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Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Sundance, Podcasts, Interviews, Cinematical Indie After several of their shorts played Sundance to acclaim, David and Nathan Zellner make their feature-length debut at this year's festival with Goliath, playing Sundance as part of the Spectrum selection. David wrote, directed and starred in Goliath; Nathan produced, edited, and played a pivotal role on-camera. The Zellners spoke with Cinematical about classic pet movies like Old Yeller, the acting applications of used medical equipment, and what they have in common with their peers in the so-called 'mumblecore' movement. As David explains, Goliath starts with a very simple event: "It's about a man; his cat has gone missing, and that kind of sends him into a tailspin. ..." This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Thrillers, Sundance, Warner Independent Pictures, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews, Remakes and Sequels, Cinematical Indie As the junior partner in the pair of white-clad killers in Michael Hanekne's English-language remake of his own Funny Games, actor Brady Corbet may be one of the lesser-known names in the cast, but his work as a smiling, shy sociopath makes for a haunting performance. At the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Corbet spoke with Cinematical about Haneke's working process, what it's like to play someone who's already playing a role, and his take on Funny Games's combination of entertainment and commentary: "The first (version) asked the question 'Why are you watching this?' And the new film asks 'Why are you watching this again?'" This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Thrillers, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews, Remakes and Sequels, Cinematical Indie After a startling, striking debut in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Michael Pitt wound up having what many young actors would consider a dream career, mixing parts in big-studio films (Murder by Numbers, The Village) with parts in independent movies by legendary directors (The Dreamers, Last Days). As the ringleader of the murderous duo in Michael Haneke's Funny Games, Pitt combines charisma and coldness to create a truly unique and riveting villain. Pitt spoke with Cinematical about breaking the fourth wall, playing a psychopath and how while working with Haneke made him feel excited, it also left him more than a little bit nervous: "I was constantly on my toes ... just always working on it, always. I knew I needed to do that." This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews, HBO Films, Cinematical Indie An award-winning photographer, Lauren Greenfield's work has appeared in magazines, newspapers and her own books; her debut documentary, Thin, was an impressive and sensitive examination of eating disorders in America through the lives of women at an outpatient center recieving treatment for their problems. She's back at Sundance with her short Kids + Money, an examination of shopping and spending among L.A. teens. Greenfield spoke with Cinematical about finding her subjects, whether school uniforms help keep kid consumerism at bay, and her own high school years in Los Angeles. Greenfield thinks her mix of L.A. kids -- from striving lower-class ones to pampered and privileged ones -- all have something to say about the mindset of teen America: "Sometimes the stories that they tell seem shocking or seem extreme, but I really think they speak to the mainstream that young people are experiencing all over the country." This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Documentary, Sundance, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Celebrities and Controversy, The Weinstein Co., Politics, Interviews, Cinematical Indie Morgan Spurlock's new documentary Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? sees the abominable showman, who lived on fast food for a month in Super Size Me, tackle an even more indigestible subject -- the complex and challenged relationship between America and the Middle East. Spurlock spoke with Cinematical about his globe-spanning adventure, the possible personal payback from living his life on-camera, how his life's changed since he first came to Park City, and how it felt to be in real danger on his surreal journey: "When we were embedded with the military ... they target the military. Being with people who are automatic targets is really hard; those (soldiers) are heroes for what they do." This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, Sundance, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews, Cinematical Indie In Smart People, Dennis Quaid plays a lonely, semi-broken academic trying to re-connect with his work, repair his relationship with his fractured family (including his daughter, Ellen Page, and his adopted brother, Thomas Haden Church) and conduct a tentative romance with Sarah Jessica Parker's E.R. doctor -- who used to be one of his students. The feature-film debut of award-winning commercial director Noam Murro, Smart People's warm and winning script, by novelist Mark Poirier, is funny, yet never forced; rich, but always real. Parker, Church and Quaid spoke with Cinematical at Sundance about Murro's unexpected directorial choices, the film's surprising sense of stillness and grace ... and less noble topics, like dueling and character hair cuts, too: "One of the added benefits of doing a movie with Sarah Jessica Parker," Church explains, "is that you also have access to her hair and make-up people. ..." This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Independent, Sundance, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews, Cinematical Indie In Baghead, the writing-directing team of Mark and Jay Duplass (The Puffy Chair) combine not two, but three separate traditions of American Indie Cinema: It revolves around two couples; it celebrates and mocks the world of indie film ... and it takes place in an isolated cabin in the woods where a masked stranger hovers outside in ominous silence. Cinematical spoke with the brothers at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival about delusions of adequacy, clumsy passes, awkward pauses and genre-melding on a minimal budget. Mark tries to sum it up: "Baghead is a movie about the funny, horrific, tragic, terrible life of being a desperate actor." This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Drama, Independent, Sundance, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews, Cinematical Indie Set in the here-and-now Mississippi Delta, Lance Hammer's Ballast follows a trio of characters -- a man in crisis and a single mother trying to keep ahead of disaster and her rootless son -- in a very American setting with a very European sensibility. It is one that evokes the Dardenne brothers, one where the camera is hand-held but the emotions are kept at arm's length. Hammer spoke with Cinematical at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival about his decision to work with non-professional actors, the news that Ballast will be playing at this year's Berlin Film Festival, and what drew him to the Mississippi Delta for his debut: 'There's a sadness that lays upon the land (in the Delta) that's very moving to me. " This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Comedy, Sundance, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews, Cinematical Indie In The Great Buck Howard, Colin Hanks (King Kong, Orange County) plays the newly-hired road manager to the title mentalist and performer (played by John Malkovich); Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, Dan in Real Life) plays the publicist assigned to Buck's not-quite-comeback tour. Hanks and Blunt spoke with Cinematical at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival about working opposite Malkovich, the wonder and terror of show business, and the gap between their on-screen romantic scenes and the off-screen preparation for them. As Hanks explains, "At one point (The Great Buck Howard's writer-director Sean McGinley) had us rehearse (romantic scenes) on a dirty floor in an abandoned office, and I remember thinking 'Yeah, I don't know if this is going to do anything ... I don't know if this is going to help us.'" This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Sundance, Podcasts, Interviews, Cinematical Indie Martin McDonagh's plays -- The Pillowman, The Lieutenant of Inishmore -- has earned him acclaim in the world of the theater; with In Bruges, McDonagh's moving from the stage to the silver screen in his feature film debut. In Park City, McDonagh spoke with Cinematical about the differences between theater and film, working with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, and how in some ways having his film as the opening night selection at Sundance " ... would not be my first choice for a weekend away." This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Comedy, Sundance, New Line, Podcasts, Interviews, Cinematical Indie Writer-director Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind follows two small-town friends, Jerry (Jack Black) and Mike (Mos Def) as disaster at a VHS-only video rental store forces them to try to replace the wiped tapes ... by re-shooting the films they once contained. When their ultra-low-budget, ultra-high-spirit remakes of films like Ghostbusters, King Kong and The Lion King become hits with customers (who are told the tapes are Swedish imports), Jerry and Mike's absurd yet logical attempt to save the store becomes an unexpected starting point for their own artistic journey -- and a celebration of movie making and movie watching. Gondry brings Jerry and Mike's collaborations to life with the mix of big-idea film making and intimate wonder he's demonstrated in all his work, including Human Nature, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep and Dave Chappelle's Block Party. Be Kind Rewind will premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival; Gondry spoke with Cinematical about everything from the joy of creation, racism in film and popular culture, and how Sundance feels different from other film festivals: " (At Sundance) ... I felt encouraged to continue; in Cannes, I felt really like people were asking me to stop doing my job." (The audio file of this interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: ) Cinematical: I guess the first, and easiest question is where did the idea behind Be Kind Rewind come from for you? Michel Gondry: It comes from a utopia I had -- do you say 'having a utopia?' -- a belief I have that people can create their own entertainment. I always wanted to create this community that would come and tell their own story, shoot it -- and watch them. The idea is to not have one entity who creates the work, the project, and another entity who consumes it; the idea is people create their own work, like somebody cultivating his garden. Cinematical: And in the film, we see the characters go from imitation to actual creation; that was always part of the idea? Michel Gondry: Yes; it's very important to me that they go through this journey; I don't want to advocate imitation; I want to encourage creation. In this case, they start with imitation because their goal is not being creative; they don't realize they're being creative until they become successful and they are forced to be creative. And actually Alma (Melonie Diaz), who's sort of the smarter, the smartest guy of the band -- she's a girl -- tells them that they are much more creative than what they think they are. And then they realize that they don't have to copy movies; they can create their own. And I think it's very important that people not just make their own entertainment, but that they create it, that they really invent the story.Continue reading Sundance Interview: 'Be Kind Rewind' Director Michel GondryPermalink | Email this | Comments