The Huntsman: Winter’s War is advertised as a prequel to 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman, which it is for a very short while before it transforms into a live-action Frozen spinoff morphed with a sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman. The prequel/sequel brings back Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Sam Claflin (for all of five minutes) and the backside of someone who is not Kristen Stewart playing Snow White for a blink and you’ll miss it scene. What this return to the world of huntsmen and evil queens fails to bring back is any sort of a cohesive story.
Emily Blunt joins the fairy tale adventure as The Huntsman’s version of Frozen’s Elsa, complete with white hair, the ability to freeze whatever she touches, and her own ice castle far away from her sister. The only thing the writers forgot was to give her a talking snowman as her closest friend which, now that I’m thinking about it, would have greatly improved the story. How anyone connected with this offspring of Snow White and the Huntsman could possibly have thought going the Frozen route was the right path to take is incomprehensible. And if the writers didn’t take into consideration that comparisons would be drawn between this overwrought CGI spectacle and Disney’s beloved Frozen, then they’re obviously out of touch with movie audiences.
I can honestly say I’ve never heard anyone asking when there would be a prequel/sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman, but we’re being served up one anyway because of the first film’s respectable box office take. The original film’s popularity was driven by fans of Twilight’s Kristen Stewart, but with the behind the scenes shenanigans between Stewart and director Rupert Sanders the sequel moved on without either the first film’s star or director. Stewart’s not really missed as Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain more than make up for her absence, but Sanders’ absence is felt. Visual effects supervisor Cedric Nicolas-Troyan makes his feature film directorial debut and despite his visual effects background, fails to make The Huntsman as visually attractive as Sanders’ Snow White.
As for the plot, basically Ravenna (Theron) activates her sister Freya’s nasty powers by killing her baby. That sends Freya into full-on Frozen mode and off she goes to set up her own ice castle and then conquer all of the surrounding lands. Freya decides that if she can’t have love, then no one in her kingdom is allowed to experience that particular emotion. She also figures out the best way to create her army is by rounding up all of the children in her land and training them to be huntsmen or huntswomen. Of course two of the children grow up to be adults (played by Hemsworth and Chastain) who fall in love, and of course those two huntspeople are the best of Freya’s army so she’s doubly angry about the betrayal. The mirror of “mirror, mirror on the wall” fame enters the picture with The Huntsman transforming from prequel to sequel at that point, and then it’s all a matter of keeping the mirror out of Freya or her evil sister Ravenna’s hands for the rest of the movie.
There are many, many battles and occasionally it’s even possible to tell who is fighting who. There’s also a batch of dwarves played by Nick Frost, Rob Brydon, Sheridan Smith, and Alexandra Roach who turn out to be the best part of the whole story. Even the discussion over their enjoyment of water is better than most of the dialogue given to Hemsworth, Theron (who is absent for most of the film), Blunt, and Chastain. And speaking of the dialogue, I’m still stumped as to what accent Hemsworth and Chastain were attempting to wrap their tongues around.
The costumes are gorgeous and, as noted above, the dwarves were entertaining, but overall The Huntsman: Winter’s War feels like just a cash grab by the studio. Hemsworth and Chastain have decent chemistry and Blunt and Theron are impressive as evil sisters/queens, but there’s only so much they can do with a story that’s unnecessarily convoluted and characters that are completely one-dimensional. Stick an arrow/axe/your weapon of choice in it, this franchise is done.
GRADE: C
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for fantasy action violence and some sensuality
Fox is set to premiere the new dramatic series Houdini & Doyle starring Michael Weston as Harry Houdini and Stephen Mangan as Arthur Conan Doyle on May 2, 2016. The series follows the legendary magician as he and his reluctant partner, Sherlock Holmes author Doyle, help New Scotland Yard solve crimes that may involve the supernatural. Houdini’s the skeptic while Doyle is a believer in the otherworldly. Together, they attempt to determine if the crime was committed by a human or some sort of supernatural being.
Series star Michael Weston appeared at the 2016 WonderCon in Los Angeles in support of the show’s upcoming premiere and I had the opportunity to speak with Weston before Fox presented the Houdini & Doyle panel to find out the behind-the-scenes scoop on how he prepared for the role of Harry Houdini. He also shared his own ghost story, even though he still insists he’s a skeptic just like his character.
Michael Weston Interview:
How much torture did they put you through filming Houdini & Doyle?
Michael Weston: [Laughing] “There was a lot of torture. First, we were living in Manchester, which is not torture, but it is definitely north of London. It was cold and I was often wet and in weird situations, like off the docks and in weird rivers, and hanging upside in tanks and buried alive. But I signed the fine print, so I knew what I was getting into. If you’re going to play this guy, you have to be willing to do that.”
How much research did you do into Harry Houdini? Did you want to learn as much as possible about him?
Michael Weston: “I had a sort of very light working knowledge of Houdini, so I didn’t really understand who he was in terms of the place he held in our history and in our culture. I knew people say, ‘Hey, he pulled a Houdini,’ but he held this place in people’s hearts. My wife told me, she said, ‘Oh my god, I love Houdini!’ I’ve been with her for 10 years and I had no idea. He holds a place in people’s sense of wonder and their imagination. And then probably even deeper in that thing of being able to free yourself from whatever oppresses you, whatever shackles are in your life – your religion to your family to whatever it is pulling you down – I feel like this guy, at his time especially, was a tangible symbol of freedom and that sort of American dream. He sort of actualized it before anyone else did. So, I did, I learned a lot going into it, but I literally got this part a week before we started shooting.”
Why did you get it a week before it started shooting? How did that come about?
Michael Weston: “You know, I think it’s just this process of being an actor where sometimes you just never know. I was doing a play [in Los Angeles] with my buddy Scott Caan, and I was running lines with my mom in my living room when I got a call, ‘They need you to audition in London.’ I was like, ‘When?’ ‘Today.’ So I got on a plane that night and I flew to London, and then the next morning I auditioned. I had done an audition months before…something like that. So, it’s this weird process and then suddenly everything comes to a head and then you’re shooting and here you go.
The thing about this series is that we steer history a little bit for our own purposes. Houdini is a great character and a great backdrop for this, and so is [his] friendship with Arthur Conan Doyle. And then Adelaide Stratton, the first female Constable, wasn’t a real person necessarily, but there was a first female Constable somewhere and it was pulled from something that these guys read. They compressed it all into this turn-of-the-century period piece. Finally, it’s sort of Houdini but then it’s me and Stephen [Mangan] too, whoever we are in this time. I feel like the series plays on our nostalgia and some of who we are today. I feel like it’s very present day.”
Were you able to quickly get on the same page with Stephen Mangan?
Michael Weston: “That’s the magic of this stuff. I definitely think as the series goes on our rapport and our comfort level gets deeper and better as friends, on and off set. When you work with old friends, you have this sort of immediate thing. But these guys in the series are searching each other out. They find each other in the first episode. And even though it’s an embattled friendship and they don’t really agree on anything, they gradually over the course of time, I think they find a really deep friendship and need each other. I feel like that’s the deepest and most fun elements of the series, besides all of the adventure and supernatural. There’s a really fun, deep friendship between these guys that are also sort of bitter enemies.”
Houdini was a skeptic. Are you a skeptic?
Michael Weston: “Yeah, I’m pretty pragmatic. I think of myself as a realist and then I have weird doubts about it. No one can really just put that period on it, except maybe David Shore thinks he can. There’s always a question mark. Anyone who says they have it all figured out, there is no proof of it. I think there’s enough out there in the world that breeds uncertainty. And then I’ve had a couple weird experiences in my life that I’ve never really talked about except now with this series. [Laughing] I didn’t want to admit it, but I’ve had a couple of those things where I’m like, ‘I have no idea how you’d explain that.’ Even though I’m a cynic about that stuff, it breaks you down a little bit.”
Can you say what the experiences were? You can’t leave us hanging!
Michael Weston: “My grandma lived in this old house in Paris. It was there for hundreds of years, and it was occupied by the Gestapo. They fled to America at the time but then when they came back, the house was stripped of everything. It has this very sinister other side of it, as well as being a great old house. She passed away there and my grandfather passed away there, and right after they did I went there with a friend of mine, just to say goodbye to it. We were standing in this hallway and we were looking at these old pictures that hadn’t been taken down yet which were of our family from youth…my grandfather, my father, and ancestors. I was with my big friend Jess from New York and you couldn’t convince him to do anything, especially that there’s a ghost. He’d laugh you out of the room. So, he’s standing there and he turned his head [waving at something by it] and I was like, ‘What?! I didn’t feel anything.’ He was like, ‘Something just brushed my head,’ and he was freaking out.
And then I went there about a month later with a girlfriend of mine and I was going to the bathroom. And as I went to the bathroom just down the same hallway I came back and at the very end of the hallway there was just this weird, amorphous, globe. I was half asleep, but I was like [scared] and I’m like, ‘Okay, whatever, I’m going to go in.’ I go into the bedroom and my girlfriend at the time is sitting up. She’s pale and she’s hyperventilating. I went in there and was like, ‘Did you just see…?’ and she was like, ‘I just saw a ghost. There was a ghost. I swear to god, there was a ghost.’ Even after that we were like, ‘All right, we’ll go to sleep now,’ and we just sat there staring at the ceiling for a while. I haven’t been able to explain that or get over it. Even though your life goes on and I sort of buried that deep in the recesses of my imagination, yet it’s still there. So when I’m asked about it I guess I have to admit that, even though I’m still not sure.”
How can you not be sure?
Michael Weston: “I don’t know! I never got to grab the glob and be like, ‘Who are you?!’ And that’s what the series is about. These guys want to get their hands on it and prove it. Until they can really prove it with science and they have the evidence in their hands, there are so many question marks and there continues to be. Even though they solve the crimes sometimes, there’s still a sense of, ‘I don’t know. I’m not sure,’ even with the biggest skeptic Houdini, which I love because he’s a magician and yet he’s the one who doesn’t believe in any of this stuff.”
Is it fun to get to do the big performances or is that all so technical you can’t have fun?
Michael Weston: “I did the Chinese water torture one and they literally hang you upside down and there’s these two I wish they were stronger looking, relatively strong looking guys holding a rope on an old pulley, and you trust them with your life. I was sort of cocky about it. I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got this,’ and as they do it, they’re lowering you into this water and you’re completely out of control. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done. The sense of joy sort of came when you’re doing this and we were actually shooting in the old theater where Houdini did his performance a hundred years ago, almost to the day. I was looking at this gorgeous old theater that had been there called The Palace Theatre in Manchester, and you see all of the extras dressed up. You have this moment as an actor that you rarely get where it’s so beautifully done and you’re in it enough and scared out of your mind enough that you’re just sort of there and so present in it that you believe it for a second. There’s a little bit of magic in that.”
Is one of the benefits of doing the show that it is a short season and you don’t have to commit to it for so long?
Michael Weston: “The terrain of TV has changed so much and maybe people’s appetites with it. I know that I binge-watch a show and I’ll watch 10 episodes in a weekend or something like that. I think it changes the way that people write and it changes our lifestyle as actors. I love that that you get to do 10 episodes of something and you get to concentrate. 25 episodes is a lot to ask of anyone. My friends who have been on those shows for years it’s like athletes. They’re exhausted and they’re just wired for that. It’s a luxury actually to be able to do that for six months and then have six months off. I just had a baby, so I’ve just been staring at my kid for the last four months.”
Were there any cases featured in the episodes that you found particularly fun to delve into?
Michael Weston: “The scripts are so dynamic for me because the friendship really grows each time, and the triangle between these three deepens and the repartee is more fun. To me, we were shooting in these amazing places. We got to go to Derbyshire. We were shooting entrenched in the cities most of the time, but we went out to the country to these gorgeous green meadows, extending hills [going on] forever and spotted with fluffy sheep. You’re like, ‘This is what I imagine England to be!’ So, I had those moments when you sit in a pub and you’re like, ‘I’m into this! This is lovely!'”
Episode 11 of The 100 season three did feature the death of another supporting character, but at least this time it wasn’t someone most viewers were emotionally connected to or rooting for to survive. The death had a devastating impact on Monty (Christopher Larkin) and it’ll be interesting to see how he deals with it in upcoming episodes and, hopefully, he’ll have time to grieve before someone else he’s close to dies.
Airing on April 21, 2016 at 9pm ET/PT, the episode titled ‘Demons’ was directed by P.J. Pesce from a script by Juel Gillmer. Pesce also directed 2014’s Murphy’s Law and Many Happy Returns episodes as well as 2015’s Coup de Grace episode.
The Season 3 Episode 12 Plot: JAHA RETURNS TO POLIS — Jaha (Isaiah Washington) returns to Polis, and Murphy (Richard Harmon) has a surprise encounter. Meanwhile, Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) uncovers a clue. Eliza Taylor, Bob Morley, Devon Bostick, and Lindsey Morgan also star.
Michael Keaton in The Weinstein Company’s ‘The Founder.’
The first trailer for The Weinstein Company’s The Founder definitely doesn’t shine a positive light on the founder of McDonald’s. Oscar nominee Michael Keaton stars in the film which charts Ray Kroc’s history with the brothers Mac and Dick McDonald. Directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks), the cast also includes Linda Cardellini, Laura Dern, BJ Novak, Patrick Wilson, and John Carroll Lynch.
The Founder will open in theaters on August 5, 2016.
The Plot: Written by Robert Siegel, The Founder is a drama that tells the true story of how Ray Kroc (Keaton), a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.
Filming has begun on the eight-episode second season of the sci-fi drama Humans. AMC and Channel 4 announced the start of production on season two and confirmed Carrie-Anne Moss, Sam Palladio, Marshall Allman, Sonya Cassidy, and Letitia Wright have joined the cast. Returning cast members include Gemma Chan, Katherine Parkinson, Tom Goodman-Hill, Emily Berrington, Will Tudor, Colin Morgan, Ivanno Jeremiah, Neil Maskell, and Ruth Bradley.
Season one averaged 2.1 million viewers. Season two will premiere in the UK later this year and in the US in 2017. The series is written by Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley, with Lewis Arnold directing. Vincent, Brackley, Derek Wax, Chris Fry, Henrik Widman, and Lars Lundström executive produce.
The Plot:Humans is set in a parallel present and explores what happens when the lines between humans and machines are blurred. The second season picks up several months after the events of season one, with Niska (Berrington) is still at large and in possession of the consciousness code. Her synth family, Mia (Chan), Leo (Morgan) and Max (Jeremiah), unaware of her location, are each trying to find their place in the world while Joe (Goodman-Hill) and Laura (Parkinson) attempt to mend their marriage. As unconfirmed reports of synths behaving inexplicably surface, the ripple effects of one simple yet seismic decision sees the past return dramatically and surprisingly to the door of the Hawkins house. Joe, Laura and the entire family are faced with a difficult choice that will put the family under an intense spotlight. As an emerging form of intelligent life – the synths – and an established one – humanity – fight for their places in the world, a thrilling multi-stranded narrative evolves which continues to ask: who has the right to determine what it means to be alive?
Carrie-Anne Moss will play Dr. Athena Morrow, a pre-eminent Artificial Intelligence expert who is driven by her own motives to create a new kind of machine consciousness. Sam Palladio is Ed, a struggling café owner trying to breathe life into his family business. Marshall Allman plays Milo Khoury, a young Silicon Valley billionaire, founder and CEO of a leading technology company; intent on changing the world.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Lena Headey in ‘Game of Thrones’ (Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO)
Just days ahead of their new seasons, HBO has given renewals to Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, and Veep. Game of Thrones earned a seventh season order, Veep earned its sixth season, and Silicon Valley will return for season four. None of the renewals were unexpected.
Season six of Game of Thrones will premiere on April 24, 2016 at 9pm ET/PT. Season three of Silicon Valley immediately follows at 10pm and Veep‘s fifth season debuts at 10:30pm.
Game of Thrones is based on George R.R. Martin’s bestselling fantasy book series and stars Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Aidan Gillen, Diana Rigg, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, and Jonathan Pryce. David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger and Bernadette Caulfield executive produce, with Martin involved as a co-executive producer. This upcoming season marks the first season in which readers of the book series are just as in the dark about the events about to unfold as those who only watch the series.
Silicon Valley was created by Mike Judge, John Altschuler, and Dave Kinsky and stars Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Zach Woods, Kumail Nanjiani, Martin Starr, Josh Brener, Amanda Crew, Matt Ross, Jimmy O. Yang, and Suzanne Cryer. Season three will consist of 10 half-hour episodes.
Veep‘s 10 episode fifth season was executive produced by David Mandel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Frank Rich, Chris Godsick, and Lew Morton. Louis-Dreyfus stars as President Selina Meyer, with Anna Chlumsky, Matt Walsh, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons, Sufe Bradshaw, Kevin Dunn, Gary Cole, and Sam Richardson also part of the ensemble cast.
Alison Wright as Martha Hanson and Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings in ‘The Americans’ (Photo by Craig Blankenhorn / Copyright 2016, FX Networks)
‘Trust’ could have been the title of this excellent episode of The Americans as it is mentioned several times. In episode six of season four, Phillip (Matthew Rhys) explains to fellow Soviet spy, William (Dylan Baker), that he wants to get his asset, FBI secretary Martha, (Alison Wright) out because he fears that she is in danger and she trusts him. Phillip met with William so that he could ask William to get more Glanders bacteria since the last sample was destroyed. William tells him that it’s no longer available but he can get Tularemia, which can be easily weaponized, instead.
Martha leaves her house with her gun in her purse. Phillip, disguised as Clark, follows Martha and asks her get in his car. He tells her that the FBI may know about her and he takes her to a safe house. As Martha zones out in front of TV, Phillip meets Gabe (Frank Langella), his handler, in the kitchen. Gabriel tells Phillip that he’s acting impulsively, is flat out wrong, and that Martha should return to work.
Elizabeth (Keri Russell), disguised as Clark’s sister Jennifer, arrives with clothes for Martha and meets Phillip and Gabriel in the kitchen. She is shocked when she sees Phillip without his disguise. She asks, ‘Did you want her to see you?” Elizabeth looks hurt when she realizes that her suspicions about the depth of Phillip’s feelings for Martha are confirmed by his behavior. She is stunned again when he states that it would be better if he stayed the night with Martha instead of her.
That evening when Martha asks Phillip who he works for, he tells her the truth: that he works for the KGB. A crying Martha says that it doesn’t matter as long as we’re together. Martha tearfully asks him to make love and although Phillip’s face is hidden, he is no doubt anguished knowing that they can’t run away as Martha asks. Gabriel hears their lovemaking but seems more resigned than surprised.
Noah Emmerich, Aaron Roman Weiner and Brandon J. Dirden in ‘The Americans’ (Photo by Eric Liebowitz/FX)
Meanwhile, at the FBI, agents Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) and Aderholt (Brandon J. Dirden) are becoming more convinced that Martha is working for the Soviets. They discuss her history and the fact that she told Agent Aderholt that she had a married boyfriend that no one has seen. When Martha calls in sick, they call her and when there is no answer they go to her empty apartment. They also go to the apartment she shared with her “boyfriend” and find that there are no photos nor is there tape in the answering machine. An examination of the lease reveals that the apartment was rented to a Clark Westerfeld.
While they are waiting for leads to locate Clark Westerfeld, they tell their boss, Agent Gaad (Richard Thomas) about their findings. Gaad is incredulous at first. Later he berates himself for not realizing what Martha was doing. Stan tells him that we trust each other as a way of explaining his lack of suspicion.
The next morning Martha tearfully asks Clark/Phillip if they can go back to the way it was. He indicates they can’t and she says, “I’m never getting out of here, am I?”
Later, Gabriel tells Phillip that he must see William because the bioweapon is important to the protection of the Soviet people in the case of war. Phillip is unable to wake Martha to tell her that he’s leaving. He sees the bottle of Valium and her gun and takes it. He reluctantly meets William to get the titular “Rat,” an allusion to Martha, that died of exposure to Tularemia. As an aside, Tularemia is also known as Pahvant Valley plague, rabbit fever, deer fly fever, and Ohara’s fever, and is a serious infectious disease that is highly virulent in humans. William says that he admires Phillip for taking on the KGB, as he wanted to in a situation involving his wife, but didn’t.
In a brief scene at the rezidentura, we learn that they have been asked to exfiltrate Martha to Moscow. However, Martha awakens and finding Clark/Phillip gone she leaves the safe house. Gabriel tries to stop her, telling her, “Trust me.” As she runs out, she says that if he tries to stop her she will tell everyone that he is KGB.
So, Martha is now in a very dangerous position. She has seen Phillip without his disguise, knows that he, Elizabeth, and Gabriel are KGB agents. The FBI knows that she has been helping the Soviets. Where can she go and who can she trust?
Neil Gaiman, Bryan Fuller, David Slade, Michael Green and Ricky Whittle on the ‘American Gods’ set (Photo Courtesy of Starz)
Starz and FremantleMedia North America have released the first photos from the set of American Gods starring Ricky Whittle. Starz announced filming is now underway in Toronto on the 10 episode first season of the series based on Neil Gaiman’s bestselling fantasy novel, with Gaiman involved as an executive producer. Hannibal‘s Bryan Fuller and Heroes‘ Michael Green are adapting the book for the series and serve as showrunners as well as executive producers. Director David Slade and Fuller previously worked on together on Hannibal and are collaborating once again, with Slade directing multiple episodes and executive producing.
The Story: The plot posits a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.
The Cast and Characters:The 100‘s Ricky Whittle plays Shadow Moon, Ian McShane (Deadwood) is Mr. Wednesday, Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) is Laura Moon, Sean Harris (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) is Mad Sweeney, Yetide Badaki (Aquarius) is Bilquis, Bruce Langley (Deadly Waters) is Technical Boy, Crispin Glover (Back to the Future) is Mr World, and Jonathan Tucker (Kingdom) is Low Key Lyesmith.
Starz also announced four new cast members. Cloris Leachman will play Zorya Vechernyaya, Peter Stormare is Czernobog, Chris Obi is Anubis, and Mousa Kraish will play The Jinn.
Zorya Vechernyaya is described as “the eldest of three sisters who watch over the constellations, guarding against horrors forgotten by modern man. Once accustomed to royal status, the sisters have learned to survive on far less in a country that has no memory of them.” Czernobog is a “Slavic god of darkness and evil, Czernobog is reluctant to join the coming war, wary of Wednesday’s motivations.” Anubis is “the commanding ancient Egyptian god of the dead, gently guiding mortals through the judgment of their souls.” And The Jinn is “a mythical creature of the fire who understands a person’s deepest desires better than they do. He fears for his safety with the coming war, and considers fleeing America.”
In the new trailer for Jason Bourne Tommy Lee Jones’ character asks why Bourne would come back now. The answer as to why the character Bourne is back isn’t really explained in the trailer, but the reason Matt Damon is back after a decade is because he thought the story was right. That, and the fact director Paul Greengrass was up for returning to the franchise brought Damon back to the role for the fourth time. Damon previously starred in The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum, skipping only The Bourne Legacy which found Jeremy Renner taking over the lead. Jason Bourne marks Greengrass’ third time as director of a Bourne movie starring Damon.
The cast of Jason Bourne also includes Julia Stiles, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel and the aforementioned Tommy Lee Jones. Paul Greengrass co-wrote the script with Christopher Rouse and produced along with Frank Marshall, Jeffrey Weiner, Matt Damon, Gregory Goodman, and Ben Smith. Universal Pictures will release Jason Bourne in theaters on July 29, 2016.
The Plot: Matt Damon returns to his most iconic role in Jason Bourne. Paul Greengrass, the director of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, once again joins Damon for the next chapter of Universal Pictures’ Bourne franchise, which finds the CIA’s most lethal former operative drawn out of the shadows.
Dave Franco, Jesse Eisenberg and Jon M. Chu at CinemaCon (Photo by Dan Steinberg / Invision for Lionsgate / AP Images)
Lionsgate’s screening of Now You See Me 2 at the 2016 CinemaCon was halted 15 minutes in when an unattended backpack caused security to evacuate the Coliseum at Caesars Palace. The screening was ultimately cancelled but Jesse Eisenberg, who reprised his role as J. Daniel Atlas in the sequel, still stuck around for the Big Screen Achievement Awards that were held hours after the screening was halted. Prior to taking the stage to accept CinemaCon’s Male Star of the Year award, Eisenberg answered a few questions about his current film projects during a small press conference.
Asked about working with Woody Allen and if he’s playing a version of the award-winning filmmaker in Allen’s Cafe Society, Eisenberg said he wasn’t trying to channel Woody for the role. “If there’s any effort in that regard it’s to avoid that kind of thing because no one can do it as well and it would seem to be a mistake to not take on the role in its own way,” explained Eisenberg. “But, that said, the dialogue is written by him and it has a specific cadence. He’s directing you so in between takes his speech patterns and his mannerisms are kind of the thing that is most present for me. And, I’ve liked him so much since I’m younger so probably there’s those two kind of competing interests that I have and I’m not sure which one will win out because I’ve not seen the movie.”
Eisenberg said he doesn’t watch the movies he’s in and he didn’t pay attention to any of articles about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice while working on the film. “I really try to stay in a bubble. There’s really no way to kind of respond to people criticizing you for a role you haven’t yet screwed up. It’s certainly odd. Almost everything else I’m in you’re kind of in the strange position of obsequiously begging people to see it. And then suddenly I’m in a movie like that where you’re actually doing the opposite; you’re trying to kind of avoid saying anything about it. You’re not allowed to kind of talk about it. It’s shrouded in total secrecy, so it’s certainly kind of a different experience. But it doesn’t affect me that much because I don’t read anything about it or watch it or anything like that.”
I asked Eisenberg if the character from Now You See Me was one he wanted to go back and explore in a sequel and he replied, “Now You See Me, these two movies have been really like the only time I’ve relaxed in my life because my character is a performer. I’m also a performer, obviously, but this guy is like the most confident performer. He has worked hard establishing this incredible skill set and he doesn’t apologize for it. He is confident, probably in excess, and I, in a lot of ways, am kind of the opposite. I perform on stage for a living as my main job and I have total stage fright and anxieties about going up there, so playing this character in Now You See Me and Now You See Me 2 again is like really the only time I can feel totally at ease because when you’re playing a character for a long time, you know several hours a day for an extended period of time over the course of a few months, you end up just unconsciously taking on the experience of that character, the feelings of that character.
I mean, if you make the face of somebody confident for 12 hours a day over the course of a few months you end up just tricking yourself into thinking that you have all those feelings. And so for me this is like the only time where I could actually lower my medication.”
Eisenberg also explained that to him it’s easier to play a character who has some kind of eccentricity or strange behavior that seems very different from himself. “Those are the roles that are most comfortable to play for actors because you just lose your self-consciousness. If you’re playing a character that’s very similar to you, you’re kind of hyper-aware and second-guessing every aspect of that performance because it seems so close to you. You can be very hyper-aware of the inconsistencies or the superficialities or whatever the artifice that you’re doing. But in a part like [Lex Luthor], it’s so different from me – looks different from me, sounds different from me, behaves different from me – I can kind of just lose myself in the character and I don’t feel any of the kind of usual self-awareness.”
