EMMA WATSON REVEALS FAMILY’S CRIME IN PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER “REGRESSION”

Press release

Emma Watson, best known for her role in the highly successful film franchise “Harry Potter” playing Hermione Granger expands her range as an actress as she stars her most challenging role to-date in the psychological thriller “Regression” along with Ethan Hawke and “Harry Potter” alumnus David  Thewlis helmed by Academy Award Winner director Alejandro Amenábar (“The Sea Inside”).

                Set in Minnesota circa 1990. Emma Watson’s character Angela Gray has found Angela has found peace and safety in religion after losing her mother in a car accident.  During a seminar at Reverend Beaumont’s church she breaks down and confesses that her father has abused her. With Detective Bruce Kenner’s (Hawke) help, she will overcome her isolation to become a key witness to solve the case.  When Kenner further investigates the case of Angela, who accuses her father, John Gray (David Dencik), of an unspeakable crime. When John unexpectedly and without recollection admits guilt, renowned psychologist Dr. Raines (David Thewlis) is brought in to help him relive his memories and what they discover unmasks a horrifying nationwide mystery.

                “She has grown up in a house with two addicts: her father is an alcoholic so is her grandmother. Her mother died when she was very young in a car accident. You get the sense from looking at her house where she grew up, that there has been a huge level of neglect in Angela’s life and that neglect is really what comes to inform her choices and how she sees the world, how she feels about the world, what options she thinks are available to her,” says Watson of her role.

                The trigger in the story told by Regression is the accusation made by young Angela Gray, a shy teenager whose accusation sheds light upon conflicts that no one had dared to speak of before. “This is probably one of the hardest roles or characters that I've ever had to play”, continues Emma Watson. “Angela is someone who’s had a very difficult life. She has grown up in a house with two addicts; her father is an alcoholic so is her grandmother and her mother died when she was very young in a car accident. She has such a complicated history.”

                Alejandro Amenábar had no doubts about who would make the perfect Angela Gray:  “Emma Watson is an extremely intelligent woman, she’s very talented and she understood the project perfectly.  When making a film like this one you need accomplices, people who understand what you’re trying to say.  She had very clear ideas when she arrived to start shooting.”

                “Regression is not a horror movie.  It’s about fear, about the fragility of the human mind, about how afraid we can get and how fear can keep us from thinking and seeing things clearly,” concludes director Amenábar.

BENICIO DEL TORO IN “SICARIO”

Press release

Heinous crimes traverse the jagged line of the U.S. and Mexican border in an alarmingly escalating tempo that the intense thrilling action “Sicario” (meaning hitman) deals with, starring an impressive roster of actors including Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin.

                At a time when the world is awash with the most pressing questions on drugs, terror, illegal immigration and corruption that has left people on both sides frightened and vigilant, “Sicario” explores the journey of an intelligence operation that pushes the rules to engage with those who don’t play by any.

                “It’s a movie about choices,” adds Benicio Del Toro, who dives into one of his most conflicted roles as the equal parts vengeful and tender hit man Alejandro.  “It’s tough to say whether any character in Sicario is truly good or bad.  Do the means justify the ends? What happens when go into a situation where you want to kill one guy and you kill 20 innocent people? You got the bad guy, but at what cost?”

                The complex heart of “Sicario” is the film’s most unsettling character:  Alejandro, played by Del Toro, who is at once a former courageous prosecutor grieving for his murdered family, Kate’s sympathetic guardian and a sicario in his own right, willing to cross any line to bring down the cartels who tore apart his life. 

                Screenwriter Sheridan imagined Benicio Del Toro taking the role even as he was writing.  Fittingly, the charismatic Puerto Rican-born actor previously had won an Oscar for his indelible portrait of a different side of the drug war as a street-smart Tijuana policeman in Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic.”  Del Toro says that complexity gripped him.  The question that hit him hardest was whether Alejandro can truly live with the things he has done, or if he has accepted that the price he must pay is forever being an outsider to society.   “Alejandro used to be a prosecutor, and then his family was killed in the drug wars, so from those events, he became an assassin of drug lords of sorts.  But is he a bad guy?  I don’t know,” muses the actor.  “I wouldn’t say he made bad choices to get where he is, circumstances controlled by other human beings forced him to be who he is. He has been given this role of hit man for the US government, so he lives in this bloody, dark world.  He is willing to do it for his own reasons, but can he ever go back into society after what he has become?”  

                Adds Iwanyk: “Benicio is one of those classic actors who tells you, `Give me fewer lines. I want to play this in my eyes. I want to play this in how I nod my head or how I look away.’  At times, his portrait of Alejandro is very quiet and internal but then he’ll suddenly be powerful and magnetic.  He’s really the heart and soul of this movie.”

                Alejandro’s impenetrable exterior only seems to soften in the presence of Kate (Blunt).  The two are drawn together, if just for a fleeting moment, then wrenched apart in the course of the story.  “In a strange, subtle way, Kate starts falling for Alejandro and he starts falling for her. It is very carefully played by both actors,” says Iwanyk.  “As Kate discovers how broken this man is, and how that is manifested in more violence than she can fathom, our heart is broken for him and for ourselves, because we were invested in this man.

ROBERT DE NIRO IN “THE INTERN”

Press release

Robert De Niro plays a 70-year-old widower and retiree who gets the chance to begin again as an intern at a local Brooklyn start-up, in Warner Bros. Pictures' new drama comedy “The Intern.”

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

In the film directed Nancy Meyers (“It's Complicated,” “The Holiday”), De Niro stars as Ben Whittaker who has discovered that retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Seizing an opportunity to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway).

The legendary actor says he appreciated the opportunity to collaborate for the first time with director Nancy Meyers. “This is the kind of movie that Nancy does and does so well. It’s in some ways a classic Hollywood comedy, but not of the past; it’s very contemporary. Here, she hits on something I think a lot of people can relate to: they’re not necessarily sure anything has changed other than they just got older, but they still have plenty to offer and are able to be productive.”

We first meet Ben Whittaker at a Tai Chi class because, Meyers reveals, “I saw some humor in that choice, but also because I believed Ben would know how good Tai Chi is for you.” Despite his apparent Zen, we soon learn that Tai Chi is only one of the ways in which Ben is going through the motions to forestall his restlessness as a retired widower. To fill his time, Ben plays golf and pinochle, goes to movies, reads; he’s taken cooking lessons, learned Mandarin, tried yoga and used all his frequent flier miles to travel the globe. But something is still missing.

Meyers affirms, “Ben misses work; having a place to go. He’s looking to be a part of something again. He goes to Starbucks every morning by7:15 just to be on the periphery of the hustle and bustle.”

De Niro notes, “Ben didn’t have an overly ambitious career, but he’d done well and felt fortunate. Now he’s finding retirement to be a different thing from what he expected. I guess it depends on what you’re retiring from, but Ben is someone who actually liked his job.”

Meyers considered having De Niro in the role of Ben to be something of a casting coup, stating, “Bob’s a brilliant actor with tremendous depth and range. In his other comedies, he’s often played a humorous version of the tough guy, but in ‘The Intern,’ we get to see a different side of Bob. Also, in our film, he’s not only playing against Anne Hathaway, as her intern who becomes more of a mentor than a mentee, but he’s also playing against a group of young actors, several from Comedy Central. Their backgrounds couldn’t be more different, and that led to some very rich moments on and off screen.”

The director also observes that De Niro and Hathaway’s chemistry established a powerful dynamic between their characters. “It’s this magical thing that happens if you’re lucky,” says Meyers. “It can’t be forced, it just happens. There’s just something special between Ben and Jules, and also Bob and Annie. And I believe it’s very palpable on screen.”

The two actors confirm their admiration for each other was entirely mutual. “This kind of comedy has a certain precision, with a lot of dialogue and timing,” says De Niro. “It’s why you need a good partner and I couldn’t have had a better partner than Anne. “She’s very professional and very much a team player. She was great.”

Opening across the Philippines on Thursday, September 24, “The Intern” will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

“STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON” GOES STRAIGHT TO AYALA MALLS CINEMAS

Press release

In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music.

Photo courtesy of UIP

Taking us back to where it all began, Universal Pictures' “Straight Outta Compton” tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.

“Straight Outta Compton” will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas nationwide starting September 30.

The film stars O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, and is directed by F. Gary Gray (“The Italian Job,” “The Negotiator”). The drama is produced by original N.W.A members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, who are joined by fellow producers Tomica Woods-Wright, Matt Alvarez, Gray and Scott Bernstein.

The tale of N.W.A is multifaceted, encompassing the compelling personal stories of its members, while weaving in the social tapestry from which the group's revolutionary music emerged over its 10-year span.

Even amid his thriving and long-sustained career as a chart-topping music artist and a quadruple threat in entertainment as an actor, writer, producer and director, Ice Cube, aka O'Shea Jackson, has always kept the notion of chronicling the rise of N.W.A tucked in the back of his mind.

In 2009, Ice Cube came across a script that proved too tempting to overlook, and for the first time he jumpstarted the idea of a viable feature-film biography based on the group's experiences, ones that began almost three decades prior.

For Cube, there was no doubt that the filmed version of the N.W.A story would be dedicated to group founder Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, who had passed away in 1995. Cube reflects: "Thank God for Eazy, who had the vision and saw this music as the future, the records that people want to hear. He was so adamant about putting Compton on the map. He used to be like, 'Everybody, y'all in Brooklyn. Everybody, y'all got Queens in the house, the Bronx, uptown. Nobody here on the Compton. What about Compton?' He was adamant that he would put Compton on the map if that's the last thing he did."

With the participation of key players-including fellow N.W.A member Dr. Dre and Eazy-E's widow, Tomica Woods-Wright, who would come on board as producers, and original group members MC Ren and DJ Yella, who joined as consultants, the team knew that they could do it right and pay homage to their story.

The screenplay, entitled “Straight Outta Compton,” originated from several years of interviews and research compiled by music documentarian S. Leigh Savidge and screenwriter Alan Wenkus. That early draft would lay the foundation for what would become Andrea Berloff 's working version, who along with screenwriter Jonathan Herman's work, fine-tuned the material into the shooting script.

Incorporating an abundance of recollections information garnered from all fronts, the writers' collective work was an expansive look at the life and times of N.W.A. At the forefront of everyone's minds was the belief that telling their story would uphold the legacy of their friend Eazy-E as the magnetic visionary he was. Eazy-E was the core of this group's foundation and would be depicted with respect.

From the beginning, Eazy's goal was to portray life in the 'hood with frank lyrics by Ice Cube and infectious beats by Dr. Dre and create a new movement that evoked their experiences in Compton with an honesty that had never been expressed. He knew that they had something special, and together with DJ Yella and MC Ren, the five would make iconic music that would explode well beyond the povertystricken urban centers of America and attract attention around the world.

GREEN INFERNO: CASTING THE CANNIBALS

Press release

How do you teach an Amazon tribe, who has no idea what a movie is to act like angry savage cannibals?

Eli Roth’s solution: Make them watch Cannibal Holocaust.

From director Eli Roth, the horror mastermind behind some of the scariest movies of all time such as Cabin Fever and the blockbuster Hostel franchise, comes GREEN INFERNO, a terrifying new film about a group of college students who take their humanitarian protest to the Amazon jungle, only to be taken prisoner by the indigenous tribe they came to save.

Filmed entirely on location in Chile, the Peruvian Amazon and New York City, Green Inferno is Roth’s first feature film in six years and is the third installment of the horror-auteur’s “travel trilogy.”

In the horror genre, says Roth, “the scare is the star.” Rather than A-list names, a horror film requires “good actors, a good script and a director who understands how to shoot and edit it.”

For the central role of Justine, Roth cast Chilean-born model-turned-actress Lorenza Izzo (Aftershock, Sex Ed, Hemlock Grove). Playing Justine’s roommate Kaycee is singer-songwriter Sky Ferreira. Other members of the ensemble include Daryl Sabara (Spy Kids), Kirby Bliss Blanton (Project X), Magda Apanowicz (“Caprica”) and newcomer Aaron Burns. Rounding out the cast are Ariel Levy, Nicolás Martínez and Ignacia Allamand.

But to really give Green Inferno that authentic feel of fear, Roth decided to cast the Callanayacu tribe from Peru as the main “stars” who provide the scares.

Nearly every person (besides the American crew) you will see in the movie is an actual member of the tribe that Roth discovered in the Amazon. While scouting a remote part of the treacherous Huallaga River, Roth saw a grass hut on the bank that looked exactly like the village he had pictured while writing The Green Inferno. As they pulled their boat to the shore, a few people cautiously came out of their houses to greet them. A remote, self-sustaining farm community with no electricity or running water, the Callanayacu has little contact with the outside world beyond the occasional supply boat.

While Roth had found the perfect cast, he also found a couple of problems—It wasn’t just that the villagers had zero acting experience, most of them also had no concept of what a movie was and had never seen one.

So to give them an idea of what they would be doing and imitating, Roth and crew brought a generator, a TV and perhaps the craziest choice to introduce the tribe to “the magical world of movies”---he made them watch the 1980 grindhouse film, Cannibal Holocaust.

“We had to explain to them conceptually what a movie was, and showed them Cannibal Holocaust—and they thought it was the funniest thing that they had ever seen---but we had to know whether they were down with it to let us in their village,” Roth said in an interview.

The filmmakers did their best to work around the jungle’s unpredictable weather conditions, which could fluctuate from clear blue skies to torrential downpours in a matter of minutes. “I was petrified, mostly for the rest of the crew,” says Roth. “We knew it would be dangerous and there would be risks, but we were all in that boat on a rushing river filled with trees, branches and debris. The motorboats could only fight the current so much, and had to weave through uprooted trees and washed-away houses. We all just sat there in the boat, quietly gripping the metal seats, silently praying we’d make it back,” Roth recalled.

Despite the challenges, Roth says the decision to film in the Peruvian jungle paid off. “The footage looks so spectacular. It’s something you couldn’t get anywhere else in the world. We went farther than any cameras had ever gone before. They call the river gorge ‘Pongo de Aguirre’ because Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, The Wrath of God was the last film to shoot there. But we went deeper, to a point where there was nothing but river and jungle. It was an incredible experience.”

The perils of the river, to say nothing of the heat, stinging insects and other unfamiliar creatures, made The Green Inferno shoot a rite of passage for many of the young cast and crew members. “No one made it out unscathed,” adds Roth, “All the actors were cut, bruised and bitten. They all signed up for an adventure, but were thrilled when we made it back to the city.”

GREEN INFERNO OPENS IN THEATERS ON SEPTEMBER 23 AND IS DISTRIBUTED BY SOLAR PICTURES.

“PAPA FRANCISCO: THE POPE FRANCIS STORY”

Press release from Pioneer Films

The life of Pope Francis, Roman Catholic church’s 266^th Pope who was elected in March 2013 will soon be unveiled in Philippine cinemas on September 30 in the upcoming film “Papa Francisco: The Pope Francis Story” also known as “Francis: Pray For Me.”

                Based on the book “Pope Francis: Life and Revolution” by acclaimed journalist Elisabetta Piqué, a close friend of the Pope and a correspondent in Italy and the Vatican for La Nación, Argentina’s main newspaper, Pique offers an intimate, in depth portrait of Pope Francis, drawing on interviews with over 75 individuals including lay people, priests, bishops, cardinals and the Pope s family and friends, as well as her relationship with the Pope as a close family friend.

                The book’s film adaptation, “Papa Francisco: The Pope Francis Story” tells of Pope Francis’ early life and his path to the papacy, including his decision at the age of 20 to train as a priest against the wishes of his mother, his appointment as the youngest Provincial of the Society of Jesus at a time when the order was in crisis, his studies, his teaching career, his exile in Cordoba, his appointments as auxiliary bishop of Rome, as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and as a Cardinal, before becoming Pope at the age of 76.  The film continues to share the Pope’s battles against prostitution, drug trafficking and slave labor – defender of the poor and the oppressed, he stood against the powerful against all odds.

                Since Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis in 2013, countless books have been written to help the world understand this deeply complex yet simple servant of God. What sets Pope Francis: Life and Revolution apart from all other biographies of Pope Francis is the careful research and original investigation behind it, along with the fact that it is written ePub by an internationally respected journalist—Elisabetta Piqué—who has remained close to the Pope since first meeting him back in 2001.

                Taking on the titular role is Award-winning Argentine actor Dario Grandinetti, who starred in Pedro Almodovar’s “Talk to Her,” will play the former Buenos Aires archbishop Jorge Bergoglio. 

                The actor and the film’s producer and director met with the Pope prior the film’s production, “We hope this film will transmit the admiration all of us feel for the coherence of a life based on austerity and charity, and that will inspire people,” said director Docampo Feijoo, who also wrote the script for the film.

ICONIC CHARACTERS COME ALIVE IN RE-IMAGINED “PAN”

Press release

Meet the characters from director Joe Wright's (“Atonement,” “Pride & Prejudice”) re-imagining of “Pan,” a live-action feature presenting a wholly original adventure about the beginnings of the beloved characters created by J.M. Barrie.

PETER (Levi Miller) is a smart and rebellious 12-year-old boy who has spent his whole life at the bleak orphanage – the Lambeth Home for Boys – believing in his heart that some day his mother will come back for him. But one incredible night, his life is changed forever when he is swept into the sky and spirited off to Neverland – a fantastical world of pirates, warriors and fairies. There, he embarks on a magical adventure where he fights life-or-death battles alongside his new friends, the warrior Tiger Lily and the roguish James Hook, to save Neverland from the ruthless pirate Blackbeard and discover his true destiny – to become the hero who will forever be known as Peter Pan.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

JAMES HOOK (Garret Hedlund). With mysterious origins and the swagger of a pirate-in-the-making, James Hook is among the captive dust miners at Blackbeard’s camp in Neverland. Working alongside Peter, he observes the boy’s unique abilities and together they stage a daring escape that propels them into the adventure of a lifetime deep into Neverland.

BLACKBEARD (Hugh Jackman) is the pirate all pirates fear, the most formidable presence in all of Neverland, and master of a vast mining camp in the sky. At times grand, at others diabolically cruel, Blackbeard kidnaps children from other worlds to mine for the priceless pixie dust with properties Blackbeard has reason to covet. Blackbeard himself fears only two things: the increasing scarcity of the pixie dust and a prophecy that tells of a boy who will vanquish him – a boy who can fly.

TIGER LILY (Rooney Mara) has extraordinary skills as a warrior and will do everything in her power to protect Neverland from Blackbeard. When Peter and Hook are captured and taken to her multi-ethnic native village, Tiger Lily’s suspicion of the interlopers gives way to the hope that a long held prophecy has come true – that a boy who can fly will emerge to save the world she loves. Peter himself is not so sure, but Tiger Lily believes in him and becomes his fierce protector in his journey to fulfill his destiny.

MERMAIDS (Cara Delavingne). As Peter, Hook and Tiger Lily venture through Neverland, they arrive at the Mermaid Lagoon, where the beautiful, glowing Mermaids swim playfully. They are the only creatures capable of keeping at bay the enormous Never-Crocs that lurk nearby as they are capable of stinging the predators with their luminous, electrified tails.

The NEVER-CROCS are massive, dangerous crocodiles that lurk just beyond the Mermaid Lagoon. With their incandescent, electrified tails, the Mermaids are the Never-Crocs’s worst fear and greatest foe.

“OUR BRAND IS CRISIS” TRAILER

Warner Bros. Pictures has just released the first poster and trailer for the election satire “Our Brand is Crisis,” starring Oscar winners Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side”) and Billy Bob Thornton (“Sling Blade”). 

A Bolivian presidential candidate failing badly in the polls enlists the firepower of an elite American management team, led by the deeply damaged but still brilliant strategist “Calamity” Jane Bodine (Bullock). In self-imposed retirement following a scandal that earned her nickname and rocked her to her core, Jane is coaxed back into the game for the chance to beat her professional nemesis, the loathsome Pat Candy (Thornton), now coaching the opposition.

But as Candy zeroes in on every vulnerability – both on and off the campaign trail – Jane is plunged into a personal crisis as intense as the one her team exploits nationally to boost their numbers. Dramatic, rapid-fire and laced with satire, “Our Brand is Crisis” reveals the cynical machinations and private battles of world-class political consultants for whom nothing is sacred and winning is all that matters.

The drama also stars Anthony Mackie (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”), Joaquim de Almeida (“Fast Five”), Ann Dowd (“Side Effects,” HBO’s “The Leftovers”), Scoot McNairy (“Gone Girl,” “Argo”) and Zoe Kazan (“Ruby Sparks”)

.

Seth Gordon Green directs from a screenplay by Oscar nominee Peter Straughan (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”), suggested by the documentary by Rachel Boynton, which outlined the American political campaign marketing tactics employed in the real-life 2002 Bolivian presidential election.

The film is produced by Oscar-winning Smokehouse Pictures’ principals Grant Heslov and George Clooney (“Argo”), with Bullock, Stuart Besser, and Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King serving as executive producers.

Green’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes frequent collaborators director of photography Tim Orr, editor Colin Patton, production designer Richard A. Wright and composer David Wingo (“Manglehorn,”), as well as costume designer Jenny Eagan (“Now You See Me”).

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Participant Media, a Smokehouse Pictures production, “Our Brand is Crisis.”

TRANSPORTER 4 REFUELED. NEW DRIVER. NEW STAR CAR

Press release

  Meet the new Transporter. And the new star car in “Transporter 4 Refueled.”

                Known to the French Riviera’s criminal underworld as the best driver money can buy, soft-spoken Frank Martin (Ed Skrein) will deliver any “package” for a price in “Transporter 4 Refueled.” He abides by three simple rules: no names, no questions and no renegotiations. But his rulebook goes out the window when he is tricked by gorgeous femme-fatale Anna (Loan Chabanol) into driving the getaway car for an ingenious bank robbery. Racing through the streets of Monaco in a state-of-the-art Audi, Frank unwittingly becomes entangled in a scheme to bring down Yuri (Yuri Kolokolnikov), the Russian human trafficker who forced Anna into prostitution 15 years ago.

                The Transporter series has set a high bar for action adventure, having delivered some of the most memorable action packed sequences in the genre. Director Camille Delamarre voices confidence that the latest installment, with its new leading man, revenge-fueled women, brutal street-fighting brawls and metal-bending chase sequences, will more than exceed audience expectations. “The Transporter Refueled is more than a reboot,” he says. “It’s a whole new story.”

                As for the new Transporter himself, Ed Skrein takes unabashed pride in his character’s journey through the mean streets of southern France. “Rolling around on the floor wrestling and fighting with bamboo sticks and punching other guys with pads on and fighting in front of a moving car—the only time you want to be in situations like that is when you’re on a film set,” he says. “I’m a complete pacifist myself, but when it’s scripted that I get in a fight and win, it’s fantastic.”

                “The Transporter Refueled” was shot largely on location in Monaco and other parts of the French Riviera between Nice and Menton. To capture the picturesque Côte d’Azur’s sun-dappled setting, Delamarre brought on Canadian director of photography Christophe Collette.

                Although it features fresh faces and a new storyline, Refueled features plenty of the heart-pounding car chases that have made the Transporter franchise an enduring favorite among fans around the world. “I admit that I have a weakness for cars,” says Delamarre, who filmed dozens of car-chase sequences and car commercials before taking the helm of The Transporter Refueled. “When Michel Julienne staged the car scenes, we gave the big car wrecks everything we had, starting with the first sequence that takes place between Nice and Monaco.”

                Delamarre’s team put together computer-generated 3-D pre-visualizations to determine the best camera placements before shooting key car chases. “We wanted to make sure we got ‘wow’ shots,” he says. But Delamarre insisted on old-school “in camera” action to maximize the impact of the film’s big set pieces. “I avoided using too much CGI because I really wanted crumpled metal. Sure, we could create that CGI, but it wouldn’t have the same violence as a real car crash. We purposely crashed dozens and dozens of cars for the film because I wanted to provide truly sensational visual impact.”

                Skrein became very fond of the Audi S8 2012 sedan that was his near-constant companion during filming. “It’s a very beautiful car and a joy to drive,” says Skrein. “The only problem was that the Audi has such an intelligent computer in the engine that it won’t skid or do anything other than be completely safe. The stunt drivers had to take bits out of the Audi in order to make things happen the way they wanted.”

                Before Skrein got a chance to drive the car during production, he took a crash course in high-speed auto racing. “The initial driving training we did was like a boy’s dream,” he says. “They sent me out into an airfield and asked me to drive as fast as possible in this beautiful car that cost $175,000. I learned small details that turned out to be extremely important, like how to position my hands on the steering wheel. Then we got into the stunt car and did the spinning, which was really fun.”

                Skrein put his newly acquired driving skills to the test on the second day of shooting. “I had to race around a corner, skid, jump out of the car and do the dialogue,” he recalls. “I was driving a brand-new car that had a couple of very expensive cameras rigged up on either side. So I was very cautious for the first take. Then Camille came over and said, ‘Go for it this time.’ So I did and it felt great. I slammed on the brake and there was dust flying up everywhere. It was brilliant! So I got back in the car feeling like a million dollars and thought, ‘Let’s do that again’ and sped up even bit more. Except this time, I smashed one of the cameras.”

“SECRET IN THEIR EYES” POWERHOUSE CAST: JULIA ROBERTS AND NICOLE KIDMAN FIRST MOVIE TOGETHER

Press release

Award winning and Hollywood’s leading actresses Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman team up in a movie for the first time ever in the highly anticipated thrilling movie of the year “Secret in Their Eyes” along with Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years A Slave”). 

                In the hair-raising dramatic thriller directed and written by Academy Award nominee Billy Ray, “Secret in Their Eyes” sees former FBI agent Ray (Ejiofor) haunted by the murder of the daughter of his good friend and former partner Cobb (Roberts) - a case left unsolved for the past 12 years. At the time, Ray and Cobb apprehended a suspect, Marzin, who was an informant during a counter–terrorism investigation while the nation was gripped by fear. Due to his importance in that plot and the fact that his confession was extracted under questionable means, Marzin was eventually released and Ray lost sight of him…until now. Ray returns to Boston and must confront his past, including Claire (Kidman), with whom he had a working relationship and unrequited love. As Ray inches closer to solving the crime, he uncovers a shocking truth that will shed a terrifying new light on past events.

                Based on the Academy-Award winning Argentinian film, acclaimed filmmaker Billy Ray is set to deliver a sophisticated crime thriller that explores what people pushed to their limits can hide in the dark corners of the human heart.

                As revealed in the trailer that was recently launched this year, “Secret in Their Eyes” gives the audience a glimpse of a heartbreaking and disturbing scene where a mother’s worst fear had been unveiled who discovered that her daughter had been murdered and was left in the dump.   “It was just one of those scenes. You knew it was part of the reason Julia was doing the movie and yet it was something she was really dreading,” explains writer-director Ray, who earned an Oscar nomination for the Captain Phillips screenplay. “She was going to have to go to a place that was going to be very painful.”

            Says Ray in recent interviews, “It’s also the first movie that has co-starred Oscar winners Roberts and Kidman. “You always want big stars as long as they're great actors. In the case of Julia and Nicole, you get both.  And it was a sight to witness the two powerhouse actresses play off of each other. There was enormous respect, great camaraderie, and, in my opinion — I don’t know if either of them would ever admit to it — there was a very healthy, kind of athletic level of competitiveness,  they both had such regard for each other and they both wanted to do their best because the other was in the movie.”