Interviews

Interview: Callum Turner, Monica Barbaro and director Will Gluck on their high-concept rom-com One Night Only

High-concept romantic comedies often hinge on a single irresistible “what if,” but One Night Only takes that question and quietly builds an entire world around it. In New York City, where the film unfolds, intimacy is governed by an unusual rule: pre-marital sex is permitted just once a year. It’s a premise that could easily…

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Interview: Warwick Thornton and Deborah Mailman on exploring the possibility of healing in Wolfram

At the Queensland premiere of Wolfram during the Gold Coast Film Festival, the conversation around Warwick Thornton’s latest felt as expansive and layered as the film itself. Set against the colonial frontier of the 1930s, Wolfram follows a fragile outback community upended by the arrival of two violent outsiders, triggering a chain of events that…

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Interview: Cassidy Krygger and Matty Wilson on the inspiration behind proof-of-concept romance Love in the Moonlight, feature aspirations, and creative exposure

Love in the Moonlight is a romantic ghost story that drifts between modern-day Australia and the golden glow of 1950s Hollywood, drawing inspiration from classic cinema such as The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. In the newly released 3-minute proof-of-concept, the film introduces Samantha, a driven event manager who inherits a long-abandoned estate – only to…

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Interview: Seven Snipers director Sandra Sciberras on action precision and reshaping the film in real time

Pressure settles in early and never lets up. What begins as a quiet, isolated life on a remote Australian farm quickly tightens into something far more dangerous in the lean, nerve-wracking thriller Seven Snipers. At the centre is Kris “Voodoo Child” Hendricks (Radha Mitchell), a former elite sniper who has spent years trying to outrun…

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Interview: Cassandra Scerbo and Adrianne Palicki on releasing the emotion underneath the horror of The Wolf and the Lamb

Grief, faith, and folklore collide in The Wolf and the Lamb, a haunting hybrid of western grit and supernatural horror from director Michael Schilf. At its centre is Jo Beckett, a schoolteacher pushed to the brink when her son vanishes, sending her spiralling into a world where belief and paranoia blur. But beneath the film’s…

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Interview: Writer/director James Litchfield on the unhinged romance of Alphabet Lane

There’s a fine line between connection and performance – and Alphabet Lane walks it with a quietly unnerving confidence. What begins as a joke between two isolated lovers spirals into something far stranger, as invented friends start to feel more real than the relationship they were meant to save. Darkly funny, subtly unsettling, and unexpectedly…

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Interview: Tyler Atkins on directing Beast, violence as communication, and creative transformations

Beast hits with more than just brute force. Beneath the bone-crunching action is a story about restraint, identity, and the internal battles that don’t end when the fight does. Academy Award winner Russell Crowe steps into the role of a seasoned trainer, guiding Daniel MacPherson’s Patton James – a fighter pulled back into a world…

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Interview: Nicholas Ma on exploring the emotional language of plants in tender drama Mabel

In Mabel, filmmaker Nicholas Ma crafts a quietly disarming coming-of-age story that finds its emotional roots in an unexpected place: the bond between a fiercely self-possessed young girl and a plant. At its centre is Callie (Lexi Perkel), a prickly, sharp-witted outsider whose love of botany becomes both her shield and her language for navigating…

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Balls Up brings the mayhem: Inside the wild new Prime Video comedy

The red carpet for Peter Farrelly’s latest comedy was less a stroll and more a full-blown warm-up for the chaos to come – fitting for a film that proudly leans into its “balls-to-the-wall” sensibility while still promising a surprising amount of heart. Front and centre was Mark Wahlberg, who didn’t hesitate to set the tone,…

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Interview: Director John Asher, and stars Emmanuelle Chriqui and Hayes MacArthur on their emotional collaboration A Love Like This

There’s something inherently voyeuristic about A Love Like This – a film that invites us to peer through the cracks of a relationship that perhaps isn’t meant to be seen. Set over one sun-drenched but emotionally volatile weekend in Malibu, the film follows Paul and Leah as they attempt to exist, however fleetingly, as a…

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Interview: Lincoln Lewis on carving out a career as a chameleon on screen; “That idea of being present is something I’ve really leaned into.”

For more than a decade, Lincoln Lewis has been a familiar presence on Australian screens, but his journey from eager newcomer to seasoned performer has been anything but static. Starting out at just thirteen with early roles in The Sleepover Club, Mortified and H2O: Just Add Water, Lewis quickly built a foundation that would lead…

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The wrong place at the right time: The cast and creatives of You, Me & Tuscany breakdown their sweeping new romance

Sometimes the wrong place is exactly where you’re meant to be. That idea sits at the heart of You, Me & Tuscany, a sun-drenched romantic comedy that leans into chaos, coincidence, and the courage it takes to follow your instincts – even when they lead you somewhere wildly unexpected. Produced by hitmaker Will Packer, whose…

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Interview: Rebel Wilson on her directorial debut The Deb and the challenges of making a movie musical

There’s something deeply fitting about Rebel Wilson making her directorial debut with a musical. Joyous, scrappy, and unmistakably Australian, The Deb feels like a love letter to the kind of films that shaped her – the bold, eccentric classics like Muriel’s Wedding, Strictly Ballroom, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert that didn’t…

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Interview: Hasan Hadi on navigating the blurred lines between past and present with The President’s Cake

Winner of the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival 2025 and the Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award, The President’s Cake arrives with a wave of international acclaim – and it’s not hard to see why. Set in 1991 Iraq, during the final years of Saddam Hussein’s rule, the film follows nine-year-old Lamia, tasked with baking…

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Interview: Indya Moore on finding the emotional truth within Father Mother Sister Brother

There’s something quietly disarming about Father Mother Sister Brother – a film that unfolds not with grand declarations, but in glances, silences, and the emotional spaces left unspoken. Structured as a triptych spanning the Northeast US, Dublin, and Paris, it explores the fragile, often complicated bonds between adult children and their parents, as well as…

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Interview: The creative team behind Whale Shark Jack on the film’s majestic nature: Author Kathryn Lefroy, and writing/directing sibling duo Miranda Edmonds and Khrob Edmonds

Set against the breathtaking expanse of the Ningaloo Reef and filmed on Baiyungu Country, Whale Shark Jack is a sweeping yet intimate family adventure that explores grief, healing, and our deep connection to the natural world. The Stan Original follows 12-year-old Sarah, played by Alyla Browne, a fearless ocean kid raised aboard a research catamaran…

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Interview: Jessica Gunning on balancing reality and whimsy in The Magic Faraway Tree

There’s a delicate balance at the heart of The Magic Faraway Tree – between whimsy and emotional truth, chaos and comfort – and few characters embody that better than Dame Washalot. In this vibrant new adaptation, based on Enid Blyton’s beloved classic, audiences are reintroduced to a world where fantastical lands spin into place atop…

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Interview: Miley Tunnecliffe on weaving addiction and grief into her supernatural horror film Proclivitas

There’s a particular kind of horror film that doesn’t just aim to scare you – it lingers, quietly burrowing under your skin by tapping into something far more recognisable than any monster. That’s exactly what Proclivitas achieves, weaving together grief, addiction, and memory into something as emotionally raw as it is unnerving. At its centre…

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Interview: Drew Goddard on adapting Project Hail Mary for the big screen; “The soul of the story is empathy and communication.”

When Andy Weir published Project Hail Mary, the author once again proved he had a knack for turning dense scientific problem-solving into compulsively entertaining storytelling. It was perhaps inevitable that Hollywood would come calling – and just as they did with “The Martian”, the task of translating Weir’s meticulous, deeply internal prose to the screen fell…

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Interview: Chrissy Metz on the humour, heart, and humanity of her new comedy Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger

In Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger, Chrissy Metz steps into the role of Jessica, a sharp, New York journalist whose job is to observe the world – but whose heart is transformed by the people she meets. Our Peter Gray spoke with the actress about stepping into communities different from her own, finding…

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Interview: Joel Edgerton on The Plague, bullying, and the horror of adolescence

Few environments capture the fragile hierarchies of adolescence quite like summer camp. Friendships form quickly, loyalties shift overnight, and the unspoken rules of belonging can be as ruthless as they are invisible. The Plague taps directly into that volatile world, following a 12-year-old boy who becomes entangled in a cruel camp tradition targeting an outcast…

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Interview: Jenna MacMillan on her directorial debut The Snake, premiering at SXSW, and celebrating imperfect heroines

For producer Jenna MacMillan, stepping behind the camera for the first time wasn’t about abandoning what she already knew, it was about trusting herself to lead the story. With The Snake, her offbeat directorial debut premiering in competition at this year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival, MacMillan brings writer-star Susan Kent’s sharp, darkly funny script…

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Interview: Peter Warren on finding humour in the darkness of his own personal story with Kill Me

A murder mystery usually begins with a body. In Kill Me, it begins with a question: what if the detective and the victim were the same person? Blending a darkly comic whodunit with an unexpectedly candid exploration of depression, the film follows Jimmy (Charlie Day), who begins investigating his own attempted murder, unsure whether he’s…

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Interview: Patton Oswalt on passion, perseverance, and playing coach in GOAT

From Sony Pictures Animation – the powerhouse behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – comes GOAT, a high-energy, all-animal sports comedy about a small dreamer trying to muscle his way into a game built for giants. Set in the roarball arena, where claws are sharp and egos sharper, the film follows undersized underdog Will as he…

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Interview: Director Patrick Hughes and Alan Ritchson on War Machine, positive charges and peak suffering

During the final stage of U.S. Army Ranger selection, a routine training exercise mutates into something far more dangerous in War Machine – a survival thriller that hits the ground running and never lets up. Speaking with director Patrick Hughes and star Alan Ritchson, our Peter Gray unpacked the film’s pulse-pounding rhythm, from meticulously engineered…

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Interview: Cédric Klapisch on Colours of Time, memory and cinema’s relationship with the past

When Cédric Klapisch makes a film about time, he doesn’t treat it as something fixed or distant. Instead, it becomes something fluid – memories bleeding into the present, generations speaking to each other across decades. His latest film, Colours of Time, screening at the Alliance Française French Film Festival, begins with a simple discovery: in…

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Interview: True South director Dave Klaiber and creator Will Alexander on the cost of endurance

For 80 years, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race has occupied a rare place in Australian cultural life – a spectacle of endurance that unfolds each summer as the nation watches the fleet charge south into the Bass Strait, one of the most volatile stretches of water on earth. It is a race built on…

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Interview: Nick Corirossi and Armen Weitzman on the value of sincere comedy with The Napa Boys; “It feels like we’ve forgotten what movies used to feel like.”

If legacy sequels are supposed to coast on nostalgia, Nick Corirossi and Armen Weitzman clearly missed the memo. With The Napa Boys – the entirely fabricated “fourth chapter” of a wine-soaked comedy franchise that never actually existed – the longtime collaborators have pulled off something both mischievous and oddly sincere. Co-written by Weitzman and Corirossi,…

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Interview: Jordan Giusti on Floodland, climate reckoning and the meaning of home

Lismore has long worn its floods as a badge of resilience – a town that rebuilds, again and again, along the banks of a river that refuses to be tamed. But in Floodland, director Jordan Giusti looks beyond the mythology of grit and endurance to ask a far more unsettling question: what happens when resilience…

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Interview: Director Frank E. Flowers on The Bluff and crafting a fierce female-led action adventure

In the adrenaline-charged action-adventure The Bluff, Priyanka Chopra Jonas stars as Ercell “Bloody Mary” Bodden, a former pirate forced to confront her violent past to protect her family. Director Frank E. Flowers spoke with our Peter Gray to discuss bringing the Cayman Islands’ rarely seen history to life on screen, the meticulous authenticity behind the…

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