MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY LEADS MAGNIFICENT VOYAGE IN “INTERSTELLAR”

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Newly-minted Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey stars in Warner Bros. Pictures' “Interstellar” as Cooper, a former test pilot and engineer in the tradition of the adrenaline-fueled flyboys who continually challenge their own limitations to carve our path into the stars.

Photo courtesy of Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros.

For director Christopher Nolan, only Matthew McCounaughey could effortlessly convey that archetypal figure. “He embodies everything we were looking for in casting Cooper—the spirit of adventure, a cowboy-like swagger, and the warmth of somebody who’s involved with his family first and foremost,” the director states. “He has all of those intangible qualities present in the character, paired with his incredible professionalism and humor. It was a wonderful experience to work with him on this film.”

McConaughey describes Cooper as “a dreamer and a man out of time. He’s not supposed to be a farmer. He’s supposed to be out there—that’s where he lives.” But in “Interstellar,” the world needs farmers, not pilots. After a blight has decimated the food supply, civilization has turned back to the earth and clings to the only viable crop left—corn. “Life has become about growing food and having clean water,” the actor continues. “We don’t need any explorers; we don’t need any astronauts; we don’t need any bright ideas. But Cooper is trying his best to live in this world, and to hold things together for his children.”

Cooper’s teenage son Tom, played by Timothée Chalamet, loves the farm and helps his dad to keep it running. Chalamet recalls that on the day before shooting began, McConaughey helped set the stage for their onscreen relationship. “Matthew asked me, ‘What do you know about combine greasing and the methods in which pesticides are sprayed over corn fields?’” Chalamet recalls. “That night, I looked everything up to make sure I could answer all those questions the next day, but that experience with Matthew told me so much about Tom’s relationship with his dad. Cooper wants to know he can rely on him to handle things, and Tom wants to prove to him that he can.”

Cooper’s daughter, Murph, played by Mackenzie Foy, takes after her father in ways Tom never could. “Murph is obsessed with rockets and space, even though no one talks about those things anymore,” Foy says. “She might have felt out of place in this world, but her dad encourages her to stay curious and that gives her the confidence to be brave.”

Producer Emma Thomas reveals, “Cooper loves both of his children deeply, but shares a special bond with Murph over their shared passion for science and discovery. But, as with many parents and children, what binds them together can also pull them apart.”

Sealed off in an underground bunker, a small group of scientists and engineers is aiming higher than the dirt that no longer seems willing to sustain the human race and are gambling their lives on the prospect that somewhere in the universe lies a planet that might. The project was sparked by the mysterious appearance of a disturbance near Saturn—a wormhole that bores through a higher dimension of space and time to a galaxy that would take lifetimes to reach without it. And to endure such a journey, the group has salvaged the best available technology from the ruins of the space program to build the mission’s three ships: the Ranger shuttle, the Lander heavy-lift vehicle, and the Endurance mothership waiting in low Earth orbit.

The one thing the mission lacks is an experienced pilot. McConaughey offers, “Suddenly, the dream that Cooper’s been chasing all his life is knocking on his door. And it’s not just the chance to be a pilot again but to lead the most important mission of all time. The consequence of that opportunity, though, is having to leave his two kids behind, and what no one can tell him is how long he will be gone.”

“Interstellar” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. “Interstellar” is available in four formats: IMAX 70mm Film (at IMAX SM Mall of Asia), 35mm Film (at Glorietta 4, Sta. Lucia East and Trinoma), IMAX Digital (at SM Aura Premiere, SM Cebu, SM Clark, SM Lanang, SM Megamall, SM North EDSA and SM Southmall) and Digital 2D (most theatres nationwide).

JOYS, PAINS OF FAMILY AT HEART OF “THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU”

Press release

From director Shawn Levy (“Real Steel”) comes the dramatic comedy “This is Where I Leave You” based on the hilarious and poignant best-selling novel by Jonathan Tropper.

It features a starring ensemble cast, including Golden Globe-winner Jason Bateman (“Arrested Development”); Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Tina Fey (“30 Rock”); and two-time Oscar winner, multiple Golden Globe honoree and Emmy Award nominee Jane Fonda (“Coming Home,” HBO’s “The Newsroom”).

When their father passes away, four grown siblings, bruised and banged up by their respective adult lives, are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens. Confronting their history and the frayed states of their relationships among the people who know and love them best, they ultimately reconnect in hysterical and emotionally affecting ways amid the chaos, humor, heartache and redemption that only families can provide—driving us insane even as they remind us of our truest, and often best, selves.

The film also stars Adam Driver (“Girls”), Rose Byrne (“Bridesmaids”), Corey Stoll (“Midnight in Paris”), Kathryn Hahn (“Parks and Recreation”), Connie Britton (“Nashville”), Timothy Olyphant (“Justified”), Dax Shepard (“Parenthood”), Debra Monk (“Damages”), Abigail Spencer (“Rectify”), and Ben Schwartz (“House of Lies”).

Filmmaker Shawn Levy’s response to This is Where I Leave You was heartfelt and immediate. “I loved it,” Levy recalls of his first time reading Jonathan Tropper’s richly entertaining, best-selling novel about love, loss, family, growing up, and getting on with the business of life. “It resonated for me in ways that were both comedic and deeply moving. There was something in its blend of humanity, warmth and humor that rang true, and I knew it was a movie I wanted to make, a story I wanted to share.”

It may seem like something of a departure for Levy, best known by moviegoers around the world for the blockbuster “Night at the Museum” films. “At the time, I was doing bigger, broader comedy, whereas this is more character-based and nuanced in its detail, so it had to be drawn with a finer brush,” he says.

“This is Where I Leave You” finds Levy still very much in the business of making people laugh, but this time those laughs spring from a more intimate place, as the film holds up a mirror to the kinds of emotional entanglements, conflicts and secrets, pitfalls, pratfalls and second chances in life that we can all relate to, as the ties that bind often tie us up in knots. “It’s a grounded, honest story about human behavior and connections that I think is as comfortable being funny as it is being poignant,” he adds.

The producers hired Tropper to write the screenplay for “This is Where I Leave You,” marking the first time the author has adapted his own work for the screen.

Says Tropper, “Working with Shawn and the producers, seeing other people get invested in these characters in a different way, and then seeing the actors make them their own; it’s been an exciting process.”

For those who loved the story and will be rediscovering it on the big screen, he adds, “I’ve always been a big movie fan and I look at movies as a very different animal, so it wasn’t really hard to take apart the book and find the movie inside of it. It’s the same message and the same story. The hardest part was finding the balance between what people would find fun and entertaining and, at the same time, wanting them to be touched by its underlying themes.”

Throughout, Tropper worked closely with Levy, who felt, “It was my job to honor the novel. Much of my process was reminding Jonathan of the beauty of his prose and importing ideas, or lines, or whole scenes from the novel.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever followed my gut as faithfully as I did in the pursuit of this book, and this story, and really in every decision I made during the making of this movie,” the director continues. “The reason I wanted to make it was because it’s so inspirational and warm-hearted and redeeming in ways that I like movies to be.”

This is Where I Leave You” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

WARNER'S NEW DRAMEDY “LEAVES” FIRST TRAILER

Warner Bros. Pictures' new dramatic comedy “This is Where I Leave You,” directed by Shawn Levy, and based on the hilarious and poignant best-selling novel by Jonathan Tropper, has just unreeled its first trailer.

            The film features a starring ensemble cast including Golden Globe winner Jason Bateman (“Arrested Development”); Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Tina Fey (“30 Rock”); and two-time Oscar® winner, multiple Golden Globe honoree and 2013 Emmy Award nominee Jane Fonda (“Klute,” “Coming Home,” HBO’s “The Newsroom”). 

            When their father passes away, four grown siblings, bruised and banged up by their respective adult lives, are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens. Confronting their history and the frayed states of their relationships among the people who know and love them best, they ultimately reconnect in hysterical and emotionally affecting ways amid the chaos, humor, heartache and redemption that only families can provide—driving us insane even as they remind us of our truest, and often best, selves.

            Levy, who helmed the blockbuster “Night at the Museum” films, as well as “Date Night” and “Real Steel,” directs from a screenplay by Jonathan Tropper. 

            The film also stars Adam Driver (HBO’s “Girls,” upcoming “Star Wars: Episode VII”), Rose Byrne (“Bridesmaids,” “X-Men: First Class”), Corey Stoll (“Midnight in Paris”) and Kathryn Hahn (“We're the Millers”).

            This is Where I Leave You” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

THE LOVE FEELS IN “1ST KO SI 3RD” - EXCLUSIVE AT AYALA MALLS CINEMAS

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“1st Ko si 3rd” made its debut in this year’s Cinemalaya X’s and has generated most of the “feels” amongst all the entries in the New Breed category.   Before heading to compete at the prestigious Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF), “1st Ko si 3rd” is going to be shown in (Phils.) theaters nationwide exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas starting November 12.  

                “1st Ko si 3rd” is about Corazon (played by Nova Villa), a recently retired government employee who's been married to Alejandro (Dante Rivero) for the past four decades.  But their monotonous marriage is about to change when Corazon and Third (Freddie Webb), her first love, crosses path once again after their abrupt separation in the past.  Initially avoiding the opportunities to meet up withThird, Corazon finally finds herself rekindling old feelings and living each moment with the first love of her life.

               In an article at Yahoo Philippines by Gerry Plaza, the writer commends the film's director Real Florido, who has succeeded in infusing “1st Ko si 3rd” with both indie and mainstream appeal that struck a universal chord.

               An unconventional love story with heartfelt humor and drama, “1st Ko si 3rd” is director Florido’s directorial debut and marks Nova Villa’s reunion with her long-time screen partner Freddie Webb.

               Anyday can be your grandmother's day, especially starting this November 12, watch “1st Ko si 3rd” at Ayala Malls  Cinemas with them.  Log on to www.sureseats.com for advance ticket online purchase and schedule of "1st Ko si 3rd."

Keanu Reeves in John Wick

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 The much anticipated return of Keanu Reeves in full-tilt action is about to end in his upcoming movie "John Wick" where he plays an ex-hitman forced to come out of retirement and brings bloody vengeance to the Russian mobsters who took everything from him.     

               Making their directorial debut in "John Wick" are Chad Stahelski and David Leitch whom Reeves have long collaborated with since in "The Matrix" films who have served as the movies' stunt coordinators and are now Hollywood's most in-demand when it comes to training actors in action films. Most recently, the duo's works include phenomenal hits such as "300," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "The Bourne Legacy" and "The Hunger Games."

               Starring alongside an all-star cast with Willem Dafoe, Michael Nyvist, Adrianne Palicki, Alfie Allen, Bridget Moynahan, Ian McShane and John Leguizamo, Reeves ups the action ante in "John Wick" as he pulls off the latest grueling and highly complex action scenes.

              In recent interviews, Reeves enthused on reuniting with Chad and David,  "Working with Chad and Dave, there was an ambition to do something at a high level. They've wanted to direct a film for a long time, and they wanted to raise the bar, have a style, have a vision."

               Retracing their passion for martial arts where Chad and David met while studying the moves, they soon find themselves as stuntmen for movies and has since progressed as stunt coordinators/directors.

           

     In "John Wick," they have a chance to showcase the high-concept stunt have they been working on for years which they call the "gun fu," a hybrid stunt that includes flying fists and firearms.  With Reeves, this "gun fu" mix of martial arts and guns is something they believe the actor can believably pull off.  "We've had the pleasure to work with a lot of actors, but Keanu is as hard-core as they come," Leitch said. "He's as hard-boiled as John Wick. We asked more of him than we'd ever asked of any actor, and he never let us down.

AMERICA’S BOX-OFFICE WINNER AND NUMBER 1 FILM “FURY” NOW SHOWING IN (PHILIPPINES) CINEMAS

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The World War II action drama “Fury” that recently landed number one at the North American box-office at $23.5 million debut starring Academy Award Winner Brad Pitt is now showing nationwide in the Philippines.

               “Fury” puts together a winning cast along with Pitt, a squadron of fearless soldiers in a Sherman tank called Fury – Shia LaBeouf, Michael Pena, Jason Isaacs, Jon Bernthal and Logan Lerman.  The movie brings these American soldiers to German territory during the last days and bastion of World War II.    

                Rotten Tomatoes, worldwide online reference when it comes to movies reflects an 80% score among critics with an overall consensus that the movie is a well-acted, suitably raw depiction of the horrors of war that offers visceral battle scenes. 

               The intensity of the screenplay that "Fury" director David Ayer wrote for Fury has become his hallmark, but the movie, like his screenplays for Training Day, The Fast and theFurious, and other films, also demonstrates a deep connection between the characters.  “David’s movies are visceral and real, but they’re also deeply about brotherly love and friendship in the most extreme circumstances,” says producer Bill Block.

               Details of the tankers’ memories come alive in Fury– for example, that every fifth bullet from the machine gun is a tracer; that there are so many tracers that the heat can melt the barrel; that the difference between outgoing and incoming artillery is the incoming’s telltale whistle; that the outgunned Sherman tanks could find ways to use their exceptional mobility against the Germans’ mighty Tiger tanks.  It’s these details that make the film feel true-to-life.

               “Veteran accounts are hugely important, because they bring it to life,” says David Rae, one of the military technical advisors on the film.  “They give you the actual ground truth of how a crew fought through different theaters – through Normandy, North Africa, through the low countries, and finally to Germany, that final push.  They give you interesting stories that you can grab hold of and emotionally attach yourself to.”

               There were five main tanks used for filming, all various models of the M4 Sherman tank: in the film, the tanks are nicknamed Fury, Matador, Lucy Sue, Old Phyllis, and Murder Inc. 

               To populate the tank crews, Dowdall says, “We thought that the best thing would be to use trained tank crews – not collectors, but guys who’d been to Afghanistan and other combat situations recently.  They could not only command the tanks properly, but think on their feet if something went wrong with one of these seventy-year-old vehicles.”   For the Fury herself, there were three main vehicles used by the production.  First, naturally, was a real tank, supplied by the Bovington Tank Museum, a late-war Sherman with a 76mm gun. 

               The tank – which was a rolling set that had to be dressed and maintained as a picture vehicle every day – also became a second home of sorts for the actors who portray its crew.  “When they had boot camp, they were taught to live outside;later, when Fury became available to them, we couldn’t really get them out of it,” says Tank Crew Supervisor Jim Dowdall.  “They put their own stamp on it.  They began to live and to eat inside it.  Between rehearsals, instead of getting off the tank, they just hunkered down inside and talked and lived like a tank crew would.  I think that shows in the movie – there’s a familiarity.”

               Jon Bernthal – like all of the actors – became very attached to the Fury.  “They say it ain’t the size of the dog in a fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.  She’s a badass tank,” he says, describing the tank.  “She’s not the biggest, not the strongest – you should see the Tiger! – but she’s all heart.”

               Adds Logan Lerman: “Seeing the tanks up and running, these seventy-year-old vehicles – it was a beautiful sight.” 

               Over the course of the 24 fateful hours wherein the movie takes place, the actors' training will be tested as their roles as the five men of the Fury – Wardaddy (Pitt), the commander; Boyd Swan (LaBeouf), the gunner; Grady Travis (Bernthal), the loader; Trini Garcia (Pena), the driver; and Norman (Lerman), the assistant driver – take on 300 enemy German troops in a desperate battle for survival. 

               "Fury" is now showing at a theater near you!

Presscon Coverage: Beauty In A Bottle

Skylight Films and Quantum Films in collaboration with Star Cinema brings you something to tickle your funny bones with this new comedy, Beauty In A Bottle. The movie cast includes for the first time Angelica Panganiban, Assunta de Rossi  and Angeline Quinto. 

The movie consists of three separate stories of the main characters played by the ladies I mentioned earlier about their insecurities. Angelica plays a former child star struggling in her career image because of her weight problem. Assunta plays a PR manager who is threatened to be replaced by a younger executive. Angeline plays a consumer of a beauty product overcome her physical insecurities.

The cast also includes Carmi Martin, Tom Rodriguez, Ellen Adarna, Nanette Inventor, Ricci Chan, Empress as herself and more. Assunta was not the first choice for the role. Ruffa Gutierrez was offered the role but because of her ongoing reality show, she cannot commit.

What I like about the movie that it brought Nanette Inventor, Ricci Chan and Carmi Martin who are veteran comedians. Carmi Martin is famous for her gag shows. Ricci Chan is known for his brand of comedy in stage and the screen, Nanette Inventor is known for her stand up comic impersonations.

For more presscon coverage, follow this blog or L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook. Opens October 29 in cinemas.