Nathan Fillion on Jimmy Kimmel

Exclusive Interview: Axelle Carolyn – Star of Centurion, Straw Man, Ghost of Slaughterford and more

Axelle Carolyn is one of those excellent all round type of people who do numerous things well when many of us would just like to have a go at one of them – She is an author (It Lives Again!: Horror Movies in the New Millennium), actress, horror fan and journalist.

She has appeared in many films and will soon be seen in Centurion directed by her Husband, Neil Marshall.

Being a super nice person she took some time out to have a chat with LFF’s Richard Bodsworth.

Your character in Centurion does look like a proper badass, what can you tell us about her?

My character, Aeron, is a Pict warrior. She loves fighting, and unlike most other characters who have higher motivations, she kills Romans just for the fun of it. It was a fantastic part to play: I spent 6 weeks riding horses, shooting arrows and learning how to fight. I only had a few lines (in Gaelic!), so it was all about making her physically threatening and believable.

It’s quite a stellar cast, how was the banter on set?

Half the shoot was on location in the Highlands of Scotland, so we spent a lot of time together in the evenings, hanging out at the hotel. They were such a great bunch! I got along really well with Olga Kurylenko; we spent a lot of time speaking French, so no one could understand our gossiping. Michael Fassbender is one of those guys who can do anything: accents, languages, stunts… and yet remain the most charming and down to earth. And Liam Cunningham are hilarious.

What about that Noel Clarke? He seems like he could be a bit of a troublemaker.

Noel seemed very focused on set, and never complained despite the cold and getting some early frostbite. And he was great to hang out with. If he’s a troublemaker, it’s not a side of him we got to see at all!

 Most of filming took place up in Aviemore, right?  Was it nice and warm?

Ah, the Highlands in February… Yeah, it was really cold. Though I can’t complain too much: I was riding a horse most of the time, and strange as it may seem, they really help you keep warm. There’s a lot of scenes in the film where you can really see how cold we all were, though. All those red noses were no make-up!

Last time we interviewed Leslie Simpson he was going on about how he was “bollock naked” and cold in The Descent, this time you guys were up in the freezing Scottish mountains, does Neil enjoy putting his actors through those conditions?!

Yes he does… yes he does. Although you know, it may not looking like it on screen but the shoot of Doomsday was warm pretty comfortable. We were in South Africa in the summer. What an amazing time that was.

Talking of The Descent, how was it working on the sequel?

I only had a tiny role. I did two days and got cut out. I still haven’t seen the film.

You’re mainly in horror films, do you fancy yourself as a bit of a ‘scream queen’?

I love horror movies. LOVE them. I mean, I wrote an entire book about them (“It Lives Again! Horror Movies in the New Millennium”, from Telos Publishing)! I’d be happy to work in horror for the rest of my days. But I hate the expression “scream queen”. It implies playing victims, and that’s the type of role I’m generally not interested in.  I’d love to play more villains… Parts like Angela Bettis’s in May or Beatrice Dalle in Inside are the kinds of roles I’d love to be given.

What’s your favourite horror film you’ve worked on?

Would it be odd if I chose a film we haven’t filmed yet? I’ve spent the past 6 months writing and developing a feature called The Ghost of Slaughterford, which Neil is executive producing. I love writing, and being given the chance to put a project together is wonderful. We’re hoping to shoot this summer; I can’t wait.

Straw Man

Do you have any updates on Straw Man?

No. I believe post-production is over, but I haven’t seen the finished film yet.

Seemed like that was a chilly set too!

Hell yes. On my last day I had to walk in the sea, with water up to my knees, in a skimpy summer dress. It was minus 10 on the beach and I don’t think I’d ever been that cold in my whole life. The tide was pretty strong and I was nearly swept away by the waves. But the team was great, and thanks to them, I remember it as a tough but really good experience.

How was it working with Leslie? (check out our interview with Leslie Simpson and director Andrew Barker)

Leslie’s wonderful. He’s very intense, almost in a Crispin Glover kind of way – I’m saying almost, because I think Les is much more versatile. By then we already knew each other pretty well, too; we met on the set of Doomsday, and we’d already worked together on a great little short film, I Love You, by Tristan Versluis.

What are you most excited about for the future?

Seeing the Ghost feature I mentioned get made. Developing more of my own projects, and working with talented filmmakers – I’ve got a few projects lined up I’m excited about. I’m also working on two short films: one I’ll be directing myself, and the other Neil will direct.

Right, we usually wrap up with our quickfire questions, so here we go!

What’s your favourite horror film?

David Cronenberg’s The Fly.

What is the coolest film death of all time?

Mmh, that’s a tough one. Dr Hill’s death in Re-Animator? Recently there’s been quite a few good ones in The Crazies and Zombieland, too! And wait until you see Centurion…

If you had to be killed by a movie monster, what would it be?

Freddy Krueger. He’s one of my earliest horror movie memories, so I’ve always had a soft spot for Freddy,

And what would be your final words? 

Thanks for your time!

It Lives Again! Horror Movies in the New Millennium – Amazon.co.uk

The Losers – Interview with Zoe Saldana

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The Losers – Interview with the future Captain America, Chris Evans

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Dennis Hopper: The Middle Word in Life. Video Essay by Matt Zoller Seitz

UPDATE: As you probably know Dennis Hopper has now passed away. More here. END OF UPDATE

This is just brilliant. So sad that Hopper is so ill.

“Dennis Hopper: The Middle Word in Life” is an attempt to capture the essence of what we think about when we think about Dennis Hopper. This video essay isn’t trying to be a comprehensive biography because the prospect of capturing Hopper in a relatively short running time is too daunting to consider. The piece offers glimpses of Hopper the method actor, Hopper the monologue master and word-jazz babbler, Hopper the scenery-gnawing villain, Hopper the substance abuser and ex-substance abuser, and Hopper the filmmaker (a facet that often gets overlooked because, while Hopper appeared in nearly 60 films and hundreds of hours of TV, he directed just six motion pictures). Other notable aspects of Hopper—the twentysomething enfant terrible briefly blacklisted in Hollywood for arguing with directors; Hopper the photographer and art collector; Hopper the rock ‘n’ roll gadfly; Hopper the Civil Rights-era Democrat who became a Reagan Republican and then switched back late in life; and on and on—aren’t represented here. That’s a job for biographers. The focus here is on Hopper’s life force: his personality, his philosophy; his thrilling, often contradictory, sometimes abrasive or ugly sense of what acting and filmmaking and art and life should be.

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Source: Moving Image Source

Green Lantern – Mark Strong talks Sinestro

Mark Strong just keeps going from strength to strength. Yep he is mainly playing the bad guys in films such as Sherlock Holmes, Kick-Ass, John Carter of Mars and future Green Lantern films. However, for the moment his character of Sinestro in the latter film will be one of the good guys, as set up in the comic. Here is what he had to say to USA Weekend.

“For anybody who’s familiar with the Green Lantern and the origin story, the film closely follows the early comics. Sinestro starts out as Hal Jordan’s mentor, slightly suspicious and not sure of him because obviously Hal is the first human being who’s made into a Green Lantern. He’s certainly very strict and certainly unsure of the wisdom of Hal becoming a Green Lantern,” Strong says. “He is a military guy but isn’t immediately bad. It’s the kind of person he is that lends himself to becoming bad over the course of the comics being written, but initially he’s quite a heroic figure.”
Will they keep Sinestro’s pencil moustache?

“That widow’s peak and thin mustache was for some reason originally based on David Niven, and Hal Jordan was based on Errol Flynn,” says Strong, who recently got fitted for special Sinestro contact lenses. “In the ’30s and ’40s, they shared an apartment together in Hollywood when they were making movies and they were great friends. Obviously at the time, whoever was doing the original comics must have looked at them as guys doing very well in the film industry, and based those characters on them. So I would like to do justice to the Sinestro that was conceived for the comic books.”

The fact he mentions David Niven is just fantastic. Who doesn’t like Niven – A Matter of Life and Death is one of my faves.

Really looking forward to see what Strong does with the role.

Tron Legacy – ENCOM’s Tech Consultant Alan Bradley speaks

Alan Bradley was a computer programmer who wrote the computer program Tron. He was also COO of ENCOM until the 1990s.

Alan Bradley was a programmer at ENCOM in 1982, when he wrote Tron, a security program that was able to shut down the MCP, the administrative program that was controlling ENCOM’s mainframe system.

In an exclusive interview with IGN, Alan talks about the company and the mysterious disappearance of Kevin Flynn.

He looks an awful lot like the Commander of Babylon 5. Anyone else with me on that?

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Ghostbusters 3 – Bill Murray talks to David Letterman

In the past Murray has said he didn’t want to do a third Ghostbusters film. Then he said he did, now it sounds as if he is still not sure.

Alice In Wonderland – Michael Sheen and Matt Lucas talk about Tim Burton’s film

UPDATED: Exclusive Interview – Paul McGuigan talks modern day Sherlock Holmes, Deathlok, Bond, Grant Morrison and more

Scottish director Paul McGuigan made his name with British gangster film, Gangster Number 1 before moving across to the States where he worked with big names such as Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman in Lucky Number Slevin. With his energetic and unique visual style, McGuigan is one of the biggest Scottish directors working in Hollywood today. We were lucky enough to catch up with Paul to discuss his previous films and his upcoming projects. Richard of LFF took the interview so without further ado over to Rich.

When I call, he is taking a break from editing his latest project; a modern day take on Sherlock Holmes for the BBC with Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as his loyal sidekick Watson. Three feature length episodes are planned; McGuigan will direct the first due out in the autumn.

(Noise)
PM: Sorry, I’m editing next to Dr Who, there was a big meeting today it’s a bit noisy

McGuigan eventually finds a quite spot in the corner and I open by trying to grab some information about the rumours surrounding his next film.

LFF: So I heard some news about a new project this morning, can you talk about it?

PM: Well I’m hoping to sign on in the next few days.

LFF: It’s written by the guys that did The Hangover, right?

PM: Yeah, it’s their next film.

LFF: Is it a flat out comedy?

PM: It’s a comedy thriller. But I’m waiting until the ink has been dried on the contract before I can really start talking about it.

The Acid House

LFF: Of course. So I was going to start by talking about some of your older films, The Acid House was your first feature, right?

PM: It was yeah, it was three short stories. I initially directed one short called The Granton Star Cause and it did pretty well on Channel 4 so they wanted to do all three. I’d only done documentaries before and was a photographer before that, so when Irvine Welsh asked me to do it, I initially turned it down because it wasn’t what I was used to doing. But then he told me about the story about the man having a bad day, meeting God in the pub and it was just crazy! I thought if it’s going to fail I may as well go out in a blaze of glory. It turned out to be such fun to do, Channel 4 wanted it to be a proper Irvine Welsh story and not filter it for an English audience. It was fun.

Paul Bettany in Gangster Number 1

LFF: So after that you made Little Angels (a docu-drama focusing on heroin addicts) and Gangster Number 1. Along with The Acid House, did you get the feeling you were marked as a controversial director?

PM: Aye, but I’d say life is pretty controversial, I mean you’re going to come cross times when you’re not in a good place. Sometime real life is not filtered through on to the screen in the way some people would like it to. Life imitates art whereas art never usually imitates life and art always imitates art if you will, so for a genre like gangster films the only reference points we have of gangsters are through the cinema, and we just keep copying ourselves which means we portray gangsters in a certain way. But that’s fine that’s a good way of getting to an audience because they are comfortable with that, it’s what they are used to, but then you have to start breaking down some of the barriers of it. The lifestyle isn’t always glamorous; it can be ugly and violent. I always think violence is a hard thing for a director to portray; I don’t want to advocate it’s like pornography where you get off on it because that’s not the case. Violence to me is always the sounds and the hatred in the person perpetrating the violence. So what I wanted to do (In Gangster) was kill the audience that were watching it, you don’t see much when Paul Bettany strips naked and butchers the guy with an axe, but it’s still a very violent scene. I didn’t want to let the audience off with that you know? I wanted to show that violence was not glamorous. It’s also hard trying to find new ways to shoot violence, give it an original point of view to all the others.

LFF: Even though a lot of people really like Gangster Number 1, do you think it’s a bit underrated?

PM: I think a lot of my films are. Any director will tell you that about their movies. It seems to take time for people to find my movies. It’s like Lucky Number Slevin, it didn’t make millions at box office but then went on to make a ton on DVD. It’s almost like people found it and went “oh I’ve found this cool movie” and then claim it for themselves. It was the same with The Acid house.

LFF: I think I know what you mean. I stumbled across Wicker Park in Blockbuster, had never heard of it but I went on to enjoy it.

PM: Yeah It’s strange. I don’t think my style is as palatable to a mainstream audience marketable and it is to certain people. Production companies always seem to find them hard to market. Its like, “is Wicker Park a love story? Is it a thriller?” Well no, it’s not a love story because if it was a love story I would have shot it differently, so yeah it’s a thriller. So they always seem to have a problem marketing it.

The Reckoning

LFF: I was reading up on a film called The Reckoning but I had never heard of it.

PM: Well the reckoning is a prime example of bad marketing. I’m working with the likes of Martin Freeman and Benedict and they have never heard of it, it’s about the birth of modern day theatre you’d have thought they might have seen it! (laughs) It’s not bad, beautiful looking film, but it’s quite an art house movie, I wasn’t trying to make a mainstream film I just wanted to make a film about something I thought was interesting.

LFF: It boasts a great cast too.

PM: Yeah it’s got Paul Bettany, Vincent Cassell is in it, Wilem Defoe, Brian Cox.

LFF: I can’t seem to find it anywhere!

PM: (laughs) well there you go! But essentially it’s an expensive art house film lets put it that way, ill hold my hands up and say that’s what it is. But after that I realised I just needed to concentrate on what I’m best at and try and make films people want to see.

LFF: So after that you moved to the US, was it Gangster that brought you attention from America?

PM: Yeah it definitely was, it was a great calling card. I got a call from Robert Newman and he said it was getting a great reaction. After that I got the chance to meet Bruce Willis and some other big actors who said they wanted to work with me, and later on they came true to their word and worked with me on different projects over the years. But it still is a great calling card, people really like it.

McGuigan and Freeman - Lucky Number Slevin

LFF: After you completed Wicker Park in the US, would you say Slevin cemented you over there?

PM: To be honest it’s all indie companies I’ve worked for so I’ve always been on that side of the fence. Even with Push, I’ve never a studio movie.

LFF: I assume the next one will be for a studio?

PM: It’s not like I go out of my way to avoid it. I have been attached to various Marvel projects to James Bond.

LFF: Really?

PM: Yeah for Casino Royale. I was down to the last two, it would have been great and I haven’t given that one up just yet. Not like playing for Glasgow Celtic or playing in front of a crowd at the Barrowlands, some things you have to give up (laughs) but that’s not one of them.

LFF: Who would you cast as Bond?

PM: I think James McAvoy would be great. Daniel Craig is very good though. The thing that I didn’t like about Quantum of Solace is it took itself too god damn seriously. There’s a great sense of fun attached to Bond films and that has to be embraced, you can be serious when it’s required, but you just have to relax a bit.

Deathlok

LFF: Another project you were linked to was Deathlok

PM: Deathlok was just taking too long in development. David Self wrote it and it was a great script, the hardest thing bout Deathlok and this sounds crazy but was to get the idea of Knight Rider out of my head! Just couldn’t get over that. I really wanted to do that film but I had to put on the backburner.

LFF: But you got to kind of make a ‘superhero’ film with Push.

PM: I suppose so, yeah, but I never really approached it that way. Push was me wanting to do an action film, you know? Before the Acid House I never watched Trainspotting, so I never watched X Men or anything like that which might have influenced the way I do things, I just like to do my own thing. But obviously certain people and studios always want certain things in there.

LFF: Push isn’t as glossy, if you will, compared to other ‘superhero’ films

PM: I would have made it grittier if I could have! But what you have to remember is with these ‘superhero’ films if you want to call them, is that you’re up against these big budget pieces with the greatest technologies available. Push was made for $25m, which is a lot of money, but that’s not much compared to those films which are up to £100m now. But that shouldn’t put off and I think it’s a pretty cool movie.

McGuigan with Chris Evans - Push

LFF: So let’s talk about Sherlock again, is it anything with Guy Ritchie’s recent film?

PM: No. It’s written by Steven Moffat who does Doctor Who and Mark Gatiss from League of Gentlemen. They are big fans and wanted to do an updated version, he has to be smarter now he’s up against all this new technology. I think it’s harder to make him modern and immediate being set in the present day rather than back in the olden days. I thought Guy Ritchie’s film was entertaining, but that’s what it has to be as a lot of people see it as a bit of a romp. But we want to bring it back to the clever detective side. The BBC are putting a bit of a wedge behind it so hopefully it will do well.

LFF: So no pipes and hats then?

PM: (laughs) No, no hats, but I thought that might be cool. He’s covered in nicotine patches and that kinda stuff. It pays homage to the originals, it still feels like Baker Street but with plasmas televisions.

Grant Morrison

LFF: The Acid House is still the only thing you have filmed in Scotland, would you be interested in making something else there?

PM: Yeah Grant Morrison and myself are working on, I wouldn’t call it a secret project, but a project with Stephen Fry and it’s a thriller set in Scotland. Me and Grant have been friends for a while and we wanted to do something together and Grant went off and wrote a treatment, so it’s at the treatment stage at the moment.

UPDATE: The show is going to be called Bonnyroad according to Bleeding Cool. END OF LINE

LFF: Is it a full series?

PM: It’s seven episodes. It takes place over seven days around an event that happens in Scotland. It’s a modern take on an old fable or fairy story. If you know Grants work you might have an idea of what it will be like. It’s like Twin Peaks meets Brigadoon! It’s off the wall and smart but in a watchable commercial way. It’s still in the early stages but I’m very excited about it.

LFF: There’s still not a large amount of ‘big’ Scottish directors out there at the moment.

PM: I think we quietly work away, you’ve got MacKenzie and Peter Mullan who I think is great, he has a story to tell. So not quite a full squad yet, we’ve probably got a five a side.

LFF: Do you think more could be done to help develop talent?

PM: There has to be grassroots. Eighteen year olds will look at it and think, “I can’t see a career for me here”, so they make it creating video games and things like that. We need to change that mindset and get back into it. I read some stats the other day and it said film and television in Scotland work an average of seven days a year, that’s no career it’s almost a hobby. It’s sad. But the BBC seem to be keen in putting some money in and hopefully it’s just a bump in the road. There’s some great talent up here, it just needs to be harvested.

LFF: Mark Millar is rumoured to be writing a Scottish superhero tale. Would a film version interest you?

PM: Mark’s a talented boy, but I don’t think he will work with me after I slagged off his last film, Wanted. I never insulted him directly because he didn’t even write the screenplay and I wouldn’t intentionally slag off someone else’s work but certain people stirred it up. The funniest part was when Morgan Freeman, who I adore, started talking about the weavers or something. I just wanted to pause it and rewind it in the cinema and say, “sorry, are they trying to tell us this makes any sense?!” But good luck and good power to the man.

Check out the other LFF interviews including Duncan Jones, Mike Sizemore, Johnny Depp, Tony Grisoni, Michael Marshall Smith, Neal Asher, Leslie Simpson and more.