Interviews

Interview: Director Dan Trachtenberg on injecting universal humanness in the Predator franchise with Predator: Badlands

Set in the future on a deadly remote planet, Predator: Badlands follows Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a young Predator outcast from his clan, who finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Elle Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary. The first film in the long-running Predator franchise that focuses on a…

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Interview: Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi on transforming for Predator: Badlands and fusing the character with his Polynesian spirit

Set in the future on a deadly remote planet, Predator: Badlands follows Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a young Predator outcast from his clan, who finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Elle Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary. The first film in the long-running Predator franchise that focuses on a…

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Interview: Holly Marie Combs on her cross-generational impact with Charmed and Pretty Little Liars; “I’ve been lucky that way.”

After cutting her teeth with her critically acclaimed turn in the seminal 90s drama Picket Fences, Holly Marie Combs became a household name as Piper Halliwell in the long-running fantasy series Charmed. Moving from the magic of that show to the murderous mystery of Pretty Little Liars, Combs has become a cross-generational figure, something our…

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Interview: Brian Krause on the legacy of Charmed; “To hear the impact that it made on so many lives is a blessing.”

From the tropical shores of the Blue Lagoon to Stephen King’s vampiric world in Sleepwalkers, Brian Krause has indulged in a plethora of genres across his varied career, but there’ll always be one role synonymous with his name – that of Leo the white lighter in The WB’s long running fantasy series, Charmed. As the…

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Interview: John Boyega on what he’s learned from the Star Wars franchise; “The biggest lesson was understanding my value.”

An award-winning actor and producer who has captivated audiences worldwide, from the cult classic sci-fi comedy Attack the Block, to the cinematic galaxy far, far away that is Star Wars, John Boyega, with his undeniable talent, magnetic presence, and dedication to his craft and community, has established himself as a force to be reckoned with….

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Fernando director

Interview: Guillermo Diaz on the universality of love explored with his directorial debut Dear Luke, Love, Me; “It’s okay to be unique and different.”

A true When Harry Met Sally for a new generation, Dear Luke, Love, Me is a groundbreaking story of Penny and Luke, two best friends, who find love in unconventional ways. A nostalgic look back into the early-mid 2000’s, we watch these two music-loving tree-huggers grow from college Freshman to 30-something adults. We peek into…

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Interview: Sophie Somerville on guerilla filmmaking and exploring raw friendship with her directorial debut Fwends

In some capacity, we have all lived through the experience of drifting apart from a friend. While it is a normal part of growing up, it’s often unexpected and, honestly, heartbreaking. The friend who used to be your ride or die suddenly feels so far away, and it feels like there’s nothing you can do…

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Interview: Harrison Sloan Gilbertson on playing Bruce Springsteen’s close friend, Matt Delia, in the new biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

From 20th Century Studios, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere chronicles the making of Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 Nebraska album when he was a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggling to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past. Recorded on a 4-track recorder in Springsteen’s New Jersey bedroom, the album…

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Everything we learned from Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong and director Scott Cooper at the Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere press conference

From 20th Century Studios, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere chronicles the making of Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 Nebraska album when he was a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggling to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past. Recorded on a 4-track recorder in Springsteen’s New Jersey bedroom, the album…

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Interview: Michelle Garza Cervera on reimagining the classic 90s thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle through a modern lens

One of the most defining thrillers of the 1990s, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle terrified a whole generation into second-guessing who they invite into their home.  With the release of the 2025 reimagining, clearly a lesson hasn’t been learned, as a new progeny will learn “the help” have other plans for your supposed domestic…

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Interview: Hunter Doohan and The Wilderness director Spencer King on respecting nature and trusting one another

Both rising forces in the film and television industry, expressing their passions for emotional, captivating storytelling, director Spencer King and actor Hunter Doohan have joined for the survivalist drama The Wilderness. Detailing a group of troubled teenage boys who are kidnapped from their homes and taken deep into the unforgiving Utah desert, where they are…

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Interview: Scott Derrickson on what inspired him to make Black Phone 2

The Black Phone rightfully terrified audiences when it was released across theatres in 2022.  And now, just in time for the Halloween season, director Scott Derrickson is bringing the nightmarish void of his supernatural world back to the masses with Black Phone 2, where true evil transcends death…and the phone is ringing once more. As…

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Interview: Madeleine McGraw on the deeper understanding of her character in Black Phone 2

The Black Phone rightfully terrified audiences when it was released across theatres in 2022.  And now, just in time for the Halloween season, director Scott Derrickson is bringing the nightmarish void of his supernatural world back to the masses with Black Phone 2, where true evil transcends death…and the phone is ringing once more. As…

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Interview: Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst and LaKeith Stanfield on baring their souls on screen in Roofman

A true story that proves reality is so often wilder than fiction, Roofman, from director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), details the life of Jeffrey Manchester, dubbed the “Roofman” due to his modus operandi of breaking into his target locations (mostly McDonald’s restaurants) through their roofs.  After escaping prison and hiding out in a Toys “R”…

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Interview: Nick Offerman on his new film Sovereign, toxic ideology, and being an optimist in a divisive world climate

Inspired by true events, Sovereign stars Nick Offerman as Jerry Kane, a radicalised “sovereign citizen” who, with his 16-year-old son Joseph (Jacob Tremblay), gunned down two West Memphis police officers in 2010, sparking a deadly manhunt. Directed by Christian Swegal, and also starring Dennis Quaid, Nancy Travis and Martha Plimpton, Sovereign draws chilling parallels to…

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Interview: Michael Stahl-David on how new fatherhood affected his connection to his work in Looking Through Water

Michael Stahl-David first burst onto the scene with his breakout turn in the seminal sci-fi horror hit Cloverfield. Since then, he’s built an impressively varied screen career, appearing in HBO’s Golden Globe winning Show Me a Hero, Netflix’s acclaimed juggernaut Narcos, the medical drama Good Sam, and Almost Family, an adaptation of the Australian series…

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Interview: Kate Hudson, director Max Minghella and Kaia Gerber on their horror film Shell and its commentary on beauty standards

If you could restore youthful beauty and guarantee longevity by committing to a few days of mysterious treatments, would you? Would you trust your life and health to science and technology that might be more hype than healthy?  Enter Shell. Samantha (Elisabeth Moss) is thinking it over. She’s a slightly unkempt, earnest, talented actress who…

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Interview: Scott Adkins on the gritty action of Prisoner of War; “It’s just about trying to be truthful in the scenes and tell a good story.”

Directed by Louis Mandylor and written by and starring Scott Adkins, Prisoner of War tells the story of a soldier captured by the Japanese and held in a Philippine POW camp. Before the entire colony embarks upon the Bataan Death March, Wright and his fellow prisoners are forced to compete in brutal death matches for…

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Interview: Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans on leading with love for their new horror film Him

From Oscar winner Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions, producers of the landmark horror films Get Out, Us, Candyman and Nope, comes a chilling journey into the inner sanctum of fame, idolatry and the pursuit of excellence at any cost, Him, featuring an electrifying dramatic performance from Marlon Wayans and a star-making turn from Tyriq Withers….

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Interview: Mark Kerr and Bas Rutten on learning about themselves watching The Smashing Machine

A two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion, World Vale Tudo Championship tournament winner, and a PRIDE FC competitor, Mark Kerr, a former wrestler, is one of the greatest mixed martial artists to ever emerge from the sport. Following his coverage as a subject in the documentary The Smashing Machine, which detailed his fighting career, director Benny Safdie adapted…

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Interview: Alex Winter, Billie Lourd and the Adulthood cast on what they learnt about themselves making the black comedy

Adulthood, directed by Alex Winter, stars Josh Gad and Kaya Scodelario as a duo of siblings who uncover a dead body in the basement of their parents’ house.  Understandably, the situation spirals comically out of control, leading the two to resort to desperate, drastic measures to keep things under wraps. Now available on VOD in…

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Interview: Ryan Corr on bonding with joeys and immersing himself in the spiritual energy of Alice Springs for Kangaroo

Kangaroo is a heart-warming family comedy about ex TV personality Chris Masterman (Ryan Corr), who becomes stranded in an Outback town outside Alice Springs. There, he teams up with 12-year-old Indigenous girl Charlie (Lily Whiteley). The pair form an unlikely friendship and work together to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned joeys in the remote but stunning…

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Interview: Kate Woods on returning to Australian feature filmmaking with Kangaroo; “It’s my happy place.”

Kangaroo is a heart-warming family comedy about ex TV personality Chris Masterman, who becomes stranded in an Outback town outside Alice Springs. There, he teams up with 12-year-old Indigenous girl Charlie. The pair form an unlikely friendship and work together to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned joeys in the remote but stunning Outback community – an…

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Interview: Director Andy Hines and stars Matt Walsh and Rhys Darby on their small town Canadian thriller Little Lorraine

Inspired by Adam Baldwin’s song “Lighthouse in Little Lorraine”, and based upon on a true story of a cocaine smuggling ring that ran through the eponymous small Nova Scotian town in the 80s, Little Lorraine is a harrowing dramatic thriller that served as one of the prime Canadian spotlight titles at this year’s Toronto International…

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Interview: Paul Greengrass on directing The Lost Bus; “(It’s) the story of our world today.”

A white-knuckle ride through one of America’s deadliest wildfires, The Lost Bus is the real-life story of a wayward school bus driver and a dedicated teacher who battled the elements to save 22 children from a terrifying inferno. Starring Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey and Academy Award nominee America Ferrera, The Lost Bus – a…

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Interview: Shabana Azeez on embracing vulnerability and career specificity for the queer animation of Lesbian Space Princess

She’s a lesbian.  She’s in space.  She’s also a princess.  And she’s voiced by Shabana Azeez. After surviving the bachelor party weekend from beyond hell in Birdeater, and navigating the ins and outs of the medical world in HBO’s relentless new series The Pitt, Australian actress Shabana Azeez is, once again, throwing herself in a…

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Interview: Michael Angelo Covino on finding the emotional truth in the absurd comedy of Splitsville

Embracing the “unromantic comedy”, writer/director Michael Angelo Covino assembles one of this year’s finest ensembles for Splitsville, a riotous, emotional dramedy about the perils of honesty and intimacy within relationships. When Ashley (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce, the good-natured Carey (Kyle Marvin) runs to his friends, Julie (Dakota Johnson) and Paul (Covino) for support….

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Interview: Eva Victor on the intricacies of Sorry, Baby and favouring its female friendship

Eva Victor is a writer-director and actor whose fearless character-forward comedic sensibility has cemented them as an undeniable triple threat to watch. Victor has boldly established themself as a singular emerging cinematic voice with their feature directorial debut Sorry, Baby, which world premiered to massive acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, before closing the Director’s…

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Interview: Author Aaron Blabey on tearing up and laughing with the big screen adaptation of The Bad Guys 2

Three years ago, The AU Review’s Peter Gray spoke with author Aaron Blabey about seeing the first book in his Bad Guys series come to life on the big screen.  Now, The Bad Guys 2 has arrived, and Blabey is once again chatting with us – and, if it’s possible, even more enthused – about…

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Interview: Michael Chaves on directing The Conjuring: Last Rites, challenging himself as a filmmaker, and the assistance of Google Slides

The Conjuring: Last Rites delivers another thrilling chapter of the iconic Conjuring cinematic universe. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson return as Lorraine and Ed Warren in a powerful and spine-chilling addition to the global box office-breaking franchise, directed by Michael Chaves, who has helmed such Conjuring cinematic universe titles as The Curse of La Llorona,…

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