hari nef
#FIRSTLOOK: NEW CANADIAN TEASER TRAILER FOR “BARBIE”
Today we get a brand-new Canadian Teaser Trailer for Greta Gerwig‘s BARBIE! Oh, we cannot wait till July 21st!
Synopsis:
To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.
From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig (“Little Women,” “Lady Bird”) comes “Barbie,” starring Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie (“Bombshell,” “I, Tonya”) and Ryan Gosling (“La La Land,” “Half Nelson”) as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera (“End of Watch,” the “How to Train Your Dragon” films), Kate McKinnon (“Bombshell,” “Yesterday”), Michael Cera (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” “Juno”), Ariana Greenblatt (“Avengers: Infinity War,” “65”), Issa Rae (“The Photograph,” “Insecure”), Rhea Perlman (“I’ll See You in My Dreams,” “Matilda”), and Will Ferrell (the “Anchorman” films, “Talladega Nights”). The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne (“Little Women”), Emma Mackey (“Emily,” “Sex Education”), Hari Nef (“Assassination Nation,” “Transparent”), Alexandra Shipp (the “X-Men” films), Kingsley Ben-Adir (“One Night in Miami,” “Peaky Blinders”), Simu Liu (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”), Ncuti Gatwa (“Sex Education”), Scott Evans (“Grace and Frankie”), Jamie Demetriou (“Cruella”), Connor Swindells (“Sex Education,” “Emma.”), Sharon Rooney (“Dumbo,” “Jerk”), Nicola Coughlin (“Bridgerton,” “Derry Girls”) and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren (“The Queen”).
Gerwig directed “Barbie” from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story,” “The Squid and the Whale”), based on Barbie by Mattel. The film’s producers are Oscar nominee David Heyman (“Marriage Story,” “Gravity”), Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, with Michael Sharp, Josey McNamara, Ynon Kreiz, Courtenay Valenti, Toby Emmerich and Cate Adams serving as executive producers.
Gerwig’s creative team behind the camera included Oscar-nominated director of photography Rodrigo Prieto (“The Irishman,” “Silence,” “Brokeback Mountain”), six-time Oscar-nominated production designer Sarah Greenwood (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Anna Karenina”), editor Nick Houy (“Little Women,” “Lady Bird”), Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran (“Little Women,” “Anna Karenina”), visual effects supervisor Glen Pratt (“Paddington 2,” “Beauty and the Beast”), music supervisor George Drakoulias (“White Noise,” “Marriage Story”) and Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (“The Shape of Water,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel”).
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents a Heyday Films Production, a LuckyChap Entertainment Production, a Mattel Production, “Barbie.” The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and released in theatres only nationwide on July 21, 2023 and beginning internationally on July 19, 2023.
#INTERVIEW: SAM LEVINSON, ABRA, HARI NEF, SUKI WATERHOUSE ON “ASSASSINATION NATION”
By Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
Assassination Nation had its International Premiere in the Midnight Madness Programme at TIFF this year. However, if you happened to miss it you’re in luck it will be releasing in theatres on September 21. While it was showing at TIFF ’18 we had the chance to sit down with the Director of the Film, Sam Levinson and Cast members Hari Nef, Suki Waterhouse and Abra about this imminent cult classic.
See the Trailer:
Q: Sam, why did you feel you needed to write this and bring this world to life?
LEVINSON: I started writing this five days before my wife gave birth to our first child. I was really nervous about where our country was headed, just the amount rage that seemed to be bubbling up. And I think I wanted to emotionally unpack it and deal with it in the only way I know how to, as a Writer and a Filmmaker. And I think that was part of it but also, I wanted to write a Film that I thought mirrored the emotional intensity and vitality of the internet. You open up your phone any morning and you’re reading about someone getting shot or here’s a street fight or here’s someone singing a song to a dying family member. And that’s all in the span of about 5 minutes. and it’s an emotional rollercoaster. It’s so intense and it adds this kind of, I don’t know the best way to describe it as, but this sort of dizzying feeling about how do you navigate this world and keep your sanity. If you were to take that and mix it with young people today in some way this movie sort of serves as a road map for how to navigate the world… and the fantasy of sometimes how you wish you could navigate this world, which is by, you know what, saying “fuck you, I don’t give a shit. I’m not going to take it anymore.” Its [The Film] this sort of crazy piece but I wanted to reflect the sort of madness of the internet.
WATERHOUSE: Its like being on the other side of being so scared about your privacy and not wanting anyone to know anything about you, and then the other side is like, you know my worst parts you know things I’m capable of and like “two fingers up to you. I don’t care what you think, I’ going to survive this.”
Q: If there is one thing you want audiences to take away from this Film, what would it be?
ABRA: I wish we all and the people watching, on how we watch each other, we should have more empathy, and be less judgmental about everything. Just take less judgement, be less harsh and step away from the lens and question you’re lens for a minute. Even if it’s the right one, just step away for a minute.
NEF: I would like people to question their own certainty of the truth, of what is right, of what is kind, of what is good. I think that our nation is stratified on to lines right now that are 100% sure of their own rightness, righteousness. And if this Film could parochialize that kind of view a little bit and dig deeper and perhaps question it — that could be a catalyst for positive conversations.
LEVINSON: Yeah, and conversations that I think can ultimately move things forward because right now, at least in American, I feel like we are in this sort of stand off. And standoffs don’t normally end well. Its nerve wracking for all of us, in many ways.
NEF: I found myself questioning my own points of view, just during the filming of the Movie. When we were going to the Louisiana gun range and I was like “oh guns. I hate guns.” And I still have perhaps Liberal views on gun control, but you know, I was in a part of the country that I have never been in for an extended period of time. My prejudices about the conservative south or the lower belt where totally changed and shifted just by the time I spent down there. If you open your eyes and your heart you will be surprised.
LEVINSON: The thing with guns is, if I hear a gun shot I just wanna drop to the ground and hide. So it’s weird being in a gun range because you’re hearing shooting and you’re not supposed to react to it.
NEF: But also working with those guns, holding them and firing them, I understand why these things are important to people. Especially for people who feel extra vulnerable.
LEVINSON: 100% I get it. I think the emotional motivation and the psychological thought of being able to protect yourself. I completely understand that aspect of it no matter what my views are on the context of it. But I think that’s what the Movie is ultimately about. Their ideology in and of itself is bound to fail. And this Film is about discourse it’s about the way in which we communicate. It’s about the idea that if you operate with an absolute certainty that you are right, and that your actions are therefore just, then that is a recipe for a horror film and that’s what this Movie is about.
Elevation Pictures release ASSASSINATION NATION on Friday, September 21, 2018.
#TIFF18: HIGHLIGHTS OF 2018 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
By Mr. Will Wong
And in a blink of an eye, another TIFF has passed and this one had us working right to the finish line! It’s only after the fact that we have a moment to take it all in how much we went through. We estimate double our average in Celebrity Snaps this year. That’s how star-studded TIFF ’18 was. It was that kind of a year!
We had the pleasure of previewing several of this year’s Awards Season contenders and we are waiting with baited breath to see A STAR IS BORN and GREEN BOOK, both outstanding, duke it out for Oscars glory in coming months. We loved both, are thrilled the latter was honoured with the People’s Choice Award at the Festival, but something about the former makes our heart sing. We cannot stop thinking about it or its Soundtrack. It takes a magical Film to do that.
Let’s relive some of my favourite star-studded moments of the Festival, as lensed through the Nikon D3400. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without this amazing camera which worked amazingly-well with our Blackberry Key 2 in terms of file transmission to ensure we were able to get our photos uploaded and edited within moments for you all to enjoy! The clarity of these snaps speak for themselves.
A STAR IS BORN Press Conference
Lady Gaga
We will never stop taking our signature Celebrity Selfies and TIFF ’18 was unforgettable even if we saw many returning faces. We wouldn’t have been camera-ready without the right gear and depending on each scenario, sometimes the Blackberry Key 2 worked best for those Selfies, sometimes the Nikon D3400 worked better. What matters is that more often than not, we got the snap! And many we did.
Here’s some of our faves!
Alexander Skarsgård
Amandla Stenberg
Amber Heard
Anthony Ramos
Boyd Holbrook
Cara Delevingne
Chris Pine
Claire Foy
Daniel Kaluuya
Elizabeth Debicki
Gwendoline Christie
Hari Nef
Jacob Tremblay
Jamie Dornan
Jamie Lee Curtis
John David Washington
Julianne Moore
Kelly Marie Tran
Lady Gaga
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Margaret Qualley
Olivia Munn
Parker Sevak
Peter Sarsgaard
Quincy Jones
Riz Ahmed
Ryan Gosling
Steve Carell
Steven Yeun
Timothée Chalamet
Trevante Rhodes
Troye Sivan
Zhang Yimou
In case you missed our Television appearances during TIFF ’18 this is our first year hitting-up the three big media giants: Global, CITY and CP24 (Bell Media). Thrilled! Our brand continues to thrive as a Festival go-to and we are so happy for the recognition.
CP24 with George Lagogianes
Breakfast Television with Winston Sih
Until next year. We’re already ready!
(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)
#TIFF18: “ASSASSINATION NATION” REVIEW
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Sam Levinson’s women empowerment to the power-of-four Film Assassination Nation is a violent, visceral, eye opening look at what it’s like to be a female teenager in the modern age with a bloody twist. Coming off the positive word of mouth from Sundance, it is no wonder why people loved this Film. It is an absolute blast and insanely entertaining, the Midnight Madness crowd is sure to devour the Film with absolute delight.
The Film centers around Lily (Odessa Young), Hari Nef (Bex), Sarah (Suki Waterhouse) and Em (Abra) as they’re the “it” girls around high school. A hacker slowly starts to leak info about the residents of Salem, and it turns into a witch hunt massacre.
Assassination Nation screens on Tuesday September 11, 10:45 PM at the Ryerson and Wednesday, September 12 at 9:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre.
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