I arrive extremely early for my One-on-One with Baz Luhrmann, sitting at the Hospitality Suite with plenty of time to spare. You see, Toronto has a horrible issue with Punctuality and I am convinced that I am one of the reasons why. The bottomless Coffee makes me even more anxious than I already am.  I nibble on some v. sharp cheese, but really am not hungry due to nerves. Ever since being invited earlier this week to interview the visionary Filmmaker,  excitement and distraction had preoccupied much of my headspace. The thing is, I legitimately am a huge Fan of Luhrmann and quite literally I  had to touch my neck to see if it still was sore (as has been the case for weeks) in search of evidence that I wasn’t dreaming after receiving the invitation. I’d close the e-mail, open it again repeatedly to ensure it wouldn’t disappear on me like a cruel prank, as if almost expecting  that sobering “XX would like to recall this message”  notification.  It never came, thankfully.

Few Directors consistently have affected me viscerally as Luhrmann.  His Films are a Spectacle – an Escape if you will – taking us away to a place where Love is magical, splendorous and truly romantic. His distinct sense of  Tragic Romance almost has come define him, hence there could be no other as fitting as he to  helm an Adaptation of  F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s bittersweet Classic, The Great Gatsby.

Luhrmann walks into the room as I sit there fidgeting with my pencil – double, triple, quadruple-checking to ensure my questions were of a standard fit for the Man from whom the likes of Claire Danes, Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and Leonardo DiCaprio have taken direction. He is lovely Man, indeed.  His hair a bit grayer than I’d seen in photos –  not at all as imposing as I’d imagined for someone with such grand, extravagant vision; his demeanour personable. I felt right at ease, feeling rather foolish for all the hoo-ha I’d conjured in my mind. “I’ll just sit right here on the couch and you can direct me”, he says with a smile. Was he kidding me? The Man responsible for Films like Moulin Rouge, Australia and Romeo + Juliet telling me to direct him?

I asked Luhrmann the question on many of our minds after we so cruelly were made to endure a prolonged wait for The Great Gatsby‘s release, originally slated for December.  Some cited Studio Conflict, while some cited Funding issues.  Setting the record straight, he explains “We got rained-out five times – it wasn’t just once or twice. It put us into the following year. We had to shut down just because of the rain.”.  After also being struck in the head by a crane during production, which resulted in stitches, he comes to the realization, “Now if there was no rain, it would’ve been the first time in my life I was on-time because we were very prepared in what we were doing.”.

Two ever-prevalent themes in Luhrmann‘s Films – particularly his Red Curtain Trilogy and  consistently so again in The Great Gatsby – are Romance and Tragedy.   “I keep saying to myself how I end up doing these things.  If you look at any creative person – I suppose I’m old enough now to say ‘I am creative’,    really we all do the same things over and over in different ways and different flavours”, he tells me. “Puccini basically does a lot of Tragic Romances. Shakespeare changes the genres but he always has some idea of Love or Anti-Love… I guess I’m some sort of Romantic. I suppose I have to say ‘yes’ to that  now.”.

One key line in The Great Gatsby has Nick Caraway (Tobey Maguire) telling Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), “The past cannot be repeated”. Reliving the past becomes somewhat of a fixation for  Gatsby in his limitless ambition to win back the love of his life in Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), who so happens to be married to Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) after he goes off to war, coming back re-incarnated as a wealthy, dashing Playboy. I am curious whether or not repeating the past – a largely successful one I might add – is something  of which Luhrmann is conscious.  “I always think this is it. This is the last Movie I’m making… I may just go into Architecture or Diving”, he says perhaps half-joking. “I think I’ve gone through the Catharsis of Gatsby. I think I’ve gone into this period where I actually am who I am – that I sorta am stuck being this Guy making those Movies.”.  “I want to do it now so that it enriches life and that it’s a Circle –  the give and take is there.”.

Several are excited about DiCaprio‘s Gatsby Reunion with Luhrmann, last having worked together over 17 years ago on Romeo + Juliet, but the name on everybody’s lips is Elizabeth Debicki – an unknown entity in an Ensemble of familiarity, winning the Plum Role of  observant and gossipy Jordan Baker. “This is the first Movie she’s ever done – she was in Drama School.  My Casting Director Ronna Kress and I heard about Elizabeth –  this Girl who’s so tall and gorgeous – she’s a bit like Cate Blanchett meets Nicole (Kidman). I flew her to Los Angeles and she was such a strong choice.”.  As numerical proof to what a role in a Baz Luhrmann Film can do for one’s Career, he notes, “They put a picture of her on the Website the other day… and within an hour there were 150,000 hits. She’s making an impression.”.  On Mulligan, he has nothing but praise for her stating, “She’s just absolutely lovely inside and out!”.

In a Career which already has seen its share of pinnacles, one must wonder just what Luhrmann considers a success. He replies, “That it pays its bill, first of all. People come up to me and they go, ‘I bet you’re sick of hearing this’ – and they can be entirely mature Human Beings – or ‘You probably don’t want to hear this but I just loved blah blah blah‘ and I just go, ‘Are you kidding me?’.”. Luhrmann adds, “My Movies don’t get banged-out once a year. I make them every five or ten years, so if one person goes ‘Gee, that did something for my life, that was beautiful…’, he pauses. “That sorta stuff that will be good enough for me.”.

Enjoy my Interview in full with Baz Luhrmann below:

Fans have every reason to be excited about The Great Gatsby  and after having witnessed its magic in 3D, I eagerly am awaiting another go at it.  Warner Bros. releases on Friday, May 10, 2013.

Luhrmann was amazingly gracious to sign a Photo for my Readers and one of you will be lucky enough to own it!  Simply click “like” on this Post at Mr. Will Wong on Facebook before June 1, 2013.  Double your chances by sharing this Post on Facebook with your Friends!

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

This is probably the closest we’ll get to hearing Beyoncé‘s Grown Woman until the Track gets a proper release. After first surfacing on Queen B‘s Pepsi TV Spot recently, Fans in Paris attending her Mrs. Carter Show Tour last night got to hear it in full first. Fortunately, many brought Cameras.

And for those of you who for a Sneak Peak at her upcoming Collaboration with H&M, that Dress she’s donning isn’t from the Collection. It’s actually a Kenzo. Gorgeous nonetheless.

Enjoy a Clip below:

H&M has just released a Preview of the Beyoncé as Mrs. Carter in H&M TV Spot for their Summer Collection, featuring a brand new Track, Standing on the Sun; Jonas Åkerlund directs.  Am actually feeling this a bit more than Grown Woman, to be honest!

(Photo credit: Beyoncé | Audio content: Sony Music | Video content: H&M)

“To fight Monsters we created Monsters”.

The endless tease continues.  A brand new Poster for what is this Summer’s Must-See Event, Pacific Rim, has just surfaced.  Here we see a giant Robot crushing the City and although it might appear to be doing bad, it is actually being employed to save the World from the attack of Monsters.

See the official Poster below:

Warner Bros. releases Pacific Rim on July 12, 2013.

(Photo credit: Warner Bros.)

Just two months to go before School starts. Monsters University that, is! We all loved 2001’s Monster’s Inc. and this Prequel in the Franchise has long been overdue and at long last a Trailer has surfaced for the Animated Feature featuring the Voicework of John Goodman, Billy Crystal and Steve Buscemi.

Official Synopsis below:

Ever since college-bound Mike Wazowski (voice of Billy Crystal) was a little Monster, he has dreamed of becoming a Scarer—and he knows better than anyone that the best Scarers come from Monsters University (MU). But during his first semester at MU, Mike’s plans are derailed when he crosses paths with hotshot James P. Sullivan or “Sulley” (voice of John Goodman), a natural-born Scarer.  The pair’s out-of-control competitive spirit gets them both kicked out of the University’s elite Scare Program. To make matters worse, they realize they will have to work together, along with an odd bunch of misfit monsters, if they ever hope to make things right.

Watch the Trailer below:

Disney releases Monsters University on June 21, 2013.

(Photo/video credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Canada)

No, she would not like a fork with that!  This first Still from Divergent is just intense.  See burgeoning Star Shailene Woodley basically narrowly escape death. Fear not as Woodley clarified they were made of rubber!  The Fantasy-Fiction Film based Veronica Roth‘s Novel is currently filming still, with Neil Burger directing.

Its Story centers on Tris Prior (Woodley) who is listed to be offed when it is determined that she is “divergent”, living in a World where people are divided into groups by their personalities.  She must learn why it is those who are “divergent” pose a threat before she is executed.

Divergent features an talented Cast including the likes of: Kate Winslet, Theo James, Ray Stevenson, Maggie Q, Mekhi Phifer, Jai Courtney, Miles Teller, Zoë Kravitz, Tony Goldwyn and Ansel Elgort, whom we met in Toronto last Summer making his debut in the upcoming Carrie Remake.

eOne Films releases Divergent on March 21, 2014.  Lookin’ good!

Entertainment Weekly got the first look.  Click here for more.

(Photo credit: Summit Entertainment)

Mesmerized.  Those of you who follow my Blog know what a huge Fan of Lana Del Rey I am and although I’ve been living off Snippets of her Young & Beautiful for the past couple weeks, I finally got to hear more of it today when screening The Great Gatsby 3-D.  In the Film there also is a gorgeous Orchestral Version of the Song and of all the Tracks heard in the Film, this is definitely the most pronounced and fitting of where Baz Luhrmann is going.

Although it takes a few listens, I challenge you not to fall in love with it after seeing The Great Gatsby 3-D.

Say what you will about Del Rey’s Vocals, but the really, really odd thing is that if any other sang this, I wouldn’t be as emphatic about it. There is something inherently lonely and cinematic about Lana Del Rey‘s Performance.

Listen below:

Official Artwork below:

Universal Music Canada releases The Great Gatsby Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on Tuesday, May 7, 2013.

(Photo/video credit: Universal Music)

At long last we have a new Trailer for Sofia Coppola‘s The Bling Ring. And OMG, is that Emma Watson being deliciously evil? This version of the Trailer gives us a bit more insight into the Psyches of these infamous Teens who broke into homes of several Celebrities a few years back. Based on actual events, indeed.

I live for Sofia Coppola Movies and I hunger for this.  And those attending the Cannes Film Festival are luckiest to see it first this May, where it premieres!

Watch the new Trailer below:

Also, check-out this brand new Teaser Poster for The Bling Ring:

eOne Films releases The Bling Ring this June.

(Photo/video credit: A24)

Fascinating stuff. You must check-out this exciting Featurette where The Great Gatsby Costume Designer Catherine Martin talks about Author F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s close relationship with Clothier Brooks Brothers. Ultimately we learn how she partnered with them for that authentic ’20s inspiration on all of the looks we see on the Men – including Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Joel Edgerton – in this Spring’s most eagerly-awaited Romantic-Drama!

Watch the Featurette below:

Finally getting a release, The Good Lie is a Canadian-produced Thriller from Director/Writer Shawn Linden – not to be confused with the Film starring Corey Stoll and Reese Witherspoon, due later this year. The Film centers around Cullen (Thomas Dekker), whom after his Mother passes on, discovers that his Biological Father is just released from Prison. Upon locating him, he realizes the truth behind his conception is far more bizarre than anticipated.

Tonight, handsome 25-year-old Dekker (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, My Sister’s Keeper) gave the Audience at Varsity Cinemas a special treat, dropping by to introduce the Film and partake in a Q&A.  Staying for most of the Film, the Actor head-out for the occasional Cigarette Break, kindly stopping for Photos with Fans who didn’t have passes for the Screening.  Looking sharp in a gray suit and teal shirt, his hair perfectly-imperfect, he asked, “You guys aren’t coming to watch the Movie?”, to which he learned that passes weren’t available to the Public.  Nonetheless, he was amazingly gracious as we would come to expect from someone Canadian-raised!

Dekker next can be seen in the Drama Squatters alongside Richard Dreyfuss, Luke Grimes and Gabriella Wilde, the latter who filmed the upcoming Carrie Remake here in Toronto last Summer.

He continues his Press Tour tomorrow and appears at Global Television‘s The Morning Show (National Edition) at 9:00 AM EST.

Filmoption International releases The Good Lie  in Toronto on May 3, 2013.

See our Snap below:

See the Trailer below:

(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)

With all our attentions on Iron Man and Captain America, Thor will not be forgotten! With the upcoming Sequel due in theatres later this year, comes this amazing new Teaser Poster for the Film which has Chris Hemsworth reprising the Titular Role. The Installment sees Thor battling an ancient race of Dark Elves led by the vengeful Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) who threatens to plunge the universe back into darkness after the events of The Avengers.

Idris Elba, Zachary Levi, Natalie Portman, Chris O’Dowd, Zachary Levi, Tom Hiddleston, Kat Dennings and of course, Sir Anthony Hopkins also star.

See the brand-new Poster below:

See the brand new Teaser Trailer below:

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Canada releases Thor: The Dark World on November 8, 2013.

(Photo credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)