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Brillante Mendoza Discusses Working With Isabelle Huppert On 'Captive' & His Smaller-Scale, Manila-Set Next Project

  • By Jessica Kiang
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  • February 17, 2012 1:34 PM
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  • 1 Comment
Features
Brillante Mendoza has a killer work ethic: the Filipino director made nine films between 2005's "Masahista" and 2009's "Lola," the latter of which, along with Cannes in-competition entry "Kinatay" the same year, really launched him into the major leagues of international helmers. He's taken an uncharacteristic two-and-a-half year break, but returned this week at the Berlin Film Festival with "Captive," a gripping, Herzogian drama that should see him reach his widest audience yet, thanks to the presence of international star Isabelle Huppert.
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More: Brillante Mendoza, Captive, Captured, Isabelle Huppert, Berlin International Film Festival, Interviews

Guy Maddin On The "Sweet Sadness" Of 'Keyhole' & His Love For 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol'

  • By Jessica Kiang
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  • February 17, 2012 10:57 AM
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  • 0 Comments
Features
You could forgive Guy Maddin for feeling a little put out at the moment. The Canadian filmmaker has, for nearly 25 years, been faithfully paying homage to the early days of cinema with films like "Archangel," "Twilight of the Ice Nymphs" and "The Saddest Music In The World" to little commercial success, only to see "The Artist" become an awards-laden phenomenon this year. But actually (as we'll see) Maddin hasn't been paying much attention. Instead, he's been focused on his latest film, the gangster memory tale, "Keyhole," with Jason Patric, Isabella Rossellini and Udo Kier, among others.
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More: Berlin International Film Festival, Guy Maddin, Keyhole, Interviews

"For Me, There Was No Character": Isabelle Huppert Discusses The Making Of Brillante Mendoza's 'Captive'

  • By Jessica Kiang
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  • February 16, 2012 2:06 PM
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  • 1 Comment
Features
Few actresses are quite as fearless as Isabelle Huppert. She's been a near-legend for going on forty years, but has never taken a paycheck job, preferring to seek out challenging work with some of international cinema's most uncompromising auteurs. And that's embodied neatly in "Captive," her collaboration with Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza, which just premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.
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More: Berlin International Film Festival, Interviews, Isabelle Huppert, Captive, Brillante Mendoza

In Memory Of 'Paradise Lost': 10 Lost Projects We'd Like To See Resurrected

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • February 16, 2012 1:00 PM
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  • 7 Comments
Features
Right now, studios seem to like cancelling movies more than they like making them. After a year in which the box office took a hit, and general economic problems continued, plugs were pulled on films from "At The Mountains Of Madness" and "The Dark Tower" to "Akira" and "Arthur and Lancelot." Only last week, Alex Proyas' Bradley Cooper-starring adaptation of "Paradise Lost," having already been pushed back in an attempt to bring the budget down, was canceled altogether by Legendary Pictures.
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More: Features, Paradise Lost

Over-Attached: What Projects Will Guillermo Del Toro, Ridley Scott, Michael Mann & Martin Scorsese Actually Make?

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • February 16, 2012 11:58 AM
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  • 6 Comments
Features
It is very very hard to get a movie made. Even if you're at the top of the tree, anything can happen -- think of even AAA-lister Steven Spielberg, who couldn't get "Harvey" off the ground a few years back. So as such, the best thing a director can do is have several projects on the go, so that if one hits a snag, there's something else that could be ready to go.
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More: Features, Guillermo del Toro, Ridley Scott, Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese

As Whit Stillman Returns, Here's 5 Other Long-Absent Directors Making A Comeback In 2012

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • February 14, 2012 3:53 PM
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  • 11 Comments
Features
Late last night, the trailer for Whit Stillman's "Damsels In Distress" debuted, and for those who didn't catch it on the festival circuit last year, it was the first time they'd seen any new footage from the "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona" helmer in over a decade. By the time that 'Damsels' is released, nearly fourteen years will have passed since the release of Stillman's third film, "The Last Days Of Disco," a near-Malickian absence. While he's been absent for longer than most, he's far from alone. As we've discussed both last year, and last week, there's plenty of other filmmakers who have been missing in action for some time.
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More: Features, Spike Lee, Andrew Dominik, Whit Stillman, Juan Antonio Bayona, Roman Coppola, Richard Linklater

Gary Oldman Discusses 'Tinker Tailor,' 'The Dark Knight Rises' & 'Harry Potter' In A Career-Spanning Conversation At Lincoln Center

  • By Cory Everett
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  • February 13, 2012 9:56 AM
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  • 5 Comments
Features
One of the most esteemed actors of his generation, it’s truly a blunder for the Academy that until this year Gary Oldman had never even been nominated for an Oscar. During his 30 year career he’s shown extraordinary range, playing real life figures like Sid Vicious, Lee Harvey Oswald and Ludwig van Beethoven, literary icons like Rosencrantz, Dracula, Sirius Black, Lt. Jim Gordon and George Smiley and indelible cinematic creations like Drexl Spivey,  Stansfield and Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg. He’s appeared in supporting parts and leading roles, indies and blockbuster franchises, he’s even stepped behind the camera to write and direct 1997’s “Nil By Mouth,” and has been kicking around a project for over a decade about a sex addict which he still hopes to get off the ground. It really seems as though there is not anything Oldman isn’t capable of.
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More: Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Dark Knight Rises

As 'Junebug' Helmer Phil Morrison Announces A New Project, Where Have These 5 Long-Absent Indie Directors Been?

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • February 10, 2012 2:21 PM
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  • 12 Comments
News
We were just having a conversation around The Playlist's office pinball machine this week ("Ghostbusters 2"-branded, in case you were wondering) about whatever happened to director Phil Morrison, who helmed the excellent "Junebug" back in 2006 (launching the career of Amy Adams in the process) only to seemingly disappear from the scene, with only a recent credit on HBO's "Enlightened" to his name. And then, barely 24 hours later, the news arrived that Morrison was back, with the comedy "Lucky Dog," which will star Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti and Sally Hawkins.
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More: Features, Phil Morrison, Whit Stillman, Juan Antonio Bayona, Richard Linklater, Kimberly Peirce, Tamara Jenkins, Alison Maclean, Shane Carruth, Lance Hammer

The Essentials: The 5 Best Denzel Washington Performances

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • February 10, 2012 12:58 PM
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  • 15 Comments
Features
Sometimes, winning an Oscar seems to change things for an actor. Look at Al Pacino, who's barely taken anything worth his time since he won for "Scent of a Woman" in 1992, or Kevin Spacey, who starred in a string of dull would-be-heartwarmers after picking up his gold for "American Beauty." And you could argue the same for Denzel Washington. He's irrefutably one of the most charismatic screen presences around, with even more gravitas than ever before as he closes on his 60s. But since he won Best Actor from the Academy for "Training Day," his film roles seem to have been a variation on a theme; thrillers that sometimes work, sometimes don't, but rarely leave you reeling the way his best work does, with his real energy seemingly reserved for directing work or stage performances like "Julius Caesar" and "Fences" (the latter of which won him a Tony).
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More: Denzel Washington, Features, The Essentials, Safe House, Best Of

Oren Moverman Talks Taking A Paranoid Woody Harrelson To Dark Places For The Searing Police Drama 'Rampart'

  • By Jen Vineyard
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  • February 10, 2012 11:57 AM
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  • 0 Comments
Features
Oren Moverman's directorial debut, 2009's "The Messenger," nabbed two Oscar nominations -- for Best Original Screenplay, and for Woody Harrelson as Best Supporting Actor. Moverman and Harrelson's critically-acclaimed follow-up "Rampart" seemed to be on the path for a repeat performance, especially given the actor's harrowing portrayal of a corrupt police officer on a downward spiral of paranoia and self-destructive behavior -- but was snubbed by the Academy this time around -- not one Oscar nod. "Who knows how these things work?" Moverman asked The Playlist. "I'm not disappointed though. You know what would disappoint me? If people don't go see the movie. That would really disappoint me, because we want people to see it, to talk about it, to get something from it, to interact with the movie, if you will." To aid that interaction, then, Moverman shared some insights about the making of "Rampart" that might get those conversations going.
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More: Oren Moverman, Rampart, Woody Harrelson

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