#best of the david kajganich script
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Jared Harris and Dave Kajganich reunited on the picket line
jaredharris: I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day, and hugged their friends, family & others they know who fight each day for worker’s rights & fair compensation. From left to right: myself, David Kajganich (Creator/Head Writer/Showrunner of #TheTerror), Matt Weiner (Creator/Head Writer/Showrunner of #MadMen), and a pleasure to meet Actor Noah Wyle on the picket line. I am very proud to have been a part of The Terror and Mad Men. These shows had everything an Actor could dream of to be a part of. Fantastic writing, first and foremost; the absolute backbone of all scripted work. When you have that, supported in every department by the best in the business, that is the way I wish it always was. Talented people, lifting each other up, encouraging & growing together to create something to be proud of. It is hard work, from top to bottom, and every cog in the chain counts. Participation in the revenue stream all our work creates is guaranteed by copyright. (7th September 2023)
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The film is a story of first love between Maren, a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee, an intense and disenfranchised drifter, as they meet and join together for a thousand-mile odyssey which takes them through the back roads, hidden passages, and trap doors of Ronald Reagan’s America. But despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and to a final stand which will determine whether their love can survive their otherness. Guadagnino fell in love with it upon first reading, and immediately saw Chalamet, Russell, Stuhlbarg in key roles, and thought of his filmmaker pal Green for another role.
“I’d been handed this beautiful script by David Kajganich, and while I was reading it, I felt like I knew how to make this movie,” Guadagnino said. “At the same time, the second I read it, I said, I think only Timothee can play this role. It was serendipity because he was in Rome and I was in Rome and we met after this year of Covid constriction, and we could meet and spend time together. He’s fantastic, a great performer and to see him soaring the way he is doing now, I feel proud of him. And this character is something very new for him, both endearing and heartbreaking.
“I’ve been a fan of Taylor Russell since I saw her in Waves, and I made it a point to myself to make sure we found something to do together,” he said. “When I read the script, I went straight to her because she is such a bright, sensible actress. This is a very romantic story, about the impossibility of love and yet, the need for it. Even in extreme circumstances. Timmy and Taylor have this power, this gleaming power, to portray these universal feelings.”
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Daniel Craig Clue Movie
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List Of Daniel Craig Movies
Daniel Craig Film Clue
Knives Out—In theaters November 27, 2019. Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, LaKeith Sta. This crossword clue Notting Hill Actor Who Plays Daniel Cleaver In The Romantic Comedy Movie Bridget Jones's Diary: 2 Wds. Was discovered last seen in the June 18 2020 at the Daily Themed Crossword. The crossword clue possible answer is available in 9 letters. This answers first letter of which starts with H and can be found at the end of T. Clue (1985) is one of my favorite comedies ever as it is a quick 96 minutes of non-stop hilarity. Director Jonathan Lynn makes long sweeping shots of the gorgeous mansion set look as lovely as his quick cuts to each character. His fast paced direction makes Clue a breeze to watch and revisit time and again. The reason you are here is because you are looking for the Fictional spy portrayed by Daniel Craig crossword clue answers and solutions which was last seen today August 21 2018, at the popular Daily Themed Crossword puzzle. Clue: Fictional spy portrayed by Daniel Craig Possible Solution: BOND Already found the solution for Fictional spy Read more →.
The reason you are here is because you are looking for the to Die upcoming spy film starring Daniel Craig which is the 25th installment in the James Bond series: 2 wds. Crossword clue answers and solutions which was last seen today January 2 2020, at the popular Daily Themed Crossword puzzle.
No Time to Die
2020
UK
2h 43min
Directed by: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen
UK release: 2 April 2021
The 25th James Bond film is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and sees Daniel Craig in the lead for one last time.
Knives Out
2019
US
2h 10min
12A
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Christopher Plummer
UK release: 27 November 2019
When mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Plummer) is found with his throat slit, puffed-up private detective Benoit Blanc (Craig) gets on the case. A wickedly knowing, flamboyantly bitchy take on the whodunnit, with a great cast, bags of style and a splendidly outrageous comic turn from Craig. Bloody good fun.
Logan Lucky
2017
US
1h 59min
12A
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Seth MacFarlane, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Daniel Craig
UK release: 25 August 2017
Jimmy (Tatum), his brother Clyde (Driver) and sister Mellie (Keough) enlist the help of redneck jailbird and explosives expert Joe Bang (Craig) to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Soderbergh’s latest comedy heist movie is perhaps his best, with a great cast, a satisfying plot and witty dialogue.
Kings
2017
UK
1h 26min
Directed by: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
Cast: Halle Berry, Daniel Craig, Lamar Johnson
Following the life of a foster family in LA amidst the riots that followed the Rodney King trial verdict.
Spectre
2015
UK
2h 28min
12A
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Monica Bellucci, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Andrew Scott, Dave Bautista, Stephanie Sigman
UK release: 26 October 2015
James Bond (Craig) comes up against a global crime syndicate, while back at home, the 00 programme is under threat from reckless moderniser C (Scott). With its swagger, dry humour and frequent, well-executed action it's a solid crowdpleaser, but the story is predictable, the characterisation is thin and overall it lacks…
Skyfall
2012
UK
2h 25min
12A
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Written by: John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
Cast: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe
UK release: 26 October 2012
When cyber-terrorists steal an MI6 hard drive, 007 is ordered to recover it. After the let-down of Quantum of Solace, the 23rd official Bond movie is a belter; the script is smart, Craig is better than ever, and Bardem is a thrilling villain. 50 years on from Dr No, it's a well-wrapped birthday present.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2011
US / Sweden / UK / Germany
2h 37min
18
Directed by: David Fincher
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Yorick van Wageningen, Joely Richardson
UK release: 26 December 2011
An investigative journalist (Craig) forms an uneasy alliance with a computer hacker (Mara) in an attempt to solve a disappearance. Th400 transbrake kit. Fincher amps up the dark poetry and Mara exudes a barely suppressed rage in every scene, elevating a populist novel into a compelling (if overlong) drama of bleakness and corruption.
Dream House
2011
US
1h 31min
15
Directed by: Jim Sheridan
Written by: David Loucka
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Marton Csokas
UK release: 25 November 2011
Publisher Will (Craig) relocates to the suburbs with his wife (Weisz) and daughters, but when their house turns out to be the scene of a massacre, the domestic dream turns sour. Best remembered as the movie that saw Craig and Weisz get together, because their chemistry can't save the clunky script and inert direction.
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn
2011
US / New Zealand
1h 47min
PG
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig
After buying a replica model ship at a flea market, Tintin (Bell) is embroiled in a world of subterfuge. Not since Indy's third outing has Spielberg felt so fresh and unshackled; it feels like a hark back to the heyday of 1980s adventure cinema.
Cowboys and Aliens
2011
US
12A
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Cast: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde
Drunk and trouble maker Jake (Craig) is broken out of jail and forced to help grumpy old Arizona lawman Percy (Ford) when aliens start to attack. Dull, humourless and over written sci fi western from Iron Man director Favreau.
One Life
2011
UK
U
Directed by: Michael Gunton, Martha Holmes
Written by: Michael Gunton, Martha Holmes
Cast: Daniel Craig (voice)
Documentary for kids featuring stunning footage of animals in the wild and narrated by Daniel Craig.
Defiance
2009
US
2h 16min
15
Directed by: Edward Zwick
Written by: Edward Zwick, Clayton Frohman
Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, George MacKay
Remarkable true story of the Bielski brothers, three real-life heroes who, against all odds, preserve a community of Jews who escape Poland for the forests of Belarus during WWII. Allied with the Russian resistance, the community thrives unexpectedly, leaving leader Tuvia Bielski (Craig) with heavy responsibilities.
Flashbacks of a Fool
2008
UK
1h 53min
15
Directed by: Baillie Walsh
Written by: Baillie Walsh
Cast: Daniel Craig, Harry Eden, Claire Forlani, Felicity Jones, Eve, Emilia Fox, Jodhi May, Miriam Karlin
Set in present-day California and an English seaside resort circa 1972, Joe Scott (Craig between Bond outings), is a washed up Hollywood star who recalls a traumatic teenage experience that leads to professional success and personal self-destruction. Good supporting performances and rather pedestrian flashbacks make for…
Quantum of Solace
2008
UK / US
1h 45min
12A
Directed by: Marc Forster
Written by: Ian Fleming, Michael G Wilson
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Gemma Arterton, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini
'Quantum of Solace' starts with a trademark action sequence involving cars burning rubber around narrow roads and then proceeds to jump from one thrill to another, while moving through locations like pages in a travel brochure. A major plus is Amalric's turn as the villain Dominic Greene, head of an organisation which…
The Golden Compass
2007
US / UK
1h 45min
12A
Directed by: Chris Weitz
Cast: Dakota Blue Richards, Freddie Highmore, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, Jim Carter, Tom Courtenay, Ian McKellen, Ian McShane, Ben Walker
Based on the novel by Phillip Pullman, this fantasy adventure follows Lyra (Richards), who has been entrusted with the last remaining 'alethiometer', or golden compass, which she must keep from the power-crazed Magisterium. The world Weitz has created is beautifully designed and fascinating, but choppily structured and…
The Invasion
2007
US
1h 39min
15
Directed by: Oliver Hirschbiegel, James McTeigue
Written by: Dave Kajganich, Wachowski brothers
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Jackson Bond, Jeffrey Wright, Veronica Cartwright
Another reworking of classic 1950s thriller 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. A mysterious epidemic is sweeping the world, and when a DC psychiatrist (Kidman) discovers its extraterrestrial origin, she and her colleague (Craig) must work together to find a cure before they become its next victims. A waste of celluloid.
Infamous
2006
US
1h 58min
15
Directed by: Douglas McGrath
Written by: Douglas McGrath, Book:, George Plimpton
Cast: Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Lee Pace, Daniel Craig, Jeff Daniels, Peter Bogdanovich
A more flamboyant and light-hearted biopic of Truman Capote than Bennett Miller's 2005 film 'Capote'. Jones is great in the lead as the eccentric writer but a weak supporting cast renders this the lesser of the two.
Casino Royale
2006
US / UK / Czech Republic
2h 24min
12A
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Written by: Ian Fleming
Cast: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench
The prequel to the other Bond films time warps back to the enduring action hero becoming a 00 licensed to kill. The latest Bond (Craig) proves to be a strong leading man, but the film is let down by trying to do too much. With a weak villain and Bond girl to boot, it doesn't really feel like a Bond film at all.
Renaissance
2006
France / UK / Luxemburg
1h 45min
15
Directed by: Christian Volckman
Cast: Daniel Craig, Romola Garai, Jonathan Pryce
Impressive looking 3D futuristic thriller with a black and white render which never quite gets going. Paris 2054. Ilona Tassueiv (Garai), a young and brilliant researcher is violently kidnapped. Avalon, a giant multinational corporation and her employer, wants her found. Dellenbach (Pryce), Avalon's CEO, has requested…
Enduring Love
2004
UK
1h 40min
15
Directed by: Roger Michellv
Cast: Rhys Ifans, Daniel Craig, Samantha Morton
Based on Ian McEwan's bestseller, a man's worldview is bruised when his attempt to save a boy from a hot air balloon accident goes wrong.
Part 2: How to access iMessage on Chromebook 1. The app Chrome Remote Desktop must be downloaded from chrome web store on your Mac or Win computers. The downloading and installation will be quickly completed on the computers. Imessage on chromebook. Chrome Remote Desktop allows access to another computer's apps and files securely via the Chrome browser or Chrome book. So connect the two computers through the security code and enjoy the iMessage on your Windows PC. 2 Jailbreak your iPhone. There is one more method through which you can get iMessage for windows.
Layer Cake
2004
UK
1h 45min
15
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon
Daniel Craig Clue Movie Poster
A cocaine dealer works his way through two tough assignments from his boss on the day before his retirement.
The Mother
2003
1h 30min
Directed by: Roger Michell
Written by: Hanif Kureishi
Cast: Anne Reid, Daniel Craig, Cathryn Bradshaw
A recently widowed grandmother embarks on an affair with a man half her age, who is also sleeping with her daughter.
Sylvia
2003
UK
1h 40min
15
Directed by: Christine Jeffs
Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig, Lucy Davenport
A biopic of the relationship and fatal attraction between poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.
Road to Perdition
2002
US
1h 57min
15
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Cast: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Tyler Hoechlin
A Depression era gangster picture with solid American family values. It may also, like Mendes' absurdly overrated Oscar-winner 'American Beauty', fool cinema-goers into confusing its moody self-importance for profound insight. For here are Big Stars, Big Themes (Fathers and Sons, Loyalty and Betrayal, Sin and Salvation…
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No Time to Die
2020
UK
2h 43min
Directed by: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen
UK release: 2 April 2021
The 25th James Bond film is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and sees Daniel Craig in the lead for one last time.
Knives Out
2019
US
2h 10min
12A
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Christopher Plummer
UK release: 27 November 2019
When mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Plummer) is found with his throat slit, puffed-up private detective Benoit Blanc (Craig) gets on the case. A wickedly knowing, flamboyantly bitchy take on the whodunnit, with a great cast, bags of style and a splendidly outrageous comic turn from Craig. Bloody good fun.
Logan Lucky
2017
US
1h 59min
12A
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Seth MacFarlane, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Daniel Craig
UK release: 25 August 2017
Jimmy (Tatum), his brother Clyde (Driver) and sister Mellie (Keough) enlist the help of redneck jailbird and explosives expert Joe Bang (Craig) to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Soderbergh’s latest comedy heist movie is perhaps his best, with a great cast, a satisfying plot and witty dialogue.
Kings
2017
UK
1h 26min
Directed by: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
Cast: Halle Berry, Daniel Craig, Lamar Johnson
Citrix workspace silent install. Following the life of a foster family in LA amidst the riots that followed the Rodney King trial verdict.
Spectre
2015
UK
2h 28min
12A
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Monica Bellucci, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Andrew Scott, Dave Bautista, Stephanie Sigman
UK release: 26 October 2015
List Of Daniel Craig Movies
James Bond (Craig) comes up against a global crime syndicate, while back at home, the 00 programme is under threat from reckless moderniser C (Scott). With its swagger, dry humour and frequent, well-executed action it's a solid crowdpleaser, but the story is predictable, the characterisation is thin and overall it lacks…
Skyfall
2012
UK
2h 25min
12A
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Written by: John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
Cast: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe
UK release: 26 October 2012
When cyber-terrorists steal an MI6 hard drive, 007 is ordered to recover it. After the let-down of Quantum of Solace, the 23rd official Bond movie is a belter; the script is smart, Craig is better than ever, and Bardem is a thrilling villain. 50 years on from Dr No, it's a well-wrapped birthday present.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2011
US / Sweden / UK / Germany
2h 37min
18
Directed by: David Fincher
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Yorick van Wageningen, Joely Richardson
UK release: 26 December 2011
An investigative journalist (Craig) forms an uneasy alliance with a computer hacker (Mara) in an attempt to solve a disappearance. Fincher amps up the dark poetry and Mara exudes a barely suppressed rage in every scene, elevating a populist novel into a compelling (if overlong) drama of bleakness and corruption.
Dream House
2011
US
1h 31min
15
Directed by: Jim Sheridan
Written by: David Loucka
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Marton Csokas
UK release: 25 November 2011
Publisher Will (Craig) relocates to the suburbs with his wife (Weisz) and daughters, but when their house turns out to be the scene of a massacre, the domestic dream turns sour. Best remembered as the movie that saw Craig and Weisz get together, because their chemistry can't save the clunky script and inert direction.
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn
2011
US / New Zealand
1h 47min
PG
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig
After buying a replica model ship at a flea market, Tintin (Bell) is embroiled in a world of subterfuge. Not since Indy's third outing has Spielberg felt so fresh and unshackled; it feels like a hark back to the heyday of 1980s adventure cinema.
Cowboys and Aliens
2011
US
12A
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Cast: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde
Drunk and trouble maker Jake (Craig) is broken out of jail and forced to help grumpy old Arizona lawman Percy (Ford) when aliens start to attack. Dull, humourless and over written sci fi western from Iron Man director Favreau.
One Life
2011
UK
U
Directed by: Michael Gunton, Martha Holmes
Written by: Michael Gunton, Martha Holmes
Cast: Daniel Craig (voice)
Documentary for kids featuring stunning footage of animals in the wild and narrated by Daniel Craig.
Defiance
2009
US
2h 16min
15
Directed by: Edward Zwick
Written by: Edward Zwick, Clayton Frohman
Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, George MacKay
Remarkable true story of the Bielski brothers, three real-life heroes who, against all odds, preserve a community of Jews who escape Poland for the forests of Belarus during WWII. Allied with the Russian resistance, the community thrives unexpectedly, leaving leader Tuvia Bielski (Craig) with heavy responsibilities.
Flashbacks of a Fool
2008
UK
1h 53min
15
Directed by: Baillie Walsh
Written by: Baillie Walsh
Cast: Daniel Craig, Harry Eden, Claire Forlani, Felicity Jones, Eve, Emilia Fox, Jodhi May, Miriam Karlin
Set in present-day California and an English seaside resort circa 1972, Joe Scott (Craig between Bond outings), is a washed up Hollywood star who recalls a traumatic teenage experience that leads to professional success and personal self-destruction. Good supporting performances and rather pedestrian flashbacks make for…
Quantum of Solace
2008
UK / US
1h 45min
12A
Directed by: Marc Forster
Written by: Ian Fleming, Michael G Wilson
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Gemma Arterton, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini
'Quantum of Solace' starts with a trademark action sequence involving cars burning rubber around narrow roads and then proceeds to jump from one thrill to another, while moving through locations like pages in a travel brochure. A major plus is Amalric's turn as the villain Dominic Greene, head of an organisation which…
The Golden Compass
2007
US / UK
1h 45min
12A
Directed by: Chris Weitz
Cast: Dakota Blue Richards, Freddie Highmore, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, Jim Carter, Tom Courtenay, Ian McKellen, Ian McShane, Ben Walker
Based on the novel by Phillip Pullman, this fantasy adventure follows Lyra (Richards), who has been entrusted with the last remaining 'alethiometer', or golden compass, which she must keep from the power-crazed Magisterium. The world Weitz has created is beautifully designed and fascinating, but choppily structured and…
The Invasion
2007
US
1h 39min
15
Directed by: Oliver Hirschbiegel, James McTeigue
Written by: Dave Kajganich, Wachowski brothers
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Jackson Bond, Jeffrey Wright, Veronica Cartwright
Another reworking of classic 1950s thriller 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. A mysterious epidemic is sweeping the world, and when a DC psychiatrist (Kidman) discovers its extraterrestrial origin, she and her colleague (Craig) must work together to find a cure before they become its next victims. A waste of celluloid.
Infamous
2006
US
1h 58min
15
Directed by: Douglas McGrath
Written by: Douglas McGrath, Book:, George Plimpton
Cast: Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Lee Pace, Daniel Craig, Jeff Daniels, Peter Bogdanovich
A more flamboyant and light-hearted biopic of Truman Capote than Bennett Miller's 2005 film 'Capote'. Jones is great in the lead as the eccentric writer but a weak supporting cast renders this the lesser of the two.
Casino Royale
2006
US / UK / Czech Republic
2h 24min
12A
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Written by: Ian Fleming
Cast: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench
The prequel to the other Bond films time warps back to the enduring action hero becoming a 00 licensed to kill. The latest Bond (Craig) proves to be a strong leading man, but the film is let down by trying to do too much. With a weak villain and Bond girl to boot, it doesn't really feel like a Bond film at all.
Renaissance
2006
France / UK / Luxemburg
1h 45min
15
Directed by: Christian Volckman
Cast: Daniel Craig, Romola Garai, Jonathan Pryce
Impressive looking 3D futuristic thriller with a black and white render which never quite gets going. Paris 2054. Ilona Tassueiv (Garai), a young and brilliant researcher is violently kidnapped. Avalon, a giant multinational corporation and her employer, wants her found. Dellenbach (Pryce), Avalon's CEO, has requested…
Enduring Love
2004
UK
1h 40min
15
Directed by: Roger Michellv
Cast: Rhys Ifans, Daniel Craig, Samantha Morton
Based on Ian McEwan's bestseller, a man's worldview is bruised when his attempt to save a boy from a hot air balloon accident goes wrong.
Layer Cake
2004
UK
1h 45min
15
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon
A cocaine dealer works his way through two tough assignments from his boss on the day before his retirement.
The Mother
2003
1h 30min
Directed by: Roger Michell
Written by: Hanif Kureishi
Cast: Anne Reid, Daniel Craig, Cathryn Bradshaw
A recently widowed grandmother embarks on an affair with a man half her age, who is also sleeping with her daughter.
Sylvia
2003
UK
1h 40min
15
Directed by: Christine Jeffs
Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig, Lucy Davenport
A biopic of the relationship and fatal attraction between poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.
Road to Perdition
2002
US
1h 57min
15
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Cast: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Tyler Hoechlin
Daniel Craig Film Clue
A Depression era gangster picture with solid American family values. It may also, like Mendes' absurdly overrated Oscar-winner 'American Beauty', fool cinema-goers into confusing its moody self-importance for profound insight. For here are Big Stars, Big Themes (Fathers and Sons, Loyalty and Betrayal, Sin and Salvation…
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Darkness swirls on a pair of Suspiria posters by La Boca. The remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 Italian horror classic opens in New York and Los Angeles on October 26 before expanding nationwide on November 2 via Amazon Studios.
Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name) directs from a script by David Kajganich (The Terror). Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, Sylvie Testud, Lutz Ebersdorf, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Jessica Harper star. Watch the trailer here.
Read a statement from La Boca about the new artwork below.
When we received the invitation to create a poster for Suspiria we were delighted. As avid fans of Dario Argento’s 1977 Suspiria, we knew this was an adventure we had to embark on. Once we had seen the film we realized it was wasn’t really a remake at all, it’s an altogether different experience, and gloriously exhilarating and disturbing in its own unique way.
We decided to base our design around the ‘Volk’ dance performance which appears late in the movie. The dance is such a pivotal scene, full of all the right kinds of tension and energy. We set about creating the design as if it were a poster for Volk, almost so one could imagine the artwork appearing on a wall within the film itself. We wanted it to feel authentic to the movie, part of the story almost. To achieve this, the design needed to feel like it wouldn’t be out-of-place in a 1970s German dance school. For example, the teeth elements down the side of the poster are a reference to the floor tiles that feature in the reception of the school. When two posters are placed side-by-side they form an arrow just as they do on the floor.
The movement and body shapes in the routine led us to look for visual inspiration in Hindu art, specifically depictions of Nataraja, The Lord of Dance. This triggered the idea of a circular shape, representing the cycle of life. We imagined Dakota Johnson’s hair as fire representing light and dark, with her holding the fate of the dancers around her. At the center, an eye shaped opening reveals itself. All of which hopefully becomes clearer after experiencing the movie!
The typeface used for the credits is Eurostile, created by Italian designer Aldo Novarese, and used on the original poster for the 1977 film. The primary logotype is designed by the great Dan Perri, probably best known for his work on Star Wars, and a whole host of classic film art and branding.
#suspiria#dakota johnson#tilda swinton#mia goth#chloe grace moretz#lutz ebersdorf#sylvie testud#jessica harper#dario argento#la boca
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(со страницы The Terror Q&A — Matthew McNulty (Lt. Edward Little))
Matthew McNulty, who plays Lt. Edward Little on AMC’s The Terror, discusses his character’s unwavering loyalty to the Naval hierarchy, whether Crozier’s drinking had altered his judgment, and his choice to arm more men despite Crozier’s decision.
Q: How much did you know about the real Franklin expedition before working on the show?
A: Zero. [Laughs] I didn’t know anything about it. It’s only from reading the script and doing the subsequent research that I realized how ignorant I was to such a big part of British nautical history. It’s been a big education for me.
Q: Were you able to find information about your character in your research?
A: There’s nothing! I couldn’t find anything and I asked David Kajganich [to] point me in the right direction. There’s little mentions of Little and the fact that he’s there, but there’s nothing personal about him and there’s nothing about where he’s from, so I couldn’t really garner anything from that.
Q: How would you describe Lt. Little? Where do you think he falls within the hierarchy of the expedition?
A: He’s the first lieutenant on the Terror, so he’s second-in-command on the second ship. He’s quite high up and he’s experienced. You’ve got to take the fact that Crozier – the most astute naval officer in the whole expedition – he chose Little to be his first, so he’s obviously a capable officer. He’s also incredibly loyal and he’s a good man. He’s a good officer and he’s very much in the mold of the naval hierarchy. He’s rigid with it and I assume that he grew up with it. He’s solid to it.
Q: How do you think it impacts Little, in the earlier episodes, when Crozier, Franklinand Fitzjames are all at odds with each other? How does he navigate taking sides?
A: He’s like a kid in a divorce settlement. He’s closest to Crozier, but he doesn’t want the unit to break up and he doesn’t want the hierarchy to break up. That’s what’s happening. Franklin’s the expedition leader, but Crozier’s challenging him – and rightly. He knows that what Crozier is saying is right, but at the same time, he just wants it all to work. Let Crozier say what he has to say, but he doesn’t want to break the hierarchy. He probably does feel uncomfortable with that challenge.
Q: In Episode 3, Little worries that Lady Silence might do the men harm. Do you think he is simply afraid of what he doesn’t know? Does he think Crozier overstepped when he has Hickey’s group lashed?
A: I suppose that’s the first moment – and probably the only moment, really, because he stays tied to the seaman’s code and the naval code throughout the series – where he also sees Crozier’s demise with his alcoholism. That’s coming to the fore in that moment, so maybe he questions the decisions that Crozier’s making at that time. That’s definitely one that’s possibly too harsh in Little’s eyes. Little does have that caution about Lady Silence. He doesn’t trust her. He doesn’t trust the spiritual side of the Inuit people. Maybe he does feel a little bit for Hickey in that moment because he’s having the same thoughts as Hickey, but Little is so entrenched in naval life that he would quickly bury it. He would quickly find a way in his mind to just accept it or just bury it and never look at it again.
Q: In Episode 5, Little seems to be genuinely annoyed by Crozier’s drinking and his behavior. Does he have a hard time taking orders from him at that point?
A: His drinking, at that point, has peaked. He definitely questions whether Crozier is capable of commanding, and whether his decisions are the right decisions and not influenced by the alcohol. He finds it hard to do it [get the alcohol for Crozier from the other ship], but he does it because he’s not strong enough to break the chain of command. I think that’s the thing about Little. He’s aware of it all, but he just doesn’t have the bottle to break it. He knows he just has to go with it and then hope for the best, I think. One of the bits of research that I got was that he had sailed with Crozier before, so they know each other well. Maybe there’s a part of him that knows that Crozier wouldn’t let himself get to the point where it was too far. It gets as far as it can go and then Crozier sorts himself out and that’s what Little probably believes deep down – that he will do the right thing, but he has to go as low as possible.
Q: Little does voice reason about the excess of the carnival. How does he feel when it ends so disastrously?
A: Little knows that Fitzjames sometimes isn’t as practical as Crozier. He has doubts about Fitzjames. Ultimately, Little is a practical man and that’s why he has doubts about the carnival and whether it’s a good thing. Little is probably not a people’s officer. He’s just a good officer who gets things done, but his concerns and his worries totally come home with what happens with the carnival. The fact that Crozier’s not there would solidify his loyalty to Crozier because when Crozier’s not there, look what happens. Maybe that would be part of his thinking.
Q: In Episode 7, Jopson is promoted. How does Little feel about that?
A: The way we played it was like a glimmer of lightness. Everything’s going wrong and this was a positive moment. Little knows that, again, in a practical sense, there was a need for another lieutenant. So, he doesn’t feel belittled by it. [Laughs] Easy pun! He probably knows that Jopson’s capable and, in these circumstances, it’s definitely unusual extenuating circumstances. He is understanding with why. I don’t think it was a shot at Little’s capabilities. Hickey has feelings about Jopson being promoted because [Jopson] was kind of one of them and now he’s not.
Q: In Episode 8, things really begin to fall apart. Why do you think Little allowed the men to distribute guns despite Crozier’s order? Does he regret it?
A: He probably could have taken a stronger command. There’s definitely a sense of him being played by the marines and by Tozer. He could justify it to himself that it was the only decision he could make because Fitzjames wasn’t there. There’s a bit of both, really, but he definitely could have been stronger. I think he regrets that. I think he feels like he’s let Crozier down. He’s definitely like a dog with his tail between his legs when Crozier comes back.
Q: When Tozer tells him about Crozier’s lies, does Little believe them? Is he tempted at all to join the mutiny?
A: There are moments where Little could be pushed that way, but he doesn’t. That’s the strength of his loyalty. He’s definitely in the position where he could be swayed the other way, but ultimately chooses loyalty to Crozier. The seeds of doubt have been sown early on throughout the series and they’re there inside Little for a long time, but he’s made so many decisions based on his loyalty.
Q: At what point do you think Little begins to give up hope/worry about survival?
A: I think Little’s probably one of the most hopeful out of them all, simply because he has clung on to his humanity. I don’t think he’s compromised his morals up to this point, despite everything that’s happened. So, I would say that he’s still hopeful. He still thinks that humanity will prevail in this dark, dark world. There’s definitely still a chunk of positivity in him.
Q: What was your favorite part about shooting the show?
A: There are so many highlights. I think, firstly, just the people. You don’t often get to do a job where you’re working with so many actors who are all in the same age group. The locations were unreal. The sets were just breathtaking. We got to Croatia and Pag to see parts of the island in ways that you’d never imagined. To experience the hot Croatian island as the Arctic is not something you can comprehend. We got to experience the Arctic in searing heat. [Laughs] The whole experience was mind-blowing.
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La categoria del Best Adapted Screenplay potrebbe avere già una potenziale leader dopo gli ottimi riscontri ottenuti al Telluride Film Festival e al Toronto International Film Festival. Si tratta dello script con cui Sarah Polley ha adattato per il grande schermo l’omonimo romanzo di Miriam Toews, Women Talking, una storia di coraggio, pacifismo ed emancipazione femminile attraverso una scrittura dal grande impatto emotivo. Ecco una potenziale graduatoria sugli adattamenti che hanno più chance di entrare nella prossima Stagione dei Premi.Tenendo bene a mente che lo scorso anno 5 script su 5 che ho indicato nelle previsioni di ottobre 2021 hanno ottenuto successivamente la nomination all’Oscar. Allora, occhio alla lista! -1.#WomenTalking (Sarah Polley) Adattamento dell’omonimo romanzo di Miriam Toews Oscar Story: 1 nominations nel 2008 per Lontano da lei -2.#Shesaid (Rebecca Lenkiewicz) Adattamento dell’omonimo romanzo di Jodi Kantor e Megan Twohey -3.#GlassOnionKnivesOutMystery (Rian Johnson) WINNERS:Distinguished Screenwriter Award (Middleburg Film Festival) Oscar Story: 1 nomination nel 2020 per Cena con delitto (Miglior sceneggiatura originale) -4.#TheWhale (Samuel D. Hunter) Adattamento dell’omonima piece teatrale di Samuel D. Hunter -5.#Living (Kazuo Ishiguro) Adattamento della sceneggiatura originale del 1952 Ikiru di Akira Kurosawa, che a sua volta si è ispirato al romanzo russo del 1886 La morte di Ivan Ilyich di Leo Tolstoj -6.#TopGunMaverick (Ehren Kruger, Christopher McQuarrie, Eric Warren Singer) Oscar Story: Singer (1 nomination nel 2014 per American Hustle per la miglior sceneggiatura originale) McQuarrie (1 Oscar nel 1996 per I soliti sospetti per la miglior sceneggiatura) -7.White Noise (Noah Baumbach) Adattamento del romanzo omonimo di Don DeLillo. WINNERS: MVFF Award for Screenwriting (Mill Valley Film Festival) Oscar Story: 2 nominations per la miglior sceneggiatura originale (nel 2006 per Il calamaro e la balena e nel 2020 per Marriage Story) 8. Bones and All (David Kajganich) Adattamento del romanzo Fino all'osso di Camille DeAngelis #PrevisioniOscar #migliorsceneggiaturanonoriginale https://www.instagram.com/p/CkECMYNMlUQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
#womentalking#shesaid#glassonionknivesoutmystery#thewhale#living#topgunmaverick#previsionioscar#migliorsceneggiaturanonoriginale
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Luca Guadagnino on the music of his movies, and why he had to have Sufjan Stevens for “Call Me by Your Name”
Luca Guadagnino makes sumptuous movies, and so he needs sumptuous music for their soundtracks. The Italian director has used the works of Sufjan Stevens, the Rolling Stones, and, often, American composer John Adams to elucidate the emotions his impressionistic camera draws from his actors. In his latest film, Best Picture contender Call Me by Your Name, this includes a heartbreaking scene of a young man staring into a fire, crying, while one of Stevens’ original songs plays over the crackle of the flames. The rest of the film varies wildly from that deep moment, whether it’s excellent skanking soundtracked by the Psychedelic Furs or Bach performed on the piano as seduction.
To further understand how he thinks about music (and, honestly, to fan out about John Adams), we called Guadagnino to discuss what music has meant to his life and his films. Clearly the pairings are paying off: Just today, Stevens was nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars, for “Mystery of Love.”
Pitchfork: Call Me By Your Name begins with John Adams’ “Hallelujah Junction” playing over the title credits, and I Am Love’s soundtrack is entirely Adams’ music. What is it about his music that you love? Luca Guadagnino: I discovered John Adams’ music in 2005, when I was editing a movie in Spain. It was my birthday, and the legendary Gareth Whigham, an executive from Sony who I was working with, gave me, as a present, “Naive and Sentimental Music" by John Adams. I put the disc in the CD player, and suddenly when those first notes, dun dun dun started, I immediately got completely kidnapped by the musical world of John Adams. Since that first epiphany, I started to dig in to him. I started to look for everything that I could find recorded by John Adams, and I became a sort of an encyclopedia of what he has done as a musician.
There is something Wagnerian and also something minimalist into his music, which I found very fantastic because he just goes beyond the strict rules the minimalists gave to themselves. The world of the music of John Adams is a world that comes with a very great package of intellect that I found fantastic. It comes with a capacity of interpreting reality, interpreting the history of the reality, interpreting the history of the United States, and understanding even the boundaries of music to become a cunning exploration of the identity of human nature and the politic relationship that ties all us in. I can’t think of how to put it differently.
John Adams comes to me constantly. I can say to you that really that moment in 2005 was transformative and changed my life as a director forever. The ambition I have, that I blush in speaking it out with someone, is that maybe, one day, John Adams will compose a soundtrack for me.
How did you end up using his music for your 2009 film, I Am Love? I started to work on the shoot with his music. We edited the movie with his music and then we faced the brutality of the fact that we didn’t have the rights to his music. What we did is that Tilda Swinton [who stars in the film] wrote him a letter and he replied. He said, “I’m happy to see your film.” We showed the movie to him, and at the end of it he turned to us and he said, “Fantastic. I’m happy. And I also want to ask you if you can put music by John Adams in the main title?” Which is something that I really wanted to do, and I didn’t dare to ask, but he asked himself.
How did that feel? It felt fantastic.
So many of your films involve the piano, either in the script or on the soundtrack. What is your relationship with that instrument? I don’t know. I’m not an expert. I go through music in a way that has to do with my instinct, by the way. I like the concept of piano as a dialogue. There’s a great, beautiful album by Ryuichi Sakamoto called “Back to the Basics”, in which the great, legendary Sakamoto reflects on his own roots that you see in Ravel; he creates this beautiful piano poem that is completely inspired by that great French musician. I found, in that work, the sum of what I feel is piano for me, which has to do with dialogue. It’s a dialogue. In fact, in Call Me by Your Name, we have extensive usage of piano because those notes, in a way, are the interior and exterior dialogue between Elio and himself, and Elio and Oliver.
When you were Elio’s age, what were you listening to? I was listening to soundtracks. I think I was listening to Sakamoto.
Was that a cool thing to listen to when you were 17? My absolutely dear... I don’t understand the concept of being cool. I have been seeing a lot of people basically going through their lives in the attempt of being cool. I don’t know what that means. I can’t think of myself as striving for coolness. I think I’m the most uncool person in the room. Always have been, and maybe even proudly so. No, I would have never, ever, ever, ever done something for the reason of trying to be cool or because it’s cool. I did it because I loved it. In 1987, I went to see The Last Emperor, which is Bertolucci’s nine-Academy-Award winner. I’ve been blown away by the movie and by the soundtrack, which was David Byrne, Cong Su, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. I bought myself the CD, I played it and played it. That Sakamoto, I think probably nobody knew that I was listening to him because I basically was listening to Sakamoto in the solitude of my bedroom. I did it because it was a sort of deep inspiration for me, again.
The reason I ask that is because Elio wears that Talking Heads shirt throughout the film, and you have this feeling that he’s wonderfully of two minds, one more classically minded and intellectual, and one where he just wants to be a kid and feel excited about rock music that’s young. What you listen to helps define who you are at that age. Absolutely, I agree with you. But I don’t think that someone who is in academia who is going through an upbringing in the classical world is necessarily devoid of intellect for the pop world. I don’t think that Elio, being the bright young man who wants to be a great pianist, who is invested in culture because he lives in a world of culture, has learned that culture is an elitist thing that shuts off everything else and only gives life to just the high art. I think what he has learned, as a kid interested in culture, is that culture is the complex element that makes our life what it is, which includes everything. A speech. The body of someone you desire. The music of the Talking Heads. The leaves on a tree. Everything. I think the great mistake we would do as people, and for me as a filmmaker, is to say that to be invested in the classical world means that you are not invested in the real world. They are part of the world at large.
Why did you want Sufjan Stevens to write original music for Call Me by Your Name? I believe Sufjan is one of the greatest American artists. Someone pointed out his music to me six years ago and I got to be enamored with his voice. Then the more I delved into his canon, the more I detected the greatness of his lyrics, the complexity of his body of work.
His song “Visions of Gideon,” which plays over the end credits, is so crucial to the movie, it’s like the song and that scene couldn’t exist without the other. In the script, you have a line at the end saying, “Elio stares at the fire and thinks of his life.” It was always in my mind that he tended to be with one shot. I also thought about putting different kinds of songs in that moment. This was before I got the music from Sufjan. Then Sufjan showed me these songs. I was one week into shooting and I listen to the songs. I was with my editor and with Armie and Timothée, and we were shocked by the beauty, commitment, and attitude in these songs. So we immediately felt that “Visions of Gideon” was the perfect song for this moment in which Elio thinks of his life. When we shot the scene, I put the earbud in Timothée’s ear and played the song for him.
There is very prominent dancing in both Call Me by Your Name and A Bigger Splash, your 2015 film. How did the Bigger Splash scene with Ralph Fiennes dancing to the Rolling Stones, which is now pretty legendary, come together? Well, there was a great line in the script that Dave Kajganich wrote, in which he said, “Dance, it is life.” We see the way he dances. That was our guideline for me and Ralph Fiennes.
Did you like “Emotional Rescue” before the movie came out? I couldn’t stop listening to it after I saw the movie! You’re asking me if I like the song? Of course! I have complete control over my work. I would never put a song in a movie that I don’t think is a great thing to be doing.
What about the dancing in the Italian clubs in Call Me by Your Name? How much was that choreographed? We had a consultant that created the movements for the crowds. We had kids that were playing kids of the ’80s, but they were kids of the 2000s. Armie created his own choreography and he adapted that to the historical precision, and then Timothée jumped in and made it his own, which was great. It’s a mixture of historical accuracy and hubris.
Do you like to dance? If I’m drunk, I do. But I don’t drink a lot so it’s something that’s happened, I would say, three times, four in my life. The last time that I was drunk and I danced was at the party for Call Me by Your Name.
What were you listening to? I DJ’ed and I put just ’80s music, from the famous international ’80s pieces to the tacky, tacky, tacky, tacky Italian music of the ’80s.
Were you a big Italo disco fan in the ’80s? No, I was more interested in the pop music of the ’80s – Mina, Patty Pravo, Loredana Berté – that we use in this film, that are possibly the typical brand of upbringing for a young gay guy, in Italy. But that, I understood afterwards.
MATTHEW SCHNIPPER | PITCHFORK | 23 Jan 2018
#Call Me by Your Name#Guadagnino#timothee chalamet#armie hammer#reviews#james ivory#andre aciman#CMBYN#Elio#Oliver#Perlman#Chiamami col tuo nome
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Horror Show
NOVEMBER 8, 2018
INTRODUCING HIS 2007 REMAKE of the beloved Herschell Gordon Lewis oddity The Wizard of Gore, director Jeremy Kasten said he admired the original film, made in 1970, but that there was room for improvement. “Herschell wasn’t much of a storyteller,” he said to the packed house at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before playing us his psychedelic makeover. Nor, he might have added, did people come to H. G. Lewis movies to be so entertained. Lewis was a ferocious marketing executive by trade, and his movies had the same blunt effectiveness of a personalized mailer or a cold call. He knew audiences were there to see blood and guts and he delivered in spades. His film Color Me Blood Red (1965) uses the blood of a serial killer’s victims as paint on a canvas. When a shock of that degree is in the offing, the narrative is simply a buttress, no more functionally important to Lewis’s methodology than synch sound or a tripod. There was room for Kasten to turn such a flimsy framework into something with personality without ruffling anyone’s feathers.
Which brings us to Suspiria, Dario Argento’s 1977 horror classic newly remade by Luca Guadagnino. By the time Argento directed his symphony of torment, the film for which he’ll always be remembered, censorship of violent content in European and American film had been functionally defeated. Movies like The Wizard of Gore were no longer necessary as the doors they knocked down with bad taste, sex, and violence stayed broken. Argento’s films flaunted that freedom by painting the screen with blood in a more productive and elegant way than Lewis, though no less flagrantly. Argento was free to craft something uniquely his in viscera and neon gels. It didn’t take him long to outstrip much of his competition and become as well known in the United States as in Italy for his symphonic horror tales.
Argento’s Suspiria begins with a still unnerving double homicide. Not 10 minutes into the film, a phantom muscular arm comes crashing through an apartment window and drags a woman kicking and screaming onto the building’s roof. Once there, she has her chest cut open and her visible, still-beating heart stabbed multiple times by the faceless killer before her body is shoved through a pane of stained glass. The falling shards land on and kill another innocent woman frantically trying to scare up some help down below. The bulk of the film is in this register. Agitated characters are sent through mysterious yonic hallways or unnerving womb-like spaces, and then they’re murdered in abstruse displays of malevolent creativity. Argento’s fascination with, and ingrown fear of, women would yield some of the most unforgettably delightful nonsense of the century (Inferno, The Stendhal Syndrome, The Cat o’ Nine Tails). His women were often killers, and he felt no compunction killing them. He killed his own wife and frequent co-writer, Daria Nicolodi, on screen a marriage-ending three times.
Argento didn’t have time for plot — it handcuffed him to dialogue and linearity, and anyway he liked it when the endings cheated logic. The killer was supposed to be impossible to guess: what more effective way of making his audience feel that they were trapped in an honest-to-god nightmare? Argento’s compositions, his psychedelic color schemes, his jazzy editing, and his snake charmer’s musicality all spoke louder than story. His strongest work might still be the drummer’s odyssey Four Flies on Grey Velvet where a progressive rock session musician chases a killer. The movie alternately snaps taut like a drum and shakes and crackles slowly like a beat cymbal coming to a rest. Music and image dance with one another in his films so much so that if one falls behind, the movie stops working. Suspiria is beloved not because its tale of witches preying on ballerinas in Germany comes to a satisfying conclusion, but because the music swells sweetly and the colors flash and the movie casts a spell that bypasses your rational understanding of the way narrative cinema behaves. You never want the ecstatic dread to end.
Guadagnino probably looked, on paper, like a fine candidate for updating Suspiria — just look at his 2009 jaunty and sensual daydream I Am Love. That film opens with loving shots of stunning and stern architecture in winter, while the dripping, driving woodwinds of John Adams’s “The Chairman Dances” fall like snow on the soundtrack. It’s a perfect marriage of image and sound (even the font selected for the opening credits has a simpatico elegant detachment), a sense of the perfection of things untouchable. The music alternates between a stabbing punctuation and an ethereal, nagging echo — forward and back, close, faraway — the film’s intimate understanding of its subjects is similarly flirtatious. We’re drawn ever nearer to the shape of lovers and buildings and then the camera retreats to show them as part of a broader landscape. The snow and mist in the air further distance us from the buildings. Slowly, we get closer and closer to the film’s subjects, penetrating spaces, moving in on the hands and faces of its characters. Love scenes are impressionistic smatterings of limbs, torsos, and faces, before we finally enter the body itself via a portentous soup recipe. It’s by taste that a son will divine his mother’s betrayal. The film, having gotten as close as it can to its subject (bringing to mind the cliché about the quickest way to a man’s heart), ends on an image of lovers in a cave, the camera far away once more, implicitly observing their love as if it were a perfect object. Call Me By Your Name, Guadagnino’s Oscar-winning 2017 romance, attempts much the same thing, trading sculpture for architecture and John Adams for Sufjan Stevens.
The most curious thing about Guadagnino’s Suspiria is how little resemblance it bears to his other movies in all but its study of impenetrable surfaces. Guadagnino appears to have let the pressure of adapting a classic get to his head and empty his bag of tricks. The film has almost none of the hallmarks of Italian horror, nor of his own past work. Gone is the confident, urbane romanticism of Call Me By Your Name, the reverent tableaux of I Am Love, the lusty paranoia of A Bigger Splash, another remake of an arthouse classic, 1969’s The Swimming Pool. Somehow he grew afraid of the project, not daring to take anything but the framework, the blueprints of its story, for his own.
The action is once again set in Berlin, but Guadagnino has decided that that must mean something, and so the Baader-Meinhof Group are scribbled into the margins and the Holocaust is brought up early and often. The tenuous association between the differing forms of terror speaks to a troubling facileness inherent in the aspirationally socio-political horror — a genre that includes recent works like Hereditary or It Comes at Night, films that presume to be above the mere act of scaring an audience. As if it were easy. Once Guadagnino’s film starts broadcasting the crimes of the Red Army Faction, it also accidentally admits that it won’t be doing anything so pedestrian as scaring you. This does not appear to be a problem at the script level; the obviously talented screenwriter David Kajganich (The Terror, Blood Creek) has never shied away from the mechanics of horror before. Time and again the opportunity to be frightening appears, and the director opts for the high road, as if to say, “This is a film of important ideas and historical violence. It would be beneath us to have a ghoul waiting in a bathroom mirror to shock you.” Well then … what else have you got?
The story remains the height of simplicity, even if it’s quickly crowded with meaningless tangents. A doe-eyed dancer (Dakota Johnson) comes from the American heartland to replace the recently departed lead (Chloë Grace Moretz) at a prestigious international company headquartered in Berlin. She makes friends with another ingenue (Mia Goth), who already presumes something fishy about the heads of school and slowly divines their ill purpose while bodies pile up all around her. The new Suspiria doesn’t build a head of steam the way its inspiration does: Guadagnino cuts out the heart of the original and replaces the still-warm organ with heady allusions as if stuffing a scarecrow. The designs on the academy’s floor, for example, look to take after the furious geometry of Bauhaus artist László Moholy-Nagy. The dancing is deliberately a cross between the styles of Martha Graham and Pina Bausch. Each mistress of the school brings her own artistic baggage. Angela Winkler is meant to remind audiences of her work with Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta, chroniclers of Germany’s political upheaval from the 1940s through the 1970s. Ingrid Caven is there as a paean to the work of her frequent director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, ditto Renée Soutendijk and Paul Verhoeven. Christine Leboutte and Sylvie Testud are no doubt meant as representatives of the cinema of Chantal Akerman, who celebrated female performers and also worked with Bausch.
The act of suggesting other work, offering up a cornucopia of tributes in place of developing aesthetic identity or a firm purpose, seems to content the director. Why try to recreate the visual and or thematic language of Argento, Akerman, Verhoeven, or Fassbinder when you can play it safe and place yourself in their lineage without working toward a coherent stylistic tradition? He turns his mise-en-scène into a muddy brown smear with uncertain dimensions all the while praising directors and actresses he doesn’t see fit to challenge. Certainly no one could accuse him of plagiarism, but it’s not the best way to prove himself up to the task of meddling with another director’s work. Suspiria casts its arms up in praise and its eyes toward the dirt, feeling unworthy of the artists whose name it moans in worship.
By 1977, Argento had arrived at his abrasive, psychedelic style by dint of discovering the elementary function of cinematic components. Image and sound were like synchronized swimmers concerned with symmetrical dependence and form — not distance, technique, or order. They wrap themselves around the viewer, loudly lulling them into a psychotic state. Guadagnino’s image and sound don’t talk to each other. The edit is furious and vivisects the interiors and dialogue with more malice and purpose than it manages to exert on its own expendable characters. No understanding of the dance school emerges, neither its geography nor its textural aura. No sense of the blank young leads emerges, either in their dancing or their fraught, halting conversations. The music by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke in no way corresponds to the images, which themselves are lackluster, deliberately shying away from the original’s singular chromatic form. (The choice to hire Yorke again smacks of contrarianism — the smart money would have been on Radiohead’s guitarist Jonny Greenwood, an accomplished film composer who would have aced this assignment.) Look at the climactic dance performance to see an identity crisis written in light. The costumes the girls wear, a system of red bonds meant to suggest sinew and muscle, don’t accentuate the choreography, the lighting doesn’t help the costumes, and the baggy white underwear each dancer wears undercuts whatever effect they’d have anyway. It’s a shapeless disaster made worse by frenetic editing, and it’s meant to be a showstopper. It’s almost shocking to see Guadagnino so stranded.
By the time heads start exploding while Yorke softly coos on the soundtrack, it’s beyond clear that this is a sort of art-school prank, a film the director did not know how to make so he gave all his favorite artists a fat paycheck and faked it. Little else can explain the stunt casting of Tilda Swinton as both the coldly rational head of the dance school and her nemesis, an elderly male psychologist on the trail of the coven. Guadagnino has once more cooked I Am Love’s betrayal dinner, feeding us broth spiked with something very meaningful to him, hoping the biographical components of the recipe will awaken in viewers the same love he feels for each ingredient as it grew in the wild. Admiration and a love of art history is commendable in a director suddenly handed financial freedom, but they won’t turn dirt into soup, and they can’t save Suspiria.
Guadagnino may have seen in the 1977 original the same exciting blueprints Jeremy Kasten saw in The Wizard of Gore. But Suspiria was never supposed to be more than a bloody funhouse, a gorgeous crashing of color and sound, as sweetly, dreamily insistent as anything in Walt Disney’s Fantasia. Guadagnino had a chance to do something unique and new but given blueprints and permission to be his most outré, bold self, it turns out he isn’t much of a storyteller.
¤
Scout Tafoya is a filmmaker and critic from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, currently living in Astoria, New York.
Source: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/horror-show/
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Suspiria
Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” isn’t so much a remake of the 1977 Dario Argento horror classic as it is a seriously insane (and seriously serious) expansion on the original. The two films share a setting, a few character names and a basic premise – that a prestigious German dance academy is a front for a witches’ coven, because of course it is – and that’s about it.
So if you love Argento’s lush and lurid Giallo phantasmagoria, you might wonder what exactly is happening here – or rather, when. Guadagnino creates an unsettling mood off the top, with a soaked and sallow young dancer dashing into her shrink’s office, spewing paranoid babble. And the score from Radiohead genius Thom Yorke creates an inescapable feeling of melancholy and mystery; his haunting, three-quarter time piano theme, titled “Suspirium,” plays over images of a woman’s body being lovingly cleansed as she lies in her sickbed. But Guadagnino takes his time in exploring the cruel contours of this place, an Escher painting of stone stairways and dark halls where pained sighs linger and wicked laughter echoes. For a while, Dakota Johnson’s long, red braid is the film’s primary source of color. It will all explode into a blood-red orgy eventually, but for a long time, we are fully ensconced in the chilly discomfort of perpetually rainy 1977 Berlin.
“Suspiria” is as striking and severe as the director’s “Call Me by Your Name,” the best film of 2017, was warm and welcoming. He could have shocked you quickly with cheap scares. Instead, he’s in it for the long haul, insidiously working his way under your skin to disturb you deeply. And for the most part, he succeeds, even as he frustratingly undermines himself with an overstuffed script from David Kajganich (who also wrote the screenplay for Guadagnino’s “A Bigger Splash”). The problem is that while “Suspiria” has a vivid and specific sense of place, it also strives to exist in the outside world with a larger historical context in a way that never connects.
The film aims to say something about the futility of trying to escape the past, despite fervent efforts at rebirth. The fact that “Suspiria” boasts a powerful, predominately female cast – led by Johnson, Mia Goth, Angela Winkler, Ingrid Caven and multiple Tilda Swintons – certainly speaks to the formidable nature of feminine strength. But just as he’s building a steady, suspenseful momentum, Guadagnino too often cuts away to the tumult encompassing all of Berlin: a city split in two, struggling to reestablish itself post-Nazism, but still being torn apart by attacks from the leftist Baader-Meinhof Group. That feels like an entirely different film, one that blends ambitiously yet awkwardly with the story at the stylishly rotting core of “Suspiria.”
Truly, watching Swinton and Johnson stare each other down in dance spaces and restaurants in an array of brown and gray period garb, their psychic connection piercing the ever-present cigarette smoke, is enough of a satisfying meal. (The co-stars of “A Bigger Splash” reunite with Guadagnino, once again bringing the alluring alchemy of their contrasting screen presences.) “Call Me by Your Name” cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom soaks every scene in sadness and fear – even moments of theoretical creative joy are awash in an avant-garde gloom. And yet, evil is obviously lurking, gathering itself and finding ways to rear its head.
Into this dark world enters sweet Susie. Johnson uses her light, girlish voice – which carries hints of her mother, Melanie Griffith’s – to her advantage in the film’s early scenes as a shy but ambitious new student at the Helena Markos Dance Company. (It would be easy to underestimate Johnson based on her starring role in the “50 Shades” trilogy, but she is an actress of understated, unexpected power who continues to display her versatility.) Susie had dreamed of studying there since she was a child growing up in a religiously conservative family on an Ohio farm. Now that she’s arrived, she wastes little time in impressing the school’s legendary choreographer, Swinton’s swanlike but stern Madame Blanc. (Swinton, Gudagnino’s longtime friend and muse, is a steely force of nature and fascinating to watch, as always.) Shooting in 35 mm, Guadagnino uses ‘70s-style zooms and off-kilter camera angles early on to create a feeling of unease and imbalance. Susie and Blanc are forming a connection, and it might not necessarily be for the good.
This is most powerfully clear in the film’s tour-de-force scene, when Susie volunteers to dance the lead role in the company’s signature piece after having spent only a couple of days there. As she stomps, crawls, leaps and twists to Blanc’s modern moves, another dancer – trapped in a rehearsal space one floor below -- finds herself being yanked violently around the mirrored room, her body contorted in excruciating ways that match the choreography upstairs. She is the world’s most flexible voodoo doll, and it is horrifying. Guadagnino and his longtime editor, Walter Fasano, crosscut seamlessly and thrillingly between both rooms as the dancers build to their respective crescendos. By the end, both are spent, but in vastly different ways.
Guadagnino’s technical brilliance also is on display in a gorgeous and fluid sequence in the school’s dining room and kitchen, his camera panning around over and over as they fill up with food and instructors chatting, eating, milling about. One of the rare sources of humor in this bleak realm is the way in which the chain-smoking, hard-partying teachers interact with each other, their sadistic cackles filling the halls and fueling their fiendish deeds. They’re having so much fun, you almost want to join them – and they’re hoping that Susie, the pure vessel they’ve long sought, will do just that.
But two people who suspect strange things are afoot within the dance company begin investigating, at their own peril. One is vivacious fellow dancer Sara (Goth), the first person to befriend Susie and the first to recognize the transformation she’s undergoing. The other is the aforementioned psychiatrist from the film’s start, Dr. Josef Klemperer. He’s “officially” credited as being played by Lutz Ebersdorf but is actually Swinton, again, beneath layers of convincing and detailed old-man makeup. Why? For the hell of it, but the performance is consistent with the shape-shifting Swinton’s penchant for toying with traditional gender roles, and it provides some genuine moments of pathos.
Never mind the well-intentioned doctor’s involvement, though. Men are essentially useless in the world of “Suspiria.” They exist to be mocked and manipulated. Female energy is all that matters, and it is overwhelming in the film’s truly gonzo finale. You will stagger out of the theater wondering what exactly you just saw, but you will not easily forget it. But maybe that’s Guadagnino’s point in incorporating outside troubles into this intense, insular tale: Men got us into the problems that plague the world. Women can get us out – but that liberation comes at a cost.
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