Interview: The Rover Writer-Director David Michôd

Four years after delivering the film that would ultimately go on to earn Jacki Weaver her very first Academy Award nomination, writer-director David Michôd is back with his second feature film, “The Rover.”

The film stars “Animal Kingdom” alum Guy Pearce as Eric, a loner roaming the desolate Australian outback where law enforcement is hard to come by and everything comes at a hefty price. When a group of criminals steals Eric’s car in the heat of a botched heist, he decides to pick up the wounded accomplice (Robert Pattinson) they leave behind so he track them down and get back his sole remaining possession.

When you mark your feature debut with something like “Animal Kingdom,” follow-up opportunities are bound to come your way. However, an opportunity and the right opportunity are two different things, so Michôd opted to take his time to ensure he picked the best thing.

Click here to read more and watch the interview.

Interview: The Signal Director William Eubank

It isn’t easy getting your first feature off the ground, but William Eubank managed to pull it off and in a rather unconventional manner. He didn’t attend a traditional film school or track down an industry contact willing to give him a shot. Eubank entered a Red Hot Chili Peppers music video contest – and lost. But he did wind up with quite the consolation prize – the band Angels and Airwaves agreed to both produce and score his first feature, “Love.”

After four years of work that included building a fully realized space station set, writing, directing and shooting the film himself, Eubank wound up with a final product that would go on to collect laurels from Toronto After Dark, Fantasia, Fantastic Fest, Sitges Film Festival and more, and ultimately afford him the opportunity to move forward with his sophomore effort, “The Signal.”

Click here to read more and watch the interview.

Interview: Night Moves’ Peter Sarsgaard & Dakota Fanning

“To cook meat well, don’t touch it too much.”  According to Peter Sarsgaard, that’s the approach writer-director Kelly Reichardt takes to her movies and you can absolutely see that in her latest, Night Moves.  Jesse Eisenberg and Dakota Fanning lead as Josh and Dena, a couple and pair of environmental activists determined to blow up a dam in Oregon.  In order to get the job done, they team up with Sarsgaard’s Harmon, a former Marine who has a little more knowhow.  Even though the trio actually manages to pull it off, their success doesn’t have the intended effect and instead leaves them suffering the consequences themselves.

Click here to read more and watch the interview.

Set Visit Interview: The Night Shift’s Eoin Macken, Jill Flint & Ken Leung

Meet the doctors of NBC’s The Night Shift – Eoin Macken, Jill Flint and Ken Leung.  Thanks to a recent promotion, Flint’s Jordan Alexander is doctor #1, but even though Jordan’s in charge, Macken’s TC Callahan has no intentions on abiding by any hospital rules, especially if it means sacrificing a patient in the process.  Leung’s Topher always puts his patients’ wellbeing above policy and finances too; he’s just a little more deft at manipulating the system so that the San Antonio Memorial senior manager, Michael Ragosa (Freddy Rodriguez), doesn’t bear down on Jordan for breaking too many rules.

Click here to read more and watch the interviews.

Interview: Wolf Creek 2’s John Jarratt

It’s been nearly ten years since we’ve seen Mick Taylor mutilate unsuspecting victims in “Wolf Creek,” but now he’s back and eager to torment a new crop of tourists.

This time around the narrative centers on Paul Hammersmith (Ryan Corr). While driving down a highway in South Australia, he unknowingly attempts to help one of Mick’s many victims and, as one might expect, Mick doesn’t appreciate it so makes Paul his next target. Paul’s a bright guy with a lot of resolve, but that might not be enough to outrun Mick and his enormous arsenal right in his own backyard.

With “Wolf Creek 2” making its US theatrical debut today, ShockYa had the pleasure of talking head-butting, spine-cutting and loads more with Mick Taylor himself, John Jarratt. Check out what Jarratt told us about getting “Wolf Creek 2” off the ground, the indelible impression he made on one fan, how much of the narrative really is “inspired by true events,” and more in the interview below.

Click here to read the interview.

Interview: Locke’s Tom Hardy & Steven Knight

Tom Hardy is Ivan Locke, a successful building site manager and dedicated family man.  The night before one of the biggest concrete pours of his career, Ivan learns that a woman he once slept with is about to have to his baby.  Determined to be there for the birth, Ivan spends the night driving to the hospital, switching from phone call to phone call trying to keep the soon-to-be mother calm, walk his second-in-command through the preparation process for the big pour and attempt to keep his marriage afloat, and every single bit of it takes place in a single location – Ivan’s car.

Click here to read more and watch the interview.

Interview: Cuban Fury’s Nick Frost & Rashida Jones

Nick Frost leads Cuban Fury as Bruce. Way back when, young Bruce was a rising salsa star. He proudly strut around in his bejeweled shirts and pristine dancing shoes, collecting trophies and titles left and right – that is until a group of bullies showed Bruce what they thought of his hobby. Years later, Bruce’s dancing shoes are collecting dust and he’s spending his days working safe and sound at a desk job. However, when he finds out his beautiful new boss, Rashida Jones’ Julia, has a little thing for salsa herself, his little thing for her inspires him to give dancing another go.

Click here to read more and watch the interview.

Interview: Cheap Thrills’ Pat Healy

You know Pat Healy, right? Well, if you don’t, that means you probably haven’t seen “The Great World of Sound,” “The Innkeepers,” or “Compliance,” and that also means you have quite a bit of movie watching to do. But before you get to any of that, Healy’s latest feature is an absolute must. In fact, “Cheap Thrills” is easily the best film I caught on the film festival circuit in 2013.

Healy leads as Craig, a loving husband and father who gets slapped with an eviction notice and loses his job all in the same day. In an effort to ease the pain, Craig hits the bar and that’s where he happens to bump into an old high school friend, Vince (Ethan Embry). A few drinks in, they’re joined by another couple Colin and Violet (David Koechner and Sara Paxton). Colin doesn’t just enjoy sharing a little of his wealth by buying Craig and Vince drinks; he wants to share a significant amount of it in exchange for dares. At first, it’s simple things like being the first to take a shot and antagonizing a bouncer, but the higher the payout, the more intense the dare, and with his home and family on the line, Craig proves to be quite the contender.

Click here to read more and watch the interview.

Interview: Divergent’s Ansel Elgort

Meet Ansel Elgort. You better get to know him now because he’s bound to make quite the name for himself over the course of the year. Maybe you saw him in the Carrie remake, but Divergent is another story. With a sequel already planned and good buzz fueling its momentum, this will most likely become the next big YA franchise. And if we learned anything from Twilight, Harry Potter and Hunger Games, that will skyrocket its cast members to a new level of fame.

In the film, Elgort plays Caleb Prior, Beatrice’s (Shailene Woodley) older brother, but not by much. Now that they’re both 16, they’re due to take aptitude tests before participating in what’s called the Choosing Ceremony, which is where they decide whether to stick with their parents in Abnegation or switch to one of four separate factions: Dauntless, Erudite, Amity or Candor. Caleb does have a knack for being selfless, but what if his test told him he was a natural fit for a life of bravery, intelligence, peace or honesty?

Click here to read more.

Perri’s Coverage of SXSW 2014

Check out all of my reviews, interviews and event coverage from SXSW 2014 by clicking on the links below …

REVIEWS

• Chef
• Bad Words
• Ping Pong Summer
• The Mule
• Silicon Valley
• The Wilderness of James
• Open Windows
• Break Point
• Space Station 76
• Neighbors
• Frank
• Joe
• Cesar Chavez
• Kelly & Cal
• Horror Round-Up with 13 Sins, The Guest, Honeymoon, Oculus, Stage Fright, Starry Eyes, Creep and Open Windows

INTERVIEWS

• Leigh Whannell & Angus Sampson on The Mule
• Patrick Brice & Mark Duplass on Creep
• Robert Rodriguez on From Dusk Till Dawn
• Eiza Gonzalez, Wilmer Valderrama, D.J. Cotrona & Zane Holtz on From Dusk Till Dawn
• Patrick Wilson, Matt Bomer & Jack Plotnick on Space Station 76
• Jason Blum on Oculus
• Karen Gillan on Oculus
• Mike Flanagan on Oculus
• Sophia Takal & Alia Shawkat on Wild Canaries
• Nacho Vigalondo & Elijah Wood on Open Windows
• Lenny Abrahamson on Frank
• Kat Candler on Hellion
• Jerome Sable & Eli Batalion on Stage Fright
• Stephen Plunkett, John Magary & Josh Lucas on The Mend
• Michael Johnson, Isabelle Fuhrman & Glenn Howerton on The Wilderness of James
• Evan Goldberg on Neighbors
• Riley Stearns, Leland Orser & Mary Elizabeth Winstead on Faults
• Pat Healy, Travis Stevens, Alex Essoe, Dennis Widmyer & Kevin Kolsch on Starry Eyes
• Jeremy Sisto on Break Point
• Leigh Janiak on Honeymoon
• Harry Lloyd & Bryan Reisberg on Big Significant Things
• Jon Favreau on Chef
• Gareth Edwards on Godzilla

OTHER

• Godzilla Footage