“A GRIPPING, GRITTY, EYE-OPENING

& STUNNING FILM”

BAZ BAMIGBOYE, DAILY MAIL

ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE

S A O I R S E
R O N A N
ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE

M A R G O T
R O B B I E

T WO Q U E E N S , O N E F U T U R E

IN CINEMAS JANUARY I8
STAN LEE 1922-2018 THE EMPIRE TRIBUTE

22- PECIA
PAG L
S
E
Remembering the man who changed comics, cinema and storytelling forever
HIS INTERVIEWS Ś
THE COMPLETE STORY OF HIS LIFE Ś
COLLABORATORS REMINISCE

JANUARY
20 9

KICKS OFF OUR ANNIVERSARY

ALITA
YEAR CELEBRATING CINEMA’S
ADVENTUROUS FILMMAKERS
THE LEGEND ANSWERS
YOUR QUESTIONS
A PERSONAL ESSAY
FROM CAMERON
ROBERT RODRIGUEZ AND JAMES CAMERON JOIN FORCES FOR
HIS CREATIVE PARTNER A R EVOLU TI ON ARY CYB ER - E P I C 20 Y E A RS I N T HE M A K I NG
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+++++
“A N A B S O L U T E R I O T ”
FINANCIAL TIMES

+++++
THE INDEPENDENT
+++++ D A I LY M I R R O R

I N C I N E M A S J A N UA RY 1
 THIS MONTH
AT EMPIRE
JUST THREE DAYS before this
issue of Empire was due at the printers,
the sad news broke. The godfather of
comic books, the man without whom we
wouldn’t have the modern cinematic
universe, had died. Stan Lee, it was
announced, had left this earth at the age
of 95. As the tributes poured in, the Chris Lup
ton mid-s
hoot with
n hangs out
Empire team gathered to share their own. Stan Lee
at the 201 Nick de Semlye
7 meron
He left an indelible print on all of us: his Comic-Co
n in San D with James Ca
iego. .
imagination, his energy, his spirit, his poolside in LA

optimism, his heart. He didn’t just shape

our childhoods, but our adulthoods too.
He’s why we still believe in magic; in the
transformative, transcendent power of
stories. He was, quite simply, one of the
greatest storytellers who ever lived. And
we remember the life, career and legacy
of the master of the Marvel Universe
in a 22-page special starting on p11.
It seems fitting that this issue is
also the first in a special year of issues
celebrating Empire’s 30th birthday
and the filmmakers who have changed
cinema forever. See below for more
details, but for now let me just say...
Excelsior!

n
illiam o
ie w s Terry G of Taron E
hite in
terv ening gerton a
Terri W F F g a la scre nd Ben
ire’s L . in Lond Travis
at Emp Quixote on, rec
stage d Don ording
TERRI WHITE an Wh
o K il le
Empire
the
The M Podcas
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF t.
@terri_white

JOIN US FOR THE BIG 3-0

2019 sees Empire turn 30! And to celebrate, we’re toasting the 30
most adventurous filmmakers of our lifetime, starting with James
Cameron (see empireonline.com for the full list). That’s not all: we
want to say thanks to our lovely, loyal subscribers for being such
an important part of the Empire family. The coming year will see
a host of subscriber-only treats including special covers (like the
one you’re holding!), priority event booking and world-exclusive
Illustration: David Mahoney

content. Not a subscriber? You’re going to want to fix that, pronto!

This month’s subscriber-

only limited edition
TURN TO PAGE 77 FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO SUBSCRIBE 30th birthday cover,
by Supertotto.

4 JANUARY 2019
 “MIND-BENDING
  

CHAOS ”
VANITY FAIR

++++ 





 










© 2018 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved. Whilst stocks last.
 stan lee
tribute
AN AUDIENCE WITH STAN LEE
12 Empire’s final interview with the
great man, from Comic-Con 2017.

STAN LEE REMEMBERED

16 Chris Hewitt and Kenneth Branagh
reminisce about the Stan they knew.

A LIFE IN COMIC BOOKS

20 How Stan Lee changed the world
of popular culture forever.

MARVEL ON SCREEN
28 Charting the (sometimes rocky)
cinematic journey of Stan Lee’s creations.

JAMES CAMERON
80 CELEBRATION
Every month during our 30th
anniversary, we celebrate one of our
favourite directors. Starting with the
director of the biggest films in history.

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

92 Robert Rodriguez directs. James
Cameron writes and produces. The rest
of us rub our thighs like Vic Reeves in

Subs: “Some ininities are simply bigger than other ininities” is from The Fault In Our Stars.
Shooting Stars.

courtship, an additional six months for attempting procreation” is from Couples Retreat.
Getty Images. Spine lines issue 356: Newsstand: “Tack on another 12 months for
THE FRONT RUNNER
100 When it comes to the Oscar race,
this is the favourite.

ROMA
106 Alfonso Cuarón guides us through
the year’s best film that shares a name
Clockwise from left:
Alita: Battle Angel;
Cold Pursuit; Teen
with a 2017/18 Champions League Titans Go! To The
semi-finalist. HELLBOY CREED II

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
34 No del Toro or Perlman. But going
back to the comics for inspiration, this
56 Or ‘Rocky VIII’. Or ‘Rocky IV Part 2’.
Whatever it’s called — it kicks of our
Movies; Creed II;
Stan Lee.

112 We are not throwing away

our shot at making a predictable
reboot could still be a pearl, man. verdicts of every new film.

Hamilton reference. ONCE UPON A DEADPOOL

AQUAMAN
38 The full story on how Deadpool has
gone all 12A for this festive re-release,
118 The heartwarming tale of the bloke
who sang, “Come on, Barbie, let’s go party.”
the complete count.

HOW MUCH IS A PINT OF MILK MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

122 THE FAVOURITE

When it comes to the Oscar race,
this is the front runner. Hang on a sec...
50 Putting the ‘tea’ in Monty Python,
nudge nudge, wink wink, milk milk, say
no more — it’s only Eric Idle.
132 FALLOUT
An oral history of that bathroom fight.
Reloading arms included.

6 JANUARY 2019
 Editors CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
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HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & ™ Warner Bros.
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 1922
-
2018

EMPIRE ’S 22-PAGE TRIBUTE TO THE MASTER STORYTELLER WHO CHANGED NOTJUST

COMIC BOOKS BUT CINEMA FOREVER. EXCELSIOR!ILLUSTRATION JACEY

JANUARY 2019 11
12 JANUARY 2019
 s ta n l e e t r i b u t e

IN THE SUMMER OF 2017, EMPIRE GOT A CHANCE

TO SIT DOWN WITH THE COMIC-BOOK TITAN FOR
A FRANK AND FUNNY INTERVIEW. HERE, FOR THE
FIRST TIME IN PRINT, IS THAT CHAT IN FULL
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT PORTRAITS SARAH DUNN

WHERE BETTER TO meet the king of comic books

than at San Diego Comic-Con? After all, were it not for Stan
Lee’s creations, the entire event might very well not exist.
Wherever he wandered around the vast San Diego convention
centre, he was routinely mobbed by legions of Wolverines, Iron
Men and even the odd Alien Queen (hey, everyone loved Stan
Lee). In this place, the Marvel Maestro was nothing short of
a deity, but, ever humble, Lee never missed an opportunity to
walk among his people and talk to true believers face to face.
In July of 2017, 42 years after his first appearance at
Comic-Con, Lee granted an audience to Chris Hewitt for the
Empire Podcast, reminiscing about his creations, his legacy
and the importance of a well-placed hyphen.

We’re at Comic-Con, Stan, and without you there probably

wouldn’t even be a Comic-Con.
Oh, I wouldn’t say that. The Comic-Con is a product of all the
work that everybody does in the comic-book business and
now it’s much more than comic books. Now you have actors,
directors. It’s become a big pop-culture thing.

Do you enjoy getting out there and meeting the fans?

Oh, I love being with the fans and shaking hands and saying
hello. And of course, my hand gets very tired after a while. They
ought to allow you to shake with your left hand also. In fact, that
may be a custom I may start.

We can try it at the end of this interview.

Speaking of customs, there is a very important thing I’d like to
mention to your viewers worldwide. Most people who write the
word comic book write it as two words. Don’t ever let them do
that again! When you write comic book as two words, it means
a comic book: a funny book. That’s not what comic books
necessarily are. It should always be written as one word. That
makes it a thing, a comic book. Sets it apart from everything
else. Calling it a comic book as two words — that’s like saying it’s
a science-fiction book or it’s a lovely story. No. It’s a comic book,
one word. And you see to it. I will check on you later and all
your listeners and make sure that they’re doing it right.

We will update our house style.

❯
Attaboy. So this interview hasn’t been a total waste.

JANUARY 2019 13
 Speaking of grammar, Spider-Man
has a hyphen. Is that important
to you?
Yeah, very important. Without the
hyphen, Spider-Man wouldn’t even be
able to swing from building to building.
That hyphen means so much. He checks
the comics himself: “Is my name spelled
right?” And I can relate to that. If
anybody wrote Stan Lee and left out
an E, I’d be upset. Well imagine how
Spider-Man would feel without the
hyphen. I tremble to think of it.
Why did you originally hyphenate it?
I wanted to play up the word “Spider”.
By putting the hyphen, the kids get the
Spider by itself. And then they see that
he’s a man. But if it was all together, hey,
there’s Spiderman. You know, there’s
Batman. It would be like nothing. You
notice I threw in that little ding at Batman?
Never heard of him.
You’re my kind of interviewer.
It’s been a big week for you, Stan. On
Tuesday you made your handprint
at Mann’s Chinese Theatre in LA.
It took me a half-hour to wash my hands
and get that of me! That was terrible.
It felt good, though. I don’t know what
those things mean, really. I mean, so
there I am with my handprint on the
sidewalk where someone can step all over
me. I think maybe that’s what they do to
people they don’t like. ‘“Hey, let me put
your print here on the sidewalk. Come
on, everybody, walk all over him.”
Of all the movie cameos you’ve done,
what’s your absolute favourite?
My favourite cameo is the one I did in the
Thor movie [actually Avengers: Age Of
Ultron] where he’s having a very potent
drink. And I’m standing next to Thor and
I say, “Hey let me have some of that.” And
he says, “No, you can’t drink it. It’s too
strong for you.” And no, I can handle it.
So he gives me a drink and in the next
scene they’re carrying me out. Now,
you’re saying to yourself, “Why is that his
favourite cameo? It’s no big deal.” It’s my
favourite cameo because it’s my only
cameo that had two scenes. First me
with Thor with the drink and then being
carried out. I hope that’ll give the various
directors and producers the idea that
Stan is more than a one scene kind of
guy! You know, pretty soon I could run
through the whole movie.
You created all these amazing
characters in the 1960s: Reed
Richards, Peter Parker, Bruce
Banner. A lot of alliteration there.
Oh yeah, I’m a big alliteration kind of guy.
14 JANUARY 2019
The reason I did it, frankly, is I have the world’s worst memory.
So if I have a name where the first name is the same letter as the
second name, if I can think of one of the names, it gives me
a clue to what the other name’ll start with. And it makes it easier!
For instance, if I say, “Bruce, what the hell is his last name? It
began with B. Oh yeah, Banner.” But if his name was Wilson,
what would lead me to Wilson? I’d never think of his name!
Did you ever imagine that these characters were going
to live on as long as they have?
I hoped the first issue would sell so I’d keep my job! You
never know. I mean, you bring out a book and then I’d wait
breathlessly for a month. It took that long to get the sales
figures. And at the end of the month, my publisher would
either say, “Alright, Stan, do a second issue of this, it’s alright.”
Or he’d say, ‘“Boy, that was a bomb. Don’t write any more
of this thing.” Fortunately he hasn’t said that, so it was alright.
I wasn’t thinking legacy. I was thinking, “Can I pay the
goddamn rent?”
If you absolutely had to pick a favourite character, who
would it be?
It’s hard to pick a favourite, but you’re gonna ask me and the
answer is Spider-Man. I like Spider-Man because he’s the
most recognisable. Anywhere in the world you have a picture
of Spider-Man, people know who he is. It’s sort of like Disney
used to have Mickey Mouse, or the Coca-Cola bottle. You see it
anywhere you knew what it was. Somehow or other, Spider-Man
has become world famous. And Spider-Man costumes are
bestselling costumes on Hallowe’en for kids practically all over
the world. And of course, I’m so smart I never had a costume
factory. I never did a Spider-Man costume. Everybody’s making
all the dough but me!
Stan Lee,
In the 1970s you wrote two screenplays with French photographed
director Alain Resnais, which were never made. What exclusively for
happened? Empire in San
It was a funny thing. It was called ‘The Monster Maker’, Diego, California,
I think. It was in those days people were worried about on 23 July 2017.
pollution. So I got the idea to treat pollution as if it’s a monster.
There’s a monster called Pollution. I wrote the screenplay.
Alain loved it. And we took it to a guy named Martin Ransohof,
who was the head of a company called Filmways. Martin
read the screenplay and he said, “I like this. This is good. mysteries of the time was, is it the same
But of course, you’ll cut at least half of the dialogue.” ’Cause red shirt and he washes it every night
I had never written a screenplay before. I had these people and puts it on in the morning? Or does
talking like I’m talking now. They were going on endlessly, he have a lot of red shirts? We never
speech after speech. And they don’t do that in movies. So figured that out.
I said, “Okay.” But then my friend, Alain, who was sitting next
to me, ruined both our careers by saying, “Stan will not change What’s next for you?
a word of it!” My luck, Alain loved it as it was. He was such Well, finish this interview. And then to
a purist. He wanted every word there the way I had written ask my partner, Max [Anderson], what
it. So that script is still hanging around somewhere and we do next. Max tells me where to go and
if I could find it, I bet I could auction it of and get 20 or what to do. And I’m gonna kill him for
30 bucks for it. putting me next to a guy who asked me
for such a long interview. He said, “Oh,
He was a French filmmaker, was he also a comicbook fan? it’ll just take a minute, Stan.”
He wasn’t into comic books, he was into me and the intellectual
things we discussed. Like baseball. Alain was a great guy. He was Stan, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you.
a brilliant man. He had really come over here to America to see Hey, it’s always a pleasure with you.
if he could get to direct the Spider-Man movie. He was one of Thank you.
the first people who thought it would be good to have a movie
about Spider-Man. I assume that he spoke to whoever made A left-handed handshake, to give your
those decisions in those days and they decided not to do the hand a rest?
movie. So then he was stuck with me with my pollution movie. Oh well, that’s very considerate of you.
He was a funny guy. He always wore a red shirt. Every time You ought to give my mouth a rest with
you’d see him, he had a red shirt. And one of the biggest the talking too!
s ta n l e e t r i b u t e

JANUARY 2019 15
 EMPIRE ’SCHRIS HEWITT
REFLECTS ON HIS TWO
MEETINGS WITH THE MAN,
THE MYTH-MAKER, STAN LEE

WHOEVER COINED THE

maxim, “You should never meet your
heroes,” clearly never met Stan Lee. I was
lucky enough to do so on two occasions.
The first at my very first San Diego
Comic-Con, way back in 2003.
A Comic-Con newbie, I wandered
the halls, dazed and confused. And
then, in a hotel lobby, I bumped into 14 years. But when I did, it blew that old maxim out of
Stan The Man. On his way up to the the water.
penthouse suite, he was gracious enough First, a confession: I grew up reading Marvel comics, but
to stop for a photo. It blew my mind. not ones written by Stan Lee. Instead, reading people like Chris
Was every Comic-Con like this, where Claremont, Peter David and Jim Shooter, writers who took the
you could just casually run into the vast array of characters Lee had created (along with Jack Kirby
godfather of modern comics? and Steve Ditko and Bill Everett and others), and made them
Well, as it turned out, no. I didn’t their own. In fact, when I eventually went back and tracked
run into Lee at Comic-Con for another down early copies of The Amazing Spider-Man, or Fantastic

16 JANUARY 2019

Four, or X-Men, I often found Lee’s writing somewhat
melodramatic and overly tricksy. But his knack for creating
indelible characters, and his ability to mine universal themes,
could not be denied. Without that, those who followed wouldn’t
have had anything to build upon. They were truly standing on
the shoulders of giants.
I almost jumped of the bannister when I was three years
old, convinced I was Spider-Man — that was, in no small part,
down to Stan Lee. (My mum stopped me, thankfully.) And he
was my hero because I had grown up, in the ’80s and ’90s, with
Stan Lee’s voice inside my head. A born showman, who knew
Clockwise from left: the value of brand recognition, he had positioned himself from
Stanley Martin Leiber, the of as the face of Marvel. Every issue of every comic back
the man behind our then seemed to feature the words ‘Stan Lee presents’, even if he
modern mythology; wasn’t actually involved. He seemed omnipresent in the Bullpen
Chris grills Stan for Bulletin section of each comic, where he would constantly
the Empire Podcast, deliver his catchphrases — “’Nuf said”, “True Believers”, or
July 2017; The look on “Excelsior!”, and talk about “No-Prizes”. His distinctive, brassy
Chris’ face is why you voice introduced each episode of Spider-Man And His Amazing
should should always Friends, the first cartoon I remember worshipping. His was
meet your heroes. a voice you immediately liked and could trust. In some ways,
he was as big a name as the heroes he
helped create.
So, then, July 2017. Comic-Con. San
Diego. The same hotel in which I’d run
into Lee years before, only now I was also
going to the penthouse suite. I was due to
interview Stan for the Empire Podcast,
only I was slightly nervous. Not about the
interview itself — but about Stan himself.
Just weeks before, his wife of 69 years,
Joan, had passed away.
Frankly, I was worried about Stan.
I’d seen my dad struggle to cope after my
mum died and knew how heavily the loss
of a partner could weigh on someone.
Plus, Stan was now 93. I was concerned
about how fragile he might be. Age, no
respecter of legends, is the great leveller.
I needn’t have been too concerned.
I heard Stan before I saw him, that
unmistakable Noo Yawk voice coming
from an adjacent room. Then he
appeared — a little thinner, a lot shakier.
That unmistakable slicked-back barnet,
which had always seemed glued to his
head, a lot whiter. But, the second we sat
down and I pressed the record button,
the frail OAP in front of me disappeared,
and Stan Lee sat in his place. Stan Lee,
the great entertainer, who took great
pleasure in busting my balls any time
I asked a dumb question. “I’m gonna kill
Max for putting me next to a guy who
asked me for such a long interview,” he
joked, as we wrapped up.
It wasn’t the hardest-hitting
interview of my career. I wasn’t there to
give him a Paxmaniacal grilling. And
I wasn’t going to push a 93-year-old man,
grieving over the loss of his wife, on the
finer details of that stellar burst of
creativity 50 years prior. Instead, we
talked about alliteration in superhero
Alamy
names, about the importance of the
s ta n l e e t r i b u t e
hyphen in Spider-Man. I like to think
we both had fun. The PR who set up the
interview, Clare, took a picture of me
interviewing Stan, which now hangs on
my oice wall. In it, I look like a man
transfixed by one of his childhood heroes.
You get a no-prize for guessing that’s
because I was.
One thing that stands out in my
memory from that all-too-brief
encounter. As we chatted, Stan sitting in
an armchair, me perched on a footstool
next to him, a small crowd, made up of
Stan’s associates and the Empire
contingent, gathered to watch. We were
about halfway through when I realised
that part of that contingent was Michael
Rooker, who plays Yondu in the
Guardians Of The Galaxy series. I realised
this because Rooker gatecrashed the
interview, coming over and briefly
chatting to Stan. Rooker, it seems, had
just rocked up at the penthouse to pay
his respects to the great man; the Don
Corleone of comic books. When he got
up to leave, he gave Stan a kiss on the
forehead, and that’s when it struck me: all
of us in that room had grown up with this
rambunctious, perky personality in our
lives. We were all, in some way, the
children of Stan Lee. Without him, there
might have been a Comic-Con, but not on
this scale. There might have been
comic-book movies, but not like these.
And I might not have fallen in love with
writing, which led me to fall in love with
cinema, which led me to Empire, which
led me to a hotel room in San Diego
on a warm July afternoon.
And in that moment, I realised that
the old saying was a load of bollocks. You
should meet your heroes. And, if you can,
have them bust your balls a little. Thanks
for everything, Stan.
JANUARY 2019 17
 THOR DIRECTORKENNETHBRANAGHWRITES
EXCLUSIVELYFOR EMPIRE ABOUTTHESINGULAR
EXPERIENCE OF WORKING WITH STAN LEE

Main: Branagh on
set with Thor (Chris
Hemsworth) and Odin
(Anthony Hopkins).
Inset: Branagh finds
his new Hamlet at the
premiere of Thor in Los
Angeles, May 2011.

18 JANUARY 2019
 s ta n l e e t r i b u t e

LUNCH WITH STAN Lee was a journey into

a hyperspace of fame. First you pass through his version
of Beatlemania. He was cheerfully mobbed as the pair of us
strolled through Beverly Hills together. Car horns toot, all
ages smile and genuflect, selfies are numerous and borne
by the great man with an insouciant twinkle.
Then into the restaurant where the hard-nosed masters
of the movie universe step aside to kiss the ring and allow
Stan to be ushered to his favourite corner table, where he
sees all and is gazed upon by all.
I was there to quiz him about the history of Thor, which
I was to direct for Marvel Studios. He was there to tease
me about having blagged the job because, as a so-called
Shakespearean, I was the only director who travelled with his
own bag of “thees” and “thous”, which he had so loved writing
for early versions of the comics. He said he was disappointed
that I hadn’t shown up in tights.
There was indeed something Shakespearean about Mr Lee.
Our lunch revealed the energy and appetite of Falstaf, even
though his nimble frame could only attract words like “dapper”,
and “slender”.
For a long life lived through all the usual human
melodramas, I sensed no secret sadness in Stan. His energy,
his optimism, his idealism, were NOW.
That very afternoon he told me he was of to make a deal
that would net him large profits, a situation he warmly
welcomed, even relished.
The life force was astonishing, his concentration electric.
He answered all my questions about him and the great Kirby,
his collaborator of genius, and of course we talked about what
Stan’s cameo would be in the new Thor movie. He wanted
something Shakespearean. I told him he could do whatever
he wanted, but as one of the great American originals, we
might start with that.
In the end, when it came to his role, Stan, as a crusty
cowboy countryman, tried with frustration to drive a pick-up
truck out of a crater, where it was attached to Thor’s hammer,
Mjölnir. I figured if anyone on Earth could shift that hammer
who wasn’t a mythic Norseman, it would be Stan Lee.
But even he couldn’t do it.
Instead he brought the house down with a comic one-
liner — channelling W.C. Fields crossed with P.T. Barnum —
and left the car.
At the end of our day of work together he gave me a hug,
said I should cast him as Hamlet, and that we’d make a fortune
out of a new Danish comic. I started to tell him I’d think about
it, but before I could finish the sentence, he’d been swept up in
a massive crowd of admirers (that day’s
crowd artists). He was danced away like
Fred Astaire impersonating the Pied Piper.
I assumed this day was being wiped
from his mind even as we spoke, but at his
car, he turned before getting in, stood tall
on the footplate, above the crowds, and
yelled back to me, “Hey, kid (he always
called me kid), you, me and Billy
Shakespeare — pretty good team, don’t
you think?” He got into the car.
I could have wept. I only had one regret.
And then the window wound down,
Alamy, Getty Images

the hand came up, the head inclined back,

and with the wind in his (I suspect) not
entirely natural hair, he said it, “Thanks,
kid — EXCELSIOR!”
Thank you, Stan Lee. Rest well.

JANUARY 2019 19
20 JANUARY 2019
 s ta n l e e t r i b u t e

HOW A POOR KID FROM NEW YORK CHANGED

THE FACE OF POPULAR CULTURE AND BECAME,
TO SO MANY, A SUPERHERO HIMSELF
WORDS DAN JOLIN

JANUARY 2019 21
HIS STORY BEGINS
IN A ROOM
WITHOUT A VIEW.
It’s 1929 and seven-year-old Stanley Martin Lieber lives in
a tiny rear apartment in upper Manhattan’s Washington
Heights, where his family moved after the Wall Street Crash
ushered in the Great Depression, crushing his father Jack’s
career prospects as a dress cutter. When Stanley looks out of
the window of the apartment’s front room — his bedroom —
all he can see are the bricks and mortar of the building on the
other side of a narrow alleyway. While his father sits, scouring
the job ads for something, anything — or arguing with his
mother, Celia, about money — the kid loses himself in the
adventures of The Hardy Boys or Dick Tracy, and creates his
own adventures, too.
“I began scribbling little illustrated stories to amuse
myself,” Stanley — or Stan Lee, as he’d become — wrote decades
later in his autobiography, Excelsior! The Amazing Life Of Stan
Lee. With no horizon through his window, he drew his own:
a long pencil strike across a blank sheet of paper, onto which he
would scratch crude stick figures, living out his simple stories.
“This was a make-believe world I loved,” Lee recalled, “because
I could retreat to it from the outside.”
This early act of creation came to define Stan Lee. He was
an escapist rooted in a real, relatable world. A person who
so abhorred the “forced idleness” sufered by his father, he
could seemingly never sit still for a moment. The optimist
who always managed to find the positive in the negative. The
lonely kid who craved community.
“Stan Lee wrote about how adventure books and Errol
Flynn movies shaped him,” says Sean Howe, author of Marvel
Comics: The Untold Story, “but I never once heard him talk
about sharing those passions with other kids. Which makes
his desire, years later, to create this kind of surrogate-family
work place at Marvel all that more poignant. I think that
probably wouldn’t have happened if he was a super-happy,
perfectly socialised young boy.”
It’s as if those cramped, penurious and socially remote
formative years filled Lee with so much pent-up energy, it
powered him for the rest of his long, productive life. He couldn’t
slow down, couldn’t give up — even when he’d won. Previous spread: Stan Lee peruses 50 years of
When he was 15 years old, Stanley entered a weekly Marvel, October 1991. Clockwise from main:
contest in the New York Herald Tribune, inviting high-school Lee oversees Spider-Man with artist John Romita,
students to pen a 500-word article on what they considered 1978; Lee serving in the US Army as part of the
to be the week’s most important news story. He won first prize. Signal Corps Training Film Division during World
So, he re-entered the next week, and won again. After scoring War II; The debut of The Fantastic Four; X-Men
a hat-trick, the Herald Tribune’s editor wrote to him, asking assemble; Spider-Man swings by for the first time.
him to give other kids a chance. He also suggested he might
want to become a professional writer.

22 JANUARY 2019

A long, tangled string of part-
time jobs followed writing obituaries,
putting together press releases for the
National Tuberculosis Hospital in
Denver, and selling Herald-Tribune
subscriptions to fellow high-schoolers.
On graduating DeWitt Clinton High
in 1939, he needed something more
permanent. His uncle, Robbie
Solomon, worked at a small publishing
company on Manhattan’s West Side.
They needed a gofer in their comics
division. After an interview with
Timely Comics’ editor Joe Simon
— one of Captain America’s co-
creators, with staf artist Jack Kirby
— 17-year-old Stanley Lieber was
hired for $8 a week.
Less than two years later, he was
made editor-in-chief. Albeit under
a diferent name.
THE ORIGIN STORY of Stan Lee —
the pseudonym, that is — is one of
professional embarrassment. Rather
than being thrilled at having the
opportunity to write text fillers for
Captain America or create superheroes
like 1941 Nazi-basher the Destroyer,
young Lieber was mortified. He was
a jovial presence in the oice, at times
even tootling little tunes on his ocarina
— much to Kirby’s annoyance — but he
harboured an ambition to write The
Great American Novel. And comic books
at the time were galaxies away from
Great, having only recently evolved from
newspaper strips like Tarzan and Popeye
to overtake pulp magazines in popularity.
This was a mere three years after Jerry
Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman
for National Allied Publications, with
s ta n l e e t r i b u t e
Timely heroes like Captain America, the
first Human Torch and The Sub-Mariner
muscling onto newsstands soon after.
Aside from them, it was all Westerns
and monsters and jungle adventurers
and funnies. “I was probably the
ultimate, quintessential hack,” wrote
Lee in Excelsior!. He decided he would
only put his given name to the work
that might one day win him a Pulitzer.
So, for his comic-book scribblings, he
adopted a variety of pen names: Stan
Martin. S.T. Anley. Neel Nats. And Stan
Lee. Fortunately, it was the latter one
that stuck — so well, he eventually
adopted it legally.
By Lee’s own admission, he ascended
from ocarina-playing inkwell-filler to
editor-in-chief “by default”. After a pay
dispute, Simon and Kirby quit Timely
❯
late in 1941 for its biggest rival, DC
JANUARY 2019 23
 Comics. “Since I was the only other
one in the department, Martin
[Goodman, the owner] put me in
charge ‘temporarily’ until he could find
a replacement,” Lee wrote. “But
apparently he had a short interest span
and eventually stopped looking.”
The truth was, Lee’s exuberant
nature made him someone Timely’s
employees could look up to — even when
he wore a propeller beanie around the
artist’s oice (nicknamed The Bullpen).
He also mucked in, writing two or three
stories per week. But while Lee started
young, and was full to the brim with
ambition and vim, it would be another
two decades before he hit his creative
peak and forever changed the popular-
cultural landscape. This fast-rising
workaholic was, strangely, a slow-burn
success. And that success didn’t hit until
he was on the verge of walking away from
comic books forever.

IN 1954, NEW York psychiatrist Dr

Frederic Wertham published Seduction
Of The Innocent, which blamed comic
books for juvenile delinquency, sexual
permissiveness and spreading
Communism. Hundreds of thousands
of American parents were scared into
binning these apparently toxic
publications and the comic-book
industry was in a serious decline. If this
weren’t enough to dampen Lee’s creative
spirits, Timely’s distributor went out
of business in 1957, forcing it to turn
to another distributor, Independent
News — which was owned by DC. It
stipulated that Timely could only publish
a maximum of eight titles a month
(previously it published close to 80).
Mass layofs followed, executed by Lee:
“It was the most horrible thing I ever had
to do,” Lee told Howe.
Meanwhile, Lee felt a growing sense
of dissatisfaction; if he left Timely, what
else could he do? He was now in his late
thirties and had spent so long in comic
books, he didn’t imagine being taken
seriously by the likes of Time magazine
or Simon & Schuster. Even after Timely
found a new distributor and set about
rebuilding its lines — tempting back Jack
Kirby, who along with artist Steve Ditko That something was a game of golf. In mid-1961, Martin ebullience. If he was going to quit
saw an opportunity in this fresh burst Goodman hit the green with Jack Liebowitz, publisher of DC anyway, what did he have to lose?
of creativity — Lee remained downcast. Comics, who started boasting about how well his new series So, working closely with Jack
Comic books were still ailing, disposable, The Justice League of America — which teamed up Superman, Kirby, Lee concocted an entirely new
and aimed at kids. Almost 20 years after Batman, Wonder Woman and other DC heroes — was selling. kind of superhero group: The Fantastic
setting Stanley Lieber aside, Stan Lee Goodman rushed back to the oice and ordered Lee to come up Four. Debuting on 8 November 1961, Mr
was still no closer to writing that Great with his own Justice League-y superhero gang. “You could use Fantastic, The Thing, the Invisible Girl
American Novel. “I felt I was wasting my our old Human Torch and Sub-Mariner and maybe Captain and the (second) Human Torch were
adult life and whatever little talent I might America,” Goodman suggested. “That’ll save you from having diferent from the chest-thrusting
possess on a job that wasn’t all that to dream up any new characters.” do-gooders who populated DC’s titles.
meaningful,” he wrote in Excelsior!. He Lee had just that day resolved to announce his resignation, Their powers were foisted upon them by
needed something fantastic to happen. but found himself wrong-footed by Goodman’s sudden a traumatic bombardment of cosmic rays.

24 JANUARY 2019
 s ta n l e e t r i b u t e

They were flawed, they bickered. They had to deal with

paying the rent when they weren’t trying to save the planet.
They were out-of-this-world, for sure. But they were also
surprisingly relatable.
“The Fantastic Four were like a family, and had the kinds
of fights and moments of warmth you wouldn’t see between,
say, Superman and Batman,” says Howe. “These heroes had
a ‘feet of clay’ appeal.”

EVEN BEFORE THE sales totals came in, Lee knew The
Fantastic Four was a success, “because of the amount of
enthusiastic mail we received”. So, he, Kirby, Ditko and other
artists entered an astonishing period of creativity, dreaming up
Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Daredevil, Doctor Strange,
Thor, Ant-Man and the X-Men during a fevered two years that
saw sales rise beyond anyone’s expectations.
The next year, Goodman wanted to rebrand the company
and he and Lee settled on Marvel, after Timely’s very first
comic-book publication, Marvel Comics. It appealed to Lee,
“because it lent itself to so many slogans and catchphrases,
such as… ‘Make Mine Marvel’, and ‘Marvel Marches On’.” Lee,
with his P.T. Barnum-esque tendencies, couldn’t resist a catchy
slogan — or, for that matter, a bit of alliteration.
Now Marvel was rolling, and posing a serious threat
to its stunned competitors, Lee and his collaborators’
innovations came thick and fast. Foremost, there was the
psychological depth and the moral ambiguity they brought to
their characters; “I don’t think a reader would like a superhero
if he had no particular personality, no problems,” Lee told
Yahoo Entertainment in 2015. “I always felt that way about
Clockwise from Superman: Clark Kent was just a guy, a reporter. I didn’t know
main: Lee, with Hulk what his problems were.” Often, Marvel’s heroes sufered
artwork in 1979; pangs of loneliness, and felt like misfits — much like little
Moving into TV with Stanley Lieber once did.
Thor Eric Kramer and But Lee also made them speak in a realistic way, using
Hulk Lou Ferrigno in slang, making quips, being smartasses. He introduced long
1988; The Bill Bixby/ story arcs which would continue over several issues, as well
Ferrigno interface as establishing a shared universe, where Spider-Man could
for the incredibly try to join the Fantastic Four, or Captain America (revived
popular Incredible from his war days) could trade barbs with Iron Man.
Hulk show; Lee chats It was a universe that Marvel’s readers could immerse
with Peter Parker/ themselves in and feel a part of, something Lee encouraged
Spider-Man Nicholas by introducing letters pages to his comics, and interacting
Hammond, 1978. with his readers via his ‘Stan’s Soapbox’ column and the
‘Bullpen Bulletins’ page, which shared news on upcoming
titles. For the first time, comics were not just a read-and-trash
format, they were the medium for a community of readers
to express opinions, ideas and enthusiasm. “I tried to do
everything that the competition wasn’t doing,” Lee said. “It
was especially important to me to keep a warm, friendly
tone.” If a reader wrote “Dear Editor,” he’d change it on the
page to “Hi, Stan.” And he’d never sign of “Yours Truly”,
favouring “Hang Loose,” “Face Front,” “’Nuf Said,” and,
eventually, “Excelsior!”, which, he explains in his
autobiography, is “an Old English word meaning ‘Upward
and Onward to Greater Glory!’”
It was an appropriate choice. During the ’60s, Marvel
boomed, reaching a far bigger audience than children — Hulk,
Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer became a hit with college
students particularly — while readers stuck with their
favourite characters issue after issue, year after year. DC,
though home to such greats as Superman and Batman, seemed
stale by comparison, and by the mid-’60s was eclipsed by its
underdog competitor, which now sold an estimated 35 million
❯
comics per year.

JANUARY 2019 25
 DURING THIS DECADE, Lee was
writing and editing as many as eight
series simultaneously, meaning the
traditional approach of providing artists
with full scripts before they illustrated
the panels wasn’t feasible. Rather than
simply delegate to other writers, Lee
pioneered ‘The Marvel Method’. He’d
give the artist a synopsis that they’d
expand on the page into a full visual
story, after which Lee would fill in the
empty word balloons and captions to fit
the action. “Some artists, such as Jack
Kirby, need no plot at all,” Lee said in a
1968 interview. “I’ll just say to Jack, ‘Let’s
let the next villain be Dr Doom’. He’s so
good at plots. I’m sure he’s a thousand
times better than I.”
This was a much more collaborative
process than the artists had experienced
before, giving them a huge amount of
freedom. But it blurred the lines between
writer and artist to a degree which, many
felt, the credits on the splash page failed
to reflect. Lee, they claimed, took too
much credit, with Kirby and Ditko feeling
especially unappreciated.
Eventually, both quit. Ditko
exited Marvel in 1966, never forgiving
Lee for not properly recognising him
as the creator of Spider-Man, while in
1970 Kirby defected to DC. “I was never
given credit for the writing I did,” Kirby
said at the time. “Most of the writing at
Marvel is done by the artist from the
script.” Fantastic Four, he insisted,
“was my idea.”
After Kirby’s departure, the
long-running DC/Marvel rivalry
took a fierce, personal turn, with
the artist inventing a Lee-a-like
character called Funky Flashman,
who spoke alliteratively and never
kept a promise. Lee was hurt. In
Excelsior! he wrote, “I’ve always felt
the Marvel Method strips were true
collaborations between artist and
writer in the most literal sense.”
Sean Howe believes Kirby and
Ditko genuinely contributed much
more than just the art and the visual
concepts on their respective titles.
“I think it’s appropriate to see Kirby as
the ‘director’, in a sense,” he says. “While
I see Stan Lee as a brilliant editor and
a brilliant marketer and talent scout.
But I do think having his personality Film and Chemical Corporation (later renamed Cadence But that never happened (though
behind it was also a key component of Industries), Lee was promoted to president and publisher of Marvel is now owned by Disney, and
what made it work.” the company. The former role didn’t suit him well — too much responsible for a fair chunk of the
number-crunching, not enough showmanship — but after studio’s mega-revenue). While Lee
swiftly resigning, he threw himself into his publisher duties travelled around the US, appearing at
LEE WOULD NEVER again be so
productive as he was during the ’60s,
with his customary brio.
While he was finally stepping away from the editorial
conventions and pushing its characters
on TV and radio, the comics dropped in
when Marvel hit its peak and comic coal face, Lee hardly stopped coming up with the big ideas, circulation, the result of an industry-
books experienced their Silver Age. and talking them up even bigger. “I wanted to bring our wide malaise. In 1980, he finally stepped
Eventually, in 1971, three years after company to the next plateau, to make it the next Disney,” away from print completely, and in ’81
Goodman sold Marvel to the Perfect he reflected in Excelsior!. moved to LA, becoming creative director

26 JANUARY 2019

Clockwise from main:
At the premiere of
Spider-Man 2, 2004;
A rare mis-step with
Howard The Duck;
Collaborator and artist
extraordinaire Steve
Ditko; Just one of his
trusty cameos, in
2004’s Fantastic Four.
of the newly formed Marvel Productions,
to develop “Saturday morning cartoons,
prime time specials and pilots”. However,
despite Lee’s belief that Marvel’s
characters were ripe for the cinema,
the only one that made it into cinemas
during this time was Steve Gerber’s
Howard the Duck in 1986 — a critical
and commercial disaster.
Lee didn’t fare much better in his
Alamy, Getty Images, Marvel, REX/Shutterstock
own business ventures, and the twilight
of his career was characterised by bad
business decisions and bizarre new
project announcements. In 1998,
while still a paid figurehead for Marvel,
he formed Stan Lee Media with an
entrepreneur named Peter F. Paul.
Lee would create all-new characters
for movies, video games and the web
as well as comics, while looking for
opportunities to marry up with other
brands, and acts such as the Wu-Tang
Clan and the Backstreet Boys. But it
s ta n l e e t r i b u t e
turned out that Paul was using Lee’s
name to rip of investors, and he was
arrested for fraud in 2001, leaving the
company to collapse.
Lee’s next venture, POW!
Entertainment, hardly fared much better,
but given the projects it announced, we
can’t be too surprised. There was 2003
cartoon series Stripperella, for example,
a team-up with Pamela Anderson that
had episode titles like ‘The Curse of the
WereBeaver’. Or the Jason Connery-
starring direct-to-cable movie Stan Lee’s
Lightspeed. Or the Arnold Schwarzenegger
cartoon show which cast the Austrian
Oak as The Governator. It didn’t end well
with POW, either: earlier this year, Lee
announced he was suing the company
for $1 billion in damages, for stealing his
identity, name and likeness.
During his latter days, Lee’s
zany failures may have outnumbered
his successes, but they are further proof
of his undimmed enthusiasm and
high-velocity creativity, which powered
him all the way through his life. There
are certainly dark moments in Lee’s
story — the rifts with Kirby and Ditko;
his suing of Marvel in 2002 for not
paying him movie royalties, despite an
astonishing salary deal to simply remain
its figurehead; and, more troubling by
far, the accusation earlier this year by
a Chicago-based masseuse of sexual
misconduct [a claim Stan Lee denied
through his lawyer].
He was far from perfect. But he was
never a phoney. That chummy, zingy-
pattered persona wasn’t a mask. It was,
says Howe, “an amplification of his
personality, an extension of who he
really was. Kind of like his superheroes:
bigger than life.”
For Howe, the most enduring
aspect of Lee’s legacy is his commitment
to joy. “It’s not the superhero genre that
makes people happy. It’s that feeling of
exuberance that Stan Lee fostered.”
We felt that in every cameo Lee
provided for all the movies that
eventually were made, based on his
creations. He was a bright, sprightly,
almost mischievous presence, always
happy to deliver a little gag, or be the
butt of one. And Lee was absolutely
right: his characters do make for great
cinematic entertainment.
It all started in a room without a
view, with a seven-year-old boy creating
his own make-believe worlds. And now
Stanley Lieber’s story ends in the cinema
auditorium — a room with a limitless
view, where we can all retreat into his
make-believe worlds.
JANUARY 2019 27
 MODERN CINEMA WOULD LOOK VERY DIFFERENT WERE IT NOT
FOR THE INNOVATION AND IMAGINATION OF STAN LEE
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT PORTRAIT JASON BELL
THE FIRST WAS on a beach, as
a hot-dog vendor staring open-mouthed
at a mutant out for a stroll. The most
recent, which is just about to be seen
by cinemagoers around the world, is
rather meaningful, as a fancy-dress store
owner giving advice, and a costume,
to a young, confused Spider-Man. In
between, there were stints as a general,
a beauty pageant judge, a postman
(twice!), and a school bus driver.
Yes, Stan Lee’s cameos are fun.
Partially because Lee was a terrible ham
who loved gurning for the camera. And
not least because they’re the means by
which an entire generation of people who
never picked up a Marvel comic know his
28 JANUARY 2019
name, and his face. He’s that old geezer
who keeps cropping up in all those
Marvel movies, so much so that some
bright spark came up with a theory
that Lee is an omnipotent being,
recasting himself in various movies
as a demonstration of his power.
But they’re also important.
Especially the cameos in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe. All 20 of them (and
counting — it’s believed Lee had filmed
his Captain Marvel and Avengers 4
cameos before he passed; no word yet on
Spider-Man: Far From Home). Because
there didn’t need to be 20 of them, for a
start. Kevin Feige and co could have paid
Lee lip service with a cameo in Iron Man
 s ta n l e e t r i b u t e

(as ‘Himself’, getting mistaken for Hugh

Hefner by Tony Stark), and let that be
that. But they didn’t. Because the cameos
are more than cameos. They’re a way
of saying thank you to the man whose
vision, and Vision, set out the template
which allowed the MCU to change the
film industry. Possibly forever.

YOU CAN’T TRACE every hurricane

back to the butterfly whose flapping
wings started it of. But in the case of
Hollywood and Stan Lee’s seismic impact
upon it, we absolutely can. In the early
’60s, Lee, Kirby and Ditko et al were in
the middle of that inspired, feverish burst
of creative activity, coming up with iconic
characters at a dizzying rate. But the big
twist was that these characters all lived
in the same world, and for the most part,
the same city (New York), and could
come and go in each other’s lives, and
stories, as they placed. This idea of
a shared universe wasn’t a particularly
new one, but Lee had a golden touch,
particularly back then, and a knack for
tapping into the zeitgeist. By the time
The Amazing Spider-Man launched, in
March of 1963, the Jack Kirby/Steve
Ditko cover featured the friendly
neighbourhood wallcrawler surrounded
by the Fantastic Four. Inside, the cover
blurb promised, “Spider-Man Meets
The Fantastic Four”. And it made
good on that promise.
Just a few months later it was followed
by The Avengers, which packaged
together The Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and
Iron Man like they were a Domino’s meal
deal. It went down a storm. Crossovers
and cameos became de rigueur, not just
for Marvel but the comic book industry
as a whole. And, eventually, the Marvel
Cinematic Universe. When Kevin Feige
sat in a room at Comic-Con in 2006 and
announced tentative plans for the first
self-financed films from Marvel Studios,
with a series of solo films for characters
like Iron Man and Captain America,
culminating with The Avengers (Avengers
Assemble here), he was drawing directly
from the Lee playbook.
That it took almost 40 years to
get to that stage speaks volumes about
Hollywood’s long, complicated relationship
with comic-book movies — and some
world-class idiocy into the bargain.

MOVIE STUDIOS WERE wary, perhaps

even suspicious, of comic books. They
were bright, garish — y’know, for kids.
Now and again, a toe would be dipped
tentatively into the water, with varying
degrees of success. But even when
❯
something would hit really big, as with

JANUARY 2019 29
 1978’s Superman The Movie, the lone canary down the coal
mine would invariably not be followed by an opera. Which
came as something of a surprise, because Hollywood was
nothing if not a town largely devoid of ideas. When something
came along that was a licence to print money, even briefly,
they tended to run it into the ground. But through the ’60s,
’70s and most of the ’80s, they gave comic-book movies the
kind of wide berth Captain America gives sex parties.
Marvel, in particular, really struggled to get its properties
onto the big screen. Lee was aware of the potential of the Previous spread:
characters he had co-created — ‘The Monster Maker’, that Robert Downey Jr,
unproduced screenplay he wrote for French director Alain Marvel Studios
Resnais, came about as a result of meeting with Resnais to President Kevin Feige,
discuss a potential Spider-Man movie — and, in 1981, having Rocket Raccoon and
long since stopped writing comic books, relocated to Hollywood Stan Lee in 2017. This
in an attempt to get some deals of the ground. It’s fair to say page, top to bottom:
that these endeavours, by Lee and others, were less than Hugh Jackman in
successful and, in some cases, disastrous. Without a coherent, 2003’s X-Men 2; Lee
cogent strategy in place, rights to Marvel properties were sold greets Chris Evans
seemingly willy-nilly, almost as if some kind of tombola were (Cap!) at Comic-Con
involved. For example, the rights to the Fantastic Four were 2011; Ryan Reynolds
sold to a German producer, Bernd Eichinger, for a paltry reclines as Deadpool in
$250,000. When the rights were about to lapse back to Marvel, 2016; Nakia (Lupita
he teamed with Roger Corman for an ultra-cheap FF movie Nyong’o), T’Challa
that was so bad, it was never oicially released. Those who’ve (Chadwick Boseman)
seen it say that it’s worse than the Josh Trank movie of 2015, and Okoye (Danai
which is quite the statement. Gurira) in this year’s
Marvel really started getting serious about the movie game-changing
business in 1993, when the company was acquired by toys giant Black Panther.
ToyBiz. Avi Arad came aboard, and recognised that Marvel was
sitting on a potential goldmine; one which it would be wise to
mine itself. Setting up Marvel Entertainment (which became
Marvel Studios in 1996), the company started getting involved
with adaptations of its properties. The snowball efect was
almost immediate. In 1998, Blade became the first Marvel
character to get his own movie, via New Line. That did well
enough to convince Fox to finally take a gamble on X-Men, that
weird line of comics they’d had the rights to since 1994. When
the first X-Men movie opened in 2000, complete with Stan Lee
cameo, and grossed $300 million worldwide, that quickly begat
Sam Raimi’s record-breaking Spider-Man, complete with
another Stan Lee cameo, over at Sony. Which in turn begat
Daredevil and Fantastic Four (a releasable one) at Fox, Ghost
Rider at Sony, Hulk at Universal, and more. Many, many
more. The comic-book movie, after years of derision, was
having its day. But still, something wasn’t quite right.

ESSENTIALLY, THE PROBLEM was that the rights to

major Marvel characters had been dotted around town. And
while there were tentative talks at having the Fantastic Four,
including a young actor called Chris Evans, cameo in an X-Men
movie, or vice versa, that was about it as far as emulating Lee’s
utopian ideal of a shared universe went. You can almost imagine
the screams of frustration from Marvel HQ at the great
opportunities gone begging to do something truly groundbreaking.
Again, shared universes, where characters from one movie
flit in and out of another movie that isn’t necessarily a sequel,
aren’t new to cinema. Just ask Kevin Smith, or Quentin
Tarantino. But Marvel saw a chance to cultivate by far the most
ambitious. After an internal shule that saw Arad depart, with
his number two, Kevin Feige, stepping into the hot seat, Marvel
Studios announced that slate of films: Iron Man, Captain America,
a new Hulk film, and Thor. To most of Hollywood, they were
second-tier characters, nuts they had found diicult or almost

30 JANUARY 2019
 s ta n l e e t r i b u t e

impossible to crack, with the rights reverting to Marvel in most

cases. But Feige and his team were confident of the power of
these characters. And you know the rest. From the moment
Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury casually gatecrashed the very, very
end of Iron Man, the modern movie landscape changed forever.
Yet, it’s easy to forget how easily it could all have gone
wrong; how it could have crashed down around Feige’s ears had
even one of those early movies gone badly wrong. Instead, they
trusted in the characters they had — each one of which was
co-created by Stan Lee — and kept faith in the course they were
setting. Which was something that had never been attempted
before — a multi-part narrative, unfolding over many years,
with each new instalment informed and enhanced by what had
come before. And all of it built on the platform provided by
Stan Lee. The success of the MCU, which eventually attracted
a $4 billion takeover from Disney in 2009, has been a validation
of all those who felt, like Lee, that superheroes could work on
the big screen. And what a success it has been — last year alone,
two movies in the MCU, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity
War, passed the billion-dollar mark, and shaped the cultural
narrative for months. The latter, in fact, became just the fourth
movie in history to gross $2 billion.
There are those, of course, who see Marvel Studios and
the MCU as the epitome of everything that’s wrong with
modern blockbusters, particularly as Feige and his team make
groundbreaking deals like the one that brought Spider-Man,
ensconced firmly at Sony, into the MCU. Or, indeed, Disney’s
multi-billion takeover of 20th Century Fox, which opens the
door to the X-Men being incorporated into the MCU, and
This page, top to further world domination. They rail against the homogenisation
bottom: Avengers of mass entertainment, and lay the blame for all the copycat
Assemble in 2012, shared universes and interlinked franchises that have sprung
including Robert up in its wake. But that almost wilfully ignores the creative
Downey Jr’s Iron Man; success of these movies. Funny, thrilling, laced with great
Tobey Maguire slings character work, a Marvel Studios movie (important distinction:
his web in Sam Raimi’s not to be confused with movies made “in association with”
2004 Spider-Man; Lee Marvel Studios, like Venom) is as surefire a guarantee of a good
dressed as a postman time at the movies as it’s possible to get. In just ten years,
for his Fantastic Four Marvel Studios has gone from being Hollywood’s great gamble
cameo in 2005, with (putting Iron Man on the cover of Empire in 2008 was by no
Michael Chiklis (Thing); means a sure thing) to transforming the business. Throw
2018’s Avengers: Infinity a rock in Hollywood, and chances are you’ll hit someone
War: Wong (Benedict working on a shared universe, desperately trying to unlock
Wong), Doctor the secrets of Marvel Studios’ 11 herbs and spices.
Strange (Benedict Very few of those have even come close to emulating
Cumberbatch), Bruce Marvel’s success, though. And frankly, blaming Marvel Studios
Banner (Mark Ruffalo) for the mistakes made by, say, the DCEU or Universal’s
and Tony Stark much-ballyhooed and then quietly shuttered Dark Universe
(Downey Jr). — two examples of shared universes that tried to copy the
Marvel model without really understanding it, or first laying
the groundwork — is as futile as blaming George Lucas or
Steven Spielberg for the way Star Wars and Jaws changed
the blockbuster landscape in the 1970s.
Yet the MCU is now at an interesting juncture in its
development. With the first decade under its belt, and next
April’s Avengers 4 promising an end to so many storylines,
and with it the last Stan Lee cameo, the future is uncertain for
the first time in a long while. It seems inevitable that new
characters will be introduced, new franchises launched, new
ground broken. But whatever happens, it all stems from, and
honours, the legacy of Stan Lee; the man who, 55 years ago,
put a team of cosmic-powered superheroes into the same room
as a teenage boy who’d been bitten by a spider and — eventually
— changed the world.

JANUARY 2019 31
 “KEEPMOVINGFORWARD,
AND IF IT’S TIME TO GO, IT’S TIME.
NOTHING LASTS FOREVER.”
STAN LEE
Holger Keifel/Focus/Eyevine

32 JANUARY 2019
 START YOUR DAY WITH THE LATEST
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 A L L T H E E XC LUS I V E N E WS ON T H EDITED BY JOHN NUGENT

34 JANUARY 2019
 Empire spoke to
Neil Marshall on set
in Bulgaria on 13
November 2017.

To Hell
TAKEN
and back
Director Neil Marshall on
making a darker, bloodier,
AS RED R-rated Hellboy
THREE COMICS
THAT INSPIRED
THE MOVIE
“I LIKE A challenge,” grins Neil
Marshall. “Maybe I’m just a sucker for
punishment.” Hellboy’s legacy is almost
as intimidating as his horns. The blood-red
half-demon, having been birthed in
comic form by creator Mike Mignola,
starred in two beloved films by Guillermo
DARKNESS del Toro, but a long-awaited third fizzled
CALLS out. Around 2014, plans arose to reboot
This 2007 series the beast, and Marshall, the British
saw Hellboy take director of The Descent and Dog Soldiers,
on witches from was chosen to nurture him back.
around the world, “It’s a tough act to follow,” he tells
who demanded he Empire of taking over from del Toro.
become their king. Marshall contacted the monster master
to get his blessing. “I didn’t want to step
on his toes or get his nose out of joint. So
I got in touch and said, ‘This is something
very, very diferent and I want to make
sure you’re cool with that.’ And he said,
‘I’m totally cool with it.’”
And it really will be diferent, says
THE WILD HUNT Marshall. For starters, they’ll dive deep
Published from into the comics, which are hardly for kids
2008, this arc riffs — this Hellboy will be R-rated, and then
on the Arthurian tale some. We’re promised gallons of gore,
of the Blood Queen with a darker emotional core, all in the
(played in the ilm name of honouring the comics. “It was
by Milla Jovovich). always a case of, ‘When in doubt, go back
to the source material.’ Some of the stuf
is pretty sick,” says Marshall, gleefully.
“More violent and more bloody. We
weren’t making it with handcufs on.”
Mostly, Marshall wants the film to
stand on its own two hooves. The director
was chosen for his genre chops — this
THE STORM iteration skews much more horror than
AND THE FURY fantasy, has been partly filmed in the UK,
Completing the and has “a little bit of a Hammer, gothic”
trilogy, this arc vibe, says the director. “It’s taking
(from 2010-’11) Hellboy out of his comfort zone.” Bring
sets up a on the nightmares. ALEX GODFREY
game-changing
war for Hellboy. HELLBOY IS IN CINEMAS FROM 12 APRIL 2019

JANUARY 2019 35
 We spoke to Adam
McKay on the phone
on 7 November,
while he completed
finishing touches
to the film.
You don’t
know Dick
Director Adam McKay on
why Vice, the untold story of
Vice President Dick Cheney,
is more relevant than ever
ADAM McKAY IS aware that
choosing Dick Cheney as the subject of
a biopic is unusual. It’s not something he
intended. “Most of us don’t know much
about him,” he says. “People called him
Darth Vader and he shot a guy in the face;
that’s as much as most people know.”
Many years ago, the filmmaker started
reading a biography of Cheney, who served
in the administrations of Presidents Nixon,
Ford and Bush Sr before becoming Vice
President to George W. Bush. Despite never
having the top job, Cheney was one of the
most powerful men in modern history,
shaping the US response to terrorism post
9/11, including controversial approaches to
interrogation, and marching the country
into war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“It sounds grandiose, but he changed
the course of history,” says McKay. As he
read more, he realised that Cheney had
to be the subject of his first movie since
winning an Oscar for The Big Short. “The
more I read, the more astounded I was by
36 JANUARY 2019
how brilliantly this guy gamed the system. Top to bottom:
He had a Zelig-like knack for always Wife Lynne (Amy
being in the middle of things. Where did Adams) with Cheney
he come from? What was driving this guy?” (Christian Bale);
McKay sees his story as one about Another remarkable
what motivates people to ruthlessly hunt transformation for
power. He says it’s as much about Cheney’s Bale; The Cheneys
wife, Lynne, played by Amy Adams, as it shape US political
is about Dick. “She had this very tough history; Director Adam
upbringing and I saw how there could be McKay: “I can’t tell
a desire for power and safety and security. if this is the darkest
I could see how Dick Cheney became the comedy imaginable.”
vehicle for that, for the family.”
When it came to casting Cheney,
McKay’s choice is at once surprising and
inevitable. No-one looked at Christian
Bale and remarked on a resemblance to
the ex-Veep, but McKay knew Bale, who
co-starred in The Big Short, could reshape If The Big Short led McKay from the
himself to become anyone. “When it pure comedy of Anchorman and Step
comes to physical transformation, nto something a little more
anyone can do it, he can,” says McK he calls Vice a bigger step still.
“Boy-oh-boy did we pick the right h more of a mix,” he says. “It’s
He found all these idiosyncratic ti mes we live in now: I can’t tell if
movements. I’ll never forget the d he darkest comedy imaginable
when the [prosthetic] make-up star traight-up tragedy. So that’s
to work. He put it on for a test. He’ e the movie lives.” He may not
gained the weight and was wearing the news — but Cheney is as
the suit and he did the Cheney wal ificant as ever. OLLY RICHARDS
Alamy
I got chills. He wasn’t just playing
this guy — he summoned him.” E IS IN CINEMAS FROM 25 JANUARY

CA AN
We hear that you that you passed
your driving test recently.
Yes, I did!
Congratulations! How did it go?
It wasn’t easy. I failed five times.
The first time was for Never Let Me
Go. The director Mark Romanek
insisted that I learn how to drive
a manual car. I didn’t have a licence.
They put me on this intensive
course for a week. I failed within the
first three minutes of my test. Then
I came back to the UK and took my
next two tests when I was nine
months pregnant with my daughter.
Failed both of those, which was
tragic. Then took two more when
I was nine months pregnant with my
son. Failed both of those. Then, this
year, I was just like, “I’m doing it. I’m
going to do an intensive course.” So
I did, with a driving instructor, Noel
— my favourite person in the world.
And I passed! It changed the game.
Are you a confident driver now?
I just drove for a month in LA!
On the wrong side of the road!
Does that include driving
on freeways?
I did drive on the freeway. Though
I had a friend coach me through it.
Are you careful?
I’m so unbelievably careful. I’m not
out to make any mistakes. I drive
like a 90-year-old woman.
WILDLIFE IS IN CINEMAS NOW
TEN THINGS
YOU NEED
TO KNOW
ABOUT...
JOKER
Will DC’s
standalone
supervillain
story put
a smile on
your face?
1Joaquin
__The Clown Prince Of Crime is back.
Phoenix, donning the green hair
6enemy
Despite the Joker being the arch-
__
of Batman, the Caped Crusader
and perma-grin for a film simply titled won’t be appearing here. Bruce Wayne
Joker, says it was the uniqueness of the will make an appearance — but only
project that appealed it to him. “It is its as a pre-Bats child, played by Dante
own world,” Phoenix told Collider about Pereira-Olson.
the project. “And mostly, it scares the
fucking shit out of me.” 7across
__ Filming has taken place on location
New York City and New Jersey,
2 Warner Bros. has described the
__ with leaked phone footage showing the
film as an “original, standalone story Joker causing chaos on the subway, being
not seen before on the big screen”, chased by cops, and extras screaming
a “gritty character study”, and a “broader for their lives.
cautionary tale”. It’s set in the 1980s,
which suggests it is inspired by Batman:
The Killing Joke, the 1988 graphic novel
8 A mocked-up Gotham subway map
__
spotted on set featured a few neat Easter
by Alan Moore which explains how the eggs, with nods to Batman creator Bob
Joker went from failed stand-up comedian Kane (‘Kane County’), DC Comics editor
to mayhem-loving psychopath. Mark Chiarello (‘Chiarello Drive’) and
former Batman director Christopher
3continuity.
__ This film is not part of DCEU
Variety reported in June that
Nolan (‘Nolan Lane’). There’s even
a little bitty reference to Superman
Jared Leto’s take on the Joker would also The Movie (‘Otisburg’).
get his own, separate standalone movie.
9 Paparazzi have been “all over the set”,
__
4movieRobert
__ De Niro makes his comic book
debut here, playing a talk show
according to Phillips, leading him to
unveil official shots on Instagram. “It
host “instrumental in the Joker’s origin”. bums me out that they constantly put out
their bad shots,” he has said. “So, I figure,
5 Alec Baldwin was attached to play
__ may as well put out some good ones.”
Thomas Wayne, father of Batman — for
two days, before dropping out. “I’m sure
there are 25 guys who can play that part,”
10 With a reported budget of $55 million,
__
according to The Hollywood Reporter
he told USA Today. Brett Cullen (who — thrifty, by superhero standards —
briefly appeared in The Dark Knight Rises Joker will cackle its way into cinemas
as a politician) has taken the role instead. in November 2019. JOHN NUGENT
JANUARY 2019 37
 Empire spoke to
Paul Wernick
and Rhett Reese
by phone on
9 November,
and David Leitch
on 11 November.
A very Deadpool Christmas
Deadpool 2 is getting a
family-friendly Christmas
re-release. The director and
writers explain why and how
NO, IT’S NOT a joke. Deadpool —
the sweariest, most savagely violent
superhero out there, who fought
tooth-and-nail for an adults-only R
rating — is moving into PG-13 territory.
“What’s so great about Deadpool,” says
Paul Wernick, co-writer with Rhett Reese
and co-writer/star Ryan Reynolds, “is
that anything is possible. Deadpool is
inherently a character that breaks all
rules. This PG-13 version is further
example of that.”
Only Deadpool could be rebellious
by being less ofensive. But the idea of
a re-edit and re-release came about when
children started complaining that they
couldn’t enjoy the most childish superhero
out there. “So many people said, ‘My
tween kids are killing me because they
aren’t allowed to watch it,’” recalls
co-writer Rhett Reese.
38 JANUARY 2019
With the studio on board, the three
writers began hashing out an idea. First,
they needed a framing device. “We
stumbled onto an idea of [reprising] The
Princess Bride,” recalls Wernick. “But
with an adult Fred Savage!” Reynolds
reached out to Savage, who, as a child
actor listened intently to his grandfather’s
stories in Rob Reiner’s fantasy classic. He
agreed to parodically reprise his role, now
listening intently to Grampa ’Pool retell
the events of a sanitised Deadpool 2.
Recreating The Princess Bride’s set
shot-for-shot, a “guerrilla crew” spent
a day filming, resulting in 15 minutes of
new footage. Director David Leitch flew
from the London set of Hobbs & Shaw to
be there. “As soon as they pitched me the
idea,” says Leitch, “I said, ‘I’m there.’”
But if you take out Deadpool’s
naughty bits, what’s left? As it turns out,
a sanitised version existed. “Sometimes
you make cuts for TV, airlines or foreign
markets,” explains Leitch. “I had done
such a version of the movie. The new
material added a lot of opportunities.”
The censors were less tricky than
you might think, too. “What we found
Above: Hang about, — which was either encouraging or
Deadpool is back… discouraging — was that PG-13 movies
Right, top to bottom: get away with a lot,” explains Reese. “If
Fred Savage and you go back and look, The Dark Knight
Deadpool riff on 1987’s was a PG-13 movie. That movie was really
The Princess Bride; violent!” While extreme gore and
A young Savage and swearing is a no-no — the demise of the
Peter Falk as grandson X-Force will be considerably shorter
and grandpa in the — with selective editing and re-recording
beloved fantasy film. dialogue you could get around restrictions.
“You miss a couple of F-bombs,” says
Wernick, “but it’s pretty much the same
movie.” Helpfully, Deadpool wears a mask,
which made dubbing fairly seamless.
After considerable back-and-forth
with the censors over what they could get
away with, the finished product, Once Upon
A Deadpool, earns a one-night release in
December. But who’s the target
audience? Kids or adults? “Really, it’s
families,” says Wernick. “Deadpool 2 is
all about family, after all, and this is us
trying to keep families together”. Family,
it seems, is the only F-word you’ll find
here. JOHN NUGENT
Alamy
ONCE UPON A DEADPOOL IS IN CINEMAS ON
11 DECEMBER
 PRIME
TIME
We put Detective Pikachu

D
detective who happens to have the
name Pikachu?
No. This is the one you know and possibly
love, Pikachu the pointy-tailed Pokémon
mascot — as a detective.

So it’s a Pokemon solving crimes?

Explain.
First released in 2016, Detective Pikachu
was a video game for the Nintendo 3DS.
A curious, quirky spin-off from the
billion-dollar franchise in which players
are encouraged to catch ’em all, this saw
an unusually gruff-voiced Pikachu don
a deerstalker cap and investigate various
mysteries through an adorable magnifying
glass — including the disappearance of
Pikachu’s owner, Harry Goodman.

And they’re making another direct-to-

video animated movie, then?
Not this time. There have been over
20 animated ilms in the franchise, but
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is set to be
the irst live-action entry, with Pikachu and
his fellow Pokémons depicted using CGI.

Who’s playing Pikachu?

Ryan Reynolds, who slips out of his
spandex Deadpool outit and into a mo-cap
suit, providing the voice and movements
of the tiny yellow hero. On the human side
of things, he’ll be joined by Ken Watanabe,
Bill Nighy, Rita Ora, and Jurassic World:
Fallen Kingdom’s Justice Smith, while
Monsters Vs. Aliens’ Rob Letterman will
direct, and Guardians Of The Galaxy writer
Nicole Perlman on script duties. Catch ’em
all in May 2019. JOHN NUGENT

JANUARY 2019 39
 Idris Elba spoke
to Empire in
London on 10 May,
while shaking
off a “lurgy”.
Back on the case
Luther himself, Idris Elba,
offers five clues on the next
series of the detective drama
1 __ IT’S FOCUSED ON
JUST ONE CASE
DCI John Luther is back. Every time you
think he’s done, he emerges again, all
gruf and becoated, ready to solve more
crime. Where previous series have tended
to give Luther several cases to crack,
over one or two episodes each, series
five is entirely focused on one, and it’s
shorter, to boot — just four episodes. This
series begins with an attack on a London
bus, which draws Luther back into the
darkness he’s always trying to escape.
“[Writer Neil Cross] always conjures
up more hideous storylines,” says Elba,
adding that we should expect a number of
revelations. “We peel the onion back on
John Luther more and more personally.”
DOUGLAS SIRK
(DIRECTOR)
40 JANUARY 2019
2 __ HE’S GOT (ANOTHER)
NEW PARTNER
Luther may be a loner, but he always has
someone to assist his detective work,
some of whom eventually move on, some
of whom are eventually buried. The fourth
series’ DS Emma Lane (Rose Leslie) will
not return for series five. She’ll be replaced
by Wunmi Mosaku as Catherine Halliday,
a junior detective who aspires to be as good
as Luther, if a little more rule-abiding. “All
Luther’s partners test his moral standing,”
says Elba. “Halliday has a real admiration
for Luther, which is something he has to
navigate. Where it ends up is compelling.”
3 __ ALICE IS BACK!
Ruth Wilson has confirmed Alice
Morgan, the fan favourite genius
psychopath, will return this series, despite
apparently being dead in series four. Elba
is keeping schtum about the details, but
admits “the dynamic between them has
grown to be one of the best character
DIRECTOR BARRY JENKINS
ON THE ARTISTS WHO INFLUENCED
IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
GORDON PARKS
(PHOTOGRAPHER)
Clockwise from chess games we’ve seen on television.
main: Idris Elba’s Luther is in awe of her. She is exquisite as
Luther, who we will a criminal: intelligent beyond belief.”
get to know a lot
better; Wunmi Mosaku 4 __ THIS ISN’T THE
joins the cast as junior LAST OF LUTHER
detective Catherine In the past, Elba has been ambiguous on
Halliday; Ruth Wilson’s whether he’ll ever return as Luther again.
Alice will, somehow, This time he’s clear: there is unfinished
be back. business. “This season is not the end,”
says Elba. “But there are some real
changes that will happen.”
5 __ THE NEXT ‘SERIES’
COULD BE A FILM
“Neil and I have got the ambition to make a
film, and this season may be the stepping
stone,” says Elba. They already have their
blueprint for a movie: “Our ambition is it
falls on the scale of Seven.” Bleak. Intense.
Willing to kill any of the cast. We can see
part six being the new Seven. OLLY RICHARDS
LUTHER IS COMING SOON TO BBC ONE
Alamy, Getty Images, REX/Shutterstock
ROY DECARAVA IF BEALE STREET
(ARTIST) COULD TALK (2019)
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Harry Potter © 2016 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved. Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Disney Classics Complete Movie Collection © Disney.
Game Of Thrones © 2017 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and related service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc. The James Bond Collection © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 SOUNDING OFF ON THIS
MONTH’S BIG NEWS
It’s time to give
Jack Sparrow
the heave-ho
So they’re rebooting Pirates
Of The Caribbean? Perfect
opportunity to move on from
the Jack Sparrow days,
thinks Dan Jolin
WE HAD SOME good times
with Captain Jack. His unforgettable
entrance, clinging to the mast of a sinking
ship. The bit where he got upset about
Elizabeth burning the rum. That cool,
closing line, “Bring me the horizon.”
Yeah, good times. And they were all
in the first film.
As a report comes from Deadline
that Disney is rebooting the Pirates Of
The Caribbean franchise, with Deadpool
writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick
rearranging the rigging, there should
be no call for dismay. Not even at the
prospect that a fresh, piratical adventure
would likely excise the series’ star
entirely — something original Pirates
writer Stuart Beattie hinted at in a recent
interview when he thought Johnny Depp
“had a great run” with the character.
Jack certainly endured, making Depp
one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors,
42 JANUARY 2019
and helping turn a theme-park ride
adaptation into a $4.5-billion-grossing
superyacht of a franchise. Although
there is now plenty of tarnish on that
gold-toothed grin. The fifth Pirates Of
The Caribbean instalment, last year’s
Salazar’s Revenge, was the series’
weakest, both in terms of critical
response and box-office returns.
Meanwhile, Depp himself has been
accused of domestic violence (which he
denies); given Disney’s recent firing of
James Gunn over some controversial
tweets, it wouldn’t be surprising if the
studio decided to toss him overboard.
But the problem isn’t merely Depp.
It is Jack himself. The character was
a happy accident, a novelty supporting
act stitched together by Depp, the
writers and director Gore Verbinski.
He was, deservedly, a hit with audiences,
who loved how he tottered through the
sabre-clashing, cannon-blasting action
like an inebriated Pepé Le Pew, wrong-
footing our expectations and anarchically
undercutting the drama. But he wasn’t
built to anchor an ongoing franchise. As
Verbinski noted ahead of the first sequel’s
release in 2006, “You don’t want just the
Jack Sparrow movie. He’s the spice and
Peak Jack Sparrow you need a lot of straight men. Let’s not
(Johnny Depp) in give them too much Jack. It’s like too
Dead Man’s Chest. much dessert.” The truth is, his wobbly
shtick has gotten old — especially in his
last two outings, which removed him
from the Will Turner/Elizabeth Swann
context, and served enough “dessert” to
leave us nauseous.
Why not start completely afresh
with a whole new Pirates Of The
Caribbean concept? It’s not like Disney
would be ditching a beloved character
from already established source material.
This isn’t like trying to do Iron Man
without Tony Stark. Sparrow wasn’t
even one of the animatronic corsairs on
the Disney World ride. It would be far
more interesting and exciting if Reese
and Wernick completely jettisoned all
the clunky lore that cluttered up those
five films and sent an entirely new
set of characters out to sea. Certainly
better than trying to remix Sparrow
himself and tasking a new actor with
rebottling Depp’s 2003 lightning. In
fact, ‘young Jack Sparrow’ feels like the
worst way they could go.
Jack’s had his long moment in the
Caribbean sun, and outstayed his welcome.
Time to bring us a whole new horizon.
 best of 2018
film of the year

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 Hans Petter Moland
spoke to Empire
from his home in
Oslo on 9 November.

Remaking a murderer DIRECTORS

WHO REMADE
THEIR OWN
FILMS
How to have another crack Norwegian original. It was a good is not a generic Nordic brand — my dark, ALFRED
at your own film (with Liam process to try and make a good film dry humour is just as much like a Walter HITCHCOCK
Neeson in a snowplough) and to understand that character.” Matthau or Billy Wilder film. So my sense After making The
of humour is not foreign to America.” Man Who Knew
EXPLORE NEW IDEAS Too Much in 1934,
“Because it’s in an American setting — SPEND THE BIGGER BUDGET he repeated the
IF NEW THRILLER Cold Pursuit, the Rocky Mountains — some new “We had resources to achieve things trick — this time
starring Liam Neeson as your regular elements are brought into it. Instead of a that we couldn’t in the original. We were in colour —
snow-ploughing vigilante, seems familiar, Balkan gang it’s a Native American gang, able to build bigger sets, which I think in 1956.
that’s because it’s a remake of 2014 film which means the satire and prejudices contributed greatly to the story: it
In Order Of Disappearance. Norwegian being played with are transposed into could place the Native American gang SAM RAIMI
filmmaker Hans Petter Moland — who other cultural diferences.” in a setting which resonates with their The Evil Dead
made both films — talks Empire through particular predicament. But filmmaking (1981) was
the bonkers déjà-vu process of filming HAVE FAITH IN YOUR TONE is funny. It ultimately boils down to a famously given
your own film again for an English- “I lived in America for many years, so camera and some actors in front of it and a remake-sequel
language audience. making it in America with Americans a few people behind it.” ALEX GODFREY in 1987.
wasn’t a big deal to me. I felt comfortable
DON’T AUTOMATICALLY DO IT with American humour and the American COLD PURSUIT IS IN CINEMAS FROM MICHAEL MANN
“The original got a terrific response at way of life. I feel that my sense of humour 22 FEBRUARY His made-for-TV
the Berlin [international film] festival movie L.A.
and the next morning, America came Above: Nels Takedown (1989)
calling about a remake. I had to give it a Coxman (Liam was turned in the
serious think. It was a little bit like if you Neeson) seeks more cinematic
put on a play in Norway and somebody Rocky-sloped Heat (1995).
asks you to bring it to Broadway. It’s a revenge.
chance to speak to a diferent audience.” Right: Neeson Michael Haneke
explores “the Haneke made
DEVELOP IT WITH humorous a shot-for-shot,
A DIFFERENT STAR aspects” of being English language
“Liam was part of the suggested set-up, threatened by remake of Funny
and that made it attractive and tempting. a gang member Games in 2007,
He was clearly interested in exploring with a gun. a decade after the
the humorous aspects of this film. And Austrian original.
he didn’t just want to plug and play the

44 JANUARY 2019
 WAIT, WHAT HAPPENED?
THE ONE THING WE CAN’T.
STOP. TALKING. ABOUT

THE BIZARRE TWIST

IN THE SPIES IN
DISGUISE TRAILER
Steven Yeun spoke
to Empire during
the London Film
Festival on
19 October.

BLAZINGA
This month, a new trailer arrived for Spies In
Disguise, an animated comedy from the makers
NEW TRAIL
of the Ice Age franchise, starring Will Smith How a Korean thriller marks
as a super-spy. Nothing out of the ordinary another reinvention for The
there. But then... Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun

SHAKING LOOSE A character that

After some fairly standard spy shenanigans, Will
Smith’s character, erm, turns into a pigeon. For
reasons that are not immediately clear. We
imagine the script meeting went something like:
“James Bond... but a pigeon!”
With gadget nerd Walter (Tom Holland) also along
for the implausible ride, it’s all based on the short
ilm Pigeon: Impossible, with directors Nick Bruno
and Troy Quane adapting their own single-line
pitch into a feature-length romp.
Alamy
you’ve played for seven years in a wildly
successful TV series can be hard. Steven
Yeun is still best known as The Walking
Dead’s Glenn Rhee — but in Burning, a
new thriller from Korean filmmaker Lee
Chang-Dong, he turns from zombie-
burdened pizza boy to Korean tycoon
with efortless confidence. Amazingly,
he nearly turned down the role.
“There was a moment where I was
like, ‘Can I do this?’” he says. For a Korean
American, born in Seoul and raised in
Michigan, Yeun was troubled by his first
non-English language role. “I don’t have
that understanding of Korean language.
I thought, ‘Can I even play this part?’”
Yeun is quick to credit Chang-dong,
who has quietly estabished himself as a
critical darling since his 1997 debut Green
Fish, as the reason to overcome his fears.
“He opened the door and said, “You
are the actor for this character.” To get
a blessing like that from a really wise
director gives you a lot of confidence.”
Loosely based on a Haruki Murakami
short story, the film follows lonely Jongsu
(Yoo Ah-in), his crush Haemi (Jeon
Jong-seo), and Ben (Yeun), a Gatsby-type
businessman with a nasty habit of burning
down greenhouses. Yeun prepared
Top to bottom: There goes the greenhouse; Firestarter Ben
(Yeun); With Jongsu (Yoo Ah-in) and Hae-mi (Jong-seo Jeon).
playlists (including “Bon Iver, a little
classical music, and a lot of hip-hop”)
that spoke to his character. From pizza
to Nietzsche — not a bad progression.
In the two years since Glenn’s bloody
exit from The Walking Dead, Yeun has
chosen a run of surprising film roles
(Okja, Sorry To Bother You), but took a lot
from the show that sent him into orbit.
“It was seven years of allowing myself to
feel confident in a safe space,” he says.
“It prepared me to do the job that I’m
intended to.”
So acclaimed is that job that it could
lead Burning to earn South Korea’s first-
ever nomination at the Oscars. For his
part, Yeun is keeping both eyes on the
prize. (Unlike Glenn.) BETH WEBB

meticulously for the role, perfecting

Korean, reading Nietzsche and making BURNING IS IN CINEMAS 1 FEBRUARY

JANUARY 2019 45
 Once upon
a time in
Westeros
The first Game Of Thrones
prequel series is coming
— here are five storylines
it could well tackle
1 __ THE LONG NIGHT
This was the pilot title apparently leaked
by George R.R. Martin himself (and
quickly denied by HBO), which refers
to the cataclysmic lifelong winter that
descended upon his world around
6-8,000 years before the events of Game
Of Thrones. That would place the prequel
show in a suitably tumultuous time of
Westerosi legend, a kind of murky
pre-historical period that gives
showrunner Jane Goldman plenty of
room to flex her creative muscles.
2 __ THE ARRIVAL OF
THE OTHERS
HBO’s official log line mentions “the true
origin of the White Walkers”, aka the
Others, who swarmed southward from
the Lands Of Always Winter and invaded
Westeros during The Long Night. As we
know from the last season of Thrones, the
White Walkers were created by ancient
forest people The Children, in retaliation
for the crimes against nature committed
by the First Men of Westeros. So the
new show could dig into that human/
faery-folk conflict, as well as the
subsequent foundation of the Night’s
Watch and the building of the Wall to
repel the Others.
3 __ THE NIGHT’S KING
AND QUEEN
Another possible story thread could be
the fall of the 13th Lord Commander of
the Night’s Watch, who, according to
Westerosi legend, fell for a woman “with
46 JANUARY 2019
skin as white as the moon and eyes like
blue stars”. He became the Night’s King,
siding with the Others, corrupting the
Watch and ruling from the Nightfort
for 13 years. That mysterious
sorceress could be the “charismatic
socialite” role we know has been
taken by Naomi Watts.
4 __ THE EARLY STARKS
Yes, even 8,000 years before Ned
lost his head, there were Starks. But
back then they were known as The
Kings Of Winter, a rough and resilient
dynasty which may have produced
heroes like Brandon The Builder
(who built the Wall and founded
the House), but held the North
by brutal force for generations.
Interestingly, House Stark’s rivalry
with the flay-happy House Bolton
started during The Long Night, so
it’s likely we’ll discover how that
particular feud kicked of.
5 __ WELCOME TO YI-TI?
HBO’s mention of “the mysteries of
the East” might not actually refer to
Essos, where Danaerys adventured for
six seasons. Perhaps it takes us further
East, to, er, The Further East, and the
so-far-unseen nation of Yi Ti. Here,
according to myth, the Long Night
was caused by a sacrilegious tyrant
known as the Bloodstone Emperor, who
renounced the gods of Yi Ti and founded
a cannibalistic cult. It’s tough to see
how this would feasibly tie in with all
the frosty business in the North, but
Illustration: Kerry Roper
it fits with HBO’s hints that we’ll be
seeing something completely new in
this show. DAN JOLIN
THE GAME OF THRONES PREQUEL WILL
BEGIN PRODUCTION IN 2019
 Main: Melissa
McCarthy plays
author Lee Israel.
Empire spoke to Below: Lee
director Marielle hanging out with
Heller on the phone
her only non-
from Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, on feline friend,
5 November. Jack (Richard
E. Grant).

A SERIOUS
WOMAN
How a new forgery drama
gave Melissa McCarthy her
first big non-comedic role

WE HAVE COME to expect a certain

kind of Melissa McCarthy movie by
now. Since her breakthrough in 2011’s
Bridesmaids, the actor has turned out big,
brash, bonkers comedies at a prolific rate.
Her latest, Can You Ever Forgive Me?,
does not fit that mould. It’s a tragicomic
drama that already marks her a favourite
in the Best Actress Oscar race.
“I think she knew it was a diferent
type of movie,” says the film’s director,
Marielle Heller (making her second film
after the excellent The Diary Of A Teenage
Girl). “She approached it from a diferent Which is not to say there isn’t humour
perspective.” Adapted from the memoir of here. Israel had a fiercely sharp mind and
the same name by New York author Lee a savage wit, and many of the film’s funniest
Israel, an abrasive outsider who “likes cats scenes come from Israel’s interactions with
better than people”, it tells a sad, quiet story her only non-cat friend, Jack, played by
about urban loneliness and what Heller Richard E. Grant in a gloriously Withnail-
describes as “unrequited talent: the pain esque role. “I was a huge Withnail fan,” says
of being an artist who’s not recognised”. Heller. “We were so lucky to get Richard.”
A successful author and biographer Still, McCarthy devotees expecting
in the ’70s and ’80s, Israel’s work dried her usual schtick should know what
up in the ’90s. In desperation, she turned they’re in for. “I worried that her fans
to forging letters by her literary heroes, might not want to see her doing
selling them for huge sums. For Heller, something so diferent,” admits Heller.
it proved a fine balance in making “It’s just not what the public knows her
a criminal misanthrope sufficiently as. But [Melissa] was always so game.”
sympathetic. “You don’t want to soften Get ready to have your expectations
someone to make them likeable,” shattered. JOHN NUGENT
explains Heller, “but it’s important that
we understood her motivations. I found CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? IS IN CINEMAS
her totally fascinating.” FROM 1 FEBRUARY

JANUARY 2019 47
 Joel Edgerton
spoke to Empire on
the phone from
San Francisco on
6 November.

“It’s a
hopeful but
harrowing
story”
Joel Edgerton explains why
gay conversion drama Boy
Erased is as frightening
as any horror movie

AFTER YEARS IN front of the

camera, acting in films like Loving
and The Great Gatsby, Joel Edgerton
made a storming debut behind
the camera in 2015 with The Gift,
a Hitchcockian horror that made its
modest budget back more than ten
times at the box oice. His second
directorial efort, the real-life drama
Boy Erased, is more earnest, more
virtuous, and — if the bookies are to
be believed — more awards-y. But as
Edgerton explains, it’s just as much
of a horror movie as his last film.
“I think Boy Erased has more scary
moments than The Gift,” Edgerton
asserts. “The Gift is designed to make
an audience jump and jitter. Boy Erased
is a true story that gets under your skin
and makes you uncomfortable in other
ways.” Here, the threat is more sinister
because it’s real. And it spoke to
Edgerton’s own deep-seated childhood
terrors. “I happened to have a childhood
deep fear of being separated from my
From top: by the nuance of the story. “I think I was
Reeling ’em off, just looking for madness in the pages:
director Edgerton; He diabolical people and mad ideas and
also plays therapist backward thinking and viciousness and
Victor Sykes; Jon blood on the pages. I got some of those
(Xavier Dolan) with things, but what I also got out of it was a
Jared (Lucas Hedges) hopeful story, albeit very harrowing. It
on the controversial was more complicated and less black-
conversion and-white, I thought.”
programme. Central to the movie is a profound
sense of empathy. Edgerton kept
returning to the protagonist’s parents
(played in the film by Nicole Kidman and
about the controversial practice of gay Russell Crowe), realising that though
conversion therapy, the pseudoscience their choices around their son were
ofered by some right wing religious clearly wrong, they came from a good
organisations that claim to change place. “There’s no need to vilify any of
Sheryl Nields/August Image, Alamy

parents, and being institutionalised
in any fashion,” he recalls. As a child,
Edgerton once burst into tears after
his dad joked about sending him to
the other side of Australia.
Those fears sparked Edgerton’s
interest in Boy Erased: A Memoir
by Garrard Conley, which he read
voraciously in early 2017. Like many
people, Edgerton knew only the basics
people’s sexuality. “I literally heard
that it existed,” he says. “I had the
same are-you-kidding-me reaction
that a lot of people had.”
Understandably, he expected to find
horror in Conley’s experiences, which
saw the teenage Christian presented with
an ultimatum from his conservative
parents: undergo conversion therapy, or
be disowned. But Edgerton was surprised
these people. I couldn’t deny, when I kept
examining it, that the action [of sending
their son to conversion therapy] was
born out of love, albeit based on the
misinformation of a belief system.” In
the real world, the only way to beat
horror is empathy. JOHN NUGENT
BOY ERASED IS IN CINEMAS FROM
8 FEBRUARY

48 JANUARY 2019
Echoing in
eternity
Gladiator 2 is happening.
What will it look like? We
ask a historian

CIVIL WAR!
At the end of Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning
Gladiator, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix)
is killed. Where could the now-greenlit
sequel go? Despite what the original
implies, Rome does not become a republic.
“There’s no real republican feeling in the
2nd century,” says historian Dr Benet
Salway, of University College London.
What follows is a power struggle and the so-
called ‘Year Of The Five Emperors’. “When
Commodus gets stabbed in the back, there
is no obvious successor. It’s very unstable
for a year. Then there’s a more long-term
civil war which lasts for three years.”
GLADIATORIAL COMBAT!
It’s not unreasonable to expect gladiators
in a film with the working title of
‘Gladiator 2’. This is not historically
inaccurate. “Games go on being held
in the Colosseum until the early 4th
century,” says Dr Salway. Given their
short lifespan, there are few famous
gladiators to focus on (Maximus was
fictional, after all), although one
stands out. “Probus Paullianus, rather
surprisingly, managed to live to the
age of 90.”
ETHNIC DIVERSITY!
Any film set in 2nd-century Rome
should reflect the diversity of the time,
says Dr Salway. “A large proportion of
the Senate is non-Italian, and moreover
a lot of them are people from what’s
now Turkey, Syria, Israel-Palestine,
and North Africa,” he says. “They’re
Russell Crowe, certainly not all Anglo-Saxon white
unleashing hell Protestants, and the slave population
in Ridley Scott’s was not all black. That’s not pushing
2000 epic. a politically correct agenda — being
more diverse would represent the
reality of the situation.”
SOMETHING COMPLETELY
MADE UP!
Reports suggest the new film may focus
on Lucius, the young son of Lucilla and
nephew of Commodus from the first
film. But is Lucius a historical figure?
Dr Salway “struggled to find any direct
ancient evidence” that Lucilla had any
children with the adopted son of Marcus
Aurelius. As with the first film, Ridley
Scott may just play fast and loose with
the history. JOHN NUGENT

THIS MONTH’S BIGGEST

TRAILER MOMENT

TOY STORY 4
The toys are back in humble constitution
town, and this time and misnomer of
they’re introducing a name, Forky
a new companion to (voiced by Arrested
suffer an existential Development’s Tony
crisis: meet Forky. If we Hale) leaves quite
were being pedantic, an impression. The
we’d note that unexpected sequel has
technically Forky been touted as the
should be called “most emotional” of
‘Sporky’, made as he is the series, but this
of a spork attached to neat little early teaser
pipe cleaners, lollipop suggests the toys
sticks and chewing haven’t forgotten
gum. But despite his the funny, either.

JANUARY 2019 49
 ERIC IDLE

What one thing do you do b

anyone else you know?
Put up with having to take the dogs out
for a shit.
What’s your favourite word in th
English language?
I’d say “sillographer”. It’s a satirist. B
I do also like “Daddy”. I always liked
called Daddy. It was always good fun
When were you last naked outdo
Well, every day. ’Cause I swim naked.
Why? What’s the point of putting on
pants to get wet? I don’t shower in my
underwear! You have to keep guests and
people away, obviously, and I try not to
frighten the dogs, but it’s one of the nicest
things I think there is.
What’s your earliest memory?
I have to say a Mickey Mouse gas mask,
which they threw over your head during
wartime. It was made of horrible,
foul-smelling rubber. I guess they were
trying to make things nicer for children,
but it was terrifying. And it means I’ve
always been frightened of Mickey Mouse,
and scuba diving.
same
escape
ern — you know, you have to
you must get into drag
What s your favourite smell?
Sandalwood. Not from real sandals,
obviously.
What’s the worst thing you ever put
in your mouth?
Golly. There was a thing at school called
‘gobby’, which is a pudding dessert. They
would slam it down and you’d go, “Oh
fuck, it’s gobby again.” That was about
the worst. And we’d have it three or four
times a week. It was kind of a sponge
puddingy kind of thing, but that’s to give
it far too many nice adjectives.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever
stolen from a hotel?
g g
RECENT I don’t think I’ve ever seen her movies.
I had a little pin-up of her; one of those
little postcard things, and she was very
WORK young and she still had dark hair, and
looked like a southern, French, sultry,
ROBIN attractive woman. That’s remained my
WILLIAMS: desirable type [laughs].
COME INSIDE
MY MIND Where do you go when you die?
(2018) [Laughs] You go into carbon and you are
Idle contributed recycled as other things. As I say at the
as a talking end of my book, I want to come back as a
head to this Tesla, so my wife can continue to drive me.
documentary
on the late Do people ever quote your lines back
comedian. at you?
They do, but not so much these days.
SPAMALOT When people come and say, “Say no
(2019) more,” or, “Is your wife a goer?”, what are
After hit runs you supposed to say? I always stop them
on Broadway and go, “Hi, I’m Eric. What’s your name?”
and in the Then you can snap them back into reality.
West End, Idle But if you’re in an airport, people often
is adapting this smile at you. And what’s popped into
stage musical their head is probably you dressed in
— itself an some stupid costume, or being crucified.
adaptation of But you made them laugh. So that’s quite
Illustration: Matt Herring

Which film have you seen more than
any other?
I would say probably Some Like It Hot.
It’s hilarious. It’s very beautifully written
and directed and it just works all the way
I think I stole from the Trump Hotel the film Monty the nicest thing about being a comedian.
in the days when it was still okay to go Python And DAN JOLIN
there. They had a nice little leather thing The Holy Grail
that you could put notes in, and I happily — for a big- ERIC IDLE’S BOOK, ALWAYS LOOK ON THE
stole that. And I’m glad I did it now screen BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE: A SORTABIOGRAPHY,
because, you know, he’s stolen it all back! adaptation. IS OUT NOW

50 JANUARY 2019
 Is Die Hard a
Christmas film?
Four Empire experts duke it
out over the debate that’s
raged for 30 years as Die
Hard comes to Sky Cinema
Yes!
CHRIS HEWITT,
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
DO NOT BE blinded by curmudgeons
telling you Die Hard is just a movie that
happens to take place at Christmas, as if
the setting is insignificant. Don’t be fazed
by Bruce Willis’ declaration at his recent
Comedy Central roast. It was a roast,
folks. He was joking. In fact, Die Hard
may be the Christmassiest movie of all.
There are the incidental details — the
dead villain wearing a Santa hat; Hans
Gruber saying, “It’s Christmas, Theo, it’s
the time of miracles”; John McClane
killing the bad guy with a gun he’s stuck
to his body using Christmas Sellotape —
52 JANUARY 2019
and then the great, big thematic
punch. Like A Christmas Carol, it’s
a film about a man undergoing
fundamental change on Christmas
Eve. Only instead of three ghosts, his
transformation comes courtesy of
a dozen thieves. When we meet John
McClane, he’s a closed book of a man,
sarcastic and hostile. By the time the
sun comes up on Christmas morning,
the battered, bloodied McClane has
become more open, honest and accepting.
The time of miracles, indeed.
No!
JOHN NUGENT,
NEWS EDITOR
Every December, it’s the same debate. Is
McClane McChristmassy, or not? Let’s
examine the evidence. Yes, the film takes
place on Christmas Eve, but McClane
could have come out to the coast for a few
laughs for any sort of office party. And the
film was originally released in July in the
Clockwise from main:
Bruce Willis and white
United States, which hardly suggests
it was intended as a seasonal movie.
vest take on terrorists Yes, it is a beloved staple on Christmas
on Christmas Eve; telly every year — but, crucially, you can
Alan Rickman oozes (and should) watch it any time of the
evil charisma as Hans year, unlike all those other jolly holiday
Gruber; McClane movies. Yes, the film’s screenwriter,
(Willis) and now grey Steven E. de Souza, once claimed that,
vest assess the lift “If Die Hard is not a Christmas movie,
situation; It’s not really then White Christmas is not a Christmas
the time for a cigarette, movie.” But, to counter that, consider
John; McClane this: John McClane himself, Bruce Willis,
swinging into action; recently asserted: “Die Hard is a not
And with LAPD cop Sgt a Christmas movie.” And really, who
Al Powell (Reginald among us is willing to question him?
VelJohnson).
Yes!
JONATHAN PILE,
DEPUTY EDITOR
The argument that Die Hard isn’t a
Christmas movie goes something like
this: “It was released in July.” And that’s
it. Well, Gremlins was released in June,
and no-one seems to be questioning

its festive credentials. But Die Hard
doesn’t just happen to be set on
Christmas Eve; its setting is intrinsic
to the plot — a man visiting his kids
and estranged wife for the holidays.
If it weren’t Christmas, he’d still be
in New York. And families coming
together despite their diferences is
a Christmas movie staple, so why is
there even a debate about this? What’s
more, its soundtrack is peppered with
festive standards, the score features
sleigh bells, and Bruce Willis even
does a Santa impression (sort of ),
writing, “Now I have a machine gun.
Ho-ho-ho,” on a deceased terrorist’s
sweater. What more do the non-
believers want?
Yes!
JAMES DYER,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF (DIGITAL)
How could anyone, upon watching
Bruce Willis and Bonnie Bedelia slip
To listen
to the podcast
debate, featuring
Sky Cinema’s Alex
Zane and Dave
Berry, go to
www.empireonline.
com/podcast.
into the back of Argyle’s limousine at
the end of Die Hard, doubt that this film
is not just a Christmas movie but the
Christmas movie? With Christmas
morning breaking, Vaughn Monroe’s
CHRISTMASONSKYCINEMA
This Christmas Sky Cinema is the go-to place for
rendition of ‘Let It Snow’ playing and
a metaphorical snowfall (in reality movies, with their biggest-ever premiere line-up
$640 million in negotiable bearer bonds) including Avengers: Infinity War, The Greatest
falling around the couple, surely only Showman, Rampage and much more. They also
the coldest of hearts isn’t thawed by have their largest-ever collection of Christmas films
festive cheer. It’s the definitive Yuletide — from Home Alone 2 to It’s A Wonderful Life, there
tale: a husband and father returns home is something for everyone to watch whenever you
for the holidays, reunites with his wife at want this Christmas.
the office Christmas party and declares Visit sky.com/skycinema for more
his devotion (by killing ten terrorists details on how to subscribe
and blowing up half a building) before
going home to open presents with the
kids. Both the film’s writers agree there
would be no Die Hard without the DIE HARD AVAILABLE
Christmas setting, and I put it to you EXCLUSIVELY FROM 1 DECEMBER
that there can be no Christmas without
Die Hard either. Now I have a machine
gun. Ho-ho-ho.
JOIN THE SKY CINEMA DEBATE AT
ISDIEHARDACHRISTMASFILM.COM
JANUARY 2019 53
 FOR E VE R YONE WHO’ S EVER
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 PAGE
66
BIRD BOX

EV E RY S I G N I F I CA N T F I L M A N D T V S H OW R EV I E W E D EDITED BY JONATHAN PILE

+++++ EXCELLENT ++++ GOOD +++ OKAY ++ POOR + AWFUL

PAGE PAGE PAGE PAGE

56 60 72 74

CREED II THE OLD MAN & THE GUN ROMA THE CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES

JANUARY 2019 55
56 JANUARY 2019
 film
CREED II
OUT 30 NOVEMBER
★★★ CERT 12A / 130 MINS
DIRECTOR Steven Caple Jr
CAST Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester
Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris,
Russell Hornsby, Phylicia Rashad,
Dolph Lundgren, Florian Munteanu
PLOT Against the wishes of cornerman
Rocky (Stallone) and girlfriend Bianca
(Thompson), new heavyweight champion
of the world, Adonis Creed (Jordan), faces
Russian Viktor Drago (Munteanu), the son
of Ivan Drago (Lundgren), the man who
killed Adonis’ father.
CREED WAS THAT boxing
ideal: a haymaker out of nowhere.
Writer-director Ryan Coogler and star
Michael B. Jordan took a practically
moribund property and made it at once
old-school and modern, deftly mixing
full-blown romance with punishing
pugilism, nuance and social awareness
to stave of any potential triteness.
Creed II, with Coogler only on executive
producer duties, is sadly a lesser efort,
full of programmatic plotting and on-
the-bloodied-nose writing, but leavened
by the chemistry of its stars and its
commitment to the beats of the series.
The jumping-of point for the sequel
is not Rocky II but Rocky IV, aka ‘The One
Where Rocky Grows A Beard, Chops
Wood And Wins Over Moscow’. By 1985,
Carl Weathers’ Apollo Creed had been
relegated to Sacrificial Sidekick Status,
and it’s his death at the hands of Ivan
Drago that provides the engine for the
new film. Under the tutelage of Ivan
(Lundgren), Viktor Drago’s (Munteanu)
rise as a contender for Adonis’ (Jordan)
newly won heavyweight crown throws
the young fighter into turmoil, as shown
by endless scenes of him debating (with
Rocky, Bianca, his mother) whether he
should take the fight to avenge his father.
To further compound his confusion,
Adonis and Bianca (Thompson) are
about to become parents, and have to
face the prospect that the baby might
inherit deafness from Bianca. The first
film leaned into its more melodramatic
elements. Here director Steven Caple
The cape is Jr almost feels embarrassed by them,
off as Creed never letting the fears of the prospective
meets Drago. parents register.
The big problem here is the writing.
There’s more speechifying this time (“Are
you here to prove something to other
people or prove something to yourself?”
barks Rocky (Stallone) at Apollo) and
the exposition — often done through
through TV punditry — lacks Coogler’s
economy and subtlety. While Creed
made Adonis’ life in Philadelphia
authentic, Creed II doesn’t bring telling
specificity to Adonis’ new world as a
champ: it’s just a tired litany of spacious
apartments, lovemaking montages
to R’n’B and interactions with the
smallest entourage in boxing history.
It’s also a film that wears its subtext
on its stars-and-stripes robe. “It’s
Shakespearean!” announces a ringside
commentator, referring to the nexus
of fathers, sons and tragedies in play.
Creed II is Shakespearean minus the
wit, profundity and emotional heft.
On the other side of the pond,
Ivan and Viktor are given a thread of a
through-line about trying to work their
way back into the graces of the Russian
boxing establishment. Although it’s nice
to see Stallone and Lundgren share
the same frame again, Ivan and Viktor
remain ciphers. Viktor, in particular,
is granted all the complexity of
a Brosnan-era Bond henchman.
Still there’s pleasure to be had in
spending time with these characters.
Jordan and Stallone still retain their first
film chemistry. Jordan and Thompson
also still vibe, despite the latter being
denied any inner life of her own. The film
continues to find fun in all the Rocky
staples. There are montages that cross-
cut between Adonis and Viktor training
— the former shadow boxing underwater,
the latter doing impressive things with
ropes — although sadly not to sub-rate
synth music à la 1985. And Caple Jr
mounts impressive fight sequences, using
slow mo sparingly and a great use of POV
shots — the light of the doctor’s torch will
stay with you. And it’s a hard heart that
doesn’t respond to the impossible-to-
resist button pushing — that music —
in the enjoyably OTT boxing finale.
But after the first film, it feels like a
regressive step. First time round Coogler’s
footwork was fast, his power both pinpoint-
accurate and devastating. Creed II only
connects occasionally. IAN FREER
VERDICT Creed II is to Creed what the
Rocky sequels are to the original:
a more generic, less textured take
on familiar boxing movie tropes.
The difference, it seems, is Coogler.
JANUARY 2019 57

film
RALPH BREAKS
THE INTERNET
OUT 30 NOVEMBER
★★★ CERT PG / 112 MINS
DIRECTOR Rich Moore, Phil Johnston
CAST John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman,
Kristen Bell, Gal Gadot, Taraji P. Henson
PLOT When a broken steering wheel
threatens the decommissioning of arcade
racer Sugar Rush, lead character Vanellope
(Silverman) and her best friend Wreck-It
Ralph (Reilly) head to the internet to try to
secure a replacement via eBay.
FOR A FILM about a fictional ’80s
arcade game character, Ralph Breaks The
Internet sure raises some weighty issues.
We’re not ten minutes into the Wreck-It
Ralph sequel when a broken video game
cabinet creates the displacement of
several hundred pixelated characters, all
looking for a new home among Litwak
Arcade’s other coin-op machines. It’s an
interesting set-up — could this brightly
coloured, sugar-coated cartoon be a
modern-day fable, about to slyly educate
its young audience about the world’s
current refugee crisis? Sadly, no. A couple
of scenes later it’s all but forgotten, the
film far more interested in sending its
two main characters — best friends Ralph
(Reilly) and Vanellope (Silverman) —
on a pop culture-crammed adventure to
the internet.
The internet — with its high-rise
representations of the world’s biggest
online brands — represents the big city to
Litwak Arcade’s small town, and it’s here
Ralph Breaks The Internet finds both its
central conflict and its message. There
are lessons here but — with Vanellope
enchanted by the possibilities suddenly
open to her, and Ralph set on achieving
their task then returning home to his
58 JANUARY 2019
PAPILLON
★★
OUT 24 DECEMBER / CERT 15 / 130 MINS
DIRECTOR Michael Noer
CAST Charlie Hunnam, Rami Malek,
Yorick van Wageningen
A REMAKE OF the Steve McQueen/
Dustin Hoffman 1973 prison break
drama. Safecracker Henri Charriére
(Hunnam) is wrongfully convicted of
murder and sent to a penal colony in
French Guiana. There he forges a
usual routine — it’s about the nature of
friendship. Not a bad thing to learn, it’s just
Ralph and Vanellope
venture beyond
close bond with fellow inmate Louis
Dega (Malek) and they plot their
a well-trodden set-up and, in the context
of the film’s opening, a missed opportunity.
Still, it’s an entertaining and rapidly
Litwak Arcade to
what shortly be
a broken internet.
escape. Sadly, this gives the pair little
to do but trudge through episodic and
not-terribly-interesting prison staples
paced adventure, which takes its heroes — yard ights, narrowly avoided
from eBay to a dangerous urban shankings, spells in solitary — while
MMORPG, to YouTube substitute doing their best to disguise a lack of
Buzztube, to (a sanitised version of ) the chemistry. The ilm briely sparks to life
dark web. They’re hassled by pop-up in one of the escape sequences, and
advertisers, get distracted by clickbait during a solitary coninement-inspired,
and try their hands at loot hunting. The hallucinogenic dream sequence. Mostly,
highlight, however, is Vanellope’s trip to though, inspiration’s in short supply. DH
Oh My Disney (a real website) — it’s the
funniest section of the film, especially
her encounter with the studio’s roster
of Princesses, as the studio sends up its
own creations but also fights back against
the most common online criticisms of
its female heroes. Sharp and knowing,
it’s also a triumph of animation and
characterisation. For example, the
original, hand-drawn Ariel (The Little
Mermaid) was slightly more manic in her
movements than, say, the stronger, more TIDES
noble Pocahontas (Pocahontas), and ★★
that’s mirrored here. OUT 7 DECEMBER / CERT TBC / 99 MINS
If only all of Ralph Breaks The DIRECTORTupaq Felber
Internet was so inspired, instead of being CASTJon Foster, Robyn Isaac,
mostly content to make funny but Simon Meacock, Jamie Zubairi
first-base jokes about social media
culture. These characters have lived in THIS MICRO-BUDGET British indie
isolation at the arcade — wouldn’t their is hard to dislike, but equally hard
escape leave them faced with questions to recommend. Four actors in early
about the nature of their being as they middle age go on a long weekend
discover thousands of other similarly captured with docudrama realism
segregated versions of themselves exist? on the canals of Surrey. The cast
It’s not the case that its target audience — who co-wrote — are able, but
couldn’t handle it — Toy Story was smart oddly enough don’t give themselves
enough to tackle such existential crises, much to play beyond London creative
and that was over 20 years ago. But then, types who still live ten years younger
that’s the diference between an enduring than they are. It’s ine to choose
masterpiece and something that just minimalism over melodrama, but
achieves being funny but forgettable. This there’s not much here to grab onto
is resolutely the latter. JONATHAN PILE other than skilful photography that
uses black and white to render
VERDICT Entertaining, and occasionally the most familiar settings strange.
inspired, but Ralph Breaks The Internet A thinly cut slice of life, the ilm never
is too often content to achieve a quick really makes a case for why we’re
laugh, rather than exploring the themes following these characters. AL
its set-up suggests.
film
THE GIRLINTHE
SPIDER’S WEB
OUT 20 NOVEMBER
★★★ CERT TBC / 117 MINS
DIRECTOR Fede Álvarez
CAST Claire Foy, Lakeith Stanield,
Sverrir Gudnason, Stephen Merchant
PLOT When gifted hacker Lisbeth Salander
(Foy) is attacked in her apartment, the
assailants make off with a dangerous
computer program. As she tries to retrieve
it, ghosts from her past begin to haunt her
at every turn.
LISBETH SALANDER CAN
handle a lot. She’s been to hell and back,
and attacks without prejudice. But now,
the ever-mutating righter of wrongs,
currently wearing a Claire Foy skin mask,
is up against something that may well
crush her: a franchise.
The Girl In The Spider’s Web is very
much the further adventures of Lisbeth
Salander, adapted from the 2015 book
written by David Lagercrantz following
original author Stieg Larsson’s death.
It was tense as
they waited to see
The previous cinematic takes on her
misadventures — the original Swedish
trilogy, a classical crime thriller starring
if the holiday pics
would load.
Noomi Rapace, and 2011’s sublimely cold
David Fincher piece, starring Rooney
Mara — were completely diferent
interpretations with distinctive character.
Fede Álvarez, who lent horrific
atmospherics to the 2013 Evil Dead remake
and directed 2016’s claustrophobic Don’t
Breathe has again left-turned. Yet so much
of what unfolds is nothing new. Criminally,
at Lisbeth’s expense, it’s played safe.
From the start of the prologue, which
introduces us to the young Lisbeth, her
sister and their abusive father, you feel the
myth-building, and with the very Bond
titles that pipe up, everything screams
epic. The subsequent adult Lisbeth scene
follows suit, and as soon as we see a terrible
man behaving terribly, you know exactly
how it’s going to play out. Lisbeth sweeps
in like a superhero — like Batman, to be
precise — and we must cheer, presumably.
That’s the main disappointment —
everything feels a bit big, from the scope
to the sweeping score to some gorgeous but
overly iconic shots. A lot is lumped onto
Lisbeth, and it feels like an awkward fit.
Her world has not been sanitised: heavy
stuf goes down, and Álvarez does indulge
himself in some disconcerting body horror.
There’s a great drug sequence involving
some disturbing physical contortion
from Foy, who is terrific throughout
— her Lisbeth isn’t as frighteningly
unpredictable or as primal as those before,
but her performance is great regardless,
shining with subtlety, a pressure cooker of
repressed pain. Even if she is needlessly
rude to fast food delivery guys.
But it mostly smacks of familiarity, a
conventional action thriller. In that regard
it’s a perfectly serviceable, tense, propulsive
genre outing. But convention is the last
thing Lisbeth Salander needs. Despite her
vulnerabilities, she is definitely a sort
of superhero now, even getting herself
a Batmobile. Well, a black Lamborghini,
but it might as well be. If this hits and
breeds more, fine. It does its job. But
something — certainly psychological
nuance — has been lost. Lisbeth has
always been a square peg in a round hole.
Now more than ever. ALEX GODFREY
VERDICT An often effective reboot, this
does everything you’d expect, but that’s
a real shame. Lisbeth might be a nomad,
but she doesn’t feel at home here.
JANUARY 2019 59
 film
THE OLD MAN
& THE GUN
OUT DECEMBER 7
★★★★ CERT 12A / 93 MINS
DIRECTOR David Lowery
CAST Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek,
Casey Afleck, Tika Sumpter, Elisabeth
Moss, Tom Waits, Danny Glover
PLOT Dapper old gent and career criminal
Forrest (Redford) embarks on a string of
heists with fellow OAPs Waller and Teddy
(Waits, Glover) with Detective Hunt (Afleck)
on their trail. But will he reform when he
meets kind-hearted Jewel (Spacek)?
ROBERT REDFORD’S
SWANSONG starts with a caption that
tells us this story is “also, mostly true”.
The “also” is important — an indication
of a tone that is warm, witty and quietly
celebratory without being self-indulgent.
It’s a callback to almost half a century ago,
when the opening text of Butch Cassidy
And The Sundance Kid informed us “most
60 JANUARY 2019
of what follows is true”.
That movie made Redford a superstar,
Casey was in no
doubt: that hat would
and if he felt typecast then he used it rather
than resented it — hence the film festival
which bears his character’s name. So it is
definitely go better
with his jacket.
perfectly fitting that this similarly beguiling
outlaw story brings the curtain down on
one of the greatest screen careers. If he
sticks to his announced retirement — and
the nature of The Old Man & The Gun could
itself be a comment on how likely that is.
Redford plays someone who can’t resist his
vocation regardless of age or worry or the
law. He believes he should carry on doing
what he loves. Which is robbing banks.
“I’m not talking about making a living,”
he says. “I’m just talking about living.”
The story could seem absurd, and
perhaps that’s why writer/director David
Lowery (A Ghost Story) sprinkles it with
specific dates, as if to gently remind us this
really happened. The banks are robbed
during the early ’80s, but stylistically
Lowery’s film is grounded in the decade
before. From the unpretentious but
elegant shooting style to the percussive,
Lalo Schifrin-flavoured score (by regular
Lowery collaborator Daniel Hart), this
feels a bit like an undiscovered Don
Siegel picture. Except it isn’t anywhere
near as pessimistic as films it might bring
to mind, whether Siegel’s own Charley
Varrick or Peter Yates’ The Friends Of
Eddie Coyle (a decidedly more acrid take
on an old criminal who isn’t able to quit).
Aleck dubs the shady
septuagenarians the ‘Over The Hill Gang’
and his dogged, professional pursuit is
laced with quiet admiration. This is a film
that loves its central character and never
really challenges his behaviour, or faces
the fear he causes — although it does, in
a matter-of-fact manner, present some of
the other damage caused by his choices (an
Elisabeth Moss cameo stays with you). If
Redford had chosen to a make a movie that
wrestled with that drama more intensely,
he may have had a better shot at the
Academy glory that has always eluded him
(he has won as director, but only been
nominated once as actor, for The Sting).
But, as heavily as it leans on his history
— there’s a mugshots-and-memories
montage comprised of his films — this
really isn’t a movie for Redford. It is, as
ever, for us. NEV PIERCE
VERDICT A delightful folk story from one
of the best filmmakers working today
— and a fitting final turn from Redford,
all easy charm and grace. It takes a
lifetime of effort to look this effortless.
THE NUTCRACKER AND
THE FOUR REALMS
★★★
PG / 99 MINS / OUT 2 NOVEMBER
DIRECTORS Lasse Hallström,
Joe Johnston
CAST Mackenzie Foy, Keira Knightley,
Jayden Fowora-Knight, Helen Mirren,
Matthew Macfadyen, Morgan Freeman
HERE’S A FILM for the little princess
inside us all. Happily, underneath its
glitter and sparkle, there’s a surprisingly
coherent story. Our heroine Clara (Foy)
is mourning her mother when she
stumbles into a fantasy world. There,
she’s drawn into a conlict between
the terrifying Mother Ginger (Mirren)
and Sugar Plum (Knightley), with plucky
nutcracker Phillip (Fowora-Knight) to
help. The plot’s suffered major changes
— note the two credited directors —
but it effectively addresses grief, and
when it sticks to that theme the solid
cast and fun villain make it work. Those
with a sweet tooth will love it. HOH
THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS
★★★★
12A / OUT 97 MINS / 30 NOVEMBER
DIRECTOR Tim Wardle
CAST Eddy Galland, Robert Shafran,
David Kellman
YOU GENUINELY COULDN’T make
this true story up: in 1980, identical
triplets who’d been adopted by
different families reunited by
happenstance and became minor
celebrities in Reagan’s America. It’s
an unlikely tale down to the smallest
details, but this fascinating doc goes
deeper, exploring the hugely unethical
psychological research that led to the
brothers being separated in the irst
place — and the emotional wreckage
the scientists casually inlicted on their
subjects. It’s an amazing enough story
on its own, but director Tim Wardle
delves into the deeper questions the
triplets’ story opens up about nature’s
relationship with nurture, making for
a fascinating and stimulating ilm. AL
film
DISOBEDIENCE
OUT 30 NOVEMBER
★★★★ CERT 15 / 114 MINS
DIRECTOR Sebastián Lelio
CAST Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams,
Alessandro Nivola, Anton Lesser
PLOT After the death of her estranged rabbi
father, Ronit (Weisz) returns from New
York to London and the Orthodox Jewish
community of her youth. Old tensions rise
again as she runs into Esti (McAdams), their
teenage affair having lead to Ronit’s exile.
CHILEAN DIRECTOR
SEBASTIÁN Lelio returns — following
his Oscar win for A Fantastic Woman
earlier this year — with Disobedience,
a passionately fraught drama and riveting
character study. It’s an achingly beautiful
portrayal of love, loss, lust and regret,
continuing his exploration of these
themes in his previous films. Lelio once
again navigates female desire, identity
and oppression, but this time within the
strict boundaries of religion. Faithfully
following author Naomi Alderman’s
novel of the same name, he focuses on the
moral tension between faith and sexuality.
Lelio continues to flourish in his
English-language debut — his first with
an A-list cast. Upon returning home
to London, bohemian, New York-based
photographer Ronit (Weisz) has nowhere
specific to stay, and ends up seeking
awkward refuge in the marital home
of two childhood friends, Dovid (Nivola)
and Esti (McAdams). This marriage
comes as a shock to Ronit as she was
previously banished from their tight-
knit community due to her illicit
romance with Esti, which is only ever
acknowledged in hushed whispers and
disapproving looks.
Lelio counterpoints simmering
surface-level emotion with the damply
muted backdrop of London. It’s a
The ties that bind:
tensions build
in an Orthodox
poignantly artful coupling that amplifies Jewish family.
Ronit and Esti’s snowballing tension. Lelio
emphasises the escalating emotional
pressure with his intimately framed
camerawork subtly capturing the yearning
glances, discreet physical caresses and
fleeting micro expressions that let
decades of secrets slip. The anguish,
torment and lust in each of these shots
has a delicate and raw earnestness.
Lelio juxtaposes the opposing sexual
relationships throughout Disobedience.
Dovid and Esti’s matrimonial intimacy is
dutiful, yet ultimately mechanical and
detached. Ronit’s and Esti’s reunion is
passionate: urgent, yet tender. Thankfully,
Lelio’s framing of female pleasure is
stylishly shot, never feeling fetishised or
voyeuristic. It’s an elegantly orchestrated
piece of sensual choreography. However,
this swell of passion is sadly short-lived
as the couple’s bliss is shattered by
the impending crash of reality, and
the trappings of responsibility and
consequences it brings.
The performances from Weisz,
McAdams and Nivola are faultlessly
nuanced, anchoring the film with a frank
sincerity that gives Disobedience a heartfelt
realism. Nivola’s portrayal of stoic religious
devotion is perhaps his finest performance
to date, whilst Weisz’s guilt-racked
rebellious streak plays of McAdams’
seeming naivety with knife-sharp
precision. Depicting the soul-searching
crossroads they face when deciding
between deep-seated spiritual belief and
personal freedom, Disobedience is a quietly
devastating tale of forbidden love that has
a crushing universality. CHLOE CATCHPOLE
VERDICT An understated yet profound
examination of identity and self-
sacrifice, this honest depiction of
repressed romance will unashamedly
tug at every heart string.
JANUARY 2019 61

film
HAPPYNEWYEAR,
COLIN BURSTEAD
OUT TBC
★★★★ CERT TBC / 95 MINS
DIRECTOR Ben Wheatley
CAST Neil Maskell, Hayley Squires,
Sam Riley
PLOT For New Year’s Eve, Colin Burstead
(Maskell) hires a country manor for his
extended family to convene in, despite
everyone’s seeming reluctance to do so.
His sister Gini (Squires), meanwhile, has
invited their black-sheep brother David
(Riley), which causes consternation from
the start. This will not end well.
BEN WHEATLEY’S NEW film
begins epically, with an unassuming
suburban bungalow. Outside stands Neil
Maskell’s middle-aged Colin, vaping for
England in his sleeveless V-neck, for 15
seconds, in profile, in slow-motion,
soundtracked by a score that makes it feel
like a Western. For the next 90 minutes,
everything ordinary is aforded such glory.
It is kitchen-sink Sergio Leone. And
a battle awaits.
Wheatley has half-joked that he did
Mike Leigh’s Nuts In May with Sightseers,
and with this he’s onto Abigail’s Party,
but he’s selling himself short. Certainly
there are some similarities, but he’s also
said Happy New Year, Colin Burstead is
loosely based on Coriolanus (hence the
soundalike working title ‘Colin, You Anus’).
A closer comparison, both in its vicious
presentation of family misfortunes and
its handheld, fly-on-the-wall stylings, is
Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen, but it also
feels like the Modern Toss cartoons come
to life — apt, asWheatley directed some of
the strip’s Channel 4 transition. Above
all, though, it is pure, uncut Wheatley —
biting, bitter, irreverent and funny.
62 JANUARY 2019
BUILDING
BURSTEAD
Ben Wheatley
on the inspirations
for his new film
A WEDDING
“A Wedding is a massive inluence
on me, it’s one of my favourite
After 2016’s Boston-set Free Fire,
this is resolutely British, snide and
The vape escape:
Colin (Neil Maskell)
[Robert] Altman ilms. In terms
of dealing with a massive cast
direct from Dorset, where people smile
sympathetically before cursing under
their breath, sarcasm is endemic, and
takes stock on New
Year’s Eve.
and having multiple stories running
through it, that’s the one I enjoy
the most. I rewatched it a couple
resentment uncontained. Fleeting of years ago and it totally stood
remarks or looks speak to years of disgust. up, it’s as good as ever. So that
Colin asks someone to check into was the starting point for me.”
non-regulation steps after his self-pitying
mother trips over and makes a meal of it. CORIOLANUS
Someone says, “Fuck you,” to a fusebox. “The hero who is told to do
It is all horribly resonant: the petty something, does it, then everyone
jealousies sting, while the long-running turns on him, that’s what happens
feuds, manifested in barely repressed in Coriolanus. It’s a particularly
hatred, are painful. Wheatley goes big un-western, Elizabethan kind of arc
on the small things. There is talk of — you couldn’t see it in modern
fiefdom and misdeeds, more than one cinema at all, it’d be like Captain
reference to the country pile as a castle America being asked to become
and, thanks to Clint Mansell’s score, Captain America and then The
full of flutes (always scary), it does Avengers telling him he’s an idiot
feel like medieval power-play. for the rest of the ilm.”
The film was written by Wheatley,
with contributions — presumably FESTEN
improvisation — from the cast, sometimes “I really loved Festen. As much
obviously. There is a sense that he as anything it was the freeing
devised this as a means, in-between of cinematography by Anthony
bigger projects, to hang out with some of Dod Mantle, it was so radical.
his favourite actors, have a laugh, and just That and The Idiots, they felt realer
let them go at it for a couple of weeks. than anything else I’d ever seen.
That works in its favour, though — there And it’s handheld and in a country
is a fluidity to the film, and it always feels house. It’s a sub-genre of ilm,
alive. These are snatches rather than the party, the get-together with
scenes, giving it all a montage feel. Every many characters coming together
performance is idiosyncratic, with and interacting.”
one-liners too good to spoil here.
It loses steam a little: the explosions GREY GARDENS
are underwhelming, and the film never “Laurie Rose, the director of
quite climaxes, possibly because it’s been photography, and I always look
letting rip from the start, but also because back to Grey Gardens as
Wheatley presumably didn’t want to a touchstone for a lot of our
shoehorn in any overwhelming plot ilmmaking. The Maysles stuff feels
device. And that’s no bad thing. The film like ‘witness camera’ to me, like
is contrivance free, as it is sentimentality. being in the room, experiencing it
Yet for all its sniping, there is heart here. with the characters. I bounce
Somewhere. ALEX GODFREY backwards and forwards between
the tableaux-style shooting of,
VERDICT A slight but consistently say, High Rise, which is more
entertaining, thoroughly funny slice of stylised, to a more gritty, boots-
life, this is Ben Wheatley untethered, on-the-ground handheld
Alamy
letting off steam with a workout. It is look.” ALEX GODFREY
a welcome carnival of misanthropy.
SORRY TO
BOTHER YOU
OUT 7 DECEMBER
★★★★ CERT 15 / 112 MINS
DIRECTOR Boots Riley
CAST Lakeith Stanield, Tessa Thompson,
Armie Hammer, Danny Glover
PLOT Cassius ‘Cash’ Green lives in his
uncle’s garage, frustrated with his life and
prospects. Getting a job as a telemarketer
for shadowy company RegalView,
he is exposed to dazzling individual
opportunities — but at what cost?
“HEY YOUNGBLOOD,” SAYS novice
telemarketer Cassius’ (Stanfield) cannier
colleague Langston (Danny Glover). “Use
your white voice. Like being pulled over
by the police.” If the African-American
Cassius wants to succeed, he needs to
play the system, as well as some dirty
tricks. More significantly, he’s got to be
someone — something — he’s not. If he
even knows what he is to begin with.
Sorry To Bother You is a dialled-up,
adrenalised satire that throws everything
Lakeith Stanfield
as Cash goes for
it’s got at the screen, writer-director Boots
Riley’s wealth of life experience exploding
indiscriminately. The son of civil rights
the hard sell.
campaigners, Riley has been proactively
into politics forever, and his debut film is
fiercely anti-capitalist. Stanfield (Get Out,
Atlanta) holds it all together as Cassius, a
goofy klutz who lives in his uncle’s garage,
lacks conviction and sufers extreme
existential angst: just for one night, can
he not fret about the sun exploding,
pleads his activist/performance artist
girlfriend Detroit (Thompson).
Social concerns are wrestled — make
that piledriven — from the start. It’s a
technicolour rant, from its stop-motion
sequences to its horrific gameshow ‘I Got
The Shit Kicked Out Of Me’ to the gold
elevator reserved for RegalView’s top
level ‘power callers’. It’s a very Trumpian
elevator, but Riley isn’t raging at specific
figures or political parties — it’s the entire
system that’s up for the chop, including
us. We are all capital, Riley reminds us,
but all also infected by capitalism — we’re
part of the problem. Sorry To Bother You
is about how money and ego can corrode
us; it’s about selling out, sacrificing our
identity, our morality, our principles.
Riley has ideas to spare, and
then some. Tonally, aesthetically and
narratively, everything is crazed, with
absurdist diversions and DIY stylings
reminiscent of, respectively, Charlie
Kaufman and Michel Gondry. An early
sequence of Cassius, at his desk, literally
crashing into people’s lives, is a startling
jolt, and things get wilder as the film goes
on. It’s a blast; sometimes it’s a little too
much so, as everything is so skitty, so
mad, and fast, it’s hard to keep up with.
Yet it hits hard, thanks to its endless
invention and the sheer balls of it all.
There are amazing lines; when Cassius
posits that comparing his department
to RegalView’s upper echelons is like
comparing apples to oranges, he is told
it’s more like comparing apples to the
Holocaust. Stanfield, once again, is great
as a man out of place, and Thompson,
once again, is like a unicorn spewing
glitter. But it’s Riley’s film, and this is him
rigidly planting a flag. Unapologetically.
ALEX GODFREY
VERDICT No fence-sitting here, Sorry To
Bother You wallops its targets. Drenched
in self-awareness, it is fantastically
refreshing, defiantly announcing Riley
as a radical new voice.
JANUARY 2019 63
 film

FANTASTIC distracted by his search for love

interest Tina (Waterston, wasted in

BEASTS: THE another franchise after Alien: Covenant);

Grindelwald seems content to let
THE BIGGER PICTURE
CRIMES OF Credence come to him. Any potential
dynamism is further blunted by emphasis

GRINDELWALD on sub-plots (Fogler’s Muggle Jacob

THECRIMES
chasing Sudol’s pure-blood Queenie)
and backstories such as a stretch devoted
CERT 12A to new character Leta Lestrange’s
★★★ OUT NOW / 134 MINS (Kravitz) lineage.
From the smallest detail to the most
DIRECTOR David Yates expansive world-building, the craft on

CAST Eddie Redmayne, Katherine
Waterston, Don Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra
Miller, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Zoë Kravitz
PLOT Hogwarts’ professor Dumbledore
(Law) enlists former pupil Newt Scamander
(Redmayne) to take down Gellert
OF BUILDING
show is impressive. It’s matched by
Rowling’s imagination peppering the
story with charming invention such as
a cheeky wind spell. Happily, Eddie
Redmayne’s Newt Scamander anchors
the madness better this time round, less
tic-y and diffident, more engaged.

Grindelwald (Depp), a dark wizard hell-bent
on raising pure-blood wizards to rule over
No-Majs (Muggles).
THE CRIMES OF Grindelwald is
a weird rather than fantastic beast. The
second chapter in J.K. Rowling’s five-part
story, it’s a film stufed with characters,
big moments and impressive spectacle,
but still feels bizarrely underpowered.
There are twists and revelations, but very
few that alter the outcome of the film.
Just like the first one, it feels like it’s
set-up for bigger pay-ofs down the line,
without the satisfying clif-hanger
qualities of, say, The Empire Strikes Back.
The beginning is a lively afair, as
Grindelwald (Depp) — being shipped
to Europe to stand trial — masterminds
a thrilling escape from a flying
stagecoach. Dumbledore (Law) sends
Newt Scamander (Redmayne) to Paris,
where numerous interested parties are
searching for orphan Credence Barebone
(a dialled-down Miller), who survived
the events of New York and holds the
key to the wizarding world battle. Yet
Rowling’s writing doesn’t imbue this
hunt with any urgency — Newt is
WORLDS
The Crimes Of Grindelwald works
harder than the previous tale to tie into
the series history. There’s flash-backed
returns to Hogwarts, Voldemort’s snake
Nagini (Claudia Kim in human form)
and the vaunted appearance of young
Dumbledore, Jude Law bringing tweed
and a twinkle to a more mischievous
professor. The question of Dumbledore’s
sexuality is only coyly suggested — if it’s
passed you by that Dumbledore is gay,
you still might be none the wiser.
Elsewhere Rowling further sews
modernity into the proceedings, from a
family tree that neglects to give women
their due to Grindelwald himself, his
Trumpian fake news spiel normalising
the most horrific ideas about No-Maj
cleansing. Depp, bleached blond with
shifting eye colouration, gives serviceable
villain in only a handful of scenes, his
masterplan building to a rally with some
spectacular CG sturm und drang. Just
don’t expect to leave the meeting with
any answers. IAN FREER
VERDICT An enjoyable foray into J.K.’s
imagination, bolstered by a more
appealing Eddie Redmayne, but you
can’t help feeling Grindelwald is still
treading water until future chapters.
SPOILER
WARNING
Creating a successful
franchise requires focusing
on the here and now, says
Empire’s Helen O’Hara
IT MAY SEEM counterintuitive,
but the further a story strays into the
fantastical, the more you need rules. We
can buy a wizarding school if we know
there’s a specific platform at King’s Cross
from where its train departs. We’ll
believe a man can fly if we know what
planet he comes from. World-building is
the reason that every book with a dragon
on the cover seems to have a map inside,
and every space opera a glossary of terms.
But as fantasy filmmaking searches
hungrily for new material, this world-
building task can become onerous. Look
at The Mortal Instruments, The Maze
Runner or Divergent to see films that

64 JANUARY 2019
spent half their runtime patching
together their worlds instead of having
a great adventure. And now, sadly, look
at Fantastic Beasts. We’re two films in
and still waiting for Eddie Redmayne’s
ostensible lead, Newt Scamander, to truly
engage with the (apparent) overarching
mission of stopping Gellert Grindelwald.
That’s not to say there isn’t fun stuf
there, but while Voldemort and Harry
were linked from the beginning, Rowling
is now taking her time moving the pieces
into place. It’s unsatisfying — film is not
TV, so each outing should stand largely
alone. There’s a reason Marvel adopted
an incremental approach, introducing
only a couple of Avengers for each of five
films before the first glorious pay-of.
Marvel gives each story an individual
tone (space opera, paranoia thriller) and
near standalone plot before setting up
the future stuf, usually in the credits.
Even Avengers: Infinity War, a film that
Above: Depp’s as yet builds on 18 previous stories and ends on
untouchable Gellert a clihanger, still boasts a plot you can
Grindelwald. follow from scratch. The carcasses of the
Right, top to bottom: MCU’s would-be imitators show how
Potter and Voldemort, diicult that is. There’s economy, too:
connected from day every previous doohickey in the Marvel
one; Avengers: Infinity Universe turned out to be an Infinity
War has had an Stone, saving endless exposition. Where
18-film lead-up. films have too obviously built towards the
future — Iron Man 2, Age Of Ultron — the
storytelling has sufered, something that
seems to have been realised.
Much of the problem stems from
Hollywood’s quest to replicate Harry
Potter and, again, the MCU. No studio chief
wants to announce a single $150 million
film. They want to unveil a new franchise
that will bring the stockholders that
sweet, sweet Marvel money for decades.
Unless you’re Christopher Nolan or
Steven Spielberg, you better be proposing
at least a trilogy. And that means laying
threads from the outset that might pay
of several films down the line, and a first
film’s finale that leaves the door open to
your planned, say, Dark Universe movies
to come. If they come.
Ideally, such planning is subtle
and unobtrusive, but fans are wary of
presumptions of loyalty — something
severely tested by the lengthy tangent to
visit Russell Crowe’s otherwise irrelevant
Mr Hyde in The Mummy. Those loose
threads can make a film look shabby.
It’s fair enough to have the occasional
clihanger after your heroes and baddies
fight one another to a temporary
standstill. But it’s not okay to be so
focused on introducing characters who
will be super-important later, honest,
that you forget to have your opposing
forces even engage. World-building
matters — a lot — but story and character
must always come first. If Hollywood
forgets that, we’ll see more universes
going dark.
JANUARY 2019 65

film
SLAUGHTERHOUSE
RULEZ
OUT NOW
★★ CERT 15 / 104 MINS
DIRECTOR Crispian Mills
CAST Asa Butterield, Finn Cole,
Hermione Corield, Michael Sheen,
Nick Frost, Simon Pegg
PLOT Working-class boy Donald Wallace
(Cole) struggles to it in at Slaughterhouse,
an exclusive public school. The headmaster
(Sheen) has authorised fracking in the
grounds to raise funds, but monsters
are raised too. Wallace rallies his peers
to ight back.
SCRIPTED BY DIRECTOR
Crispian Mills and critic Henry
Fitzherbert — whose names suggest they
might well be familiar with private
education — the public school-set
Slaughterhouse Rulez offers a mixed bag
of horror and comedy. By not settling on
one tone, it remains unpredictable — but
it’s never as funny or horrific as it might
be, and has quite a few painfully flat
stretches. Imagine random scenes from
If…, St Trinian’s, Scooby-Doo and The
Descent spliced together.
Slaughterhouse is a hellhole of posh
privilege and random bullying, but also
staffed by endearingly useless comedy
types and rife with comedy wheezes,
japes and sixth-form orgies. A serious
sub-plot about teenage suicide meanders
on amid the tomfoolery mandatory for a
film featuring Simon Pegg (star of Mills’
A Fantastic Fear Of Everything) and Nick
Frost, who also score executive producer
credits. Parvenu hero Donald ‘Ducky’
Wallace (Cole) gets a rare place at the
66 JANUARY 2019
Simon had a horrible feeling
there was a small, begging
dog sitting on his shoulder.
exclusive school because one has opened
up thanks to the suicide of a bullied gay
viscount who hanged himself with his
school tie. Everyone but the dead boy’s
best friend/room-mate Willoughby Blake
(Butterfield) would like to forget about
the tragedy, and Blake is either plotting
revenge on sadistic head prefect Clegg
(Tom Rhys Harries) or intending to do
away with himself too.
Meanwhile, Ducky sets his cap at
posh but nice princess Clemsie (Corfield)
— and goes through the ancient business
of mistaking her brother for a rival
boyfriend. Pegg keeps popping in as
a lovelorn house master — picking up
on a running joke from Hot Fuzz — and
Frost loiters on an eco-protest site in the
woods as a drug-dealing old boy who
has his own underdeveloped backstory
about a missing brother and the secret of
a labyrinth of tunnels under the school.
Michael Sheen and Asa Butterfield
play absurd upper-class caricatures as
BIRD BOX
actual people — and the few moments OUT 13 DECEMBER
when the film connects emotionally are (CINEMAS); 21
down to them, though grace notes are
★★★ DECEMBER (NETFLIX)
always clumsily followed by fart gags. CERT TBC / 117 MINS
When it arrives, the monster action is
surprisingly decent. With swooping drone DIRECTOR Susanne Bier
shots of the lavish grounds and an ominous CAST Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson, John
thread about flames burning green thanks Malkovich, Trevante Rhodes, Tom Hollander
to toxic gases unleashed by fracking, the
film establishes a sense of menace — and PLOT Heavily pregnant Malorie (Bullock)
the mythology about a school-founding, barricades herself in a house in order to
monster-fighting crusader who drove the escape a mysterious entity that, once
beasts below the grounds is nicely thought seen, drives people to suicide. Five years
out. The ferocious, tenacious critters — later, blindfolded and accompanied by two
squirmily repulsive, giant rat-catfish children, Malorie strives to reach safety.
things — gnaw their way through a lot of
characters, splashing the screen with a
great deal of slapstick gore. KIM NEWMAN
PERHAPS TOO HASTILY and
VERDICT Showing more enthusiasm unfairly dubbed as ‘A Quiet Place
than aptitude, this earns ‘could do (but without sight)’ simply for having
better if it tried’ on its report card a vaguely similar high-concept premise,
— but it’s a strange enough genre The Night Manager director Susanne
mix to be vaguely worth a look. Bier’s Bird Box presents a chilling and
uncompromisingly dark post-apocalyptic
narrative. Adapted from Josh
Malerman’s 2014 novel of the same
name, it’s a promising production which
may ultimately sufer from failing to
measure up tonally and thematically
to John Krasinski’s game-changing
horror narrative.
Presenting a slow-burning, if at
times overly simplistic plot, Bird Box
actually owes more to the old George
A. Romero bleak and unforgiving “end
of the world” films of antagonistic
survivors than it does to A Quiet Place’s
more straightforward monster story.
Reluctant, single mother-to-be
Malorie has given very little thought to
the fate awaiting her after the birth of her
unwanted child. Pressed by her worried
sister (Paulson in a disappointingly
brief appearance) to attend a scheduled
prenatal appointment, the two find
themselves caught up in the chaos when
a mysterious force starts killing people.
Holed up indoors with a group of
strangers, including a resourceful
construction worker, played with great
conviction by Trevante Rhodes, and
a cantankerous, bad-mannered drunk
(Malkovich), Malorie has no other option
but to rely on these strangers if she
and her unborn child are to survive the
end of the world.
Re-emerging five years later, Malorie
has learnt to live with the horrors of
what awaits her and the two children
she’s trying to get to safety. Refusing
to even give the five-year-olds names,
we sense she sees the world as an
unforgiving place in which it pays not
to get too attached to anyone.
Giving a beautifully measured
performance, Sandra Bullock excels
as a woman who has learnt to rely
solely on her survival instincts and
pragmatic nature without ever losing
her humanity. For his part, Malkovich
is brilliantly acerbic and suitably
petulant as a glass-half-empty kind
of guy for whom the apocalypse serves
to prove that his misanthropy was the
right choice all along.
As we follow two parallel narratives
which take us back and forth between
Sandra Bullock’s the immediate aftermath of the
Malorie, finding catastrophic events and a few years
a way to fly from her into the future, screenwriter Eric
apocalyptic nightmare. Heisserer is able to develop a story
which takes into account the efect of
the events on his embattled survivors,
but only with mixed results.
Bier does an impressive job in
ofering the apocalypse as a deeply
traumatic, claustrophobic and utterly
hopeless experience, electing to present
a world in which survivors are far
more likely to meet a gruesome end at
each other’s hands than have to worry
about what awaits them outside. But
in profering a decidedly contrived
dystopian narrative where each
character behaves exactly how you
would expect them to, Bird Box fails
to bring anything new to the post-
apocalyptic genre. LINDA MARRIC
VERDICT Contrivances and clichés
abound, but Bird Box still manages
to be a compelling, high-concept idea
thanks to Bier’s faultless direction
and impressive cast.
JANUARY 2019 67
 THE METHOD

TARON EGERTON
How the Kingsman star became
Nottingham’s finest

film

ROBIN HOOD
OUT NOW
★★ CERT 12A / 116 MINS
DIRECTOR Otto Bathurst
CAST Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx,
Eve Hewson, Ben Mendelsohn,
Tim Minchin, Jamie Dornan
PLOT “Spoiled toff” Robin of Loxley
(Egerton) returns from the Third Crusade
to ind his manor ruined, his girlfriend
Marian (Hewson) with another man
(Dornan), and Nottingham’s citizens bled
dry by the Sheriff (Mendelsohn). He
becomes ‘The Hood’ to restore justice.
“FORGET HISTORY,” WE’RE
told during the opening narration of this
latest attempt to reinvent one of England’s
richest legends. “Forget what you think you
know.” It feels like less of a demand than
it does a plea. Because if you even start to
think about Otto Bathurst’s Robin Hood in
terms of historical viability, it crumbles
quicker than a sandcastle in a rainstorm.
The Third Crusade of the late 12th
century is portrayed as a kind of proto-Iraq
War, with soldiers such as Taron Egerton’s
Robin of Loxley waging urban, guerrilla
warfare in breastplates that look like flak
jackets. Nottingham, meanwhile, is recast
as an industrial mining hellhole where fire
constantly belches into the air — rather like
1919 Birmingham, which was stylishly
recreated under Bathurst’s direction for
the first three episodes of Peaky Blinders.
To be fair, when you’re dealing with
something as culturally ingrained and
cliché-ridden as Robin Hood you might
1 LEARNED ARCHERY
It’s set around a huge mine, but we
never see what it actually produces. Gold?
Iron? Er… Coal? Ben Mendelsohn’s Sherif,
__
“I trained in traditional Saracen archery with a recurve
bow. You load alternating arrows on the opposite side
the latest in a run of smoothly preened of the bow, which allows you to hold four in your hand
evil-executive types for the Aussie at any one time, ire them, grab another four and
actor, behaves like a president seeking repeat ire. I was taught by a Danish guy, Lars
re-election rather than a feudal-era Anderson — he’s quite a stern taskmaster. We spent
autocrat, demogoguing to crowds who quite a few hours together. It was very challenging.”
can’t even vote. And after Robin becomes
a Batman-esque outlaw known as ‘The
Hood’, he fosters a Bruce Wayne-ish
daytime persona, impressing everyone by
tossing gold coins around — despite having
just been revealed as losing everything
after returning from the crusade. That
his mentor, John (Foxx), is a Moor who’s
somehow familiar with the inner workings
of the English political and economic
system despite just arriving in the country
only adds to the preposterousness of it all.
Egerton does his valiant best, giving
Robin a callow, inverse Eggsy-from- 2 __ ATTEMPTED HORSERIDING
Kingsman likeability, and Bathurst’s “Learning to ride was probably the most challenging
earthy-but-slick, Peaky-honed style works thing. I’m actually quite nervous of horses and they
for the action scenes, of which there are sense that. I like things that I’m perched on the top of
many — usually involving Egerton slo-mo to be reliable and solid. I was thrown off a horse in the
twirling through the air and firing of irst couple of weeks which was pretty intense. But
multiple arrows at once like a 12th-century that’s the joy of being an actor — having these new
Hawkeye. But nothing else really hangs challenges to mount. Quite literally in this case.”
together. Eve Hewson’s Marian (the only
named female character in the entire
film, hmm) goes from plucky to passive to
outright damsel in a few swift mis-steps.
Mendelsohn seems almost bored now of
shouting at underlings in big, polished
rooms. And Foxx is criminally wasted in
sidekick role that requires little more of
him than the aforementioned exposition
and a bit of training-montage shouting.
The ending (owing much to Ridley
Scott’s 2010 movie of the same title)
suggests a sequel. To be honest, we’d rather
see Disney redo its version of the legend 3 __ REFRESHED HIS COMBAT SKILLS
with live-action foxes. Now that would be “There’s quite a lot of hand-to-hand combat in the ilm.
Illustration: Dave Hopkins

as well go for something fresh, and go for
broke. But for all its stylistic ambition, and
its eforts to reference modern concerns
(the Sherif of Nottingham’s anti-Islamic
invective), Robin Hood misfires thanks to
a crucial absence of internal logic. This
world just doesn’t work.
an interesting take. DAN JOLIN
VERDICT Like Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur,
this tries hard to do something new
and exciting with an old formula. It
quickly makes you wish for something
more traditional and straightforward.
It’s something I’ve done a lot of with Kingsman. It’s
essentially choreography; the trick is making it edgy,
and like it’s the irst time you’ve done it — that involves
a lot of rehearsal beforehand to make sure you can do it
safely and also make it look real. I’ve been hit in the
face many times.” IAN FREER

68 JANUARY 2019

film
THE HOUSE
THAT JACK BUILT
OUT 14 DECEMBER
★★ CERT 18 / 155 MINS
DIRECTOR Lars von Trier
CAST Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz,
Riley Keough, Uma Thurman,
Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Soie Gråbøl
PLOT Jack (Dillon) is a serial killer. In a
conversation with a mysterious stranger,
Jack confesses some of his worst murders,
committed, he believes, as a form of art.
As they walk towards some unknown inal
destination, the two men discuss how
death became the focus of Jack’s life.
WHETHER FILMING SELF-
administered clitorectomies or
unsimulated sex, or expressing Nazi
sympathy at press conferences, Lars von
Trier loves to cause headlines. He sends
controversy before his films like a leering
herald. Shock is one of his tools and when
used well it can harshly underline his films’
message. When used needlessly it just
looks childish. The House That Jack Built
is seeping with horrible moments —
a breast sliced of; a taxidermied child;
a mutilated duckling; the casual hunting
of a family — all in service of a lumpen
point that is being made better in many
other places. His gruesome instincts
are not underlining his intent but
scribbling over it.
The film opens in pitch darkness.
Jack (Dillon) and an unidentified man
(Ganz) are conversing in a way that
indicates Jack is being led to some sort of
afterlife and reflecting on his existence.
He tells his companion about the
murders he has committed, illuminating
five randomly chosen ‘incidents’ (some
have single victims, others multiple).
They range from the bludgeoning of
70 JANUARY 2019
THE GRINCH
★★★
OUT NOW / CERT PG / 90 MINS
DIRECTORS Yarrow Cheney,
Scott Mosier
CAST Benedict Cumberbatch,
Rashida Jones, Cameron Seely,
Kenan Thompson
THE 2018 THE Grinch is almost the
antithesis to Ron Howard’s Jim
Carrey-starring How The Grinch Stole
Christmas. That took Dr Seuss’ tale
an annoying woman (Thurman) seeking
help with a broken car, to a picnic/hunting
Jacqueline (Riley
Keogh) with serial
of the holiday-hating grouch and ran
with it; this is a cutesy, safe adaptation
lesson that ends with a woman numbly
trying to feed her child pie as his brain
leaks out of the back of his head, to a casual
killer Jack
(Matt Dillon).
that follows the original book to the
letter. Benedict Cumberbatch — all
menacing sniggers and snooty tone
date with Jacqueline (Keogh) that ends — suits the role perfectly while the
with the aforementioned breast removal richly detailed visuals match his
as she screams to a world that’s not brilliance; particularly when depicting
listening. Jack discusses all these incidents a brightly lit Whoville at night. And
as his art, his statement on a society there’s a peppering of great gags
beneath him. The joke is that Jack is a too; it’s just a shame that a mawkish
banal man who ofers the world nothing. message is pushed, rather than
He is a trained architect but attempts to adding anything new. OR
build his own house are stymied by his
limited vision. In a very darkly comic
sequence, Jack’s OCD forbids him to leave
a crime scene before repeatedly checking
every surface for blood. He gives himself
the murder-moniker Mr Sophistication.
Yet he achieves his goal of notoriety.
Narcissism trumps talent.
Von Trier’s message is clear: a
nihilistic statement on the mess of our
world and specifically America, and the
ascent of men who believe declaring LIZZIE
yourself the best means you are, with no ★★★
burden of proof. Jack has Trump-ish OUT 14 DECEMBER / CERT 15 / 105 MINS
vocal and physical tics when delivering DIRECTOR Craig William Macneill
his lies; the hunted family wear MAGA-y CAST Chloë Sevigny, Kristen Stewart,
red caps. The metaphor doesn’t need Fiona Shaw, Jamey Sheridan
further explanation, but von Trier jams
in a clumsy soliloquy in which Jack THE STORY OF Lizzie Borden swiftly
moans that the white man is always the became notorious when it broke in
bad guy, as he stabs a bound woman. 1892 — she was the prime suspect
“The world is fucked” is a message in the murders of her father and
you can read in countless places — von stepmother. This retelling doesn’t stint
Trier is joining the discussion, but all his on its gruesome aspects. The murders
lurid, gory presentation can’t disguise are frenzied and graphic, the toxic
that he has little to add. He even seems atmosphere of the Borden household
bored by himself, at one point illustrating enhanced by Jeff Russo’s foreboding
a damning rant with a montage of older, score. The effect is unsettling, but
better von Trier films. Upsetting scenes while not at odds with the central
might make you look away, but there’s theme of female oppression — both
not much else to see here. OLLY RICHARDS Lizzie (Sevigny) and her lover, maid
Maggie (Stewart), are violated by the
VERDICT One of von Trier’s most family patriarch in different ways —
confrontingly horrible films is also the tone often slides into lurid
one of his weakest. A story about a melodrama. Still, Sevigny and Stewart
man disguising his lack of worthwhile are compelling, adding up to an
contribution with violent self-interest arresting if not comfortable piece. LB
is guilty of every point it’s making.
 “I’ve got a really good feeling about this.”
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 film
ROMA
OUT 14 DECEMBER
★★★★★ CERT TBC / 135 MINS
DIRECTOR Alfonso Cuarón
CAST Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira,
Marco Graf, Daniela Demesa
PLOT In early 1970s Mexico City, a family
and their two housekeepers live an
ordinary life. When a series of events
threatens to disrupt their existence, maid
Cleo (Aparicio) must preserve the peace,
while also dealing with her own dilemmas.
A POST-APOCALYPTIC future,
a low-Earth orbit space station and a school
for wizards: Alfonso Cuarón’s recent
filmography has been, by any standard,
pretty otherworldly. Roma is in every sense
a more grounded afair for the director, a
low-key domestic drama about an ordinary
middle-class Mexican family in the 1970s.
72 JANUARY 2019
And yet, with a confidence and ambition
that again solidifies his status in the very
top tier of modern filmmakers, the director
deftly sprinkles the magical into this
astonishingly authentic, honest portrait
of humans living and coexisting. Indeed,
it might be his best film yet.
Set in the Roma district of Mexico City
where the director grew up, and centred
on a middle-class household that painfully
recreates his own formative years, it is by
all accounts deeply autobiographical. But
in an act of artistic humility, Cuarón’s focus
is not on a young Cuarón. Instead, it’s on
Cleo (Aparicio), one of two live-in maids
for a busy, noisy, happy family of six. We
learn her routine intimately, from the
elegant opening titles of a driveway being
mopped clean of dogshit (a pleasingly
recurring motif ), to the evening ritual of
the four kids being lovingly put to bed.
Sometimes in these early moments,
it feels like nothing happens at all. One
sweetly realised scene sees the family
literally just watch TV. Cleo joins them,
maternally cuddling one of the kids and
sharing in the simple joy — at least until
told to clear the plates away. There’s a dash
of Upstairs, Downstairs in the contrasts
of class and race, but Cuarón never
Dinner time in 1970s
Mexico. Not an Arctic
Roll in sight.
condescends and recognises the nuance in
that relationship: even as she occasionally
reproaches her employee, the mother
Sofía (de Tavira) always acknowledges
Cleo’s importance to the family.
It’s shot in black-and-white, which
at first glance lends it a classical and
neorealist feel. There’s undoubtedly a
conscious influence of Fellini — his flair,
flamboyancy and profound sense of feeling
is all there. (By neat coincidence the
Italian master also made a semi-
autobiographical film called Roma.) But
the monochrome here is less nostalgic
afectation, more thrilling innovation.
Each frame is crisp and rich, using a high
dynamic range and an unusually deep
depth of field. The efect is jaw-dropping.
It’s not hyperbolic to rate it as being
among the most beautiful photography
ever committed to screen. Life spills into
the frame, from the comforting familiarity
of the family home (where a fixed camera
pans gracefully between rooms, like an

unjudging observer) to the dazzling later
set-pieces as the pace picks up (a forest
fire, a student riot, a beach accident). The
camerawork makes everything feel hyper-
real: more dream than documentary.
Cuarón has always loved challenging
the boundaries of technical innovation
— his favourite flourish, the unbroken
single-take, is present and correct here —
but, more so than in the flashier Gravity or
grittier Children Of Men, this has real soul
to it. Aided in no small part by Aparicio’s
stunning debut performance, there is
a devastating emotional coda that will
wrongfoot you, and still leave you feeling
buoyant. Perhaps Roma’s most impressive
feat is its humanism: its understanding of
the chaos of life, and its unerring respect
for those who meet that chaos with love.
Really, Roma feels like a celebration of
what it means to feel alive. JOHN NUGENT
VERDICT Pairing thrilling technical
prowess with profound artistic vision,
Alfonso Cuarón has made a masterpiece,
at once understated and otherworldly.
We need more filmmakers like him.
WHITE BOY RICK
OUT 7 DECEMBER
★★★ CERT 15 / 111 MINS
DIRECTORYann Demange
CASTRichie Merritt, Bel Powley, Matthew
McConaughey, Jennifer Jason Leigh
PLOT The based-on-fact story of Detroit
teenager Richard Wershe Jr (Merritt), aka
‘White Boy Rick’, who became a drug
dealer and FBI informant, much to the
concern of his small-time arms dealing
dad (McConaughey).
RICHARD WERSHE JR is the
very embodiment of the phrase “too
much too young”. As the facts of his
rather crazy, real-life case aren’t widely
known, we won’t go into the full details;
suffice to say, the kid known as White
Boy Rick didn’t so much come of age as
headlong crash into it.
It’s a fascinating story — high-school
drop-out joins a Detroit drug gang and
informs on them for the FBI — and ripe
material for director Yann Demange, who
dealt with another young man in a very
diferent hostile urban environment with
2014’s ’71. But with more ground to cover,
White Boy Rick is a far less focused story
than Demange’s searing Belfast-set debut,
so anyone hoping for something that
matches ’71’s explosive intensity may
be disappointed. White Boy Rick’s
straightforwardly chronological approach
ofers the best way to package its
surprises, but it also means it drags in
places, especially toward the end, where
empathy for its protagonist threatens to
slide into mawkishness.
Still, there is much to appreciate, like
Demange’s attentive recreation of ’80s
Detroit: a grim world of rat-infested
He could have made effort
for the street’s ’70s soirée.
decay and everyday lawbreaking, but also
a vibrant musical hub where roller discos
throbbed to the heavy, energising pulse of
electro and hip hop. It is also replete with
fine performances, from the likes of Bel
Powley (as Rick’s addict sister) and Bruce
Dern (as his craggy gramps), and not least
Matthew McConaughey, who strips away
his rugged charms to reveal an impressively
weaselly side as greasy “low-life” Rick
Wershe Sr. He’s a man whose blend of
optimism, self-confidence and broken
moral compass make him the worst
possible advert for the American Dream.
Like a Midwestern Del Boy, Rick Sr flogs
assault rifles out the back of his car and
announces every year as the one he’ll make
it big… By setting up a VHS rental store.
It’s a shame we don’t see more of him,
but while the film pokes at the malign
efect of this particular father-son
relationship, it’s less about the connection
between Ricks Sr and Jr than it is Jr’s own
trials — which squarely foregrounds
newcomer Richie Merritt. Perhaps it is
just how the real Rick was, but there is
a lumpen blandness to the character and
Merritt’s performance, which makes
him the least interesting to spend time
with, despite the incredible events that
befall him. He’s reminiscent of James
Frecheville’s similarly crime-plagued
adolescent in David Michôd’s Animal
Kingdom: a kid who would actually be quite
dull and forgettable, but for the life-
threatening situations he finds himself in.
Of course, his any-teen normality
only heightens the efect of his abnormally
hazardous situation. But it is a challenge
for any audience when the main character
is, ultimately, the one you’re least excited
to hang out with. DAN JOLIN
VERDICT A patchy follow-up to the searing
’71 from director Yann Demange, but
one which tells a compelling true story
and offers a treat of a supporting turn
from Matthew McConaughey.
JANUARY 2019 73

film
THE CHRISTMAS
CHRONICLES
NETFLIX / OUT NOW
★★★ CERT TBC / 103 MINS
DIRECTOR Clay Kaytis
CAST Kurt Russell, Judah Lewis, Darby
Camp, Lamorne Morris, Martin Roach
PLOT Christmas Eve, 2018, and fractious
siblings Teddy (Lewis) and Kate (Camp)
are struggling to feel the Christmas spirit.
After hatching a plot to catch Santa
(Russell) on camera, they not only
discover that he’s real but they stowaway
on his sleigh and cause it to crash in the
streets of Chicago. With only hours
before morning, they need to help
Santa save Christmas.
AS THE DIRECTOR of Home
Alone and the writer of Gremlins, Chris
Columbus is well-versed in portraying
things going entertainingly wrong at
Christmas. And while he only has
a producer credit on The Christmas
Chronicles (Angry Birds’ Clay Kaytis
directs Matt Liebermann’s script), his
candy-cane-sticky fingerprints are
all over this Netflix production.
The story starts with kids being left
home alone on Christmas Eve (their
firefighter dad is dead and their nurse
mom has to pull an emergency shift),
while Santa’s CG elves are fuzzy, squeaky
and distinctly Mogwai-ish. But the
Columbus joint this most resembles is
1987 debut Adventures In Babysitting.
Both films involve kids set loose on the
night-time streets of Chicago, dealing
with a domino efect of little disasters
and racing against time to get home.
Although, to be fair, Adventures…
didn’t feature flying reindeer, or Kurt
Russell turning into sparkly dust and
whooshing down chimneys.
74 JANUARY 2019
CINEMA’S
GREATEST
SANTAS
The Christmas Chronicles
producer Chris Columbus
chooses his top Clauses
KURT RUSSELL
THE CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES
“I’ve seen the ilm 350 times and
never tire of Kurt. He said, ‘This is
While The Christmas Chronicles
doesn’t come close to rewriting the
Easily sled: Santa
(Russell) lets Kate
the third-most important role of my
career: I’ve played Elvis, Snake
Christmas-movie rulebook — it relies
heavily on pop-song references, twinkly
music cues and humbuggy characters
(Darby Camp) and
Teddy (Judah Lewis)
take the reins on
Plissken and now Santa.’”
whose frosty hearts melt — it does have this festive frolic.
fun with the mythic figure at the centre
of it all. No, not Jesus. The other one.
Russell’s Santa is a bracing blast of fresh
air, less jolly than feisty, getting annoyed
when asked to go, “Ho ho ho,” and
lamenting cola adverts that make him
look rotund. There’s a straight-talking, EDMUND GWENN
blue collar edge to this Saint Nick (“I’m MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET
not an oicial saint… I guess it’s who “There’s something ethereal and
you know”) who disarms everyone he downright spiritual here. He won the
encounters by knowing their names and Academy Award. Not only one of the
recalling every present they ever asked best Santas, but one of the best
for. And also, if they’ve ever been on his performances of the last 80 years.”
naughty list, their crimes. Of course, he’s
kindly and warm-hearted, but you get the
impression he’d kick your ass if he had
to. Certainly, he’s not averse to a bit of
dangerous, high-speed driving (in a
bright-red Dodge Challenger, no less).
The film’s lucky to have him, and
you’ll miss Russell’s Nick when a turn of
events takes him of-screen for a while.
Especially as the kids who mess up his DAVID HUDDLESTON
2018 present-run make for less than SANTA CLAUS: THE MOVIE
scintillating company. Perky ten-year-old “It’s the version of Santa we wanted
“true believer” Katie (Camp) doesn’t [Kurt] to be the opposite of, but
really have anywhere to go as a character there’s something I love about this
(apart from learning Elvish, which makes Santa. It was the one thing I walked
you sound like an Ewok doing a Swedish away from the movie really liking.”
Chef impression), while her vanilla
bad-boy big bro Teddy (Lewis) gets
lumbered with some run-of-the-mill
dead-parent angst. At times the tinselly
schmaltz will make you wince, at
others it even turns a bit creepy. But
thanks to Russell’s roguish spin on the
big, bearded house-breaker, this serves
up a Christmas spirit most will be happy
to glug. DAN JOLIN ED ASNER
ELF
VERDICT It’s as predictable as an “I love that little bit of gruffness
Advent calendar, but thanks to — perhaps the irst time that
Kurt Russell’s grizzly charms, The happened. But he still had warmth
Christmas Chronicles at least gives us and humour.” JONATHAN PILE
Alamy
one of the movies’ best Santas yet.
Tv
HOUSE OFCARDS:
SEASON 6
NETFLIX / OUT NOW
★★★ EPS VIEWED 1-5
SHOWRUNNERS Frank Pugilese,
Melissa Gibson
CAST Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Patricia
Clarkson, Greg Kinnear, Diane Lane
PLOT Claire Underwood (Wright), now
President, must ight to keep power. Her
husband is dead, but allies and enemies are
trying to enforce promises he made against
his widow, and Claire’s independence is
under greater threat than ever.
LOSING A STAR is no easy thing for
a drama series. But it’s not only the absence
of Frank Underwood that causes problems
for House Of Cards. This sixth and final
season sees Robin Wright’s Claire
Underwood finally take centre stage, and
her increased role gives the show a tone and
pace that feels diferent from what has gone
before. It’s fresh, but not always satisfying
— and can’t surmount the tricky issue of
its contrast to America’s political reality.
Yet again she’d got
the cracker with the
Once again, plot elements are ripped
from the real world, with Syria, mass
surveillance and the testimony of criminal
crappy ring.
accomplices all in play as Underwood
attempts to cement her own power. But the
main thrust is her attempt to stay free from
the dominance of big business, which puts
the show firmly in wish fulfilment territory.
Frank Underwood is missed — at
first. There was an impish edge to his
Machiavellian scheming; Claire is, wisely,
wary in her plots, facing a greater uphill
battle than her husband ever did. The first
scene, for example, notes her much higher
volume of hate mail. She must keep her
emotions in check, so her composure is
absolute. Her strategy is to recruit other
women, idealistically to promote equality,
but also calculating that such appointees
will be loyal. Yet she trusts almost no-one
entirely. Her opponents are right-wing
industrialist Bill Shepherd (Kinnear) and
his sister Annette (Lane), a childhood
friend of Claire’s who’s just as gifted in
using her looks and her brains to get ahead.
Underwood’s risk-averse
incrementalism feels realistic for a female
politician, though it doesn’t always make
for gripping drama. Wright, however, is
magnetic, while Lane adds fire and Patricia
Clarkson’s political operator Jane brings a
touch of unpredictable quirk. The dialogue
can be clunky — a US Vice President
corrects Russian premier Petrov (Lars
Mikkelsen) when he refers to World War
II as the “Great Patriotic War”, rather
than diplomatically acknowledging the
designation — but there are still gloriously
sharp moments (“Playing incompetent is
so exhausting,” sighs Claire to camera).
Claire Underwood is a monster, yes.
She does put personal power over her
country’s interest. But her schemes still
achieve occasionally positive things and
she has little regard for self-enrichment.
Some of her actions are even, almost,
noble. The strange fact is that Netflix’s first
big, homegrown hit has begun to feel a little
dated, because its format, and lead, are
too formal to allow for much evolution. As
we saw last season, politics is faster than
this now, an endless churn of scandal and
grotesquery, while House Of Cards remains
its own chilly, composed self. HELEN O’HARA
VERDICT An icier, more remote protagonist
requires some adjustment, but the
show has kept its plotting satisfyingly
labyrinthine and its quality generally
high. If only reality had done the same.
JANUARY 2019 75
 MEET OUR CRITICS

JAMES DYER IAN FREER

@jamescdyer @mrianfreer
Evangelical about Loves Jaws and
Aliens and Nuns The 400 Blows
On The Run. and Apocalypse
Once had a wee Now. Yet to see
next to Ice Cube. The Big Lebowski.

TV

HOMECOMING under strange circumstances and what

was really going on inside those walls.
While the fact this is Roberts’ first
Who knew she’d won
£10 on the Premium
Bonds back in ’89?
TERRI WHITE
@terri_white
Is disappointed in
NICK DE SEMLYEN
@nickdesemlyen
Loves film noir and
PRIME VIDEO lead in a TV show is the obvious big news any film that isn’t Peter Jackson films.
★★★★ OUT NOW here, this isn’t just a showcase for an unrelentingly Can recite the lyrics
EPISODES VIEWED 10 A-lister. Hers is one of the quieter roles. grim. Apart from to Magic Dance
Heidi is a dowdy, uncertain woman who La La Land. from Labyrinth.
CREATED BY Sam Esmail gradually grows in forcefulness over the ten
CAST Julia
Roberts, Stephan James, episodes. Roberts keeps her star wattage
Bobby Cannavale, Shea Whigham, Alex dimmed — there are no bursts of that
Karpovsky, Marianne Jean-Baptiste famous laugh — and takes her place in
a superb ensemble, which includes Bobby
PLOT Heidi Bachman (Roberts) is Cannavale as Homecoming’s obnoxious
a caseworker at a government facility boss, Stephan James as a soldier Heidi
helping soldiers return to civilian life. The becomes close to and Marianne Jean- JONATHAN PILE CHRIS HEWITT
story cuts between her time working at the Baptiste as that soldier’s mother. @jonnypile @chrishewitt
facility and an investigation four years later Sam Esmail, who also created Mr. Flirts with Loves horror and
looking into the strange circumstances Robot, has clearly carefully considered highbrow films, Marvel flicks.
under which she left her job. every single frame of the show. It is wildly but is happiest Freddy vs Tony
stylish, but not precious about it. Most in front of would be his
of the show is constructed of two-way a decent thriller. best movie ever.
conversations, which Esmail frames in
HOMECOMING IS NOT a show skewed, disorientating ways, making
to watch with any other distractions. Put the actors look small and vulnerable
your phone away. Leave your chores for in big Kubrickian wide-shots or
later. It demands complete attention. completely exposed in extreme close-
Not because the plot is hard to follow, but up. There’s no softness or comfort to
because so much of its storytelling is in the any of it. Paired with a Hitchcock-esque
visuals. It doles out its story at a slow pace, score, every minute makes you feel HELEN O’HARA JOHN NUGENT
yet the peculiar mood it creates is riveting. unsettled, as if at least one person @helenlohara @mr_nugent
Based on a podcast of the same name, is lying to you at all times, which they Likes superheroes. Big fan of Powell,
Homecoming is split across two timelines. usually are. And films about Pressburger, Pixar
In the first, we venture into the definitely- Homecoming is a slow-burner that is smart people and Predator. And
not-what-it-seems Homecoming facility, worth the time. It needs a sedate pace to arguing, ideally other films that do
which helps soldiers prepare for a return really make you feel the wrongness of the while falling in love. not start with ‘P’.
to civilian life after completing their Homecoming facility, where every day is
service. Heidi Bachman (Roberts) is a mundane but with an edge of nightmare.
caseworker who interviews the soldiers A second season is already confirmed.
to discuss their issues and monitor their By the end of Season 1, it’s impossible
progress. The facility is dingy and odd. One to imagine exactly what else it could
worker hosts a weirdly intense class on possibly reveal, but it’s easy to believe
Illustrations: David Mahoney

how to interview for a job in a shoe shop. there are countless other secrets inside
Nobody ever goes outside. It doesn’t seem Homecoming’s cold walls. OLLY RICHARDS DAN JOLIN OLLY RICHARDS
right. In the second timeline, four years @danjolin @olly_richards
in the future, Heidi is working in a diner. VERDICT This gives Julia Roberts the Favourite film is Insists Batman
She is clearly long gone from Homecoming, most interesting, layered role she’s had Brazil, director is Returns is the
but a government agent (Whigham) in years, yet she’s just one reason to Nolan, franchise is best Batman film
brings her past back to her when he begins watch this eerie mystery that will give Planet Of The Apes and will (weakly)
investigating why she left the company you the creeps in a seriously stylish way. (the good ones). fight you over it.

76 JANUARY 2019
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 $OLWD FRXN
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 STATE OF THE ART
JAMES CAMERON REFLECTS ON A LIFE SPENT MAKING
MOVIES, AND THE PASSION THAT NEVER DIMS
PORTRAIT ART STREIBER

efore I ever dreamed of being that they were very sophisticated robotics

B a filmmaker, I was in love with

cinema. As a kid, I knew all of
the old B sci-fi films from the
1950s by heart. I’d record them on
a little audiocassette recorder I got
for Christmas, then listen back to them
later and replay them in my mind,
because home video was still decades
away. Inspired by those movies, I’d draw
pictures or build my own robots. Not
— they were cardboard boxes filled with
paper-towel tubes, and if you turned
a crank they would dispense Maltesers.
I made them as Mother’s Day presents
and things like that. I also built humanoid
robotic torsos and put them on top of
a remote-control toy tank, which I’d
drive around. I guess that was the
precursor to the treaded Hunter Killers
❯
in The Terminator.

80 JANUARY 2019
 James Cameron,
photographed
exclusively for
Empire at Lightstorm,
Los Angeles.

JANUARY 2019 81
 It was 2001: A Space Odyssey that toggled a switch in my
brain and turned me into a practitioner. I was 14 and had never
picked up a camera before. But now I wanted to know how
visual-efects shots were made. So I got my dad’s Super 8 camera
and started building model kits of the spacecraft in the movie.
I read the 2001 ‘making of’ book probably ten times. And
I figured out that if you painted tinfoil black, put a light bulb
behind it and poked pinholes in it, you could make a pretty
decent star field. My first epic space story had a budget of
probably ten bucks. But it got me of my duf.
Back then, however, I didn’t know if I wanted to be a writer
or an artist or a physicist or an astronomer or a sculptor. I was
all over the map — my brain was just firing in all directions at
once. And I didn’t really focus on the idea of being a filmmaker
for real until I was in my mid-twenties. In my mind I had all
these images for hyper-kinetic space battles, with aerobatic
motion and energy weapons firing and ships exploding. Then
I went to a movie theatre and saw a little thing called Star Wars.
And I felt like one of those paranoid-schizophrenic people that
puts a little bit of foil underneath a wig to keep the CIA from
spying on their thoughts. Because the images I had in my brain
were up there on the screen. For me, it wasn’t the shock of the
new — it was the shock of the familiar. And I thought, “If the
world rewards this film as resoundingly as it has, then there’s
a market for what’s in my brain.” It was time to get busy.
A year on, in 1978, I was on a set with two friends making
Xenogenesis, a proof-of-concept reel for a complete science-
fiction feature. We managed to talk this girl who wanted to be
an actress and another friend of mine who was a writer into
82 JANUARY 2019
starring in it, as a young space couple. Above: Directing
It was wildly ambitious, completely Linda Hamilton on the
impractical and pretty dreadful, but the set of The Terminator
imagery is actually not that bad. And back in 1984.
I learned an awful lot. How to run a Below: Shooting
35-mm camera, how to do in-camera Aliens with Sigourney
matte paintings, how to rotoscope. And Weaver, 1986.
I got to say “action” and “cut”. That’s Right: With Rosa
when you become a director. All you have Salazar, still breaking
to do is shoot something and say “action” ground with 2019’s
and “cut” a few times. Everything after Alita: Battle Angel.
that is just negotiating your price.
orty years on, the bug is still there. The
F only thing that’s going to stop me from
making films is getting hit by a cement
truck or the inevitable march of time.
But I think now I have Hollywood more
in perspective. There was a time when
making a film was the most important
thing in the world to me. Now, it’s not. It’s
a thing that I love to do. But I know how
important my family is. And some of my
activities around food and sustainable
agriculture and exploring are equally
important. So I have it in perspective, and
that’s a very, very healthy place to be.
Otherwise you can be bruised and damaged
psychologically by Hollywood in general.
 That said, I have enough of a work ethic that it’s not
like I’m ever phoning it in or slacking of. My schedule is as
intense now as it ever was. And I like that just fine. I don’t
know what to do with myself if I have a day of, so I just work
continuously. I think my wife would prefer that I took a little
time of from time to time. But I get nervous and pace around
and think about all the things I could be doing, so it doesn’t
really work for me.
I still get a buzz from filmmaking on a fairly regular basis.
I get it every time we lock a scene for the new Avatar films,
because the process is piecemeal. You don’t have dailies and
all that sort of thing — it’s all done with capture. So all you see
is people in spandex tights for a long period of time. And then
there’s a moment where you walk into what we call a ‘camera
session’ and actually see the colours and characters and so on.
It’s all whacked together and suddenly you’re watching a scene
that’s taking place in a bioluminescent ocean, or flying in the air
with some fantastic creatures. That’s when I think, “I have the
coolest job in the world.”
All filmmakers create a sort of reality bubble around their
characters, whether it’s an apartment building in Florida or
a far-flung planet. It’s really just thrilling to create something
from nothing. And although every single atom of the fabric of
filmmaking has changed — as of the first Avatar, we’ve even
done away with the physical camera — the basic principles are
the same. All the diferent styles and ideas that were pioneered
throughout the age of the physical photochemistry of film are
still extant now. It’s just that we’ve gone far beyond that in our
ability to create another reality.
We can do anything right now. With
digital tools and enough money, there are
no limitations. And that makes it even
more important that we’re disciplined.
Now, once I capture a scene with actors,
I can put it on the moon, or underwater;
I can play it all in one master shot or
do it in 30 close-ups. Having infinite
choices, it forces you to really understand
the creative decisions you’re making at
every second.
feel very positive about what’s
I possible. If you look at all the big
movies of the last decade, there’s very
little in the way of original IP that gets
to inhabit the billion-dollar club, or even
the half-billion-dollar club. But I still
believe it can be done. Titanic didn’t fit
any mould of its time. It’s a big no-brainer
now when you look back at it, but at the
time it didn’t make any sense as a film
done on that scale. Everybody knew that
the ship sank and the people died. It
wasn’t going to be part of a franchise. It
certainly didn’t have a feel-good ending.
As for Avatar, that was practically
pronounced dead by the powers that be
before it was released — I remember the
head of the studio at the time saying,
“Avatar’s just a word. It doesn’t mean
anything to people.” I guess what I’m
saying is that you don’t have to play by
the rules if you don’t want to.
In terms of the world at large, it feels
like we could be heading for another Dark
Age. That’s what I look around and see.
The film industry tends to be very liberal,
and we pride ourselves on being the
pioneers that are going to show everybody
a better way when it comes to civil rights
and gender issues and so on. I look at the
political landscape right now and think,
“Well, guess what, guys? That didn’t work.
We’re just as benighted and fucked up as
we ever were, if not worse.” It used to feel
like we were always moving forward, even
if only in small steps. I never thought we’d
suddenly wind up losing so much ground.
But I still like to think that film and
television is a shining light, where we get
to have a sense of communion as people.
We get to celebrate human nature. We get
to walk in the shoes of other people. We get
to have an empathic reaction to the plight
of others. Even if that doesn’t seem to be
enough anymore, it doesn’t mean I’m going
to back of the throttle. Not one iota.
JANUARY 2019 83
 OR
YL
TA
ES
AM
ON J
IL LU ST R AT I

YOU HAD
QUESTIONS —
N
E M LY E

LOTS OF THEM
DE S

— FOR THE
K
NIC
DS

WORLD’S MOST
OR W

SUCCESSFUL
FILM DIRECTOR.
SO WE WENT
ROUND HIS
HOUSE TO GET
THE ANSWERS
JANUARY 2019 85
 This is because the most successful director in Hollywood
history, the action-movie maestro who’s mounted blistering
battles on Earth, in the ocean deep and across far-flung planets,
is sipping his beverage from a ceramic receptacle emblazoned
with three massive-eyed, primary-coloured cartoon
kindergarteners. “You know somebody’s got young daughters
when they have a Powerpuf Girls cup,” Cameron explains,
catching Empire mid-gawp. Then he grins and repeats the
catchphrase he’s clearly heard countless times: “Saving the
world before bedtime!”
Nine years after the release of the phenonenally successful
Avatar, in which a band of intrepid heroes saved Pandora
before bedtime, the director is beavering away on four sequels
concurrently, a mammoth task the likes of which has never
been attempted before. But he’s happy to take a break from blue
folk to welcome Empire to his Malibu home, for a very special
interview kicking of our 30th-birthday festivities. “Thirty
years? Is that even possible?” he marvels. “When I look back
at my early movies, I still remember doing every shot...”
Casa Cameron is preparing for Hallowe’en — “I build
a spook-house every year,” he reveals, evoking images of
Titanic-sized pumpkins and zombie Stephen Langs. Out in
front of the house, an enormous German Shepherd with the
quite brilliant name of Reaper Cussions patrols. And by the
side of his swimming pool, where surely he has dreamed up
all manner of heady aquatic set-pieces, Cameron sits for an
hour to answer your questions about his incredible career,
from serious queries to really quite silly ones...

86 JANUARY 2019
 Do you have a go-to Na’vi phrase?
CAROL FRANCO LEYVA
Oh, absolutely. It’s the one my kids
like the most, which is “skxawng”
[pronounced “skown”] — it basically
means “moron”. For a few years after the
film came out, they just called each other
skxawng. [Laughs] Our house band at the
Avatar production is actually called The
Skxawngs. They’re gonna play at our
wrap party in December.
What was the first film you
remember deeply impacting you?
CARRIE CASE
The Wizard Of Oz, which is still to this
day my favourite movie. When I was
a kid, seven or eight years old, one of
the three stations that were on the telly
would always run it at Hallowe’en. And
it just scared the shit out of me. The
damn flying monkeys. So that had a deep
impact. But the film that had the greatest
single impact was a little bit later, when
I was 14. It was 2001: A Space Odyssey, on
a huge screen, a matinée. I had the place
basically to myself. I picked the best seat
in the house, which was front row of the
balcony, dead centre. And watching the
Star Gate sequence was like falling down
this endless pit of energy. I’d never seen
anything like it. I felt so overwhelmed
by vertigo that I went outside, sat down
on the kerb in broad daylight and
puked. My brain just got turbo-charged
Clockwise from by the power of the imagery. And I was
main: James Cameron drawing spacecraft for the next three
on the set of Avatar in years straight.
2008; Zoe Saldana and
Sam Worthington What’s your favourite Arnold
in Avatar (2009); Mary Schwarzenegger movie that you
Elizabeth Mastrantonio didn’t direct?
and Ed Harris in The BETSY CHU
Abyss (1989); “A Oh, that’s an interesting one. Probably
perfectly good luxury Predator, because it was right around
liner” goes down in the time Arnold was coming on strong
Titanic (1997). in the mid-’80s. I liked the way they used
the optical efects to have the creature
disappear in stealth mode. And the
POV stuf and the infrared vision. It was
a really fresh approach.
You directed the fake Aquaman
movie in Entourage. Are you
looking forward to the real one?
JAKE LEVIN
There is a weird connection, because
we somehow wound up with Battle
Angel booked to open on the same
day as Aquaman. So I would have been
competing with myself. And God forbid
Aquaman did have the kind of numbers
that they said in Entourage — I’d be
screwed on Battle Angel. So we
moved. The only sensible thing —
I got out of my own way. Am I anxious
to see it? I’m curious, let me put it
that way. He was never a comic-book
character I particularly liked. Even of
those two underwater guys, I preferred
Sub-Mariner.
What is the most challenging action
set-piece you’ve put to film?
JASON PHILLIPS
Well, they’re all flashing through my head
now. The steel-mill scene in Terminator 2
was very difficult, especially flipping over
the nitrogen tanker. But I would say the
sinking of the Titanic, the part where the
first 200 feet of the first-class deck area
goes underwater. There were hundreds
of extras and we had to keep them all
alive. The set was so big that even lighting
it was enormously problematic. And the
ship just wouldn’t sink. We had this giant
hydraulic system and kept trying over
and over to get it to sink fast enough.
But it just proved to be this gigantic
engineering/safety nightmare that we
finally fought to a draw.
If you could go back in time like Kyle
Reese, what one thing would you
change from one of your films?
THOM DENSON
Just to put this to rest, I would not
change Jack getting on the door. That
was there for a purpose. Well, with what
I know now, I would know how to realise
the ending of The Abyss better. We could
make it spectacular now with CG. Or I’d
just tell myself, “Don’t try to do that. The
tools aren’t available now. Don’t be an
asshole — just stop the film when he
brings her back to life.” [Laughs]
As such a visionary director, you have
forced technology to move to catch up
with you. Are there any ideas you have
that you think technology won’t catch
up with in time for you to film it?
TARYN STRONG
I don’t think there’s anything unfilmable
at this stage. Obviously there are some
things that are more expensive than
others. But basically we’re knocking
down [the obstructions] one by one.
And I don’t think you can get any higher
difficulty level than Avatar 2, because
we’ve got so much interaction with water.
You’ve got 100 per cent CG characters
in a 100 per cent CG environment
with scenes with water at the surface
interface, which is the hardest.
❯
Underwater’s no problem — it’s when
JANUARY 2019 87
 characters and animals are coming and
going through that interface, with the
aeration and displacement and water
splashing up where the density of the
air afects it. The simulations are
unbelievably complex. But we’re doing it.
I think the biggest limitation these days
is just our own imaginations. I can do
scenes with blue people all day long.
It’s the scenes that are a little rubbery
conceptually that are still tricky. Like
going into a vision state, some kind of
subjective state inside somebody’s mind.
Not that we can’t do it — it’s just that it’s
hard to finitely imagine what it’s gonna
look like.
It’s inevitable that a movie will be
shot in space one day. Do you have
any plans to be the one to make it?
CHARLIE STEVENS
They just announced recently that the
next Mission: Impossible might do a space
scene. It’s the only thing Tom Cruise
hasn’t done — they gotta fire that guy of
on a rocket, holding on to the outside!
You gotta admire Tom, man. I actually
talked to him about doing a space film in
space, about 15 years ago. I had a contract
with the Russians in 2000 to go to the
International Space Station and shoot
a high-end, 3D documentary there. And
I thought, “Shit, man, we should just
make a feature.” I said, “Tom, you and
I, we’ll get two seats on the Soyuz, but
somebody’s gotta train us as engineers.”
Tom said, “No problem, I’ll train as an
engineer.” We had some ideas for the
story, but it was still conceptual.
Will we ever get a True Lies Blu-ray?
JED SHEPHERD
Man, it’s on my to-do list. It’s a question
of time-management. True Lies and The
Abyss both have Blu-ray transfers that
are complete for my review. The problem
is the next 14 hours when I have to go
back and trim the colour and get each one
perfect. That’s 28 hours. I don’t have 28
hours. But I’ve put it on my list to try to
get it done before the end of the year.
You said once you’d never return to
the Terminator series. Yet you’re
heavily involved with Terminator 6.
What made you change your mind?
STEPHEN SCOTT
It was a chance to get the band back
together, I guess. I made it an absolute
necessity that if I was involved, Arnold
had to be involved. And we didn’t know
how much or how little he was gonna be
in the film. Then we started to explore
88 JANUARY 2019
Main: They’re
back — Arnie and
Cameron on the set
of Terminator 2:
Judgment Day
in 1991. Below:
1994’s True Lies –
and the scene of
Cameron’s favourite
Arnie story.
Bottom right:
The Alien Queen
rears her ugly head
in Aliens (1986).
the whole thing and it turned out there
was a really wonderful approach to his
character. He’s been programmed for
bad, programmed for good. So what was
left to do? And I think we came up with
something pretty cool. Then Linda
[Hamilton] and I talked and she said,
“Yeah, if you can do the things you’re
talking about with [Sarah Connor], then
I’d like to do it.” I think it’s an opportunity
to reinvent a franchise that’s ultimately
about artificial intelligence in a day and
age where a lot of the themes of the first
movie are not considered science-fiction
anymore. You talk to top AI experts and
they’ll say, “Oh, it’s not a question of if —
it’s when.” In fact, my paranoid mind goes
to, “It has already happened. And many
of the seemingly inexplicable things that
are happening in our world right now are
actually being manipulated [by AI].”
Have you seen the French and
Saunders Titanic sketch that was
directed by Edgar Wright?
JODY WILSON
No, I haven’t, but Edgar Wright’s great.
I didn’t know he had done a Titanic
sketch. I’m gonna have to check
that out.
Who would win in a battle royale
between a T-800, the Alien Queen and
Colonel Quaritch in his mech suit?
DAVE CHIN
Mmm, interesting. Well, we already saw
a mech suit defeat the Alien Queen. And
if Quaritch had the full GAU-90 cannon
with him, I think he could blow a T-800
in half. Quaritch wins. But he’s highly
amplified — they don’t call it an AMP suit
for nothing. The Alien Queen would be
a pile of bubbling acid.
What’s the maddest thing you’ve
ever seen in the deep ocean in your
submersible?
THOMAS NICHOLSON
Well, somebody threw away a perfectly
good luxury liner. [Laughs] That’s
a pretty stupid joke. In terms of creatures,
I saw some pretty amazing organisms
down there. The dumbo octopus is fairly
well known, but when you see one in real
life, they’re just astonishing to watch.
Then there’s this hydrothermal structure
that we found of Guaymas in the Sea Of
Cortez, at a depth of two miles, I’ll say,
that still fascinates me to this day. They
were hydrothermal vent structures that
for some reason would propagate laterally
and form this kind of mushroom cap that
was 20 or 30 feet in diameter. Deadass
flat, like a mirror. What was the exact
equipoise between the growth of bacteria
and the deposition of minerals that
allowed it to form this absolutely flat
underside surface? I still have never
heard an explanation. I don’t think
people know how these things form.
But they’re amazing. I sit and watch
them all day long.
You’ve filmed lots of traumatic scenes
in elevators, like the ones in Titanic,
Terminator 2 and Aliens. Have you
had a bad experience in one?
CHLOE TURNER
[Laughs] Only in dreams. My nightmares
are quite rich and fertile ground, so
I’m sure I’ve had some bad elevator
ones. Tidal-wave nightmares, cyborg
nightmares — you name it, I got ’em all.
So many nightmares, so little time...
Would you ever make a low-
budget sci-fi film again using
only practical effects?
PAUL JEREMIAH HAYES
It’s funny — as much as I cherish that
time in my life when we were painting
things on glass and doing foreground
miniatures and all that, having fun
tricking the eye in every known way,
I wouldn’t be interested in doing it that
way now, because I know how easy it
is to do it as a digital composite. Why
would you go back?
Having directed arguably the
best sequel ever in T2, is the
pressure to deliver with the
Avatar follow-ups greater?
JAMES TRAVIS
The pressure is huge. But what I found
in the course of the writing is that
I also have to up my own game between
Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, and between
Avatar 3 and Avatar 4, and Avatar 4
and Avatar 5. I’ve built it in such a way
that there is an escalation of the imagery.
But I actually think the thing that’s
in my favour across all five films is that
we will come to know the characters
so well, the single biggest thing that will
pull you back to the cinema is just to see
what happens.
I’m fascinated by the fact you
started off as a truck driver.
What’s your most vivid
memory of trucking?
MATILDE PRATESI
It wasn’t long-haul trucking — it was
mostly local deliveries around the
Orange County area. My enduring
memory is this one particular billboard
that I could pull the truck behind, so
none of the other drivers in my company
could see me. I’d get an hour ahead in
my deliveries and then pull over behind
this billboard and write for an hour.
I still feel like I owe those guys some
money for that.
Please share your favourite
Arnie anecdote.
CHRIS BAILEY
There are so many. Some of them are
unprintable. He used to like his practical
jokes, and I remember on True Lies he
had this thing where if any of the stunt
guys made a mistake — because he was
always very close with the stunt guys
— they had to bark like a dog and wear
a dog bone. A big rawhide bone that
went over your neck on a rope, right?
So I’m choreographing the bathroom
fight with the machine gun shooting
the stalls and all that. And Arnold had
to rip a hand dryer of a wall and clock
this guy across the face with it. With
fight choreography, I always try to get
in there and do parts of it myself, ’cause
I need to feel the body dynamics of it,
and I’ve done a lot of martial arts, so
I kind of know a lot of the moves. So
I grabbed this hand dryer, pulled it of
the wall and swept it around in an arc,
and my hand hit the side of the bathroom
counter. I’m like, “Alright, don’t do
that. When you pull it of, sweep it
around here and backhand him with
it.” Arnold says, “Yeah, yeah, I got it.”
First take: BAM! He tore open the
whole back side of his hand. It swelled
up to this crazy size. I now couldn’t
shoot the scene. So I said, “Arnold...”
And he goes... [Barking noises] He had
to wear the bone.
I love South Park’s James Cameron
song: “No budget too steep/No sea
too deep...” Have you heard it?
CHRIS JOHNSON
Oh yeah, I know it. It’s from the episode
about raising the bar, right? When
you’ve moved the needle enough to get
your own South Park episode, then you
know you’ve arrived. [Laughs] That
and the Oscar.
JANUARY 2019 89
 THE
Sanchini, the president of his company,
asked if I would be interested in coming
on board to produce a project called
‘Planet Ice’. I read Jim’s scriptment
and loved it. ‘Planet Ice’ was the
codename for Titanic.
I vividly remember when Jim and
I walked on the deck of Titanic for the

VOYAGERS
TITANIC AND AVATAR PRODUCER JON LANDAU WRITES
EXCLUSIVELY FOR EMPIRE ABOUT HIS LONG-TIME
COLLABORATION WITH JAMES CAMERON
hen someone asks me to tell them about Jim
first time — I don’t think the set had been
dressed yet — there was a feeling of wow.
Titanic was a long, hard shoot. One of my
most indelible memories involved the
filming of Captain Smith on the bridge
as it imploded from the rising water; one
of the very last shots during production.
Jim was the lone camera operator inside
the bridge. The whole set was submerged
in water as Tommy Fisher, our special
efects supervisor, exploded the glass.
Thousands of gallons of water came
pouring in, creating utter turmoil and
making it impossible to see what was
happening on the set. When Jim and the
rest of the crew surfaced safely, there was
this feeling of, “Okay, we did it.” Films in
general forge relationships in fire. This
one formed an amazing bond.
Jim expects a lot from the people he works with but never

W Cameron, one of my first responses is to say, “Jim’s

an explorer.” He explores in his life — both literally
and metaphorically — and in his filmmaking. He has
a deep yearning to discover, and I think that’s what primarily
motivates him. Whether it’s diving to the wreck of the Titanic,
more than that which he demands from himself. He consistently
pushes the bounds of what we think is possible. Prior to Avatar,
no-one had done virtual production. We created a tiered
workstation environment right on the set which looked like an
old NASA mission control centre. We called it the ‘brain bar’
to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, or creating the world of because the people who worked there were the brains that made
Pandora, he approaches it from an explorer’s standpoint. With the virtual production possible. We started without all the
that comes an inherent sense of daring. That’s what Jim does answers but together we made it happen.
in his movies — he takes people on an
adventure. The adventure may be
wrapped around a marriage such as in
True Lies or in a mother-daughter love
story as it was in Aliens. Whatever he
does, he brings the crew and audience
along with him to share in that sense
of discovery, that sense of wonder, that
sense of adventure.
My journey with Jim started on
True Lies, while I was an executive vice
president at 20th Century Fox. CEO
Peter Chernin asked me to be the point
person on the film when it was in the
latter stages of pre-production. Up until
that point my only contact with Jim had
been a quick handshake in someone’s
office. I remember Jim jokingly saying to
me, “So, Jon, I understand we’re going to
get to be pretty good friends — or bitter
enemies.” And I said, “Pretty good
friends, I hope.” I spent weeks with him
on location in Washington, D.C., Rhode
Island, Miami, the Florida Keys and Lake
Tahoe. I guess we ended that film with
a strong enough relationship that when
I decided to leave the studio, Jim and Rae

90 JANUARY 2019
 Many people questioned whether
the movie itself would work. “Blue
people with tails?” they would say.
Just a few weeks before the film hit the
theatres, we screened the completed
movie for the first time in the Zanuck
Theater on the Fox lot. We invited
a handful of people, including some of
our cast members along with Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Steven Spielberg.
I will always remember what happened
at the end of the screening. On the way
out, Steven (a business associate but
not a social friend) came over and gave
me a hug. He said, “That was the most
amazing cinematic experience I’ve had
in 33 years.” Wow! Not something
I will ever forget.
There’s a lot said about the
Clockwise from taskmaster side of Jim, but few people
top: Jon Landau hear about the other side. Jim truly cares
and James Cameron about everyone he works with. Recently
atop Titanic’s Grand Jim spearheaded a GoFundMe campaign
Staircase; At the 67th for a crew member who lost his home in
Golden Globes, after a wildfire, matching the funds we were
Avatar’s triumph, with able to raise. This is just one example
Zoe Saldana, Sam of Jim’s generosity and concern for the
Worthington and wellbeing of the people he works with.
Sigourney Weaver; We know our work days are hard so
On set with Alita: we try to find ways to incorporate fun
Battle Angel director during the production process. Whether
Robert Rodriguez; it is hosting ‘family day’ at the studio or
The Titanic Oscar buying tickets for the entire crew to see
party, 1998; Visiting a blockbuster on opening day. Just this
troops in Bahrain week we started the crew’s work day with
with Weaver, a screening at the Arclight Cinemas of
Stephen Lang and the documentary The Game Changers.
Michelle Rodriguez; In my view Jim is always a step
Experiencing Zero G ahead. He will dream a dream and boy,
with Julie Landau; does he dream big. It is then our job
At Titanic’s Los to pull together a team of people who
ere. can make that dream a reality. But
Jim doesn’t just dream — he has an
unparalleled ability to find new ways to
address and solve problems across all
areas of the production. His talents are
not limited to writing and directing but
include engineering feats such as figuring
out how the ship could split in Titanic
and artfully articulating what he needs
musically to composer James Horner.
He has an incredible facility to see the
solutions no-one else can envision.
Jim and I are our most demanding
critics. As we go through the production
process we are bombarded from all sides
but always keep the focus on making the
movie Jim has envisioned. Jim is not
someone who rests on the laurels of his
past. He is always asking, “What’s next?
What’s the new challenge?” For a true
explorer there is always a new horizon
to venture towards.

JANUARY 2019 91
 IT’S TAKEN 20 YEARS , T WO A- LIST
DIRECTORS AND BRAND-NEW TECH TO BRING
CYBORG EPIC ALITA: BATTL E AN G E L TO
THE SCREEN. EMPIRE GOES INSIDE JAMES
CAMERON AND ROBERT R O DR IGUEZ’S Q UEST
TO SHOW YOU SIGHTS YO U’V E N EV ER S EEN
WORDS NICK DE SEMLYEN

92 JANUARY 2019
JANUARY 2019 93
 >>>>>>>>> It began, just like
the horror movie ringU,
w i t h a J a p a n e s e v i d e o ta p e .
Handed by one friend to another, with no idea of the
consequences that would arise.
It was sometime in the late 1990s, and director buddies
Guillermo del Toro and James Cameron — each recovering from
a gruelling shoot, Mimic and Titanic respectively — were meeting
up for one of their regular geek-out sessions. It was customary
for them to bring along things they thought the other might dig:
comic books, sci-fi novels, movies. On this occasion del Toro (or,
as Cameron called him, ‘El Gordo’, aka ‘The Fat Man’) had in his
satchel a VHS cassette, an import from the Far East. Cameron
(or, as del Toro called him, ‘Jaimito’, aka ‘Little Jim’) hadn’t
heard of it, but he took it home, popped it in his player
and hit play. Then, just like in the horror movie Ringu, an
otherworldly female form popped out of the screen at him.
The character was a young cyborg named Alita, blank of
memory, bionic of limbs, deadly in combat, wandering the
surface of a ravaged Earth in search of answers. Cameron
watched the whole thing, rewound it and watched it again.
Battle Angel: Alita had a new fan. Producer Jon
In fact, it had a champion. What he had seen was animated Landau, James
— a 2D adaptation of a cyberpunk manga series by Yukito Cameron and
Kishiro. Almost immediately, Cameron started thinking about Robert Rodriguez
what could be were he to make it in live-action. He called del scope out the set.
Toro and asked, “Are you gonna go after this?” Del Toro replied,
“No, Jaimito. You like it, you do it.”
And so began years of obsession. Even as Cameron grappled
with the enormous project known then as ‘Project 880’ and
finally released as Avatar, he began to map out the world of

94 JANUARY 2019

Alita (Rosa Salazar)
comes face to turret
with one of the
Centurians, robots
that patrol Iron City.
Battle Angel: Alita in far more detail
than Kishiro ever had. “I did a shit
ton of notes,” the director understates.
“Because the books evolved over time
— whenever he had a new idea, Kishiro
just kind of shifted the rules of reality
slightly. I was trying to get it to true-
up internally.”
This included taking some of the
hardest hard-sci-fi elements, such as
a city called Zalem that hangs high in the
air, throwing trash down onto the surface
where the characters live, and reverse-
engineering the science. “In the story
there are space elevators that connect
Zalem to the Earth,” says Jon Landau,
Cameron’s long-time producer. “And
Jim figured out that for them to work,
it would need to be set on the Equator.”
“We don’t have tensile material
strong enough to make a space elevator
yet,” frowns Cameron, ruefully. “But
when we do, someone will build them.”
Nearly 20 years passed. The director
made Avatar. He revolutionised VFX
technology. He went on an underseas
adventure with Blackadder star Tony
Robinson (truly a cunning plan). And
all the while he brainstormed Alita,
waiting for the right time to direct
it. “I was being a dog in a manger,”
Cameron admits. “I thought, ‘It doesn’t
matter if I’m 80 and I’ve got an oxygen
tube up my nose and a walker — I’ll
do this movie.’”
But then he went to lunch with
another friend. And everything changed.
Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron had
been mutual admirers for many years. Cameron was amazed
by Rodriguez’s gym routines: “He does these insane, monster
workouts. Like, beyond CrossFit kind of things.” Rodriguez,
for his part, got over-excited by the sophistication of Cameron’s
DIY video-conferencing kit: “Unbelievable… You could zoom
in and out!”
The two directors first met back in the early 1990s, clicking
as they swapped tales of their ultra-low-budget early films.
In 1995, Rodriguez screened Desperado for Cameron, sitting
outside reading Cameron’s “scriptments” for Spider-Man and
Avatar while his hero watched his movie. Over the following
years, they came close to working together. In 1997, mid-
Titanic, Cameron asked Rodriguez if he’d be up for directing
a major franchise film, to appease worried Fox executives.
“Titanic was going so over-budget that it was like, ‘Hey, can you
make this movie for me to get them of my ass?’” Rodriguez
laughs. “We talked about it for a while and then stopped talking
about it. I got the feeling they said, ‘The guy’s so over-budget,
we don’t even want that other movie.’”
They even considered co-directing a Conan The Barbarian
movie in 2003, using burgeoning performance-capture tech
to create a muscle-bound hero who would out-Arnie Arnie.
“He was going to look like a Frank Frazetta painting,” says
Rodriguez. “But the technology wasn’t there yet. I ended
up doing Sin City instead.”
Fast-forward to the summer of 2015. Cameron and
Above: Alita and
friends explore outside
the city. Here: Dr
Dyson Ido (Christoph
Waltz) performs
cyber-surgery on Alita.
Rodriguez meet up for a meal at
Lightstorm, the former’s LA HQ. They
shoot the shit. They peruse artwork for
the Avatar sequels. And then, outside in
the parking lot, sitting in his car but with
the door yet to swing shut, Rodriguez
asks if Cameron is working on anything.
It turns out to be a fateful question.
Because just as del Toro passed Battle
Angel: Alita on to Cameron, so Cameron,
in a spark of inspiration, decides to pass
Battle Angel: Alita on to Rodriguez.
“It suddenly dawned on me that
I was going to be working on the Avatar
movies for another eight years,” he says.
“Somebody should make Battle Angel.
And who better than Robert? So I sent
him a mountain of stuf.”
Cameron isn’t kidding. Over the
years he had typed up over 1,000 pages
of notes on the project, plus several script
drafts he had noodled at with co-writer
❯
Laeta Kalogridis. One of them was
JANUARY 2019 95
 Jennifer Connelly
as Chiren, Ido’s
ex-partner and a
cyber-whizz herself, with
Mahershala Ali’s shady
businessman Vector.
Eiza González as
hit-cyborg Nyssiana,
essentially a walking
cutlery drawer.
a sprawling tale of insurrection: “Alita
brings down an empire — very much in
the Star Wars mode.” But in the end he
sent Rodriguez what he thought of as the
“romantic” draft. “It’s the one that tugged
on my heartstrings the most,” Cameron
says. “The kind of Romeo and Juliet
script, which I had written back in
2004 and discarded. It was unwieldy —
about 180 pages long — but I thought
it captured the spirit of the anime, the
kind of bittersweet aesthetic, the best.”
Rodriguez was blown away when he
sat down to read it. “It wasn’t a jumbled
mess,” he recalls. “It was just long and
he’d never had a chance to cut it down.
The story was fantastic. And I could
really identify with Alita, as she goes
from being dumped in the trash to
becoming someone who could go
change the world. I was hooked.”
As the sun went down, he sent
Cameron an email, referencing the
bounty hunters in the story who turn
in cyborg heads for credits. The email
read: “How many heads do I have
to collect to work on this thing?”
Cameron’s reply came an hour
96 JANUARY 2019
later: “You’ve collected enough heads.
Call me tomorrow.”
Up until then, Rodriguez had made
moderately budgeted movies, usually
writing, shooting and cutting them
himself. Now, suddenly, he was heading
up one of the biggest and most ambitious
movies ever made, backed up by
Hollywood’s most successful filmmaker.
“Even though I’ve known Jim a long time,
this was now at a diferent level,” he
says, still giddy. “That’s not, ‘Let’s go
get a pizza together.’ It’s, ‘Let’s make
a project together.’ It was really cool.”
When Empire visits the Alita:
Battle Angel set in January 2017, we find
a Robert Rodriguez movie that’s not
exactly a Robert Rodriguez movie. Yes,
he’s on his home turf — Troublemaker
Studios in Austin, Texas, where he’s shot
everything from Sin City to Grindhouse.
Yes, he’s in a director’s chair, thumbing
through script pages. And yes, the Iron
City set that sprawls across one of the
soundstages, bright and sundrenched,
brings to mind the settings of his
Mariachi movies. But this time he’s
not personally overseeing the
Salazar, Keean
cinematography (that would be The
Johnson (Hugo) and
Matrix veteran Bill Pope), or the editing
Rodriguez go for
(that would be Avatar veteran Stephen
a spin on a gyro bike.
E. Rivkin). And he’s the first to admit
that with this project he’s doing
something akin to karaoke.
“I don’t want to see another Robert
Rodriguez movie,” he smiles. “I want
to see another Jim Cameron movie.
There’s a dearth of those. So like an
actor gets into character, I’m getting
into character as him.”
Jim Cameron movies, traditionally,
share one quality: each is a high-wire
walk, pushing the art of filmmaking
forward in risky fashion. Alita: Battle
Angel is no exception. It’s rolling the
dice on whether audiences will become
emotionally invested in a lead character
who looks human, but is actually
computer-generated, brought to life
by performance capture. This aims to
be the blockbuster that finally crosses the
Uncanny Valley, into the realms beyond.
“We could only make this movie now,”
Rodriguez says. “With Avatar and Planet
Of The Apes, those were aliens and apes.

They still really hadn’t done a human. So
it wasn’t like they had the tools already.
They had to build them for this.”
For Rosa Salazar, the actor cast as
Alita, it’s been a strange and mindblowing
experience. Not only does she get to play
two physically diferent versions of the
character — at a key point in the story the
cyborg upgrades to a ‘Berserker’ body
— but she has had her face studied in
more detail than probably any human
in history. “The visual-efects guys know
the muscles underneath my skin and
how they behave,” she marvels. “At one
point Ritchie from Weta ran up to me
with his laptop, looking frazzled, and
said, ‘You’re moving your left eye up
and the right corner of your mouth is
moving in tandem. I don’t understand
why.’ When my face doesn’t behave, it
crashes their software.”
On set, Salazar is clad in a grey
bodysuit and helmet, a titanium rod
gathering minute data on her facial
movements. On screen, it’ll be both her
and not her — an eerie blend of reality
and fantasy (in one scene, real tears will
trickle down a CG face), punctuated by
two oversized eyes. “Those eyes, you just
get lost in them,” says Keean Johnson,
who plays Hugo, a cyborg-hating human
who finds himself falling for Alita. “She
has such a wholesome, beautiful, strong
presence about her.”
In a project with many bold design
flourishes, not least a whopping great city
in the sky, these eyes are the boldest —
Jackie Earle Haley
as Grewishka,
a nine-foot-tall
cyborg who can
out-Terminator
the Terminator.
the thing that will get everyone talking.
Salazar, for one, loves it. “I never, ever,
ever, ever want to do a project where
people look at the trailer and go, ‘Oh
yeah, I get it,’ and then move on to the
next one,” she says. “I want to do things
that make people go, ‘Holy shit.’ We
wanted to be faithful to the manga, to
make her as Alita as possible. And, you
know, there’s a reason in the story for it.”
Cameron in the past has pulled of
tales of the unlikeliest star-cross’d lovers:
a broke artist and a high-society lady,
a human Marine and a blue alien, Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Alita: Battle Angel pushes things even
further: prepare for a romance between
a woman who is almost entirely machine
and a man who collects machine parts for
a living. If it sounds like an out-there
premise, then shooting it was often
equally as surreal.
“There’s a scene where we’re on
a bridge in the rain, and I’m putting my
hands through her hair,” says Johnson.
“Actually, I was putting my hands
through string. They’d stuck 11 or 12
❯
pieces to the side of her helmet with
JANUARY 2019 97

Velcro.” It’s reassuring to know that, even in state-of-the-
art mega-budget filmmaking, some problems can still be
solved with string.
Cameron and Rodriguez may have gone with
the “romance” draft, but no-one will be able to accuse the
movie of being short of action. Set 700 years from now, its world
is one in which humans can cybernetically upgrade themselves,
bolting on metal limbs and turning themselves into fearsome
fighting machines. Cue some truly outlandish creations, some
of which are essentially a human brain attached to a mass
of whirling weaponry.
There’s the sneery Zapan (Ed Skrein), Cameron’s favourite
piece of design. “We had the idea that these guys would treat
their bodies like car culture in LA,” he says. “So we took that rif
and designed this Latino cyborg, with an Aztec calendar motif
on his back. Robert added the little chrome dealio on his face.”
And there’s Grewishka, a nine-foot-tall metal maniac played
by the usually diminutive Jackie Earle Haley. “He’s got brute
strength, but he’s also empowered by these cyber-doctors,”
explains Haley. “One of his skills is that he’s got these talon-like
fingers that can shoot across the room, pierce just about
anything and snap back just as fast.”
Even Christoph Waltz, who plays Alita’s own cyber-doctor/
mentor, Ido, gets in on the action. The scene Empire watches
him perform on set, scanning Alita’s body in Ido’s cheapjack
medical bay, is a relatively quiet day. “This is a visceral story,” he
grins. “Literally — there are viscera torn out!” Elsewhere he will
98 JANUARY 2019
wield a rocket hammer (yep, a hammer
that’s also a rocket) in his duties as
a ‘Hunter-Warrior’, tracking down rogue
cyborgs. And he is present for one of the
film’s most ambitious set-pieces. Set
in Iron City’s Bar Kansas, it’s a good
old-fashioned brawl, except brought to
life with cutting-edge tech and pitting
Alita (who specialises in a form of cyborg
martial arts called panzer kunst) against
roughly 40 mech-heavy killers.
“Our aim was to make the ultimate
bar fight,” explains Rodriguez, who has
form with human/machine hybrids,
having given Rose McGowan a gun-leg in
Planet Terror. “Before we shot it, I went
to YouTube and looked up ‘Top Ten Bar
Fights’ — and found out several of the
entries were from movies by me and Jim.
T2, Desperado... We kind of do similar
stuf. Except that mine go into pure
fantasy, and his stay grounded. Jim would
never have a guy pick up a guitar case and
fire a missile. That doesn’t fly with him.”
Alita will also be tested via an insane
sport called Motorball, high-velocity
racing where souped-up cyborgs attempt
to mush each other into nuts and bolts.
The Motorball
contestants line
up: they’re a
good-looking bunch.
“It’s NASCAR racing meets MMA meets
WWF, on steroids,” hypes Jon Landau.
“It gets pretty crazy... You know,
‘My Dinner With Andre Part 2’.” For
Rodriguez, reading the Motorball
sequence that evening back in 2015 was
the moment that convinced him to make
the movie. “Jim has used the sport in
a really cool and dramatic way,” he
says. “Fuck, you’re excited because the
stakes are so high. It gets you jumping
out of your seat.”
If the director’s excitement hasn’t
abated one bit, the same is true of
Cameron himself, who made a single visit
to the set for two hours in late 2016.
There, he gave a rousing speech, then
headed straight to the props department,
where he hoisted aloft the manga’s most
iconic weapon, a super-charged sword
known as the Damascus Blade, a big
grin on his face.
Ed Skrein was gifted a Blade on his
final day. “It was a nightmare getting it
through British customs,” the actor
laughs. “But I have it in my oice in East
London now and it’s my pride and joy.
Right next to my Deadpool katana.”
Cameron, on the other hand, is still
waiting for his. “I’m thinking my
tail-lights were out of sight about the
time they forgot about sending it,” he
mock-grouches, two years after that
happy day. “But I’ll remind them.”
If you were wondering what to
get him for Christmas this year, now
you know.
 ALL YOU
NEED IS KILL
BATTLE ANGEL’S DAMASCUS
BLADE AIMS TO JOIN THE
PANTHEON OF ICONIC SCI-FI
WEAPONS, ALONGSIDE THESE…

THE M41A PULSE RIFLE

(ALIENS, 1986)
Without a doubt, the coolest
made-up irearm in movie history.
Aliens’ Colonial Marines didn’t need
Vector and goons.
boring old laser-blasters when they
could pop holes in xenomorphs
with the M41A’s 10mm caseless
bullets. James Cameron designed
it hi lf Of

MENACE, 1999)
The science is nonsense, but who
cares? George Lucas’ swooshy,
glowing laser swords took knightly
duelling into outer space, and
playground-game combat changed
forever. Then Darth Maul rocked up
and made the lightsaber twice as
good with twice the blade.
Prepping for
the mother of all
brawls in Bar
Kansas.

THE NOISY CRICKET
(MEN IN BLACK, 1997)
A pistol so teensy, it’s barely bigger
than its own trigger. Loaded with
comedy value, too, as Will Smith’s
Agent J learns when he inally pulls
that trigger, iring off an unexpectedly
huge ball of energy — and getting
knocked lat by the ridiculous recoil.
THE GRISTLE GUN
(EXISTENZ, 1999)
The ultimate assassin’s weapon,
given you can build your own from,
er, the carcass of an edible mutant
beastie. Just gnaw the rank meat off
the bones, snap the gristly bits
together, then load it up with your
own false teeth. Perfect! Especially
if your target is a waiter.
DAN JOLIN
Could Alita: Battle Angel pull an Avatar and
get four sequels? No-one knows. One thing’s for sure: Cameron
has plenty more story to tell. He refers to this as “the first film”
and mentions, of the record, a few things to expect should there
be a second (let’s just say that Zalem, which is only glimpsed
from below in this movie, would play a far more significant
role). There is a lot of story to explore with Alita too, in terms of
both her past and her future — she ends the movie in a literally
diferent form to that with which she begins it, experiencing
a cyborg’s version of adolescence.
Whatever happens, here is history being made. CGI
character or not, it’s refreshing to have a giant tentpole
blockbuster fronted solely by a female character: even Avatar
and Titanic were two-handers. “I love this movie for my seven-
year-old daughter,” says Jennifer Connelly, who plays Motorball
impresario and Ido’s ex-wife Chiren. “I like that [Alita] is so
powerful and flawed, and has to wrestle with her wildness and
the parts of her she feels don’t fit. I love her being the central
character of the story.”
There’s the technological aspect, paving the way for
a whole new kind of interface between human performance
and performance-capture wizardry. “It took me a few times to
see it to disassociate with her, because she’s me, but she’s also
a brand-new person,” says Salazar. “I’m finding that people love
talking about Alita. People on other sets. Random people
in my street. My local barista. He loves the eyes, by the way.”
And then there’s the fusion between two A-list directors,
unprecedented on this level, blending
Rodriguez’s rock ’n’ roll swagger with
Cameron’s steely focus. During
production, a sign went up at Lightstorm,
reading, “Troublemaker West”; a short
while later, another, “Lightstorm South”,
was stuck to a wall at Troublemaker.
“It was a dream collaboration,” says
Cameron. “I’d feed him a page in the
morning — he’d run out and shoot it.”
Only on one single occasion did the
two men fall out. And it was exactly the
kind of spat you’d hope for between the
directors of Sin City and The Terminator.
“It was over the way a cyborg’s face got
sliced of,” Rodriguez chuckles. “I wanted
to keep an eye and enough of his tongue
so he could say a line. Jim wanted it all on
the ground.”
It’s all in the details.
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL IS IN CINEMAS
FROM 6 FEBRUARY

JANUARY 2019 99
JANUARY 2019 101
 T WAS 8 As darkness fell, Reitman sat in Above: Hugh Jackman had made a very diferent statement
NOVEMBER Brooklyn, with a clear view of Manhattan, as Gary Hart, facing on what was interesting and what
2016. The day of waiting for the city’s buildings to the press. was important.
the Presidential light up the colour of the successful Right, top to bottom: “So that was the timing,” says
election. The day candidate, as was tradition. “When it Director Jason Reitman Reitman. “And, as you can imagine, now
that would end in became clear he was gonna win, they and his star take a we’re in production and we’re getting
a night that would lit the city red,” he remembers, with pause on set; Molly the first waves of the Trump Presidency,
bring the curtain still-visible disbelief. “And it felt like Ephraim as campaign and that is afecting everything as we
down on Hillary the Death Star. From Brooklyn, looking coordinator Irene; Hart continue to make the movie…”
Clinton and across the water, it looked as though chats with a group
the curtain up Manhattan had gone evil.” of female supporters.
on President As it happened, 8 November 2016 BY THE TIME Manhattan turned
Donald Trump. was also 29 years and six months to red, the script for The Front Runner
And, with something close to poetic the day since Gary Hart delivered had been finished for a year. Adapted
coincidence, there would be an end and his withdrawal speech. It was both from political journalist Matt Bai’s
a beginning for director Jason Reitman passionate and measured, taking aim book All The Truth Is Out by Reitman,
too. It was his final day on Tully and as at the first real incident of tabloid political strategist Jay Carson and Bai
the sun rose the next morning, Reitman culture entering the world of politics. himself. It was a story that Reitman had
would go straight into production on his “In public life,” said Hart in front of the been captivated by ever since hearing
next film, The Front Runner, the story of assembled press, “some things may be a Radiolab podcast that very same year.
Gary Hart, Democratic dead cert for the interesting, but that doesn’t necessarily “This is a story,” he remembers thinking.
1988 Presidential nomination, whose bid make them important.” It’s fair to say “It sounds like a movie.”
fell apart within a week after revelations that by the first day of production on Though the Gary Hart scandal has
of an extra-marital afair. The Front Runner, the American public since become a flippant footnote in

102 JANUARY 2019


American history — an afair now hardly
seems so shocking — Reitman was taken
by its significance, surprised that no-one
had tried to make it into a film before.
“It was one of the weeks that arguably
changed politics and the intersection
of politics and the personal, forever,”
he says. “The story had been broken
down into gossipy soundbites and not
a moment in which journalists had to
confront what they were willing to report
upon and investigate. And not a moment
in which voters had to reckon with what
our interests were in the personal lives
of our politicians.”
One person who immediately shared
Reitman’s belief in the importance of
the event was his first choice to play
Gary Hart: Hugh Jackman. “It’s part
of the power of the story,” states
Jackman. “It could be a blip in political
history but actually, under today’s lens,
it’s very telling as a turning point.”
There is arguably a pretty straight
line from the birth of tabloid culture and personality politics
around Gary Hart to a Presidential nominee still being voted
into the highest office in the land after boasting of grabbing
women by “the pussy” 30 years later. “It’s obviously spun out
of control to the point where we don’t even know what is
important anymore,” says Reitman. “We have a President
who’s completely indecent and not a respectful human being
by anyone’s standards.”
This untangling of what’s important, what matters, what
we feel we need to know and why, heavily influenced Reitman’s
direction. He showed his co-writers, cast and crew movies
like The Candidate and All The President’s Men, talked about
the influence of Robert Altman and his cinematic study of
diferent points of view. “The movie is centred around the
question of relevance,” he says. “What is important versus
what is entertainment, and this is the question we’re asking
the audience throughout the movie. We wanted it to be
cinematically asking that question at the same time, so it’s
a movie that constantly has three conversations overlapping,
three visual ideas overlapping.”
It’s a filmmaking choice established from the opening scene
— a two-and-a-half minute shot that takes you to the heart of the
campaign trail. Joining the Democratic National Convention,
it opens on a series of televisions. Pulling out of a van, you’re
taken through a field of people —
journalists, campaign operatives,
protestors. Several conversations are
happening at once, and Reitman
confirms there’s anywhere between 12
and 16 people, all mic’d up. It’s impossible
to listen to them all at once so you, the
viewer, have to decide what to tune in
or out of. It’s a shot with clear intent.
As Reitman describes it: “This is what
you’re about to watch, and this is how
you should watch it.”
THE CASTING OF Gary Hart
would, you’d presume, fall to a choice
between a small group of seasoned,
dramatic actors. But Jason Reitman
only ever really had one man in mind.
A man with his beginnings in musical
theatre and a career made in comic-
book movies. For Reitman, there was
something vital that Hugh Jackman
and Gary Hart shared, as men. “I’m not
going to lie, I think his decency helps,”
says Reitman. “I think his kindness
and his decency bring warmth to
a character that is cerebral and
complicated, and it allows you to like
Gary Hart when he is not seeing the
one thing that seems so obvious to
everyone else in his life and in the
audience. So it’s definitely strategic.”
Hugh Jackman — the actor who made
his knees bleed as P.T. Barnum and got up
at 4am to train for three hours before set
as Wolverine — was as committed as ever.
Though, hairpiece aside, this wasn’t
a physical challenge. In fact, playing Gary
Hart demanded entirely the opposite
— he was a (relatively) ordinary-looking
man with an extraordinary brain and
talent who’d found himself at the heart
of extraordinary events. And a man
who, while charismatic and charming,
kept most of his true feelings private.
“He’s just a mountain of intellect and
a person who had people believing in
him, following him,” says Jackman.
“He’s enigmatic, a mysterious kind
of character. Hard to get to know.”
The task at hand was completely new
to Jackman, who also describes himself
as “an outsider” in the political system,
with its own language, its own world.
“I didn’t want anything in my head
telling me I should have done more
work,” he says. This meant learning not
just about Gary Hart but about his family,
his campaign team, the political system
in which he operated. He began studying,
hard, and worked with a researcher who
“disseminated” almost 40 books and 80
hours of video. Jackman watched raw
❯
footage of Hart at events. He spent time
JANUARY 2019 103
 with the real-life campaign team. By the
time the shoot began, Jackman had five
notebooks full of details, plus hours of
audio and video, all of which would
accompany him to set.
“I would listen every morning before
set and on my way to work,” he says. “And
then sometimes I would ask the sound
guy just to put a little snippet of his
speeches through my ears, so I could get
that feeling of Gary.” Then came the
mannerisms. “The little eye-flick up.
The way he would hold his thumb and
never point. He said he never pointed
because it always looks angry to point
as a politician.”
But how do you inhabit the skin
of a man who drew people in without
actually letting them in? “That was a big
challenge for me,” Jackman admits.
“As an actor, I do love the feeling at the
end of the day of going, ‘Yeah, we nailed
that. Got it!’ It was not the kind of film
where we were aforded that feeling. It
was a little more nefarious and difficult
to put your hands on. And that’s why my
relationship with Jason is so strong.
I really needed to rely on him to know
that I was in the right ballpark.”
It’s a challenge that extended to
Reitman as director and one he speaks
of with candour, sharing a story from
the third day of the shoot. “I remember
noticing, ‘God, he’s smiling too much,’”
says Reitman. “I went to him and I said,
‘I’m going to be rude. I think you’re
smiling too much.’ He said, ‘Oh, no, no,
no. I definitely smile too much. Tell me.
Yell it at me from over the screen. Just
yell it at me.’”
Jackman had to maintain strict
emotional control in his performance. extras who ended up being in the film
Something that didn’t always come with spoken lines. And every take felt
easy — particularly when he shot the very real.”
press conference in which Gary Hart
withdraws from the Presidential race.
Jackman confesses to feeling “very WHILE REITMAN AND
emotional” and recalls Reitman Jackman had agreed that this shouldn’t
noticing before they started the take. be a “literal impersonation”, the actor
“He said: ‘I really want you to pull once,” he says. “And you have a director who’s absolutely, not was keen to meet the man himself.
back on that. I want you to be honest just intellectually, philosophically, but literally, crafting a He had questions for the ex-Senator
and open but restrained.’ And when perspective for the audience to go wherever they want to go. that only he could answer. But when
I finally saw the film, I was so grateful I mean, you can go with Gary or you can go with [wife] Lee. word got out, Jackman’s phone rang
to him because for me, watching that Or you can go with Andrea, the daughter, or the young of the hook with calls from those who
end speech, it’s all the more powerful campaign worker. He would often just switch the focus onto had worked with Hart over the years,
with me being more restrained. And a conversation in the back that I didn’t know was going to all ofering advice on how to play
Gary was restrained, so it was the right happen and pick something else up.” their meeting.
thing to do.” The naturalism and organically shifting perspectives “It made me start to feel like maybe
The filmmaking process was unlike Reitman sought meant Jackman was often being approached this is gonna be trickier than I thought,”
anything Jackman had done before. or asked something without warning. “He would constantly says Jackman. “So when I arrived, he’s
This was a true ensemble cast, with the have people come and interrupt me,” Jackman says. “When standing there on the kerb, waving, with
film full of one-shots weaving through we did the press conferences, for example, I didn’t know the trunk of the four-wheel drive open.
multiple conversations, some of which he who was going to ask the questions or in what order. Jason And I walked up to him and he shook me
led, some of which he didn’t. “It really felt came over and said, ‘You can point to anybody in that room by the hand and with his other hand, he
like theatre, with 30 actors on stage at of a hundred and ask them to ask questions.’ So I did — I asked placed it on my cheek. And I’ll never

104 JANUARY 2019


forget it. It was quite unexpected and
warm and paternal, actually. And it
made me feel like everything’s gonna
be okay. Like he understood that
I would be nervous. He instantly made
me feel at ease.”
Everyone involved in making The
Front Runner, but particularly Jackman
and Reitman, were aware that a level of
responsibility came with depicting a
real-life husband, father, human being,
who had a very real wife, Lee, and a very
real son and daughter. Who had had
a relationship with a very real woman,
Donna Rice. Thirty years may have
passed but still, they were revisiting one
of the most traumatic periods of all of
their lives. Reitman himself felt a very
specific connection with Gary and Lee
Hart’s daughter Andrea, who was a
teenager in 1987. “We have something
in common,” he says. “We’re both the
children of famous people. I reached
out to her early on and said, ‘I think you
Clockwise from
left: Hart with
wife Lee, played
by Vera Farmiga;
Donna Rice (Sara
Paxton), the third
corner of the
central triangle;
Jackman and
Reitman prep
on set; The
campaign team
have their work
cut out.
and I share an experience of what it’s like to be born carrying a conversation,” says Jackman. “One that
someone else’s legacy.’ I’ve always kind of known that with starts with humanity and understanding
my father’s work.” from every side of it.” And this is
When the film was finished, it was these people that ultimately what Jackman and Reitman
were Reitman and Jackman’s most feared, most treasured wanted to try and reintroduce with
audience. Reitman was still awaiting the final reaction as he The Front Runner.
drove to Telluride for the film’s premiere in September 2018. “We want to take the viewers out
He’d just left Denver, where he’d shown the film to Andrea and of 2018,” says Reitman. “Which is such
the campaign staf and then Gary and Lee. He was waiting on a shrill moment that you walk onto
Donna Rice. The woman who arguably endured the most Twitter and the conversation’s at an 11.
mockery and criticism back in ’87 and a great deal since. When You say anything, you get your head
the phone finally rang, it was good news. “To be arriving in ripped of. But if you go back to 1987,
Telluride on the heels of having already had my most important you dial the knob down to, like, a five.
screenings,” remembers Reitman. “It had an energy to itself.” And now there’s the opportunity to
Jackman remembers feeling unusually protective of actually have a conversation about
Gary Hart as he watched the film for the first time — his normal someone who requires conversation,
concerns around the quality of the film and his performance and I suppose that was the reason
supplanted. “I wondered how it would impact him,” he says. I wanted to pull on this thread.”
“There’s no way, no matter how redemptive the film is, that it’s It’s a thread that begins with the
not a really painful part of his life. And it’s all coming back up Death Star, but ultimately, is about
again. So it was a very complex set of feelings for him, I’m sure. A New, Old Hope.
And I was very nervous.”
It’s a complexity and empathy that certainly seems THE FRONT RUNNER IS IN CINEMAS
lacking in today’s political climate. “It’s genuinely starting FROM 11 JANUARY
JANUARY 2019 105
 ALFONSO CUARÓN’S ROMA IS A MASTERPIECE RIPPED DIRECTLY FROM
HIS OWN CHILDHOOD IN ’70s MEXICO. HERE HE TALKS THROUGH HIS
MEMORIES, BOTH JOYOUS AND PAINFUL, AND WHAT IT TOOK TO BRING
THEM TO THE SCREEN WORDS IAN FREER

106 JANUARY 2019

SOME TEN YEARS in the making, Roma is the passion project of Alfonso Cuarón’s life. It covers
the story of one year in the life of a Mexican family between 1970 and ’71 — Cuarón himself was
just ten years old — that cleaves very closely to his own. In fact, 90 per cent of the screenplay is
drawn from his own memories, iltered through the eyes of the domestic help, Cleo (Yalitza
Aparicio), based on Cuarón’s real-life nanny, Libo. It’s a tumultous year that features an earthquake,
a forest ire, a massacre and a near drowning, but it’s also a ilm that captures the ebb and low of
family life in small, affecting detail.
Before the ilm’s premiere at the London Film Festival, Empire sat down with the ilmmaker to
talk through the telling images of his intimate magnum opus. From script to costume design to
cinematography, the ilm is intricately designed as both tribute to and exorcism of the director’s
past. “I wanted to connect the personal scars with the social scars,” he says. And that journey
❯
starts in the very irst frame...

JANUARY 2019 107

 The
Titles
ROMA BEGINS WITH
a sustained shot of a
stone-patterned floor being
washed down with soapy
water. It’s the start of a motif
of running water that Cuarón
returns to throughout the
story, illustrating the
transient nature of life.
“Colonia Roma is the quarter
where the ilm takes place.
Now it’s a very hipsterised,
trendy place in Mexico City
but, in those days, it was a
very decadent area, the middle
classes down on their luck,
houses very much in decay.
The title has nothing to do with
108 JANUARY 2019
Fellini’s Roma. The funny thing
is, the screenplay was untitled
when we started. Because
we were looking for locations,
one of the producers called it
‘Roma’ as a temporary title to
seek for permits. And it stuck.
“I wanted the ilm to
begin looking at the earth.
The
Cinema
CUARÓN’S MEMORIES OF
movie-going in ’70s Mexico
are dotted throughout Roma.
His cinematic ardour was
informed by movies not only
from Mexico but Hollywood
and Europe. The film also
includes a glimpse of 1969
space drama Marooned,
a key influence on Gravity.
By the end of the ilm we
are looking head onto the
sky. Another thing I wanted
was to immerse audiences in
the slow pace, but also give
them the comfort that these
are credits.
“When you are a kid, the
garage can be a football ield
“When Libo started describing
her free days, I realised there
was another set of people and
places outside this microcosm
I existed in, the home. I didn’t
frequent this theatre as a kid.
I used to go to the more
upscale one but this was
a more popular theatre. In
this shot, I am proud of the
photography because the only
light source you see is coming
from the screen. Technically
that was complicated to do.
“The ilm in Spanish is La
Fuga Fantástica. I don’t know
but it can also be the race
track or the jungle — it can
be anything. But at the same
time it’s where the cars are
parked and the place where
the domestic workers have to
wash and take care of the dog
poo. There is a whole universe
in that place.”
the name in English [Don’t
Look Now…We’re Being Shot
At]. It’s a French ilm [original
title La Grande Vadrouille] with
a French comedian, Louis de
Funès. It was a ilm that was
playing at the time. The script
had speciic dates of things
that happened and we were
very rigorous about the events
we portrayed around those
days; not only the headlines of
the newspapers but also the
TV shows or ilms that were
shown. And on top of that, it
was a ilm I loved a lot.”

The
Fire
CUARÓN VIVIDLY
REMEMBERS being taken
to a hacienda as a child for
a middle-class New Year’s
Eve party — the dogs’ heads
mounted on the wall in the
scene are pulled directly
from his memories of
sleepovers. In the film, the
party shenanigans are
interrupted by a raging
fire, beautifully shot by
the director.
The
Family
THE MAKE-UP OF the family
mirrors Cuarón’s own. The
mother, in the middle, is Sofía
(Marina de Tavira), whose
husband has left home, the
children believing he is on
a business trip. On her right
is grandmother Teresa
(Verónica García), holding
Sofi (Daniela Demesa). Sofía
is cuddling Pepe (Marco Graf).
On the end are Toño (Diego
Cortina Autrey) and Paco
(Carlos Peralta Jacobson),
the latter a surrogate for the
young Cuarón.
“There’s a ire, and for all
the upper classes it’s an
opportunity for more hedonism
and celebration, extending the
party. For the workers, it’s about
extinguishing a ire. And this
just comes from memory. The
singer is from Norway. In
Norway, there was a New Year’s
tradition where people would
dress up in kind of Pagan
costumes. It’s still alive but it
is now tied to Hallowe’en. This
is a song [‘Barndomsminne frå
Nordland’] from that tradition.
It’s a complicated name in
Norwegian but the song
speaks about the nostalgia of
going home, which speaks to
“I said to my casting
department, ‘Go and look for
these people. I don’t care if
they are actors or non-actors.’
[Ultimately, the only person
hired who had previous
experience was de Tavira.]
The family are very lookalike
to the real ones. The same
costumes, the same sweaters.
If you want to go further, the
boy in the portrait is actually
me. It’s not recognisable,
I was maybe six. And there is
a portrait downstairs that is
a real portrait of my mother
that everyone thinks is Marina.
In the ’70s, the TV was the
ireplace of the home. You’d
have Hollywood shows to
Doctor Who to French shows.
Very diverse programming.”
the whole of the ilm.”
“We tried to do the light
as naturalistic as possible so
we used huge panels of ire to
bring light to the scene. You
see that everything is lit by the
ires. Part of the principle of
this ilm was I would never
direct or instruct everybody at
the same time. I talked to each
actor individually, not telling
the other actors what they
were going to do, creating
chaos in between the trafic.
I could not predict what was
going to happen pretty much
in any scene of the ilm. But
with the addition of the ire,
❯
we planned everything out.”
JANUARY 2019 109
 The “This is very well-documented.
The paramilitary group was
kind of number.
“The [martial arts]

Military Camp trained by the army but

CUARÓN WANTED THE
film to be as much a portrait
of Mexico as his own family.
A sequence depicting
a state-sponsored martial-
arts training camp is
a sinister note within the
warm reminiscence.
also there was a US army
consultant, a CIA consultant
and the real-life Professor
Zovek, who was an escape
artist on a Sunday variety show.
“The ‘LEA’ on the
mountainside are the initials
of the president, Luis
Echeverría Álvarez. You see
male energy at full steam here.
It is a completely masculine
discipline is called kendo.
There are not that many
people who do kendo, so
they had to train for months
and months to learn
the choreography. They
would meet three or four
times a week and it was
complicated because each
time you have a rehearsal
you have to pay all of these
people. It was expensive.”

The
Massacre
ON 10 JUNE 1971, the day
of the Corpus Christi Festival,
Mexican soldiers broke up
a student demonstration,
leaving a death toll close to
120. News coverage of the
event lodged in the young
Cuarón’s mind, but the
filmmaker was keen not
to sensationalise it.
“This is one of those collective
scars we share as a society in
Mexico. In my particular case,
it was an awareness of a
greater universe beyond the
bubble of my house, street and
neighbourhood. We shot in the
avenue the events took place.
“When the massacre
happened, I was ten and
looking at it in the newspapers.
There was a photograph of
a guy with a stick chasing
a long-haired student and in
the background there was this
building. In it I saw there was
a furniture shop and people
looking out of the windows. As
a ten-year-old, I was looking at
that photograph imagining the
people in the furniture shop
looking down at that horror.
“I think that was the
seed of the whole thing —
everything was seen from up
there. I know this could open
up a lot of opportunity for
spectacle, stunts and stuff,
but I wasn’t interested in that
experience. I was interested
in observing everything from
a certain distance.
“We had thousands of
extras and each had to have
hair and costumes done. Some
of these people were there
since 3am. They were heroes.”

110 JANUARY 2019

The
Beach
AS A FILMMAKER, Cuarón
has always experimented
with the long take (think
Children Of Men, Gravity).
This scene, again inspired by
an event in the filmmaker’s
own life, is covered in one
long tracking shot, with the
camera following Cleo up
and down the beach, into
the water and out again.

“Libo, the real-life Cleo, saved

my sister and I. My mum left
us for a little bit and said, ‘She
doesn’t know how to swim —
stay on the shore.’ My sister
couldn’t care less, went straight
into the sea and then we were
drowning. It was Libo who went
in the water, not knowing how
to swim, and saved us. She
couldn’t swim but she really
saved my life.
“I did it in one shot
because the ilm was trying to
honour time and space. Our
conines in existence are time
and space. They limit us but
also create the bonds. So
I wanted it to have that sense
of low of both. In order to do
the shot, we built a huge dock
all the way deep into the ocean. The what supports us and their
existence is completely
The problem we had is the day
before we started shooting
there was a tropical storm that
Drive Home ignored. Their existence is
recognised when some job is
not properly done or when you
weakened the whole structure. demand something. But that’s
It stopped being level so when WHILE ROMA BEGINS by sky. At this point it’s still the limit of their existence.
we started shooting we had looking at the floor, Cuarón relected but now it’s relected “Obviously my whole
a big Technocrane on top that broadens the viewpoint as over her face. family has a very emotional
kept derailing. It was only at the film goes on — notice “Roma was a journey response to the ilm but the
the very last moment we got that the sky is beginning to through my memories and most touching one is Libo.
one complete take, when the creep into this shot. reproducing those memories in She cries and cries. At the
light was waning. There was very heated ways. I was doing end she is always weeping.
time to do another, but I was “All the characters are kind a ilm about someone I love and She has seen it three times.
scared at that point of the of relecting. There’s a sense my personal scars, not a ilm And her concern is not her
reliability of the whole thing. of, ‘We are going back home about someone who doesn’t own circumstance but the
“The thing is poor Yalitza, but it’s not the same anymore.’ have a voice. There’s a whole children in the ilm. She is
like Libo, didn’t know how to This is about uncertainty but demographic that doesn’t have worried about them.”
swim. I always say as a joke to at the same time hope for the a voice but it goes beyond
her, ‘Look, we shot it at the end future. I remember feelings like that. It’s not that they don’t ROMA IS IN SELECT CINEMAS
of the ilm so maybe we would that. Again, what we wanted have a voice, it’s that they are FROM 29 NOVEMBER AND ON
have had a different ending.’” here is to starting seeing the invisible. They do so much of NETFLIX FROM 14 DECEMBER

JANUARY 2019 111

 WORDS HELEN O’HARA PORTRAITS MILLER MOBLEY

112 JANUARY 2019

August Image

JANUARY 2019 113

 guel

t
ve

in 6
Y

at
.
nted
t

ry

ecame e roa a s ccess o a enera ion. erni

Miranda became a mega-successful multi-hyphenate:
composer, lyricist, actor, rapper. And high among the
opportunities that have followed is the fact that he was
cast as Jack, the male lead in Mary Poppins Returns.
“I have had some audacious dreams in my life,” he says.
“I wanted to be on Broadway and I wanted to do movies, but
the audacity to dream that there would even be a sequel
to Mary Poppins and that I could be in it? That’s not something
I ever thought could be on ofer.”
It’s not something many others saw coming either. Here is
a complete list of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s roles in Hollywood
studio movies, prior to Mary Poppins Returns: a small role as
a botanist in The Odd Life Of Timothy Green, about a boy who
miraculously grows from a vegetable patch, and a cameo in the
first Sex And The City movie. That’s it. Yet when director Rob
Marshall was looking for someone to play the newly created
character of lamplighter Jack, the top of his list was Miranda,
then starring on Broadway.
“We went to him for many reasons,” says Marshall, Jack and
whose movie musicals include Chicago and Into The Woods. Georgie (Joel
“He comes from the streets in his own way [Miranda’s from Dawson) — yes!
the Washington Heights neighbourhood north of Harlem, — go fly a kite.
in New York City]. We knew he’d understand that everyman.
We also love his work as a singer and a performer. But if I had
to pick one reason, it’s his purity of spirit, who he is. It’s very
important that Mary Poppins has that cohort, we felt, someone
who shares that magical quality, and Lin has this spirit about
him. He’s very honest and true, and not jaded.”
Marshall and his producing partner John DeLuca arranged
to meet Miranda across the street from Hamilton’s Richard
Rodgers theatre between shows on a two-show day, and
Miranda couldn’t believe his luck. “I couldn’t believe what they
were pitching me,” he says. “As soon as they said ‘Emily Blunt’,
and that this is a new story not a remake, I was in. I happen to
think that Rob Marshall is one of the best makers of musical
films ever, so I wanted to learn.”

It’s important to explain the Hamilton

phenomenon before we go much further, because it makes it
clear why an Oscar-nominated director would be buying cofee
for some guy on Broadway. The show is a hip-hop musical about
one of America’s founding fathers, a summary that sounds more
like the cringeworthy proposal of an over-enthusiastic history
teacher than the foundation of a billion-dollar theatrical hit.

114 JANUARY 2019

 Jack (Lin-Manuel
Miranda) rides
shotgun with the
beloved nanny
and charges in
Mary Poppins
Returns. And yet that’s exactly what it became, because Miranda spotted
that Hamilton lived “a hip-hop life”. A penniless immigrant to
the US, Hamilton married well and grew richer, becoming one
of George Washington’s key aides-de-camp during the War
Of Independence. He then established much of the US state
machinery, including its entire financial system and much
of its constitutional theory, in a brief few years of astonishing
productivity (“The man is non-stop,” as the show’s lyrics
succinctly put it). Add an ill-advised love afair, duels, bitter
rivalries and his death at the hands of a sitting US vice president
(not a spoiler: it’s history and it’s in the opening number), and
you have an epic that captured the imagination of a generation.
It wasn’t initially going to be a musical — when he debuted
the opening number at the White House in 2009, Miranda
introduced it as a hip-hop concept album — but with his regular
director Thomas Kail and musical collaborator Alex Lacamoire
it gradually evolved into one that references everything from
Beauty And The Beast to Busta Rhymes, with two stage
turntables to Les Misérables’ one (this one-upmanship delights
Miranda’s theatre-nerd side). Miranda wrote and composed the
entire thing, playing Hamilton himself for its first year.
The show was, to put it mildly, a phenomenon. It won 11
Tonys, from a record 16 nominations, plus seven Oliviers for its
London production. Tickets for Miranda’s final weeks in the
lead role changed hands for tens of thousands of dollars. It
even inspired two comedy homages: Jeb! The Musical (about
a less stirring political figure, Jeb Bush) and Spamilton. It’s
no overstatement to say that Hamilton had a similar efect on
musicals to that which Harry Potter had on publishing, drawing
new people to the theatre and seeing ardent fans obsessing over
its characters (sales of historian Ron Chernow’s Hamilton
biography went through the roof ) and connecting around the
world through their shared Hamilton vernacular.
Miranda himself also won a Pulitzer Prize for drama, three
Grammy awards, an Emmy (for his Tony Awards opening
number ‘Bigger’), a MacArthur Fellowship (aka the “genius
grant”) and a Tony for his first musical, In The Heights. That
was a contemporary hip-hop-tinged story of immigrant life,
set in Miranda’s native Washington Heights, that he started
writing while still in college. “We talk about the success of
Hamilton, but nothing will change my life like In The Heights,”
he says. “I went from broke substitute teacher to of-Broadway
composer to Broadway composer, and there is not a bigger leap
I could ever make.”
Not that Miranda only wanted to perform his own material.
In 2007, he had earned his first screen credit as a bellman in The
Sopranos. “I am so green at acting you can actually see me look
down for my mark where to stop. My one direction from Mr
[David] Chase was, ‘Really tranq’ed out.’ I was like, ‘Tranq’ed
out, check.’ I had two lines.”
Stardom did not follow that turn, but In The Heights
landed Miranda a film opportunity, albeit in a role as tiny as
it’s possible to be. Miranda auditioned for Sex And The City
director Michael Patrick King. “He said, ‘You shouldn’t be
auditioning for me; this is crazy. You shouldn’t be playing this
part, but I’m gonna find a way that I get to hang out with you.’
So he cast me and Tommy Kail moving a couch in one scene.
That was his way of having some of the cast of the show he liked
at his job. If anything prepared me for playing Mary Poppins
Miranda as the in London, and the zoo that would happen when we filmed
titular Alexander outdoors, it was the Sex And The City movie. I don’t know if
Hamilton you remember, but that was such a huge deal. I remember
performing at people trying to do their lines while just outside of frame
the 2016 Tony there were tons of paparazzi. That was a very surreal day. In
the extended director’s cut I think Tommy Kail has a line.”
PA

Awards. ❯
The day that In The Heights finally closed, as Miranda

JANUARY 2019 115

 took a midnight train to Georgia (literally: Atlanta flights were
grounded by a small snowstorm) to start work on his second
musical, Bring It On, he got a call ofering him The Odd Life Of
Timothy Green. “That was the ultimate door-closing, window-
opening kind of thing. All that stuf came about because of In
The Heights. I only started writing those shows because
no-one was casting me in anything.”
But the Hamilton ofers, when they came, were
on another level. Just before it opened of-Broadway, Ron
Clements and John Musker, the directors of Disney’s The Little
Mermaid, came calling. Twenty years before they had spotted
that Little Shop Of Horrors composer Alan Menken (Miranda’s
hero) and his late writing partner, Howard Ashman, had
something special, and recruited them to work for Disney on
Mermaid and Beauty And The Beast. Now they wanted Miranda,
who took a fact-finding trip with them to the Pacific for their
new film, Moana.
Backstage in the Richard Rodgers theatre as Hamilton took
of, Miranda would beaver away on the (eventually Oscar-
nominated) songs for that film, sending tapes back to Burbank
or grabbing of-duty cast members to perform his latest rif.
“Moana very much kept me sane through the Hamilton
phenomenon, because it kept my feet on the ground as a writer.
All this crazy stuf is happening and our actors are getting
insane job ofers and we’re getting magazine covers, and I have
two songs due, every Tuesday and Thursday. A big part of my
year [performing] in Hamilton was saying no to a lot of stuf to
make space to write. That really kept me level, because I was
still working and couldn’t let my head get too big because
I had a Disney hero to look after.”
As the wave of hype crested, everyone who was anyone
was coming to see the show. The Obamas, Oprah, Beyoncé,
Barbra Streisand — and J.J. Abrams, as he worked on Star Wars:
The Force Awakens. “J.J. Abrams comes to the show, and at the
intermission — I was in the audience taking notes; it was my
show of — I joked to him, ‘Hey, if you’ve got a cantina in this one
I’ll write the music,’ and he said, ‘I DO have a cantina!’ Talk
about a joke going right!” Miranda passed his work back and
forth with Abrams for feedback and tweaks. They eventually
came up with two songs, one of which, ‘Jabba Flow’, is
performed in Huttese and rifs on Shaggy’s ‘It Wasn’t Me’.
After a crazy year Miranda stepped back from his Broadway
baby, chopped of Hamilton’s long hair and moved to London to
shoot Poppins. But that meant working even harder to live up to
the legacy of extraordinary dancing in the original Poppins film,
and adding “dancer/actor opposite animated animals” to his
already groaning CV.
“That was probably the hardest I’ve ever worked,” Miranda
admits. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed: there’s incredible
dancing in Hamilton but Hamilton doesn’t do a lot of it. I stand
and rap while amazing things happen around me. Whereas
with this, I’m a huge fan of ‘Step In Time’, and I wanted to earn
that.” Cue a dance boot-camp to learn the film’s enormous and
ambitious dance numbers (Marshall himself oversaw the
choreography). Miranda would then spend his lunchbreaks
practising smaller flourishes, eating a sandwich with one hand
and tossing his hat gracefully onto a lamppost with the other.
“I really worked very hard to even hold a candle to Dick Van
Dyke and Julie Andrews in that original film.”
But Jack occupies a diferent role to the original film’s Bert.
If Bert was a near-peer to Poppins, Jack “straight-up looks up
to [her] because he learned that when Mary Poppins is around,
cool things happen. Which very much mirrors my own sense
of awe at finding myself in a Mary Poppins film.”
116 JANUARY 2019
But Jack was once Bert’s apprentice and that posed
a challenge, one that loomed even larger than the Bank Of
England, where they shot one sequence: the accent. Should
Jack sound as, well, bad? “For me, the lesson was, ‘Don’t go
full Cockney,’” laughs Miranda. “I went more for an Anthony
Newley, Billy Bragg, working class East End just shy of rhyming
slang. But it afects rhyme. I’ve got some pretty hardcore...
I wouldn’t say rapping, but patter, in this film, and that was
a joy to unlock. And you’re filming in Shepperton Studios.
You’ve got a crew that are all going to help you out, so it was
really fun to slip in and out of it every day. And by the way,
no-one has a better sense of humour about that accent than
Dick Van Dyke himself.”
He had enormous support from Emily Blunt as Poppins,
and he’s a fan of both actor and character. “She is this sort
of ageless Doctor Who Timelord,” grins Miranda. “Emily’s
take is a little more Dorothy Parker’s Mary Poppins [than
Julie Andrews’ original], if that makes any sense. It takes place
in the 1930s and I think she took her inspiration from there.”
He also threw himself into British culture and especially,
for some reason, the sweets (“I mean, flying saucers.
Communion wafers with tang in them. I never had that
flavour outside Catholic mass”), and enjoyed the fact that
no-one beyond the occasional American tourist had the
first idea who he was.
That’s not likely to last much longer. After Mary Poppins
Returns wrapped this summer, Miranda went to Wales to play
Lee Scoresby in the TV adaptation of His Dark Materials. “I am
in this very enviable position, and I am fully aware of how lucky
I am, in that I have the ideas that I carry around with me like
luggage, the things that I’m dying to write and make. And
then there are opportunities that if I didn’t say yes to, I’d be
cursing at the screen whenever Lee Scoresby showed up.
I had to do it! His Dark Materials? A season for each book?
And Jack Thorne writing? I was in.” Holding a Texan accent
in the middle of Wales is, however, more of a challenge even
than Jack’s dialect.
There’s a potential re-team with Marshall on a new,
live-action version of The Little Mermaid down the line,
though neither will discuss it beyond professing a love of the
original. “Anything that puts me in a room with Alan Menken
makes me happy,” says Miranda. “I’m sort of around for
anything that needs doing. You need someone to shine
Sebastian’s claws, I’ll do it.”
And, of course, he’s carrying around those three new
potential musicals in his head, “two of which threaten to
become screen musicals”, as well as writing songs for animated
musical Vivo with his In The Heights co-writer Quiara Alegría
Hudes. He’s throwing himself into every opportunity ofered,
but he’s too wary, “too much of a New Yorker”, to expect
a Hamilton level of success every time. “My philosophy is
that you can’t control the success or failure of a thing. I’m in
a business where I could spend seven years writing a show and
it could close after a week, and I need to be okay with that.
So I either need to know I’m going to be a better artist on the
other side, or just really believe so whole-heartedly in it. On
Mary Poppins Returns, it was both. I knew I’d learn a ton and
hopefully we would make a continuation of the story that fans
of the original will be proud of. I think we did.”
Miranda described himself, on The Hamilton Mixtape
that followed the show, as having “no chill”. He may have the
occasional sleepless night and grumpy morning from parenting,
but he shows no sign of slowing down as a result. Like his most
famous role — at least until Poppins — the man is non-stop.
MARY POPPINS RETURNS IS IN CINEMAS FROM 21 DECEMBER
 From musicals
to movies
FIVE OTHER BIG NAMES
WHO SANG THEIR WAY
TO STARDOM

The Artist Formerly Known As Logan

has hardly disguised his song and
dance roots: from Les Misérables
to The Greatest Showman, he’ll
warble at the drop of a (top) hat.
A 1990s musical sensation in
Australia, Jackman got his claws into
a slew of stage roles, including
Oklahoma!’s Curly and Beauty
And The Beast’s Gaston.

Anna Kendrick went viral with her

one-girl, one-cup performance of
‘When I’m Gone’ in Pitch Perfect, her
singing-voice, well, pitch perfect,
which was no surprise to her early
acolytes. Kendrick stormed
Broadway at just 12 years old,
starring in — and getting a Tony
award nomination for — 1998’s
High Society.

If any ilm star has Broadway in their

bones, its this guy, who early on
changed his name from Joseph to
Nathan, after Guy And Dolls’ Nathan
Detroit. He hit the boards in 1982
and barely left, mixing his later movie
career with star turns in, yes, Guys
And Dolls (as, yes, Nathan), The
Birdcage and, well, everything else.

Long before starring in TV’s Sex And

The City and its less beloved
cinematic offspring, 11-year-old
Sarah Jessica Parker was singing
her heart out on the New York stage.
At 13 she bagged the titular role in
Broadway’s Annie, with television
and ilm soon stealing her for the
camera. The sun came out for
her, tomorrow.

Previous to becoming king of Dale

in The Hobbit, Aberbargoed’s
inest was prince of the West End.
Beginning in 2000, for almost
a decade he sang his way through
Rent, Miss Saigon, Avenue Q and
Boy George’s Taboo. Those booming
vocal chops you heard in 2017’s
August Image

Beauty And The Beast were

well honed.

JANUARY 2019 117

 THE CHARACTER HAS LONG BEEN
A KELP-DRAPED JOKE. BUT DIRECTOR
JAMES WAN AND STAR JASON MOMOA
ARE DETERMINED TO TURN AQUAMAN
INTO A FANTASY EPIC THE WORLD
TAKES SERIOUSLY WORDS DAN JOLIN

118 JANUARY 2019

IT’S HARD TO tell when the
Aquaman gags started. So hard, in
fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking the
subaquatic DC Comics hero was always
a joke. Around 2012, stop-motion
sketch show Robot Chicken started
lampooning him regularly; at one point
Batman’s sidekick Robin used his magic
trident to clear a blocked toilet. Boston
indie band The Motion Sick wrote a 2010
song titled ‘Aquaman’s Lament’, in
which the orange-and-green-suited
crimefighter lists other superheroes’
fantastic abilities before grumbling,
“I can talk to some fish.” And then
there’s Entourage, HBO’s Hollywood
satire, which in 2005 began spinning
a long-running, dafy plot line around
an Aquaman movie directed by
James Cameron.
It’s something Jason Momoa,
returning to the role for the third time
(after Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman:
Dawn Of Justice and Justice League),
has done his utmost to ignore. “I’m
not a big TV dude, so in my free time
I’m definitely not watching Entourage,”
states the one-time Conan and Khal
Drogo. And all those other jokes and
memes about him having useless powers?
“Obviously, people made fun, but I’m not
interested in playing to that.” It is not,
Empire senses, something he’s really
into talking about.
However, James Wan, director of
the real Aquaman, feels diferently.
“Yes, I am familiar with Entourage, and
I know Aquaman has been a joke in the
superhero universe,” he tells Empire.
“I definitely went into this knowing he
has that kind of baggage. But that, believe
it or not, was part of the reason I picked
this movie.”

AFTER SMASHING CARS

together on a stupendous scale in 2015’s
Furious 7, and making Universal more
than $1.5 billion worldwide, Wan could
have done anything he wanted. He
was already fêted for his success in the
horror genre, having launched the SAW
franchise and established his own spooky
cinematic universe with the Conjuring
films. “James was ofered everything
under the sun,” recalls Wan’s long-time
producing partner Peter Safran. “But
I remember him coming in and telling
me he wanted to do Aquaman.”
As the Australian-Malaysian Wan
explains, “I’ve always loved telling
underdog stories. I’m an underdog
myself. When you come from the horror
world, you’re always seen as the bastard
❯
stepchild and no-one ever takes you

JANUARY 2019 119

 seriously. So in a lot of ways I really
related to all the goofiness that is
associated with Aquaman. I took it on
board. I wanted to take this guy that most
people think is a joke and make him
super-cool. And when you have Jason
Momoa in the lead, the whole quote-
unquote badass thing really comes
through on its own, you know?”
On set in July 2017, at Australia’s
Village Roadshow Studios, Momoa is
shooting scenes with Amber Heard,
who co-stars as undersea warrior queen
Mera, but there is no goldfish-orange
costume or toilet-unblocking trident
in sight. The pair are dressed in surf-
bum travel gear for a National Treasure-
style, puzzle-solving MacGuin-
hunt that’s taken them to some ancient
temple ruins in a Sicilian town. Momoa
comes across less as “badass” than Top: Willem Dafoe as
exuding a laidback, rock-star swagger. Vulko; Director James
An image he unselfconsciously massages Wan on set. Middle:
by strapping on a Fender bass guitar Aquaman (Jason
Momoa) takes on Orm
between takes. (Patrick Wilson); Yahya
“Jason’s kind of reinvented Aquaman Abdul-Mateen II as
while still maintaining the integrity of the nefarious
the superhero himself,” Heard tells us. Black Manta.

Or, as Wan regular Patrick Wilson (who

plays the hero’s half-brother nemesis,
Orm) puts it, “He’s a completely diferent
Aquaman than your Saturday-morning
cartoon guy who rides two dolphins.”
Momoa confesses to being surprised
when Zack Snyder ofered him the role
way back in the Dawn Of Justice days.
“I was perplexed: ‘You want me to play
who?’ I thought he was going to ofer me
a villain,” he says. Aquaman wasn’t part
of the Honolulu-born, Iowa-raised
Momoa’s comic-book upbringing. He was
more a fan of Wolverine and the demonic
Spawn. But as he and Snyder talked, the
appeal grew and grew.
“Zack wanted an outlaw, he wanted
someone who’d punch Superman in the
face and just stir the pot. And I think we
did a good job in Justice League of playing
that character. But James has taken it to
a whole new level, and it’s got a little bit
more intimate, a little bit more vulnerable.”
This solo outing dives into
Aquaman’s past, exploring his origin as
the son of a lighthouse-keeper named
Thomas Curry (one-time Jango Fett
Temuera Morrison) and Atlanna, the
queen of Atlantis (Nicole Kidman, who
signed on as a fan of Wan). Raised by
his dad, he’s a blue-collar outcast with
a kingly destiny, one whose mythical
echoes are only emphasised by his real
name: Arthur. Yet he’s a reluctant prince,
only drawn to the briny depths of Atlantis
by a threat to the pollution-dumping
surface world from his autocratic sibling,
Orm. A threat which requires him to ally
with Mera, who “drives him to the front lines,” as Heard puts
it. “She drives him to battle, she engages him in this fight.”
Though he bears no physical resemblance to the white-
bread, blond sealife-controller of the comics, Momoa — who
once intended to study marine biology — feels multiple points
of connection. “He’s from one part of the world, has roots in
another, and he’s fallen between the two. Coming from middle
America and also being born in Hawaii, that’s something I can
draw from. And also being raised by a single parent [Momoa’s
mother, Coni]. So there’s a lot of good things to play with.”
Which is why, he once again emphasises, “I’m not interested
in making fun of it.”
EVEN SO, DURING Empire’s two days on the
Aquaman set, we hear again and again that this movie is all
about the fun, and steers clear of the stormy, murky atmosphere
that hung low over the Snyder-directed movies. “It took the
horror guy to bring the light tone to this series,” Wan quips.
While showing us around the extensive sets, production
designer Bill Brzeski describes it as “a ‘blue-sky movie’. It’s
pretty, it’s very colourful. Atlantis is supposed to be a beautiful
place. You’re going to want to go there. It’s like The Little
Mermaid… on steroids.”
We can see what he means. A sunken, barnacle-encrusted
galleon, home to Arthur’s mentor Vulko (Willem Dafoe) and
setting for one of the movie’s 18 battle
sequences, looks like the kind of place
you’d find a doubloon-stufed chest
circled by hammerheads. The streets
of the Sicilian town (painstakingly
based on the real hilltop town of Erice)
virtually glow under the azure heavens
of Queensland’s Gold Coast. And our
stop-of at a Saharan Atlantean forge,
a remnant of the ancient culture’s
landlubbing past complete with gigantic
Greco-Roman statues, brings to mind
the dusty haunts of a certain fedora-
wearing archaeologist.
Wan describes the film as “an
action-adventure road movie where
Arthur and Mera go on a really crazy
journey to some very stylised and
fantastical worlds.” One that is very much
inspired by the films he enjoyed as a kid.
“Obviously I loved the movies of George
Lucas and Spielberg, and there is a quest
here like the quest for the Holy Grail or
the Ark Of The Covenant. This movie is
my embrace of all the filmmakers I grew
up loving; those sort of Spielberg-

120 JANUARY 2019

 Bottom left: Orm
revealed; Amber
Heard as warrior
queen Mera. Here:
Momoa’s rock-star
take on Aquaman.
inspired wonderment movies from the ’80s. I create worlds
in all my films, even my little horror films, but with this
one I finally get the chance to design some really fantastic
worlds, the kind you’re used to seeing in Star Wars and Lord
Of The Rings.”
In the sprawling seaworld of Aquaman, Atlantis is
merely one of seven watery kingdoms. These include the
Xebellian kingdom, lorded over by Dolph Lundgren as
King Nereus, Mera’s stern father; the Fisherman kingdom,
inhabited by mer-people realised via a blend of prosthetics
and visual efects; the kingdom of the Brine, dominated by
monstrous crustaceans; and Wan’s favourite, the kingdom
of the Trench.
“I’ve definitely indulged my Guillermo del Toro passion
for cool creature design here,” he says. “Oh man, I’m just
going all-out! There’s a lot of tentacles and webbed creatures.
It’s my opportunity to delve into my love and passion
for Lovecraft.”
Wan admits that, with its fundamental emphasis on visual
efects, every day on Aquaman has proved “a huge learning
curve”. However, he’s insisted on building as many sets as
possible and using practical efects whenever he can. Something
which Heard certainly appreciates. “While we usually have
a lot of green-screen, they’ve also built these incredibly
immaculate, immense, immersive sets,” she says. “We have
some that are just breathtaking.”
AQUAMAN IS, AS Brzeski puts
it, “about as big as movies get”. If it weren’t
enough of a gamble to make a superhero
fantasy epic based on a character who’s
a pop-culture punchline, then the box-
oice disappointment and critical mauling
of Justice League only makes it feel riskier.
But when we catch up with Wan almost
a year to the day after joining him on set,
he insists Justice League’s troubles had no
panicked-reaction impact on his own film.
“I didn’t really have to change
anything,” he says. “I’m still making the
movie I wanted to make, and the story I’m
making is so far from the world of Justice
League.” His enthusiasm for showing
everyone what he can achieve with this
potentially slippery material remains
undimmed, not least as the reviews of
Justice League were largely kind to
Momoa, appreciative of his gruf,
occasionally cheeky charm. With this film,
Wan hopes to build on that goodwill.
“We all know he can play the big,
tough guy. But what I want to show the
rest of the world is this guy is funny,
very quick-witted, with a great sense of
humour. And that all comes back to my
inspirations: films like Romancing The
Stone, and there’s even shades of Kurt
Russell’s character Jack Burton, from Big
Trouble In Little China. A bit of a goofball,
but his heart is in the right place.”
When we later mention this to Momoa
he thaws a little on the ‘joke character’
perspective. “James has a good sense of
humour about it, and we do poke at it,”
he admits. “There’s a little more twinkle
in my eye in this film. I’m a little more
rascally, maybe.” He’s also amused when
Empire tells him that in the Entourage
universe, the joke was ultimately on
everyone else when Aquaman became
the highest-grossing movie of all time.
“That’s hilarious!” he laughs. Even if
Wan’s real-world version doesn’t manage
that, Momoa is certain of one thing, at
least: “After this, I don’t think people
will be making fun of me anymore.”
AQUAMAN IS IN CINEMAS FROM 14 DECEMBER
JANUARY 2019 121
122 JANUARY 2019
 was raised
in Athens in a lower-middle -class family.
He loved cinema, but there’s hardly
a filmmaking industry in Greece, so
he went to film school and became a
commercials director, accruing technical
chops and learning how to work with
actors. With the money he was making,
he did start making films — very
low-budget ones on which everybody
worked for free, providing their houses,
cars and clothes, happy enough if only
their friends saw the results. Lanthimos’
debut as a solo director was 2005’s
Kinetta, about a group of people
re-staging murder scenes, but Dogtooth
was seen by people far beyond his social
circle, certainly after being Oscar-
nominated for Best Foreign Film.
For 2011’s Alps, about four friends
impersonating dead people to give solace
to grieving relatives, he had an even
smaller budget and, with burgeoning
ideas and a need for a support system,
decided to make films in the English
language, moving to London. With his
Greek films, he had instinctively rebelled
WOR
DS A
against the aesthetic sheen he’d had to
LEX
GOD employ in advertising. “So I just wanted
FRE
Y to do everything the opposite way,” he
says. “No lights, no make-up, no hair
stylists. Locations that looked rough.”
His films since have grown in resources
— The Favourite, certainly, is lush work
— but the imperfect spirit remains.
Based on a true story, Olivia
Colman is Queen Anne, a gout-ridden,
, Yorgos impressionable and very shouty
ab ou t Q u ee n
th century film monarch. The formidable Lady Sarah
Lanthimos’ 18 rs w it h titles
into ch ap te the outside world. The bored (Weisz) is Anne’s childhood friend and
Anne, is divided in th e ey e’ . kids
I stabbed yo u bark like dogs and kill a cat. now, despite her marriage, lover. Then,
like ‘I dreamt ra m a. O f to We isz ,
gular period d “immensely struck” by it, too though, Anne’s cousin Abigail (Emma
It’s not your re Q u ee n h as k
eeting, th e Lanthimos to a pub for a cup Stone) arrives, once aristocratic, now
an important m . “Y ou lo ok of tea ,
with mascara enthused at length, and he sai fallen on hard times. Abigail becomes
experimented ical ad vi so r, d he ’d
her droll polit send her his next script, wh their maid but, hungry for status, wants
like a badger,” an em ot io n al ich ended
lls her. Ann e, up being The Lobster. “Lucky more, thus beginning an operatic fight
Lady Sarah, te e sk u lk in g me ,
most of her tim right?” she smiles now. for Anne’s afections. The film is all
wreck, spends offi n g fo od ,
ightgown , sc Actors love Lanthimos. Nic colours of comic: dry, farcical and
about in her n in g h er ole
oys and feed Kidman similarly sought him vicious, soaked in cruelty, with liberal
slapping pageb e p al ac e, out after
ewhere in th seeing Dogtooth, which she and inventive use of the c-word.
17 rabbits. Els el te d w ith said brought
ed man is p her to her knees. Dogtooth wa Initially written by screenwriter
a laughing nak . s his sec ond
ucks are raced film, made for tuppence in his Deborah Davis, it landed with Lanthimos
oranges, and d o in g th e native
pt w as d Greece; since then he has mo in 2009 post-Dogtooth, the producers
When the scri to ved to
Weisz wrote London and made more, wit giving him free reign to develop it
rounds, Rachel ow m u ch she h increasing
lling h im h budgets and ambition, but no as he saw fit, including rewrites with
Lanthimos, te . T h is is
y Lady Sarah compromises. 2015’s The Lo Australian writer Tony McNamara. It’s
wanted to pla ac h ed o u t to bst er had
Weisz first re people who couldn’t find a rom very much not what you’d expect from
nothing new — g se en h is 2009 antic
s ago, hav in partner within 45 days turne such source material. “I don’t come from
him a few year p le w h o ke ep d int o
, about a cou animals, while 2017’s The K this tradition or culture,” says Lanthimos
film Dogtooth h o m e, b lind to illing Of
fenced in at A Sacred Deer, in which Lanth of the subversion. “It was a challenge for
their children imos cast
Kidman, was about a young me to see how I could put a twist on the
boy with
diabolical power instructing genre, in my own way.”
a heart
surgeon to sacrifice one of his As an English actor, Weisz was
children. ❯
Nothing is normal here. excited to shake things up. “It’s not

JANUARY 2019 123

 a dusty museum piece. It’s anarchic and
radical and absurdist and tragic. The
tonal shifts, the fish-eye lens — it all
adds up to a new way of storytelling.”
For all the comedy, it has a huge heart,
leaving you somewhat bereft. As for
the absurdism, Lanthimos is certainly
not odd in person: laidback and mild-
mannered, you wouldn’t have a clue.
“Weirdly,” says Olivia Colman, another
acolyte who came back for more after
starring in The Lobster, “he is the
biggest-hearted, kindest, warmest
man, which is hard to imagine when
watching his films.”
This is true. Take the frankly evil
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer and all its
child-sufering, a good litmus test if you
want to explore someone’s taste. It really
is the blackest of humour. Stone met him
to discuss The Favourite in 2015 just as
he was preparing Sacred Deer, and she
practically jumps up, eyes widening, at
the mention of it. “Where the girl goes,
‘Dad, Bob’s dying’ — I laughed out loud,
and she’s talking about her little brother
bleeding from the eyes. How does he do
it?! It’s fucked!”
Confusing us is part of the plan. Such
extreme scenarios give us more room to
muse on the behaviour he’s exploring,
‘What is this? No-
says Lanthimos. And the behaviour is one wants to see th
But then it’s funn is.’
troubling. Colin Farrell, who starred y. I guess somehow
that would be in its
in The Lobster and Sacred Deer, has absurdity, becaus
life is absurd.” e
commented that Lanthimos’ characters
are selfish, his worlds are cruel, his tastes
clearly nihilistic. Does the director agree?
“I guess,” he laughs. “I mean, I do actors talk of
Lanthimos’ econ rehearsal process, in which they had
observe that a lot about people. You’re omy of communic
If it’s not on the pa ation. to repeatedly recite their lines whilst
pleasantly surprised when you meet ge, it doesn’t exis
doesn’t discuss ch t. “He holding hands, walking backwards,
people that are selfless. The nihilistic aracter,” says Ston
“Or plot. Or scenes e. crashing into each other and, says Weisz,
part of it... I just don’t feel that I need to . Or anything real
that’s going on. H ly “making human pretzel shapes where
make films that show things eventually e doesn’t want to
down the motivat break you have someone’s bum in your face
in a positive manner, because they ions of each charac
he wants to let yo ter, and their leg over your ear”.
wouldn’t have a function for me. When u find it. And it’s so
much more excitin “So you’re right up close to people
you do things that explore difficulty and g in a scene when
haven’t discussed you and not giggling,” says Colman. “We were
do not work properly, that’s interesting every element. It
much more alive ’s going [whispering conspiratorially],
for people to think about, and to try and if you don’t know
is what he wants: .” This ‘Why? Why are we doing it?’ But it was
improve maybe. The darker, nastier side for actors to be pr
rather than prepar esent, so much fun. We got to know each other
of people: that’s what interests me. I’m ed. Spontaneity, he
feels, gets closer to so well and we had each other’s backs.
not interested in painting the perfect the truth of things
To achieve it, he cr . That’s what he did without explaining it.
picture, which probably doesn’t exist eates physical
exercises. In her au So we ended up starting the film knowing
absolutely anywhere.” dition for The
Favourite, he aske each other back-to-front, we could not
As such, his films are not bound to d Stone to pant whi
delivering her lin
es, to breathe as if
lst be embarrassed in front of each other.
one genre. Darkness or comedy by
was giving birth.
Did he explain why
sh e If someone had a poocident, it would be
themselves are too narrow to provoke
“Oh God, no,” she
says. “Of course no
? fine.” Stone, sitting with Colman, squeals
original feeling, he believes. “When
Yorgos! He doesn’
t explain.” She be
t, it’s at this new word. It seems fitting.
I watch something that’s just tragic,” lie
he was trying to se ves Lanthimos chuckles impishly
says Stone, “it doesn’t feel like life, e if she could keep
English accent re
gardless of what el
her when recollecting these shenanigans,
because someone can die and later
she was doing. “I
th
se especially at the mention of what he
that day someone can make you laugh ink he does those
games to check th
at you’re not gonn put Nicholas Hoult, who plays Tory
accidentally. It’s always that balance,
embarrassed,” sa
ys Colman. “If yo
a be opposition leader Robert Harley,
and I think he sees that humanity in it. u
sense someone ho
lding back, it’s no
ca n through. At his audition, Hoult was asked
Even in Sacred Deer, which is the most
he wants.” Before
shooting The Favo
t what to hum while the actor opposite him was
fucked-up film of all time, when he told
he put his key cast
through a three-w
urite, speaking, then to imagine the forcefields
me what it was going to be, I was like, eek around the room and sculpt the forcefield

124 JANUARY 2019

 n know
around said colleague. “I don’t eve
os
what a forcefield is,” laughs Lanthim
say s a lot
now. “Let alone sculpt one.” He
ment,
of this is him improvising in the mo
roo m, tak ing
working with what’s in the
the actors “out of their reality of the
too
scene. I just think if you take things
es so
seriously, whatever you do becom
obvious and feels self-conscious.”
It’s not in aid of realism — realism
says.
in film can only be a construct, he
s for
But he does want truth. His impetu
red ible
taking on The Favourite was its inc
to
female triumvirate, and he strived
love tria ngle
honour it. There is a lesbian
seem
at the heart of it, but never does it
sam e-se x issue
like a gay genre film — the
er-p lay.
is irrelevant. It’s all about the pow
h each
“They just happen to be in love wit
oth er,” says
other, and have sex with each
g.
Weisz. “It’s not about taboo-breakin
And the gaze of the directo r is not
the
salacious. Their passion is hot, but
ical.”
eye watching it is quite cold and clin
“It was very important to me to
ome
make sure that this is not gonna bec
the main issue of the film, bec aus e
it’s not,” says Lanthimos. “I’m not
lised
interested in showing how scanda
of
people were because they learned
such a relationship, or anything like
that. That’s why nobody in the film
a
even comments on the fact that it’s
homosexual relationship . I wan ted
Clockwise from beings
left: Newcomer,
far
people to view them just as human
and
the Queen’s cous
and
and be enthralled by the characters
ee wom en
Abigail (Emma St
in,
their behaviour. And it’s thr
rare to
is feeling disturb
one)
that possess such power, which is
I was
Anne’s advisor/lo
ed;
see. It was one of the reasons that
ver
interested in the film, I hadn’t see n
Lady Sarah (Rac
hel
Weisz) lurks in th anything like it.”
dark; Director Yo
e
In so many ways, The Favourite
new,
Lanthimos with cr
rgos
shakes things up. It feels startlingly
lliant’
and Stone on se
ew
and entirely singular. “The word ‘bri
or ‘genius’ gets used an awful lot, and
t at
Hatfield House in
man,
2017 . often for no good reason,” says Col
bot h those
“but I do think Yorgos deserves
s
words. I love watching his films. He’
nev er pre dict
wired diferently. You can
the
what he’s going to do.” Weisz says
ng bot h film s she’s
experiences of watchi
e of my
made with him have been “outsid
ing.
wildest dreams. They’re truly surpris
The ground is always shifting.”
Lanthimos will just keep making
lds
films, presenting his fully formed wor
logi cal
as is, rejecting too much psycho
k press
probing. At The Lobster’s New Yor
e ask ed him
conference in 2015, someon
if
what animal he would choose to be
io. “So me kin d
forced into such a scenar
’re
of bird,” he answered. “Because you
ator.
a free spirit?” suggested the moder
“I just like
Lanthimos tutted and sighed.
flying,” he said.

S FROM
THE FAVOURITE IS IN CINEMA
1 JANUARY

JANUARY 2019 125

 SPOILER
WARNING

THE INDISPENSABLE G EWITT

126 JANUARY 2019

 THE
EMPIRE
VIEWING
GUIDE

Mamma
Mia! Here
We Go Again
Director Ol Parker talks us through
Here We Go Again’s greatest hits.

00:04:18
TEENAGE KICKS __ Here We Go Again’s
prequel thread begins with young Donna’s (Lily
James) graduation — where she rips off her
gown and sings ‘When I Kissed The Teacher’.
“The ilm deals with Meryl’s death right up front,
to own that moment and the sadness, and this
gets us out of there as quickly as possible,” Parker
says, adding that he shied away from the obvious
song choice: ‘Super Trouper’. “I wanted to have
❯
Lily shake things up like Donna does.”

JANUARY 2019 127

 00:11:06
COLD CALL __ In the present, Sophie
(Amanda Seyfried) is mourning her mum’s death
and relaunching the Hotel Bella Donna in tribute.
But a job offer threatens to keep her partner Sky
(Dominic Cooper) in NY — cue a tense phone call
and heartbroken duet of ‘One Of Us’ that proved
challenging for Cooper. “ABBA songs are very
dificult for men. You’ll do a great job in the shower,
but there’s something tricky about the tonality.”
00:30:01
BOATY MCBOATFACE __ “Getting
‘Why Did It Have To Be Me?’ in was a massive
crowbar,” Parker admits. Donna’s lirtatious
sea-bound duet with Bill (Josh Dylan) was no
easy shoot either. “Filming on boats is a nightmare.
There’s two camera boats, the hero boat, make-up
boat, hair boat, director’s boat. You line up the
shot and then another boat drifts in, then Josh’s
wig falls off. It was endless chaos.”
01:33:50
STAR-CROSSED LOVERS __ If one
moment in Here We Go Again is precision-tuned
to have audiences roaring, it’s that twist — Andy
García’s hotel manager Cienfuegos is actually Ruby
Sheridan’s (Cher) long-lost ex, Fernando. Parker
pitched the idea to Richard Curtis in the romcom
mastermind’s writing caravan, with a reveal so
good that Curtis fell off his chair laughing. “The
movie is 105 minutes of pipe to get to that joke.”
128 JANUARY 2019
00:21:00
VOULEZ-VOUS COUCHEZ AVEC MOI __ EMOTIONAL DISTRESS __ Pierce
‘Waterloo’ — used as a mid-credits curtain-call
last time — was prime for proper deployment here.
“It’s such a banger,” says Parker. In the Parisian
Café Napoleon, bumbling virgin rocker Harry
(Hugh Skinner) asks Donna if she’ll pop his cherry.
“It was, ‘How do I get them into bed by the end
of the song?’ The answer is energy and laughter.
I wrote: ‘Together they destroy a French restaurant.’”
00:53:58
I’M (NOT) ALAN PARTRIDGE __ More
challenging than the open ocean: doing ‘Knowing
Me, Knowing You’ without conjuring Alan Partridge.
“I thought we’d take out the ‘a-ha’s or use a
guitar sound instead,” says Parker. “Because of
Alan they’ve become something so preposterous.”
Alternative takes without them were shelved when
Jeremy Irvine nailed it in the studio. “He did them
so touchingly that l think we nicked it back.”
01:39:20
BAPTISM OF CRIERS __ The emotional
climax of prequel and sequel comes in Kalokairi
chapel: Donna baptising Sophie in the past and
Sophie baptising her son now, with ghost Meryl
Streep joining her for ‘My Love, My Life’. “It’s my
mum’s favourite ABBA song. Bjorn rewrote the
lyrics — it’s about a break-up, and he made it about
parents and children. It was very emotional on
set; Cher, Andy, Colin, Julie and Pierce all wept.”
00:26:02
Brosnan’s no-holds-barred rendition of ‘SOS’
became iconic for all the wrong reasons in 2008
— but his mournful reprise here in the wake of
Donna’s death is genuinely touching. “He did the
take, and our script supervisor was in tears,”
Parker recalls. Brosnan even requested they play
it for his mother. “We did, and she cried. It was
James Bond, still wanting his mum’s approval.”
01:16:12
HELLO, SAILORS __ Mamma Mia!’s
freewheeling ‘Dancing Queen’ sequence is its
most ecstatic moment. “I thought, ‘Fuck it, let’s
do it again,’” Parker laughs. Enter Harry (Colin
Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) on a leet of
colourful boats to save Sophie’s hotel relaunch.
“I had the joke about them doing Titanic quite
early on — the only dispute was who would be
Kate and who’d be Leo.”
01:43:42
RALLYING THE TROUPS __ It’s back to
feelgood territory for the curtain-call — ‘legacy’
cast and newbies together, belting ‘Super Trouper’
clad in denim, sequins and spandex. “If you’re
privileged to have this cast, getting all of them
into the same shot is mandatory.” BEN TRAVIS
MAMMA MIA!: HERE WE GO AGAIN IS OUT NOW
ON DVD, BLU-RAY AND DOWNLOAD
 Titans of comedy
Inside Teen Titans Go! To The
Movies’ funniest moments
THERE’S A GOOD chance that
the funniest film of 2018 won’t be a big-
budget studio comedy with, say, a Ferrell
or a McCarthy, but a barely feature-length
spin-of from a kids’ cartoon. Gloriously
absurd and anarchic, Teen Titans Go! To
The Movies is both clever and wonderfully
infantile as it takes no-holds-barred
potshots at its own genre: the superhero
movie. We spoke to co-director Aaron
Horvath and co-writer Michael Jelenic
for their take on its finest gags.
1
The movie has an abundance of
subtle gags for adults, a repayment
for bringing the kids. Yet it also caters
for the little ’uns with the mother of
all fart jokes right at the start, when
the evil Balloon Man has his bottom
popped, releasing a jet of air that goes
on (and on) for at least ten seconds.
“I feel like it could have gone on quite
130 JANUARY 2019
a bit longer,” says Horvath. “For the first
two seasons of the show we had a no fart
jokes policy. But we ended up getting that
reputation anyway, so thought we should
do it earnestly.”
2
A central joke of the movie focuses
on Hollywood’s obsession with
scraping the bottom of the comic
book movie barrel. Nowhere is this
better illustrated than with a flurry
of fake trailers for Batman movies
focusing on the Batmobile, the utility
belt and, presciently, his butler, Alfred.
Pennyworth, a TV show about a young
Alfred, is now in production. “I like to
think we got the ball rolling on that one,”
says Horvath. “As absurd as that is, it’s
not really absurd,” adds Jelenic. “There
will be a Batmobile series at some point.
I guarantee it.”
3
The movie is also, efectively, a
musical, with a number of cheerful
ditties headed up by the biggest
earworm this side of Star Trek II: The
Wrath Of Khan. ‘Upbeat Inspirational
Song About Life’, a “synthy song with Above: The Teen
’80s vibes” designed to inspire a Titans blunder their
downcast Robin to head to Hollywood in way back in time.
pursuit of his dreams, is a thing of beauty, Below: Balloon Man’s
featuring Michael Bolton on lead vocals. Achilles’ heel — or
As a singing tiger. “He took the song arse  revealed.
super-serious, a lot more than we did,”
laughs Jelenic, who was inspired by his
wife, who works in music publishing.
“It’s her job to get songs into film and
TV. They’re always looking for upbeat
inspirational songs about life. I thought
it would be a funny song.” He was right.
4
In the first real sign that this movie
isn’t entirely for little ’uns, ‘Upbeat
Inspirational Song About Life’ turns
downbeat very quickly, when the
Titans run the singing cartoon
tiger over, then leave the scene
of the crime. The sequence was
originally written as a Muppets
parody, with the Titans hitting Big
Bird at the end. “But as it became
more musical, we couldn’t hit Big Bird
anymore,” says Horvath. “So let’s hit the
tiger. Which is okay, because he’s
 BINGEWATCH
imaginary.” Jelenic reveals that there
was a shot in which the tiger could be
seen moving after the impact. “But in
the final cut he’s dead.”

DENZEL
5
“I’m Stan Lee, and I love making
cameos!” declares a literally animated
Stan Lee, gatecrashing the movie with
one of his patented walk-on parts. And
yes, that is the actual Lee, recorded on
WASHINGTO
a laptop in his offices. “We weren’t sure
people would recognise the caricature,”
admits Jelenic. “But watching screenings,
FILMS
I was surprised by how quickly people One writer. Six films.
knew it was him.” In a row. Pray for them

6
“When you’re making a comedy and
the audience cracks up, it’s hard for
the studio to tell you to take that out,”
says Horvath, explaining how a montage EIGHT OSCAR NOMINATIONS (two American actors of the last 50 years, and watching
where the Titans travel back in time to ending up in wins) don’t lie. Denzel Washington them go at each other elevates what could have
stop classic superheroes’ origins has is one of the greats, bringing his beaming smile been a potboiler into a modern classic.
some incredibly dark jokes. Here, for and chameleonic ability to bear across almost
example, a baby Aquaman is caught up four decades. Whether it’s a weighty drama or 6.15PM FALLEN (1998)
in a discarded ringpull. “It’s okay,” says a piece of action-heavy fluf, Denzel delivers. But I’ve long had a soft spot for this Gregory Hoblit
Horvath. “He can breathe underwater.” has he always been so consistent? Over the course horror, in which Washington’s dogged cop has
“Yes,” adds Jelenic, “but as he got older of six films which chart a career, we found out… his life turned upside down by a serial killer who
the ring got tighter.” “Oh,” says Horvath. can possess anyone he touches. Genuinely creepy,
“So he did die.” 10AM GLORY (1989) with a lovely recurring use of ‘Time Is On My
Denzel was a relative newcomer to the big screen Side’ by the Rolling Stones, Denzel anchors the

7
But there is nothing darker than the when he picked up Oscar #1. Edward Zwick’s tale of supernatural nonsense wonderfully by playing
moment where, in an attempt to the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one it all straight. Because he’s invested, so are we.
kick-start Batman’s career, Robin of the first American military units to consist
pushes Thomas and Martha Wayne into primarily of black soldiers, has many faults, not 8.35PM TRAINING DAY (2001)
Crime Alley to meet their doom, before least that it’s a tale primarily told through the eyes Night has fallen. Time for Washington to fall
giving a young, freshly orphaned Bruce of the regiment’s white commanding officer. But too. This electrifying collaboration with
Wayne a big thumbs-up. “It doesn’t mean amidst all the cheese and the cliché, Washington, Antoine Fuqua revealed that, when he wants
anything unless you know the origin as the defiant Private Trip, is mesmerising. to, the generally heroic Washington can fix you
story,” says Jelenic. “For adults who with that thousand-yard stare and wither
know what’s going to happen, it’s funny. 12.15PM MALCOLM X (1992) your soul. Alonzo Harris, the gloriously showy
It’s a benign moment for kids.” Heroes There are three directorial collaborations that baddest of bad cops, deservedly bagged him
that were cut from the montage included define Washington’s career. Of those, none may be that second Oscar. The movie itself remains
Green Lantern and, at an early stage, as important as his relationship with Spike Lee, a pulsating thriller, with the tête-a-tête between
Spider-Man. “The Titans beat the hell which began here with this epic account of the life Washington and Ethan Hawke’s idealistic rookie
out of Peter Parker, trying to get the of the great African-American activist. Lee has said a wonderful subversion of buddy movie clichés.
spider of of him,” recalls Horvath. Washington so embedded himself in the character
that he was able to orate as X would have done. 11PM THE EQUALIZER 2 (2018)

8
The film ends with Robin breaking That is evident here. The film itself, all three hours Seventeen years on, and Fuqua has become one
the fourth wall, and parents’ hearts, plus, is electrifying, but wouldn’t work nearly as of those directors who’ve defined Washington’s
with quite possibly the best final line well without Washington’s magnetic presence, career. This is their fourth collaboration, and
of the year: “Kids, ask your parents where capturing the idiosyncracies and humanity at the third in recent years, and with its odd outbursts of
babies come from!” “The original line core of this great figure. Blinding stuf, but we’re crowdpleasing ultra-violence, is just what I need
I came up with was, ‘Kids, ask your nearly six hours in and only two films done. Lunch. now I’m a bit Denzel-delirious. Washington’s
parents where your souls go after you die,’” transformation into unstoppable action hero
laughs Jelenic. Horvath says the line 4PM CRIMSON TIDE (1995) began with Tony Scott’s Man On Fire, and he’s good
Alamy. Illustration: Holly Jose

has prompted many an uncomfortable Washington made five films with the late Tony
discussion between parents and kids. Scott. This submarine thriller is far and away the
“I was at a screening where kids best. With Gene Hackman’s commander itching to
immediately asked their parents. It was start World War III, Denzel’s second-in-command
immensely satisfying.” CHRIS HEWITT takes the tricky decision to remove him from
power, setting the stage for a genuinely compelling
TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES IS OUT NOW battle of wits and wills. You could make a case that
ON DVD, BLU-RAY AND DOWNLOAD Hackman and Washington are the two greatest
at it, dismantling bad guys with an insouciance
worthy of Mitchum or Marvin. He would have
owned the ’70s, but I’m going to be selfish: I’m
glad he’s around now. This is Denzel’s time. We’re
just lucky to be sharing it with him. CHRIS HEWITT
THE EQUALIZER 2 IS OUT ON 10 DECEMBER ON DVD,
BLU-RAY AND DOWNLOAD

JANUARY 2019 131

132 JANUARY 2019
 Success
with flush
How Christopher McQuarrie, Tom Cruise and co put together
Mission: Impossible Fallout’s bruising bathroom fight
FOR ALL OF the tricks and stunts
in Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission:
Impossible Fallout, whether it’s Tom
Cruise jumping out of a plane at 25,000
feet, or Tom Cruise driving a motorcycle
with no helmet through rush-hour traffic,
nothing beats the impact of the film’s
showdown, in a Paris nightclub bathroom,
between Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, his CIA
counterpart August Walker (Henry Cavill),
and shadowy underworld figure John
Lark (Liang Yang). A clash of contrasting
fight styles, soundtracked to a throbbing
bass beat, sinks are destroyed, pillars
trashed and arms reloaded in the space of
four breathless minutes. Here, McQuarrie,
Cruise, Cavill, Yang, and stunt co-ordinator
Wade Eastwood, tell us how they did it.
Christopher McQuarrie: That is,
strangely, everybody’s favourite scene.
I couldn’t tell you where it came from,
beyond my wanting a place where they
could go and have a fight.
Tom Cruise: That bathroom fight, we
always knew we wanted to do a fight
like that.
Wade Eastwood: We knew there was
Above: Forty- going to be a scule in a bathroom. It
two seconds and wasn’t as big as it is now. My job is to
169 shots of design the fight and present it. I always
pipe-busting, shoot an action-vis of the fight, with my
porcelain- stunt doubles. Then I present it.
pulverising, McQuarrie: There’s only so much you
stall-smashing can do with a bathroom. We played a lot
brilliance. with, “Where are the toilets, where are the
stalls, where are the sinks?” The reason
I wanted it so white is it created a sense
of vulnerability and exposure.
Eastwood: I designed it with Liang in
mind. He’s a member of my stunt team.
I wanted a diferent look to Mission:
Impossible, a speed and agility. I wanted
to combine that with Ethan’s style and
then introduce Henry, who’s a bear.
Henry Cavill: I worked closely with [fight
coordinator] Wolfie Stegemann to create
very much a brawler style. We wanted it
to be the polar opposite to Ethan Hunt’s
style of fighting.
Eastwood: Tom’s not scared to not be
the superhuman fighter. He wants it to be
true. He doesn’t want to win every fight.
McQuarrie: Tom and Henry were
comfortable with vulnerability. You can’t
shoot a scene like that if the actors aren’t
willing to lose. They get their asses
handed to them in that scene, and that’s
the real fun of it.
Cruise: We kept talking about Walker
and Hunt, and how both of them can be
beat. And to do it with wit.
McQuarrie: We went about figuring out,
“Who’s gonna be John Lark?” We wanted
to cast an actor. I said, “You’ve gotta pass
a fight evaluation first.” When we did the
fight evaluation, it was like, “Somebody’s
gonna get killed. We need one of the
people in here to be extremely lethal
and a stuntman.”
Liang Yang: Wade really wanted me to
play Lark. My background is wushu and
Wade wanted me to use that. We did
❯
two weeks putting the fight together.
JANUARY 2019 133

Cruise: I don’t expect actors to do that
[fighting]. I really don’t. If they want to,
if they’re interested in this, it is another
art form. I’ve been doing this, and
training for it, my whole life, basically.
McQ and I sit down with them and go,
look, if you don’t want to do it, then this
is not the movie for you. That’s okay.
I know how hard it is. Everyone goes,
“This is really exciting, I really want to
do it.” And then they start doing it and
it’s like, “Holy shit, this really hurts.”
Cavill: Tom and I would check in on
each other throughout the fight, making
sure one another wasn’t injured or in
pain. In the beginning we would play
tough and just say we were fine. By the
end, we started being very honest with
each other.
Cruise: The thing I have with McQ,
I never tell him how much things hurt.
Ever. I don’t want him distracted.
And with Henry and Liang, you never
admit when it hurts. But on that last
shot, we knew we weren’t coming back.
I looked at him and he looked at me and
I was like, “This one hurt.” The bruises
on my arm.
Eastwood: It’s all Tom and Henry. The
whole lot. Everything. 100 per cent.
McQuarrie: The audience is in that fight
because of where we place the camera.
The actors, by doing it, allow me to put
the camera there, and not have to shake
the camera, and not have to hide stuf. So
what you end up thinking about is, “Boy,
that looks like it really hurts.” And that is
because it really hurts!
Yang: There were bruises, but I’m used
to it. Being thrown over the mirror, it’s
134 JANUARY 2019
special glass, but you can still get little
cuts. Some little pieces in your skin.
You just pull it out. Henry certainly got
a bruise on his chest from my kick. That
was a heavy whack.
Cruise: I got kicked in the stomach and
just fell. That was real.
Yang: That took over ten takes. And
I was wearing very hard leather boots.
It was a small room, and it was so hot
with all the lights on, and every few
takes we had to get into new costumes
because we were all sweating. Tom took
his shirt of to change his shirt, and
I was shocked — my foot had left marks
all over his chest.
Eastwood: It’s full contact. You’re
hitting rubber things, but you’re still
impacting, and lifting guys, and falling
to the ground and doing dynamic
reactions with your neck and your
head and your body.
Cruise: We wanted the fight to be a little
ragged. We had to keep doing it until
it looked ragged. So I took the shot
and went down. Henry and Liang, all
of us have an agreement This is what
we’
feel
tho
whe
on s
sho
on m
feel
Mc
I wa
of r
to th
you
one spectacular shot after another.
And then Henry Cavill reloads his
arms — how are we even saying that
expression? — and everybody’s going,
“Whooooo! Yeah!”
Cavill: The arm reload! That was an
of-the-cuf occurrence.
Cruise: The stuf Henry brings in that
scene, pumping his arms, reloading the
arms. He’s a great actor.
Cavill: I tried it for one take just because
it felt right, and then heard nothing
about it, so stopped doing it. Then McQ
said, “Do the arm thing again a few takes
later.” I said, “What arm thing?”
Yang: That was cool. When we were
rehearsing, he didn’t do that ever. But
when we were shooting — poom poom!
Very nice, good for the character, good
for the moment. And then he comes in
and smashes me.
McQuarrie: He’s cocking his arms,
for God’s sake. Tom Cruise is flying
a helicopter! For real! Into mountains!
It’s the power of Cavill.
Eastwood: The fight was meant to take
Above: August five days, but we came back and did
Walker (Henry another two days. It took seven days.
Cavill) and Ethan McQuarrie: We shot it in eight days.
Hunt (Tom Cruise) We were scheduled for four, we shot it
regroup with in eight.
agent Faust Cruise: I would have said 20 days.
(Rebecca McQuarrie: It was 169 shots, for a scene
Ferguson). where there’s not a lot of cutting. It’s shot
Below: largely in masters. All those other pieces
McQuarrie: came from the stuf in the bathroom
“I created stalls, the mask machine, the inserts.
a sense of All the storytelling.
vulnerability.” Cruise: It’s classic storytelling. You
know where you are.
Eastwood: I’m not interested in awards
or accolades, but to be appreciated by
your peers in film, to have an iconic fight,
makes everything worthwhile. That’s all
we try and do. It makes all that blood,
sweat and tears worth it.
Cavill: I’m hyper-critical, so after I was
done judging myself and swearing to
be better next time, I thought it was
incredible. Watching it with an audience
was the real treat, though.
McQuarrie: I was so amazed by
the response to the fight scene. The
Tom and I can
erything and go,
een better.” We’re
throom fights and
wesome. Fuck,
e as good as that
t.” But that’s what
ntly striving for.
TT AND ALEX GODFREY
MPOSSIBLE FALLOUT
W ON DVD, BLU-RAY
NLOAD

Author and critic Kim Newman explores the dark corners of cinema
THE WITCH IN THE WINDOW
WRITER-DIRECTOR ANDY
Mitton’s The Witch In The Window —
one of the most talked-about films at this
year’s horror festival FrightFest — sounds
like a conventional ghost story, but has
a lot more going on under its surface.
Placid Simon (Alex Draper),
separated from jittery wife Beverly
(Arija Bareikis), takes their troubled
son Finn (Charlie Tacker) out of New
York for a few weeks. In a vivid first
scene, Beverly throws a fit about Finn’s
recent behaviour — looking at gory
news on the internet — which shows
how fragile she is herself, and how her
desperate need to shield the boy from
perceived threats is on the verge of
smothering him. Simon takes Finn to
rural Vermont, where he has bought an
old house by the lake for renovation
— ostensibly to resell for a profit, though
he might really be creating the perfect
fantasy home (complete with stables)
Beverly once imagined would be her
mental fortress. Simon tells Finn no-one
was ever ‘chopped up’ in the house
because the vendor would have to
disclose that, but local electrician/
neighbour Louis (Greg Naughton), who
is reluctant to set foot in the place, tells
them the property has a bad reputation
because Lydia (Carol Stanzione), its
previous owner, died sitting in an old
Alamy
armchair staring out of the window.
Soon, father and son see Lydia
THE CULT
lurking like a matter-of-fact Woman In
Black, and a pervasive air of dread begins
to consume them. Simon struggles to
protect Finn from ghosts the way his
mother does from reality, but third-
act developments prompt a radical
assessment of what a haunted house
is and movingly addresses the lengths
parents will go to keep a child safe at
home. Draper, who has the presence of a
slightly more presentable Paul Giamatti,
is outstanding as the soft-spoken lead,
positioned to go down the Amityville-
Shining route of the father falling under
the house’s malign influence, then taking
a diferent tack. Even Stanzione, who
essentially has to sit and stare, gives
the witchy ghost unusual depth.
Underlying the slow-burn spookery
is a sense that everyone (living or dead) is
blinkered about their situation, perhaps
to a tragic extent. The New York we see
isn’t the hellhole Beverly thin
montage reinforcing this incl
the best single shots of ghostl
movies — and the Vermont re
chilly as it is idyllic. The film h
locations and conveys a calm
through subtle sound design,
visuals, nuanced long-take pe
and understated dialogue. On
of this debut, Mitton is a creat
THE WITCH IN THE WINDOW IS AV
NOW ON SHUDDER
MOVIEDUNGEON
Kim on the latest
DTV must-sees
Bryan Bertino’s THE MONSTER
(above) and Justin P. Lange’s THE
DARK announce their minimalism with
simple, blankly generic titles — frankly,
they could swap and work just as well.
Both are set in a wooded wilderness
and highlight strange, compelling
relationships. Both are creepy, scary
movies with old-fashioned fangings and
proper creatures, but also offer dramatic
meat and compelling performances.
Bertino (best known for The Strangers)
strands irresponsible mom Zoe Kazan
and fed-up daughter Ella Ballentine in
the woods when a wounded wolf
lopes in front of their car. Intent on
their arguments, it takes them a while
to wonder what could have hurt the
wolf — then the title creature (perhaps
Above: Carol a werewolf-cum-Bigfoot) starts playing
Stanzione gives her with them, and they have to set aside
best sinister stare as their differences to survive.
“matter-of-fact” Lange (inluenced by Let The Right
Woman In Black, Lydia. One In) has blinded kidnap victim Toby
Below: Charlie Tacker Nichols rescued from a paedophile by
as the variously Mina (Nadia Alexander), a vampire-
beset Finn. zombie waif with her own tragic story.
“Our viewers don’t care about
tension, Brian, they just want to see
contestants die horribly.” On a near-
future reality TV hit, Death Row
convicts play Crystal Maze games in
a virtual reality prehistoric landscape
while trying not to get eaten — with
the sole survivor winning a full pardon.
Ryan Bellgardt’s THE JURASSIC
GAMES has some cheek in its
mash-up premise — it’s not just
Jurassic Park and The Hunger Games
scrambled on the cheap, but The
ing Man too — and its dinos are
y more convincing than the Toy
ry plastic T-Rex. But its decent
interesting characters and solid
ting put it a thousand per cent
ad of The Predator, which had
housand times the resources.
his level of ripoffery, it qualiies
as an unexpected treat.
JANUARY 2019 135
 THE RANKING
CHRISTMAS
OUR
CRITICS MOVIES
Four Empire writers bring
you the greatest gift of all:
the top ten festive films
of all time
CHRIS HEWITT
Is grateful for
Shane Black’s love Chris: First of all, ‘Christmas movie’.
of Christmas. His That’s a bit nebulous. What’s a Christmas
top ten relies movie for you?
heavily on it. Terri: So, snow. Or talk of snow.
Heartwarming moments. Presents.
Trees. Dolph Lundgren.
Chris: Wait a second… You’re zeroing in
on one particular movie here.
James: Also, you just described
Cliffhanger up until that point.
Terri: I looked for a common theme
TERRI WHITE throughout my ten. And most of them,
Thinks John with the possible exception of Female
Waters’ Female Trouble, there is some sense of a parable
Trouble is one of or some sense of there being a story
the best Christmas about goodwill, about love, about
films. Explains a lot. community, about the true spirit of
Christmas, which is giving.
Chris: Receiving is also good.
Terri: It’s hard to define, but I have to
feel like a better human being after
watching that movie.
Chris: Does it have to be set at Christmas?
James: Set at Christmas is kinda key,
JONATHAN PILE I would say. There should be an element of
A festive pedant, he festive cheer. There is a cockle-warming,
feels most Christmas warm and fuzzies-type thing that many
movies are actually movies people wouldn’t consider to be
Advent movies. Christmas movies do have.
Fun at parties. Terri: Rocky IV.
James: Like Rocky IV.
Chris: There aren’t that many nailed-on
Christmas classics. It’s A Wonderful Life
is one. But how many are actually great?
Jonny: Seven.
Chris: What are they?
Jonny: Whatever my top seven are. The
JAMES DYER thing with Christmas movies is you’re given
Empire’s very own free rein to have nostalgia. Movies that
Grinch. Hates fun. mean a lot to you, but which aren’t very
Loathes joy. Loves good, can rank quite highly. Santa Claus:
Love Actually. The Movie is third on my list. I assume
Go figure. that to people who haven’t seen it every
year since they were four, it’s not a good
136 JANUARY 2019
movie. But it’s a wonderful movie to me.
Chris: When was the last time you
revisited it?
Jonny: I see it every year. And my son is
just about old enough that I’ll show it to
him this year.
Chris: That was a big movie for me
growing up. I had the novelisation.
I loved David Huddleston as Santa Claus.
I hated Dudley Moore as Patch The Elf.
Jonny: Even as a kid?
Chris: Even as a kid. He was taking the
attention away from Santa Claus. It’s
called Santa Claus: The Movie. Not
‘Sodding Patch The Elf: The Movie’.
Terri: I think we have diferent
standards when it comes to Christmas
movies, right? I want something diferent
from a film I watch at Christmas, with
a QC on the go, and I don’t really care
so much about cinematic quality.
Chris: I’m going to alight on Love
Actually. It’s on a lot of people’s lists.
It’s not on mine, because it’s one of
the worst movies ever made. But a lot
of people overlook its flaws.
James: It’s a film Terri and I love. I love
Love Actually.
Terri: I watched it six times last
Christmas.
James: Okay, that’s just psychotic.
Terri: That scene with Joni Mitchell
playing, where Emma Thompson’s
discovered the gift Alan Rickman’s going
to give to the strumpet, when she cries
and straightens the bed... one of the most
devastating moments in British film.
Chris: I’ll grant you that. And it has
Hugh Grant. I’ll Hugh Grant you that.
But by and large, it’s an awful movie.
I liken it to being repeatedly stabbed
in the eye with a marshmallow. It’s
awful, but you don’t feel the pain.
James: Like boiling a frog.
Chris: What’s the first Christmas
movie you remember seeing?
James: Scrooged is the first one
I remember seeing. It’s certainly the most
salient Christmas movie I remember
seeing. To me, that is A Christmas Carol.
Chris: It has been superceded for me by
 THE TOP TEN
The Muppet Christmas Carol. We revisit DIE HARD (1988)
that every single year. Jonathan: “Hard to believe, but
James: I have no love for Muppets. some people don’t believe it’s
Chris: That’s because you are a muppet.
James: That may be true. But I just don’t
1 a Christmas movie — yet we’ve
just voted it the greatest festive
like them. And I’ve done a podcast with ilm of all time. So who’s right? We
Pepé the Prawn and Kermit. are, of course.”
Jonny: I think it’s a wonderful telling of
that story. It’s full of imagination and
retains something of the original novel IT’SAWONDERFULLIFE (1946)
but takes it in another direction. Terri: “Yes, it’s essentially the tale of one
James: Muppets. 2 man’s path to suicide, but it has fantasy,
Chris: Terri, was it Rocky IV for you? a good moral lesson and loads of snow.”
Terri: I wore that tape out. Not in the
way that that sounds.
Chris: When that robot butler came ELF (2003)
on, my word.
Terri: You know I’ve never seen
3 Terri: “You don’t like this funny, moving tale of
a (giant) boy desperately looking for where he
Muppets? its in the world? You sit on a throne of lies!”
Jonny: You’ve never seen Muppet
Christmas Carol?
Terri: Why would I watch it? Not LOVEACTUALLY (2003)
bothered.
James: I’m with Terri on this.
4 Terri: “Nine interconnected stories that
run the gamut of human emotion. Will
Chris: “Not bothered”. thaw any icy heart.”
Jonny: It’s everything you claimed you
want from a Christmas movie.
Terri: Is it? It’s not people. I want SCROOGED (1988)
people. Real people. A man puts his hand
up a puppet’s arse and I’m supposed to
5 Jonathan: “The highest-placed version of
the classic story. Which means, basically,
think that’s good cinema? Richard Donner improved on Dickens.”
Chris: Are we still talking about Rocky
IV? Okay, what is the greatest Christmas
movie of all time? THEMUPPETCHRISTMASCAROL (1992)
Terri: It’s A Wonderful Life.
Chris: Why?
6 Chris: “As Kermit says, ‘There’s magic in the
air.’ Endlessly charming, with cracking songs,
Terri: It’s about sacrifice, it’s about having great gags, and a brilliant Michael Caine.”
a family, it’s about discovering the greater
meaning. And there’s loads of snow.
Jonny: There are very few films that can KISS KISS BANG BANG (2005)
make me cry regularly. It’s A Wonderful
Life is one of them. It always gets me going
7 James: “What says Christmas better than
a comedy with a dead body, a severed inger,
at the end when George Bailey realises and RDJ with electrodes on his bollocks?”
he’s loved. I think about this film a lot.
Chris: Jimbo? It’s Die Hard, isn’t it?
James: Yes, it obviously is Die Hard. CHRISTMASVACATION (1989)
I love Die Hard because it’s among
the greatest films ever made. It’s the 8 Chris: “Clark’s epic rant. Peerless physical
comedy from Chevy Chase. Cousin Eddie.
greatest action film ever made. It’s set And a dash of genuine Christmas spirit too.”
at Christmas, therefore it is the greatest
Christmas movie ever made. It is just
the greatest across the board. GREMLINS (1984)
Chris: This is impeccable logic.
James: I could watch it every day of the
9 James: “A perfect metaphor: a delightful
present on Christmas Eve that opens the door
year. But definitely at Christmas. to an unmitigated shitshow by Boxing Day.”
Chris: What about Die Hard 2?
James: I’ve got a lot of time for it. It’s
not as good as Die Hard, obviously. But IRON MAN 3 (2013)
you do get to see William Sadler’s
To listen to the full
Christmas film debate
extraordinarily chiselled posterior, 10 Chris: “Shane Black again, smuggling his
Christmas obsession and offbeat weirdness
as a podcast, go to which is a festive treat. into a Marvel movie, to glorious effect.”
Illustration: Jacey

www.empireonline. Chris: You get to see the outline of his

com/podcast. testicles. If you pause it just right.
Terri: Merry Christmas! AGREE? DISAGREE? WRITE IN AND TELL US AT:
Chris: Right. Enough squabbling. LETTERS@EMPIREMAGAZINE.COM / @EMPIREMAGAZINE
Let’s vote!

JANUARY 2019 137

 Breaking Good
Aaron Paul talks through
the roles of his career
VAN WILDER (2002)
Wasted Guy — he is what he sounds like
“My friend was casting that film and she
sent me the script and asked if there was
a supporting role I would like to play.
And there was Wasted Guy. I chose him
because the first film I ever booked for
was called Whatever It Takes. I read for
the role of Wasted Guy but during the
table read they asked me to audition for
one of the leads, which I then got. So
I had to say goodbye to Wasted Guy. Cut
to Van Wilder coming to me and even
though it was a tiny role, I had to take it.
It’s like a little Easter egg in my own life.
138 JANUARY 2019
BREAKING BAD (2008)
Jesse, the drug-dealing associate
of meth-chemist Walter White
“Jesse transformed in front of all of us.
He wasn’t supposed to make it past Season
1; he was going to introduce Walt to the
drug world and then see his demise. He
was this druggy burnout. Then, after the
pilot, [creator Vince Gilligan] rethought
his fate. I loved how Jesse became the
moral compass of this show — although
he’s still a drug dealer and a murderer.
That moral compass is spinning wildly.”
THE LAST HOUSE
ON THE LEFT (2009)
Francis, a murderer who gets
his comeuppance
“That was one of the toughest projects
I’ve ever been part of. I was playing this
evil guy and back then I’d try to stay in Clockwise from
the character’s skin as much as possible. above: Bad vibrations
I watched very depressing documentaries from Mr Paul; With
and read terrible books. I was in a horrible Garret Dillahunt and
headspace that I couldn’t wait to get out Riki Lindhome in Last
of. That’s why I didn’t jump into another House On The Left;
genre movie until Welcome Home.” Cheerily depressing
voicing Todd in BoJack
SMASHED (2012) Horseman; On military
Charlie, one half of an alcoholic couple ops in Eye In The Sky;
Alamy, Allstar, Landmark, Photofest
trying to get sober Creeped out on holiday
“I related to that script on an incredibly in Welcome Home.
honest human level. Years ago, I started
dating this girl who turned out to be an
extreme alcoholic. She couldn’t stop.
She wrecked her car. I pulled her out of
a burning apartment. When I read this
script I thought about that and knew
I had to dive in. I definitely felt extremely
connected to that role.”
 KIDS WATCH CLASSICS

Big films tackled by

little people
BOJACK HORSEMAN (2014)
Todd, the stoner housemate of BoJack,
a depressed horse
“I think it’s the first animated series
unafraid to be utterly depressing and
just rip your heart out. I think a lot of
people didn’t understand what they were
watching in the first season — ‘Why
aren’t I laughing and instead want to
crawl in bed and cry?’ Then people
started to get it. In Todd they didn’t want
the typical stoner, slacker guy. They
wanted the voice to have energy and fun;
I wanted him to be playful and naive.
I love that he has this mysterious past
that we glimpse each season.”

EXODUS: GODS AND LOUIS & JACK SALAKO — 11 & 8

KINGS (2014) ON THE TOWN
Joshua, a slave freed by Moses
“I remember I fell madly in love with my What’s the story of the movie?
horse. I was really sad to say goodbye, Louis: A boat of sailors arrive in
because I spent four months with him New York. They’ve got one day off
and he became a friend of mine. Christian and these three friends, one of them
Bale and I were the only ones in the main has to visit all the monuments, one
cast who had to do the fake beard thing, wants to see nice girls, and the other
taking two to three hours each morning. wants to do both of those things.
They’re gluing yak hair on your face piece So they take the Tube — well, the
by piece, then burning it a little so it has Subway — and go to all the museums
this pube-like texture. I could not wait to ind a woman one of them likes.
for the day to be done when they could Jack: After they meet girls, they go
finally rip it of. Anything for you, Rid!” to the pub.

EYE IN THE SKY (2015) What did you like about the movie?
Steve, a military drone pilot involved in Jack: It was funny. I liked how they
a morally shaky terrorist mission sing. The actors were funny.
“That was a rough shoot for me. We shot Louis: I liked the ilm, though I don’t
everything with the camera right in front really like musical comedies. The
of me, so I’m acting of nothing but a lens, ilm was a bit short, but it was good.
from the beginning of the script to the
end. It was a great experience but it was Which character did you like most?
just sitting in a big tent. I never got to act Louis: The men.
with Helen Mirren but I did have dinner
with her and the moment I met her she Which men?
was sitting and drinking a whisky and Louis: The sailors. They sang a bit
just exactly as I hoped she’d be.” better. They were funny.
Jack: I preferred one of the sailors.
WELCOME HOME (2018) The one that has the girlfriend.
Bryan, one half of a couple spied on by a
creepy stranger while on holiday in Italy Which scene was your favourite?
“I stay in these vacation homes all over Louis: When the dance teacher was
the world and now it’s not possible to serving herself some tea. She got
avoid having that thought that someone a bottle of whisky out and it was
is lurking in the shadows, which is empty. She said, “I need to go
terrifying. Shooting in Italy was the icing somewhere,” came back with another
on the cake. My Italian is terrible. bottle and put it inside the teapot.
I learned how to say, ‘I hate mosquitos.’ Jack: I liked that as well. It was very
I was mercilessly attacked by one the funny. It may be my favourite.
night before shooting and I’m allergic to
Illustration: Olly Gibbs

the bites, so arrived at work having had Can you describe the movie in
no sleep and with these giant lumps three words?
all over my face like I got hit with Louis: I can think of funny. And
a baseball bat.” OLLY RICHARDS musical. And I think of the sea.
Jack: There was a lot of dancing in
WELCOME HOME IS OUT NOW ON DOWNLOAD it. And that’s all I have to say.

JANUARY 2019 139

 Floorplan
of attack
Writer/director Drew Pearce guides us
through a handy map of the Hotel Artemis

ILLUSTRATION DOUG JOHN MILLER

THE HOTEL ARTEMIS is dark and

dingy, and even though it’s a hospital for
criminals, you’re more likely to sustain
a fatal injury there than you were before
you arrived. Yet the hotel, as designed
by Hotel Artemis writer/director Drew
Pearce and his production designer
Ramsey Avery, is a meticulously planned
thing. “I was building shapes for what the
floorplan might look like before I started
writing,” says Pearce. Here, he talks us
through the hotel’s key areas — and the
horrible things that happen therein.

1 _ IT’S ALL GAMES UNTIL

SOMEONE GETS HURT
“You needed Switzerland,” says Pearce of the games room, which in
theory is a neutral zone in the hotel. “Casablanca was a huge inluence.
You need areas like Rick’s Bar.” It’s also the scene for a showdown
between Acapulco (Charlie Day), Nice (Soia Boutella) and Waikiki
(Sterling K. Brown), who come close to killing each other despite the 2 _ A POWERFUL
Artemis’ ban on weapons. “Yet Nice and the others could kill each LOBBY
other with anything in this room,” explains Pearce. “So any potential It’s here where The Nurse (Jodie Foster)
weapons, if you look, they’ve been strapped down with nail guns.” makes any ne’er-do-wells she doesn’t
want running around the Artemis wait,
behind impregnable iron bars. “That
gate weighed hundreds of pounds,”
he says. Pearce, who conducted
meticulous research into downtown Los
Angeles hotels, based it on a number of
real-life venues. “Penthouse loors often
have their own mini-lobby; that’s how
the nurse chose this penthouse. It had
a funnel she could control.” It later
becomes the scene for a bloody battle
between kind-hearted brick shithouse
orderly Everest (Dave Bautista) and a
Drew Pearce directs bunch of goons. “I wanted it to feel like
Dave Bautista a last stand. We had three hours to shoot
(Everest) and Jenny the Everest ight, and what we could
Slate (Morgan). afford was two stunts with the axe.”
3 _ A LINE IN THE SAND
Next door to the lobby is a secret
corridor, with an elevator The Nurse
uses on a personal basis. It’s also the
scene of another showdown, between
assassin Nice and more of the Wolf
King’s disposable henchmen. “Soia
is so physically adept that there’s
only one shot in the entire sequence
that isn’t her,” says Pearce. “We
gave her a week to train, and in the
end she only trained for a day-and-
a-half. All the stunt guys were like,
‘Fucking hell, she’s good’.” Again,
Pearce took inspiration from actual
hotels for the corridor. “When
prohibition hit, hotels needed a secret
way to supply gin and booze.”

140 JANUARY 2019

 5 _ NIAGARA (AND ACAPULCO) FALLS
Although all ive suites in the Artemis are ostensibly the
same in terms of layout (each one has a giant wall
mural to differentiate it), the Niagara suite is the daddy
of them all. This is the one designated for The Wolf King
(Jeff Goldblum), the crime boss who owns the hotel
outright. And it’s here where not only he, but sleazy
arms-dealer Acapulco meet their maker. “It’s almost
the operatic Italian death room,” laughs Pearce. “It’s
full giallo. That was very much by design.” As with all
the rooms, it’s dominated by a mural — here, of Niagara
Falls. “Water equals power to imply that Niagara’s
room was the most powerful,” he explains. “The
Niagara waterfall ended up working on tons of levels.
And no-one else has ever spotted it!” CHRIS HEWITT

HOTEL ARTEMIS IS OUT NOW

ON DVD, BLU-RAY AND
DOWNLOAD

4 _ CHECKING OUT
OF HONOLULU
The Honolulu suite is where Waikiki’s grievously
wounded brother Lev (Brian Tyree Henry), codenamed
Honolulu, passes away, after a bomb triggered by Nice cuts power to vital
life-support systems. It’s also, in a way, the most important suite in the
hotel. “The Honolulu Suite is the ur-room in a way,” says Pearce. “The shot
of Waikiki looking up as he cocks a gun in that suite is one of the irst
images I had for the story. Now I have it as a still frame in my ofice.”

JANUARY 2019 141

 HOME SCREEN
EVERY NEW
RELEASE YOU NEED
TO OWN. NOW
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT
OUT 3 DECEMBER / CERT 12 / 147 MINS
Ethan Hunt was never a character it was easy
to feel. He was a bit like Bond, with an obscured
backstory and little motivation other than
defeating this instalment’s new spy-villain,
yet lacking 007’s English gent idiosyncracies.
Sure, with J.J. Abrams’ Mission: Impossible 3,
he got a private life and an other half. But,
despite the ilm’s charms, it never quite sunk
in. So Mission: Impossible Fallout is a triumph
not only in the sense that it’s a stunt-driven,
practical-action masterpiece (all bow before
Christopher McQuarrie), but also because it
inally makes Hunt a character you properly
care about, with anxieties and internal conlicts
and laws. Tom Cruise shouldn’t just be lauded
for his ankle-breaking, chopper-piloting cojones,
but also for one of his inest performances in
years. One that’s somehow delivered while
perpetually on the move: emotion in motion,
if you like. DAN JOLIN
142 JANUARY 2019
PICK OF
THE MONTH
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
OUT 3 DECEMBER / CERT 18 / 118 MINS
Just dropped in to see what condition the edition
is in? Although the striking 4K picture quality will
probably be wasted on Dudeism’s bleary-eyed
worshippers, The Big Lebowski scrubs up well
in Ultra HD — and of course, that script remains
as sharp, and quotable, as ever. There aren’t
many ilms that can balance elements of stoner
comedy, detective noir and surrealist farce this
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES
OUT 3 DECEMBER / CERT 15 / 270 MINS
Let’s be absolutely clear: A Discovery Of Witches
is not, strictly speaking, good. A tropetacular tale
of witches, vampires, forbidden love and magical
books set in and around Oxford’s Bodleian library,
it plays out like a kind of Twilight for academics.
However, beneath all the smouldering glances and
earnest embraces there’s something strangely
compelling about this adaptation of Deborah
Harkness’ YA novels. It all starts when Theresa
Palmer’s reluctant witch stumbles across a long lost
grimoire stashed away among the Oxford stacks,
causing the city’s ‘creatures’ (an uneasy alliance of
witches, vampires and demons) to take an interest.
Among them is sexy, millennia-old vampire
Matthew (Matthew Goode), whose attentions
evolve into a supernatural romance that proves
more believable and compelling than a dozen Bella
and Edwards. Cheesy, daft and oh-so-very emo it
may be, but there’s a bewitching guilty pleasure
here for those of a mind to ind it. JAMES DYER
deftly, and it’s testament to the movie’s enduring
appeal that we’ve still not seen anything quite
like it in the two decades since The Dude irst had
his rug peed on — even the Coens themselves
can’t match it for character. Whether it’s your
irst time or your thousandth, there’s something
to be enjoyed anew every time, whether it be
a priceless Steve Buscemi line that gets stepped
on, a micro John Goodman freak-out or a
deliriously daft Jeff Bridges facial expression.
Truly, The Dude abides — here’s to the next
20 years, man. ALI GRAY
LOOK BACK IN ANGER
OUT 26 NOVEMBER / CERT PG / 98 MINS
Not to be confused with Oasis’ (arguably) most
famous song, this is a ierce ilm adaptation
of the 1956 play by John Osborne, the original
‘angry young man’ of British theatre, which
singlehandedly launched the ‘kitchen sink
realism’ movement. Richard Burton stars as
disaffected market stall confectioner Jimmy
Porter, who rages impotently against the
establishment machine, leaving the women
in his life (Claire Bloom, Mary Ure) reeling from
the cruelty and bitterness of his existential
disillusionment — or perhaps, when seen
through a more modern lens, his undiluted toxic
masculinity. Burton’s leonine performance makes
his American counterpart, Marlon Brando, seem
like The Mild One by comparison, and at times the
ilm seems incendiary enough to set your Blu-ray
player on ire. Yet Burton conveys Jimmy’s painful
vulnerability, too. A groundbreaking and important
ilm. DAVID HUGHES
 THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS
OUT 10 DECEMBER / CERT TBC / 98 MINS
You’ve never heard of The Magnificent
Ambersons? To paraphrase Alan Partridge,
it’s only the ilm Citizen Kane could have been.
There’s certainly a whiff of Dificult Second
Album to Orson Welles’ Kane follow-up, which
was famously beset by studio interference
(40 minutes of deleted scenes are lost to the
ages). But it is today correctly regarded as
a masterpiece, entirely worthy of rubbing
shoulders with the sled-loving billionaire, and
now inally given the Criterion treatment. At irst
glance a stuffy period piece about rich people,
it is in reality a lyrical and melancholy epic that
takes in romance, the meaning of family and
community, and the brutal, unstoppable march
of progress. Spanning generations at the eve
of the 20th century, it’s tied together by Welles’
grand, austere, narration — and his preternatural
eye for dazzling, innovative cinematography is
all there. JOHN NUGENT
BLACK ’47
OUT 26 DECEMBER / CERT 15 / 100 MINS
There are few revenge thrillers where someone
starts slashing and bludgeoning on behalf of
an entire nation. But that’s what director Lance
Daly has achieved here, making one vigilante
into a satisfying proxy for Anglo-Irish relations.
Feeney (James Frecheville) is an Irish veteran
of English wars who returns home amid the
Great Famine. His family have been starved
and evicted and, as one of the few remaining
able-bodied men, he sets out to get revenge
on the whole rotten system. It’s a simple and
largely predictable plot — the only wild card
is Hugo Weaving’s Hannah, Feeney’s former
commander — but it’s gripping all the same,
as Feeney works his way up from the corrupt
local enforcers to the landowners who see
people as chattel, at best. Like its hero, this isn’t
a subtle ilm, but there’s something immensely
satisfying in the sight of an oppressed people
Alamy
ighting back. HELEN O’HARA
BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE
OUT 10 DECEMBER / CERT 15 / 101 MINS
From the headscarves and halter-tops to
a dinner guest complimenting some “astonishing”
gazpacho, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is very
much a product of 1969. The directorial debut
of Paul Mazursky (Enemies: A Love Story, Down
And Out In Beverly Hills), this gentle social satire
captures the era of sexual liberation through the
eyes of four people in their thirties. Natalie Wood
and Robert Culp play the kind of couple you’d
be trying to avoid at a party — their trip to
a therapy camp has meant that feelings are the
only topic on the table — but they’re balanced
out nicely by Dyan Cannon’s straight-laced yet
likeable Alice and her husband Ted (Elliott
Gould). Mazursky, himself 39 at the time of
making the ilm, catches the air of cautious
promiscuity perfectly, guiding his foursome
through steamy territory with the sort of honest
humour and awkwardness that feels timeless
to this day. BETH WEBB
BLACKKKLANSMAN
OUT 26 DECEMBER / CERT TBC / 135 MINS
BlackKklansman, about an undercover black
cop iniltrating the Ku Klux Klan, is a mutt of
a ilm. Ron Stallworth, Colorado Springs’
irst African-American police oficer, wrote
a memoir about his exploits, and after a pair
of screenwriters (Charlie Wachtel and David
Rabinowitz) adapted it, it landed with Spike
Lee, who extensively rewrote it. Unevenness
permeates it. Fact blends with iction, broad
comedy sits, sometimes awkwardly, alongside
heavy drama, drastic creative licence is taken,
and Lee throws in all sorts of archive and
documentary footage. Yet despite the mammoth
mish-mash, it works — it is Lee’s angriest
ilm in years, the director brazenly on the
warpath, taking no prisoners. It’s a ilm that
can emotionally latten you — there is raw
power at play here, and if you don’t feel furious
when the credits roll, you might want to question
your life choices. ALEX GODFREY
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
OUT 3 DECEMBER / CERT 12 / 118 MINS
In a world where every superhero pic is bigger,
louder and, er, explode-ier than the one that
came before, here’s a sequel that proves a little
Marvel can go a long way. The ilm has been
knocked in some quarters for having relatively
small stakes, but we need to be saved from
superhero movies that want to save the world
— when a person can be just as important.
This is a story of family and friendship, with
an insanely charismatic cast — and still no
little spectacle: Wasp’s hotel-set ight and the
size-swapping car chase careering around San
Francisco are all-timers. I’d put them next to
any other action set-pieces this year. It’s like
spandex supremo Kevin Feige daydreamed,
“What if Peter Bogdanovich made a comic-book
movie?” — with rat-tat-tat comic exchanges
and ramshackle humanism, via the psychedelic
danger of the Quantum Realm. ‘What’s Up, Doc
(Strange)?’ NEV PIERCE
CHRISTOPHER ROBIN
OUT 10 DECEMBER / CERT PG / 104 MINS
There’s a deeply goofy moment towards
the end of Christopher Robin where, thanks
to the literal and metaphorical presence of
co-writer Simon Farnaby, Marc Forster’s
ilm feels like the Paddington knock-off it must
have been so tempting to make. And that
might have been very rewarding, in its own
way. Instead, Forster’s live-action Winnie-
the-Pooh sequel forges ahead in a different
direction. Shot like a Sundance release, this
often melancholy oddity follows a detached,
emotionally numb Christopher Robin (a winning
Ewan McGregor), having long since forgotten
the lessons imparted to him by Winnie-the-Pooh
and chums back at Hundred Acre Wood. When
Pooh and co reconnect with him, there’s plenty
of mirth to be made. But this is, at its core,
a bittersweet and often moving examination
of a man’s battle with depression. But, y’know,
for kids. CHRIS HEWITT
JANUARY 2019 143
 crossword competition

A49” SMART TV,

BLU-RAY PLAYER
AND COPY OF KIN

ACROSS DOWN
1 Christian who won an Oscar for The Fighter (4) 1 The former child star portrayed by Bette Davis in STARRING JACK REYNOR, Dennis Quaid,
3 Damien Chazelle’s great lunar leap (5,3) 1962 (4,4) Zoë Kravitz and James Franco, Kin sees Myles
9 “The hunt is on” ran the tagline for this 2008 2 Hugh Jackman in X-Men superhero guise (5) Truitt’s Eli, just 14 years old, drawn into the
C. Thomas Howell starrer (3,4) 4 In which John Leguizamo voiced Sid the sloth (3,3) world of dangerous crime after stumbling
10 The — Sanction (Clint Eastwood) (5) 5 Age that inspired an award-winning movie by Ken on the aftermath of a shootout and finding
11 She was, unforgettably, Roberta in The Railway Loach (5,7) a mysterious weapon which he promptly nabs.
Children (5,7) 6 Comic-book villain portrayed by Michael To complicate matters further, older brother
13 Kim Basinger went on the run with Jeff Bridges Fassbender, Ian McKellen etc (7) Jimmy (Reynor) is just out of prison, and with
in this 1987 release (6) 7 In which Ewan McGregor was cast as author a different set of villains on his trail. With a
15 Steve McQueen’s Chicago-set Lynda La Plante James Joyce (4) soundtrack from Mogwai, Kin is a slick thriller
update (6) 8 This was Frank Sinatra’s second outing as PI that blends sci-fi and action while also dealing
17 World champion wrestler/Drax The Destroyer (4,8) Tony Rome (4,2,6) with the complex bonds of family. To win a copy
20 — Of Wax (Paris Hilton) (5) 12 American — (Dylan O’Brien, Michael Keaton) (8) — and a huge telly and Blu-ray player to watch
21 Director whose ilms include Pariah and 14 A role for Gary Oldman to get his teeth into? (7) it on — crack the crossword, solve the anagram
Mudbound (3,4) 16 This title role brought Sir Ben Kingsley an Oscar (6) and text your answer to the number below.
22 This 2000 comedy involved an 1,800-mile 18 “Get ready for rush hour” ran the tagline for this
collegiate car caper (4,4) Keanu Reeves starrer (5) KIN IS OUT NOW ON DOWNLOAD, AND OUT ON
23 Need changes for a Beau Bridges ilm (4) 19 Superhero movie found amid Lost Horizon (4) 26 DECEMBER ON DVD AND BLU-RAY

COMPETITION ENDS 24 DECEMBER

HOW TO ENTER Take the letters from each coloured square and rearrange them to form the name of an actor, actress, director or character. Text ‘EMPIRE’
to 83070, followed by your answer, name and address (with a space between each element of your message!). Texts cost 50p plus standard operator costs.
Lines close at midnight, 24 December. Winners are selected at random. See below for terms and conditions.
DECEMBER ANSWERS ACROSS: 1 Coco, 3 The Alamo, 8 Amistad, 10 Twice, 11 In The Bedroom, 14 Ted, 16 Ashes, 17 Ash, 18 Austin Powers, 21
Hulce, 22 Daniels, 23 Festival, 24 Eyes. DOWN: 1 Chariots, 2 Clint, 4 Hud, 5 A Star Is Born, 6 Arizona, 7 Owen, 9 The Last Jedi, 12 Ethan, 13 This Is Us,
15 Douglas, 19 Enemy, 20 Chef, 22 D.O.A. ANAGRAM JOSH BROLIN

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: One entry per person. Texts cost 50p + standard network rate. Ask the bill payer’s permission before entering. Entries must be received before 25 December or will not be valid (but the cost of the text
may still be charged). One winner will be selected at random. Competition promoted by Bauer Consumer Media Limited t/a Empire (“Empire”). Empire’s choice of winner is final and no correspondence will be entered into in this
regard. The winner will be notified, by phone (on the number the text was sent), between seven and ten days after the competition ends. Empire will call the winner a maximum of three times and leave one message. If the winner
does not answer the phone or respond to the message within 14 days of the competition’s end, Empire will select another winner and the original winner will not win a prize. Entrants must be over 18, resident in the UK and not be
employed by Empire. The prize is non-negotiable with no cash alternative. Empire is not responsible for late delivery or unsatisfactory quality of the prize. Entrants agree to the collection of their personal data in accordance with
Empire’s privacy policy: http://www.bauerdatapromise.co.uk/. Winner’s personal details will be given to prize provider to arrange delivery of the prize. Bauer reserves the right to amend or cancel these terms or any aspect of the
competition (including the prize) at any time if required for reasons beyond its control. Any questions, please email empire@bauermedia.co.uk. Complaints will not be considered if made more than 30 days after the competition
ends. Winner’s details available on request (after the competition ends) by emailing empire@bauermedia.co.uk. For full Ts&Cs see http://www.bauerlegal.co.uk/competition-terms.html.

144 JANUARY 2019

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 MILLER’S CROSSING CHOSEN BY STEVE PEMBERTON
STEVE PEMBERTON: “One of my absolute
favourites is the Danny Boy sequence in
Miller’s Crossing. I remember seeing that
in the cinema at Notting Hill Gate and being
open-mouthed at the beauty of it, the audacity
of it, the use of music. That’s been a big
influence on me. I love allowing a piece of
music to score something. That sequence,
which is wordless, is perfect. It fits the
song from start to finish. It puts a smile
on my face, just thinking about it.”
INT. LEO’S HOUSE — NIGHT
Through billowing curtains, we track across a room
as two things play out on the soundtrack: ‘Danny
Boy’, by Frank Patterson, and the sounds of a violent
struggle. We come to rest on the body of Leo’s
bodyguard, freshly murdered, as an assassin walks
out of the room. A cigarette in the bodyguard’s
hand touches a newspaper, and sets it alight.
The assassin crosses to the front door, and opens
it to reveal a second assassin, holding two Tommy
guns. He hands one to the first assassin.
We next see the source of ‘Danny Boy’. A record on
Leo’s gramophone. Leo (Albert Finney) is sprawled
on his bed, in pyjamas, a paper across his lap.
146 JANUARY 2019
The hitmen walk up the stairs, Tommy guns lowered.
Leo puffs on a cigar, content. Then he notices
something amiss. A smell. He takes off his glasses
and looks at the floor. Smoke is slowly rising
through the floorboards.
The hitmen continue to climb the stairs.
Leo, thinking, looks at his bedside table. A gun
rests on it. He looks at his bedroom door.
The hitmen are now on the landing.
Leo, cigar in mouth and eyes fixed on the door,
sits up and places his feet into his slippers. He
stubs out the cigar in an ashtray.
The door bursts open. Leo grabs his gun and rolls
under the bed. The hitmen start firing their guns into
the floor, towards Leo, who fires his revolver once,
into the leg of the first assassin. He drops to the
floor, where Leo puts a second bullet into his head.
The other assassin turns and runs. Leo scrambles
out from under the bed, picks up the Tommy gun
from the fallen hitman, and sprints out of the
bedroom, across the corridor, dodging a burst of
gunfire. He races to the window, and throws the
Tommy gun out onto the ground below. We see
flames billowing from the downstairs window. Leo
climbs out of the window, onto the roof. We see
that the entire ground floor is ablaze. Leo swings
down off the roof, and drops onto the ground. He
picks up the Tommy gun, and walks backwards
until he can see the second assassin framed in the
upstairs window, cluelessly looking for his prey.
Leo fires up, bullets thudding into the back of the
second assassin, who fires his Tommy gun as a
reflex. Leo continues to fire. So does the assassin,
bullets slamming into the floor, into a painting on
the wall, into a chandelier. Leo continues to fire, his
Tommy gun blazing. Finally the assassin, body
riddled with lead, collapses.
Leo hears the squeal of tires. He turns to see a car
carrying two more goons, trying to make a quick
getaway. From the back seat, one goon fires
a Tommy gun at Leo. Leo returns fire in staccato
bursts. He follows the car down the driveway, firing
all the while. The goon’s bullets miraculously whizz
around Leo, but nothing hits.
But his do. We hear the breaking of glass, and then
the car swerves on the driveway, and into a tree.
Flames immediately leap up inside the vehicle.
Then it explodes.
Leo stands in the road, smoke rising from his gun.
He takes another cigar out of his dressing room
pocket and chews on it.