How do you wrangle a movie set packed with Channing Tatum and dozens of his actor friends playing high school classmates catching up, knocking a few back, reuniting with lost loves, reliving teenage hell, and experiencing the awesome-to-mortifying highlights of any class reunion? You “embrace the chaos,” says 10 Years director Jamie Linden ( Dear John ). “There were 15 28-year-old actors running rampant,” he explains in Movieline’s exclusive clip from the 10 Years DVD/Blu-ray, in stores today. “There wasn’t much of a way to keep control.” But Linden put the chaos to good use, filtering that ensemble energy into the film, which plays out over the course of one night as Jake (Tatum) comes face to face with the one that got away while his old classmates (Chris Pratt, Justin Long, Kate Mara, Oscar Isaac, Scott Porter, Brian Geraghty, Anthony Mackie, Max Minghella, Aaron Yoo, Lynn Collins, Ari Graynor) deal with their own drama. If you missed the indie pic in theaters, now’s a good time to catch up. Not only does it feature just about every single rising star of young Hollywood (in addition to the above: Jenna Dewan-Tatum , Aubrey Plaza, Nick Zano, Ron Livingston, and Rosario Dawson), it rounds out the year that marks Tatum’s graduation from heartthrob to legit thespian. Plus, there’s a lot of love between the cast evident onscreen and it features a karaoke after party in a dive bar called Pretzels, which exists in real life , and has 35-cent wing Tuesdays, so let’s all head there now mmkay? And for you Oscar Isaac fans (so, everyone): He plays guitar and sings. Prepare to swoon. Check out more behind the scenes clips on the 10 Years DVD/Blu-ray release, out today. RELATED: Jenna Dewan-Tatum on High School Reunion Indie ‘Ten Years’ And Life A Decade Ago: ‘I Was A Bit Naïve’ Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Kristen Stewart fans have undoubtedly waved a tearful good bye to the character that introduced her to most of her legions of admirers with the final Twilight installment, which opened to massive fanfare last month. While the saga may have been her longest running (and certainly highest paying) gig to date, few know that she vested a lot of time and heart into playing free-spirit Marylou in director Walter Salles’ On The Road , which opens Friday in limited release. Stewart committed to the role before she could legally drive and stuck with the project even as she rose to super-stardom courtesy of Bella and that band of Northwest vampires that captured the hearts and minds of many a tween, teen and beyond. In the film version of one of the most celebrated works of 20th Century American literature written by Jack Kerouac, Stewart plays the unconventional and racy Marylou, the former wife and still frequent lover of Dean Moriarty, a fast-talking charismatic with an insatiable libido. Dean and best friend Sal (Sam Riley), a young writer whose life is shaken after Dean’s arrival, take to the road. Marylou frequently accompanies Sal and Dean’s travels across the country in adventures fueled by sex, drugs and the pursuit of the ” It ” — a quest for understanding and personal fulfillment. [ Editor’s Note : Movieline spoke with Stewart who shared her thoughts on her character’s “hard love,” how she grew into Marylou and how this was the “biggest experience” she’s had on a set. This interview was first published in full during AFI Fest in early November where On The Road had its U.S. premiere. It is being re-published today ahead of its theatrical roll out starting this weekend via IFC Films. M.L. will publish interviews with On The Road co-star Garrett Hedlund and director Walter Salles later this week .] So what was your road to On the Road? I was 14 or 15 when I first met Walter Salles. I spoke to him when I was 17, I think I may have shot the first Twilight, I’m not sure — possibly I was about to go do it. At first I was talking about playing another part, so it’s been a long time coming. I don’t know how I was able to get around that kind of energy, but to convey that I loved this thing in the way [Walter Salles] does and as soon as you get around that energy it passes between you, nothing really needs to be said. I got the job on the spot, and I drove away just vibrating. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Plus I was very young, I wasn’t quite old enough for the part yet. When I read the book many years ago, I found it sprawling and didn’t seem to have elements that would make it translatable to the screen — at least I remember thinking that at the time. What did you think of the book when you first read it? I was reading it for school, so I had to read it. I did independent study when I was in high school. I remember, I took so long to read the book. All I had to do was read it and write a report, it wasn’t like I had to do an intensive study of the book, and it took me months and months — I was late. But, I think my teacher was OK with it because I think ultimately the paper was good. But, people say it’s different when you read it at different ages — but for me at the time, it was fun! At that age you start realizing you have a choice in who you surround yourself with. Up until that point, you’re just around circumstantially who you’re with — your family or whatever — but at that point you can start choose your family, and I’ve got a great family by the way. But I mean just the people you decide to surround yourself with. I don’t want to sound cliché, but people should pull something out of you that would otherwise remain unseen. And when I read the book I thought, ‘Gosh, I need to find people like that.’ I’m definitely not [my character, Marylou’s] type. As I continued reading it and got older, the weight of it started to mean more. I was totally enamored by the colors and the way he wrote it and jumped over words and how it read like a song. Then when I did the movie, to play a part like Marylou — she’s very vivid. She’s very colorful and interesting and on the periphery so you don’t know how and why she can do the things that she does. By the time it came to bringing it to life, I didn’t want to play just a crazy, wild sexy girl. I wanted to apply all the whys and get to know the people behind the characters. There’s a weight to it. It’s not easy to live a life like that. That’s what makes these people kind of remarkable. It’s a give and take. There’s no way to have this without pain, but they’re not frivolous, they can feel it… Marylou’s a forward thinking progressive soul, but she’s also surrounded by this situation with her ongoing yet ever-changing situation with her ex-husband, Dean, who is still an emotional roller coaster, both for himself and her. Did you ever judge her in respect to why she’d tolerate him for so long? No, I never had done so. I always wondered how she could take it. How deep is that well? How much can you give and how much can you let be taken from you? What I found about her is that she’s very unique to her time, but nowadays she’d be something else. Her capacity to see everyone’s flaws and appreciate them is really unbelievable. Any interview we did with anyone who was involved with them [before doing the movie] always said the same thing — that she was such a wonderful woman. She’s infectiously amazing. So, no I didn’t judge her. So then, how would you describe the relationship between your character, Marylou and Dean? They really are simpatico. It’s tumultuous. It’s hard to love like that. But they’re so in love with each other. You don’t know this from reading the book, but they stayed lovers until the end of his life. He kind of raised her and she always had a place in his heart, though I think the capacity was so enormous that there were also others in that heart, but she was at the center. And the same goes the other way around. I think they helped each other grow up and they raised each other. Undoubtedly some of your Twilight fans will be curious to see you doing something outside of Bella and this may be for many their first chance. How do you hope they’ll approach seeing this film? Well, I mean you just walk into a theater [laughs]… I think if I can have anything to do with just one person that would not have otherwise read On The Road, then that would be incredible and I’m very happy to be a part of that. I think that if you have any inclination of seeing this being a Twilight fan, I have to say I don’t have much control over the things that I choose because I do need to feel compelled to do the roles that I do. I very rarely tactfully think about my career and how people are going to perceive it and I think that’s what people appreciate and if that’s not the case, then it’s kind of like — um, that’s not going to go away. It’s a false thing. I think people will really like it and if you didn’t like the book, then don’t watch the movie. You know what I mean? However anyone wants to interpret it is all good with me. People describe On the Road as a “watershed moment” in American culture in that it upended the strict conservative culture that prevailed in the 1950s in the U.S. So from your perspective as a 20-something, how do you see it as relevant culturally today? I think this is a good time to see this story visually because most people can watch it and not be shocked by it as they might have before. Back then, it would have been so shocking to see people doing drugs and having sex that they wouldn’t have seen the spirit behind it — the message behind it would have been [diluted]. Though, maybe it would have been good because it would have forced people to look. But maybe they weren’t able to yet. There’s always going to be conflicting intuitions that might not even go together, but these are people who have the strength to be OK with people disagreeing. At that stage of your life, there’s so much ahead of you — at least it feels that way. The reach is so important even if something is unbeknownst to you, but you feel compelled to find out what it is… Don’t ignore it! At that age, it’s important to have a faith in feelings you can’t articulate because at some point you need to hold onto them. And these guys found a word for that, it’s the “It” and I don’t think that’s ever going to go away. So what is that ” It “? How would you describe the It? [Laughs] Trust me, we’ve talked about that so much… It’s the pearl. It’s that thing that makes your life bounce. I think if we knew it… I honestly think it’s an individual thing, but if something is funny to you and you’re alone you can smirk at it or whatever, but suddenly if you’re with a lot of people that also find it funny, you can be hysterically laughing. There’s something about life that you can’t completely describe. It also goes along with not ignoring that burn and going, ‘OK, I’m content right now to be smart and conservative and hold onto what I’ve got.’ I just think it’s important to keep going for it. How has your experience playing Marylou or in On the Road generally influenced your life professionally or personally? You said you’ve been a part of this project for a long time, so you’ve had quite a turn at experiencing this culture even as you took on other roles including, of course, Twilight . It was the most time I’ve ever spent feeling. Twilight was a good five years and was a very indulgent creative experience. [Most projects] are usually only about five weeks, three months or six months tops. But because I was attached to On the Road so long, the build up and pressure inside by the time we go there was just bigger than anything I’ve ever felt on a set. We had four weeks of proving that we were so thankful and happy to be there because we’re all fans of the book, but we had put in the work and we knew the purpose and the weight of it and how so important it is to so many people. It’s all to Walter [Salles’] credit, but if anything, what this has taught me is that if you stop thinking and just breathe through it, you’re such a better actor. You just have to put in the initial work and then not become too analytical because you have to trust that you’ve already done it all. So it’s opened me up in a way that’s appropriate to my age. I’m just a bit less inhibited. Just being able to not think so much before you speak is good. It has helped me in that way. It’s not being less shameful, it’s just being so much more unabashedly myself. I think that all started when I was 15. I can be around people and say what I think and have a conversation with a stranger and it’s all good. Follow Brian Brooks on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Early word among some insiders is that this year’s Sundance NEXT section may be the best yet, though hype has a tendency to take on momentum of its own. Still when it’s all said and done, some buzz titles may emerge from the section which is a spotlight on emerging talent. A first glimpse at one film that will premiere at next month’s festival, A Teacher bows today with the debut of its poster. [ Related: Sundance Film Festival Reveals 2013 U.S. & World Competition And NEXT Slate ] The simple image on the poster for A Teacher only hints at the drama, which may stir some controversy among audiences given the nature of its plot, described below: Diana (Lindsay Burdge), a young, attractive teacher at a suburban Texas high school, is well-liked by her students and colleagues. Her life seems to be following the status quo, but in reality she’s having a secret affair with her student Eric (Will Brittain). She confides in no one but him, reveling in the teenage terrain of sexting and backseat quickies. Even when the risk of discovery looms over their relationship, her investment in the fantasy remains stronger than reality. Unable to control herself, she heads down a reckless path of self-destruction. The subject of a teacher-student affair may be tabloid fodder, but writer/director Hannah Fidell resists sensationalism or the temptation to pathologize her protagonist. With bold vision, Fidell uses highly controlled pacing, silky camera movements, and a tense percussive sound aesthetic to free its narrative from the confines of convention, while a fascinating performance by Lindsay Burdge transports us into Diana’s head space, where her unabated obsession lives.
I have a fantasy that we will one day live in a world in which films that are obviously dripping with influences will no longer need to have titles. They’ll just be called ” Earthquake meets When Harry Met Sally ,” or ” The Godfather , but in space,” and filmgoers will be able to make split second decisions about seeing it without having to be advertised to. For instance, the upcoming British sci/fi horror film Storage 24 . Directed by Johannes Roberts and co-written by/starring Noel Clarke of Doctor Who fame, it has a couple who’ve just broken up meeting at a shared storage unit to divide their possessions. The meet ends in science fictional tragedy when a top secret British cargo plane crashes in London and its cargo, a scary-ass alien monster, escapes. The monster finds its way to the public storage facility in question where, so we assume, everyone inside is picked off one by one because that’s how extraterrestrial serial killers roll. The new red band trailer has just premiered, and while it does indeed suggest that Storage 24 is awesome, they could have done much more to guarantee my ass in the seat by simply calling it Die Hard + Alien + Storage Wars and forsaken the trailer altogether. See for yourself: Storage 24 is currently available on VOD, and hits theaters January 11. [ Source: i09 ] Follow Ross A. Lincoln on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings screenwriter Philippa Boyens is back for another romp in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth playground with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey , and she recently sat down with Movieline to talk about the fantasy novel’s adaptation to the screen. Boyens, who is Hobbit director (and co-writer) Peter Jackson’s foremost Tolkien expert — although Stephen Colbert would beg to differ — refers to the Middle Earth creator using the honorific “Professor” and her reverence and esteem for the author are just about as infectious (in a good way, naturally) as Gollum’s “Precious” ring. By the end of the interview, she had us referring to Tolkien as Professor too, as she discussed the changes and adaptations she and her writing partners made to the text, the sad story of Balin the Dwarf, why fans should be very, very excited for 2043, when the copyright runs out on Tolkien’s Middle-Earth compendium, The Silmarillion , and more. From a technical perspective, if you’re not going to have Smaug in this movie you need a secondary antagonist. How did you decide on Azog, and what resonance did he provide for you thematically? You hit the nail on the head because when we were first looking at this as a piece of storytelling, we wanted to get to the dragon. We did try getting to the dragon in one draft, actually. But you had to lose so much along the way. We also understood that the Necromancer is too ephemeral at this moment – too much of a shadowy character that’s not fully understood. It’s a great mystery story, but there’s a big problem because there’s no actual, physical enemy. And yet the dwarves had a very natural one and he was to be found. When Peter [Jackson] talks about taking this chance to tell more of the story, that was one of the pieces that we took — that and Moria. It’s the story of the great hatred between the orcs and the dwarves, where it came from and what was informing it. And, also, I mean, Azog the Defiler. What a great name! You kind of can’t beat that as a name. Balin is telling the story of Azog and the Battle at Moria at a point in the film. I have to be honest, I half expected him to say – I must take this back someday if I ever get the chance! “It will be mine!” It brings up the question of – well, obviously, Tolkien wrote these sequentially. You’re going the other way around. The temptation for prequelitis must have been overwhelming at times. That’s a great word. And no. But you do want some level of resonance because you know the truth is we did make Lord of the Rings first. The relationship between Gandalf and Galadriel is something I particularly loved doing. People forget that Cate Blanchett and Ian Mckellen were never in a single scene together except at the very, very end. Gandalf was fallen by the time the company got to Lothlorien. Yeah, and I think that moment – kids especially are gonna come to this and [ The Hobbit] is going to be their first introduction to Middle Earth and then they will receive the rest of the story as a sequel. And that moment where she says ‘Where is Gandalf for I very much desire to speak with him’ to the Fellowship and they have to tell her that he died is going to be incredibly powerful. So…yeah, a little bit of prequelitis. Just a smidge. And Balin. Seeing Balin’s tomb in Fellowship will have more resonance as well. After two more movies especially – And Ori! Little Ori is the one who wrote “drums, drums in the deep: they are coming.'” I think probably because we’ve done Lord of the Rings it wasn’t that hard. We had Gollum . This wasn’t Gollum that you meet for the first time. We knew him. We understood how to make that internal conflict he has with Smeagal work. We had Andy Serkis the actor. Why wouldn’t you use that? It’s the great gift. The fact that Gandalf disappears, we know where he goes and what he’s dealing with. It was interesting – a lot of pure Tolkien fans loved in Lord of the Rings that, instead of a piece of reportage, we actually followed Gandalf to Isengard. And [showed his] one-on-one with Saruman instead of merely having Gandalf tell everybody what he’s been up to at the Council of Elrond. We got to see it, and we get to do the same thing this time as he goes to Dol Godur.
Some Moviegoers were said to be hesitant to attend The Dark Knight Rises , but a number of people apparently made the trek over the weekend. The final installment in the Batman trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan grossed over $64 million over the weekend, landing atop the box office for a second week. Another holdover, Ice Age: Continental Drift took second over the weekend, grossing a cool $13.3 million. 1. The Dark Knight Rises Gross: $64,075,000 (Cume: $289,086,000) Screens: 4,404 (PSA: $14,549) Weeks: 2 (Change: – 60%) IMAX cashed in at $9 million over the weekend for a North American total of $38 million. The feature grossed $122.1 million overseas. 2. Ice Age: Continental Drift (3-D, Animated) Gross: $13,300,000 (Cume: $114,847,214) Screens: 3,869 (PSA: $3,438) Weeks: 3 (Change: -35%) Perhaps not a shocker, this is the top choice for families. 3. The Watch Gross: $13 million Screens: 3,168 (PSA: $4,104) New The Fox comedy only appealed to some moviegoers in its first weekend outing. 4. Step Up: Revolution (3-D) Gross: $11.8 million Screens: 2,567 (PSA: $4,597) New Also a so-so opening at best for this newcomer. With a production budget of $33 million this title has a ways to go to break even. 5. Ted Gross: $7,353,150 (Cume: $193,618,750) Screens: 3,129 (PSA: $2,350) Weeks: 5 (Change: – 27%) The R-rated comedy continues to attract crowds well into its release. 6. The Amazing Spider-Man (3-D) Gross: $6.8 million (Cume: $242,053,000) Screens: 3,160 (PSA: $2,152) Weeks: 4 (Change: – 38%) 7. Brave (3-D, Animated) Gross: $4,237,000 (Cume: $217,261,000) Screens: 2,551 (PSA: $1,661) Weeks: 6 (Change: -30%) 8. Magic Mike Gross: $2.58 million (Cume: $107,587,000) Screens: 2,075 (PSA: $1,243) Weeks: 5 (Change: – 40%) 9. Savages Gross: $1,753,360 (Cume: $43,898,930) Screens: 1,414 (PSA: $1,240) Weeks: 4 (Change: – 48%) 10. Moonrise Kingdom Gross: $1,387,359 (Cume: $38,396,927) Screens: 853 (PSA: $1,626) Weeks: 10 (Change: – 24%) The Wes Anderson-directed feature has had strong staying power and one of the summer’s strongest specialty releases.
That sound you hear is the cheering of hairy-footed Tolkien addicts everywhere. At 11:30 a.m. Monday morning, the lord of The Lord of the Rings franchise Peter Jackson confirmed via his Facebook page that The Hobbit would indeed be a trilogy. “It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made,” Jackson wrote. “Recently Fran [Walsh], Phil [Boyens] and I did just this when we watched for the first time an early cut of the first movie — and a large chunk of the second. We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life. All of which gave rise to a simple question: do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.'” “We know how much of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur will remain untold if we do not take this chance,” Jackson continued. “The richness of the story of The Hobbit , as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings , allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth.” You could almost hear trumpets sounding when Jackson added: “So, without further ado and on behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of “The Hobbit” films, I’d like to announce that two films will become three. It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, “a tale that grew in the telling.” Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
If you’re bored to death with Valentine’s Day, then you’re in luck, because we’ve got a mondolicious multitude of wild women this week on DVD and Blu-ray. Leading the pack are the sinful scissor sisters of Nude Nuns with Big Guns (2010), followed by the gorehound gals of The Human Centipede II (2011), the ’70s sexploitation sistas of Modus Operandi (2009), and the necromancer Nazis of The Devil’s Rock (2011). Also nude on DVD and Blu-ray, Amber Heard will give you a Heard-on when you take a double shot of her dairies in The Rum Diary (2011). More after the jump!
