Nadia Litz and Jai West dig deep in The People Garden
People: Interview - Nadia Litz and Jai West on The People Garden
The former actor and first-time feature director says she wanted to create a female character in her 20s who could ride a wave of emotional ambiguity to escape the warm, fuzzy, vulnerable and typically banal female box
By Katherine Monk
VANCOUVER, BC – Ambiguity isn’t a topic that generally lends itself to passion, yet a recent sit-down with director-writer Nadia Litz and actor Jai West reveals a mental desire to resist closure that’s near obsessive.
“Oh man. Ambiguity is the whole thing…” says Litz. “It’s everything. It’s the theme of the film: that there is no black and white conclusion to anything. It’s what relationships are. It’s what life is. It’s what death is.”
When Litz talks about “the whole thing,” she’s talking about The People Garden, her debut feature starring West, Pamela Anderson and Dree Hemingway (daughter of Mariel Hemingway, niece of the late Margaux). ...
A Hologram for the King an empty projection
Movie review: A Hologram for the King
Tom Hanks's latest feels like a collection of the beloved actor's greatest hits all rolled into one big lump of fish-out-of-water comedy that flops around on deck for the duration
Hello, My Name is Doris – the Exploress
Movie Review: Hello, My Name is Doris
Sally Field finds fertile terrain as an eccentric hoarder in Hello, My Name is Doris, a feel-good romantic comedy aimed at menopausal women that's appealing to all
New look suits The Jungle Book
Movie Review: The Jungle Book
Director Jon Favreau uses state of the art digital technology to animate Rudyard Kipling's story of an orphan boy raised by wolves, and in the process, exhumes the dark heart of a child's version of Apocalypse Now
Keeping it All in The Clan
Movie review: El Clan
The true story of Argentina's infamous Puccio family hits the big screen with a bloodsplatter and a killer soundtrack, making for a seductively distracting descent into Hell
Sharlto Copley: Never a cop out
People - Interview with Sharlto Copley
The recently transplanted South African talent focused on staying alive as he donned a variety of hardhats in the new, boundary-pushing action movie Hardcore Henry
By Katherine Monk
VANCOUVER, BC – “Let’s not die today.” According to Sharlto Copley, those four words were a daily mantra on the set of Hardcore Henry.
“It was a big discussion: No one must die making this film. We talked about it because we were pushing the boundaries and the rules and we had very little money. On the days where there was a very high risk, we’d fly the Jolly Roger – skull and crossbones – in a prominent place to make sure everyone was on guard and alert,” says Copley, sitting down for a chat at a high end Vancouver hotel.
“Everything you see in the movie happens. When you see a guy getting blown up and the van beneath him, that’s actually happening… It was by far the most risk I’ve taken as an actor, which sounds so lame ...
The Boss has brassy, bad-ass lady balls
Movie review: The Boss
The Boss puts the concept of "lady balls" in a whole new context as Melissa McCarthy takes on gender stereotypes by landing a series of blows below the belt, and the pelt, of good taste
The Spoils of Babylon burns oil economy
@Home entertainment: The Spoils of Babylon on DVD
SNL alumnus Matt Piedmont creates a strange homage to the era of early '80s miniseries with The Spoils of Babylon, an elaborate, six-episode spoof starring Will Ferrell as a washed up auteur and Kristen Wiig as an oil heiress with the hots for her bastard brother
