We talk to British director Ben Wheatlely: the man behind Kill List, Sightseers, and this weekend's A Field in England (Oh, and a couple of upcoming Doctor Who episodes) about how he never makes the same film twice, his film’s sense of language, how he directs actors, working with his writer as a co-editor, and his thoughts on his own special kind of genre filmmaking.
We talk with film critic and writer Adam Nayman, who this Friday will introduce a screening of the critically pillared 1995 Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls at Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox at an almost sold out screening, and who has a book about the film titled It Doesn't Suck coming out on April 15th. We talk about his personal experiences with the film, how the film and Verhoeven have been misread, questions about the film that he still has, and his ultimate goal for trying to reclaim the film’s reputation.
We talk to actor and writer Maxwell McCabe-Lokos and notable Canadian director Bruce McDonald about their collaboration on the dark comedy The Husband (opening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox this Friday) and about the film’s sense of brevity, their collaboration, what shooting the film digitally brought to the production, avoiding melodrama, trying to find the right tone for the film, and why the film’s most pivotal scene is also the most universally relatable one.
In the Toronto film, art and literary communities, Marc Glassman is a true renaissance man and this weekend the former owner of beloved Pages Bookstore synthesizes all of his loves into the Pages Festival (from the 13th to the 15th). In this first part of a two part interview, we talk about how Glassman's previous work has led to the creation of the festival, as well as in depth looks at events with Atom Egoyan and Bob Bossin and talks about urban narratives and the art and future of the book.
We talk to Vancouver based performers Fiona Vroom, Paula Giroday, and Jovanna Huguet about the webseries and live cabaret they have created about a trio of 1950s suburban housewives with superpowers known as The True Heroines.
We sit down with beloved Canadian stand-up and TV legend Brent Butt in this video interview about his first major big screen outing in the mystery/comedy No Clue.
We talk to filmmaker Rob Minkoff, who returns to entirely animated feature filmmaking for the first time in 20 years (following his success with some obscure movie called The Lion KingMr. Peabody and Sherman this weekend. We talk about balancing the cartoon’s old school feel with new school storytelling techniques, what it’s like returning to animation, how long the film was in development, why he’s generally averse to overdoing pop culture references in films, and why Jay Ward’s work stands up so well on its own after so long.
We talk with Will Pascoe, director of the documentary Lost Heroes: The Untold Story of Canadian Superheroes about the largely forgotten about or sadly lost legacy of the Canadian born superhero.
We chat with director Marisa Stotter about She Makes Comics, a documentary film about the untold history of women in comic books, celebrating female creators and fans alike.
A gamer and a comedian, Second City veteran Kris Siddiqi talks about his video-game themed improv show and the benefits of dying for an audience.
We talk with former Degrassi: The Next Generation actress Annie Clark about her first starring role on the big screen in the Canadian thriller Solo and about her thoughts on modern thrillers, why she chose filming over a vacation, why she never became a camp counsellor herself, and the freedom of being able to get a little down and dirty for the sake of the character.
We talk to former UFC welterweight champion (and Montreal's own) Georges St-Pierre about the documentary Takedown: The DNA of GSP, an inside look into the fighter's process and comeback from a potentially career ending ACL tear. We also talk about revealing more of his personal life for the camera, his battles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, the main reason why he stepped away from MMA for a while, why a $5 plate of spaghetti helps remind him of where he came from, how it’s boring to be a normal person, how he learned the hard way to not let his anger and arrogance get the best of him in the ring, and his upcoming appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
We talk to E.L. Katz, director of the black comedy Cheap Thrills about why he made this is first film as a director, how he second guesses himself more as a writer, why the opening of the film is almost purposefully slow, the art of escalation, how his two leads essentially became method actors, why the set was physically uncomfortable to be on, and what it’s like trying to create “a human cockfight.”
We talk to brothers Andrew and Adam Gray, the documentarians behind Fly Colt Fly, a look at the almost unbelievable crime spree of 19 year old thief Colton Harris-Moore, about what first drew them to Colton as a subject, the sometimes unbelievable nature of his escapes from SWAT teams and army helicopters, how their love of comics helped in the mythological animated sequences of the film, the dangers Andrew put his own brother-in-law through for the live action recreations, how people from Colton’s younger days were more sympathetic, and how this film almost got them shot... twice.
We talk to Michael Suan, director of the Canadian shot modern silent hitman drama AKP Job 27 about his love of stoic cinema, how the film lost the dialogue that was created to bring more investors in, trying to find leads for a type of film that rarely gets made anymore, and the importance of locations that feel authentic in silent filmmaking.
