The actors of the new movie ‘Stolen’ shared their thoughts on director Simon West: Josh Lucas declares, “I think a lot of times with action directors there’s a sense that they are very difficult people, not the nicest people, and yet they get great images; so part of it is a tradeoff that you go into it knowing it’s going to be a difficult experience. With Simon, He’s got a reputation as being real, in a sense a really friendly actors’ director who happens to also make wonderful, big, playful action films.”

He continues, “It was big bold dangerous filmmaking in many ways which is part of the thing that Simon brings to it. Mostly it comes down to the fact that Simon is a director who understands action, and understands the entertainment playful form of action.”

Mark Valley offers, “I really love working with him. He comes from an editing background.

He makes decisions quickly, he knows what he wants, and somehow he’s still got this Woody Allen quality about him as well, like he really can appreciate these small little bits of humor and little moments that some of us manage to throw in… or sometimes it can happen just by accident!”

Malin Akerman reflects, “You know sometimes you meet people and it feels like you’ve known them for a really long time?  It was that feeling immediately. We had the same views on the characters and the script, and I’m a fan of his work in the past, ‘Con Air’ being one of them, which is great.”

She elaborates, “The director sets the tone, and the tone that Simon sets is just super laid back. I haven’t heard him raise his voice, not once. He’s super calm. He’s so great with his actors, he’s so open and ready to try new things and he’s also very clear on what he needs and what he wants.”

Image Courtesy of  Jaguar PS / Shutterstock.com

The article Cast of ‘Stolen’ Talks about Simon West appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Danny Huston plays FBI agent Tim Harlend in the new Simon West action flick ‘Stolen’. He explains why he was drawn to the project by stating; “When I first read the script I felt it had a combination of action, dialogue, and strong characters that made for an interesting kaleidoscope and an array of colorful characters.”

Director Simon West describes his decision to cast Huston. “I was looking for somebody that could put a very eccentric twist on this. I didn’t want the usual boring FBI agent who is tracking these guys and immediately make people think, ‘Oh, very staid kind of traditional kind of cop,’ he explains. “I approached Danny and he loved the idea of playing this FBI agent and he had some great ideas: The main one was his hat – he tried on all these hats.  And we picked one that became a major part of his character, this hat that he always wears.”

He adds, “Whenever Harlend needs to give anyone any advice he always quotes his grandmother, grandmother Harlend. And so he has a very dry sense of humor, and he’s a very eccentric, quirky kind of FBI agent.”

Harlend’s right hand man Fletcher is played by Mark Valley, who Huston pays compliment to by stating, “He’s a wonderful actor, and it was interesting to start work with him without really knowing him beforehand. So there was sort of a quick relationship that we had to figure out. But he was really able to help me in that regard. I felt immediately at ease with him,” he explains.

Huston elaborates on their partnership, offering, “Harlend and Fletcher are a little bit like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, or a Sherlock Holmes type of situation. At times I must say I think they’re a little slapstick, but what’s fun about their relationship is that my character Harlend always sort of expands on these sort of antidotes, these words of wisdom that are practically riddles. And Fletcher really is more basic in his approach and just wants to stop the whole philosophy and get the criminal.”

Malin Akerman reveals the moment her character is introduced in the film. “We meet Riley while she is robbing a bank with her buddies!” she laughs. She’s a pretty tough girl, she’s one of the boys.”

Describing her first impression after reading the script for ‘Stolen’ she exclaims, “I loved it!  I’ve done a lot of comedy in my past and I’ve been searching for something like this.”

Director Simon West elaborates, “I’ve always been a fan of Malin Akerman’s work and I’ve seen her in a lot of romantic comedies. I always like to take people from one genre and put them in another, and so I thought it’d be great to try get someone like her, who can hold her own her own out in a group of guys like hard talking bank robbers.” He adds, “And she’s very cute and very funny as well, and for her to interact with those tough guys I thought would be a great combination.”

The intensely challenging role of Montgomery’s teenage daughter, Alison, proved to be very difficult for director Simon West to cast. That is until he met with actress Sami Gayle.  He explains, “I looked at a lot of girls for the part and it’s one of the hardest parts in the film to cast because it has to be a balance of vulnerable child, but also one strong enough to be put in these terrible situations and not traumatize the audience. She has to look like she’s going to handle all of this stuff.” He adds, “She could be Nic’s daughter, and she has this attitude.. She’s a tough New York kid, and she does have that tough outer shell, but because she’s such an accomplished young actress she can go to that emotional place that I needed in the story. So I’m very lucky to get someone like that.”

West reunited with actor M.C. Gainey after many years to cast him for the role of Hoyt. He compliments, “I’ve been trying to work with M.C. Gainey for quite a while since ‘Con Air’. I had him in my mind as I was developing the script and his part started to become written for him. A lot of the dialogue and the lines I knew would sound great coming out of M.C., and again he delivered in spades.”

The article Danny Huston, Malin Akerman Attracted to ‘Stolen’ From the Start appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Danny Huston describes Nicolas Cage, his co-star in the new movie ‘Stolen’. “He’s an utter gentleman, an absolute joy to work with and a serious actor, but once we’ve got the scene down it’s a lot of fun to kid around with him. Its great to know that he’s got the humor after we do a scene that’s maybe quite tense.”

Mark Valley comments, “Honestly I think the quirky thing about this film is Nicolas Cage’s character, Montgomery. He just has such a raffish quality and he’s sort of an underdog, but then you kind of want to follow him and you want to watch him and be with him. It’s a really wonderful part for him.”

Malin Akerman sighs when she says, “It was so great to work with Nicolas, and he is lovely. I’ve grown up watching a lot of his films so it was really amazing to be working side by side with such a great talent. And you see why, he’s such a generous actor, he’s so respectful. That’s what’s most important, there’s definitely no diva attitude and he’s just full on, he’s great.”

Josh Lucas ponders, “Part of my whole joy of this film and the reason I wanted to do it was because any time you get to work with an actor of Nic Cage’s caliber you jump at that opportunity, and the reality is there’s only a few actors on earth who I’d put up in Nic’s category. I mean he’s one of the true greats.”

Director Simon West describes working with Josh Lucas, stating, “Josh really embraced this character. He came up with some great ideas and it was so fun to work with him on it. Every day he’d come in with another idea and a video he’d found or piece of music that he liked and I just took all these ideas and put them on film basically. It was a great character to start with, but Josh really took it to another level.”

Lucas enjoyed the collaborative effort to develop his character, recalling, “It became a lot of conceptual ideas of what about this, what about this, what about this? And throwing them back and forth between Simon, and me and the makeup people, me and the design people; and how you create basically, hopefully, one of the memorable villain madmen to be on screen in a little while,” he laughs.

Malin Akerman compliments, “What I like about a lot about this film is that one of our friends and colleagues, Vincent, who’s played by Josh Lucas ends up really becoming crazy. Usually there’s a bad guy and a good guy from the very beginning, but this is one of our friends who ends up ‘turning’ and becoming super crazy and kidnapping Will’s daughter. So it’s really a great twist and a really wonderful arc to watch Josh go through as an actor; to see that sort of difference. I think that’s going to be really interesting to watch.”

Producer Rene Besson states, “The most important thing in a thriller is its villain. And we searched long and hard for a capable, intelligent cold hearted villain and we found that in Josh Lucas. And I think everybody is going to be immensely surprised at what he’s able to do in this film.”

He adds. “Josh is a very unique talent, and very sharp: There’s an edge to him a lot of people have not yet picked up on yet that really comes through in this project. I think we’re all going to be really surprised by what Josh brings to this.”

When asked about Sami Gayle, Nicolas Cage affirms, “Sami is first of all a lovely person.  She’s a real, kind, good person, and you just feel that when you meet her. Lovely smile, and just a charm about her that is 100 percent authentic, and you can’t help but love her. So that comes through in her character, and also she’s a hard worker; she really is very professional. She always comes up with something that is like no acting- you feel it’s almost effortless. In every take there’s almost something instinctual and intuitive about her work.”

Josh Lucas was initially concerned about the challenging scenes he would play with the young actress. He reflects, “Most of my experience with this movie was working with the actress Sami Gayle. When I first asked Simon about her I said, ‘Is she tough, is she strong?’ And he kind of chuckled and said, ‘You’ll see!’”

Malin Akerman describes how she was in awe of Sami, proclaiming, “I always am fascinated when you get young actresses like Sami who’s a 15 year old girl who plays in such a really heavy really intense scenes. It’s amazing to watch her!”

Producer Rene Besson maintains, “Sami Gayle is an amazingly capable young actress.  The emotional range that she displays and the places that she has to go in this film…it’s a challenge for anyone and she really knows how to pull that off. She’s just so intuitive with what she does that you just truly believe that this is a person who is in incredible peril and you have great sympathy for her.”

Nicolas Cage and Mark Valley were equally impressed with Danny Huston. Cage exclaims, “Wow, you cant help but just love his voice and the way he chooses to deliver his lines. There’s a real musical quality to Danny Huston’s delivery.”

Mark Valley reflects, “Danny’s a lot of fun, he’s a real prince. He’s just a really talented guy who comes into a scene with his own perspective of things and he also has a really wonderful directors’ perspective of a scene and how it will play out.  It’s been interesting watching him work and looking at how he takes the scene. Danny kind of comes around through another entrance…”

Nicolas Cage also admired Mark Valley, confessing, “Mark is wonderfully funny, he has a great sense of humor and he’s a very impressive man. He’s a graduate from West Point and a total athlete, and it’s hard not to be impressed when you’re dealing with somebody who has those kinds of honors in his background!”

The article ‘Stolen’ Cast Enjoyed Collaboration appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The rock-centric musical ‘Rock of Ages’ hit theaters June 15, 2012, and is unfortunately under-performed due to its competition with the kid-friendly ‘Madagascar 3’ and highly anticipated sci-fi thriller ‘Prometheus.’ However, box office aside, the movie itself is an average romp with great songs, solid performances, and an upbeat cast. ‘Rock of Ages’ is certainly enjoyable, but the lackluster story and scattered plot-lines may have also contributed to its low ticket sales this past week.

Spoiler alert!

‘Ages’ is actually a film adaptation of Chris D’Arienzo’s 2006 Broadway musical of the same name. It tells the story of rock legend Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise), lead singer of Arsenal, giving his farewell performance at the Bourbon Room, a bar owned by Dennis Dupree (Alec Baldwin) and his best friend Lonny Barnett (Russell Brand). Stacie has decided to go solo and so Arsenal’s last performance as a band will draw in hundreds of fans, which the Bourbon Room needs, as it has recently fallen on hard times.

Meanwhile, a perky young girl named Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) arrives in Los Angeles from Tulsa, Oklahoma with dreams of becoming a singer. Unfortunately, LA is not kind to her and she gets mugged, losing all of her albums. Drew Boley (Diego Boneta) tries to intervene but the thief gets away, prompting Drew to offer Sherrie a job at the Bourbon Room to help her get back on her feet. Dennis refuses at first, but ultimately hires her so they can prepare for Stacee’s arrival at the club later that week.

Mayor Mike Whitmore (Bryan Cranston) announces his campaign for the city with the help of his wife, Patricia Whitmore (Catherine Zeta Jones), who is the real brains behind the politics. She wants to shut down the Bourbon Room due to the “immoral music” and wants to take Stacee Jaxx down as well, recruiting mothers and religious fanatics to back her up and protest his last performance.

Drew and Sherrie hit it off and start dating soon after she gets hired. Stacee arrives and turns everything upside down due to his monstrous ego and bizarre demands. A writer for the Rolling Stone named Constance Sack (Malin Akerman) stirs up trouble with her questions and manages to get through to Jaxx about his attitude problem and his slimy manager, Paul Gill (Paul Giamatti).

A couple of hours before Stacee performs, the start up band drops out and Sherrie convinces Dennis to let Drew and his band play. He reluctantly agrees and Drew’s band does well, prompting Paul to want to sign him as he is sick of Stacee’s attitude. However, Stacee bumps into Sherrie and Drew thinks they slept together, which makes him break up with her and sign with Paul. From there, everything takes a turn for the worse.

The selling point of ‘Rock of Ages’ is of course the musical performances, which are strong and varied. Special mention goes to the fact that all the actors actually do sing their parts themselves instead of being dubbed over by professional singers. The standout performances are Cruise, Zeta-Jones, and Mary J. Blige while the others fair relatively well. The selections of 80’s rock are all familiar tunes and create an air of familiarity for the audience as well as nostalgia.

Unfortunately, ‘Rock of Ages’ suffers from a dull story with too many characters that stretch the plot thin. The love story between Drew and Sherrie is clichéd and largely uninteresting as neither of them have distinct personalities. Furthermore, their relationship materialized in what seemed to be only a few days, so when they inevitably break up due to miscommunication, it does not stick with the audience.

Furthermore, since the two main leads were relatively boring, other actors did not get enough time to shine, particularly Catherine Zeta-Jones. It is a shame to see that she only received two musical numbers since her performance in ‘Chicago’ (2002) won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. It would have been smarter to play up her antagonistic relationship with Stacee Jaxx rather than inserting a bland character like Constance to be his love interest.

Another pointless subplot is the romance between Dennis and Lonny, which is played for laughs, but does not go anywhere. It only adds to the number of songs stuffed into the story and is neither funny nor plot relevant. It could have been left out entirely and would not have made a difference.

To that same end, Alec Baldwin is largely out of place in the role of Dennis. He seems asleep at the wheel and does not breathe much life into the character while everyone else around him gives solid performances.

To close out the pointless angle, while Mary J. Blige’s singing is phenomenal, the entire subplot with the strip club is not utilized properly. It sends a mixed message that gets clogged up among the other things going in the story at the same time. It seems to imply that becoming a stripper is hitting rock bottom, but then there is a musical number about implying how it can be empowering. This idea is then contradicted by Sherrie, who does not enjoy the job and considers moving back to Tulsa as a result. It would have been better to give the strip club a clearer role in the storyline rather than shoehorning it in for the sake of fan-service.

Still, ‘Rock of Ages’, while just an average musical, is energetic, colorful, and funny. It is a bit of harmless summer fun that is not necessarily a must see, but it would not hurt to give it a try.

Grade: 3/5

Image Courtesy of   Rock of Ages

The article ‘Rock of Ages’ Mildly Rocks: A Review appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.