Johnny Depp back for Wonderland Sequel

Surprising nobody, it’s officially been confirmed that Johnny Depp will reprise his role as the Mad Hatter in the unnecessary but inevitable follow up to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Despite the recent colossal box office failure of The Lone Ranger, Disney remains convinced that deep down every man woman and child on earth does ultimately still just want to see Johnny Depp in bizarre hats and elaborate goth makeup.

Depp was also recently confirmed as the mustached lead in Lionsgate’s adaptation of Kyril Bonfiglioli’s novel The Great Mortdecai Mustache Mystery. That film, directed by David Koepp sees Depp playing a roguish art dealer on the hunt for Nazi Gold. The Wonderland sequel will see Muppets Director James Bobin replace departing director Tim Burton behind the camera.

Alexandra Daddario Interview Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters

New York native Alexandra Daddario has been acting from a young age. As a kid she relished acting lessons and took full advantage of her city, seeing Broadway musicals like LES MISÉRABLES and dreaming of appearing in them. She got her break at age 16, when she was cast to play Laurie Lewis on the hit soap opera ALL MY CHILDREN. After a run of 43 episodes, Daddario graduated to the big screen, taking a role in Noah Baumbach’s 2005 indie THE SQUID AND THE WHALE. In 2006 she was picked by director and star Ethan Hawke for a role in his film THE HOTTEST STATE, before returning to television to play roles on shows like DAMAGES, LIFE ON MARS, WHITE COLLAR and PARENTHOOD.

She’s unquestionably best known to fans for her role in 2010’s blockbuster PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF. As Annabeth, daughter of Athena, she meets Percy at Camp Half-Blood and the pair spark a fierce competitiveness that turns into respect and friendship when she’s charged to join him on his quest to find the lightning thief.

She reprises her role in PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS, starring alongside series lead Logan Lerman.  When the safety of Camp Half-Blood is threatened, she and Percy, along with Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) and Percy’s newly-discovered half-brother Tyson (Douglas Smith), must set out on their next quest, to retrieve the golden fleece whose power can restore the camp’s perimeter defences.

How has Annabeth developed since the first movie?

Well, I’m blond in this one, so I’m entirely more like the book character physically, and I think it’s more of an emotional journey on this film. She has a character that she’s tied to very emotionally that she is trying to save and I think that the journey is a very difficult and emotional one for her, more so than in the first film.

Why did her hair change colour?

I think everyone was really interested in listening to the fans and making her more like she is in the books. Everyone has that vision in their heads of her. And I was actually very excited to go blonde. I’m probably slightly different than what some people imagined anyway because everyone imagined something different, but I think being blonde just made it that much closer to the character and it was also really fun being blonde because I’ve always wanted to be. I think that this movie, you know, we have a different director and it stands on its own as much as it is a continuation.

Were you always confident that there was going to be a sequel?

I was, I guess you could say, hopefully confident. I love the books and I think they’re such a huge hit. The first movie made a huge difference in my career, I think, and I really was excited about being part of another one. I’m very glad that they made another one. I saw the first 35 minutes of action sequences, and I just I really wanted to see the rest of the movie. I thought it was really well-paced and exciting. It’s a fun family movie, so I’m really excited to be a part of it.

What’s the difference between directors Chris Columbus and Thor Freudenthal?

When I first got the movie working with Chris Columbus, he was just such a huge, well-known director. He’s been around forever and the movie was this huge, epic thing. I had never been on a set like that before, and being one of the leads in a movie like that was mind-blowing. This time around, it was really exciting being able to work with Thor, because he has a different style and a different vision for what the movie’s going to be. It was almost like making a different movie but with the same character.

When did you decide you wanted to be an actress?

When I was a kid, I went to a lot of different lessons growing up and one of the lessons I went to were acting lessons. I used to watch a lot of Broadway plays growing up in New York. I think I saw LES MISERABLES on Broadway like 12 times and I wanted to be Cosette. I wanted to be on the stage and I would choreograph dances to the songs and I knew the whole soundtrack. Also Disney movies like THE LITTLE MERMAID and things like that. It really started with musicals. I wanted to sing. I didn’t audition for the movie though!

Can you sing?

That’s the problem! [laughs] I can carry a tune but I’m not one of the world’s greatest singers. But that’s originally how I got started. I wanted to be a singer and I wanted to be in a musical and I wanted to be on a stage, and it ended up translating to auditioning. I got more and more work and I found the same enjoyment from acting.

What do you love about acting?

I’m constantly, endlessly fascinated by who people are and why they do the things that they do. I love exploring and finding a way to explain to people how I feel about life and I think that the best way I can do that is through acting. That’s what I’ve always gravitated to and with the stories that we tell as actors you can humanize and explain something through a different character. That’s one of the beautiful things about acting. Someone can walk out of a movie and think, “You know what? I really learned something from that character.”

You get to work with some great names on PERCY JACKSON: Nathan Fillion, Stanley Tucci…

They’re both hysterical and really, really nice guys. I had a great time working with Nathan. He was only in for a couple weeks I think but everyone loves Nathan Fillion and he really lives up to that reputation. He’s just a really nice, funny friendly guy. He did a great job. Stanley, we were doing rehearsal just for camera and he went in and did the speech just sort of rehearsing it, but he did it full-on and he was ad-libbing a little bit and just hysterical. We had all these extras and we were all just cracking up and he kept a straight face the whole time and that was just a part of… he’s just a fantastic actor.

How do you get on with Logan? Is it nice to be back with him?

He’s a great guy. We shot in New Orleans in an abandoned Six Flags theme park. It was muddy, and they had taken out all these alligators or crocodiles that had been in there, but there were armadillos that were walking around, and snakes, and it was really one of those situations where all you can do is just laugh. So Logan and I were sitting there, in the mud, tied up to posts, and bugs crawling on us, and it was just one of these things where you either cry or laugh. I think we just started hysterically laughing at the situation and finding the lightness in the ridiculousness of it. Logan’s a great actor and he’s so great to work with. That’s one of the things about all the people we worked with on PERCY JACKSON: everyone is really serious minded when it comes to their jobs but also they have a great sense of humor in order to lighten it when things are very serious and the hours are long and that kind of thing.

How does it feel to watch the film after all the effects are put in? Do you watch your performance?

I do. I find that I learn a lot from that, and not just about myself but also about filmmaking. But it’s a totally bizarre thing. I remember my mom saying after the premiere of the first movie that she couldn’t believe how convincing it was that I was part of this world. You know that you shot the movie and did all this stuff, and then you just can’t believe it’s all put together and everyone’s been staring at your face and putting in fake monsters and all that stuff. It’s a pretty cool thing.

Is that where you go, “I’m a movie star”?

Yeah, I mean, I don’t get carried away! [laughs] But you do sort of think, Wow, I’m really in a movie. It’s a really exciting thing because not a lot of actors get the chance to do movies of this size and with this kind of green screen and CGI.

Why do you think the first movie resonated with people all over the world?

The books have a very popular following and I think for the same reason that people like the books they like the movies. It’s about kids that are flawed in some way and ultimately they are still able to succeed at things and conquer great obstacles and overcome hurdles. It’s a little bit of a metaphor, some of these quests. Kids identify and relate to those kinds of things. We all have problems growing up. Fights in families, this and that, or you could have ADHD, dyslexia, all the things that are talked about in PERCY JACKSON, but you can still do whatever you want to do and it still makes you special and I think that’s the message that everybody relates to and can learn from.

Does that make playing Annabeth a real responsibility, then? You have to make her believable.

Yeah, she has to be a real human. No one is just pure evil or pure good, or pure this or pure that. If you’re playing a dynamic character, you’re a combination of all different kinds of things. She’s really tough and she can be really strong and mean, but she’s also really vulnerable and sweet and loving. It is very fun to find out what makes her tick, why she is the way she is, why she’s sad about this. I think especially in this movie more so than the first. It’s very close to her heart what she’s going to go save. It’s personal this time.

Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters Set Visit Interviews

The former Six Flags theme park in Louisiana, which was closed after the damage and flooding wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, is alight for the first time since that devastating event. In the years that followed, it had become part of the surrounding swamp, and home to alligators, armadillos, snakes and the other flora and fauna of this part of the world. It was about as far from habitable as could be.

But the crew of PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS have moved in for a two-week shoot at the park, which will double for the damaged lair of the blind cyclops Polythemus as part of a new quest for the character first brought to the big screen in 2010’s PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF, which grossed more than $200M at the global box office. The crew has spent the past five weeks getting it ready: laying down new wiring and adding to the rundown nature of the place. Oh, and moving the alligators out.

“It’s a pretty eerie set and a pretty harsh environment to work in,” says Logan Lerman, who returns to the title role. “Hot, humid and full of bugs.”

“They took out all the alligators that had been there, but there are still armadillos other creatures walking around,” laughs Alexandra Daddario, who returns to the role of Annabeth. “So you’re sitting there in the mud, tied up to posts, with bugs crawling all over you: all you can do is laugh. It’s either laugh or cry, and it’s best to laugh!”

Still, if it seems like the cast and crew are enduring hardships to bring this story to the screen, their quest is nothing to that of their heroically inclined fictional counterparts, and it’s born of a keen desire to return to the Olympian world of PERCY JACKSON. “There was definitely a period of time when we wondered: will that be it?” remembers Lerman. “It was fantastic when this movie came together, and it was nice to have that period of time away.  It’s great to come back into the old shoes and play Percy again.”

Indeed, all of the returning cast are enthused to return, as much to see each other as to follow Percy’s adventures. “I’ve become so close to these people,” says Daddario. “Logan and Brandon Jackson, I’m so close with them that it’s like going to do a film with your best friends. It’s a level of familiarity which means you feel really comfortable.”

But while the characters are the same, the journey they’re on is different. In PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS, the safety of the demigods’ home at Camp Half-Blood is threatened when the perimeter defences are destroyed. Percy, Annabeth and their satyr protector Grover (played by a returning Brandon T. Jackson) must quest to find the Golden Fleece, which is in the care of the violent blind cyclops Polythemus, so that they can bring life back to Thalia’s Tree, the mystical oak that keeps their home safe.

“At the end of the first film Percy was the hero,” explains Lerman of his character’s journey. “But at the start of this one, he’s been replaced by Clarisse, the stronger, better demigod at Camp Half-Blood. He feels insecure, he’s full of self-doubt, and he’s constantly being beaten by Clarisse.”

Played by Leven Rambin, a newcomer to the series, Clarisse is the half-blood daughter of Ares, the god of war. And she’s fixing for battle at every opportunity. “She’s a bully,” says Lerman. “She’s very competitive, very tough and she stomps on Percy at every opportunity.”

But if Percy is feeling the heat, at least he still has the support of his friends. Fans of the books will be especially pleased to learn that Annabeth dons blonde locks in the films for the first time in SEA OF MONSTERS, just like her character in the books. “I think the character is more in touch with the books too,” argues Daddario. “This is a very difficult and emotional journey for her, more so than in the first film, because she’s questing to save a character who’s very close to her.”

Daddario won’t be drawn on just who it is she’s questing to save, but fans of Greek myth will know that satyrs and quests for the Golden Fleece don’t mix. “We’re all older and a little wiser,” reveals Jackson. “And my character really doesn’t want to go on this quest. He knows that cyclops eat satyrs for breakfast. This one’s a death wish for him.”

It doesn’t help that a cyclops turns up at Camp Half-Blood before Percy and co. even get a chance to set off. Tyson, played by series newcomer Douglas Smith, turns out to be Percy’s half-brother, the product of Poseidon’s dalliance with a nymph. “Cyclopes have a reputation for being monsters,” explains director Thor Freudenthal. “So his arrival is bad news for a lot of the half-bloods, including Percy.”

“Brotherhood and the importance of family is definitely a new theme for the series,” continues Lerman, whose character is jealous of the apparently close relationship Tyson has with Poseidon, who doesn’t appear to communicate with Percy at all. “We had a great time playing it: Douglas was a blast and was a great addition to the cast.”

Tyson accompanies the trio on their quest this time, much to the chagrin of Annabeth. “If you’ve read the books, you’ll know she has a solid reason for disliking Cyclopes,” reveals Daddario. “And so part of the journey of the film is all of them learning to accept Tyson. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? Will he mess everything up or help save the day?”

Indeed, she says, it’s part of the charm of the PERCY JACKSON films that these high-concept themes still offer relatable themes to audiences of all ages. “Always in life you’ll meet people you’re not sure of and maybe you’ll take against them for the wrong reasons, so it’s relatable in that way.”

Continues Freudenthal: “Tyson comes in with the best of intentions and with incredibly strong will and excitement. So as much as he mixes things up within the group, in the end he really helps Percy become the hero he needs to become.”

Freudenthal himself is mixing things up. He comes to PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS fresh to the franchise – Chris Columbus directed the first film – and brings a new sensibility to Rick Riordan’s popular world. “He’s completely different from Chris,” says Lerman. “Tonally, the movies are very different because of the different filmmakers. I think this is definitely lighter than the first one. It’s more comedic, and more fun. I loved that about his vision.”

Many directors would feel intimidated following in the footsteps of Columbus, who is a veteran of films like HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE, MRS. DOUBTFIRE and HOME ALONE. But Freudenthal was grateful for the work Columbus had done to establish the universe of PERCY JACKSON. “I was able to build on what Chris had done and go from there. I could have fun with the world and maybe refine the tone for myself. I have a very different visual style than Chris, which I can’t even necessarily pinpoint. The first movie does the job of establishing things for you, so your job is to dive in deeper, broaden the range, expand the world and have fun with the relationships and the characters.”

Freudenthal was also keen to bring in more of the book than the screen time of the first film allowed. “I wanted to expand the grand mythology of it, having to do with the character of Thalia and the tree that she becomes,” he explains. “What I really liked about the books is that they have their first person narrative as if written by Percy. So there’s a sort of lightness to that, a bit of irreverent humor and style that is firmly in place in this movie.”

And while THE LIGHTNING THIEF introduces the Olympian Gods, this film deals more in the fauna of their world, and all its various beasties. “Scale-wise this is a much bigger movie,” enthuses Lerman. “There are so many more creatures and visual effects. It’s huge.”

Agrees Daddario: “The monsters definitely get bigger! We go to the Sea of Monsters and something pretty unbelievable happens there. We really take the cliffhanger moments to a different level this time around.”

Freudenthal is enthusiastic about this kind of quest moviemaking. Every day, he says, there’s a new challenge and a new “mini-movie” to shoot. “It’s a dream because I felt like, within our four months of shooting, we were dealing with so many different methods of making a movie in so many different places, whether it’s digital, practical, location shooting and the rest. It keeps you on your toes, I’ll say that.”

Keeping the entire cast on their toes was the inclusion this time around of veterans Stanley Tucci and Nathan Fillion to the ensemble. “That’s the great thing about these movies is you’re there the whole time and all these great actors come in,” says Daddario. “The people I get to work with and learn from are unbelievable.”

Working with Tucci was a master-class for Jackson, a stand-up-turned-actor who admired his co-star’s comic chops. “He had this off-kilter approach to the character, which takes a certain talent,” he remembers. “He gave Dionysus this, ‘don’t want to be here,’ swagger, which is great for the show because everyone knows a camp counsellor never wants to be there but he’s doing it for the check or is burdened by the kids. So he’s like, ‘Go do a quest, I’ll be over here.’”

Of course, for a film defined by clashes with monsters, there are plenty of scrapes for the cast to get themselves into this time. Freudenthal was amazed at how much Lerman, Daddario and Jackson knew about stunts, fighting and wire work. “They were so much more experienced with all that stuff than I was,” he laughs. “But this movie presented different physical challenges for them in that we didn’t want to repeat the action of the first film. Based on their old experiences they were ready to take things to the next level.”

Lerman remembers three months of fight training on the first PERCY JACKSON film, so was grateful all of that knowledge was inherent to begin with, and the time didn’t need repeating for SEA OF MONSTERS. “It was insane,” he says. “It was our first time doing anything like this so we really had to figure it out. I’d never held a sword before. But now we kind of know what we’re doing and it was much, much easier to jump back into it.”

Lerman says that after two movies playing Percy he knows his way around a sword. So is he a dangerous man to be around? “I think so,” he laughs. “But then, I think anyone would probably be. I think it’s pretty easy. You just chop.”

So after two PERCY JACKSON movies, Lerman certainly knows his way around a sword. And if anything’s certain about their quest this time out, it’s that combat will play a big part. As with everything in Percy’s world, only the most courageous need apply.

Del Toro and Kaufman for Slaughterhouse-Five

Guillermo Del Toro will reportedly have help from writer Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) in finally making an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five for Universal.

Here’s what the acclaimed director had to say about one of his many long gestating projects in a recent interview:

“Charlie and I talked for about an hour-and-a-half and came up with a perfect way of doing the book. I love the idea of the Trafalmadorians [the aliens of 'Slaughterhouse-Five'] — to be ‘unstuck in time,’ where everything is happening at the same time. And that’s what I want to do.”

As for how close production may be to starting, Del Toro was quite candid about the kind of issues that have seen so many of his planned projects fail to become a reality:

“It’s just a catch-22. The studio will make it when it”s my next movie, but how can I commit to it being my next movie until there’s a screenplay? Charlie Kaufman is a very expensive writer!… I”ll work it out.”

If Del Toro ever manages to figure out how to fit in the new film alongside all his many other planned projects, it will be a feat of metaphysical genius that might equal Vonnegut’s surreal classic.

Now You See Me Review

The Plot:

The FBI and Interpol are left baffled when a team of magicians known as the Four Horsemen seemingly rob a bank in France during their Las Vegas magic show and give the money away to their delighted audience. It soon becomes clear that it’s only the start of an elaborate wider plan with mysterious motive, but the Horseman will have to evade a dogged FBI agent and infamous Magical expert if they’re to perform their best trick yet.

The Good:

The initial premise of Now You See Me is vaguely original and conveniently catches hold of the recent popularity surge for magicians. The film ambitiously aims to combine the fun of an Ocean’s 11 heist with the mind-boggling magical drama of The Prestige. It succeeds just enough on both fronts to be consistently watchable and occasionally captivating.

The film’s cast includes Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Caine, Isla Fisher and Woody Harrelson. It a fortunate collection of new/old talents that explains much of the film’s recent box office success and instantly elevates the material. Morgan Freeman’s gravel voiced gravitas and Mark Ruffalo’s perpetual weariness lend the film some valuable credibility.

Director Louis Leterrier does a competent job of giving the film’s action a glossy style. It’ a polished look borrowed from the heist genre that fits in neatly with the elaborate world of professional illusionists. A perpetually free moving camera in particular helps give the film a sense of momentum and gives at least the impression of clever intricacy.

The Bad:

After a promising start it’s a little disappointing that the film’s a-list ensemble don’t get too many chances to dip beneath the surface. It’s a great cast, but it’s still typecast.

The conscious decision to avoid giving the Four Horseman ‘too much personality’, leaves them a little more two dimensional than mysterious or awe inspiring. Jesse Eisenberg talks very fast, Woody Harrelson is lazily sardonic and Dave Franco… still isn’t James Franco.

It’s a little ironic that a film about deceptive showmanship promises so much but ultimately delivers dissatisfying anti-climaxes. Perhaps part of the problem is that in a world of CGI and special effects trickery, ordinary sleight of hand and implausible plot twists don’t dazzle audiences quite so easily.

The Ugly Truth:

Now You See Me isn’t ever quite as clever or brilliant as its runaway box-office success might imply.  Perhaps the film’s best trick has been using a stellar cast to convince eager audiences that it’s “must see” magnificence. However, it remains a watchable addition to the heist genre that will particularly entertain anyone with a fondness for David Copperfield style theatrics.