Total Film 03.2022

MOON KNIGHT

Oscar Isaac stars as mercenary grew up on – films tinged by the otherworldly, If that presented what Slater calls “a daily
turned superhero Marc Spector. the supernatural. “It was things like Raiders Of challenge”, inhabiting multiple roles offered an
The Lost Ark, it was Ghostbusters. It was a lot of allure to any actor who was going to play Moon
these touchstones from my childhood.” Knight. “It’s an actor’s dream, right?” remarks
Oscar Isaac, who has enjoyed a remarkable run
As the character began to take shape, of late – from sci-fi epics like Dune to hard-
Feige needed to find a director to bring their hitting dramas like Scenes From A Marriage and
vision to the screen. Among those invited to Paul Schrader’s PTSD drama The Card Counter.
pitch was Egyptian director Mohamed Diab, Although Isaac had appeared in the wider
who had impressed critics with his 2016 film Marvel universe before – playing the titular
Clash – a claustrophobic political drama all villain in X-Men: Apocalypse – taking on Spector
set in the back of a police van as riots break was a whole other ball game.
outside. After reading the first episode, he and
his producer/wife Sarah Goher came up with “For me, I was really moved by the idea of
a 200-page pitch. “The moment we finished trauma – horrible abuse, childhood abuse – and
that pitch, I told Sarah, ‘If we didn’t get the job what the brain can do to survive,” says Isaac.
for this, something is wrong in the world. This “The superpower that is the human mind.
is too good!’” And the idea that the brain can fracture into
different ‘alters’ in order to help this organism
MIND FIELDS survive. I thought that was just astounding.”
Like Slater, Isaac felt it essential to be honest
With Diab taking on the role of lead director, and respectful about D.I.D. “[We wanted to
he was immediately hooked by Moon Knight. show] what it feels like to discover this about
“I think he’s the most interesting character yourself – the digging through the human mind
in the MCU world. He’s someone like no and the memories to find out why this is… and
other,” says the filmmaker, who points to the terror of that.”
the fact that Spector has a condition called
dissociative identity disorder – or D.I.D. Once Back in October 2020, news broke that Isaac
called ‘multiple personality disorder’, in the was in talks to play Moon Knight – although
movies, it’s frequently been used for Dr. Jekyll the actor admits uncertainty. “I had tons of
and Mr. Hyde-style stories. “I think that’s reservations… I wasn’t interested in just kind
a very superficial way to look at it,” says of being a company man and being thrown into

‘WE HAVE A CHANCE TO SAY SOMETHING
POSITIVE AND USEFUL ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH’

Diab, who feels the depiction in Moon Knight the machinery. I really just wanted to focus DISNEY
is much closer to reality than has ever been on playing characters that were emotionally
seen on screen before. “I think we dealt with interesting to me. And stories where there’s
it with respect.” space to really bring something. I only got
sent two scripts, and they really felt like rough
Created originally by Marvel writer Doug drafts. They were just kind of ideas. They’ve
Moench and artist Don Perlin, Moon Knight changed drastically since then. But, even
began to appear in the mid-’70s, operating when I read them, I was like, ‘I don’t know
under multiple identities – including much, I’m not sure.’”
businessman Steven Grant and taxicab driver
Jake Lockley. It only became clear later that When Isaac finally agreed, Diab was one of
Spector was living with D.I.D. – a condition the first people he reached out to. “I remember
that stretches back to his childhood but is the moment he was signing [on], he called
also possibly exacerbated by his contact with me and said, ‘Mohamed. I’m doing this, but
Khonsu. Whatever the origins, the Moon Knight I’m trusting you. We have to do something
team knew they had to get it right, in a world different.’” According to Isaac, he wanted
where mental health has become such a to plough beneath the surface of Spector,
prominent issue. Grant, and Moon Knight. “How do we create
something that’s first of all and foremost an
“It was the biggest landmine in the room,” indelible, interesting character that is really the
admits Slater. “We are putting something MCU’s first full-on character study?” he asks.
out into the world that is going to be seen by It’s a valid question, and one that would come
millions of viewers. Some of those viewers are to define the Moon Knight production.
struggling with their own mental-health issues.
Some of those people are going through hard “He’s obviously a different interpretation
times. We have a chance to say something of Steven Grant and Marc Spector that you’ve
positive and genuinely useful about mental seen in the comic books,” notes Slater. “And
health here and we have to take it.” With Marvel so part of the mystery at the heart is, well,
what is that change? Why is it different? Why is
providing mental health specialists for the this a Moon Knight that we haven’t necessarily
writers’ team to consult with, experts even seen before?” Part of the reason, simply, is
proofread the scripts to ensure the details that the Moon Knight of the comics had
were as close to reality as possible.

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MAKING OF

morphed over time, from the original Spector finds himself
incarnation to the varied runs created by Jeff questioning his own reality.
Lemire, Warren Ellis and Brian Michael Bendis.
“He’s so different in the hands of different MAY
creators,” adds Slater, “it really gave us a lot CALAMAWY
of latitude and a lot of freedom to put our own
spin on the character.” Leyla El-Faouly

Furthering the unique nature of Moon How did you get
Knight was the introduction of Justin Benson involved with
and Aaron Moorhead. The co-directors Moon Knight?
behind cult indies Spring and Synchronic, and
episodes of recent Netflix show Archive 81, I got a message on
were psyched simply just to collaborate with Instagram from
Diab and his DoP, Gregory Middleton (who
shot 2019’s Watchmen). Together with their Mohamed’s wife. She
own cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo, was like, ‘My husband’s
who lensed David Lowery’s stunning The Green interested in you for a
Knight, “We’d all sit around and watch movies role.’ And I reached out
together in the office and just talk through and to my manager and I was
spitball shot ideas,” says Benson. “We really like, ‘Is this real?’ Because
did work creatively as one unit.”
I don’t really go on
At the same time, Moon Knight snagged Instagram a lot. Anyway, it
its antagonist: Ethan Hawke. The Oscar- was and I had an audition.
nominated actor known for films like Before And then two weeks later
Sunrise and First Reformed had rarely ventured had a chemistry test with
into blockbuster terrain (and even said of
Oscar. That was it.
‘OSCAR GIVES ONE OF
THE MOST ARRESTING Had you heard of
PERFORMANCES I’VE Moon Knight?
SEEN IN A MARVEL
SHOW OR MOVIE’ I’d never heard of Moon
Knight. Two years ago, I
X-Men spin-off Logan in one interview, “It’s was like, ‘I’m gonna watch
not Bresson. It’s not Bergman. But they talk
about it like it is”). Like Isaac, he did his due all the Marvels,’ and I
diligence, speaking to his Sinister director went on Reddit, I found
Scott Derrickson, who’d helmed Doctor Strange. a forum that had them in
“He said, ‘Go for it… when they hire you, chronological order of
they want to collaborate.’” While Hawke had story. And I watched all
previously had discussions with Marvel, he of them. That [idea came
adds, “This is the first time where it was like, from] my best friend. He’s
‘Alright, this seems perfect.’” a super nerd about it!

Not least the “unique” chance to play Arthur What preparation did
Harrow. “We have a hero who is out of his you do for the role?
mind,” says Hawke. “If the hero’s crazy, what I did two months of stunts.
is the antagonist?” First appearing in the comics I had two stunt doubles,
in 1985, Harrow was the classic megalomaniacal and we would just work
scientist, who has been experimenting on every day. I trained for
human subjects and drawing from the work three to four hours a day,
of the Nazis. Here, it’s a little different. “He’s and it was so much fun. I
leading a small cult following, and he really mean, I’ve never worked
believes he can heal the world,” says Hawke. out that much before. I
“And the Moon Knight is slowly getting in his learned so much. They
way.” At least this quashes that age-old internet would just push you, push
rumour that Hawke was playing Dracula. “I like you, push you. You just
the idea of Harrow turning into Dracula. But I’d kind of have to get over
never had that thought,” he nods.
that fear.
While the plot for Moon Knight is still a
heavily guarded secret, the cast have clearly Do you have a favourite
been well trained to only parse out information MCU character?

52 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022 I want to pick a woman.
But it feels like there aren’t

that many of them out
there… I love what Robert
Downey Jr. did. I love Thor.

I love Doctor Strange.
Each one of them has
something – a great flaw
and also a strength. It’s
too hard to pick! JM

Moon Knight is more of a
mystery and character study
than previous MCU series.

MOON KNIGHT

Oscar Isaac and May
Calamawy excavate
Marc Spector’s murky past.

DISNEY on a need-to-know basis. Egyptian actress May upbringings?” How far Moon Knight will go with taking this opportunity and just devouring it.
Calamawy, who plays Dena in the series Ramy, Spector’s various identities is up for debate. And what makes Moon Knight different is how
will only permit Total Film “three” snippets “All I’m going to tell you is to follow [it] step- psychologically complex his character is. And
about her character. “Her name is Leyla El- by-step,” says Diab, cryptically. “We play with I find that aspect of it really original.”
Faouly,” she says. “She is of Egyptian descent. the audience.”
And she knows Marc Spector from the past. Shortly after TF speaks to the team, news
And so when she meets him – when she meets THE RIGHT FIT filters through that Isaac and Hawke’s co-star
Steven Grant – she’s just taken aback.” Gaspard Ulliel died, aged 37, following a skiing
Isaac’s accent wasn’t his only suggestion, with accident in the French Alps. The French star of
She’s not the only one. When the trailer the actor also taking the lead on Moon Knight’s Hannibal Rising plays Midnight Man – an enemy
dropped, audiences got a first look at Isaac, distinctive costume – a silvery-grey all- of Moon Knight who, in the comics, was an
not only as Spector and as Moon Knight, but encompassing cloak that wraps itself around art thief. “We are deeply saddened to learn of
also as Grant. A giftshop employee working in the wearer’s body. “They had already chosen the tragic passing of our friend and colleague,”
London, Grant is a dishevelled heap who “can’t something else. But I just felt like it wasn’t remarked the studio in a statement, a loss that
tell the difference between life and dreams”, quite there,” he remarks. “And so we kept will no doubt be keenly felt when the show
as he voiceovers. “He’s man desperate for trying different things, some new concepts. premieres later this month.
connection,” explains Isaac, “but doesn’t have Slowly, it started to find its way so that it was
the skills or the tools to be able to operate truer to the comic, but also had elements that Whether Moon Knight is being prepped
socially in a way that gives him friends. Also, were interesting to Mohamed and to everybody for entry into the wider MCU is, for now, a
he’s completely unreliable and inconsistent, else. We ended up on something that was just secret. “The honest answer is I don’t know.
because as far as he knows he has a sleeping really powerful.” Because Kevin is the guy who decides all that
disorder. And he has blackouts.” stuff,” says Slater. “Look, if it was up to me, he
The intense collaboration clearly paid off, would be part of the Avengers. It’s absolutely
He also has a cheeky Cockney accent (The Diab remembering Isaac’s first reaction when he not up to me, but I think that is the goal!” For
Guardian wryly noted he “sounds like Alan finally saw the show. “He gave me a hug. And now, just anticipate Moon Knight as a Marvel
Bennett being played by Dick Van Dyke”). he told me, ‘We did what we wanted.’” Hawke, spectacular like no other. “We did a huge show
“That was an idea Oscar Isaac brought to the meanwhile, can’t help but admire his co-star’s in a very intimate way, in a way that really feels
table,” notes Slater. “It was something we work. “I think that Oscar gives just one of the personal,” says Diab. “I’m so proud of that.”
had discussed a lot in the room… should the most arresting and powerful performances I’ve
different alters, the different personalities, ever seen in a Marvel show or movie. He’s given MOON KNIGHT IS AVAILABLE ON DISNEY+
have different accents and different Robert Downey a run for his money as far as FROM 30 MARCH.

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MAKING OF

Free Guy collaborators Ryan Reynolds and Shawn
Levy reunite for another heartfelt action adventure,
THE ADAM PROJECT. They tell Total Film how their
own relationships with their fathers and experiences
as parents helped shape the story of a man coming
to terms with his childhood via time travel.

54 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022

THE ADAM PROJECT

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 55

MAKING OF

hen Total Film usually chats to Ryan Buried and Mississippi Grind – but in
Reynolds, he’s a fizzing, fast-talking his most high-profile outings and his
quipster, rolling out caustic one- business persona as gregarious football
liners as deftly as Deadpool. But club/gin/mobile phone network owner,
today when we catch up with him in Reynolds’ default is ‘funny’.
a dark, wood-panelled hotel room,
he’s introspective, heart-on-sleeve The reason for his contemplation
and disarmingly open; talking in an is perhaps his most personal film
uncharacteristically quiet cadence to date; a re-team with director/
about the difficult relationship he had producer Shawn Levy on another warm
with his dad (who died in 2020) and a audience-pleaser after their success
vulnerable, withdrawn pre-teen version with 2021’s Free Guy. The kind of film
of himself. It’s not that Reynolds can’t Reynolds describes as “a high-concept,
be serious and circumspect – we’ve wish-fulfilment film, not unlike the
seen him essay both in roles such as Amblin movies that I loved growing
up”. Levy and he leaned into that

Newcomer Walker Scobell SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS
is the mini-me to Reynolds’
time traveller Adam.

56 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022

THE ADAM PROJECT

Shawn Levy and Ryan nostalgia and sweetness with Free Guy we see today – an observer of human
Reynolds stay Covid- ($331.5m at the box office and an Oscar behaviour. “I was a really shy kid
nod) and they hope to repeat the trick and I used humour as a self-defence
safe while filming. with The Adam Project; ostensibly a time- mechanism. I was the youngest of four
travel jape that dips into themes of boys, which is not easy. My father,
Zoe Saldana plays grief, forgiveness, destiny and trauma. I would consider as the fifth boy, a
Adam’s wife Laura. kid. He was very much at the mercy
Reynolds plays Adam, a of his own emotions and whims. He
fortysomething pilot from 2050 who wasn’t an alcoholic or anything like
time-travels back to visit his 12-year- that, but he exhibited many of those
old self (Walker Scobell) in order to traits – you know, the impetuousness,
avert a disaster in the future. A wise-ass the impulsiveness. He was very
who uses his jokes as a shield, older unpredictable. So I found myself as
Adam finds his younger counterpart a kid being very studious, watching
at an emotional crux in his life; his people for warning signs. It was a way
father (Mark Ruffalo) has just died and to stay safe.”
his mother (Jennifer Garner) is the
target for his adolescent disdain. As the Coalescing the contentment and
mouthy kid and damaged adult team emotional access he feels now as a
up to negotiate time-travel paradoxes, family man (“I have three kids and a
fly high-tech jets, fight future-bots wife that I care more about than I could
and visit their dad in the past, they ever find clumsy words to describe and
dial down the zingers to examine their I think as I’ve gotten older, I can access
shared hurt and reassess their parents. the soft spots a little bit easier”) with
looking back at his kid self seems to
“You know, it just really spoke to have been something like therapy for
a lot of things that I felt in my own Reynolds. And watching newcomer
life, with my own father, and my own Scobell (see boxout, page 59) reflect
mother to a certain degree, and my his schtick back at him in a pint-sized
own young Ryan, as well,” Reynolds body (Reynolds’ inflection, eye moves
sighs. “There was a version of me as and double takes perfectly replicated)
a kid that was somebody that I didn’t was revelatory.
look back on, like most adults do, with
some weird, rose-coloured viewpoint. CHILDHOOD HEROES
I look back on my younger self with
a little bit of self-loathing, and I’m “What it did do was something I
not proud to say that. I wanted to think is a little more holistic and
exploit some of that, and see what that esoteric, which is that it really made
would bring to a story like this. It felt me empathise and relate more to my
like one of those stories where it’s a own 12-year-old self. Because that’s
high-concept, big idea that was about a the thing it reminded me most of: I
little thing. It’s about something small was a 12-year-old kid who memorised
and intimate and instantly relatable impressions of my heroes – Bill Murray,
to all of us – and that’s our proximity Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Steve
in relationships, growing up, to our Martin, John Candy – these people
parents. The people that shape us, I grew up idolising, and watching, I
the people that supposedly prep us burned them into my soul. Whilst some
and ready us to take on the world, people around me – my brothers, my
and how that dynamic can be best dad – at the time thought what I was
described as incredibly complicated doing was a huge waste of time and
and murky at times.” I should be off doing my paper route
among other things, it gave me a little
Reynolds’ own relationship with bit more consideration for that guy; a
Reynolds Sr was certainly complicated. little bit more forgiveness; a little bit
His father’s chaotic behaviour was, more understanding.”
in some way, the making of the actor
That’s not to say that love and
‘ONE OF THOSE understanding is what happens
STORIES WHERE immediately in this film. Reynolds
laughs. “I love that about this movie.
IT’S A HIGH You have a man in his forties who’s
CONCEPT, BIG self-loathing. This guy just wants to tell
his 12-year-old self to go fuck himself!
IDEA THAT’S It’s horrible. So the trajectory of that
ABOUT A journey is a little bit more different than
what you might guess.”
LITTLE THING’
RYAN REYNOLDS Reynolds’ own trajectory has turned
out a little different recently. Having

TOTALFILM.COM MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 57

MAKING OF

willed salty swear-fests Deadpool ‘WE EXPECT HIM
1 and 2 into existence and built a TO BE HEROIC
hugely successful production company AND FUNNY.
and brand, his team-up with director/ BUT WE DON’T
producer Shawn Levy in 2019 to tap into EXPECT RYAN
less R-rated laughs and more warm- REYNOLDS TO
fuzzies with Free Guy has paid dividends. MAKE US CRY’
The duo’s working relationship was so
fruitful on that project that Reynolds SHAWN LEVY
hadn’t even finished it before he was
bringing The Adam Project to the table that she could bring the depth and
as their next gig. warmth. It was only after I offered her
Describing their collaborative the role that Ryan pointed out to me
process as “a bromantic, creative that this was a 13 Going On 30 reunion –
chemistry”, Levy recalls that though which is a bonus, as that movie shares
The Adam Project was different from The Adam Project’s magical time-travel
Free Guy in tone, style and content, it premise.”
“had a similar combination of a huge,
fantastical premise with relatable “We’ve orbited each other for so
themes. And that combination is many years in this industry, so it was
very compelling to both Ryan and I. really nice for us all to get to work
Both movies are built for audience together,” says Reynolds. “Ruffalo,
delight, and definitely lean into the me and Garner, sitting on a set… you
emotional warmth and the optimism needed a starter pistol just to shut us
of their endings. And Ryan and I have up. But not a ton of MCU chat, I’m
found a rhythm where we link arms. sad to report.”
We are very hands-on in script, in
improv, in editorial, in song choice, With Zoe Saldana locked as Adam’s
in music, in colour, in the sound mix. kickass wife Laura (“a lovely human
We are both actor and director in our being and badass for days, but also
relationship, but we are also very a beautifully complex actress,” says
comfortably co-producers.” Levy) and Catherine Keener as a
As producers the duo went after conflicted baddie (“as the father of four
Deadpool’s MCU colleague Mark daughters, I’m always very cognisant
Ruffalo for Adam’s scientist dad of telling stories that need to have
and Jennifer Garner as his mum, an equally strong and complex female
inadvertent 13 Going On 30 re-team. characters”), the duo needed to find
“Ruffalo we wanted early, because he a Ryan mini-me. They auditioned
classes up every joint he walks into, and “hundreds” of boys but knew they’d
he is just a powerhouse, phenomenal found the one in newcomer Scobell,
actor,” says Levy. “Then I spoke to Jen a Deadpool fan so fervent he could
Garner about the role, and even while recite the entire movie scripts (check
describing it, she got emotional as she out Reynolds’ Instagram for video
listened to me talking, so I just knew evidence). “We knew that he was

Scobell’s obsessive knowledge
of the Deadpool films helped him
nail his Ryan Reynolds impression.

58 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022

THE ADAM PROJECT

Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer
Garner (below left)
play Adam’s parents.

NETFLIX a unicorn of talent,” recalls Levy, “but of the reason I had a frustration with REYNOLDS REDUCED
we didn’t know he was a rabid fan and my own father – it’s that he died, and
student of Ryan Reynolds. He’s a bit of I wasn’t able to say and do the things I Meet Walker Scobell, Ryan Reynolds’
a savant in channelling him and that’s wanted to do with him. I wasn’t able to No. 1 fan
why those scenes feel so legitimately experience all the good parts of him or
like two versions of the same person.” reconcile some of the bad parts of him. This is your first movie – and with your hero
So I think that lands as well.” He stares Ryan. What was it like meeting him?
Though Reynolds and Scobell match down for a beat and then that famous
each other in snark, they also dial grin breaks across his face. “I mean, At the audition he probably thought I was really
up the feels, delivering a gut-punch when we talk about this, it sounds weird, because I was just staring at him. At the
from the Merc With The Mouth star, like it’s this really heady, emotional beginning [of filming], it was very overwhelming.
according to Levy. “When we signed movie,” he laughs. “But it’s a very I was really freaked out that I would mess it up.
up for a time-travel adventure, I’m fun, popcorn, space-time continuum But he and Shawn made me feel really good, and
not sure that either one of us knew sort of extravaganza. But these stories
it would become one of his greatest and that part of it are what make it they taught me a bunch of cool tricks.
dramatic performances of his career,” worth doing.”
the director marvels. “The amount As a huge fan, did you get any Deadpool 3
of emotional authenticity he brings And after our collective global secrets out of him?
to this performance… we expect him experience of Covid, it might not just
to be a movie star, heroic and funny. be Reynolds who needs a cathartic I didn’t get any secrets out of him – I did try!
But we don’t expect Ryan Reynolds experience wrapped up in a ton of fun.
to make us cry.” “Given the last few years, there’s so How did you nail his voice and mannerisms?
many millions of people who have I watched Deadpool 2 a million times. In all the
Reynolds knows that it’s that experienced loss or grief,” Levy admits. scenes where I’m being like him I’d pretend I was
personal connection that’s heightened “And this movie doesn’t turn away like a little Deadpool. And before I’d do a take
his turn. “There are lines written in from that reality, but hopefully offers Ryan would say the line how he would say it.
the script that I put there because the possibility of a chapter beyond…”
they’re true. There’s a line in the movie And I would copy off of that.
that my younger self says: “I know THE ADAM PROJECT COMES OUT ON
why you hate [your father]. You’re you NETFLIX ON 11 MARCH. You’re also working with the Hulk himself,
because he died.” I think that’s part Mark Ruffalo. How was that?

TOTALFILM.COM It was weird not to see him green after
Endgame! But he’s the nicest person ever –
he’s really funny. When my dad was doing work,
he made me feel like he was my dad, and that

was really nice.

Did Ryan and Mark give you any good
acting tips?

Pretty much everything I know was from them.
Ryan taught me not to get the script in my head

and stuff. And he taught me that if you jump
up and down, and get out of breath, and take
a run or something – when you’re out of breath,
everything comes out different. And there was
a scene where I wasn’t really supposed to cry.
But when Mark and Ryan were crying Shawn
said, “If a tear comes down your face, then a tear
comes down your face, but you don’t have to
cry.” But I don’t think I had a choice. They were so
good, I cried without even thinking about it.

If you could meet your 40-year-old self what
would you hope he’d be like?

I would hope I’m still the same, and still acting.
I hope that I can make it last forever. JC

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 59



Normal People made her a lockdown superstar, and now
Daisy Edgar-Jones is carving out intense new roles, starting
with provocative genre-blender, FRESH. Total Film meets the rising
British talent to talk chemistry, catering and career ambitions.

WORDS MATT MAYTUM

JASON HETHERINGTON/SERLIN ASSOCIATES N othing about Daisy Edgar- next step for Edgar-Jones, the twisted
Jones’ ascent to stardom reality is anything but.
has been normal. The
now 23-year-old had been Chatting to Total Film in February
steadily getting supporting work in 2022 - when she’s in Manchester to
mid-size TV shows like Cold Feet and celebrate her grandma’s birthday -
War Of The Worlds, until the 2020 TV Edgar-Jones is palpably eager for Fresh
adaptation of Normal People came along, to be unleashed on the wider world. “It’s
transforming her and co-lead Paul really fun now to see these things come
Mescal into instant stars. out… to be able to kind of enjoy people
watching it,” she muses. “I’m so curious
We’ve eagerly awaited their next to see what they’re going to think.”
moves (Mescal recently appeared in The
Lost Daughter), and now Edgar-Jones She can expect strong reactions:
is gearing up to release her first major cult interest and watercooler moments
follow-up project. Her new film, Fresh, beckon. For the first act, it’s in pretty
played to gasps at this year’s (online) straightforward romcom territory as
Sundance Film Festival. While on the Edgar-Jones’ West-Coaster Noa suffers
surface it might look like a standard through one more dreadful date with
a subtly toxic bloke she’s swiped

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 61

SPOTLIGHT

right on. Her love life seems like Daisy Edgar-Jones in the
a non-starter in today’s app-based upcoming Fresh; and with
world, until a chance encounter Natasha Little in War Of
with charming plastic surgeon Steve The Worlds (below).
(Sebastian Stan) sees them go from
the supermarket fruit aisle to a bar to scenes involve certain foodstuffs being and you know they’re really present, ALAMY, DISNEY, BBC
bed. Of course, it’s not long before Noa ingested. “We had a chef on site, who and you can throw anything at them,
comes to learn of Steve’s “unusual was excellent,” smiles Edgar-Jones. and they’ll give you something back.
appetites” (as the official synopsis puts “So it was amazing, the creations they It’s a really magical feeling.”
it) and the film takes a hard left swerve. made. It’s hard, without giving too
much away, but there’s a scene where Edgar-Jones is someone who would
MEAT-CUTE she eats [redacted], and it sort of was know a bit about on-screen chemistry,
incredible. It was made of noodles, and following the success of BBC Three’s
“My agents were quite funny in that I think they got this sort of glistening Normal People, the 12-part adaptation
they didn’t really tell me much about thing to make it shiny,” she laughs. of Sally Rooney’s young-love novel. As
what was in it,” grins Edgar-Jones, Marianne and Connell, navigating their
recalling her first encounter with “It was a very strange day. It’s relationship from school to university
Lauryn Kahn’s script. “I was really just definitely put me off pâté for and beyond, Edgar-Jones and co-lead
reading it the same way that I hope the rest of my life.” Mescal were an immensely combustible
most people come to the film, not quite Edgar-Jones and Stan were pairing; audiences the world over fell
knowing where it’s going to take me.” cast independently, so did hard for them.
She first read it when she was being chemistry rehearsals ahead of
driven on a three-hour car journey time, both via Zoom and in “The chemistry thing really interests
to Cardiff, where she was working. “I the days ahead of shooting. me,” says Edgar-Jones. “I mean, I’ve
remember, I got out of the other side, “I loved working with been very, very lucky that I’ve never
and I was walking to my hotel, and I Sebastian so, so much,” she had to work closely with anyone I
was so spooked, because the content of beams. “It felt like a real haven’t really liked. But you do hear
the script is quite freaky!” she laughs. collaboration between the stories of actors who have excellent
two of us. A lot of the time, chemistry as their characters but really
For all its shock factor, Fresh does we did a lot of improv in famously didn’t get on. So I wonder.”
give audiences plenty to chew over. scenes, and there’s nothing It’s possibly a shared sense of humour,
“It brings something to everyone more fun than when you’re she ponders, that helps an onscreen
who watches it,” says Edgar-Jones, in a scene with an actor, spark. “But I don’t know. I guess it’s a
refusing to pigeonhole it. “The fact that quality that’s either there, or it isn’t.
it could be seen as an allegory for the
commodification of female bodies, and SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS
it lends itself to a conversation about
the disposability of people in modern
dating culture. But I also think it’s
ultimately a very entertaining film, and
you can watch it and enjoy it, and read
into it whatever you want. I think it’d be
very different for every viewer.”

Not that the darkness of the subject
matter dampened the mood between
takes. “I think sometimes when you’re
working on something that is very
dark, it’s almost the opposite, because
you have to almost go the other way,”
she says. “You kind of have to find
moments of levity where you can.
Because some of the things
we were doing were so sort
of crazy. If you were to say
to someone, ‘Today, I shot
this scene where I…’ it’s all
quite unique.”

We’re not going to
veer too far into spoiler
territory, although
those wishing to come
to the film completely,
well, fresh might want
to skip this paragraph.
Because the most
stomach-churning

62 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022

DAISY EDGAR-JONES

And maybe it depends on whether you Prior to Normal People, she jokes that
both also have a very similar instinct on she hadn’t been quite so busy. “I could
what those two characters are like.” feel the difference of the after-effects of
the show,” she says. “I’ve been working
After the shared experience on as an actor for like four years, but in
Normal People - from the production, to very small roles here and there, in series
its reception - she does hope to work and things like that. I did one tiny, really
with Mescal again. “With Paul, it was indie film [Pond Life] which I loved. But
just that wonderful feeling of being in I was mostly unemployed.” she laughs.
a scene with an actor, and you just know “Or ‘resting’, as I like to call it.”
you’re both completely in sync. And
that’s so magic. It’d be so fun to revisit Straight after filming Fresh, Edgar-
that but with two entirely different Jones went into filming the lead role in
characters, or two characters who really Where The Crawdads Sing, an adaptation
hated each other! It’d be really fun to of Delia Owens’ novel that’s produced
play something really different, and by Reese Witherspoon. “It’s very, very
find what we do.” different from Fresh,” explains Edgar-
Jones. “It’s about a girl who lives in the
LOCKDOWN LIVES marsh in North Carolina, and it’s sort
of about isolation and loneliness. It’s
Normal People had a raw power and about nature and about this girl who
intimacy that ensured it would’ve made kind of finds herself on trial for murder.
an impact under any circumstances. But It’s a beautiful story. That book, I read
landing as it did in April 2020, just as in a day, and I loved it so much.”
the effects of Covid-19 were beginning
to kick in, and lockdowns were being Another intense project she’s
enforced, it was consumed with a completed is TV series Under The
rare intensity by an audience craving Banner Of Heaven, alongside Andrew
connection, breaking BBC iPlayer Garfield. It’s based on a non-fiction
records. It had the unusual effect of book by Jon Krakauer. “It’s all about
making Edgar-Jones a global star while the Mormon religion, and in particular

‘IT WOULD BE SO FUN TO PLAY
A SUPERHERO – OR A VILLAIN’

With Paul Mescal in she was unable to leave her house. about a murder that happened in
their breakout drama “It’s smudged into my experience of 1984 of a young woman,” she says.
lockdown, too,” she says, looking back “And it’s exploring fundamentalism
Normal People. at it. “They’re so mixed together. I and things like that.” She certainly
think it was just the most surreal time hasn’t shied away from heavy subject
ever, and it was for us all… And still, matter. “Yeah, I think I need to do a
even now, I’m trying to get enough light comedy next,” she laughs. “That
distance from it to really look back would be nice!”
and process it all.”
Having recently worked alongside
Where others in a similar situation the Winter Soldier and a Spider-Man,
would be travelling the world on promo could she be tempted to enter the
tours, Edgar-Jones was just sitting in superhero world? “Oh, that would
front of a screen. “I think that was be so fun,” she grins. “I would love
the strangest thing: having Zoom to do something like that. It would
interviews and things like that, but be so fun to play a superhero – or a
shutting my laptop off, and thinking, villain. I think a villain would be even
‘God, did I just speak to myself? Or more fun. I would love that. It would
did someone actually receive the be so fun to learn all those stunts
words I just said on the other end of and sequences, with big greenscreen
this call?’” she breaks into a laugh. work, on something epic and huge.
“It was so strange.” I’ve never been on something of
that scale, and I can imagine that it
It didn’t stop her booking work would be absolutely gobsmacking.”
though, with the success of Normal Gobsmacking would seem to be par
People granting her the confidence for the course of Edgar-Jones’ career.
that casting directors would at least Anything but normal.
take notice now. “I definitely felt the
difference… and also knowing that if I FRESH STREAMS ON DISNEY+ FROM
do a self-tape for something, someone 4 MARCH.
is actually maybe going to watch it.”

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 63

TF INVESTIGATES

CANCEL CULTURE

As the behaviour of increasing numbers of stars is called out by cancel
culture, film distributors face a crisis. How best to respond to these
allegations of toxic behaviour? Total Film investigates…

WORDS KEVIN HARLEY

A retro musical, a murder-mystery, previously silenced using their voices to cancellation entail for a film about to be
a magical threequel. What do call out perceived wrongdoing. Ennobled released? What strategies can or should
West Side Story, Death On The Nile by the #MeToo movement, empowered distributors, exhibitors, filmmakers, studios,
and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of by social media, these are the voices stars, critics and beyond ask themselves in
Dumbledore have in common? For all those of people who wish to expose cases of the process of said film’s release? Perhaps
who haven’t been locked away and out of injustice or inappropriate behaviour from a star’s behaviour might leave a smear of
internet range in Azkaban or elsewhere for the those who might previously have seemed toxicity on a film, or call for the kinds of
last few years, the answer will be clear: they unaccountable, and to exercise the right to recasting gambits that might ameliorate
are all, to variable extents, litmus-test films boycott a film or otherwise accordingly. For any blows to a film’s fortunes. Some films
for the knock-on effects of cancel culture. others, phrases such as “the woke mob” and might wind up shelved, others distributed
“witch hunt” are routinely bandied about. and underseen or under-publicised. Other
The divergence of opinions on cancel distributors might plough on with a publicity
culture shows no signs of abating right now. In between, choppy waters need to be campaign regardless, or carefully sculpt
For many, the phenomenon is simply the navigated. What does a star or director’s

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 65

TF INVESTIGATES

damage-limitation campaigns to Johnny Depp was dropped Of Dumbledore sustained the nostalgic slant,
maintain a film’s marketplace buoyancy. from the Fantastic Beasts stressing fans’ love for the Wizarding World
However you cut it, cancel culture presents films, and replaced with over declarations of Rowling’s role as presiding
a challenge that won’t be denied. Mads Mikkelsen (right). franchise overseer. “You’ll have to trust me,”
says Jude Law’s secretive Dumbledore. Warner
LOST WORLD magic), leading some to wonder why the Irish appeared to be asking the same of fans whose
actor could not have been kept as the series’ faith in the franchise might be dwindling.
Of course, scandals and controversies in primary antagonist. Rowling and director David The old magic will be there, the trailer
film careers are not new. Actors from Yates were forced to defend the casting. By the suggests. New magic beckons. And Rowling’s
Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle to Errol Flynn time of the sequel, The Crimes Of Grindelwald name might be noticeably less prominent on
have been called out due to allegations (2018), Amber Heard’s allegations of domestic publicity materials.
of grim improprieties, with attendant abuse against Johnny Depp had amplified.
consequences for their career. Parallels When Depp failed in his libel suit against Outside of the Wizarding World, Depp
with cancel culture’s calls for consequence The Sun in 2020, Warner Bros asked the star to has spoken out on cancel culture. Accepting
seem to suggest themselves in examples step down from the series, which he duly did - the coveted Donostia Award at the 2021 San
such as these, though it would be some though not, apparently, without netting a hefty Sebastián Film Festival, he described cancel
years before ‘cancel culture’ as we now payday. Mads Mikkelsen replaced him. culture as a “very complex situation” and
know it – perhaps initiated, as has been criticised “this instant rush to judgement
argued, by responses to online instances Rowling’s comments on trans rights have based on what essentially amounts to
of racism - gained the power it now since added to the Wizarding World’s pyre polluted air”. Debates frothed over whether
seems to have. of controversies. As Warner Bros seemed to he should have used a ceremony for a career
embark on a franchise-restoring nostalgia and lifetime achievement award as a platform
To find an example of that power, and offensive, the writer was a background from which to discuss cancel culture. After all,
to see how studios and otherwise might presence at best in January 2022’s cast reunion did he sound particularly cancelled? But his
negotiate it, apparate to the Wizarding special, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return subsequent films have struggled. Minamata
World. As we go to press, long-lead To Hogwarts. Warner’s teaser for The Secrets (2020) director Andrew Levitas wrote a letter
interviews have not been particularly of complaint to MGM, arguing that the studio
forthcoming for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets had decided to bury his film due to Depp’s
Of Dumbledore, the third instalment in involvement. Others have argued that an
J.K. Rowling’s prequel series to Harry earlier Depp film, 2018’s City Of Lies, was
Potter. Whether or not the lack of interview quietly withdrawn from release due to the
access has anything to do with the film’s star’s legal troubles. The strategy seems to be
attendant controversies, the franchise is one of distance: Depp’s films currently seem
clearly, deeply entangled with questions too tricky to promote or release.
surrounding cancel culture.
GAME CHANGER
That entanglement took firm root
with the announcement of Johnny Depp’s The Secrets Of Dumbledore is not the only movie
casting as dark proto-Voldemort wizard to enact a swift replacement in the face of
Gellert Grindelwald in the series’ first film, cancellation. Veteran director Ridley Scott
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them engineered something of a PR coup with 2017’s
(2016). For much of that film’s running All The Money In The World, transforming a
time, Colin Farrell played the role (because cancellation crisis into a golden opportunity.

Despite his acquittal, the career of
Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle (fourth
from left) was ruined by a sexual
assault and manslaughter allegation.

66 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

CANCEL CULTURE

The disgraced Kevin Spacey was Tig Notaro was a very popular Award nomination for Best Supporting
replaced by Christopher Plummer swap for Chris D’Elia Actor testified to the wisdom of Scott’s
in All The Money In The World . in Army Of The Dead. swift action.

Cast as bristly billionaire J. Paul Getty, Kevin Meanwhile, in his take-no-prisoners
Spacey shot the film before allegations of approach to interviews, Scott briskly
sexual misconduct were levelled against him. expounded on the need to send out a
clear message and protect the collective
Netflix’s swift response to the allegations endeavours of a movie. “You can’t tolerate
was to suspend filming on the sixth season any kind of behaviour like that,” Scott
of House Of Cards. But Scott, not one to told Entertainment Weekly. “And it will
shrink from a challenge, prepared no- affect the film. We cannot let one person’s
less-swift reshoots for All The Money, with action affect the good work of all these
Christopher Plummer taking the role of other people. It’s that simple.”
Getty. Though the film was not a massive
box-office success, critics marvelled at the As for whether Scott was savvy to
director’s integration of the new actor into the publicity possibilities in his mind-
previously shot material, drawing on an boggling switcheroo of headlining actors,
old-school facility with storyboards to help he replied: “Correct. I didn’t do it for that
manage a seamless transition. An Academy reason, but it never left my mind.”

TOTALFILM.COM For their part, Netflix quietly shelved
2018’s Gore, a film due to star Spacey as
Gore Vidal. Meanwhile, another Netflix
title took an innovative approach to
replacing a cancelled star, with memorable
knock-on effects. Stand-up/actor Chris
D’Elia was due to have a supporting role as
a helicopter pilot in Zack Snyder’s zombie
heist movie Army Of The Dead (2021). In

‘NETFLIX PUT
THEIR MONEY
WHERE THEIR
MOUTH IS’

June 2020, D’Elia was accused of multiple
sexual improprieties, some relating to
underage girls. While D’Elia released an
apologetic video and denied any illegal
wrongdoing, Snyder and Netflix set about
damage control - erasing the comic/
actor’s appearance in Army.

For Zack, the choice was “an easy
one” to make, albeit – as producer
Deborah Snyder put it – “expensive”.
But she added this of Netflix’s willingness
to pay: “I will say, Netflix did the right
thing. They put their money where their
mouth is.”

D’Elia’s replacement was Tig Notaro,
stand-up and sardonic Star Trek: Discovery
stand-out. Swiftly, website The Mary Sue,
the self-styled “geek girl’s guide to the
universe”, suggested that Notaro could be a
perfectly viable solution whenever the need
to remove problematic men from movies
might arise. Leading actor charged with
some grim impropriety? Replace him
with Tig. A social-media tagline and
meme was born: “I think we can all
agree that Tig Notaro…” And a cancel-
culture crisis was deftly dodged.

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 67

TF INVESTIGATES

Neither Ansel Elgort or Armie
Hammer could be removed from

their films, but they’ve been
quiet in the promotion cycle.

RIVER DEEP behind Death On The Nile in an interview with cancel culture-related issues, Lucasfilm took
Variety: “It’s a very entertaining movie with a forthright stance on the issues relating to
Another death-related film recently sailed a lot of people’s work wrapped up in it.” In Carano’s release from contract: “Gina Carano
into view with the taint of cancel culture short, why should one man sink it? is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and
in its slipstream. Kenneth Branagh’s Death there are no plans for her to be in the future,”
On The Nile reached screens after multiple Also recently, West Side Story reached screens a spokesperson said. “Nevertheless, her social
delays, some clearly Covid-motivated. after Covid-enforced delays and allegations media posts denigrating people based on their
But the main controversy on-deck related of sexual assault directed at its star Ansel cultural and religious identities are abhorrent
to Armie Hammer, a lead perhaps not Elgort. Elgort denied the allegations and, 18- and unacceptable.”
easily snipped out of the film’s starry ish months after the claims emerged, began
ensemble line-up and replaced. In to work the publicity circuit for the film. He Of course, it seems unlikely that Carano’s
early 2021, allegations of sexual assault appeared on The James Corden Show with Jane exit will damage The Mandalorian’s popularity,
and rape were made against Hammer Levy, alongside The Drew Barrymore Show and given her relatively minor role. As we go to
(Hammer has vociferously claimed all the American Music Awards. As Variety noted, press, the effects of cancel culture on the
interactions were consensual). DMs he did not participate in hard-hitting actor releases of Death On The Nile or The Secrets Of
purportedly exchanged between the actor profiles or similar, where he might have had Dumbledore remain more open to question.
and extramarital partners also emerged. to address the allegations made against him.
Subsequently, Hammer exited projects Along the way, West Side Story debuted, albeit ‘YOU CAN’T GET
including J-Lo romcom Shotgun Wedding to disappointing box-office returns. Whether AWAY WITH
and The Offer, the series about the making those numbers had anything to do with Covid, BEING A DICK
of The Godfather. He was also due to appear cancel culture or Spider-Man: No Way Home’s ANY MORE’
in Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins, though box-office domination is up for debate. But
Will Arnett has taken his place in reshoots. distributors Disney seemed to find a way to Whatever happens, both films will reach
navigate Elgort’s cancellation while using him screens through challenging PR rollouts.
While Hammer’s role in Branagh’s to help publicise the film.
Agatha Christie adaptation was somewhat In an ideal world, the resulting climate
downplayed in trailers, it would have THIS IS THE WAY OUT of consequence and accountability will help
been foolish to expect him to appear in kill or weed out toxic behaviour at the root,
interviews for the film. Still, Branagh Elsewhere, the roll call of the cancelled as George Clooney indicated in an interview.
could hardly have avoided the interview has proliferated. Accused of emotional, Asked about cancel culture, he replied:
circuit, given the near-simultaneous physical and sexual abuse by the musician “You can’t get away with being a dick any
release of his Oscar-nominated Belfast. FKA Twigs, Shia LaBeouf was not noticeably more.” So much the better. Meanwhile, the
Asked by Total Film about the Hammer foregrounded in the publicity surrounding Hollywood PR machine will almost certainly
situation while promoting Belfast, Netflix’s Vanessa Kirby film, Pieces Of A be following these films’ fortunes closely, to
Branagh gave a measured response, Woman. Following Gina Carano’s controversial gauge how best to respond to and navigate
referring to the issue as “a personal, social media comments on subjects many cancel culture’s effects. For now, the route
private matter, and I think it has to be and various, she was summarily removed map around cancel culture remains uncertain,
respected, so I can’t really comment on from the role of Cara Dune in Disney+’s a work in hotly contended progress.
that”. Meanwhile, he smartly steered The Mandalorian. While some studios and
attention to the collective endeavours distributors have danced warily around

68 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS



Instant classic
comedy-drama The
Phantom Of The Open
takes a big swing at the
colourful life of “world’s
worst golfer” Maurice
Flitcroft. But as director
Craig Roberts and star
Mark Rylance reveal,
a lot of time was spent
hacking in the rough
before they got the

tone just right…

WORDS JAMIE GRAHAM

he new film by actor-
turned-writer/director
Craig Roberts is at once a
character study, a comedy-
drama, a love story, a biopic
and a sports movie unlike
any you’ve ever seen. How could it
be like anything that came before
when it focuses on Maurice Flitcroft,
a chain-smoking shipyard operator
from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
who posed as a professional golfer
to obtain a place in the 1976 British
Open? What followed, all of it televised,
was golden, and while it won’t be
spoiled here, suffice to say that any
triumph that this particular underdog
experienced was not of the sort that
Hollywood would recognise.
Flitcroft, here played by Mark
Rylance, only took up golf in 1974, and
it’s hard to say just how serious he was.
Did he genuinely believe he had talent
and deserved to rub shoulders with
Seve Ballesteros? Or was it one big ruse
in order to get on TV and perhaps cock
a snook at the establishment of this
elitist sport? Both the director and the
star of The Phantom Of The Open believe
he was sincere, but they can’t be sure.
“I think from what we’ve seen in the

peprftecchtinterviews,andspeakingtohisson
70 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 71

MAKING OF

James, there’s an innocence to his Mark Rylance plays the The film is firmly
ambition – he believed that he could do ambitious Maurice about the characters,
anything,” smiles Roberts. “The movie Flitcroft, with Sally not the game.
that I kept mentioning in preproduction Hawkins as his wife Jean.
was The King Of Comedy because I and Craig and Tom [Miller], the producer,
just felt… you know, Rupert [Pupkin] What Roberts didn’t want to do was and they took on board my concerns.”
believes he’s really funny, and that’s make a golf movie, and after earlier
what’s so amazing about it. Everyone mentioning The King Of Comedy he now What finally emerged was a film
outside of him doesn’t, but he does. references two more Scorsese films – that plays rather like a modern-day
But also… I don’t know. Sometimes in Raging Bull and Goodfellas – as he talks take on such classic Ealing comedies
Maurice’s interviews, I can’t tell if he’s of how he saw fit to treat the material. as The Man In The White Suit, Passport To
being serious or not. He just knew how Raging Bull because it has boxing in it Pimlico and Whiskey Galore!, in which the
to manipulate situations. You couldn’t but is not a boxing movie (“it’s about little man takes on the system. Flitcroft
quite tell whether he was joking at the character”), and Goodfellas because is a family man, working class, and
them. It’s very interesting.” he wanted Phantom to be shot and cut a dreamer, and Farnaby and Roberts
with pizzazz. Roberts is a cinephile, and beautifully sketch in his home life (Sally
Rylance grins. “I mean, he did do other movies that get flyby mentions Hawkins brings great heart and spirit
clowning very early on in his career, as during our chat include Boogie Nights, as the matriarch who holds everything
a man who would saw off the end of a Punch-Drunk Love, Billy Liar, Catch Me If together) while celebrating his
diving board, not realising he was on the You Can, Tin Cup and Happy Gilmore. With gumption. And then there’s the style,
bit that was going to fall. But I can’t see all of these films swirling in his head, it with a mobile camera, fizzy cutting
the crack in his straight face. There’s is perhaps no surprise that finding the and a sprinkling of fantasy interludes
a wonderful Breakfast Time interview. right tone was the key during all stages assuring that Phantom steers well clear
He’s so stoic, and does not accept at all of production, from script to edit. of the social-realism path that many
their view of him. He’s on the show as if Brit directors might have opted to tread.
he’s Seve Ballesteros or Arnold Palmer, “We had loads of discussion about
and he just looks like he absolutely tone and what the movie would be,”
is befuddled by them treating him as Roberts explains. “Because, you know,
the worst golfer that’s ever been, like on the page, it was very, very funny.
It was emotional, but it’s a hard line
‘He’s such a to walk. You’ve got to really ground
Don Quixote it for people to laugh and cry at the
character. That’s same time. So I suppose I wanted to
what drew me take it more towards a drama that had
loads of comedy, rather than an all-out
to him’ screwball comedy.”

that’s just an incredibly unreasonable “When I first got the script, I
insult. They have a little putting green felt it was a little bit comedic, that
they’ve set up, and he tries as best as he sometimes there were jokes rather than
can, but he just can’t get the ball in.” letting the situation be funny,” nods
Rylance’s eyes twinkle as he laughs. Rylance, who studied archive footage
“It’s fantastic. He’s such a Don Quixote to glean Flitcroft’s voice patterns and
character. That’s what drew me to him.” mannerisms. “I prefer situational
comedy. I can’t tell a joke for the life of
To a tee me. So I talked about that with Simon

What drew Roberts, who had self-
penned the scripts of his first two
features, Just Jim and Eternal Beauty, and
fostered “this pretentious idea that I
would be this auteur”, was the quality
of the screenplay written by Simon
Farnaby (Mindhorn, Paddington 2). Well,
that and the fact that his dad was a
keen golfer, so might actually watch
this one. Only Roberts needed a way in.

“It was weird,” he shrugs. “I read it,
and I loved it, but I was like, ‘How do
I tell it?’ There was a small scene that
Simon had written where he comes
out of the shipyard, and then he kind
of opens his shipyard uniform. And
it’s almost like a Superman reveal. So
that was the way into it for me. Maybe
golf is his… or, like, his confidence is
his superpower.”

72 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

Rhys Ifans is the family as part of his research (Maurice, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN
irritated club sadly, died in 2007), the actor insists
that the home was full of support and emote. So… no. But I love the fact that
secretary Lambert. love, but there could be violence if any a few of the reviews are saying it. That’s
threats came from outside. an honour, that people are comparing it
“I like Craig’s ambition with the to an Ealing comedy.”
medium,” says Rylance, who opted “Once, one of the sons was beat up
to work with the 31-year-old Welsh outside the club, or hit by a bouncer,” The green knight
filmmaker because “he’s a lovely guy” says Rylance of a scene not depicted in
and because his first two films showcase the film. “The next morning, Maurice For all of Roberts’ film references, it
a directorial talent of real note. “He was went over there, and went up to the is the stuff taken from real life that
frustrated at times, because he needs man, and said, ‘I want to talk to you gives Phantom its soul. Flitcroft’s life,
a bit more financial support. Like, he about what happened with my son.’ naturally, but also Roberts’ own, and you
wanted me to climb into the television. Before the man could answer, he kicked can feel his understanding and empathy
I go up to the television, looking at it him in the nuts, and beat the crap out in every frame. He may not be an ardent
like this [Rylance leans right into the Zoom of him, and said, ‘Don’t ever touch golfer but he does know what it’s like to
frame until TF almost tumbles down a my son again.’ He knew how to box. pursue your impossible dreams – raised
nostril], and then you would actually see There was a neighbour – a big guy – in Maesycwmmer, Caerphilly, he now
me climb into the television. Someone who complained about the noise, or has Seth Rogen, Michael Cera and Jonah
like Nolan or Spielberg would have had firecrackers or something. And when Hill on speed dial. And he did it all, like
the backing to be able to do that. And he came to the door, the boys said Maurice, with the support of his family.
he’s trying to do it with string and tape.” Maurice just took him down.”
“One hundred per cent,” he nods. “I
Rylance also points out that a darker Roberts offers a rueful smile. owe it all to my family, really, in terms
film might have been made from “On the first cut of the movie that of putting me into acting, or putting
Flitcroft’s life story. Having met the I presented to people, the tone me into a workshop, because I was a
was different,” he confesses. “The recluse – I played too much Xbox and
tone was more depressing, because didn’t really want to leave the house.
I like darker stories. I suppose it They were really good at saying ‘Reach
was bleak, the first cut that I had, for the stars’. And that certainly helped
and obviously that’s not what we all me, just to know that you can do
wanted to make.” anything if you put your mind to it.”

So he didn’t set out to make It was that urge to aim so high that
something akin to an Ealing made Roberts approach Rylance to
comedy? It seems odd that this was play Flitcroft in the first place. “It’s
not always his intention given how like aiming for Daniel Day-Lewis,”
gloriously he pulls it off. “I didn’t he says. “He’s one of the best actors
really look at any comedies,” says in the world. We were like, ‘Let’s see
Roberts. “The comedy was on the what he says.’ So I wrote a letter, and
page, and I didn’t want to lean into it that went with the script. We were
too much, so that we couldn’t really surprised. On the press release, when
he’d attached himself, he mentioned
TOTALFILM.COM that he’d never been sent a comedy.
So many people have missed out,
because he’s incredibly funny.”

“I enjoy finding all the different
rooms in my house – you know, rooms
I haven’t been in before, so to speak,”
says the actor, eyes twinkling again.
“I was also just really drawn to
the story. It moved me, and made
me laugh. I particularly like, at the

moment, stories where people
are using their imagination
to change the future and
shape it. They’re not being
dominated by the material
facts around them. They’re
seeing these facts, but with
their imagination, they’re
shaping their life. I find that

very encouraging.”
“I wanted Mark to capture the soul,

really – to capture Maurice’s ambition,”
Roberts agrees. “That was the main
thing.” You might say he scored a hole
in one.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN OPENS IN
CINEMAS ON 18 MARCH.

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 73

SPOILERS
AHEAD!

After The Book Of Boba Fett
showed a newfound
willingness to embrace
George Lucas’ prequel
trilogy, it’s clear Star
Wars’ relationship with
its past is set to define
its future.

WORDS RICHARD EDWARDS

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 75

hough the shareholders of the Walt Carey Jones as
Disney Company undoubtedly had Wookiee warrior
dollar signs in their eyes, The Force Black Krrsantan.
Awakens was worth much, much more
to legions of fans – the highly
anticipated December 2015 release date
would tell them whether the new
custodians of that galaxy far, far away
knew how to make a Star Wars movie.

Lucasfilm’s initial strategy was clear,
as they leant heavily into the beloved
original trilogy, bringing back the stars
and riffing off the story beats of A New
Hope. More pointedly, The Force Awakens
was a departure from the much-derided
prequel trilogy, a big-budget manifesto
announcing that trade disputes,
wall-to-wall greenscreen, and coarse
and rough and irritating love stories
were a thing of the past. While the
Force was undeniably strong with Rey,
we could all sleep soundly knowing that
midi-chlorians had little to do with it.

Six years on, the balance of the Force
has shifted. After The Last Jedi, Solo: A
Star Wars Story and The Rise Of Skywalker

76 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022

STAR WARS

Temuera Morrison Because whether it’s referencing the
and Ming-Na Wen on prequels, the original trilogy, animated
Tatooine in The Book TV shows, books, comics or even
videogames, that galaxy far, far away
Of Boba Fett. has never been more defined by its
past than it is right now. How the
DISNEY proved particularly divisive, the antipathy towards The Phantom Menace, 45-year-old franchise resolves the
subsequent outpouring of love for The Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The push-and-pull between its history and
Mandalorian suggested the veteran Sith is thawing, that George Lucas’s its future will arguably define the next
franchise was now more at home on the decision not to remake the original stages of its evolution.
small screen. And recent Mando spin-off trilogy now looks like a display of
The Book Of Boba Fett – so memorably Yoda-like wisdom. MIND THE GAPS
announced in the end credits of the
Mandalorian Season 2 finale – has Perhaps more relevant, the kids who While The Book Of Boba Fett was widely
ensured that the prequels are very first encountered The Phantom Menace promoted as a gangster show – The
much back on the agenda, no longer the as 10-year-olds are now in their Godfather on the mean streets of
Black Krrsantan of the Star Wars family. thirties, and potential Disney+ Tatooine – the reality proved somewhat
subscribers in their own right. For different. With a remarkably large
In canon, the prequels were a pivotal them, Darth Maul, General Grievous proportion of the runtime devoted to
(and traumatising) time in the titular and Kit Fisto are as much a part of flashbacks, its primary function was
bounty hunter’s life, ever since his dad, Star Wars as Lando, Lobot and explaining how Boba Fett turned his life
Jango, was casually decapitated by Mace Grand Moff Tarkin, and chances around after tumbling into the Sarlacc.
Windu’s lightsaber. But the show’s are, The Book Of Boba Fett’s recent
nods to Episodes I-III stretch way beyond tour around the Boonta Eve Classic Ever since Fett’s embarrassing,
blood ties, with familiar locations (Mos podrace circuit gave them the almost comical demise in Return Of The
Espa), weapons (seismic charges) and same warm-and-fuzzy feelings Jedi, fans had been praying for his
spaceships (the elegant, art deco- as Han and Chewie coming return – the mystery had already been
inspired Naboo N-1 starfighter) all “home” to the Millennium addressed in non-canonical expanded
having pivotal roles in the story. Falcon. From a business point of universe stories – but surely only the
view, Lucasfilm would be mad to most ardent Star Wars completists were
And maybe we shouldn’t be cut them out of the wall-to-wall crying out for the comprehensive
surprised that the prequels are being nostalgia fest Star Wars has become backstory we were given. Yes, it’s
brought back into the fold. As more under Disney’s watch. vaguely interesting to learn how he
time passes, there’s a sense that
‘THAT GALAXY HAS
TOTALFILM.COM NEVER BEEN MORE
DEFINED BY ITS PAST
THAN IT IS NOW’

crafted his Tusken gaffi stick from a tree
after a lizard-induced spirit quest, but
this is the stuff we used to learn from
footnotes in reference books.

Then again, you didn’t have to be a
Bothan spy to see this coming. Filling
gaps in canon is seemingly one of the
key pillars in Lucasfilm’s Star Wars
strategy, and has been since Disney
reignited the saga. Rogue One, for
example, conjured the plot for an
entire movie out of a couple of lines in
A New Hope’s opening crawl. Then, less
than two years later, Solo set out to
answer every question you never
needed to ask about the galaxy’s most
famous Corellian smuggler.

In Rogue One’s case, diving into a
then-unknown region of Star Wars
history proved a masterstroke, as a
gang of unfamiliar characters found
themselves on an unexpectedly
harrowing suicide mission – a
genuine departure from Star Wars of old.
The strategy has been rather less
successful, since, however, as Solo

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 77

SPOTLIGHT laboured to explain how Han got his Return Of The Jedi (8D8), the Clone Wars DISNEY
surname, and smashed records on the cartoon (Cad Bane, Ahsoka Tano),
SERIAL THRILLERS (not as cool as it sounds) Kessel Run. novels (Cobb Vanth), comics (Black
Meanwhile, The Book Of Boba Fett has Krrsantan) and games (a BD droid).
New SW shows on the small- followed a similar trajectory, revealing
screen horizon… that blasting out of the Sarlacc was just Crucially, it doesn’t matter if you
the amuse bouche for an extended can’t tell a Bossk from a B’Omarr
OBI-WAN KENOBI episode of ‘Living With Tuskens’. monk, or if you don’t recognise the
couple drinking in a Tatooine bar from
Ewan McGregor returns in what GUEST IN SHOW A New Hope’s deleted scenes. These bits
feels like the most monumental are the icing on the cake if you want to
of all the spin-offs thus far, taking All this points to a dilemma for take a deeper dive, and if you don’t…
place 10 years after the events Lucasfilm and Disney: do they well, that’s good too.
of Revenge Of The Sith. Hayden want their TV shows to advance the
Christensen’s Anakin/Vader is also mythology of one of the greatest pop- But if Star Wars’ storytelling becomes
back, alongside Joel Edgerton and culture phenomena in history? Or is it a box-ticking exercise – as has
Bonnie Piesse, with newcomers enough for them to function as a luxury sometimes been the case with The Book
including Kumail Nanjiani, O’Shea version of Wookieepedia? Of Boba Fett – things take a turn for the
Jackson Jr. and Benny Safdie. reductive, as if holes are being filled for
There’s no reason the franchise their own sake.
ETA 25 May can’t do both, of course, and it’s safe
to say the universe would be massively The series has shown how – when
ANDOR diminished if it lost sight of its geek it comes to narrative – more isn’t
credentials. The chance to play Star always more. Just as it’s hard to argue
A spin-off of a spin-off, this Rogue Wars I-Spy has been one of the most that seeing Anakin Skywalker as a kid
One prequel follows Rebel pilot enjoyable aspects of both The made Darth Vader a more interesting
Mandalorian and The Book Of Boba Fett, villain, getting a glimpse under Fett’s
Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) with every episode packed with gifts helmet does little to enhance a
in the years leading up to the for observant fans. Indeed, in The Book character whose calling card was his
pilfering of the Death Star plans. Of Boba Fett alone, the cameos have enigmatic nature and a very cool suit.
Intriguingly, Tony Gilroy returns featured characters who originated in Come the end of The Book Of Boba Fett,
to act as showrunner, and a it’s almost impossible to square the
second series is already planned.
Familiar faces include Genevieve SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS
O’Reilly (Mon Mothma) and Forest

Whitaker (Saw Gerrera).
ETA 2022 tbc

AHSOKA

Rosario Dawson made a huge fan-
casting-come-to-life impression

appearing as Clone Wars favourite
Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian
Season 2 (briefly returning in Boba
Fett). Her iconic headtails will be
returning as the Togruta gets her
own series, existing in the Mando
timeline. Mary Elizabeth Winstead
and Ray Stevenson also feature.

ETA 2022 tbc

THE ACOLYTE

This female-centric SW series
exists in a space (and time) in the

galaxy far, far away that hasn’t
been explored on screen before.
Leslye Headland (Russian Doll)
leads the “mystery-thriller that
will take viewers into a galaxy of
shadowy secrets and emerging

Dark-Side powers in the final
days of the High Republic era”,
according to the official synopsis.

ETA tbc

LANDO

Han’s sly best mate is also down
for his own spin-off, although
details are thin on the ground:

it’s not yet clear if Donald Glover
would reprise his cool AF role

from Solo, or if Billy Dee Williams
would return following The Rise
Of Skywalker. Dear White People
director Justin Simien has been

tapped to oversee it.
ETA tbc

78 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022

benevolent ruler of Mos Espa with a The Book Of Boba Fett STAR WARS
bounty hunter so ruthless that Vader often seemed at its best
– y’know, the guy who regularly “interconnected shows” that would
Force-chokes underperforming staff when Mando, not Fett, “culminate in a climactic story event”.
– asked him to hold back on the was the star of the show.
disintegrations. After a season in Lucasfilm’s approach to crossovers
the company of Boba 2.0, the So that’s how that turned out to be even more Marvel than
Mandalorian feels like the more scene ended… Marvel’s – even in its most blatant
enticing action figure. efforts to tee up another movie or TV
show story arc, the MCU has never
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE shifted the focus quite this far from its
nominal protagonist. In fact, on the
The most surprising thing about Boba evidence of Star Wars’ most recent
Fett’s spin-off, however, is that he offering, we should no longer regard
wasn’t really the star of his own show. The Mandalorian, The Book Of Boba Fett
Beyond the flashbacks, the series did and Ahsoka as separate series, but as
so little to advance the story of Jango’s parts of the same Generic Star Wars TV
son that he was barely even missed in Show set to unfold on Disney Plus over
the two episodes where he said nothing the coming years.
at all. Instead, the show morphed
into The Mandalorian Season 2.5, as But The Book Of Boba Fett’s most
its two most memorable instalments significant – possibly unintended –
picked up the stories of Din Djarin legacy is reminding us why we fell in
(the eponymous Mando), and his little love with The Mandalorian in the first
green friend, Grogu. place. Hanging out with Mando and
Baby Yoda once again gave us a
It was a welcome surprise, but one glimpse of the sort of heart Fett and
we should have been prepared for – his mercenary sidekick, Fennec Shand,
when Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy could never even hope to emulate.
announced a raft of Mandalorian From its earliest days, the parent
spin-offs in late 2020, she alluded to show worked to establish a bond
between a bounty hunter and a

‘STAR WARS HAS
ALWAYS BEEN
ANCHORED BY A MORE
HUMAN ELEMENT’

foundling, and their relationship is the
energy field that binds this corner of
the galaxy together.

For all the canonical weight of
Mandalorian history, darksabers and
educating Baby Yoda, it pales into
insignificance next to the raw emotional
power of Grogu leaping into Mando’s
arms in the Boba Fett season finale.
The richness of the franchise’s
mythology is a wonderful thing, but
these character moments are a
reminder that – at its best – Star Wars
has always been anchored by a more
human element; the original trilogy’s
success based as much on Luke, Leia
and Han’s chemistry as its cool
hardware and space magic.

Whether The Mandalorian, The Book
Of Boba Fett or new shows Obi-Wan
Kenobi, Ahsoka and Andor choose to dive
into prequels, sequels, videogames or
even novelty Star Wars bubble bath for
inspiration, telling memorable stories
about relatable characters has to be top
of the agenda.

THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT IS
AVAILABLE ON DISNEY+ NOW.

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 79

RELIGIOUS

80 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022

ARDOUR

A true story of a lesbian love affair in a 17th-century
convent, Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta was the most
controversial movie at Cannes ’21. But is it female
empowerment or nunsploitation? Total Film joins the
director and his two leads for a bout of religious ecstasy.

WORDS JAMES MOTTRAM

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 81

MAKING OF

MUBI All good things come Tuscan city of Pescia, and the discovery that Virginie Efira as the
to those who wait. she had enjoyed relations with one of her eponymous Benedetta,
Especially if you’re nuns, Bartolomea. being directed by
a Paul Verhoeven fan. Paul Verhoeven.
The controversial Verhoeven admits he was “surprised” when
Dutch director of he read what happened. “In the atmosphere Benedetta goes to unusual
Showgirls and Basic of religion at that time - which would be the lengths to reach God.
Instinct was all set Roman Catholic religion - it would be unheard
to bring his new of that two women would have a relationship, SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS
film Benedetta to Cannes in 2019 until a a sexual relationship. In fact, most men would
knee operation saw him postpone his place say this is impossible. In fact, that’s also a line
in official competition by a year. Then the in the movie: a woman can never be attracted
pandemic hit, Cannes 2020 was cancelled, and to a woman. Something like lesbianism – the
Benedetta was shelved for another 12 months word did not exist at that time – was absolutely
before finally being unveiled at the world’s forbidden or just could not happen.”
most famous film festival last July.
When the movie finally played, social Among a trio of writers on the project,
media exploded. “The first reactions to Paul Verhoeven ultimately teamed with screenwriter
Verhoeven’s latest film BENEDETTA have just David Birke, who previously wrote the director’s
dropped out of #Cannes and all we can say is: 2016 female rape-revenge drama Elle, which
‘OH MY GOD!’” tweeted one attendee. This saw star Isabelle Huppert nominated for the
historical drama based on a true story about first Oscar of her career. “Of course, the book
a nun who finds solace in the company of is an academic book with hundreds of notes in
another woman saw critics either ecstatic or the back. But it’s not really a novel, there’s not
up in arms, with a story that features lashings really a narrative. So we brought in the narrative,
of sex, nudity, violence, and profanity. At the David Birke did that. And so based on many,
press conference, Verhoeven’s film was even many things that you will find in this book, we
called blasphemous. based the script. So that’s why I did it, how I
“I don’t understand really how you can be did it. I’m very happy that it was possible.”
blasphemous about something that happened,”
he raged. “Even if it is in 1625. It’s true, GOD’S GIFTS
mostly.” This was a case of historical fact, he
argued. “You cannot basically change history. The story shifted so it began with a young
It’s done. People have done that. And you can Benedetta committed by her parents to a
talk about if that was wrong or not. But you convent of Theatine nuns, run by Sister Felicita
cannot change history. You cannot change the (Charlotte Rampling). The action then moves on
things that happened. And I think I base it on 18 years, with Benedetta known for experiencing
the things that happened. So I think the word visions of Jesus Christ. While many of her fellow
‘blasphemy’… for me, in this case, is stupid.” sisters have endured trauma, nothing compares
He wasn’t the only one taken aback. to new arrival Bartolomea, raped by her father
“I was surprised that so many people were and four brothers. But when Bartolomea makes
outraged!” remarks Virginie Efira, who plays a pass at Benedetta, the nun’s visions get more
the eponymous nun Benedetta. “I mean, they vivid – as if the potential for orgasm brings her
know Paul’s work, right? I like a risky movie… closer to Christ.
[With] him, you’re navigating a tightrope!” Her
co-star Daphné Patakia, who plays Bartolomea, Verhoeven’s own interest in religion goes
the young nun that Benedetta falls for, was back years. He was previously a member of the
bracing herself for the divisive reaction. “It’s Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars dedicated
a Paul Verhoeven film, so I didn’t expect to uncovering the historical Jesus. He also
anything less,” she shrugs. “Maybe some authored a book in 2007, Jesus Of Nazareth,
people didn’t get the humour of the movie.” which explored the relationship between Jesus
Whatever the case, there’s no question and John the Baptist. Four years later, he set
Benedetta is classic Verhoeven: a ribald mix out to make a film of the book – set to be
of sex and religion set in the same era as his adapted by Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary –
earlier medieval drama, Flesh + Blood (1985). which had posited some radical theories, even
It began life when a Dutch scriptwriter gave suggesting that Jesus was the product of his
Verhoeven Judith C. Brown’s book Immodest mother Mary being raped by a Roman soldier.
Acts: The Life Of A Lesbian Nun In Renaissance
Italy with a view to turning it into a movie. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the film fell
Published in 1986, Brown’s historical account by the wayside. But gripped by a religious
chronicled the life of Benedetta Carlini, Abbess fervour, possibly, Verhoeven wasn’t going to
of the Convent of the Mother of God in the give up. After the success of Elle, the Dutch
director switched his attention to the story of
Benedetta. Originally called ‘Blessed Virgin’,
there were script contributions by the late
French writer Jean-Claude Carrière and Gerard
Soeteman, whose long-standing relationship

82 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022

BENEDETTA

Charlotte Rampling plays with Verhoeven stretches back across eight in there. For example, the dildo.” In the film’s
the Abbess Felicita. films to 1971’s comedy Business Is Business, notorious scene, a makeshift sex toy is whittled
before Birke came on board. from a statue of the Virgin Mary and used to
pleasure Benedetta. “I was not inventing,”
Verhoeven also already had his star: the reiterates Verhoeven. “People think that it was
44-year-old Belgian actress Efira, who had me that built these seeds, but they are mostly
featured in Elle as a devout Catholic wife. Two in the book.” Efira smiles at the mention of it.
months after she filmed her role in Elle, Efira “This scene… it’s a bit special.”
bumped into Verhoeven in a hotel. “I came to
the table and said, ‘Hello, Paul.’ And he was SOMETHING TO SAY
like this… ‘Who is this person?’ I said, ‘I’m
Virginie, I worked on your movie.’ ‘Ah, yes!’ Of course, the bawdy nature of Benedetta
So I didn’t impress him! And after I read a immediately saw critics accuse it of “another
book with an interview with him. There was entry in the tawdry nunsploitation genre”, as
a chapter on Elle and he spoke about me and Variety put it, ranking it alongside 1979’s The
spoke about our work and he said, ‘I met her Killer Nun with Anita Ekberg as a murderous
in the hotel, and I didn’t recognise her because sister, or even 1973’s The Nun And The Devil,
the character in Elle was very elegant.’ Me in which starred Anne Heywood. Efira shrugs at
life, it’s the opposite, I think. I was a little bit the idea that Verhoeven’s film could fall in the
shocked but voila!” same category. “Nun exploitation? For me,
it’s okay. I like when the critics say what they
Sitting in a penthouse suite in the swish want. What I like in this movie… you can say
Londoner Hotel in Leicester Square, the a lot of things [about it]. And there are some
blonde-haired Efira is looking perfectly elegant movies, you can say nothing at all.”
in a beige trouser suit, heels and gold jewellery.
A month after her slightly odd hotel encounter, Certainly, the shoot was a harmonious
Verhoeven contacted her, saying he wanted her one. Unlike, say, 2013’s intense female love
to play Benedetta. “He told me a little bit of the story Blue Is The Warmest Colour, where actors

‘THE WAY VERHOEVEN TREATS SEX AND
VIOLENCE IS ALWAYS VERY INTERESTING…

IT ALWAYS SERVES THE STORY’

story. He told me there’s a lot of sex scenes. ‘Is Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux accused
that a problem for you?’ I said, ‘That is not a director Abdellatif Kechiche of exploitation.
problem because you’re the director and I like Here, Efira and Patakia got on like the
all your sex scenes in your movies!’ With girls? proverbial house on fire with their director.
‘Yes, no problem!’” “The whole filming of the movie was extremely
pleasant, wonderful and warm,” says
Opposite her, Verhoeven cast newcomer Verhoeven, who took his cast to the medieval
Daphné Patakia, who grew up in Belgium and town of Bevagna, in northern Italy, to shoot
graduated from the Greek National Theatre. on location. “He has a teenager’s eyes,” smiles
Taking on her highest-profile role to date, she Patakia of her director. “He’s so curious and
too knew exactly what Verhoeven required. so alive. That was really impressive.”
“He already had storyboards of the sex
scenes,” the 29-year-old recalls, when Total The result is a multi-layered exploration
Film speaks with her over Zoom. “Everything of love, sex, religion, politics and power
was very clear. I mean, even where he would – the latter coming through the figure of
put the camera. So I knew everything. And of Lambert Wilson’s ruthless nuncio, who is
course, I would have never said no, because alerted to Benedetta’s illicit relationship with
I already knew Paul Verhoeven’s work. The Bartolomea, in a horrifying final act that even
way he treats sex [and] violence is always very depicts the Bubonic Plague. As for all the
interesting. It’s never just for the pleasure of disrobing? Verhoeven brushes it away. “In
the eyes… it always serves the story.” general, people when they have sex, they take
the clothes off. So I’m stunned basically by the
When she first read the script, though, fact that we don’t want to look at the reality of
Patakia was intrigued. “I thought to myself, life. Why this Puritanism has been introduced
‘Wow, is any scene going to be normal?’ And is – in my opinion – wrong.”
the answer was, ‘No’. Not one scene was
normal somehow! And then I read the book, BENEDETTA OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 15 APRIL.
and most of the stuff that is in the movie is

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 83

INTERVIEW JAMES MOTTRAM

‘FOR ME, ACTING…
IT’S MY LIFE. THAT’S MY
COMMITMENT TO WHY
I CAME HERE, ON EARTH.’

JBUINLIOECTHTEE

She almost drowned in The Lovers On The Bridge,
broke hearts in Three Colours: Blue, won an Oscar for
The English Patient and battled Godzilla. Juliette Binoche
has done it all – almost. As she returns with hard-hitting drama
Between Two Worlds, Total Film meets the French icon

to discover she’s still hungry for more.

PORTRAITS VICTORIA STEVENS

VICTORIA STEVENS/AUGUST

84 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS



INTERVIEW

he French call her ‘La Binoche’. Though It’s mid-January when Total Film meets in the Alps with director Christophe
maybe ‘Binoche The Brave’ might be Binoche over Zoom during the annual Honoré on his autobiographical Le
better. Since her arrival in the mid-’80s, UniFrance gathering to promote the Lycéen, she’s just had another Claire
the raven-haired Parisian has gone where year’s Gallic cinematic offerings. She’s Denis film, love triangle Both Sides Of
angels – or at least other actors – fear to sporting a white blouse and red trouser The Blade, premiere at the Berlin Film
tread. Few other performers would endure, suit, looking impossibly younger than her Festival. Also in the can is American
for example, the torturous three-year 57 years. Relaxed, giggly and full of beans, indie Paradise Highway – playing a truck
production of 1991’s The Lovers On The her sentences may occasionally veer driver opposite Morgan Freeman – and
Bridge, which saw her almost drown in towards the florid, but the reality is, she’s Antonio Campos’ starry TV drama The
one scene. Fewer still would perform the been kept grounded by being a mother for Staircase, the true story of a man accused
legendary ‘fuckbox’ scene in Claire Denis’ most of her career (she has two children, of murdering his wife. Her first foray into
wildly off-kilter sci-fi High Life, where she son Raphaël, 28, and daughter Hana, 22). American television, it’s another brand-
got her rocks off on a moving dildo. new experience for Binoche, an actor who
Unlike some of her compatriots, devours them.
Then there are all those performances Binoche has remained open to English-
for arthouse auteurs, like Hou Hsiao- language experiences – whether it was What intrigued you about Between Two
hsien (Flight Of The Red Balloon), Michael early breakthroughs like The Unbearable Worlds? Was it diving into this world of
Haneke (Code Unknown, Caché) and Abbas Lightness Of Being and Damage or Anthony low-paid work?
Kiarostami (Shirin, Certified Copy). This Minghella’s The English Patient, the film When I read the book, what touched me
isn’t coincidence, but a concerted effort that won her the Oscar for Best Supporting most is when she described these people
from Binoche to seek out the best in world Actress (and endeared her to the world as being invisible. It could be in the street,
cinema, to find new experiences around she laughed, “This is a dream… it must it could be in a restaurant, it could be on
the globe. “I’m lucky now that I can go to be a French dream,” to the watching a train, it could be anywhere where we
the directors I admire,” she says, “and ask millions). There have been blockbusters need service. They’re nobody. They’re
them, ‘Would you consider making a film too – Godzilla and Ghost In The Shell – like cupboards. Not existing to others, not
together, in France or somewhere else?’” although you suspect she sees Hollywood having a look or a word or something that
as her own private laboratory in which makes you a human… that really was my
Binoche as Michèle in Leos to experiment. need to make this film. We dehumanise
Carax’s film The Lovers On ourselves very quickly if we’re not paying
The Bridge. Her latest film takes her back to attention, to any detail. I think details
France. Between Two Worlds is adapted really make a difference. When you walk
86 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022 from the bestselling non-fiction account in a corridor in a hotel, and you see the
by Florence Aubenas, a journalist who cleaning lady there and there’s no ‘hello’
went undercover as a cleaner to explore – not a word, not a look. It’s being really
the world of minimum-wage workers dehumanised. No matter what money
and the often-desperate conditions they you’re earning… it’s not what hurts. That’s
endure. Binoche, whose character name very difficult and all. But not counting as a
has been changed to Marianne Winckler, human being. I think that’s the real hurt.
is surrounded by non-professionals in And where we need to pay attention.
the film, but effortlessly blends in, as
her character discovers what life on the Was it easy for you to get to know
margins is really like. your co-stars, who were largely
non-professional?
Even the pandemic hasn’t slowed her Well, first of all I have to say, that they
prodigious work rate. Currently shooting were the professionals! They knew the
work more than I did, in that situation!
But nevertheless, I arrived a day before
shooting… I don’t know whether it was
my state, or the natural way of welcoming
a stranger, but they were very welcoming.
But it’s true I was in a state of exhaustion.
I was sick. I was losing my father at that
time. And I thought that was the best
state in a way. As they’re running around,
walking kilometres to go do two hours’
work, or working very early in the morning
before the light appears, or working very
late at night, they’re in a state of urgency
and exhaustion… they’re always on the
edge. And so when I arrived, the production
had prepared a big dinner, so I could meet
everyone before shooting, and everyone
was really welcoming. And they loved

SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

Binoche stars opposite
non-professional actors
in Between Two Worlds.

laughing, and they made lots of jokes. I was whatever, whatever… that was my inside understand, and as actors, we get that all
the time. We go back and forth, back and
discovering that. The actress who played contract, and it was liberating. And all of forth. Probably as younger actors, you learn
to find the boundary… and yet I had to
Chrystèle [Hélène Lambert] was maybe them were so wonderful. So that was the sustain that seduction in a way, because if
I was cutting off, I wasn’t sure for the next
the only one who was a little more distant best reward. scene we were going to do, there was this
feeling between us. Probably getting older
with me, and it took a few days before she and older, I’m going to have less and less
love stories. I don’t know. Maybe! [laughs]
opened up. She was probably wondering, You are now one of the film’s executive That’s part of the game.

‘This actress – who is she? Really?!’ And producers, however… Do you have a special affection in your
career for love stories? Films like The
that was really what happened in the film, My agent fought for that! Lovers On The Bridge, The English Patient,
which is a very classical love story...
so that was interesting to feel that and Well, you know, I’m not in the classical
love story [part]. I’m in a relationship. I’m
experience that. How did the non-professionals cope taking care of the English Patient and then
I’m with Kip [played by Naveen Andrews],
with the more demanding which is not a normal kind of relationship.
But go ahead...
Did you do your own ‘I THOUGHT, I emotional scenes? Take,
research into the service WILL NEVER for example, Didier Well… is it fascinating for you to explore
industries? KILL MYSELF Pupin who plays Cédric, this dynamic?
I know I’m well known to FOR A FILM’ the middle-aged man I mean, that’s what we go through in
prep… but I didn’t. I was in who has a brief romance life, right? And so it’s exploring human
a state of nudity, in a way. I with Marianne… souls and what we go through. The
was so tired. And sick. And What was interesting triangle I think is one of the worst kind of
experiences you can have in life, which
emotionally very fragile. actually on that, during the

And also being humiliated experience of it, was that the

a year before by Emmanuel [Carrère, the actor believed that there was something

film’s director] not wanting me to produce between us while we were acting. So when

the film. I said, ‘Well, it’s very hurtful, but there was a cut, after a shot, he continued

I take it, because it’s my best bet to get feeling that I was really open to him,

into the film.’ I have to let go and I have sexually - in an attraction. And it was very

no power over it. And accept that I’m not difficult for me to explain to him that it

being seen or accepted in that way. Also was not the reality, that it was fiction, that

ALAMY, CURZON I knew I was there for them. That was I was open to him because of what the

my commitment. So there was no fear of situation required. So the frontier between

losing or being seen or not seen. Whatever, fiction and reality was very odd for him to

TOTALFILM.COM MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 87

INTERVIEW FIVE STAR TURNS

is at the centre of the film I’ve just shot THREE COLOURS: BLUE 1993
with Claire Denis [Both Sides Of The Blade]. Kicking off Krzysztof Kieślowski’s tricolore
That’s probably one of the most difficult trilogy, Binoche stars as Julie, whose composer
films I’ve ever done. I would say Damage husband and child are killed in a car crash that
was very difficult. Lovers On The Bridge was she walks away from. How she deals with that
also difficult for other reasons, because it powers an emotionally resonant performance.
took ages to make...
THE ENGLISH PATIENT 1996
It was three years on and off, working Binoche nabbed one of the Michael Ondaatje
with director Leos Carax. Did it feel like adap’s nine Oscar wins as Hana, the nurse tending
a huge sacrifice? to Ralph Fiennes’ titular patient. Haunted by loved
It was more than sacrifice. It was a giving ones who have died during WW2, the ‘cursed’
time. So then it’s not about sacrifice. It was Hana stoically exudes deep reserves of sadness.
the other way round. You give it. So it’s not
a sense of sacrifice. CACHÉ 2005
This stomach-churningly tense thriller from
When you look back on a film you’ve Michael Haneke goes from sinister surveillance
done, like that, what sort of emotions footage into collective Parisian trauma.
does it bring up? Binoche and Daniel Auteil excel in roles written
When I watch a film I’ve done, I usually specifically for them.
remember… whether it was cold, whether it
was warm, whether I was itching, or [how] I CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA 2014
was living. It comes back into a blueprint of In the same year as delivering the standout scene
what I’ve been through. I remember more in Godzilla, Binoche simmered alongside young
the circumstances. The challenges of the stars Chloë Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart in
conditions, or whether it was a night shoot, this All About Eve-esque tale of a rivalry between
more than playing the actual scene. And I a grand dame and an emerging starlet.
don’t remember any lines! I forget them so
quickly! It’s so much work to learn them and HIGH LIFE 2018
it’s so quick to forget them! Claire Denis has directed Binoche three times,
with this being the most memorably bonkers.
Do you have distinct memories of Binoche is Dibs, a doctor on a prison ship
almost everything you’ve done? experimenting with artificial insemination and
I have distinctive memories, yeah. Of using the onboard ‘fuckbox’ with gusto. MM
course. Of course. But you know, I don’t
watch my films that much! So I don’t know. ALAMY

Probably not many actors do…
Yeah… I remember Sean Penn got a [2015
Honorary] César. I was there. And they
showed [clips from] all his career. And he
reacted and said, “I didn’t know I [aged] that
much!” I would probably feel the same.

Similarly, you got the French Cinema
Award at UniFrance in 2018, and they
showed a long reel of clips…
Yeah, but usually they find the good, nice,
beautiful shots of you! So you feel good
about yourself! But I have to say, when it’s
truthful, it doesn’t bother me [as long as]
it serves the story. I don’t know if pride is
the right word, but there’s a comfort that
even though you look terrible, [because] it
works so well for the film, there’s a sort of
liberation. Truth is the best make-up. It
really helps you go through age.

Looking back, who was a big influence
on you growing up?
My mother educated me – be independent
and don’t rely on a man’s work or idea of
family, but be independent. I definitely
was raised that way. That’s why I started

88 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022

JULIETTE BINOCHE

working very quickly. My first child was directors, of course, but they didn’t really JULIETTE BINOCHE
IN NUMBERS
when I was 29. I was already an actress take off. You have to have the role in order
80
and independent. to take off. It doesn’t only depend on you, Credits to her name.

but it depends on circumstances and great 10
CÉSAR AWARD
Do you see turning points in your career? directors as well. But the festival is a great NOMINATIONS, INCLUDING

Yeah, I can say that there are key films and inspiration. The films it chooses are so ONE WIN (FOR THREE
COLOURS: BLUE).
key experiences. Lovers On The Bridge… particular and tasteful and meaningful and
6
that was a moment I almost died. And I political sometimes as well. I didn’t know
Months spent on set of Jean-Luc
chose life. No matter what, I chose life. about Cannes before I went there, but my Godard’s Hail Mary for a small
supporting role.
And I thought, I will never kill myself for a taste and choices were to fight for a certain
$525M
film. So that was a turning point. In Blue, way of making movies. So I think it’s a
BOX-OFFICE TAKE OF
for example, even though the subject reflection of my choices as well. So I take BINOCHE’S HIGHEST-

matter was quite heavy, we did it with such it as recognition. GROSSING FILM,
GODZILLA.
lightness and joy. It felt contradictory. How
1
come with a subject matter [like that] you You were even on the Cannes poster the
One of six French actors
can be that happy? But it just was so easy year you won Best Actress… to have won an
Academy Award.
to make. There was no struggle. And some You can take it as a wink. But there’s
MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 89
other films you feel it’s gonna be so easy and always a distance between an image and

it is not. So it’s never what you anticipate. yourself. When I see myself I think it’s not

me, it’s someone else. You’re there for a

Surely, though, on Blue, playing a little while, and then it’s gone – gone with

mother who loses her husband and the wind.

daughter in a car accident, you had to

dispel all of that lightness on camera… Are there times in your work where you

I remember I wanted to smile, and [director felt you needed to shake things up?

Krzysztof] Kielś owski said: ‘No smile. A tear. I questioned myself, definitely. To be in

With no expression.’ But I added a little the new needs reflection, needs thinking,

bit of smile [laughs], and ‘IT WAS VERY needs feeling. And to know
actually he kept it. Y’know, DIFFICULT FOR what you want, what do you
because life gives you a lot feel like, what do you want to
sometimes. It’s very hard to invent? I remember when I

accept that. went to see Michael Haneke,
When you won the Oscar
ME TO EX PLAIN and he was shooting The
for The English Patient, did TO HIM TH AT IT Piano Teacher. I was not in
that change things for you? WAS FICTION’ that, but I just happened to
be there in Vienna. We were

It did, in a way, in the eyes of sitting on the terrace, having

the others. In my personal life, it brought joy this discussion, and I said, “I feel so alone

and astonishment because I didn’t expect it. as an actor.” Because when a director is

But at the same time in the work, I wouldn’t always telling me, “It’s great, it’s great,

say it changed anything. Because you’re still it’s great,” you’re not growing. And I want

in front of the camera, and you still have to to have somebody who has the guts to tell

be in the present time and take risks for it me, “Go and search somewhere else.”

not to be repetitive. My children changed And you need to be guided somehow. It’s

me. Relationships change you, and your very hard to see yourself. He said to me, “I

parents dying changes you, and you use all know a genius coach.” And coming out of

that matter of life, all that light and matter, his mouth, I thought “genius” – that’s an

in your work. And that makes a difference. interesting vocabulary for him. So I went

to meet with her, as I did some theatre in

After that you were continually courted Broadway and she lives in New York. So

by Hollywood, beginning with Chocolat. we started working together. I really learnt

What drew you to that? from her – it was a great experience.

I’d never done a family film, and I have

children, so that has a certain meaning. This More recently you experimented in

film carried a story that was very near my big budget Hollywood cinema, in both

heart. It wasn’t about making a quick buck. Godzilla and Ghost In The Shell. How was

that experience?

What’s your relationship to Cannes? Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I love challenges

You won Best Actress for 2010’s Certified that are different. But still, you have a

Copy, 25 years after you went with your camera, you have dialogue, you have

breakout movie, Rendez-vous, which relationships… it’s still the same deal.

made you a star… It’s just done in different ways. The big

Yes, before that, people didn’t know me. difference is the trust the director is giving

I had roles here and there – with great you. I think because of my experience, I

TOTALFILM.COM

have to say I don’t have to fight as much
as before. There’s more trust. As we go in
the work, it feels like there’s a genuine trust.
We have to know each other… with [Ghost
In The Shell director] Rupert Sanders, there
were stages of knowing each other and I felt
we were working together.

What about on Godzilla?
I loved working with Gareth Edwards on
Godzilla. He has his own independent
mind, and the fact that it was only his
second film was a crazy situation. He was
able to really be himself. His first film
[2010’s Monsters], he made at home, on
his computer, with no money – and this
second chance, he had this huge budget,
and this chance to achieve a very specific
kind of film.

What appealed about a blockbuster
like that?
It was related to my son. I had to watch
Godzilla with him when he was a little boy.
For me to do Godzilla, it was big. ‘Mum,
she’s doing a Godzilla film!’ I watched
all the Godzilla [films] possible with him,
because he loved it as a little boy. He was
over the moon! Usually he’s not that
interested in my films!

Has Marvel ever come to you? Would
you do a superhero movie?
Y’know, I’m a little crazy. I would.

So that would appeal to you?
I like to have different experiences. And also
a lot of great directors do direct them and
it’s another concept, it’s another rhythm.
So, yeah, I’m open to different experiences.

But they’ve never asked you yet?
Marvel? I don’t think so.

Do you still have dreams in your
professional life?
I don’t think of a ‘professional’ something.
For me, acting, it’s my life. That’s my
commitment to why I came here, on
Earth. I was lucky enough to find what
was important to me, the best way I could
participate in the world, participate in
humanity. And it’s my way. And life gave
it to me as well. But I worked. I have to say.
I worked. Not because of a professional
idea. But because I’m passionate about it,
because I love it, because I’m thirsty, and it
makes me happy.

Do you still look at actors and go ‘I’d
love to work with…’?
I would have loved to work with Philip
Seymour Hoffman. He’s my hero. I think
there’s no better acting.

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JULIETTE BINOCHE

Have you seen Licorice Pizza yet, with his Binoche delivered a tense
son, Cooper? turn in 2014’s monster
Not yet! I want to go! blockbuster Godzilla.

How was the pandemic time for you?
You’re usually so busy working. Did you
find time to explore other artistic areas,
like painting?
The first year I went back to my stove!
I had the kids at home, so I tried to be the
best mother I could. And I was doing some
translations with two friends… Hungarian
writing. So I worked in different ways.
I didn’t do paintings, because I was busy
doing this translation. And then the second
year, I worked a lot. I did two films and a
TV series.

The TV series is The Staircase, with Toni

Collette and Colin Firth. Did you enjoy

the experience of making long-form

TV? That’s fairly new for you…

I enjoyed it, because I was happy to work

with [creator] Antonio Campos, and the How would you describe the show? Yeah, I know! It’s even more bizarre because
he had written a play about his family and
director, Leigh Janiak. And I enjoyed Would you call it a thriller? he’s in it. And the play is fantastic. And we
actors and the crew came to see the play
working with them. I did not deal with You know, I haven’t seen it yet. I’m in it because it was playing [near] where we’re
shooting in the Alps. And it was amazing
it… I had so many scripts! And we started very little at the beginning. Then after that, to have the film crew watching the theatre
team playing the story that we’re telling on
shooting the end of the scripts, and the end I’m more into it, in the story. So it’s very film. It was such an experience.

of the show wasn’t written yet. It was like hard for me to say whether it’s a thriller or Do you ever get time to recharge
yourself between films and make space
[being] children… you have one clue that not, but what I loved about the scripts is for new ones?
Before maybe it was more of a question
makes you understand that you’ve got to go that time-wise, it really is past, present and mark. How do I [create] distance with
the role I’m playing? But there’s a
there, then another clue and you’ve got to future all mixed together. So it becomes certain time where you don’t have that
kind of problem. I’m used to being the
find where the treasure is. So very interesting as a concept. instrument of work. So it’s like a pianist
to try and find the essence, With Toni Collette playing and I’m in it while I’m doing it. Also when
the centre of what you’re you have children, you have to go back to
doing… it’s very blurry. So ‘WHEN I SEE Kathleen, and me playing the reality very quickly at the end of the day.
MYSELF I THINK editor and how it goes back So I’m used to change and switching from
I was in a panic sometimes. IT’S NOT ME, and forth, with Colin [Firth]’s this reality to another reality. It’s not that
There was a lot of back and IT’S SOMEONE character Michael and the much of an issue for me!
forth with the directors, children… so I don’t know at
Antonio Campos especially, ELSE’ the end how the result’s going BETWEEN TWO WORLDS OPENS IN
because it was his dream of to be but I really enjoyed this CINEMAS ON 27 MAY.

making this series. And I was kind of round feeling of time.

in contact with a real person. I became very

close to her. We became quite close friends, What is next for you?

but I had a lot of free time, which I never I’m doing a film with Christophe Honoré.

have usually. That was a big discovery! Wow, We’re shooting in the Alps. It’s in Savoir. It’s

you’re being paid for not doing very much! called Le Lycéen. And it’s a true story of his

It never happened to me. Usually, it’s like teenage time and I’m playing his mother.

working every day, nights and days… and

having a tight budget and working non- That must be strange, playing the

stop. So that was good for a change. director’s mother...

VICTORIA STEVENS/AUGUST, ALAMY “LIFE IS VERY HEAVY TO ME, JULIETTE BINOCHE LINE READING “I’M NOT IN
LOVE WITH HIM.
BUT IT IS SO LIGHT TO YOU. I “To excel and to
know how to show I’M IN LOVE
CAN’T BEAR THIS LIGHTNESS, it is to excel twice.” WITH GHOSTS.”

THIS FREEDOM... I’M NOT MARIA ENDERS, HANA,
CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA THE ENGLISH PATIENT
STRONG ENOUGH.”

TEREZA,
THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING

TOTALFILM.COM MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 91

EDITED BY
MATTHEW LEYLAND

@ T O TA L F I L M _ M AT T L

★★★★★

WILL NEVER LET
YOU DOWN

★★★★★

ALWAYS MAKES
YOU SMILE

★★★★★

BLOWS HOT
AND COLD

★★★★★

CROSS THE
STREET TO AVOID

★★★★★

NASTY PIECE OF
WORK

THE WORLD’S MOST TRUSTED MOVIE

94 96 OUT NOW ★★★ p107
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THE WORST 98 Catwoman: Hunted ★★★ p107
PERSON IN THE Death On The Nile ★★★★ p104
Dog ★★ p107
WORLD Here Before ★★★★ p105
Jackass Forever ★★★★ p106
The com-dram you The Justice Of Bunny King ★★★ p100
cannot a-fjord to miss Kimi ★★★ p100
Marry Me ★★★★ p104
REVIEWS Moonfall ★★★★ p107
Rūrangi ★★★ p104
Slumber Party Massacre ★★★ p98
Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It
Uncharted

4 MARCH ★★★★ p102
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Ali & Ava ★★★★★ p107
Fresh ★★★★ p105
The Godfather Part II ★★★★ p103
Great Freedom ★★★ p105
Lucy And Desi ★★★ p104
Rebel Dread
The Sanctity Of Space

7 MARCH ★★ p100
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The Last Journey
Zeros And Ones

11 MARCH ★★★ p101
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Master Cheng ★★ p101
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Sideshow
Young Plato

14 MARCH ★★★ p103

The Ledge

18 MARCH ★★★★ p99
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Paris, 13th District ★★★★ p105
The Phantom Of The Open ★★★ p99
River
Three Floors

24 MARCH ★★★★ p104

The Spine Of Night

25 MARCH

Broadcast Signal Intrusion ★★★★ p99

Escape From Mogadishu ★★ p103

The Tinderbox ★★★ p105

102 The Worst Person In The World★★★★★ p94

1 APRIL ★★★ p100
★★★ p103
Coppelia
One Of These Days

For more reviews visit gamesradar.com/totalfilm

EXTRAS p108
p110-114
Blu-ray reviews
Extras, Soundtracks, Games, Books

MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 93

THE WORST
PERSON IN
THE WORLD15

Oslo my goodness…

★★★★★ OUT 25 MARCH CINEMAS

SEE THIS Enter Fleabag into your He should have noticed her DIRECTOR Joachim Trier STARRING Renate
IF YOU search engine of choice and physical inability to look Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert
LIKED the Norwegian equivalent him in the face long before. Nordrum, Vidar Sandem SCREENPLAY
comes back as ‘Loppepose’. A far Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt DISTRIBUTOR Mubi
THE ROYAL more elegant translation than that, It is hardly surprising, then, when RUNNING TIME 128 mins
TENENBAUMS though, comes via this terrifically her relationship with Aksel (Trier
moving and wildly amusing romantic regular Anders Danielsen Lie) hits the perfectly fine to inhale their cigarette
2001 dramedy from Thelma (2017) helmer buffers, the success he’s enjoying as smoke or watch them while they’re
Like your films Joachim Trier, a conclusion to an a comic-book artist merely serving taking a leak.) Another is a fabulous
Oslo-set trilogy which began with to stoke her feelings of inadequacy. fantastical interlude that finds Julie
sliced into his 2006 debut feature Reprise and (His most contentious creation is a racing across the capital from one
chapters? Then continued five years later with 2011’s decadent feline called Bobcat whose beau to another, its denizens standing
check out Wes Oslo, August 31st. sexist attitudes eventually see him stock still around her like some
called to account.) Indeed, it is Julie’s Scandinavian subset of the Mannequin
Anderson’s Chances are you are more familiar impetuous decision to walk away from Challenge. Only the slight billow of
episodic drollery. with the work of Trier’s distant relative one of Aksel’s swanky book launches a dress fluttering in the breeze and a
Lars than you are with Trier himself, that propels her into the orbit of young girl’s momentary arm flinch
OSLO, AUGUST a filmmaker whose best-known credit Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), a rather impair the sanctity of an illusion given
31ST 2011 to date is probably 2015’s English- more laidback Oslo resident who is a bonus sprinkle of grace by composer
language Jesse Eisenberg starrer Louder much closer to her in outlook, age and Ola Fløttom.
Renate Reinsve Than Bombs. Yet prior knowledge of temperament.
made her debut his oeuvre is certainly not needed to Arguably less impactful are the
with a minor role appreciate a film whose endearingly Their risqué meet-cute at a artsy literary devices that punctuate
in Trier’s study of flighty hero Julie (the sublime Renate wedding Julie gatecrashes, in which Julie’s progress from her twenties to
Reinsve) makes Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s they playfully test the limits of what
a recovering hedonistic café owner look like a strangers can get up to while still
drug addict. paragon of virtuous restraint. remaining technically faithful to their
other halves, is but one of several
22 JULY 2018 Impulsive, indecisive and loath to stand-out sequences. (Apparently it is
Anders Danielsen settle down, Julie flirts with careers
with the same alacrity with which
Lie shows his she exchanges her sexual partners.
darker side in this (Initially introduced as a medical
chilling recreation student, she subsequently dabbles
with psychology and photography
of 2011’s Utøya before turning her hand to penning
massacre. a blog and working in a bookshop.)
She’s equally undecided when it comes
For more reviews to having children; a weekend away
visit gamesradar. with her older lover’s relatives only
strengthens her reluctance to give
com/totalfilm him the kids he desires.

PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™

THRILLED Your Friends Everybody ’shroom Parting
ENTERTAINED place like these freeze with a shots
NODDING OFF or mine view
Reindeer
ZZZZZZZZZ Toilet games Smock and roll
RUNNING TIME humour

START 20 40 60 80 100 FINISH MUBI

94 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

her thirties, the use of an omniscient ‘The Worst Person In The World feels deeply,
narrator and a dozen chapter headings ineffably human, with all the contradictions,
(with prologue and epilogue to boot) imperfections and messiness that entails’
placing a layer of extra artifice between
her protagonist and the viewer. (‘Bad geriatric mammaries and engorged ineffably human, with all the
Timing’, ‘Julie’s Narcissistic Circus’ tampons gleefully stepping over it. contradictions, imperfections and
and ‘Oral Sex In The Age Of #MeToo’ That one of the latter winds up in the messiness that entails. There are
are just a few of the descriptors Trier face of Julie’s cold fish of a father is times you’ll be infuriated by Julie, but
and co-writer Eskil Vogt gnomically a particularly fearless flourish. Yet that only goes to show that she is a
interpolate.) That Reinsve is able to it’s also a profoundly touching one, work in progress who has a way to
smash through it is a tribute to her an unanticipated loss bringing home go (and maybe another film?) before
iridescent charm and effervescent to both Julie and the audience that she becomes the finished article. It’s
sparkle, qualities that suggest the Best time is by no means a given. It’s also appropriate in that regard that late on,
Actress award she picked up at Cannes something Aksel reflects upon in a we see her as a photographer taking
will soon have some company on her rueful speech about how the simple stills on a film set. As most of us will
mantelpiece. A Best Actress Bafta is pleasures of his childhood – going surely attest, it takes a while for any
not beyond the realms of possibility, life to develop and click into focus.
while there’s little standing between to record stores, for example, or
the film itself and an Oscar for Best leafing through comic books – NEIL SMITH
International Feature. are being inexorably expunged
from existence. THE VERDICT International
Trier’s film teeters merrily More than anything, remakes surely await a film that
on the borders of good taste, though, The Worst Person might be the best thing to come
with one hallucinogenic In The World feels deeply, out of Norway since Morten Harket.
’shroom trip involving
MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 95
TOTALFILM.COM

THE PHANTOM “What? I have to
OF THE OPEN 12A play several holes?”

Big Friendly Golfer…

★★★★★ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMAS

Cumbrian chancer a hit with the crowds,” trumpets a
newspaper headline in Craig Roberts’ (Eternal Beauty) gentle
comedy. Roberts merges crowd-pleasing material with his own
sideways-on spirit for the true-life ’70s tale of Maurice Flitcroft (Mark
Rylance), a middle-aged crane operator who responds to redundancy
by entering the British Open. Even though he can’t play golf.

Voice ever-melodious, Mark Rylance leads as this hapless dreamer, a
doting family man whose floaty optimism won’t be grounded. Whether
you see him as a fabulist, failure or folk hero, Flitcroft emerges as a
singular figure in Rylance’s sure grip, with echoes of Eddie the Eagle.

Working from a script by Paddington 2 co-writer Simon Farnaby,
Roberts anchors Flitcroft’s story in a mix of workaday reality, warming
family detail and cartoonish comedy. Rhys Ifans holds the comic fringes
nicely as Flitcroft’s nemesis; at home, Sally Hawkins makes persuasive
work of Flitcroft’s wife. Tone and plot veer off-green in the back nine,
but Roberts musters enough game fun to compensate, not least when
Flitcroft’s disco-loving twin lads bust out their irrepressible dancefloor
moves. Even if a darker film could have been made of Flitcroft’s failings,
Roberts’ drive for uplift hits the feelgood spot. KEVIN HARLEY

THE VERDICT Roberts tees off a plucky charmer,
anchored by Mark Rylance’s cheering portrait of an
irascible working-class fantasist.

After many Scary MASTER TBC UNIVERSAL, EONE, AMAZON
Movies, Hall finally
does a scary movie… Degrees of suspense…

96 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022 ★★★★★ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMAS, PRIME VIDEO

Writer/director Mariama Diallo’s feature debut is centred on
Ancaster College, an elite liberal-arts institution that’s a
stone’s throw from Salem… yet feels cursed long before
any ghoulish apparitions or racist abuse show up.

Regina Hall plays Ancaster’s new ‘master’ Gail, the first Black person
elected to the post. Gail finds it as difficult to settle into the new role as
new Black student Jasmine (Zoe Renee) finds navigating the all-white
frat parties, or writing essays about The Scarlet Letter’s racial subtext.

As the story progresses, Diallo layers in elements of the supernatural,
attending to them keenly. Unlike such recent genre outings as The
Forever Purge or Antlers, Master doesn’t bog down in social commentary.
With its effective jump frights and stylish nightmare sequences, the film
is as interested in being scary as it is smart.

It also has a terrific anchor in Hall; best known for her comic turns in
Girls Trip and Scary Movie, cast against type she is exceptional throughout.
Hall plays Gail as brilliant but weary, burdened with the impossible
task of being the academic and moral compass for an institution only
interested in the outward appearance of change. The film ends on
more of a whimper than a bang, with a final twist as puzzling as it is
inconsequential. But Master remains an engrossing, impressive debut
that distinguishes Diallo as an exciting new genre voice. LEILA LATIF

THE VERDICT Regina Hall shines in this stylish horror,
taking on the spectres of racism at an elite university.

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Spot as many phallic symbols
as you can in this image. Can

you beat our score of four?

SEE THIS

IF YOU

LIKED DIRECTOR Sean Baker STARRING Simon Rex,
Bree Elrod, Suzanna Son, Judy Hill, Brittney
RED ROCKETTBC Rodriguez, Ethan Darbone SCREENPLAY
BOOGIE We are go for raunch… Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch DISTRIBUTOR
NIGHTS 1997 Universal RUNNING TIME 130 mins

Mark Wahlberg he’s not the only star performer here.
Newcomer Suzanna Son is fabulous
brings plenty of ★★★★★ OUT 11 MARCH CINEMAS as Raylee – aka Strawberry – the girl
BDE to PTA’s San that Mikey believes is his “way back
in” to the porn industry, once he’s
Fernando Valley Let’s just say you’re blessed,” at his mother-in-law’s shabby convinced her to perform on camera.
masterwork. remarks Raylee (Suzanna house. Lexi (Bree Elrod), his spouse Mikey is a serial user, a self-obsessive
Son), talking about Mikey and former porn partner, is living who thinks nothing of draining
ROGER (Simon Rex), the compelling with her chain-smoking mother Lil and discarding everyone around
DODGER 2002 antihero at the heart of Red Rocket. (Brenda Deiss), who reluctantly lets him; thankfully, Baker explores his
Campbell Scott is relationship with Raylee with some
the slick uncle delicacy here.

opposite naïve A down-on-his-luck adult-movie Mikey worm his way back in. Soon, There’s also a good measure of
nephew Jesse star, Mikey Saber – to use his full he’s selling weed from local supplier wry humour in the script by Baker
Eiseneberg in this porn name – is certainly blessed in Leondria (Judy Hill) and her no- and regular writing partner Chris
indie charmer. the trouser department. And if he’s nonsense daughter June (Brittney Bergoch (Mikey’s porn roles include
‘The Fast & The Furry-Ass’). True, the
THE FLORIDA to be believed, he has multiple AVN Rodriguez), and taking an interest in characters might not be the sort you’d
PROJECT 2017 awards (including Best Oral). But Raylee, a 17-year-old he spies working want as your neighbours, but they’re
where Mikey is really blessed is when in the local doughnut store. fun to spend two hours with. Think
Baker’s it comes to the gift of the gab: he can of it as a shaggy-dog story – with
charm the birds from the trees – or Writer/director Sean Baker has the emphasis on ‘shag’, of course.
Oscar-nommed built a career on films about those on
JAMES MOTTRAM
tale of kids living
THE VERDICT A rambunctious
near Disney rollercoaster ride around Texas
City, in the company of Simon
World is a perfect in this case, his way back into his the margins – think Tangerine (2015) Rex’s (kinda) loveable scoundrel.
primer for Rocket. estranged wife’s family home. and The Florida Project (2017) – and

For more reviews When Mikey arrives in his old this latest is no exception. These are
visit gamesradar. hometown of Texas City, he’s all characters doing anything they

com/totalfilm penniless – after a fracas in Los can to survive, whether it’s porn,

Angeles – but is soon on the couch prostitution, or peddling drugs, but

there are no moral judgements made.

PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™ Instead, Baker crafts an upbeat tale of

THRILLED dreaming and scheming baked in the
searing Texan heat, evocatively staged
ENTERTAINED Donut hole DIY Suitcase pimp against the backdrop of the region’s
NODDING OFF Turnpike huge oil refineries.
Coach Ounce Service terror
ZZZZZZZZZ charge Rex is well-equipped, in more
100 125 FINISH ways than one, to play Mikey, but
RUNNING TIME START 25 50 75

TOTALFILM.COM MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 97

FRESH 18 TBC Making sure the kids have a
separate Disney+ profile is getting
An acquired taste…
more important by the month.
★★★★★ OUT 4 MARCH DISNEY+

If you’ve reached the stage of reading a review, you can’t go into
Fresh with the innocent ignorance that would make the film hit
its very hardest. It can’t be experienced in a vacuum, but that’s
not to say it’s not worth your time. And be forewarned, it goes to
some dark places and requires a really strong stomach…

To kick off, it’s a straightforward romcom, with Noa (Normal People’s
Daisy Edgar-Jones) becoming disillusioned with the modern app-centric
dating scene. Cue a supermarket meet-cute with Steve (Sebastian Stan)
over cotton-candy grapes, where a warm, vibrant connection ensues. Of
course, there’s a lot more to Steve than his charming fruit-based patter
and killer smile.

With its whiplash twists and turns, gross-out moments, midnight-
black humour and acerbic commentary on contemporary gender
dynamics, Fresh is as grab-your-throat entertaining as it is thought-
provoking. The leads impressively handle the varied demands the script
throws at them, while Jojo T. Gibbs is a force to be reckoned with as
Noa’s best friend.

Debut director Mimi Cave and screenwriter Lauryn Kahn maintain
a sure grip over the tonal shifts, ensuring the messages don’t drown
out the sheer entertainment factor. They are, yes, fresh filmmaking
voices who will no doubt be followed closely after providing so much
to chew on here. MATT MAYTUM

THE VERDICT:A twisted genre-flipper giving Sebastian Stan
and Daisy Edgar-Jones meaty material to sink their teeth into.

Tom suddenly remembered UNCHARTED 12A
he didn’t have webshooters
Drake’s progress…
this time around.
★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS

Serving as a prequel to the games of the same name, this long-
mooted adap sees Tom Holland step into the formerly pixelated
shoes of Nathan Drake, here a skilful bartender, history nerd
and occasional pickpocket who’s recruited by his estranged brother’s
partner Sully (Mark Wahlberg) to search for the lost treasure of
Magellan. Action-packed antics ensue, filled with enough old clues
and secret passages to make Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon blush.

Ruben Fleischer’s film proudly wears its adventure-movie clichés on
its rolled-up safari-shirt sleeves. Alas, the Venom/Zombieland director
isn’t able to muster the right sense of momentum for what should feel
like a thrilling race-against-time pursuit. Still, Holland brings fresh-
faced energy and physicality to a role that puts the ‘buff’ in ‘history
buff’ (he researches 16th-century artefacts between shirtless chin-ups).
Drake is quick on his feet in both senses, thinking fast during fight
scenes in a way that allows Holland to flex his parkour talents.

Meanwhile, Wahlberg’s untrusting and untrustworthy Sully adds
sass and sarcasm to what’s clearly supposed to be a buddy-cop-style
dynamic. Sadly, the stars fall short of the chemistry required to really
spark on screen. With the door swung wide open for a sequel, Uncharted
makes a decent play for filling an Indy-shaped hole in the market. But
this potential franchise will need to beef up the charm and swagger to
compete with cinema’s favourite archaeologist. MATT LOOKER

THE VERDICT: Holland shines in his first crusade as Nathan
Drake, but this game adap isn’t the treasure it could’ve been.

98 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

HIVE TBC James really hoped one day there EUROPA TBC
would be a less time-consuming way
★★★★★ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMAS to check your fantasy football scores. ★★★★★

Inspired by a real-life story - and OUT 18 MARCH CINEMAS, DIGITAL
shot in a village where civilians
were massacred during the 1999 Newcomer Adam Ali commands
Kosovan war - this naturalistic every frame of this anxiety-soaked
debut feature from writer/director thriller from writer/director Haider
Blerta Basholli centres on Fahrije Rashid (Tangled Up In Blue).
(Yilka Gashi), a widowed mother Together they convey the
of two whose murdered husband’s immediate, visceral danger of one
body was never found. Basholli refugee’s plight, as Ali’s Kamal
exposes a rigidly patriarchal crosses the Turkish-Bulgarian
society, where Fahrije’s attempts border under cover of darkness.
to organise other female villagers With the camera trained resolutely
into creating a business selling on him, Kamal is beset by ruthless
local produce are met with fierce ‘migrant hunters’, bloodhounds
resistance. Stylistically Hive and suspicious civilians as he
takes few risks, yet the dignity attempts to survive a treacherous
and perseverance essayed by journey. Moral lines are blurred
Gashi prove quietly affecting, and crossed, while resolutions are
and the film won three awards vague. Despite a slim runtime it’s
at Sundance. TOM DAWSON an engrossing take on a vital
subject. ERLINGUR EINARSSON

BROADCAST SIGNAL
INTRUSION 15

Phreaking out…

DISNEY, SONY, LIGHTBULB,, ALTITUDE, MODERN FILMS, BULLDOG, PARKLAND THREE FLOORS TBC ★★★★★ OUT 25 MARCH CINEMAS 28 MARCH BD, DIGITAL MASTER CHENG PG

★★★★★OUT 18 MARCH CINEMAS Fans of Netflix show Archive 81 or Prano Bailey-Bond’s Censor ★★★★★ OUT 11 MARCH CINEMAS
will want to check out Jacob Gentry’s discombobulating
Veteran Italian auteur Nanni Broadcast Signal Intrusion, in which a video archivist working Mika Kaurismäki (brother of
Moretti (The Son’s Room) adapts in 1999 chances upon some freaky footage that hackers spliced into the famous Aki) injects an
Eshkol Nevo’s Tel Aviv-set a TV show in 1987. ambling sweetness into this
novel, transposing this tale of gentle comedy, as Pak Hon Chu’s
three families living in the same James (Harry Shum Jr.) becomes obsessed with the static-soaked widowed Chinese chef tries to
apartment building to Rome. footage of a masked man babbling incoherently, and is determined to track down and reconnect with
Amid the ensemble, Moretti and solve the mystery of who was behind it, and why. But his curiosity soon an old friend in a remote Finnish
Margherita Buy play despairing entwines with the grief he feels over his wife’s disappearance three village. His slow-burn romance
parents of a troubled son, while years prior. As he unearths further broadcast intrusions, he becomes with Anna-Maija Tukko’s blunt
other strands offer equally convinced they are linked to cases of missing women. The rabbit hole he diner owner is very slow indeed,
soapy storylines (family feuds, is about to plunge down is deep and dark… the camera frequently lingering
underage sex). The conflicts on (admittedly ravishing) Lapland
are clumsily handled at times, Expanded from their same-titled 2016 short by writers Phil Drinkwater landscapes, healing noodle soup
and the film is nowhere near and Tim Woodall, Broadcast Signal Intrusion makes the most of its budget, and plentiful sauna gags with
Moretti’s best, but the quality locating murky menace at every turn. Touchpoints include paranoid ’70s quirky old locals. This simple
of the cast (Italian stars such as thrillers, De Palma’s Blow Out, David Lynch, Berberian Sound Studio and vision of food-fuelled, cross-
Alba Rohrwacher and Riccardo Ringu (the blippy intrusions, created by effects genius Dan Martin, have cultural learning is no Babette’s
Scamarcio also pop up) keeps something of Sadako’s video visits about them), but this creepy offering is Feast, or Tampopo, but its heart
this melodrama afloat. its own distinguished work. So much so, it was the standout title of the 70- is in the right place.
odd genre movies shown at last year’s FrightFest. JAMIE GRAHAM
JAMES MOTTRAM KATE STABLES
THE VERDICT An engrossing mystery drenched in
atmosphere. Images will invade your brain long after viewing.

TOTALFILM.COM MARCH 2022 | TOTAL FILM | 99

PARIS, 13TH DISTRICT 18 Should she tell him
about the massive
Sex and le city… sauce spot on his shirt?

★★★★★ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMAS, CURZON HOME CINEMA

For his ninth feature, director Jacques Audiard executes a sharp,
sure about-turn from The Sisters Brothers. While Audiard visited
western frontiers with a male-fronted cast in that English-
speaking 2018 outing, his latest wears its relocation on its sleeve.
Adapting stories by Adrian Tomine with co-writers Céline Sciamma
and Léa Mysius, Audiard stresses female perspectives for a soulful city
symphony of young, modern yearning, set to pulsing techno beats.

The steam rises early between sparky Emilie (Lucie Zhang) and
flatmate-turned-lover Camille (Makita Samba), only to dissolve as
their differing expectations of sex force a renegotiation of boundaries.
A second plot strand involves Nora (Noémie Merlant), a law student who
gets mistaken for cam girl Amber Sweet (charismatic Savages singer
Jehnny Beth) and begins an online journey of self-discovery.

Though some of the narrative interconnections lean to the forced,
Paris mounts a frank, searching account of lovelorn millennials adrift
in the city, seeking connection between the internet and the inter-
personal. Though sex (lots of sex) seems easier found than fulfilment,
the impeccable leads ensure the characters’ inner lives - and
contradictions - register keenly. As monochrome images imbue grey-
day backdrops with a Manhattan-ish twinkle, flutters of romanticism
emerge: when surprise connections do develop, Audiard spotlights the
longing behind the lust with seductive, sure-handed style. KEVIN HARLEY

THE VERDICT Oh, l’amour: Paris and love connect anew in
Audiard’s chic four-hander, mounted with art and heart.

THE LAST JOURNEY TBC MARRY ME 12A MOONFALL 12A COPPELIA U

★★★★★ OUT 7 MARCH DVD, ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS ★★★★★ OUT 1 APRIL CINEMAS

DIGITAL HD J.Lo’s version of Notting Hill That master of disaster Roland The classic ballet is updated CURZON, ALTITUDE, UNIVERSAL, MODERN FILMS, SIGNATURE, COSMIC CAT, MUNRO, SONY
knowingly rides well-worn Emmerich is back to doing his for a family-friendly audience,
Writer/director Romain romcom grooves (there’s a Pretty thing - and as the title not- mixing live-action performances
Quirot takes a valiant stab at Woman nod five mins in), but so-subtly hints, the big grey with pastel sets and somewhat
philosophical mystery in this there’s nostalgic comfort in the sphere in the sky is heading questionable CGI animation.
dystopian sci-fi story expanded familiar. Leaning more than our way (a case of “mounting When her townspeople become
from his own short film, albeit a little into Lopez’s real-life Moon terror” as one news report enamoured with cosmetic surgeon
with not enough material to persona, it follows an ultra- amusingly puts it). Can former Doctor Coppelius (Vito Mazzeo)
ever feel truly expansive. With famous, thrice-married pop astronauts Halle Berry and Patrick and his promise of unnatural
an ever-present red moon queen who’s about to wed a hot Wilson and conspiracy geek John beauty, Swan (Michaela DePrince)
threatening to destroy life on new Latin star (Maluma) live on Bradley carry out an intergalactic has to stop her beloved Franz
Earth, Paul W.R. (Hugo Becker) social media. Instead, she ends rescue mission to save the Earth (Daniel Carmargo) from falling
- an unusually gifted astronaut up spliced to normo guy Charlie in time? Bad dialogue and silly under his spell. Free from dialogue
who has suddenly gone AWOL (Owen Wilson). Can they find ideas aside, this apocalyptic or narration, this is ballet made
- is the planet’s only hope of love? No surprises in store, but adventure is not without its palatable for young kids, complete
salvation. Quirot’s approach Lopez and Wilson’s considerable escapist pleasures. Armageddon- with rudimentary staging and
is undeniably thoughtful, but charisma (plus the extensive style jingoism is held at bay, effects. The choreography and
obvious budget constraints fashion porn) dance over the while Bradley turns in a fine a positive message about vanity
and a severely underused Jean more egregious logic cracks. comic performance. Cornball fun. make for a playful adaptation.
Reno amount to mission failure.
JANE CROWTHER JAMES MOTTRAM MATT LOOKER
MATT LOOKER

100 | TOTAL FILM | MARCH 2022 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS