Off The Wire: Golden Globes 2012
Posted on Monday January 16, 2012, 04:32 by James White in Off The Wire
So that was the Golden Globes 2012, then. Frankly, the experience of watching this year’s event was less one of blogging, more one of slogging.
Though everyone was wondering what wacky, insulting antics Ricky Gervais would get up to as host this year, it would appear that the Hollywood Foreign Press had actually found a way to insert a tiny poison bomb into Gervais’ leg, which they’d threatened to detonate if he strayed too far from the bounds of his cheeky chirpy, smug-for-pay persona. So we were treated to far fewer cracks at the expense of celebrities, and seemingly more at his bosses and NBC, the American network the show was on: "Tonight you get Britain's biggest comedian hosting the world's second biggest awards show on America's third biggest network. Sorry, it's fourth. For any of you don't know, the Golden Globes are just like the Oscars, but without all that esteem." And comparing the ceremonies again: "The Golden Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardash... Continue reading... Comment Now (7 comments)
Back To TopOff The Wire: James Cameron Talks Titanic 3D
Posted on Thursday November 10, 2011, 03:12 by James White in Off The Wire
 Titanic is coming back to our screens this April in a shiny, new 3D conversion. And like an approaching iceberg, there’s nothing you can do to stop it. But James Cameron, the man who wrangled the giant ship on to screens to huge success back in 1998, wants you to be happy with the idea of revisiting Rose, Jack and the rest. So he showed 18 minutes of 3D-retooled footage, and then took the stage at 20th Century Fox’s Zanuck screening room. for a round of his usual candid showmanship to explain why.
“We get to bring Titanic back to the big screen after having been gone for 15 years. There's a whole generation of people who have never seen the film in a movie theatre. I'm a strong believer in the theatrical experience in general, but specifically for this film. When people commit three hours plus a little bit of their lives to sit in a dark room and share this journey with these characters, they find that it's a very powerful, emotional experience a... Continue reading... Comment Now (16 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: Red State Of Mind - Part Seven
Posted on Sunday January 23, 2011, 20:23 by James White in Empire States
Empire attends Kevin Smith’s filmmaking Q&A series - Part Seven: Kyle Gallner
A veteran of films such as the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Haunting in Connecticut, and Jennifer's Body, plus cult detective drama Veronica Mars, Kyle Gallner has been acting for years, and appears in Red State as one of the three teenagers who fall into the clutches of the religiously terrifying Cooper clan.
Gallner, a native of Pennsylvania, got his start into acting at the age of 14/15. "My sister was a dancer and went to a performance arts camp and I had my first audition at an agency. I didn't even know what an agent was. It was kind of a snowball effect after that and when I hit 16/17, I finally decided it was what I wanted to do. New York's really hard. If you do Law & Order, you're kind of done," he laughed. Realising that his biggest chance at scoring movie work lay... Continue reading... Comment Now (1 comment)
Back To TopEmpire States: Red State Of Mind - Part Six
Posted on Sunday January 9, 2011, 19:24 by James White in Empire States
Empire attends Kevin Smith’s filmmaking Q&A series - Part Six: Kerry Bishé
Actress Kerry Bishe plays Cheyenne in Red State, a seemingly friendly, honest sort who turns out to be anything but.
Bishe is a native of New Jersey, and kicked off the Q&A (after recalling first meeting a bathrobe-clad Kevin Smith on set) with her idea on why people from the state – such as her Red State director – move into acting/filmmaking. "I actually have a theory about why people from New Jersey tend to be successful, like Meryl Streep,” she said. “I think we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder - New York is this big, beautiful, cultural city on a hill. A grew up in Montclair, and from my high school dining room you can see the city, but it's just out of reach and I think that gives people ambition."
After one of Kevin's typically filthy metaphors that had Kerry gi... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopEmpire States: Red State Of Mind - Part Five
Posted on Sunday January 9, 2011, 19:13 by James White in Empire States
 Empire attends Kevin Smith’s filmmaking Q&A series - Part Five: Michael Angarano
Described by Kevin Smith as "more or less the hero of the picture," Michael Angarano might be most familiar for his roles in the likes of Almost Famous, Sky High, Forbidden Kingdom, and, more recently, Gentleman Broncos.
From the off, Smith had Angarano rattle off some of his more famous co-stars, with the 23-year-old recalling working with Meryl Streep, Wes Craven, Angela Bassett and more. That, and "dozens" of commercials, and a role in New York's Radio City Hall Christmas show, which saw him playing Tiny Tim.
He also revealed that he simply can't cry in auditions, but mentioned that his father proved useful on that front by exposing him to The Deer Hunter, which gets to Angarano every time. In terms of rehearsals, he recalled working with Cameron Crowe on Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopEmpire States: Red State Of Mind - Part Four
Posted on Tuesday December 14, 2010, 17:35 by James White in Empire States
Empire attends Kevin Smith’s filmmaking Q&A series - Part Four: Nicholas Braun
Smith kicked off his interview with Braun by recalling that the 22-year-old actor had asked, once he got the role, if he could have a rat-tail hair extension for his character, dim bulb high schooler Billy Ray. He even sent am email with several pictures of the very hairstyle Smith himself once sported. "I wrote back to him, 'Nick, I actually had one of those...' He wrote back, 'How old are you?'"
Braun's background is in Disney's canon - he was Zach in Sky High, he has several guest appearances on Disney channel shows and TV movies under his belt, and before Red State arrives, he'll be seen in the Mouse House's Prom. "It's a good jumping off point," says Braun of his experience, while admitting that Disney keeps a tight hold on its kids.
Smith pointed out that Braun, despite his seemingly intimidatin... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopEmpire States: Red State Of Mind - Part Three
Posted on Monday December 13, 2010, 20:26 by James White in Empire States
Empire attends Kevin Smith’s filmmaking Q&A series - Part Three: Adam Druxman
Kevin Smith introduced the third segment of the Red State podcast club by addressing the inaccurate information about the film’s focus. “Some people have called it a satiric comedy or horror comedy and it's none of those things. I've been saying for three years it's a horror film. Nobody apparently believes me. The other thing people say is it's him giving to (homophobic preacher/funeral protester) Fred Phelps. Everyone gets it given to them, but it's not just the Phelps, it's everybody. Sounds a little cryptic, but the early scene in Red State with protestors at a young gay man's funeral is the closest we come to the real world. What I'm hoping to do is just slowly unveil the whole movie through the ears online, up to a certain point.
“Shooting a sequence like that looks easy, looks like you could go run and steal it anywhere, but it wasn't it was l... Continue reading... Comment Now (1 comment)
Back To TopEmpire States: Red State Of Mind - Part Two
Posted on Friday December 10, 2010, 17:29 by James White in Empire States
Empire attends Kevin Smith’s filmmaking Q&A series - Part Two: Deborah Aquila
Casting director Deb Aquila might not be the biggest household name in the film industry, but after working on more than 119 movies, her fingerprints are all over some of the most successful titles, ones that certainly appear on many cinemagoers’ favourite lists. The Shawshank Redemption? Primal Fear? Sex, Lies and Videotape? And she’s the woman who helped Catherine Hardwicke lock down the leads for Twilight.
For Red State, she wasn’t just a key component behind the camera, locking in the likes of Michael Angarano, Melissa Leo and Kyle Gallner, but also in front of it, making her first ever film appearance as an actress.
Aquila proved to be a hilarious and honest interviewee, spinning stories about her time in the industry and telling the true story about how she discovered Ed... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopEmpire States: Red State Of Mind - Part One
Posted on Friday December 10, 2010, 17:24 by James White in Empire States
Empire attends Kevin Smith’s filmmaking Q&A series - Part One: David Klein
Kevin Smith, a man whose name has been synonymous with indie filmmaking for years, is entering what could be described as the next act of his career. After making movies funded by studios and chafing against the restrictions, he’s going back to basics, scraping up the money to make his latest, horror move Red State, on his own terms. And while his career and recognition factor meant he didn’t have to max out any credit cards this time, he’s still taking a big risk and ploughing a lot into this new endeavour.
At the same time, he has extended his seemingly boundless yen for talking about his work and himself, building a network of podcasts featuring the filmmaker and his friends chewing the cud on all manner of subjects. In less than a year, he has a podcast show running every day of the week for free online, a labour of love that appears to be slowly t... Continue reading... Comment Now (3 comments)
Back To TopSmall Screen: The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye
Posted on Monday November 1, 2010, 05:00 by James White in Small Screen
 What happens when the closing credits roll on a zombie film and the survivors are left to fend for themselves in a land infested with the undead? It’s certainly an intriguing premise that a few films have tackled, but it took Robert Kirkman to really crack it with his ongoing (for seven years now!) comic book series The Walking Dead. Kirkman didn’t just want to follow the characters for a few days or weeks, or even months, but years after the initial outbreak. So while the comic initially attracted a lot of interest from filmmakers, it seems only natural for the story to be told on TV, where many more hours can be dedicated to following what happens. And committed horror fan Frank Darabont has held on to the idea like a dog with a bone for years, keeping the flame alive through an unsuccessful attempt to get the show up and running at US network NBC before finally locking in a deal with AMC, the channel behind such shows as Mad Men and Breaking Bad.
If you’ve never cracked open a... Continue reading... Comment Now (3 comments)
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