was really important to me when I was coming up with this story, that there was no real bad guys. I mean, I guess other than maybe Darby (Adam O’Byrne) at the beginning, but even he’s not a real bad guy in that way. But there’s no bad guys. There’s not one of them that is evil or has evil motivations. Not one of them is going to get corrupted by this power. It’s much more about, they each sort of realize they have this incredible thing in front of them. They want to use it to fix things in different ways. For Payman Maadi, who plays Jabir, he’s sort of already figured out all the moral conflicts of this. He feels like, all right, he’s done the trolley problem in his head a hundred times, and he knows what decisions he’ll agree with. So he sees this as a great opportunity to make the world a better place. Whereas, Sophie is much more concerned about what’s going on in the repercussions of the choices she’s already made, and the dangers of using this machine. She kind of wants to find a way to fix things, fix her mistakes, and she doesn’t know if the machine is the best way to do that or not. Meanwhile, Mal’s like, “Oh my gosh, this is an incredible thing.” He’s kind of like the guy who’s left out of it. They all got to use it but he didn’t. There’s a part of him that’s like, “There’s this incredible thing I’m part of. I want to be able to do something with it, but I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’m a little late to the party.” As much as they all care about it and connect, and have this obsession with this thing, the most powerful machine in the world that’s sitting in Jabir’s bedroom, they don’t know what is the best way forward.

    Edi Gathegi and Payman Maadi in Well Go USA Entertainment’s 'Aporia.'
    (L to R) Edi Gathegi and Payman Maadi in Well Go USA Entertainment’s ‘Aporia.’

    MF: Finally, can you talk about assembling your excellent cast?

    JM: I love my cast so much. I don’t know how I got so lucky, honestly, to get them. So, Judy Greer is just an incredible talent of an actor who’s been around for so long, and for so long she’s had to do supporting role parts, the best friend or the sidekick. But that sort of belies the talent that she really has as an actor. You see it comes through. It comes through in ‘The Descendants,’ it comes through in ‘Halloween,’ it even comes through in ‘13 Going On 30.’ You can see it in these little moments. So, I felt like she is one of the most expressive faces out there. I really wanted someone who can convey the maelstrom of emotions that Sophie is feeling, and that’s why I thought Judy would be the perfect actor for this. Then also, I kind of like the idea of this story being focused on the people you don’t expect to be the center of movie, and Judy was perfect for that just on a sort of metal level. We got her the script. Luckily for us, she responded to it and she and I had a great conversation, and we were able to attach her. Then once we had Judy and we needed to figure out who our Mal was going to be. One of the things I love about Edi Gathegi as an actor is the way he can use stillness. Judy is all energy and emotion, and she can really show everything. Eddie is very still and emotes so powerfully with the slightest gesture or just his eyes. It’s like his body will be still, and there’ll be a world of emotion and meaning in a look. I felt like he was the perfect foil to put with Judy, because he’s the stillness and feels more like the rock in the relationship, which is what Sophie feels he is, and that they would play really well together. Thankfully they did. Then the last one was Payman Maadi, who he’s a huge Persian actor. I mean, when I saw ‘A Separation,’ I was just like, “Who is this guy?” He should be a huge movie star in America, and hopefully he will. When I was trying to find the right actor for Jabir, who is a character who understands who he is and is very self-aware, but has made some choices that someone might say are morally ambiguous. I think it’s really important to have someone who embraces empathy, because he’s a very empathetic character. So much of the movie is his story as much as it’s theirs, and the choice, especially given where the film goes. I wanted an actor who could portray that empathy. Luckily, Payman was available and was able to do it, and it was just incredible having all three of them together.

    Judy Greer in Well Go USA Entertainment’s 'Aporia.'
    Judy Greer in Well Go USA Entertainment’s ‘Aporia.’

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  • Andie MacDowell and Cast Talk Hallmark Series ‘The Way Home’

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    Premiering January 15th on the Hallmark Channel is the new original series ‘The Way Home,’ which was created by Heather Conkie, Alexandra Clarke and Marly Reed.

    The series stars Chyler Leigh (‘Supergirl’) as Kat Landry, Sadie Laflamme-Snow (‘Love Triangle Nightmare’) as her 15-year-old daughter Alice, and Andie MacDowell (‘Groundhog Day’) as Kat’s estranged mother Del. More than 20 years prior, a life-changing event created a chasm in their family that time has yet to repair.

    Kat and Del still aren’t on speaking terms, Alice has never met her grandmother and is unaware of the reasons for their fractured family. When the three generations come together under one roof for the first time in more than two decades, a surprising discovery unexpectedly sets the trio on a path toward healing and helps them find their way back to each other.

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh and Sadie Laflamme-Snow about their work on ‘The Way Home,’ their first reaction to the screenplays, and the relationship between their characters.

    Chyler Leigh, Andie MacDowell, and Sadie Laflamme-Snow star in Hallmark Channel's ‘The Way Home.'
    (L to R) Chyler Leigh, Andie MacDowell, and Sadie Laflamme-Snow star in Hallmark Channel’s ‘The Way Home.’

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh and Sadie Laflamme-Snow about ‘The Way Home.’

    Moviefone: To begin with, Andie, what was your first reaction when you read the screenplay for the pilot?

    Andie MacDowell: I was just blown away by the script. It just gave me chill bumps. I love the fact that it took place on this farm. That was really appealing to me that I had bees. I was like, “Oh, I love that.” Then she has these young people that come. I love that, being a mature person but still interacting with younger people.

    But then when my daughter comes home, and we have all this trouble between us, she brings my granddaughter that I’ve not had the opportunity to be with. I warn her about this pond, and she goes into the pond and then ends up going back in time and seeing me in 1999 and meeting her mother at 15. That’s when it blew my mind open and it continues to happen over the season. We couldn’t wait to get the next script and were so surprised by what was happening. It’s a real trip. It’s a great trip. It’s very different for Hallmark, though. But they still have great romance and some beautiful men.

    MF: Chyler, when you are creating a new character for a series like this, are you given the scripts for the entire season, or do you have to take it episode by episode?

    Chyler Leigh: That’s very interesting because I guess that’s kind of life anyway. But for us, the way that we were filming, because we did 10 episodes, we’d get 2 episodes at a time. So, it was like we did episodes 1 and 2 together, then 3, 4, 5, and 6. So, we had a little bit of insight as to where we were going. Then of course our showrunners and writers, they gave us bits and pieces of what to look forward to. But it was just as much a mystery and surprise to us when we got to see this journey as our characters kind of discovering where they are in their lives. We also see the consequences of Alice’s time-traveling and how that can affect your current time.

    Andie MacDowell and Chyler Leigh star in Hallmark Channel's ‘The Way Home.'
    (L to R) Andie MacDowell and Chyler Leigh star in Hallmark Channel’s ‘The Way Home.’

    MF: Sadie, can you talk about the time-traveling elements of the series?

    Sadie Laflamme-Snow: It’s been really exciting. It’s a great challenge as an actor too, just to be holding that kind of information in two different timelines. It almost felt like you’re the liaison between what felt at times like two different casts completely. Because the worlds are very separated in a lot of ways. The opportunity for Alice to meet her mom when her mom is a teenager and they become best friends. But in the present day, we’re struggling so much to communicate and to connect. So, in terms of how the past was informing the present, it was just an amazing challenge and just so much fun. I think it’s going to be really thrilling for the audience because they’re in on it with Alice.

    MF: Finally, Chyler, can you talk about where Kat is in her life when the series begins and why she decides to move back in with her mom when they haven’t spoken in years?

    CL: When we pick up where Kat is, she’s just been laid off from her job. She’s in the midst of separating from her husband and she’s kind of just come to this crossroads. She doesn’t know what she’s doing, where she’s going, and she’s struggling in the midst of the separation, with her daughter trying to figure out how to communicate and they’re just butting heads all the time. So, she ends up after 20 years of not speaking to her mother, in the wake of a really big tragedy in our family, she gets this mysterious letter that Del is saying, “Come home.”

    It’s sort of like, this an opportunity to heal? Is this an opportunity to get the apologies that she feels she deserves and kind of work through the guilt that she feels? She’s bringing her daughter for the first time ever to meet her grandmother. So, with all of that, we pick up where everybody is in their own struggles and figure out how they can either work together or how being in the past from Alice’s perspective, can heal where they are now and move forward.

    Chyler Leigh, Sadie Laflamme-Snow and Andie MacDowell star in Hallmark Channel's ‘The Way Home.'
    (L to R) Chyler Leigh, Sadie Laflamme-Snow and Andie MacDowell star in Hallmark Channel’s ‘The Way Home.’

  • Director Alex Lehmann Talks Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute’

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    Releasing September 21st on Peacock is the new time-traveling romantic-comedy ‘Meet Cute,’ from ‘Paddleton’ director Alex Lehmann.

    The movie follows Sheila (Kaley Cuoco) and Gary (Pete Davidson) on their first date, only to learn that Shelia is a time-traveler who after discovering a time machine in a nail salon, is continually returning to that one particular night to make it “perfect.”

    Moviefone recently has the pleasure of speaking with director Alex Lehmann about his work on ‘Meet Cute,’ the time-traveling screenplay, the outrageous characters, working with Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson, where he would go if he had a time machine, and just who is Smitson?

    Kaley Cuoco as Sheila and Pete Davidson as Gary in Peacock's 'Meet Cute.'
    (L to R) Kaley Cuoco as Sheila and Pete Davidson as Gary in Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute.’ Photo: MKI Distribution Services. Copyright: MKI Distribution Services.

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch a video from the interview.

    Moviefone: To begin with, what was your first reaction to this time-traveling/romantic-comedy screenplay and how did you envision shooting it in your mind?

    Alex Lehmann: First, I’ll give you the honest story that I actually haven’t given anybody yet, which was I had just finished this other movie, ‘Paddleton,’ that was at Sundance. I was getting a lot of scripts and maybe I was moving through the scripts a little too quickly. So, I was given the script. I read 15 pages, and I was like, “It’s just a rom-com. Why would they want me to do a rom-com?”

    I passed on it, and then somebody called me up, outside of the producers, and they’re like, “You should really read a script called ‘Meet Cute.’” So, I called the producers back, and I begged them. I was like, “Before I pass, just let me read the rest of the script.” I owned my mistake. Once I realized what was going on underneath the funny but really cutesy dialogue, I was hooked. The idea that we could make a more honest rom-com but present it as like a Richard Curtis film or something, that was really cool.

    MF: What do you mean by “a more honest rom-com?”

    AL: I think that rom-coms not always, but often depict people battling to get the idealized relationship, that honeymoon phase. They’re not fighting for anything other than what is going to be the first three months of being an awesome relationship before they find out that that person farts in bed or doesn’t floss or whatever it is.

    But our movie is about fighting for a relationship, not just the beginnings of a relationship. That, to me, is really romantic because I’ve been married for 10 years, and I know the difference between trying to get my wife to go on a first date with me versus facing life together.

    Pete Davidson as Gary and Kaley Cuoco as Sheila in Peacock's 'Meet Cute.'
    (L to R) Pete Davidson as Gary and Kaley Cuoco as Sheila in Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute.’ Photo: MKI Distribution Services. Copyright: MKI Distribution Services.

    MF: Can you talk about the choice to begin the film on the seventh time Sheila went on the first date with Gary, rather than their actual first date before she discovers the time machine?

    AL: It’s cool that we get to first take the audience on this lovable first date, and then we tell the audience, “You actually don’t know what’s really going on here.” But we don’t do it in this “We’re smarter than you the audience” kind of way. We do this in a way where we let the audience in, and we acknowledge that the audience is smart, and they’ve been piecing it together.

    I think that ultimately gives us the freedom to do some of the cool things we do later on in the film, like when “New Gary” is presented. But I don’t want to say anything more about “New Gary.” Basically, I think later in the film when some stuff is happening, and the audience is not sure what’s happening, they also trust us that we’ll all piece it together and there’s a good payoff coming.

    MF: Did that also give you a certain amount of freedom as a filmmaker, because at that point you could take the story in several different directions?

    AL: Yeah. I think it gave us a certain freedom. There are a lot of time-travel movies, and I don’t want to say they have tropes, but there are tropes. It was important for us to tell a more unique story. So, it gave us freedom. But let me put it this way. The audience knows time-travel movies so well at this point that there’s a lot of shortcuts, and there’s a lot of things we’re like, “We don’t have to explain alternate timelines and all these things because everybody’s seen these movies.” So, we were able to step away from the science of it all, and we got to tell more of an emotional time-travel movie because we’ve all got that lexicon of what time travel is in a regular film.

    Kaley Cuoco as Sheila and Pete Davidson as Gary in Peacock's 'Meet Cute.'
    (L to R) Kaley Cuoco as Sheila and Pete Davidson as Gary in Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute.’ Photo: MKI Distribution Services. Copyright: MKI Distribution Services.

    MF: Can you talk about where Sheila is emotionally when the film starts, how she becomes obsessed with this one night, why she does what she does, and how it begins to drive her mad?

    AL: So, the first shot of Sheila in the film is this really long slow-mo shot. We shot it at high speed, and it’s basically Kaley running down the street. It’s a five-second shot, and yet you see all these emotions come over her, and she’s going through all these things. It’s just a little hint to what is going on with Sheila, because she’s this brilliant but really troubled person whose kind of creating her own problems. She’s such a control freak.

    I think it’s hard for audiences to realize that the slow-mo shot is only maybe 10 seconds. Really, it’s Kaley for three seconds and her direction was, “I need you to be scared, now happy, now excited, now angry, and now vengeful, and act all of emotions in three seconds, and we’re going to film it in slow motion.” She did it, and it was amazing.

    Sheila wants to control her destiny, her happiness and all the joy that’s around her, but the more she squeezes the reins, the more she’s actually suffocating herself, Gary and the whole world. So, showing her in that conundrum, where the more scared she gets, the tighter she even squeezes then, she’s her own enemy in this film. That’s why you root for her, right? Because you get to see her face herself.

    MF: With Gary, at a certain point, does he begin to remember all of the “first dates” he’s gone on with Sheila and is aware that she has been trying to change him?

    AL: I think this is a unique element that you maybe haven’t seen in any time-travel films that, for lack of better words, it’s the “some stuff sticks” rule. I like that you get that feeling with people in real life. You might not have experienced that much with them, but you’re starting to. Your heart and your gut are telling you things about this person. Whether that is a past life you’ve shared with them, or they just remind you of someone, or whatever it is, it informs you beyond whatever the situation is.

    I think it’s really fun to explore the fact that Gary is being harmed. It’s not just free play. Sheila doesn’t just get to do this forever with no consequence. If she did, that would be really messed up. Well, it is messed up that she’s doing it anyways, but it’d be a short film, right? We’d only need to show you the first date and the last date if there were no consequences. But instead, you’re getting to see the depiction of a relationship. It’s like everything we do has an impact on each other in friendships and relationships. I think that’s the time-travel version of it.

    We’re constantly creating scars or we’re leaving some sort of residual impact on people. If I can be hokey for a second, I think the message behind that, if there is a message, is to be really thoughtful of how we treat each other because we’re oftentimes caught up in our own head space, in our own wants and stuff, and we forget that even the way we talk to a waiter or somebody at the cash register, it’s affecting them, and there should be an accountability there.

    Pete Davidson as Gary and Kaley Cuoco as Sheila in Peacock's 'Meet Cute.'
    (L to R) Pete Davidson as Gary and Kaley Cuoco as Sheila in Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute.’ Photo: MKI Distribution Services. Copyright: MKI Distribution Services.

    MF: Can you talk about working with Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson and their chemistry together on and off set?

    AL: I mean, the three of us laughed so hard that whole month of filming. It was like I was crying, laughing every single day. I think we were all in a place in our lives where we needed it too. Before filming, we got together, and we hung out a few times. On all my films, I have that day where we lean in with what’s going on in our lives, our vulnerabilities, and all that kind of stuff. I usually try to go first, just so that they’re not thinking I’m going to take advantage of them and rat them out.

    I think that we try to really bring the material a little closer to where we are as individuals in life in that moment. So, we kind of find where the material meets the people. Then shooting the film itself ends up weirdly being therapeutic, where we’re laughing our way through whatever human things we connected with in the script, both positive and scary things that we struggle with. We get to laugh about by playing these characters and exploring it all in the script. It’s like play therapy.

    MF: Sheila discovers the time machine in a nail salon, which is owned by June, played by Deborah Craig. But it’s never explained why June has a time machine or even how it really works. Can you talk about creating this character and Craig’s performance?

    AL: I mean, a tanning-bed time-machine thing is obviously silly, right? But there’s two versions of the tanning-bed time machine. Either it is what it is in the movie, or else you have to have all these wires and I would’ve had to spend two weeks talking to a quantum physicist, and we would have to figure all this stuff out to make it as realistic as possible.

    Or you just cast someone like Deborah Craig, who’s so funny and knows how to make it genuine and so funny at the same time that you just accept it, and you move on because you’re more interested in the characters and where the story goes than to ask time-travel questions. There’s a reason we didn’t cover the production offices with red yarn and do whiteboard timeline stuff.

    Then, as far as that June character, in most films, that character is a trope and just kind of serves a purpose for the main characters and falling in love. Both the way (screenwriter) Noga (Pnueli) wrote June, who was a real person and had that really cool reveal later on in the film, and the way that Deborah played her even more so, it makes June interesting. In 2022, it would be a shame to not give a little more depth to the June character, especially because she’s a little cynical.

    She wants to help these kids because they’re trying so hard to fall in love, and there’s something beautiful and romantic about that. But at the same time, there’s part of her that’s like, “I’m trying to run this business in Brooklyn. Do you know how hard it is to make ends meet? And what are your problems? Excuse me. Go get a smoothie. Go next door. I don’t want to hear your problems.” She just plays it all so perfectly. I want the world to find out about Deborah Craig. I hope that this movie helps, because she’s fantastic.

    Deborah S. Craig as June and Kaley Cuoco as Sheila in Peacock's 'Meet Cute.'
    (L to R) Deborah S. Craig as June and Kaley Cuoco as Sheila in Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute.’ Photo: MKI Distribution Services. Copyright: MKI Distribution Services.

    MF: In the movie, there is a funny running gag about how Sheila erased the evil Smitson from existence to better the world. In your mind, who was Smitson?

    AL: Yes, Smitson. It’s my favorite joke of the film. I think pitching the Smitson joke is what got me the movie, to be honest. Honestly, we’re never going to know who Smitson is because we’re not on the Smitson timeline.

    But in this story, Hitler was the better version of Smitson. If we had to pick Smitson or Hitler, at least we didn’t get Smitson. That’s the joke. The fact that we don’t know who Smithson is, is a good thing!

    MF: Finally, if you could travel back in time to any point for only 24 hours, like in the movie, where would you go and what would you change?

    AL: A lot of bad haircuts. I’ve made a lot of dumb jokes, and I’ve gotten a lot of bad haircuts. But I guess if I only had one chance, I’d probably feed the world or cure some disease. I would try to do something, I guess. But if somehow, I get to save the world but also stop myself from getting another bad haircut, that’d be great!

    'Meet Cute' premieres September 21st on Peacock.
    ‘Meet Cute’ premieres September 21st on Peacock.
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  • Best Time Traveling Movies

    best time traveling movies

    Premiering on Netflix March 11th is the new time-traveling family comedy, ‘The Adam Project.’ Directed by Shawn Levy (‘Free Guy‘), the movie stars Ryan Reynolds as a pilot from the future who travels to 2022 to save the timeline and must team-up with the 12-year-old version of himself (Walker Scobell). The movie also features Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener, and Mark Ruffalo.

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    Hollywood is no stranger to making movies about time travel, with the first being the 1921 silent film ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.’ 1960’s ‘The Time Machine‘ was the first time traveling movie to win an Oscar (for Best Visual Effects), and dozens of movies about time travel have been released since including ‘Planet of the Apes,’ ‘Time Bandits‘ and ‘Time After Time.’

    In honor of ‘The Adam Project’s release, we are counting down the best time traveling movies of the last 40 years!

    Let’s Begin!

    10) ‘Frequency’ (2000)

    Jim Caviezel Radio
    New Line Cinema

    When a rare phenomenon gives police officer John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel) the chance to speak to his father (Dennis Quaid), 30 years in the past, he takes the opportunity to prevent his dad’s tragic death. After his actions inadvertently give rise to a series of brutal murders he and his father must find a way to fix the consequences of altering time.

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    9) ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ (2014)

    Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow movie
    Warner Bros. Pictures

    Major Bill Cage (Tom Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and dropped into combat. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an alpha alien down with him. He awakens back at the beginning of the same day and is forced to fight and die again… and again – as physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop.

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    8) ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ (2009)

    Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams in Time Travelers Wife movie
    Warner Bros.

    Due to a genetic disorder, handsome librarian Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) involuntarily zips through time, appearing at various moments in the life of his true love, the beautiful artist Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams).

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    7) ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ (2010)

    John Cusack in Hot Tub Time Machine movie
    MGM

    A malfunctioning time machine at a ski resort takes a man (John Cusack) back to 1986 with his two friends (Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson) and nephew (Clark Duke), where they must relive a fateful night and not change anything to make sure the nephew is born.

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    6) ‘About Time’ (2013)

    Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams
    Universal Pictures

    The night after another unsatisfactory New Year’s party, Tim’s (Domhnall Gleeson) father (Bill Nighy) tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. They can’t change history, but they can change what happens and has happened in their own lives. Thus begins the start of a lesson in learning to appreciate life itself as it is, as it comes, and most importantly, the people living alongside us.

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    5) ‘Groundhog Day’ (1993)

    Bill Murray in Groundhog Day movie
    Columbia Pictures

    A narcissistic TV weatherman (Bill Murray), along with his attractive-but-distant producer (Andie MacDowell), and his mawkish cameraman, is sent to report on Groundhog Day in the small town of Punxsutawney, where he finds himself repeating the same day over and over.

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    4) ‘Time Cop’ (1994)

    Jean-Claude Van Damm
    Universal Pictures

    An officer (Jean-Claude Van Damme) for a security agency that regulates time travel, must fend for his life against a shady politician who has a tie to his past.

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    3) ‘Looper’ (2012)

    Willis and Gordon-Levitt
    TriStar Pictures

    In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to close the loop, sending back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination.

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    2) ‘Terminator’ (1984)

    Arnold Schwarzenegger with gun
    Orion Pictures

    In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the “Terminator” (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior (Michael Biehn) to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?

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    1) ‘Back to the Future’ (1985)

    Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future movie
    Universal Pictures

    Eighties teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents’ first meeting and attracting his mother’s romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents’ romance and – with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) – return to 1985.

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  • Movie Review: ‘The Adam Project’

    Reynolds fighting robots
    (L to R) Walker Scobell and Ryan Reynolds in Netflix’s ‘The Adam Project’

    Premiering on Netflix beginning March 11th is the new time-traveling movie ‘The Adam Project,’ from ‘Free Guy’ director Shawn Levy. The film stars ‘Free Guy’ and ‘Deadpool’ actor Ryan Reynolds as a time-traveling pilot from the future who travels to the past and teams-up with the 12-year-old version of himself in order to save the timeline.

    In addition to Reynolds, the cast also features Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, and newcomer Walker Scobell. The result is a really fun and fresh take on time-traveling comedies like ‘Back to the Future,’ but also adds the emotion of ‘Field of Dreams,’ and features terrific performances from Reynolds and the rest of the cast.

    The movie begins by introducing us to Adam Reed (Reynolds), a rebellious pilot from the future who steals a spaceship and travels to 2022, while he is pursued by law enforcement. We are then introduced to a 12-year-old version of Adam (Scobell), who lives alone with his mom (Garner) after his father, Louis Reed’s (Ruffalo) recent death. The two Adams soon meet, and the older Adam explains that in the future, time travel exists, and that he has returned to find his girlfriend Laura (Saldana), who went missing after a recent mission.

    With soldiers from the future chasing the older Adam, he soon finds Laura and discovers the truth behind her disappearance. Laura explains to Adam that the timeline has been changed by powerful business woman Maya Sorian (Keener), and it is up to them to stop her from permanently changing the future. Realizing that it was their own father’s scientific experiments that led to the creation of time travel, the two Adams go back to before their dad’s death to get his help in stopping Sorian, who at the time, was Louis’ business partner.

    (L to R) Zoe Saldana and Ryan Reynolds in 'The Adam Project.' Photo via Twitter.
    (L to R) Zoe Saldana and Ryan Reynolds in Netflix’s ‘The Adam Project.’

    I can’t begin to tell you what a joy it was to watch this film. In a market place packed with sequels, remakes, reboots, and movies based on previous source material, it is so refreshing to see a completely original movie as good as ‘The Adam Project.’ Written by Jonathan Trooper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin, the film is completely original and could easily become a franchise in the future.

    ‘The Adam Project’ marks director Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds second collaboration, after last year’s terrific ‘Free Guy.’ As much as I enjoyed that film, ‘Adam Project’ is even better than ‘Free Guy’ and packs more of an emotional punch, especially with its father/son themes.

    Shawn Levy is an incredibly talented director, but I didn’t care much for his early films, including ‘Cheaper by the Dozen,’ ‘The Pink Panther’ and the ‘Night at the Museum’ franchise. But 2011’s ‘Real Steel’ showed elements of what the filmmaker is truly capable of when he takes on more adult themed projects like ‘Date Night,’ ‘The Internship,’ ‘This Is Where I Leave You,’ and ‘Free Guy.’ ‘The Adam Project’ is a true culmination of his entire career, and the best movie he’s ever directed.

    The supporting cast is excellent, including Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo, who form a mini ’13 Going on 30’ reunion with their pairing as Adam’s parents. The two actors anchor the sci-fi elements of the movie with grounded and realistic performances. Garner is wonderful as Adam’s grieving widowed mother, who is trying to do her best raising a son by herself.

    And if you have ever lost a parent, you’ll understand what an amazing moment it is in the movie when both Adams get to spend one more day with their departed dad. Ruffalo, much like Garner, ignores the science fiction in the plot and focuses on the relatable aspects of the screenplay giving a realistic and emotionally moving performance.

    Ryan and Zoe arms around each other
    (L to R) Zoe Saldana and Ryan Reynolds in Netflix’s ‘The Adam Project.’

    Zoe Saldana plays older Adam’s love interest and is in many ways the heart of the film, even if she has limited screen time. Saldana has great chemistry with Reynolds and plays off his comedic wit quite well.

    Catherine Kenner plays the film’s antagonist Maya Sorian, and while the actress gives a solid performance, it is the least developed character in the movie. However, there are some great scenes where the actress acts opposite a younger version of herself, thanks to some really well done de-aging technology.

    Young actor Walker Scobell is a great addition to the veteran cast and gives a remarkable debut performance. He mimics Reynolds mannerisms and attitude perfectly and is very believable in the role.

    But in the end, the film belongs to Ryan Reynolds, and the actor gives the type of performance that only he can give. He plays older Adam with his trademark combo of arrogance and sarcasm, similar to his characters in ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Red Notice,’ but a little darker in some ways. However, he never allows Adam to become unlikable, even when he is arguing with his younger self. The actor also has some really nice emotional scenes with Saldana and Ruffalo and is completely believable in all the action sequences.

    ‘The Adam Project’ is the most original, fun, and entertaining movie I have seen in a long time. With a sequel to Levy and Reynolds’ ‘Free Guy’ already announced, I can only hope the director and actor find time to make more ‘Adam Project’s in the future.

    ‘The Adam Project’ receives 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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  • The 37 Best Time Travel Movies Ever, Ranked

    The 37 Best Time Travel Movies Ever, Ranked