Andrew Garfield’s arc as Peter Parker in his The Amazing Spider-Man film series may have come to an abrupt end when fans were expecting more, but it still lives in their hearts nonetheless. This became apparent recently when Marvel fans jumped in the picture to remind everyone of his web-slinger saga by Marc Webbs after the shooting of the stunt scenes faced some criticism.
Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker in his own superhero film series.
This critical approach came from Jon Watts, the helmer of all three of Tom Holland’s movies as Parker, who recently shared some pretty bold advice for the next Spider-Man director regarding the slinging stunt scenes. But instead of gaining appreciation from fans for it, Watts instead faced criticism, with fans reminding him of how Garfield managed to pull those stunts off for his saga.
Jon Watts Has Some Bold Advice for the Next...
Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker in his own superhero film series.
This critical approach came from Jon Watts, the helmer of all three of Tom Holland’s movies as Parker, who recently shared some pretty bold advice for the next Spider-Man director regarding the slinging stunt scenes. But instead of gaining appreciation from fans for it, Watts instead faced criticism, with fans reminding him of how Garfield managed to pull those stunts off for his saga.
Jon Watts Has Some Bold Advice for the Next...
- 5/13/2024
- by Mahin Sultan
- FandomWire
Stars: Danielle Burgio, Wes Chatham, Sydney Carvill, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Kate Moennig, Tyrese Gibson, Theo Rossi | Written by Andy Armstrong, Danielle Burgio | Directed by Andy Armstrong
Squealer is one of two films, the other being Chad Ferrin’s Pig Killer, inspired by Canadian serial killer, rapist, and possible cannibal Robert Pickton. Pickton killed as many as 49 women and fed many of the bodies to the pigs on his farm, others he allegedly ground up and added to pork that he sold to the public.
Squealer begins on an equally sensational note as a silhouetted figure armed with a machete chases a naked woman through some scrubland. She’s struck by an Rv whose occupants take her to the hospital.
Lisa, a social worker who tries to help the local sex workers wants to find out who is responsible, especially after the woman panics and runs from the hospital and gets hit by a truck.
Squealer is one of two films, the other being Chad Ferrin’s Pig Killer, inspired by Canadian serial killer, rapist, and possible cannibal Robert Pickton. Pickton killed as many as 49 women and fed many of the bodies to the pigs on his farm, others he allegedly ground up and added to pork that he sold to the public.
Squealer begins on an equally sensational note as a silhouetted figure armed with a machete chases a naked woman through some scrubland. She’s struck by an Rv whose occupants take her to the hospital.
Lisa, a social worker who tries to help the local sex workers wants to find out who is responsible, especially after the woman panics and runs from the hospital and gets hit by a truck.
- 11/23/2023
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Andy Armstrong’s Squealer started with a harrowing scene. In the middle of the night, we witness an unclothed woman running continuously. The woman was disoriented and probably running from someone wanting to harm her. An old couple driving down the road found her and took her to the hospital. The woman’s entire body was punctured with needles, and she had blood stains all over her body. Her condition was dire, and the doctor had to perform a carotid to help her breathe. The woman kept saying that someone had taken her captive and was looking for her. Cops and the doctor, on the other hand, said she was a drug addict and was talking gibberish. So, who was the woman running from? The nightmare she was having suggested that her kidnapper had been keeping her on a farm. Maybe he was a hunter, as his house was full...
- 11/15/2023
- by Rishabh Shandilya
- Film Fugitives
Halloween may be over but the truth is, it’s Always Halloween when you’re a horror fan. And even if networks like AMC and Freeform are no longer showing Halloween movies, make no mistake: the flood of new horror releases Never stops. We promise. Speaking of which…
Here’s all the new horror released on Friday, November 3, 2023!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
A brand new shark attack horror movie swims our way today on Digital outlets from Gravitas Ventures, this one titled Deep Fear and mixing sharks, storms, and… cocaine?!
Madalina Ghenea (House of Gucci) and Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) lead the cast of Deep Fear, which is marketing itself as something of a stealth “Cocaine Shark” movie.
“Set in the Caribbean, Deep Fear is an intense and visceral survival thriller with furious action throughout. Madalina Ghenea stars as Naomi, an accomplished round-the-world yachtswoman,...
Here’s all the new horror released on Friday, November 3, 2023!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
A brand new shark attack horror movie swims our way today on Digital outlets from Gravitas Ventures, this one titled Deep Fear and mixing sharks, storms, and… cocaine?!
Madalina Ghenea (House of Gucci) and Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) lead the cast of Deep Fear, which is marketing itself as something of a stealth “Cocaine Shark” movie.
“Set in the Caribbean, Deep Fear is an intense and visceral survival thriller with furious action throughout. Madalina Ghenea stars as Naomi, an accomplished round-the-world yachtswoman,...
- 11/3/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
The serial killer thriller Squealer is set to receive a theatrical and digital release on November 3rd – and with just three weeks to go until that date arrives, a trailer for the film has been unveiled. You can check it out in the embed above.
Squealer marks the feature directorial debut of Andy Armstrong, who got his start in the entertainment industry by working as a stuntman. He earned stunt credits on more than fifty projects, including Nightbreed, Total Recall, Air America, Leprechaun, Universal Soldier, The Firm, Flesh and Bone, Stargate, Galaxy Quest, Charlie’s Angels, Planet of the Apes, Green Hornet, Thor, The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He also worked as assistant director or second unit director on many films, including The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman II, Krull, Highlander, Rambo II, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, and Double Impact. He has even...
Squealer marks the feature directorial debut of Andy Armstrong, who got his start in the entertainment industry by working as a stuntman. He earned stunt credits on more than fifty projects, including Nightbreed, Total Recall, Air America, Leprechaun, Universal Soldier, The Firm, Flesh and Bone, Stargate, Galaxy Quest, Charlie’s Angels, Planet of the Apes, Green Hornet, Thor, The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He also worked as assistant director or second unit director on many films, including The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman II, Krull, Highlander, Rambo II, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, and Double Impact. He has even...
- 10/11/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Tyrese Gibson (The Fast and the Furious franchise) and Theo Rossi (“Sons of Anarchy”) star in this terrifying thriller inspired by real events. When young women start disappearing in a small town, a police officer and a street-smart social worker follow clues to a remote pig farm, where they discover the local butcher has been bringing his work home. Enter the world of a serial killer and experience for yourself the bloodcurdling horror of a film that’s bound to take your breath away. The trailer for stuntman turned director Andy Armstrong's debut feature film, the horror flick inspired by real life events,Squealer, has arrived from Lionsgate Pictures. You will find it in theaters, On Digital and On Demand on November 3rd. It seemed...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/10/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Based on true events, Lionsgate’s upcoming horror movie Squealer marks the directorial debut of Andy Armstrong, and the official Red Band / Nsfw trailer has arrived today.
Rated “R” for “strong violence and gore, drug use, graphic nudity, some sexual material and language throughout,” Squealer comes to Digital and On Demand on November 3.
In Squealer, “Tyrese Gibson (The Fast and the Furious franchise) and Theo Rossi (“Sons of Anarchy”) star in this terrifying thriller inspired by real events.
“When young women start disappearing in a small town, a police officer and a street-smart social worker follow clues to a remote pig farm, where they discover the local butcher has been bringing his work home. Enter the world of a serial killer and experience for yourself the bloodcurdling horror of a film that’s bound to take your breath away.”
Wes Chatham (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2”), Katherine Moennig...
Rated “R” for “strong violence and gore, drug use, graphic nudity, some sexual material and language throughout,” Squealer comes to Digital and On Demand on November 3.
In Squealer, “Tyrese Gibson (The Fast and the Furious franchise) and Theo Rossi (“Sons of Anarchy”) star in this terrifying thriller inspired by real events.
“When young women start disappearing in a small town, a police officer and a street-smart social worker follow clues to a remote pig farm, where they discover the local butcher has been bringing his work home. Enter the world of a serial killer and experience for yourself the bloodcurdling horror of a film that’s bound to take your breath away.”
Wes Chatham (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2”), Katherine Moennig...
- 10/10/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
"Feeding time!" Lionsgate has unveiled an official trailer for a horror thriller called Squealer, marking the feature directorial debut of a filmmaker named Andy Armstrong - who has been doing stunts and working as a second unit director for years previously. When a local cop and an overzealous social-worker follow clues on missing persons cases around town, stomach-turning discoveries are unearthed on a pig farm, where the town butcher has been slaughtering more than livestock. Surprise! Yeah that synopsis pretty much explains everything in this, though there might be a few more twists in it... Or not. Squealer stars Wes Chatham, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Kate Moennig, Danielle Burgio, Graham Greene, Theo Rossi, and Tyrese Gibson. Lionsgate is opening this directly on VOD right away in early November, skipping all of the horror month of October, which is a bad sign. It doesn't look interesting or innovative or anything, just disgusting.
- 10/10/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: Walk Like A Duck Entertainment and Renegade Entertainment have entered into a two-picture financing and co-production deal, tapping veteran second unit director, stunt choreographer and fight coordinator Chris Brewster as the director for the first film under the deal, titled Relentless. The deal follows Wlad’s participation in Renegade’s recently released features Dig and Slayers, starring Renegade principal Thomas Jane.
Chris Brewster, Thomas Jane
Relentless is a Taken-style action-thriller in which Jane will play Charlie Thorne, a former U.S. Army Green Beret living off the grid who is forced back into action when smugglers steal his boat, leaving him for dead and attempting to kill a young girl he has befriended. In the cross-fire of warring crime gangs, Thorne re-enters battle, fighting to rescue the young girl, while combatting his own internal demons.
Related Story ‘The Silent Hour’: Joel Kinnaman Action Thriller From AGC Studios & Meridian Pictures...
Chris Brewster, Thomas Jane
Relentless is a Taken-style action-thriller in which Jane will play Charlie Thorne, a former U.S. Army Green Beret living off the grid who is forced back into action when smugglers steal his boat, leaving him for dead and attempting to kill a young girl he has befriended. In the cross-fire of warring crime gangs, Thorne re-enters battle, fighting to rescue the young girl, while combatting his own internal demons.
Related Story ‘The Silent Hour’: Joel Kinnaman Action Thriller From AGC Studios & Meridian Pictures...
- 11/7/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
A new serial killer thriller titled Squealer is launching sales in Cannes, Variety reports this afternoon. The film is Andy Armstrong’s directorial feature debut, the website notes. In Squealer, “When a local cop and overzealous social-worker follow clues on missing persons cases around town, stomach-turning discoveries are unearthed on a pig farm, where the town […]
The post ‘Squealer’ – Butcher Slaughters More Than Livestock in Serial Killer Thriller appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
The post ‘Squealer’ – Butcher Slaughters More Than Livestock in Serial Killer Thriller appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
- 5/17/2022
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Andy Armstrong’s directorial feature debut, “Squealer,” is set to launch sales in Cannes.
Vmi Worldwide are handling international rights on the feature, which was produced by Walk Like A Duck Entertainment’s Jason Armstrong and Rob Goodrich, Shaun Sanghani of Sss Entertainment and Walk Like a Duck’s Cameron Goodrich.
Paradigm are repping North American sales.
As well as directing “Squealer,” Andy Armstrong co-wrote the screenplay with Danielle Burgio. Armstrong and Burgio are also executive producing the feature.
Theo Rossi (“Sons of Anarchy”), Wes Chatham (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2”), Tyrese Gibson (“Morbius”), Katherine Moennig (“Ray Donovan”), Ronnie Gene Blevins (“The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It”), Danielle Burgio (“Fear the Walking Dead”) and Christina Gonzalez (“Cruel Summer”) star.
“When a local cop and overzealous social-worker follow clues on missing persons cases around town, stomach-turning discoveries are unearthed on a pig farm, where the town butcher has been slaughtering more than livestock,...
Vmi Worldwide are handling international rights on the feature, which was produced by Walk Like A Duck Entertainment’s Jason Armstrong and Rob Goodrich, Shaun Sanghani of Sss Entertainment and Walk Like a Duck’s Cameron Goodrich.
Paradigm are repping North American sales.
As well as directing “Squealer,” Andy Armstrong co-wrote the screenplay with Danielle Burgio. Armstrong and Burgio are also executive producing the feature.
Theo Rossi (“Sons of Anarchy”), Wes Chatham (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2”), Tyrese Gibson (“Morbius”), Katherine Moennig (“Ray Donovan”), Ronnie Gene Blevins (“The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It”), Danielle Burgio (“Fear the Walking Dead”) and Christina Gonzalez (“Cruel Summer”) star.
“When a local cop and overzealous social-worker follow clues on missing persons cases around town, stomach-turning discoveries are unearthed on a pig farm, where the town butcher has been slaughtering more than livestock,...
- 5/17/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
David White, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director, met Tuesday night with some 80 stunt performers to hear their concerns about safety, pensions and contract issues. Stuntwoman Jane Austin, who’s the union’s national secretary-treasurer and president of its Los Angeles local, also attended the meeting, which was held at the offices of Stunts Unlimited in Chatsworth, CA.
Safety is the chief concern of all stunt professionals – an issue that was highlighted when two stunt performers were killed on the job last year: Joi Harris on Deadpool 2 in Vancouver and John Bernecker on The Walking Dead in Atlanta.
One of the safety issues on last night’s agenda was a proposal that SAG-AFTRA should demand in the next round of contract talks that ambulances be required on set when major stunts are performed, and that emergency medical technicians should be required on set for all stunts, according to...
Safety is the chief concern of all stunt professionals – an issue that was highlighted when two stunt performers were killed on the job last year: Joi Harris on Deadpool 2 in Vancouver and John Bernecker on The Walking Dead in Atlanta.
One of the safety issues on last night’s agenda was a proposal that SAG-AFTRA should demand in the next round of contract talks that ambulances be required on set when major stunts are performed, and that emergency medical technicians should be required on set for all stunts, according to...
- 12/19/2018
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
Taking full advantage of their royal status, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge showed up at the Fairford Royal International Air Tatoo in Fairford, England on Friday (July 8).
And while Will and Kate were a definite draw, the crowd that gathered was primarily interested in catching a glimpse of 2-year-old Prince George, who wore his own pair of headphones to protect his ears while getting up close with multiple aircraft.
In a statement to press, Raf Charitable Trust Enterprises’ Chief Executive Andy Armstrong said, "I'm particularly pleased for the 1,500-plus Air Cadets who'll be on site either helping us run the air show or taking part in the 75th celebrations, and for the 2,000-plus volunteers who work so hard to make this amazing event happen. To have the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with us effectively rewards all their efforts with a royal stamp of approval."...
And while Will and Kate were a definite draw, the crowd that gathered was primarily interested in catching a glimpse of 2-year-old Prince George, who wore his own pair of headphones to protect his ears while getting up close with multiple aircraft.
In a statement to press, Raf Charitable Trust Enterprises’ Chief Executive Andy Armstrong said, "I'm particularly pleased for the 1,500-plus Air Cadets who'll be on site either helping us run the air show or taking part in the 75th celebrations, and for the 2,000-plus volunteers who work so hard to make this amazing event happen. To have the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with us effectively rewards all their efforts with a royal stamp of approval."...
- 7/8/2016
- GossipCenter
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Legendary stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong talks to us about his work on Highlander, Thor, Catwoman, and what makes a great action scene...
For over 40 years, Andy Armstrong has worked on a huge array of stunts and action sequences in TV and film. From directing 1,000s of extras in Stargate to a full body burn in Danny DeVito's Hoffa, Armstrong's experiences as a stuntman, stunt coordinator and unit director have taken him all over the world.
The brother of Vic Armstrong, the stunt coordinator and director who famously doubled for Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones movies, Andy Armstrong's career began when he doubled for Sir John Mills on the 1970s TV series, The Zoo Gang. That early job jumpstarted a life in filmmaking which has taken in three James Bond movies, 90s action (Total Recall, Universal Soldier) and superhero movies (The Green Hornet, Thor, The Amazing Spider-Man).
Those 40 years of filmmaking experience are the pillar of Armstrong's book, the Action Movie Maker's Handbook. Intended as a reference for those thinking of starting a career in stunts or action unit directing, it also offers a valuable insight for those outside the industry, too. The book reveals the range of talents required to bring an effective action scene to the screen - organisation, storytelling, an understanding of engineering and physics - and how much input a coordinator and unit director has on how those sequences will look in the final film.
We caught up with Andy Armstrong via telephone to talk about his book and some of the highlights in his career so far. Read on for his thoughts on creating the action sequences in Thor and The Amazing Spider-Man, his hilarious behind-the-scenes memories from the 80s cult classic, Highlander, and what went wrong on the 2004 Catwoman movie...
Your book gave me a new appreciation for what second unit directors and stunt coordinators do. I didn't realise how much design work you do when it comes to action scenes, for example.
Yeah, it is true that a lot of people don't realise how much development goes into action. Especially nowadays, it's such a complex business. That becomes a huge part of it - the technicalities of it and the storytelling part of it. Some things might look great, but when you put them all together they don't necessarily work for that movie. A lot of what I've made a living doing is really creating action that is appropriate for the movie. Because the wrong type of action is just like the wrong costume or the wrong actor or something - it just takes you out of the film.
You get a lot of movies that actually have too much action in them. Then what happens is, you can't appreciate it. It's like a feast where the starter is such a huge meal that you don't even want the main course because you're full. That's like so many action movies - they'd actually benefit from having some of the action taken out of them. I'm always fascinated when you see an audience in an action movie.
When I feel there's too much action in a movie, or it goes on for too long, I always look around in a cinema. It's interesting to see people chatting to each other or doing something else. You should never have that in an action movie. Action should be like sex or violence - you want to be left just wanting a bit more. That gets forgotten in a lot of movies, which are just relentless. Stuff going on the whole time.
What happens then is that, when it comes to something special for the third act, some fantastic fight or something, you can't raise the bar enough, because the bar's been high all the way through the movie. It's a weird thing.
They have to build, action scenes.
They do have to build, absolutely. That's why I do that little graph in the book, which is something I do in every movie, just to work out how much action there should be and where it should go and, on a scale of one to 10, how big it is. It's funny how crude that looks, and yet if you compare it to any of the really great action movies, they'll fit that graph. There'll be something at the opening, there'll be something happening at the end of the first act and into the second act, and there'll be bits and pieces happening in the second act and then a big third act finale. Whether it's a movie made in the 60s or now, that formula of action still becomes the sweet spot.
A lot of these superhero movies, there's some fantastic action going on, but by the end of the movie, nobody cares. You have nowhere to go with it.
Some of them are very long as well.
Far too long. Far, far too long. You're absolutely right. I think any movie, past two hours, has got to be either incredibly spectacular or it's an ego-fest for the filmmakers. Keeping somebody in a seat for more than two hours - you'd better have a really good tale to tell. And I don't think many of these modern ones do - they just have lots of stuff in them.
So what films have impressed you recently in terms of action?
Kingsman, definitely. I thought it was absolutely brilliant, a really good take on it. I loved that it was Colin Firth and not a traditional action hero that's covered in muscles and torn t-shirts and things. And for the same reasons, really, I love the Taken series of movies with Liam Neeson. I loved them, particularly because they're grounded in reality, or set just above reality. Obviously, Kingsman you go more above reality, but they're still grounded with real gravity and real people. It's a bit hypocritical, because I've made a great living doing some superhero movies, but they're not more favourite movies by any chance. I'm very proud of the work I've done on them, but the movies I love aren't even action, really. I haven't seen the third Taken, I need to get that, but I thought the first two Takens were really very cool.
I quite liked both the Red films. I was going to do the second one of those, because the guy who directed the second one is a friend of mine. So I'd have liked to have done that, but they wanted to go with the person they used on the first film. Dean Parisot is a very good friend of mine, I did Galaxy Quest with him. That's one of my favourites.
But a lot of movies I've seen lately, I've been underwhelmed by some of them. It's funny. I like tight little movies. I think it's a shame we've not had more John Frankenheimers making things like Ronin, you know. Great action but well placed - the right action in the right place. Again, grounded in reality, real people.
Do you think stunts go through trends? Obviously, you've recently been doing a lot of wire work on superhero movies lately.
Oh, absolutely. It's kind of gone in a tight full circle, because a few years ago action went fully CG, and then the brief we were given when we did the first Amazing Spider-Man is that they want to get away from that feel, to go more gravity based, more reality. That's what we spent a lot of time doing on that first Spider-Man is the way he jumps around. I based it on real physics.
Some of the stuff on the first Amazing Spider-Man I'm really very, very proud of. We filmed some groundbreaking rig systems and high-powered winches that moved around so there was a proper organic travel when Spider-Man jumps around. It's funny, because when I agreed to do the movie, that was the brief - they want to make Spider-Man's movement much more realistic. I said, "Yes, absolutely, we can do it." But when I came out of the meeting, I have to be honest - I had no idea how the hell we were going to do that.
We did a lot of testing. They were good enough to give us a lot of time to test. One of the things I did was bring in an Olympic gymnast, and I had him swing from three bars, from one bar to the next bar to the next bar, doing giant swings on them. I videoed it, because I knew that something on the original [Sam Raimi] Spider-Man didn't look right. It sounds really obvious in the end, because your eye goes straight to it, but when I brought the gymnast in, I realised that when you see a human swinging, their downward swing is really violent. It gets faster, faster, faster until it nearly pulls the arms out of the sockets, and then as they swing up it gets slower, slower, slower until they get negative. Then they grab the next bar and it happens again. It's the massive variation in velocity that made me realise, "I get it. That's what's real." Then you can tell it's a real guy. When you see Spider-Man and his speed is the same going down as it is going up, even though you haven't analysed it in your mind, you know that it's not right. It's like the five-legged horse syndrome: if you saw one standing in a field, even though you've never seen one in your life, you'd know that it's not something from nature.
It's something I spend a lot of time doing, making things organic and real. In the book you've see a lot of reference to Buster Keaton and things, because I like to go back to that. When you've seen something done for real, then you can make anything as fantastic as you want. But you have to know where the baseline is, where real is, before you start doing something too spectacular. Or what will happen is, even though an audience has never seen an athlete on giant bars, or a guy swinging on a spider web, they'll know instinctively that it looks wrong. We're conditioned to do that - no matter how realistic a dummy in a shop window is, we know as humans that it isn't a real person. Animals know all that - they can spot their own species, they can spot other species and know what they are.
It's why, with a superhero movie, especially, I like to do a bible beforehand, so that you can have a reference. How strong is Spider-Man? Can he throw cars or push a building over? Can he just pick up a sofa? You have to have a yardstick of what people can do. Otherwise it's all over the place. We've seen those movies, where the power of the superheroes [varies]. One minute he gets knocked out by someone in a bar, the next he's pushing a house over.
It has to have some kind of internal logic, doesn't it.
It has to have some kind of logic, no matter how mad that logic is, it has to be consistent. We had it on Thor: how powerful is Thor? How much can he do with a hammer? What happens when the hammer really hits something? You have to have all these mad conversations at the beginning of the movie. If you see someone punch through a building, it's tough to then see that same person slap someone in their face without tearing their head off. You need a yardstick to go to.
I was interested to read what you said about Catwoman, and the idea you had for the big fight.
Yeah, that was a classic case. In the end I was proved right. The movie could have been fantastic. Halle Berry - in the outfit, she could stop traffic. And she was such a perfect choice for Catwoman - she had all the abilities. The movement down, the whole thing. It was such a waste, because the script got crappier and crappier. There was a rewrite every week or so. Each one was worse than the last one. It was like someone was drinking and writing worse and worse versions of it. I feel sorry for Halle as well - I don't think it did her career any good. She's such a trooper anyway.
It's funny, I remember when I saw the first TV commercial for the movie, and I'd been a bit depressed - I don't like leaving movies. I remember coming out, and you always have that second thought as to whether you should have left it or not. But I'm quite strict about only doing good stuff. The interesting thing is, I fought to get the motorcycle sequence in there, and the directors and the producers - none of them wanted it. The moment I saw that first commercial, and it was nearly all motorcycle. I remember shouting at the screen that I was absolutely right. You know when they put that in the trailer that it's the only good thing in the movie! It's very funny.
Why do you think that happens sometimes in these big Hollywood films, where you get this death spiral of script rewrites? You hear about it quite a lot.
Oh, God knows. If you could answer that I think you'd be a gazillionaire. A lot of these rewrites just get worse and worse. It's like cooking, putting this and that in, until you've got this inedible bowl of crap that's like the vision you originally set out to make. That happens so often. I think part of it happens in the main studio system because a lot of films get made by committee. That happens a lot. It didn't happen with some of the greats of the 50s, 60s and 70s, because some of those people were tyrannical, but the movies they made had a personal identity to them.
John Boorman doesn't always make great movies, but he's a great moviemaker and every movie he makes is a John Boorman movie. You look at Excalibur, you look at Deliverance, you look at Hope And Glory, they're all different, you can like them or not like them, but they have a real authority and identity to them. What happens in a studio system is you have a lot of junior executives and they all want to put a comment in there, they all want to use this actor or that actress. In the end, for right or wrong, a film has to have one real author. If it doesn't... there's the old saying that a camel is a horse designed by committee. That's what happens to movies. There are so many people in different areas in the studio that want to keep their fingers in the pie.
The big thing about studios is, most studio executives are all eventually going to get fired or run another studio or something. The rule of thumb is, most studio executives want to be just attached to a movie enough that if it's a huge success they can say they were or part of it, and they can point out the bits they changed or suggested or whatever. And if it's a Catwoman, they can distance themselves from it as if it were a disease. That's a real thing - a fine line executives work. Because you can get the blame for a picture that you may have had nothing to do with in some ways, you had no say in it if you were a studio executive, necessarily, and you can also get lots of praise and lots of awards and a million-dollar job at another studio because you're considered to be the guy or girl that brought this or that movie to the studio and it made $300m. It's a funny game, that.
In the end, who knows what's going to be successful? Who'd have thought movies like Fast & Furious would still be successful?
Yeah, there's gonna be eight or nine of them.
It's incredible. Vic [Armstrong] and I were offered, I guess it was three or four, and then they made a change with the action team and they've had the same action team since. But we'd just started Thor so we turned it down. It's funny because they went off and did more and more of those Fast & Furious films and we did the two Spider-Mans and Season Of The Witch and some other things. I think in the end we kind of made the right choice. I'm proud of the stuff I've done.
When you think of how advanced the look of Highlander was - Russell invented that look. The very long lenses, the very wide lenses. Fantastic cuts between things. It's absolutely timeless. I watched it again recently. It's as good now as it was when we made it. And it's a beautiful looking movie.
I'm really proud of the stuff I've done on it. It's amazing to think it's 30 years [old]. There's a lot of funny stories about Highlander. When they hired Sean Connery first of all as Ramirez, it’s funny because it's a Scotsman playing a Spaniard and a Frenchman playing a Scotsman! The funny thing is, Peter Davis and Bill Panzer, the producers, cast Connery - and the movie's called Highlander, so Connery thought he was playing the Highlander!
He got some huge fee, and then they let him know that he's playing Ramirez, this Spanish guy. He went, "Oh fine", but his fee was the same - he got about a million dollars for however many weeks he was on the movie. And then Christopher Lambert, who'd only done Greystoke before, as far as English-speaking movies went, they cast him and hadn't met him. Apparently, when they did Greystoke, he learned his lines parrot fashion - he just learned the line he had to speak. He couldn't speak English. But he's such a lovely guy.
When they first met him and he answered "Yes" to every question, they realised he didn't know what the hell they were talking about. [Laughs] They were in a bar or restaurant, and Peter Davis and Bill Panzer both came outside, and they left him at the table, and said, "He can't fucking speak English!" And they'd already cast him! The deal was done! It was fantastic, you know?
It just shows you. He was so charismatic in that movie. He learned English during the movie and was brilliant.
He's also incredibly short-sighted, Christophe. I did some really cool sword fight sequences with him. He couldn't see the sword! Incredible. His muscle memory and ability to be taught a fight with his glasses on, and then take is glasses off and then shoot was absolutely astounding. I've never met anyone like it. He never missed a beat, and yet he couldn't see - he couldn't see which end of the sword he had a hold of.
You look at those sword fights, and he's better than most stuntmen doing them. Yet he could hardly see his opponent, let alone the sword. Fascinating.
Clancy Brown, who played the villain, he's still a friend. He was fantastic. A couple of funny things happened on that, I think they're in the book. We were doing some car action in New York, and I had cameras on the front of the Cadillac. The Cadillac was my choice - originally it was written as a big four-wheel drive. I wanted something classically American that would slide around.
When we were towing it through town with the cameras on for the close-ups of the two actors, Clancy's there with his slit throat with the safety pins in it and all that, and I would jump off the back of the camera car when we got to a decent bit of road or bridge or something, and I'd turn all the cameras on.
At one point, I was turning the cameras on and the cop who was helping us - or supposed to be helping us in a typical sort of New York, aggressive cop way, said, "If you get off the camera car again, I'm going to arrest you."
Now, meanwhile, the cameras are rolling. I'm not really arguing with the cop, but I'm a bit pissed off to say the least. So I got back on the camera car. But while I'm doing that, Clancy, just dicking around, was [sings] "New York, New York!" And that was just him playing around. It was actually in response to me arguing with a New York cop, really.
Anyway, Russell, when he was putting the chase together, loved that little moment. He'd done all the Queen videos, and that's when Queen came in and saw it, and they loved it. So that's when they re-recorded their version of New York, New York and it became a hit record for Queen.
That's amazing.
It started as a mild confrontation between me and a rather aggressive New York cop! [Laughs] Whenever I see Clancy, we still laugh about it. It wasn't in the script or anything, it was just one of those things.
Andy Armstrong, thank you very much!
Action Movie Maker's Handbook is available from Amazon now.
See related Does it matter whether stars do their own stunts? Speed 2: how a dream sparked one of the biggest stunts ever Olivier Megaton interview: Taken 2, Liam Neeson and stunts Sam Mendes interview: Skyfall, stunts & cinematography Movies Interview Ryan Lambie Andy Armstrong 14 Jun 2016 - 05:40 Highlander Catwoman The Amazing Spider-Man The Amazing Spider-Man 2 interview Andy Armstrong movies...
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Legendary stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong talks to us about his work on Highlander, Thor, Catwoman, and what makes a great action scene...
For over 40 years, Andy Armstrong has worked on a huge array of stunts and action sequences in TV and film. From directing 1,000s of extras in Stargate to a full body burn in Danny DeVito's Hoffa, Armstrong's experiences as a stuntman, stunt coordinator and unit director have taken him all over the world.
The brother of Vic Armstrong, the stunt coordinator and director who famously doubled for Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones movies, Andy Armstrong's career began when he doubled for Sir John Mills on the 1970s TV series, The Zoo Gang. That early job jumpstarted a life in filmmaking which has taken in three James Bond movies, 90s action (Total Recall, Universal Soldier) and superhero movies (The Green Hornet, Thor, The Amazing Spider-Man).
Those 40 years of filmmaking experience are the pillar of Armstrong's book, the Action Movie Maker's Handbook. Intended as a reference for those thinking of starting a career in stunts or action unit directing, it also offers a valuable insight for those outside the industry, too. The book reveals the range of talents required to bring an effective action scene to the screen - organisation, storytelling, an understanding of engineering and physics - and how much input a coordinator and unit director has on how those sequences will look in the final film.
We caught up with Andy Armstrong via telephone to talk about his book and some of the highlights in his career so far. Read on for his thoughts on creating the action sequences in Thor and The Amazing Spider-Man, his hilarious behind-the-scenes memories from the 80s cult classic, Highlander, and what went wrong on the 2004 Catwoman movie...
Your book gave me a new appreciation for what second unit directors and stunt coordinators do. I didn't realise how much design work you do when it comes to action scenes, for example.
Yeah, it is true that a lot of people don't realise how much development goes into action. Especially nowadays, it's such a complex business. That becomes a huge part of it - the technicalities of it and the storytelling part of it. Some things might look great, but when you put them all together they don't necessarily work for that movie. A lot of what I've made a living doing is really creating action that is appropriate for the movie. Because the wrong type of action is just like the wrong costume or the wrong actor or something - it just takes you out of the film.
You get a lot of movies that actually have too much action in them. Then what happens is, you can't appreciate it. It's like a feast where the starter is such a huge meal that you don't even want the main course because you're full. That's like so many action movies - they'd actually benefit from having some of the action taken out of them. I'm always fascinated when you see an audience in an action movie.
When I feel there's too much action in a movie, or it goes on for too long, I always look around in a cinema. It's interesting to see people chatting to each other or doing something else. You should never have that in an action movie. Action should be like sex or violence - you want to be left just wanting a bit more. That gets forgotten in a lot of movies, which are just relentless. Stuff going on the whole time.
What happens then is that, when it comes to something special for the third act, some fantastic fight or something, you can't raise the bar enough, because the bar's been high all the way through the movie. It's a weird thing.
They have to build, action scenes.
They do have to build, absolutely. That's why I do that little graph in the book, which is something I do in every movie, just to work out how much action there should be and where it should go and, on a scale of one to 10, how big it is. It's funny how crude that looks, and yet if you compare it to any of the really great action movies, they'll fit that graph. There'll be something at the opening, there'll be something happening at the end of the first act and into the second act, and there'll be bits and pieces happening in the second act and then a big third act finale. Whether it's a movie made in the 60s or now, that formula of action still becomes the sweet spot.
A lot of these superhero movies, there's some fantastic action going on, but by the end of the movie, nobody cares. You have nowhere to go with it.
Some of them are very long as well.
Far too long. Far, far too long. You're absolutely right. I think any movie, past two hours, has got to be either incredibly spectacular or it's an ego-fest for the filmmakers. Keeping somebody in a seat for more than two hours - you'd better have a really good tale to tell. And I don't think many of these modern ones do - they just have lots of stuff in them.
So what films have impressed you recently in terms of action?
Kingsman, definitely. I thought it was absolutely brilliant, a really good take on it. I loved that it was Colin Firth and not a traditional action hero that's covered in muscles and torn t-shirts and things. And for the same reasons, really, I love the Taken series of movies with Liam Neeson. I loved them, particularly because they're grounded in reality, or set just above reality. Obviously, Kingsman you go more above reality, but they're still grounded with real gravity and real people. It's a bit hypocritical, because I've made a great living doing some superhero movies, but they're not more favourite movies by any chance. I'm very proud of the work I've done on them, but the movies I love aren't even action, really. I haven't seen the third Taken, I need to get that, but I thought the first two Takens were really very cool.
I quite liked both the Red films. I was going to do the second one of those, because the guy who directed the second one is a friend of mine. So I'd have liked to have done that, but they wanted to go with the person they used on the first film. Dean Parisot is a very good friend of mine, I did Galaxy Quest with him. That's one of my favourites.
But a lot of movies I've seen lately, I've been underwhelmed by some of them. It's funny. I like tight little movies. I think it's a shame we've not had more John Frankenheimers making things like Ronin, you know. Great action but well placed - the right action in the right place. Again, grounded in reality, real people.
Do you think stunts go through trends? Obviously, you've recently been doing a lot of wire work on superhero movies lately.
Oh, absolutely. It's kind of gone in a tight full circle, because a few years ago action went fully CG, and then the brief we were given when we did the first Amazing Spider-Man is that they want to get away from that feel, to go more gravity based, more reality. That's what we spent a lot of time doing on that first Spider-Man is the way he jumps around. I based it on real physics.
Some of the stuff on the first Amazing Spider-Man I'm really very, very proud of. We filmed some groundbreaking rig systems and high-powered winches that moved around so there was a proper organic travel when Spider-Man jumps around. It's funny, because when I agreed to do the movie, that was the brief - they want to make Spider-Man's movement much more realistic. I said, "Yes, absolutely, we can do it." But when I came out of the meeting, I have to be honest - I had no idea how the hell we were going to do that.
We did a lot of testing. They were good enough to give us a lot of time to test. One of the things I did was bring in an Olympic gymnast, and I had him swing from three bars, from one bar to the next bar to the next bar, doing giant swings on them. I videoed it, because I knew that something on the original [Sam Raimi] Spider-Man didn't look right. It sounds really obvious in the end, because your eye goes straight to it, but when I brought the gymnast in, I realised that when you see a human swinging, their downward swing is really violent. It gets faster, faster, faster until it nearly pulls the arms out of the sockets, and then as they swing up it gets slower, slower, slower until they get negative. Then they grab the next bar and it happens again. It's the massive variation in velocity that made me realise, "I get it. That's what's real." Then you can tell it's a real guy. When you see Spider-Man and his speed is the same going down as it is going up, even though you haven't analysed it in your mind, you know that it's not right. It's like the five-legged horse syndrome: if you saw one standing in a field, even though you've never seen one in your life, you'd know that it's not something from nature.
It's something I spend a lot of time doing, making things organic and real. In the book you've see a lot of reference to Buster Keaton and things, because I like to go back to that. When you've seen something done for real, then you can make anything as fantastic as you want. But you have to know where the baseline is, where real is, before you start doing something too spectacular. Or what will happen is, even though an audience has never seen an athlete on giant bars, or a guy swinging on a spider web, they'll know instinctively that it looks wrong. We're conditioned to do that - no matter how realistic a dummy in a shop window is, we know as humans that it isn't a real person. Animals know all that - they can spot their own species, they can spot other species and know what they are.
It's why, with a superhero movie, especially, I like to do a bible beforehand, so that you can have a reference. How strong is Spider-Man? Can he throw cars or push a building over? Can he just pick up a sofa? You have to have a yardstick of what people can do. Otherwise it's all over the place. We've seen those movies, where the power of the superheroes [varies]. One minute he gets knocked out by someone in a bar, the next he's pushing a house over.
It has to have some kind of internal logic, doesn't it.
It has to have some kind of logic, no matter how mad that logic is, it has to be consistent. We had it on Thor: how powerful is Thor? How much can he do with a hammer? What happens when the hammer really hits something? You have to have all these mad conversations at the beginning of the movie. If you see someone punch through a building, it's tough to then see that same person slap someone in their face without tearing their head off. You need a yardstick to go to.
I was interested to read what you said about Catwoman, and the idea you had for the big fight.
Yeah, that was a classic case. In the end I was proved right. The movie could have been fantastic. Halle Berry - in the outfit, she could stop traffic. And she was such a perfect choice for Catwoman - she had all the abilities. The movement down, the whole thing. It was such a waste, because the script got crappier and crappier. There was a rewrite every week or so. Each one was worse than the last one. It was like someone was drinking and writing worse and worse versions of it. I feel sorry for Halle as well - I don't think it did her career any good. She's such a trooper anyway.
It's funny, I remember when I saw the first TV commercial for the movie, and I'd been a bit depressed - I don't like leaving movies. I remember coming out, and you always have that second thought as to whether you should have left it or not. But I'm quite strict about only doing good stuff. The interesting thing is, I fought to get the motorcycle sequence in there, and the directors and the producers - none of them wanted it. The moment I saw that first commercial, and it was nearly all motorcycle. I remember shouting at the screen that I was absolutely right. You know when they put that in the trailer that it's the only good thing in the movie! It's very funny.
Why do you think that happens sometimes in these big Hollywood films, where you get this death spiral of script rewrites? You hear about it quite a lot.
Oh, God knows. If you could answer that I think you'd be a gazillionaire. A lot of these rewrites just get worse and worse. It's like cooking, putting this and that in, until you've got this inedible bowl of crap that's like the vision you originally set out to make. That happens so often. I think part of it happens in the main studio system because a lot of films get made by committee. That happens a lot. It didn't happen with some of the greats of the 50s, 60s and 70s, because some of those people were tyrannical, but the movies they made had a personal identity to them.
John Boorman doesn't always make great movies, but he's a great moviemaker and every movie he makes is a John Boorman movie. You look at Excalibur, you look at Deliverance, you look at Hope And Glory, they're all different, you can like them or not like them, but they have a real authority and identity to them. What happens in a studio system is you have a lot of junior executives and they all want to put a comment in there, they all want to use this actor or that actress. In the end, for right or wrong, a film has to have one real author. If it doesn't... there's the old saying that a camel is a horse designed by committee. That's what happens to movies. There are so many people in different areas in the studio that want to keep their fingers in the pie.
The big thing about studios is, most studio executives are all eventually going to get fired or run another studio or something. The rule of thumb is, most studio executives want to be just attached to a movie enough that if it's a huge success they can say they were or part of it, and they can point out the bits they changed or suggested or whatever. And if it's a Catwoman, they can distance themselves from it as if it were a disease. That's a real thing - a fine line executives work. Because you can get the blame for a picture that you may have had nothing to do with in some ways, you had no say in it if you were a studio executive, necessarily, and you can also get lots of praise and lots of awards and a million-dollar job at another studio because you're considered to be the guy or girl that brought this or that movie to the studio and it made $300m. It's a funny game, that.
In the end, who knows what's going to be successful? Who'd have thought movies like Fast & Furious would still be successful?
Yeah, there's gonna be eight or nine of them.
It's incredible. Vic [Armstrong] and I were offered, I guess it was three or four, and then they made a change with the action team and they've had the same action team since. But we'd just started Thor so we turned it down. It's funny because they went off and did more and more of those Fast & Furious films and we did the two Spider-Mans and Season Of The Witch and some other things. I think in the end we kind of made the right choice. I'm proud of the stuff I've done.
When you think of how advanced the look of Highlander was - Russell invented that look. The very long lenses, the very wide lenses. Fantastic cuts between things. It's absolutely timeless. I watched it again recently. It's as good now as it was when we made it. And it's a beautiful looking movie.
I'm really proud of the stuff I've done on it. It's amazing to think it's 30 years [old]. There's a lot of funny stories about Highlander. When they hired Sean Connery first of all as Ramirez, it’s funny because it's a Scotsman playing a Spaniard and a Frenchman playing a Scotsman! The funny thing is, Peter Davis and Bill Panzer, the producers, cast Connery - and the movie's called Highlander, so Connery thought he was playing the Highlander!
He got some huge fee, and then they let him know that he's playing Ramirez, this Spanish guy. He went, "Oh fine", but his fee was the same - he got about a million dollars for however many weeks he was on the movie. And then Christopher Lambert, who'd only done Greystoke before, as far as English-speaking movies went, they cast him and hadn't met him. Apparently, when they did Greystoke, he learned his lines parrot fashion - he just learned the line he had to speak. He couldn't speak English. But he's such a lovely guy.
When they first met him and he answered "Yes" to every question, they realised he didn't know what the hell they were talking about. [Laughs] They were in a bar or restaurant, and Peter Davis and Bill Panzer both came outside, and they left him at the table, and said, "He can't fucking speak English!" And they'd already cast him! The deal was done! It was fantastic, you know?
It just shows you. He was so charismatic in that movie. He learned English during the movie and was brilliant.
He's also incredibly short-sighted, Christophe. I did some really cool sword fight sequences with him. He couldn't see the sword! Incredible. His muscle memory and ability to be taught a fight with his glasses on, and then take is glasses off and then shoot was absolutely astounding. I've never met anyone like it. He never missed a beat, and yet he couldn't see - he couldn't see which end of the sword he had a hold of.
You look at those sword fights, and he's better than most stuntmen doing them. Yet he could hardly see his opponent, let alone the sword. Fascinating.
Clancy Brown, who played the villain, he's still a friend. He was fantastic. A couple of funny things happened on that, I think they're in the book. We were doing some car action in New York, and I had cameras on the front of the Cadillac. The Cadillac was my choice - originally it was written as a big four-wheel drive. I wanted something classically American that would slide around.
When we were towing it through town with the cameras on for the close-ups of the two actors, Clancy's there with his slit throat with the safety pins in it and all that, and I would jump off the back of the camera car when we got to a decent bit of road or bridge or something, and I'd turn all the cameras on.
At one point, I was turning the cameras on and the cop who was helping us - or supposed to be helping us in a typical sort of New York, aggressive cop way, said, "If you get off the camera car again, I'm going to arrest you."
Now, meanwhile, the cameras are rolling. I'm not really arguing with the cop, but I'm a bit pissed off to say the least. So I got back on the camera car. But while I'm doing that, Clancy, just dicking around, was [sings] "New York, New York!" And that was just him playing around. It was actually in response to me arguing with a New York cop, really.
Anyway, Russell, when he was putting the chase together, loved that little moment. He'd done all the Queen videos, and that's when Queen came in and saw it, and they loved it. So that's when they re-recorded their version of New York, New York and it became a hit record for Queen.
That's amazing.
It started as a mild confrontation between me and a rather aggressive New York cop! [Laughs] Whenever I see Clancy, we still laugh about it. It wasn't in the script or anything, it was just one of those things.
Andy Armstrong, thank you very much!
Action Movie Maker's Handbook is available from Amazon now.
See related Does it matter whether stars do their own stunts? Speed 2: how a dream sparked one of the biggest stunts ever Olivier Megaton interview: Taken 2, Liam Neeson and stunts Sam Mendes interview: Skyfall, stunts & cinematography Movies Interview Ryan Lambie Andy Armstrong 14 Jun 2016 - 05:40 Highlander Catwoman The Amazing Spider-Man The Amazing Spider-Man 2 interview Andy Armstrong movies...
- 6/13/2016
- Den of Geek
Academy invitee Eddie Redmayne in 'The Theory of Everything.' Academy invites 322 new members: 'More diverse and inclusive list of filmmakers and artists than ever before' The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has offered membership to 322 individuals "who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures." According to the Academy's press release, "those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy's membership in 2015." In case all 322 potential new members say an enthusiastic Yes, that means an injection of new blood representing about 5 percent of the Academy's current membership. In the words of Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs (as quoted in the press release), in 2015 "our branches have recognized a more diverse and inclusive list of filmmakers and artists than ever before, and we look forward to adding their creativity, ideas and experience to our organization." In recent years, the Academy membership has...
- 7/1/2015
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
©Renzo Piano Building Workshop/©Studio Pali Fekete architects/©A.M.P.A.S.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this week that the Los Angeles City Council, in a unanimous vote, approved plans for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Construction will begin this summer, and ceremonial groundbreaking festivities will occur this fall.
“I am thrilled that Los Angeles is gaining another architectural and cultural icon,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “My office of economic development has worked directly with the museum’s development team to ensure that the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will create jobs, support tourism, and pay homage to the industry that helped define our identity as the creative capital of the world.”
“We are grateful to our incredible community of supporters who have helped make this museum a reality,” said Dawn Hudson, the Academy’s CEO. “Building this museum has been an Academy...
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this week that the Los Angeles City Council, in a unanimous vote, approved plans for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Construction will begin this summer, and ceremonial groundbreaking festivities will occur this fall.
“I am thrilled that Los Angeles is gaining another architectural and cultural icon,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “My office of economic development has worked directly with the museum’s development team to ensure that the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will create jobs, support tourism, and pay homage to the industry that helped define our identity as the creative capital of the world.”
“We are grateful to our incredible community of supporters who have helped make this museum a reality,” said Dawn Hudson, the Academy’s CEO. “Building this museum has been an Academy...
- 6/27/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Strangely dropping a press release on a historic day where the nation's attention is elsewhere, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed their annual list of new member invitees this morning. For those who criticize the makeup of the Academy there was some good news and the stark realization the organization still has a long way to go. The Academy has spent the last eight to 10 years attempting to diversify its membership and this year's class mostly reflects that. There are significantly more invitees of Asian and African-American descent, but the male to female disparity is still depressing. Out of the 25 potential new members of the Actor's Branch only seven are women. And, no, there isn't really an acceptable way for the Academy to spin that sad fact. Additionally, It's important to realize the 322 people noted in the release have only been invited to join Hollywood's most exclusive club.
- 6/26/2015
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
Award nights are always special for the Bollywood industry and Iifa is one award function people look forward to. The award winner's list of Iifa which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is out. Here is the list, check it out...
Best debut (female): Kriti Sanon
Best debut (male) - Tiger Shroff
Best debut direction - Sajid Nadiadwala (Kick) and Umang Kumar (Mary Kom)
Best music direction - Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (2 States)
Best playback singer (male) - Ankit Tiwari ('' - Ek Villain)
Best playback singer (female) - Kanika Kapoor ('Baby Doll' - Ragini Mms 2)
Best performance in a comic role - Varun Dhawan (Main Tera Hero)
Best performance in a negative role - Kay Kay Menon (Haider)
Outstanding contribution - Subhash Ghai
Best performance in a supporting role (male) - Riteish Deshmukh (Ek Villain)
Best performance in a supporting role (female) - Tabu (Haider)
Best regional...
Best debut (female): Kriti Sanon
Best debut (male) - Tiger Shroff
Best debut direction - Sajid Nadiadwala (Kick) and Umang Kumar (Mary Kom)
Best music direction - Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (2 States)
Best playback singer (male) - Ankit Tiwari ('' - Ek Villain)
Best playback singer (female) - Kanika Kapoor ('Baby Doll' - Ragini Mms 2)
Best performance in a comic role - Varun Dhawan (Main Tera Hero)
Best performance in a negative role - Kay Kay Menon (Haider)
Outstanding contribution - Subhash Ghai
Best performance in a supporting role (male) - Riteish Deshmukh (Ek Villain)
Best performance in a supporting role (female) - Tabu (Haider)
Best regional...
- 6/8/2015
- GlamSham
The International Indian Film Academy today announced the winners of the technical categories of India’s most prestigious international awards, The International Indian Film Awards.
The Iifa Rocks and Technical Awards are set to take place on the 5th of June in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This year’s Videocon D2H Iifa Weekend celebrations are slated for the first weekend of June, from the 5th – 7th in Kuala Lumpur.
Haider takes over the list this year and walks away with 6 awards in the technical category including Costume Designing (Dolly Ahluwalia), Background Score (Vishal Bhardwaj), Sound Mixing (Debajit Changmai), Sound Design (Shajith Koyeri), Production Design (Subrata Chakraborty & Amit Ray) and Make-up (Preetisheel Singh & Clover Wootton).
Other winners in the Technical category are Queen and Kick with 2 nods each. Queen took home the award for Screenplay (Vikas Bahl, Chaitally Parmar, Parveez Shaikh) and Editing (Aburag Kashyap and Abhijit Kokate) while Kick walked...
The Iifa Rocks and Technical Awards are set to take place on the 5th of June in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This year’s Videocon D2H Iifa Weekend celebrations are slated for the first weekend of June, from the 5th – 7th in Kuala Lumpur.
Haider takes over the list this year and walks away with 6 awards in the technical category including Costume Designing (Dolly Ahluwalia), Background Score (Vishal Bhardwaj), Sound Mixing (Debajit Changmai), Sound Design (Shajith Koyeri), Production Design (Subrata Chakraborty & Amit Ray) and Make-up (Preetisheel Singh & Clover Wootton).
Other winners in the Technical category are Queen and Kick with 2 nods each. Queen took home the award for Screenplay (Vikas Bahl, Chaitally Parmar, Parveez Shaikh) and Editing (Aburag Kashyap and Abhijit Kokate) while Kick walked...
- 4/23/2015
- by Press Releases
- Bollyspice
So much of movie magic these days is green screen and CGI — the work of animators and special effects artists. Given the fakery we’ve come to expect, when a movie comes along that pulls off some spectacular visuals on-set without a lot of post-production tweaking, that kind of movie magic makes us take notice. The latest wowing practical stunt: “Furious 7.” The “Fast and Furious” franchise has always made its mark with impressive action sequences done practically. If the seventh installment was trying to top the previous six in that department, it succeeded. This time featuring Dominic Toretto and his team drive skydiving cars out of a plane. To shoot the critical scene, the “Furious 7” stunt team actually dropped real live cars out of an airplane. Aerial cameramen followed the jump, doving with their own parachutes. The cars dropped first from an altitude of 12,000 feet in Colorado mountains,...
- 4/3/2015
- by Emily Rome
- Hitfix
The day is finally here. Some of us have been waiting decades to catch a glimpse of Clive Barker’s intended vision of his 1990 epic monster movie, Nightbreed. Some of us got close with the Cabal Cut, but that still wasn’t his intended vision. It was long-thought to be an impossibility, thanks to both studio interference, as well as mishandling of the original elements. Hell, when Scream Factory announced the title, most of us assumed we would be getting the Cabal Cut, including the awful-looking footage sourced from VHS. I feel like, when the announcement was made that all of the materials they needed were located in a vault somewhere, a big enough deal wasn’t made. I see people every day, disappointed that The Cabal Cut isn’t what we’re getting with this release. These people don’t understand that Barker’s Director’s Cut is superior...
- 10/29/2014
- by Shawn Savage
- The Liberal Dead
Clive Barker fans, this is the week we’ve all been patiently waiting for as Scream Factory is set to release the highly anticipated Director’s Cut of Nightbreed onto Blu-ray, forever filling the void that most us of Cabal enthusiasts have felt for many, many years.
Also coming home this week is Scott Derrickson’s supernatural thriller Deliver Us From Evil, Axelle Carolyn’s indie horror project Soulmate and the cult classic Planet of the Vampires gets a much-needed HD overhaul as well.
Other titles to keep an eye out for this week include Free Fall, Grace: The Possession, Red Nights as well as HD presentations of two oddball 70’s classics- Squirm and Werewolf Woman.
Spotlight Titles:
Deliver Us From Evil (Sony Home Entertainment, Blu-ray /Digital HD & DVD)
A New York police officer Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) begins investigating a series of bizarre and disturbing inexplicable crimes. When he...
Also coming home this week is Scott Derrickson’s supernatural thriller Deliver Us From Evil, Axelle Carolyn’s indie horror project Soulmate and the cult classic Planet of the Vampires gets a much-needed HD overhaul as well.
Other titles to keep an eye out for this week include Free Fall, Grace: The Possession, Red Nights as well as HD presentations of two oddball 70’s classics- Squirm and Werewolf Woman.
Spotlight Titles:
Deliver Us From Evil (Sony Home Entertainment, Blu-ray /Digital HD & DVD)
A New York police officer Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) begins investigating a series of bizarre and disturbing inexplicable crimes. When he...
- 10/28/2014
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Anyone with an interest in watching Clive Barker’s director’s cut of Nightbreed should most likely be familiar enough with the troubled production history and the Cabal cut that was making the festival rounds a couple of years ago. What makes this the definitive version of Barker’s ambitious dark fantasy is how this manages to expand the grand mythology taken from his novel Cabal, while adding clarity to Lori (Anne Bobby) and Boone’s (Craig Sheffer) relationship as the center of the story. Most importantly, the 40 minutes of new material was added in a way that actually helps the pacing and only running 18 minutes longer than the theatrical version keeps this from being a bloated experience.
Added footage of Boone and Lori together before he travels to the exotic home of the monsters, helps give their relationship a sense of purpose and Lori’s nightclub performance adds more depth to her character.
Added footage of Boone and Lori together before he travels to the exotic home of the monsters, helps give their relationship a sense of purpose and Lori’s nightclub performance adds more depth to her character.
- 10/25/2014
- by Sean McClannahan
- DailyDead
On October 28th, Scream Factory will unleash the long-awaited Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut, allowing viewers to finally experience the monsters of Midian the way writer/director Clive Barker intended. To help hold horror hounds over until the release, Scream Factory has unveiled a high-definition clip that shows Craig Sheffer’s Aaron Boone getting a call from David Cronenberg’s Dr. Decker:
“We begin with an official statement from Clive Barker’s team on this extraordinary project: “The Nightbreed Director’s Cut is an entirely different film than the one which was released in theaters. Its 20 minutes longer than the theatrical cut, but it contains over 40 minutes of new and altered footage. Clive oversaw the reconstruction and edit himself, personally ensuring that, at long last, he was able to tell the story he always wanted to tell, but until now, had never been given the chance. Once the scenes were reordered,...
“We begin with an official statement from Clive Barker’s team on this extraordinary project: “The Nightbreed Director’s Cut is an entirely different film than the one which was released in theaters. Its 20 minutes longer than the theatrical cut, but it contains over 40 minutes of new and altered footage. Clive oversaw the reconstruction and edit himself, personally ensuring that, at long last, he was able to tell the story he always wanted to tell, but until now, had never been given the chance. Once the scenes were reordered,...
- 10/7/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
This was a good weekend for Fox, at home and abroad. The studio had the No. 1 movie in North America and overseas with Gone Girl earning an estimated combined $62.6M. On the international side, Fox International Productions has a pair of home grown No. 1 hits on its hands in two very competitive local markets: India and Korea. Bollywood title Bang Bang earned $19.6M at home, and with additional markets, took its debut cume to $25.4M worldwide. In Korea, Fip’s Slow Video is estimated at $5.2M.
Local language in overseas markets continues to be a lucrative and important component of studio business. On a weekly basis, there are more and more titles that pop into my international box office round-up in which the studios are involved. Both of this weekend’s Fip No. 1s were financed, produced and distributed by Fox (Fox Star Studios in India). I understand that the last (and first-ever) time Fip,...
Local language in overseas markets continues to be a lucrative and important component of studio business. On a weekly basis, there are more and more titles that pop into my international box office round-up in which the studios are involved. Both of this weekend’s Fip No. 1s were financed, produced and distributed by Fox (Fox Star Studios in India). I understand that the last (and first-ever) time Fip,...
- 10/5/2014
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
The day of reckoning is all set to arrive in a few hours from now. ‘Bang Bang’ is all set to release and the hype has been unprecedented. With a five day weekend all set to welcome the film, which is all set to release in around 4500 screens, there are quite a few bets being placed on the film already. While insiders are raving about the film already, here are some of the reasons being shared by industry as well as trade alike that are making the film’s prospects further bright. 1. An out-and-out commercial family entertainer: Bang Bang releases at the time when audiences have been waiting for a good out and out commercial film which is entertaining to the core. No wonder, there is immense curiosity amidst viewers to check out the film which, we hear, is a total value for money. 2. Never seen before action sequences: Bang...
- 10/2/2014
- by BollySpice Editors
- Bollyspice
It is now confirmed, and comes straight from the horse’s mouth. Fox Star Studios has produced Bang Bang for a whopping budget of 140 crore (including Prints & Advertising, hence giving it the status of one of the costliest films ever made in Bollywood.
Here is the complete lowdown of what contributed to it, and whether a lesser cost would have at all been justified.
- Bang Bang has Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif, two of the biggest superstars of the country, in the lead. No prizes for guessing that they are also two of the highest paid actors in the country. A good chunk of moolah goes there.
- From Day One, the Usp of some never-seen-before action is being widely spoken about in not just the industry circles but also audiences. A promise has been made that Bollywood would witness something unique. Assurance comes from the fact that Hollywood...
Here is the complete lowdown of what contributed to it, and whether a lesser cost would have at all been justified.
- Bang Bang has Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif, two of the biggest superstars of the country, in the lead. No prizes for guessing that they are also two of the highest paid actors in the country. A good chunk of moolah goes there.
- From Day One, the Usp of some never-seen-before action is being widely spoken about in not just the industry circles but also audiences. A promise has been made that Bollywood would witness something unique. Assurance comes from the fact that Hollywood...
- 9/30/2014
- by Press Releases
- Bollyspice
Viewers can experience the monsters of Midian the way Clive Barker intended them to with Scream Factory’s Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut, and now the master of macabre has provided an additional way to enter the underground cemetery city of his 1990 film. Limited to 300 and available now to pre-order are custom Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut packages that include a poster signed by Barker.
The Deluxe Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut package can be ordered for $149 at http://www.realclivebarker.com/ while supplies last and comes with the following items:
Limited Edition Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut 3-disc Blu-ray from Scream Factory 18″ by 24″ Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut movie screening poster signed by Clive Barker Two passes to the private screening of Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut at Los Angeles’ Historic Alex Theater on October 28th, 2014, with Clive Barker in attendance for the...
The Deluxe Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut package can be ordered for $149 at http://www.realclivebarker.com/ while supplies last and comes with the following items:
Limited Edition Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut 3-disc Blu-ray from Scream Factory 18″ by 24″ Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut movie screening poster signed by Clive Barker Two passes to the private screening of Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut at Los Angeles’ Historic Alex Theater on October 28th, 2014, with Clive Barker in attendance for the...
- 9/4/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Viewers can experience the monsters of Midian the way Clive Barker intended them to with Scream Factory’s Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut. Initially announced at last year’s Comic-Con, both the special edition and limited edition of the upcoming home media release will be available in less than two months, and the full list of bonus features for both Blu-rays have now been revealed.
Scream Factory’s release of Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut will be available on October 28th, just in time to be included in celebratory Halloween movie marathons. We have the full details below, including each release’s list of bonus features and specs (courtesy of Scream Factory!):
“We begin with an official statement from Clive Barker’s team on this extraordinary project: “The Nightbreed Director’s Cut is an entirely different film than the one which was released in theaters. Its 20 minutes longer than the theatrical cut,...
Scream Factory’s release of Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut will be available on October 28th, just in time to be included in celebratory Halloween movie marathons. We have the full details below, including each release’s list of bonus features and specs (courtesy of Scream Factory!):
“We begin with an official statement from Clive Barker’s team on this extraordinary project: “The Nightbreed Director’s Cut is an entirely different film than the one which was released in theaters. Its 20 minutes longer than the theatrical cut,...
- 9/3/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Well, Nightbreed fans, the moment you've been waiting for has finally arrived. A couple months after the exciting original announcement, Scream Factory has just revealed full details on the two different versions of its Director's Cut Blu-ray release of the film...
...and you're going to be blown away by all the goodies included on the discs.
But first, a few words from the offices of the film's writer/director, Clive Barker!
"The ‘Nightbreed Director’s Cut’ is an entirely different film than the one which was released in theaters," writes Barker's team about the release. "It's 20 minutes longer than the theatrical cut, but it contains over 40 minutes of new and altered footage. Clive oversaw the reconstruction and edit himself, personally ensuring that, at long last, he was able to tell the story he always wanted to tell but, until now, had never been given the chance. Once the scenes were reordered,...
...and you're going to be blown away by all the goodies included on the discs.
But first, a few words from the offices of the film's writer/director, Clive Barker!
"The ‘Nightbreed Director’s Cut’ is an entirely different film than the one which was released in theaters," writes Barker's team about the release. "It's 20 minutes longer than the theatrical cut, but it contains over 40 minutes of new and altered footage. Clive oversaw the reconstruction and edit himself, personally ensuring that, at long last, he was able to tell the story he always wanted to tell but, until now, had never been given the chance. Once the scenes were reordered,...
- 9/3/2014
- by John Squires
- DreadCentral.com
They announced it, and we have waited patiently. We didn’t care that we had no idea what we would be getting in the package, we slapped our money down anyway. Scream Factory have made it known, now, the scope of their two Blu-ray releases of Nightbreed. Information about the final specs, as well as the various pieces of bonus content is now available. Pre-order this sucka at the link! Click here to pre-order the standard edition. Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut will be available on October 28th, only from Scream Factory. Check out the final specs below.
Experience Clive Barker’S Classic Masterpiece In Terror
Like You’Ve Never Seen It Before!
Scream Factory™ Presents
Nightbreed: The Director’S Cut
On Blu-ray™ & DVD Everywhere October 28, 2014
“This is film history and beyond my wildest dreams of realization.” Clive Barker
On October 28, 2014, the horror home entertainment brand Scream Factory...
Experience Clive Barker’S Classic Masterpiece In Terror
Like You’Ve Never Seen It Before!
Scream Factory™ Presents
Nightbreed: The Director’S Cut
On Blu-ray™ & DVD Everywhere October 28, 2014
“This is film history and beyond my wildest dreams of realization.” Clive Barker
On October 28, 2014, the horror home entertainment brand Scream Factory...
- 9/3/2014
- by Shawn Savage
- The Liberal Dead
This round-table interview was tons of fun. I got a minute to share a table with Andrew Garfield, Spider-Man and Marc Webb, director of Spider-Man and a gentleman I am very much in favor of.
Why do you like Marc Webb so much, Da7e? Good question, reader. He was my first one-on-one interview ever for this site during his (500) Days of Summer press tour. We shared a container of blueberries and even though our site has changed hands a few times since then, The Way-Way Back Machine has archived the discussion I had with web about music video reality, back in 2009.
I wasn't given access to Webb during The Amazing Spider-Man, which was probably for the best as I was chasing another story about the interactions between Columbia and Webb concerning lots of stuff that I couldn't care about less now that Webb gets his Spider-Man trilogy with Andrew Garfield.
Why do you like Marc Webb so much, Da7e? Good question, reader. He was my first one-on-one interview ever for this site during his (500) Days of Summer press tour. We shared a container of blueberries and even though our site has changed hands a few times since then, The Way-Way Back Machine has archived the discussion I had with web about music video reality, back in 2009.
I wasn't given access to Webb during The Amazing Spider-Man, which was probably for the best as I was chasing another story about the interactions between Columbia and Webb concerning lots of stuff that I couldn't care about less now that Webb gets his Spider-Man trilogy with Andrew Garfield.
- 4/28/2014
- by Da7e
- LRMonline.com
Hrithik was seen performing some gravity defying stunts above the flyover bridge at Mayur Vihar. Dressed in a brown leather jacket, Hrithik looked visibly pumped to do the stunts all by himself. The action sequences are choreographed by famous Hollywood stunt director Andy Armstrong who has movies like Spiderman 2 to his credit.
To facilitate a smooth shoot, the surrounding areas and roads were shut down which lead to road diversions. Moreover, enthusiastic and curious fans thronged to catch a glimpse of their favorite star in action. That caused a heavy traffic jam that caused the shoot to be stopped by the police officials.
Hrithik met Delhi Police commissioner Bs Bassi on Monday morning seeking the necessary permission for the shooting. The crew resumed their shoot on Tuesday. They will now shoot in various parts of Delhi like Rajghat and Subhashnagar.
Bang Bang’s Delhi schedule ends on March 9 after...
To facilitate a smooth shoot, the surrounding areas and roads were shut down which lead to road diversions. Moreover, enthusiastic and curious fans thronged to catch a glimpse of their favorite star in action. That caused a heavy traffic jam that caused the shoot to be stopped by the police officials.
Hrithik met Delhi Police commissioner Bs Bassi on Monday morning seeking the necessary permission for the shooting. The crew resumed their shoot on Tuesday. They will now shoot in various parts of Delhi like Rajghat and Subhashnagar.
Bang Bang’s Delhi schedule ends on March 9 after...
- 3/6/2014
- by Chaitali Hatiskar
- Bollyspice
New footage! More Rhino! Behind the scene glory is to be had in this featurette for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 including interviews with Emma Stone (who plays Gwen Stacy), Robert Mead (additional editing), Andy Armstrong (stunt coordinator), Paul Giamatti (as Aleksei Sytsevich/The Rhino), Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), producer Avi Arad, producer Matt Tolmach, director Mark Webb and Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Electro.
Featurette: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Light, Camera, Action
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, and Dennis Leary is slated to hit theaters May 2, 2014.
Featurette: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Light, Camera, Action
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, and Dennis Leary is slated to hit theaters May 2, 2014.
- 2/18/2014
- by Jess Orso
- ScifiMafia
Ever the perfectionist – the international superstar Hrithik Roshan will ensure every aspect of his new action thriller film Bang, Bang goes to plan by enlisting the help of two body doubles to perfect the right climatic feel for the film.
The high-octane blockbuster Bang, Bang, which is the Indian version of Hollywood film Knight And Day, will have specially choreographed stunt sequences designed by international stunt supremo Andy Armstrong (The Amazing Spider Man 2). Hrithik Roshan will have two of the best body doubles in the business to undertake the wide angle, panoramic sequences, whilst the superstar himself will do all the close-up stunts.
Hrithik, who underwent brain surgery in July 2013, resumed filming of Bang, Bang this month in the wintery hill station of Shimla with co-star Katrina Kaif. The film calls for the action superstar to perform some death-defying stunts, including an adrenaline-inducing 40-foot rooftop chase in a populated area of Shimla.
The high-octane blockbuster Bang, Bang, which is the Indian version of Hollywood film Knight And Day, will have specially choreographed stunt sequences designed by international stunt supremo Andy Armstrong (The Amazing Spider Man 2). Hrithik Roshan will have two of the best body doubles in the business to undertake the wide angle, panoramic sequences, whilst the superstar himself will do all the close-up stunts.
Hrithik, who underwent brain surgery in July 2013, resumed filming of Bang, Bang this month in the wintery hill station of Shimla with co-star Katrina Kaif. The film calls for the action superstar to perform some death-defying stunts, including an adrenaline-inducing 40-foot rooftop chase in a populated area of Shimla.
- 2/12/2014
- by Press Releases
- Bollyspice
Loki's at it again and this time, he's brought friends. The Avengers will have their hands full when this show hits cities across the United States this summer, but don't worry, it looks like they've recruited a few friends of their own, including Marvel legends, Spider-Man and Wolverine. Tour dates for the 85-city tour were announced last week, with the show starting off in Tampa, Fl, in July before trekking along the east coast all the way to New York City for its world premiere at the Barclays Center on August 13th. It plans to hit the west coast Spring 2015. Tickets are currently on sale for this summer's shows with prices ranging from $40 to $180. The live show has an impressive crew with Emmy winner Shanda Sawyer on board as director, writing duo Adam Wilson and Melanie Wilson Labracio and stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong (who also served as stunt coordinator...
- 2/6/2014
- ComicBookMovie.com
Film, comics, and television aren’t enough to contain Marvel‘s super-media empire. The company today unveiled a first look at their Marvel Universe Live!, the 2014 touring arena show combining two dozen Marvel superhero characters, acrobatics, martial art stunts, and live theater that’ll hit 28 North American cities next July. The show is produced in partnership with Feld Entertainment, whose live productions include Disney on Ice and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Emmy-winning director Shanda Sawyer is at the helm with choreography by Thor stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong. Adam Wilson (What’s Important is Feeling: Stories, Flatscreen: A novel) and Melanie Wilson Labracio are aboard writing what Marvel-watchers hope won’t turn into Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark Part II. Marvel debuted an official teaser at NY Comic-Con, but here’s a more revealing behind the scenes production featurette:...
- 10/12/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): How the 'Amazing Spider-Man' team made Spidey's swing look so real
Some of the coolest parts of The Amazing Spider-Man are the dizzying shots of Spidey rocketing through the air as he swings around the city. If those scenes seem a little more realistic than in previous movies about the web slinger, there’s a reason. Here, in a piece by originally published when the film opened in July, stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong explains how they reworked Spider-Man’s swing for the new film. For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012: Behind the Scenes coverage.
Step 1: Back away from the computer.
Step 1: Back away from the computer.
- 11/29/2012
- by Rob Brunner
- EW - Inside Movies
The Amazing Spider-Man meets Cirque du Soleil! Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield spent Tuesday evening at Iris, A Journey Through the World of Cinema by Cirque du Soleil at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Joined by Andrew Armstrong, the stunt coordinator for The Amazing Spider-Man, the couple walked into the theater with Garfield's arm draped around Stone. "It was their first visit and as they entered, Emma said 'Ooohhh!' once she saw the stage," an onlooker tells People. As for refreshments, Stone sipped on a water and Garfield drank a beer while they both snacked on popcorn. Once the show ended,...
- 10/18/2012
- PEOPLE.com
When director Marc Webb decided to take on the task of rebooting Sony's Spider-Man franchise, he said that one of the ways he felt he could "reignite interest in Spider-Man" was to depict some of the character's spider-powered abilities in a "different and new way." One of the ways Webb tried to do this was to rely less on CGI and shoot more of the stunts practically, to make the audience connect more with the action. Based on the the movie's opening numbers, it appears that Webb succeeded in his task, with moviegoers turning out in droves to experience his "naturalistic" approach to superheroics.
But, how was it actually done? How did Webb make a human being bend, twist and flip through the air like a comic book superhero with the proportionate strength, speed and reflexes of a spider? He turned to stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong (Thor) and the one-of-a-kind...
But, how was it actually done? How did Webb make a human being bend, twist and flip through the air like a comic book superhero with the proportionate strength, speed and reflexes of a spider? He turned to stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong (Thor) and the one-of-a-kind...
- 7/6/2012
- by BrentJS Sprecher
- Reelzchannel.com
Some of the coolest parts of The Amazing Spider-Man are the dizzying shots of Spidey rocketing through the air as he swings around the city. If those scenes seem a little more realistic than in previous movies about the web slinger, there’s a reason. Stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong explains how they reworked Spider-Man’s swing for the new film.
Step 1: Back away from the computer. “The thing I’m most proud of is the fact that we, I think, have reinvented a real swing for Spider-Man, as opposed to a CG swing. Computer-generated images are a fabulous thing,...
Step 1: Back away from the computer. “The thing I’m most proud of is the fact that we, I think, have reinvented a real swing for Spider-Man, as opposed to a CG swing. Computer-generated images are a fabulous thing,...
- 7/4/2012
- by Rob Brunner
- EW - Inside Movies
Washington, July 4: Andrew Garfield's body inspiration for 'The Amazing Spider-Man' was Bruce Lee, as he impressed film bosses with his "sensational" physical transformation, according to the film's stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong.
The actor delighted producers with his transformation from a "nerdy, skinny young kid" into a muscle-bound action star for his role as the titular character and his alter ego Peter Parker in the movie, and used an iconic picture.
The actor delighted producers with his transformation from a "nerdy, skinny young kid" into a muscle-bound action star for his role as the titular character and his alter ego Peter Parker in the movie, and used an iconic picture.
- 7/4/2012
- by Diksha Singh
- RealBollywood.com
Webs out, Spider-fans! Sony's long-planned "Amazing" reboot hits theaters today, giving you the chance to finally weigh in once and for all: can Marc Webb's take on "Spider-Man" match or surpass the Sam Raimi era? Critics are divided, but this much is clear: Peter Parker's about to make a whole lot of money, and you're probably contributing to the pile.
We've been covering "Spider-Man" very thoroughly all throughout MTV Movies over the past few weeks. Keep reading for highlights of our coverage!
"Amazing" Reviews
Though some aren't sold on the "Spider-Man" reboot, count two of MTV Movies' very own writers among the "Amazing" fans. In his review, Kevin P. Sullivan calls Andrew Garfield's performance "nuanced, fully realized, and inventive enough to firmly stand apart from the time-honored, but safer portrayals of Peter," while Josh Wigler (hey! That's me!) writes, "Webb's movie works very well on its own, and...
We've been covering "Spider-Man" very thoroughly all throughout MTV Movies over the past few weeks. Keep reading for highlights of our coverage!
"Amazing" Reviews
Though some aren't sold on the "Spider-Man" reboot, count two of MTV Movies' very own writers among the "Amazing" fans. In his review, Kevin P. Sullivan calls Andrew Garfield's performance "nuanced, fully realized, and inventive enough to firmly stand apart from the time-honored, but safer portrayals of Peter," while Josh Wigler (hey! That's me!) writes, "Webb's movie works very well on its own, and...
- 7/3/2012
- by Josh Wigler
- MTV Movies Blog
“I don’t think it’s anything to be proud of, being hurt,” says Amazing Spider-Man stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong. “It’s invariably a mistake, something gone wrong, a miscalculation.” And most of the time Hollywood’s top stunt men nail the ever-more-intense action sequences that pack thrill seekers into theaters every summer. But sometimes things do go wrong, and when you’re, say, driving an airborne car that’s rigged to explode, the consequences can be devastating. We asked a bunch of prominent stunt pros about their most brutal accidents.
Andy Armstrong (The Amazing Spider-Man, Planet of the Apes,...
Andy Armstrong (The Amazing Spider-Man, Planet of the Apes,...
- 7/2/2012
- by Rob Brunner
- EW - Inside Movies
London, June 25: Actor Andrew Garfield, who plays Peter Parker in "The Amazing Spider-Man", almost suffocated himself on the set of the movie as he did not learn proper breathing techniques required for the sequence.
"I had to get wet, and I just kind of dove in and did not realise that water on the mask made it impossible to breathe. So I was kind of, like, suffocating. I could not get any oxygen! I water-boarded myself," contactmusic.com quoted the 28-year-old as saying.
His fight coordinator, Andy Armstrong, saw the actor.
"I had to get wet, and I just kind of dove in and did not realise that water on the mask made it impossible to breathe. So I was kind of, like, suffocating. I could not get any oxygen! I water-boarded myself," contactmusic.com quoted the 28-year-old as saying.
His fight coordinator, Andy Armstrong, saw the actor.
- 6/25/2012
- by Machan Kumar
- RealBollywood.com
Andrew Garfield on almost suffocating in a particular scene: “I had to get wet, and I just kind of dove in and didn’t realize that water on the mask made it impossible to breathe.” “So I was kind of, like, suffocating,” he says, getting wide-eyed and wheezing to act out the scene. “I couldn’t get any oxygen! I water-boarded myself.” He was helped by fight coordinator Andy Armstrong to free himself. Andrew Garfield has expressed on numerous occassions his passion for the character and admitted to being a huge Spider-Man fan and this is again evident when he says: “Since Stan Lee wrote the first panel and Steve Ditko drew the first drawing, that’s what you want to be true to: the core of the character and the story,” Garfield says. “I think the symbol of Spider-Man hangs over all of us.” Martin Sheen spoke highly of...
- 6/24/2012
- ComicBookMovie.com
The official Facebook page for The Amazing Spider-Man has posted the following behind-the-scenes vid - which also contains a few new shots from the actual movie - featuring director Marc Webb, Andrew Garfield and stunt coordinators Vic and Andy Armstrong discussing the various stunts used in the movie.. The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his...
- 6/7/2012
- ComicBookMovie.com
In a slight restructuring of its European operations, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has appointed Kim Overall to senior vp Northern Europe. Andrew Armstrong, a 14-year vet who previously held the position, is leaving the company this month. According to Sphe, Overall’s new responsibilities will include “leading and implementing the commercial strategies and program development throughout the U.K. and Northern Europe while ensuring strategic alignment among all new release, catalog and TV releases for the company.” She will also be a key member of the newly created Sphe Worldwide Commercial Team. Story: Jim Underwood Joins Sony Pictures Home
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- 3/22/2012
- by Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Last January, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story claiming that the then untitled Spider-Man reboot would have a lowly budget of $80 Million. Not exactly a lot for a 3D superhero movie, so many assumed it was a mistake or early figure. Well, it looks like the sceptics were right! Check out what actor Richard Norton had to say while talking to Moviehole. "Unfortunately I can’t say much right now because I’m not allowed to. However I can say it was mostly stunt work. I doubt you’ll even recognise me. I play a Swat guy but it’s a small part. I was on-set for four weeks and the experience was just phenomenal...it’s a $220 million budget movie!" "Vic Armstrong was the second unit director and it was great working with him. Andy Armstrong, his brother, was the stunt coordinator and an old friend. Andy’s the...
- 5/17/2011
- ComicBookMovie.com
Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee has given his full support to Chris Hemsworth's portrayal of Thor.
Lee, the former president of the publishing giant and co-creator of The Mighty Thor comic back in 1962, pops up in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation in a well-publicised cameo role.
Stan was also an executive producer on the movie and was more than happy with the choice of lead actor. He said: "Chris Hemsworth looks like a superhero.
"Out of make-up and wardrobe, he's a really strong, soulful, emotional guy.
"Dressed as Thor, he looks like he has the maturity and wisdom to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders."
In addition, he has tonight tweeted his reaction after viewing the finished film, saying: "Finally saw Thor. It's even better than everyone said it is. But, forgetting about my cameo for a moment, the movie itself is great."
He then quipped...
Lee, the former president of the publishing giant and co-creator of The Mighty Thor comic back in 1962, pops up in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation in a well-publicised cameo role.
Stan was also an executive producer on the movie and was more than happy with the choice of lead actor. He said: "Chris Hemsworth looks like a superhero.
"Out of make-up and wardrobe, he's a really strong, soulful, emotional guy.
"Dressed as Thor, he looks like he has the maturity and wisdom to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders."
In addition, he has tonight tweeted his reaction after viewing the finished film, saying: "Finally saw Thor. It's even better than everyone said it is. But, forgetting about my cameo for a moment, the movie itself is great."
He then quipped...
- 5/3/2011
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
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