Interviews

Interview: Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Zac Manuel on what truly surprised him when working on the Lil Nas X documentary, Long Live Montero

Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Carlos López Estrada and Academy Award nominated director and cinematographer Zac Manuel, Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero follows the Grammy-winning and trailblazing, rapper, singer, songwriter, Lil Nas X, over 60 days as he embarks on his first ever tour across North America on his debut album tour Long Live…

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Interview: Director Mike Mitchell on the success and endurance of Kung Fu Panda 4; “We know that we made a film that we love.”

After three death-defying adventures defeating world-class villains with his unmatched courage and mad martial arts skills, Po, the Dragon Warrior (Jack Black), is called upon by destiny to…give it a rest already. More specifically, he’s tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. That poses a couple of obvious problems. First, Po…

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Interview: Director George Miller on the furious road to making Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth star in Academy Award-winning mastermind George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the much-anticipated return to the iconic dystopian world he created more than 40 years ago with the seminal Mad Max films. Miller now turns the page again with an all-new original, standalone action adventure that will reveal the…

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Interview: Bill Bennett on the emotional exhaustion of making The Way, My Way; “It was important that I view myself as a certain character.”

The Way, My Way is the charming and captivating true story of a stubborn, self-centered Australian man who decides to walk the famed 800-kilometre-long Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through Spain. He doesn’t know why he’s doing it… but one step at a time, it changes him and his outlook on life forever. Based on…

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Interview: Guy Nattiv on his biopic Golda, detailing history, and the humour and humanity of Helen Mirren

One of only two Israeli filmmakers to have won an Academy Award, Guy Nattiv is amplifying his voice as an Israeli director and screenwriter with the release of Golda, a ticking-clock thriller sharing the intensely dramatic events, high-stake responsibilities, and controversial decisions that Golda Meir, the first and only head of government in the Middle…

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Interview: Boy Kills World director Moritz Mohr on choreography, creativity and French cookies; “The heck if I could tell you how it came to be.”

In his directorial feature film debut, Moritz Mohr aimed for the jugular, and bloodied it out with gusto.  Boy Kills World (you can read our review here) is a balls-to-the-wall action flick about a deaf and mute orphan who is trained by a mysterious shaman to repress his childish imagination and become an instrument of…

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Interview: Natasha Henstridge on new horror film Cinderella’s Revenge; “Not the fairy tale as you know it.”

After breaking as the lead in 1995’s Species, Natasha Henstridge soon took the silver screen by storm with roles in such high-profile projects as Maximum Risk, opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme, the comedy The Whole Nine Yards (and its sequel, The Whole Ten Yards), John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars, and the Hugh Jackman thriller Deception. Cinderella’s Revenge…

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Interview: The Crow director Alex Proyas on navigating studio systems, AI use in films, and reflecting on I, Robot two decades on

Alex Proyas has long been one of Australia’s greatest directorial exports.  Biding his time between international and local fare – in the same sentence of his work you can mention 1994’s defining The Crow, the ambitious neo-noir sci-fi thriller Dark City, and the blockbuster Will Smith outing I, Robot – the filmmaker has made a…

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Interview: Matthew Brown on Freud’s Last Session, casting Sir Anthony Hopkins, and staying neutral in opposing conversations

In his final days, Sigmund Freud, a recent escapee with his daughter from the Nazi regime, receives a visit from the formidable Oxford Don C.S. Lewis (author of “The Chronicles of Narnia”). On this day, two of the greatest minds of the twentieth century intimately engage in a monumental session over the belief in the…

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Interview: Abigail directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin on the beauty of ballet and bloodshed in their heightened vampire flick

Children can be such monsters. After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight.  In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting…

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Interview: Kathryn Newton and Dan Stevens on manifesting roles and finding the humour in the horror of Abigail

Children can be such monsters. After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight.  In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting…

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Interview: Abigail stars Kevin Durand and William Catlett on character quirks and what truly terrifies them

Children can be such monsters. After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight.  In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting…

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Interview: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist on Challengers; “I think all three of them are desperate for connection.”

From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy-turned-coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist), Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must…

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Interview: Carlo Mendez on his first lead role in the thriller Demise; “The challenge was making my character likeable.”

At the core of Demise, Yara Estrada Lowe‘s debut feature film, is a messy love triangle that allows the erotic thriller to lean into the campy, oft-unhinged sensibilities the genre can so continually give way to. Subtlety is disregarded and melodrama is heightened, making for one helluva wild time. At the core of the film…

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Interview: Cameron and Colin Cairnes on Late Night With the Devil, Don Lane inspiration, and not auditioning David Dastmalchian

After breaking out at last year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival, where our own Peter Gray heralded the film as one that “enjoys melding the modern sensibilities of the found footage genre with the bold mentality of horror movies gone by” (you can read the full review here), Late Night With the Devil is finally…

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Interview: Jordon Prince-Wright on his Australian WWI drama Before Dawn; “I knew I needed to tell this story.”

Based on real life war diaries, Before Dawn is an epic retelling of one of Australia’s biggest victories during WWI. Jim Collins, a young man from the outback, leaves his family-run sheep station to join the ANZAC and fight on the western front with hopes of making a difference. Soon, the realities of the muddy, ruthless,…

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Interview: Dev Patel on his directorial debut Monkey Man; “It was kind of a by-any-means-necessary approach to filmmaking.”

Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage, Monkey Man stars Dev Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meagre living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash.  After years of…

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Interview: Io Capitano director Matteo Garrone on transcending language and social barriers; “This is a document of contemporary history.”

Longing for a brighter future, two Senegalese teenagers embark on a journey from West Africa to Italy. However, between their dreams and reality lies a labyrinth of checkpoints, the Sahara Desert, and the vast waters of the Mediterranean. And much like the characters at the centre of Io Capitano, director Matteo Garrone experienced a case…

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Interview: Kaylee Hottle on inspiring her community as the lead of a franchise in Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

Kaylee Hottle made sure she announced herself in the grandest way possible when she made her feature debut as Jia in 2021’s monstrous success Godzilla Vs. Kong. Returning to the series for Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, the actress reunites with her on-screen bestie (that would be one, mighty Kong) as they face a…

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Interview: Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry on going big or going home on Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

Having survived the spectacle of Godzilla Vs Kong, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry were no strangers to the atmosphere of Adam Wingard‘s wrangling of the titanic cinematic beasts that are Godzilla and King Kong.  But what about Dan Stevens? As Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire storms into theatres, Peter Gray spoke with the…

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Interview: Adam Wingard on directing Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire; “They’re more like a buddy cop kind-of duo.”

The epic battle continues! Legendary Pictures’ cinematic Monsterverse follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire delves further…

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Interview: Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield and star Scott Chambers on their love of horror, gore and Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II

Whilst it was a film that saw a critical slaughtering at the time of its release – it currently holds a 3% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is oft-considered now one of the worst films ever made – there’s no denying that Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, a low budget horror recount of A.A. Milne’s classic…

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Interview: Kung Fu Panda 4 directors Mike Mitchell and Stephanie Ma Stine on “The best franchise of all time.”

This autumn, for the first time in almost a decade, comedy icon Jack Black returns to his role as Po, the world’s most unlikely kung fu master, with a hilarious, butt-kicking new chapter in DreamWorks Animation’s beloved action-comedy franchise, Kung Fu Panda 4. After three death-defying adventures defeating world-class villains with his unmatched courage and…

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Interview: Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor on reimagining Road House; “It felt like you were working with your friend”

Road House stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton, an ex-UFC fighter trying to escape his dark past and his penchant for violence, in this adrenaline-fueled actioner. Dalton is barely scraping by on the reputation that still precedes him when he is spotted by the owner of a roadhouse in the Florida Keys. She hires him to be her…

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Interview: Arj Barker and director Scott Corfield on their new Australian comedy The Nut Farm; “We wanted that heart and the environmental message to drive it home.”

The new Australian comedy The Nut Job details A failed US crypto trader who inherits a macadamia nut farm in Australia that’s under threat from some evil New Zealand frackers…so, you know, your average, relatable, Aussie battler story.  Right? Believe it or not, amongst the heightened comedy of the script, there’s a semi-autobiographical narrative in…

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SXSW Interview: Director Kourtney Roy and actress Chloe Pirrie on their Kryptic collaboration; “You can never lean into the obvious.”

A psycho-thriller about a woman’s search for a missing monster hunter and her growing realisation that she is inescapably linked to the creature being pursued, Kryptic is sure to be one of SXSW’s most talked about projects. And it’s why Peter Gray had to speak to the film’s director, Kourtney Roy, and lead actress, Chloe…

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SXSW Interview: Director Cutter Hodierne on his crypto-meets-home invasion thriller Cold Wallet

After losing everything in a cryptocurrency scam, a ragtag team of vigilante Redditors attempt to kidnap the kingpin who screwed them over. But when the home invasion takes a turn for the worst, they become victims in a sadistic game. Directed by Sundance-awarded Best Director Cutter Hodierne, Cold Wallet is a topically relevant genre blend of…

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SXSW Interview: Writer/director Annick Blanc on Hunting Daze, the navigation of gaslighting, and always sticking to her guns

Nina, a young and headstrong exotic dancer, finds herself stranded in the far North. She convinces her recent customers, five men on a bachelor hunting trip, to put her up for a few days. In this masculine microsociety, by turns hilarious and philosophical, she starts to feel a sense of belonging she never has before. But…

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Interview: Director Jeff Wadlow on creating the horror of Imaginary, casting against type, and the dangers of pre-planning a sequel

Unfortunately we can’t always rely on technology.  But for Peter Gray, it seemed like there were more sinister forces at play when he attempted to chat to Imaginary director Jeff Wadlow about his latest scarer. After a duo of failed attempts to chat all things Imaginary – the Truth Or Dare filmmaker’s original horror film…

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Interview: Director Peter Farrelly, Zac Efron, John Cena and the cast of Ricky Stanicky; “I think you need audacity to make a great comedy.”

When three childhood best friends pull a prank gone wrong, they invent the imaginary “Ricky Stanicky” to get them out of trouble!  Twenty years after creating this ‘friend,’ Dean (Zac Efron), JT (Andrew Santino), and Wes (Jermaine Fowler) still use the non-existent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behaviour.  When their spouses and partners get…

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