A long time ago Kristen Bell was on one of the most beloved and tragically cancelled TV shows of all time. This weekend, Veronica Mars is back on the big screen and on On Demand. We got a chance to talk with her about why the time was right to make the movie, how the film's Kickstarter campaign helped them get distribution, what it was like getting the band back together, the conflicted nature of Veronica’s quest this time out, and if she really did try to smuggle a burrito into The Oscars.
Actor Aaron Paul and director Scott Waugh sit down with us to talk about their video game adaptation Need for Speed, and about the film’s old school feel, how Paul gets into character when so many cameras are on him, the most dangerous stunt they attempted together. They also bicker about who gets to keep the nicest car in the movie.
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.
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 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 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.
We talk to teen filmmaker and last year's winner of the RBC/TIFF Next Wave 24 Hour Film Challenge winner Nate Wilson prior him meeting this year's competitors on Saturday's kick off about what kind of advice he would give to any teens interested in taking on the challenge this year, what the experience and the shoot was like last year, and how the competition makes him feel about his work today.
We talk to writer/director Jeremy LaLonde and actors Kate Hewlett, Amanda Brugel, and Zoie Palmer about their work on the ensemble independent Canadian comedy Sex After Kids about finding the right people for the roles, assembling a film out of a lot of different parts in a small amount of time, letting go of your ego to play something realistically for laughs, not being able to keep straight faces, and why Jeremy jokingly made his low budget independent film sound even lower budget than it really was.
