You can see everything from a Romanian abortion drama ( Vegetarian Cannibal ) to a vulgar Dutch comedy where every other word is “cunt” ( New Kids Nitro ) at Fantastic Fest, but the bloody, still-beating excised heart of the festival is horror movies. Last year the horror category didn’t really come through for nudity, but this year we saw quite a few titles that mixed screams and skin in equal measure, and you can read all about them after the jump!
Fantastic Fest is already halfway done here in Austin, and Monday night the best of the fest were honored at the Fantastic Fest Awards . It’s the only awards ceremony in existence (certainly the only one we’ve heard of) where the winners have to chug a beer before they can accept their award…except for horror category judge Barbara Crampton , who chugged wine, and comedy judge Doug Benson, who smoked a bong. Two of this year’s big winners were also two of the most provocative and nudity-filled features of the entire festival: Sweeping the horror categories this year with awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director, AND Best Picture was Here Comes the Devil (2012), director Adri
Is it me or does Jim Carrey look like he’s dying a thousand deaths in the video below as he kills time on the set of Kick-Ass 2 in Toronto looking like the result of a night of passion between the Riddler’s mom and Sgt. Rock. That actually could be a good thing since stand-up comics, which Carrey was before he became an ac-tor , are great at converting humiliation and flop sweat into moments of brutal and dark comic brilliance — a tone that certainly worked for the first Kick-Ass movie. In the Matthew Vaughn-directed sequel, Carrey plays Colonel Stars, a former mob enforcer who, if the character remains true to the comic series, found religion and formed (with his brother, Lieutenant Stripes) Justice Forever, a superhero group that also included Night Bitch (Lindy Booth) and Insect Man (Robert Emms), who can both be seen with Carrey in the video. Aaron Johnson, who plays the green-suited title character is also on hand. In the John Romita Jr.-drawn, Mark Millar-written comic, Stars ends up in a showdown with Red Mist/The Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and his henchmen that does not turn out well. Photos of Carrey in his crime-fighting get-up were posted on SlashFilm.com . The site also linked to the below YouTube video from SuperHeroHype.com that depicts Carrey and his co-stars on the set. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter. Sources: SlashFilm.com ; SuperHeroHype.com
The new Universal Soldier picture, the latest in the series about genetically-modified supermen raging against their government creators, is a curious exercise in cognitive dissonance; here you have an action flick high on gory, bone-crunching slicing and dicing and kicking and punching — everything star and Ben Affleck doppelganger Scott Adkins ( Undisputed II and III ) can possibly do to evoke oohs and aahs in 3-D in the serious-faced, beefy fashion of his ’80s and ’90s predecessors — and yet director John Hyams didn’t sound completely delusional this week at Fantastic Fest when he said his UniSol fourquel was influenced by David Cronenberg, Michael Haneke, and (yes, I see it, kinda!) even art house provocateur Gaspar Noe. Stylistically these references are obvious, even if they add little to the overarching point of Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning 3D . Hyams opens with a neat, tricksy sequence that sets up the plot (and makes the best use of 3-D) through the first-person POV of family man John (Adkins); forced to watch as masked intruders murder his wife and child, we see through John’s eyes as he’s beaten to near-death, the only lasting clue left in his brain being the stone-faced mug of Jean-Claude Van Damme (reprising his role as veteran UniSol Luc Deveraux). When John comes to in a hospital recovery bed with nothing but the lingering memory of that night, he sets out to put the missing puzzle pieces together, which leads him to a strip club and a dancer (Mariah Bonner) who seems to know him. Meanwhile, an agent nicknamed The Plumber (Belarusian MMA fighter Andrei Arlovsky) is activated to wipe out his own kind but is re-educated by a swaggering, confident ex-UniSol ( Dolph Lundren ) bent on spreading the gospel of his boss — Van Damme as cult figure, not a crazy stretch — who seeks to build an army of disgruntled Unisols into raging against The Man. Few elements of the Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning script make much sense (John’s line of vengeance-logic; The Plumber’s proclivity for wearing his plumber uniform everywhere he goes ), and the film meanders through some interminably long, wannabe noir-ish plot stretches to set up reasons for its stars to brawl and, y’know, grow back severed body parts. But Hyams satisfies where it matters — in his slashing, limb-severing, body-pounding action, and the physically impressive Adkins, a stunt performer turned leading man. Saddled with the tough job of playing a vacant-eyed man-machine with no memories and a vague sense of self, Adkins at least comes alive when he’s in his element. (A seemingly seamless single-shot sequence — beautifully and brutally choreographed, though stitched together via subtle CG movie magic — is one for the highlight reel.) Notably, Adkins, Van Damme, and Lundgren turn in far more compelling work than they did in their last film together, Expendables 2 , though maybe that’s not saying much. Van Damme, gloriously off-kilter in that picture, is a study of coiled restraint in Oreo cookie Apocalypse Now face paint; Lundgren might be at his career best – again, perhaps not saying much. In the least, and most significantly, Day of Reckoning should propel British martial artist/stunt veteran Adkins out of the niche genre world — action cinema’s Adkins diet? Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning hits VOD October 25, followed by a theatrical run November 30. Read more from Fantastic Fest . Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The filmmaker-critic relationship has always been complex — as demonstrated last weekend with hearty debate and even more heartfelt punches in the epic Joe Swanberg – Devin Faraci throwdown, henceforth known as the Mumble in the Jungle — but Sunday night, Looper director Rian Johnson and journalist Aaron Hillis united in sweet synergy to drop a rousing rendition of Weird Al’s Kinks-meets- Star Wars classic “Yoda.” I wish I had a futuristic time machine to take us all back to relive the moment with our younger selves, but this YouTube video capturing the entire number should suffice. There’s a long history of karaoke at film festivals, but rarely does festival karaoke reach the heights of the legendary magical musical moments at Fantastic Fest. This year celebrity karaoke began with Mexican recording artist and actress Laura Caro ( who won Fantastic Fest’s award for Best Actress for Here Comes the Devil ), who blew the roof off the Alamo Drafthouse’s Highball singing her signature cover of “I Will Always Love You” — the song that got her on Mexico’s American Idol -like La Academia . Sunday night the entire visiting Looper crew got in on the action as Noah Segan (AKA Looper ‘s Kid Blue) dueted with film journalista Karina Longworth and Tracie Thoms , who sang on freaking Broadway , crooned The Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly.” And of course, yours truly got up there one or two times to sing a little something. When in Austin… Reward Johnson’s tremendous karaoke effort by checking out Looper , in theaters this Friday. [Video via Todd Gilchrist ; Photo credit Jack Plunkett] Read more from Fantastic Fest! Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Hey there, Skin fans! Skin Central is on the road in Austin, Texas this week reporting from the most fun and, yes, fantastic film festival this side of anywhere, Fantastic Fest! We’ll be bringing you reviews of exciting new movies like the provocative supernatural horror flick Here Comes the Devil (2012), neo-exploitation done right in Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman (2012), and the body modification horror of American Mary (2012), starring Katharine Isabelle and Vancouver burlesque star Tristan Risk and directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska (aka the Terror Twins) of Dead Hooker in a Trunk fame. We’ve also got an interview with outrageous Japanese director Noboru Iguchi (whose credits include Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead and Dead Sushi ), coverage of the Air Sex world championships, and more! We’ll be here all week, so stay tuned for more from Fantastic Fest in Austin right here on the Mr. Skin blog!
Hitman Joe ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt ) is confronted with his future self — in the form of a time-traveling Bruce Willis — in Rian Johnson’s Looper , the writer-director’s third feature and one of the freshest original science fiction tales in years. Before debuting the September 28 release at Fantastic Fest over the weekend, Johnson spoke with Movieline about the pre- Brick short script that gestated into Looper , the film’s dark streak and the 1970 soul ballad that serves as “the heart of the movie.” Take me back to the beginning – the idea for Looper began as a short story in your notebook around the time of Brick , right? Before I made Brick . It was a script for a short film, and it was a few years before we made Brick , during a time when we were spending all of our time looking for money to make Brick – Steve [Yedlin], my cinematographer, and I. We realized we were just driving ourselves crazy and to alleviate the pressure we decided to start making some shorts, and we made a few but this was one that I wrote but we never ended up shooting. What was the original seed of the idea that started it? It’s funny, at some point after the release I’m going to put the three-page script up on the internet but it started with the same voice over that the feature starts with. It explains the guy and his job, and when his older self shows up, it was a foot chase between the two of them across the city, then it ended when they caught up with each other. It has a similar ending to the feature which is why I don’t want to put it out too soon. I had been reading a ton of Philip K. Dick and was in a period when I had just discovered his books, so I think my brain was full of sci-fi ideas. Were you feeling super existential? I must have been going through one of those existential phases we all go through, continuously. The honest answer is it was ten years ago and I don’t exactly remember. Ten years ago I was 28. The quarter-life years or so. It’s true, my God. Now I’m going through an existential crisis, thanks a bunch! I’m sorry! One thing I like about the concept is that it’s so much about identity, our past selves, our future selves, how we see ourselves and the potential to change the future. And our relationship with this kind of character, our future self, our notion of what we’re going to turn into and our ideas of how our lives are going to go. That’s usually personified in your relationship with a mentor or parent, someone who’s indicative of a path you could take in life and whether you want to or not, that’s kind of the interesting question. I found the film to be quite romantic. Nice! And that was not something I was really expecting. That song you use, Chuck and Mac’s “Powerful Love,” is so beautiful and perfect. Isn’t it incredible? It’s such a beautiful song. I literally picked up blind, I think on vinyl on the Twinights [album]. Listening to that song just sticks, then the lyrics somehow attach themselves to the meaning of the whole thing and it ends up jamming in your head and it becomes a really obvious choice, you know? Actually, in pre-production I sent an mp3 of that song to Bruce [Willis] right when he signed on and told him this song is the heart of the movie, and he got really excited about it. I was listening to that song over and over while we were shooting it. That and a lot of Sam Cooke. A soul connection. I’m really happy that you felt that from the movie. There is a real deep heart of romance in the movie, and not just boy-girl romance but romance with a capital R. Love. Yeah – love in the sense that love can somehow fix things. I hope that that’s baked into it. As dark and as bleak as the movie can get at times, the reason I feel comfortable having it go there is I hope that it gets to a really hopeful and redemptive place at the end. Do you see Looper as dark and bleak? I think it goes to some pretty dark, bleak places and shows these characters, even the ones who are supposed to be good guys, doing some terrible things. I think it shows the dark side of everybody and gets to some spots where you wonder if it’s all going to be okay, but I hope it shows you that people can change and people can make decisions for the right reasons. I was really surprised to be crying as the credits rolled. Yes! I was trying to make you cry. That makes me really happy. My little sister cried! That’s what we were going for, that kind of rush of emotion at the end. Your films have been quite different, playing in different genres. When you decided Looper would be your next feature did you have any trepidation about tackling the time travel aspect knowing the geekosphere would scrutinize it? Well, yes – especially because I’m part of the geekosphere and I’m one of those guys. The thing is, I’ve never had time travel inconsistencies in a movie deny me the pleasure of enjoying a movie. For me those are two separate things. And that’s something I can’t understand. I can’t understand someone who says “I didn’t like that movie because that, that, and that…” For me it’s like, wow, that’s a cool movie with a well-told story that was awesome, and this didn’t make sense and that’s fun to dive into and pick apart. But every time travel movie that’s ever been made, if you really dig into it you’re going to hit bedrock where paradoxes kind of hit each other and it doesn’t make sense. The important thing is that the storytelling works and that it has a consistent set of rules that it plays fair by. But I was mostly terrified just because time travel is a tough thing to work into the fabric of a story. It’s a tough thing to put into a story and still have the whole thing tick – it can be like pouring grape jelly into a clockwork watch. It’s a messy ingredient that’s hard to tame. As your films have gotten bigger and your career has gone from indie to increasingly more mainstream audiences, how do you feel your trajectory has evolved? I guess the movies have gotten bigger, one by one – I still haven’t worked with a studio. Sony’s putting this out and have been awesome and I would love to work with a studio someday, but so far we’re doing each of these independently. I guess I’ve crept up in scale with each one, but at the end of the day they’re all motivated by the same thing; they all start with a story that I care about that I want to tell. It is fun to see how broad a canvas we can accomplish; even with the next step I think it would be really fun to do something bigger, working on a broader canvas and reaching a bigger audience. But it can never come from that place. It’s so much work to make a movie, and for me it has to get me off my butt. To get me actually writing you have to strike something inside, you have to hit a power main to get the energy. You have to strike something you care about. Have studios approached you a lot more in recent years with projects? Not so much after Brick – I got anything that was dark and had to do with high school. Not so much after Brothers Bloom . In the lead up to Looper there have been more people calling… but the thing that’s interesting to me is if this group, this little family that we have that we’ve made these movies with, can tell one of our stories on that scale – and that doesn’t just mean doing something, I think you have to be conscious of the size of the canvas that you’re working on, the amount of money you’re spending, and the audience you’re trying to reach and you have to adjust your storytelling. I think that’s part of your job as a storyteller. You mention this “family” of filmmakers and collaborators, from using Joseph Gordon-Levitt again to working with Nathan Johnson on the music. You named Noah Segan’s character after his own nickname. Even Joe’s character is named Joe. I was really lazy with these names! [Laughs] When it comes to working with this group of people again and again, how do you synthesize all this? Did you write these characters with their personalities or capabilities in mind? Their capabilities more than their personalities, their strengths. This is a unique case with Noah and Joe, but usually I don’t have any idea who’s going to play [my characters]. It’s not like when I’m writing these characters I’m picturing my friends. You’re creating a completely new character and hiring somebody to play to that and against it and shatter your expectations of what that character could be in some ways. With Joe for instance, the way that Joe loves transforming himself on film and the way that he loves disappearing into his role I knew was specifically suited to something where he was going to have to sell himself as a younger version of an older actor. And there’s just something about Noah that’s inherently likeable and I knew that’s a trait I wanted to shine through with this weird little pathetic villain character – I wanted there to be something where you could see the little boy in him who’s trying to be a cowboy. That’s the sort of thing you know from your friends that you can hopefully use to your advantage. How much do you think our world will be like the world of Looper by the year 2044? I think that our world will be much nicer. I’m an optimist, actually. I think everything’s going to get better. I think we’re evolving. Looper is in theaters Friday. Read more from Fantastic Fest! Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
It’s hard to say who really won, or if nobody won, or if everyone won last night when filmmaker Joe Swanberg ( LOL , Hannah Takes The Stairs ) and Badass Digest critic Devin Faraci took their creative differences to the boxing ring at the Fantastic Debates, an annual Fantastic Fest highlight that combines traditional debate with actual fisticuffs. Technically, their topic of debate was “Mumblecore is catshit and is giving a bad name to independent films,” though given Swanberg’s position as the micro-indie movement’s poster child, the fight got personal as soon as it began. Faraci had the audience going early with opening remarks (full transcript below) laced with pointed barbs that had the capacity crowd cheering. “[Mumblecore] is a bunch of middle class white kids whining about their ennui, about their middle class white lives in front of a camera, without a script, without good actors,” he proclaimed. “Here’s what you need to make a mumblecore movie: A sense of entitlement, white skin, and Greta Gerwig.” It’s safe to say Faraci’s anti-mumblecore attack/not-so-friendly roast had the support of the audience, but to his credit, Swanberg (who had no films in the fest and flew in for the debate) deftly countered. “True to form I haven’t prepared notes like Devin,” he began, turning the focus back on Faraci. “Maybe us mumblecore filmmakers are making movies from the heart that are connecting with you in a way that makes you a little bit uncomfortable.” Faraci nailed exactly what so many film-watchers dislike about mumblecore films — the unscripted, self-obsessed feeling of privileged white hipsterism that dominates them — but while he had the audience’s minds, Swanberg captured their hearts with the best counter-argument he could have used. “When you use your voice to try and squash people who are young, who are just coming up, who are figuring out the kind of filmmaker they want to be and the kinds of films they want to make,” said Swanberg, “all you’re doing is discouraging creative people from becoming who they are.” It was a passionate, personal, highly entertaining exchange of ideas and philosophies about film and filmmaking filled with complexities of the critic-artist relationship as old as time. And then they entered the ring. Although Faraci and Swanberg were preceded by dueling twin sister filmmakers Jen and Sylvia Soska ( American Mary ) who kicked each other while dressed as Mortal Kombat characters, and were followed by the night’s title card between Fantastic Fest founder Tim League and actual Tae Kwan Do Grandmaster/motivational speaker/ Miami Connection star Y.K. Kim, the critic-filmmaker bout was the best, and most alarming, of the night. Punches landed hard. Contact lenses were lost. In an event traditionally more tongue-in-cheek sideshow than serious fight, Faraci hit the mat but kept going for two rounds with Swanberg, who had director Ti West as his cornerman and wore a shirt that read “The Silver Bullet,” a nod to one of his own films and a symbolic weapon for taking down certain hirsute mythological creatures. What started out as a wildly entertaining exchange of barbs turned harrowing as the physical match wore on. But neither contender pulled any punches, at the podium or in the ring, Fantastic Fest got its best Debate in memory, and this morning Faraci and Swanberg’s intellectual bout is as much the talk of the fest as their knock-down rumble. In any case, the two bruisers made up after hours, somewhat , in true Fantastic Fest fashion. I guess that’s a win-win for everyone? Read the full transcript below. Devin Faraci: Joe, I really want to thank you for coming down to Austin, Texas to talk. I understand that last night you and your wife wanted to have some Chinese food, and Magnolia is now releasing that into 100 theaters next weekend. I’m here not because I hate Joe Swanberg – that’s just a plus – but because I love independent cinema. I love indie movies! They’re the beating heart of film. This is the best, the brightest, our greatest directors from Oscar Micheaux to Roger Corman to Dennis Hopper to Katherine Bigelow, Richard Linklater, Paul Thomas Anderson’s independent cinema. These are people without big means, these are people with big dreams, big visions – and usually, take note, a script. Even Cassavetes who didn’t have the scripts had these amazing actors, incredibly trained naturalistic actors whose qualifications were much more than just being willing to simulate sex onscreen with the director. You are the opposite of everything that’s great about indie film. It’s the laziest form of filmmaking. It’s a bunch of middle class white kids whining about their ennui, about their middle class white lives in front of a camera, without a script, without good actors. Here’s what you need to make a mumblecore movie: A sense of entitlement, white skin, and Greta Gerwig. To me, the word “core” at the end of mumblecore sounds like it should be something punk rock, something amazing, something edgy, instead of the blandest, most self-indulgent bullshit and only at the narcissists who make it. Your audience, pretty much, is you. Joe Swanberg: Well, true to form I haven’t prepared notes like Devin. I heard you use the word “lazy” just now yet also it seems to be the case that I’ve made more movies than almost any American filmmaker so that seems to be a contradiction. Additionally, if my audience is just me why do I make a living as a filmmaker and why do you seem to have seen so many of my films? Maybe you recognize yourself in those movies, Devin. Maybe us mumblecore filmmakers are making movies from the heart that are connecting with you in a way that makes you a little bit uncomfortable, possibly in your underpants area. Maybe they’re a little too familiar. Maybe the awkward fumblings of the sexual scenes hit a little too close to home, so rather than embrace these films you put up a wall of defense. I also heard you mention Roger Corman, another filmmaker who in his time was accused of being lazy, amateurish, sloppy, all these things – now he’s a hero of yours. Maybe you’ve got to give these mumblecore movies another 25 years before you see the true impact they make. Mostly, I’m out there doing it, Devin. I’m making movies. I’m getting my friends together with no money, we’re going out there and doing it, we’re putting ourselves on the line for shitheads like you to take cheap shots from behind your computer! There wouldn’t be a you without a me, Devin. Faraci: You’re right, you have made more films than most American filmmakers. Hitler killed more Jews than most other people. True, your early films were full of your heart, and your soul, and your dick, and then you moved past short subjects into longer movies. It is important that people keep making movies. I do agree that having no money should never be a roadblock for any filmmaker out there. Having no talent, that’s a whole other matter entirely. Swanberg: I’m going to ignore the cheap shots. You know, we both came of age in a really amazing time when the technology has allowed me to have a voice and the technology has allowed you to have a voice. And I think that, unfortunately, when you use your voice to try and squash people who are young, who are just coming up, who are figuring out the kind of filmmaker they want to be and the kinds of films they want to make, all you’re doing is discouraging creative people from becoming who they are. I think the next time you see a movie that you really hate, you might want to reflect on it for more than 25 minutes before you write a review. You write reviews faster than I make movies. Faraci: I do agree, I think that young filmmakers out there who are working hard should be supported, they should have places like Fantastic Fest to come and show the work they’re doing. It doesn’t mean that every single thought that they ever had has to become a 65-minute motion picture. At the end of the day I think making movies isn’t just about getting your friends together and turning a camera on. It’s about creating something that speaks to people, something that has a soul, something that has narrative. I think you need to have one of these things: amazing craft, amazing script, amazing actors. At this point, when Kevin Smith is beating you in all three of those, I don’t know what to say. But I do want to say, Joe, I do respect that you came down here. This is not easy, this is not your crowd. I think this was very big of you. And I look forward to punching you right in the face in a couple minutes. Swanberg: I don’t have much to say Devin, except that I’m going to be making a lot more films for the rest of my life, most of them you’ll be watching. I’ll never read another word you write. I think you’ve demonstrated an incredibly close-minded view of what cinema can be, by referencing just script, or just narrative, or just those things. I think you have a lot to learn. I’m excited for you to learn it. Mostly I’m excited to put the gloves on and beat the shit out of you. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
It’s not after every interview that you stand up to leave and then your subject drops a bomb that changes how you see them, but at Fantastic Fest anything goes. So I was amused when, after talking opening night selection Dredd 3D (in theaters nationwide on Friday), lower jaw acting, and Indiana Jones baby names with actor Karl Urban , he mentioned he’d read my stuff. “Even the one where you said I have no charisma,” he laughed. Mea culpa , Karl. Months ago I’d written my reaction to the very first Dredd 3D trailer. “With Urban set to never take off that Dredd mask in the film — and delivering lines like ‘I’m the law’ with no trace of Sly’s charisma — this feels like a precursor to the RoboCop reboot, only with less emotion,” I opined . (Technically I never said Urban himself lacked charisma, but still .) Later I caught the film’s world premiere screening at Comic-Con and was pleasantly surprised to see how the film, directed by Pete Travis from a script by Alex Garland, navigated my concerns with strong performances by its cast — including, yes, Urban and his Judge Dredd grimace. It turns out Urban not only is one charismatic dude in person (and onscreen, as his recent work as Bones in Star Trek attests quite plainly, and with his full face exposed!), he’s got quite the sense of humor. I offered to reconsider my stance if he gave Fantastic Fest karaoke a whirl following tonight’s Dredd 3D premiere, but the truth is in that moment I already had. So, for the record: Karl Urban — charisma for days. Karaoke skills — to be determined. Enjoy our chat below and stay tuned for more from Fantastic Fest! You’ve been in many geek-oriented properties but it was nice to see you dive into Comic-Con full on, and now Fantastic Fest, which is my favorite time of year. It’s good fun. I guess I only get to experience a small fraction of it. Well, you’ll experience it tonight when they take you to karaoke. [Laughs] Oh, no. That would be a bad move. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, there aren’t many musicals on my resume. That’s true! Why is that? Yeah, why is that? If you see me at karaoke you’ll find out why. Well — let’s jump into Dredd . Stallone’s version, which is quite different from your new one, came out 17 years ago. Where were you when it hit theaters? I was living in Auckland. And Judge Dredd as a character was dear to me. I read it as a kid. I responded to the sort of tough, enigmatic lawman who is essentially a Man With No Name Western archetype — The Man With No Face. Yes, essentially — an enigma in many ways, but defined by his actions. The character and the comics were something that I read, but I went along for the movie. As a fan of the comics how did you respond to the movie? I think that film was very much a product of its time. You know, the way that comic book adaptations were treated in the ‘90s is quite different from how they’re treated now, and tonally our films couldn’t me more different. We’re a lot grittier, a lot more realistic, a lot more futuristic and less sci-fi. And the character is actually quite different. Dredd in our movie is a bit more monolithic, he’s a bit more stoic. He’s a man of few words but he’s got a great dry sense of humor. I think he’s like a tightly-wound coil that is ready to leap forth at any given point, but the character is also compassionate — you can see that in when he chooses not to kill people. And there’s a wariness about him which also humanizes him. Essentially I think the biggest humanizing factor is that relationship with Anderson. That, to me, is the heart of the movie. In the beginning of the film Dredd is so consistent, and that consistency is one of his virtues — but over the course of the film he learns to be flexible, and learns to value life so much more. Exactly. That’s what I liked about it. The heart of this piece is this story of two people who get together, a senior cop and a rookie cop, they don’t like each other, they don’t particularly get on, and Dredd doesn’t think that she’s worthy of even wearing the uniform. But over the course of the film that changes, and I find that really interesting – for a guy who sees the world in such black and white terms and who often has to make a decision that results in life or death actions, to suddenly be confronted with the idea that he could actually be wrong about this person, I could be wrong about this situation… suddenly there’s this whole gray area and what happens in the story is a tiny crack in Dredd’s worldview. He does something at the end of this film that he would never do, that he would have difficulty explaining or justifying to anyone else, but he knows it’s the right thing to do. I found that to be so interesting in Dredd — so much of the film is filled with violence, and so much of the action looks “cool” as action movies do these days, but what I came away from the film was the feeling of the loss of life. It is, and it’s interesting that you should speak of that because I think it really does evoke a certain sadness. This is what humanity has degenerated into, and I think great science fiction films have that tone. Look at the sadness throughout Blade Runner ; it’s the same with Dredd , the state of humanity and often the choices that people within the film who live in Peach Trees [tenements], the choices they make. Alex Garland mentioned that he spent a while going back and forth on the script and that you added your own notes as well — how did that work out? It was a truly collaborative experience — one of the most collaborative experiences I’ve ever had. Alex, when he came onboard to write this, immediately contacted John Wagner, the creator of Dredd . A couple of months later Alex delivered a script and one of John’s few notes was, “Dredd says less.” So Alex in his next draft incorporated that note, cut down the dialogue, and we got to Cape Town. Three weeks before we’re shooting Alex and I sit down for a script meeting and I open up my page and Alex sees these lines that I’ve drawn through his dialogue. He looks at it quizzically and I say, “Look, I love this dialogue — but Dredd says less.” So from even there on we sat down and reduced it. I was lucky to be working with a writer who wasn’t precious, who could see the value in economy. And that’s one of the things in Dredd — the economy of movement, the economy of speech. That seems like it might be unusual for an actor to voluntarily reduce his own dialogue, but then you took on a role where most of your face is obscured. Was that a hard choice to make? Was there any hesitation knowing that people might only see your jaw? No, I guess I was blinded by the affinity I felt for the character. I didn’t really start this by approaching it from a perspective of fear, a how the fuck am I going to do this? It was just like, Okay, this is a challenge. What have I got to work with? Is there a secret to acting just with your jaw? Well it’s not actually just acting with your lower face. You’re using your voice and your physicality, how you do something. If you think about the massacre that occurs in this film, the loss of innocent life. At that juncture you can see a violent gear shift within Dredd and the way he treats Wood Harris’ character, the perp-prisoner, Dredd gets a little off the leash at that point and that’s an emotional response to what’s just gone on. That’s a good point. Can we also talk about the female characters in the mix? Lena [Headey] as the big boss is a wonderfully complex, ferocious character. The women in this film are bad ass. They are dominant and proactive and smart and scary and formidable. Lena is so compelling to watch, particularly to work with; she made choices that are so left-field and scary as a result. And of course Olivia does such an extraordinary job of bringing a humanity to this whole story; she’s a key way into Dredd, but she humanizes the story with her vulnerabilities and her insecurities and you see her grow — she becomes empowered, she becomes a tough and badass judge. You’ve been in Star Trek and comic book movies and, tell me if this is right — I read that you named one of your children after Indiana Jones? My wife, actually, had the dibs on that one. I got to name the first son. But we were watching Raiders of the Lost Ark and it was the scene where Marion’s been abducted by the Arab swordsman and she’s in the basket going, “Indy!” We were sitting on the couch like, Indy — let’s do that. So yeah, he’s named after a famous abduction. [Laughs] I go to him sometimes, “Doctor Jones!? Have you brushed your teeth, Doctor Jones?” And he loves it. His nickname is Jones. Given all that I’ve wondered if you’ve taken to messing with the media when it comes to Star Trek spoilers . Are you messing with us? No! I don’t believe I messed with you. I promised exclusive footage at Comic-Con, and I gave exclusive footage. I didn’t lie! Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Summit’s horror pic Sinister — about a writer ( Ethan Hawke ) who finds and obsesses over a box of creepy home movies in the attic — debuted a traditional first peek way back when, but a new redband trailer takes some exciting creative liberties with editing and its droning, mounting score. It’s almost like the Blow-Up of found footage horror!* This is just the kind of promo look that’ll stir awake the senses of those who (like me) took one look at Sinister and thought it looked a bit same-samey as all these Insidious Amityville Activities or whatever. I hope the entire movie was this experimental in form, but that might be asking a lot. Sinister , directed by Scott Derrickson and written by C. Robert Cargill, plays Fantastic Fest and hits theaters on October 5. * Don’t go getting any ideas, Hollywood.
