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Sundance 2011: Salvation Boulevard – Movie Review

Mali Elfman — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 20:56:08 +0000

Salvation Blvd is one of those films that I would have thought would never receive a home outside of festivals. It’s not that it’s not fun, or that it doesn’t have an entire cast fill of friendly A-list faces — but it’s a film that mocks religion outright and doesn’t really have any reason for doing it. But, once again, I’ve found myself saying “I was wrong” because IFC Films and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) announced yesterday that that the two companies will be partnering to acquire North American rights to the film. Lets take a look at if they made the right decision…

The Players:

Director: George Ratliff
Writers: Douglas Stone, George Ratliff, Larry Beinhart
Cast:Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly, Marisa Tomei, Ed Harris,
Cinematography By: Tim Orr
Original Music By: George S. Clinton

Review:

Hell House and Purgatory County director George Ratliff decided to take on a new kind of horror — Christianity. This religious romp has a lot of great ideas and a fun concept for those who think that the only way to deal with religion is with a laugh, but my biggest problem was no the subject matter, but the story. The film film jammed packed full of interesting ideas that they didn’t necessarily have the right vehicle for. They seemed to have trouble finding ways to tie them all together in to one coherent story or genre. Some of the transitions between one seen to another therefore feel a bit glued together instead of feeling like they all flowed together as one thought. Maybe having three writers was just too much creativeness for a while.

The film is about a charismatic preacher, Pastor Dan (Brosnan) who has managed to trick, captivate, manipulate (you choose) an entire city worth of Christians to join together in one town and praise one man — him… I mean… Jesus. This expert orator takes on a Ex-deadhead and “recovering hippie” (Kinnear) to show others how to be saved, that it until he needs saving himself and then he pitches his lamb to the wolves. “The megachurch is cast into shadow, and a hellish storm begins brewing that could jeopardize its entire existence.”

All of this is good fun, the problem is things begin to spin so out of control and then things become a bit contrived. Though the journey is at times extremely fun, there are a number of moments that fall victim to convenient action film cliches such as someone always being in the right place at the right time for the story to come together and NO one listening to anything logical. Dare I say a simpler story with more ideas may have been better, but not necessarily as fun or easy to follow for mainstream audiences. One with less locations and more problems would have been better. In fact the whole “Mexican kidnapping” section could have been cut out without harming the core of the story.

This is not necessarily a film for those “mainstream” audiences anyway, so why not go even crazier, bolder, even more over the top, with even more hysteria? I guess they needed it to sell — though I wonder if there will be any re-shoots?

That being said, it’s always fun to watch Brosnan play a creep/dirty character and he does a great job of capturing both the charming and slimming part of his character. I’m sure he enjoyed giving his over the top sermon and thinking Satan was calling him on the phone. Kinnear is one of the easiest actors to follow through just about anything, even this crazy romp. Connelly is irritating in all the right ways, Tomei seemed to be having a blast playing a hippy-security guard and we had a blast watching her, and Ed Harris’ part of short but every-sweet.

Overall:

This is one of those films where the idea and concept is better than the film itself. Chances are this is a film that despite it’s impressive cast and fun concept, will piss off half the people and just about omentertain the other half. It’s not a bad film if you’re looking for something light and easy and a little bit out of the norm — it is something relevant to today and therefore worth seeking out if you can.

Rating: 4.5/10

Check out the cast…

Photo Gallery:

Video Review:

Joaquin Phoenix to Join The Odd Life Of Timothy Green?

Krystal Clark — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:55:22 +0000

It was recently revealed by director Casey Affleck that his documentary I’m Still Here that focuses on the wild and crazy life of Joaquin Phoenix was all a lie. That’s right it was fake. Phoenix hasn’t retired from acting, he just put on one, if not the greatest performance of his career. So we’re not surprised that Vulture is reporting that he may join the cast of the upcoming film, The Odd Life of Timothy Green.

According to the site, Jennifer Garner will co-star in the movie that centers “around a child-prodigy musician and his parents.” Garner will play the mother and an offer has gone out to Mark Wahlberg to play the dad BUT if that doesn’t happen do you know who’s next in line? Joaquin Phoenix. Director Peter Hedges sees him as the next natural candidate for the role. Interesting? He wouldn’t have been the second person to pop up in our minds but OK.

At the moment Disney is working feverishly to get the film off the ground within the next years and are currently on the look out for young actors to play the title role. Green is described as someone between 9 and 12 years old, “with longish hair and warm, curious eyes.” Do you know someone who fits that description? It sounds kind of creepy to us.

Who would you rather see in the father role, Wahlberg or Phoenix?

Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly Join Salvation Boulevard

Krystal Clark — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:34:34 +0000

Greg Kinnear is having a busy week. The actor has a movie coming out called The Last Song with Miley Cyrus and now he’s been cast alongside an Oscar winning actress for his next film. According to Puggal, Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly will star in Salvation Boulevard, the latest flick from director George Ratliff.

Salvation Boulevard is based on the book written by Larry Beinhart and centers on “a hippie who runs from the fundamentalist members of his mega-church who are determined to do anything in an order to protect their larger-than-life pastor.” Joining Kinnear and Connelly are Pierce Brosnan, Jim Gaffigan and Ed Harris. We’re also hearing that the producers are looking to cast another Oscar winning actress in the form of Marissa Tomei.

Brosnan is set to play the lead role, and the other actors will be supporting characters. The theme of the movie will be along the lines of Wag the Dog, the political satire turned black comedy released in 1997. The cast that’s currently on board have the chops to pull off a film of that quality, it’s just up to whoever writes the screenplay to execute a good story.

What do you think of the cast for Salvation Boulevard? Do you think the film can be as good as Wag The Dog?

Creation to be Distributed in the States

craigsternberg — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:30:50 +0000

Creation, a biopic centering on the life of naturalist Charles Darwin, has been released in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, its been a long and hard journey to find distribution in the U.S. despite the film’s stars Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly. Many have speculated that a movie that focuses on Darwin, will be too controversial for a country so heavily influenced by religion.

The film’s plot has a similar struggle, because Darwin finds himself torn between his theory that creation can be explained without God, and his relationship with his deeply religious wife.

Despite the struggle to find its way to America, one brave company picked up this Jon Amiel directed film. Newmarket Films, the company that is most famous for distributing Passion of the Christ, has set Creation for a December release. Its quite obvious this company loves picking up films that are controversial and sticking them in the North American market.

The film had its premiere recently at the Toronto International Film Festival during the opening night Gala Presentation. It was the first non-Canadian film since 1996 to have that honor. Creation is an adaptation of Annie’s Box: Charles Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution.

Do you think this movie should be released in the States? Does the topic of Evolution bother you? Are you interested in seeing this film?

Source: Empire

Ed Harris Replaces Liam Neeson in What’s Wrong With Virginia

Mali Elfman — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:48:58 +0000

Nothing is ever as simple as it should be. Due to Liam Neeson‘s recent lose of his wife, Ed Harris will be taking over his role in Dustin Lance Black’s upcoming film What’s Wrong With Virginia according to Collider. Although the reason behind Neeson having to step down from the role is horrible, if anyone could fill his shoes it’s Ed Harris. Both men are amazing actors who have been around for a long time, so aside from the sad news, I’m rather excited to see what Harris can do with the role.

Also joining the cast will be Emma Roberts and Amy Madigan. Jennifer Connelly has been signed on to the project since the beginning and sans anymore horrific accidents, it looks like we have ourselves one impressive cast.

Variety Synopsis: Harris plays the role of a sheriff whose state senate bid is jeopardized when his daughter begins to date the son of a psychologically disturbed woman (Connelly) with whom the sheriff has engaged in a two-decade affair.

Which is worse? Losing his bid for Senate or having his daughter possibly dating her brother? I’ll go with the latter. Leave it to Black, who recently received an Academy Award for his film Milk to conjure up another interesting script, which again deals with politics in an interesting, albeit very different way.

What do you think about Ed Harris taking over the role?

9: Movie Review

Mali Elfman — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:21:49 +0000

Are you ready to face your nightmares in Shane Acker’s stunning feature length post-apocalyptic animated nightmare produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov and starring Elijah Wood? Well get ready, because it’s finally 9-9-09, which means that 9 is in theaters now!

The Players:

Director: Shane Acker (Watch Interview)
Producer: Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (Read Comic-Con Interview)
Written By: Pamela Pettler
Voices: Elijah Wood (Read Interview), Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau

The Plot:

The film is about 9 puppet like creators in a post-apocalyptic world who have to fight against the machines for survival. That is until 9 comes along with his fearless inquisitiveness and stirs up trouble and possible answers.

The Good:

The Visuals: Absolutely stunning. You can see why Acker was picked out by Burton and Bekmambetov to make this film. From the overall architecture and lighting, to the tiny little details of the threading and the sound of the blinking eyes, you could pause the film at any moment and it would be a piece of art.
The Tone: It’s refreshing to see how dark they went with the film. For a movie with puppets running around, it actually had a few scary moments. Knowing that it was an animation I thought that they pull back, but from gore to getting high, it’s got it all.
The Themes: We have TONS of end of the world films, but none of them touch on as many subjects as this one does and in as clever of a way. Maybe because we’re dealing with puppets instead of humans it allows us to look at ourselves deeper, but no mater what, the film brings up a number of poignant issues without hammering us over the head with them.
The Inspiration: Finally, something new to be excited about! The most important part about this film and why you should go and see it, is because it’s original and inspired. It’s not without it’s flaws but in the world of remakes the original idea is king!

The Bad:

Runtime: Yes, animations are SUPPOSED to be 72 minutes, but so much of this film defies what a film is SUPPOSED to be, so why decide to follow the rules with the runtime? I appreciate how hard it is to make this film and that every little tiny thing had to be created by hand, but in the end, I wanted more. I needed more to fully support the story I was being given. With so many amazing characters, beautiful backgrounds, and such detailed animation, I wanted to see more from the characters and a bit less action. In order to feel invested in the actions scenes, there needed to be more back stories and more time spent on the arches of each of the main characters.
Too Many Unexplained Objects: Although it’s great that not everything is spelled out for you and many of the characters in the film don’t know what’s going on, do it makes sense that not much is explained, but when they reached their revelation, I was still left a bit confused. There needed to be more explanation either through character arches, more flashbacks or something.

Overall:

My biggest problem with this film is that it could have very easily been one of my favorites of the year. I loved so many parts of it, the tone, the characters, the action, but it needed more time to develop. I know that Acker spent 10 years creating the film, but perhaps if he had not been so rushed (like he told us in our interview with him) towards the end, he could have brought his dream to true fruitition.

Rating: 7.3

Go see 9 in theaters on 9-9-09!

Further Reading:

New Photos of Creation and Bright Star

Mali Elfman — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:21:08 +0000

Over a Collider they just released a ton of photos from films that will be premiering over at the Toronto Film Festival. The first batch of photos that we are posting are from two upcoming period pieces. The first is Creation starring Paul Bettany as Charles Darwin and Jennifer Connelly as his religious and yet faithful wife. The second is Bright Star starring Ben Whishaw as John Keats and Abbie Cornish as his inspiration for his poem (you guessed it) “Bright Star.”

Check out the photos below…

Overall, both these films deal with enlightenment and share a similar tone and color palate. Both Darwin and Keats were creative leaders of their own fields and had strong women behind them. Although the films deal with two completely different subject matters, it looks like they would make for a rather similar and pleasant double feature.

For more photos of both films go to Collider.com

For those of you who don’t know Keats poem “Bright Star” it’s absolutely beautiful, check it out…

Bright Star, would I were steadfast as thou art -

Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,

And watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like Nature’s patient sleepless Eremite,

The moving waters at their priestlike task

Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,

Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask

Of snow upon the mountains and the moors-

No-yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,

Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,

To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,

Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,

And so live ever-or else swoon to death.

What do you think of the photos?

First Photos for Creation with Paul Bettany

Laura Aguirre — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:22:40 +0000

Paul Bettany is Charles Darwin in the upcoming film Creation, and thanks to Empire Online we have an exclusive look at the Darwin biopic for you. I couldn’t be more excited about this film — the cast is amazing, and the props and costumes seem extra original not to mention that the story is based on one of humankind’s most historical and controversial figures. (Take a look at the Creation trailer.)

The photos below show Bettany as Mr. Darwin, Jennifer Connelly as his religious wife Emma, Martha West as their daughter Annie and Jeremy Northam as Reverend Innes.

Take a look…

The film focuses on Darwin’s struggle when he questions his faith at the time, and later revolutionizes a whole faith and the entire world.

The film is set for release in the UK on September 25th.

What do you think of the photos? Any interest?

Comic-Con 2009: Focus Features 9 Panel

Krystal Clark — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:17:03 +0000

3:44: We just saw another trailer and that’s all folks!

3:41: Burton says that even though a lot of his films have Gothic themes, he doesn’t consider himself a dark storyteller. He got involved with 9, because he wanted to see the film on the big screen.

3:35: Timur said he doesn’t think there will be any other films in the Day Watch series. The crowd let out a be sigh. I guess those films mean a lot to people here.

3:33: Shane Acker responds to whether or not he’s worried about the film flopping, since it’s an animated festure with darker content. He thinks the strength is in the story, and animation would be the only way to do it.

3:27: Producer/director: Timur Bekmambetov confirmed that James McAvoy will return for Wanted 2, which will begin filming this year.

3:26: Burton says he has no plans to return to Ripley’s Believe or Not. He said he worked on it for 6 to 8 months, but he thinks it’s done. He suggests you go to the museum to get your Ripley’s fix. Oh, Tim and the awkward comedy.

3:24: Elijah discusses how he picks his parts.”When I initially approached about this project. I was given some type of conceptual package, with a script, synopsis, and the short. I was so in love with the short!”

3:19: That was kind of amazing. Jennifer Connelly’s character kicks ass!! She’s a martial artist who wears a bird’s skull on her head!

3:15: We’re about to get a clip! It takes place during the middle of the film. It’s when 9 and his friends try to go rescue “2″ from a old factory that’s being guarded by a mechanical monster of some sort.

3:10: Elijah Wood describes his character of 9: “He comes into the world innocent. The difference is that 9 has so much to figure out. He has to figure out a society that’s already established itself. He asks these questions that everyone else is afraid of.”

3:06: Acker says that the story in 9, centers on the characters quest to find out who they are and where they came from, and in order for them to do that they have to discover what happened to the humans in the past.

3:03: Aww, it’s Elijah Wood who has been looking the exact same for the past 10 years! And following him is Jennifer Connelly who looks great.

3:02: Director Shane Acker was just introduced, and of course Mr. Tim Burton who was here yesterday.

2:56: We just got the introduction to 9. They showed the trailer for the film, and it looks amazing!!

Focus Features has prevailed where several other production companies have failed. They’ve managed to get the Comic-Con recluse Tim Burton to come out and promote a film! This year will be the director/producer’s first trip to the annual convention and he has a good reason for it. Burton will be promoting the upcoming fantasy epic 9. He along with Timur Bekmambetov will be present along with the film’s director Shane Acker.

Some of the film’s voice talent will also appear at the panel including Elijah Wood, and Jennifer Connelly. You can expect lots of goodies from the presentation, since there is so much talent packed on to one stage. We will be live blogging the event and posting the latest photos and video clips as the presentation rolls along.

The Focus Features 9 panel takes place on Friday, July 24 from 2:30 – 3:30 pm.

Make sure you continue to check back to our site for the latest news updates regarding the 9 panel, we will be live blogging from Hall H. You can also follow us on the official ScreenCrave Twitter, to get the most current news briefs! Stay tuned…..

Trailer for Creation

Mali Elfman — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:15:23 +0000

From Jon Amiel the Director of The Core and Summersby, comes a film about Charles Darwin’s book “The Origin of Species.” Don’t start yawning yet! Let’s look into this a little bit further into it first. Charlies Darwin changed life as people knew it and it looks like they will be focusing more on the life of Darwin than on his book (which I think everyone knows about but almost no one has read). The human and emotional and side of the character has a chance at being much more interesting that just a look into Darwin making of the book. After all, he is one of history’s ultimate rebels.

The film stars Paul Bettany as Darwin and Jennifer Connelly as his dis-approving and yet loyal wife. The supporting cast includes Jeremy Northam and Toby Jones.

Check out the trailer below…

Synopsis: English naturalist Charles Darwin struggles to find a balance between his revolutionary theories on evolution and the relationship with religious wife, whose faith contradicts his work.

Judging by the stellar cast, I think this movie will be worth seeing just bases on performances.

The film doesn’t have a US release day yet, but it comes out September 25th in the UK.

What do you think?

9 Trailer: New Animation with All Star Cast

Mali Elfman — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:00:56 +0000

This looks really amazing. It’s got an dark and mysterious vibe mixed in with a modern post-apocalyptic animation. It has voices by Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Elijah Wood, Crispin Glover, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, and more. It has been executive produced by Wanted Director Timur Bekmambetov and produced by Sweeney Todd Director Tim Burton. I guess that’s there that vibe comes from.

It’s about puppets trying to save the world from… Well just watch the trailer below.

I think it looks pretty cool, what do you think?

Movie is set for release on September 9th, 2009.

Thanks to TrailerAddict for the trailer

Interview: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Scott Derrickson, Jon Hamm

Mali Elfman — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:30:54 +0000

Last week, Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, and Director Scott Derrickson sat down and talked about the upcoming Sci-Fi remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, in theaters this weekend. Scott Derrickson lead the way for the most part, taking on any of the possibly “sticky” questions. Jennifer Connelly was sweet and stunning, and was the only actor taking the day seriously. Jon Hamm seemed to know that his character had a smaller role in the film (should have been bigger) and wasn’t afraid to joke about it. As I have already stated in an earlier post, Keanu Reeves is my new favorite actor because of this press conference. He has some of the best answers you could possibly hope for.

Here is what they have to say about The Day the Earth Stood Still…

Can you talk about taking a sacred text for science fiction buffs and making it for the 21st century?

Jon Hamm: That’s probably for me, Scott (laughter)

Scott Derrickson: You’re welcome to it, John. 20th Century Fox wanted to do a remake and I was the first of the people here to sign on to doing it. When I was given the script I was a bit skeptical. I do love the original very much. It’s one of my two favorite Robert Wise films.

The other is?

SD: The Haunting. Picking two from his 40 I think is even quite a thing but for me it was really this, that in reading the screenplay, the screenplay certainly still needed work when I read it but I was struck by the idea that updating this movie had tremendous value because of the original being so rooted in the social issues of its time. It was such an intelligent and interesting self-reflective commentary, coming from an American studio and an American filmmaker, on the Cold War and the fear of the atomic bomb and the struggle to establish the UN, and things that were controversial and divisive. I loved the idea of being able to tell basically the same story but bring in these new social issues that we have now, these new interesting messes that we’ve gotten ourselves into now in the world and that alone seemed to have value to it and made sense. I think the other thing was it’s been 57 years since the first one and you’d better have a good reason to remake a classic film but I do think that there’s something different about this film as opposed to other classics, which are so much more known by the general movie-going audience and I think there’s value to telling this story to the general movie-going population who for the most part won’t have seen the original and won’t know that story. My approach to it was that was the motivation and then the approach was to try to respect the original and also respect the fan base and the fact that it is a sacred movie to a lot of people

Keanu Reeves: I had the same question you had, and I then heard that answer. And I went, ‘OK and it would be fun to play an alien, and it’s a worthwhile story.” And that’s when I came on board.

But he’s not fully alien?

KR: That’s correct. That was part of the interesting side of the role was that it starts alien and becomes quite human.

SD It became an interesting conversation that Keanu and I had quite a bit during the making of the movie is to what degree is he human? You know, he says his body is human, where does the body end and the mind begin and vice versa? And we had to sort of work out at least an understanding for ourselves, where, how him becoming human was really occurring and that was part of what was fun and interesting about the process of that, working on that character.

It’s about saving the earth—what do you do personally to help the planet and the environment?

KR: All I can. Recycle, a couple solar panels and some rainforest conservation

Jennifer Connelly: Similar. We drive a Prius, we recycle, we turn out the light switches when we can. My husband is better at it than I am. And all those things.

KR: Oh yeah, and make this movie

SD: Yeah, there’s that too.

Wasn’t this a green production?

SD: Yeah, this was Fox’s first show that was a green production. I honestly don’t know all the ins and outs of it. I do know that there was a lot of effort that went into making it a true green show. The only effect that it had on me personally was that it was paperless, and for a director storyboards become very complicated because they were all digital and so I never knew who had what. There was no notebook to carry around and that became confusing. But I think that, you know, I’ll join in. We got rid of our SUV and got a hybrid and all that stuff but I’m also of the belief that those contributions are important but in the end are not going to solve the problems. I really like Thomas Friedman who writes for the New York Times and his perspective on these issues and his statement, ‘Don’t change your light bulbs, change your leaders.’ I think that the larger solutions are going to come from larger places.

I was reminded of Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone in your performance. What did you base your character on?

KR: It really came to me through the obligations of the character in the story. It was in the script. That’s really where I worked from, the character has certain cues, when he’s born and the first time he starts to speak and he tries to drink a glass of water and says, “This body is going to take some getting used to.” So it was just kind of the concept of the separation of his consciousness and his body. And what else? I just approached it like any other role. What does it want?

You didn’t think of Rod Serling?

KR: No.

Jennifer, your character has huge responsibility, deciding whether we live or die on earth, did you feel that?

JC: Well, yes, it felt like a huge responsibility but I was happy that it wasn’t just, I think it was really clever what Scott did, it’s not just on my shoulders in reality. I think that the relationship between Helen and Jacob is employed in a different way than it is in the original film. It really functions as a little microcosm of human nature and how we are treating each other. They’re sort of in conflict and there’s a bit of a crisis and then there’s a sort of reconciliation. They each take responsibility and there’s a move towards resolution and Klaatu observes this so there is that dynamic. There’s also the Barnhart scene and other encounters that he has that helped shape it so that was a little bit of a relief, that it wasn’t just me. I wanted people to be able to identify with her and I thought it was important that she herself be aware of the task and the enormity of that task and that position. So I liked that she has a moment with Barnhart where she says, “What do I do? Tell me what to do?” She’s aware what the stakes are and what she’s found herself in. What I liked about Patricia Neal’s character in the original is that she is open-minded and she’s very strong, free thinking individual. I thought that was important to carry over, that bravery and thought, to be human without prejudice or bias was really essential, that she be able to communicate, and that you feel the depths of her love. I thought those were all really important things.

What was it like working with Jaden Smith?

JC: Sorry, working with Jaden was fantastic. It’s really clear that he has a lot to offer. He did a great job. As I mentioned it’s a complex relationship and I think that’s a lot of nuance to ask of someone his age and I think he did it beautifully. He even seemed to have a good time doing it which was really a relief.

***Spoiler Ahead***

At the end of the film you save the earth but at a high price–New Jersey may no longer exist. What was the decision to walk that line between happy ending and not focusing on the negative impact of what happened?

SD: That’s a good question, no one’s asked me that question and it was something I thought a lot about. I think that the ideas of this movie and certainly what I think the movie is ultimately saying, I don’t think it’s a message movie. I’m not trying to tell anybody to do anything in particular. I’m just trying to be entertaining and tell an entertaining story and represent the world where it’s at right now, but I like the idea that the solutions to the problems that we’re creating in our world right now, I love the line when she says, “We can change. Can you stop this?” and he says, “It would come at a price for you and your way of life.” So I wanted to find some way at the end to not just have everything wrap up perfectly and be inconsequential. There is a price. But I decided not to try to dissect exactly what that price would be because I don’t know what it’s going to be but I know it’s the thinking that matters. It’s that idea that the messes that we’ve gotten ourselves into as Americans and a species and a human race, the solutions to these will come at a price and we have to be willing to pay that price. So I liked the idea of being able put it out there for the audience to manage in their own minds what they think that price is and what the consequences of this would be ending the story there. There is an open-endedness to it. There’s both closure and an open-endedness to what comes next after what just happened that I like and I appreciate that sometimes in movies, that they leave me having to decide for myself what I think that means, what I think just happened and what it means. I like that.

Jon, how would Don Draper sell this movie?

JH: Don Draper would sell it probably poorly. I don’t know, that’s not necessarily his forte, the modern science fiction epic. He’d rather stick to products in his own time.

Scott, why no cool flying saucer for Klaatu?

SD: When I went back, I watched the original quite a few times when just starting pre-production on the movie and like I was saying earlier you need to respect the original film, and try to figure out what made it great, and what can you take from the original to a modern audience that will work for them. And watching the flying saucer from the original land in Washington D.C., I think it was the second time I was watching the film through again, what really hit me was the precedence that that set for spacecraft represented in modern cinema. Really from that point forward, spaceships all the way through 2001 and Star Wars and the Terminator films and the Matrix movies, they’ve all been represented in similar fashion, which is they’re metallic-constructed machines that are engine-driven. Those are projections of our own technology. Those are projections of our industrial-age technology, our cars, our airplanes, these things that are starting to get us in trouble in the big picture. So I loved the idea of trying to develop an alien technology that came from a completely different trajectory altogether, and came from a completely different tradition. This was something I discussed with the art department and everybody and the idea that this was a species that had a technology that was essentially more ecologically and biologically based. That’s why the ship looks the way it does.

Keanu, is there something about the sci fi genre that keeps pulling you back? Or is a film like this like doing any other movie?

KR: Well, I love the genre and I approach it like any other film. I guess that’s the short answer. Science fiction provides great storytelling opportunities and in the past I’ve just been fortunate to be part of good stories in science fiction genre films.

Jon, can you talk about how you came on board—did it happen after the first season of Mad Men? What have the last couple of years been like for you?

JH: I did come on after we’d wrapped the first season of Mad Men in September.

SD: But only a few episodes had gone on the air.

JH: Yeah, they hadn’t really all aired.

SD: If there had been like five more episodes we wouldn’t have been able to afford him. That’s true.

JH: I came on relatively late to the project. It was already going and I came into the scene where I basically explain what’s about to happen. It’s sort of a three-page-long monologue about astronomy and trajectories and things that I basically got off a plane, got fitted, and thrown onto the set, which was a little bit nerve-wracking. But just the opportunity to be involved in something like this is amazing for me. I’m still relatively new to all of this. That gets into the next part of the question. The last couple of years have been bizarre to say the least. It’s still kind of a weird thing to wake up and come to this and sit next to these people and talk about things like this. So it’s new and weird and terrifying and all of that stuff, but still very exciting and as an opportunity to do something that I wanted to do since I was a little kid. To get to do something like this and work with not just Jennifer, Keanu and Scott but I think David Tattersall, the director of photography who shot Star Wars. I mean, what? Really? That’s cool, I guess, that’s pretty nice. So it’s fun which is I think the overriding feeling of what this career should be at the end of the day, is an opportunity to have fun and do cool stuff and this pretty cool.

Did you ever expect a cable TV show about chain smoking ad men to take off? What is it about that show?

JH: Well, I think the larger issues of the show, the show basically, one of the big themes of the show is change and that’s been kind of a significant watch word in recent culture as well. I think that when you’re looking at a time where there’s a huge kind of paradigm shift in the social vibe that was the 1960s, we explored kind of the beginning of that, we’re now moving through the rest of that, there are a lot of parallels for right now. So it’s not lost on some of the themes of this film too. It’s sort of like look, as Scott was saying earlier, take a look at where we are and what we’re doing. Maybe there’s a better way to figure it out so I think those things resonate in the culture. Yeah, it’s a small cable show that nobody really watches but yet it resonates larger than what it is and I think that’s why the show has struck a chord.

How did the politics of the last eight years impact the making of this movie?

SD: I’ll start. I think that when we were making the movie, I knew what the release date was going to be. I knew that it was going to be released in December of 2008. At that time, I didn’t know who the candidates would be, let alone the president. But I think that I felt the way most Americans felt which was that we had slipped off track in a number of ways and like I said, gotten ourselves into some real jams, serious ones. I had I think also the same feeling that the majority of Americans had which was not one of cynical pessimism. I just really didn’t feel that way about it. I felt good about the fact that it felt like the collective community of America that I lived in was recognizing its mistakes. That was really encouraging to see and to be a part of. I even looked back at the election and the way it was conducted and I feel like there was something uncynical about what’s gone on in America in the last year. I knew that this movie would be coming out when that president, whoever it was going to be, was going to be elected and before he would have taken office. I just had faith and hope that it would be a time of optimism and it would be a time of expectation that there would be some significant changes in this country and that’s not a partisan statement. That’s just a statement of fact that we all know we made some mistakes. We’ve made mistakes. We’ve made some misjudgments and everyone I think is ready to correct them. Admit it and correct them and represent ourselves better, not just domestically but as part of the global community. I love the idea of making a big entertaining popcorn movie that had some of that uncynical point of view, admission of serious mistakes and serious problems that we have and recognizing those things. That’s again where I was trying to respect the original film because for a Cold War film, it’s surprisingly introspective. It’s surprisingly turning the lens back on America as opposed to Invasion of the Body Snatchers where it’s about the Red Scare. So that was, for me, very much in mind.

Keanu, this movie is all about change, is there something about you you’d like to change?

KR: No, I’m perfect.

Could there be a sequel?

SD: Yeah, that’s right. Six Months After the Night Following the Day That The Earth Stood Still. If you’re asking about a sequel, I haven’t heard any discussion about that.

Would you want to?

SD: Probably not.

Was the chalkboard scene with John Cleese designed to be musical?

KR: That was intentional. We were thinking about it as a kind of dance and conversation.

SD: It’s a real math equation about a real significant high physics theory about the universe and we tried to be truthful to the scientific aspects. I just did an interview with Discover and the interviewer was really surprised at little things in the movie, but that being the biggest one. We had an astrophysicist who worked with Keanu and John. I still remember watching them for quite a long time. I don’t remember where we were in the production but for quite a long time in a room working out the back and forth of that and then we added material to make it longer at one point because just to get that kind of flow and rhythm to it, I didn’t have much to do with that. I’m just remembering because it was really Keanu and the math guy, the theoretical physicist and John Cleese. The three of them just kind of figured that out and I saw it and thought it was fantastic.

How did you come up with the new look for GORT and why use nano technology?

SD: Yeah, the nano technology element was in the script when I got involved with the project, but there was no real description of him in the screenplay. We started down the wrong path honestly because as I said, I looked at the original and tried to figure out what things can I really bring to it and GORT, what things can I bring from the original to the modern movie that audiences who don’t know this film will still appreciate. I just couldn’t quite make sense of why this thing would be in human form. It certainly can’t look like this tin robot from the original. So we spent a lot of time designing fantastic alien monster creature things that got increasingly ridiculous. I mean, it got to the point where I remember sitting in a room with these two pieces of artwork that were the current versions and just saying, “This looks like something that should be in a museum of modern art or in a park as a piece of modern art.” I didn’t even know what I was looking at. And Jeff Okun, our visual effects supervisor, I’ll never forget it. He was just standing in the doorway, and this is like after three or four months of doing this and he just was standing in the doorway, said, “Why aren’t we just making it look like GORT?” And I remember, it was one of those moments, I just looked at him and I was like, oh god. I just didn’t even want to acknowledge how dumb I felt when he said that. It was so obvious. It was like okay, yeah, you’re right. Let’s get rid of all of these. So we need to make it look and feel like the original somehow, but it needs to have the impact and the scale and the magnitude that a modern audience will find satisfying so we basically tried to find the best blend of that, how we could most keep it looking like the original without it falling short of what modern audience standards are for a sci-fi robot thingie. It was really that. That was the basic process and then the nano technology aspect of it, and I did think it was interesting. That is an interesting aspect to science fiction storytelling and certainly major part of science fiction literature right now. I like the idea of him having that be playing a role in and also helping to justify why GORT is in human form. It’s not that he was built that way. He chose that shape to present himself so that started to make rational sense to me also.

For details and insider info on our interview with Keanu Reeves, go here.

The film is in theaters starting December 12, 208.

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