Monday, March 2, 2015

Jason Statham : The Right Face For The Job

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Discovered by film director Guy Ritchie, Jason Statham, 47, has made a name of himself in action films. His latest film is “Wild Card” by Simon West who directed The Expendables 2.

From cockney actor to star of action films such as Wild Card, has your career gone the way you wanted?

The change came with the first Transporter by Luc Besson. I’ve always been quite sporty and kept in shape through competitive diving and martial arts. I was delighted when I was asked to do my first action scenes-all those years of training finally paid off! I really enjoyed it and the films went down well, so I thought it was worthwhile nurturing this talent. In England there aren’t that many ‘physical’ actors.

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It’s true that your films are far cry from James Ivory’s productions…

(Laughs) Yes. Not many wigs or cups of tea.

Who were your favourite figures in cinema as a teenager?

Sylvester Stallone, with whom I’ve had the great honour of acting. And Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins in England. Have you seen Get Carter and The Long Good Friday? They’re real men’s films; today it’s difficult to find scripts of this quality. I don’t always appear in great films, but you’ve got to eat. It wasn’t really my idea to do action films; it was a lucky break and it doesn’t stop me acting in more scripted films like Snatch and The Bank Job.

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At 47, are you now looking for roles in drama films?

In 2013 I played a complex character who emerged from the pits of London in Crazy Joe [Hummingbird aka Redemption] and I prepared the role by having contact with homeless guys and veterans from the Iraqi war. I wanted to have more heavyweight projects, but the phone went one morning and my agent said “I have a role for you in a Hollywood action movie” and I naturally replied “Fine!”

During the making of Expendables 3 you had a near-fatal accident. Are you now much more careful?

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It was stupid. Basically I was driving a lorry and swerved to avoid another vehicle and the lorry fell into the sea. I couldn’t get out of the cockpit and up to the surface because I had so much heavy gear on – guns, jacket and boots. I nearly drowned! But these are the hazards of the business; there are always times when things can go wrong. Acting is a combat sport!

WILDCARD” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.

Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei get romantic and comic in The Rewrite.

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Once upon a time, screenwriter Keith Michaels (Hugh Grant) was on top of the world – a Golden Globe Award and a hit movie to his name, a beautiful wife and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of wit and charm. But that was fifteen years ago: now, he’s divorced, broke, approaching fifty and hasn’t written a hit film in years.

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Luckily, his agent has a job for him – a university in the quiet town of Binghamton is looking for someone to teach a course in screenwriting, and with an empty wallet as his motivation, Keith can’t say no. Hoping to give minimal attention to his duties and focus on writing a new script, his attitude slowly begins to turn when he meets Holly (Marisa Tomei). A single mum working two jobs to earn her degree, the pair find themselves connected by their mutual need for a second chance.

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Directed by Marc Lawrence and also starring Allison Janney, J. K. Simmons, Bella Heathcote, and Annie Q.

THE REWRITEis released and distributed CAPTIVE CINEMA

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Rom-Com King Hugh Grant returns to the screen in ‘The Rewrite’

Do you remember that scene in Notting Hill, where Hugh Grant’s character goes to see Julia Roberts at her swanky London hotel, not realising she’s in the middle of doing interviews promoting her new film? Embarrassed, he poses as a journalist for Horse And Hound magazine and a series of torturously awkward questions ensue.

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In The Rewrite, Grant plays Keith Michaels, a once successful Hollywood scriptwriter forced to take a job lecturing at a university to make ends meet.

“He loves screenwriting, he loves films, he’s desperate to get back into the business,” explains the London-born actor, who has a house in Stinchcombe and famously dated Cotswolds model Liz Hurley before that very public indiscretion with prostitute Divine Brown.

“But he’s just so out of fashion. He’s so ‘cold’ in Hollywood terms, he just can’t get a job. So he has to take this undignified position of teaching screenwriting to a lot of second-rate students in a third-rate university.”

Grant, of course, had his big break in Four Weddings And A Funeral 20 years ago, and has gone on to star in numerous romantic comedies. But he hasn’t become jaded by Hollywood – he claims he always was.

“I’ve always played that... affected that pose anyway. Maybe it’s not a pose,” he says. “There are people who really love showbiz. They get up every morning and they just want to make a film, read a script. I’ve never been that person, I confess.”

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So, disillusioned Keith picks all the prettiest young girls to be in his class, indulges in some extra-curricular fun and aims to get away with doing as little work as possible. But in true romcom style, that all changes when single mum Holly, played by Marisa Tomei, signs up as a mature student. She’s determined to have a second chance at life, and convince Keith he can have one too.

“She’s very positive, and my character is very cynical about that,” says Grant. “It’s great that someone like that goes back to university, but can anyone learn to do something that requires talent? No, probably not.

“I do think if you’ve got a little bit of talent, you can learn to make it much better,” he adds.

Following the success of Four Weddings..., Grant went on to play the earnest, bumbling hero several times over, including in the even more successful Notting Hill.

He was a box office hit, the ‘romcom king’, and studios were throwing money at him to do it all over again.

Then in 2002, he played the lead in About A Boy, chopping off his floppy hair to expose a roguish twinkle in his blue eyes. Since then, he’s been the go-to guy for romcoms about a charming but cold-hearted cad.

The Rewrite is his fourth collaboration with writer and director Marc Lawrence, following Two Weeks Notice, Music And Lyrics and Did You Hear About The Morgans?

He insists he’s too old for romantic comedy, but enjoys his collaborations with Lawrence because they don’t require much effort.

“He really is very clever at writing dialogue that’s good for me. The part was written for me, so it wasn’t much of a stretch,” he concedes wryly.

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The Rewrite is a reflective film, with Keith looking back to the peak of his success. In one scene, he watches an old video clip of himself making an acceptance speech at an awards ceremony. The footage is doctored from a real speech given by a fresh-faced Grant at the Golden Globes at the beginning of his career. But watching it didn’t stir any sense of nostalgia in the self-confessed “ultra cynic”. “That scene was slightly annoying; they always wanted to use that old footage of me and I didn’t want to do that. For a start, I convinced myself that I was playing a part in this film, and therefore if you see ME with a completely different voice, 20 years ago, it would bring you out of the film,” Grant reveals.

So what has he got out of his 20 year career as a romantic hero?

“I don’t think I’ve learned any particular lesson,” he says, shrugging.

“Except...”, and finally he appears frank, “it certainly always helps if you don’t just go for the money. Especially certain parts in Hollywood, they’re always trying to draw you in just for the money.

“And the other thing is, the more you work at something - even if it’s quite good material already – keep working at it. It can always be better.” Grant’s mistrust of the media is not without reason.

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In 1995, he was caught in flagrante with Brown in downtown Hollywood, and the story was splashed all over the tabloids. Broken-hearted Liz Hurley retreated to Sudeley Castle to get over it, but the couple split soon afterwards. His colourful love life – he has reportedly fathered three love children – has since been under constant scrutiny. If Grant was reluctant to become an actor, he was even more reluctant to become a celebrity. Over his two decades in the spotlight, the gossip and intrigue surrounding stars’ lives has intensified. In The Rewrite, one of Keith’s students declares celebrities “the Gods of our time”.

“She might be right that some people think that,” observes Grant, shuddering.

“I don’t share that. I’m a little disturbed by celebrity obsession.”

And how does he feel, thinking some people might worship him as a God?

“They would have to be psychotic.”

’THE REWRITE is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.