THE

WORLD’S
MOST TRUSTED
FILM
REVIEWS

EXCLUSIVE!
WONDER
WOMAN
GOES
BOND
IN…
‘Kick-ass action?
Always!’
GAL GADOT
 Welcome to CALL SHEET
THIS ISSUE’S EXTRAS

Chatted all things

Chevalier with Kelvin
Harrison Jr. and Lucy
Boynton for the TF
podcast. Sporting blue
hair, black nail varnish and
DEPUTY EDITOR
shades (indoors), Kelvin
MATT MAYTUM
looked nothing like his
@ M AT T M AY T U M
courtly character.

When I sat down

to chat with Rob
Savage we bonded
over wearing horror
shirts. Even though
ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
mine was a subtle
Halloween one,
EMILY MURRAY
@ E M I LY V M U R R AY
he noticed it
straight away!

A
nd… ACTION! We love a breath-snatching, This will be my last
gobsmacking, spine-tingling moment in appearance until issue
343, as I’m taking
a kick-ass film when a stunt sequence parental leave. Teasers
stuns, and this issue we’re celebrating will be in the capable
hands of Jamie Graham,
the men and women behind the scenes making the NEWS EDITOR
so if the entire section
stars look balletic, kinetic and hardcore. I sat down JORDAN FARLEY
turns into horror
@J O R D A N FA R L E Y
with Gal Gadot to talk about her new spy actioner, previews, you know why.

Heart of Stone, and heard how her stunt team put

her through the wringer.
I enjoyed getting into
We also get a masterclass from the Mission: a hearty dissection of
Impossible crew on making a banger of a heart- the word ‘feminism’
with Sally Potter this
quickener, share an inside look on action-packed month – and having
Ahsoka, and count down the greatest stunts of all CONTRIBUTOR a snoop around her
music room where
time. (Let us know if you think we missed a corker.) ANNA SMITH
@AN NA S M ITHJ O U R N O she composes.
Thankfully no ice baths or arnica required for
reading about all this, so get stuck in…
Loved chatting to
Jason Schwartzman,

Enjoy the issue! an actor so humble he

couldn’t believe that he
was our TF Interview
this month. But with
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Asteroid City, Across
JAMES MOTTRAM
the Spider-Verse, et al,
@JA M E S M OT T R A M
this is his moment.

JANE CROWTHER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

@JA N E VG C R O W T H E R
I spoke to Juel Taylor
about They Cloned
Tyrone the day after the
Succession finale and
we agreed Alexander
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Skarsgård wasn’t actually
sending Ebba frozen pints
LEILA LATIF
@ L E I L A _ L AT I F
of blood: ‘He was playing
Shiv the whole time.’

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 3

 #339 JULY 2023

THIS ISSUE TEASERS

30 HEART OF STONE 7 CANNES

Gal Gadot goes from The must-sees from this
Wonder Woman to super year’s fest, from Scorsese
spy in a new female-led to How to Have Sex.
franchise-starter. Total
10 PEDRO PASCAL
Film chats exclusively to
The Mando of the hour is
the star plus Jamie Dornan,
gearing up for Gladiator 2.
Alia Bhatt and more. Call
it a deep-cover story… 11 HAUNTED MANSION
A peek behind the doors
42 25 GREATEST STUNTS
of the Disney do-over.
They risk life and limb
to entertain you, month 14 BLUE BEETLE
after month. And that’s The makers of DC’s new
mxvw#rxu#vwdļ/#zkr#kdlo# prospect on getting into
flqhpdġv#Ľqhvw#sk|vlfdo# the bug leagues.
feats, alongside insight
16 THE LL WORD
from the fall guys and
New column! Our Leila
gals in the heart of the
tackles cinema’s hottest
danger zone.
topics, starting with the
48 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE Hollywood writers’ strike.
– DEAD RECKONING PT 1
20 THEY CLONED TYRONE
Christopher McQuarrie and
Boyega, Foxx and Parris
co reveal how they make
in a directorial debut that
all those big-ticket thrills
demands repeat viewing.
and spills possible.
29 SALLY POTTER
56 AHSOKA
The Brit-auteur on making
The Padawan strikes back
movies and music.
in her own Star Wars show.
Everything is Dawson…
TOTAL FILM BUFF
62 TALK TO ME
96 IS IT BOLLOCKS?
TF communes with the
Those ‘rip out the drip’
talents behind the spirited
scenes in movies: cannula
Aussie horror breakout.
really believe them?

EVERY ISSUE 97 10 OF THE BEST

Train crashes! Featuring
3 EDITOR’S LETTER
all the action greats: James
Plus an avalanche of A-list
Bond, Buster Keaton,
anecdotage from the team.
Thomas the Tank Engine.
66 TOTAL FILM INTERVIEW
Jason Schwartzman on 99 GOLDEN GRAHAMS
Wes Anderson, Star Wars Our Jamie’s back with a
skits and working with new column celebrating
Uncle Francis. underrated classics.

112 DIALOGUE
Into the reader-verse.
100 TAKING STOCK
Cinema’s shiftiest lawyers.
30
GAL POWER
SCAN TO GET A franchise-friendly, female-led spy

OUR WEEKLY thriller to rival 007 et al is on its way

NEWSLETTER

4 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 7

48
SCREEN
76 INDIANA JONES AND
THE DIAL OF DESTINY
Please let him say the line,
‘It’s not the years, honey,
it’s the dial-age.’

78 ASTEROID CITY
Wes Anderson’s latest
seemingly stars everyone
bar, ironically, The Rock.

79 THE DEEPEST BREATH

Freediving documentary

56 well worth paying for.

80 SMOKING CAUSES
COUGHING
Tobacco-themed super-
team comedy. Not featuring
the Phlegm-ing Torch.

81 TRANSFORMERS:
RISE OF THE BEASTS
The battling ’bots go into
Maximal overdrive.
‘I WANTED TO CREATE 82 ELEMENTAL
A MOVIE THAT Does Pixar’s new toon
make the earth move?
IS GLOBAL, ON
84 THE FLASH
A LARGE SCOPE…’ You wanna read a write-up?
Let’s read a write-up.

66
86 SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS
THE SPIDER-VERSE
Happily, our reviewer
delivered on time; no ‘Spot
ate my homework’ excuses.

88 RE-RELEASES
Cruise, Chaplin, JCVD and
some cult VHS titles on Blu
(static lines not included).

90 CLASSIC TV
Remembering the super
(Season 1, anyway) Heroes.

91 EXTRAS
Duck-osaurs, Bat-Lego…
plus Jabba goes Pop!

92 SOUNDTRACKS
Can anything match the ’96

76 Mission: Impossible score?

94 BOOKS
Tune-ing up BttF.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 5

 EDITED BY
JORDAN FARLEY
@J O R D A N FA R L E Y

IN THE CANNES
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2023 The seven must-see
films from this year’s world cinema showcase.
A) KILLERS OF THE Set in early 1920s Oklahoma, the happening on her own lands, Mollie
FLOWER MOON story centres on Mollie (Lily Gladstone), hopes that authorities outside of the
Based on David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction a young Osage Nation woman and the complicit local cops might be able to
book of the same name, Martin Scorsese’s hugely wealthy owner of headrights (the stop the killing of people and culture.
western (yes, he’s finally made it) delves inherited mineral rights to oil-rich Weaving the Tulsa race riots, the
deep into manifest destiny, greed, racism, Osage County) – no wonder lascivious KKK and the Masons into its tapestry,
neocolonialism and misogyny in a rich, white men such as feckless WW1 returnee Scorsese’s opus questions the misdeeds
immersive masterclass that braids Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) eye of America in the last century while
together the interests of his past projects. her with avarice. A tribal generation is linking them to the pressing issues
Faith, persecution, racketeering, being eradicated and stolen from via of today. Addressing racial violence,
entitlement, the corrupting influence of widespread conspiracy and murder – a nationalism, the continued epidemic
money, the disposability of life… all are movement spearheaded by Robert De of missing and murdered indigenous
present in a nailed-on awards magnet Niro’s local white ‘saviour’, William women and even our lurid obsession
that might be some of the best work ‘King’ Hale. Torn between faithfulness with true crime, Killers of the Flower Moon
we’ve ever seen from all involved. to her beau and terror at the devastation paints a robust picture of a moment

JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 7

 in history that invites viewer E) THE ZONE OF INTEREST
introspection. As Ernest asks A decade on from Under the Skin, British
portentously when reading from a book director Jonathan Glazer roared back with
on Osage history: ‘Can you see the The Zone of Interest, a deeply disquieting,
wolves in this picture?’ Well, can you? expressionistic look at the Holocaust.
Loosely based on the 2014 novel by
B) ANATOMY OF A FALL Martin Amis – who, poignantly, passed
Justine Triet’s courtroom drama took away on the day of the premiere – the
home three big prizes at this year’s film follows Rudolf Höss (Christian
Cannes: the coveted Palme d’Or, the Friedel), the commandant of Auschwitz,
highly competitive Palm Dog for very who lives with his wife, Hedwig (Sandra
good boy Messi, and the unofficial prize Hüller), in domestic bliss in a well-
of the catchiest song of the festival, with appointed home by the notorious
an instrumental cover of 50 Cent’s P.I.M.P. concentration camp. Glazer’s astonishing
featuring at the heart of the film and in use of sound design and Mica Levi’s
the minds of festival goers. A piercing unsettling score express the horrors of
dissection of a marriage, Anatomy of a Fall what is happening, literally, over the
employs the suspicious death of Samuel garden wall. Glazer won the Grand
A
(Samuel Theis) and the trial of his Jury prize, but really, this staggering
successful writer wife Sandra (Sandra achievement was Palme d’Or worthy.
Hüller) as a starting point to surgically
examine ever-elusive notions of guilt and F) THE BOOK OF
culpability while concurrently weaving a SOLUTIONS
refined portrayal of modern parenthood, Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the
fluid gender roles and relationships. Spotless Mind) returned with this hilarious
peak behind the filmmaking curtain.
C) HOW TO HAVE SEX Inspired by the meltdown he had making
A trio of best friends embarks on a 2013’s Mood Indigo, Gondry’s film casts
post-exams trip to Greece with one Pierre Niney as Marc Becker, an ego-
big goal in mind: to get Tara (Mia driven director who kidnaps his own
McKenna-Bruce in a star-making pretentious-looking film during a fraught
performance) to finally lose her virginity. post-production. Relocating to his aunt’s
Out with uniforms and textbooks, in with house in the French countryside, Becker
bright neon-coloured cut-out dresses, takes his long-suffering assistant
endless bottles of self-tan and even more (Frankie Wallach) and editor (Blanche
of alcohol and you have How to Have Sex, Gardin) with him as he tries to carve out a
Molly Manning Walker’s vividly realised work of genius. Eccentric, energetic and
directorial debut. Marrying all the enlivened by a manic Niney, it may not
comedic potential of a Brits-abroad flick quite touch the towering Living in Oblivion
to a sobering depiction of one of the as far as behind-the-camera movies
bleakest rites of passage of female go, but it captures well the punishing
adolescence, Walker builds a film insanity it takes to get a film made.
as accomplished in its portrayal of
the thrilling highs as it is of the G) FALLEN LEAVES B
overwhelming lows of early adulthood. Finland’s master-of-the-deadpan, Aki
Kaurismäki, hinted at his retirement
D) MAY DECEMBER after 2017’s The Other Side of Hope. But
One of the glitziest premieres at this thankfully he had a change of heart,
year’s festival, Todd Haynes’ latest finds delivering this tragi-comic miniature-
inspiration in the real-life case of Mary piece that, at 81 minutes, was one of the
Kay Letourneau to tell the story of Gracie most succinct and satisfying films in
(Julianne Moore), a pet-shop employee Cannes. Winner of the Jury prize, Fallen
who begins an ‘affair’ with her son’s Leaves is a love story between two lonely
13-year-old friend Joe (Charles Melton), Helsinki souls – supermarket employee
who she eventually marries after a long Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi
stint in prison. Framed through the eyes Vatanen), a functioning alcoholic who
of Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), an actor works on a construction site. Rendered
looking to fully grasp the relationship in with Kaurismäki’s trademark mix of
order to be able to portray Gracie in a new tragedy and comedy, fate almost gets C
film, Haynes’ metatextual May December in the way, but there’s an undeniable
is a twisted, entertaining drama anchored sweetness to the story – including a visit
in Portman and Moore’s deliciously to the cinema to see Kaurismäki’s old
self-aware performances, the two friend Jim Jarmusch’s zombie comedy
seesawing between decadent glamour The Dead Don’t Die. Delicious.
and the hot-dog-smelling fever dream JANE CROWTHER/RAFA SALES ROSS/
of The Stepford Wives Americana. JAMES MOTTRAM

8 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023

 D
A PPLE /PA R A MOUNT, CA NNES, FILM 4
F

JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 9

E

G
HOT
RIGHT
NOW
PEDRO PASCAL
IS BIGGER THAN THE COLOSSEUM.
ith hit TV shows The Last of Us and auditioned with was spoiler-heavy: ‘I was Margaret Qualley and Beanie Feldstein.

W The Mandalorian under his belt,

Chilean-born American actor
Pedro Pascal is one of the hottest stars on
like, “I’m never gonna get this job, and the
fourth season is fucking ruined,”’ he joked.
He did get the job, and went on to play
All that plus starring opposite Ethan
Hawke in Pedro Almodóvar’s queer western
short Strange Way of Life, which debuted at the
the planet right now. Everybody loves him. a DEA agent in Narcos. The needle was Cannes Film Festival in May. We’re just glad
Nobody can get enough of him. Except for moving. Then his helmeted hero Mando he’s still making room for S2 of The Last of
his extended family, that is. Telling Graham changed things – big roles in Wonder Woman Us. So, will creator Craig Mazin dare to follow
Norton, in March, that he has 34 first cousins, 1984 and The Unbearable Weight of Massive the game? No spoilers, but something rather
Pascal joked that they call him up and say, Talent followed – and his tough-yet-tender mind-blowing happens to Joel.
‘You little shit. You’re so annoying. You Joel Miller, navigating a post-apocalyptic ‘It wouldn’t make sense to follow the first
finally got all the attention you were after…’ world in HBO’s glorious take on the iconic game so faithfully only to stray severely from
It was a long time coming. Back in videogame, really changed things. Just look the path,’ Pascal told GQ. We’ll all be paying
the late 90s, Pascal was auditioning for at his upcoming slate: Ridley Scott’s Gladiator close attention. JAMIE GRAHAM
commercials while waiting tables. The 2 alongside Paul Mescal, Connie Nielsen and
DOUG INGLISH/ TRUNK A RCHIV E

knockbacks were relentless. Then he started Denzel Washington; ‘horror epic’ Weapons DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS OPENS IN CINEMAS
booking TV work, including one episode by Barbarian’s Zach Cregger; drama Freaky ON 22 SEPTEMBER. GLADIATOR 2 OPENS IN
of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1999. Fifteen Tales for Captain Marvel directors Anna Boden CINEMAS ON 22 NOVEMBER 2024. WEAPONS,
years later, in Season 4 of Game of Thrones, and Ryan Fleck; and Ethan Coen’s comedy- FREAKY TALES, THE MANDALORIAN S4
he played Oberyn Martell. The script he thriller Drive-Away Dolls, with Matt Damon, AND THE LAST OF US S2 ARE TBA.

10 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 Spooky goings-on for stars Owen
Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario
Dawson and Tiffany Haddish
EXCLUSIVE
‘Part of the Construction on The Haunted

GHOST RIDERS fun is getting

a sense of
Mansion, which opened its doors in
1969, was repeatedly delayed as Disney
Imagineers bickered over whether its
HAUNTED MANSION A Disneyland things you
purpose was to terrify or to amuse. The
classic comes to phantasmagorical life. can’t fully resulting collision of horror and humour
explain’ proved ideal for the Dear White People
JUSTIN SIMIEN
amie Lee Curtis had a true, spiritual initiation into the role of Madame director. Expect a candy box of cameos

J Leota, the disembodied head, afloat in a crystal ball, who first offers
visitors passage into ‘regions beyond’. So her co-stars had something
to react to, the actor kindly agreed to stick that legendary noggin of hers
– ‘There are so many little moments of
joy and I wanted each of those moments
to have a really special person’ – and an
into an actual giant, transparent orb. Talk about dedication. unrecognisable turn from Jared Leto
as fan favourite The Hatbox Ghost.
When Disneyland guests first cross can’t fully explain.’ On the ride, the It’s taken Disney a decade to reach
the pristine but gloomy portico of The inexplicable was achieved through this point of confidence with Haunted
Haunted Mansion, then flee the room old-world illusions favoured by stage Mansion, following the quickly forgotten
that has no windows and no doors, and magicians and practitioners of early Eddie Murphy film from 2003 and a
shuffle past busts whose eyes seem cinema. Simien, however, looked to the now-abandoned concept by Guillermo
to follow them, it’s Leota who kicks off classics of the late 80s and early 90s del Toro. This, as Simien describes,
the ride’s ghostly jamboree. In Justin – Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, constitutes a ‘fresh start for the
Simien’s adaptation, the latest in Beetlejuice – in order to conjure practical franchise, or at least, for the potential
Disney’s attempts to bring its famous sets and effects wherever possible. franchise. There are hints at a larger
attractions to the big screen, viewers world. There are arrows pointing
will, in his words, step into ‘the shoes outwards to other places.’ That’s
of people who are experiencing the promising news for any Mansion-heads
Mansion in the same way’. more affiliated with the ride’s multiple
The house’s latest owner, Gabbie spin-offs in Disney parks across the
(Rosario Dawson), has invited a coterie globe. ‘I’m a fanboy at heart,’ Simien
of paranormal enthusiasts – played says. ‘So I just was, like, we gotta make
by LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, the fans happy. Because if they’re not
Owen Wilson and Danny DeVito – to happy, what chance do we have?’
uncover its secrets for themselves. ‘It’s CLARISSE LOUGHREY
a mystery that unfolds for this group Jamie Lee Curtis gets
trapped inside it,’ Simien says. ‘Part of ahead of the game HAUNTED MANSION OPENS IN
DISNE Y

the fun is getting a sense of things you CINEMAS ON 11 AUGUST.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 11

 You talkin’ to me? YOU TALKIN’ Do you like what you do

TO ME?
I am talking to you, for a living? These things
although my window’s that you see?
open, and there’s a Most of the time, I love what I
neighbour sitting just do for a living. As far as I know,
outside on her balcony,
FILM QUOTES POSE AS QUESTIONS. we just have one life to live, and
so I’m pretty sure she’s FILM STARS TRY TO COPE. so acting, I think, is a loophole,
going to be able to and you get to live a whole bunch
eavesdrop on everything of lives, and experience a whole
that’s going on right now. bunch of different personalities –
especially with the comedy of
Do you have an off switch? it all. I get to work in comedy,
Oh, very much. I think I’m an where you get paid to go out and
outgoing introvert! I love being goof around, and laugh with a
around people and socialising, but bunch of your friends. I can’t
then I hit my wall, and I need to think of anything better.
just curl up on my couch in a dark
room and be alone with my dog. Why so serious?
I do my very, very best to not be
You ever had that feeling serious, even though I can talk
where you’re not sure if you’re about some serious issues right
awake or still dreaming? out of the gate. I think jokes
I have that feeling more or less are for always, and the less you
every waking moment of my take yourself seriously, and have
life, and I’m not entirely a laugh instead of dwelling on
convinced that what we’re something, I think that’s kind
living isn’t a simulation. of the best medicine.

When you can live forever, What does ‘normal’

what do you live for? mean anyway?
I hope I don’t. I hope I’m not that Nothing! Nothing is normal
one person that ends up living [laughs]. I was just looking
forever because what I live for is outside, and I was like: ‘If you
spending time with the people think about a tree, that is an
that I love. If they kick it, I don’t exceptionally bizarre thing that
want to be dragging this life we now just find commonplace.’
out much past that! As much as If you think about a tree more
I want to live a long life, living IN THE CROSSHAIRS THIS MONTH… than you usually do, you realise
forever seems a bit much. ANNIE MURPHY that nothing is normal. Oh my
God, this is the most stoner-y
I thought you were supposed I’ve ever sounded in my life!
to be good… You talk the talk. Do
I was actually quite taken aback you walk the walk? Did you know that you
and impressed by myself in terms I don’t know if I talk the talk or can still get mail?
of how much I enjoyed the evil walk the walk! I’m constantly [laughs] When you asked me the
side of things [in Ruby Gillman, trying to do both of those things question, ‘If you could change
Teenage Kraken]. I really loved outwardly, at least. But on the something in your life…’ – the
playing an evil mermaid, and it did inside, it’s always a struggle. first thing that popped into
seem to come shockingly natural my head was, ‘I wish that I
to me. It might have opened up If you could change got more letters, and wrote
a can of worms. I don’t know. something in your life, more letters.’ So, yeah, you
anything at all, what can still get mail, but you
We all go a little mad would it be? don’t ever really get mail
sometimes. Haven’t you? Oh, that’s a good one. I’d love to that you actually want to get,
Oh, yes, and thankfully there’s be able to feel confident enough unfortunately. I think that people
therapy and antidepressants for singing that I could at least do should try to send more postcards.
that. I think there are so many it in the shower. I’m so bad at That’s the last gasp of snail mail
Annie Murphy voices
incredible, wonderful, mind- it that I embarrass myself that’s easy and fun. I’m going to
mermaid Chelsea in the
blowing things about the world alone in the shower. start doing that. Thank you for
upcoming animated
SHU T T ERSTOCK , UNIV ERSA L

in which we live. But, you know, adventure, Ruby Gillman, that inspiration. JORDAN FARLEY
it’s also a really scary place, Why don’t you tell me Teenage Kraken
especially if you’re an empathetic the story of your life? RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE
person. I think sometimes it can Hey, man, we just met! At least KRAKEN OPENS IN CINEMAS
be a lot to experience. take me out for a drink first. ON 30 JUNE.
QUESTIONS TA K EN FROM: TA XI DR IV ER , DE A DPOOL , T HE M AT R IX , T WILIGHT, BL A DE RUNNER , PSYCHO, FULL ME TA L JACK E T, T HE SIX T H SENSE, W HEN H A R RY ME T SA L LY, SE 7EN, T HE DA R K K NIGHT, FOR R EST GUMP, SCHIT T ’S CR EEK

12 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 Zach Galifianakis and Elizabeth Banks toy
with big themes of patriarchy and profit

Elizabeth
Banks
What stood out to you
about the script?
There are so many of
these movies that are
about mythological,
mostly male figures. The
idea that this was going
to be about the ‘little
people’ who were the
wind beneath his wings
– that was really lovely.
And the fact that it was
a group of women was
also really exciting.

Could you relate as

a woman in film?
If you’re in a big, male-
EXCLUSIVE dominated industry,
you’ve certainly sat in

PLUSH HOUR those meetings where

you are a minority voice,
or feel a little trepidatious
THE BEANIE BUBBLE Trojan Horse comedy drama about speaking. The
great thing about Robbie
pulls at the seams of the Beanie Baby craze. is, she’s not afraid of Ty.
Any room that they go
f you know anything about Beanie Babies to come to us in this book about Beanie Babies!’ into, she feels comfortable.

I it’s probably that, for a moment in the

mid-90s, they were as popular as
Furbies, Tamagotchis and Tickle Me Elmos
Based on Zac Bissonnette’s non-fiction
book The Great Beanie Baby Bubble, Gore and
Kulash’s film isn’t really about Beanie Babies
How much of a
priority is acting
as you’ve moved
combined, fuelling one of the biggest or Zach Galifianakis’ Warner, who Kulash into directing?
speculative crazes in American history as describes as ‘Willy Wonka with a real dark Acting is my first love.
$5 beanbag animals were bought and sold side’. With a smart, fractured chronology that I love serving other
by ravenous collectors for thousands. emphasises how the women in Ty’s world are people’s vision. And
Beanie Babies turned their eccentric creator, exploited over and over again, it’s about a I am able to then take
Ty Warner, into a billionaire in short order. country and a system at large. ‘We understand whatever I learn into
But for the women in his orbit, those who how pretentious it sounds to be talking about directing. I think it
actually sets me apart
possessed the innovative business acumen Beanie Babies as if they are the be all and end
from 90% of directors,
responsible for propelling Ty into the all of philosophy and meaning,’ says Kulash.
because I’m on set with
stratosphere – represented on screen in a new ‘But that’s what we liked about it! other directors more.
Apple TV+ film by Elizabeth Banks’ Robbie, ‘Again, as pretentious as this sounds,’
Geraldine Viswanathan’s Maya and Sarah Kulash continues, ‘the main reference was Did you keep
Snook’s Sheila – the Beanie Bubble wasn’t actually Casino. Obviously ours isn’t any Beanies?
anywhere near as lucrative. a mob film. But what we loved was One! It was a very
‘The Beanie craze was this amazingly going: “What was the beginning special one for the
colourful backdrop for us to tell a story about of Las Vegas?” and using that as cast and crew. He’s
what and who we value and why,’ says Kristin a framework in which real human like a little frog.
They had to
Gore, the author-turned-screenwriter who stories happen. Our ridiculous, little
make all the
co-directs with husband and OK Go frontman world is a bundle of joy in which we
Beanie Babies
Damian Kulash. ‘When you really look at the can see real humanity.’ JORDAN FARLEY [in the film]. We
female relationship to the American Dream,
APPLE, GE T T Y

were able to use the

it’s much more fraught and dark. We wanted THE BEANIE BUBBLE RELEASES Ty tags, but not any of
to show that pattern. We just didn’t expect it ON APPLE TV+ ON 28 JULY. the IP. JORDAN FARLEY

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 13

WA R NER BROS.

14 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023

EXCLUSIVE

A BUG’S LIFE
BLUE BEETLE Director Angel
Manuel Soto burrows into the DCU.
efore the James Gunn and Peter Safran-helmed

B regime change kicks in under the DCU banner,

there are still several DC Extended Universe
movies to come out under the old guard. Aquaman and
the Lost Kingdom is one, due in December of this year,
while The Flash is currently racing across screens. Next,
there’s the interesting proposition of Blue Beetle – a
lesser-known comic-book character and brand-new
superhero for the screen – which arrives at a time
when the DC Universe is in a state of flux.
Trailers are promising – an extended look was shown
to a receptive CinemaCon audience in April – but what
are the film’s prospects in light of the shift at DC HQ,
where does it sit among the existing movies, and how
does it fit into the Gunn-Safran DCU? Blue Beetle director
Angel Manuel Soto tells Teasers that the film, which stars
Xolo Maridueña in the title role, is not tied to the past
films, but has cemented a place in the new DCU.
‘We are part of the universe, we are part of the
world, we are part of the plans that they have been
creating for the future instalments of the DCU,’ Soto
confirms. ‘But we are not tied to all the films from the
past. Yes, our movie lives in the world where superheroes
exist. But that doesn’t mean that a certain event, or
certain alliance, or certain things from the past dictate
where our film is going.’
Soto’s eye is very much on the DCU future, revealing
that Blue Beetle was made with at least two sequels in
mind. ‘Our first movie, the way we wanted to do it, was
always with the mentality that we wanted to do two
more, at least,’ Soto says. ‘And taking the traditional
three-act structure of a story, we wanted our first movie
to practically be the first act of a saga. So by the time
our movie ends, now [Jaime Reyes, aka Blue Beetle]
can go into the new world.’
The first movie is family-orientated, and we spend
time getting to know Jaime, who reluctantly becomes
Blue Beetle when an alien biotech symbiote bonds with
him and endows him with powers. Soto notes that the
movie feels ‘contained enough so that it doesn’t feel
attached to anything else’, and that approaching the
story the way they have makes it really exciting. ‘Because,
then, by being in our own world, our hero can actually
belong to something better. The same way that Batman
has Gotham, Superman has Metropolis and the Flash
has Central City, Blue Beetle has Palmera City.’
Soto grins. ‘Whatever happens after [this film] is
game on, and I think that’s very exciting because it
creates an opportunity for him to have his own position
within the new DCU.’ KIM TAYLOR-FOSTER

BLUE BEETLE OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 18 AUGUST.

JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 15

Contributing editor
LEILA LATIF has
something to say…
t would be nice to commence

I with optimism when you get

your dream gig, a column in
a magazine you’ve adored for
decades. To discuss new waves
of filmmakers, innovative trends
or giant feats of imagination
coming our way. But things
are looking pretty bleak.
Most Total Film readers probably
know that the WGA (Writers Guild
of America) has been striking for
This year’s Writers
a ‘fair deal’ with the AMPTP
Guild of America
(Alliance of Motion Picture and strike began on 2 May
Television Producers). The WGA’s THIS MONTH
position is that billions are being Why the
made from their members’ work, artists, set dressers, and whatever was so hard to follow; it was also
Hollywood writers’
but ‘pay and working conditions a ‘best boy’ is (truly one of the reason Donald Trump’s reality
have significantly eroded over the
strike is a way cinema’s great mysteries) are now show, The Celebrity Apprentice, was
past decade’. It’s unclear how long bigger deal than also out of work. There are many commissioned when no new
negotiations will take. The WGA you realise. reasons why writers are struggling: season of The Apprentice had been
strike in 2007 lasted 100 days, and streaming means shorter and ordered. And… we all know how
1988’s for 153, so it’s unlikely to be more infrequent TV seasons, and that turned out. The Kardashians
over by the time you read this. their films pay about half that of also came to TV in 2007, birthing
The strike is in the news, but theatrical releases. Recently, the influencer culture for better and
photos of Jason Sudeikis, Tina Fey, ‘mini room’ has emerged, with for worse (mostly worse).
and Mindy Kaling on the picket a head writer and one or two I have loved plenty of
line aren’t competing with Ken novices paid in minimum rates unscripted shows, from Drag
Loach for heart-wrenching and ‘experience’. Then there are Race’s celebration of queer culture
depictions of the importance of residuals. If you wrote an episode to the riveting betrayals in The
workers’ rights. It could all easily of Cheers in the 1980s, when it was Traitors. But there has also been
buy into alt-right narratives about re-aired you would get paid again so much human misery, from
‘Hollywood elites’, spoiled virtue- as your words earn more profit. Love Island’s suicides to Joe Rogan
signalling millionaires who would Today, if you write Stranger Things challenging people to chug pints
take a private jet to lecture ordinary or Ted Lasso, while it can spend of donkey semen for cash. Gary
people about climate change. But years bringing in thousands of Oldman may have been on to
this is about much more than subscribers and millions of dollars, something when he called reality
whether celebrities holding signs you don’t get a cut in the long- TV ‘the museum of social decay’.
supporting the WGA can afford blooming fruits of your labour. Dark times lay ahead with
extensions to their beach houses. So, while that may seem an vulnerable people prepared to be
There are 11,500 people striking, unfair but niche concern that will exploited on camera, desperate
and many more actors, lead to a dearth of sharply written studios haemorrhaging cash,
electricians, caterers, make-up dialogue, I have bad news – this writers on the breadline and a
could lead to seismic consequences. public that wants to escape into
During the 1988 strike, Rupert the magic of movies. But as film
Murdoch’s new station, Fox, fans and empathetic humans,
boomed by pivoting to unscripted there’s one clear side to be on, and
shows, broadcasting ‘copaganda’ it’s not the one that commissioned
like Cops and America’s Most The Celebrity Apprentice.
Wanted. Fox News launched a
decade later, starting an era of LEILA WILL BE BACK NEXT ISSUE.
agenda-heavy, opinion-led FOR FURTHER MUSINGS AND
‘news’. The 2007 strike was not MISSIVES FOLLOW @LEILA_LATIF
only why Quantum of Solace’s plot ON TWITTER.
GE T T Y

16 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 Ella Lily Hyland is young player
Justine, with Aidan Turner
(below) as her former coach
EXCLUSIVE

‘There are Morally, his compass points are at times

COURTING elements of
his character
in completely the wrong direction.
There are aspects of his character that

CONTROVERSY that are

cruel and
are incredibly dubious and questionable.

The series shows how intense the

FIFTEEN-LOVE Provocative TV drama manipulative’
coach/player relationship is and
AIDAN TURNER
explores the dark side of the tennis world… goes into some very murky areas…
AT: There are very grey areas with
ennis is having its moment on screen and we’re not talking about Glenn. He is addicted to being loved

T Wimbledon, from Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming Challengers to Netflix doc

Break Point. Exploring the dark side of the pro circuit is Fifteen-Love,
a drama about a tennis coach, Glenn Lapthorn (Aidan Turner), who is gunning
and adored, and these young players
look up to him like he’s a god. He
might feel there are blurred lines,
for Grand Slam glory when an explosive accusation by his former protégé Justine but he also feels that to be a great
Pearce (newcomer Ella Lily Hyland) sends a volley through his perfect world. coach, he might need to sometimes
step over the mark.
The series keeps the audience on Your perception of something at the HE: When young people are extremely
a knife edge where nobody is sure time can be different to how you then good at what they do, there is a level
who’s telling the truth. Why did see it later on. You don’t know who of maturity and adulthood that’s
you take that approach? to believe or trust and Justine is not presumed because they are functioning
Ella Lily Hyland: Justine’s very necessarily a reliable protagonist. in an adult world. There’s the
instinctual, and then her mind and body There are lots of secret betrayals and unwillingness to remember that
play catch-up, which is kind of what lies on both sides. these are often children still.
athletes are like, they work from a
primal instinct. She’s playing catch-up There is no obvious good guy Even though it is set in the world
the whole time and the audience are or bad guy in Fifteen-Love. Why of elite sport, do you feel it is a
figuring it out with her. did you play it that way? universal story?
Aidan Turner: She’s questioning HE: Glenn is, in many ways, ELH: The themes are actually
herself, and that’s down to the chess a terrific person. He isn’t without really universal. The emotions
moves Glenn has played earlier. It’s goodness and talent and all of are very human. She
that manipulation which is nuanced and these things. Unfortunately, experiences jealousy, spite,
not overtly in your face. We need to rely sometimes those sorts of layers resentment and insecurity,
on our own sensibilities to figure out are used to help manipulate and it doesn’t feel black and
who is doing what and how two things people close to him to create white. It’s an experience to
can be true at the same time. this smokescreen. explore all those emotional
Hania Elkington (creator): For young AT: He comes across as an affable chords. ALIA WAHEED
people with these enormous pressures and trustworthy person, but there
to be the best, when something like this are also elements of his character FIFTEEN-LOVE RELEASES ON
happens, it can be very destabilising. that are cruel and manipulative. PRIME VIDEO ON 21 JULY.

18 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 ‘Physical
copies in
the age of
streaming
are a
‘WHAT WAS moral
REALLY COOL Fahrenheit
WAS GETTING 451 level
TO AUDITION duty.’
FOR BOND.’ GUILLERMO DEL TORO ADVOCATES
FOR PHYSICAL RELEASES AS TITLES
COULD REBEL WILSON BE THE NEXT BOND WOMAN? ARE REMOVED FROM STREAMING PLATFORMS.

MILESTHE LENGTH OF A
YEARS
THE AGE OF ONCE UPON
A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD’S
70MM IMAX PRINT OF
OPPENHEIMER. THAT’S
The month in dialogue and digits.
s. RICK DALTON WHEN HE WAS
KILLED OFF BY QUENTIN
A LOT OF MOVIE… TARANTINO LAST MONTH.

RISING SON

‘IF YOU EVER Having just locked Killers

of the Flower Moon, Martin
‘I MEAN,
REALLY CARED Scorsese has revealed his WHAT ARE
next project will return to
YOU ASKING
ABOUT KEN, a familiar subject:
Jesus Christ.
ME THAT
YOU WOULD CRAP FOR?’
KNOW THAT HARRISON FORD DOES NOT
LIKE THE AGE-OLD QUESTION
NOBODY OF WHO WOULD WIN IN A
FIGHT BETWEEN HAN SOLO

CARED ABOUT AND INDIANA JONES.

KEN. SO YOUR ‘A WHITE

HYPOCRISY MALE CAN
IS EXPOSED. DIRECT A $200
THIS IS WHY MILLION FILM,
FAIL AND GET
HIS STORY ABANDONED
AT SEA
ANOTHER
MUST BE Moana star Auli‘i Cravalho ONE. THAT’S
TOLD.’ says she hasn’t been
invited back for the
THE PROBLEM.’
EVA LONGORIA ON THE HIGHER
RYAN GOSLING HITS BACK live-action remake. STANDARDS FEMALE
AT HIS KEN CRITICS. FILMMAKERS ARE HELD TO.
GE T T Y

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 19

 John Boyega and Jamie Foxx
play Fontaine and Slick
Charles, with Teyonah
Parris as Yo-Yo (below)
EXCLUSIVE

CLONE GUFFAWS ‘You want

it first and
anti-hero as a young hoodlum in Attack
the Block. That performance is one
foremost to Taylor adores, gushing, ‘In the first
THEY CLONED TYRONE Identity crises and five minutes, they went outta their way
be enjoyable’
mysteries in Juel Taylor’s cool comedy sci-fi. JUEL TAYLOR to make him the bad guy. But he’s too
charismatic. He has too much natural
etting John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris as the central trio warmth. You can’t not root for him.’

G in your directorial debut is an astonishing coup. But it’s even more

remarkable given that Juel Taylor signed his stars to play a drug dealer,
a pimp and a sex worker in They Cloned Tyrone, an audacious blend of sci-fi,
Taylor can still scarcely believe his
luck to have Boyega in his film. ‘He’s an
amazing actor and super-collaborative.
comedy, mystery, satire and blaxploitation. ‘We had that joke on set: a pimp, I don’t know what would’ve happened
a prostitute and a drug dealer walk into a bar…’ he tells Teasers with a laugh. with this movie if John wasn’t so
hyper-talented because he has so
The characters fit into bleak compelling cinema. ‘It was the attempt much responsibility narratively.
stereotypes of Black Americans, but the not to be didactic, preachy,’ nods Jamie and Teyonah create it too,
film uses them to dive into a mystery Taylor. ‘You want it first and foremost but the thematic premises are
that satirises a larger rot in America’s to be enjoyable. And if you extract explored through Fontaine – he’s
foundation. It speaks to everything from something from it, all well and good.’ the straight man that makes the
gentrification and gun violence to the The plot twists and untwists humorous moments work.’
Tuskegee experiment, where hundreds with thrilling frequency. ‘The For all the laughs and
of Black men were unknowingly studied conspiracies were a good way of swagger of the film, there
for 40 years to monitor the long-term giving you another layer. If you are profound themes at
effects of (curable) syphilis. For Taylor, want to go into that, there are play. ‘Existential crisis and
that shameful event is literally close to Easter eggs, there are rabbit revelation of self,’ is how
home. ‘I’m from Alabama, I’m from holes, and there’s mischief Taylor puts it, and that’s no
Tuskegee!’ he says, pointing out that to be mined from that.’ laughing matter, however much
he grew up with the sense that ‘there’s Said mischief is grounded the set-up might feel like a
undoubtedly been some shenanigans by another incredible turn joke. LEILA LATIF
happening, some skulduggery’. from Boyega as drug dealer
But while They Cloned Tyrone explores Fontaine, a role that harkens THEY CLONED TYRONE
some real-life horrors, the message back to his debut, playing RELEASES ON NETFLIX
NE TFLIX

had to come second to crafting a seemingly unsympathetic ON 21 JULY.

20 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

THE WORLD’S NUMBER ONE SCI-FI,
FANTASY & HORROR MAGAZINE

NEW
IS S U E
ON SALE
NOW!

Subscribe & save at

magazinesdirect.com/SFX
 The Master of Suspense
gets a new documentary
EXCLUSIVE
Desire, fulfilment and escape make for

LOOK WHO’S TALKING ‘I could see

that Psycho
was scary…
intriguing topics, but loneliness is
especially fresh and resonant.
‘People say the pleasure of going to
MY NAME IS ALFRED HITCHCOCK A new but also “art”’
the cinema is being in a crowd, laughing
MARK COUSINS
doc sees Hitch speak from beyond the grave… together and crying together,’ says
Cousins. ‘But when you’re in a cinema,
rowing up in Belfast in the 70s, Mark Cousins saw a lot of horror movies you’re on your own. You’re not talking

G before he was 10 years old. ‘Local video stores had everything on the
black market – I saw video nasties at a ridiculously early age,’ he says.
‘Then I saw Psycho. I could see that it was scary, but also something else. If you
to other people. Cinema attracts loners
and shy people and nervous people.’
Does this, as much as anything
want to be simple, you could call it “art”.’ else, explain the enduring appeal of
Hitchcock’s work? ‘Everybody has felt
While Psycho electrified Cousins’ Hitchcock tattoos on his arm. It’s no solitude, some of us crave it,’ nods
senses, he also picked up on the bold surprise, then, to see him hitching his Cousins. ‘Hitchcock was really good at
structure, the atypical pacing, the wagon to the Master of Suspense, though isolating a character within the frame
unusual camera placement. He could how he goes about it is startling. Not and widening the frame to show the
sense there was ‘something hypnotic only does My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock have space around the person.’ JAMIE GRAHAM
and nighttime about it’. Cut to 50 years Hitch address modern viewers in the first
later and Cousins is an esteemed person (courtesy of impressionist Alistair MY NAME IS ALFRED HITCHCOCK
documentarian (The Story of Film: An McGowan), it finds new things to talk OPENS IN CINEMAS AND IS AVAILABLE
Odyssey, The Eyes of Orson Welles) with about in his discussed-to-death work. ON DEMAND FROM 21 JULY.

SHORT CUTS The latest happenings in movieland…

AGEING UP FAST TIMES SIMPLY THE BEST FAST FORWARD
Oppenheimer will be Dwayne Johnson has Tina Turner passed The Flash is currently
Christopher Nolan’s first taken to social media away on 24 May, zipping across cinema
R-rated movie in the US to make good on the aged 83. The Queen screens, but Warner Bros.
since 2002’s Insomnia. promise of Fast X’s post- of Rock ’n’ Roll had a sequel script in the
The rating appeared at credits sting. ‘I am 100% won eight Grammy can before it even came out.
the end of a TV spot in confirming… Hobbs is awards and appeared It’s penned by Aquaman
GE T T Y, UNIV ERSA L , DOGWOOF

the States, meaning back!’ The Rock’s super- in movies Tommy, scribbler David Leslie
we can expect agent is set to clash Mad Max Beyond Johnson-McGoldrick.
a 15 certificate with Jason Momoa’s Thunderdome and Talk about
in the UK. Dante. Bring it. The Last Action Hero. a fast mover.

22 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

NEXT BIG THING

ANDREW BARTH FELDMAN

IS FEELING GOOD
ward-winning Broadway star Andrew Director Gene Stupnitsky teased in my film and TV work. When I did High School

A Barth Feldman rose to fame as the

title character in the 2019 production
of Dear Evan Hansen. Making the jump from
that he put your Broadway skills
to use during the shoot…
When I came on, there was a moment missing
Musical, I had so much room to improvise.
And Gene from the very beginning was so
open about having us improvise. He really
stage to screen, he has appeared in High for Percy. They found videos of me on the wanted to know what I had to say about
School Musical: The Musical: The Series and internet playing piano and singing my original Percy as a young person.
A Tourist’s Guide to Love. Next up, he stars music – that was put in the movie as this
as awkward teen Percy in Gene Stupnitsky’s turning point. I got to do the arrangement Do you aim to balance stage and
raunchy comedy No Hard Feelings. myself and play it live on the day. I had to screen, going forward?
sing a little bit worse than I usually do because Even that is sort of limiting to me. It’s not
How are you finding the move to screen? we didn’t want people to be like, ‘Oh, he’s that I have particular ambitions for one form
My career has happened in leaps and bounds a trained singer!’ or another, or wearing one hat or another.
STEPH A NIE DIA NI 2023

and I’m hugely fortunate. Where my heart I’m riding the wave and seeing wherever
lies is in the telling of stories and being in How did No Hard Feelings compare to your it takes me. JOEL HARLEY
service of that. And [No Hard Feelings] is previous film and TV experiences?
a story that I happen to love dearly. It really did combine everything I’ve learned NO HARD FEELINGS IS OUT NOW IN CINEMAS

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 23

01

EXCLUSIVE
1. TEENAGE KICKS
THE GREEN PARTY There have been six movies and at least five Turtles TV
shows but, for the first time ever, Leonardo, Michelangelo,
Donatello and Raphael are played by age-appropriate young
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: adults. ‘We’re delivering on “teenage”!’ Rowe exclaims.
To harness the inimitable chaos that ensues when teenage
MUTANT MAYHEM Seth Rogen reboots boys hang out, all four young actors recorded their lines
the heroes in a half shell. together. ‘We tried to capture the improvisational nature
of them making fun of each other, and talking over each
mboldened by the success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider- other. It’s that real kind of teenage energy. Our post-

E Verse, 2023 has turned into a banner year for stylistically

experimental animated movies. Next up is TMNT: Mutant
Mayhem, a striking new take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
production sound people wanted to murder us for the
amount of messes they had to clean up.’

from writer-producer Seth Rogen, writer-director Jeff Rowe (The 2. TOY STORY
Mitchells vs. the Machines) and co-director Kyler Spears. ‘[Spider-Verse] ‘I remember learning how to think, and then I remember
convinced studios that you can make money, win awards and be learning how to love the Ninja Turtles,’ says Rowe, a
successful,’ says Rowe, ‘all while being different.’ lifelong fan. But it wasn’t the cult Kevin Eastman/Peter
Laird comic books, or even the many animated and
live-action film and TV adaptations that Rowe latched
on to as a child. ‘Really, the most time I spent with the
Turtles was playing with the toys, and creating stories
and worlds,’ he says. ‘That toy line was so inventive and
creative, and there were so many details sculpted into
every character model, and each character told a little
story. I think it was hugely influential.’

02 3. THE GREAT MUTATION

While Rowe won’t be drawn on whether Shredder will
appear in the film, there will be ooze-mutated animals
aplenty. ‘We have so many mutants in the movie, and
we’re really using the capabilities of animation to deliver on
these unhinged character designs.’ Some of the potential
highlights: Ice Cube as Superfly, Rogen and John Cena as
Bebop and Rocksteady, and Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko.
‘[While writing the script] Seth and I would talk, and we
PA R A MOUNT

would be like, ‘Oh, yeah, remember that toy? Remember

the gecko guy?’ There was a lot of that.’

24 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023

 4. FRESH START
Describing the film as a coming-of-age and origin story in
‘technical movie terms’, Rowe is aiming to ‘reinvent the
[TMNT] franchise’ with Mutant Mayhem. ‘We are doing it
in a way that is irreverent, modern, exciting and hopefully
elevating.’ With a lofty goal of creating the most beloved
iterations to date, Rowe wants his Turtles to be more than
colour-coded archetypes. ‘It’s really giving each of them
a lot of depth and personality,’ the director says. ‘Everyone
has been a teenager, and has felt like an outsider at some
point. It’s looking at the experience of being a mutant
teenager, living in a sewer, as kind of a metaphor for
teenage alienation, and wanting to fit in and belong.’

04

The Turtles race into action

in this exclusive concept
art provided to Teasers

05 5. SKETCH COMEDY
You may be familiar with the Turtles, but Rowe says that
you’ve never seen them like this. ‘We thought: “In the
way that Spider-Verse is like a living comic book, what’s our

03 version of that?” We looked at drawings we all did when we

were in high school – the way you sketch things before you
know how to draw. And we were like, “That’s a really cool
technique. We should make the movie look like that, and
then spend millions of dollars to make it look really slick and
professional!” I hope every film looks different now. I hope
the idea of a studio having a house style disappears.’

6. CRACKED SHELL
Famously, much of Turtles ‘lore’ was improvised to justify
new toy lines. Mutant Mayhem won’t subscribe to any one
canon; instead, Rowe hopes it will establish a new template
going forward. ‘There were a lot of things that were skated
past, and we took a lot of time to make it more logical and to
really operate from a place of character and relatability that,
I think, will be shockingly emotional. The goal early on in
our conversations with Seth were: “We want people to leave
the theatre, and be like, ‘I can’t believe I just cried at a Ninja
Turtles movie.’” JORDAN FARLEY
06
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM
OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 31 JULY.

JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 25

 Miles and Gwen are on the
edge of their seats waiting for
the next Spider-Verse film

ILER
SPOERT!
AL

CAN WE TALK ABOUT?

CLIFFHANGER ENDINGS
MOVIES ARE LEARNING THE WRONG LESSONS FROM TV
This is swiftly turning into
the year of the cliffhanger
‘FAST X, FOR ALL ITS because it ends with its main character,
Thanos, fulfilling his ambition and watching
ending. In 2023, we’ve LUDICROUS JOYS, JUST the sun rise on a grateful universe. Fast X, for
already seen Dominic all its ludicrous joys, just decides to slam on
Toretto square off against DECIDES TO SLAM ON the brakes. Even the otherwise excellent Across
an exploding dam, Miles the Spider-Verse fumbles the finale by suddenly
JORDAN FARLEY
Morales come face to face
THE BRAKES’ leaving so much hanging in the balance.
NEWS EDITOR
with himself, and there’s discover how, for example, Dom’s bulging For some films, a cliffhanger ending is the
still Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part biceps deflect several metric tonnes of raging lesser of two evils. Dune was not designed to be
One to come, the movie with the best chance water. But do televisual cliffhanger endings, told in two distinct parts, but if the alternative
of ending on some literal cliffhanging. where plotlines and character journeys are left (ask David Lynch) is irreparable harm to the
You can probably blame it on the Avengers: unresolved, really belong on the big screen? story, there’s really no choice. The key, as
Infinity War effect. The Snap was such an There’s a stark difference between films The Empire Strikes Back demonstrates, is
anticipation-builder that it helped briefly that tell a complete story, while leaving the to give characters full arcs, and build to a
propel Avengers: Endgame to the all-time door open for the characters and world to natural break in the narrative, even if it’s
box-office top spot. From a commercial continue, versus those that simply stop demonstrably not the end of the journey.
perspective, the logic is sound; a truly great in a fashion akin to a season finale. The The alternative is the gradual, imperceptible
cliffhanger will guarantee bums on seats next aforementioned Infinity War is a complete film transformation of cinema into serialised TV,
SON Y

time around as ravenous viewers clamour to (in as much as any MCU film is ‘complete’) and that’s not an ending anyone wants to see.

26 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 Georgie has to reconnect
with her estranged father
when her mother dies

EXCLUSIVE

HOME ALONE
SCRAPPER Charlotte Regan’s debut feature
has plenty of fighting spirit…
ritish director Charlotte Regan’s debut Scrapper is, like its title, a punchy

B little number. It follows Georgie (Lola Campbell), a 12-year-old living

secretly alone in her flat after her mum dies. ‘I know she’s struggling
with a lot. But the intention we always had was to make a joyful working-class Harris Dickinson and
film about the resilience of kids,’ says Regan. ‘Even when people do have newcomer Lola Campbell
parents, and this isn’t exclusive to working-class environments, kids can star as father and daughter
often be raising themselves, whatever situation they’re in.’

While the story kicks into gear as the kid. So you cast Georgie first and When Regan wasn’t feeding the
Georgie’s estranged father Jason (Harris then the dad needs to suit Georgie, ravenous Campbell, she had to cope
Dickinson) comes back from Ibiza to not the other way around.’ To find with real spiders on set for the scenes
live with her, Regan’s good to her word: her actor for Georgie was another where the creatures (in Georgie’s head)
Scrapper is more magic realism than matter, with Regan turning to Shaheen converse with other. This included a real
kitchen-sink miserablism, down to the Baig, the experienced casting director tarantula. ‘I don’t know why he brought
talking spiders in Georgie’s household. behind Lady Macbeth, The Falling and it, the spider man! Because we didn’t
‘I’ve always loved what Taika Waititi A Monster Calls. ask for a tarantula. He just had a whole
does with worlds and I’ve always ‘She’s amazing at finding street-cast boot full of boxes of spiders. One day,
thought, “It’s such a shame that we kids,’ says Regan, who was astounded he’s like, “Oh, I brought my tarantula.
don’t do more of that over here.” I don’t by newcomer Lola Campbell. ‘She just Here it is.”’ In the edit, it was Regan’s
think the spiders are smash hits or the came there on the first day and was ‘biggest battle’ to keep the shot of
most flawless moments of the film, but incredible. Although she’d go in waves. the eight-legged beast in. ‘Everyone’s
I like that we decided to take risks.’ If she hadn’t had Greggs or McDonald’s like, “Why is there a tarantula there?”
Casting Jason was easy. Regan had for breakfast, then she was an absolute ‘Lola is just And I was like, “Why are the feckin’
PICT UR EHOUSE ENT ERTA INMENT

previously worked with Triangle of savage for hours and would be fuming so intuitive. spiders talking? If we’re going with that
Sadness star Dickinson on her 2019 short at us! But she’s amazing. I think she She can logic...”’ Fair point. JAMES MOTTRAM
Oats & Barley, although she didn’t write will always be the most incredible actor out-improv
the role with him in mind. ‘I always I work with. She’s just so intuitive. And anyone’ SCRAPPER OPENS IN CINEMAS
thought the film should revolve around can out-improv anyone.’ CHARLOTTE REGAN ON 25 AUGUST.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 27

 Virginie Efira as Mia, a woman
who faces psychological trauma
after surviving a terrorist attack

EXCLUSIVE

AIDE MEMOIRE
PARIS MEMORIES A terrorist attack survivor
tries to move on in a drama based on real events.
n the evening of 13 November 2015, a series of coordinated terror

O attacks in Paris left at least 130 people dead and more than 400 others
injured. The epicentre of the chaos was the Bataclan theatre in the city’s
11th arrondissement, where a raid on a concert by the American rock band
Mia with fellow survivor
Thomas (Benoît Magimel)
Eagles of Death Metal saw 90 lose their lives.

Alice Winocour’s brother was at hardly make sense of them. The only in order to render Mia properly.’
the Bataclan that night and was one thing Mia can remember with clarity Key to Winocour’s film is the attack
of those lucky enough to walk away is a faceless stranger who held her itself, which required a facsimile
from it. Through him she would meet hand. The more time she spends with of a genuine Parisian bistro to be
and talk to other survivors, sowing the those affected and bereaved by the constructed in a studio. ‘People would
seeds for what would go on to become tragedy, the surer she becomes that have thought it was a real attack if we’d
her fourth directorial feature. ‘I built her personal road to recovery hangs shot in the middle of Paris, and the
the film around my memories and the on learning his identity. restaurant was not happy with the idea
conversations I had with my brother ‘It’s as if a mirror has exploded of us destroying everything,’ says the
and others in the following days and and she’s trying to put the pieces back director. As convincing as the mayhem
months,’ the Proxima director explains. together,’ Winocour continues. ‘She’s was, however, it was always pretend
‘The attack is not the subject of this kind of like a zombie that’s coming for Efira. ‘There were extras on set
movie; it is really about its aftermath.’ back to life.’ Not your average day at who were saying afterwards that it felt
Paris Memories tells the (fictional) the office, then, for lead actress Virginie like the real thing,’ she recalls. ‘I was
story of Mia, a translator who finds Efira, who consulted experts in PTSD like, “Come on, take it easy. We’ll have
herself in a Parisian café at the exact and memory retrieval as part of her catering after this, so let’s not compare
PICT UR EHOUSE ENT ERTA INMENT

moment it is subjected to a deadly preparation. ‘I had to learn how people ‘She’s kind of things that have nothing to do with one
gun assault. Like Winocour’s sibling could have this feeling of not belonging like a zombie another…”’ NEIL SMITH
she lives to tell the tale – or would do, to the world anymore,’ the Benedetta coming back
were her recollections of the event not star tells Teasers. ‘I had to understand to life’ PARIS MEMORIES OPENS IN CINEMAS
so fragmented and fractured she can how memories actually function ALICE WINOCOUR ON 4 AUGUST.

28 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 ritish writer-director Sally the biggest budget film I’d ever

B Potter broke through with

1992’s Orlando, starring
Tilda Swinton. Her other films
made by a long way. It had a lot of
big stars in it; and I happened to
be going through a very difficult
include the drama The Man Who time in my own life. I found that
Cried, teen drama Ginger & Rosa with every film, to some degree,
and acerbic political comedy one starts inhabiting the subject
The Party, starring Kristin Scott matter almost unconsciously - you
Thomas and Timothy Spall. have to live in that world for four
Now, she’s returning to one of years, more, maybe. But it became
her first loves: composing and a cult film that is still showing all
performing music, with a new over the place, all the time.
album called Pink Bikini.
Let’s talk about Ginger & Rosa…
Pink Bikini feels very intimate, Ginger & Rosa was a film about
very 1960s. What’s the concept teenage girls, teenage friendship,
behind it? songs of protest. So there are
The lyrics concept is about the some overlaps with Pink Bikini. It’s
teenage years - a close look at rich and fertile territory. One of
the epic, dramatic inner life of the standout things to me was the
a teenage girl, based on some experience of working with Elle
of the feelings that I had as I Fanning, who was 13 at the time,
moved through those years. My playing 16, and Alice Englert, who
observation is that everybody goes was I think 17 playing 16. I got very
through several Greek tragedies close to them.
during the teenage years, which
are formative and extraordinary. SALLY POTTER What was the atmosphere like
The musical concept was to make on set during The Party?
something very direct, very
THE ACCLAIMED DIRECTOR ON MOVIES, Wonderful. We laughed so much
simple, that would evoke the MUSIC AND PINK BIKINIS. in between takes - there was an
directness of that kind of feeling. enormous amount of good
humour and goodwill. They’re all
What are the biggest that that was the only place I knew great collaborators. They found
lessons that you learned how to survive. I’d never been let the script funny and they found
as a young filmmaker? into this magical secret inner circle each other funny. I also really
Basically, not to give up. I saw of film privilege. So suddenly, enjoyed writing it. I discovered
people giving up on filmmaking - I was in the middle of this thing that an acid tongue came quite
they might make one film and called success, which as we know, naturally. It’s not at all myself,
then go: ‘This is just too hard and is an illusion. But in the long term, but give me a character to write
too depressing.’ I began to feel that it’s wonderful to make a piece of like that and it kept flowing out.
the only difference between those work that reaches out and makes
that go on to make films and those not just an impression, but Is there something quite
that don’t is that some people give possibly even makes a difference therapeutic about being
up and some people don’t. to some people in their lives. acid-tongued?
Well, it’s about exposing the
Did Orlando’s success spur What was it like then working subtext, isn’t it? There’s a lot of
you on? with Cate Blanchett, Christina nicey-nicey good-virtue signalling
Funnily enough, I felt really Ricci and Johnny Depp on The behaviour everywhere. And often,
confused by it. I was so used Man Who Cried? you dig down a little bit and there’s
to being an outsider, working in The Man Who Cried was a different a kind of shadow side coming out.
SA R A H POT T ER , SHU T T ERSTOCK , A L A M Y

opposition to the mainstream, kind of challenge, because it was New album Pink And so it’s when you expose that
Bikini, Christina shadow side that it becomes very
Ricci and Johnny funny, because the illusions that
‘IT’S WONDERFUL TO Depp in The Man people have about themselves are
MAKE A PIECE OF WORK Who Cried, and
Tilda Swinton as
shattered. ANNA SMITH

THAT REACHES OUT’ Orlando PINK BIKINI RELEASES ON 14 JULY.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 29

 Gal Gadot proved female-led blockbusters
could make money and win hearts with
Wonder Woman. Now she’s driving a
potential new spy franchise with Heart of
Stone, which puts kick-ass women and stunts
front and centre. Can she repeat the trick?
WORDS JANE CROWTHER
JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 31
f you’ve seen the latest instalments
from the DCEU and Fast franchises
you’ll have clocked Gal Gadot popping
up (in Fast X, quite literally) to cameo.
Now, Wonder Woman herself is keen to
create an action series with herself front
and centre to rival all the big boys and
their toys. Give Dom, Bond and Ethan
Hunt a high-octane, multi-pic run for
their money? Why not?
‘I must say that this whole thing
was something that I had in mind for
a long time, but I also always felt like,
“Who knows if there’s going to be
an audience for it? A female-leading-
character action movie,”’ Gadot admits
when Total Film catches her in late
May on an unseasonably grey and cold
day in Los Angeles. ‘But then when
Wonder Woman came out, it really
showed that the audiences – as long
as the story works, and as long as it’s
believable and good and done well
– they’re all for it, you know?’
Ah yes, Patty Jenkins’ 2017 Wonder
Woman, an origin story for Diana
Prince that relied on the star wattage
of a relatively untested Gadot (she’d
appeared in three Fast films and a
couple of actioners – including Tom
Cruise vehicle Knight and Day) to carry
the DCEU forward to Justice League.
When she launched into the world,
Wonder Woman was following in the
unremarkable footsteps of Catwoman
and Elektra, female-fronted bombs that
fed into the pervasive misogynistic view
that women could not tempt punters
to the box office. As we know, WW
smashed its opening weekend with
figures that rivalled other hit origin
stories (on a par with Iron Man’s BO
takings) and ushered in further Gadot and Jamie
appearances in a sequel and stablemate Dornan with director
outings, most recently in The Flash. Tom Harper on set
That initial triumph encouraged

32 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 HEART OF STONE

a mission gone awry, finds herself

battling to help The Charter, a shadowy
organisation who hold AI supertech in
the form of ‘The Heart’. A god’s-eye
piece of algorithm software able to dip
into all the digital outlets of the world
and predict with accuracy the outcomes
of certain situations, it’s a Pandora’s
box – a force for good in the right
hands, a weapon of mass destruction
in the wrong ones. When its safety is
threatened by a series of players, such
as rageful hacker Keya (Alia Bhatt),
Stone must rely on her wits and training
as she globe-trots – and roundhouse
kicks – her way to save it. Along for the
ride: Sophie Okonedo’s handler/mother
figure, Matthias Schweighöfer’s digi
nerd and Jamie Dornan’s fellow spy
Parker – a guy whose scarred back
and bedroom eyes intrigue Stone more
than they should during a job.

KEEPING IT REAL
Penned by Greg Rucka (who wrote
Charlize Theron action vehicle The
Old Guard) and Allison Schroeder
(whose Hidden Figures showed a skill
in showcasing female stories), Heart
of Stone is unapologetically set up
as the first of a franchise. Rachel is
designed with flaws and secrets that
could unravel in further adventures,
and her very particular skill set could be
utilised in other far-flung destinations
and situations. And for Gadot, that
potential is what makes her first
producing gig ‘from ground zero
to what it is now’ such a thrill.
‘We had to create a world out of thin
air, because we weren’t based on a book
series or anything of that sort,’ Gadot
enthuses. ‘We had to create the whole
Gal Gadot as spy universe and the concept, and how
Rachel Stone do we make it believable and real, so
people can connect to it? I wanted to
show a great story about a female
Gadot to believe that kick-ass on- character who is doing it in the action
screen women didn’t need to have
‘I wanted to show genre. Right? She is thriving. But at
superpowers to succeed. ‘I think Wonder a great story about the same time, you know how, many
Woman was the thing that really gave times, they’ve just switched the gender?
me the confidence that it’s OK to go a female character They take a story that is all about the
dream and produce a movie that is a in the action genre’ men, and then they just change it to
female-driven action film – a thriller GAL GADOT a woman, and then go shoot it? To me,
– for everyone to enjoy,’ she recalls. it was so important in the DNA to make
‘Jaron [Varsano], my husband, who it a little bit different, because men and
is also my partner in life and in the Ellison would know the potential of women are different. They’re built
production company [Pilot Wave] that an action franchise. After all, Skydance differently, they operate differently.’
we’ve had – we had a meeting with Media are behind the Mission: Impossible Namechecking Die Hard as a
David Ellison [CEO of Skydance Media] titles (since Ghost Protocol) and Netflix’s touchstone for an imperfect and
back in 2017. And at the end of the recent forays 6 Underground and Ghosted. resourceful character, Gadot wanted
meeting, he asked me, “What do you Where we are with this premise, then: her franchise to remain gritty and real
want to do?” And I told him, “I want to Gadot plays Rachel Stone, a spy who while also providing pure audience
do this. This is what I want to do.” We has more secrets than she’s holding for escapism. ‘I wanted to create a movie
shook on it that day, and here we are.’ her government bosses and following that is very global, on a large scope;

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 33

COVER STORY

to make sure we give the audience home. The Aeronauts may have been
not just the action and the story and a period drama but it featured high-
the relationships between the altitude action and, as with many of his
characters, but also the different, projects, had actors attached very early
beautiful, wild locations.’ on in the process. ‘Working with Gal
So far, so Bond/Mission/Fast. Gadot from the very beginning was a really
admits that her Fast family may have nice way to develop the film. She was
helped inspire some of her creative intertwined with that character [from Jing Lusi as Yang with
drive in creating a big global world. ‘The the start]. I think when you’re trying Dornan as Parker
biggest thing that I think they are doing to set up a new world, a new film like
brilliantly is to create a story that is not that, a new project, it’s really useful.’
only American-driven. That is not only
for the American audiences. But it’s for BOND GAL
everybody. If you’re from England, from Setting up a new world in the action
Brazil, from Thailand, from India, from arena means looking at the franchises
Israel – everyone has something in this that audiences are already familiar
movie. I wasn’t thinking about them with and trying to key into something
when we did the movie. But maybe it different. ‘Obviously I’ve thought about
is in the DNA of what I’ve learned from superhero fatigue, and I actually really
them. They want the movie to feel like superhero movies,’ Harper admits.
global and big, and that, next time, ‘I just feel like I’ve seen so many of them
maybe it’s going to be in Japan – it could recently, and I’m not rushing back to see
be anywhere. And that’s incredible.’ another one. Maybe that taps into the
Shooting over several different whole feeling of going, “Technology is
locations – including Italy, London, great, but it’s a tool. We want to use it for
Lisbon, Morocco and Iceland – with a some things, but we don’t want it to just
huge stunt team, Rachel Stone’s initial exist in a technological world where
outing needed a safe pair of hands to there’s no grounding and there’s no
shepherd her to reality. Taken with the connection to our humanity.”’ To that
female characterisation at the heart of end, Gadot and team eschewed CG
Wild Rose, Gadot met with Tom Harper, stunts and action (ahem: hello, dam jump
who’d just come off filming ballooning in Fast X) in favour of practical thrills.
biopic The Aeronauts. Though very ‘For me, it becomes less interesting
different projects, Harper can see if you can do anything,’ Harper shrugs.
a correlation between the two. ‘The ‘So actually, what I think we wanted to
Aeronauts felt like a sort of stepping achieve was to get back to doing it for
stone towards Heart of Stone in some real as much as possible, and keeping it
ways,’ says Harper from his London grounded, because then there’s real

Director Tom Harper with Bailey (Paul Ready, left)

Alia Bhatt, who plays Keya with Stone and the rest of
Dhawan, and crew on set her spy unit in London

34 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023

 stakes [involved]. If you really believe
these characters are going through it,
and it’s not an impossible thing they’re ALIA BHATT
doing, that then takes you into a The Bollywood superstar
different world of superhumans. talks girl power
Of course, it’s a little bit heightened
This is your first American feature
because of the nature of things that
– why this project?
happen. But it was really our ambition
I love the idea that it was headlined by
to keep it connected to reality. We never this female superstar. It was a woman-led
wanted to do something that felt like action film – it’s what makes it compelling
it wouldn’t be possible. And in order in a completely different way, opposed
to achieve that, everything we did to just a woman being a part of the plan.
do, we did for real.’ I’ve worked in Hindi cinema for the last 10
Bringing in former stunt performer years, and I was prepared to understand
turned coordinator Rob Alonzo as that if I was starting afresh in a completely
new language, I would not maybe start off
second unit director (he just worked
with the biggest or the best role. But this
second unit on The Batman) and stunt
was a really good, important role, very well
coordinator Jo McLaren (see boxout on written, and it complemented the other
page 39), Harper brainstormed action characters really well.
sequences that felt fresh to viewers
who’ll see Rome’s Spanish Steps How was it working with Gal as team
trashed in two vehicle chases through leader on both sides of the camera?
two different franchises this summer. I admire her for so many different
That process delivered an opening reasons. She’s someone who continuously
challenges the gender ideology that we’re
chase down a southern Tyrol mountain
used to, that a woman cannot bring the
- via sliding, speed-flying paragliding,
bums to cinema, you know? She’s done
snow bike and on foot – as the sun sets that with Wonder Woman and I admire her
mind, her grit. But also the fact that she’s
a working mum who is able to balance that
‘It was really life. And even though she was producing
and leading the film, I never felt that my
our ambition to opinion, my instinct or my addition didn’t
keep it connected matter. Everything was heard. And
I love that about her.
to reality’
TOM HARPER How many of the stunts did you
get to do for real?
It was a little bit more complicated for me
into darkness, a smash-and-grab because I was pregnant at the time, so I had
van chase (much of it in reverse) to be extremely careful. So a lot of the stuff,
through the cobbled streets of Lisbon like wire work, I had to pick up after I’d had
complete with trams, a HALO jump the baby, because it wasn’t safe. Luckily,
to fisticuffs among the sand dunes and I didn’t have any morning sickness,
a hair-raising motorbike sequence and Gal would keep checking on me:
‘Are you OK? Do you need any food?
along a stark Reykjavik road. Movies are
Do you need any water?’
usually filmed out of order, but the first
sequence to be nailed was the opener You were in RRR – what do you think
– where Stone and her colleague of it becoming such a hit?
discover their quarry could be getting It’s great. But also not surprising to me,
away from a swish ski lodge. because I come from a country that is so
‘I really wanted it to be at night, rich in its culture and its people. So when
because there’s plenty of snow a film like RRR connects all over the world,
sequences in action films, but what I especially with the American audience,
it’s amazing because it just shows how
feel I’ve seen very rarely is it at night,’
language is no barrier. It’s just the power
says Harper. ‘That beginning was all
of storytelling, of emotion. And the fact that
about maintaining [that approach]. But, I got to be a part of [director] Rajamouli’s
of course, everyone was worried about process was the greatest reward.
spending all this money, and going
through all this inconvenience – one Do you want to do more English-
being the mountain in the first place, language films after this experience?
where the weather can change and can I’d love to do way more English-language
totally screw you. And two, we were movies: action, romance, comedy, thriller,
a happy slice-of-life family journey film…
worried about going there, and it just
I have a list of movies that I would love to
being pitch black, and you could be
do, and a list of filmmakers that I’d love to
anywhere if it’s night!’ work with. I hope it’s just the beginning. JC
Shooting during a tight 45-minute

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 35

 JAMIE DORNAN
On stunts, Gal Gadot and the possibility
of playing James Bond
What was the attraction of Heart of Stone?
I’ve never done anything on such a big scale.
I’ve never done anything that’s like a spy-action
thriller. I have a real attitude in this career
to experience all of it.

‘The Heart’ is a superweapon that can predict

the future. Does technology, with the pace it’s
developing, scare you?
Yeah. I think ‘ominous’ is probably the word. But, you
know, it’s like a lot of things: there is good that could
be done and there’s bad. I guess the reality is that
things like greed exist, and there are people who
would want to control something this powerful, and
there’d be maybe disastrous consequences.

Gal Gadot is your producer and co-star.

How did you find working with her?
There’s nobody like Gal Gadot. She’s totally on
her own in terms of the movies that she’s making
and the ambition she’s making them with. It’s an
exciting thing to be around. And she’s very fucking
down-to-earth and cool and easy to be around.

Your character, Parker, is highly skilled.

What training did you have?
I’ve done a fair amount of stunt work in my time.
I love all that aspect of it. The physicality of it. I still
feel relatively young and physically capable, and
while I feel like that, I want to exploit that where
I can, and have fun with that, because I enjoy it.

How much of the stunt work did

you do for real?
I tried to do a lot of it. I’m a really stubborn little
prick! I’ve literally just come from a stunt rehearsal
for a big fight I have on Series 2 of The Tourist,
which I’m shooting at the moment. I’m probably not
going to do all the stuff that Tom Cruise does. I’m
not going to motorcycle off the side of a mountain
and release my parachute. But saying that, I’ve
never been asked to do that [laughs].

Some people have talked about this as a female

Mission: Impossible-style movie. Do you agree?
Yeah, I recognise that, definitely. I think there’s
an appetite to make more with Gal. I think
she’s someone who is very much up to that task
and will hold an audience for plenty more films.
She’s just really good at it.

Finally, your name has been floated as

the next James Bond. Is this a calling
card to Barbara Broccoli?
[Laughs] I don’t know if Barbara has a Netflix
account! I’ve been in that conversation for a good
couple of years now. Sometimes I’m more in that
conversation than other times. It tends to be if you
have a movie coming out. I imagine that if people
are making noise about this film when it comes
out on Netflix, and hopefully lots of people are
watching it, then you enter that conversation again
in a bigger way than you were before the movie
came out. If people want to have your name, that’s
cool. I just am not one of those people who give
it a huge amount of thought. JAMES MOTTRAM

36 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023

 HEART OF STONE

window each night, when darkness me. So I did as much as I could with
had just fallen but an alpine glow meant the support of the crazy-ass things
the mountains could still be seen, set done by the stuntwoman.’
the tone of the shoot for Harper and the Despite her wire work as Wonder
team. ‘With everything being possible Woman, Gadot found the rig she had to
nowadays, the things that make it feel strap into to essay plummeting through
real can be subtle, but they make all the the heavens in a skydiving stunt was
difference – those final few percentage something of a pain in the (kick)ass.
Dornan/Parker: neither points. If you’re there, and the crew are ‘The rigs that we had to use, and
shaken nor stirred cold, and feel it, and you know that it’s how limiting they were to the body,
frosty, and you can see their breath, and physically, was really hard on me,’ she
you know that the light is going so you groans of the contraption that dangles
need to move quickly – that puts an performers on a wire while strapped
energy into it. There are all those sort of into a tight sleeping bag-like harness.
things, the just-added flavour that you ‘And to do it for a long period of time,
couldn’t recreate if you were in a studio.’ and multiple times, that was the
It wasn’t just below-freezing hardest thing for me.’
temperatures the project dealt with.
Filming in Morocco may have evoked SPECIAL AGENCY
images of Lawrence of Arabia and its Though the production tried to steer
dunes, but when the production arrived, away from over-reliance on CGI, the
a sandstorm and wildly swinging gadget at the centre of the film taps into
temperatures made the work harder. our dependence on tech and how it
‘We’d gone all that way to Morocco for might control us more than we control
it to be beautiful and sunny – and we it. A timely conundrum, says Gadot,
had this sandstorm. But actually, again, that makes Heart of Stone feel relatable
that’s the human element. I thought, to audiences despite the global scope
“I’ve seen the desert before in glorious of ‘The Heart’. ‘It’s really relevant,
Stone fighting dark forces the whole AI power in the world.
And the idea of who’s controlling
in a Lisbon safe house
‘Ostensibly, this the AI and the ethics around it.’
is a big, entertaining ‘I think that’s really what the
message of the story is,’ Harper agrees.
action film... but ‘AI is an incredible tool and will be
films of all genres beneficial in so many ways, but it does
need very careful handling and careful
tap into social decision-making around its use to
themes and trends’ ensure that it’s used in the most
responsible way. Ostensibly, this is
TOM HARPER
a big, entertaining action film, but
films of all genres do tap into social
sun. That bitty, gravelly, dusty feel – themes and trends that are current,
I actually think it works for us much and explore them. Big data, AI, how
better.” So, again, it turns it into a we use technology and how we
positive. But, yeah, we did break down maintain our humanity through that
in the middle of the desert, in the is something, as a society, we’re really
middle of a sandstorm…’ grappling with at the moment.’
For Gadot, trying to ensure she Speaking of algorithms, Heart of
Alia Bhatt as Keya in the did as many of the stunts as possible Stone will debut on Netflix and the
Moroccan desert was paramount to maintaining the streaming service is looking for
believability of her character. And franchise potential. The Old Guard
despite her experience in action, getting has a follow-up in the works, The
Sophie Okonedo as beaten up was still a slog. ‘It’s always Gray Man is in the early stages of a
Nomad/King of Hearts and difficult,’ she laughs. ‘You never really sequel and Extraction boasts a second
Matthias Schweighöfer get used to it. But at one point, you let instalment already on the platform.
as Jack of Hearts go. You let go of that side of the brain, What might we expect from future
and you just commit to the process. missions for Rachel Stone?
To me, it’s important to do it as much ‘I hope that people like it, and want
as I can, just because I feel like the to keep watching it and watch it all
emotion is always connected to the the way through. That’s step one,’
action that we’re doing. And it’s not Harper chuckles, under no illusions
just simply a clean action performance. about the way content is consumed on
It’s also affected by the emotion, the the system. Gadot has more skin in the
state of mind of the character and all game as the originator of this fledgling
of that. Obviously, some of it I wasn’t franchise. ‘The objective was to do
able to do because they wouldn’t insure a great first film and to take it from

JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 37

COVER STORY

Rachel Stone (Gadot) in

a high-altitude, highly
explosive moment

there,’ she says. ‘But if I was lucky a chapter,’ she says diplomatically of
enough to continue and explore her
‘To me, starting and where she is right now. ‘I’m living
character, I would look at these things developing stories it right now. To me, starting and
as chapters in the character’s life. And developing stories that I’m passionate
in this one, if she was going from a place
that I’m passionate about is an incredible thing. The fact
of loneliness – learning how to trust about is an that I don’t have to sit still at home and
others and how to operate as a team just wait for the next offer is something
– I think the next one has to be the
incredible thing’ that makes me feel empowered. And I
next chapter of a different trait in her GAL GADOT enjoy doing it, it keeps me alive. I’m not
personality, in the journey that she has only going to do my own projects, I’m
to go through.’ And also loads of ballsy stewardship of James Gunn and the going to work as an actress-for-hire
stunts and globetrotting? ‘Always!’ cancellation of Wonder Woman 3, still. But the fact that I can go ahead
For Gadot, though, this is also about perhaps this is the series she’ll take and tell the stories that I’m passionate
developing as an artist. And given the forward instead of the adventures of about – from ideas that I conceived, or
recent news from DC under the the Themyscira goddess? ‘Well, it’s from ideas that I find fascinating from

38 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 HEART OF STONE

WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU, MA’AM

Stunt coordinator Jo McLaren talks ice baths and big set-pieces
What did you think The intense car chase in Lisbon
when you were must have also been a challenge?
approached to Narrow, cobbled streets that are full of
coordinate trams and hills and tight corners… The van
the stunts? [that Gadot drives] had to be reinforced
I loved the fact that to be able to cope with what we were
it was a female, going to be asked to do. We used the
strong lead. She trams in some of the sequences and we
wasn’t a snowflake. She was really badass, had some of the best drivers in the world.
highly intelligent and beautiful. The whole We would rehearse out of location – any
premise was to keep the action very real. of the specifics, any of the near-misses,
To engage the audience, but keep it really the crashes – and then we would get on
grounded, real and to feel the pain of location, and rehearse it, have pre-vis, map
each character whatever situation everything out with toy cars, and allocate
they found themselves in. different drivers with their skill set.

Is it different planning these How many cars did you destroy?

things when it’s a female lead? Yeah, quite a few [laughs]. But we only
Not necessarily, because she’s a highly destroyed the ones we were meant
trained double agent. But I guess it was to destroy.
always keeping an element of femininity
– you don’t have to be masculine to How would you characterise the action
be badass. But if she was up fighting in Heart of Stone compared to the
somebody particularly big or strong, she worlds of Bond, Mission, Fast?
would be more skilful and have more It does have tones of Bond and the Mission
technique than necessarily having more films, in terms of the scale of the action.
strength. Gal is a seasoned pro with action But our action is possibly more grounded in
sequences. She already has all of that story terms. I think audiences will be really
muscle memory in her, just from years excited by the diverse sequences that we
of doing the action. have. It’s trying to create something new
and something we haven’t seen, and that
How did you manage pulling off stunts is using all the skill of the filmmakers that
up a snowy mountain, at night? we have. I can’t think of a movie where they
We brought on a brilliant extreme-sports use Lisbon. We’re in a proper, old city with
guy from Red Bull, J.T. Holmes, who’s just all the history and the crazy roads there.
fantastic. And we tried to do as much as
we could, all for real, out on location. For Is it as much fun as it looks?
that sequence you’re dealing with extreme It’s a great career, really exciting. There’s
temperatures and the logistics; a limited very little glamour, but a lot of hard work
time frame to use the gondola, the ski lifts, and graft. It takes its toll on your body.
the slopes. You can’t get cranes up there A lot of ice baths and arnica! But the
and all the equipment had to be ferried up industry needs more women. We’ve got
either on the lifts or on snowmobiles. such great, diverse scripts now. But we
But it’s exciting to be able to do those are crying out for really good women in
sequences, actually on location, and to different fields. Trying to find good women
not just be on a blue or green screen. on motorbikes is hard. Come on, girls! JC

people that want to partner with us

– it’s an incredible thing.’ She checks
herself as though worried that she may
seem arrogant to be so self-assured.
‘That I can make projects happen is
something that I’m so grateful for and
I am definitely going to continue that
because it’s worth it. I’m very, very
excited and humbly proud,’ she laughs.
Total Film suggests she shouldn’t have
to be humble about ambition. Rachel
Stone certainly wouldn’t be…
Harper puts Gadot
HEART OF STONE IS AVAILABLE ON
NETFLIX

through her paces on set

NETFLIX FROM 11 AUGUST.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 39

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 With Gal Gadot, Tom Cruise, Rosario Dawson, Chris Hemsworth and more putting life and
limb in great danger and pushing fight scenes to the limit in high-octane entertainment
this summer, Total Film hails the most cunning stunts of all time.

JON ATH A N CROCK ER , JON ATH A N DE A N, JA MIE GR A H A M, K E V IN H A R L E Y, L EIL A L AT IF, M AT THE W L E Y L A ND, A NDY LOW E , JA MES MOT TR A M, NEIL SMI T H, K IM TAY LOR-FOSTER , CER I THOM AS, JA MES WHITE

42 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 GREATEST STUNTS

23
WINGING IT DOUBLE IMPACT
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (2011) RRR (2022) LEAP OF FAITH
‘I gotta have wingsuits in Transformers 3.’
25 So said Michael Bay after watching
skydivers Julian Boulle and J.T. Holmes do their
Two become one in S.S. Rajamouli’s action
bromance. Kneecapped by guards while
imprisoned, Raju (Ram Charan) cannot walk.
DIE HARD (1988)

21 Anchored with a fire hose wrapped

around his waist, police detective John
thing on TV. Used to mountains, they’d never When Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr) frees him, McClane jumps from the Nakatomi Plaza roof
navigated a cityscape, much less one like Raju springs onto his rescuer’s shoulders to just as villainous Hans Gruber detonates a ton
Chicago. ‘Skipping breakfast, going straight to form a four-armed super-soldier. Recalling a of explosions. Always up for a dare, Bruce Willis
launch,’ said Holmes on shoot day. Well, you’re friendship montage from earlier in the film, performed the leap from a parking structure on
not keeping bacon and eggs down, are you? Five the piggyback fight bursts with feeling. But the 20th Century Fox backlot into an airbag 25ft
Bell-Boeing V-22 Ospreys take to the sky, led it’s also a blistering display of extraordinarily below. Mortars were set off, while Willis’ back
by Josh Duhamel’s Colonel Lennox. Pursued by choreographed combat, as Raju wields two was padded and his skin protected with
Decepticons, the strike team jump. Gliding in rifles and Bheem barrels through opponents heat-resistant gel. The actor could be heard
formation, the wingsuiters whip through the before the mountain-of-man duo climb shouting ‘Goddamn you!’ at special-effects
air, spiders on the wind, evading bogeys as they a tower and backflip onto the top, shooting supervisor Al DiSarro as he jumped, and no
navigate steel and concrete. Despite the CG soldiers mid-leap. ‘I had to keep running wonder. As he recalled: ‘The force of the
villains, the danger of the real stunt still like that for six or seven hours a day,’ explosion blew me out to the very edge of
impresses. Pure unadulterated Bayhem. said Rama Rao, turning his pains into the airbag.’ Yippee ki-yay, indeed.
extravagant action gains.

22 JAILBIRD ON A WIRE
PLANE TALKING FIREBIRD IN THE SKY THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963)
It was a lunge into legend: Steve
TENET (2020)

24 Outrageous, even by Christopher

Nolan’s standards: a hijacked 747 tears
SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977)
Even after all these decades, it’s hard not
to share in Sally Field’s elation as Burt
20 McQueen’s Cooler King escaping
from a German prisoner-of-war camp on a
through Oslo airport, crushing cars in its wake Reynolds’ Bandit flies his Pontiac Firebird motorbike. The film’s original ending involved
before pancaking a hangar. Nolan insisted on Trans Am over Georgia’s Flint River in the a runaway train, then McQueen had it changed
doing it all for real, sending the production film’s most famous scene. In reality, though, to big himself up – although the rider was
team to Southern California Logistics Airport it was director Hal Needham and Field’s actually big Mac’s stuntman buddy Bud Ekins.
in Victorville. A physics expert was brought in stand-in Lada St. Edmund who were in the After Ekins and colleagues dug a makeshift
to calculate when to apply the brakes before car: a modified model with a 750HP engine ramp out of a valley, McQueen tried the jump
smashing the aircraft into a loading bay built and a booster rocket powerful enough to and landed on the fence. ‘Could have bust my
by production designer Nathan Crowley’s team. send it soaring over the collapsed Mulberry melon,’ he said. Ekins then dredged up dust
The plane was towed by a tug driven by Jim Bridge with room to spare. ‘We built a ramp, clouds with back-straining practice jumps,
Wilkey, the stunt driver who’d flipped the put a big engine in and said go for it,’ before clearing the barbed wire (actually a
Joker’s truck on The Dark Knight. ‘It was a huge Needham explained in 2007. There was rather less impressive concoction of string
undertaking for everybody involved,’ says no second take, though, as the vehicle and rubber bands) at 65mph on a 650cc
stunt coordinator George Cottle. No kidding. disintegrated on impact. Triumph in one take. Lift off!

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 43

TF LIST

19
SPIN CITY
BABY DRIVER (2017)
The titular music-loving wheelman (Ansel
Elgort) times his getaways to his tunes in
Edgar Wright’s tyre-squealing heist movie.
The opening escape cut to the stuttering STAIRWAY TO MAYHEM
sonics of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s ATOMIC BLONDE (2017)
For his directorial debut, stunt
Bellbottoms is hard to beat – especially the
bit where Baby’s red Subaru WRX jackknifes
around a reversing truck by spin-skidding
17 coordinator David Leitch stepped up
his pitch for a seeming oner, influenced by
first one way, then the other. ‘We call it a 180 Children of Men’s grungy style. Charlize Theron
in and 180 out,’ says second unit director convinced him she could nail the Berlin POLE POSITION
Darrin Prescott. ‘It was nerve-racking. If the stairwell scrap, a dirty dust-up bristling with POLICE STORY (1985)
punch-drunk immediacy. Filmed over four Jackie Chan has suffered for his art
stunt driver stacked it into the building…’ Big
breath. ‘A different movie would make it on
green screen.’ Wright shot 95% in-camera,
days, the scene comprises multiple cuts shot
chronologically using handheld cameras; Leitch
16 so many times, it would be quicker to
list the bones he hasn’t broken. Yet even he
on the streets of Atlanta. ‘It feels real worked tightly with DoP Jonathan Sela and could not have imagined how painful it would
because it is real,’ he says. editor Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir to smooth over the be to slide down a metal pole draped with
cuts, using whip-pans and wipes. Stuntwoman mains-powered Christmas lights at the end of
Monique Ganderton doubled for some tumbles Police Story’s epic shopping-mall climax. ‘That
but Theron did most of the scrapping. Drawing 10 seconds left me with second-degree burns
on her ballet training for the choreography, on my hands, a bloody face and fragments of
Theron was, says Leitch, ‘committed to finding sugar glass all over my body,’ he would later
the reality of the situation’. Let’s dance. recall. Not only that but the stunt’s final
flourish – a fall through 600lbs of glass
and a wooden hut’s roof – added a dislocated
pelvis to his list of injuries.

18
WHEELS ON FIRE
THE VILLAINESS (2017)
Steel and wheels clash in the rubber-
burning chase sequence from Jung
Byung-gil’s South Korean actioner. Assassin
Sook-hee (Kim Ok-bin) engages her RAPID DESCENT HANGIN’ TOUGH
assailants with katanas on motorbikes, DELIVERANCE (1972) SAFETY LAST! (1923)
A key scene in John Boorman’s And all for a girl: Harold Lloyd, the
blades clanging and engines roaring.
‘I would say pretty much all the movie
was shot in real life,’ says Jung. Some of
15 survivalist classic sees two canoes collide
at the crest of a waterfall, flipping one of their
14 boater-and-specs-wearing king of
crackers comedy, climbs a skyscraper and
the passing cars were computer-generated oarsmen into the churning whirlpool below. hangs from a clockface en route. And with
but the rest was shot in-camera, using a rig When a cloth dummy proved too cloth- only eight fingers, too, given that he’d blown
with three bikes attached and cameras dummyish, Burt Reynolds gamely volunteered two off years earlier by messing about with
hooked up to helmets. Smaller-than-usual to take its place. ‘I went over the falls, hit a bomb. But did he dangle? Really? Well,
cameras also enabled Jung to shoot from a rock and cracked my tailbone,’ he would later close-ups were shot using facades on rooftops
multiple impossible angles, the POV remember. ‘It was a hairy stunt and a dumb and cameras were placed to make him look
swerving and swooping dynamically. thing to do.’ Ned Beatty would also feel the higher than he was. But he was still high. ‘We
The result is a fully revved miracle of force of the Chattooga River’s fearsome flows. had platforms, with mattresses, about 20ft
momentum, immediacy and originality: ‘One day Ned didn’t come up for two minutes,’ down... on the highest building we could find
John Wick 3’s bike-based bust-up Boorman recalls. ‘I always had the fear in Los Angeles,’ Lloyd said. ‘From up there,
owes it a debt. I was going to lose one of the cast.’ they looked like postage stamps…’

44 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 GREATEST STUNTS

13
FALLING DOWN
BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE
SUNDANCE KID (1969)
Legendary screenwriter William Goldman
called it ‘the most important scene of my life.
Everything good that has come out of my
relationship with Hollywood was because of it.’ DAM FINE
You know what he’s talking about – that GOLDENEYE (1995)
With one jump, Pierce Brosnan HOT-FOOTING IT
classic stunt when Paul Newman and Robert
Redford elude a marauding posse by 11 established that his James Bond would
be a more daring, dynamic and blockbuster-
ONG-BAK (2003)
So many stunts to choose from, so little
hurling themselves off a ravine into the
water below. The stunt was done in two
parts. In Colorado, the stars leapt off a ledge
friendly incarnation compared to the gruff
charm embodied by his predecessor Timothy
10 space. Forced to plump for just one of
Tony Jaa’s heroics, however, and it has to be the
on to a mattress (the hard bit); the rest was Dalton. He joins 006 (Sean Bean) by leaping off scene where his lethal action man Ting battles
shot at Fox’s Century Ranch near Malibu, a gargantuan dam and dropping into a Soviet assorted goons at a burning petrol station. Why?
where two stuntmen jumped into a lake chemical weapons facility 220m below with a Because Ting uses his legs – which are on fire,
from a 70ft crane, masked on film by a near-preternatural level of cool. The stunt itself it should be said – to kick seven flaming bells
matte painting. The moment perfectly was performed by British stuntman/coordinator out of the baddies. ‘During that scene, my
captured the laid-back cool of these icons Wayne Michaels and, by his account, it ‘had eyelashes and the hairs on my arms got
of the era, becoming almost as memorable never been done before’. As a result, there burned,’ notes Jaa. ‘On the first take, it wouldn’t
as the sepia-toned finale (without the was ‘a trauma clinic ready and an emergency burn because they didn’t have enough oil on.
bittersweet, er, bloodbath). helicopter to rush me to hospital’. But Michaels Then they put on more oil and it came up
only needed one take and emerged unscathed, all the way to my head.’ Toasty.
and a new Bond was born.

12
FULL MAST
DEATH PROOF (2007) POLE STARS
Stunt performers are usually the unsung MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015) WINDOW DROPPING
‘George [Miller] always imagined that
heroes of cinema, but Quentin Tarantino
made them both the heroes and the villain.
Kurt Russell’s stuntman is murdering
09 we’d have to use CGI for safety’s sake,
but it was my dream to do it for real,’ says
STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. (1928)

08 No CGI. No stunt doubles. Just vision,

wit and nerves of steel. In Buster
women using his ‘death proof’ car, but he action unit director Guy Norris, who first Keaton’s most spectacular movie, a giant
fails to anticipate the skills of stunt icon Zoë teamed with Miller on 1981’s Mad Max 2. He’s cyclone sends the complete side of a building
Bell (playing herself). Bell shows off her skills talking about the final chase, as the War Rig crashing down on him – only for Buster to
with a game called Ship’s Mast, riding the races towards the Citadel and is swarmed by survive by virtue of an open window that fits
hood of a 1970 Dodge Challenger as the car high-speed, souped-up vehicles sporting neatly around him. ‘We built the window so
races down dusty roads. Bell would later nutters swinging on 40ft rods. Inspired by that I had a clearance of two inches on each
explain, ‘People have such a visceral Cirque du Soleil’s Chinese pole routines, it took shoulder,’ he remembered. ‘The top missed my
response to that sequence because there is eight weeks to ready the stunt performers. head by two inches.’ Half the crew walked off
no bullshit. There’s no double, there’s no CGI, ‘I thought it was too dangerous,’ admits the set rather than participate in a stunt that
it’s all practical.’ Despite 100mph speeds and Miller. ‘But they worked out the physics of the should probably have killed Keaton. ‘It’s
an opportunistic serial killer, Bell proves pendulum. One day I looked up, and coming a one-take scene and we got it. You don’t
to be genuinely death-proof. across the desert were all these guys on poles.’ do those things twice…’

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 45

TF LIST

05
’CHUTE TO THRILL
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977)
Roger Moore is king of the Bond opener, but it
STRETCHING THE TRUTH CHOPPER FLOPPER was stuntman Rick Sylvester who plummeted
TRUE LIES (1994) HOOPER (1978) from atop Canada’s 2,015m Mount Asgard. ‘Pull
Dangling Jamie Lee Curtis’ stunt Doubling for Burt Reynolds (a
07 double from a helicopter skid was
the easy part. Harder was dropping her into
06 mainstay of classic 70s stunts) in
Hal Needham’s action comedy, stuntmaster
out immediately,’ comes M’s order. Bond leaves
his latest conquest alone in a mountain cabin.
Pursued by bad guys, he hurtles down the
the sunroof of a speeding limousine, then A.J. Bakunas set a new world record for slope, gliding off the precipice as if the snow
yanking her out again in the 8.5-second the highest jump without a parachute by is still beneath his skis. The music stops,
window before said limo nosedives off a throwing himself out of a helicopter on to accounting for the strains of our collective
bridge. The point of no return was marked an airbag located 232ft below. ‘Some people thumping heart. A somersault, skis ejected, a
with cones. ‘The speed was real, because you say I’m crazy to keep doing stunts.’ he said. skydive position. Out unfurls the Union
can’t do it slowly,’ Curtis recently reflected ‘I don’t think it’s any crazier than working Flag-bedecked canopy of a parachute as the
on the experience. When ‘Action!’ was called, eight hours a day in a stuffy office.’ The 007 theme tune plays. Opening lower than
they managed to get stuntwoman Donna following year, A.J. tried to go one better by expected, and hit by an errant ski, Bond and
Keegan in just as they passed the cones - and leaping off a 300ft construction site for 1979’s Sylvester were neither shaken, nor stirred.
out as the limo’s wheels tipped over the edge. Steel. The jump went fine, but the airbag
In doc Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story, split on impact, killing him instantly as
Keegan calls it an out-of-body experience. his father looked on.

DRAG KING
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
Raiders was conceived as a tribute to

A BRIDGE TOO FAR

03 30s and 40s action-adventure cinema.
So it’s only fitting that, at the height of the
02
HORSE PLAY
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) film’s eight-minute truck chase, there’s a tip STAGECOACH (1939)
Even action supremo Vic Armstrong of the fedora to Yakima Canutt’s crowning
04 bows his head to this drop from
a rope bridge in the Sean Connery-Michael
moment in Stagecoach (see #2). After leaping
aboard the Nazi wagon holding the Ark,
Teaming Johns Ford and Wayne in their first
indelible movie masterpiece, this landmark
oater also captures stunt legend Yakima
Caine classic. Shot above a ravine in Morocco, Indy crashes through the windscreen. Falling Canutt’s finest work. He doubles for Duke when
the fall was ‘only’ 90ft to a pile of boxes on beneath the truck, he’s then dragged behind his character, the Ringo Kid, hopscotches
a ledge - with a fatal plummet if Connery’s it, trusty bullwhip lashed to the axle. It’s a trick across the horses pulling the speeding stage.
double missed. Assorted stuntmen bottled stuntman Terry Leonard tried to pull on 1981’s But the show-stealer comes moments earlier
it before Joe Powell stepped up. ‘Joe fell The Legend of the Lone Ranger without success. when Canutt, this time as an Apache, leaps
so skilfully, twisting and turning on This time he nailed it, with help from stunt from his mount (at 45mph!) on to the lead
the way down, and at the very last minute coordinator Glenn Randall (the driver) plus a horses. Capped by Ringo, he falls beneath
straightening himself out so that he hit the shallow trench that allowed Leonard to literally the hooves. Grasping the rig’s ‘tongue’,
mattresses dead centre,’ wrote Michael Caine keep his head when he slipped under the truck. he’s dragged along until another bullet
later. ‘John Huston turned to me and said, ‘I was lucky enough to get the one everybody persuades him to let go, the six steeds and
“That was the darndest stunt I’ve ever seen.”’ thought was the most dangerous,’ he said. stage hurtling over his body.

46 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 MISSION
IN ACTION
ETHAN HUNT’S
FINEST MOMENTS…

TRAIN CRAZY
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, 1996
Yes, Tom Cruise really did shoot on top of
a moving TGV train for M:I 1. A skydiving
simulator was used to distort his face, creating
the illusion he was travelling at high speed.

ROTARY CLUB
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
– FALLOUT, 2018
Yes, Tom Cruise really did hang off a flying
helicopter’s payload for Fallout’s aerial finale.
Stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood feared
the star had broken his back when he
dropped on the chopper’s cargo.

HALO AND GOODBYE

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
– FALLOUT, 2018
Yes, Tom Cruise really did jump out of a C-17
military aircraft for Fallout’s High Altitude
Low Opening sequence. More than 100 jumps
were made above the UAE to get
the shots needed.

GET A GRIP
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE –
ROGUE NATION, 2015
Yes, Tom Cruise really was strapped to the
side of an Airbus A400M Atlas as it took
off from RAF Wittering. ‘I did it eight times
to get the shot,’ he reveals.

DUBAI ON HIGH
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE –
PLANE SAILING GHOST PROTOCOL, 2011
CLIFFHANGER (1993) Yes, Tom Cruise really did dangle off the
It must have looked great in the script. Robbers cross from one jet plane to another exterior of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa for Brad Bird’s
01 in mid-air via a cable. Fantastic! Now all the stuntmen have to do is work out how to
do it... Appearing in The Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive aerial stunt ever
series rebooter. ‘We ended up breaking
35 windows,’ the director says of the
attempted (Sylvester Stallone dropped his fee for the movie so that the budget could stretch Safety Last!-inspired sequence.
to the $1m price tag), the manoeuvre was shot at 15,000 feet over the Rocky Mountains using
jets moving at 150 knots - any slower and they would have stalled. Brit stunt legend Simon
Crane climbed the wire from a DC-9 to a smaller Jetstar. Despite delays, with the cable snagging
around the second jet’s wing, Crane made it across, but as he tried to enter the other plane,
the wind dragged him loose. He bounced along the top of the plane, narrowly missed being
sucked into the engine, and disappeared over the tail. His concealed chute saved him and
director Renny Harlin wisely decided not to ask for a retake, instead using clever editing to
make it look like Crane made it. ‘Probably the hardest stunt I’ve ever done,’ Crane later told
TF. ‘Everything was going fine, then the plane came in quickly and hit me. I’m probably the
A L A M Y, GE T T Y

only person to be hit by a flying jet and survive - although it did hit me at a relative speed
of 3mph, because we were already doing 170mph on the other plane.’

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 47

48 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023
 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

An elite team, comprising people

with their own unique set of skills,
guided by a charismatic leader on a
quest of seemingly insurmountable
odds… Sound familiar? Total Film
meets the key creative powerhouses
crafting Mission: Impossible - Dead
Reckoning Part One into a tour de
force of tension and suspense.
WORDS MATT MAYTUM

There’s one achievement that’s perhaps more jaw-

dropping than any of the extreme stunts that star/producer
Tom Cruise has completed. And it’s that - in a world of IP
fatigue and diminishing returns - Mission: Impossible is a
rare (unique?) franchise that’s managed to keep getting
better. The biggest challenge that two-part epic Mission:
Impossible - Dead Reckoning faces is living up to its
predecessor, 2018’s Fallout - the hands-down best
film in the series, and the highest-grosser, too.
Dead Reckoning Part One opens this summer, and finds
Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his IMF team on a mission
to stop a potentially catastrophic weapon falling into the
wrong hands. As well as the likes of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca
Ferguson) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) returning, a
figure from Hunt’s past is back in the form of Henry
Czerny’s Eugene Kittridge (last seen in the first Mission:
Impossible movie, back in 1996), and new threats are
played by Esai Morales and Pom Klementieff.
Writer/director and long-time Cruise collaborator
Christopher McQuarrie returns for the third (and fourth)
time here, and once again he’ll be balancing globe-hopping
scale and increasingly breathtaking stunts (car chases!
Locomotive smackdowns! Motorcycle cliff leaps!), but,
as he tells Total Film, he’s increasingly fixated on Ethan’s
inner emotional journey. TF meets McQuarrie and key
filmmaking allies - editor Eddie Hamilton, composer
Lorne Balfe and music supervisor Cecile Tournesac -
for a masterclass on crafting a crowd-pleasing spectacle
under intense pressure, and to find out how their
biggest competition is themselves.

JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 49

MASTERCLASS

you outnumbered. An audience is always going

to tell you how they feel. What they can’t do is
tell you how to fix the story. The analogy I use
all the time is that if you were a doctor, and
the patient told you he had a pain in his arm,
that’s a possible indication of a heart attack.
Amputating the arm is not going to solve the
heart attack [laughs].
‘It isn’t that you’re obligated [to act on
the feedback]. And ultimately, we go with
what we think is a good movie. So it starts
with our gut, and ends with our gut.’

EMOTION PICTURE
‘It’s funny: the movies have developed a
reputation of just being an excuse to do a
bunch of stunts, which I kind of laugh at. The
truth of the matter is, we focus more and more
WRITER/DIRECTOR on emotion, and emotional arcs, and emotional
character dynamics. Obviously, it’s a spy
CHRISTOPHER McQUARRIE movie. It exists in a heightened world of
ON TENSION, TEST espionage. And it’s going to have action in it.
SCREENINGS AND TOM. ‘But primarily, I’m approaching everything
AS TOLD TO MATT MAYTUM emotionally. The effect that [the franchise has]
had on my process is such that the frame itself
has to be emotional. The way I place the
TESTING TIMES camera, based on whether I’m shooting an
‘We’re actually big believers in [test actor’s performance or someone holding a set
screenings]. I actually lean into it. I’ve been of car keys or a foot on a gas pedal – they’re all
asked, “Don’t you ever just go with your gut?” things that you can shoot in such a way that
And my answer to that is, “Yes, we do that they are either information or they are emotion.
every day.” Invariably, the audience is there to ‘Dialogue, no matter how emotionally
tell you whether or not you are communicating expressed it is, if the camera is not in the
what you intended to communicate. right place, it’s just a person saying words
‘My education in film goes back to working emotionally. Which is really information. So
as a security guard at a movie theatre for four what we talk about with our actors and with
years, and listening to the audience. The key members of the crew, is the lens and
audience was extremely vocal. And I didn’t the frame, and how to create an emotional
realise it at the time, but I was basically relationship between the actor and the lens.’
going to work every night with the world’s
largest focus group. CHARACTER BUILDING
‘An audience is infinitely smarter than you. ‘With Fallout and both parts of Dead Reckoning,
They’ve seen more movies than you. They have we became focused on Ethan’s inner emotional

Hayley Atwell joins the

franchise as Grace (left)

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 Tom Cruise gearing up for a
scene with writer/director
Christopher McQuarrie

journey, as well as his obvious outer emotional ‘So the notion of two movies came not from I will be lining up a shot, and I’ll go, “That’s
journey. We made a lot of discoveries on making a big two-part action film or following just not this movie.” You don’t hear me saying,
Rogue Nation… We realised that there was an the trend of four-hour conclusions to some “That’s not my style” – and I have heard other
amazing, emotional connection with Tom and franchises. It was all grounded in emotion.’ directors say that, to the point where the right
Rebecca Ferguson - with Ethan and Ilsa - and idea does not find its way into the movie. My
that these exposition scenes [we’d be dreading] SETTING THE TONE taste is: does it tell the story? And that’s it.’
were really about the feelings that were ‘What I’ve learned over the course of Dead
developing between these two characters. Reckoning is, [my films will] always be different, MASTERING SUSPENSE
‘So going into Fallout, I told Tom, “I want because I’m not bound to or confined by a ‘It all starts with the lens, and then where
to lean on that. I want to go deeper into the signature style. I actually don’t care in the you’re placing the camera, and how you’re
emotional part of the story.” And Tom wanted slightest if you know who directed the movie. lighting the scene. When you think
to tie up the story of Michelle Monaghan’s ‘I’ve learned that by putting the camera “suspense”, you think moody dark lighting.
character, Julia. So finally, going into this, where the story tells me to put it, where the But in reality, some of the most suspenseful
I said to Tom, “Look, if we’re going to do this emotions tell me to put it, I’m not really in things you’ll ever see in film are expressly lit.
again, I want to go even bigger and even deeper control of those things. The narrative is. Primarily, the most important element of
on the emotional front. We know that’s going So if I’m shooting a scene that has humour, suspense is: you have to care about the
to be a longer movie. More character translates it’s going to be one style. And if I’m shooting characters in peril. You have to be invested.
into more movie. So let’s not kid ourselves, a scene that has paranoia, it’s going to be ‘A movie is a contract you sign with the
and let’s not try to fight the running time. another style. audience. And in the first 10 minutes, I’ve told
Let’s just make a four-hour movie, and break ‘We are interrogating every single shot you what kind of movie you’re going to get.
it in half. Let’s make a bigger emotional before we do it. [Jonathan] “Chunky” You know within the first 10 minutes what the
arc for your character.” Richmond is my camera operator. He and moral universe is of Chinatown, Se7en, E.T.

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MASTERCLASS

– you understand what can and can’t,

and what should and shouldn’t, happen in
those universes. It’s the movie’s obligation
to honour that contract. When you feel
yourself dissatisfied by a movie, it came
to some conclusion that just did not
honour the contract. It did not live up
to the opening 10 minutes.
‘In a Mission: Impossible movie, in a big
action movie… you’re being told that it’s a kind
of film where, in the end, everything is going
to be OK. The secret to suspense is: “I know it
will end well. I hope this will end well. But I
can’t see how it could possibly end well.”’

CRUISING ATTITUDE
‘You know, [my relationship with Tom has]
really been one long conversation about
movies, occasionally interrupted by
production… And it really hasn’t stopped. A
big part of that is, I don’t take my position for
granted. No matter how long I’ve worked with

‘IT IS A CONSTANT PROCESS

OF SELF-REFLECTION AND
BRUTAL HONESTY’
CHRISTOPHER McQUARRIE

him, I always assume it’s my last day. So he’s

going to figure out I don’t know what I’m
doing, and that’s going to be the end of it.
‘And Tom is very much similar in that
neither of us believe we know the answer. We
are in constant search of the answer, and we
are constantly looking at our own work, as well
as the work of other people around us, and
saying, “How could this have gone better?”
‘It is a constant process of analysis,
self-reflection, brutal honesty with one
another. Most times, when you’re in a
position of someone like Tom or me or even
Eddie [Hamilton, editor], the people around Rebecca Ferguson
you will simply assume that you know what returns as former
the movie is, and they don’t question it. MI6 agent Ilsa Faust
Tom and I are starved for it. We are constantly
asking people to criticise. And so we’ll have
these screenings with friends and family. very pleased when we tested the movie in any of the movies previously, particularly
And afterwards, we’ll ask questions. It’s that one of the comments was: “It did aerial sequences, because we are quite
important to have filmmakers in the room not suffer from two-part-itis.” experienced in that now, after Fallout and Top
because they’ve been there too, and they ‘And at several of our director screenings as Gun[: Maverick] and Rogue Nation. We are not at
understand that they’re not helping you by well, they were very happy with the fact they all unfamiliar with aerial sequences. We pushed
patting you on the back. They’re actually felt very, very satisfied, and were very excited ourselves to the absolute limit on that.
helping you by kicking you in the junk.’ to watch the next movie. And yet they’d had ‘We don’t see ourselves in competition
a complete experience.’ with Bond or John Wick. We love those movies,
SENSE OF AN ENDING and we admire those filmmakers, and we
‘Invariably, if you’re making a two-part INFORMATION OVERLOAD want to see those guys win. All we’re really
instalment, you have the danger of Part One ‘[I learned so much about] trains, trains, doing is competing with ourselves. And
being a cliffhanger, and that cliffhanger not and more trains. And anything anybody coming away from Top Gun, we looked at that
being satisfying, or leaving the audience feel would ever need to know about how and movie, and said, “We’re going to bury those
somewhat as though they’ve been had. And where to shoot train sequences. I know guys. We’re going to crush Top Gun.”
how do you make the ending of Part One more than I ever wanted to know. It is ‘That’s how we look at it. Our only rivals
satisfying and a complete story? definitely not for the faint of heart. are ourselves. You’ll see things in Part Two
‘We obsessed about that every day. And we ‘And the knowledge we are acquiring on that benefit entirely from everything we
found a very elegant way to do that. We were IZkmyMph far eclipses anything that we’ve done learned from Maverick.’

52 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

Vanessa Kirby is back

as Alanna Mitsopolis
– the White Widow

Simon Pegg and Ving

Rhames round out
the core team

DAILY GRIND the beginning of the movie to the end, in

‘So, right now, it’s 8.30am. I’ve spent the last collaboration with Christopher McQuarrie and
hour dropping down VFX shots into the movie. Tom Cruise and the team and the studio. You
As a film editor, I have to check every version guide the audience’s emotion with every cut,
of every shot that comes in. And then at 11am, depending on how long it’s on the screen, and
I look at them on a big screen, and then during what the image is, and how you want to tell the
the day, we’re mixing sound and doing colour story. You choose the lines coming out of the
reviews. And then Tom Cruise joins us remotely actors’ mouths, and quite often will go through
to review the sound mix in the afternoon. all the takes and use the picture of one take
‘Around lunchtime, and then around 6pm, with the sound from another.
we have an hour and a half with Tom to review, ‘Before the film is edited, you’re essentially
so that he can listen to the sound mix and give collecting ingredients. The script is like the
us notes. And then from 10pm to midnight cookbook. And then you collect the ingredients,
every day, I go through colour with Tom, and prepare them. But the editing is like the
remotely. The hours are quite… It’s very intense. cooking of the food. And then when you’re
It’s the last push to get the movie over the doing the VFX and the music and the sound,
EDITOR EDDIE HAMILTON finish line. But it’s coming together really well.’ you’re plating the food: before it’s presented to
ON CUTTING TOGETHER A the audience, you do all the finishing touches.’
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
BLOCKBUSTER, AND MAKING
ACTION SEQUENCES SOAR.
‘It’s a position of quite important power THE LONG HAUL
in some ways, because you’re in charge of ‘We started filming in September 2020.
AS TOLD TO MATT MAYTUM everything the audience sees and hears from But before that, there was quite a complex

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MASTERCLASS

‘THAT’S WHY PEOPLE BUY

A MOVIE TICKET – IT’S
A BIG ADVENTURE’
EDDIE HAMILTON

sequence on a train in the third act of this

film, and we pre-vis-ed it. Pre-vis-ing is a
technique where you use a computer graphics
engine to create shots which feel like they’re
from a movie. We don’t do much of that, to be
honest, so that was really the only sequence we
pre-vis-ed for this film. And for the next film,
we pre-vis-ed quite a big underwater sequence
because that is monstrously complicated.
‘And then, effectively, on a daily basis, as
the footage comes in, I’m breaking it down
very thoroughly, so that I can find footage
quickly, which is really the secret to editing a
movie: being organised. So I have every line of
dialogue broken down by every type of camera
angle. And I break all the beats of action
down… Every time Tom skids over a car, I have
it from all these different angles, and I can
choose which one might be the best one.’

ACTION STATIONS Get ready for some of that

famous Cruise running…
‘From the very beginning of the movie to the
end, it’s just one massive, complex sequence
after another. But that’s why people buy a
movie ticket. It’s a big adventure. We want around him. That’s the real key: how
people to have a great night out at the movies. is your protagonist feeling?
‘You’re always thinking about clarity of ‘In a dialogue scene or an action scene,
storytelling so that the audience understands you’re always trying to make sure that the
what the objectives of the characters are, and emotional intention of the scene is clear for
what happens if they succeed or fail in this the audience, and that they give a shit about
action sequence, and what the stakes are. what’s happening. I think that the real trick is,
As long as you set all that stuff up for the if we’ve done our job right – if I’ve done my
audience, you will be invested emotionally, job right as an editor – everything is paced so
which is obviously the Holy Grail of any scene. that you are constantly leaning in, and you
‘It’s about clarity of geography, and clarity never even think, “Is this the right time to go
of stakes, for a successful action sequence. and pee?” You don’t want to give the audience
And to a certain extent, it’s about the rhythm space to feel that that’s an option. They have
of the shots. But really, it’s about the micro to be pulled along in the story, and kept
emotions you’re trying to communicate to engaged the whole time, and [they] don’t
the audience so that they’re totally connected want to leave the cinema because they
to the protagonist and what is going on don’t want to miss anything.’

Cruise tangles with Esai Pom Klementieff

Morales (Gabriel) atop (above) joins the cast
a speeding train

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 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

musically. So compared to Fallout, the approach

to this one was much more orchestral.
Lorne Balfe: I think that, musically, there’s
a lot of nods to the origins of film music. It’s
Bernard Herrmannesque kind of textures. So
there is a kind of delving into the past, especially
with the subject matter. It is such a modern
concept and subject, that there’s something
quite interesting about where we’ve ended up
with this very old-school, noir-type score.

STUNT BLASTING
Cecile Tournesac: The core of [scoring action
set-pieces] is really finding the music that will
really be able to emphasise the scale of what
we’re seeing on screen, and to just support it
properly. It’s quite challenging to really find
the piece of music that will be able to let the
COMPOSER LORNE BALFE visuals speak for themselves but also support
(IN WHITE) AND MUSIC them in a way that you will actually feel
EDITOR CECILE TOURNESAC connected to the rest of the story. Because the
stunt isn’t just a stunt. It’s also connected to
ON SOUNDTRACKING why he has to do this to actually complete the
SUSPENSE AND STUNTS. mission. And that’s where the music comes
AS TOLD TO MATT MAYTUM in, to give the weight that it needs in the
whole arc of the story.
Lorne Balfe: I think, also, it’s about when
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK music isn’t used. It’s the same with Top Gun: I’ll
Lorne Balfe: We actually technically started say the word ‘tasteful’ decisions because they
writing three years ago on Dead Reckoning. weren’t my decisions. Composers generally just
Chris had an idea of what the style of the music want to fill it up as much as they can. It is about
was that he wanted. We’re blessed to have a when not to use it, and to embrace the sound
very well-known theme, which takes a lot of effects, because it just becomes monotonous,
the hard work out of the situation. You’ve got and a wall-to-wall of sound that doesn’t, after
one of the most recognised themes in existence a while, mean anything.
to do with film music. And during those three
years… I lost count at one point. We were MISSIONS PAST
on over 12 hours of music? Lorne Balfe: There is a musical language
Cecile Tournesac: Yeah, I think we were sonically with Mission, and I think it’s always
nearing that, with all the different directions gone back to trying to borrow from the
that we were trying out. TV show. And that TV show was very
Lorne Balfe: And I think the whole thing has contemporary at the time. We think of it as
been discovery and experimentation – and also retro at the time, but it was contemporary.
manipulation. There are two main themes with It was obviously very jazz-infused.
Mission: Impossible. You’ve got the infamous But the instrumentation and percussiveness
opening title, and then you’ve got the plot of it was very prominent. When you watch the
theme. Every time you think that there’s show, there are whole themes and sequences
no new discoveries to be had, it happens. where it’s mainly percussive-led. We’ve delved
All of a sudden, that theme that was written into that, and we’ve done a lot of recording on
50-odd years ago, there is a new way to use the score with the Swiss Top Secret Drum
it and for it to help tell the story. Corps, which is a military drumline. And that
Cecile Tournesac: Even with the blessing sound is heavily used in the film, to kind of go
of having those two melodies, I think it also back to that percussiveness.
can become this curse where you think you’ve I think in the last one, we were very sort of
CHR ISTIA N BL ACK , E TH A N GILLESPIE, GILES K E Y TE, PA R A MOUNT

gone as far as you can with the theme, and bongo-orientated, which was a sound from the
somehow Lorne manages to find a completely TV show. We’ve done that obviously, again,
new way of presenting [it]. this time. We couldn’t not have bongos. But
the Secret Drums Corps – that brought
EVOLVING SOUND a whole new kind of colour to it.
Cecile Tournesac: As far as the process, when I think Tom and McQ really allow us
it comes to having done Fallout before, I think to experiment, which always ends up
Chris was wanting to evolve into a quite [as] a different type of score.
different sound. He’s made it quite clear that
each of his films need to be quite unique in their MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING
voices, be it aesthetically, visually, and also PART ONE OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 11 JULY.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 55

The S ta r Wa rs galaxy continues to expand on

t h e s m a l l s c re e n w i t h A H S O KA . Ro s a r i o D aws o n

tells To tal Film about her former Jedi’s standalone

j o u r n ey, w h i c h f e a t u re s f a m i l i a r f a c e s , d a n ge ro u s

enemies and plenty of lightsaber action.

WORDS MATT MAYTUM

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JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 57
MAKING OF

ilms and TV shows are increasingly

geared towards fan service, with cameos,
callbacks and references littered
everywhere for the amusement of the
hardcore stans that are the franchises’
most devoted followers. And sometimes
fans can be of service, too. The spot-on
casting of Rosario Dawson as Star Wars’
Ahsoka Tano may have never come
to pass were it not for a canny fan
suggestion on Twitter (which Dawson
herself promptly ran with).
Outing herself as a fan and throwing
her lightsaber hilt into the ring all the
Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson)
way back in 2017, Dawson landed on
and Hera Syndulla (Mary
the radar of Dave Filoni, a creative
Elizabeth Winstead)
powerhouse at Lucasfilm and one of
the key heirs to George Lucas’ galactic
empire. Filoni – who worked with Lucas ‘ROSARIO FOUND A WAY TO to Anakin Skywalker, who trained her as
on animated feature and series The Clone his Padawan before his descent to the
Wars – would later go on to help create
TAKE ALL THAT HISTORY AND Dark Side and transformation into Darth
a number of the animated series that MAKE IT A LIVED EXPERIENCE’ Vader. Filoni created Ahsoka Tano with
have fleshed out the universe on the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CARRIE BECK George Lucas for 2008 animated film The
small screen, including Rebels, Resistance Clone Wars and the series that followed.
and The Bad Batch. Filoni has also been It could be its own show. It could be Then only a teen, this Togruta – with
heavily involved in Disney+ live-action lots of different potentials…’ At the orange skin, white markings, and
series The Mandalorian, alongside its time Dawson was having these blue-and-white montrals and lekku
writer/showrunner Jon Favreau. conversations, Mando S1 hadn’t even (those head-tails, to the uninitiated)
That tweet – and Dawson’s interest aired, and while there was confidence – has grown over the several seasons
– making its way to Filoni’s timeline was, internally about the show, no one knew that followed, plus Rebels and recent
Dawson has previously said, ‘the Force at for certain how audiences would react. miniseries Tales of the Jedi, which fleshed
work’. Filoni’s curiosity was captured, and out her backstory. A gifted fighter – with
a long-lasting mental note was made. FIRST STEP… two trademark lightsabers – and a wise
Dawson would eventually be cast for That’s not to say it wasn’t something soul, she’s a character who stands out,
a guest appearance in the fifth episode that required proper consideration, while fitting comfortably into the Star
(or Chapter, if you will, as Episodes though. This was a potentially huge Wars mythology. Filoni is the creator and
mean something else in the Star Wars commitment for Dawson. ‘Obviously it’s writer of the live-action Ahsoka, as well
universe) of The Mandalorian Season 2, not something to play with,’ she says. as directing some of the eight episodes.
which debuted in November 2020. ‘It’s such an important character, and There’s certainly a lot to draw on as
Despite the enormous amount of it’s such an incredible opportunity that this older Ahsoka begins the next phase
potential for exploring the character unless I was really, truly willing in my of her journey. ‘I definitely felt an affinity
further, Dawson tells Total Film that heart to make that level of commitment, to the animations, because, just watching
it was very much a standalone that would be maybe not the right them over and over again, it felt like
appearance at that juncture. move, to go there.’ She calls that first memories,’ says Dawson.
‘It was an interesting conversation episode ‘a taste test’. ‘You’re making ‘Rosario studied The Clone Wars
when we approached The Mandalorian a commitment to potentially really and Rebels, and found a way to take
because it was a definite one-off,’ she do this, you know?’ all of that history and make it a lived
says. ‘The contract was solely that Ahsoka appeared again in The Book of experience,’ says executive
episode. It was a test run for everybody Boba Fett (2022) – alongside a young producer Carrie Beck (who
involved, you know? And an opportunity Luke Skywalker – before landing Dawson calls Filoni’s ‘right-
to just explore what the audience felt.’ her own eponymous series. hand woman’). ‘You see it
At that point, there was everything to There’s certainly plenty to in her face and physicality.
play for. ‘It could be anything,’ continues explore with Ahsoka, or ‘Snips’ Rosario took all those
Dawson. ‘It could be more guest spots. as she was affectionately known elements and was able to

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 AHSOKA

Natasha Liu Bordizzo also stars as

Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren

Scott Fisher, and the VFX crew led by

Richard Bluff, worked in harmony all
through production to bring the fantasy
to life in a very grounded way.’
While Ahsoka will presumably be
engineered to work for newcomers,
and viewers who have only become
familiar with the character via The
Mandalorian, key plot threads will lead
directly from the animated shows. The
search for Rebel Ezra Bridger is one. In
Rebels he seemingly sacrificed himself
to stop Grand Admiral Thrawn, the big
bad of this era of the New Republic.
Thrawn is also returning, as Ahsoka
hinted at in her previous live-action
The troubled former Jedi appearances. A military strategist
Baylan Skoll is played by Ray working for what’s left of the Empire,
Stevenson, who died in May the blue-skinned, red-eyed antagonist is
another example of a character who has
found traction in the canon outside of
make Ahsoka not just authentic to the remarkable for someone of that level the core films, with a detailed lore that
animation, but also authentic to her.’ of prowess and skill and aptitude began in spin-off books before he
Following the decline of her – that there are still places to reach appeared in the animated series.
relationship with Anakin (and later towards. There’s still more wisdom.’ Now, Ahsoka fears his return ‘as
run-ins with Vader), Ahsoka has been The show also promises lightsaber heir to the Empire’. Lars Mikkelsen
something of a wanderer. Dawson and action galore (see boxout, p60), from (Sherlock) voiced the character in Rebels,
Filoni have both referred to her samurai Ahsoka’s ambidextrous elegance and and he’s also taking on the role in live
qualities, as she travels the galaxy, beyond. ‘In order to support the number action. ‘Playing a Star Wars bad guy is no
helping those in need; her skill with of action sequences throughout the easy feat, especially one as complex as
her twin lightsabers only adds to the series, the fight choreography and Grand Admiral Thrawn who stands
relevance of that analogy. But there’s training started months before we began among our most celebrated foes,’ says
also another surprising geeky touchstone: filming and was rigorous throughout Beck. ‘Lars brings him to life with an
Middle-earth’s pre-eminent wizard, the entire run of the show,’ says Beck. understated menace to his performance.’
Gandalf. ‘We made a lot of Gandalf That physicality is also present in the ‘It’s hard sometimes to tell with the
references,’ says Dawson. ‘Ahsoka the extensive make-up work, and the things you read online whether that’s
Grey… And at the end of Rebels, you get marriage of practical props and VFX actual fact or just some fan fiction,’ says
to see her in white. There is this idea effects. ‘On set, the artists at Legacy and Dawson. ‘But I’m pretty sure Dave said
of her becoming wiser, more settled in our prop master Josh Roth brought our that this is basically like the fifth season
herself, and kind of exploring herself and droids and creatures to life,’ continues of Rebels. So it felt nice to feel that sort
developing in a way that I think is really Beck. ‘The special-effects team led by of continuation with these people

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MAKING OF

Meet the woman behind Ahsoka’s lightsaber battles…

Ahsoka’s unique fighting style

has been developed since Dawson’s
debut in The Mandalorian

My responsibility is for all the fights – with swords, or

without swords. I was a professional martial artist back in
China. I’ve done stunts since 1999. I doubled all the Asian
actresses in Hollywood. And in the past 10 years, I doubled
Ming-Na Wen on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And, of course, she
did The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. That’s
how Dave [Filoni] and Jon [Favreau] know my work. Rosario Dawson has loved
working with Ahsoka
I read the script, and try to understand the story. showrunner Dave Filoni
Each episode, we’ll be given fights. There’s multiple fights.
There’s heavy, heavy action on this show. If I knew,
I’d probably be like, ‘I don’t think I can do this!’ There
were so many fights. she’s got such a rich history with. would continue through Ahsoka. ‘I think
You can see that with her mission that’s actually one of the reasons why
Dave knows what he wants. He’s very organised. We go that she has, going after Thrawn, and people have loved Ahsoka’s and Sabine’s
read a script, understand the fight, and we choreograph it believing that he’s still alive, and holding and Hera’s journey all of this time,’
first. Dave will give an opinion, and will give us notes. Dave Ezra in her heart, because they have continues Dawson, ‘because they
wants everything to be realistic. Everything has a reason. a really beautiful, long history as well.’ had been so prominent as female
representation in a space that we don’t
Dave told me at the very beginning, ‘I want you to
look at Seven Samurai.’ But the tricky part is that the old
LARGER WORLD get to really see women be like that,
samurai style – it’s very realistic. It’s like: one strike, one kill. Ahsoka is the first of the growing stable to be such leaders, to be finicky, to be
Or two strikes, you’re dead. For a fight scene, you cannot just of Star Wars TV shows to have a female headstrong, to be stubborn, and to see
do one strike, you’re dead. You have to continue. So that’s title character, and she’s not the only how different they are, and how well they
the part we needed to figure out how to make it realistic but kickass woman in the cast. ‘The show is come together as a chosen family. It just
interesting. My job is to figure out how to make each fight about a Jedi, a warrior, and a general,’ was really fun to see how that’s only just
different. If you watch a lightsaber fight every episode, with says Beck. ‘These characters are defined expanded and grown, and that there’s
the same kind of fighting, that won’t be interesting. by their roles and responsibilities to each such a rich history there, and not just
other and the galaxy.’ The Jedi is Ahsoka, because of a desire for more inclusivity
Not everybody is good with the left hand if you’re
the warrior is Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu or diversity, but because it’s just been
right-handed. Ahsoka’s style is between Japanese and
Chinese. A lightsaber is different than a regular sword. Bordizzo), the general is Hera Syndulla inherent to the story that’s been told ever
A Japanese sword is a one-sided blade, which means (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Sabine since Dave and Carrie came on board.’
you can use the other side to block. But with a lightsaber, and Hera are both veterans of Rebels, There’s another formidable female in
you cannot block, which means a lot of twirling and a portrayed for the first time in live action. the form of Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno),
lot of movements will be different than a regular samurai ‘When you watch the 15 years of who cuts a dangerous figure in a dark
style. That’s a Chinese style. So I combine two styles Ahsoka’s journey in animation – it took hooded cloak, wielding a red lightsaber.
together for her. Every single character has a different me a second to even appreciate how Shin is the apprentice of Baylan Skoll,
style and a different story.
many women were on the show,’ says a former Jedi on a dark path. Baylan is
Dawson. ‘And that was Dave’s proclivity. played by the late Ray Stevenson who
Rosario Dawson’s very coordinated. She’s very flexible.
That was George Lucas’s proclivity. And sadly died in May aged 58. Ahsoka features
DISNE Y/LUCASFILM

And she works very, very hard. But her challenge is, she’s also
very busy. She never has any break. But we’re very lucky: she now to see it continue on with Jon and one of his final performances.
works very hard. And I know she always mentions that I’m Kathleen [Kennedy] – it’s really quite ‘Ray’s presence loomed large on
very tough on her, but she takes the pain! MM beautiful.’ It was only natural that it set,’ remembers Beck. ‘During the

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 AHSOKA

pretty remarkable and exciting. We were

teenagers, and then I saw him right
immediately afterwards go into this
universe. I never could have fathomed
that I would have had any part of that,
besides just being a fan of his, and
being really proud of him.’
More recently they have attended
conventions at the same time. ‘It’s just
In a link to previous Star Wars been really cool that at this moment,
stories, Genevieve O’Reilly (second I’m joining it, and he’s been able to
left) returns as Mon Mothma
come back [in 2022’s Obi-Wan Kenobi]
and also get embraced by the Star Wars
production, he had an infectious family in a way that I think is much
enthusiasm and gregariousness that he deserved. It’s definitely one of those
shared with his fellow cast and crew.’ things that would be super cool if he was
As for the character, Beck says that [in Ahsoka], but I’m just really grateful
Stevenson ‘brings a philosopher’s that we’re in the same universe.’
depth to Baylan that pairs well with As when Dawson began her journey
his imposing physical strength’. Mere for Ahsoka, her future is not yet set.
months ago Stevenson participated in But if Dawson has any say in it, she’ll
the franchise’s signature fan event. ‘It’s be back. When TF asks if she sees a lot
still difficult to comprehend that he will more to explore with the character, she
not be here to experience the outcome of responds, ‘I mean, I do, and I hope
his hard work,’ continues Beck. ‘At Star [Filoni] does.’ As part of the Star Wars
Wars Celebration this past April he was roadmap outlined at Celebration, Filoni
so energised by the outpouring of love will be directing his first live-action
from the Star Wars fandom. We will all feature, which is set to be a conclusion
miss him terribly.’ wrapping up the events of the
Baylan looks set to be one of Ahsoka’s
most prominent threats, while Thrawn ‘IT TOOK ME A SECOND
lurks in the background. In the first TO APPRECIATE HOW
Ahsoka teaser, only the back of Thrawn’s
head is glimpsed (Celebration attendees
MANY WOMEN WERE
got a better view of Thrawn in an ON THE SHOW’
exclusive version of the trailer that was ROSARIO DAWSON
shown there). Another franchise player
believed to be involved in some capacity live-action series set during the New
is Hayden Christensen. Given Ahsoka’s Republic era like The Mandalorian,
connection to Anakin, it’s not hard to The Book of Boba Fett and, of course,
imagine that character looming large in Ahsoka. ‘I really marvel at Dave’s
her mind. But given that Darth Vader is journey, and I’m so happy for him and
dead by this point in the timeline, it proud of him,’ says Dawson. ‘I’ve loved
remains a mystery if and how he could him as a fan, and now, having had the
figure (flashback scene? Force ghost?). chance to be on set with him daily and
No one’s giving anything away yet. work with him, and pick his brain,
When TF asks Beck if we’ll see any and him being my own personal
familiar faces pop up, as Ahsoka did in encyclopaedia for everything Star Wars
The Mandalorian, she responds. ‘I suppose and beyond – it’s just been a marvel.’
that depends on which Star Wars From Dawson’s breathless praise,
characters you are most familiar with.’ it doesn’t sound like this is a master/
Dawson and Christensen go way back, padawan relationship that will end in
having attended the same drama school tatters anytime soon. ‘I think he’s one
(the Lee Strasberg Institute) and of the greatest I’ve ever worked with
appeared together in 2003 true-life in this medium and in this space,’ she
journalism drama Shattered Glass. If that says. ‘And I hope that he continues to
ends up being as far as the connection bring Ahsoka along. Because he’s been
between the live-action Anakin and very loyal to her over the years, and she
Ahsoka goes, it’s pleasing at least to to him. That’s not going away any time
know there is real-life resonance there. soon. So any kind of way and iteration
‘It’s really great,’ beams Dawson. ‘It’s that I can keep working with Dave, and
one of those things, especially when the being inspired by him, and challenging
Baylan’s apprentice fans figure that out, and we have these him when I can – it would be awesome.’
Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) pictures of ourselves when we were
targets Ahsoka younger, back in what would have been AHSOKA STREAMS ON DISNEY+
our “Snips and Skyguy” kind of era. It’s FROM 23 AUGUST.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 61

 Never mind ouija
boards, in hot new
Aussie horror
TALK TO ME,
a group of teenagers go
one better as they find
a handy method to
meet the dead.
A trembling Total Film
hangs out with
YouTube sensations-
turned-directors
Danny and Michael
Philippou, and their
cast, to unpack
this unforgettable
spook story.
WORDS JAMES MOTTRAM

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JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 63
MAKING OF

icture this: you’re a pair of filmmakers from

Adelaide, Australia, premiering your first
feature at the Sundance Film Festival.
Nobody knows who the hell you are. And
then suddenly, A24 are bidding on your
movie. Yep, the hip indie company behind
Oscar-winner Everything Everywhere All at Once. ‘They
made an offer the first day,’ says Michael Philippou,
who together with twin brother Danny is the brains
behind the teen horror sensation Talk to Me. Before long, the
brothers uploaded the footage of that day to their YouTube
channel. ‘You can see the emotion of that,’ chips in Danny.
‘It was such a dream trip.’
When Total Film meets the Philippous, 30, and their two
leading women – Sophie Wilde (The Portable Door) and Alexandra
Jensen (TV’s Amazing Grace) – it’s just over a fortnight later. Talk
to Me has snagged a slot at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival
and the co-directors and their cast are still reeling from the A24
pick-up. ‘We were just saying… it was on our list of possible
career “what we want to happen” moments and it’s happened
so young. It’s just mind-boggling,’ says Jensen, breathlessly.
Even so, watching themselves on screen at Sundance was
intense. ‘I was so scared, I cried,’ says Wilde, ‘I cried in the
bathroom before! Just the anxiety of having not seen it.’
Of course, audiences are going to be scared in a whole
different way. Set in the Adelaide suburbs, Talk to Me stars
Wilde as Mia, a teenager still grief-stricken over the suicide of
her mother two years earlier. Becoming increasingly distanced
from her father (Marcus Johnson), she is spending more time
with her best friend Jade (Jensen), who lives with her younger
brother Riley (Joe Bird) and their single mother Sue (Miranda
Otto). Things get strange when they go to a party where the
hosts are in possession of a plaster-cast hand. Grip this
curious ornament, say ‘Talk to me’ and a dead person appears
in front of you – although no one else in the room can see them.
‘I guess Mia, at the start of this journey, her mum’s just
died and she has this fractured relationship with her dad and
is obviously going through that process of grieving and Joe Bird as Riley connection at home and pushing herself into this other family.
searching for connections in her life,’ says Wilde. ‘And I having a close It’s a really personal story. Even with our mother’s depression
think Jade and her family are like a surrogate family and so encounter with and stuff like that. And [our] mother’s mother committed
she is really craving connection from them. So when this the dead… suicide. Because this happens to them [you think] it’s gonna
hand comes along, it feels like it’s an opportunity for her to happen to you as well.’
find connection and find community. And then obviously it Already, Talk to Me is being billed as the first Australian
all goes to shit.’ horror since Jennifer Kent’s 2014 tale The Babadook to have
True enough. When anyone holding the hand mutters the break-out potential. Causeway, the company behind Talk to
phrase ‘I let you in,’ the user becomes possessed. An amusing Me, also produced The Babadook. And, in an even stranger
novelty at first, it soon gets wildly out of control. When the coincidence, the Philippous were crew members on that movie.
brothers began writing, they drew influences from all over, ‘It’s a weird circle,’ says Michael. ‘I saw with Jen on that film…
including William Friedkin’s legendary possession tale. ‘It’s I knew it would be good because she cared so much about
such a cliché answer, but The Exorcist is so incredible,’ says every frame. She wasn’t there for a paycheque. She wanted
Danny. ‘Those characters don’t feel like film characters, they to make the best film possible and everything meant so
feel like real people.’ much to her. I love this and that’s the energy I wanted to
have with ours as well.’
CLOSE AT HAND With their rapid-fire chatter, the Philippous burst with
The Philippous strived to do the same, creating authentic vitality. Able to grab your attention, it’s no surprise their
characters. ‘We haven’t really seen a film where we’ve been background is short films, amusingly sick skits they conjured
portrayed like that,’ says Jensen. ‘Just the actual language of up for their YouTube channel RackaRacka, like ‘Ronald
how we [as young Australians] speak.’ Likewise, she praises McDonald EXTREME Muckbang’, in which everyone’s favourite
the array of themes tackled ‘like addiction, grief, trauma, loss’. fast-food clown force feeds a luckless chump. ‘YouTube, we
Danny attributes that to he and Michael diving into ‘personal kind of fell into,’ says Michael. ‘We just started uploading for
experiences’ when they wrote. ‘It was always really personal fun. And there was one video that went so crazy – we had
things that frightened us that we tried to put on the screen.’ 100,000 followers overnight. And we’re like, “Oh, what
With Mia hoping to reconnect with her lost mother through happens if we focus on this and see where this goes?”’
the medium of the hand, does he see it as a grief story? ‘I think For a while the brothers ‘went down the rabbit hole of
it’s all about connections for me. Like her rejecting this natural YouTube’, adds Michael, but their ambition was always feature
A 24

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 TALK TO ME

us all bond was we played [card game] Uno and whoever lost
would have to do a prank,’ says Jensen. These consisted of
‘awkward social dares’, according to Danny. Jensen explains.
‘I lost the first time, so meeting the producer Sam [Jennings],
I had to put mayonnaise on my hands and shake her hand
and say, “Hi, I’m Alex!”’ Putting a good scoop of the gloopy
sauce on her hand, she grabbed Jennings’ mitt and watched
as a look of disgust crossed her face. ‘I was so embarrassed!’
Given the issues at hand (sorry), it was crucial to keep
things light. ‘We’re already dealing with such a heavy subject
matter,’ says Michael. ‘It doesn’t need to be like that [on set].
You don’t want the crew to be like, “Oh, here we go again.”
You want them to want to come in.’ Still, the brothers couldn’t
help but delve into the darkness. Before they started shooting,
they ventured to Rhode Island to visit the spooky house seen in
The Conjuring. ‘If someone goes, “This room is haunted in this
hotel”, I’ll go, “Can I stay in there?” I find it fascinating,’ says
Michael. ‘I love speaking to psychics or people that have had
supernatural experiences.’

CREEP SHOW
Not that all concerned felt the same. ‘We tried to get everyone
to stay at a haunted abandoned town with us, a bonding trip
before the film. But I don’t think people were too keen!’
Danny laughs. Indeed, their actors were a little unnerved by
the prospect of real-life paranormal activity happening on set.
‘You know what? I actually had a bit of anxiety that that would
happen,’ admits Wilde. Hearing about creepy goings-on
on the set of Roman Polanski’s classic chiller Rosemary’s Baby
didn’t exactly help. ‘I was like, “Is this gonna be legit?”’
Neither did filming in a hospital, rumoured to be haunted.
‘We were getting all these funky vibes!’ adds Jensen. ‘Adelaide
is quite a haunted place.’ Wilde nods in agreement. ‘It’s like
the serial killer capital of Australia!’
Those ‘funky vibes’ continued when the Philippous started
bringing in the actors, in full prosthetic make-up, playing the
‘dead’ that Mia and the others connect with. ‘I remember
when we were doing the first possession,’ says Jensen,
explaining that in walked a woman with foul-looking teeth
Sophie Wilde plays
and manky skin. ‘She was the first one we saw as a group. It
Mia, still recovering
from the death was quite early in the shoot and we were all just having the
of her mother best time because we shot those sequences over a few days.
And it just went silent when she walked on, because they can’t
see with the contacts they wear. She just sat down. And you
could literally feel the energy of the room go, “Oh, oh, OK…”
‘IT WAS ALWAYS REALLY PERSONAL It was terrifying.’
Even the plaster-cast prop hands freaked them out.
THINGS THAT FRIGHTENED US
‘There’s only a few in existence right now,’ says Michael. ‘We
THAT WE TRIED TO PUT ON gave one to Sophie,’ adds Danny. Wilde confirms this: ‘I put it
THE SCREEN’ on my shelf. And then it kind of freaked me out. So then I hid
DANNY PHILIPPOU it in my cupboard!’ Jensen bursts out laughing. ‘That’s so
sweet! It’s like when Jennifer Lawrence got her Katniss bow
films. ‘It was always practising to get to do a film,’ he says. [from The Hunger Games]. Where do you put an archery bow?’
While the brothers had to overcome the industry stigma With Talk to Me now ready for release, the brothers are
against their YouTube background (‘That doesn’t get taken already looking to the future. ‘We’re developing three other
seriously,’ says Danny), they took inspiration from those who films at the moment, two horrors and one action,’ says Danny.
have made unusual leaps in the film industry. Like Jordan ‘I want to do a film next year.’ As for their loyal YouTube
Peele, who went from comedy to horror. ‘I’m wearing his following, they’ve not been forgotten. ‘I want to upload for
shirt,’ laughs Michael, pointing to the logo for Peele’s them,’ notes Michael. ‘Doing this film was the longest we
Monkeypaw Productions on his chest. ‘He’s very inspiring. hadn’t uploaded – it was over a year. And there were always
Showing you don’t need to be locked into a certain box.’ comments and messages: “We really want to see more from
Same goes for Todd Phillips, adds Danny. ‘Going from like you guys!” But I think film is going to be the main focus.’
Ma^yAZg`ho^k to Joker. Or Bo Burnham, who came from There’s no doubting their energy and enthusiasm… you’ve
YouTube to do Eighth Grade.’ really got to hand it to them.
Once they got on set, the Philippous did everything they
could to bring their cast together. ‘One of the ways they made TALK TO ME IS IN CINEMAS FROM 28 JULY.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 65

 INTERVIEW JAMES MOTTRAM

‘ONE THING I CAN SAY

ABOUT ALL THESE
MOVIES… THEY’VE
ALL BEEN LIKE AN
ADVENTURE.’
JASON
SCHWARTZMAN
He may belong to one of cinema’s greatest filmmaking
dynasties, but Jason Schwartzman has found his niche
in iconic US indies like Rushmore, I Heart Huckabees and
Marie Antoinette. As the actor reunites with his beloved
Wes Anderson for Asteroid City, Total Film meets him
to talk Converse, Coppolas and careers…

PORTRAITS COREY NICKOLS & EMMA MCINTYRE

COR E Y NICKOLS/CONTOUR BY GE T T Y IM AGES

66 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 INTERVIEW

for Anderson since 1998’s Rushmore, in in prequel The Hunger Games: The
which he plays both a 1950s actor, Jones Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Kdoo/#dqg#Kdooġv#fkdudfwhu#lq#vfl0Ľ0wlqjhg# Having just wrapped his segment of
teleplay Asteroid City – Augie Steenbeck, Queer, Luca Guadagnino’s take on the
a father-of-four photographer grieving William S. Burroughs novel, it seems like
over the loss of his wife. there isn’t a director in town who doesn’t
In a starry ensemble including Tom want a piece of Schwartzman. Away from
Hanks, Margot Robbie and Scarlett acting, he’s also gone from drumming
Johansson, all of whom will be touched with band Phantom Planet to composing
by an alien encounter, Schwartzman scores (Funny People and the theme song
is the emotional heart, although he’s for HBO’s Bored to Death) to solo project
too modest to say so. ‘Maybe I’m the Coconut Records. Creativity is in his DNA,
sdqfuhdv$ġ#kh#txlsv1#ĠD#glļhuhqw#rujdq1ġ# wkdqnv#wr#d#frqvwdqw#glhw#ri#pxvlf/#Ľop#
Rqfh#djdlq/#wkh#Ľop#whdpv#Vfkzduw}pdq# and art. ‘In my family, it seemed like
with his own cousin Roman Coppola, who they needed it,’ he says. It’s made him
co-wrote with Anderson and previously the man he is today…
ow long do we have?’ asks Jason directed him in 2001’s CQ (which,
Schwartzman, breezing into Cannes’ J.W. fxulrxvo|/#zdv#derxw#d#Ľoppdnhu# Did Wes come to you and say Asteroid
Marriott hotel, looking very natty in navy gluhfwlqj#d#fkhhv|#vfl0Ľ,1# City contained a big role for you?
suit and salmon pink shirt. ‘Sometimes I Along the way, Schwartzman has We had worked on The French Dispatch, he
take too long and then I eat up the thing.’ worked with Roman’s younger sister, and I and Roman, in a writing capacity for
First, it should be noted, Total Film has VrĽd#+rq#5339ġv#Marie Antoinette, in which years, as we did on The Darjeeling Limited
rarely met such concern from an actor he played King Louis XVI), and their niece and Isle of Dogs1#Vr#zhġg#mxvw#frph#rļ#wkdw#
ensuring that we have enough face time. Gia Coppola (2019’s social-media satire and we were on the phone – this was July
Second, he does indeed give lovingly long, Mainstream). Even more excitingly, he’ll 2019. I just know because we spoke on my
considered answers. But it all rather sums soon be seen in Megalopolis, the long- wedding anniversary. And he said, ‘I’ve got
up this unique American actor-musician- jhvwdwlqj#vfl0Ľ#hslf#iurp#klv#xqfoh/# this idea for something that I want to write
writer. Never mind that he belongs to one Ľoppdnlqj#wlwdq#Iudqflv#Irug#Frssrod1# with Roman and present to you. And I
ri#wkh#prvw#idprxv#Ľoppdnlqj#idplolhv# Keeping it in the family, he’ll be joined by think there’s something about this that
in the history of Hollywood; he’s still his mother, Talia Shire, who famously I think is better to complete without
eternally grateful to be working 25 years on featured in both Coppola’s The Godfather you knowing about it.’
from making his debut as the precocious, and in Rocky as the boxer’s wife, Adrian.
playwriting student Max Fischer in While directors such as David O. So you sensed that you were going to
Wes Anderson’s Rushmore. Russell (I Heart Huckabees), Alex Ross Perry be heavily involved on the acting side
Schwartzman – who turns 43 at (Listen Up Philip) and Tim Burton (Big Eyes) of things with this project?
the end of June – is a major member have always recognised Schwartzman’s I don’t know how big the part was, but it
of Anderson’s ever-expanding rep distinct vibe, now feels like his moment. was basically we’ve got this thing and
company, having either featured in or Alongside Asteroid City, you can hear him we’re in the beginning stages of it, but it’s
zrunhg#rq#wkh#vwru|#iru#hyhu|#Ľop#ri#wkh# as The Spot in the brilliant animation happening. It will happen at some point.
director’s since 2007’s India odyssey The Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. And But I literally knew nothing about it. The
Darjeeling Limited. This month sees him in later in the year, he’s the moustachioed Ľuvw#wklqj#kh#vdlg#zdv/#ĠMxvw#orrn#lqwr#
Asteroid City, in arguably his biggest role(s) host/commentator ‘Lucky’ Flickerman [director Elia] Kazan.’ It’s very vague but
oddly I had the Kazan book [A Life] next to
my bed. I took a picture and said, ‘Look at
this.’ And then I was working in Chicago
and I went to see 2001, the 70mm print.
Dqg#wkhq#L#zdv#orrnlqj#xs#^vshfldo0hļhfwv#
guru] Douglas Trumbull making-of videos
of how they did these sequences and I
ended up buying these Stanley Kubrick
books while I was in Chicago, and then
Wes said, ‘Think about Kubrick.’ And
I was like, ‘Now this is crazy.’

Maybe Wes has spy cameras in

your bedroom?
As you say it now, maybe there’s
a microphone in my teeth!

Do you feel Asteroid City is the closest

With co-stars Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson in Wes
Anderson’s melancholic marvel The Darjeeling Zhv#kdv#pdgh#wr#d#vfl0ĽB
Limited, which Schwartzman co-wrote L#zdv#wklqnlqj#|hvwhugd|ĩ#Wkhuhġv#d#vfl#Ľ#
[aspect], but you’ve got these cowboys,

68 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 Schwartzman’s latest role
for Wes Anderson is in the
desert-set Asteroid City

this cowboy band, and they represent this sandals! And we did end up getting into we had a bunch of information on the
group, at that point in the 50s… It’s like this sidebar about his shoes. I had New vfulsw#Ğ#qrw#Ľqlvkhg#ru#ixoo|#iruphg#exw#
a changing breed. But what they represent Balance. He was asking me about my New a lot of it. And so we were already saying
is a freedom and going into the unknown. Balance. And before I knew it, I forgot lines from the movie, like in our own lives,
And at the same time, you’ve got these that we were in this situation. playing the dialogue out a little bit, and
kids that are in a way like cowboys, going acting out the scenes. There was a scene
into space and going into the sciences. So you bonded over shoes? in the movie where he says, ‘I want us to
They seem like opposites. In a way, Well, it dovetailed… Little things spiked say yes to everything,’ so that was our
dowkrxjk#lwġv#vflhqfh#Ľfwlrq/#lw#^ihow`# up. And then he said, ‘Let’s read it.’ And I motto when we went there. ‘Let’s say
grounded in the present, a very ‘of the said, ‘Maybe we should not read it. And we yes to everything.’ We tried to engage
wlphġ#prphqw1#Glļhuhqw# should stop here because it’s in or initiate many of the things that
kinds of archetypes,
crossing paths.
‘I DIDN’T KNOW been such a great experience.
I would love to leave it at
kdsshqhg#lq#wkh#Ľop1

HOW OLD WES that.’ And he said, ‘No, let’s You’ve worked a lot with family
Do you remember meeting
Zhv#iru#wkh#Ľuvw#wlphB
WAS GOING TO do it.’ He read the scene with
me. And he was so good that
members. Do you like doing that?
Yeah, I guess it’s a unique circumstance.
L#ghĽqlwho|#uhphpehu# BE – AND HE all of a sudden it just felt Roman, he’s older than me. When I was
phhwlqj#Zhv#iru#wkh#Ľuvw# like we were having this eight or seven… they lived in Northern
time. Vividly. It was at the WAS YOUNG!’ conversation… That was my California. We lived in Southern California.
audition for Rushmore in Los Ľuvw#hqfrxqwhu1#Kh#pdgh# So I didn’t see them very often. Just on
Angeles. I had never auditioned for me feel like he was interested in what I some type of holiday. But I remember
anything before. I went in. First of all, had to say. And I was not used to that. I was up visiting them as a kid. And Roman
I didn’t know how old Wes was going to was a teenager and he had a bunch of
be – and he was young. And I felt instantly You started writing with Wes on the buddies who lived in Napa. And they had
more comfortable. And he felt like India-set The Darjeeling Limited. What d#mdp#edqg1#D#guxp#vhw/#d#sxqn#^rxwĽw`111#
someone that I wouldn’t have known but sticks out in your mind about that? I don’t know what you call it. A bunch of
that I felt familiar with. And he had on Wes, Roman and I said we should go and guys playing, and I went in, and I just
A L A M Y, UNI V ERSA L

these Converse sandals, which I had never live there and not come home until we’d thought it was so cool. And he put me in
seen before him and genuinely was Ľqlvkhg#wkh#vfulsw/#zklfk#zdv#h{flwlqj1#Vr# his lap, put the sticks in my hand and then
surprised. Whoa, I’ve never seen Converse once we’d been writing for eight months, put his hands over mine and played the

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 69

 INTERVIEW

drums with me in his lap. And I was

like, ‘Oh, my God, this feeling is amazing.’
To play with other people.

That sounds like a very formative

moment for you?
The formative moment. In my life, I had
never been plugged into a situation –
I mean, he’s really doing the drumming –
where I felt like I was a part of something.
I was part of a team. And after that, I
wanted to play the drums and that led
to me, ultimately, becoming a drummer.
So music brought us together more and
then he ended up making a video for my
band. Roman just has many ideas. I mean,
he patented a magic trick! I describe him
as a Swiss army knife.

Did you feel that acting was a realistic

FIVE STAR TURNS
option for you before Rushmore?
In the 80s, when I was growing up, the big RUSHMORE 1998
stars of the time were very muscular and In the start of a long collaboration with
they were in really big movies, which I director Wes Anderson, Schwartzman plays
enjoyed so much. But I never thought, ‘I’m an obsessive but struggling high-schooler,
going to be in this industry – a muscular Max Fischer. ‘I could relate to many aspects
action-hero type of person.’ They were of the character,’ he says.
entertaining. And there was no gradation
from action movie to comedy in the 80s. MARIE ANTOINETTE 2006
‘I’d never done anything set in the past
There was just big comedies and big action
before… I wanted to do the best job I could.’
prylhv1#Wkhuh#zdv#vwxļ#olnh#Mlp#Mdupxvfk/#
True to the spirit of his cousin Sofia Coppola’s
but I didn’t know about that. I loved Bill revisionist epic, Schwartzman’s out-of-his-
Murray and those movies, but I never depth Louis XVI feels recognisably modern.
thought ‘I’m going to be a Ghostbuster!’
I never saw Commando and thought, SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD 2010
‘That’s going to be me.’ They weren’t In Edgar Wright’s cult comic-book favourite,
speaking to things that I was feeling. Schwartzman is Gideon Graves, the ultimate
end-of-level boss. The star approached the
Growing up, what was cooler – the fact character from Scott’s perspective: ‘Be his
idea of the worst-nightmare ex-boyfriend.’
your mother was in The Godfather or
that she was in Rocky?
LISTEN UP PHILIP 2014
Well, it was weird. The Godfather, I didn’t
Schwartzman’s nervy, neurotic energy finds a
really know what that was in all honesty. perfect outlet in Alex Ross Perry’s comedy of
Obviously, my uncle directed it, and we’d perspective as a writer who moves in with his
go to his house, and I guess I was aware idol (Jonathan Pryce). ‘I am for sure similar,’
of it. But I think Rocky was a bit more… says Schwartzman. ‘I idolise people a lot.’
When I was little, kids would run and race
and at the end, they’d say, ‘Yo! Adrian!’ I
remember walking around with my mom,
and people coming up to her and saying,
‘Adrian!’ and I think that she was
uncomfortable. I think she appreciated
it but she was also uncomfortable. I
remember thinking, ‘What is this “Adrian”?
Why do they say this?’ But it wasn’t that
it was cool – I think she had a strange
relationship to it herself. I’ve never really
asked her about it, honestly, but that’s KLAUS 2019
what I think retrospectively. This charming Netflix movie immediately felt
like a festive favourite. In the 19th century,
Do you remember much about the Jesper (Schwartzman) is put in charge of the
postal service. Voice acting is ‘experimental
A L A M Y, NE T F L I X

experience of working on 2006

shulrg#Ľop#Marie Antoinette?
in a way I love,’ says Schwartzman. MM
Oh, my God, yeah. It was amazing. It was

70 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023

 JASON SCHWARTZMAN

shot at Versailles. Just for so many reasons.

That experience was so unique to be there.
You could’ve put an album out featuring
all the songs you’d written! JASON
I just remember going, ‘Remember this,
because this is very unusual.’
They weren’t that good! But I took that as a
real bold lesson. To know that what you’re
SCHWARTZMAN
Did you start to act like a king?
jrlqj#wr#gr#lv#jrlqj#wr#uxŀh#ihdwkhuv#dqg#
cause problems. But it ultimately might
IN NUMBERS
Yes, I went through thousands of candles cause more problems if you did do it, for
a day to keep my hotel room warm! whatever reason. I just thought it’s cool
to believe in yourself or stick to your own
Still, getting to be Louis XVI in decision. Then I go on to record this album.
Versailles, that’s part of the unique I’m touring around with my band. And I
appeal of being an actor, right? get this call from David… It’s been a year
Absolutely, absolutely. And the thing is, or two. ‘Where are you?’ I’m in New York,
a lot of moments in one’s life whenever touring with my band. ‘What’s your
you look back… there are some that are address?’ So he sent this script. It was in
just so bold, that you’re like, ‘This is crazy.’ this manilla envelope and I opened it. And Feature film collaborations
And I’m realising that it’s crazy as it’s I remember it said, ‘For Jason, as promised, with Wes Anderson to
kdsshqlqj1#Exw#zrunlqj#zlwk#^VrĽd# lovingly crafted for you, David.’ And I was date (plus 4 shorts)
Coppola] was a whole other incredible like, ‘Oh, my God!’ And I knew nothing
learning experience. It was a totally about it. I didn’t know what character I
glļhuhqw#zd|#ri#gluhfwlqj1#L#Ľqg#lw# was. Anything. And I was just so moved.
fascinating: how you can get people to I was not expecting him to make a movie
work together and believe in your idea. with me. And he did. And it was so
amazing. And the coolest thing, too, was
Now you’ve graduated to working with that he lived 15 minutes from my house.
Francis Ford Coppola, featuring in his And the way that it worked out, instead of
long-gestating Megalopolis. What [talking] on the phone, I would just get up
ACTING CREDITS
was that experience like? every morning, get dressed,
TO HIS NAME
Oh, it was amazing. Beyond
being related… It really was
‘IT’S COOL TO go to his house, sit in his
living room, go over my
a powerful thing. What I BELIEVE IN script, whatever. And stay
witnessed every day was
[he was] constantly putting
YOURSELF OR there till night-time. And
he would be in meetings or
himself in these situations STICK TO YOUR grlqj#rwkhu#vwxļ#zlwk#wklv#
that were totally nuts. And I
was like, ‘I hope I can be this OWN DECISION’ kid. But anytime he had 10
minutes, I was there. So I was
way.’ I’m not even talking just available all for a year.
derxw#dv#d#Ľoppdnhu/#mxvw#dv#d#shuvrq1#L# And then we made the movie. And that’s
can’t remember the last time I had seen why that one is so meaningful to me. Albums Schwartzman has
someone do that. It was really inspiring. It was my whole life. released through solo project
Coconut Records
After Rushmore, one of your earliest big You’ve not done too much broad
leads was David O. Russell’s I Heart comedy, but you did pop up playing
Huckabees. How did that come about? Ringo Starr in 2007’s Walk Hard: The
Before that movie, he had been writing
another movie. And in that movie, I was
playing a folk singer. He said, ‘I want you
to write all of the music.’ We were working
Dewey Cox Story. Was that fun?
How scary is that to do? It was crazy. You
ever have this experience in your life?
Where you think that you’re good at
$ 173 M
BOX-OFFICE TAKE OF
SCHWARTZMAN’S
for a long time. And writing these songs vrphwklqj#dqg#wkhq#|rx#jr#wr#d#glļhuhqw#
HIGHEST-GROSSING
and going on these walks and hikes, place and you’re like, ‘Whoa, I am so not LIVE-ACTION FILM, THE
getting into the script. And we were a good at this compared to these guys.’ I’m GRAND BUDAPEST
month away… We were preparing to do in a room with John C. Reilly, Jack Black, HOTEL
the movie. And I got this phone call one Paul Rudd. And Tim Meadows and Chris
morning. And it was David and he said, Parnell. I was like, ‘Wow, I am so happy
‘I just wanted to let you know that in a few that I have a few lines.’ You could feel it.
hours I’m going to announce that we’re You can’t help but smile.
not going to make this movie.’ And I said,
‘OK.’ And he said, ‘I promised myself I Typically, you’ve been more involved
wouldn’t make a movie I didn’t believe 100 with more esoteric comedy, like Alex
percent in. And I believe in this movie 98 Ross Perry’s comedy drama Listen Up
Schwartzman’s age
percent.’ And he said, ‘But I promise you Philip. Was that a project you were
when he made his
L#zloo#Ľjxuh#lw#rxw1#Dqg#zh#zloo#gr#wkh# immediately excited about? acting debut in
rqh#433#Ľop/#zkdwhyhu#wkdw#lv1ġ#L#wrwdoo|# I was very excited to meet with Alex, just to Rushmore
respected that. Couldn’t believe it, though! meet this person that would’ve written

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 71

 a script that included things like… For
instance, in the description of the scene, it
will say, ‘Philip enters the room. The room
lv#Ľoohg#zlwk#wkh#errnv1ġ#Lw#zloo#ghvfuleh#wkh#
books, describe the shelves, describe
everything. And then it will say something
like, ‘It is Philip’s birthday.’ But we never
know it’s Philip’s birthday in the movie.
There was just something really
interesting about that script. But to be
honest, the dialogue was so well written.
L#frxogqġw#eholhyh#vrph#ri#wkh#vwxļ#wkh#
character would say.

How did your Star Wars cantina skit

come about with Billy Dee Williams?
This guy called Chris Hardwick has this
podcast called The Nerdist. It’s a fantastic
podcast – these very long-form
conversations. He has a few friends that
are with him, and they have guests on –
amazing people and amazing questions.
I was on his show and he was telling me
that he liked the song West Coast that
I wrote. And I told him it meant a lot to
me and we began a friendship. One day
he emailed me. Every year for Comic-Con,
he does a video and he’s a huge Star Wars
idq1#Kh#kdg#Ľjxuhg#rxw#d#zd|#wr#uhsolfdwh#
the cantina scene from Star Wars and have
his friend translate all of the lyrics from
p|#vrqj#lqwr#doo#wkh#glļhuhqw#odqjxdjhv#
and dialects in Star Wars, and have all those
creatures sing it in their natural, native
tongue. So he asked if he could have the
song to do that, and then he asked if I
would be in it. A lot of the people in it,
those are all their own personal costumes
– they’re all devoted Star Wars fans.

Would you like to do more comedy?

I don’t know. I would love to. It’s so hard
wr#jhw#dq|wklqj#grqh/#Ľuvw#ri#dooĩ#Vr#pdq|#
things have to line up for a movie to get
made, it’s incredible. And there are
actors… They are at a level which they’ve
earned; they are the glue that holds it
together. Which is amazing. But I don’t
know when I will work next or what the
next experience will be. I don’t have a GPS
of what I’m trying to do. And I know some
people try to. And I just don’t think that
way. Like when I met my wife [art director
Brady Cunningham], I didn’t meet her and
say, ‘I’m gonna marry that woman.’ I just
remember thinking, ‘Wow, I wish I could
marry someone like her.’ So my thing is to
be in a movie like that… I don’t know what
I’m chasing! I don’t have a system. I just
know it when I meet the person. And one
thing I can say about all these movies… I’ve
never talked about them before like this.
But they’ve all been like an adventure. The
making of it has been not just a movie. And

SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS
 JASON SCHWARTZMAN

whatever that is, is what I’m interested

in, because that’s what I can control.

We’ve just heard you as The Spot in

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
How cool was it to get a role in that?
Beyond cool. First of all, I love them. I love
the people [involved]. That movie is so
wonderful. I loved it on so many levels.
And to be asked to be part of it, I couldn’t
eholhyh#lw1#Dqg#wkdw#fkdudfwhuĩ#Ľjxulqj#
that one out… is so fun. And I loved every
minute of it. It was such a joy. You do it in
these chunks, and I don’t understand…
People always say, ‘Thanks for coming in.’
I’m like, ‘Thanks for having me! What the
fuck? I’ll be here every day. This is so fun.
I love it!’ Doing a voice is super amazing.
Ehfdxvh#L#oryh#wu|lqj#wklqjv1#D#Ľop#vhw#dqg#
Schwartzman brings his spot-on
a camera and a bunch of people staring at
voice acting to superhero hit
you… If you say, ‘Can I try it like this?’, you Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
start to feel like a little bit of an asshole.
People are like, ‘I gotta get home to my kid,
what the fuck are we still doing here?’ It’s in the beginning, just to have a career is took me 10 years to get it smooth.’ I don’t
still probably that way with animation, but magical. But I will say that… I’ve met these have 10 years! But what I did do was spend
wkhuhġv#ohvv#shrsoh1#Lwġv#d#zkroh#glļhuhqw# people. And these experiences that I really a lot of time with him. And that changes
version of working. It’s really wonderful. feel like have changed my life, and the way the way that I interact with my children,
I think about things, deeply. Without the way that I play with them… All of a
You’re also in upcoming Hunger Games giving too much away, for The Hunger vxgghq/#L#Ľqg#L#dp#xvlqj#olwwoh#wklqjv#L#
prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Games, I worked with this magician for learned from Tobias to make my daughter
Were you a fan of the original movies? months. Tobias Dostal. If you ever want smile. Basically what I’ve learned is like
Big time. I was a big fan. And then to to see the most amazing shit ever, [look new ways to entertain my children!
become a part of it… I am so him up]! This friendship
grateful just for being invited
to be part of this world. And
‘[ACROSS THE that I formed with him…
I remember sitting there
You have two daughters. Are your
kids too young to really know what
it meant so much to me. And SPIDER-VERSE] zkhq#zh#zhuh#Ľuvw#kdqjlqj# you do for a living?
it was the best experience.
It was amazing. I loved it so
IS WONDERFUL out thinking, ‘I think this
person’s gonna be in my life
My 12-year-old daughter now knows.
I made a movie called Klaus and that was
pxfk1#Dqg#L#mxvw#Ľqlvkhg# – I LOVED EVERY for a long time.’ I remember a really important movie for me to make,
two others. I did a movie thinking it’s changing the ehfdxvh#lw#zdv#wkh#Ľuvw#wlph#wkdw#wkh|#hyhu#
called Between the Temples MINUTE ’ way I think about the world. could see something that I’ve done and it
with Carol Kane. This Just seeing what he was was really sweet. I don’t tell them what I do
wonderful little movie with this director, doing, what was possible, and how he and I don’t bring them with me to work but
Qdwkdq#Vloyhu1#Dqg#L#mxvw#Ľqlvkhg#zrunlqj# thought about magic and how magicians I did a radio show – I’m on hiatus from it
with Luca Guadagnino on Queer, based on think about things... now – for SiriusXM, called Coconut Radio. For
the William Burroughs book. They’re still six years I did it. I think they thought I was a
Ľoplqj#uljkw#qrz#exw#Lġyh#Ľqlvkhg1# Are you now good at magic? radio DJ. That, they heard… They could hear
No, I’m terrible. I’m not really good. me on the radio. I couldn’t hide it!
Does it feel like this is a really magical Ultimately, I remember talking to him
time in your career? about this one thing… and I just can’t do ASTEROID CITY OPENS IN
I hope so. I hope so. Well, yes. I want to say this thing. And he’s like, ‘You’ll get it. It CINEMAS ON 23 JUNE.

JASON SCHWARTZMAN LINE READING

SON Y, EMM A MCINT Y R E /CONTOUR BY GE T T Y IM AGES

‘MY TOP SCHOOLS ‘YOU MADE ME

WHERE I WANT TO ‘I love you too, SWALLOW MY GUM!
APPLY TO ARE OXFORD but I’m gonna THAT’S GOING TO BE IN
AND THE SORBONNE. MY DIGESTIVE TRACT
MY SAFETY’S mace you in FOR SEVEN YEARS!’
HARVARD.’ the face!’ GIDEON GRAVES
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
MAX FISCHER RUSHMORE JACK THE DARJEELING LIMITED

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 73

 76
EDITED BY
MATTHEW LEYLAND
@ T O TA L F I L M _ M AT T L

★★★★★ INDIANA JONES

TOHTS
AMAZEBALLS AND THE DIAL
OF DESTINY
★★★★★ Time, please…
WELL-ROUND-ED

★★★★★
SCOTT
POTENTIAL

★★★★★
SALLAH
BIT MUCH

★★★★★
LOAD OF
BELLOQS

THE WORLD’S MOST TRUSTED MOVIE

 OUT NOW
The Boogeyman ★★★ p87
Carmen ★★★ p80
Fast X ★★★★ p87
Flamin’ Hot ★★★★ p85
The Flash ★★★ p84
Hypnotic ★★★ p87
The Little Mermaid ★★★★ p83
Spider-Man:
Across the Spider-Verse ★★★★★ p86
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ★★★ p81

23 JUNE

78
Asteroid City ★★★★ p78
The Last Rider ★★★★ p83
The Super 8 Years ★★★★ p87

26 JUNE
Stephen King on Screen ★★★ p85

28 JUNE
Indiana Jones and the
Dial of Destiny ★★★★ p76
Run Rabbit Run ★★★ p79

30 JUNE
Hello, Bookstore ★★★ p80
La Syndicaliste ★★ p83
Mother and Son ★★★★ p83
Small, Slow but Steady ★★★★ p83
To Nowhere ★★★ p80

7 JULY

80
The Damned Don’t Cry ★★★★ p87
Elemental ★★★ p82
Name Me Lawand ★★★★ p83
Shabu ★★★★ p83
Smoking Causes Coughing ★★★ p80

14 JULY
Squaring the Circle ★★★ p83
While We Watched ★★★★ p80

19 JULY
The Deepest Breath ★★★★ p79

ALSO RELEASED
We couldn’t see them in time for this issue, so
head to gamesradar.com/totalfilm for reviews
of the following:
TITLE RELEASE DATE
Insidious: The Red Door 7 July

82
Mission: Impossible –
Dead Reckoning Part One 11 July
No Hard Feelings 23 June
Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken 30 June

For more reviews visit gamesradar.com/totalfilm

EXTRAS
Archive/Blu-ray reviews p88-89
TV, Extras, Soundtracks, Games, Books p90-94

86

REVIEWS JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 75

INDIANA JONES
AND THE DIAL
OF DESTINY TBC

Hat’s all, folks…

★★★★★ OUT 28 JUNE CINEMAS

W
e’re witnessing history,’
says Harrison Ford’s iconic
SEE THIS
IF YOU archaeologist towards the
LIKED climax of Indiana Jones and the Dial of
Destiny. True enough. Officially, this
fifth outing is the end of the road for
RAIDERS OF Indy, although incoming director
THE LOST ARK James Mangold, who similarly brought
1981 Wolverine’s arc to a close in 2017’s
Indy’s debut sees Logan, ensures we go out on a high.
him grapple with
– guess who? – There’s a nostalgic, old-fashioned
Nazis for the lost feel to the film, a rollicking, globe-
Ark of the trotting ride that pits Ford’s intrepid
Covenant. adventurer against the Nazis once more.
Certainly, it makes up for 2008’s
TIME AFTER
TIME 1979 outlandish Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,
Malcolm with a more grounded story. Well, until
McDowell’s H.G. the final reel, at least… (No spoilers!)
Wells chases Jack It begins in 1944, with Ford de-aged,
the Ripper in this
time-slipping looking like the Indy of old. The CG
fantasy work on the star impresses, even if
adventure. the sequence as a whole is a little too
overloaded with VFX. We find Indy and
LOGAN 2017
archaeologist pal Basil Shaw (Toby
Mangold
sublimely wraps Jones) chasing the Lance of Longinus by his neighbours loudly playing The DIRECTOR James Mangold STARRING
up an iconic – the blade that drew Christ’s blood – Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, though it’s Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads
character arc in a race against the Nazis, who are fairly clear Dr. Jones has not turned on, Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Antonio Banderas
with this older scooping up antiquities across Europe. tuned in and dropped out. He’s grumpy SCREENPLAY Jez Butterworth, John-Henry
Wolverine yarn.
The opener culminates in a lengthy with these long-hairs. Even the kids he Butterworth, David Koepp, James Mangold
For more reviews chase atop a train, as Indy goes mano- teaches at Hunter College, where he’s DISTRIBUTOR Disney
visit gamesradar. a-mano with high-ranking Nazi been for 10 years, have little interest RUNNING TIME 142 mins
com/totalfilm Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), in what he has to say.
with all his usual derring-do. With his marriage to Marion
Cut to 25 years later. On the eve of seemingly over, Indy is also on the Space Race. Joined by Boyd Holbrook’s
the Moon landings, Indy’s living in a verge of retirement, his days of ruthless muscle Klaber, he’s been
crummy New York apartment (a photo whip-cracking long behind him… tracking Helena’s movements…
of Dad, as played by Sean Connery, is on Until, that is, he’s paid a visit by his As she yanks Indy into her pursuit,
the wall – a nice touch). He’s woken up goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe we discover that Helena (or ‘Wombat’
Waller-Bridge), Basil’s offspring. She’s as Indy says, using her childhood
PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™ desperate to continue her father’s nickname) isn’t entirely pure of heart.
THRILLED Beatlemania search for Archimedes’ Dial, a gizmo he She’s something of a chancer, with
ENTERTAINED believed could predict fissures in time. gambling debts to boot - interesting
Tuk-ing in
NODDING OFF Wombat Creepy- Trouble is, she’s not the only one character choices that add nuance. As
Goodbye crawlies Siege
ZZZZZZZZZ
wrinkles Moon Day Dive, dive, dive
mentality looking for it. So is Voller, still alive and, the action moves to Tangier and later
under an assumed identity, instrumental Greece, she hooks up with her adept
DISNE Y

RUNNING TIME START 25 50 75 100 125 FINISH

in helping the US government in the teenage protégé Teddy (Ethann Isidore).

76 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 ‘Stop reading the review, Indy –
we’ve got a Nazi to defeat and
a McGuffin to find!’

There’s also room for Antonio Banderas ‘Best of all, this is an Indiana Jones film with
in a small role as an old chum of Indy’s,
a Spanish deep-sea diver, who takes the
tears in its eyes. We see the character has
group underwater as they continue to grown older, but not necessarily wiser’
seek a missing part of the Dial.
Mangold doesn’t overplay the Mola Ram brought new meaning to regrets about pursuing fortune and
nostalgic throwbacks, although there’s ‘pulling the heartstrings’. Waller- glory and leaving his loved ones behind.
a nice reference to Indy drinking ‘the Bridge makes for a good foil for Indy, ‘Family never was your strong suit,’
blood of Kali’ (from 1984’s Temple of calling him ‘an ageing grave robber’ chides Helena. Ford has shown he’s
Doom) and an on-screen map charting and coming out with some choice Anglo a dab hand at playing the curmudgeon,
the characters’ movements. There’s phrases (‘cheeky bugger’). And as you’d so it seems apt that Mangold and his
also an appearance by series veteran hope, Ford slips effortlessly back into co-writers should steer the character in
Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), although the role – the wry smile, the quick this direction. By the end, though, you’ll
given the vitality he brings, he’s put-downs (‘You’re German, Voller, have a smile on your face, especially
disappointingly underused. For once, don’t try and be funny’). when it comes to the final shot: an
Indy doesn’t have to face his greatest The action is slickly handled by elegant tip of the hat to one of cinema’s
fear, but worry not – there are plenty of Mangold, not least a thrilling tuk-tuk greatest heroes. JAMES MOTTRAM
other icky things he’s forced to endure. chase through Tangier. But best of all,
Mikkelsen is chilling as Voller (‘You this is an Indiana Jones film with tears THE VERDICT A terrific thrill ride.
didn’t win the war. Hitler lost it,’ he in its eyes. We see the character has With Ford in fine form, Indy’s last
sneers in one scene), who’s assuredly grown older, but not necessarily wiser. stand is a highly satisfying blend
the best antagonist Indy has faced since Drinking a bit too much, he’s full of of action, humour and emotion.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 77

 Jason Schwartzman and Tom Hanks
answered the call when Wes Anderson
asked them to star in his new movie

SEE THIS
IF YOU
LIKED territory. Theatre and photography are
ASTEROID CITY 12A two such methods; in a fantastically
funny set-piece, other characters turn
E.T.: THE EXTRA- Once upon a time in the Wes… to song. Meanwhile, Augie’s daughters
TERRESTRIAL 1982 declare themselves witches and attempt
Sci-fi is the
framework for
★★★★★ OUT 23 JUNE CINEMAS to reanimate their mum from her ashy
remains in a Tupperware container.
a reverie on distance

F
and isolation in rom 30s Europe to 60s France DIRECTOR Wes Anderson STARRING Jason If emotional focus splinters a little
Spielberg’s and near-future Japan, Wes Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, across Anderson’s starry ensemble, his
heart-melter. Anderson has travelled wide Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston wit and way with actors remain joyous.
and well in the last decade. So it SCREENPLAY Wes Anderson DISTRIBUTOR Effectively playing Bill Murray, Tom
MOONRISE
KINGDOM 2012 proves again with his 11th feature, Universal RUNNING TIME 105 mins Hanks wears his Anderson-ian
Precocious kids, a playfully searching delight. A predecessor’s trousers well. Maya
alarming trousers… sky-watching romp that contemplates Hawke impresses as a teacher doggedly
Asteroid camps out infinity, Asteroid City offers a wry pun on his flair for symmetries. clinging to facts amid chaos, while
close to Wes’ scouting
exploration of life’s mysteries and Westworld, meet Wes world. Scarlett Johansson graduates from Isle
period piece.
proves the Anderson touch can hold Here, precocious Junior Stargazers of Dogs voicework in doubled-up roles
NOPE 2022 firm in the face of the great beyond. (and parents) visit a meteor-crater site as dark-haired/blonde actors struggling
Meta-matters and That arch imprint is clear from to display their scientific inventions, with toxic directors.
cowboy-hatted
the monochrome prologue, an east- ranging from botanical acceleration Meta-puns and layers of art/reality
UFO-watchers merge
in Jordan Peele’s coast-set theatrical framing device to astronomical imaging. So far, so mount, sometimes to playful ends,
creature feature. Anderson later revisits to counterpoint Rushmore-esque. But photographer sometimes to faintly distancing effect.
the film’s main action. A burst into Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) But there’s no doubting the invention
For more reviews visit colour then whisks us to a sun-kissed also has to let go of the damaged family and drollery on show, much less
gamesradar.com/
town in the US southwest, new turf car – and his children’s recently deceased the subtle sincerity of Anderson’s
totalfilm
for Anderson. Even so, the spectacle mother. Meanwhile, atom-bomb tests questioning. As his characters ponder
of a colour-coordinated train bisecting shake the area and an alien drops by, how to ‘do’ life’s uncertainties, one
the parched landscape plays like a nifty prompting a military quarantine. answer offered is ‘Trust your curiosity’.
Family, grief, lockdown, anxiety… As ever, Anderson’s curiosity guides
PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™ Stretching his familiarly ‘cool and him wondrously well. KEVIN HARLEY
THRILLED Mum’s in the stars Under quarantine delicious’ sensibilities (to borrow a
ENTERTAINED Casting Jet packs- phrase from his script), Anderson THE VERDICT Anderson visits
Train a-go-go
spells ‘The depths touches on themes of mortality, fresh frontiers with a close
NE TFLIX , UNIV ERSA L

NODDING OFF The comin’

of our pain’ Symmetry
world’s round the Poison
ZZZZZZZZZ a stage bend pen letters Song for the spaceman of life modern dread and nuclear fears here, encounter of the quirky kind,
RUNNING TIME START 15 30 45 60 75 FINISH
interrogating how our beliefs and holding wit, whimsy and sly
identities help us navigate unknown wisdom in supple balance.

78 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 RUN RABBIT RUN TBC
Bunny peculiar…
★★★★★ OUT 28 JUNE NETFLIX

S
o, Succession is over and you are craving your Sarah Snook fix.
Then look no further than Netflix’s taut mother-daughter
chiller, set in rural Australia. Snook plays Sarah, a fertility
doctor who lives with her child Mia (Lily LaTorre) after a split from
the girl’s father (Damon Herriman). Lurking in the margins of
Sarah’s life is her estranged mother, Joan (Greta Scacchi), who
is in a nursing home with dementia.
Things turn strange when Mia insists on being called Alice, the name
of Sarah’s sister, who disappeared when Sarah was young. Then Mia
starts wearing a pink-ish rabbit mask. As the distance between the girl
and her mum grows, Mia’s behaviour becomes ever more unsettling.
Is she possessed? Or is Sarah losing her grip on reality?
The film is pregnant with atmosphere, with director Daina Reid
(TV’s The Handmaid’s Tale) conjuring up an increasingly hallucinatory
experience. Together, Snook and LaTorre make for an admirable force,
excelling as they elicit an electric chemistry at times. It’s also heartening
to see Herriman play against type (see his Charles Manson in Once Upon
a Time in Hollywood) as the well-balanced father. Sadly, a generic script
doesn’t aid the film’s ambitions. A little less than the sum of its parts,
Run Rabbit Run is more intriguing than outright terrifying.
JAMES MOTTRAM

Mia (Lily LaTorre)

THE VERDICT Good performances are nullified by a slightly masks her feelings
seen-it-before script, but you’ll still have some freaky fun.

THE DEEPEST BREATH 12A

Dive hard…
★★★★★ OUT 19 JULY NETFLIX

H
ow do you feel about death?’ are the first words spoken
in Laura McGann’s gripping documentary. The question
is one all freedivers must ponder, such are the dangers
of plunging 100 metres down into the ocean – the height of
a 30-storey skyscraper – on a single breath.
You might call The Deepest Breath an inverted Free Solo, its subjects
sinking instead of soaring. The danger is crushing, and pressure
squeezes the divers’ lungs to the size of a fist. But there’s beauty,
too, and serenity: ‘The first time I dived down… all the troubles
and the shit from daily life just vanished,’ says one diver.
Different participants have different reasons for pushing themselves
to their limits and beyond, but McGann primarily focuses on Italian
champion Alessia Zecchini and Irish safety diver Stephen Keenan, whose
love of the sport – of the way of life – led to an intense connection
between them. This plunge into the depths of the human heart adds
another flavour to this tense, exhilarating documentary with its
awe-inspiring footage of rolling waves and midnight-blue deeps,
though some narrative shuffling on McGann’s part sacrifices slivers
of the human aspect in favour of sharpening the suspense.
It’s a tricksy tactic that feels a little cheap, but The Deepest Breath
The Deepest Breath deals is compelling enough to survive it. Immersive viewing. JAMIE GRAHAM
with both the wonder and
the danger of the sea THE VERDICT A fascinating documentary with air
in its lungs and its heart in its mouth.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 79

HELLO, BOOKSTORE PG CARMEN 15
★★★★★ OUT 30 JUNE CINEMAS, ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS
DIGITAL
A complete reinvention of
This cosy, slightly claustrophobic Georges Bizet’s opera, Benjamin
celebration of chattily charismatic Millepied’s feature debut strikes
small-town US bookseller Matt sparks but never quite ignites.
Tannenbaum embeds us in his Taking place on the Mexico/
shabby, classics-packed store US border, the film casts
just as the pandemic threatens to Melissa Barrera (2022’s Scream)
bankrupt him. Using fly-on-the- as a grief-stricken woman who
wall, Frederick Wiseman-style sets her home alight and flees
watchful camerawork, director across the border, into the path
A.B. Zax scrupulously captures of former soldier Aidan (Paul
Tannenbaum’s cockeyed optimism Mescal). Barrera is radiant,
and his passionate pitching of Mescal blistering, and the
great literature to his dwindling chemistry sizzles as the pair are
customers, without swerving the pursued by the law. Millepied
debt-ridden realities of his life. stages some emotional dance
The result is a tad overlong, sequences, too, but the plot
but you’ll stay gripped to see Praise be, there’s a new meanders and the soundtrack
whether it’s GoFundMe or go bunch of spandex-clad suffers from a lack of earworms.
under the hammer. KATE STABLES superheroes in town... FAY WATSON

SMOKING CAUSES
COUGHING 15
Avengers disassembled…
★★★★★ OUT 7 JULY CINEMAS
WHILE WE WATCHED 15 TO NOWHERE 15

F
rench auteur Quentin Dupieux has given us absurdist horror
★★★★★ OUT 14 JULY CINEMAS movies about a killer tyre (Rubber), a man’s obsession with his ★★★★★ OUT 30 JUNE CINEMAS
jacket (Deerskin), and a couple buying a house with the most
Vinay Shukla’s gripping, sobering banal time machine imaginable in the basement (Incredible but True). London seems small in writer/
doc examines the challenge and So when we say he’s now turning his attention to superheroes, director Sian Astor-Lewis’ debut
cost of speaking truth to power in you can bet that Smoking Causes Coughing will offer a spaced-out feature To Nowhere, the city
the misinformation age. As rival alternative to the Marvel and DC universes. closing in on teenagers Tulip
channels stoke nationalistic The Tobacco Force is a quintet of spandex-clad avengers (Gilles (Lilit Lesser) and Finn (Josefine
fervour with hysterical, ratings- Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anaïs Demoustier, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Oulaya Glæsel) against a backdrop of
BULLDOG, DA ZZLER MEDIA , GR A PE V INE, ME TFILM, PA R A MOUNT, PICTUR EHOUSE

grabbing debates, Indian Amamra) who fight off enemies by blasting them with rays of cancer. underpasses and off-licences.
broadcaster Ravish Kumar We meet them as they battle a huge rubber tortoise. Then their handler, A brisk 85-minute runtime
stoically continues holding the a gunge-drooling rat (voiced by Alain Chabat) who’s irresistible to charts a day of truancy and
government and his peers to women, sends them on a week-long retreat to rebuild team spirit, underage drinking for the duo,
account. With advertisers pulling during which the movie morphs into a series of bonkers vignettes. amid several attempts to navigate
out and viewing figures dwindling, Fragmentary, frivolous and flimsier than a Rizla paper, Smoking Causes their charged, ambiguous
the toll on this world-weary Coughing is blackly comic in Dupieux’s blank-faced way. Is the film relationship. Lesser and Glæsel
firebrand is obvious. But while equating our desire to consume thrillingly grisly stories with smokers’ provide a steady backbone for
he paints a (necessarily) gloomy need to suck on cancer sticks? Perhaps – both are distractions from the film as uneasy adolescents
picture of modern political existential terrors. But it’s better not to wonder what Dupieux is playing at adulthood – the
discourse and media reportage, smoking and just get high on the fumes. JAMIE GRAHAM moments when they’re
Shukla’s portrait of a modest interrupted by tangential side
hero ends on a cheeringly hopeful THE VERDICT Slight even by Dupieux’s standards, but fun characters are when the story
grace note. CHRIS SCHILLING while it lasts. Those on his wavelength will cough with laughter. falters. EMILY GARBUTT

80 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 Fantastic beasts;
pretty easy to find

SEE THIS
IF YOU
LIKED gigantic planet-eater Unicron (Colman
TRANSFORMERS: Domingo) needs to continue its gluttony
in our galaxy. Would that Caple Jr. and
BEAST WARS:
TRANSFORMERS
RISE OF THE BEASTS 12A his five credited screenwriters had
found a way to make us invested in the
1996-99
The animation may
Gorilla in the mix… outcome, instead of merely assaulting
be dated, but this us with another energy-draining orgy
remains an influential ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS of bombastic Bayhem.
fan favourite. Beasts is at its best when building

H
ow do you solve a problem DIRECTOR Steven Caple Jr. STARRING a pleasing bond between Noah and
FANTASTIC FOUR:
like Transformers? Go big, like Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Pete wisecracking Autobot Mirage (Pete
RISE OF THE
SILVER SURFER Michael Bay did in each of Davidson, Peter Cullen SCREENPLAY Joby Davidson) that feels much like the
2007 the five swaggering block-blasters he Harold, Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich one Hailee Steinfeld forged with
Planet-eaters gotta directed between 2007 and 2017, and Hoeber, Jon Hoeber DISTRIBUTOR Bumblebee five years ago. Fishback,
eat, as the Marvel you end up tumbling down a wearying Paramount RUNNING TIME 127 mins too, is a likeable presence who stays
quartet discover
wormhole of deafening incoherence. relatable throughout, mainly by
when they come up
against Galactus. Go small(er), as Travis Knight did in behaving as most of us would were
2018’s Bumblebee, and you’ll win back Cullen) and his laying-low Autobots we ever to find ourselves pursued
X-MEN: DAYS OF the critics – but you won’t deliver largely playing second fiddle to former by mechanical spiders through an
FUTURE PAST
the sort of billion-dollar return soldier Noah (Anthony Ramos), museum underground temple.
2014
’Bots are all Peter Paramount expects from its researcher Elena (Dominique Fishback) Period-specific needle drops offer
Dinklage cares about Hasbro-inspired cash cow. and their gradual realisation that a a nostalgic bonus, with L.L. Cool J.’s
as mutant-hating In Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Creed glowing artefact at her place of work Mama Said Knock You Out injecting a
Bolivar Trask. II director Steven Caple Jr. tries to find is one half of a beacon-like key sought thunderous energy into one pivotal set-
a middle ground, with fair-to-middling by ’bots both benign and nefarious. piece. Sixteen years on from the Shia
For more reviews visit
gamesradar.com/ success. A first hour based in 90s New By the time the second hour rolls LaBeouf original, though, the many
totalfilm York keeps things appealingly human- around, alas, it’s business as usual. brains behind this franchise have still
scaled, with Optimus Prime (Peter A jump to Peru and the arrival on the to figure out how to satisfy an audience
scene of robo-gorilla Optimus Primal without leaving it bludgeoned.
PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™ (Ron Perlman) and the rest of the NEIL SMITH
THRILLED Planet of the Work friends Road rage Suits you bestial ‘Maximals’ paves the way for
apes
ENTERTAINED an overblown final face-off with evil THE VERDICT Autobots,
NODDING OFF ‘Life ain’t
Cross Night ‘Indiana automaton Scourge (Peter Dinklage) assemble! Maximals, maximise!
that at the Jones-type Bird Team
a comic
ZZZZZZZZZ book!’
bridge museum shit!’ gone bad building and his equally despicable Terrorcons. And as for you puny humans,
RUNNING TIME START 20 40 60 80 100 FINISH
At stake is the universe itself; turns don’t forget the most important
out that aforementioned key is what directive of all: bring paracetamol!

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 81

 Can fiery Ember and
go-with-the-flow Wade
make it as a couple?

SEE THIS
IF YOU
LIKED
DIRECTOR Peter Sohn STARRING Leah

INSIDE OUT
ELEMENTAL TBC Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Shila Ommi, Ronnie
del Carmen SCREENPLAY John Hoberg, Kat
2015
Pete Docter shows
Fire, walk with me… Likkel, Brenda Hsueh DISTRIBUTOR Disney
RUNNING TIME 103 mins
how to dramatise
the intangible – ★★★★★ OUT 7 JULY CINEMAS
emotions, feelings

P
– in Pixar’s work ixar’s latest animation takes coal nuts that Bernie makes). Using Directed by Peter Sohn (The Good
of genius. us to Element City, a place this as a backdrop, Elemental could’ve Dinosaur, and not to mention the voice
where air, wind, fire and earth been an interesting study of the of Buzz Lightyear’s robotic cat, Sox),
THE
GODFATHER people all live together in harmony. immigrant experience. But it soon Elemental offers beautifully rendered
PART II 1974 Well, almost. The anthropomorphised switches to a more conventional visuals, most notably in an underwater
Elemental takes blobs of ‘fire’ are rather frowned coming-of-age story: moving on a trip to visit a rare flower. Vocally, Athie
inspiration from upon, as Bernie (voiced by Ronnie few years, it finds Bernie and Cinder’s is a comic delight as Wade, a character
Vito Corleone’s
del Carmen) and Cinder Lumen grown-up daughter Ember (Leah Lewis) prone to bursting into tears. His
arrival at Ellis
Island in Coppola’s (Shila Ommi) soon discover when ready to take over the store… were it not flashback to a terrifying encounter with
masterpiece. they arrive from their homeland. for the fact she has a terrible temper a sponge is a particular joy. And there
Renting an apartment is a big no-no (‘Take a break, make connection,’ she are gags aplenty – including a game of
FLEE 2021
when the landlords are all ‘earth’ keeps saying, like a mantra). tag played out in Wade’s watery home by
This animated
doc offers a more people that look like tree shrubs With her father’s health ailing, two relatives, Marco and Polo (geddit?).
adult take on the and naturally consider fire a danger Ember feels compelled to run Fireplace No doubt about it, there’s a lot to
immigrant (‘Dry leaves!’ squawks one before without ever asking herself what she like about Elemental, but you’re left
BFI, BLUE FINCH, DISNE Y, DOGWOOF, MODER N FILMS, PICTUR EHOUSE, TA PE

experience. slamming the door in their faces). wants. Then, after an accident in the wishing it had pushed further and
Eventually, Bernie and Cinder settle basement, she meets Wade Ripple deeper rather than just tentatively
For more reviews
visit gamesradar. outside the city in Fire Town, where (Mamoudou Athie), a ‘water’ person exploring its themes. If the inventive
com/totalfilm they open a store, Fireplace, selling all who’s also a city inspector. He’s about concept and visuals have got you
sorts of fire-related paraphernalia (like to close the store down due to various expecting another Inside Out from Pixar,
safety issues but falls for Ember. ‘We you might want to douse some of those
PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™ can’t touch,’ they cry as the film sets flames of excitement. JAMES MOTTRAM
THRILLED Ripple effect
out to explore how these two characters,
ENTERTAINED who are such polar opposites, can make THE VERDICT A sweet-natured
Flood
NODDING OFF Earth, Wind
waters Ever it as a couple. Again, the film raises ideas love story, well intentioned,
and Fire Toot The crying Ember’s after
ZZZZZZZZZ (and Water) toot! game fireplace Ends of difference and barriers, yet it never animated and acted, but lacking
RUNNING TIME START 15 30 45 60 75 FINISH
really feels like the challenges facing the depth of some of the studio’s
Ember and Wade are insurmountable. greatest triumphs.

82 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 LA SYNDICALISTE 15 MOTHER AND SON 12A THE LITTLE NAME ME LAWAND PG
★★★★★ OUT 30 JUNE CINEMAS ★★★★★ OUT 30 JUNE CINEMAS MERMAID PG ★★★★★ OUT 7 JULY CINEMAS
★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS
A shocking true story, based French writer-director Léonor Director Edward Lovelace (The
on the 2019 book by Caroline Serraille follows Jeune femme Rob Marshall’s sparkling live- Possibilities Are Endless) spent
Michel-Aguirre, receives a prosaic (2018) with a novelistic action makeover of Disney’s 1989 four years filming the subject
treatment in Jean-Paul Salomé’s immigration drama. Spanning animation outswims the original. of this moving and insightful
drama. Isabelle Huppert plays some two decades, Serraille’s Halle Bailey shines as Ariel, the documentary: a young Kurdish
Maureen Kearney, an Irish-born saga explores the experiences mermaid who’s lovesick for the boy, deaf since birth, who travels
trade union representative in of a single mother, Rose (a vivid surface world. The extended to the UK (via a traumatic,
France who paid a heavy price for performance from Annabelle runtime gives the romance turbulent year in a Dunkirk
going public with her suspicions Lengronne), and her two young between Ariel and Prince Eric refugee camp) to learn British
that massive job cuts were sons, Jean and Ernest, after they (Jonah Hauer-King) room to Sign Language, only to see
imminent in the country’s nuclear arrive in France from the Ivory breathe, while Melissa McCarthy his family threatened with
power industry. The tale should Coast in 1989. Split into three is a deliciously evil Ursula. Not deportation. Only the hardest
rightfully infuriate, but the film chapters, with each one offering every change works, and the of hearts would fail to be warmed
is likelier to muster an apathetic the perspective of a different VFX can be patchy. But the by a touching tale of struggle
shrug as the twists unravel over character, Mother and Son underwater realm is a treat, and survival that needs a mere
a ponderous two hours. Maureen astutely observes how, over the voice cast charms, and some 91 minutes – and an uplifting
herself is a remote presence: a time, individual identities and of the songs are fabulous, with finale at a Trafalgar Square rally –
consequence, maybe, of the brittle intra-family relationships are Bailey’s goosebumps-raising to reach levels of inspirational
froideur that Huppert emanates impacted in the struggle to belong Part of Your World the pearl in feels that arguably rival Best
in every scene. NEIL SMITH in French society. TOM DAWSON the film’s oyster. MOLLY EDWARDS Picture-winner CODA. NEIL SMITH

THE LAST RIDER 12A SQUARING THE SMALL, SLOW BUT SHABU 12A
★★★★★ OUT 23 JUNE CINEMAS CIRCLE 15 STEADY 12A ★★★★★ OUT 7 JULY CINEMAS
7 AUGUST DIGITAL ★★★★★ OUT 14 JULY CINEMAS ★★★★★ OUT 30 JUNE CINEMAS,
CURZON HOME CINEMA Brimming with buoyant beats
In April 1987, the American From Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side and goodwill, director Shamira
champion cyclist Greg LeMond of the Moon to Paul McCartney A sports film that’s not about Raphaëla’s documentary is
was nearly fatally shot by his and Wings’ Band on the Run, winning or losing, Shô Miyake’s a feel-good winner. Based in
brother-in-law in a hunting Hipgnosis – the design studio quiet but often mesmerising drama working-class Rotterdam, Shabu
accident. And yet two years and of Cambridge mischief-makers hits as hard as its heroine Keiko is a 14-year-old who messes up
two surgeries later, LeMond Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey (Yukino Kishii), a Tokyo female when he totals his gran’s car. To
was attempting to win the ‘Po’ Powell – created some of the boxer who is profoundly hearing- cover the costs, he comes up with
gruelling Tour de France in most iconic album covers of all impaired. Exquisitely rendering the idea of a block party with a
what remains the closest race time. Featuring interviews with Keiko’s small world of sparring star headliner - himself. Clumsy
in the competition’s history. the surviving players and a and training, Miyake’s gently but well-meaning, this would-be
British filmmaker Alex Holmes suitably classy soundtrack, this paced film is more concerned with rapper provides an endearing
(Maiden) orchestrates a gripping documentary from director Anton her isolation, as Kishii’s vulnerable focus for the uplifting trajectory
documentary retelling of these Corbijn (Control) tells an anecdote- performance suggests the fear here. Sketchy local details and
events, combining interviews packed, if piecemeal, story of beneath her determination. A foregone conclusion aside,
with the surviving participants ambition and excess. If, as Noel delicate soundscape – the chat, Raphaëla’s mix of sun-dappled
and sharply chosen archival Gallagher asserts, vinyl’s ‘artwork coaching shouts and thudding images and resilient rhythms
footage, immersing the viewer is the poor man’s art collection’, flurries of punches that Keiko makes for a disarming pleasure:
in a truly remarkable sporting and Hipgnosis was the music industry’s cannot hear - brings home her bright, light and full of popsicle-
personal comeback. TOM DAWSON Andy Warhol. MATT GLASBY immense challenges. KATE STABLES fresh charm. KEVIN HARLEY

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 83

 Just don’t call him
Quicksilver

SEE THIS
IF YOU
LIKED
DIRECTOR Andy Muschietti STARRING

BACK TO THE
THE FLASH 12A Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle,
Michael Shannon SCREENPLAY Christina
FUTURE 1985
Quantum-fired
Fast hurrah… Hodson DISTRIBUTOR Warner Bros.
RUNNING TIME 144 mins
Capra-com, wryly
referenced in ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS
The Flash.

C
an The Flash outpace its too many under-integrated elements Batwing sees some action, lifted by
THE DEATH OF problems? After long delays, in the mix, often caving to excess. pleasingly familiar soundtrack cues
SUPERMAN
the Scarlet Speedster arrives Consider Ezra Miller, doubled up as in a vigorous combat set-piece. And
LIVES: WHAT
HAPPENED? laden with off-screen controversies Barry and an alt-timeline ‘bro Barry’- as Supergirl, Sasha Calle dishes out
2015 at a time when the DCEU, multiverses ish variant. When prime Barry discovers bracing, if underused, hits of Kryptonian
Jon Schnepp’s (Spidey aside) and superhero movies he can travel through time by running aggro against (similarly underused)
doc offers a seem to be losing some traction. really fast, he visits a period before his franchise foes.
glimpse of Kal-El
as he never was… Perhaps it’s no surprise that Barry mum’s murder and attempts to save Muschietti directs confidently,
Allen’s fitfully fun, fan-service- both her and his imprisoned dad. In the notably in an opening sequence that
BIRDS OF PREY freighted headline act sometimes looks event, Barry changes much more – the betters both Justice Leagues for fun.
2020 like an expanded universe imploding, gags about altered 80s movies are nicely What’s less persuasive is the CGI, an
Also involves
to ambitious but often messy effect. nerdy – and ropes slob-Barry into eyesore that’s particularly gaudy
sandwich-based
crises. True, much of It director Andy helping rectify matters. when the finale’s ‘secrets’ drop. The
Muschietti’s superhero debut Even without Miller’s off-screen tone is similarly choppy, especially
For more reviews entertains and surprises (less so troubles, The Flash would be Miller- in a climactic punchline that clashes
visit gamesradar. perhaps in the latter case, thanks to heavy. A little of their mannered with the film’s emotive developments.
com/totalfilm
those pre-release reveals). The story delivery goes a long way, and there’s With just Aquaman’s return incoming,
has emotional stakes, honed by a lot of it here. Nor are they strong on the result is a movie that suggests
Christina Hodson’s multi-stacked expressing vulnerability, which is a this DCEU had promise, even if its
script. But The Flash also suffers from problem in a narrative that demands it. directors couldn’t quite focus it.
The other supes fare better. Michael Time to pass the baton…
PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™ Keaton serves his comeback with an KEVIN HARLEY
DISNE Y, SIGN ATUR E, WA R NER BROS.

THRILLED Babies keep Wing and

Elf-music
old pro’s measure, ensuring his
falling on… a prayer
ENTERTAINED pasta-based ‘Batsplanation’ of THE VERDICT The Miller/CGI
NODDING OFF On the To the Fast Kara Who branching timelines lands nimbly excesses weigh heavy, but the
Memories manor Superman the
ZZZZZZZZZ
clock
of murder born
Cyber
legacy f…? (although he’s perhaps a bit too agile sparky script, Keaton’s Batman,
scrotum
RUNNING TIME START 25 50 75 100 125 FINISH
for a 70-year-old). Ben Affleck looks Calle’s Kara and some ‘spoilery’
comfy in the Bat-boxers for once. The cameos bring flashes of fun.

84 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 FLAMIN’ HOT 12 TBC
Corn supremacy…
★★★★★ OUT NOW DISNEY+

W
hen news went viral that a film about the making of
the beloved cheesy snack Flamin’ Hot Cheetos was
in development, it was treated as the punchline of
a joke. However, as with the hero of the movie, you shouldn’t
underestimate this lively biopic, a classic underdog story that
proves the formula can still work.
While the directorial feature debut of actor Eva Longoria (Desperate
Housewives) tells the origin story of America’s favourite corn snack, it
is more interested in the man behind the nibbles, Richard Montañez.
After a rough start in life, Montañez landed himself a janitor job at
a Frito-Lay factory and gradually worked his way up to marketing
executive, changing the company’s fortunes along the way with
his role in the invention of the Flamin’ chow.
It’s hard not to root for Montañez, who is brought to the screen with
warmth, wit and depth by Jesse Garcia. Annie Gonzalez impresses as
his wife, too, but the film comes alive in the flair of its storytelling.
Remember how Michael Peña’s Luis narrated stories in the first two
Ant-Man movies? With some imaginative fantasy scenes, Flamin’ Hot
takes that idea and runs wild with it to great success. There is some
doubt as to the facts of the story, and Longoria hardly shakes up the
biopic formula. But the result is a tasty treat that will satisfy a thirst
for entertainment. EMILY MURRAY
‘So you mean it’s
THE VERDICT With its high-spirited energy and emotionally hot… and cheesy?!’
empowering story, Flamin’ Hot packs a pleasing punch.

STEPHEN KING
ON SCREEN 15
The talking-head zone…
★★★★★ OUT 26 JUNE DIGITAL

W
ith a whopping 348 IMDb credits – and counting – to his
name, Stephen King is among the most adapted writers
of all time. Focusing mainly on classic King movies and
miniseries, Daphné Baiwir’s documentary rounds up filmmakers from
Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) to Fritz Kiersch (Children
of the Corn) for a not-very-deep dive into the master’s filmed work.
After an awkward, dramatised intro that crowbars in as many King
references as possible, Baiwir gets down to business with a breathless
mix of talking heads, well-chosen clips and gossipy titbits. MVP Mike
Flanagan (Gerald’s Game) recalls making his own version of It with his pals
in seventh grade, and that, when it came to adapting Doctor Sleep, King
asked him: ‘If Brian De Palma turns this down, do you want to make it?’
De Palma (Carrie) is just one of the big names missing, along with
John Carpenter (Christine), David Cronenberg (The Dead Zone) and King
himself. As compensation, there’s some great behind-the-scenes
footage from Darabont’s The Green Mile showing the author taking a turn
in the electric chair. Though the interviewees raise good points about
King’s strong female characters and working-class roots, there’s so
much ground to cover you wonder if this wouldn’t have been better
as a TV series – unlike, say, The Shining. MATT GLASBY

Frequent King adapter

Frank Darabont THE VERDICT A diverting doc that, at 105 minutes,
only scrapes the surface of its subject.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 85

 Swing back into action with
teen-Spidey Miles Morales

SEE THIS
IF YOU
LIKED discovery, but it still has the capacity to
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS wow despite sky-high expectations.
Co-written by Phil Lord and Chris
SCOTT PILGRIM
VS THE WORLD
THE SPIDER-VERSE PG Miller (alongside Shang-Chi’s Dave
Callaham), this is no safe bet, lightly
2010
Shares Across…’s
Worlds-wide web… remixed sequel. As a multiverse story,
anarchic energy, it delivers on the broken promises of
villainous ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS so many live-action efforts, in that it
Schwartzman and actually goes to exquisitely realised and
opening musical

W
hen Spider-Man: Into the DIRECTORS Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp incredibly fun new worlds. Though the
montage centred on
Spider-Verse swung into Powers, Justin K. Thompson STARRING crux of the story takes a long time to
a female drummer.
cinemas in 2018, it proved Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, come into focus, the eventual reveal is
THE LEGO MOVIE something startlingly obvious, but Jason Schwartzman SCREENPLAY Phil Lord, smart and unexpected.
2014 stubbornly unchangeable: not every Chris Miller, Dave Callaham DISTRIBUTOR As Across… was made simultaneously
Lord and Miller turn
studio animation needs to look like Toy Sony Pictures RUNNING TIME 140 mins with threequel Beyond the Spider-Verse,
a corporate tie-in
into an expression Story. This epiphany has been keenly there are part-one problems to reckon
of individualistic felt since, but COVID-19-delayed with, as character arcs and major plot
creativity. sequel Across the Spider-Verse proves that Schwartzman) is one such nuisance threads are left frustratingly unresolved.
the trendsetting series remains Miles – an inept villain of the week who turns For now, Into the Spider-Verse has the
SPIDER-MAN:
ahead of the copycat competition. major threat to the multiverse. Pursuing edge over this wilder, webbier, half-
INTO THE
SPIDER-VERSE A supremely confident, ravishingly the Spot to alt-universe mega-city complete sequel double-bill, but swings
2018 rendered follow-up, Across… dazzles Mumbattan with Spider-Gwen (Hailee this ambitious and accomplished don’t
The best Spider-Man from its music-infused, Gwen-centric Steinfeld), Miles meets Spider-Man come along nearly often enough. If Into
movie ever, and
opening moments. Since becoming 2099 (Oscar Isaac) – the humourless the Spider-Verse heralded a new era for
arguably the finest
animated film of the ‘the one and only Spider-Man’, Miles leader of the multiverse-protecting animation, Across… is evidence that the
last decade. Morales (Shameik Moore) has been Spider Society – and learns a truth that adventures of the one and only
letting his Spider-duties get in the threatens to tear his world apart. Spider-Man were far from a one-off.
SON Y, DISNE Y, UNIV ERSA L , CUR ZON, WA R NER BROS.

way of his studies. The Spot (Jason It’s almost redundant to say that JORDAN FARLEY
a sequel to Into the Spider-Verse looks
PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™ incredible. But this thing looks THE VERDICT Visually
THRILLED Renaissance Man incredible, stylistically and technically astonishing, emotionally daring,
ENTERTAINED Canon Do your outstripping even its groundbreaking this spectacular sequel has
Event own thing
NODDING OFF Spot on predecessor. The ‘living comic book’ enough wit, imagination and thrills
The Mary Face-to-
the Heels Taking
ZZZZZZZZZ
Janes
it Easy
I’ll B. Back face aesthetic has been refined and to fill several worlds. But prepare
RUNNING TIME START 25 50 75 100 125 FINISH
advanced exponentially. It may not to be left hanging till the (next)
benefit from the same thrill of sequel hits screens.

86 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 FAST X 12A THE SUPER 8 YEARS 12A
★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS ★★★★★ OUT 23 JUNE CINEMAS,
CURZON HOME CINEMA
Director Louis Leterrier
(Transporter, Clash of the Titans) The Nobel prize-winning French
brings welcome injections of author Annie Ernaux constructed
energy and inventiveness to a this wistful cine-memoir with
series that has spent eight years her son and co-director David
striving to match up to 2015’s Ernaux-Briot. It consists entirely
Furious 7. Fast Five also provides of Super 8mm home-movie
a spark for a story that sees Jason footage from the ’70s, including
Momoa’s vengeful Dante Reyes clips from trips to Chile, Albania,
striking out at the Torettos. Morocco, USSR and a drought-
Momoa is a refreshingly ridden London, shot mainly by
flamboyant threat, while a Annie’s then-husband Philippe
set-piece in Rome gives X its when she was working as a
most Xhilarating moments. The teacher. Ernaux’s ever-perceptive
massive ensemble leaves some voiceover accompanies the silent
stars (including Brie Larson) a images, commenting on the
little short-changed, but Leterrier dynamics in her own family as
still makes entertainingly well as the wider changes
Don’t expect any
outrageous work of the highway more light than this unfolding across French society.
to Fast XI. NEIL SMITH throughout the film TOM DAWSON

THE BOOGEYMAN 15
Closet encounters…
★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS

S
ince 2017’s It, the Stephen King-aissance has stressed quantity
of output over quality. Now, Brit director Rob Savage (Host,
THE DAMNED Dashcam) mines a curt, cruel King story for a fitfully scary mix HYPNOTIC 15
DON’T CRY 18 of mourning allegory and monster movie that’s better than most but ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS,
★★★★★ OUT 7 JULY CINEMAS, still ill-plotted, derivative and murky. 26 JUNE DIGITAL
CURZON HOME CINEMA Chris Messina stars as widowed psychologist Will, father to Sadie
(Sophie Thatcher) and Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair). When he’s visited in You don’t expect subtlety from
British-Moroccan filmmaker Fyzal his practice by the possibly homicidal Lester (David Dastmalchian), Will Robert Rodriguez but even by his
Boulifa (Lynn + Lucy) returns with is understandably rattled. But Lester’s departure leaves behind a scarier standards, Hypnotic is a lot. Ben
this engaging mother-son drama. presence in the family’s closets, ready to emerge when the lights dim. Affleck plays a sad detective
Set largely in Tangier, it follows Which is all the time. The permanently under-lit aesthetic here feels whose daughter’s abduction
Selim (Abdellah El Hajjouji), forced rather than actually lived-in, though Savage uses the shadows remains unsolved. Could a bank
a teenager who lives with his resourcefully, teasing tension and jolts from every corner. Thatcher and heist orchestrated by a reality-
mother Fatima-Zahra (Aicha Blair impress too, tapping into persuasive reserves of fear and sorrow. bending psychic hold the key to
Tebbae). She scrapes a living by The inexplicable absence of Will for a stretch exposes sketchy the mystery? Rodriguez keeps his
selling her body, hiding everything scripting, however, which worsens as a rote but workable exercise in foot on the gas for the 94-minute
from her son. Selim also becomes grief-horror devolves into something blunter. Mourning metaphors running time, frantically
embroiled with a westerner who is gradually assume the over-literal shape of a nasty creature, almost as if dispatching set-pieces and twists.
refurbishing a riad, a transactional writers Bryan Woods/Scott Beck (working with Mark Heyman) wanted to Committed performances (from
relationship that has consequences. redo A Quiet Place. As in King’s story, The Boogeyman might have worked Alice Braga, William Fichtner
A film about illusions shattered better with the closet door ajar ‘just a crack’, tempting the imagination and Affleck) amp up the camp
and innocence lost, the result is to fill the gap. KEVIN HARLEY appeal of a sci-fi thriller that
another smartly played character becomes more endearing the
study from the impressive Boulifa. THE VERDICT Close(t) but no cigar: solid casting and scares more ridiculous it gets.
JAMES MOTTRAM mix with thin plotting and middling monsters. LEILA LATIF

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 87

TWILIGHT SMOOTH TALK 15
(SZÜRKÜLET) 15 1986 ★★★★★ OUT 26 JUNE BD
1990 ★★★★★ OUT NOW BD EXTRAS ★★★★★ Featurettes, Shorts
EXTRAS ★★★★★ Featurettes, Booklet
Winner of Sundance’s Grand Jury
Loosely adapted from Friedrich Prize, this taut, unsettling drama
Dürrenmatt’s late-50s crime was a career starter for Laura Dern,
novella The Pledge (which also terrific as teenage daydreamer
inspired Sean Penn’s 2001 film), Connie. The initial focus is on
this is one of only two feature films Connie arguing with her parents
completed by the late Hungarian and fooling around with boys. But
director and Béla Tarr collaborator the mood turns sinister with the
György Fehér. Set in a heavily introduction of Arnold Friend
forested region of northern (Treat Williams), a thirtysomething
Hungary, it centres on Felügyelõ posing as a teen. Acting like
(Péter Haumann), a detective on the a nightmarish James Dean, he
eve of retirement attempting to pursues Connie with increasingly
track down a child killer. Shot in predatory zeal, swiftly turning
long takes and murky monochrome, Joyce Chopra’s film into a horror
it practically dispenses with plot, about lost innocence. Criterion’s
offering instead a well-sustained Mr. Punch, we’re package includes new interviews
- if somewhat oppressive - mood gonna need a with key players and three vintage
of hopeless foreboding. TOM DAWSON bigger doll’s house Chopra shorts. JACK SHEPHERD

ENTER THE VIDEO STORE:

EMPIRE OF SCREAMS 18
Sit back, rewind…
1984-1989 ★★★★★ OUT 26 JUNE BD
EXTRAS ★★★★★ Commentaries, Alternative versions (The Dungeonmaster),
HOPPING MAD: Storyboard comparison (Dolls), Featurettes, Galleries, Book, Posters, Art cards HARD TARGET 18
THE MR. VAMPIRE 1993 ★★★★★ OUT 26 JUNE 4K UHD
SEQUELS 15

F
ounded in 1983, Charles Band’s Empire Pictures was, in many EXTRAS ★★★★★ Book, Lobby cards, Poster
1986-1989 ★★★★★ OUT NOW BD ways, the successor to Roger Corman’s New World Pictures.
A L A M Y, A R ROW, EUR EK A , PA R A MOUN T, SECOND RUN, SON Y/CR I T ER ION, STUDIOCA N A L , UNI V ERSA L , WA R NER
EXTRAS ★★★★★ Commentaries, While small in scale, Empire’s output (primarily low-budget John Woo’s first US feature
Featurettes, Extended scenes, Booklet horror, fantasy and sci-fi) may not have troubled the insides of looks a tad primitive by today’s
cinemas all that much but proved a perfect fit for the burgeoning action standards, but still packs
Despite the international success of video rental market and also served up the odd mini-masterpiece. a punch as Jean-Claude Van
the 1985 Hong Kong horror-comedy While this lavishly appointed box set doesn’t include any of Empire’s Damme’s mullet-favouring
Mr. Vampire, its sequels have gone very best (Trancers, Re-Animator, Prison) or even best-known (Ghoulies, combat veteran Chance Boudreaux
largely unseen in the UK, until now. Troll) productions, it does find room for a couple of low-budget treats in goes head-to-head with a band
If none scare up as many guffaws Stuart Gordon’s dark and playful fairy tale Dolls and Peter Manoogian’s of manhunters who kill the
as the original, standalone films enjoyably goofy Rocky-in-space flick Arena. Despite intriguing set-ups, homeless for sport. The New
Mr. Vampire II, III, and IV remain the remaining trio - baffling sci-fi-fantasy anthology The Dungeonmaster, Orleans locales add a distinctive
easy recommendations for fans of toothless creature-feature Cellar Dweller and Gordon’s battling-bots flavour to the chaos that ensues,
jiangshi cinema’s hopping corpses, effort Robot Jox - ultimately fail to live up to their inherent potential. with Aliens’ Lance Henriksen
seductive spooks and magical Taken together, though, the films accurately reflect the hit-or-miss and The Mummy’s Arnold Vosloo
monks. The absence of Mr. Vampire quality of Empire Pictures’ prodigious output over the six years it was in giving as good as they get as
1992 (the only direct follow-up business. Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams is also a fittingly eclectic JCVD’s primary opponents.
to the first film) is alleviated reminder of the video rental market’s heyday. ANTON VAN BEEK Sandwiched between Universal
somewhat by the inclusion of Soldier and Timecop, it’s the
exuberant 1989 franchise knock-off THE VERDICT An enticing offer for anyone who spent their Muscles from Brussels at his
Vampire vs Vampire. ANTON VAN BEEK formative years browsing the shelves of their local video store. Hollywood pinnacle. NEIL SMITH

88 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 THE FIRM 15 BROTHERHOOD NATIONAL LAMPOON’S FISTS IN THE
1993 ★★★★★ OUT NOW 4K UHD OF THE WOLF: VACATION 15 POCKET 12
EXTRAS ★★★★★ None DIRECTOR’S CUT 15 1983 ★★★★★ OUT 26 JUNE 4K UHD 1965 ★★★★★ OUT NOW BD
2001 ★★★★★ OUT NOW BD, 4K UHD EXTRAS ★★★★★ Commentary, Poster, EXTRAS ★★★★★ Featurettes, Essay
A 30th-anniversary 4K release for EXTRAS ★★★★★ Commentaries, Art cards, Bumper sticker
Sydney Pollack’s John Grisham Documentaries, Deleted scenes, On the extras, Bernardo Bertolucci
adap which, despite its BO success, Alternate cut, Interviews, Featurettes The original Griswold family describes Marco Bellocchio’s debut
emerges as one of Tom Cruise’s adventure: not, perhaps, the most as Italy’s answer to France’s New
lesser 90s vehicles. What should Stylish to a fault and mashing obvious choice for a 4K upgrade, Wave. Still startling, Bellocchio’s
have been a straightforward together many genres (period but a welcome one all the same. For seismic drama casts Lou Castel as
thriller about a Harvard graduate romance, thriller, creature feature, their annual holiday, Chevy Chase’s a pent-up young man planning to
working for a corrupt, cultish firm martial arts actioner), director everyman Clark insists on driving kill himself and family members
is instead overlong and overstuffed Christophe Gans’ French-language wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) and so that his brother can stand
with bit-part characters. Still, blockbuster shouldn’t work. But it their kids (Anthony Michael Hall, a chance of fleeing the nest.
Pollack’s polished direction, does, spectacularly so, and two Dana Barron) cross-country to Bellocchio’s taut direction
Holly Hunter’s Oscar-nommed decades after its cinema release, this visit Walley World. What could go contrasts keenly with Castel’s
supporting turn, Cruise’s audacious epic finally has a similarly wrong? Well, everything - not least coiled energies, bringing focus
boyishness and a magnetic Gene dazzling disc release. The set’s three a classic run-in with John Candy’s to the film’s fierce institutional
Hackman hold things together. platters serve up a stunning 4K security guard. Directed by Harold critiques. A radical response to
But you can’t help feeling that, restoration of the superior Ramis from John Hughes’ script, neo-realism, the result lands like
released today, The Firm would be Director’s Cut alongside a wealth it’s a very 80s but still very funny an arthouse horror film, its impact
a streaming sensation forgotten of bonuses, including the truncated jaunt, one that lances the American bolstered by the liturgical intensity
within a week. JACK SHEPHERD Theatrical Cut. ANTON VAN BEEK Dream like a boil. JAMES MOTTRAM of Morricone’s score. KEVIN HARLEY

THE KID TBC

Baby and the Tramp…
1921 ★★★★★ OUT 26 JUNE BD EXTRAS ★★★★★ Commentary,
Featurettes, Deleted scenes, Archive footage, Short, Essay

R
ight up to The Mandalorian’s childcare programme, the
narrative template set by Charlie Chaplin’s debut feature
has been widely adopted. Revisit The Kid, and you will
understand why. ‘A picture with a smile – and perhaps, a tear,’
as the title card has it, Chaplin’s foundling tale is a graceful model
of beautifully integrated compassion and wit.
With gentle empathy, the set-up sees a lost woman turned out on
the street with her baby. Doomed to penury, she abandons the child.
Chaplin’s Tramp finds the kid and raises him, but five years on, the
mother has become successful and wants her son (Jackie Coogan) back.
Chaplin elegantly balances innocence and experience, with the baby’s
wailing hitting the heart as gun-toting heavies find him in a car. When
the Tramp shuffles on-screen and finds the child, Chaplin handles
the ensuing tonal shifts with feathery lightness. Though he flirts with
sentimentality, the ratio of pathos to pratfalls is a miracle of dexterity.
The Tramp’s fight with a tank-chested bruiser is hilarious; his face when
he loses the kid to Victorian officialdom is heart-rending.
Coogan mixes cheek and charm winningly as the naughty nipper, too,
while the idea of charity binds the film in a warming thematic embrace.
Alongside a sparkling-fresh transfer, Criterion’s reissue includes a fine
commentary from Chaplin scholar Charles Maland. KEVIN HARLEY
The kid stays
in the picture THE VERDICT Chaplin’s move from slapstick shorts to
serio-comic features is a bundle of joy: sweet, witty and tender.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 89

 Super debut:
Heroes made a
big impact in 2006

CLASSIC TV
HEROES
Save the cheerleader, save the world…
2006–2010 AVAILABLE ON DVD, BD, DIGITAL
A VERY
SPECIAL

T
he brainchild of Teen Wolf Too screenwriter each season focusing on a new group of characters,
EPISODE
Tim Kring, Heroes was nothing short only to scrap that idea when he saw how audiences
of a revelation when it exploded onto and critics responded to the first season’s ensemble.
television screens in September 2006. Arriving at He really should have trusted his initial instincts.
COMPANY MAN, S1, 2007
a time when superheroes were not ubiquitous on Incredibly, the third and fourth seasons went
Written by Bryan Fuller, this
screens big and small, Kring’s serialised drama from bad to worse, with audiences tuning out relatively self-contained episode
about ordinary people developing extraordinary in their millions as storylines became mired in finally spills the beans on Jack
powers was soon being touted as the next great increasingly convoluted series lore, and characters Coleman’s morally ambiguous
piece of genre TV. Across the course of Season 1, flip-flopped from hero to villain and back again at hero-hunter Noah Bennet,
it was hard to argue otherwise. random as the writers struggled to find anything flipping between the past and
present to reveal his history
Operating under the catchy mantra ‘Save the fresh to do with them (even pulling the tired old
with ‘The Company’ and the
cheerleader, save the world,’ the debut season of amnesia trick on a couple of occasions). By the time
strength of his allegiance to
Heroes was a near-perfect example of televisual of the show’s cancellation in 2010, ratings had sunk his family – including super-
storytelling. Unlike so many other serialised dramas, from the 16.97m US high of the Season 2 opener to powered adopted daughter
not a single one of its 23 episodes feels wasted. The just 4.41m for the Season 4 finale. Claire (Hayden Panettiere).
fascinating characters, intricately woven mysteries, A quickly forgotten, 13-episode revival series (Heroes
and gripping core storyline – centred on visions Reborn) followed in 2015, bringing little new to the
of a city-destroying explosion somehow linked to franchise beyond dull lead characters that came across
Zachary Quinto’s chilling, super-powered serial as pale imitations of their predecessors. But none
killer, Sylar - steadily build towards the first of these missteps diminishes the impact of Heroes’
season’s thrilling finale. spectacular debut season. Even today, in a media
But how do you follow up on that? As the show’s landscape swamped with superheroes, the show’s
second season launched, it became clear that Kring initial 23-episode run still feels fresh and exciting.
had no idea. Perhaps this was hardly surprising, If only it had ended there and then, Heroes would be
UNIV ERSA L

given that the showrunner subsequently revealed remembered as a genuine TV great rather than the
he originally planned Heroes as an anthology series, missed opportunity it became. ANTON VAN BEEK

90 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023

 EXTRAS
COLLECTIBLES
FUNKO POP! COLLECTIBLE/TOY
RETURN OF THE JEDI LEGO BATCAVE
OUT NOW SHADOW BOX
You’ve heard of Build-A-Bear. Now OUT TBC
it’s time to build-a-desert-skiff with Celebrate Batman’s return (in The Flash)
a new pair of Pop!s, one featuring with this Batman Returns set, which
Chewie, the other Luke (showing niftily stuffs the entire Batcave into a
off his new apple-green lightsaber). display box bearing a Bat-sign cutout.
Funko is also marking Episode VI’s The 3,981-piece tableau features movable
40th birthday with a new bobblehead items (furniture, doors, the picture on
take on Jabba the Hutt and his droid- the big telly) you can control from the
bothering bestie Salacious B. Crumb, back, plus a Batmobile (1992 model) with
and a Pop! Moment capturing Luke and opening roof and hidden shooters. And
Dad Vader’s fateful rematch. Give in there are seven minifigures: Catwoman
to your fandom at funkoeurope.com. (with whip), Penguin (fish and brolly),
Max Shreck (Walken stick), Bruce Wayne,
Alfred and two versions of the Dark
Mike. Open up lego.com.

ACCESSORIES
LOUNGEFLY ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE
OUT NOW
Introducing a new Marvel variant: the lenticular Spider-Man.
Give either of these items – a mini-backpack and a zip-around
wallet - a tilt and the pic switches from Miles Morales to
Spider-Gwen. Our heroes are framed by a red, glow-in-the-dark
hexagon-slash-interdimensional portal, and there are more
small details on the fronts, backs and insides than there are
Spider-people (give or take). Make a thwip! to funkoeurope.com.

COLLECTIBLES
JURASSIC PARK TUBBZ
OUT 30 JUNE
Hollywood creates blockbuster. Numskull
Designs creates range of cosplaying
ducks based on blockbuster. Fans
recreate blockbuster, with added wack-
FUNKO, LEGO, LOUNGEFLY, MERCHOID, NUMSK ULL

wack sound effects… The Jurassic Park

TUBBZ collection has now expanded to
nine, with the addition of Velociraptor,
Dilophosaurus and game (over) warden,
Robert Muldoon. Each 9cm-high PVC
duck comes with a bathtub display stand;
get your feet wet at merchoid.com/uk.
MATTHEW LEYLAND

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 91

 A-holes and Oedipal
odysseys…

GUARDIANS OF THE
GALAXY VOL. 3
★★★★★
After his wicked comeback
on James Gunn’s The
Suicide Squad, John
Murphy replaces former
Guardians composer
Tyler Bates here. More
a departure than an
evolution, Murphy’s score
maxes (War)lock’n’load
guitars, liturgical chorales
and rocket-fuelled action
cues. If the results lack the
Tom Cruise, taking posture old cavalier spirit, they
correction to the next level don’t want for emotional
grandeur: Did That Look
Cool? milks choir and
CLASSIC SOUNDTRACK orchestra for dear life, while
That Hurts reworks old

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE cues to shamelessly heart-

wringing effect.

DANNY ELFMAN POINT MUSIC

D
anny Elfman had his work cut out when Maintaining the original show’s 60s spy moves
he accepted his Mission. Sure, he arrived within the frame of a modern score, Elfman is
with one clear steer: he knew what not some distance from his more whimsical, lyrical
to do, given that his predecessor Alan Silvestri’s work for Tim Burton. The closest visit to old haunts BEAU IS AFRAID
score for the 1996 film had been rejected. is the melancholy chorale and gothic brood of ★★★★★
Otherwise, Elfman had just a month to nail Betrayal, though you can hear some of Batman’s After Midsommar, Bobby
an intricate blend of homage and reinvention. thrust in Big Trouble. Krlic reteams with Ari
And he had to answer Brian De Palma’s demands Elsewhere, Elfman mixes tempered rhythmic Aster for another mutable
exercise in queasy atonality.
for multiple themes and tones, be they dark, elements (low bass, scuttling percussion) and
Eerie strings, spectral
romantic, energetic, operatic or muscular. restrained suspense cues alongside themes for horns and depth-charge
‘Brian is not Mr Mellow,’ Elfman deadpanned Ethan Hunt, the IMF and the film’s romantic throbs nail a mood of
of his intense director. Elfman’s response elements. Love Theme? brims with mystery, never claustrophobic anxiety,
was something Tom Cruise might approve of: fully resolved. The marvellously titled Mole Hunt from the Alien-esque
under pressure, he sized up to the intensity and is Schifrin-esque, Red Handed fleetingly evokes Always with Water to
the folk-horror-ish The
worked on instinct. The ordinarily impeccable Hitchcock/Herrmann and The Disc echoes Ennio
Forest. Suburban Dream is
Silvestri’s score had leaned heavily on Bruckheimer- Morricone. The Heist is a terrific musical set-piece, initially welcoming but too
esque bombast – how those guitars squealed. part weightless woodwinds and part low-end evocative of Colin Stetson’s
By contrast, Elfman aced a fluent display of tension, while the stretch from Train Time Reborn (Hereditary)
taut, suspenseful and thematic orchestral onwards brings out Elfman’s kinetic best: to be wholly soothing,
storytelling, brassy and forthright but also Zoom B sticks the landing emphatically. while guiding, ethereal
vocal melodies suggest
unpredictable and light-footed. The score represented both a departure for
subliminal designs at
Not that he didn’t have something to cling to. Elfman and new directions for action movies, away
work beneath the surface
Two of Lalo Schifrin’s themes for the TV series from action-hero bluster and on to more symphonic abstraction.
A 24 MUSIC, DISNE Y, PA R A MOUNT

help give the score structure and momentum. and subtly developed approaches. Different
Urgent, jazzy and cool, the main theme bookends composers would take the baton for subsequent
the soundtrack nicely. The Plot, meanwhile, Missions, many terrifically – notably Hans Zimmer,
haunts the score in various (non-latex) guises Michael Giacchino and Lorne Balfe. But it was
from Sleeping Beauty onwards, standing as a model Elfman who showed how to light the fuse.
of how to honour, update and integrate classic cues. KEVIN HARLEY

92 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 One giant leap for the Legend of
Zelda series. Quite literally, mate

2
MORE

Recent thumb-twiddlers...

AFTER US
★★★★★
OUT NOW PC, PS5,
XBOX SERIES
Following the charming
Arise: A Simple Story,
developer Piccolo suffers
a case of difficult-second-
game syndrome with this
handsome but heavy-
handed eco-adventure.
As luminous life spirit Gaia
retrieves animal spirits
to bring them back from
extinction, her journey
is hindered by stodgy
controls, confounding world
GAMES design and bland puzzles.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA:

TEARS OF THE KINGDOM
One game to Hyrule them all… LAYA’S HORIZON
★★★★★ OUT NOW SWITCH ★★★★★
OUT NOW iOS,
ANDROID

W
hen The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the rain-slicked cliffs, as long as there’s an overhang The makers of Alto’s
Wild launched alongside the Switch somewhere near the top). ‘Recall’ pauses and Odyssey successfully
to rapturous praise in 2017, many rewinds the trajectory of any object: you can rise back transpose the distinctive
wondered how Nintendo could possibly top it. into the sky by clinging onto a fallen rock, or return ambience of that game into
Six years later, we have our answer. Back a projectile to sender with interest. With ‘Fuse’, 3D with this sometimes
calming, often exhilarating
then, players regularly shared 30-second clips you combine any material with a weapon to increase
wingsuit adventure.
showcasing ingenuity or catastrophe: from unlikely its durability while transforming its capabilities. Its two-thumb scheme
but successful puzzle solutions to improvised Two spears can be joined to jab enemies from a safe offers remarkably fine
combat approaches gone horribly wrong. Tears distance, while a sword can become a whip with the control as you swoop
of the Kingdom seems to have been built with that help of a Lizalfos tail. Or you can mount a lamp on and glide through
in mind, offering up a new set of construction- your shield to illuminate the dingy depths below. a mountain range to pursue
birds, compete in races
based powers that give the player almost Best of all is ‘Ultrahand’, which gives you the
and more.
unparalleled freedom to solve puzzles and power to glue multiple items together. Inspired
defeat enemies their own way. by the likes of Fortnite and Minecraft, it lets you
The playful approach of this direct successor is assemble a vast range of homemade contraptions,
prefaced by a prologue which grants the series’ elfin from gliders to ground vehicles to steerable laser-
NINTENDO, PR IVATE DIV ISION, TA K E-T WO INTER ACTIV E, NE TFLIX

protagonist Link a full set of hearts and a maxed-out firing robots. If the process seems fiddly at first,
stamina bar… before an encounter with returning a later ability remembers your most recent builds
villain Ganondorf takes him to the brink of death. and allows you to reproduce them in seconds.
He awakens in a world that’s subtly changed at The challenge has been heightened to account for
ground level, but expanded vertically in both such powers, but even the colossal guardians of
directions, from a serene floating archipelago Hyrule’s elemental temples – bigger and better
above the clouds to a gloomy labyrinth beneath the than the original’s Divine Beasts – are no match
surface where the game’s toughest enemies lie. for an inventive player. That irresistible combination
But it’s Link’s new abilities that are the star of design craftsmanship and self-expression makes
attraction. ‘Ascend’ lets you pass through solid for a landmark video game.
material above you (no more struggling to climb CHRIS SCHILLING

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 93

 2
MORE

Schlock and aww…

SHOCKING CINEMA
OF THE 70S
★★★★★
Revised edition of a book
first published in 2002,
offering a lively collection
of essays on cinema
outside the American
mainstream. Editors Xavier
Mendik and Julian Petley
BOOKS
also lend their voices to
this journey through the
CREATING BACK TO THE FUTURE:
seedier underbelly of 70s
counterculture. Across five
THE MUSICAL
sections and 13 chapters, ★★★★★ MICHAEL KLASTORIN ABRAMS
the book tackles both the
obvious (Death Wish, The

Y
ou should make Back to the Future into That Back to the Future: The Musical did eventually
Last House on the Left)
and the less expected a musical,’ said Leslie Zemeckis to her make it to London’s West End in 2021 is thus a feat
(Japanese grindhouse, director husband Robert after watching to rival Doc Brown’s DeLorean – and even then it
Canadian horror). Full- the Broadway production of The Producers in had to face the critics with an understudy playing
colour illustrations and 2005. Fifteen years later, that shrewd suggestion his role. If you’ve seen the show you’ll know how
historical context further became theatrical reality when the stage version ingeniously it pulls off the original’s time-travelling
illuminate all the smut ’n’
of Mr Zemeckis’ 1985 classic had its premiere antics while wisely jettisoning some of its less
sleaze. JOEL HARLEY
at Manchester Opera House. palatable elements. (No dressing room for you,
Klastorin’s book tells what happened during gun-toting Libyans!) If you have yet to, though, this
those 15 years - an exhausting period of trial tome is the next best thing, containing as it does
and error that saw one director exit over creative not just a full breakdown of how its script came
differences and an opening scheduled to coincide together but also a complete libretto of all the songs.
with the film’s 30th anniversary that proved Robert Zemeckis, meanwhile, is on hand to provide
unfeasible. That aforementioned Mancunian try-out a glowing afterword in which he admits he once
GUILTY PLEASURES
run, meanwhile, was curtailed by COVID-19. considered directing it himself. NEIL SMITH
★★★★★
Firmly in the ‘audience
studies’ camp, Alice
Guilluy’s cheerful romcom MOTHER NATURE ON KUBRICK HORROR FILMS
survey springs Sweet ★★★★★ (REVISED EDITION) FOR CHILDREN
Home Alabama (2002) JAMIE LEE CURTIS, KARL STEVENS, ★★★★★ ★★★★★
on British, French and
RUSSELL GOLDMAN TITAN COMICS JAMES NAREMORE BFI CATHERINE LESTER BLOOMSBURY
German focus groups to
see if they find it gratingly
American or a sugary Fresh from her Oscar- Naremore’s incisive Making a case for horror
treat. There’s a strong winning turn in EEAAO, study combines close cinema as an essential
whiff of repurposed PhD JLC takes the intriguing readings of Stanley part of childhood
here (charts and box-office step of mounting a Kubrick’s films with experience, author/
tables alert!), but alongside
graphic novel based on a script insights into their production lecturer Catherine Lester dives
feminist insights, Guilluy
A BR A MS, BFI, BLOOMSBURY, SE A N EBSWORTH BA R NES, TITA N

also draws compelling she’s set to direct – a supernatural histories and cultural contexts. into our formative kindertraumas,
contrasts between eco-thriller about Native American This revised edition of the 2007 tracing a route from Gremlins to
Euro viewers’ tearful, spirits roused by oil extraction original includes references to Hotel Transylvania. Thoughtful and
‘tingly’ engagement with in New Mexico. It’s a clever way the wealth of Kubrick scholarship insightful, this essay collection
romcoms and their scorn of seeding anticipation for the that has emerged in the also explores the implications
for US consumerism.
upcoming movie, albeit one that intervening years. Naremore also of scary movies that cater to a
And who knew about
slightly exposes its narrative reassesses the reputations of younger audience, identifying
the enviable German-
multiplex phenomenon of shortcomings. A couple of gory final work Eyes Wide Shut and the the ‘horrific child’ as a key
Prosecco-packed Ladies’ impalements and a Raiders-style posthumously produced Spielberg hallmark. A solid rebuttal to more
Night? KATE STABLES face-melting are among the pairing A.I. Artificial Intelligence. reactionary takes on moppets’
striking visuals. NEIL SMITH JOSH SLATER-WILLIAMS viewing habits. JOEL HARLEY

94 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

CINEMA CELEBRATED
CEE L E B R AT E D AND
A N D DEBATED. BOO
BOOS
BOOSTING
O S T I N G YYOUR
O U R MMOVIE
O V I E GGENIUS
E N I U S TTOO SSUPERHERO
U P E R H E R O LEVELS…
LEVELS…
 IS IT BOLLOCKS? ALTERNATIVE
Film Buff investigates the facts behind outlandish movie plots. BOX OFFICE
The biggest movies…
THAT COULD BE INDY FILMS
H
MONT 1
T H I S I L L VO L .
B
KILL

01 FREE WILLIE [SIC] 1994 ...........................................................................$153.7M

02 JUNIOR 1994 ..................................................................................................$108.4M
03 THE THIN RED LINE 1998 ........................................................................$98.1M
04 PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES 1987.....................................$49.5M
05 KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES 2016 .......................................$29.9M
Q In movies people habitually rip cannulas 06 THE JACKET 2005 .........................................................................................$21.7M
out of their veins when they wake up in hospital. 07 MY LIFE IN RUINS 2009 ...........................................................................$20.5M
08 WHIP IT 2009 .................................................................................................. $16.7M
Is this what the doctor ordered? 09 THE BOOK OF HENRY 2017 ......................................................................$4.6M

A Dr Kate Scoffings, GP 10 DIG! 2004 ............................................................................................................. $0.2M

A cannula is a tiny plastic tube inserted into a vein usually to give fluids
straight into the venous system and sometimes to deliver drugs –
antibiotics, or other fluids – or for blood transfusion, for example.
Anything that needs to have a quick action. Really a nurse or health-care
assistant should remove them before someone is discharged. They can
ON LOCATION REEL SPOTS BEHIND THE CAMERA
do it safely, with minimal pain and minimal bleeding. While you could
remove it yourself, you would probably make a bit of a mess and it would
sting a bit. Technically, removing them isn’t a difficult or complex
procedure – once you’ve removed the exceptionally sticky dressing
(which is a bit of an art in itself!), the actual cannula can slide out easily.
On removal they tend to cause a lot of bleeding unless direct pressure
is applied immediately. We’re not talking arterial pumping here, but
certainly a steady trickle that would spoil your shirt. The wider the
bore of the original cannula then the more blood will ooze out.
Most characters in films who have a drip don’t actually seem to have
a reason to have one, apart from it makes them look more ‘hospital-y’
and they can do the dramatic ‘rip out the drip’ thing (see also nasal
cannulae for oxygen). In the UK if someone can drink then it is much
more effective to have them drinking fluids by mouth than going in via
drip. So if the person is well enough to leap up and rip out their drip WHAT? Kellerman’s – the leafy upstate New York vacation resort
I would assume they could also manage a quick glug of water. Other for Baby and her family, and home to snake-hipped hoofer
treatments that go in by IV access would tend to be given over quite Johnny, in Dirty Dancing. This is your dance space, let’s cha-cha…
a short period of time. So, for example, an antibiotic infusion would WHERE? Not NY: Mountain Lake Lodge nestles
usually be run in over a few minutes, not hours and hours. in a forest in Pembroke, Virginia.
PA R A MOUNT, UNIV ERSA L

GO? Unchanged since the 1986 filming, Mountain Lake has the
VERDICT BOLLOCKS gazebo for merengue lessons, the corner to not sit in, and the
lift lake (which recedes and fills according to the season).

Want us to investigate if a movie scenario is bollocks or snapped yourself at a film location? Contact us at totalfilm@futurenet.com

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 10 OF THE BEST

TRAIN CRASHES IN MOVIES

Keeping track…
THE FUGITIVE BACK TO THE FUTURE
In the nick of time, a shackled Dr. PART III
Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) A twofer. Moments after returning
leaps clear from an overturned from 1885, where his hijacked train
prison bus as a high-speed train plunged off unfinished tracks into a
smashes into it, kickstarting the ravine, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox)
wrongly convicted prisoner’s quest sees the time-travelling DeLorean
to track down his wife’s one-armed smashed into smithereens by an

1 killer and prove his own innocence.

2 oncoming freight train.

THE GENERAL THE GREATEST

Nothing beats doing it for real. In SHOW ON EARTH
1926, Buster Keaton had one chance Cecil B. DeMille’s models are still
to get silent film’s most expensive impressive 71 years later as an
stunt right, utilising six cameras. attempt to rob a travelling circus
The bridge duly collapsed under the results in a crash involving two trains
weight of a 26-ton train that stayed and a car. Spielberg credited this
submerged until it was salvaged scene with inspiring him to make

3 for iron during World War Two.

4 movies, as seen in The Fabelmans.

KNOWING UNBREAKABLE
Leaving the laws of physics at Seen through news footage of
the door, a derailed subway train the aftermath, evil genius Elijah
shows zero loss of momentum Price (Samuel L. Jackson) callously
as it smashes through concrete disregards human life in his
pillars, another train and numerous search for a superhero. He causes
DISNE Y, ENT ERTA INMENT ONE, EON, M A RV EL ST UDIOS, PA R A MOUNT, SON Y, SUMMIT ENT ERTA INMENT, UNITED A RTISTS, UNIV ERSA L , WA R NER BROS.

hapless commuters. Thankfully, a derailment that kills 131 of 132

Nicolas Cage survives the Wilhelm passengers, leaving only David

5 scream-accompanied CG carnage.
6 Dunn (Bruce Willis) unharmed.

ANT-MAN SKYFALL
An epic battle on a tiny scale James Bond’s (Daniel Craig) pursuit
takes place on a child’s toy track. of Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem)
Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll) faces through subterranean London
an oncoming Thomas the Tank takes a turn when the former
Engine, which comedically skews agent detonates an explosive
expectations by hitting him and that opens a nearby Tube tunnel
anticlimactically falling off the and derails an entire train aimed

7 tracks. Of course it would – it’s a toy!

8 directly at 007. Delays very likely.

THE BRIDGE ON SUPER 8

THE RIVER KWAI Lens flares abound as a gang of
‘What have I done?’ Alec Guinness’ movie-making kids bagging the free
Colonel Nicholson redeems himself production value of a passing loco
in his final moments, falling on the witness complete chaos as it hits a
detonator and exploding the bridge. car and derails. The children dodge
The train carrying enemy soldiers the flying debris, while an extra-
and dignitaries then, right on cue, terrestrial being transported by

9 plummets into the titular river.

10 the military scarpers. PAUL TANTER

Did we miss something? Let us know on @totalfilm

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 ON
SALE
NOW!

DIGITAL ONLINE PRINT

SUBSCRIBE TODAY AND SAVE!
www.magazinesdirect.com/whi
 BUFF

THIS MONTH
Over the Edge and Bully

W
elcome to Golden Grahams, my
new column spotlighting ace
movies that are underseen or
underappreciated. Films in the
canon get enough love. Let’s talk about the
finest obscurities and oddities, or the odd
more-famous title that doesn’t get the respect
it deserves. I’ll tell you, you tell your mates.
There aren’t many better pictures about
disaffected youth than Jonathan Kaplan’s Over
the Edge (1979) and Larry Clark’s Bully (2001).
I discovered both when I was a disaffected
youth myself, and now that I’m a disaffected
middle-aged man who’s nostalgic for his
disaffected youth, they retain their power.
Both movies are based on true stories. Over
the Edge, set in the suburban community of New O N E M O R E…
Granada (‘Tomorrow’s city… today!’ chirps the GOAT 2016
Fraternity hazing rituals at
roadside sign), realistically portrays kids’
a Southern college. Brutal,
resentments and rage when they’re presented brilliant. Starring, of all
with nothing to do but loiter at a people, Nick Jonas.
crappy prefab ‘rec’. Cops, teachers,
parents – none of them gets it.
The only escape is to blast rock
music, drop acid and shoot
at a passing cop car
with an air rifle before stereotypes but instead
returning to identikit recognises the yawning
condominiums for a generation gap. The young
tea of stuffed peppers. actors are stellar, including
Bully, meanwhile, takes a 14-year-old Matt Dillon
place in a flatline Florida making his debut at the
where our rich-kid protagonists centre of Over the Edge.
are slackers and stoners who cruise their A handful of critics got Bully. Roger
convertibles from mall to arcade to beach. Ebert hailed it a ‘masterpiece’ and suggested it
Empty days pass in a numbed haze of booze, Editor-at-Large might even help to explain America’s epidemic
weed and sex, lots of sex. Not all of it of high-school shootings. The Guardian labelled
consensual – the titular Bobby (Nick Stahl)
Jamie Graham unearths it a ‘magnificent, coldly brilliant movie… In Cold
rapes both Ali and Lisa (Bijou Phillips, Rachel underrated classics… Blood for the new decade.’ But most saw only
Miner). Bobby has a history of violence. He’s the graphic nudity, as unable to fathom these
dissed and beaten ‘best friend’ Marty (Brad kids as the adults are in the movie. And while
Renfro) since they were toddlers.
See this if you liked… Over the Edge received decent reviews, it is, 44
So Marty, Ali and Lisa decide to kill him. years on, a criminally underseen title. Kurt
They rope in some other kids who are equally REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE 1955 Cobain namechecking it as a favourite movie
Nicholas Ray’s milestone drama. When it
unplugged from any sense of real-world didn’t change that. Nor did Arrow awarding
comes to troubled youths, James Dean’s
consequences. The murder is planned the leader of the pack. it a handsome Blu-ray release in 2021.
heedlessly. The act itself is messy and sad. Clark’s infamous debut Kids is also great but
Both films have an eye for banality, an IF.... 1968 Bully is the film that everyone should know.
Malcolm McDowell leads a violent uprising at school.
ear for music and dialogue. They taste the Kaplan went on to reach wider audiences with
Kubrick took one look and had his Alex DeLarge.
copper-throated anger, touch the moral void. The Accused but it’s a far lesser film than Over
And both films have a nose for controversy, HEATHERS 1989 the Edge. Watch these underappreciated
LIONSGATE, WA R NER BROS.

with Over the Edge being held back from UK Cliques, teen queens, peer pressure: this morbidly pictures. I promise you won’t be bored.
distribution for five years, while Bully director funny satire shoves a bomb under it all.
Clark was accused of being a dirty old man given
ELEPHANT 2003
JAMIE WILL RETURN NEXT ISSUE…
his camera’s unapologetic mooning over young Gus Van Sant’s uninflected look at a high-school FOR MORE RECOMMENDATIONS, FOLLOW
flesh. Neither drama portrays adults as uncaring shooting. No sensation, no solutions, just sadness. @JAMIE_GRAHAM9 ON TWITTER

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 99

 BUFF

Celebrating the standout stock characters in movies…

SHIFTY LAWYERS
WORDS PAUL TANTER
SPOI
L
ALER ER

T
here’s one way to make crime pay: become a lawyer. Defend T!
the innocent, prosecute bad guys, draw up contracts and
finesse those loopholes – any way you look at it, there’s a fee
involved. Whether they’re chasing ambulances or crushing
the weak underfoot like agents of corporate greed, the Shifty Lawyer
is a cinematic mainstay and a gift for character actors. Typically
presented as either a big shot with an expense account or a penny-
pincher wearing a cheap tie, both types are willing to fight dirty to win
and lick their lips at the sight of dollar signs. Often as corrupt as the
criminals they represent, to them the law is a challenge to be overcome
and justice a product to be profited from. These guys will keep filling
their pockets and sating their greed until their eventual comeuppance.
Buff cross-examines the legal eagles getting in on the action…

DAVID KLEINFELD
SEAN PENN, CARLITO’S WAY (1993)
Penn was never fully happy with his performance, continually begging
director Brian De Palma for more takes during filming. He needn’t
have worried, though – the actor delivered a masterclass of smarmy
narcissism as an insecure, coked-up sleazeball who steals a mobster
client’s money and then assists his jailbreak from Rikers Island prison
barge purely so he can bludgeon him and watch him drown. Having
saved best friend Carlito (Al Pacino) from serving a 30-year sentence
and literally laughing at his plans to go straight, he then offers him
up to the DA in exchange for leniency on his own case. ‘You ain’t a
lawyer no more, Dave. You a gangster now,’ sums up Carlito. Kleinfeld
reaps the consequences of his own crooked actions, getting stabbed
and finally gunned down in his hospital bed.

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JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 101
 BUFF
TAKING STOCK
DONALD GENNARO
MARTIN FERRERO, JURASSIC PARK (1993)
There to represent corporate investors and accurately described as
a ‘bloodsucking lawyer’ by park owner John Hammond (Richard
Attenborough), Gennaro’s initial concerns are quickly dropped as
he excitedly speculates on potential ticket prices, eyes bulging with
imagined riches. Even allowing for ‘a coupon day’, he’s picturing the
merchandise. Ferrero’s best-known role gifts him one of cinema’s
most iconic deaths as he abandons the kids and flees to cower from a
T-rex in a nearby bathroom, only for the beast to flatten the building
and pluck the hapless lawyer off the toilet. The actor appreciates the
importance (and humour) of the scene, explaining, ‘It’s about the
halfway point of the movie… They gotta have a memorable death
scene to shake everybody up and establish the T-rex.’

KEN BOWDEN
BILL MURRAY, WILD THINGS (1998)
A walking cliché - cheap suits; a storefront law office with an ‘as seen
on TV’ notice; dollar signs in his eyes - Murray’s hack personal-injury
lawyer initially seems the most corrupt character in John McNaughton’s
raunchy South Florida neo-noir but is soon overtaken by everyone
with a hidden agenda. ‘Although I’m twisted, I’m about the nicest
guy in it,’ he noted during filming, although an added post-credits
scene gave his character an even deeper involvement with the murky
goings-on. Wilfully ignoring the soap-level seriousness, Murray
gives one of his most underrated performances, delivering 20 minutes
of welcome comedy as an ambulance chaser who has a keenness for
scamming insurance companies with the aid of prop neck braces
for his clients and even himself.

LEO F. DRUMMOND
JON VOIGHT, THE RAINMAKER (1997)
Voight’s best performance of his 90s resurgence plays like an iron
fist inside a velvet glove. The slick big-shot attorney surrounded by
underlings smugly senses an easy win against newbie Rudy Baylor (Matt
Damon), but swiftly drops the niceties. ‘You’re an arrogant little piss ant,
aren’t you? I advise you to mind your manners. You’re in the big water
now,’ he coldly delivers down his nose. Voight saw the role as a damning
indictment of lawyers, remarking, ‘We are concerned for the ethics of the
profession. This character represents a lot of those appalling aspects.’
Bereft of morals, Drummond bugs his opponent’s phones and harangues
a mother grieving the death of her son from leukaemia in order save his
multibillion-dollar client from paying a legitimate insurance claim.

PHILIP STUCKEY
JASON ALEXANDER, PRETTY WOMAN (1990)
Now universally loved as Seinfeld’s George Costanza, Alexander found
audiences hating him after his turn as the money-grubbing right-hand
man to Richard Gere’s businessman Edward Lewis. ‘Fans were attacking
me… I got punched many times, one woman spat on me. It was a
rough year,’ lamented the actor. It’s easy to understand the vitriol for
the misogynistic character. Not only is the corporate lawyer slavishly
obsessed with making as much cash as possible by destroying the
A L A M Y, SHU T T ERSTOCK

opposition, but also assaults and tries to rape Roberts’ sex worker Vivian
in the story’s darkest moment. Jealous of her presence from the start, he
holds her responsible for losing a multimillion-dollar deal and sees her
as yet another commodity to be used and discarded. An odious sleazeball.

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 TAKING STOCK
JOHN MILTON
AL PACINO, THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE (1997)
Of course the Devil would be a lawyer. Pacino’s incarnation of Beelzebub
has a plan to bring down heaven – use the law to keep the sinners on
the streets, sinning. ‘Acquittal after acquittal after acquittal, until the
stench of it reaches so high and far into heaven, it chokes the whole
fucking lot of them.’ He’s also got a game plan to bring about the
coming of the Antichrist by manipulating Keanu Reeves’ Southern
litigator Kevin Lomax into impregnating his own half-sister. Milton
is disarming, a self-styled ‘little guy’ who you never see coming.
‘He’s a contradiction,’ explains director Taylor Hackford. ‘He’s a
powerful international lawyer but also a man from the streets.’ He
expertly plays a system where you get the best justice money can buy.

JIM TROTTER III

LANE SMITH, MY COUSIN VINNY (1992)
The district attorney for Beechum County is full of good old Southern
charm with a dash of condescension, sitting snickering at his New York
opponent’s lack of knowledge of Alabama court procedure. Often cast as
authority figures, including possibly the shiftiest (pre-Trump) president
ever, Richard Nixon, Smith made the prosecutor distinct enough with a
smarmy charisma, noting, ‘That role… I moulded myself into the part.’
Trotter is great at working a jury, giving an enthusiastic thumbs-up to
any juror whose attitude is ‘fry ’em’. His prosecution falls apart when he
makes the classic legal error of asking a question he thinks the witness
can’t answer, with Marisa Tomei’s automotive expert Mona Lisa Vito
torpedoing his argument and winning the case for Vinny (Joe Pesci).

BILLY FLYNN
RICHARD GERE, CHICAGO (2002)
‘We want Billy,’ sing the inmates of Cook County Jail with good reason;
the man introduced as ‘the silver-tongued prince of the court room’
has never lost a case. Having portrayed an honourable lawyer in
1996’s Primal Fear, Gere performs a complete 180 and gives them
‘the old razzle dazzle… an act with lots of flash in it.’ Flynn sips
nightclub cocktails, laughing about the murders his clients commit
while inventing sympathetic fictional backstories for them to recite
– playfully represented with him as a ventriloquist and Roxie Hart
(Renée Zellweger) as the puppet on his lap. Cash and fame are his
goals and the courtroom his stage. ‘It’s all a circus. It’s showbusiness,’
he confides to a murderer he puts back on the streets.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 103

R E EALT E
EST FLOP CULTURE

FOR SALE Gorgeous lake house within

easy driving distance from the heart
of Chicago – perfect for romantic
getaways or solo introspection. Floor-
to-ceiling windows give great 360
views of idyllic countryside, sunsets
to write about and quirky vintage
mailbox on shore. Great area for dogs
and those seeking to get away from THE AVENGERS
modern life. Please note mail service
is erratic in this area – can take years
for letters to reach destination. Please
Style, wit, chemistry, thrills… How did the 1998 reboot of the
call architect Alex Wyler for a tour. 60s spy show miss all the essential targets?
Why it was a good idea (on paper) snips left the plot riddled with holes, like
Retro 60s fetishism was hot in the 90s. With a tornado had ripped through it. Would
hip and/or Oscar-grade leads (Ralph Fiennes, Chechik’s first cut have been better? Tough
Uma Thurman, Sean Connery) alongside to say, given that MacPherson’s script was a
zeitgeist-y cameos (Eddie Izzard, Shaun laboured barrage of backstory, bad gags and
Ryder), director Jeremiah S. Chechik’s reboot bitty plotting. Either way, in a rare practice
of the kinky-booted spy show seemed for the time, the film wasn’t screened for the
HINDSIGHT CORNER well-groomed to do a Mission: Impossible. press. Deserved drubbings and desultory
box-office returns duly ensued.
TOM HANKS What went wrong?
FORREST GUMP A self-declared fan of the series, Chechik Redeeming feature
(Diabolique) loved the ‘kooky’ aspects of The tea dispenser in the car.
November 2017 Don MacPherson’s script. But had Warner
‘Bob [Zemeckis, director] told us at the Bros. read it? They wanted the coolest action What happened next?
very beginning of shooting that our hit of the summer. Surrealism and killer teddy Chechik didn’t make another feature for
destiny is to wander around and try to bears, less so. Chechik later recalled having 15 years, instead travelling the globe and
figure stuff out. It’s almost like a Zen fun making the film, though he conceded redirecting himself to TV. After the one-two
outlook on life but Forrest stumbles chemistry ran low between Fiennes and flops of Poison Ivy and Emma Peel, Thurman
upon it very early on… The accepting Thurman, who replaced original lead Nicole struggled until Kill Bill. Fiennes emerged
of everything that goes on – that is Kidman. With the robotic leads lost in a tonal largely unscathed, though he dodged the
probably an idea that has more pages muddle of action and absurdity, coherence and action-movie bullet for many years.
devoted to it in the history of mankind cuts were also issues. On completion, said
than the existence of God himself.’ Chechik, upheavals at Warner left him with Should it be remade?
execs who were hostile to the project. He Rebooted, retitled, yes. Is Shane Black and
May 2023 suffered a test screening in Arizona, where Fred Dekker’s proposed TV series about
‘I say, “Hey, Bob, I’ve got a question viewers ‘complained that the movie was too Steed and Mrs Peel still simmering?
for you. Is anybody going to care about English’. Twenty-plus minutes of enforced KEVIN HARLEY
this movie?” And Bob said, “It’s
a minefield, Tom. It’s a goddamn
minefield. We may be sowing the seeds BUDGET BOX OFFICE AWARDS TF STAR RATING ROTTEN TOMATOES
of our own destruction. Any footstep
★★★
we take can be a Bouncing Betty that’ll
$ 60m $54-7m 0 ★★ 5%
A L A M Y, GE T T Y

blow our nuts right off.”’

104 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 IS IT JUST ME?

IS IT JUST ME OR IS RAMBO’S
CLIFF JUMP PEAK ACTION CINEMA?
‘Could this face. Sadistic Deputy Sergeant Art Galt through the final third of the tree (he
OFFICE-OMETER
possibly happen? (Jack Starrett) arrives in a helicopter THE TF STAFF broke a rib on take three), it’s perilous
VERDICT IS IN!
Absolutely,’ says and starts taking potshots… and then, stuff. ‘It was easy to act the pain,’
Sylvester Stallone shockingly, Rambo pushes off the cliff winces Stallone as he recalls hitting the
on First Blood’s and plummets down, down, down, turf. You just don’t get that danger, that
DVD commentary. into a tree, its branches breaking his horror, that awe, watching CGI – and
JAMIE GRAHAM fall enough to result in severe injury even Tom Cruise’s real-deal set-pieces
And therein lies
@JA M I E _ G R A H A M 9
the secret of the (cue hugely influential self-surgery can’t replicate the jolt of seeing such
1982 film’s most heart-stopping action scene), but not death. a thing for the first time. This was
sequence. Well, that and the fact we’d Watching the movie in the 1980s, ‘mission: improbable’ back when Tom
never seen the like before. no one expected him to jump. However was starring in teen sex comedy Losin’ It.
You know the scene; it’s iconic. But desperate the situation, it was just There are, of course, far more
let’s recap anyway: Vietnam vet John too outrageous, especially in an action impressively choreographed action
Rambo (Stallone) has been arrested for drama with a grounded tone. Now, scenes by the likes of Kurosawa,
vagrancy while passing through the when not just superheroes but John Peckinpah, Hill, Woo, Cameron,
mountain town of Hope, Washington. Wick, the Fast family and every Liam Mann and more. But there’s never
Savagely mistreated by Sheriff Teasle Neeson character are indestructible, again been a thrill to match Rambo’s
(Brian Dennehy) and his men, he busts such a stunt is obligatory. leap, your jaw dropping in sync with
out of the police station and is pursued Achieved in three takes, with his descent. Or is it just me?
into the woods, tracked by cops and stuntman Buddy Joe Hooker performing Share your reaction at www.gamesradar.
IT’S IT’S NOT
dogs until he’s hanging from a cliff the plunge and Stallone dropping JUST YOU JUST YOU com/totalfilm or on Facebook and Twitter.
20T H CENT URY ST UDIOS, ST UDIOCA N A L

PHILIP MAYES Hateful Eight was much appreciated. GRAEME COLQUHOUN

LAST TIME Bring back the lady with the choc ices! If the film’s really good I just wee myself.
DO MORE CONALL RT
MOVIES NEED KEEF CROSS
If the runtime warrants it, then
Or maybe people should just cut
out the gallons of soda they slurp
ZACHARIAH LAI
It would be a box-office nightmare…
INTERMISSIONS? definitely. The intermission in The down during the trailers. Less time to make more money.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 105

 E B IG
H
T OT
SH
VIDEODROME’S
ORGANIC TV
of 80s horror. It’s less talked about in this

I
felt kind of stupid when I was doing it,’
said star James Woods of the scenes where regard than the director’s 1986 hit The Fly, but
Max Renn, the protagonist of Videodrome, Videodrome’s WTF creations, overseen by Rick
gets up close and personal with his Baker as he came off the back of winning an Oscar
TeleRANGER TV screen. for An American Werewolf in London, continue to
His ‘stupid’ is our disturbing and (whisper breathe life into a 40-year-old movie.
it) erotic, as a mesmerised Max approaches the Baker and his team were responsible for
televised lips of Nicki Brand (Blondie’s Debbie Renn’s abdominal slit, into which he inserts a
Harry) and the screen begins to bulge outwards Betamax tape to deepen the fusion of flesh and
as she puckers, and then billows when she blows. technology (‘I am not an actor anymore, I’m just
‘Don’t keep me waiting,’ she murmurs, inviting the bearer of the slit,’ said a discomforted Woods,
Max to sink his flesh into her open mouth. This only half-joking). But it’s the undulating TV that
he does, meshing man and machine in a prescient is the movie’s piece de resistance, with various
horror movie that traverses the edges of reality methods attempted to bring it to life.
and consciousness as it explores our fears and ‘We experimented with a weather balloon
fascination with sex, violence and technology. first, stretching it over a frame the size of a TV
Long live the new flesh, indeed. screen, and pushed a hand through to see how
Much of Videodrome’s appeal is in its ideas, far it stretched, and then we rear-projected on it,’
with Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg Baker said. In the end, a dental dam provided the
melding themes of right-wing conspiracy, answer – ‘a stronger, stretchier kind of rubber,’
S&M and human transformation/evolution as noted Baker – and it was coated with reflective
surely as Renn fuses with his gogglebox. But as white paint to best receive the projections.
TV programmer Renn stumbles upon a pirate The result is one of the most iconic televisions
transmission of hyperviolent torture show in horror, as memorable as the TV sets that act as
Videodrome while seeking shows for his sleazy deadly portals in Poltergeist, Ringu and A Nightmare
cable TV station, Cronenberg’s sixth feature also on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. You might just say
reveals itself to be one of the SFX showcases it’s essential viewing. JAMIE GRAHAM
ALAMY

106 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023

JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 107
 DEFINING FILMS

MY MOVIE LIFE
Glenn Howerton The films that make the BlackBerry star sad or sunny.

THE FIRST FILM I EVER SAW THE LAST FILM I SAW IN A CINEMA THE FILM THAT ALWAYS MAKES ME CRY
I don’t honestly remember what the first Triangle of Sadness. My goodness, I don’t I get choked up really easily, which I think
movie I ever saw was but I have a pretty even know where to begin with it. It’s such might surprise people considering the
distinct memory of going to a double brilliant social-class satire; absurdity executed characters they’re used to seeing me play.
feature of Star Wars and The Empire in such an admirably grounded way, filled with I’m a total softie. I cry so easily. I have a
Strikes Back in 1983. It was right before great performances and incredible dialogue. distinct memory of being on a date - if
Return of the Jedi was coming out and they I was so impressed with the plotting, too. you could call it a date - in fifth grade or
were doing a double feature to get people all As a writer, if I was writing it, I would’ve something, and for some reason we saw the
caught up. I was living in England at the time thought: ‘Where am I going to go from here?’ movie Beaches. I remember I was crying so
in a little town called Felixstowe and I was but it just continues to unfold and get more hard and was like, ‘Don’t cry with a girl you
seven years old. It was pretty amazing. I must and more insane as it goes on. It goes so like!’ Just another example of how we’ve
have really enjoyed it because I joined the much further than most films are willing somehow grown up in a world where we don’t
Star Wars fan club. to go and it was so funny at the same time. let little boys cry. I was ashamed and crying.

THE FILM THAT ALWAYS MAKES THE FILM THAT SCARES ME MOST MY DESERT ISLAND FILM
ME LAUGH Taking the question very literally, the film If I could only watch one movie for the rest
I’ll revisit The Naked Gun every couple that scares me the most deeply, honestly, of my life, I think it would have to be The Big
of years. There’s just something about is a documentary called The Social Dilemma. Lebowski. To me, it’s just perfect. I remember
the absurdity of that humour that has had As someone with kids, it’s just terrifying when that movie came out. I was 22 years old
me hooked ever since I was a kid. It’s the watching Silicon Valley insiders giving us the and already a Coen brothers fan. I saw it in a
complete ridiculousness combined with how scoop on how the algorithms they themselves theatre by myself and there was just one other
straight the actors play it and I just love that. created are basically designed to keep us person in there with me and I was cackling
It was in all those Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker hooked to our devices. It’s horrifying in and so filled with joy. It’s just endlessly
movies like Airplane! and Top Secret! They really the way it explores the horrors of a world entertaining to me and it works on so many
influenced my comedic style in the sense that that’s basically dominated now by social levels. It’s so layered and full of rich characters
I found it much funnier when actors play media and our growing dependence on digital and brilliant dialogue. I could watch that movie
comedy straight. For as crazy as we sometimes communication instead of real human on a loop and never be bored.
GE T T Y, A L A M Y

get on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I try to connection. To me, that’s more horrifying
play things as grounded as possible. than any horror film could ever be. BLACKBERRY RELEASES LATER THIS YEAR.

108 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

 INSTANT EXPERT

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO Explorations in sound…

ELECTRO GODFATHER FULLY BOOKED

‘I don’t like nationalities and Sakamoto’s hunger to immerse
borders,’ said Ryuichi Sakamoto, himself in different cultures
who died on 28 March, aged 71. brought him renown among
Throughout his career, the auteurs. He travelled far, from
Japanese composer made fertile Spain for Pedro Almodóvar (1991’s
work of this dislike. Born in Tokyo High Heels) to Emily Brontë’s windy
to a hat designer and a literary moors with his Wuthering Heights
editor, he grew up surrounded by score (1992). He flexed a literary
creativity and embraced classical intelligence on The Handmaid’s
and pop music. As one third Tale (1990), while ranging from
of proto-techno trailblazers lavish scores for Brian De Palma
Yellow Magic Orchestra, (1998’s Snake Eyes, 2002’s Femme
he helped shape electronic Fatale) to abstract mood music
music before film called. for Love Is the Devil (1998).

CHRISTMAS GIFT MORTALITY AND

‘I started off very lucky because MONSTERS
Mr [Nagisa] Oshima trusted me Diagnosed with cancer in 2014,
completely,’ said Sakamoto of Sakamoto continued exploring.
his move into film scoring. Alongside solo reflections on
He enjoyed ‘total creative ageing and metaphysics (async,
freedom’ on Oshima’s POW 2017), he composed for sci-fis
movie Merry Christmas, Mr. Proxima (2019), After Yang (2021)
Lawrence (1983), rewarding the and Black Mirror. He also received
veteran filmmaker with a GLOBAL TRAVELLER awards nods for The Revenant
breakout score that blurred ‘Each time is like a little journey into an unknown culture,’ said Sakamoto (2015) and, latterly, scored
pop/classical boundaries. He of his film music. He developed a reputation for spacious, exploratory Hirokazu Kore-eda’s incoming
also acted in the film and scores, acutely evocative of period, place and feeling. With a delicate Monster. ‘Art is long, life is
banked a hit with Forbidden feel for the epic, his work for Bernardo Bertolucci is exemplary, short,’ he once said, committed
Colours, the title theme’s vocal ranging from The Last Emperor (1987) to the sumptuous The Sheltering Sky to making ‘meaningful work’ of
version, recorded with Japan (1990). Sakamoto himself singled out Little Buddha’s (1993) transcendent long-lasting worth to the end.
singer David Sylvian. Acceptance as his most memorable work. KEVIN HARLEY
A R ROW, DISNE Y, LIONSGAT E, MODER N, PA R A MOUNT, SK Y, SON Y JA PA N, T W ENTIE T H CENT URY ST UDIOS

KEY SCORES

MERRY CHRISTMAS, THE LAST EMPEROR 1987 SNAKE EYES 1998 THE REVENANT 2015
MR. LAWRENCE 1983 ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★
★★★★★ Working with David Byrne and classical Pulp and beauty: Sakamoto rose to With Alva Noto and Bryce Dessner,
Given Bernard Herrmann’s Citizen Kane composer Cong Su, Sakamoto banked the challenge of De Palma’s flashy Sakamoto evoked the space and
score for reference, Sakamoto instead an Oscar for his score’s lyrical noir with a high-grade, Bernard majesty of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s
offered a timeless one of his own. immersion in Chinese history. Herrmann-esque score. revenge epic with controlled power.

TOTALFILM.COM JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 109

 BUFF
THE TF BRAIN

JUKEBOX MUSICALS Greatest Days! Green fairies! George Lucas! Test your movie knowledge…

EASY MEDIUM HARD

1 Happy Feet Two marked the final animated 1 Which members of The Beatles voice their 1 Sunshine on Leith is based on a stage musical
role for which megastar? animated counterparts in Yellow Submarine? that debuted in which year?
2 Which actor won a BAFTA for their role in 2 Which film did Mamma Mia! overtake to 2 Who are the respective directors of Mamma
Moulin Rouge!? (briefly) become the UK’s highest-grossing Mia! and its 2018 sequel?
3 What was the original title of the stage movie? 3 True Colors, as heard in Trolls, was originally
musical that inspired Greatest Days? 3 In Moulin Rouge!, who is credited as the voice a hit for which artist in which year?
4 Which actor connects Mamma Mia! with of the Green Fairy? 4 Which musical set a record for being the
Cinderella (2021)? 4 George Lucas has a ‘story by’ credit on which highest-grossing film NOT to top the
5 Kenneth Branagh’s Love’s Labour’s Lost animated musical? US box office?
features songs predominantly from which 5 Bono covered which Beatles song for Across 5 Which is the odd one out? a) Can’t Fight
decade? a) 50s; b) 30s; c) 80s. the Universe? This Feeling; b) I Want to Know What Love Is;
c) Paradise City; d) Pour Some Sugar on Me

H A R D – 1. 2007 2. P H Y L L IDA L LOY D, O L PA R K E R 3. CY NDI L AU P ER , 1986 4. SING 5. A); T HE OT H ER S F E AT U R E TOM CRU ISE ( ROCK OF AGES)
A N SW ER S: E ASY – 1. ROBIN W IL L I A M S 2. JIM B ROA DB EN T 3. TH E BAN D 4. PIERCE BROSN A N 5. B) 30 S M ED IU M – 1. NONE 2. TITAN IC 3. OZ Z Y O S B O U R N E 4. ST R A NGE M AGIC 5. LUCY IN T H E SK Y W I T H DI A MON D S

110 | TOTAL FILM | JULY 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

JULY 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 111 TOTALFILM.COM
A N SW ER S: 1. SORRY, WRONG NUM BER 2. DIAL M FOR MURDER 3. LOST H IGHWAY 4. SCREAM (1996) 5. MUNICH 6. JERRY MAGUIRE 7. WH EN A STRANGER CALLS (2006) 8. TAKEN
8 7
A M A ZON, ELYSIA N, 20T H CENT URY ST UDIOS, UNIV ERSA L

6 5
4 3
2 1
Can you guess these eight phone scenes?
NAME THE FRAME
THE TF BRAIN
 H ARV ES AY
YOU .COM
LFILM WS
T O TA S • R E V I E W S
O E
VIDE ILERS • N
• TRA

Mail, rants, theories etc.

totalfilm.com twitter.com/totalfilm facebook.com totalfilm totalfilm@futurenet.com

★ STAR LETTER Vin Diesel buckles up for Fast 10? Fast

Ten? Fast Ex? Fast X Marks the Spot?
L#hqwhuhg#p|#olylqj#urrp#odvw#qljkw#wr#
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Exw#p|#idyrxulwh#lv#Klfnru|#Glfnru|#
Grfwru#Vwudqjh1#
TOM ELLIS, VIA EMAIL

In the Multiverse of Mouse-

ness? Seems fitting, given
the Disney connection. And
maybe we need to tweak Russell’s characters aren’t in charge - WHAT YOU
what M.O.D.O.K. stands for @AustinAlistair1 neither ‘Ego’ nor ‘Mr. Nobody’ sound MISSED ON
in this new nursery-verse: Mind Out, like the most trustworthy of landlords. THE POD
[on Kim Cattrall’s SatC return] LAST MONTH
Dumpty-face is Overbalan– Ker-splat!
‘Never mind Samantha,
Tom and everyone with a letter printed
get some good writers!’
WELCOME MAT Exclusive
interviews with
here will receive a copy of Marcel the Shell Uhdglqj#Ohh#Pxufxwwġv#ohwwhu#^TF 338]
Hypnotic’s
with Shoes On, available on DVD and derxw#krz#oryho|#Vljrxuqh|#Zhdyhu#zdv# Robert
Blu-ray on 26 June from Mediumrare When asking for tickets for the latest wrrn#ph#edfn#wr#d#juhdw#hqfrxqwhu#zlwk# Rodriguez, The
Entertainment. Didn’t send an address? in the excellent F&F franchise, the Fudlj#Fkduohv1#Pdq|#|hduv#djr/#L#wrrn#p|# Boogeyman’s
Email it! Shoes off, skates on! er{0rĿfh#dvvlvwdqw#vdlg/#ĠGr#|rx#phdq# vrq#wr#d#frplf0dqg0Ľop#frq#dw#wkh#QHF/# Rob Savage
Fast 10Bġ#L#vdlg#ĠSdugrqBġ#Kh#vdlg#ĠFast zkhuh#Fudlj#zdv#uhsuhvhqwlqj#Red Dwarf and Chevalier
FAST TRACK “XĤBBġ#Zhoo/#vruu|#wr#vd|#L#ihow#d#olwwoh# +rqh#ri#rxu#idyrxulwh#frphglhv,1#Zh#
stars Kelvin
Harrison Jr. and
Uxqqlqj#zlwk#d#suhylrxv#Dialogue#wkuhdg/# krw#xqghu#wkh#froodu>#wkh#yhlq#rq#p|# zdqwhg#wr#vd|#khoor#exw#e|#wkh#wlph#zh# Lucy Boynton…
L#mxvw#zdqwhg#wr#uhdvvxuh#uhdghuv#wkdw# iruhkhdg#wkureehg/#p|#h|heurzv# vdz#klp#L#zdv#vnlqw#dqg#frxogqġw#dļrug# plus (spoiler-
iruphu#vxshukhurhv#qrz#kdyh#wkhlu#rzq# nqlwwhg/#p|#mdz#mxwwhg#+lq#doo/#qrw# wr#ex|#rqh#ri#wkh#jrrglhv#iru#Fudlj#wr# free!) reviews
uhwluhphqw#frppxqlw|#krph1#Lwġv#d# d#jrrg#orrn,111#\hv/#lq#idfw/#L#zdv#0# vljq1#Vhhlqj#p|#khvlwdwlrq/#dqg#srvvleo|# and much
sodfh#zkhuh#uhvlghqwv#fdq#wdnh#sduw#lq# doo#wrjhwkhu#qrz#0#IXULRXV$# khdulqj#rxu#frqyhuvdwlrq/#Fudlj#fdoohg#xv# more – every
week!
prwru0phfkdqlf/#dgydqfhg0gulylqj#dqg# JACK H, ADDINGHAM ryhu#dqg#vljqhg#d#ehhu#pdw#rq#klv#ghvn#
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zlog#lq#jurxs#dfwlylwlhv#dqg#fdxvh# Our beef with the series’ titling MARK O’FLYNN, HINCKLEY
pd|khp/#exw#zloo#dozd|v#eh#wuhdwhg# antics (when will the ‘The’s make a
MEDIUMR A R E, SIGN AT UR E /NE T FLIX , UNIV ERSA L

olnh#sduw#ri#wkh#idplo|1#Vr#uhvw#dvvxuhg/# comeback?) is that they’ve failed to

Jurrw/#Eodfn#Dgdp/#Fdswdlq#Pduyho/# build on the sublime wordplay of 2 Fast REFLECTIVE INTEREST CURVE™
Dtxdpdq/#Khlpgdoo/#Khvshud#hw#doo#zloo# 2 Furious. Still, there’s a chance to THRILLED Not feeling any ill will
towards Indy V watchers,
eh#RN#iru#wkh#qh{w#[#|hduv1#Rk/#vruu|/# redeem themselves with F&F: Highway ENTERTAINED oh no
Or being
irujrw#wr#phqwlrq#wkh#qdph#ri#wklv# to Eleven or F&F: 12 Grease Monkeys FLIPPIN’ ECK! Definitely not pancaked by Or seeing
Crystal Skull by
idoohq0vxshukhur#wuxvwĩ#Wruhwwrġv# (those cars have got to come in for a BAD TIMES
picturing them tumbling runaway
into snake pits boulders mistake
Jroghq#Wzloljkw#Krph1 service some time, right?). Liking the RUNNING TIME WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 DEADLINE
DECLAN M, SKIPTON retirement-home idea, so long as Kurt

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 GROUP EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
JANE CROWTHER
jane.crowther@futurenet.com
@janevgcrowther
DEPUTY EDITOR MATT MAYTUM
matt.maytum@futurenet.com @mattmaytum

OFFICE SPACED REVIEWS EDITOR MATTHEW LEYLAND

matthew.leyland@futurenet.com @totalfilm_mattl
NEWS EDITOR JORDAN FARLEY

CHATTER ‘GEMS’ OVERHEARD IN THE TOTAL FILM OFFICE THIS MONTH… jordan.farley@futurenet.com @jordanfarley
ART EDITOR MIKE BRENNAN

‘Had a dream I watched Tenet on a bus. It just mike.brennan@futurenet.com @mike_brennan01

wasn’t the same.’ * ‘If the next one is BEYOND FILM GROUP
Editor (SFX) Darren Scott Art Editor Jonathan Coates
the Spider-Verse, will it be entirely spider- Deputy Editor Ian Berriman Production Editor Ed Ricketts

CONTRIBUTORS
free? Suitable for arachnophobes?’ Editor-at-Large Jamie Graham
Art David Graham, Catherine Kirkpatrick
Prepress and cover manipulation Gary Stuckey
Hollywood Correspondent Adam Tanswell
Contributing Editors Kevin Harley, Leila Latif, James Mottram, Neil Smith, Paul Bradshaw
Gold star for Mr. Charles - and what Contributors Tom Dawson, Matt Glasby, Joel Harley, Ann Lee, Matt Looker, Clarisse Loughrey,
Rafa Sales Ross, Chris Schilling, Josh Slater-Williams, Anna Smith, Kate Stables, Paul Tanter,
a cool keepsake (though we would be Gabriel Tate, Kim Taylor-Foster, Anton van Beek, Alia Waheed
@jordananimate Entertainment Editor, Gamesradar+ Emily Murray
nervous about someone smudging his [Who would win in an Indy/ Senior Entertainment Writer, Gamesradar+ Bradley Russell
signature with their perspiring pint Senior Entertainment Writer, Gamesradar+ Lauren Milici
Han Solo fight?] Entertainment Writer, Gamesradar+ Molly Edwards
glass). Anyone else have any novel Entertainment Writer, GamesRadar+ Fay Watson
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SPOERT!
AL

60 SECOND
SCREENPLAY
TF SAVES YOU THE COST OF A MOVIE EVERY MONTH. THIS ISSUE: GHOSTED

FADE IN: agriculture historian CHRIS EVANS saves her

by parachuting out of the plane.
EXT: MARKET STALL, WASHINGTON DC
CHRIS EVANS is the most Hollywood-looking ANA DE ARMAS
farmer/botanist/agriculture historian You saved me! And you have Aztec! And you
imaginable. ANA DE ARMAS tries to buy treated my wound using your botanical
a plant from him. knowledge! All is forgiven. Let’s kiss.

CHRIS EVANS CHRIS EVANS

I can’t sell you this because I think you’re a Yes! I knew I’d wear you down eventually.
horrible person. [Pause] Wanna go out with me? Plus OUR SEXUAL CHEMISTRY IS OFF
THE CHART.
ANA DE ARMAS
Sure. INT: REVOLVING RESTAURANT
CHRIS EVANS somehow works out that
They have an amazing date that lasts all day the passcode is based on the DNA of an
and night. Afterwards, CHRIS EVANS ruins ancient Aztec plant. Obviously. He goes
everything by hassling ANA DE ARMAS undercover again.
endlessly via text. relationship, I have to admit the sexual
chemistry between you guys is off the chart! ADRIEN BRODY
CHRIS EVANS I want Aztec even though it’s still not really clear
Luckily, she has my inhaler! I have somehow ANA DE ARMAS what it is exactly.
tracked that to London, so I’ll ambush her Really? You should say that more so that the
there and help to normalise stalker-like viewers believe it. Anyway, I’m leaving now ANA DE ARMAS arrives and a gunfight breaks
harassment in films. to continue my mission. out within the mechanism of the revolving
restaurant, which is nowhere near as interesting
EXT: ALLEY, LONDON CHRIS EVANS is kidnapped by a couple of MCU as it sounds. Eventually ADRIEN BRODY is killed.
CHRIS EVANS is kidnapped and tortured by arms CAMEOS and JOHN CHO. They all immediately die.
dealers who think he is a CIA agent. ANA DE ANA DE ARMAS saves him again. CHRIS EVANS
ARMAS kills everyone and saves him. They are Phew. Now that’s over, do you want to come to
somehow now in Pakistan. CHRIS EVANS mine for dinner? I promise not to act like a total
What an absolutely Marvel-lous waste of time… creep this time! Probably.
CHRIS EVANS
You killed all those people! You must be a spy! INT: PLANE EXT: THEATRE, THREE MONTHS LATER
Which means… you lied to me! Also, why didn’t Having saved his life, ANA DE ARMAS now uses CHRIS EVANS and ANA DE ARMAS somehow
you return any of my messages? CHRIS EVANS as bait to catch ADRIEN BRODY make time for each other between his
and a bio-weapon called Aztec. It is never fully book research and her perilous work as an
ANA DE ARMAS explained what this is. international spy.
This relationship is already very toxic. I really don’t
see how anyone can root for us to get together. ADRIEN BRODY CHRIS EVANS
I have Aztec, but it’s in a suitcase and suitcases I’m so in love, I don’t even care that you have
EXT: LOCAL TOWN, PAKISTAN are notoriously impossible to open, so we need you probably killed a dozen people today.
Agent-turned-terrorist ADRIEN BRODY surveys to give us the passcode.
the torture site then proceeds to chew the scenery ANA DE ARMAS
down to matchsticks. CHRIS EVANS and ANA CHRIS EVANS Here’s hoping we get a sequel. Just remember,
DE ARMAS meet a contact of hers that she Yikes. At least I have my girlfriend to protect me. everyone, our sexual chemistry is off the cha-
also used to sleep with. Oops! I mean–
FIN
MARWAN KENZARI With their cover blown, they all fight on the plane.
Despite all my inappropriate comments about our ANA DE ARMAS gets stabbed. Farmer/botanist/ NEXT ISSUE: FAST X
APPLE

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