The scales of Justice League

It would have been the Aussie movie that brought together Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman on the big screen. But Justice League's supervillain was the Global Financial Crisis which wiped the project out just weeks before shooting was about to get underway. Australian actress Teresa Palmer has spoken out about the film, in which she was to star as one of the villains.

Currently back in the country to promote her new film Sorcerer's Apprentice, with Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel, Palmer said the cast were devastated about the failed project.
``I know Megan Gale had even got to try on her Wonder Woman costume and it was the same with the Batman and Superman costumes,'' she said.
``I played a villain so I didn't get to start trying on my costume, but we were all in Sydney rehearsing for a few weeks.
``It was fortunate for me because I got to know Jay (Baruchel) who was also playing a villain and when we did a chemistry test for the Sorcerer's Apprentice we had already worked together and I got the part.''

Australian filmmaker George Miller, best known for the Mad Max franchise, was directing the project which is based on DC Comics series of the same name. It sees prominent superheroes within the DC universe unite to fight crime.The film would have included characters such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Green Lantern. Palmer said she was to play supervillain Talia al Ghul and that like the storyline in the comics, there was a love interest between her and Batman.
``There were a few romantic sparks (in the script),'' she said.
``It would have been great because Batman was played by the strikingly handsome Armie Hammer.
``It was very disappointing and I would still love to be involved in it if something ever did happen again.''The Justice League cast included a batch of relative unknowns in the roles, including supermodel Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, rapper Common as Green Lantern, OC alumni Adam Brody as The Flash, D.J Cotrona as Superman, Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman, Hugh Keays-Byrne as Martian Manhunter, Palmer (above) as Ghul and Baruchel as unknown villain.

Now that Marvel Studios have got Buffy creator Joss Whedon working on an Avengers movie, rumours have been circulating that Justice League might go back into production. Palmer said if Miller and the same studio were involved, she would not hesitate to rejoin the project.
``It was an amazing role,'' she said.
``I got to know George quite well and we did some intense workshops and got to spend a lot of time together.
``It was amazing to spend time with him because he's such a veteran and a prestigious filmmamker and an icon in Australia.
``It was flattering to be working with him so closely.''

Palmer said they discussed working together on his fourth Mad Max film Fury Road but `unfortunately' she was not able to do it due to scheduling conflicts. Mad Max: Fury Road too has hit financial difficulties and although filming was supposed to begin in Australia this year, it has been pushed back to February, 2011. In the mean time, stay poised for full interview with Palmer coming in the next few days and her tell-all about Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay produced alien-actioner I Am Number Four.

Read more...

Green with envy

From his breakout hit Boy to starring in next year’s blockbuster Green Lantern (above), New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi is a shining light in Hollywood. The 35-year-old Maori writer, director, producer and artist first burst onto the scene in 2004 with his Oscar-nominated short film Two Cars, One Night and followed that success in 2007 with his debut feature Eagle Vs Shark. It starred his close friend Jermaine Clement of Flight Of The Conchords fame and Waititi also came on board to write and direct several episodes of the hit show. But it is his latest film Boy that is truly putting him on the world stage.

Whilst in competition at the prestigious Sundance film festival earlier this year, executives from Warner Brothers Studio saw Waititi performing in Boy and quickly approached him about a role in Green Lantern. Despite coming from an acting background in live theatre and perfoming in a comedy troupe with Jermaine, Waititi said it was strange to give up the creative reigns and return to performing.
“They saw Boy and were looking for someone to play this character, so I read for it and then suddenly I was an actor again,” he said.
“It was weird because it wasn’t part of the plan for me. I just wanted to do my thing and keep making films and be a director.
“It was very, very weird and I found it kind of strange to go from someone whose been in control for ages to sitting around on set waiting for your scene.
“Your part of it, but your also not part of it.
“It was fucking weird to be honest, but I loved it and watching how everything is done.”Green Lantern is the $150m mega blockbuster based on the DC Comics series of the same name and stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role (above). Waititi said he plays the role of Green Lantern’s faithful sidekick Thomas Kalmaku in the film.
“I can’t even pronounce his name properly because he’s supposed to be of Native American heritage,” he said.
“He doesn’t have any powers or do any of the action scenes.
“It’s basically that….the guy is like a tech geek. That old chestnut.
“It’s not a giant role or anything and you never know if you’re still going to be in it at the end of the movie.
“While I was shooting I was thinking, as a filmmaker, you don’t really need this scene. But I wasn’t going to tell them that.”

Tipped as being the biggest blockbuster of 2011, there has been a lot of hype surrounding the special effects used on Green Lantern. Reynolds suit, for instance, is being created using CGI technology and will constantly evolve throughout the film. Although Waititi said he didn’t get to see what the suit looked like during filming, what he did see of the production was `amazing’.
“I haven’t seen any of the suit stuff because they hadn’t even decided what the suit was going to look like when we were shooting,” he said.
“They’ve had almost a year since filming to develop that now, but the art I saw was amazing.
“It’s going to look incredible.
“That was very exciting for me because although I saw some of the green screen stuff, there’s no way to imagine what it’s going to look like.
“I just gave up and said my lines.
“I imagined it would look awesome down the track but at that moment it was just a bunch of weird people in normal clothes standing around with cameras.
“I wasn’t even in those scenes, I just went to watch their spotted-suit acting.”
Being involved in one of the most highly anticipated comic-book movies was a dream come true for Waititi (above), who said he used to `collect comics’ when he was younger.
“I was not really into the Green Lantern mythology, but I was more of a Batman guy,” he said.
“Batman was just a guy with determination who was badass and good at beating people up and fighting.
“He had the dark past and that appealed to me.
“I was a little bit into X-Men, but it got quite complicated with all the characters.”

But don’t get too excited, because Waititi said he is not likely return to the superhero genre anytime soon.
“It’s not really my style,” he said.
“I’m better suited to these character pieces and its sort of my background.
“There’s less stress and less stuff that’s over my head.”Boy is in cinemas tomorrow. Green Lantern is out June, 2011.

Read more...

How Thor-tful

All it took was a man with a hammer to get audiences at the Australian International Movie Convention drooling last week. Never-before-seen footage from the upcoming Thor movie, based on the Marvel superhero, played at the event during a presentation by Paramount Pictures.

Director Kenneth Branagh and Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor in the film, introduced the scenes via videolink. Both apologised for not being able to make the convention and Branagh said he has fond memories of Australia.
"I love Australia, I have fond memories of working on an ABC television show and then with director Phillip Noyce on Rabbit Proof Fence," he said.

Although some footage of Thor was screened at the Comic Con event in the US recently, delegates were the first to see this new material. As well as watching scenes from the movie itself, Thor concept art was shown and interviews with the producers, creative directors and fellow big-wigs.

From what I saw, I must say I’m quite intrigued. Note how I say intrigued rather than excited. I’ve never been into the Thor mythology myself and I’ll see the movie regardless, but this looks a bit to `out there’ for me. The film seems to be set between the two planets and rely heavily on the alien thing, which are the same elements that turned me off about Superman and Green Lantern. Anyway, Thor’s home planet of Asgard (which Anthony Hopkins and bunch of the other characters live on) looks visually quite amazing and tres alien. The creative lads said they tried to make something `unlike anything you’ve seen before’ which immediately makes me go `pffft, who hasn’t?’. For the most part though, I shall reserve judgement until we get a full length trailer and it’s packaged properly. Maybe.

Thor will be released on May 5, 2011. (Above) Thor was very happy at the success of his latest DYI project around the house.

Read more...

About A Boy

From growing up in a remote indigenous community to walking the red carpet at the Oscars, New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi’s story really is a fairytale. In its home country of New Zealand Boy has beat out blockbusters like Alice In Wonderland and King Kong to become the seventh highest grossing film ever. This is thanks to the talent of the film’s writer, director and star Taika Waititi (above).

The 35-year-old Maori filmmaker grew up in the very same community depicted in the film and a large portion of it was shot in his childhood home. After university, Waititi met Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement and the trio worked together on several theatre and comedy projects. Then things blew up, metaphorically of course.

Coming from a background in visual arts, Waititi decided to try his hand at movies and entered a competition with his short film Two Cars, One Night. Within the blink of an eye the film was playing at the top international film festivals and had been nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Film, Live Action. Soon his friends Bret and Jermaine were international stars with their show Flight Of The Conchords, which Waititi also came on board to write and direct several episodes. Jermaine also starred in Waititi’s debut feature film Eagle Vs Shark in 2007.

But it is his latest film Boy that could see Waititi at the Oscars once more. Set in 1984, it follows the story of Boy (James Rolleston) who’s left to look after his younger brother Rocky (Te Aho Eketone-Whitu ) (below) and cousins when his grandmother leaves town to attend a funeral. Boy was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and won a Best Feature Film award at the Berlin International Film Festival. Variety has already labelled Boy as this year’s Precious, despite the absence of obese black women eating chicken and Mariah Carey.
But for Waititi, all the overseas hype is a bit `weird’.
“I like L.A. and I liked hanging out there, but I didn’t enjoy the Oscars too much,” he says.
“I don’t like things that are really stressful, I like to relax.
“If it was just a big cocktail party and they just happened to be handing out Oscars willy-nilly then I might be into that.”

Waititi says he likes that the film `has an underdog quality to it, especially on the world stage’
“I like the idea that you can make something entertaining with a message,” he says.
“The kind of stuff that we’re portraying here is always in my mind and there seems to be two depictions of Maori - Once Were Warriors, where we’re just smashing each other all the time - or there’s Whale Rider - which is beautiful but gives the impression that all we do all day is live in this very spiritual world.
“I got a review overseas, I call it a bad review, from an American who didn’t like the film because there wasn’t enough spiritual stuff in it for him.
“Basically what he was saying was that there wasn’t enough whale riding.
“For Maoris, to be able to laugh at ourselves is a very important thing and it’s the darker situations when the bright stuff happens.
“More than anything I just wanted to reflect families in general.
“At the end of the day with the dance at the end it’s a movie that tells a story and I’m not shirking my responsibility…if my message is anything it’s be a good parent.”

The dance he is talking about is the combination of Michael Jackson’s Thriller and the traditional Maori Haka, which the cast perform at the end credits. One of Boy’s favourite people in the film is Michael Jackson, and fans of the King Of Pop are sure to be overwhelmed with the amount of MJ references.
“I’ve been a fan of his since I was a kid,” says Waititi.
“I liked watching his videos and watching Thriller for the first time in that family house where we shot the film.
“He epitomises the 80s for me, especially for kids.
“He was this guy who wasn’t white and he led this amazing life where he was rich and spent his money on stuff that kids would spend it on.
“He had fucking zoo animals, rode around on a mini-train and bought ice cream, like, why not?
“We had this idea growing up that if we had money we would spend it on ridiculous lavish stuff too.”

Waititi also stars in the film as Boy and Rocky’s absentee father, Alamein, who is essentially a child himself. Erratic and immature, Waititi says he is a `mixture of people’ he knew. He says the biggest compliment of his performance is the fact he was nominated for best supporting actor at the 2010 New Zealand Film and TV award alongside his 10-year-old co-star Te Aho Eketone-Whitu.

In the mean time, Waititi says he plans on taking a long break before his next project but audiences can be sure he will continue to deliver his unique brand of comedy.
“I tend to like anything that feels a little new and blurs the lines a bit,” he says.
“Flight Of The Conchords is a straight comedy, but this is more subtle and can have darker elements to it.
“It’s not hammering someone over the head with jokes…we don’t need laugh track to tell someone it’s funny.
“It’s treating the audience with more respect; if they don’t get something they will, they don’t have to over-think everything.”

Boy is out in cinemas on Thursday. Keep your eyes peeled for my exlusive interview with Waititi about his role in GREEN LANTERN! Yeah boi! Also, for shits and giggles watch the Haka/Thriller dance below and my online video review of Boy here. For my full written view click here.

Read more...