Interviews
Interview: Rachel House on her directorial debut The Mountain; “I set out to write a film for our country.”
Sam, a fearless young girl raised outside of her Māori culture, is determined to fulfil her mission of connecting with her mountain in the hope they can heal her from the cancer she battles. Along the way she meets some misfits and new kids in town – Mallory, hoping to find friends, any kind of…
Interview: Birder director Nate Dushku, writer Amnon Lourie and actor Michael Emery on violent choreography and the importance of an intimacy coordinator
Consent has never been deadlier. Winner of Best 1st Feature at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Birder is an erotic thriller that pushes the limits of queer sexual intimacy on screen and tells a compelling story about what it means to be queer, sex positive, and vulnerable. Starring Michael Emery in a chilling turn as Kristian…
Interview: Neil McGregor on Growing Happiness, the importance of supporting Australian art, and the unlikely American figure it led to.
In the heart of the unforgiving Outback, a relentless drought tightens its grip on the land and small town of Kalbar, Queensland. Two resilient farmers, Jenny and Russell Jenner, hatch a daring plan in an attempt to save their dying town. Undeterred by the seemingly insurmountable odds, they rally the community to stage a vibrant…
Interview: Cora Bora stars Megan Stalter, Jojo T. Gibbs and Ayden Mayeri on connecting with their flawed characters
After premiering at last year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival, the acclaimed Cora Bora is finally introducing herself to the masses; the film is set for a release in theatres in the United States from June 14th. Starring Megan Stalter (TV’s Hacks) as the titular Cora, the film tells of her fear that her relationship…
Interview: David Hyde Pierce on how his theatre background informed his performance in The Exorcism
A staple of screen, stage and the small screen for five decades now, David Hyde Pierce is one of the most celebrated actors of his time, with his most recognised turn as Dr. Niles Crane on the acclaimed sitcom Frasier (1993 – 2004) lauding him four Emmy Awards and two SAG Awards. His latest role,…
Interview: Director Chris Sanders and producer Jeff Hermann on bringing The Wild Robot to life on screen
From DreamWorks Animation comes a new adaptation of a literary sensation, Peter Brown’s beloved, award-winning, #1 New York Times bestseller, The Wild Robot. The epic adventure follows the journey of a robot—ROZZUM unit 7134, “Roz” for short — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually…
Interview: Joshua John Miller on writing and directing The Exorcism; “I was not prepared for this experience.”
Russell Crowe stars as troubled actor Anthony Miller, who begins to unravel while working on a supernatural film. His estranged daughter wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. Such is the logline for The Exorcism, a new dramatic horror film from writer/director Joshua John Miller,…
Interview: Ishana Night Shyamalan on her new horror film The Watchers; “It was always my intention from the very beginning to play with restraint as much as possible”
From producer M. Night Shyamalan comes The Watchers, written for the screen and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan and based on the novel by A.M. Shine. The film follows Mina (Dakota Fanning), a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside…
Amy Poehler lights up Vivid Sydney with exclusive Inside Out 2 first-look
In a Vivid Sydney exclusive, Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning actress and comedian, Amy Poehler has taken part in a special Vivid Ideas event at the Sydney Opera House this past Monday, the 27th May. Poehler, who is one of Hollywood’s most versatile and sought-after talents, with credits including actress, writer, director, producer, and…
Interview: Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Zac Manuel on what truly surprised him when working on the Lil Nas X documentary, Long Live Montero
Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Carlos López Estrada and Academy Award nominated director and cinematographer Zac Manuel, Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero follows the Grammy-winning and trailblazing, rapper, singer, songwriter, Lil Nas X, over 60 days as he embarks on his first ever tour across North America on his debut album tour Long Live…
Interview: Director Mike Mitchell on the success and endurance of Kung Fu Panda 4; “We know that we made a film that we love.”
After three death-defying adventures defeating world-class villains with his unmatched courage and mad martial arts skills, Po, the Dragon Warrior (Jack Black), is called upon by destiny to…give it a rest already. More specifically, he’s tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. That poses a couple of obvious problems. First, Po…
Interview: Director George Miller on the furious road to making Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth star in Academy Award-winning mastermind George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the much-anticipated return to the iconic dystopian world he created more than 40 years ago with the seminal Mad Max films. Miller now turns the page again with an all-new original, standalone action adventure that will reveal the…
Interview: Bill Bennett on the emotional exhaustion of making The Way, My Way; “It was important that I view myself as a certain character.”
The Way, My Way is the charming and captivating true story of a stubborn, self-centered Australian man who decides to walk the famed 800-kilometre-long Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through Spain. He doesn’t know why he’s doing it… but one step at a time, it changes him and his outlook on life forever. Based on…
Interview: Guy Nattiv on his biopic Golda, detailing history, and the humour and humanity of Helen Mirren
One of only two Israeli filmmakers to have won an Academy Award, Guy Nattiv is amplifying his voice as an Israeli director and screenwriter with the release of Golda, a ticking-clock thriller sharing the intensely dramatic events, high-stake responsibilities, and controversial decisions that Golda Meir, the first and only head of government in the Middle…
Interview: Boy Kills World director Moritz Mohr on choreography, creativity and French cookies; “The heck if I could tell you how it came to be.”
In his directorial feature film debut, Moritz Mohr aimed for the jugular, and bloodied it out with gusto. Boy Kills World (you can read our review here) is a balls-to-the-wall action flick about a deaf and mute orphan who is trained by a mysterious shaman to repress his childish imagination and become an instrument of…
Interview: Natasha Henstridge on new horror film Cinderella’s Revenge; “Not the fairy tale as you know it.”
After breaking as the lead in 1995’s Species, Natasha Henstridge soon took the silver screen by storm with roles in such high-profile projects as Maximum Risk, opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme, the comedy The Whole Nine Yards (and its sequel, The Whole Ten Yards), John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars, and the Hugh Jackman thriller Deception. Cinderella’s Revenge…
Interview: The Crow director Alex Proyas on navigating studio systems, AI use in films, and reflecting on I, Robot two decades on
Alex Proyas has long been one of Australia’s greatest directorial exports. Biding his time between international and local fare – in the same sentence of his work you can mention 1994’s defining The Crow, the ambitious neo-noir sci-fi thriller Dark City, and the blockbuster Will Smith outing I, Robot – the filmmaker has made a…
Interview: Matthew Brown on Freud’s Last Session, casting Sir Anthony Hopkins, and staying neutral in opposing conversations
In his final days, Sigmund Freud, a recent escapee with his daughter from the Nazi regime, receives a visit from the formidable Oxford Don C.S. Lewis (author of “The Chronicles of Narnia”). On this day, two of the greatest minds of the twentieth century intimately engage in a monumental session over the belief in the…
Interview: Abigail directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin on the beauty of ballet and bloodshed in their heightened vampire flick
Children can be such monsters. After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting…
Interview: Kathryn Newton and Dan Stevens on manifesting roles and finding the humour in the horror of Abigail
Children can be such monsters. After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting…
Interview: Abigail stars Kevin Durand and William Catlett on character quirks and what truly terrifies them
Children can be such monsters. After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting…
Interview: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist on Challengers; “I think all three of them are desperate for connection.”
From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy-turned-coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist), Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must…
Interview: Carlo Mendez on his first lead role in the thriller Demise; “The challenge was making my character likeable.”
At the core of Demise, Yara Estrada Lowe‘s debut feature film, is a messy love triangle that allows the erotic thriller to lean into the campy, oft-unhinged sensibilities the genre can so continually give way to. Subtlety is disregarded and melodrama is heightened, making for one helluva wild time. At the core of the film…
Interview: Cameron and Colin Cairnes on Late Night With the Devil, Don Lane inspiration, and not auditioning David Dastmalchian
After breaking out at last year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival, where our own Peter Gray heralded the film as one that “enjoys melding the modern sensibilities of the found footage genre with the bold mentality of horror movies gone by” (you can read the full review here), Late Night With the Devil is finally…
Interview: Jordon Prince-Wright on his Australian WWI drama Before Dawn; “I knew I needed to tell this story.”
Based on real life war diaries, Before Dawn is an epic retelling of one of Australia’s biggest victories during WWI. Jim Collins, a young man from the outback, leaves his family-run sheep station to join the ANZAC and fight on the western front with hopes of making a difference. Soon, the realities of the muddy, ruthless,…
Interview: Dev Patel on his directorial debut Monkey Man; “It was kind of a by-any-means-necessary approach to filmmaking.”
Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage, Monkey Man stars Dev Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meagre living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of…
Interview: Io Capitano director Matteo Garrone on transcending language and social barriers; “This is a document of contemporary history.”
Longing for a brighter future, two Senegalese teenagers embark on a journey from West Africa to Italy. However, between their dreams and reality lies a labyrinth of checkpoints, the Sahara Desert, and the vast waters of the Mediterranean. And much like the characters at the centre of Io Capitano, director Matteo Garrone experienced a case…
Interview: Kaylee Hottle on inspiring her community as the lead of a franchise in Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire
Kaylee Hottle made sure she announced herself in the grandest way possible when she made her feature debut as Jia in 2021’s monstrous success Godzilla Vs. Kong. Returning to the series for Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, the actress reunites with her on-screen bestie (that would be one, mighty Kong) as they face a…
Interview: Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry on going big or going home on Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire
Having survived the spectacle of Godzilla Vs Kong, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry were no strangers to the atmosphere of Adam Wingard‘s wrangling of the titanic cinematic beasts that are Godzilla and King Kong. But what about Dan Stevens? As Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire storms into theatres, Peter Gray spoke with the…
Interview: Adam Wingard on directing Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire; “They’re more like a buddy cop kind-of duo.”
The epic battle continues! Legendary Pictures’ cinematic Monsterverse follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire delves further…