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Podcast

MOV113: “Je doutais qu’il vienne”

This week we start off with a little known feature called Heavenly Creatures, a movie by lord of the epic movie quadrillogies, Peter Jackson and staring a then unknown Kate Winslet. Does this true crime biopic surprise us or is it just too bizarre? Next up we swing on over to the present to look at the long awaited reboot of your friendly neighborhood wall-crawler The Amazing Spiderman. Find out if we feel it’s truly amazing, or truly unnecessary. Finally we look to the future to talk about The Bourne Legacy. Does this not quite reboot look to live up to the Bourne Legacy? Or will we be Bourned out of our minds? All this plus news about Skyfall casting, An unexpected split of Mockingjay, and The Great Gary Mitchell controversy on this 113th reel of COL Movies: Je doutais qu’il vienne

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News:

The Past: Heavenly Creatures (1994)

Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Fresh; 81% Audience

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Director: Peter Jackson

Staring: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse

Trivia:

  • Based on a true life murder by the movie’s main characters – Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme.
  • Short video version also available on Investigation Discovery’s show “Deadly Women”, Season 3, Episode 8 – “Fatal Obsession”
  • Almost all locations used for filming were the genuine locations where the events occurred. The tea shop where Honora Parker ate her last meal was knocked down a few days after the shoot ended. According to director Peter Jackson, when they got to the location of the murder on the dirt path, it was eerily quiet; the birds stopped singing, and it didn’t seem right. So they moved along a couple of hundred yards.
  • Juliet Hulme was revealed to be mystery writer Anne Perry who came forward and revealed her real identity in 1994 during the making of the film, but all attempts to find Pauline Parker failed. In 1997, Pauline Parker was finally traced to a rundown cottage on a farm near Strood, Kent, England, where she currently runs a children’s riding school. Since assuming the name of Hilary Nathan, she has become a devout Catholic and devoted her life to handicapped children..
  • Orson Welles’ photograph in the stream is a reference to a similar shot in The Third Man.
  • All of the journal voice-overs are direct from real diary entries made by Pauline Parker. The characters in the stories (if not the stories themselves) and make-believe world are also authentic.
  • Kate Winslet was one of 175 girls who auditioned for the role of Juliet Hulme.
  • Melanie Lynskey was cast as Pauline Parker two weeks before filming began. Co-writer Fran Walsh discovered her at the last minute while scouring local high schools for Parker lookalikes.
  • A picture on the wall in Pauline’s bedroom is a photograph of the real Juliet Hulme.
  • The feature film debut for stars Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet.
  • Producer Jim Booth passed away shortly after the production was complete. The film is dedicated to his memory.
  • Co-writer Fran Walsh suggested the idea of making the Parker-Hulme murder into a film to director Peter Jackson. Walsh said she had a fascination with the murder since childhood.
  • Since the Parker-Hulme murder had been an infamous crime that was strongly sensationalized in New Zealand history Jackson decided rather than do a film that would be a historical look back at the crime to instead create a drama about Parker and Hulme’s intense friendship. In addition to reading Pauline Parker’s diary Jackson and company undertook a nation wide search for anyone who had known the girls and interviewed them to get a closer look at their life.
  • Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet were so strongly into their roles that they would interact with each other as their characters off screen.
  • Time listed this film as one of their 10 best films of 1994.
  • Most of the cast was selected because of their physical resemblances to their real-life characters.
  • Both Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet went on to find fame and popularity in roles with the character name of Rose: Lynskey in Two and a Half Men and Winslet in Titanic.
  • Peter Jackson makes a cameo as the homeless man kissed by Juliet outside the theater.
  • The special effects in the film were handled by the then newly-created Weta Digital.
  • The film has garnered critical praise, and was an Academy Award nominee in 1994 for Best Original Screenplay. It featured in a number of international film festivals, and received very favourable reviews worldwide, including making top ten of the year lists in Time, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The New Zealand Herald.

Talking Points:

  • Too bizarre?

Critic Notes

  • Positives: Jackson does an amazing job creating the world worth killing for; Outstanding performances from the leads; Powerful and evocative
  • Negatives: Very few negative comments, but – Jackson can’t decide what kind of movie he’s making, the switching from melodrama to “fantasy land” is abrupt and jarring; tension is high for most of the movie, but it fizzles out by the end

What We Learned:

  • A brick in a pair of nylons can be a murder weapon.
  • Affairs are much more exciting than marriages.
  • All the best people have bad chests and bone diseases.
  • Only the best people fight against all obstacles in pursuit of happiness.
  • Orson Wells is the most hideous man alive (well, was at time the movie was set).
  • Everyone should live by the motto: Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may be dead.
  • The Fourth World… it’s sort of like heaven. Only better, because there aren’t any Christians!
  • Peter Jackson excels at making people look creepy
  • Homosexuality can strike at any time and is great for weight loss
  • “Je doutais qu’il vienne” is in fact the spoken subjunctive

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Wow, was this a boring film. I just couldn’t get into it an just wanted to switch to something that was actually interesting. Definitely not a film for me.
Ray:It was really nice to see some of Peter Jackson’s earlier serious work. Having seen what he did with The Lovely Bones helps make this film make a little more sense.. It can be a little bizarre in that Black Swan sort of way..so if your not tolerant or don’t enjoy a bizarre look into the mind of someone who is disturbed… stay away.
Steve: I didn’t think I was going to like it as much as I did. Although I didn’t know it was a true crime, I picked up some hints that it reminded me about something I’d seen in the past and “bam”, I found the info. Once I knew that, I liked it a lot more. Winslet was awesome for this being her first film!

The Present: The Amazing Spider-Man

Rotten Tomatoes: 74% Fresh; 84% Audience

Director: Marc Webb

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, Denis Leary

Trivia:

  • In early January 2010, Sony announced that they cancelled their idea of making “Spider-Man 4” with director Sam Raimi and actor Tobey Maguire, who started their work together on Spider-Man, and instead decided to re-boot the Spider-Man franchise with a new story and crew.
  • On selecting Andrew Garfield to play Peter Parker/Spider-Man, director Marc Webb said, “Though his name may be new to many, those who know this young actor’s work understand his extraordinary talents. He has a rare combination of intelligence, wit, and humanity. Mark my words, you will love Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker.”
  • This film marks the first time Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) becomes The Lizard on film. Although Curt Connors appeared in the original Sam Raimi films, played by Dylan Baker, the character never became the Lizard despite some strong hints.
  • This is the first “Spider-Man” film to not feature Spider-Man’s perennial love interest Mary-Jane Watson (in the original three films played by Kirsten Dunst). Instead, Peter Parker’s original girlfriend Gwen Stacy appears (who had been played by Bryce Dallas Howard in the third film).
  • All four Spider-Man films have filmed on the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot. Ironically symbolic of the series itself, portions of the back lot burned down on June 1, 2008, meaning that first three used the old back lot while this reboot uses the new back lot.
  • Originally the Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson had a place in the script and J.K. Simmons was going to reprise the role from the Raimi films; later John Slattery, Sam Elliott and R. Lee Ermey were considered for the role. However, with the shift of the focus to high school, the newspaper angle was removed from the script.
  • Rhys Ifans rejected his stunt doubles, and insisted on performing all his own stunts as the Lizard.
  • For his role as the Lizard, Rhys Ifans wore a special motion-capture suit: “I had a green suit on, and then this cardboard head, and these big claws. It was the most fucking insane thing I’d ever done…”
  • When first wearing the Spider-Man costume Andrew Garfield admitted to shedding tears.
  • In this film Captain George Stacy is strongly opposed to Spider-Man’s activities, and Gwen Stacy is both aware and supportive of Peter Parker’s role as Spider-Man. This is in stark contrast to the comics, where George Stacy was a strong supporter of Spider-Man, and confessed on his death bed that he was aware of Peter’s identity, while Gwen Stacy blamed Spiderman for her father’s death, and as such Peter never informed her of his identity.
  • To prepare for his role as Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield studied the movements of spiders and tried to incorporate them as much as he could: “Parker is a boy/spider in terms of how he moves, and not just in the suit.”
  • In this film Spider-Man uses artificial devices to shoot webs, inspired from the original comics where he possessed similar devices for his webbing (only later would he gain his more famous superhuman ability to shoot webs). Marc Webb explained the web-shooters were a creative decision to showcase Peter’s intellect: “We wanted to emphasize that these are things that Peter Parker made and that he is special himself even if he feels like he’s an outsider.”
  • According to costume designer Kym Barrett, the Spider-Man costume was specially designed to resemble an acrobat costume: “We wanted a design that would make the body longer and more lithe, someone incredibly agile; the legs of the spider-symbol on the chest were used to emphasize that.”
  • Denis Leary’s friend Jeff Garlin, a Spider-Man fan, said to him, “The first time I met you, I thought you were George Stacy!” This inspired Leary to audition for the role of Captain Stacy.
  • It was a creative decision by the filmmakers to have most of the stunts performed practically on rigs by actors/stuntmen, rather than extensively use CGI animation. Marc Webb explained they wanted to make the film more physical and thus more realistic. While filming in New York the crew built a whole rig hundreds of feet long over Riverside Drive in Harlem, and Andy Armstrong built a car rig with a series of wires to help with VFX which required an incredible wealth of acrobatics.
  • Released during the 50th Anniversary of Spider-Man.
  • During one scene in Peter’s bedroom, a photo of actor/comedian Donald Glover, is visible. In 2010, when the movie was first announced and initial casting for the role of Spider-Man was underway, Glover used twitter to somewhat jokingly campaign for an audition.
  • The famous line by Ben Parker “With great power comes great responsibility” is not once uttered in the movie, although it is alluded to when Peter and Uncle Ben argue about Peter forgetting to pick up Aunt May.
  • When Spiderman swings through New York at one point he yells, “Hey, I’m swinging here!”. This is in reference to the famous ad-lib by Dustin Hoffman in New York based “Midnight Cowboy”, “Hey, I’m walking here!”.
  • Kirsten Dunst, a Blonde, played the red headed Mary Jane Watson. Emma Stone, commonly a Redhead (though naturally blonde), played a blonde Gwen Stacy.
  • Just inside Peter Parker’s bedroom, next to his door is a wall decoration of a double helix DNA strand splitting at the bottom. Likely a nod to the earlier ‘Spider-Man (2002)’ trilogy where parts of DNA strands are replaced by spider DNA.
  • Wilhelm Scream: when Peter pushes Flash up against the lockers.
  • The Daily Bugle newspaper office (and all associated characters) do not appear in this film, a first for the Spider-Man feature film franchise. However, the newscast featuring the Lizard’s rampage late in the film has a Daily Bugle logo in the bottom corner of the screen.
  • The first live-action Spider-Man motion picture where the villain goes to jail for his crimes.
  • Marc Webb describes the theme of the movie as “the missing piece within all of us: Peter has no parents, and he fills that void with Spider-Man. Curt is not as strong as Spider-Man on the inside, but he wants to get back his arm and fill that void, and essentially he becomes a big bully.”
  • EASTER EGG: When Peter first enters Gwen’s room, there is a stack of books sitting right inside the window through which Peter enters. The book at the top of the stack is the novel “Seabiscuit.” ‘Tobey McGuire’, who portrayed Peter in the original trilogy, also played the lead character in the film adaptation of Seabiscuit. It is quite possible that this detail was included as a tribute to the original trilogy.
  • The link of the main viral marketing site was first revealed in the second trailer in February 2012. The official Twitter account of the same name of the website revealed a scavenger hunt by posting “Property of Peter Parker… Lost” with the longitude and latitude coordinates of direct markets in major cities in the United States. Discovered in these places was a JanSport backpack modeled as Parker’s backpack which contained many items. One of the clues, hidden in the backpack, was a link to a page on the viral site which unlocked countdown timers for the cities of Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle and Phoenix, Arizona. Once the countdown was up, each of the city-specific Twitter accounts for the marketing campaign would send out five different pick-up locations in each city. The given locations had a particular person stationed there to give the first person who had the password a package and the tag-name “operative”. To show their support of Spider-Man, these operatives painted the Spider-Man logo as a graffiti. They also had a chance to unlock the first scene of the film where Peter goes face to face with an intimidating doorman. The main viral website revealed hints to other websites such as a photo blog that was expressed from Peter Parker’s point of view. In the photo blog website, an unlocked puzzle revealed the words “evolve”, “through” and “engineering” which then put together led to another website with design sketches on how to build a web-shooter.

Talking Points:

  • There were so many “possibilities” for this film – changing from college to high school, not including Daily Bugle, not including Black Cat as originally reported, why do you think they made all these changes? To set up for more films?
  • What’s the deal with the post credits short? Thinking Kingpin? Green Goblin?
  • Did Peter reveal he’s Spiderman to May?
  • Fighting style
  • Does all Peter want to do when he’s around Gwen is kiss her?

Critic Notes

  • Positives: Grittier and more touching than previous visions of the hero; New and refreshing reboot; In the vein of dark reboots like Nolan’s Batman; Visually good, but the story is actually complementary if not better; Garfield’s Peter Parker and Spider-Man are very good – if not better than Toby Maguire’s.
  • Negatives: Nothing new or inventive is brought to the table – same old Spider-Man; Not charming as previous versions; too “slap-sticky”; In a summer of superhero movies, this one is forgettable

What We Learned:

  • If you’re going to steal cars, don’t dress like a car thief.
  • We all have secrets: the ones we keep… and the ones that are kept from us.
  • Cops don’t usually wear skintight red and blue suits.
  • It’s fattening and impractical to live in a chocolate house
  • You can get a great cell signal in the NYC sewers.
  • Doormen can be intimidating.

Trailer:

Recommendations :
Jeff: Oh. wow, this was great version of Spiderman, and the casting was great. Definitely would say this is a must see. Still think it would be better if this was done by Marvel directly.
Ray: Action sequences great.. everything else was pretty much a bore for me.. Cant stand the new “geek chic” emo hipster Peter Parker which you have to suffer through for almost an hour before any superheroing starts. For me this was a wait for Home Video title.. my couch is much more comfortable to fall asleep on. The sequel will probably be much more “Amazing” with all of this crappy Origin story out of the way.
Steve: I can’t say I was a huge fan of the recent Spiderman movies. However, there was something about this one that I really did like. I think it was the humor, although it threw me at times. I liked Andrew Garfield a lot, but not Emma Stone. The effects were cool and I liked the 3D, especially for the long swings and stuff (kind of like 3D rollercoasters). I’d give it a B+ overall.

The Future: The Bourne Legacy

Release: August 10, 2012

Director: Tony Gilroy

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton

Summary:

Faced with the public and political fallout from the events of The Bourne Ultimatum, the CIA decides to shut down “Operation Outcome,” the successor to “Operation Treadstone.” Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), an agent of Operation Outcome, and Stephanie Snyder (Rachel Weisz), a doctor who helped create the Outcome agents, must find a way to escape before CIA agent Byer (Edward Norton) can have them assassinated.

Talking Points:

  • How do you make a film without the knowledge of the guy who made the series famous?

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Fighty fighty, Jeremy Renner. I’m aboard.
Ray: I’m a big fan of the Bourne series and I think this looks like a really interesting continuation of that universe. Really curious to see how Jeremy Renner does when he’s the sole action star focus.
Steve: Looks pretty cool! I like this type of film and even though I might not run out to see it at the theater, I would definitely see it. I like the subversive world of clandestine operations and secret agent stuff. Legacy definitely looks like it’s going to deliver it.

The Past:

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The Present:

The Future:

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Podcast

MOV066: “Today’s word is……Expiation!”

Despite being listed as Reel 65 on iTunes, this is the 66th Reel of COL Movies! We recorded a whole show that was lost out there in cyberland. /cry. But moving forward, the boys head into the ethos and land in Maine where they join the people trying to survive Stephen King’s “The Mist”. Heading to the theater, they check out the excellent, yet controversial, civil rights era film “The Help”. In trailer news, they dissect Nolan’s final Batman film, “The Dark Knight Rises”. In news, they talk about a possible “Blade Runner” reboot, more “Man of Steel” news, the fate of “The Lone Ranger”, and are you ready for another “Austin Powers” movie, baby? Welcome to Reel 66…where today’s word is…expiation!

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News:

The Past: The Mist
Rotten Tomatoes: 73% Fresh 64% Audience

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Directors: Frank Darabont

Starring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden

Trivia:

  • This isn’t William Sadler’s first time with The Mist. He played David Drayton in an audio version of the story.
  • To help save time on the tight schedule, the producers and director Frank Darabont hired the camera crew from The Shield, to shoot the film. This camera crew is able to move fast, due to the hectic TV production schedule. There was an “A” and a “B” unit, which cut down on production time.
  • In the opening shot of the film, David is painting in his room. The picture he’s drawing is a design from Stephen King’s Dark Tower series of the gunslinger Roland. Another design in the room is that of the poster of John Carpenter’s The Thing. John Carpenter also wrote and directed The Fog, which shares obvious themes with The Mist.
  • Besides the Gunslinger illustration at the beginning of the film, The Mist shares another direct connection to the Dark Tower series of novels, written by Stephen King. This is the line “My life for you,” spoken by Mrs. Carmody. This has been said by a number of villainous characters in the Dark Tower books, who had sworn allegiance to Walter o’Dim, one of the major antagonists. (Walter o’Dim made his first appearance in several earlier King novels, one the first being The Eyes of the Dragon, under the alias Randall Flagg, and the line is spoken there as well.) The Mist is one of the first short stories to refer to cross reference the Dark Tower. That same line, “My life for you,” is used by Trashcan in The Stand movie as well as the book. This is also a reference made to Randall Flagg although in a different book.
  • During an action scene in the film, a man runs into a wire rotating-book shelf in the grocery store. If you look carefully, you can clearly see that all the books on the shelf are written by Stephen King.
  • When the group is in the next-door pharmacy, David (Thomas Jane) can be seen taking a comic book as promised for his son – an issue of “Hellboy”. Later in real life, Jane directed the comicbook movie Dark Country which starred Ron Perlman, the star of the movie version of Hellboy
  • Frank Darabont agreed to make the film with Dimension only under the condition that no matter what, they wouldn’t change the scripted ending. They agreed.
  • Director Frank Darabont originally wanted the film shown in black and white. The 2-disc DVD release contains Darabont’s black and white version on the second disc.
  • The pharmacy next to the Food House store is called “King’s Pharmacy”, most likely a reference to author Stephen King. Coincidentally, Stephen King himself once had a cameo as a pharmacist in the film adaptation of his novel Thinner.
  • The Dark Tower poster being worked on by David Drayton was actually painted by Drew Struzan, an artist famous for his movie posters. (Star Wars, Indiana Jones franchise, Harry Potter franchise, The Thing, Blade Runner, etc.) All of the posters in the studio at the beginning of the film were painted by Struzan, as was the film poster for this film.
  • Despite the setting in Maine, the film was shot entirely in Minden, Louisiana. To Frank Darabont’s delight, Stephen King could not distinguish it from Maine when watching the film
  • Thomas Jane sat in for a better part of the editing process, since he was interested to learn about it.
  • When David grabs a comic from the rack in the pharmacy, you can clearly see an issue of “The Goon” towards the bottom. Eric Powell, the creator of this comic, is shown on the special features as a friend of Frank Darabont and crew for the day.
  • Director Frank Darabont wanted to cast Stephen King in a supporting role, but King turned his offer down. The role eventually went to Brian Libby.
  • In the pharmacy scene, when David Drayton is collecting a comic book for his son, Frank Darabont proposed to Thomas Jane that he should grab a copy “The Punisher: War Journal” since Jane played the Punisher three years earlier. Jane declined because he had a falling out with the producers of the The Punisher franchise and decided not to return for the sequel. He instead grabs an issue of “HellBoy” as a shout out to friend Ron Perlman.
  • Intially developed at Paramount.
  • Shot in the six-week hiatus of The Shield with its cinematographer, two camera operators, their editor and the script supervisor, all of whom the director has worked with when he directed episodes of the show.
  • The first film Frank Darabont has made that is set in the present, barring the opening and closing scenes in The Green Mile.
  • The third film Frank Darabont has adapted from Stephen King’s work. The other two are The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.
  • Frances Sternhagen’s second appearance in a Stephen King film adaptation. The first was Misery.
  • Frank Darabont’s shortest film to date.
  • Shot in 37 days.
  • Stephen King says that he was genuinely frightened by this adaption of his novel; Frank Darabont described that as the happiest moment of his career.
  • Norm is wearing a T-Shirt from WKIT Radio in Bangor, Maine. This is one of three radio stations owned by Stephen King.
  • The partially toppled highway sign towards the end of the film is an actual sign on Interstate 295 in Falmouth, Maine, on the southbound side of the highway (a little north of the Falmouth Spur).
  • This is Thomas Jane’s second Stephen King movie. He played Henry in Dreamcatcher.
  • David calls his son “Big Bill”, a reference to the character Bill Denbrough from Stephen King’s ‘It’. Bill Denbrough’s nickname was also “Big Bill”
  • Spoilers
  • The trivia items below may give away important plot points.
  • According to Cinefex magazine, there is a favorite scene near the end of the book that was not in the script. In the scene, David Dreyton and the others with him in the vehicle, witness a giant, 6-legged behemoth walk over them. Darabont originally had excised this scene from his script. However, several of the people working with the special effects company CafeFX, convinced him to put it back into the film.
  • WILHELM SCREAM: When Cornell dies.
  • Frank Darabont originally wrote an opening scene showing the military scientist referenced to by Private Jessup accidentally opening the dimension portal that allows the creatures and the mist to enter our world. Over dinner, Andre Braugher questioned Darabont whether this scene was necessary. After thinking about it for a week, Darabont was convinced to scrap the scene, leaving the nature of the mist more ambiguous.
  • Frank Darabont’s “controversial” ending actually comes directly from Stephen King’s source material. Written in first-person, David entertains this notion in his mind as a distant possibility, noting there are three bullets and four people (Dan Miller doesn’t make it to the car in the novella), but he ends his journal and leaves it in a restaurant the survivors have sought refuge in before the car runs out of gas. Darabont felt this ending was too ambiguous and wrote the story to its finite climax, and ending that Darabont says in the DVD commentary was endorsed by King as the ending King wished he would have thought of.
  • When the hacked-off piece of tentacle is poked in the loading dock, it sizzles, turns black, and melts into a puddle of black goo. This process is exactly what happens to the bizarre creatures that appear in Stephen King’s novel “From a Buick 8”. Those creatures also were speculated to have come from another dimension, possibly the same one.
  • Amanda has an empty six-shot revolver and two full speed-loaders in her purse. This means there are twelve rounds of ammunition for the revolver. During the course of the movie, exactly twelve rounds are fired before the revolver is out of ammunition.

Talking Points:

  • People call this a “monster movie”. Is it? Or more of a “hero”/close scare/dark scare? What would you say?
  • The Post 9/11 Allegory
  • Frank Darabont – he likes things with the word The in the title.
  • Director/Writer/Producer – The Walking Dead
  • Writer/Director – The Green Mile
  • Writer/Director – The Shawshank Redemption
  • Director – The Majestic
  • Writer – The Blob
  • Writer – The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

What We’ve Learned:

  • There’s no court of appeals in hell
  • Just because you’re a lawyer doesn’t mean you’re helpful in a disaster situation.
  • If you scare people bad enough they will turn to anyone who offers them a solution
  • Don’t use flaming mops as a defensive strategy unless you’re in the desert.
  • As a species we are fundamentally insane

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff:.This movie is fine. Well put together, good story, tragic ending. Recommend a look see, but not something for my movie collection at least.
Ray: An ok Survival/Horror flick saved by an awesome ending.
Steve: Such a good movie! Does a great job mixing the odd elements with down home people/situations. The ending is another Se7en-style surprise that just wrenches you in the gut.

Intermission: Flickchart

The Present: The Help
Rotten Tomatoes: 74% Fresh 93% Audience

Director: Tate Taylor

Starring: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spenser

Trivia:

  • Melissa Molinaro auditioned for the role of Celia Foote.
  • Costars Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard have both played Gwen Stacy in a Spider-Man movie.
  • The book store in the film, Avent & Clark Booksellers, was named after Avent Clark, a production assistant on the film from Greenwood, MS.
  • Jessica Chastain, a vegan, ate soy ice cream melted in the microwave to gain weight for the role of Celia Foote.
  • Kathryn Stockett’s book on which this film is based was rejected 60 times before it was eventually published.

Talking Points:

What We Learned:

  • You is smart
  • You is Kind
  • You is Important
  • Write about what disturbs you, particularly if it bothers no one else.
  • Crisco is the most important invention since they put mayonnaise in a jar.
  • Love and hate are two horns on the same goat.
  • Oysters are a vehicle for crackers and ketchup
  • Courage sometimes skips a generation
  • I will never ever look at chocolate pie quite the same way again.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Wait? 2 hours and 26 minutes? Really? I didn’t even notice. This is definitely a go see movie. I can’t recommend it enough.
Ray: There was not one part of this movie I disliked. This runs the gamut from funny, to tearjerker. Sure its filled with stereotypes, but if it gets enough people in the theaters perhaps it can get people talking about the overall message the film is trying to convey.
Steve: Just a damn good movie. Looks like a chick-flick, but is just a good look at life at that time in Mississippi. There is some funny that helps us see positive in the negative of the time. But a good inspirational story about people taking a stand toward change.

The Future: The Dark Knight Rises

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Gary Oldman

Trivia:

  • Doug Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Tennant, Johnny Depp, Neil Patrick Harris, Michael C. Hall, Hugh Laurie, Leonardo DiCaprio, and James Franco were all rumored to play the Riddler before it was confirmed that the character would not appear in the film.
  • In May 2010, director Christopher Nolan stated that the Joker will not return in this film. He previously stated that Mr. Freeze and the Penguin would not be in the film either. Later it was confirmed that The Riddler would not appear either.
  • The last installment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series.
  • Christopher Nolan is the first person to direct more than two Batman feature films.
  • Christian Bale has stated that he would not play Batman if Robin appeared anywhere in the trilogy. Christopher Nolan agreed not to include Robin as it would undermine the dark tone of his series.
  • Christian Bale is the first live action actor to portray Batman/Bruce Wayne in three Batman films. Kevin Conroy has played the character in seven animated films as of 2011 (including Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker).
  • Cinematographer Wally Pfister has expressed interest in shooting the entirety of the film in the IMAX format, as both Pfister and Christopher Nolan have expressed distaste for shooting the film in 3-D.
  • Anne Hathaway, Eva Green, Blake Lively, Charlize Theron, Vera Farmiga, Jessica Biel, Natalie Portman, Gemma Arterton, Kate Mara, Charlotte Riley and Keira Knightley all auditioned for the role of Selina Kyle. After the initial audition process, Hathaway, Green, Biel and Mara all screen tested. Ultimately, Hathaway won the role.
  • Christopher Nolan is the second person to direct a trilogy of superhero movies, after Sam Raimi (Spider-Man).
  • Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz and Marion Cotillard were considered to play the love interest of Bruce Wayne. Cotillard won the role.
  • Robin Williams was rumored to play the role of Hugo Strange.
  • There was much speculation in the press when Anne Hathaway was announced as Selina Kyle if the actress would actually portray Kyle’s costumed alter-ego, Catwoman. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey following her stint as host of the Academy Awards, Hathaway let slip that her character indeed would don the Catwoman costume.
  • It was reported by Gary Oldman that Christopher Nolan told the actors the ending of the film verbally to avoid any leaks.
  • This film contains direct references to the “Knightfall” saga in the comic books, where Bane spreads chaos in Gotham in order to lure and weaken Batman, and break him. It also references the “Legacy” and “Bane of the Demon” storylines, where Bane meets Ras Al Ghul, and both have their own visions of becoming immortal and dominant.
  • One of the reasons why Christopher Nolan cast Tom Hardy as Bane, was because of his performance in the titular role in Bronson. Hardy stated that he took up the same training regime for both roles.
  • Around 10,000 extras were used to shoot the Gotham Rogues scene in Heinz Field. Some of the Pittsburgh Steelers played football players, including Hines Ward, who played himself.

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: I’m excited for this movie even without the trailer. Sad that it’ll be the last Nolanverse Batman, but hey . . . in anycase, this trailer just didn’t get me excited. It’s just a teaser, want to see the real trailer next year.
Ray: I hope they break him… for good.
Steve: Bane!! YUM. Otherwise, just looks like another Nolan Batman movie. I’m not a Christian Bale Batman guy…so I don’t get jacked to see him.

Coming Attractions:The Past
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The Present
The Future

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