News

David Mackenzie is full of deceit. His movies, not him.

Mackenzie can lure you with the cunningness of an illicit couple, played by Tilda Swnton and Ewan McGregor, in his 2003 drama Young Adam. “Give us a come-hither look,” I remember him instructing Swinton on a barge berthed on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland.

Treachery of a different kind is afoot in his latest film Relay, which had its world premiere Sunday at TIFF.

The chicanery is there. There’s no sex, but there’s seduction.

The audience is being seduced too; we’re being lulled. You’ve been warned.

The two protagonists are played by Riz Ahmed and Lily James, at the top of their game. And what delectable games they play.

Beige is the color of conformity. James is first seen wearing a suit in that tone because she doesn’t want to stand out. She’s...

We’ve been waiting months to find out whether or not Aaron Taylor-Johnson (The Fall Guy) has actually landed the role of James Bond – but in the meantime, he’s working on the race-against-the-clock thriller Fuze, which is currently filming in London and has Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie at the helm. We first heard of this project back in February, and since then Taylor-Johnson has been joined in the cast by Theo James (Divergent), Sam Worthington (Avatar), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Loki), Elham Ehsas (The Kite Runner), and Honor Swinton-Byrne (The Souvenir), and now Deadline reports that Saffron Hocking (Top Boy) has also been added to the cast.

Details on the characters being played by these cast members are being kept under wraps.

Scripted by Ben Hopkins, who has previously written Simon Magus, Janice Beard, The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz, The Market, Lost in Karastan, Hasret: Sehnsucht, Marionette,...

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and director David Mackenzie have started filming their new movie, Fuze, in and around London. More here:

As speculation has built over whether or not Aaron Taylor-Johnson will be the next James Bond 007, the man himself has been preparing for his next film role. Off the back of his supporting turn in this summer’s The Fall Guy, he’s now taking on the lead role in a heist thriller by the name of Fuze.

We’ve talked about the film before, our interest piqued by the fact that the brilliant David Mackenzie is directing the feature. I’ll get told off by Ryan Lambie of this very parish if I don’t immediately direct you to 2016’s superb Hell Or High Water, but I don’t think he’ll mind if I salute both Starred Up and Young Adam as well.

This time, Mackenzie will be...

Jim Reeve, a British entertainment executive and producer with more than 40 years experience in the business, died on Feb. 27. He was 64.

Reeve founded and was chair of U.K. media company Great Point. “It is with profound sadness that Great Point must confront the sudden and unexpected loss of our founder, mentor and friend, Jim Reeve, who passed away on Tuesday February 27, 2024,” the Great Point team said in a statement. “Jim had a storied career in the entertainment business spanning 40 years, and his passing will be mourned by a great many. Our thoughts are with Jim’s family most of all during this incredibly difficult time.”

Prior to founding Great Point in 2013, Reeve served as senior investment director at the Ingenious Group.

Reeve has more than 120 credits as a producer or executive producer, in projects featuring top British and international talent, beginning with thriller “The Whistle Blower,” starring Michael Caine and James Fox,...

Sony Pictures Classics is reuniting with Pedro Almodovar and will release the cinematic legend’s first English-language feature film, “The Room Next Door.”

The indie studio announced it has acquired all rights in North America, the Middle East, India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to the film, which is set to star Oscar winners Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, along with John Turturro. The film will begin shooting this March in New York and Madrid. Almodovar has been thinking of directing an English-language feature for some time — at one point, he considered making 2016’s “Julieta” with Meryl Streep.

The news about the distribution deal is wholly expected (it would be more shocking if Almodovar found a different partner). That’s because Sony Pictures Classics has released nearly all of Almodovar’s movies. Most recently, it oversaw the distribution of “Parallel Mothers,” which earned an Oscar nomination for Penélope Cruz.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North America and territories to Pedro Almodovar’s upcoming English-language debut The Room Next Door starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, and John Turturro.

Almodóvar’s El Deseo has earmarked a March production start in New York and Madrid. SPC also acquired the feature for the Middle East, India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

The director described the film in a statement: “The Room Next Door is about a very imperfect mother and her resentful daughter, who live separate lives because of a profound misunderstanding. Ingrid (played by Julianne Moore), a friend of the mother,...

Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature film, “The Room Next Door,” has landed at the Spanish filmmaker’s usual North American home: Sony Pictures Classics.

The distributor has acquired all rights in North America, the Middle East, India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand for the upcoming film starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, and John Turturro. Produced by Almodóvar’s El Deseo, “The Room Next Door” will begin shooting this March in New York and Madrid.

Almodóvar’s relationship with Sony Pictures Classics deepens with the announcement, following the releases of Oscar-nominated “Parallel Mothers” and short films “The Human Voice” and “Strange Way of Life,” among his other features. Both shorts were in English, with “The Human Voice” also starring “The Room Next Door” actress Swinton.

“‘The Room Next Door’ is about a very imperfect mother and her resentful daughter, who live separate lives because of a profound misunderstanding,” Almodóvar said in a press statement.

BlondePhoto: Netflix

Young Adam (2003): A young drifter working on a river barge disrupts his employers’ lives while hiding the fact that he knows more about a dead woman found in the river than he admits. Starring: Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan, Emily Mortimer.

Bad Education (2004): An examination...

Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones will star in the FX on Hulu limited series “Under the Banner of Heaven,” Variety has learned.

The series hails from write Dustin Lance Black and is based on the Jon Krakauer novel of the same name. In the series, a devout detective’s faith is tested as he investigates a brutal murder that seems to be connected to an esteemed Utah family’s spiral into Lds fundamentalism and their distrust in the government.

Garfield will star as Pyre, an Lds elder who is committed to his Church and family but begins to question some of the Church’s teachings through his contact with a suspected murderer. Edgar-Jones stars as Brenda, a young faithful Mormon who is the victim of a brutal murder.

Black created the series and will serve as an executive producer along with Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Samie Kim Falvey and Anna Culp for Imagine Television.

Jeremy Thomas Collection will include archive material from Ben Wheatley's High Rise, starring Tom Hiddleston Producder Jeremy Thomas has donated his personal collection to the BFI National Archive.

The BFI say the "significant donation from his working archive" spans his career from his first film Mad Dog Morgan, directed by Philippe Mora in 1976, through to Ben Wheatley's High Rise in 2015.

Consisting of both moving image and paper-based material, the donation includes rare 35mm prints, scripts, production material and international posters from films including Nicolas Roeg’s Bad Timing (1978), Nagisa Ôshima’s Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (1983), Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winner The Last Emperor (1987), David Cronenberg’s Crash (1996), Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast (2000) and David Mackenzie’s Young Adam (2003).

The archive will continue to receive ongoing donations from the producer and, once fully catalogued, the paper-based portion will be collectively known as The Jeremy Thomas Collection. The donation from Thomas, who...

The first time Tilda Swinton went to Cannes, it was for a film she hated. It was “Aria” in 1989, an omnibus title with contributions from Robert Altman, Jean-Luc Godard, Bruce Beresford, Nic Roeg, Charles Sturridge, Franc Roddam, and Derek Jarman. “We all got on like a house on fire,” she said. “A lot of people were drawn to libations in the crew. We all saw the film at the end, we all hated the film, and were friends for life.”

Since then, she’s attended to serve on two juries, and for eight films: Jim Jarmusch’s “Broken Flowers” and “Only Lovers Left Alive,” Béla Tarr’s “The Man From London,” David Mackenzie’s “Young Adam,” Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” Bong Joon Ho’s “Okja,” and Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom.” This year, she returns with Jarmusch’s opening-night zombie comedy, “The Dead Don’t Die.

The first time Tilda Swinton went to Cannes, it was for a film she hated. It was “Aria” in 1989, an omnibus title with contributions from Robert Altman, Jean-Luc Godard, Bruce Beresford, Nic Roeg, Charles Sturridge, Franc Roddam, and Derek Jarman. “We all got on like a house on fire,” she said. “A lot of people were drawn to libations in the crew. We all saw the film at the end, we all hated the film, and were friends for life.”

Since then, she’s attended to serve on two juries, and for eight films: Jim Jarmusch’s “Broken Flowers” and “Only Lovers Left Alive,” Béla Tarr’s “The Man From London,” David Mackenzie’s “Young Adam,” Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” Bong Joon Ho’s “Okja,” and Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom.” This year, she returns with Jarmusch’s opening-night zombie comedy, “The Dead Don’t Die.

When Rob Marshall first contacted Emily Mortimer about “Mary Poppins Returns” she recalls that it was a film “he felt was necessary in this moment that we’re in now. He wanted to bring back Mary Poppins as a sort of antidote to life.” For that reason, she was “totally swept up in the idea of needing to be part of it.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Mortimer and her co-star Ben Whishaw above.

SEEEmily Blunt Interview: ‘Mary Poppins Returns’

This followup to the 1964 classic finds the title nanny (Emily Blunt) once again floating into the lives of the Banks family and teaching them some valuable life lessons with the help of a little magic and a few catchy songs. Whishaw takes on the role of the now-adult Michael Banks, who’s struggling to raise his three children after the death of his wife. His sister, Jane (Mortimer), tries to help,...

It starts with a close-up of a candle and ends with flaming debris being flung at a castle wall by a catapult — in terms of kicking off a period-piece epic with a single unbroken shot, you could say that Outlaw King sets a high bar. This serpentine opening sequence establishes that, in 1304, England’s King Edward seizes power over Scotland after an eight-year-rebellion; the regent forces the country’s lords, including former heir-to-the-throne Robert Bruce (Chris Pine), to bend the knee; his son, Prince Edward II (Billy Howle), has an ax,...

Outlaw King

Chris Pine stars in David Mackenzie’s Outlaw King. Check out the new trailer below.

Robert the Bruce’s (Chris Pine) life is transformed from defeated noble to king to outlaw as he struggles to reclaim medieval Scotland from occupation. Ambushed and reduced to a handful of supporters, Robert

resolves himself to strike back against King Edward of England’s mighty army. Robert is among the Scottish nobles having to submit to the occupying English King, Edward (Stephen Dillane). In a further move to ensure stability a marriage between Robert and Elizabeth de Burgh, (Florence Pugh) the daughter of Edward’s ally, is arranged.

An uncomfortable peace is it seems the only way forward which Robert and his family reluctantly accept as he and the feisty Elizabeth get to know each other. But crippling taxes, relentless force, men and boys

being coerced under obligations of the feudal system...

Someone at Netflix must love movies, because they keep on making them: massive, large-canvas sagas that beg to be witnessed on the big screen — like Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” (shot on 65mm) and Martin Scorsese’s upcoming “The Irishman” (whose budget has reportedly swollen past $140 million) — even if virtually everyone who does see them winds up doing so on the plasma TV, or laptop, or iWatch, or whatever. Picking up where “Braveheart” left off, “Outlaw King” tells the story of Robert the Bruce, the Scottish leader who invoked the memory of fallen rebel William Wallace, “Remember the Alamo!” style, on his way to reclaiming Scotland’s independence.

The project is David Lean grand and deserves — nay, demands — to be viewed in theaters, so vast is the spectacle of this bloody, mud-covered bonanza, featuring crowds of grubby early-14th-century Scots rising up against their English occupiers. Only there, beamed onto walls as tall as castles,...

Netflix announced that principal photography has begun in the UK on director David Mackenzie's Outlaw King. An epic, period drama about the legendary King of Scots Robert the Bruce, the film reunites director David Mackenzie with Chris Pine following the Academy Award&#174 nominated Hell or High Water. Pine stars as Robert The Bruce, alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals), Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth), Tony Curran (Sons of Anarchy), Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones) and Billy Howle (Dunkirk). The feature film is produced by long time filmmaking partners David Mackenzie and Gillian Berrie via their production company Sigma Films, and Richard Brown and Steve Golin of Anonymous Content.

The screenplay written by Mackenzie (Young Adam), Bash Doran (Boardwalk Empire), James MacInnes, Mark Bomback and renowned Scottish playwright David Harrower takes place over the extraordinary historic year when Robert the Bruce fights to regain control having been crowned King of Scots, only...

Ewan McGregor has been set as the recipient of the Humanitarian Award at this year’s British Academy Britannia Awards which are organized by BAFTA Los Angeles. McGregor, whose feature directing debut American Pastoral just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, is being given the Humanitarian Award in recognition of his work with Unicef.

The actor-director recently traveled to northern Iraq to see how the conflicts sweeping across the area are affecting children’s lives. He “is using his platform to bring awareness” to the horrors facing the children, says BAFTA LA. The org noted he has worked with Unicef to help provide life-saving food and water, protection services, and healthcare to families in need.

“Ewan McGregor is not only a multi-talented individual, but has led by example in showing that even one person can make a huge difference in the life of a child,” said Kieran Breen, Chairman of BAFTA LA.

An intelligent marketing campaign and button-pressing subject matter ensures that Sam Esmail’s Mr. Robot continues to one of the most buzzworthy shows lining USA Network’s slate, and that’s even factoring in the at times shaky sophomore season. But USA is cooking up several other exciting properties beyond the firewalls of Elliot Alderson’s shoddy abode.

Case in point: The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie has become attached to Damnation, a period drama rooted in the America heartland during the 1930s. The outlet goes on to reveal that Mackenzie has boarded the project to helm the show’s pilot episode, before switching gears to produce the remainder of the season. THR didn’t disclose how many installments USA Network has mapped out, but we’ll keep you posted as more news emerges.

Mackenzie, meanwhile, stands as a fine candidate to help get Damnation off the ground.

Ryan Lambie Sep 6, 2016

Director David Mackenzie talks about making Hell Or High Water with Chris Pine, and the state of modern cinema...

A blend of western and heist thriller, Hell Or High Water has one foot in the present and one in the past. Its rugged atmosphere recalls classic thrillers and dramas of the 1970s, yet its setting - among shuttered towns of a post-recession east Texas - is unmistakably modern. Its big skies and Stetsons recall classic westerns, yet its story, brilliantly written by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) feels like a eulogy for a vanishing way of life.

Even the casting feels like a nod to both 70s and contemporary cinema. There are plenty of parallels between Hell Or High Water and Michael Cimino's 1974 thriller Thunderbolt And Lightfoot, not least the casting of Jeff Bridges. In Cimino's film, Bridges stole just about every scene as a live-wire outlaw...

Ryan Lambie Published Date Thursday, September 1, 2016 - 06:18

No movie exists within a vacuum, and even the most outlandish-looking genre film still carries a distorted reflection of the here-and-now. Captain America: Civil War and Batman V Superman may be fantastical superhero movies, but they also feel right for a year where political and ideological division is, seemingly, everywhere.

Hell Or High Water, directed by Starred Up and Young Adam’s David Mackenzie, is a dusty Texan thriller charged with modern relevance. Playing on the images and trappings of western, road trip and heist genres, it’s another movie - alongside The Place Beyond The Pines and Out Of The Furnace - set against the backdrop of an America riven by the last decade’s financial crisis. Entire towns seem to stand empty. The nodding donkeys, once the sign of a healthy oil industry, no longer nod. Ranchers coral their skinny...

by Eric Blume

With their new film, director David Mackenzie (Young Adam, Starred Up) and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) make one thing abundantly clear: they really, really hate banks. Hell or High Water is a sort of southwest answer to The Big Short, a tale of rural Texas poor on a Robin Hood mission.

Sheridan’s script was the winner of the 2012 Black List prize for best unproduced screenplay, a fact which feels surprising during the cliché friendly first half hour. Brothers Toby and Tanner Howard are characters we’ve seen many times before, with a sibling dynamic that’s not new either. Tanner (Ben Foster) is the wild bro released from prison, complete with a violent streak and true-blue redneck energy. Toby (Chris Pine) is the tender brother, a taciturn and emotionally bruised man trying to make things right. Together, they start robbing small Texas banks to secure money to save the family farm.

Critics be damned, but Warner Bros.’ latest D.C. Comics offering, “Suicide Squad,” will again prevail at the box office this weekend, against three new wide releases: “Sausage Party” (Sony), “Pete’s Dragon” (Buena Vista) and “Florence Foster Jenkins” (Paramount). However, it’s unclear whether “Sausage” or “Dragon” will come in second place.

Also up for debate is how much, if any, improvement we’ll see from the same weekend in 2015, when “Straight Outta Compton” dominated a Top Ten that totaled $130 million. Assuming “Suicide” doesn’t replicate the 69% second weekend collapse of “Batman v Superman” (that would place it around $40 million), and the new openings do expected business, $140 million or more is likely.

While holding the top spot for two weekends is always a nice bragging right, the real fate of “Suicide” lies in determining the profit it can eke out against a production and marketing budget of more than $300 million.

For many years, British filmmaker David Mackenzie’s work had received most of its acclaim on the film festival circuit, whether it was his period drama Young Adam or the thriller Hallam Foe or the prison film Starred Up. These films had Mackenzie working with some of the finest actors in the United Kingdom, many of them early in their careers.

Mackenzie’s upcoming film Hell or High Water may finally get him attention on these shores. It’s a modern-day take on a Western starring Chris Pine and Ben Foster as Toby and Tanner, two brothers committing a crime spree, robbing small banks across Western Texas in order to save their mother’s farm. Hot on their heels is Jeff Bridges’ Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton, who is ready to retire but decides to solve this one last case with his partner Alberto (Gil Birmingham).

Many Australian filmmakers have played within the Western genre,...

Film directors trying to express themselves in East Germany had a tough row to hoe, yet quite a few of them dared to stray beyond the confines of social realism. The Defa Film Library has two new releases from 1966 that were banned and shelved before they could be finished -- and weren't seen until they were patched together in 1990. When You're Older, Dear Adam DVD Defa Film Library 1966-1990 / Color / 2:35 / 74 min. / Wenn du groß bist, lieber Adam / Street Date April, 2016 / Available from the Defa Umass Film Library / 29.95 (separate release) Starring: Stephan Jahnke, Gerry Wolff, Manfred Krug, Daisy Granados, Rolf Römer, Hanns Anselm Perten, Wolfgang Greese, Günther Simon. Cinematography Helmut Grewald Film Editor Monika Schindler Original Music Kurt Zander Written by Egon Günther, Helga Schütz Produced by Defa Directed by Egon Günther Berlin Around the Corner DVD Defa Film Library 1966-90 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 83 min. / Berlin um die ecke / Street Date April,...

You can only have an actor attached for so long until they “grow” out of the role and you can only have a director on board for a short lapse until they move onto other projects. The wobbled history of Goat, a book to film adaptation begins back in 2004 when we first reported that David Gordon Green would direct the project. A 2005 update that Emile Hirsch would topline and then the baton was passed onto Jeff Nichols in 2007 when he was suppose to have taken over the director’s chair. Flash-forward to late last year when James Franco joined forces with Killer Films, and Andrew Neel (a fiction and non-fiction filmmaker with already five features under his belt including 2012’s King Kelly) was hired – thus landing the coveted directing gig. Production took place in May in Cincinnati, and if this takes a truly savage, rough hewn approach, no doubt that...

Edinburgh: Scottish actor gives talk about 22-year acting career including new role as Jesus in Last Days In The Desert.

Ewan McGregor revealed to an audience at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) on Sunday that he would be willing to reprise the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi to tell the story of Stars Wars between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back should Disney ever wish to do so.

The comments came during an on-stage interview in which the Scottish star looked back over the highlights of his career thus far and chose his words carefully on the subject of the forthcoming Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

The actor seemed not to be the most rabid of fanboys and declared: “I’m not a fanatical person.”

Still, he said he was impressed by the trailer - “It looks like [Jj Abrams] he absolutely nailed it” - except for the lightsaber’s updated design.

“I’m excited...

It's no secret that Ewan McGregor isn't afraid to bare all on the big screen. In fact, his penis has appeared in films such as Young Adam, Trainspotting, The Pillow Book and I Love You Philip Morris, to name a few. And if you've seen one of the aforementioned full-frontal scenes, then you're well aware that the 43-year-old is well-endowed—a fact which Colin Farrell had no trouble pointing out in a recent interview with Nylon magazine. "I don't think Ewan is as proud of his penis as most men who are as well hung would—or should—or could be," he joked of his Cassandra's Dream co-star. "I think that's the greatest demonstration of his innate...

Spread

Hold me. Thrill me. Kiss me. Kill me. The films of David Mackenzie envision life as a never-ending whirlwind of experience, a cyclone of emotion constantly spinning out of control. These feelings are heightened and externalized through melodrama, yet they can also simmer under the surface like hidden secrets waiting to explode. While his exhausted characters never fit into one social class – pop stars, artisan chefs and thuggish bruisers all take center stage – each sees the world in a similarly warped way. They are confused by inadequacy, defined by repression, purposefully solitary, and bordering on self-destruction. But most importantly they are also eager to transcend this unhappiness, especially after finding inspiration in another equally tormented individual. One must simply desire the opportunity to grow, to live, to survive.

Mackenzie’s key battleground is the romantic relationship. Incited by knowing eye contact and waged through a sensual collision of skin,...

"You need to experience the dynamite... to know that the dynamite can go off." Just last week we featured Starred Up as our latest Monthly Must See, an intense, brutal but incredible prison movie from English director David Mackenzie starring Jack O'Connell and Ben Mendelsohn. You may not recognize the name at first, but you should certainly recognize his films - David Mackenzie's filmography includes Young Adam, Asylum, Hallam Foe (or Mister Foe in the Us), Spread with Ashton Kutcher, the sci-fi Perfect Sense and the music film Tonight You're Mine, all before he went on to make Starred Up. Last week I sat down for a chat with David on the realism of the film and finding actor Jack O'Connell, who plays inmate Eric Love. As a big fan of Starred Up, I was anxious to get a chance to sit down with Mackenzie and drill him on...

The Labor Day weekend, signaling the last of summer movies, usually brings out a herd of barking dogs. I'm talking about you The November Man, The Last of Robin Hood, and As Above/So Below. So it's a satisfying shock to see a damn near great movie emerge from the muck. That would be Starred Up, a British prison drama from director David Mackenzie (Young Adam) that is a romping, stomping knockout with an unexpected emotional pull. Violence comes with the territory as the warden (Sam Spruell) exerts a losing...

The title Starred Up refers to the premature transferal of a juvenile to adult prison. In the case of this film, directed by David Mackenzie, said juvenile is 19-year-old inmate Eric Love played with utter ferocity by Jack O'Connell. The overall awe I felt in watching O'Connell here is like the first time I saw Tom Hardy in Nicolas Winding Refn's Bronson, though, while both films focus on unstable prison inmates, you have to strip away all the dark humor and absurdity of Bronson before you can get to the harsh, real world, brutal intensity of Starred Up and it doesn't let up for a second. Eric Love's transfer comes as a result of his violent nature and Mackenzie introduces the audience to Eric's new environment right along with the young man -- strip off your clothes, raise your arms, squat, put your clothes on. He's ushered down the...

This is a reprint of our review from the 2014 Göteborg International Film Festival It was a glorious, freezing, snowy Monday evening at the Göteborg International Film Festival that yielded the first truly great film of 2014. “Starred Up” (which, fine, actually premiered at Telluride last year) is an instant classic of the prison movie genre, making a bona fide breakthrough star of its lead Jack O’Connell (best known for British TV series “Skins”), while propelling director David Mackenzie’s previously solid career (which included highlights “Hallam Foe” and “Young Adam”) straight to "boss" level in one fell swoop. And in case anyone forgets, the film confirms that however often you cast Ben Mendelsohn as a violent, unpredictable scumbag, he’ll find a way to amaze/terrify you every time. The superlative-averse might want to stop reading now, because there will be many coming up in the next several paragraphs. Based on a script by.

It’s a point that we should make clear: prison is hard. Really, really hard. And dangerous and scary and terrible. Now let’s watch a film about it! British director David Mackenzie (Perfect Sense, Young Adam) is back at it with Starred Up, a prison drama packed to the rafters with talented dudes, including Jack O’Connell, Ben Mendelsohn, and Rupert Friend. The film puts a little twist on the old prison tale, as O’Connell stars as a teenage dirtbag sent to stay at the exact same facility his own criminal dad (Mendelsohn) lives at. (Insert joke about how you thought your family had issues, guffaw, move on.) The tension doesn’t just come from prison love — though, man, there’s plenty of tension to go around there — but when O’Connell’s Eric starts making some changes that will put him on the straight and narrows. Turns out, dear...

Watch the trailer for Tribeca Film’s Starred Up. The critically acclaimed film, directed by David Mackenzie and starring Jack O’Connell, Rupert Friend and Ben Mendelsohn, opens in Us theaters on August 29th and VOD on August 26th.

The film is a raw look inside prison life that features an authentic dialogue of UK prison slang from screenwriter Jonathan Asser.

Starring Jack O’Connell (star of the upcoming Unbroken), Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises) and Rupert Friend (“Homeland”), Starred Up focuses on 19-year-old Eric, arrogant and ultra-violent, who is prematurely transferred to the same adult prison facility as his estranged father.

As his explosive temper quickly finds him enemies in both prison authorities and fellow inmates — and his already volatile relationship with his father is pushed past breaking point — Eric is approached by a volunteer psychotherapist, who runs an anger management group for prisoners.

Torn between gang politics,...

"Chronicle" and "Carrie" actor Alex Russell has scored the starring role in AMC and Scott Free's upcoming drama pilot "Galyntine".

The fantasy-action adventure series is set in a postapocalyptic future without technology where a band of survivors is forced to adapt to isolation and the challenges of their new world.

Russell plays Roman, an orphan who was unofficially adopted by his best friend Aethys’ family. He hopes to marry Aethys’ sister Essyn to make his membership in the family official.

A very public victory appears to cement his status as a future leader of the colony, but a twist of fate (and a betrayal) set him on a different, more dangerous path. Catherine Dent and Charlotte D'Ambroise also star.

David Mackenzie ("Starred Up," "Young Adam") will direct the pilot and executive produce alongside Greg Nicotero. Jason Cahill ("Halt and Catch Fire") penned the pilot.

Russell will next be seen at...

Wes Anderson enjoys first UK No 1 as takings look set to eclipse his Fantastic Mr Fox

The winner

When it debuted in third place with £1.53m from 284 cinemas, Grand Budapest Hotel always looked on course to become Wes Anderson's biggest live-action film at UK cinemas, displacing The Royal Tenenbaums (£3.33m lifetime). A week later, with an expansion to 372 venues, the film found itself in second place in the UK box office chart. And now, in its third week of release, the Middle European caper grabs the top spot, dethroning video-game adaptation Need for Speed. With third-weekend takings of £1.27m from 458 sites, Grand Budapest Hotel has earned £6.31m in just 17 days. The film has a real shot at overtaking Anderson's animated family flick Fantastic Mr Fox (£9.19m) to become his biggest-ever UK hit.

It's not unprecedented for a film to rise slowly to the top of the box office chart,...

Jack O'Connell gives an electrifying performance as a violent teenager forced to confront parental authority in prison

When inspirational director Alan Clarke cooked up an authentic television portrait of incarcerated British youth in the late 1970s, the resultant film was so alarming that it was promptly banned by the BBC. Clarke subsequently remade Scum for the cinema, and both the small- and big-screen versions of his most notorious work have since cast long shadows over their respective mediums. Plaudits, then, to David Mackenzie for fashioning a tough but empathetic (if uneven) prison drama which marks out its own territory in an arena in which Clarke's epochal work is still the daddy, even now.

Shot (but not set) in Northern Ireland on a tight schedule and even tighter budget, this eye-catching and frequently pulse-pounding drama finds high-risk young offender Eric (Jack O'Connell) being moved up to an adult prison where he...

Could be the most realistic depiction of the horribleness and the ineffectiveness of institutional incarceration — on levels that impact both the individual and society on the whole — that I’ve ever seen. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

I’ve never been to prison, so I can’t know for sure, but David Mackenzie’s (Young Adam) Starred Up could be the most realistic depiction of the horribleness and the ineffectiveness of institutional incarceration — on levels that impact both the individual and society on the whole — that I’ve ever seen. The title might sound sort of dreamy, but it refers to the status of a young offender in the British penal system who is prematurely moved to an adult facility, which is what happens to 19-year-old Eric (Jack O’Connell: 300: Rise of an Empire)… and so,...

Director: David Mackenzie; Screenwriter: Jonathan Asser; Starring: Jack O'Connell, Rupert Friend, Ben Mendelsohn; Running time: 106 mins; Certificate: 18

Not a film to just kick back and enjoy, instead prison drama Starred Up takes you by the scruff of the neck and shakes you up. British director David Mackenzie certainly likes to challenge an audience (Young Adam, Hallam Foe, Perfect Sense), but he also knows how to get a raw, affecting performance out of an actor and in the case of Skins graduate Jack O'Connell, it's blistering.

As soon as O'Connell comes striding through the prison door, his aura is electric. He plays Eric, a young offender who is "starred up" for having an especially violent temper and controversially banged up with the big boys. In fact, that's his preference because it means he'll be under the same roof as his father, Neville (played by Ben Mendelsohn, who gives a richly textured portrayal,...

One of the highlights of the Göteborg International Film Festival, and indeed one of the highlights of our year so far, was catching up with David Mackenzie’s “Starred Up," which, if you missed our review first time out, you can read all about here. The unflinching but brutally human prison drama is based on a script by first-timer Jonathan Asser, a writer and poet by whose experiences inspired the film and the character of Oliver, the posh but dedicated volunteer inmate counselor. Starring breakout Jack O’Connell as the violent young Eric, Ben Mendelsohn as his also-incarcerated father Nev, and Rupert Friend as Oliver, the film is marked by its astonishingly strong performances, but also by the authenticity and hard-edged sensitivity of what is truly career-best work from the director. Previously best known for Brit indies “Hallam Foe” and “Young Adam,” Mackenzie himself could be said to be one...

What a glorious, freezing, snowy Swedish Monday at the Göteborg International Film Festival it was, because, for a non-Sundance attendee like me, it yielded the first truly great film of 2014. “Starred Up” (which, Ok fine, actually premiered at Telluride last year) is an instant classic of the prison movie genre, that makes a bona fide breakthrough star of its lead Jack O’Connell (best known for British TV series “Skins”), while propelling director David Mackenzie’s previously solid career (which included highlights “Hallam Foe” and “Young Adam”) straight to Boss level in one fell swoop. Oh, and it also confirms, in case anyone were in danger of forgetting, that however often you cast Ben Mendelsohn as a violent, unpredictable scumbag, he’ll find a way to amaze/terrify you anew every time. If you’re superlative-averse you might want to stop reading now, because they aren’t going to dry up anytime soon.

Prison is often a compelling setting, whether in brutal thrillers like A Prophet, poignant dramas like The Shawshank Redemption or ensemble comedies such as Netflix’s Orange is the New Black. One of the buzziest films out of the Toronto Film Festival, Starred Up, also takes place behind bars and if early word-of-mouth is any indication, this is a brutal but very worthwhile flick.

Starred Up is the latest film from Scottish director David Mackenzie, the man behind erotic dramas like Young Adam and Perfect Sense, as well as the upcoming thriller The Mission for Warner Bros. This is a very different film for the director though as it focuses on 19-year-old troublemaker Eric (Jack O’Connell), who transfers to a tough maximum security prison and soon becomes the rival to a fierce gang led by Neville (Ben Mendelsohn), who also happens to be Eric’s father. The two men...

The latest film from British director David Mackenzie (Young Adam, Perfect Sense), Starred Up has been gaining significant critical momentum since its premiere at Tiff in September 2013. Jack O’Connell stars as a violent teenager transferred to an adult prison, dealing with what that entails and also one inmate who just so happens to be his father (Ben Mendelsohn). Rupert Friend and Sam Spruell co-star, and you can read Sound On Sight’s Tiff review of the film here. Ahead of the film’s UK release in March, a trailer has been released, which you can see below.

****

The post Trailer released for David Mackenzie’s acclaimed prison drama ‘Starred Up’ appeared first on Sound On Sight.

Led by what we called "a stunning, incendiary performance" by Jack O'Connell in a movie that's "authentic, but capable of lyricism," you'd be wise to put "Starred Up" on your radar for 2014 (yep, it's one of the 21 Best Films We've Seen already, that are coming this year). But if you need a bit more convincing, this excellent new trailer has dropped for the film which'll get your pulse racing. Co-starring Ben Mendelsohn and Rupert Friend, the David Mackenzie ("Young Adam," "Hallam Foe," "Perfect Sense") directed film tells the gritty tale of a violent young offender who winds up in the same prison as his father, a long-term inmate. Sparks fly. And yes, comparisons will be made to "A Prophet," but this is its own beast, and well worth checking out. So where does Mackenzie go from here, after his critically acclaimed prison flick? Well, Warner Bros. wants him for "The Mission,...

A new trailer for gritty British prison drama Starred Up has been unleashed online, and it's every bit as bruising as you'd imagine. Directed by David Mackenzie (Young Adam), the film follows Eric (rising Brit star Jack O'Connell), who's banged up in an adult prison where his volatile temper sees him making no end of enemies. Oh, and his dad's also in there with him, played by Animal Kingdom stand-out Ben Mendelsohn. "You have to behave," warns  Mendelsohn, "'cos they will kill you." Nothing like a little fatherly advice. Check out the...

.

David MacKenzie ("Young Adam") is in negotiations to direct the true story Colombian hostage rescue drama "The Mission" for Warner Bros. Pictures.

The story centers on a U.S. Special Advisor who worked on Operation Jaque, a five-year plan to locate and rescue fifteen hostages, including three Americans, captured by the Colombian guerilla group Farc in 2003.

Cut loose from U.S. embassy control, he teamed up with a Colombian intelligence agent to pull off the daring rescue.

Peter Landesman and Peter Craig worked on the script while Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Scott Burns and Thomas McLarty are producing.

MacKenzie's acclaimed new film "Starred Up," starring Rupert Friend, Jack O'Connell and Ben Mendelsohn, hits cinemas later this year.

Source: THR...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 19 Dec 2013 - 06:30

Our journey through the lesser-known films of the 2000s continues. This week, it's 2003...

It was the year that Arnold Schwarzenegger went from Terminator actor to Governor of California, and when The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King dominated the global box office with a gross of more than $1bn. 2003 was also the year the Wachowskis' Matrix trilogy thundered to a close, the year Freddy Krueger clashed with Jason Voorhees in, er, Freddy Vs Jason, and the year Pixar scored another hit with Finding Nemo.

But as you've probably gathered by now, 2003 was also a year of quite brilliant, less lucrative films. The movies we've included in this week's list were chosen for a variety of reasons - some were ignored in cinemas, while others were harshly treated by critics. Some were modestly popular or given awards on release,...

Fox Searchlight to release Bifa nominee, starring Jack O’Connell and Homeland’s Rupert Friend.

Prison drama Starred Up, which last week led the British Independent Film Awards (Bifa) nominations with eight nods, is to be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on March 21 2014 distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures

It is the story of a young man, Eric (Jack O’Connell), who is prematurely transferred from a young offenders’ institution to adult jail for being too violent. As he struggles to assert himself against the prison officers and the other inmates, he has to confront his own father Nev (Ben Mendelsohn), a man who has spent most of his life in jail.

As Eric forges allegiances with other prisoners, and learns that his rage can be overcome through his work with prison therapist Oliver (Rupert Friend), he discovers the new rules of survival. But there are forces at work that threaten to destroy him.[p...

Judi Dench, Scarlett Johansson: 2013 British Independent Film Awards nominations (photo: Judi Dench in ‘Philomena’) Since the likes of Judi Dench, Scarlett Johansson, James McAvoy, and Tom Hardy are in the running for the 2013 British Independent Film Awards, expect at least a little overlapping between the determinedly indie-oriented BIFAs and other awards season nominees and/or winners elsewhere. (See also: “Judi Dench Sole Bifa Nominee Surely to Get BAFTA, Oscar Nominations.”) Judi Dench and Scarlett Johansson are competing in the Best Actress category; Dench for Stephen Frears’ Philomena, Johansson for Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin. Tom Hardy and James McAvoy are in the running for the Best Actor British Independent Film Award; Hardy for Steven Knight’s Locke, McAvoy for Jon S. Baird’s Filth. The top Bifa 2013 movie, however, is David Mackenzie’s Starred Up, with a total of eight nominations including Best British Independent Film, Best Director,...