“BLACKHAT” A SEARING THRILLER FROM MICHAEL MANN

Press release

With remarkable vision, filmmaker Michael Mann has forged a decades-long career delivering compelling tales of unique characters on the frontier edge of worlds undergoing change. From “The Last of the Mohicans” and “Heat” to “The Insider” and “Ali” to “Collateral,” “Miami Vice” and “Public Enemies,” he has remained one of the industry’s most compelling storytellers, and his level of artistry has created an indelible influence on other filmmakers and audiences.

This year, Mann turned back to the big screen with Legendary Pictures with “Blackhat,” a propulsive thriller—a story of one man, a blackhat hacker, trying to outrun his past and take control of his future—within the brave new world of cyber interconnectedness of all things. As director and producer, Mann brings his signature artistry to weave a compelling film set across an array of exotic Asian locations in the U.S. and Asia, captured with his stunning signature visuals.

“Blackhat” follows convicted hacker Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth), furloughed from federal prison, and his American and Chinese partners as they try to identify and hunt down a world-class and dangerous cybercrime network from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, Perak, Malaysia and Jakarta. But as Hathaway gets closer to his target, his target becomes aware of Hathaway and the more personal the stakes become.

Mann and “Blackhat” writer Morgan Davis Foehl began crafting a compelling story that was drawn from the complex and fascinating facts of an activity largely hidden from view. Discussing his draw to the project, Mann reflects: “For a subject to arrest me, I have to feel there’s some mystery, some frontier.” He found that in the cyberrevolution. “It’s one of the few pieces of technology that has had a massive social, cultural and political effect on our lives…probably the biggest single effect since the printing press. It is changing the way we are.”

The director admits that when he becomes intrigued by a subject, he tries to find out as much about it as he can: “That usually starts with a series of meetings with experts. I met people in Washington, both in private cybersecurity as well as government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. The story we heard was always the same: The American public has no idea how porous our technological industries are and how much innovation has been appropriated and stolen. Chris Hemsworth and I also met with Mike Rogers, who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee and was very active and very early in warning about the threat of cyberintrusions—particularly into defense industries, technology and appropriation of intellectual property, mainly from China.”

What he discovered from his exhaustive research was shocking. “The revelation was that you think you’re fine living in this secure bubble of your private life and there are various kinds of controls on access and egress,” Mann says. “That’s not true at all. We live in an invisible exoskeleton of data and interconnectedness. Everything we do, everything we touch, is part of that web. It’s as if we are living in a house and all the doors and windows are open and it’s a very dangerous neighborhood, but we don’t know it.”

 “Blackhat” is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

ROSE BYRNE IN “ANNIE”

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Rose Byrne, star of the highly successful “Insidious” horror films, now appears in Columbia Pictures' new comedy musical “Annie.”

Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Byrne plays Grace, the trusted associate of business tycoon Will Staks, played by Jamie Foxx. Grace is the power executive who keeps Stacks Mobile up and running and never dropping a call – but she's still got a soft spot for the foster kid, Annie, who suddenly enters her boss's life.

The “Bridesmaids” and “Neighbors” star grew up loving Annie. "Annie is a fairy tale in so many ways," says the Australian actress. "I used to play it at primary school, in the playground – I always wanted to be Annie because I had curly hair. I have vivid memories of these characters – Miss Hannigan and Grace, the role I play, are firmly embedded in my mind as a child."

Though the filmmakers have given Grace a promotion – once "Daddy" Warbucks' assistant, she's now Will Stacks' most trusted VP – her soft spot for Annie remains intact. Like the other characters in the film, she is searching for something that she didn't know was missing – and that something is a family. "Grace is highly intelligent and devoted to Will and to the company," Byrne says, "but she's also a little bit lonely. She becomes a sort of a fairy godmother to Annie – meeting Annie I think really opens her up and inspires and delights her, and brings out a whole other side to her."

"For both Will and Grace, Annie brings a fun dynamic into their relationship," Byrne continues. "She brings possibility, life, energy, vitality. I think they were a little bit asleep before they met Annie."

A Broadway classic that has delighted audiences for generations comes to the big screen with a new, contemporary vision in Columbia Pictures’ comedy “Annie.” Director/Producer/Screenwriter Will Gluck teams with producers James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith & Will Smith, Caleeb Pinkett, and Shawn “JAY Z” Carter, Laurence “Jay” Brown, and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith with a modern telling that captures the magic of the classic characters and original show that won seven Tony Awards.

In the film, child wonder Quvenzhané Wallis (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) plays Annie, a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). But everything's about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks - advised by his brilliant VP, Grace (Rose Byrne) and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor, Guy (Bobby Cannavale) - makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he's her guardian angel, but Annie's self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it's the other way around.

HUMAN SPIRIT TRIUMPHS IN UNBELIEVABLE TRUE STORY “UNBROKEN”

Press release

Academy Award® winner Angelina Jolie directs and produces “Unbroken,” an epic drama that follows the incredible life of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini (Jack O'Connell of “300: Rise of an Empire”) who survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash during World War II—only to be caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a series of prisoner-of-war camps.

Photo courtesy of UIP

Adapted from Laura Hillenbrand's (“Seabiscuit”) enormously popular book, “Unbroken” brings to the big screen Louie Zamperini’s unbelievable and inspiring true story about triumph over tribulation and the resilient power of the human spirit.

Set against the backdrop of a world teetering on the brink of collapse in the Pacific Theater of World War II, “Unbroken” follows the journey of Louie from a carefree young scoundrel to a battle-weary-yet-defiant POW who becomes a beacon of hope for a nation mired in global conflict. His tale, but a single page in the voluminous story of the brothers-in-arms who fought and turned the tide of 20th-century history, is one of tragedy to triumph—epitomizing what it means to fight one’s way out of darkness and into the light.

Starring alongside O’Connell in this gripping saga are Domhnall Gleeson (“Harry Potter” series) and Finn Wittrock (HBO’s “The Normal Heart”) as Capt. Russell Allen “Phil” Phillips and Sgt. Francis “Mac” McNamara—the airmen with whom Zamperini endured perilous weeks adrift in the open Pacific. Playing the fellow military men who find an unexpected camaraderie during their time in the air or in their difficult POW internments together are Garrett Hedlund (“TRON: Legacy”) as Cmdr. John Fitzgerald, Jai Courtney (“Divergent”) as Hugh “Cup” Cuppernell, John Magaro (“The Box”) as Frank Tinker, Luke Treadaway (“Clash of the Titans”) as Miller and Ross Anderson (“The Silent Storm”) as Blackie. In his English-language feature debut, Japanese actor Miyavi portrays the merciless camp guard Cpl. Mutsuhiro Watanabe, known to the men he ruled over as “The Bird.”

In bringing Unbroken to the screen, Jolie leads an accomplished behind-the-scenes crew that includes 11-time Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins (“Skyfall”), production designer Jon Hutman (“Something’s Gotta Give”), editors Tim Squyres (“Life of Pi”) and Oscar® winner William Goldenberg (“Argo”), costume designer Louise Frogley (“Quantum of Solace”) and composer Alexandre Desplat (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”).

The screenplay for Unbroken is by Oscar® winners Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (“No Country for Old Men”) and Richard Lagravanese (HBO’s “Behind the Candelabra”) and William Nicholson (“Les Misérables”).

“Unbroken” is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

ON THE RUN WITH FIRST “RUN ALL NIGHT” TRAILER

Press release

The first international trailer of the action thriller “Run All Night” starring Liam Neeson has just been released by Warner Bros.

            Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (“Unknown,” “Non-Stop”), “Run All Night” also stars Joel Kinnaman (“RoboCop,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”), Vincent D’Onofrio (“The Judge”), and Ed Harris (“The Hours”).

            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.

            Collet-Serra directs from a screenplay by Brad Ingelsby (“Out of the Furnace”).  The film is produced by Roy Lee (“The Departed”), Brooklyn Weaver (executive producer, “Out of the Furnace”), and Michael Tadross (“Gangster Squad,” “Sherlock Holmes”), with John Powers Middleton (TV’s “Bates Motel”) serving as executive producer.

            Opening soon across the Philippines, “Run All Night” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

JOHNNY DEPP STARS IN ACTION-PACKED CON-CAPER COMEDY “MORTDECAI”

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Johnny Depp ‘s chameleon-like talent to effectively transform himself in any given role is again punctuated in the laugh-out-loud movie “Mortdecai” along with a stellar cast that includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany, Olivia Munn and Jeff Goldblum.

Photo courtesy of Pioneer Films

                Based on the charismatic anti-hero popular trilogy by Kyril Bonfiglioli - (“Don’t Point That Thing at Me,”  “Something Nasty in the Woodshed” and “After You with the Pistol”), Charlie Mortdecai is a professional bon vivant and occasional art dealer perpetually at the end of his financial rope.  In “Mortdecai,” Charlie charms, schemes and blunders his way in and out of hilariously compromising situations as he attempts to beat out an array of international evildoers on the trail of a priceless Goya masterpiece that could also be the key to claiming missing Nazi millions.

                Depp had already read and fallen in love with Bonfiglioli’s novels when the script found its way to him. “I’d read them years before and they made me laugh out loud,” says Depp. “They are irreverent and insane in a way I thought would translate well to the screen.”

                David Koepp, also a prolific Hollywood screenwriter (he wrote “Mission: Impossible,” Jurassic Park and “Spiderman”) directs “Mortdecai” and also Depp’s friend whom the actor trusted to helm the movie.   “I can’t say enough good things about David Koepp. We did a film called Secret Window years ago. It was not a comedy but we were able to incorporate a lot of humor into it, which is part and parcel of what David does as a writer and a director. He had a vision for this movie and he created an atmosphere where the actors could try anything.,” Depp says of Koepp.

                Mortdecai books features beautiful people in beautiful clothes, bantering wittily and doing outrageous things. “You want a plot that’s complex enough to support a caper, but not so complicated that it weighs down the beautifully fun comedy,” notes Koepp. “The moustache is a major character in this movie,” says Academy Award®-winning make-up designer Joel Harlow, Johnny Depp’s personal make-up artist since their first collaboration on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. “It had its own trailer and traveled with an entourage. If the Charlie Mortdecai character didn’t have a moustache, he wouldn’t be the Mortdecai character,” declares Harlow. “The moustache is such a part of the character and the way Johnny uses it is comedy gold.”

                “Mortdecai’s” action is overseen by U.K.’s busiest stunt coordinators and second-unit action directors, Rowley Irlam has either coordinated or performed in some of the biggest action movies shot in the country, including “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The Legend of Hercules,” “Thor: Dark World,” “Captain Phillips,” “Prometheus” and “Skyfall,” for which he received a SAG Award® for Outstanding Action Performance in a Motion Picture.

                Although Mortdecai is a comedy, it is packed with action sequences, as Jock constantly saves Charlie from outlandish mishaps. Irlam coordinated a motorbike and sidecar careening through Moscow, an unforgettable sword fight and a massive explosion sequence featuring virtually all of the key cast members.

                Irlam and director Koepp had a specific strategy for the film’s action. “This movie is very much actor driven,” he says. “I see it as bit of an homage to Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. My work was not just about stunts. It was about making the whole piece quirky, interesting and different.”

BRADLEY COOPER HITS THE MARK IN “AMERICAN SNIPER”

Press release

Two-time Oscar-nominee Bradley Cooper (“American Hustle,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”) stars in Clint Eastwood's “American Sniper” as real-life Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, whose skills as a sniper made him a hero on the battlefield. But there was much more to him than his skill as a sharpshooter.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

“In some ways, it’s a universal story about what most veterans have to go through,” explains the actor, “dealing with the seesaw of being in a war zone and then suddenly coming home to a ‘normal’ life. That was very moving to me. I liked the fact that it wasn’t as much of a war movie as it was a character study. And if you look at Clint Eastwood’s films, like ‘Unforgiven,’ ‘Gran Torino,’ ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’…they are all complex character studies, albeit with very different backdrops. So he was absolutely the right director to tell this story in a very raw, truthful way.”

The actor goes on to observe that “American Sniper” and the human drama at its center fit the Eastwood canon: exploring the nature of men for whom violence and justice become inexorably intertwined. “Chris was not a violent man—in fact, far from it—but when called upon, he did not shrink from his duty because he believed the cause is just. His heroism wasn’t just in the number of ‘kills’ he had in war; it was also in how he was ultimately able to confront the intangible wounds of war, not only within himself but on his family.”

Cooper, who underwent a complete transformation to portray the more physically imposing Kyle, remarks, “When Chris says in the movie, ‘I’d lay down my life for my country,’ you know he means it. And then to see the journey he goes on…It doesn’t make him a martyr. It doesn’t make him anything other than just a man. But that’s the kind of man he was.”

In “American Sniper” we get a glimpse of how Chris became the man he was, beginning as a boy in Texas, when his dad first teaches him and his brother about the three types of people in the world: the predator, the prey or the protector. And in that instant, without him even being aware, Chris’s course is set. Cooper offers, “I think Chris is hardwired to be a man dedicated to protecting others and that mission statement is seen throughout his life. In many ways, his protective instinct and the price he pays for it is what the whole movie is about.”

“He was a big, strong kid who believed in fighting for the underdog,” Clint Eastwood says. “That carried into his role as a sniper; his job was to watch over the troops on the ground and keep them safe from an enemy they could not see.”

Cooper knew that taking on the role of Chris Kyle would test him both physically and mentally but welcomed the challenge. He notes, “There wasn’t a way to do the movie without being Chris, not mimicking him but embodying him completely. I needed to figure out how he walked and talked and to try to get as big as he was to even begin to get to a point where I could believe I was him because if I didn’t believe it, no one else would either. I watched everything ever recorded of him many times and did as much research as I could.”

The actor worked with dialect coach Tim Monich to perfect Kyle’s Texas drawl. The job of bulking up his frame was more physically demanding, involving a strict workout regimen with trainer Jason Walsh, as well as calorie loading to pack on the weight. “Chris was 230 pounds of muscle and I was about 185 pounds at the time, so it was three months of constant eating and working out. It was tough,” Cooper acknowledges.

“When your system isn’t naturally inclined to go in that direction, you have to kind of work at it around the clock, and he did,” says Eastwood. “I don’t think I ever saw him off camera without some kind of shake or nutrition bar. By the last day, he was saying, ‘Thank God I don’t have to eat anymore.’”

Eastwood also respected Cooper’s complete immersion into the role, stating, “Bradley’s enthusiasm and work ethic was unparalleled. He was totally invested in the job and never stopped thinking about how to make every aspect of the project the best it could be.”

“American Sniper” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

MICHAEL KEATON WINS GOLDEN GLOBES’ BEST ACTOR AWARD FOR “BIRDMAN”

Press release

This year’s Best Actor at the Golden Globes was recently awarded to Michael Keaton for his portrayal as an aging actor bent on pushing further his feats by starring directing in a play in the dark comedy “Birdman.”

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

                Keaton, who also played the iconic Dark Knight in previously released blockbuster “Batman” movies, flies and dares to fight all odds to prove himself worthy of acclaim in his winning performance in the highly-lauded and celebrated “Birdman” movie.

                “Birdman,” directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu with whom he also co-wrote with Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo was also awarded this year’s Best Screenplay for a motion picture at the Golden Globes.

                In “Birdman,” Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) hopes that by spearheading an ambitious new Broadway play he will, among other things, revive his moribund career. In many ways, it is a deeply foolhardy move – but the former cinema superhero has high hopes that this creative gambit will legitimize him as an artist and prove to everyone – and himself – that he is not just a Hollywood has-been.

                With the play’s opening night looming, Riggan’s lead actor is injured by a freak accident during rehearsals and needs to be replaced quickly. At the suggestion of lead actress Lesley (Naomi Watts) and the urging of his best friend and producer Jake (Zach Galifianakis), Riggan reluctantly hires Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) – a loose cannon who is guaranteed to sell tickets and get the play a rave review.  As he preps for the stage debut, he must deal with his girlfriend and co-star Laura (Andrea Riseborough), his fresh-from-rehab daughter and personal assistant Sam (Emma Stone), as well as his ex-wife Sylvia (Amy Ryan), who appears every so often to check-in with the intent to stabilize things.

                Iñárritu notes that elements of Riggan’s story resonated with him, particularly the ephemeral nature of success and the question of relevance. “I was interested in exploring the battles with the ego, the idea that no matter how successful you are, whether in money or recognition, it’s always an illusion. It’s temporary. When you are chasing the things you think you want and empower the people to validate you, when you finally get them, you soon find an impermanence in that joy.”

                Keaton says of his character: “I just looked at Riggan as a person. However, being an actor – that’s a job that requires a specific type of personality. It’s already subject to extreme self-consciousness, ego, all that. And in this case, here’s a guy who has all those qualities run amok, to say the least.”

                There is something tragic, and something funny, and something very real, and also something very surreal about it,” Iñárritu explains.  “Birdman is Riggan’s super ego, and from Birdman’s  perspective, Riggan has lost his mind by doing this play that is clearly beneath them. From Riggan’s perspective, it’s Birdman that has lost his mind. From the perspective of the era, both are irrelevant.”

                Like all of Iñárritu’s films, “Birdman” takes an acute look at the human existence as seen through the characters, anchored by Riggan, but it walks a tonal tightrope between comedy and pathos, illusion and reality, allowing for multiple interpretations.