The creepy owl from Deliver Us From Evil as well as the movie shirt is now up for grabs with this giveaway. These collectibles were given out at the press interviews for the film, and I was given clearance to give them out to one lucky winner. If you haven’t seen the horror film, it’s definitely worth watching (especially for the final exorcism sequence), and the owl’s cameo appearance is one of Deliver Us From Evil’s scarier moments.
The shirt, fyi, has never been worn and is brand new.
**The Deadline to enter this Giveaway is Monday, July 14 at 8 pm pt. I will announce the winner on Facebook and my @DeepestDreamingtwitter account that evening. Good luck!!
‘Deliver Us From Evil’ Owl ready to put up on your nightstand 2 scare your loved ones!!
Released this week on Blu-ray and DVD, the horror film Afflicted (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 86 minutes, R) centers on two buddies (Derek Lee and Clif Prowse playing a pseudo version of themselves) who attempt to capture their around the world trek documentary style. It’s a once in a lifetime shot for the pair, and although their initial excursion to Europe literally starts off with a bang (Derek has a one night stand with a stranger), things take a turn for the worse. Although Derek has his share of health problems, his recent sexual interlude leads to a physical transformation neither he nor Clif could image.
Although it’s a found footage feature, Afflicted doesn’t resort to the same easy tricks of the well worn genre. The scares don’t come from the quick cut edits but rather in the gradual pacing of the storyline and what’s actually not shown on screen. Since co-directors Lee and Prowse are lifelong friends, placing themselves as the leads gives Afflicted an intriguingly personal tone amidst all the thriller elements (luckily, both filmmakers are pretty decent actors as well).
During our interview, I asked the filmmakers about the challenges of making Afflicted, a flick which received a slew of awards at Austin’s Fantastic Fest. I really loved the film, so to make a long post even longer, here’s my Q&A with the Derek Lee and Clif Prowse.
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Can you talk about bringing a human element to Afflicted amidst all the thriller/horror trappings?
Lee: Thank you for saying that because that’s really super important to us. We love doing genre movies. We love big fantasy, big action, big horror and all those things – but to us it all kind of falls flat unless you really identify with the characters. By its very nature, Afflicted was our way of saying, how do we make the vampire story incredibly personal and feel incredibly real?
The choice to go found footage, the choice to cast ourselves. To write a story on what it would be like for two buddies that you would go out drinking with (and witness them as they go) through this harrowing experience. If you didn’t connect with the main characters on a real human and visceral level with them, then why just make another vampire movie? We had no interest in doing that.
Derek Lee & Cliff Prowse in “Afflicted” (CBS Films)
How hard was it to make a film on just $2-300,000 and still make it a visually arresting film?
Prowse: Basically when we conceived of the idea, we knew as first time filmmakers, we weren’t going to get access to millions of dollars. We wanted to come up with an idea that we could do for money that we could raise ourselves. Once we came up with the idea of a vampire documentary, we thought, ‘great.’ Conceptually, we’re taking something that’s fantastical and then throwing a realistic lens on it and that’s going to create a story that we hadn’t seen before.
Because of that documentary style, we could execute that for $2-300,000. And then we wanted to have a small crew, but that was fine because we wanted to be able to travel around and move quickly and get shots in places that a full size crew never could.
The found footage conceit meant that we were shooting our action sequences basically just from one camera angle and we could use a lot of tricks to imply external action to make things seem bigger. We also didn’t have to get coverage (laughs). Once we have it in that one frame, we moved on. In terms of the limitations, once we came up with the concept, there weren’t too many times when we felt limited.
Do you see a parallel with the story’s plotline (traveling around the world for a year) and your own filmmaking journey with Afflicted?
Prowse: We’ve been reflecting a lot, now that the journey is done, on what a unique experience making this movie was. It was basically a small group of filmmakers making this. A lot of the times there were only 7 to 10 people. A lot of filmmakers don’t get the chance to make their first feature film, but we got the chance and got to fly to Europe and do it. You’re learning how to make a feature film with a bunch of your friends while traveling through Italy and Spain and France. It really was a dream come true. When you’re making a movie there is so much logistical and thinking that goes into it, that you don’t get a chance to think back and say ‘wow, we’re actually making a film in Europe.’
Lee: The parallel makes sense. It’s a year around the world and making a movie are both incredible commitments that are filled with many highs and many lows and a lot of hard work and an insane amount of fun. You come out the other end a changed filmmaker. We are better filmmakers, better friends with our crew and our cast. We could not have asked for a cooler first feature experience.
Afflicted (CBS Films)
It must have been great to win at Fantastic Fest, especially since horror audiences are a very discerning bunch.
Lee: That was exactly our trepidation going into Fantastic Fest and Midnight Madness in Toronto and Sitges out in Spain as well. We made this film that we thought, as you pointed out earlier, that was super personal, visceral, and fun for us. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to connect with everyone. It doesn’t mean it’s going to connect with people who love vampires and who love horror and probably watch ten times the number of horror films every year that Clif and I watch.
They are hardcore and will throw it back in your face if they didn’t like it. We thought that if we were lucky, we would get (something like) “hey not bad guys, great vampire film.” (But) to win Best Horror out of Fantastic Fest was a complete shock to the point where Clif and I left Austin before the awards ceremony because it hadn’t even occurred to us that we could win. We get this email (saying) “Where are you guys.” Well, we were in Vancouver, Canada. And they’re like “but you won the thing so you should come back and get your award.” It was a blindsiding but awesome experience to find out that we totally won this thing and were totally legitimized by people who really know what they’re talking about.
With easier access to digital cameras, are you seeing a new crop of filmmakers getting the chance to mount interesting films without having to worry about a big budget?
Lee: I think absolutely. We live in a really exciting time where – I mean we shot our entire movie on a Canon 5D, which is basically a $2500 camera, right? The visual polish of that camera – there is no barrier between having to convince the audience of “hey this is a real movie.” It looks very cinematic. We had a mobile editing station while we traveling throughout Europe and we were cutting the movie while we were on laptops. Your ability to create world class visuals and present that to the audience, the barrier to that is much, much lower now which is exciting because hopefully all that means is that it’s going to come down to your ability to tell good, compelling stories.
Prowse: I think the shift in the industry too where the middle ground film, the $10-50 million film, is a really rare beast these days. So you’re kind of either where we are, which is just starting and obscure and getting very little money, or you’re dealing with enough money to make whatever the hell you want because you’re making a $150 million where you can do everything in post (production) and CG.
There’s a whole bunch of filmmakers like us who grew up on Star Wars, The Matrix, Die Hard – these big movies that you can’t really make anymore so we have to find different access points. Smaller stories or clever stories in order to come back to the films we grew up on and got us to become filmmakers in the first place.
Where do you see your careers going forth post-Afflicted? Are you getting different offers for big budget films and are you taking in meetings for future projects?
Lee: We have been taking some of those meetings. We don’t know how legitimate they are (laughs). We don’t know if anyone is going to offer us a $150 million picture – but that would be nice to hear. We’re genre guys. We love horror. We love science fiction. We want to stay in that space for a while. It would take a pretty big push to get out of that space. I don’t Clif and I are necessarily thinking about what’s the budget – we’re thinking about what’s the right project and how much could we make it for. (Just) expanding our vocabulary and our relationship with our fans.
For our next film, one of the criteria is that we definitely don’t want to do a found footage film right away. We didn’t grow up on found footage. We’re naturally very cinematic – big soundtrack, big sound design. Everything you can’t use in found footage, we love. While it was really fun making Afflicted, we’re looking forward to proving ourselves with the non-found footage crowd. That to us, in and of itself, would be a goal for the next project.
Special features on the Afflicted Blu-ray included deleted scenes (one of the sequences contains an alternate confrontation between Derek and the woman who turned him) and a behind the scenes featurette which documents one of the film’s more challenging stunts.
Eric Bana plays NYPD officer Ralph Sarchie in Deliver Us From Evil, a supernatural thriller which is now playing nationwide. Based on Sarchie’s book Deliver Us From Evil: A New York Cop Investigates The Supernatural, the flick is a total nail-biter that’s buoyed by excellent work from Bana, Edgar Ramirez (who plays a priest), and Sean Harris (he’s one of the Bronx area denizens who’s possessed).
We sat down with Mr. Bana to talk about his latest film, which is directed by The Exorcism of Emily Rose filmmaker Scott Derrickson. Our Q&A with Bana is below:
How did you get involved with Deliver Us From Evil?
The script came to me and I really enjoyed it and was intrigued and I met with Scott (Derrickson) and we had a great conversation. That was it. I jumped on in. I thought it was a really well written piece with a fantastic character who happened to be in a horror film. I was really interested.
Were you attracted to the supernatural elements of the film, or did the story’s dramatic aspects hold your attention?
It’s a bit of a mixture. I liked the fact that the character was initially very skeptical because I thought it was better for the audience, particularly and potentially a lot scarier to follow someone who doesn’t believe in it at all and slowly he’s dragged into that world and forced to have to deal with it. I thought that was a better more interesting because ultimately I think that makes the film scarier in the end.
So do you believe in spirits after doing Deliver Us From Evil or is that a question that’s hard to fully answer?
I don’t think it’s that simple. We try and comfort ourselves by letting ourselves off the hook – you either believe in this stuff or you don’t. What I’ve learnt is there are a million shades between there and there and it’s just not that simple. This is really rare. It’s not like if you choose to believe ‘oh this s**t’s going down in my suburb’ you know what I mean? It’s not like that. It’s extremely rare, some of the stuff Ralph Sarchie came into contact with. So yeah I feel more knowledgeable about it than I did before and Scott knows so much about this subject matter both historically, culturally, and factually. So I really relied on him as a resource.
How close were your dealings with Ralph?
Everyday interaction. He was on set as our police adviser. That was his actual job on the movie. He was around in pre-production so we got to hang around together and spend time with him. I chose not to use Ralph for (the role) because it just didn’t feel like the right thing to do for me. I just wanted him to be himself and go about his business. I was always going to selfishly steal something from him anyway just by osmosis I guess. There are a couple of things I took away from him but in order for him to do that I needed him to just be himself and not just sit down and tell me stories for hours and hours. So I just kind of let him be and we got to know each other pretty well.
We both ride motorcycles and 90% of the time we’d just be talking about bikes and bike gangs and stuff like that. That was kind of our way of getting to know each other and we felt very comfortable around each other. We relied on him for all the police procedural stuff and the technical stuff on set and he was very good at that. So yeah that’s kind of how I approached it.
So Ralph did double duty for the film?
Yeah, like I said it was his job to walk us through all the police stuff and a lot of that stuff I (picked up) elements of other roles over the years when it comes to guns and procedures and stuff. But still there was specific stuff in the film that we needed to make sure that we were doing correctly and it was Ralph’s job to make sure we did that.
How long did that whole exorcism scene take to shoot?
That was our final week of production so as tricky as the shoot was with locations and weather and everything, we knew that we had this gift waiting for us at the very end which was this week long exorcism in the studio which was the only thing we shot in the studio actually.
We knew it was going to be hell and pretty full on and Scott gave us a lot of warning about that. It was insane. I think, I’m going to say four days, for that one scene.
When you’re performing the exorcism sequence in a fever pitch level, how hard was it to retain your energy throughout those several days?
I guess the carrot for me was a plane ticket home at the end of it. It is difficult, but it’s the same on any movie. There’s always a sequence that you know is going to be the toughest and sometimes you don’t know. Sometimes something comes up and it’s a lot harder than it’s going to be. Sometimes the sequence that you think are going to be really tough end up being quite easy. So you never really know what’s going to be hard.
I knew it was going to be really hard for Edgar Ramirez and Sean Harris because they had far more dense stuff to do in that scene than I did but it was still tough on all of us and we had to look out for each other and I’d look at Sean and go “Guys you need to unshackle him because he needs to go to the bathroom or he needs a drink because he’s so far gone right now.” It’s rest, you know. So we had to really look out for each other because everyone was up against it. We didn’t have a lot of time to get all of that stuff done. So yeah, it was very very intense. Most of the film was just a good laugh and a lot of fun. But not that week. That was a special week on its own. That was like a separate movie within the rest of the movie.
To hear the audio version of Eric Bana’s response, click on the Soundcloud bar below:
Where did you get your comedic nature? Is it in your DNA or did you receive training to hone that aspect of your craft?
I had a couple of uncles who were quite funny. (They) were smart asses, you know? I probably took after them a little bit, so no there is no training. I guess it’s how you see the world. I’ve always seen the world as a bunch of comedy sketches, that’s how I see everything everyday. That was my background in Australia was stand up comedy and a lot of sketch comedy. I was probably better at the sketch comedy than I was with the stand up comedy because I was a more prolific writer when it came to sketch comedy because that’s just how my brain works.
I see stuff every day that, to me, is a sketch. So yeah it wasn’t a training – obviously I learned a lot on the job. I did it for 12 years so in the end you learn a lot, but I didn’t go to school.
Would you ever consider returning to sketch comedy?
Probably never. I did so much sketch comedy on my own show over the years that I have no desire to do Saturday Night Live. When Funny People, the Adam Sandler movie came along, and I read that I was like, “Yeah I’ll do that.” If I found another comedy that I wanted to do, I’d do it. Most of the stuff I get sent is pretty dark and pretty serious. It’s not my fault! I don’t know, it’s just the way it’s worked out. I’m open to it. If the right thing came along, I would do it. Maybe I just need to write my own (comedy).
Even with years of acting experience, do you still get nervous before you embark on a project?
There’s a certain rhythm, there’s a certain pattern, there’s a certain predictability to a lot of productions. I can usually predict when someone’s going to be go through a difficult time. I can usually predict if someone’s behaving odd, I can work out the real reason it is. It’s not because of what you think it is, it’s just because they’re just really anxious about this scene. So you become better at predicting why things are happening.
But it doesn’t change the fact that every time you do it, it’s going to be a stretch. You’ve got to put yourself out there. You’re going to be more nervous on some days than others. You got to get out of your comfort zone so there are some things that are always going to be exposing. But there’s also a very large part of you that can predict when things are going to happen. Sometimes you do feel like a psychic producer. And also it’s different for (actors). We get to see everything. Most of the other departments tend to see just one thing. So as an actor, if you’re attuned to it, quite often you’ll see things that are happening and it’s like “Oh, I think I know what’s about to happen next.” I can see that this prop’s not going to work or this stunt’s not going to work or that thing’s not going to be ready like they said it would be.
Sometimes you have to sit back and (realize) there’s nothing you can do and then it happens and you go “Oh I kinda saw that coming.” But, like you said, that just comes from a lot of experience but that doesn’t change the day to day . Only sometimes I’ll say to the director – “Here’s what I think is going to happen tomorrow and it might be a problem for us.” But generally that’s not my job, do you know what I mean?
Do you have a favorite Christmas memory?
Christmas for us is summertime. But as a kid I guess just going to the beach. Going to someone’s house who had a swimming pool that was a big treat in summer. (Just) trying to stay cool because it’s so bloody hot, you know?
Any plans for the holidays?
No plans. It’s a long ways away. It’s middle of winter right now so the first thing we’ve go to do right now is survive the Australian winter.
The oft-used term “film gods” blessed the Boyhood production in manifold ways, and considering director Richard Linklater and his crew devoted over 12 years of their lives to this epic storyline, a bit of positive karma was thankfully part of that experience. A portion of that goodwill was also generated by America’s national pastime.
Boyhood centers on a boy named Mason (Ellar Coltrane) as he navigates his way through the pains and joys of childhood to eventually become an introspective and insightful teenager. His path is met with its share of heartache, which includes witnessing the failed relationships of his mom (Patricia Arquette) and the Peter Pan complex ridden behavior of his well intentioned dad (Ethan Hawke). Lorelei Linkater, the director’s daughter, plays Mason’s sister Samantha. Clocking in at 164 minutes, Linklater
Boyhood – (IFC Films)
During Boyhood’s press conference, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater talk about how a bit of luck and good timing aided the production. During one year, Hawke had to catch a plane right after shooting a bowling sequence in Boyhood, and if he missed the flight it would have led to horrible repercussions for another project he was working on.
For Linklater, he was more than thankful when he a Jason Lane homer (while Lane was with the Houston Astros) made it into Boyhood. That father and son baseball bonding moment was turned into a truly exciting turn of events thanks to that fortuitous Astros dinger.
“The biggest luck of all, in a lot of ways, was Lorelei and Ellar,” said Hawke. “Their contribution – we could have never predicted.”
Click on the media bar below to hear Linklater and Ethan Hawke talk about the “film gods” that blessed Boyhood (Arquette is also heard in the clip) .
Opening July 2, Tammy centers on Tammy Banks (Melissa McCarthy), a woman who attempts to break out of her small town life by hitting the road with her rowdy grandmother Pearl (Susan Sarandon). The film, penned by McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone, marks Falcone’s feature directing debut. The pair worked “for years” on the script, according to McCarthy.
Falcone approached directing with a grateful and positive manner. “The whole thing was a delight for me,” said the filmmaker. “It was great to work with Melissa – we worked together before. We got to spend a lot of time together and it was fun to literally work with everybody (in the film). Literally I can say at the end of every day I was honestly disappointed that the day was over and was hopeful that they would let us shoot tomorrow.”
During the Tammy press conference Falcone and McCarthy talked about how their Illinois background influenced the film (Falcone sees the film as a “love letter to Illinois”).
The Lunchbox is Ritesh Batra’s feature directing debut but don’t be fooled by the resume – it’s a refreshingly mature narrative from a storyteller with a distinct (and evocative) point of view. Batra left Bombay for 14 years before shooting The Lunchbox in 2012, and it’s his years away from home which gives this well etched tale a textured mix of sentimentality and heartache.
Ila (a luminous Nimrat Kaur) is a housewife whose neglectful husband seems to love his phone more than his spouse or daughter. It’s a family that doesn’t say much around the dinner table, and Ila attempts to woo her love back by putting her heart and soul into her cooking. Whether it’s using her grandmother’s old recipes or receiving sage culinary tips from her auntie (a hilarious Bharati Achrekar, who is not seen but heard, the story), Ila’s new dishes have a flavorful verve which should at least fill her husband’s stomach.
Irrfan Khan in “The Lunchbox” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Due to an error in Bombay’s lunchbox delivery service, Ila’s meals are sent to Saajan (Life of Pi’s Irrfan Khan), a lonely accountant on the verge of retirement. Upon first glance, Saajan is a total misanthrope, as he scolds the kids who play in front of his home and blatantly ignores Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a new employee who’s tasked with taking over Saajan’s position. He’s a loner through and through, and if he didn’t eat Ila’s delicious food, his life would be totally unappetizing.
But when Saajan tastes Ila’s food, a gradual revelation occurs, as he slowly begins to creep out of his shell. Though Ila realizes the lunchbox didn’t go to her husband, she lets the error continue, as she and Saajan share notes during these lunchtime exchanges. Their friendship, a rare occurrence in a city filled with strangers, gives The Lunchbox a slight fantastical touch (Ritesh Batra admits to sprinkling his film with magic realistic flourishes), but what grounds this film lies in its reality. We feel tragedy’s inevitable grasp take a hold on both of these lonelyhearts, and we can’t help but feel (and maybe empathize) over their respective plight.
Saajan, now in his autumnal years, merely wants to fade out of existence wherein Ila is trapped in a loveless union, wondering if life has also passed her by. Their exchange of ideas and dreams, all hidden within the guise of delicious sustenance, gives them a momentary window of hope and mutual acknowledgement.
The feature, grew out of Batra’s initial research into the Bombay lunchbox delivery service, gives viewers an insight into the city’s delirious hustle and bustle, where most denizens spend their lives on trains that take them to and from their jobs.
The Lunchbox (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
It’s a “lunchbox” style of existence which affects many of our lives, and we hope that Saajan and Ila break out of that mold, even if it means carving out a more fulfilling path on their own. Thankfully, the ambiguous ending (which I interpreted as extremely optimistic) lifts The Lunchbox to an even higher truth.
In life’s grand scheme, we have no idea where our train is going or when it’s going to stop. But with a bit of faith and courage, maybe we’ll end up in the right station.
Special Features: Aside from being a must see film, The Lunchbox Blu-ray edition also features audio commentary from writer/director Ritesh Batra. Much of the commentary has Batra focusing on the technical elements on the film (sound design, cinematography, editing), so it’s a worth a listen especially if you’re either a film geek or if directing peaks your interest.
Here’s a few facts about The Lunchbox that I learned from the commentary:
Batra wrote the film’s final voiceover (from actress Nimrat Kaur) after shooting wrapped. It was penned during the editing process.
The film was shot amidst the big city chaos of Bombay, so certain parts of the film’s dialogue needed a bit of ADR (looping) during the post-production process.
Two scenes from The Lunchbox were shot on a soundstage.
Ritesh Batra is a huge fan of the master shot (aka establishing scenes sans excessive cutting), and there’s a couple of these sequences in the film that you’ll hopefully love.
My favorite quote from the commentary has Batra detailing the difference between penning the script and going behind the camera: “When you are writing a film, the writing process (is) so much like the acting process – you are connected with your subconscious mind and you are making a lot of right decisions, because you are in the work or in that world. But when you’re directing a film, you’re concerned about everyone making the same film.”
“The Lunchbox” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, PG, 104 minutes) comes out on Digital and as a Blu-ray Combo Pack on July 1, 2014.
If you missed the series premiere of HBO’s The Leftovers, the episode is currently available on Yahoo! Screen through July 6. Based on the book by Tom Perotta (Little Children) and produced by Lost Emmy winner Damon Lindelof, the series centers on the denizens of a suburb named Mapleton.
Three years ago, a tragic global event nicknamed “The Sudden Departure” led to the disappearance of 2 percent of the population. The Leftovers deals with how a community handles the seeming good news when some of the missing persons return to their loved ones. Justin Theroux stars in the series as Kevin Garvey, a chief of police and father of two who tries to bring a bit of semblance into the town in the wake of this inexplicable and tragic event.
To catch the premiere episode of The Leftovers, head on over to Yahoo! Screen.
Roger Ebert‘s film reviews were more than just a collection of words strung together for mass consumption. As the documentary Life Itself attests, Ebert put his heart and soul into his work and the people he loved, and his passion for writing and film continued even throughout his declining health. Director Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters) was given full access to Ebert and his wife Chaz, and their decision to be as candid as possible gives Life Itself a very honest look at a loving relationship that perseveres through much hardship.
“I was really struck by (Roger’s) relationship with Chaz,” said James in his director’s statement. “They’ve always appeared to have a great marriage, but witnessing it up close, I really came to understand that she had been many things to Roger: his great love, the person who helped him find true happiness and contentment, and his rock through the many medical challenges of recent years.”
Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert – Life Itself (Magnolia Pictures, Photo: Kevin Horan)
During my interview with Chaz Ebert and Steve James, I asked Ebert how she developed her unfailing inner strength. For Chaz, much of those qualities came from growing up in a loving household. “When I have to give a short answer, I just say from love,” said Ebert. “Because I loved him so much. But it is more complicated than that. I grew up in a family where I was so supremely loved and I felt so secure in that love that – I have a tremendous capacity for love.”
To hear Chaz Ebert talk about her love for her faith and family, click on the media bar below (Steve James also chimes in with a humorous comment at the end of the clip):
Life Itself hits theaters, On Demand, and iTunes on July 4th. Interviewees on the documentary include filmmakers Martin Scorsese (who also executive produced the project), Ramin Bahrani (AtAny Price), Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line), and Werner Herzog (Fitzcaraldo). Critics Richard Corliss, Jonathan Rosenbaum, and A.O. Scott are also interviewed.
There have been a slew of negative reviews heaped on filmmaker Paul Haggis’ ambitious drama Third Person, but if you’re a fan of his intricately and labyrinthine structured narratives, this movie may be up your alley. Maria Bello is Theresa an attorney who represents a woman (an intentionally unhinged Mila Kunis) who’s desperately trying to regain visitation rights for her son.
On the outside, Theresa seemingly has everything together, but due to the loss of her own child, life will never be the same (to say the very least). Channeling Theresa’s inner struggles wasn’t a huge reach for Bello, as evidenced by her heartbreaking work with Michael Sheen in the 2010 feature Beautiful Boy. But real life also plays a part in an actor’s craft, and Bello’s own experience as a mother enabled her to empathize with Therasa’s unfathomable pain.
Maria Bello in “Third Person” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Although Bello joked at the Third Person press conference that she agreed to do the movie because Paul Haggis promised her a case of red wine, levity is few and far between in the drama. Tackling such weighty subjects as artistic integrity, parental love, and loss doesn’t offer much room for humor (although laughter at a press conference is always welcome).
Click on the media bar below to hear the actress talk about the aspects of love that is explored in Third Person:
It was also announced this week that the actress signed on to Big Driver, a Lifetime feature based on a novella by Stephen King. The plotline centers on a mystery writer (Bello) who seeks vengeance against a serial killer (Will Harris) who left her for dead with his other victims. Shooting starts this summer in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
This isn’t Bello’s first foray into King territory, as she starred with Johnny Depp, John Turturro, and Timothy Hutton in the highly underrated suspense thriller Secret Window. The flick contains one of Depp’s most eerie characterizations to date. Be warned, however; if you are a huge fan of eating corn, Secret Window may alter your culinary appetites.
Big Driver premieres this fall on Lifetime, and Third Person is now playing in select theaters.
Co-starring Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde, Adrien Brody, and James Franco, Third Person clocks in at 136 minutes, but I was completely immersed with Haggis’ story, so boredom never entered the equation.
If you’ve seen Third Person, tell me what you think and feel free to comment below!
The World Cup continues to remind fans all across the globe that winning and losing is a very ambiguous thing in soccer, and sometimes advancing (or surviving) a match guarantees your squad another shot at greatness. Bob Bradley’s quest to coach the Egyptian National Soccer team to a World Cup appearance may have fallen short of its goal, but their journey is no less compelling. The documentary We Must Go spotlights Bradley’s determination to lead his men to victory, and even amidst the throes of defeat he refused to give up the fight.
Below is my chat with We Must Go directors Dave LaMattina and Chad N. Walker. During the conversation, they discuss how the documentary started as a fish out of water tale and transformed into an even more sublime account of perseverance and faith. We Must Go is now available on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon. For more info, check out the doc’s official site.
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Can you talk about how you got access to Bob Bradley and members of the Egyptian National Soccer team?
LaMattina: We are fans of soccer and we have been fans of the U.S. soccer team for a long time so we first thought when we reached out to Bob, just based on his media persona, that he was not going to be very open and we would not have great access.
Bob actually proved to be extremely easy. Basically we emailed him and he called us right away and said if you’re interested, c’mon out to Egypt. Shooting in Egypt, on the other hand, is a much different story. Just in terms of getting into the country – there are a lot of forms to fill out and no matter what you do, every time you get into the country it’s a little bit different. You get detained in a different way. You get put into a lot of backrooms. And the football association itself was not as cooperative as we thought they would be. So access was something we were concerned about. It was always a challenge, but at the end of the day, largely because of Bob and the players we were able to get the access.
Walker: From the moment we got there, Bob was extremely gracious. (Just) coming right over to us, saying hi and introducing himself, and giving interviews that were so motivational that we felt like we wanted to run through a wall for him. He really was great right from day one.
“We Must Go” – Copper Pot Pictures
“We Must Go” centers on Bob Bradley and the Egyptian National Soccer team, but the documentary is also a universal story about perseverance.
LaMattina: Our approach was that we were always trying to tell Egypt’s story through the lens of soccer. Politics and soccer are so closely linked in Egypt that there is no way you can separate the two, so we had to make that part of our film. We are sports fans ourselves but as filmmakers we don’t necessarily look for sports stories – we look for stories that, like you said, capture perseverance or hope. If a non sports fan or even non soccer fan takes the time and sits down to watch We Must Go, we are pretty confident they will have the response that you did. It’s a story about perseverance and hope and coming together to beat the odds.
Were you even more impressed with Bradley after the team’s loss to Ghana?
LaMattina: At one moment during the interview, Bob says “We think it’s a very American ideal to say when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” But it’s something he shared with these players. They wanted to prove to the country that they were more than they showed in that first loss to Ghana and we were extremely impressed with Bob. And honestly Bob credits the players a lot for sticking around to fight out that last match with Ghana where they won 2-1, but I think as outsiders to the situation, we would say that without Bob there, they probably would have rolled over and died. It was Bob’s mentality and his fight and his dedication that made the team believe that they could win that game. I certainly, like Chad said, wanted to run through a wall for him after that speech.
Walker: In the film it was mentioned that the people in the country didn’t want Bob there anymore. And the fact that he wasn’t going to quit or leave wasn’t going to be seen as something that would be a popular decision. But he did it anyway. And ultimately, everyone loved him for it. When we were sitting in Ghana, after they lost 6-1, we were like “oh my God, what just happened.” But if anyone can rally this team to at least come out and play hard – it was Bob Bradley. And that’s what they did. They came out and played a great game. Unfortunately they didn’t score enough goals but they really fought hard and that’s a real credit to Bob and his coaching.
We Must Go also focuses on the political and social turmoil in Egypt. Can you talk about incorporating that important aspect to your documentary?
LaMattina: When we came to this film, it was September 2011 when Bob got the job. We came to the film thinking this would be a cool fish out of water story and it was, at that point, just a sports story to us. We never expected that we would include a family who lost a child at a riot at a soccer game. That’s crazy. When that happens you also can’t tell the story without sitting down with them…you can’t look at just Bob and really do that country justice.
Thankfully Dahlia and Yasmine really wanted their story to be told and they wanted Karim’s story to be told. You always have to overcome a little bit reticence from the Egyptian people when you’re a foreign camera crew only because it presents a threat to them from their own government. But they were open and honest and very courageous with us and we were lucky to sit down with them.
Walker: Right when we got to Egypt, I won’t speak for Dave, but the more I learned about Port Said, the more I realized that it can’t be just a fish out of water story. Everything thing is so tied together in a country where the two ruling parties are basically a religious group and the military. When you go to a game and you root for a team, you’re seen as rooting against one of the political groups, which is the military, and right then and there you have a political group owning a soccer team and basically beating up fans just for cheering for their own teams. It really is a powder keg that’s set to go off. I always say our forefathers were geniuses by the separation of church and state. Egypt, I think, is the reverse of that. They need to square that away.
Is soccer a sport that will only grow exponentially down the road?
LaMattina – I saw a crazy stat the other day that the U.S./Ghana game had higher ratings than any major league baseball game except for the world series and any NBA game except the finals. That’s a crazy stat to think about.
Walker: And it had twice as many as the last Stanley Cup game.
LaMattina: I’m a hockey fan, so that kills me. It’s really grown. Chad and I are in our early thirties and we both grew up playing the games but it’s not like we grew up watching premier league games on TV. My brother-in-law coaches at a high school level and all the kids he coaches all follow the premier league. They all watch the games on Saturday mornings. It’s great for the sport. The growth of the MLS has been amazing and you see a team like Sporting Kansas City that sells out all its game, and they’re adding another in New York. Our foreign friends always ask us, “do you think the U.S. will win a World Cup in our lifetime?” And I can’t imagine a world where we don’t win a World Cup. So yeah, I think it will continue to grow.
What were your respective takeaways from your experience shooting We Must Go?
LaMattina: One of the things I love about documentaries is that all the films we’ve done to this point and are continuing to develop, we get into because we love something about the story. So this one we loved the idea of Bob, an American coach, in Egypt. We then to dedicate two years of our life to telling that story. For us, our journey has been one that we hope we take our viewers on. For me, I certainly feel much more educated about Egypt and it’s also a little bit humbling because this is just one country and it’s one country we took two years of our lives to understand. Now we have a completely different perspective on that country, and whenever we do a documentary about anything, it’s the best learning experience we can ever have.
Walker: For me, it’s the power of youth. I feel like, particularly with Egypt and the revolution, everyone is fired up and this group in the middle like we talk about in the movie, it took them so far and now of course they’ve slid back a little bit. What I really love is there are truly intelligent youth out there like Yasmine – she says in the movie that she’s not talking about revolution or protest. Her journey is that she’s going to become a reporter, and that’s what it’s really going to take – these bright, youthful people, maybe to continue to protest but maybe to get into positions of power where they can make change. The corruption there is really embedded and it’s going to be a hard, uphill battle. It’s good to see people like Yasmine have their heads squarely on their shoulders and realize this is going to be a long fight.
So do you believe in spirits after doing Deliver Us From Evil or is that a question that’s hard to fully answer?
