I’ve already spoken here on my love for the 1974 giallo, Il Profumo della signora in nero (The Perfume of the Lady in Black),
After the link bump we have part one of my interview with Italian filmmaker and noted painter, Francesco Barilli. Il Profumo della signora in nero to this day maintains a cult-like status among connoisseurs of gialli for its uniqueness to the genre and surpassing it as one of the better films in cinema to blur the line in a narrative between reality and fantasy, without ever fully tipping its hat.
In part one of this interview we talk about:
* Setting up the Story
* The Opening Sequence
* Camera for the Opening Shot
* The Main Building
* Blurring the Line Between Reality & Fantasy in the Film
* SPOILER - Ending Discussion
Continue Reading "NIFFF 2008 - Perfume of the Lady in Black Interview Part 1"...
My interview with Satoshi Kon was not under ideal circumstances. The translator Lincoln Center provided had a bad case of nerves that day, I was also understandably a bit nervous, my tape recorder conked out on me a few minutes into the interview and I of course did not get to ask all the questions I had prepared for Mr. Kon.
However, the folks at the Manhattan Bureau were kind enough to provide me with a DVD of my interview with Mr. Kon. After watching it, I really don’t that the world is ready for me to upload it into the Twitch Video Player. Trust me on this one; no way is this video seeing the light of day on my watch.
All in all though, when Kon did get to my questions, his answers were what I expected and in a very good way. He was very practical and intelligent in trying to describe his influences, his creative process and his fascination with dreams and that’s really all I could’ve hoped for. Below is a transcription of my interview with Kon, conducted on June 27th.
Simon Abrams: Your earliest successes were in manga with titles like Opus and Kaikisen. What experiences or lessons do you think you’ve retained from those projects or your work in manga in general?
Satoshi Kon: I learned some basic ideas that were critical for later on when I became an animator, like how to create story lines, developing characters and designing backgrounds. In manga, there’s no movement, no color, no sound. Everything from those projects were very helpful to my work as an animator later.
Continue Reading "Exclusive Interview with Satoshi Kon"...
On July 8th, the latest film from Belgium director Fabrice Du Welz cleared censors with a 12 and under rating. We chatted with Fabrice on this and the film. Previously Todd posted the incredible trailer to his latest film (view here). All thanks to the all mighty X who took time from his incredible Korean cinema coverage to translate this interview for me and to Rodney for the two of the questions on the script and score.
X translating French? You bet you! And let us now clear up some things on Vinyan!
Interview after the link bump.
Continue Reading "VINYAN - Fabrice Du Welz on Clearing Censors"...
Collin talked about sequels (read here) and now let us talk about all these remakes! At the 2008 NIFFF (Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival) in Switzerland, I talked with filmmakers - Hideo Nakata, Xavier Gens and Jesus Franco on what they thought on all these remakes that seem to be coming out these days. Hideo Nakata alone seemed prime to talk on the subject after having his original Ringu reworked so many times I’ve lost count on its mutations.
The Jesus Franco piece may not be immediately accessible, but after repeat listens I think you can get at the very real beating heart of cinema that he is speaking about.
Interview after the link bump.
Continue Reading "NIFFF 2008 - Remakes, Remakes… Remakes!?!"...
It’s easy to understand why a year or so back the San Francisco Film Critics Circle unanimously acknowledged Stephen Salmons—Artistic Director for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival ("SFSFF")—and his remarkable contribution to the Bay Area film community. Not only is he one of the nicest people in the world, but his enthusiasm is contagious, and—having helmed SFSFF for over a decade—he’s become as savvy as they get when it comes to silent cinema. It was a complete pleasure to sit down and talk with him about this year’s San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
Continue Reading "2008 SFSFF13—Interview With Artistic Director Stephen Salmons"...
Yes, boys and girls, it’s the tenth installment of our ongoing podcast series with transplanted Brit film makers Adam Mason and Simon Boyes. And the question of the day, of course, is whatever happened to episode nine? It’s a mystery kids, a mystery of the universe, but on we go with the good stuff. If you’ve not been listening to these thus far then you’ve been missing out on an insiders look at what it takes to make it in this business as well as just some rippingly funny observances on life and film in general but not to worry: we’ve still got all the installments available for your perusal below.
It has been a long time coming for director Marc Caro [City of Lost Children and Delicatessen] to get behind the camera and direct his new film Dante 01. The film offers a re-interpretation at the first cantica of the Divine Comedy, setting three circles of Dante’s Inferno in a futuristic, orbiting psychiatric hospital.
There is a short interview over at Cineuropa today. The director talks about his film, the challenge of the small budget, the nature of the science in his film and its nods to other science fiction films. He also cites the influence of the anime films of Japanese directors Satoshi Kon and Katsuhiro Otomo. You can read the brief interview following the link below.
Dante 01 is a space prison drift in the suffocating atmosphere of the hostile planet called Dante. Inside, six of the most dangerous criminals of the surrounding worlds are used as guinea-pigs with obscure experiments. A resistance is organized around César, a psychopath manipulator. But its authority it’s called into question by the arrival of Saint Georges, a mysterious prisoner possessed by a secret force which he will learn how to control, using it to face the hostility of his fellow prisoners and to release them from the maleficent attraction of Dante.
Dante 01 releases in Italy on July 25th.
Back on June 19th we brought you the Lars introduction to Jesus Franco’s 1969 women in prison film, 99 Women (view here), and today we have Jesus Franco himself talking about the film. This interview took place at the 2008 NIFFF (Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival) in Switzerland. As you will see Mr. Franco is quite a character and still full of a tremendous passion for cinema. 99 Women is a pivotal women in prison film from the late late 1960’s as it created a tidal wave industry for this type of film that proved to be commercially profitable and with an updated template to exploit and entertain audiences with.
In this interview we talk about:
* Thoughts on 99 Women
* Mercedes McCambridge as Thelma
* Rosalba Neri as Zoe
* Last Shot of Neri & Censorship
- He doesn’t have much to say on the last shot, but agrees at how great it is.
Interview after the link bump.
Continue Reading "NIFFF 2008 - Jesus Franco Talks 99 Women (1969)"...
At 2008 NIFFF (Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival) in Switzerland, I finally saw L: Change the World and had the chance to sit down with its director, Hideo Nakata to discuss it. The following does have some spoilers if you want to go into the film knowing absolutely nothing, but otherwise is spoiler free. The most marked departure in this latest Death Note series outing is the plot device switches to a more race against the clock to save the world. What did Nakata think of this shift and how was it for him in working with the very meticulous Kenichi Matsuyama who plays the title character of L?
In this interview we talk about:
* Getting Attached to Death Note Series with L
* Did He Have to Work with Death Note Series Rules?
* Working with Kenichi Matsuyama as L
* Making Kenichi Matsuyama as L an Action Hero
* Action Films That Inspired Film?
* James Bond ”Save the World” Plot Influence
* Thai Action & Diarrhea
* Japanese Cinema Trend from Minimal to Extreme Violence
Interview after the link bump.
Continue Reading "NIFFF 2008 - Hideo Nakata on L: Change the World"...
From the recent NIFFF 2008, I have already posted clips of Xavier Gens talking Vanikoro, La Horde, Snow, Vinyan, Martyrs and more. In this latest edition we cover a wide range of topics including a very funny bit with Xavier pondering making a romantic comedy, er um, why he might not ever be greenlit to make one. It really is amazing to see how passionate and vivid he talks about his TIFF Midnight Madness experience last year with Frontière(s); he definitely seems quite genuinely moved by his experience there.
In this interview we talk about:
* TIFF Midnight Madness Experience with Frontière(s)
* On Lady Blood & Helping Upcoming French Filmmakers
* His Secret Project with a Director from Spain
* Being on the Jury at NIFFF 2008
* Latest on Karina Testa - Yasmie from Frontière(s)
* Joking on Making a Romantic Comedy
Video interview after the link bump.
Continue Reading "NIFFF 2008 - More with Xavier Gens"...
I sat down with [REC] co-director Jaume Balagueró yesterday and in this final part of the multi-part video interview done at the 2008 NIFFF (Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival) we learn even more about [REC].
SPOILER ALERT for this clip!
In the clip we discuss on [REC]:
* Working with Co-Director Paco Plaza
* Finding the Building
* Shooting the Film in Real-Time Style
* Shooting with Only One POV to Work with
* On the Sound Design
* Upcoming Projects for Jaume Balagueró
Watch the final part of this video interview after the link bump.
Continue Reading "NIFFF 2008 - Jaume Balagueró Talks [REC] - Final Part"...
My editor at movieScope assigned me Doug Jones to interview for our upcoming issue fanfaring Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which opens theatrically Stateside next Friday. It was a welcome assignment. Doug and I hit it off and spoke for over an hour. Amazingly, movieScope only wanted 1800 words, which left me with quite a bit left over to offer up here! I guess we could call it the Jack Spratt school of journalism? Let no one go hungry. Not for the spoiler-wary!
* * *
Michael Guillén: Doug, masks are associated with the Greek god Dionysos, especially with regard to the fact that—along with all that masks are said to conceal—they likewise reveal. In your career particularly masquerade has been the means by which your talent has been revealed. When you started out as an actor, did you have any idea that you would become a so-called “creature actor”?
Doug Jones: No, not even close. I had no idea. When I began and set out to Hollywood in 1985, I came out to be a sitcom star. I thought being a tall, skinny, white guy that surely I would be able to get on a TV series and be the goofy next-door neighbor who runs in, does armpit farts, says something funny and then runs back out again. That’s where I thought I was destined. I finally got an agent and started to do TV commercials and my third job was a campaign for McDonald’s as the character Mac Tonight and that went on for 27 commercials over a three-year period. I wore a crescent moon head and sang while sitting at a piano, floating on a cloud. Mac Tonight became a wildly popular character that lasted, as I said, for three years and in that time I became known as—not just a tall, skinny, goofy white guy—but, one who wears things without complaining and moves well. My name started getting passed around the creature effects shops because of the various people that would work on my commercial campaign. Over the years it snowballed to where we are now.
Continue Reading "HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY—Interview With Doug Jones"...
I sat down with [REC] co-director Jaume Balagueró yesterday and in this continuation of part 1 of the multi-part video interview done at the 2008 NIFFF (Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival) we learn more about [REC].
SPOILER ALERT for this clip!
In the clip we discuss on [REC]:
* On casting and working with Manuela Velasco as Angela
* The two fake endings from Spain DVD explained
* Audience reaction trailer shot at Sitges
* Keeping the audience involved
* The seeming new & revitalized wave of genre/fantastic cinema from Spain
Watch part two after the link bump.
Continue Reading "NIFFF 2008 - Jaume Balagueró Talks [REC] Continued…"...
I sat down with [REC] co-director Jaume Balagueró yesterday to try and get some of the myths on the first film addressed and to see what information he could share on [REC] 2. What follows is part 1 of a multi-part video interview done at the 2008 NIFFF (Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival) in Switzerland.
SPOILER ALERT for this clip!
In the clip we discuss:
* [REC] 2
[REC] discussion includes:
* Just who is that person in the attic and where does the other person come from?
* Behind the Scenes discussion on the final scene and “falling scene”
* How fake scenes were shot to keep the actors never knowing what to expect next
* How throughout the actors were only given the script in small portions and often were given very little to go with during any one scene
Watch part one after the link bump.
Continue Reading "NIFFF 2008 - Jaume Balagueró Talks [REC] 2"...
[Many thanks to all involved for providing us with this opportunity to run this photograph of a young Donnie Yen in short shorts.]
The end of July will see Kenn Scott’s Eastern inspired martial arts action comedy adventure “’Adventures of Johnny Tao” hit Region One DVD. We spoke to the film’s director Kenn Scott about the film last week, and now its leading lady the petite powerhouse that is Chris Yen, sister of martial arts movie legend Donnie Yen talks about the project to Mike Leeder, the Hong Kong based editor of Impact.
Continue Reading "Chris Yen Talks JOHNNY TAO And More"...
