ScreenCrave.com » Legion

Interview: Paul Bettany, Scott Stewart for Legion

Kara — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 02:45:51 +0000

This weekend, writer and first time director Scott Stewart will debut his action-thriller Legion to the masses. It’s a tale about the second coming of the apocalypse at the hand of a legion of angels. God sends his most trusted soldier Michael to unleash Hell on earth to punish mankind for their disobedience. Instead of carrying out his wishes, the Archangel has a change of heart and decides to protect the people instead.

Paul Bettany makes his action hero debut as Michael, the only hope earth has after God sends in reinforcements led by his right hand angel, Gabriel. Between the actor and the director there was plenty to talk about regarding not only Legion, but their upcoming graphic novel adaptation, Priest. We found out how Stewart went from being a visual effects geek to sitting in the director’s chair, and we also discussed the possibility of a Legion sequel…

Legion is an action film with a modest budget, and the first you’ve directed besides the short What We Talk About When We Talk About Love from 10 years ago. How did this project become your directorial debut?

Scott Stewart: Originally, I was hired to rewrite a script written by Peter Schink. I thought it was intriguing, but I was kind of interested in re-approaching it, so I started over. There are a lot of elements that I kept, but I kind of rounded the story and re-conceived the mythology of it. I took a more Old Testament view of God and re-casted it as a horror movie meets a Western, angry father, parent-child dynamic set in a family diner with monsters.

You have a rich history in visual effects. You’ve worked on some huge films like The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Sin City, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Iron Man. How did that background help your directing process for Legion?

SS: That helped me sort of demystify the post-production process. You learn a lot in post-production about how malleable imagery can be. That aspect of it, for when you are trying to make a schedule, trying to get a day, you can look at it and know that you have the elements for it and move on. I think a big part of it is being a visual effects artist, especially at that level. There is a really regimented process that you end up going through to create dinosaurs or that kind of thing in a movie. That trained me well because it is all about preparation and visualization and that’s just kind of in my DNA. So when we are doing a fight scene, I don’t like to just kind of “wing it.” No pun intended. I like fights where it feels violent, real, and visceral, but you can kind of see what all the moves are.

Was there anything you weren’t sure would work before production began?

SS: Um, the wings. We just didn’t know at the time when I was writing it. We didn’t know what the budget was going to be. What would we get to play with? Fortunately, when it became a movie that Screen Gems was doing and we got this incredible cast to come onboard, we got a little more money to play with. Not a lot. This is a fairly low budget film by studio standards, which is exciting for us because it is getting good attention and it started with very modest aspirations. It has exceeded all of them for us, in terms of the reach of the film. The more the studio saw the movie, the more they wanted to give us to make the movie better.

Paul, you’re mostly known for your role in the Da Vinci Code, how was it for you to transform into this revered physical and spiritual creature? How did you prepare?

Paul Bettany: Well, I’m an angel. I mean, I try to work out the things I can’t do. I can’t actually interview an angel. First of all, I can narrow the things down that are my responsibility to bring to the screen. I went to museums and I looked at painting and statues of angels. They are kind of ripped, and often have swords and spears. Literally, I went, “Okay, physically, what I have do is get in shape.” I just tried to play a solider. I think it is important because you are playing something sort of abstract. It felt like a waste of my energy to try to play something that is an enigma.

This the most action you have ever done in a film. What type of training did you go through for all of those fight scenes?

PB: You know, you’ve got a job and you are going to have to get fit for it. They make it very easy for you. You have a trainer, they pay your trainer and your job becomes going to a gym for two hours a day, and then getting paid a lot of money. Anybody could do it! I’ll eat cake afterwards. That’s what I did. I’m quite quick on my feet. I used to fight Judo as a kid. I actually love doing it. If I’m going to do an action movie, I want to do the action. If I’m not doing the action, what exactly am I doing? I had a great stunt double who wanted me to do as much as I could. There were certain things, insurance wise, they wouldn’t let me do like coming through a window.

How was it working with Scott knowing this was his first feature length film? How was it on set?

PB: It was lovely getting to work with a first time director with all that ambition and fervor, but with real practical knowledge of film and time on film sets. He had an overwhelming desire to make an analog movie, and as much as he can, get it in camera. For instance, the old woman running up the wall was a stunt woman. She was clearly augmented in post-production, but it was a stunt woman running up a wall on a wire. There are lots of examples of how successful that was. The wings were one of them. It just wasn’t going to work.

Are there any plans for a Legion sequel?

SS: Yes, it is open ended. We tried to create a sense of resolution at the end and there is this moment of safety for the characters. Gabriel is kind of angry now. He kind of feels betrayed. He has his own loyal minions, so that starts to tell another version of Paradise Lost.

The two of you are working on another project together, the film Priest. Paul will once again play a lone hero on a mission, how will Priest be different from Legion?

SS: Well it’s really different.

PB: Yeah, it’s really different. We went into it with the same spirit, but with three times the budget, which changes everything. It is a very different story. For me, it is a hugely different character in that Michael is all about forgiveness and faith, and Priest is about revenge. He wants blood.

SS: One thing is that they are tonally very different. Priest is kind of a somber, science fiction, Western. It takes place in an alternate universe and there are retro-futuristic motorcycles instead of horses and big industrial cities. There is a whole mythology, like the history of the human-vampire wars and all this other kind of stuff. As a soldier, you make a sacrifice. You go off, you fight the war. You win the war. You come home thinking you are going to get the Ticker Tape Parade down Broadway and instead they decommissioned you and you work in a factory. Nobody will sit next to you on the bus because they are afraid of you. What happens a generation after that?

How closely related is your adaptation of Priest to the actual graphic novel?

SS: It is different in some respects. Min Woo, creator of the graphic novel, came out and visited us in the summer and I was really nervous. He was really, really pleased with what he saw. He had sixty books, but it was kind of a soap opera with no ending. It never continued, so you don’t know where the story goes. Now, there are new stories that will be coming and you will see how that story dovetails with ours. Ivan Issacs’ character in the “Priest” comic book is the first prototype priest and the characters in our movie are what came much later.

Paul, you have another film coming out called Creation, was it strange to play two very different characters in such a short period of time?

PB: Um, no because I’m incredibly shallow [laughs]. I went from this [Legion] to Charles Darwin and ate sandwiches. I gained forty pounds. It is actually the way I like to do things. It’s fun. It can be edifying to put yourself into somebody else’s situation. It is just fun to play wildly different people and wildly different genres. Although, I was thinking when I went from this to Darwin; Charles Darwin’s ideas would have been more broadly accepted had he had an AK-47.

Legion hits theaters on January 22, 2010.

Movie Releases: Legion, Extraordinary Measures, Tooth Fairy…

Kara — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:27:54 +0000

Who wants to see a movie? Unfortunately, this week’s not looking too good in terms of new releases. The three major films debuting are Legion, Tooth Fairy, and Extraordinary Measures. Tooth Fairy is the latest Disney movie starring Dwayne Johnson as a badass hockey player. Legion stars Paul Bettany as Micheal the Archangel who decides to save an unborn child, who will in turn save humanity, and Extraordinary Measures stars Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser as a father and a doctor working together to find a cure for a rare genetic disorder. If you’re up for some more eclectic fare, the French film The Girl on the Train with Catherine Deneuve is apparently worthwhile.

Check out the movies coming out on January 22, 2010…

Legion | ScreenCrave Review | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
Tooth Fairy| ScreenCrave Review | Dwayne Johnson Interview | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
Extraordinary Measures | ScreenCrave Review | Harrison Ford Interview | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
Creation [Limited] | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
The Girl on the Train [Limited] | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
To Save a Life [Limited] | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes

Trailers

Legion

Tooth Fairy

Extraordinary Measures

Creation

The Girl on the Train

Soundtrack for a Revolution

To Save a Life

What movies are you interested in seeing this weekend?

Legion: Movie Review

Kara — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:01:04 +0000

Legion is the latest post-apocalyptic film to hit the market, and it stars Paul Bettany in an unconventional yet angelic role. The movie marks the first major release for writer/director Scott Stewart, who’s been on the visual effects side of filmmaking for years, but is now working on bringing his own projects to life. Legion is a Christian-themed movie, with a splash of zombie-horror, Western ideals, and a whole lot of action.

The Players:

Director: Scott Stewart
Writers: Peter Schink and Scott Stewart
Cast: Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Doug Jones, Kate Walsh
Cinematography: John Lindley
Music: John Frizzell

The Plot:

When God grows tired of humans and their disobedience, he sends the Archangel Michael (Bettany) to wipe them off the face of the earth. More specifically he needs to kill the one child that can stop God’s wrath and save mankind. The only problem is that child hasn’t been born yet, and the mother is a waitress at a small diner in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Michael defies God’s Will and decides to save the child, which turns the restaurant into a war zone between heaven and earth. He will have to combat an entire legion of angels led by the heavily favored, Gabriel.

The Good:

Entertaining: The film has plenty of action but it wasn’t filled with over the top gore. There was a decent amount of entertainment value within the characters and their interactions with one another outside of the violence.
The Dumb Moments: There is nothing more annoying than watching a girl run out into a sea of zombies only to meet her maker. The writers did a pretty good job of integrating the characters dumb actions with the story. Although it was clearly to create conflict, the purpose played out very well.

The Bad:

You Got The Guns Where?: Paul Bettany starts the movie on a mission to get guns, so he walks into a closed store and grabs a bunch. How does he know that this particular place has the goods? Who knows? It seemed like the shop owner wasn’t even aware that there was enough ammo to arm a small militia in the back room. Check that off things to explain to the audience.
The Acting: There were moments, flashes even, where the acting of the two main characters, Charlie and Jeep (Black), was some of the worse I’d ever seen. And even the ridiculously talented Charles S. Dutton found himself muttering in a bad southern accent.
The Names: This may be a little nit-picky, but the name Jeep is lame. Obviously the writers were trying to get creative, but that one was just a little too much. Every time the waitress Charlie screamed his name it sounded like, “Cheep! Cheep! Cheeeep!”
Defies Logic: Without giving too much away there are several issues with Charlie and all things related to her baby. First of all, a woman that is eight months pregnant will not be as agile as she is. Two, she smokes (enough said). Three, she has the superhuman ability of giving birth in a minute. Apparently, the key to easy childbirth is Paul Bettany coaxing you along. Finally, not only can she pop that thing out like a torpedo, but she is up and running around just minutes after without any sort of medical care or anesthesia. One can only suspend belief up to a certain point.
Miscasting: This problem is very closely related to the bad acting. A few of the casting choices were not as good as they could have been. Kate Walsh was irritating and not nearly old enough to have a teenage daughter. There were a few issues with Dennis Quaid as well, which is unfortunate considering his acting background.

Overall:

Surprisingly, this movie was actually enjoyable, and is a good popcorn flick to see over the weekend. The plot and parts of the film are certainly flawed, but all in all it was still entertaining, and that’s what you’re paying for.

Rating: 6/10

Legion hits theaters on January 22, 2010

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

Paul Bettany Does Backflips in New Legion Clip

Krystal Clark — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:51:38 +0000

The religious action film, Legion will hit theaters later this month and stars Paul Bettany as the archangel Michael who turns his back on the kingdom of heaven to save mankind. The film’s directed by Scott Stewart and is a mix between Prophecy, The Da Vinci Code, and one of the sequels to The Exorcist.

Legion is a supernatural action thriller that centers on the patrons of an out-of-the-way diner that becomes the unlikely battleground for the survival of the human race. When God loses faith in mankind, he sends his legion of angels to bring on the apocalypse. The only person who can stop his wrath is his former right hand man, Michael who goes head to head with Gabriel (Kevin Durand) to protect humanity.

In this new clip from the movie, we see Michael and Gabriel rough each other up a little bit and it’s literally old school versus new school warfare. Gabriel’s weapon of choice is a spiked mace, while Michael chooses to go with a more contemporary machine gun. After watching a small portion of their battle, I have to admit the acrobatics used are a bit unnecessary. Paul Bettany’s stunt double is doing overtime with his multiple flips, but it’s a movie. It’s supposed to be over the top.

Do you think Legion will be campy fun or plain bad?

Legion Gets a Comic Book

Krystal Clark — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:00:40 +0000

Remember that long red band trailer for Scott Stewart’s film Legion? The reaction from the general public was “What the hell is going on here?” Literally, what is hell doing here? It featured angels trying to kill humans, and two of the most well known winged creatures (Michael and Gabriel) going head to head. According to Cinematical, you can expect some of your questions to be answered with the Legion: Prophets prequel comic book. More on the story below.

Legion: Prophets is a four part mini-series that Stewart and Tom Waltz had written as a comic prequel to the film. “Legion: Prophets will introduce you to the Theologians, the Guardian, the Codebreaker and the Voice, five very different and unlikely individuals who become humanity’s only hope in surviving the Apocalypse.” The comic will be distributed by IDW Publishing, and will hit shelves this November.

According to Stewart, “There were a lot of cool and scary characters and situations that I wasn’t able to include in the main narrative of the movie, so I’m very excited to be able to expand the Legion universe beyond the film and explore those other stories through the comic book series.”

I think it’s interesting that the name of the comic is Prophets considering the fact that so many people have compared this film to the 1990′s angelic franchise, Prophecy. The series was best known for having Christopher Walken star as the archangel Gabriel, whom is played by Kevin Durand in this film. Legion debuts in theaters nationwide on January 22, 2010.

Are you interesting in buying a Legion prequel comic?

Legion Red Band Trailer

Krystal Clark — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:40:09 +0000

Finally the trailer that we saw weeks ago at Comic-Con (read our first look) for the upcoming religious epic Legion has been released and it looks absolutely amazing. The film centers on the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) and his journey to protect a young woman (Adrianne Palicki) and her unborn child. The trailer is just as creepy as it is beautiful.

The best part about this trailer is that, even though Doug Jones is assisted by special effects, we finally get to see his face on screen! Jones’ is known for playing almost every interesting animal-like creature in Guillermo del Toro‘s films, such as Pan in Pan’s Labyrinth, Abe (the Fish-Man) in Hellboy, and many more.

Check out the red band trailer after the jump…

Set in a small diner in the middle of nowhere, a group of random patrons realize their pawns in a war between heaven and earth. The cast includes Tyrese Gibson, Dennis Quaid, Kevin Durand and Doug Jones. Legion is directed and written by second time film-maker, long time visual effects creator Scott Stewart. It looks like he’s really using his background to his advantage, the effects looks amazing!

Legion hits theaters next year on January 22nd.

What do you think of the red band trailer for the film?

Comic-Con 2009: Legion Panel Videos of Paul Bettany and Doug Jones

Kara — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:55:19 +0000

***Update: You can also check out our thoughts on Legion’s first look footage, which was shown at the film’s panel.

Check out the videos featuring the cast from Legion at the Sony Entertainment panel at this year’s Comic-Con. Doug Jones discusses his excitement about playing a character that didn’t involve him being covered in make-up and costumes from head to toe. Paul Bettany tells the audience about being the star of his first big action movie. You can check out the videos after the jump!

What do you think?

Comic-Con 2009: First Look at Scott Stewart’s Legion

Krystal Clark — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:47:46 +0000

**** Check out some footage from the cast and crew at the Legion panel at this year’s Comic-Con here.

We finally got to see some footage from Scott Stewart’s upcoming religious epic, Legion. I hadn’t heard much about the film besides the fact that Paul Bettany would be playing an angel, and Doug Jones would just be playing creepy……again. Either way I was excited when the cast came out to introduce the film. They showed the first official trailer which literally blew me away!

Check out my thoughts on the video after the jump.

Doug Jones appears in the film as a fallen angel of some sort, and even though he’s still using some make-up and prosthetics he’s not unrecognizable like he usually is in his other films.
Paul Bettany is shown as the arch angel Michael, who cuts his wings off and decides to help man kind from the impeding legion of angels that are coming to wipe them out.
Gabriel, another arch angel is played by Kevin Durand is leading the pack, and Michael says to him that he’s always been so eager to please.
Adrianne Palicki’s character is pregnant with a child that can save mankind, and Michael turns against everyone in heaven to protect her.
The cast includes Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton, and Tyrese Gibson as a group of strangers who are stranded at a diner in the middle of the desert, with no help in sight.
The graphics are amazing! When the angels are shown possessing the bodies of humans it looks pretty terrifying. Their eyes go black, and they apparently have the ability to crawl up walls!

What do you think about these little tidbits?

Comic-Con 2009: Sony Entertainment Panel

Krystal Clark — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:12:51 +0000

5:09: The film was shot for $30 million, enough to get it done, but made for fans without the pressure from studios and such. Jackson: “Gave him the ability to just go crazy.”

4:59: Peter Jackson admits to the possibility of getting back into the low budget horror/thriller film while The Hobbit is being made.

4:55: A standing joke on set was Sharlto saying “when will the fame begin.” He doesn’t seem like that is something he is in any way interested in. His first day on set he spent naked in a set with a sack on his sack.

4:53: Sharlto, what was it like carrying this film on your back being un-experienced. Sharlto: “Not really, but I’ve been a filmmakers since a very young age and made a lot of films that I was always putting myself and my friends in films…I never felt nervous or stressed… the weird thing was Peter Jackson saying come and back it. It was inspiring and humbling at the same time.”

4:45: Wow. Just saw the clip. Absolutely amazing. Neill talks about how he likes Sci-Fi that “looks real and is as realistic and grounded as possible.”

4:39: Clip didn’t work! We’re not the only one with technical difficulties! So now they’re talking about how Peter and Neill were supposed to make a film for Halo, and how that fell through and so District 9 came about. We’ll give you the details soon!

4:34: Before he brings our the lead actor Sharlto he gives him a HUGE pat on the back and said that he was able to improvise on this incredibly huge movie and “when you see the movie, you’re going to be absolutely blown away by his performance.” And now Neill Blomkamp who he says “if anyone was born to make movies, it was Neill.” Time to see 7 minutes of the film, which we’re told represents the film as a whole, let’s see…

4:29: Peter Jackson now on stage and talking about the Hobbit. As we know from the press conference, we ain’t getting nothing about casting, BUT as you’ll hear soon from our press conference, they’re about 3-4 weeks ago from submitting their first script, then get it accepted, then figure out how much it’s going to cost, etc. etc. “So drop WB a line to say that you want to greenlite it!” They WILL BE doing two films.

District 9 on it’s way! Peter Jackson about to walk out.

4:28: Tyrese jumped back on stage to announce that Legion is coming out January 22nd and “thank you for making Transformers #1 around the world…” and now he has his own comic-book Mayhem that’s his. Or follow him on Twitter at: Tyrese4Real

4:25: The just showed an image of another film PRIEST again with Paul bettany. They start shooting on August 24th.

4:21: Jesus person here to ask a question. Uh-oh. Apparently she wants to know how he was able not to laugh when doing CG? Hmmmm… interesting question. Doug Jones makes a joke about how he had forgot his face that day, so it was very hard. And then special effects took the rest away. Now another girl asks Doug Jones what it’s like to act “naked” (ie without makeup). He says it’s the different between “walking out between your speedo or a sweater, once I got to the pool I was okay.” Now everyone is teasing him about wearing speedos on set.

4:19: The tattoos on Paul are part of the language in the film and do reveal something bigger.

4:18: Question time! How does religion play into the movies: The director states “It’s not a religious picture. More like angels with machine guns.”

4:16: In this end of the world film, where would the devil be with all the black angels on earth? Director “you only need the flood you don’t need the devil…”

4:13: Bettany says he got tricked into the film because it was a small romantic comedy… He’s been looking to break out, not be a bad guy, and do something hardcore. The Director said after the first time he got to shoot a gun he said, “I was in the Royal Shakespeare company but this is why I wanted to be an actor!”

4:10: Tyrese seems to be more excited than the audience. Looking for his applause. He been promoting his own comic book. He talks about how these end of the world films do something for him (maybe because of the action?) His character is Kyle Williams with “a complex back-story who happens to pull over at a restaurant and get caught up in the baby drama.” Tyrese then decides to introduce Paul Bettany who gets more cheers than Tyrese.

4:09: Doug Jones, Tyrese, Paul Bettany, the Director are all on stage. Doug Jones is talking about how he finally gets to be in a film without a mask! “Bless his heart for letting me get on screen in front of you without makeup on my face!”

4:08: Just saw the footage for Legion, who the hell saw that one coming! Really intense, weird (in an awesome way), and looks great!

Sony Pictures won’t be pulling any punches this year when they unveil their presentation at Comic-Con. The studio panel will showcase some of the biggest upcoming films from the brand including Legion and the Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson collaboration, District 9. Legion director Scott Stewart will make an appearance in promotion of the film along with co-stars Paul Bettany, Tyrese Gibson, and Doug Jones.

The District 9 presentation will be led by Jackson and Blomkamp as they debut some exclusive scenes from the sci-fi film. The movie’s lead actor Sharlto Copley along with the director and producer will be taking questions from the audience, and we’ll definitely make sure we ask the good ones!

The Sony Entertainment panel will take place on Friday, July 24 from 3:45 – 5:00 pm.

For all the latest updates you can visit our official ScreenCrave Twitter account, as well as ScreenCrave.com for live blogs, video, and exclusive photos from the panel.

Paul Bettany to Star in Priest

Krystal Clark — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:00:09 +0000

A while ago we published a story about the comic book adaptation of Priest. It’s a popular Manga series that takes place in a world torn between humans and vampires. In the midst of this a warrior Priest turns against the church and goes on a journey to save his kidnapped niece from a band of murderous bloodsuckers. According to THR, Paul Bettany is in final negotiations to star as the lead in the film. Priest will be directed by Scott Charles Stewart who previously worked with Bettany on the upcoming thriller, Legion.

Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper saw an early cut of Bettany’s work in Legion and immediately knew he was the man for the job. He suggested him for the role in Priest and now it’s coming to fruition. Legion is about “a group of misfits and an archangel who try to prevent humanity from being wiped out by angels.” I’m assuming Bettany will star as the archangel in question. Priest will be co-produced by Josh Bratman and Mitchell Peck, with a script written by Cory Goodman. Bettany was last seen in the Brendan Fraser fantasy film, InkHeart and last year’s hit Iron Man as the voice of Jarvis.

I think Paul Bettany is a very talented actor. I may not agree with all of his projects but this one I can take. He seems to a have a knack for portraying corrupted religious figures in movies (The Da Vinci Code). Bettany has been around for a long time and if this film is a success it can give his career an extra boost. He can become a more noticeable actor for both mainstream and independent features.

What do you think of Paul Bettany as “Priest?” Do you think the British actor can pull it off?

News: ‘Priest’ Finds Direction with Scott Charles Stewart

Krystal Clark — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:16:32 +0000

The Japanese Manga series Priest is coming to the big screen! According to THR, Scott Charles Stewart has been tapped to direct the live action adaptation of the popular Manga. After a little investigating, I’ve discovered that Stewart has an interesting resume. He’s dabbled in producing, writing, and even visual effects. Besides Priest, you can see his directorial skills in the 2010 action, horror flick Legion.

ScreenCrave.com » Legion

Interview: Paul Bettany, Scott Stewart for Legion

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Overall:

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