News

Embankment Films is setting out to make a mountain out of a molehill with their upcoming horror film. The production company that brought audiences Florian Zeller's The Father and The Son shared their excitement about their upcoming project, and more importantly, the actors that will lead viewers into their depraved new world. According to Deadline, Embankment Films announced a new horror film titled Molepeople, starring Anthony Ramos and Ben Mendelsohn.

In their announcement, Embankment Films described the plot as the story of one mans nightmarish descent into the abandoned tunnels beneath the streets of New York City, where a twisted society lurks. Host and The Boogeyman director Rob Savage is helming the movie, based on an original script from Succession's Nathan Elston. The powerhouse acting pair of Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Ramos and Emmy winner Mendelsohn will be audiences' guides in the film's exploration of what lies beneath the city.

"The New Look" on Apple TV+ explores the rivalry between Christian Dior and Coco Chanel after World War II's end. The series follows Dior's rise to fame and his impact on women's fashion, revolutionizing Paris as a fashion capital. The star-studded cast includes Ben Mendelsohn, Juliette Binoche, Maisie Williams, and John Malkovich.

Apple TV+’s The New Look chronicles iconic French fashion designer Christian Dior’s rise to fame following World War II and his rivalry with the legendary Coco Chanel. The Apple TV+ series is named after his first fashion collection, which was launched in 1947, three years after France was liberated from Nazi occupation. The first few episodes of The New Look focus on the four years of occupation and the different approaches Coco and Christian took to their work and survival at the time.

The New Look was created by Todd A. Kessler, best known for his work on The Sopranos.

From MCU mainstays to promising newcomers to its Oscar-winning star, the Captain Marvel cast is full of great actors playing beloved comic book characters. Set in 1995, Captain Marvel revolves around a fighter pilot named Carol Danvers, who gains superpowers but loses her memories after being imbued with the cosmic energy of an Infinity Stone. When she returns to Earth in pursuit of shape-shifting Skrulls, Carol starts to piece together her backstory to figure out what happened to her. Along the way, Carol encounters exciting new characters like Talos and familiar MCU icons like Agent Phil Coulson.

With a worldwide gross of over $1 billion (via Box Office Mojo), Captain Marvel became one of the MCU’s highest-grossing solo movies. It also received positive reviews from critics to match its commercial success. A big part of what made Captain Marvel a resounding hit was the work of its star-studded cast, who committed...

While much of the world was glued to CNN this week, trying to parse the terrifying consequences of a geopolitical situation that simmered for years, I turned to the movies.

No amount of breaking news can possibly convey the impact of Russian warmongering creeping into Ukrainian society, but the eerie and often heartbreaking ramifications come to life in Sergei Loznitsa’s satiric anthology “Donbass.” Valentyn Vasyanovych’s post-apocalyptic “Atlantis” is suddenly prescient for the way it conveys a bleak vision of Eastern Ukraine circa 2025, “one year after the war.” In Natalyz Vorozhbit’s “Bad Roads,” Donbas is explored as a series of tense exchanges between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainians at the mercy of propagandistic outbursts.

No matter how much Western media depicts it as coming out of nowhere, these stories track the gradual encroachment of Russian ideology that rooted across Ukraine in the buildup to Putin’s harrowing assault. The...

Former Warner Bros. marketing and communication exec Scott Rowe is unveiling his own shingle. Rowe has launched SRowe2000 Media, which will focus on strategic communication, public relations, crisis communications, and social media counsel and execution.

Initial clients include Premiere Digital, NATPE and a technology start-up set to be announced at a later date. He is also serving as a PR consultant to Eric Strong, who is running for LA County Sheriff. Rowe plans to continue his work in the entertainment industry as well as media, technology, conferences, start-ups, legal and personal development sectors.

Rowe spent 27 years at Warner Bros. in a wide range of roles. Before departing in 2021, he most recently served as senior vice president, communications & domestic marketing for Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Marketing. He managed media relations and communications for the studio’s worldwide television distribution businesses, including executives, marketing and strategic/crisis communications.

As part of the job,...

Film industry stalwart John Cronin has joined the likes of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Russell Boyd and producers Jill Robb and Patricia Lovell in being named The Society of Australian Cinema Pioneers’ National Cinema Pioneer of the Year.

Designed to recognise extraordinary achievements and contributions to the cinema industry, the 2020 award was presented in a ceremony in Adelaide on Sunday evening.

Cronin, who retired in 2017 after a more than 50 year career, tells If he is “delighted” to have received the honour, having been nominated twice previously.

“When I lost the last time, I began to think that I probably wouldn’t get nominated again,” he says.

“My wife, who passed away in July, always used to ask me why other people got awards and I didn’t, so I’m glad my friends got together to make this happen.

“It’s good that I’m able to put it on a bookcase in my living room,...

Les Arcs Film Festival’s Industry Village, one of the many events that switched to virtual due to the pandemic, has unveiled its award-winning projects, which include Delphine Girard’s “Most Alive,” Damien Manivel’s “Magdala” and Sabine Ehrl’s “Paradise Bleeding.”

The event has a stellar track record when it comes to unveiling projects that go on to premiere at prestigious festivals and win awards. Recent alumni include Alex Camilleri’s Malta-set movie “Luzzu,” which will compete at this year’s Sundance, as well as Charlene Favier’s “Slalom,” which was part of Cannes 2020’s Official Selection, and just won the Lumieres Award in France for best female newcomer award (for Noée Abita).

“Paradise Bleeding” was one of the eight projects pitched as part of the Talent Village, a development workshop and platform for emerging talent launched by Les Arcs in 2018. The project won the T Port-Award from a jury comprising producer Florence Gastaud,...

Filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar is excitedly looking forward to the audience reaction to his latest effort.

Bejoy Nambiar's upcoming project, the revenge drama "Taish", releases on Thursday in the form of a feature film as well as web series. This is an unprecedented experiment in Indian showbiz.

"With every new release, the count of butterflies in my stomach increases, and right now I feel tensed, eager to know what the audience feels. There is a sense of double pressure because we are releasing 'Taish' in two formats, as a full-length feature film and as a web series. Both formats have their target audience. Having said that, there is relief because there is no weekend collection and box office pressure," the filmmaker told Ians.

"Also, in the film we have tried to touch upon a topic that hasn't been done in films before, so I am interested to know how people connect with it,...

It’s a Thursday afternoon in December, and on the big screen at the Sony scoring stage, swords are flashing, arrows are flying and soldiers in ancient Chinese garb are spinning in midair.

Composer Harry Gregson-Williams is conducting a 90-piece orchestra in his score for Disney’s “Mulan” (currently available on Disney Plus), the live-action remake of the 1998 animated classic about a girl who disguises herself as a man to take the place of her ailing father in battle. “Brass, mezzo forte at bar 103,” he says just before a take. “Lots of energy! Tense buttocks!” he adds, to the laughter of musicians.

The lights dim, the red recording light is illuminated, and for three minutes the stage echoes with the sounds of pounding percussion, screaming brass and fast-moving string figures. Cue 8M37, “The Emperor Is Taken,” is in the can, and director Niki Caro pronounces it “amazing.”

Three months later,...

Exclusive: New York’s Irish Repertory Theatre has announced an upcoming online run of four plays, becoming what could be Off Broadway’s first summer season created specifically for virtual viewing. Included in the line-up is the world premiere of Darren Murphy’s short play The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, with characters affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Like all Broadway and most Off Broadway theaters, Irish Rep is under shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly all New York venues have been dark since mid-March.

Announced today by artistic director Charlotte Moore and producing director Ciarán O’Reilly, Irish Rep’s first online summer season will feature three of the company’s more popular recent productions reimagined for the screen and filmed remotely – Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom, The Weir and Love, Noël: The Songs and Letters of Noël Coward – as well as the world premiere of Darren Murphy...

Over the decades, a diverse array of musicians sat in with the Grateful Dead — everyone from Bob Dylan and Neil Young to Ornette Coleman and Daryl Hall and John Oates found themselves on the same stage with the band, attempting to fit in as best they could. But even in light of that list, Clarence Clemons remains one of their more surprising jam pals.

When the E Street Band went on hiatus at the end of the Eighties, Clemons, who by then had moved to the Bay Area, went in...

The final trailer for Disney’s remake of “Mulan” arrived just before Super Bowl Liv kicked off, and it offers a closer look at the reimagined villains that the Chinese heroine — played by Liu Yifei — will face off against.

In the trailer, we see Jason Scott Lee play Bori Khan, a Hun leader like the vicious Shan Yu from the original Disney animated film. But for this new villain, his invasion is far more personal, promising to take the Imperial City to avenge his father’s death. Alongside him is Xian Lang, played by legendary Chinese actress Gong Li. She is a shapeshifting witch pledged to fight alongside Bori Khan, and who tells Mulan that she will “die pretending to be something you are not.”

The trailer also shows Tzi Ma as Mulan’s father Hua Zhou, who discovers that his daughter has run off to take his place when...

Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn and his British writer wife Emma Forrest are divorcing after four and a half years of marriage.

Forrest, 40, filed for divorce on Dec. 23 — one week after Mendelsohn’s latest film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, hit theaters, TMZ reports.

The couple married in June 2012 — but separated on Dec. 1 due to “irreconcilable differences,” E! News reports.

She’s seeking physical custody of their 3-year-old daughter Carolina, as well as spousal support, E! News reports. Mendelsohn, 47, would have visitation rights and joint legal custody and would be responsible to pay attorney fees and costs, according to her request.

.

Spectrum Films has moved into its new home at Fox Studios after a raft of key appointments..

The new site on the second floor of the Frank Hurley Building at Fox Studios Australia is now operational..

With Adam Scott now a partner in the business working in tandem with Josh Pomeranz, Spectrum Films "3.0" offers refined technical services including edit suites, online picture finishing, colour grading and a custom built sound mixing theatre, as well as sound design, editing and post sound management.

The new post facility will be looked after by recently appointed post producer, Catherine Armstrong, and head of sound, Angus Robertson.

Armstrong, whose credits include Please Like Me, Tanna, Dance Academy, Underbelly and Paper giants: Magzine Wars, had previously worked at SoundFirm for almost two years as post producer.

Robertson's credits include Dead Calm, The Year My Voice Broke and Black Robe, as well as his more...

Angust Robertson.

.

Award winning sound post producer Angus Robertson will join Spectrum Films as head of sound.

With more than 31 years. experience across all areas of sound post production, Angus has been involved in 147 feature films and over 300 hours of television. .

Robertson's credits include Dead Calm, The Year My Voice Broke and Black Robe, as well as his more recent work as part of the 2016 Oscar winning sound team on Mad Max: Fury Road.

He has also worked on Truth, The Railway Man, Australia, Happy Feet, The Great Gatsby, The Sapphires, Lord of the Rings, Babe, The Adventures of Priscilla — Queen of the Desert and Little Fish.

Commencing his career at Sound on Film, Robertson managed and operated the Adr and Foley Stage for Spectrum Films from the mid 1980s. .

Since then he has both freelanced as a sound supervisor, editor, recording engineer and mixer. .

In 2007, Robertson joined Deluxe Australia...

Sir, I'm going to be smoking here," Ben Mendelsohn says, brandishing his cigarette carton at a fellow diner on the less-than-roomy terrace. "Just, you know, Fyi." It's a Saturday morning, and he's sitting out back of a neighborhood patisserie in tranquil west London, the sort of quirky-decor joint that would be rejected by Wes Anderson for being a little too Wes Anderson-ish. Anyone who's seen the 46-year-old Australian actor on screen, where he's portrayed assorted cads, slimeballs and psychos with unsettling intensity, would probably be more likely to tell...

For many viewers, Ben Mendelsohn will probably be the surprise breakout star of Netflix's "Bloodline," as the Australian actor regularly steals scenes the likes of Emmy winner Kyle Chander, multiple Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz, Oscar winner Sissy Spacek, and Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard. But then there will be another subset of viewers who have followed Mendelsohn's career since "The Year My Voice Broke" or the recent career explosion prompted by "Animal Kingdom," which has included roles in "The Dark Knight Rises," "Killing Them Softly" or "The Place Beyond the Pines." For those fans, Mendelsohn is an award-winning character actor with a resumé that can stack up against anybody in the "Bloodline" cast. It's all a matter of perspective. Mendelsohn's credits are filled with ne'er-do-wells, black sheep and shady characters of ill-repute and Danny Rayburn, his character on "Bloodline," is no exception. In Mendelsohn's hands, Danny is also charming,...

Last year The Horror Channel premiered Simon Rumley’s stunning piece of award-winning cinema, The Living And The Dead and this month they are giving his equally astonishing and controversial movie Red White And Blue its UK TV premiere. Set in Austin, Texas, this dark love story follows the disaffected and promiscuous Erica (Amanda Fuller ) as she sleeps with a series of nameless men, until she is befriended by Nate (Noah Taylor), an ex-Iraq war veteran with a sociopathic streak. Nate, seems interested in Erica for more than just sex – but when one of her previous partners, hard-rocking mamma’s boy Franki (Marc Senter) resurfaces, Erica’s actions come back to haunt her, leading to a terrifying climax which has shocked audiences worldwide.

Rumley talks about his deeply shocking yet tenderly moving film, what it was like shooting the movie in America and why distributors are confounded by his work.

The actor on being an Australian in Brighton, his love of country and western and being mistaken for Prince

Hi, Noah! What's it like in Belfast?

I'm in Brighton. (1)

Ah sorry. For the surfing?

Not all Aussies surf. But a few reckless types do here. You can get waves off the ruins of the old west pier, where the steel girders stick out.

You've lived over here for ages.

Almost 17 years. I still call Australia home but I'm used to English life. And in a way Australia feels quite foreign to me now, both in an exotic sense but also when you've been away from somewhere for a long time, it's not so much that the place has changed but it's a different era. You're nostalgic for that.

You're a patron (2) of this year's Australian film festival. What do your duties involve?

Not much, really, to tell you the truth.

[Editor's Note: Melanie Lynskey Guest Blogging Continues!]

So, the movie Lawless came out last night. I don't know a whole lot about westerns, but I do know this movie is filled with great actors. Including, one of my absolute, all-time, favourite actors, Noah Taylor.

I remember so clearly the first time I saw Noah Taylor in a movie. I was 16, and I saw the movie Flirting, and that was it. I was in love. I loved his face, I loved the way he walked. I loved his voice and the little lisp in it. I loved the way he looked at Thandie Newton so shyly but so directly at the same time. There was such a lovely, innocent quality to him, but underneath it was something really powerful. He was sexy in a very unexpected way. There's a little edge to him and he's so funny in that movie. I went on a Noah Taylor rampage. I...

Harold Hopkins, who appeared in several important Australian movies including Gallipoli (right), The Year My Voice Broke, Don's Party, and The Club, died yesterday, Dec. 10, at Neringah Private Hospital in Wahroonga, north Sydney. According to reports, his death was caused by the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.

Hopkins, who was 67, is supposed to have been exposed to the cancer right after finishing high school, while working as an apprentice carpenter sheeting asbestos in Queensland in the early 1960s.

Following on the footsteps of his twin brother John, Harold Hopkins (born on March 6, 1944, in Toowoomba, Queensland) graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1967. He then performed onstage and began his feature-film career in 1969, landing a supporting part in Michael Powell's Age of Consent, starring James Mason and Helen Mirren.

Film roles were sporadic throughout the 1970s — among those was an appearance in Bruce Beresford's comedy-drama Don's Party — though Hopkins...

Red White and Blue deals with some very tough issues, how did the script come together?

Well, it’s something that goes back to when I was touring with The Living and The Dead, I went to a lot of festivals around the world and spoke to a lot of people and read a lot of reviews, and I liked that idea that people thought it was more horrific than any horror film, but they didn’t think it was a horror film. I liked that duality, the emotional reaction that engendered in people. I also liked the idea of doing a film which was disturbing rather than out and out scary.

So I started looking at subject matter for my next film and I’d read about a woman in Tokyo who’d slept with a Japanese policeman and been infected with HIV and then decided to get her...

Henning Ohlenbusch has more than just one of the most awesome names in contemporary music. He also now has a full-length album of songs inspired by movies. It's quite the spectrum, too -- Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Straight Story, Amélie, Joe Versus the Volcano, Logan's Run, Meatballs, The Year My Voice Broke, Superbad and, in an irresistible effort you can hear after the jump, a folk song inspired by that mellow, soothing cinematic bromide known as Poltergeist.

Submarine is an easy film to love and the 1st of August sees the film’s release on DVD and Blu-ray so what better time to sit down with its director Richard Ayoade, eh?

Ayoade’s debut feature is a confident and beautiful film which brings Joe Dunthorne’s novel to the big screen in great style. Craig Roberts, in particular, stands out as he embodies our lovestruck narrator Oliver Tate as he navigates and exaggerates his first love affair.

Ayoade was a genial and gracious man to speak with, keen to shine a light on those around him and champion the collaborative process of film making; it will be extremely interesting to see what he turns his hand to next.

HeyUGuys: Firstly congratulations on the film, I’ve not heard a negative word about it. How is it for you as a first time director coping with the attention and the positive reception?...

Glenn Dunks was at the AFI Awards 2010, and although his favourite film didn’t win any, he will always remember the night Animal Kingdom ruled the world.

And with that the 2010 Samsung Mobile AFI Awards are over and done with for another year. David Michôd’s Animal Kingdom dominated the ceremony as everybody expected, but the refreshingly diverse roster of Australian films from 2010 brought about winners from period romances to action adventures, musicals to vampire horror films. Of the six projects nominated for Best Film only one – Julie Bertuccelli’s poetic The Tree, my personal favourite Australian film of 2010 – left empty handed.

Host Shane Jacobson, of Kenny fame, began the proceedings with a musical sequence that referenced Australian films past and present before what can politely be called “the Animal Kingdom show” commenced, quickly winning several awards.

The crowd, and fellow recipients, were high on Ben Mendelsohn’s win, his...

[No, not the Three Colours Trilogy, it's Simon Rumley's highly acclaimed film that made a splash at Rotterdam and SXSW and is currently making a stop at Fantasia.  We now re-post Eight Rook's review from our archives.]

It could be hard to sell people on Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue. It is frequently a brilliant film, make no mistake (and yes, it more than justifies the hype we've given it), yet - without resorting to spoiling its nuances or key plot points - going by the first fifteen minutes or so a good many prospective viewers are more than likely to wonder what exactly is worth getting so excited over.

We start out at the detached pace of a road movie, following Erica (TV actress Amanda Fuller), a young woman wandering across America. Seemingly rootless and generally unattached, she spends her nights in bars and clubs, typically catching some stranger's eye, ending up in bed with him before swiftly moving on to her next brief encounter.

The camera doesn't judge her - Erica's clearly emotionally withdrawn, refusing to get personally involved with any of her partners,...

[Our thanks to Kier-La Janisse and the fine people at Fantasia for allowing us to reprint the following interview with Tim League and Simon Rumley originally conducted for the Fantasia blog.]

Simon Rumley blew my mind in 2006 with his debut genre feature The Living and the Dead, which swept up awards all over the festival circuit and established him as a major international talent. Despite the fact that he already had a healthy back-catalogue of indie films prior to The Living and the Dead, the response it received assured that he's been at home in genre films ever since. He's just finishing post on a new anthology film made with fellow British renegades Sean Hogan (Lie Still - released in the Us as The Haunting of #24) and Andrew Parkinson (Venus Drowning) called Little Deaths, and he's here in town at Fantasia to present the Canadian Premiere of his latest genre-bender, Red White and Blue.

The film - in which three emotionally disfigured people find themselves at the centre of a multi-tiered revenge triangle - stars Amanda Fuller (Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

[With Simon Rumley's Red, White and Blue having it's North American premiere at SXSW we now re-post our review from the world premiere in Rotterdam.]

It could be hard to sell people on Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue. It is frequently a brilliant film, make no mistake (and yes, it more than justifies the hype we've given it), yet - without resorting to spoiling its nuances or key plot points - going by the first fifteen minutes or so a good many prospective viewers are more than likely to wonder what exactly is worth getting so excited over.

We start out at the detached pace of a road movie, following Erica (TV actress Amanda Fuller), a young woman wandering across America. Seemingly rootless and generally unattached, she spends her nights in bars and clubs, typically catching some stranger's eye, ending up in bed with him before swiftly moving on to her next brief encounter.

The camera doesn't judge her - Erica's clearly emotionally withdrawn, refusing to get personally involved with any of her partners,...

It could be hard to sell people on Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue. It is frequently a brilliant film, make no mistake (and yes, it more than justifies the hype we've given it), yet - without resorting to spoiling its nuances or key plot points - going by the first fifteen minutes or so a good many prospective viewers are more than likely to wonder what exactly is worth getting so excited over.

We start out at the detached pace of a road movie, following Erica (TV actress Amanda Fuller), a young woman wandering across America. Seemingly rootless and generally unattached, she spends her nights in bars and clubs, typically catching some stranger's eye, ending up in bed with him before swiftly moving on to her next brief encounter.

The camera doesn't judge her - Erica's clearly emotionally withdrawn, refusing to get personally involved with any of her partners,...