MARCH 2011 • NUMBER 109 • WWW.MOVIES.IE

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“CLASSIC FARRELLY

HILARIOUSHEARTWARMING ANDBRILLIANTLY STUPID”

Leon Poultney, ZOO

CalendarMarch 2011

Trailers online on Movies.ie

March 4th

Rango

Unknown

The�Adjustment�Bureau

As�If�I�Am�Not�There

Ironclad

Fair�Game

March 11th

The�Resident

Battle:�Los�Angeles

The�Company�Men

Hall�Pass

Chalet�Girl

Play�Again

April 1st

Oranges�And�Sunshine

Killing�Bono

Sucker�Punch

Hop

Source�Code

Essential�Killing

March 25th

Country�Strong

Faster

A�Turtle’s�Tale:

Sammy’s�Adventures

Cave�Of�Forgotten�Dreams

The�Eagle

Rewind

March 18th

Submarine

Route�Irish

You�Will�Meet�A�Tall

Dark�Stranger

The�Lincoln�Lawyer�

Between�The�Canals

MOVIE SPOTLIGHT

16 www.ifco.ie

As If I Am Not There is an award win-ning movie from Irish director JuanitaWilson, whose previous movie ‘TheDoor’ was nominated for an Oscar.Her latest film tells the story of ayoung woman from Sarajevo whoselife is shattered the day a soldier walksinto her home and tells her to pack herthings. She’s imprisoned in a ware-house where she quickly learns therules of camp life.

Did an Oscar nomination for yourprevious movie ‘The Door’ bringmany changes to your career?A: It was absolutely fantastic to benominated for the Oscar. It completelycame out of the blue. It was so reas-suring in so many ways – that youcould make a film set in Kiev thatsomehow ends up being genuinelypicked up by The Academy [of MotionPicture Arts and Sciences] and beingshortlisted and recognised in that way.It was everything you could ever wishfor as a first time filmmaker, it wasextraordinary really. It was very helpfulbecause, through that, they showedall five short films throughout America,so we had access to huge audiencesthat short films normally never would.I really was so delighted. It was incred-ible.

What inspired you to make this film?A: The book had certain elements, thatfelt very true, that I hadn’t comeacross before – that fear produces akind of numbness rather than adrena-line and that in certain situations likethis, there is not a natural solidarity

between people; that everyone justputs their head down and hopes thatthe bad thing won’t happen to them.It gave me a greater understandingof how events like this could happen,but also how an individual could sur-vive them and there are many manyways that the character tries to sur-vive the things that happen. For me,it felt like a story that took you rightthrough the darkest things that wedo to each other, but also brings youback to brings you back up to somekind of hope for the future. I liked theway it was structured.

Interview with Irish directorJuanita Wilson

How challenging was it to write ascreenplay like this by yourself?A: The screenplay was challenging towrite – not just for the subject – butbecause I felt the book did such agood job. In the book, obviously, youcan be in the head of the character andreally understand everything. As thecharacter goes through it she canunderstand what she feels, what shethinks, what she notices. In film youcan’t do that – I knew I didn’t want avoice over because it would be toomuch, so you have to tell everything bywhat you show on screen, so it wasfrustrating because I felt I could neverdo justice to the complexity of the stuffthat’s in the book, that the film can’tcarry. The power of film is that it canhave a different emotional impact so Ihope that the trade-off is that you pro-vide the audience with an experiencethat’s different to the book.

The minimal dialogue in the film wasobviously a choice that you made.Can you tell us a little bit about that?A: I suppose I would really believe,where possible, to just show things inpictures and that dialogue is only nec-essary if it helps the story. This almostcould have been a silent film. I remem-ber when we read the book, JamesFlynn – my producer – said he couldalmost see it as a silent film. It’s all real-ly her journey; because she is anobserver – we see it through her eyes.That’s one reason. Maybe alsobecause I’m not from there, therefore Iam writing in English, and probably alot of the dialogue would sound terribleanyway [laughs], so it’s probably agood thing that there is not too muchdialogue. I guess, in those situationswhere there is a lot of fear, peoplearen’t really communicating in thatway. It’s just looks, it’s just impressionsand clues and signs, by and large. I

think there was probably a little bitmore dialogue in the script and weprobably cut that out as well [laughs].I didn’t plan it, but the last line in thefilm is Stellan’s [Skarsgard] line abouther family, that kind of reverberateswith the last scene in a way.

How do you hope audiences willrespond to the film?A: I think it would be great if peoplewere brave enough to come andwatch it because it is obviously chal-lenging to watch a film like this, but inthe same way that the book com-pletely opened my mind and gave mean insight into how all of these thingscan happen, I would hope that peo-ple would be curious to come to thesubject with an open mind and alsoto learn ways that we can survivethese difficult experiences and tocome away with a feeling of hope,that despite all the awful things thathappen we still have enough love inour hearts to over come this. For methat is really important. At the end ofthe day it is a positive film, it is anuplifting film and I think that is reallyimportant – that if you are asking anaudience to see something, that youare leaving them with hope.

Words - Brogen Hayes. ‘As If I Am Not There’ is now showing in cinemas

Only 23, Irish actor RobertSheehan has come a long way.Baby. Paul Byrne talks to thestar of ‘Misfits’, ‘Love/Hate’,and this month’s ‘Killing Bono’.

It must be good for the Irish FilmBoard to know that, should CillianMurphy ever spring a leak, we’ve gota spare. Not that Robert Sheehan isanyone’s bitch. He just happens to bea strikingly pretty, damn talentedyoung actor from sunny Ireland. Wholooks good in a dress. Just like CillianMurphy. “Actually, when I did the TVseries ‘Red Riding’, Cillian phoned upthe agent we share and talked abouthow much my character remindedhim of Kitten, his character in‘Breakfast On Pluto’,” says Sheehan.“The whole transvestite, Marc Bolanthing. I was chuffed about that. I wasdelighted to know that he hadwatched something I’d done.”Wouldn’t we all. Just as DavidMitchell is there for when Stephen Fryjust isn’t available, Sheehan knowsthis town is big enough for both him-self and Murphy. So much so, the twoare about to make a movie together,with Irish director Stephen Bradley,called ‘The Wayfaring Strangers’. Fornow though, Sheehan – just backfrom a month’s holiday in Asia, and afew weeks promotional work in NewYork (“First time there; absolutelyloved it!”) – has got another movie topromote.

Based on rock critic NeilMcCormick’s memoir, ‘Killing Bono’charts the rise of U2 from a distancewhilst Bono’s fellow Mount TempleComprehensive School pupil sees hisband go further and further down thecrapper because Neil just won’taccept any help from U2. Ben Barnes(Prince Caspian in the Narnia fran-chise) plays Neil, whilst Sheehanplays his long-suffering brother, Ivan.If there was a fire, people would rushto save Ivan, whereas Neil might justperish. “We had long talks about howto play these guys,” says Sheehan.“The scripts were basically argumentsbetween these two brothers from

start to finish, but, luckily, Nick sawthe humour in it. We didn’t need it tobe an Eastenders omnibus… “I readthe book, and Neil is pretty annoying.So, the challenge was to make himsympathetic. To get audiences tounderstand why he made the deci-sions he made. To get audiences toactually like this guy who keeps doingeverything wrong.”

The brothers trajectory from no-hop-ers to has-beens is a familiar one, asthey high-tail it to London and pro-ceed to stumble from bad gig to badgig, and from dodgy deal to no deal.“A few nights before we startedshooting, Ben and I sat down towatch some movies,” says Sheehan,“to help us understand how to playthese brothers who are always argu-ing. We watched ‘Withnail & I’, andthat was our main reference point.There was also that ‘Shaun Of TheDead’, Simon Pegg and Nick Frostkind of relationship, where one isalways screaming at the other, andthey’re really not registering it.”

Robert has just made his maiden voy-age to New York – to promote theDVD release of ‘Season Of TheWitch’, the bonkers Black Plagueswashbuckler led by Nicolas Cage. Ioffer Sheehan my condolences.“Thankfully, I’m in the position of nothaving to care all that much how thatfilm went down,” says Sheehan. “Iwasn’t anywhere near the post onthat one. We did it about two and ahalf years ago now, and you knowwhen you’re having reshoots donetwo years later, there’s somethingwrong. I’d kinda forgotten about thething…”

So, you were young, and you neededthe money. “Yeah, and I was delight-ed to go to Austria and Hungary forthree and a half months, yeah,” he

Killing Bono hits Irish cinemas Apr 1st

Win tickets to an advance preview screening on Movies.ie

Killing Bono opens in Ireland on April 1st 2011

laughs. “It was a nice experience, get-ting to show off in front of Nic Caveand Ron Perlman. I agree with you, tobe honest – I have no qualms in sayingthat I don’t think it’s a very good movieeither. It’s a no-brainer kind of film.”

Having started out at the DunamaiseTheatre in his native Portlaoise, firstgetting the desire to act “because Ithought, at ten years of age, that mak-ing ads would be cool”, Sheehan’sbreakthrough came at the age of 14,when he landed a small part – afterattending an open call audition - inAisling Walsh’s 2003 movie ‘Song ForA Raggy Boy’. An agent, and a moveto London, weren’t far behind.“It’s only now that I’ve really had tomake a plan about my career,” saysSheehan. “Now, thankfully, there’squite a few projects coming my way,and I actually have to think about arole being right for me or not. Which isgreat, because I’m mad to work.”

Part of the plan was a two-week meet-and-greet with various LA castingdirectors back in May 2009 (“Got ahalf-an-hour with Christopher Nolan,which had me positively shaking”), butSheehan is keen to stay closer tohome. Hitting cinemas later this year isthe British horror flick ‘Suicide Kids’.

“It’s where the good work is rightnow,” he nods. “I’ll be starting the sec-ond series of Love/Hate this week, andafter that, I’m doing a movie called‘Romeo & Britney’, which is writtenand will be directed by David Baddiel.Some great people involved in that.Karen Gillan, from Dr. Who, GillianAnderson, and Richard Schiff, fromThe West Wing.“Man, just saying all that, I realise whata lucky, lucky bugger I am…”

Photography by Deirdre O’Callaghan.

my inspirationBonoU2

Bob DylanVisions of Johanna

Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quietwe sit here stranded though we’re all doin’ our best to deny itand Louise holds a handful of rain temptin’ you to defy itlights flicker from the opposite loftIn this room the heat pipes just coughthe country music station plays soft

VISIONS OF JOHANNA. Lyrics by Bob Dylan.Copyright @ 1966; renewed 1994 Dwarf Music

Administered by Sony/ATV Music PublishingAll rights reserved. Used by permission.

Waterford born Katie was one of the finalists on Andrew LloydWebber’s Over The Rainbow on BBC 1. She appears thismonth in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, at The Gaiety Theatre,Dublin from March 16th - 2nd April 2011. Tickets are on sale now.

MymovieworldKatie Honan

THE MOVIE ADAPTATION OFMY LIFE WOULD STAR...

I’d hope for Natalie Portman.I admire her charm & theemotional connection shehas to the roles she plays. Iwould say we look a bit alike,but that’s selfdelusion, I think she's great!

THE FILM THAT MAKES MECRY...

‘Moulin Rouge’ gets meevery time. I am always infloods of tears at the end,mascara everywhere! Tearsaside it’s a great piece offilm and theatrical craftcombined.

MY GUILTY PLEASURE...

I am a big fan of 'StrictlyBallroom'. I'm not sure it’sa guilty pleasure but myboyfriend hated it!

THE MOVIE I HAVEN’TSEEN YET (BUT WANT TO)

I really want to see 'BlueValentine' with RyanGossling and MichelleWilliams. The movie hasgotten great reviews and Iam a big fan of the twoleading actors. You’ve justreminded me, that’s now onthe list for next weekend.

MY FAVOURITE EVER FILM

Recently I saw and absolutelyadored 'Black Swan'. It isdark, tragic and visuallystunning. I think its great notto have a favourite movie ofall time, it means your sens-es are open to different expe-riences at different times.

MY FAVOURITE IRISH FILM

‘Garage’, released a coupleof years ago and featuringPat Shortt is not a film youcould say is enjoyable. It’s such a lonely story witha really sad but lovely manat its centre. But it’s really well madeand acted. It’s a great pieceof storytelling.

THE LAST MOVIE I SAW...

Last night I watched'Garden State' for the first.This film has been sitting inmy room for so long and Ihad never gotten around topopping it in the DVD player.I saw it at last and reallyloved it.

IN CINEMAS MARCH 4

NUMBER 1 U.S. BOX-OFFICE HIT

“THE BEST ACTION THRILLER

IN YEARS”WNYX-T

“THE BEST ACTION THRILLER

IN YEARS”WNYX-T

BASED ON THE CULT NOVEL BY DIDIER VAN CAUWELAERT - OUT NOW IN ALL GOOD BOOKSHOPS

NUMBER 1 U.S. BOX-OFFICE HIT

NUMBER 1 U.S. BOX-OFFICE HIT

NUMBER 1 U.S. BOX-OFFICE HIT

EN CINI

CRA MASME

4HC

It’s a world full of back-stabbing, tribal war, fateful career decisions,revenge, petty jealousies and wanton carnal desire. Yes, Hollywood reallyis a crazy place, so it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock that modernstudio producers are so enamoured with the ancient world, an era that justabout puts Tinsel Town into the halfpenny place in terms of decadence,intrigue, and God(s)-defying shenanigans.

The latest sword-and-s(c)andals epic tomarch onto the big screen is THE EAGLE,starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, andHollywood’s sole survivor from the actualRoman era, Donald Sutherland. In order to better understand the murky,treacherous ancient world, Declan Cashinrustles through some ancient film stock topiece together the lessons that Hollywoodhas thus far imparted to us through its tales from the mythical Greek andRoman civilisations.Remember the TitansThese dudes - Zeus, Poseidon, and Hadeset al - mean business. As flies to wantonboys are we to the Gods; they kill us fortheir sport. If you disrespect them withyour boastful arrogance, then girlfriend,you are going to get served (see Clash ofthe Titans, 1981 and 2010, and PercyJackson and The Lightning Thief. Actually,don’t see any of them. Just take our wordfor it).

What’s the Krak’?:Continuing with the Titans, Kraken, in theancient world sense, is not to be confusedwith the Irish term for fun / enjoyment /lively conversation / self loathing alcoholism/ emotional abuse, and whatever else‘craic’ connotes these days. Rather,Kraken is a monstrous ocean-dwellingcreature, fashioned by that divil Hades,that will eat you and yours in an altogethergruesome manner.

Be a man - rip off that shirt off, oil upyour eight pack abs, and get stuckinto those guys:Men were men back in those times, and,according to Hollywood, those shirtless,ripped and buff blokes loved nothingmore than getting up close and sweatywith other beefy dudes, with bonus pointsif you got to stick it to the guy with yourgiant pointy stick (see 300, Spartacus:Blood and Sand, The Eagle). Yeah, thoseguys loved a good battle. Wait, whatelse do you think we mean?

Boy-curious:Totally unconnected to the last topic,those ancient types weren’t afraid toindulge their bedroom passions of thesame-sex variety, even if Hollywood itselfwas too afraid to show it some two millennia years later in the case ofLaurence Olivier and Tony Curtis’ bathscene in Spartacus, and even Colin Farrelland Jared Leto in Alexander. However,with nice symmetry, the recent TV seriesSpartacus: Blood and Sand more than madeup for its filmic ancestor’s prudishness.Latin lovers:The ancient world is a veritable hotbed ofsexual debauchery and history-alteringpassion. Consider the case of Egyptianminx Cleopatra (1963) and her legendarylover Marc Antony, whose all-consuminglust, in different ways at different points inhistory, caused the bloody final war of theRoman Republic, almost bankrupted amovie studio trying to tell that story, andled to an even more tumultuous love affairbetween the actors inhabiting those roles,Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.Phew, we need a cigarette after that one.

A nose job can make all the differenceto history:Not just a valuable lesson learned by theJennifers Grey and Aniston. ApparentlyCleopatra’s profile was so beautiful that“had it been shorter, the whole face of theworld would have been changed.” We’resure that in Elizabeth Taylor’s mind thatego-massaging compliment extends toher too.

Be careful who you sell into slavery:Pesky buggers those Roman slaves are,what with their terribly inconvenient, butdramatically compelling predilections torise up and seek revenge for their enforcedservitude. See: Spartacus, Gladiator, Ben Hur.

Steal scenes while Rome burns:The baddie needs to be of the truly boo-hiss,scenery chewing, panto villainy variety.See Peter Ustinov’s Oscar nominated

I

performance as Emperor Nero in Quo Vadis,and Joaquin ‘Thumbs Down’ Phoenix’sOscar nominated performance as EmperorCommodus in Gladiator. Not that theOscars would typically go to that kind ofscreen hammery. No sir.

A good catchphrase/tagline helps:“I am Spartacus” (from, erm, Spartacus);“At my signal, unleash hell” and, “What wedo in life echoes in eternity” (Gladiator);and, “Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it infor me” (Carry on Cleo).

The ancient world has the oddest mixof accents:Irish, Californian, British, Australian/Kiwi, and Brando (in Julius Caesar).

Don’t betray Rome:That didn’t work out too well for MarcAntony in Cleopatra or Coriolanus (as willbe seen in the forthcoming flick of thesame title starring Ralph Fiennes).

Beware the Ides of March:Julius Caesar didn’t, and he got knifed inthe back 23 times. Backers of The Eagleare smarter than that though. It’s notunleashed on the world until March 25th -well after the Ides of March (the 15th).

Finally, never lose the sense of historical perspective:Case in point, the tagline for the following1964 Sophia Loren-Alec Guinness epic:“Never before a spectacle like [director]Samuel Bronston’s The Fall of the RomanEmpire!” Really? Never before? Howabout the actual fall of the Roman Empire?

Words - Declan Cashin

The Eagle hits Irish cinemas on March 25th

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Get cinema times for every Irish cinema on Movies.ie

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I N C I N E M A S M A R C H 4 T H

www.ifi.ie 01 6793477 www.cineworld.ie 1520 880 444 www.lighthousecinema.ie 01 8797601

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Want more? Irish cinema website Movies.ie is updatedevery day with movie news, features & competitions. Hereare some highlights to discover on Movies.ie this month

BATTLE LOS ANGELESDeclan Cashin looks at thefate of Los Angeles onMovies.ie plus we have exlcusive T-Shirts up forgrabs.

THE ADJUSTMENTBUREAU Go behind the scenes of MattDamon’s new thriller. BrogenHayes talks to directorGeorge Nolfi on Movies.ie

RANGOWatch video interviews with the actors from Rangoon Movies.ie plus we talk to‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’director Gore Verbinski.

ATTEND A PREVIEW OF KILLING BONOKILLING BONO is a rock n’ roll comedy about two Irishbrothers struggling to forge their path through the 1980’smusic scene, whilst the meteoric rise to fame of their oldschool pals U2 only made matters worse.

Win tickets to our exclusive advance preview screening.Check out the competition on Movies.ie this month.

HIGHLIGHTS THIS MONTH ON MOVIES.IE

MATT DAMON EMILY BLUNT

THEY STOLE HIS FUTURE. NOW HE’S TAKING IT BACK.UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND MEDIA RIGHTS CAPITAL PRESENT A GAMBIT PICTURES PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH ELECTRIC SHEPHERD PRODUCTIONS A FILM BY GEORGE NOLFI MATT DAMON “THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU” EMILY BLUNT ANTHONY MACKIE

JOHN SLATTERY MICHAEL KELLY AND TERENCE STAMP CASTING BY AMANDA MACKEY & CATHY SANDRICH GELFOND VISUAL EFFECTS

SUPERVISOR MARK RUSSELL ASSOCIATE PRODUCER ERIC KRIPKE CO-

PRODUCER JOEL VIERTEL MUSIC BY THOMAS NEWMAN EDITED

BY JAY RABINOWITZ ACEPRODUCTION

DESIGNER KEVIN THOMPSON DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY JOHN TOLL ASC EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ISA DICK HACKETT JONATHAN GORDON PRODUCED

BY MICHAEL HACKETT GEORGE NOLFI BILL CARRARO CHRIS MOORE BASED UPON THE SHORT STORY “ADJUSTMENT TEAM” BY PHILIP K. DICK

WWW.THEADJUST MENTBUREAUMOVIE.CO.UK SCREENPLAY BY GEORGE NOLFI DIRECTED

BY GEORGE NOLFI

IN CINEMAS MARCH 4

IN CINEMAS MARCH I8

NOAH TAYLOR PADDY CONSIDINE CRAIG ROBERTS YASMIN PAIGE AND SALLY HAWKINS

ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEARULTRACULTURE

EMPIRE TOTAL FILMRED DAVID EDWARDS, DAILY MIRROR

GLAMOURJAMES MOTTRAM, MARIE CLAIRE DAVID GRITTEN, DAILY TELEGRAPHNEWS OF THE WORLD

ULTRACULTURELITTLE WHITE LIES LOADED UNCUT

HILARIOUS AND TOUCHING.A TRIUMPHANTLY BRILLIANT MOVIE

DAZED & CONFUSED

SUBLIMEGLAMOUR

WONDERFULRED

FANTASTICWORD

HE’S TURTLY AMAZING

nWAVE PICTURES PRESENTS

IN CINEMAS MARCH 25ADVANCE SCREENINGS MARCH 19-20

ALSO SHOWING IN 2D

GEMMA ARTERTON DOMINIC COOPER JOHN HURT KAYVAN NOVAK ROBERT SHEEHAN

A NWAVE PICTURES PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH ILLUMINATA PICTURES “A TURTLE’S TALE: SAMMY’S ADVENTURES” GEMMA ARTERTON DOMINIC COOPER JOHN HURT KAYVAN NOVAK ROBERT SHEEHAN RAMIN DJAWADI BEN STASSEN & DOMINIC PARIS DOMINIC PARIS BEN STASSEN CAROLINE VAN ISEGHEM DOMINIC PARIS GINA GALLO MIMI MAYNARD ERIC DILLENS BEN STASSEN

MUSICBY

PRODUCEDBY

EXECUTIVEPRODUCER

DIRECTED BY

STORYBY

SCREENPLAYBY

www.turtlestalemovie.co.uk