SHARLTO COPLEY BREATHES LIFE TO “CHAPPIE”

Press release

“This film raises questions – when would a robot be considered human?” asks South African actor Sharlto Copley (“Maleficent”), who plays the titular character in Columbia Pictures' futuristic thriller “Chappie.”

“Is it because they can paint, or like a certain kind of music?,” Copley continues. “For humans, it would probably be if the machine had feelings – if we were connecting with a machine in the way that we connect with people. I think that’s what would make most people call a machine ‘alive’ – if it experiences emotions in the same way as us.”

In the film, crime is patrolled by an oppressive mechanized police force in the future. But now, the people are fighting back. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. As powerful, destructive forces start to see Chappie as a danger to mankind and order, they will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo and ensure that Chappie is the last of his kind.

Chappie is a police droid called Scout who is given consciousness by artificial intelligence. Copley performed the role on camera, performing in each scene opposite the other characters. Not only did this allow Chappie to feel like a very real and authentic character, but it helped the other actors to bring their characters out to the fullest. Later, in post-production, director Neill Blomkamp worked with the wizards at the VFX facility Image Engine to bring Chappie to fruition, painting the robot Chappie over Copley’s performance and creating the robot from Copley’s movements. The way that Copley emoted in his scenes informed everything about the robot – from the way Chappie moves, or sits, or holds his head... even Chappie’s ears.

In many films with CG characters, the filmmakers sometimes choose to film the scene with only the live-action actors as they perform against only a single point. That was never going to happen on Chappie. “There was never going to be a world where we filmed with a tennis ball on the end of a C stand,” says producer Simon Kinberg. “It was always going to be real and in the moment.”

“Sharlto’s performance is the thing that brings Chappie to life,” Kinberg continues. “He is so human and sad, touching and vulnerable. You feel it in his body language and voice – everything takes its cue from Sharl. The way the robot’s eyes move, the way its ears move, and certainly the way its body moves – all of that is dictated by Sharlto’s performance.”

Kinberg also says that having Copley performing the scenes helped all of the actors. “For the other actors, when you’re interacting with a real person, it all feels more real, human, textured and grounded,” he explains.

Copley says that in some ways, the role was like any other. “Neill said, ‘You just play the role, and we put the robot on top,’” the actor explains. “The film should work with me in the grey suit – you should still be able to watch the film and be moved by it.”

Copley notes that Chappie is unlike any role he’s ever played before. “It was quite interesting for me, movement wise,” he says. “I had to be very aware of every mannerism. The essence of Chappie is in how he moves and how he reacts – and not necessarily what he’s saying.”

Even though he would never be seen on film, Copley wore two pieces of costume attire to help get the character right. “I wore a chest plate, to keep my back and chest proportions the same as Chappie’s,” he notes. This allowed Copley to know what spaces he could fit in and how the robot would sit or stand in certain positions. In this way, when an actor grabs Chappie’s shoulder or chest, the actor’s hands are in the right place when Copley is replaced by Chappie in the computer.

But the chest plate wasn’t all. “I wore a grey suit with tracking markers for the animators. It was skin tight, and skin tight clothing is not gangster,” he says. Needing something that would help him feel like a gangster, Copley added a pair of shorts and a belt. “During the gangster scenes I would loosen my belt and drop the shorts half way down my backside. That was my trick, to transform from grey suit man into gangster Chappie. It helped create the right kind of gangster movements.”

Copley says that the unconventional style of shooting and animating the film was a great benefit. “Animators will tell you there’s a huge difference between animating something from scratch and working with what an actor has already done,” he says. “It’s a lot easier for them to create a moving character if the base performance is already there. Obviously, it’s also a lot better for the other actors to have a grey suit actor actually on set that they can interact with.”

“Chappie’s animators are incredible,” concludes Copley. “They’ve managed to capture and translate every nuance of my performance. In addition, they had the challenge of trying to translate my facial movements onto Chappie, who has almost no face. They did an incredible job. I feel like they elevated what I gave them together we created some kind of unique being. “

Opening across the Philippines on Thursday, March 05 in IMAX and 2D cinemas, “Chappie” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

“TAKEN” DIRECTOR TAKES UP SEAN PENN AS LATEST ACTION ANTIHERO IN “THE GUNMAN”

Press release

 Known for his gripping, unforgettable roles, Academy Award winner Sean Penn joins forces with “Taken” director Pierre Morrel in a role unlike any he has done before in the explosive action thriller “The Gunman” that will open in Philippine cinemas nationwide on March 18.

Photo courtesy of OctoArts Films

                In the vein of edge-of-your seat thrillers “Taken” and “Non-Stop,” director Morrel, known for transforming Liam Neeson into a bonafide action hero brings another up and rising action hero in Sean Penn in the testosterone-driven movie “The Gunman.”  Penn stars Jim Terrier, an ex-special forces government contractor who past comes back to haunt him when his former employer tries to have him killed.  On the run and thrust into a inescapable game of cat and mouse chase, Terrier races from the jungles of Africa to the streets of London and the vibrant city of Barcelona in a deadly mission to flush out the people who want him dead.   Terrier knows there is only one way to save himself – he must bring down one of the world’s most powerful organizations and face a dangerous enemy from his past in a nerve-shattering showdown that only one man will survive. 

                From recent interviews, Penn shared his insights on the movie, "Here's the funny thing, calling it an 'action film' is kind of like calling Meryl Streep a sexy blonde chick. She is. But that really doesn't tell the story of what she is at all. I don't separate this in my mind from anything else I have done. It's a very human story that deals with the same things exploited in action films, like warfare. I have seen people in this line of work at work. That does inform what we're doing here."

                Fast-paced action that amps up the bullets, explosions and bare-knuckled punches, “The Gunman” also boasts of an impressive cast including Javier Bardem, Idris Elba and Mark Rylance.   

Focus movie review

Reasons why should you watch Focus?

- Will Smith's character Nicky is not like his usual roles. He is darker and is not heroic. Nicky is a veteran con artist and a master of misdirection.

-Margot Robbie is hotter than when I first saw her in The Wolf Of Wall Street.

-This is the first time Rodrigo Santoro to appear without special make-up effects. He is known for his 300 role Xerxes.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

REVIEW:

The story has substance. But it is also entertaining and has mind-blowing twists. It is also sexy because Nicky can also be suave and Margot Robbie is the right choice to play the novice con artist Jess.

For Rodrigo Santoro, it is good to shed his Xerxes skin for the movie. It is good to know that villain can also be as handsome as Santoro help to conceal how antagonistic his character is. The story has good quality and I expect no less from co-director John Requa who also behind Crazy, Stupid Love.

The best part of the movie was the sleight-of-hand maneuvers which was choreographed by their consultant Apollo Robbins who is known as The Gentleman Thief.  Knowing this, I also wish I have this skill not for stealing but to impress.

Focus is the best quality film I can recommend that is unique. It opens February 25 in Philippine cinemas. For more reviews, follow this blog or like L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook.

The Theory Of Everything movie review

Why should you watch this movie?

-Eddie Redmayne made scientists look cool.

-Felicity Jones is so cute.

-Both actors are nominated at the Academy.

-I was also curious about Felicity since I am going to see her as Dr. Sienna Brooks in Dan Brown's Inferno adaptation.

Story: Biographical film about Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde.

Poster art courtesy of UIP

Review: Most of the masses won't appreciate it especially most Pinoy moviegoers because the mention of science seems nerdy and the majority are not the thinking type while watching a movie. The Theory Of Everything is not about science. It is the love story of Hawking and Wilde.

If you are familiar with Hawking, you know his life's work and his burden. I thought I knew about Hawking because of his work but I never realize that his life is complicated and it's not just about his condition. If his situation seems acceptable and understandable, it will make any Filipino Catholic priests compel to perform an exorcism on Hawking and Wilde.

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones deserves their nominations even if they didn't win it. Redmayne look more like Hawking to the detail of his facial features that I am having trouble finding out if its prosthetic or not. He's more accurate than Benedict Cumberbatch's version when he played the part in a mini-series.

The situation of Hawking and Wilde may be taboo but it can be real to some couples. It all boils down how are we open or how compassionate we really are. The Theory Of Everything is a movie for mature viewers and is exclusive only at Ayala Cinemas. 

For more movie reviews, follow this blog or like L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook.

UPDATE!!

Congratulations to Mr. Eddie Redmayne for winning the Best Actor award at the Oscars.

ROBERT LANGDON TO RETURN IN “INFERNO”

Press release

STARRING TOM HANKS

Ron Howard Directs and Produces with Brian Grazer; Film Begins Production in April

CULVER CITY, Calif., February 17, 2015 – Director/producer Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer have cast an energetic company of some of the world’s most talented and interesting rising international stars to join Tom Hanks in Inferno, the new film in Columbia Pictures’ Robert Langdon series, which has taken in more than $1.2 billion worldwide to date.

Second casting reveal

The Imagine Entertainment production, which has a screenplay by David Koepp based on the book by Dan Brown, is slated for release onOctober 14, 2016 and will begin principal photography at the end of April.  The project’s executive producers are Dan Brown, Anna Culp, Bill Connor, and David Householter.

Inferno continues the Harvard symbologist’s adventures on screen: when Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks, a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories and prevent a madman from releasing a global plague connected to Dante’s “Inferno.”

Felicity Jones, an Oscar® nominee this year for her performance in The Theory of Everything, will star opposite Hanks as Dr. Sienna Brooks.  Irrfan Khan, one of India’s biggest stars, best known for his roles in Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi, and The Lunchbox, takes the role of Harry Sims, also known as The Provost.  French actor Omar Sy, best known for his work in the French mega-hit The Intouchables, as well as X-Men: Days of Future Past, the upcoming Jurassic World, and John Wells’ upcoming untitled project, will play Christoph Bruder.  Sidse Babett Knudsen, star of the Danish television series “Borgen,” will portray Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, the head of the World Health Organization.  The filmmakers are also in talks with several other internationally recognized actors for major roles.

Commenting on the announcement, Howard said, “For this film, I wanted Tom Hanks to be surrounded by an international cast of actors whose energy will underscore Robert Langdon’s life-or-death peril, the high-stakes action he takes, and the global threat that he’s trying to prevent.  Felicity, Irrfan, Omar, and Sidse have all broken through with recognition here in America as well as their home countries – they are phenomenal talents and we can’t wait to get started.”

“We’re thrilled to be making a third Robert Langdon film with Ron, Tom and Brian,” said Doug Belgrad, president, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.  “Inferno will deliver all of the excitement, intrigue and international adventure that audiences expect from a film based on Dan Brown’s huge selling Langdon book series. We can't wait to see this character back on the big screen.”

Michael De Luca and Andrea Giannetti will oversee the project for Columbia Pictures.

EDDIE REDMAYNE, BOUND FOR OSCAR GLORY WITH “THEORY OF EVERYTHING”

Press release

He already won Best Actor prizes in the recent British Academy, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards. That's why Eddie Redmayne is considered to be the favorite to win the Oscar next week for his riveting performance as astrophysicist Stephen Hawking in Universal Pictures' inspiring biopic “The Theory of Everything.”

To be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas nationwide starting Feb. 25, “The Theory of Everything” is nominated five times in this year's Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress (Felicity Jones) and Best Adapted Screenplay.

In the film, once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane (Jones) fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed.

Producer Lisa Bruce notes on their leading man, "Eddie had a relentless intensity from day one. It was truly amazing to watch his evolution as he captured the many layers of both the Stephen we think we know as well as the man behind the image."

Redmayne remarks, "When I read the script I was astonished at what this man has experienced, and done, since 1963. It was one of the most inspiring things I'd ever read. Stephen Hawking is an icon of hope.

"But this movie is also about the human being behind the icon,” the actor continues. “When we meet him in this story, he is 21, and so vibrant and athletic. He goes on to live a full life with a twinkle in his eye, and continues to do so. There are different sides to him: the wit, the brilliance, the stubbornness...I got the impression that he had a rock star personality."

In further researching the subjects' lives, Redmayne learned that the professor came from a solidly intellectual family, while Jane Wilde's decision to pursue an academic career was still considered a brave choice for a woman back in the 1960s. "They were very different people, both extraordinary yet polar opposites," he says. "The idea of two human beings completing one another and defying all the odds I found compelling and oh, was it romantic!"

The challenge of the physical demands required to play Stephen Hawking loomed large. As Redmayne's friend and co-star Charlie Cox said when Redmayne told him about the role, "You have no option but to give it 3,000%."

Accordingly, Redmayne parsed even the smallest details on the man he would be portraying. He notes, "Jane discusses in her book how Stephen had incredibly expressive eyebrows. That was something I spent months in front of a mirror working on.

"When I met Stephen, I noticed how 'yes' is sort of a smile and 'no' is almost a grimace, yet they only manifest in a couple of the facial muscles for him, so I learned how to isolate those."

Redmayne adds, "The production surrounded me with an extraordinary team. Director James Marsh encouraged everyone to collaborate, and gave me the freedom to work closely with the different departments. One of the great thrills of doing this role was working with people who are at the top of their game. We were all of us taking on something we'd never done before which was quite special."

Vocal coach Julia Wilson Dickson and movement director Alex Reynolds were brought in early on by the filmmakers to work with Redmayne. Reynolds coordinated with the actor just how the various degenerative stages of motor neuron disease would be fully expressed on screen as called for in the script.

Redmayne obtained permission to visit MND patients both at a clinic and at home. He explains, "I felt I had the responsibility of portraying this as a real condition." The actor counted himself as fortunate to be able to meet with Stephen as well, and straight away "apologized to Professor Hawking for having chosen to study art history."

Since there is no existing documentation of Stephen in the early stages of deterioration, Redmayne and Reynolds consulted with a doctor who specialized in motor neuron disease to more precisely chart the progression. Redmayne also shared the research with Wilson Dickson. To carry the findings over for the 48 day shoot, Redmayne created a climbing numbers chart that would gauge how advanced the MND was in a particular scene a method which proved invaluable since, like most feature films, “The Theory of Everything” was not shot in sequence.

"Eddie prepared for months, to be ready to give multiple levels of performance," marvels producer and screenwriter Anthony McCarten. "He had to be aware on any given day for a scene, 'Is this stage four of my voice?' 'Does this mean stage three of my body?'

"He would go from 'a 4.3 day' for one day's work to, for a scene set 10 years earlier and filming the next day, 'a 2.7 day.' Each day required all of his talent, discipline, and intelligence."

Marsh availed himself of the chart as "a sacred text, because it demonstrated what was possible and not possible for Stephen at a moment in time. This had a big impact on how [director of photography] Benoit Delhomme shot a scene, and on how we framed it.

"We were sensitive to Eddie's ability to engage the audience with no more than just a cast of his eyes and a small shift of the body. This is not easy for an actor to pull off, and it came at a physical cost to him. Every day he was in some sort of stress position that he had to maintain for hours at a stretch, while still projecting and making the character emerge out of the disability."

McCarten states, "Watching Eddie day after day on the shoot, I would see not him but rather Stephen Hawking."

Marsh concludes, "As impressive as the technical elements of Eddie's performance are, that he brings it all to emotional life is even more so."

“The Theory of Everything” is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

“RUN ALL NIGHT” UNLEASHES MAIN, CHARACTER POSTERS

Press release

Warner Bros. Pictures has rolled-out the main poster and character banners of its upcoming action thriller “Run All Night.” The four character banners individually highlight stars Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman and Common.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (“Unknown,” “Non-Stop”), “Run All Night” also stars Vincent D’Onofrio.

In the film, Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon (Neeson), once known as The Gravedigger, has seen better days. Longtime best friend of mob boss Shawn Maguire (Harris), Jimmy, now 55, is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective (D’Onofrio) who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. Lately, it seems Jimmy’s only solace can be found at the bottom of a whiskey glass.

But when Jimmy’s estranged son, Mike (Kinnaman), becomes a target, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago. With Mike on the run, Jimmy’s only penance for his past mistakes may be to keep his son from the same fate Jimmy is certain he’ll face himself…at the wrong end of a gun. Now, with nowhere safe to turn, Jimmy just has one night to figure out exactly where his loyalties lie and to see if he can finally make things right.

“Run All Night” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Amy Adams in eye opening story of Margaret Keane in ‘Big Eyes’

Press material

Four-time Academy Award-nominee Amy Adams had read the ‘BIG EYES’ screenplay early on, but she wasn’t prepared to do it at first.  “I thought it was very interesting, but I was at a time where I wanted to play really confident characters and wasn’t sure how I would find my way into Margaret.”  However, when she next saw the script, things had changed.  “I’d become a mother and had a totally different perspective on the character and I understood -- it wasn’t lack of confidence.  I was attracted to the story from the beginning, but at the end it was Margaret that I really got pulled into.  Margaret is complicated, like most human beings.  She’s definitely a little shyer, and she’s very humble.  That’s one of the qualities about her that I think allowed her to be manipulated.”  Adams did a lot of research to prepare for the role.  “When you have a story that has two very different sides and people who write about it that have different perspectives, it’s really hard to put your finger on what the true story is.  I read what Walter said about Margaret, then I read what other people said about her, and there’s not a lot in her own words.”  So Adams travelled to San Francisco and spent a day with Margaret Keane at the artist’s gallery.  “That was most beneficial, to see this woman and understand that yes, there is this humility, but there’s this strength and this sense of humor.  I didn’t want to pry, but I wanted to get an understanding of who she was and how this could have happened.   What I came to was her gentle nature.”  The actress and the artist spent half a day together.  “It makes me nervous when people look at me,” Margaret Keane says, “but she wanted to watch me paint, and she made it painless and was so down to earth.   It was wonderful.”   Keane was delighted with the casting of Adams, who sports a vintage blonde bob in the picture.  “When I first saw her with the wig on it was a shock.  It was like seeing myself  50 years ago!  She was absolutely perfect.”   While Walter Keane was a fixture on the talk show circuit of the era, Margaret was much more in the shadows.  

“There’s only a little bit of footage of her,” says Adams, “so I didn’t have a lot to pull on who Margaret was.”  So Adams based her performance on the elderly woman she actually met, and, she notes, “In the end, you can really only go with the text because everything else, all of our memories, even of ourselves, are skewed.  So going with the text, trying to help tell the story but at the same time being mindful of who she was as a person and what’s important to her now.  I talked to her about why she would be willing to tell this story.  She is a Jehovah’s Witness and that is why she wants to show that these things can happen in our life but we can find redemption at the end of it and strength within ourselves, so I felt like that gave me permission to tell her story, with my artistic interpretation, while understanding her a little better.” 

Photo courtesy of Captive Cinema

 “Margaret became identified with the big eyes and she was able to express her pain and sadness and her questions.  I think that’s why people respond, because there is such an openness and a questioning and a vulnerability and this amazing quality that children have and she’s really able to capture that.”  Walter appropriated Margaret’s waif paintings and declared them his own, and they came to be known as the “Keane” paintings.  As Margaret developed as an artist, she continued to paint “Keanes” attributed to Walter, but she also created elongated psychological paintings of women, often self-portraits, which she signed MDH Keane and publicly claimed as her own.    

‘’BIG EYES” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.

JOHNNY DEPP STARS AS BUMBLY-STUMBLY CRIME-FIGHTER IN “MORTDECAI”

Press release

Unlikely and hilarious crime-fighters who have saved the day such as Johnny English, OSS 117 and Austin Powers proved that the peculiarly witted ones make the world a safer place and that which ticks a cult following of movie fans worldwide.

            Introducing yet another eccentric funny hero in the mix, Johnny Depp brings to life Charlie Mortdecai - a cult figure from the popular three-novel anthology in the 1970s by Kyril Bonfiglioli.

            The Mortdecai books, center on Charlie Mortdecai and his wild and humorous adventures with his servant, Jock, which include entanglements with the police, art theft, and more. On top of that, he has this blurred line between right and wrong, sane and crazy, and good and evil.

            There is no question that Johnny Depp is a man of a thousand faces. From “Pirates of the Caribbean's” smokey-eyed dandy Captain Jack Sparrow to “Alice in Wonderland's” preening, powdered Mad Hatter, to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s” pale face and shiny bobbed hair Willy Wonka. Depp adds to his impressive roster of hilarious characters in “Mortdecai,” an art dealer with a slicked back blonde hair and perfectly shaped hipster moustache that only he seems to appreciate.

            Depp plays a dapper James Bond type whose good looks and special charm are his only weapons during a globe spanning hunt to recover a stolen painting rumored to contain the code to a lost bank account filled with gold. But though this man seems to have it all, he's actually close to broke and so he and Jock plan to snatch this coveted painting for themselves. What could go wrong short of everything? “We must come up with a fiendishly clever plan,” he tells his manservant, played by a gruff Paul Bettany (“The Avengers”). “We grab the painting when no one’s looking,” Bettany suggests.

            Lionsgate Chairman Jon Feltheimer said the film is in “the vein of ‘The Pink Panther.’” There was also a mention of Mordecai being a “franchisable character,” noting, “it’s a character that Johnny Depp absolutely loved and would love to do more of.”

            "Mortdecai is very unique and special,” Depp shared. “It's very different from anything I have done before. We haven't seen that type of caper movie for a number of years. If you go back and watch movies like The Pink Panther… there's really something great about those caper films that teeter toward farcical."

            The action-comedy film comes from writer/director David Koepp, who’s known for scripting big tentpoles such as “Jurassic Park,” “Spider-Man” and “Panic Room.”

            Depp and Mcgregor are joined by well-known actors Gwyneth Paltrow (“Iron Man”), Olivia Munn (“Magic Mike”), Oliver Platt (“X-Men”), Aubrey Plaza (“Parks and Recreation”), and Jeff Goldblum (“Jurassic Park”).

FELICITY JONES EARNS OSCAR BEST ACTRESS NOM FOR “THEORY OF EVERYTHING”

Press release

British thespian Felicity Jones is one of five Oscar Best Actress nominees this year, and she accomplishes this feat with a magnificent portrayal of real-life character, Jane Hawking, in Universal Pictures' “The Theory of Everything.”

Also starring fellow Academy Award-nominee Eddie Redmayne, the film is an inspiring biopic of renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student, Jane.

To portray Jane Hawking, the filmmakers needed an actress who would face less physical challenges but any number of psychological ones, incarnating the emotions of a pillar of strength.

Director James Marsh notes that "Jane's beats in the story are all emotional ones. I felt that Felicity Jones would match up well with Eddie Redmayne as actors, which she did, and as a director I found the collaboration with her to be exciting.

"There were many difficult scenes where Eddie would be exposed physically and Felicity would be emotionally exposed. She had to show paradoxical feelings, and that's tough to do. All at once, she needed to convey what it was like to love someone who is suffering from a debilitating illness as well as the burdens it put on her as a lover and on her career."

Jones admired the script's "empathy for human beings. As an actor, I was glad to have the opportunity to play a character across many years."

Screenwriter and producer Anthony McCarten notes, "Felicity built a deep characterization of Jane, treading a precarious path between frailty and strength."

Poring over both script and memoir, the actress made a point of meeting with Jane Hawking early on. "She is someone who never gave up," offersJones. "She dedicated her life to Stephen but at the same time retained her own sense of identity. It was important for her to be recognized in her own right, which is why she continued on with her studies while caring for him and raising a family. What this woman accomplished!"

McCarten notes, "Jane met with Felicity several times, and I know that impacted her portrayal. Felicity would convey how much Jane had going on just under the surface the rich, roiling internalized emotions. For her to do such scenes over and over again got her into the mindset of Jane's powerful ability to hold things together.

Photo courtesy of UIP/Columbia Pictures

"I feel that Felicity captured the Jane I have come to know. There's an authenticity and a discipline to her portrayal that mirror Jane's own strengths."

The love between Jane and Stephen is at the heart of the movie, and the effectiveness of the latter half of the story is enhanced by the glow of the initial romance, particularly the May Ball sequence which is the film's beautiful centerpiece. Marsh explains, "Their marriage later gets complicated, so we have to believe how madly in love Stephen and Jane were from the start. There had to be great vulnerability and tenderness on both sides."

Jones states, "I believe there was an immediate sexual attraction between Stephen and Jane, but at the same time there was a meeting of the minds. I think they challenged each other as well; there was a competitiveness between them, which often happens between two people who are quite intelligent and quite different and all of that helped bond them together."

“The Theory of Everything” is nominated five times in this year's Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking (Redmayne) received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane (Jones) fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed.

KEVIN HART, THE BEST MAN...MONEY CAN BUY IN “WEDDING RINGER”

Press release

One of today's most sought-after comedians, Kevin Hart (“Ride Along,” upcoming “Get Hard”) stars as the Best Man-for-hire, Jimmy Callahan, in Columbia Pictures' outrageous comedy, “The Wedding Ringer.”

Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures

In the film, Doug Harris (Josh Gad) is a lovable but socially awkward groom-to-be with a problem: he has no best man. With less than two weeks to go until he marries the girl of his dreams, Doug is referred to Jimmy Callahan, (Hart) owner and CEO of Best Man, Inc., a company that provides flattering best men for socially challenged guys in need. What ensues is a hilarious wedding charade as they try to pull off the big con, and an unexpected budding bromance between Doug and his fake best man Jimmy.

For director Jeremy Garelick, casting the right actor to play the lead character of Jimmy Callahan, the fast-on-his-feet owner of Best Man Inc., a company that provides professional best man for grooms who just don't have friends, was important. Enter Kevin Hart, the funnyman whose recent comedies “Think Like a Man” and “Ride Along” were box office gold.

Hart says that making the right choices is key to a successful career, "because you don't want to do the same thing over and over again," he says. "The movies I've been picking lately have been a variety of action comedies and relationship-based comedies. I would consider `The Wedding Ringer' more of a buddy comedy and with a nice little drama that isn't too serious. You get to see how men think and I think that that's refreshing entertainment."

Hart adds, "Jimmy will be your best man and create the ultimate wedding party for you. He will even throw in a bachelor party if you pay enough. Jimmy provides the business service of a limited-time friendship. Doug is the worst case Jimmy has ever seen. He needs the full package, which Jimmy has never performed before and so he questions himself, 'Can I pull this off?'"

Even more fun was the comic thread of Jimmy and Doug in a near constant state of deception, with often hilariously disastrous results. "Once you step into it," says Hart, referring to the best-man sham that involves faking out so many people, "you can't go back. I think that made room for so much fun, from the consistent lying to the cover-up and back peddling that we do together. It's a funny comedy beat played continuously throughout the movie."

Co-star Josh Gad is all praises about Hart. "He is one of the funniest human beings I have ever met in my life. He's always, always, always making me laugh. Even when he shouldn't be making me laugh! So we ruin a lot of takes generally. 

The Wedding Ringer” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Tim Burton discusses a larger than life film ‘Big Eyes’

Press release

Tim Burton is a bit like the character he creates in his movies—whimsical, highly animated, and quite appealing in a quirky kind of way and larger- than- life.

His latest movie ‘Big Eyes’, opens on February 25, across the Philippines!

In Manhattan, Burton’s hair and beard were a bit scraggly, and he spoke with his hands waving in the air. It is clear: he is passionate about three aspects of his life: his films, his art and his family.

Among his unique movies, most with a strong cult following, are, Batman, Batman Returns, Mars Attacks, Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, Big Fish and Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Burton has creatively directed from his vivid imagination numerous darkly-themed children’s movies, including: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Frankenweenie, and Alice in Wonderland.

Big Eyes, from The Weinstein Company, is the biographical drama film directed by Tim Burton.

The film focuses on Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), an artist known in the 1950s and 60s for his kitsch paintings of large-eyed waifs and his then-wife Margaret Keane, (Amy Adams).

The film tells the outrageous true story of their heated divorce battle wherein Margaret accused her husband, Walter, of stealing her paintings. The bazaar and shocking truth would later be discovered: Walter did not create any of the art work, but instead his wife did, and the Keane’s had been living a colossal lie that had fooled the entire world.

The movie is too incredible to be fiction, and focuses on Margaret’s awakening as an artist, the success of her paintings and her tumultuous relationship with her husband , who was catapulted to international  fame while taking credit for her work.

The script was written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the screenwriters behind Ed Wood, and is based in Los Angeles. In 2003, they began researching the story that would take 10 years to become a  film.

 “There were a lot of reasons why we wanted to make this movie,” Karaszewski explained. “We thought that Margaret was a great female character that embodied the beginning of the Women’s Movement. It stars with her as a 1950s housewife, who does everything for her husband. Through the course of the story, she learns to stand up for herself.”

Burton has long been involved with Helena Bonham Carter, and they have two children: a son Billy Raymond, 11, and a daughter, Nell,7.

Please talk about approaching this story of Big Eyes as a parent?

I don’t know if that has everything to do with it for me. I mean, I came at strangely, from growing up in that era. Because growing up in that era and understanding the cultures that I grew up in, it was sort of the end of the American Dream. And that kind of idea.

How so?

The sort of the idea of this dysfunctional couple coming together. And ..creating these mutant children! It just felt like my family! You know, it just felt like of like this sort of…So it had this strange, so I sort of came at it in this strange way. But you know..I’ll never show this film to my children! I’ll show ém Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd. But not this one!

What grabbed your attention about these actors [Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz] you chose for your new Tim Burton universe, Big Eyes?

It was just fresh energy for me to work with these new people. And uh, because you know

everybody’s been getting sick of the people I was working with! And, I know. It’s sad, isn’t! And I showed up occasionally, yes!

I am sure you were there more than that. Please talk about your attention to those Keane paintings?

I found them fascinating, but quite disturbing, actually! Like Big Brother watching you –those big eyes. And the sort of polarized responses to it. Some people love it, obviously. And some people just wanted to…rip it off the walls! So that kind of response is what I found quite fascinating.

How did this project come about, between you and the writers –Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski?

We were actually working in parallel! universes! Because I didn’t know that the screenwriters were writing a script! And I knew Keane’s work, because I grew up with it. But I didn’t know the real story. And a friend of mine told me the story. And went to San Francisco and met Margaret Keane. And I commissioned a painting from her. Then I don’t know how long after that, but we had done Ed Wood together. And they approached me about doing this movie.

Were you drawn at all to Margaret Keane because of your own personal experiences, in a Hollywood movie industry dominated by business interest over art?

Well, yes. I mean; that’s why I enjoyed Ed Wood, because to me, there’s a fine line. Or it’s perceived as good and bad. And you know; I’ve been through that myself. You  know, when they had that MOMA [The Museum of Metropolitan Art in New York] show her, the critics… It was

about 100 times worse than Keane! You know what I mean?

Then what happened?

It got so lambasted. And at the same time …it had a high attendance rate! So I’ve experienced that kind of thing, of like good and bad. Because when you do something, you’re very passionate about it. Whether it’s Ed Wood or the Keane’s , you know, there’s just such enthusiasm. And they thought they were making probably like..Michelangelo! As  Ed Wood thought he was making Star Wars. You know,  when he was making Plan 9 From Outer Space! So you understand that kind of misguided enthusiasm. And then you sort of understanding the polarization of people’s response to things.

Why do you think the Keane art was not embraced by the psychedelic world by then?

But it was very druggie! You know, big eyes, large pupils. I mean, It’s somehow weirdly fit into that scene! And I always admired Margaret’s high-waisted look!

Why do you think that this film isn’t as dark as your other movie?

For me. you have the time, the era, and you have the paintings. Which suggest something, strange color schemes that are those paintings; part of the vibe of it. And then, just the story. I mean, the relationship between Margaret and Walter and the other characters, in my own mind, it started to feel like a weird sixties, kind of slightly Hitchcock.

Please elaborate—what do you mean by this?

Well, I found myself strangely drawn. I mean; the color scheme just fit the era and the paintings, and the kind of psychological relationship, and feel of the movie. So you know whether it’s black or white or color, you try to support that. And make it a character, in a way.

So just all of those elements made it…what it turned out to be!

The movie is in large part struggle between abstract and popular art, Where do you stand in that struggle personally?

Again, it’s a fascinating thing about people’s perception of art. And you see it today. Either it speaks to you, or it doesn’t. And I think the reason the story really sort of flew under the radar, is that most critics, most people, didn’t really consider it art. So it didn’t hit the major headlines.

Please, tell me more?

You know; it was sort of on the back pages. Whatever. But like I said. I myself  have  experienced from the  very beginning of my career, people loving and hating me. And also, people would say about my movies, ‘Oh it’s so much lighter.’ And at the same time, it’s so much darker. So I found that a sort of juxtaposition. How could something be light, and then other people see it as completely dark. So people’s perceptions of things fascinate me, you know?

Is that how you see the film Big Eyes?

Yes, in that way I think this is perfect story , and an example of that sort of question. And it’s kind of an unanswerable question! It’s just sort of a presentation of that dynamic. But I loved it, because I also hated it! You know what I mean ? There’s something about it like, why would grown people have…images of children hanging in their living room!

It seems like people do that.

I do too!

If you put yourself in Walter Keane’s shoes for minute, what do you think was going on inside his crazy head?

In his version, he was Henry Higgins! She was ElizaDoolittle, and, it was a failed experiment!

“BIG EYES” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA!