“HUNGER GAMES’” SAM CLAFLIN STARS IN YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE “LOVE, ROSIE”

Sam Claflin came to worldwide attention since his notable role in the second instalment of the phenomenal hit franchise as Finnick Odair in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” in 2013 and reprises his role in this year’s “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1”, but Claflin has already made an indelible impression in the movie industry with his roles in previously released blockbuster films “Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides” as Philip Swift and in “Snow White and the Huntsman” as William.

Claflin now headlines his latest romantic lead role in “Love, Rosie” opposite Lily Collins – adapted from the bestselling tome, “Where Rainbows End” by Cecelia Ahern.    In director Christian Ditter’s new film Love, Rosie, Lily Collins and Sam Claflin star as Rosie and Alex, childhood friends seemingly destined to be together, yet a couple which fate itself seems determined to keep apart. The film paints a rich and textured canvas of a complicated yet lifelong bond between Rosie and Alex, beginning in their childhood, spanning a trans-Atlantic separation, and enduring ups and downs of romantic liaisons with everyone but each other resulting in some bittersweet consequences.

“The story is about two people who really have a deep love for each other, but are constantly being pulled apart,” explains acclaimed Irish author Ahern. “I wrote “Where Rainbows End” a couple of months after I had finished “P.S. I Love You,” she says of the follow-up to her first novel, written when she was only 21 years old.

Born in Suffolk, England, Sam Claflin first took up acting at Norwich City College and completed his studies at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in 2009. Within a year of graduating, he’d already established himself as a someone to watch with performances in two award winning series – KenFollett’s “The Pillars of the Earth” (2010; for Starz television) and “Any Human Heart” (2010; based on the novel by William Boyd for UK broadcaster Channel 4) – followed by a starring role in the post-apocalyptic drama, “The Lost Future” for Syfy.

“Sam was really our first choice to play Alex,” says producer Robert Kulzer. “He was terrific in the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie and had just come out with Snow White and the Huntsman. I also knew that he would be one of the leads in the new Hunger Games sequel… I basically knew if we could get Lily and Sam in the movie it could be a very explosive combination.”  It also proved a combination which worked remarkably well on screen – as evidenced by the pairing of Collins and Claflin in their very first meeting. “It was important that whoever played Alex jelled with Lily; there had to be a visible chemistry,” says Simon Brooks. “I think it was after 15 seconds of them meeting in a room together that we knew we had found our Alex.”

“The chemistry between the two actors simply fired up the entire space,” recalls Christian Ditter of the actors’ initial reading. “After that day it was very clear that no one else could play these characters other than Lily and Sam.” “When Sam and I met for the first time it was just like Rosie meeting Alex,” agrees Collins.   “We got on so well from the get-go and we had the best time with Christian… I mean, Rosie and Alex were created that day I think. It was just an amazing feeling.”

For Claflin, the prospect of filming “Love, Rosie” resonated on many levels. Initially attracted by the script and the prospect of working with Lily Collins, he was also a fan of the genre itself and saw the film as a departure from his previous work. “I’d read a fair number of scripts over the past few years and nothing really grabbed my attention like this did,” says Claflin of his decision to come aboard. “The journey that these two characters go on struck a chord with me. I also wanted to do something contemporary, something modern. All in all, it was a no brainer.”

“Sam is like a young Hugh Grant,” says Brooks of the up-and-coming star and hisperformance in Love, Rosie. “What this film did was allow him to really act. He’s incredibly charismatic and he put a lot of hard work into the limited amount of time we had with him.” Like his co-star, Lily Collins, the biggest challenge for Claflin was playing a character who ages from adolescence to adulthood over the course of a performance. “It was very difficult to begin with, but with the help of make-up and costume you felt you were taken back in time,” says the British actor. “I didn’t really need that much preparation though to play Alex,” says Claflin of his overall approach to the character. “Instead what Christian Ditter did was really allow Lily and I the time to get to know each other, along with the freedom to play with the scenes, to just be spontaneous and go with the flow… I don’t think this would have been half the film it is without him at the helm. He was so passionate and easy going – he was just fantastic to work for. And I think his vision for the film was equally incredible.”

“Love, Rosie” opens December 3 in cinemas from Pioneer Films.

ENTHRALLING ANIMATION IN “THE HOUSE OF MAGIC”

“The House of Magic,” a Belgian-French-American computer-animated fantasy-comedy film, produced by avant-garde production Anton Capital Entertainment and directed by Ben Stassen and Jeremy Degruson, focuses on an abandoned young cat named Thunder who seeks shelter in the home of an old, retired magician with his automatons and gizmos.

Seeking shelter from a storm, abandoned young cat Thunder sneaks into a mysterious mansion owned by retired magician Lawrence, aka “The Illustrious Lorenzo”.  Lawrence shares his fairy-tale world with many animals and a dazzling array of automatons and gizmos capable of whipping up breakfast while rolling out a spectacular song-and-dance routine.   He soon makes Thunder feel welcome, but Jack the rabbit and Maggie the mouse start plotting to get him kicked out. When Lawrence ends up in the hospital, his nephew tries to trick him into selling the house. But its ragtag inhabitants develop a spooky strategy to defend their home. They turn their house into a haunted mansion, using Thunder as their secret weapon.

Director Ben Stassen shares thatthe movie is based on an attraction film featured around a decade ago. An attraction film is a 4D film lasting 10-15 minutes. “After “Sammy’s Adventures” and “Sammy 2,” we were looking for ideas for a feature-length movie and we thought this would be a good one to turn into such a film. Of course, it was a short and we had to turn it into a real story. In fact, the first 10 minutes at the start of our film recall certain shots and decors from that attraction made a decade ago.  In the beginning, the English title was “The Enchaunted House” (enchanted/ haunted), but the word “magic” fits better with the film because the house belongs to a magician and because the characters use magic. So we preferred to call it THE HOUSE OF MAGIC. And it’s not a scary film at all. Even the scene where the potential buyer for the house ends is scared and leaves the house screaming “the house is haunted!” is completely fun because the audience knows the whole thing has been orchestrated by the characters who live in the house,” explains producer and director Stassen.

“There are fifty (50) characters in “The House of Magic” and each one is drawn. Beforehand, there was a lot of research. We tried out different designs and a range of approaches. For Thunder, we needed a young cat, somewhere between a kitten and an adult cat, so in terms of proportions, we did different tests to get the effect we wanted,”  co-director Jeremie Degruson enthuses.

“The House of Magic” opens December 3 in cinemas from Crystalsky Multimedia.

TIM_ROTH_INTERVIEW_ON_GRACE_OF_MONACO

British actor Tim Roth followed this early success with roles in Mike Leigh’s Meantime and Stephen Frears’s The Hit. Known for his talent with accents and his ability to slip seamlessly into characters, Roth received international attention in 1990 after starring in Vincent & Theo as well as Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. He then caught the eye of director Quentin Tarantino, who cast him in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

In his upcoming film ‘Grace of Monaco’ Tim Roth plays as Prince Rainier III of Monaco was married to American actress Grace Kelly (Nicole Kidman) and was the longest ruling European monarch at the time of his death in 2005.

What attracted you to this role?                                                                                                  

It was far from anything I’ve done before, especially since I do not come from such a family or such a universe. It was a great challenge but I thought I would not be the right person to this role. Olivier Dahan was not of this opinion, and this is someone with whom every actor should work because it is excellent. (Laughs) This is just for me. I wanted to work with Olivier and Nicole Kidman but also because I do not know if I could do it. Already because it away really the roles I’ve played so far. So when I was offered this role, I immediately saw as a challenge.Because it was not the kind of character that I will be interpret imagined one day I did not know if I was capable of. Olivier was sure of his choice. It is thanks to him that I could interpret such a character.

Did you know that Prince Rainier before this shoot?

To be honest, I knew nothing about him. I knew he was the husband of Grace Kelly. And this is the kind of stories we’re talking about today. The idea of this actress, who won an Oscar ( ed. for The Girl in the province in 1955), a big Hollywood star at the top of his career, and dropped everything for this small Principality where she became the princess. Everyone, directors spectators passing by photographers, was intrigued by this story. And then I discovered the political fracas with the French who ruled at the time and I had no clue before. At the time, an actress who is now Princess of Monaco, it is a subject that fascinates glamor and intrigue people. This is a really intriguing story when you think! With the film, I also discovered the political tensions that there was between Monaco and France. I had never heard of. When we started thinking about it, we wanted to make a strong person who has to fight smart and intelligent. We needed to build his image, his strength. It is a wise business man and a fine politician who is caught in the middle of a maelstrom very difficult to manage things. The film begins when Rainier is about to fall and reveal all the issues of the Rock through advisors prince.

Your opinion on the monarchy is known and yet you agreed to play a prince …

(Laughs) In fact, I’m not a hardcore fan of the British royal family. For me, the aristocracy is an anachronism and aristocrats, a DNA error. I think these people have a right to exist but living with their people in social housing, working and not taxes. They restore the money spent for the wedding of Charles and Diana, who was taken to the English! This is not the kind of world that attracts me, especially politically. But sometimes it’s good to include a person in a world that does not believe. It’s interesting, especially since I know of no businessman. I see at Cannes, but I do not hang out with them. Same with politicians.

How have you prepared for this role?

There was not a lot of archive films about him but I’ve seen a few. The fact that there is little literature on the relationship between Grace and Rainier kept mystery. Otherwise, I read a lot about him because his character intrigued me. I liked to see a man in Rainier in difficult times, to see his vulnerability as each of us can know . In the film, it comes as he explored all the possibilities and find a course ideas.

How would you describe the relationship between Rainier and Grace Kelly?

In the film we juggled two different phases: the idea of a more or less arranged marriage and that of a couple who deeply loves. I was not there when they met but obviously I can imagine this evening in Cannes where they met, how she came to Hollywood, I know they have exchanged letters, they are reviewed then got married. Grace of Monaco is a focus on the couple but could be a focus on couples in general. How two completely opposite worlds come together, the collision and finally adaptation. I think the Prince Rainier was really in love with his wife. This contrasts for example their relationship to that of Diana. The idea for us was always oscillate between these two aspects. I was not there so I do not know how things really happened. What we wanted to do with them both, and that is probably the case of couples in general, is to enter their worlds collide. But I think – or hope – that he really loved her, unlike someone like Diana. There they confessed that they did not like each other.

The film was mostly shot in Belgium, Italy and Monaco studios and little; Did you know the Principality?

Yes, I had already made ​​a film there ( ed. Möbius ) and I just got home I came back to it. But I was especially shown a very interesting interview in which Rainier had raised the issue that Monaco had with France and its willingness to front. More than the content, that is his way of speaking and delivering his message, his confidence and how to move that seemed fascinating to me. I discovered an intriguing character. He never seemed attractive before, but I quickly realized how a woman could fall for him. I also saw pictures of him at the funeral of Grace Kelly, and he seemed devastated, so the idea was to get a version of this to another man in the story.

You give the replica Nicole Kidman; how was it to play with it?

She was on the film for longer than me. She had built her character. She already over the project, it literally floated above us. Then, on the set, we had fun, Nicole is very funny. For this role she has reinvented itself again, it always elsewhere. Her acting choices are very strong and unusual. As we age, especially for women, the job is relentless, we must challenge and take risks. It is a survival mode to last. The role of Grace of Monaco is very difficult.

 

“GRACE OF MONACO” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.

 Showing on December 3, 2014. Nationwide.

Production Begins on ‘KIDNAP’, Starring Halle Berry

Lotus Entertainment announced today that Luis Prieto’s upcoming thriller ‘Kidnap’ has officially started principal photography. The film, based on Knate Gwaltney’s screenplay, will shoot in New Orleans and wrap on November 25.

New additions to the cast of ‘Kidnap’ are Sage Correa, Lew Temple and Chris McGinn. They’ll co-star opposite Academy Award winner Halle Berry, who stars as a mother who will stop at nothing to rescue her kidnapped son.

Di Bonaventura Pictures’ Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Erik Howsam, Gold Star Films’ Joey Tufaro and Gregory Chou of Rumble Entertainment are producing; executive producers are Halle Berry and her producing partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas through their 606 Films production banner, Lotus Entertainment’s Bill Johnson, Jim Seibel, D.J. Gugenheim and Ara Keshishian, alongside Gold Star Films’ Colin Bates and Todd Trosclair, Knate Gwaltney, and Doris Pfardrescher of Well Go USA. Lotus is handling international sales, with Relativity Studios distributing in the U.S., and Captive Cinema distributing in the Philippines on October 2015.

The creative team behind ‘Kidnap’ includes Director of Photography Flavio Martinez Labiano (The Gunman, Non-Stop), Stunts Coordinator Steve Ritzi (Prisoners, G.I. Joe, Looper), Costume Designer Ruth Carter (Oldboy, Abduction, Frankie and Alice), and Production Designer Sarah Webster (Pusher).

Nicole Kidman was “honoured” to play Grace Kelly in ‘Grace of Monaco’.

The Oscar-winning star is set to portray the glamorous Hollywood actress – who later became Princess of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier III of Monaco – in a new biopic and she hopes she is able to successfully bring the character to life.

‘Grace of Monaco’ will be set in the 1960s and concentrate on the actress-turned-princess’ crisis of identity and marriage as her husband, Prince Rainier III, enters into a political dispute with France’s Charles De Gaulle.

Nicole Kidman would give up her career for love, and why she was drawn to Grace Kelly as a character and a person.

She said: “I wanted to be respectful of her, her story and her essence so hopefully that will all come through.”

What went through your mind when you were first offered the part?
It was such a great opportunity; my whole career I am always looking for things that put me on a high wire, and this was one of those roles.

 

How did you research the role?

Prior to doing the film, I had seen all of the Hitchcock films; I actually hadn’t seen THE COUNTRY GIRL, so I saw that, but my favourite performance is in REAR WINDOW; that’s my favourite Hitchcock movie as well. I have studied a lot of footage of her because there was a lot of footage available through the years. Some of the most fascinating is before she came [to France]; when she knew she was going to get married to Rainier and she does a press conference, and she is asked questions about the nationality of her children and citizenship and all of those things, and I found that really fascinating. Also there is some footage of her when she was on the boat, travelling over, which I thought was incredible, because she was with all the journalists on the boat; she had her pets and her family… it was unusual and kind of extraordinary. It just magnified how unusual her life was, and how it was rarefied air in which she existed.

 

When you get to work on an icon like Princess Grace, how do you approach the role?
I have played people who have existed before in history, so I have had different approaches to different things. For this particular role, there is a lot of footage that is available to watch. I can also hear her voice; I can read a lot of things. We had about five months to prepare so I was able to, very gently, absorb into her skin by watching, listening, absorbing. At the same time, when we talked about it, it was very important that I didn’t feel trapped by having to mimic her. It was more [about] trying to find her essence. It was a beautiful experience to live her life for six months. We got to shoot it here [in France]; it was a French crew and a French director, so it wasn’t on a studio lot in LA, and I think that imbues the film as well.

 

This film is about Grace Kelly choosing a different path in her life, and walking away from her career as an actress; why do you think she did this?
 I think she chose love, and I think many people do that in their lives. She was so unique in the sense that she was a major American movie star at a very young age, she won an Academy Award, and she then said ‘I am actually going to leave it all because I want a marriage and I want a family’. I think that’s a very strong thrust for many many people, not just women. I completely understand what she did. When the film starts, which is six years into her marriage, with two children; inevitably, if you are a creative person and you have a passion, which Grace did, there is a pull towards what you used to do. As much as you say ‘I can walk away from all of this’, the reality of walking away from it is very very different to the idea of it, and I think that’s what’s so interesting about how the film starts.

 

How important was the jewellery and the clothes to you, in getting into the character of Princess Grace of Monaco?
We were so fortunate because Gigi [Lepage] who is a very good friend of Olivier’s, happens to be an extraordinary costume designer; so much of the performance was imbued by the costumes. We were lucky because we also had access to the House of Dior, who did a number of costumes in the film, and jewellery by Cartier. We were very very fortunate to have access to the real things. Also, the milliner, his father designed the hats for Grace, so there has been an enormous amount of thought and work that went into that side of the movie. As an actress… Recently, I haven’t gotten to do that kind of thing. Probably the last film I did where there was so much attention to detail for the costumes, was MOULIN ROUGE, and I forget how important that can be for the characters.

 

Would you give up acting for love?

I have never had to; I would, absolutely. I wouldn’t even think twice about it because I would hope there is something else I can do, and I would find something else to do. I think love is the core emotion, and I have certainly existed without that in my life, and it’s a very empty life. I have always said; when I won the Oscar I went home and I didn’t have that in my life. That was the most intensely lonely period of my life. I have also said, strangely for me, the greatest highs have coincided with the greatest lows; my professional highs have come at times when I have had personal lows and they have collided. That’s always aggravated me; that it’s gone that way. I hope that one day I can have professional high and personal high [laughs]. I don’t know whether that’s ever possible, but I would never think twice about it. I also think that once you have children, the love of a parent… You suddenly have the emotion of being able to die for someone, and the power of that emotion is the greatest emotion there is; when you have that selflessness, as soon as that hits you, your whole life changes, and your whole life changes.

 

How do you feel that the Grimaldi family attacked the film and didn’t attend the premiere at Cannes?

Obviously, I feel sad, because I think that the film has no malice to the family or particularly to Grace of Rainier. It’s fictionalised; we have said that, it’s not a biopic. There’s the essence of truth, but as with a lot of these things, you take dramatic license at times. I understand also, because it’s their mother and father, and I understand the protection of the privacy of their mother and father, so it’s awkward but I say that and I still have respect and I want them to know that the performance was done with love, and ultimately if they ever did see it, they would see that there is an enormous amount of affection for both their parents.

 

“GRACE OF MONACO” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.