Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i Empire

ADRIAN FISK, DAVID VENNI, SARAH DUNN. LLUSTRATION: DAVID MAHONEY FRIENDS, IT’S TIME. I’m not necessarily saying that my life has been on hold since The Force Awakens but, well, my life has been on hold since The Force Awakens. It does seem like we’ve been waiting a hell of a long time for The Last Jedi, even though, at the same time, it only feels like yesterday that we left Rey, arm outstretched. Director Rian Johnson has spent much of the last 18 months trying to keep pretty much every detail under wraps — the wheres, the whys, the wherefores, the WHAT THE HELLS. But, still, our very own Star Wars obsessive, James Dyer, managed to speak to all the main cast members, to find out what we can expect…

MAKE-UP: TONYA BREWER AT DEW BEAUTY AGENCY. HAIR: BRIAN FISHER AT THE WALL GROUP USING BLEACH LONDON AGE __ 24 PLAYS __ Unemployed single mother Halley, who lives in a motel with her six-year-old daughter, in budget indie The Florida Project. “She can’t get a job, she didn’t go to school, she didn’t have the opportunities... I empathise with her because everybody’s trying to figure their lives out, but we’re in different circumstances. It’s a very sad situation.” BACKSTORY __ “I never wanted to act because it didn’t seem realistic. I was definitely into arts though — I made clothes and I wanted to continue to do creative things.” EARLY ROLES __ “The last play I did, I was like, 13. I mean, honestly, I don’t even remember what it…

1 __ A GREAT VILLAIN He’s got a giant horny helmet. He shares his name with a Canadian rock band. And he’s mates with some Parademons. But Steppenwolf proved a total dud, banging on about magical boxes and lacking backstory or history with the heroes. Unfortunately, he’s just the latest DC villain-fail. Lex Luthor was turned into a jittery, Jolly Rancher-sucking Joker-a-like; Suicide Squad’s Enchantress was a wavy-handed timewaster; and David Thewlis with a moustache in Wonder Woman was, well, David Thewlis with a moustache. Craving power isn’t enough: whoever’s up next needs a compelling agenda for their devilry, a bit of personality and absolutely no Jolly Ranchers. NICK DE SEMLYEN, ASSOCIATE EDITOR (FEATURES) 2 __ SMALL-SCREEN STORYTELLING It’s telling that for all the missteps DC properties have taken on…

THIS MIGHT COME in handy down a pub quiz one day: who’s the director Liam Neeson has worked with the most? Not Neil Jordan, with three. Not Christopher Nolan, nor Martin Scorsese, nor even the great Olivier Megaton (two each). No, the honour goes to Spanish film-maker Jaume Collet-Serra who, with The Commuter, has racked up his fourth movie with the greatest living Northern Irishman. This late-blooming beautiful friendship began in 2010 when Neeson, scouting for a director for Unknown, was shown Collet-Serra’s bonkers horror thriller Orphan by producer Joel Silver. “It just scared the shit out of me,” laughs Neeson. “After that, I was really excited to work with him. We love each other’s company on set. We have this shorthand going on between us.” At first glance, The…

“EVERYTHING I SAY now is a sailing analogy,” chuckles Colin Firth. “I’ve found myself saying, ‘Push the boat out,’ or, ‘Getting close to the wind,’ almost without thinking.” We should hardly be surprised. If Firth’s mind has been all at sea lately, it’s thanks to his latest movie role: Donald Crowhurst, an electronics salesman-turned-amateur mariner who in 1968 attempted to become the first person to sail single-handedly around the world without stopping. And as director James Marsh’s dramatisation of Crowhurst’s story, The Mercy, reveals, it didn’t end well. “One can really get immersed in Donald Crowhurst,” admits Firth, who was fascinated by the weekend sailor’s eight calamitous months at sea. “I was very struck by his stoicism. In interviews, he always had a very matter-of-fact, stiff-upper-lip quality to him. There’s…

PORG TOY + SPRAY PAINT AND MILITARY MATTE BLACK ROLLER + WELDING WIRE + GRINDING DISCS + LED LIGHTS + RED TRANSLUCENT POLYCARBONATE SHEETS + CLEAR POLYCARBONATE SHEETS + GAMING CHAIR SEAT + ACROW PROPS + STEEL MESH + MAKITA SHEARER + TIE SILENCER TOY (USED TO SCALE UP BLUEPRINTS) + STORMTROOPER HELMETS + REMOTE CONTROL MILLENNIUM FALCON + KYLO REN FIGURE = ONE LIFE-SIZED TIE SILENCER REPLICA! Visit ebay.co.uk/starwars…

★★★★ OUT 8 DECEMBER / CERT TBC / 140 MINS DIRECTOR Ai Weiwei CAST Ai Weiwei, Muhammad Hassan, Boris Cheshirkov, Ustaz Rafik THERE’S ALWAYS A danger when someone uses their fame to draw attention to a cause that they might overshadow the issue. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei occasionally feels like a distracting presence during this tour of refugee camps in 2O countries. But his compassion, assured visual sense and dissident nous ensure that this plea on behalf of the world’s UT million displaced persons should discomfit the most rabid xenophobe. Both epic and intimate, the footage is unflinching in its regard for the fragility, tenacity and dignity of those caught up in a catastrophe that humanity has brought upon itself through its fear, ignorance, prejudice and greed. Everyone needs to…

★★★ OUT 15 DECEMBER / CERT 12A / 126 MINS DIRECTOR Jia Zhangke CAST Zhao Tao, Zhang Yi, Liang Jing Dong, Dong Zijian JIA ZHANGKE CONTINUES to chronicle the impact of China’s socio-economic leap forward in this Sirkian triptych that starts compellingly in provincial Fenyang, as it follows a ménage involving miner Liang Jing Dong, entrepreneur Zhang Yi and teacher Zhao Tao. But, as the narrative spills over the first 2T years of the new century and the aspect ratio of the frame expands to reflect the trio’s shifting perspectives, Jia uncharacteristically fumbles the Australian finale, as he jettisons nuance and plot logic in charting the contrived romance between Tao’s estranged teenage son and his Mandarin tutor. So, while this remains stylistically and thematically ambitious, it lacks the trenchancy we’ve…

★★★ OUT 15 DECEMBER / CERT TBC / 113 MINS DIRECTOR Daniel Rezenda CAST Vladimir Brichta, Leandra Leal, Tainfl Müller BRAZIL’S ENTRY FOR this year’s Oscar race is the strange but true story of a soft-core porn actor (Brichta) who achieves stardom as a children’s TV clown, but for obvious reasons, can never reveal that he’s the man behind the make-up. Ironically, nobody knows he’s famous. Director Rezenda, Oscar-nominated editor of Brazilian classic City Of God (2OO2), has little new to say about the perils and pitfalls of TV stardom, but the talent behind and in front of the camera, and the film’s vibrant setting amid the pop art stylings of ’8Os Brazilian TV, certainly give the clichés a fresh coat of greasepaint, and the charismatic Brichta is a persuasive…

Daniel Day-Lewis _ He already has three Oscars, more than any living actor except Jack Nicholson. Could his final role, as a lovelorn dressmaker in Phantom Thread, make it four? Denzel Washington _ Gritty courtroom drama Roman J. Israel, Esq. may not have a snappy title, but it does have two-time Oscar-winner Denzel Washington as an eccentric legal genius. Timothée Chalamet _ Previously best known as Matthew McConaughey’s son in Interstellar, the 21-year-old took everyone by surprise with his electric turn in Call Me By Your Name. Andrew Garfield _ True-life disability drama Breathe is the kind of project that historically sucks up Oscars, and Garfield is terrific in it. But the generally lukewarm reviews won’t help.…

Willem Dafoe _ Bad guys nabbed him Oscar nominations for Platoon and Shadow Of The Vampire. The Florida Project sees him play against type, as a kind-hearted motel manager. Sam Rockwell _ His racist cop in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is by turns abhorrent and sympathetic. It might be Rockwell’s most nuanced performance to date. Mark Rylance _ Amid all the explosions, Rylance’s gently spoken but dogged boatman is the heart of Dunkirk. It’s not a showy performance, but it lingers long after the film ends. Jason Mitchell _ In Mudbound, Mitchell plays a World War II veteran battling prejudice in racist America. It’s a powerful turn that confirms the 30-year-old’s chops.…

Almost 20 years ago, Martin McDonagh was travelling across America from Baltimore to Nicaragua when he spotted two billboards demanding that the police deal with an unsolved crime. “It flashed by but I never forgot seeing it,” he says. “The pain of it stuck with me.” Back then he wasn’t yet a screenwriter. He aspired to be but he thought he could make more impact in the theatre. “Because most playwrights aren’t that good,” he says, laughing. “There was never anyone I felt that I couldn’t beat.” Billed as the Anglo-Irish Quentin Tarantino due to his flair for violence, humour and baroque profanity, he was an instant phenomenon but he still dreamt of making movies. It took him over a decade to channel the memory of those billboards into a…

00.05.41 THE GOD’S-EYE VIEW __ We’re thrust straight into the titular war with a vicious hillside battle between ape and man, at one point viewed from a striking top-down perspective. “I wanted to do an angle that showed the violence, almost from an indifferent, God’s-eye point of view,” says Reeves. “I watch a lot of war movies and The Thin Red Line really affected me, because of the smallness of its figures against the landscape.” 00.15.15 CAESAR’S PALACE __ When the Colonel (Woody Harrelson) mounts a raid on the waterfall-veiled ape base, tragedy strikes Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) family. “It’s Caesar’s hidden fortress!” cries Reeves. “It was literally taken from The Hidden Fortress by Kurosawa, in which they hid the princess behind a waterfall. It made sense that, given the apes…

#19: THE PLANE FILM RITUAL — THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU THE WEEK AFTER next, I’m flying to New York. I haven’t checked the weather, booked any tables or even renewed my ESTA. But I have spent a very happy half-hour online, planning my viewing schedule for the plane. I’m only a little ashamed to admit that in-flight movies are sometimes my most memorable part of the trip. This Is Where I Leave You is a case in point. It’s the story of a family of four disparate siblings, each in varying degrees of personal crisis, who are forced by their formidable mother (Jane Fonda) to return to the family home following the unexpected death of their dad. The ensemble cast, a veritable cinematic supergroup, includes Adam Driver, Connie…

On the suspension of Universal’s ‘Dark Universe’: “THIS WHOLE CONCEPT WOULD BE INSTANTLY MORE ENTHRALLING IF THEY’D KEPT IT ALL IN THE 1920S-'30S TIME PERIOD. EMBRACE THE FANTASY AND GO DARK GOTHIC.” RICHARD A. VALLES AIN’T GOT TIME TO EGGO Anyone else think Stranger Things could be a prequel to Predator? The timeline fits, with the David Harbour character Jim Hopper working with possible aliens in 1983/’84 in Stranger Things before going into the Central American jungle to look for another alien in 1987 in Predator... IAN CHURCH, VIA EMAIL Intriguing. Bolstering this theory is the fact the town in Stranger Things is called Hawkins, the name of Shane Black’s Predator character. ABOUT THAT THING Thanks for the tribute to Carpenter’s timeless classic The Thing, which during my childhood in…

“ALL BLOODY HEARTBREAKERS, THE LOT OF YOU. THEY DON’T TELL YOU THAT WHEN YOUR LEGS ARE UP IN STIRRUPS.” BELLA TURNER (JULIE WALTERS) IN FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL “NOBODY NORMAL EVER ACCOMPLISHED ANYTHING MEANINGFUL IN THIS WORLD.” JONATHAN BYERS (CHARLIE HEATON) IN STRANGER THINGS 2 “IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR SYMPATHY, THE ONLY PLACE YOU’RE GOING TO FIND IT IS IN THE DICTIONARY, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SHIT AND SYPHILIS.” DUANE STEINBRINK (JEFF BRIDGES) IN ONLY THE BRAVE “EXCUSE ME. COULD YOU GIVE US SOME CHANGE, PLEASE? THE DOCTOR SAID WE HAVE ASTHMA AND WE HAVE TO EAT ICE CREAM RIGHT AWAY.” MOONEE (BROOKLYNN PRINCE) IN THE FLORIDA PROJECT “I’VE NEVER HAD ANY COMPLAINTS ABOUT MR AND MRS BOTTY CHEEK.” PHOENIX BUCHANAN (HUGH GRANT) IN PADDINGTON 2…

LESLIE HASSLER/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES Who were you in your first school play? I played Mrs Mop, who was a cleaning lady in an elementary school play about the environment called The Bumblesnout. She was using too many CFC sprays, and she had to learn the error of her ways. It was a great arc. What’s the one thing you do better than anyone else you know? I’m a champion napper. I can nap on any surface, in any environment, at any time of the day. Do you have a signature dish? I made my friends eat vegan brownies made from black beans for quite a while. They’re all sick of them now but they’re really good brownies. What’s in your pocket right now? I have a small rubber duck.…

★★★★ OUT 6 DECEMBER CERT 15 / 104 MINS DIRECTOR James Franco CAST James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Jacki Weaver, Alison Brie, Josh Hutcherson PLOT California, the late ’90s. Struggling actor Greg Sestero (Franco) befriends amateur actor Tommy Wiseau (Franco). Together, they move to Hollywood to follow their dreams. When Hollywood rejects them, they endeavour to make The Room — a film that would later become notorious as being one of the worst ever made. THE ROOM IS a bad movie. No question. Whether or not it is officially The Worst Movie Of All Time is a matter of taste (countless films, from Sex Lives Of The Potato Men to Superman IV, could easily jostle for that crown of thorns), but cult status and midnight screenings have…

★★★★ OUT 15 DECEMBER / CERT 15 / 85 MINS DIRECTOR Sonia Kronlund CAST Salim Shaheen, Qurban Ali, Sonia Kronlund FRENCH FILMMAKER SONIA Kronlund usually reports on “horrendous stories” in Afghanistan. But here she finds a relatively lighter subject in one-man film industry Salim Shaheen who, against all odds, has made PPO movies in the war-torn country over three decades. Bullish and bombastic, Shaheen looks like a latter-day Brando and has all the can-do-whatever-the-circumstances enthusiasm of Ed Wood. While he’s in some ways a comical figure, Kronlund never lets him become a joke. Neither does she let Shaheen off the hook. She highlights his refusal to introduce her to his wives and six daughters, and shows how he can fly into rages and sulks. He proves a fascinating subject, well…

★★★★ OUT 1 DECEMBER / CERT 12A / 99 MINS DIRECTOR Lisa Immordino Vreeland CAST Hugo Vickers, David Bailey, Sir Roy Strong, Leslie Caron CECIL BEATON SPENT his enviably diverse life striving to avoid anonymity. A multiple Oscar and Tony winner for his costumes and sets, he also excelled as a fashion and portrait photographer, who was trusted by models, movie stars and royals alike. But his personality could be poisonous and his judgement suspect, most notably when he published an anti-Semitic drawing in Vogue. He partially atoned with his sterling service as a war propagandist, yet, as this conventional, but compelling memoir reveals, Beaton retained a talent for making enemies. The venom in Rupert Everett’s delivery of the well-chosen diary extracts is almost as relishable as the dazzling and…

★★★★ OUT 15 DECEMBER / CERT PG / 74 MINS DIRECTOR Jennifer Peedom CAST Willem Dafoe CAPTURING THE MIGHT and majesty of the world’s highest peaks, this thrilling travelogue counterpoints its extraordinary photography with an imposing but sublime classical score and poetic meditations on humanity’s changing relationship with mountains voiced by Willem Dafoe. Once the domain of gods and monsters, the likes of Everest only began firing the imagination of adventurers some three centuries ago. But, while she pays passing tribute to pioneering mountaineers and their unsung guides, director Jennifer Peedom seems faintly disapproving of today’s adrenaline junkies, even though the Go-Pro footage of their reckless exploits often proves the most vertiginously visceral in this awe-inspiring white-knuckle ride, which demands to be seen on a giant screen.…

★★ OUT NOW / CERT 15 / 104 MINS DIRECTORS Scott Moore, Jon Lucas CAST Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Christine Baranski, Susan Sarandon, Cheryl Hines BAD MOMS WAS a surprise hit back in 2OPU, striking a chord with viewers by suggesting that mums deserve more help. This seasonal follow-up starts off by touching on the same theme but then swerves abruptly into another ‘Nightmare Relatives Are Visiting’ comedy. With this star cast, and Baranski in particular, there can’t help but be good moments, but they’re stuffed in amid so much absurdity — grand theft Christmas tree, charity scams, all-out brawls — that the emotion is occasionally lost. It’ll certainly entertain you while on the verge of a turkey coma, but it will never rank among the Christmas classics.…

★★★★ OUT NOW / PC, PS4, XBOX ONE DIRECTORS Bret Robbins, Dennis Adams CAST Josh Duhamel, Brett Zimmerman, Jeff Schine CALL OF DUTY’S latest chapter (the PSth) takes the series back to World War II (for the first time since 2OO8’s World At War ). There is, of course, a cinematic single player campaign, which succeeds because it manages to emotionally resonate without skimping on the blockbuster rivalling action. But it’s the online multiplayer that most buy the game for, and the team have added some fresh ingredients to the franchise’s familiar recipes (including new mode ‘War’, that favours teamwork and objectives over simply scoring as many head-shots as possible), while the Zombies co-op mode adds narrative beats and story-based goals. It all adds up to a compelling package that’s…

Your background is theatre, right? Music and theatre. I have a degree in Shakespeare. I studied that in honour of my father, who’s from Lancashire and came to the United States in the 1970s, and I was an R’n’B singer for my mother. I fell into it [musical theatre] and fell in love with it. And you were originally booked to cover rehearsals while they cast the Bearded Lady? It’s called ‘the Broadway hustle’ — once you book a production, you start looking for the next job and one project was a reading of the screenplay of ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ [the original title]. It was 2014. I was doing Les Mis at the time. But everything changed when studio bosses flew to New York to see some songs…

Dunkirk _ Darkest Hour’s darkest hour could come courtesy of 2017’s other film about Britain on the brink in 1940, which is considerably heavier on gunfire. Call Me By Your Name _ Luca Guadagnino’s sun-baked coming-of-age tale is the smallest of the frontrunners, but is casting a big spell on critics and audiences. The Post _ Spielberg, Hanks and Streep unite for a timely film about the freedom of the press. It could only be more Oscar-y if set on the Titanic. The Shape Of Water _ Films about a cleaning lady and a fish-man don’t usually bag Oscars. Or get made at all. But Guillermo del Toro’s Golden Lion-winning fantasy-romance could be the exception.…

CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES Margot Robbie had no idea who Tonya Harding was. She didn’t know she was a US figure skater. She had no clue she had been implicated in a brutal attack on her Olympic rival, Nancy Kerrigan. And even though it made headlines around the world — “TERROR ON ICE”, screamed the cover of People magazine — she was unaware that the incident had ruined Harding’s life, career and reputation. But Robbie had a good excuse: she was little more than a toddler in Dalby, Australia, when this all went down in January 1994. In fact, the first she heard of America’s onetime number-one villain was when the script for I, Tonya landed her on her desk. She knew she had to be in it. There was…

Christopher Nolan _ Incredibly, he’s never had a nod in this category. With the thunderously intense, virtuoso Dunkirk, that’s likely about to change. Guillermo del Toro _ Merman/mute romance The Shape Of Water is his most assured film since Pan’s Labyrinth, even throwing in a Busby Berkeley dance number. Steven Spielberg _ He’s won the directing Oscar twice before, but not in the past 20 years. 1970s-set newspaper drama The Post could make it the hat-trick. Joe Wright _ Darkest Hour isn’t just a feat of acting. Wright paints a vivid, hugely impressive picture of London at the beginning of World War II.…

The Big Sick _ Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon’s coma-centric romcom is sharp, moving and contains the line, “He’s like Daniel Day-Lewis except he sucks.” Get Out _ It was a brilliantly ballsy move for Jordan Peele to make his first solo script a scary-funny riff on racism. It paid off, and might just win him a little gold man. The Florida Project _ Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch are surely poised to get their first Oscar nod for their tale of a mother and daughter living next to Walt Disney World. Lady Bird _ Greta Gerwig’s crowd-pleasing and semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story is frank, funny and treats its minor characters as lovingly as its bright hero.…

JAY BROOKS/CAMERA PRESS, ALAMY FORTY YEARS AGO, Monty Python’s token American, Terry Gilliam, finally struck out alone (well, mostly — he cast two Pythons) as a fully fledged film director. That film, the dingily detailed medieval fantasy-satire Jabberwocky, has recently been buffed up to 4K standard by the BFI National Archive. Although his memories of making it are rather less polished: “I don’t have anything except muddled thoughts,” he chuckles when we speak, interrupting post-production on his latest project, the quarter-century-in-the-making The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. That said, he’s happy to reflect on life since (and just before) Jabberwocky — and even share a few things he picked up along the way… FLY SOLO Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975, co-directed with Terry Jones) “I did learn a…

1 YEOH, THAT HURTS It’s become a cliché for TV shows to kill off a big name early on in ‘surprise’ fashion. Our money was on Jason Isaacs to go full Sean Bean at the start of Star Trek: Discovery, the lavish new CBS/Netflix prequel, but that spot was taken by Michelle Yeoh’s Captain Philippa Georgiou, iced by Klingons in episode two. 2 JASON EYE-SAACS Which paves the way for Sonequa Martin-Green’s flawed mutineer Michael Burnham to wind up on the eponymous ship in episode three. There, she meets the Discovery’s morally murky captain, Gabriel Lorca (Isaacs), starting as he means to go on; shrouded in shadows, his eyes adjusting to the light. ALAMY, PHOTOFEST 3 BOLDLY EFFING GOING Discovery is dark and gritty, with lead characters doing dubious things,…

THIS MONTH: DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT MOVIES HERE WE GO, then. A movie marathon about movies. From making ofs to meaning ofs, these seven documentaries are a diverse bunch, but all are chronicles of obsession, and highly contagious. The first two are proper odd-bods: docs on films that don’t actually exist. Lost In La Mancha sees Terry Gilliam screaming at windmills as his cherished Don Quixote adaptation wheezes to a halt. First come flash-floods and hail. Then his star, Jean Rochefort, crumples from a hernia. I can practically taste the bitterness left by this tale of production purgatory, but there’s a sweet ending: after 19 years and eight attempts, Gilliam shot The Man Who Killed Don Quixote this year — without the cast spontaneously combusting. At least Gilliam’s cameras rolled. Featuring galactic…

THE BREAK-OUT: Freehold DOMINIC BRIDGES’ BLACK comedy Freehold is a deliciously mean-spirited tale of subtle, devastating revenge — rooted in the horrible present-day realities of life in London as property prices climb out of the reach of anyone who isn’t an oligarch. A physical spectre of homelessness haunts estate agent Hussein (Mim Shaikh) — hiding in his flat and sabotaging his life in petty ways is Orlan (Javier Botet), a double-jointed immigrant whose life has been ruined by Hussein’s cash-chasing ways. A descent into madness doesn’t exactly make Hussein sympathetic, but he manages an outburst or two which underlines his own precarious position in the cruel pecking order. Orlan doesn’t immediately resort to the expected psycho violence, but instead carries out a campaign of minor irritations: leaving the toilet unflushed,…

WEATHER REPORT Me and 40 other Swedish meteorologists met up to go to a pre-screening of Geostorm. However, Fox changed their mind and didn’t pre-screen the movie. Instead, we rented the second-best action-weather-disaster-movie there is: Arctic Blast. Fox then compensated us so we could go and see Geostorm in the cinema. So which movie was the best? Although Arctic Blast had the most laughs (seriously, this is like a laugh-out-loud comedy for meteorologists!), nothing can compete with Gerard Butler. KRISTOFFER MOLARIN, STOCKHOLM Fun fact: Arctic Blast is Gerard Butler’s favourite deodorant. Empire’s star letter wins a Picturehouse Membership, plus one for a friend! Valid for one year at 23 Picturehouse Cinemas across the UK, including the flagship Picturehouse Central in London’s West End, each membership comes pre-loaded with four free…

Who is this Slender Man, then? We’re guessing he’s thin. Yes, very. Also incredibly tall, with unnaturally elongated arms. Oh, and he also has no face. He sounds terrifying, but why should I care? Sylvain White (director of I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer) is making a film based on the myth. It’s due for release next year. Where and when did this myth originate? In 2009, on the website Something Awful. User Eric Knudsen Photoshopped the figure into a couple of black-and-white photos and captioned them saying they were taken in 1986 on the day 14 children mysteriously disappeared. So, this is one of those internet things, then? Like LOLcats and Rickrolling? Pretty much. And, as the character’s gained in popularity, others have added elements, including a…

1 12 Years A Slave Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o has signed up for Australian zombie comedy Little Monsters. She plays a schoolteacher who has to contend with an onslaught of the undead during a school outing. 2 Fernando Meirelles (City Of God) is set to start shooting his latest feature, about the ascendancy of Pope Francis, for Netflix in Argentina. Jonathan Pryce stars as Francis in the as-yet-untitled film. 3 Stephen Chbosky (The Perks Of Being A Wallflower and this month’s Wonder) has been hired by Disney to write and direct a revisionist live-action take on Prince Charming. 4 Neil Jordan’s got Dublin doubling for New York in his latest thriller, The Widow. It stars Chloë Grace Moretz as a woman who befriends an elderly widow played by Isabelle Huppert —…

CASTLE ROCK Take a variety of characters from the King ‘universe’ and mix them together in one prestige, psycho-horror TV show. Sissy Spacek, Scott Glenn and Bill Skarsgård (aka Pennywise) all star. IT: CHAPTER TWO It director Andy Muschietti is returning to Derry to adapt the other half of King’s colossal novel, which focuses on The Losers’ Club once they’re all grown up in 2OP9. PET SEMATARY This long-in-development-hell ‘remake’ of the King favourite about the grave dangers of bringing back the dead recently got resurrected by Paramount. Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer (Starry Eyes) are on board as directors. REVIVAL King’s 2OPS novel about a Dr Frankenstein-like faith healer is in development at Michael De Luca Productions with Josh Boone (The New Mutants) as director. THE TALISMAN Arguably the…

★★★ OUT 1 DECEMBER / CERT PG / 113 MINS DIRECTOR Stephen Chbosky CAST Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay, Izabela Vidovic, Mandy Patinkin AFTER A LOW-KEY few years, Julia Roberts heads up the type of film that made her name in the ’9Os — engaging and glossy with a big heart. Roberts is mother to Auggie (Tremblay), a boy with facial disfigurements who is about to deal with the strains of going to school for the first time — a big step with repercussions for the whole family. There’s a danger of such material descending into mawkishness and, while Wonder doesn’t escape this entirely, director Stephen Chbosky infuses his film with gentle wit alongside the themes of compassion and acceptance. Roberts is as watchable as ever, but this is…

★★★★ OUT 15 DECEMBER / CERT 15 / 121 MINS DIRECTOR Ric Roman Waugh CAST Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Jon Bernthal, Lake Bell NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU is a convincing leading man in this narratively inventive thriller that marks a leap forward for the Game Of Thrones actor and the writer-director of Snitch . A decade after stockbroker Jacob Harlon — aka ‘Money’ — is jailed for a drink-driving offence, he leaves prison a hardened criminal with underworld connections. Instead of reconnecting with his wife (Bell) and grown-up son, he strives to spare them by embracing a life of crime with former inmate ‘Shotgun’ (Bernthal). Shot Caller shares some narrative DNA with the recently released Brawl In Cell Block 99 , but its gut- punches are largely of the emotional variety, and the film…

★★ OUT 8 DECEMBER / CERT TBC / 120 MINS DIRECTOR Oren Moverman CAST Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Rebecca Hall, Steve Coogan, Adepero Oduye, Chloë Sevigny, Charlie Plummer STEVE COOGAN CLEARLY has a thing for fine dining. After three series of The Trip, here he is again, sitting at a table while a waiter talks him through his food. He’s Paul Lohman, one of four guests at a mysteriously staged dinner called by his politician brother, Stan (Gere). Also present are Claire (Linney) and Katelyn (Hall), the brothers’ respective wives. Why they’re there is initially a mystery, slowly revealed via flashbacks, but it concerns the two couple’s children. This set-up suggests a thrilling war of words, with tensions rising as the group try to keep up appearances to fellow diners,…

★★★★ OUT 1 DECEMBER / CERT TBC / 96 MINS DIRECTOR Peter Bratt CAST Dolores Huerta, César Chavez, Luis Valdez, Angela Davis, Gloria Steinem, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama LATIN-AMERICAN CIVIL rights activist Dolores Huerta steps out of César Chavez’s shadow in an illuminating, rabble-rousing documentary that traces the origins of Huerta’s activism, her role in many of the 2Oth century’s key social movements, her coining of the phrase “Si, se puede” (origin of Obama’s “Yes, we can”), and the political and personal attacks she endured as a thrice-married mother of PP. Unearthing archive footage even Huerta hadn’t seen, and interviewing famous activists, admirers, friends, family and the 87-year-old firebrand herself, Bratt’s film is powerful and provocative enough to inspire a new generation of Dolores Huertas.…

★★★ OUT NOW / CERT 12A / 114 MINS DIRECTOR Kenneth Branagh CAST Kenneth Branagh, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, Willem Dafoe, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Penélope Cruz A RETELLING OF Agatha Christie’s classic murder-mystery that has a mystery of its own to solve: how to recount a murder story from P9RS in a manner that appeals to a genre-savvy contemporary audience? The answer lies in the details, and Branagh proves as meticulous a director as the man he plays on screen, revelling in the opulence of the era. The film’s starry cast is equally lustrous, but there are so many of them, they rarely get the chance to strut their stuff. They don’t make too many classic ‘whodunnits’ like this anymore. Given modern tastes, there is…

★★★ OUT NOW / PC, PS4, XBOX ONE DIRECTORS Fredrik Ljungdahl, Jens Matthies CAST Brian Bloom, Alicja Bachleda, Gideon Emery THE SET-UP FOR this Wolfenstein sequel is surprising close to real life — it has Nazis roaming the streets of America. There are differences to our Trump-influenced present, though. This takes places in an alternative ’UOs where the Nazis won World War II and then spread across the globe. It begins with B.J. Blazkowicz (Bloom) waking up from a five-month coma (from injuries he sustained during the events of the last game), then setting out to liberate the United States, on a tour that takes in New York, the Deep South and Washington DC. There’s an option to take a stealth approach to the game, but far more effective is…

You appeared in Guardians Of The Galaxy 2, Baywatch and Killing Hasselhoff this year. Why the Hoffnaissance? Haven’t a clue! But it’s been a cool year. I also worked with [Dutch violinist and conductor] André Rieu on some concerts, ten shows across three weeks, which got broadcast in cinemas. And I’m working on a new album. Were you happy with Baywatch? The Paramount guys showed me the movie and I went, “It’s not even close to Baywatch, but maybe people will like it.” It wasn’t my cup of tea, but I went out and met the cast and fell in love with those people, so I said I’d do my best to promote it. Will there be a sequel? I would say if you’re a betting man, don’t bet on…

Girls Trip made over $100 million on its opening weekend in the US alone, which few people saw coming. Were you and the rest of the cast surprised, too? Definitely! Happily surprised. And summer time is scary — there’s so much competition. We were up against Christopher Nolan! Why do you think audiences embraced it? There’s a lot going on here in the country and I think it was a nice respite to be able to laugh. And it just resonated with people; we have a lot of images, because of reality television, of women fighting, but the movie had humour and heart. Did you celebrate the film’s success with your co-stars, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah and Tiffany Haddish? I love all those women so much! And…

Printed dress by Markus Lupfer.  Aged five, GRETA CELESTE GERWIG attempted to mount a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express while in kindergarten. The train-centric spectacular was only scuppered when the rollerskates wouldn’t roll over the playground gravel. It was perhaps the first sign that Gerwig was an audacious auteur-in-waiting. Born in Sacramento, Northern California in 1983, she moved to New York and studied at Barnard College with dreams of becoming a playwright. Falling in love with film, she appeared in (and in some instances wrote and co-directed) the likes of Hannah Takes The Stairs, Baghead and Nights And Weekends, becoming the poster girl for the micro-budget ‘mumblecore’ movement, all the while quietly accumulating knowledge about every facet of filmmaking. White T-shirt by Zara, trousers by REDValentino Gerwig moved…

CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES GUTTER CREDIT When the idea was first put to him, Gary Oldman could only laugh. How did he feel about playing Winston Churchill, the triumphant bulldog of British history who kept Hitler at bay by sheer force of will? “Not because I didn’t think I could,” he says of his reaction. “I thought intellectually I could play him, but the physicality was crazy.” Even at 59, Oldman has chiselled features, a fine head of hair and, if not the punk-rock skinniness of his youth, a slender frame. He knew this would require serious prosthetics, a body suit for the drinker’s midriff, a gruelling physical transformation beyond anything he had ever endured before (Dracula had only required a pancake of undead wrinkles and a dinner-lady wig). “No…

Meryl Streep _ She’s been Oscar-nominated 20 times and won three. She’s appearing in Spielberg prestige picture The Post. Are you really going to bet against her? Frances McDormand _ Her grieving mother in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a C-bomb-dropping force of nature — but will the Academy find that too edgy? Saoirse Ronan _ The 23-year-old two-time nominee (Atonement and Brooklyn) is back in the running for her performance as a rebellious young Californian in Lady Bird. Jessica Chastain _ She proves more than a match for Aaron Sorkin’s whip-smart dialogue in Molly’s Game, as real-life “poker princess” Molly Bloom.…

CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES Armie Hammer spent the first few years of his career being shoved into a box marked ‘Big Action Hunk’, with his matinée-idol looks and frame cropping up in the likes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Lone Ranger. But here’s something that upset Hollywood’s plan: Hammer can act. And he didn’t want to be boxed in. This year alone he’s been charismatic in Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, oily in Cars 3, and sympathetic in Final Portrait. But the film that’s brought him the most attention of his career is gay romance Call Me By Your Name. His deeply affecting performance as Oliver, a student who has a brief, intense affair with his professor’s 17-year-old son, Elio, makes him a solid bet for a Best Supporting Actor…

Lesley Manville _ She’s been up for a BAFTA three times, but never an Oscar. That could change with her role as a seamstress to the elite in Phantom Thread. Miranda Richardson _ As the brash mother of Jake Gyllenhaal’s crippled Bostonian in Stronger, Richardson is a world away from the poise we usually associate her with. Holly Hunter _ It’s been over a decade since Hunter’s last nomination. Her role as Zoe Kazan’s vehement mum in The Big Sick should change that. Allison Janney _ As Tonya Harding’s icy stage mom in I, Tonya, Janney is near-unrecognisable, sporting short hair and a pet bird on her shoulder.…

DJI PHANTOM 3 SE An entry-level drone that boasts a 4K video camera, a 12MP camera and a 4km control range. Usefully for beginners, it includes intelligent flight modes such as ‘Course Lock’ and ‘Point Of Interest’ to help you avoid crashing it into your neighbour’s garden. DJI.com; £449.99 HAWKINS HIGH SCHOOL T-SHIRT So what if you actually went to the local comp in Nuneaton? No-one has to know that. Wear this, and as far as everyone else is concerned you’re incredibly glamorous and went to the high school in Stranger Things. Class of ’83, baby! Lastexittonowhere.com; £20 SONOS ONE It’s taken a while, but Sonos’ wireless speakers are finally compatible with Amazon’s AI personal assistant, Alexa. And, to mark that momentous occasion, the Play:1 has been redesigned (and renamed)…

GINNIE CADDOCK — 9 GHOSTBUSTERS What did you know about the film before you watched it? I have already seen the remake with the girls in it, so I knew it was about ghosts and capturing them. I also knew there was a marshmallow man in it, that’s huge. What was the funniest part? When the marshmallow man squirted them in marshmallow goo and the look on the Ghostbusters’ faces made me laugh. What did you think was the scariest part? Well, I thought the scariest part has to be when the ghosts’ hands came out of the sofa, that bit scared me a tiny bit, and when it puts its hands around the woman’s face. I had to hold my mum’s hand at that bit. Did you think it…