The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
| Posted: 20 Jan 2013 12:00 AM PST If there's someone weird in your neighbourhood who rides on a broom and kidnaps children out of the blue, who do you call? Hansel and Gretel, of course. WHEN Jeremy Renner was given a script about fairytale siblings Hansel and Gretel as travelling witch-hunters, 15 years after their gingerbread house encounter, he was immediately intrigued. It also helped that he had been doing many heavy dramas before the script landed at his door, so he was ready to do something that was fun. Director/writer Tommy Wirkola conceptualised Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters as an action-packed, somewhat dark but humorous film. In this extension of the famous fairytale, Hansel has developed a coping mechanism for the trauma of being captured by a witch as a child: a dry wit and unparalleled weapon skills which serve him well on his hunt for other witches. In the production notes provided by United International Pictures Malaysia, Renner shares: "When I read the script, my first thought was 'I can't believe this hasn't been done yet.' It's such a great idea with so much potential. I loved that what Tommy wrote left so much room for character and I thought it would be exciting to explore an amazing brother and sister bond inside a fantastical world." The shoot required both Renner and his co-star, Gemma Arterton (as Gretel), to be in great shape. While Arterton had never really tackled action roles on the big screen before and had to really brush up on the physicality part of the role, Renner had just come off shooting Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and was in good enough shape. But, as it turned out, there was another form of fighting discipline he had to learn for Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Renner says: "I had to get beat up pretty good (laughs). It was kind of like taking a gymnastics class – tumbling, diving, rolling and just getting used to your body flopping around and hitting the ground safely, that sort of thing. So, I wasn't that concerned with the physical stuff. I actually spent more of my time with Gemma trying to ground the movie in our brother-sister relationship." In the process of flopping and rolling, Renner confesses he did get "banged up" here and there. But the 42-year-old Californian dismisses it by saying: "If you don't get a few bumps and bruises, you're not doing your job." Norwegian Wirkola had held on to the horrors of the Hansel and Gretel story since he heard it as a child, and had wondered what would have happened to them when they grew up. That they'd be witch hunters seemed like a natural progression. Wanting to stay true to the original fairytale – while mixing it with touches of modernity – he created a whole other world that's quite apart from our own. The film was shot at Babelberg Studios in Berlin, Germany. "It was exciting to shoot there at Babelsberg and be in that part of the world where the fable actually has its origins," Renner says. "While there's some CGI in the movie, it's not a lot compared to (other films). We built all the sets, all the costumes, the witch stuff, everything done practically rather than things created in a computer. The troll character, for example, is an animatronic. It really made (the film) a lot more fun to shoot." One other aspect of the story that made things fun for the actors is that Hansel and Gretel do run into trouble and find themselves on the losing end sometimes, which makes the film both serious and funny. It was also imperative that the actors not only look somewhat alike, but have a believable relationship as brother and sister too. Apparently, Renner and Arterton uncovered a natural rapport on the set, which they brought to the screen. Renner says: "Finding the right gal was important … When I saw her photo on the board, I asked, 'Who is this?' because we could be brother and sister – physically. She had sent in a tape and we all sat down, looked at her work and were like, 'She's phenomenal.' We spoke on the phone and after 30 seconds, I was sold – she couldn't be more lovable, creative, thoughtful and smart. I also knew I'd learn a lot working with her." Arterton, the 27-year-old beauty from England, adds: "The sibling relationship is such a great one to explore. Hansel and Gretel have this unstoppable bond but they're also so different from each other. She's the brains of the operation. He's the brawn. He's the joker and the show-off. She's more the watcher, the researcher, the one who tries to really understand witchcraft. They have to each play to their strengths." Producer Kevin Messick adds: "Jeremy has that Han Solo kind of quality. To have such a great actor play Hansel in this fantasy world really helps ground the movie. And Gemma creates the perfect brother-sister balance with him. She's very sexy and tough but she also brings you into their sibling relationship. They have that love-hate relationship of two people who grew up going through an incredible ordeal together; it's just that their ordeal was witches." – By Mumtaj Begum > Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters opens nationwide on Jan 24. |
| Oscars bank on MacFarlane to woo young viewers Posted: 19 Jan 2013 11:07 PM PST ORGANISERS of the annual Oscars ceremony have made little secret of their desire to reach a younger, edgier audience. And they are hoping this year's host Seth MacFarlane can hit the right spot. Judging by the Family Guy creator's turn at last week's nomination announcement – and notwithstanding a cringeworthy Nazi joke – he could be just what they need, after a couple of years of arguably hosting miscues. MacFarlane, who is also behind the recent foul-mouthed big screen hit Ted, is arguably a risky choice to host the Academy Awards, the time-honoured showcase of Hollywood's movie establishment, scheduled for Feb 24. While the Golden Globes – sneered at by Oscars insiders as the product of a celebrity-loving foreign journalists' group – can afford to have British comic Ricky Gervais lampoon them, the Oscars have standards to keep up. But at the same time, they are painfully aware of the need to widen their audience beyond viewers tuning in for traditional Oscar fare. Two years ago, a clear get-the-young-viewers ploy, with actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway jointly fronting the show, was widely criticised, with Franco's wooden performance drawing particular scorn. Last year, Eddie Murphy was initially down to host, but he pulled out at the last minute after an embarrassing gay slur row, and the Academy fell back on veteran Billy Crystal, fun hosting for a ninth time but hardly young. This year, they have MacFarlane – who delivered a series of wisecracks as he and actress Emma Stone unveiled the nominees for this year's show, with Steven Spielberg's political drama Lincoln leading the pack. "These are adapted screenplays, keep in mind, so that means the writers just copied stuff from Microsoft Word and pasted it into Final Draft," he said, of the short lists for one of the below-the-line technical categories. Of the best film and foreign language film nominee Amour, he said: "I read Amour was co-produced in Austria and Germany. The last time Austria and Germany got together and co-produced something, it was Hitler, but this was much better." A series of TV advertising spots unveiled hours later includes one in which MacFarlane walks onto a statuette-flanked stage, saying "Hi, I'm Seth MacFarlane – ask your parents." "Look, I'm a huge Seth fan. What he brings first is a sense of joy. He wants to be there," ABC programming chief Paul Lee said when asked about the Hitler joke, according to a Washington Post blog. "He brings a lot of energy to it ... He's coming to the Oscars with a great sense of respect, but brings a really contemporary feel," he said. MacFarlane, who launched the Emmy-winning animated sitcom Family Guy in 1999, said when he was named last October: "It's truly an overwhelming privilege to be asked to host the Oscars. "My thoughts upon hearing the news were, one, I will do my utmost to live up to the high standards set forth by my predecessors; and two, I hope they don't find out I hosted the Charlie Sheen Roast." MacFarlane, who won plaudits for Ted – about a foul-mouthed, drug-taking and womanising cuddly toy bear – hosted the event for perennially troubled TV actor Sheen last year. All eyes will now be on his Oscars performance in the Dolby Theater, Hollywood, in a month and a half's time. – AFP |
| Posted: 19 Jan 2013 11:07 PM PST Iran is to make its own movie about the American hostage drama during the 1979 Islamic revolution to counter the "distorted" film Argo by Ben Affleck, which swept the Golden Globe awards. Iranian actor and filmmaker Ataollah Salmanian was quoted in reports as saying the screenplay for the Iranian movie was ready. "The draft of the movie, Setad Moshtarak (The General staff), has been approved by (Iran's) art centre and it awaits budget to start shooting," Salmanian said. "The movie is about 20 American hostages who were handed over to the US embassy by Iranian revolutionaries at the beginning of the (Islamic) revolution. This movie ... can be an appropriate response to distorted movies such as Argo." On Nov 4, 1979, Iranian Islamist students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took American diplomats hostage, holding them for 444 days in an action that caused the rupture of diplomatic ties between Washington and Tehran. Argo chronicles the hostage drama, with Hollywood actor-director Affleck playing a CIA agent who rescues six US diplomats from the Canadian ambassador's residence in Tehran. The movie has been accused of taking liberties with history, notably by exaggerating the role of the CIA in getting the US diplomats out, at the expense of the Canadian envoy in Tehran at the time. Affleck won the best director award while the movie received the best dramatic film honour at the Golden Globe Awards earlier this week. Argo has been banned in Iran but pirated copies are being circulated in the country. Iranian media dismissed the movie's success and criticised the Golden Globes as a "political ceremony". "Argo is a sign of Ben Affleck's attempt to recreate Tehran in 1980. While his attempt might be ridiculous for Iranians, it has delighted American experts and critics," said the daily 7Sobh. – AFP |
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