SamRockwell Tagged Articles at Cinematical
'Moon' and 'Fish Tank' Lead BIFA Nods
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Romance », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Awards », Mystery & Suspense », IFC », Sony Classics », Fantastic Fest », Oscar Watch »
Fall brings with it awards season, and among our first round of nominations are those of the British Independent Film Awards. According to Empire, Andrea Arnold's acclaimed Fish Tank took the lead with eight, while Duncan Jones' similarly lauded Moon came up with seven, including one for lead actor Sam Rockwell.I'm personally happy to see the savage political satire In the Loop getting due notice, especially its expletive-laden screenplay, since it'll likely go overlooked when it comes to Yank laurels (sad but true, although I'll be happy if it's not). Meanwhile, the multiple nods for An Education and Bright Star only parallel their warm reception Stateside and their likely contention in next year's Oscar race.
And after being quietly blown away by it at Fantastic Fest a few weeks back, I'm also glad to see Down Terrace get some love under the Raindance Award category. Enough of these awards, and maybe that puppy'll earn some distribution in our neck of the woods. (You listening, IFC?)
Sam Rockwell Talks Oscar Nom: "Dreams Are Nice"
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Awards », Sony Classics », Fandom », Other Festivals »
Moon has been the little movie that did, thanks to director Duncan Jones's tireless traveling, interviews, audience Q&As, fan interaction, and, of course, because it's a kick-ass sci-fi movie. Jones has even gone so far as to create an online petition to get Sam Rockwell nominated for a Best Actor Oscar – heck, it even has its own Twitter hashtag. You can also follow Jones on Twitter for more Moon news, and keep track of his campaign for a Rockwell nom on his blog.Earlier tonight at a screening for Gentlemen Broncos, there was an audience Q&A session with actors Sam Rockwell, Michael Angarano, Halley Feiffer, and Mike White, and writer/director Jared Hess. (Jemaine Clement, I'm sad to say, was not there.) As for Duncan Jones's campaign, Rockwell said, "Well, you know, dreams are nice. It's very flattering. Very, very flattering. Very nice. I mean it's obviously the director so he has an agenda [audience laughs] but it's nice to see that. We worked really hard on that film." (The audience, by the way, clapped hard at the mention of Jones's campaign.)
Exclusive 'Gentlemen Broncos' Behind the Scenes Clip
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Fandom », Fox Searchlight », Fantastic Fest », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Trailers and Clips »
Those lucky ducks at Fantastic Fest got to peep many weird and fabulous films, not the least of which is Gentlemen Broncos. The movie, which is directed by Jared Hess of Napoleon Dynamite fame, stars the always-dreamy Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Concords as an utterly ludicrous author who steals a book manuscript from a dorky teen, played by Michael Angarano. Sam Rockwell has two parts in Broncos -- one as a super-hairy superhero with a bald ladylove and one as a sort of, uh, tranny Captain Kangaroo. In this exclusive clip, Sam, in all his hairy glory, tries to explain why you can't look tough while drinking a smoothie. It's also really hard to drink a smoothie with a giant beard, as you'll see after the jump.
As Peter Hall wrote in his Fantastic Fest review of Broncos, "there is no denying, though, that seeing Sam Rockwell ride a fake deer shooting rockets out of all its orifices is the answer to a dream I never realized I had."
Me too, Peter. Me too.
Watch the video after the jump.
Live from Fantastic Fest: Opening Night Red Carpet
Filed under: Comedy », Fox Searchlight », Fantastic Fest »
Last night, Fantastic Fest got underway in Austin with the world premiere screening of Gentlemen Broncos, the latest comedy from director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite). Although most of the movies at this genre film festival screen at the Alamo Drafthouse, the festival has expanded to bring premieres to the larger Paramount Theatre downtown, which could hold all the fest attendees plus just about anyone who wanted to buy a ticket. Judging from the crowds outside and in the theater, it was a fairly full house.
Cast and crew from Gentlemen Broncos arrived in Austin for a red carpet event before the film, and a Q&A afterwards. Not only that, but Jemaine Clement (The Flight of the Conchords) appeared onstage before the film started, in character as renowned science-fiction author Dr. Ronald Chevalier, to read some science-fiction haikus.
I was lucky enough to take the above photo on the red carpet when the Gentlemen Broncos actors and filmmakers were all in one spot. From left to right: Sam Rockwell, co-writer Jerusha Hess, director/co-writer Jared Hess, Mike White, Jemaine Clement and Michael Angarano. Check out Peter Hall's review of the film..
Fantastic Fest Review: Gentlemen Broncos
Filed under: Comedy », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Theatrical Reviews », Fox Searchlight », Fantastic Fest », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
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Quirkiness only carries so far. Napoleon Dynamite, the film that ushered in the career of Gentlemen Broncos director Jared Hess, is enjoyable because it cherishes the nervous twitches of puberty, identity crisis, and the weird kind of people who worship at Walmart strip malls. The director embraced his small-town roots to assemble a film in love with those who don't have any station in life, who have no big conflict in their mundane lives, and who have no particularly interesting story to tell, either. Hess' latest film, on the other hand, does have an interesting story to tell and it does have a three-act conventional conflict, but it barrels past being quirky into the weird-for-weird's-sake hinterland of comedy where subtlety is abolished in favor of broad, hit-and-miss gags.
Gentlemen Broncos could have been great. It's about a teenage boy (Michael Angarano) whose fantasy novel featuring an underdog hero on a nonsensical planet (Sam Rockwell) is stolen by not only his washed-up hero author (Jemaine Clement) at a crash-course writing camp, but two insufferable "friends" who want to turn the story into their cinematic gateway to Hollywood. The film often wanders out of the real-world of poor Benjamin's unenviable life and into the entertaining fantasy world of his childish writings, but for the most part it feels as directionless as the confused boy we're supposed to be rooting for.
Get Gun Practice With 'Gentlemen Broncos'
Filed under: Comedy », Independent », Fandom », 20th Century Fox », DIY/Filmmaking », Movie Marketing », Fantastic Fest », Trailers and Clips »
I've only been following Gentlemen Broncos from afar, and by that I mean it was on my "Sam Rockwell is in that so I'll see it sometime" list. Until today, I'm ashamed to say I didn't even know what it was about, or that it also features the sexy Kiwi known as Jemaine Clement. But Gordon and the Whale landed an exclusive behind-the-scenes video from Broncos, and it's so random and funny that I'm now going to obsess about this film for the rest of October. Especially because of Clement. I'm not over the loss of Flight of the Conchords just yet.
If you're as behind as I am, here's the official synopsis: "Benjamin, home-schooled by his eccentric mother, is a lovable loner whose passion for writing leads him on an offbeat and hilarious journey as his story gets ripped off by the legendary novelist Ronald Chevalier and then is adapted into a disastrous movie by the small town's most prolific homespun filmmaker." Sounds good, doesn't it?
This is video #7, and videos 1 through 6 are available on the film's official site. I don't know if they're all this funny, but I do know that you will find no better way to spend five minutes today. Watching Rockwell do anything is a blast, but toss in a ridiculous wig and a dubious activity known as "ray gun practice," and you can thank your lucky stars that the Internet was invented so we could while away our time with such footage. Gentlemen Broncos hits theaters on October 30. Those lucky punks going to Fantastic Fest this year will see it sooner. The video is below the jump. Be sure to visit Gordon and the Whale and say something nice, because they're good people.
SDCC: Sam Rockwell Builds Big Weapons in 'Iron Man 2'
Filed under: Action », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Paramount », Interviews », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels », ComicCon »
I'm going to sound like a broken record with all the "Oh my gosh, he / she was so nice" remarks, but the happy truth is that all the ComicCon talent I encountered this year was ridiculously nice. Sam Rockwell was no exception. He's exactly as you think he would be: quiet, friendly, low-key. One of my finest moments was having my druthers enough to compliment him on Moon, and he was so flattered it was if he had never been complimented on it before. Call it good acting, call it being humble, whatever. He's a cool guy, and I feel so bad for being leery of him after his creepy turn in The Green Mile.Coming up is Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau, so keep reading, they should be up by midweek.
[On whether or not it was fun to be out in Hall H and part of Iron Man 2 -- not sure which, impossible to hear. Sorry readers.]
No, it's exciting to see that trailer, you know? That's an exciting thing, because we just wrapped a week ago.
So you haven't seen dailies or anything?
No, it was really wild to see that. It was really exciting.
One of the cool things looking at this cast, and the people who are making this movie, is that everybody comes from a sort of indie background. I don't want to disparage, but it's real actors and real filmmakers working on this. Does that create a definite vibe on set, a sort of small, indie environment as a result?
It is. It really feels like you're a part of the All-Stars, you really feel like you're there to do something cool. You're right, it's not just a big studio movie with thrills and chills. It's very actor friendly, and cinematically it's just phenomenal. It's big filmmaking, and yet it is very accessible to actors in a way that independent film is. It's very actor friendly for sure. It's cool.
Go below the jump for the rest!
Review: G-Force
Filed under: Action », Comedy », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », Family Films »
We live in a marvelous age, one where technological advancements have made it relatively easy to produce a film in which computer-generated guinea pigs interact seamlessly with flesh-and-blood humans. What's extraordinary is that a film can have all that and still be boring. Eighty years ago, people were delighted just to see movies talk. In 2009, you can watch animated rodents save the world and still think, "Meh. What else you got?"
G-Force is the subject, a harmless and good-natured family flick that unfortunately relies so much on its central conceit -- small animals have been trained as government spies!! -- that it forgets to do anything else. Take the animals out of the equation and you're left with an exceedingly generic secret-agent adventure -- which may be no surprise, given that the screenplay is by the husband-and-wife team of Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, who also wrote the National Treasure movies, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, and Bad Boys II. If anyone knows by-the-numbers action movies, it's those two. (The first-time director is Hoyt Yeatman, an Oscar-winning special-effects wizard with a long Hollywood résumé.)
The G-Force is a squad of three guinea pigs and a mole that have been fitted with devices that translate their squeakings into human speech, and then trained as spies by a low-level government scientist named Ben (Zach Galifianakis). Ben can also train insects to carry tiny cameras into small spaces, though it doesn't seem to be a matter of "training" them so much as just telling them what to do and they do it. Ben is almost literally the lord of the flies.
Cinematical Seven: Creepy Kids on Film
Filed under: Horror », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Universal », Warner Brothers », 20th Century Fox », Fox Searchlight », Dreamworks », Cinematical Seven », Remakes and Sequels »
Okay, so I've never been much for the company of kids. which may make me extra-susceptible when it comes to the evil deeds and manipulations of a perfectly precious child on-screen. It's an easy button to push, though -- after all, who would ever suspect, let alone harm a vengeful little moppet?
None of that appeal escapes tomorrow's release, Orphan, and it certainly isn't the first time that horror and horseplay have mixed on film. While I'm tempted to include that little girl from [REC] (and also Quarantine, I suppose) for giving me the willies, I won't because she wasn't the chief antagonist, and the only reason I'm leaving Children of the Corn off the list is, well, I haven't actually seen that yet. And although it doesn't hit Stateside shelves until this October, keep an eye out for the very tense import, The Children.
But worry not: even with the exceptions, there's certainly no shortage of other brats to choose from.
Interview: 'Moon' Director Duncan Jones
Filed under: Drama », Independent », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Mystery & Suspense », Sony Classics », Interviews », Summer Movies »
Duncan Jones cut his teeth on the sets of Labyrinth and The Hunger, but for his directorial debut, he opted for something that didn't star his dad (I'll let you guys and girls mull over the common thread).
Rather, Moon is a showcase for star Sam Rockwell, who gives what is surely one of the year's more uniquely layered performances. As the film opens today in NY and LA before rolling out in the weeks to come, Jones spoke with Cinematical about shooting sci-fi on a small budget, releasing an indie in a season of blockbusters, and cracking his skull out of pure giddiness for a movie.
Which one, you ask? We'll tell you after the jump...
Quick List: Five Of The Scariest Stares
Jake Gyllenhaal Joins Duncan Jones for 'Source Code'
'Ridgemont High' Inspirations Are Now Protective Parents
You Say 'Twilight,' Taylor Swift Says 'Firelight'
Robert Pattinson Talks 'Breaking Dawn' & 'Unbound Captives'
