By Mr. Will Wong

Led by Yelena Belova (Florench Pugh), Marvel’s THUNDERBOLTS is the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Film sees her and a group of anti–heroes placed on a deadly mission by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Forming an unexpected alliance, their bond just might be the only thing that can save them.

We are delighted to have joined the global press conferernce for this long awaited Blockbuster. Joining us today were:

Florence Pugh – “Yelena Belova”
David Harbour – “Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – “Valentina Allegra de Fontaine”
Geraldine Viswanathan – “Mel”
Lewis Pullman – “Bob”
Wyatt Russell – “John Walker”
Hannah John-Kamen – “Ava Starr / Ghost”
Sebastian Stan – “Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier”
Jake Schreier – Director
Kevin Feige – Producer

Florence Pugh is asked about immersing the audience into her world right away as the Film sees her performing a dangerous stunt.

Pugh: Firstly, I’d like to say that none of stuts are possible without any of the stunt team, riggers and choreographers. The stunts were designed weeks prior to shooting. Obviously, as much I’d like to say I did all my stunts, plenty of the in the Movie aren’t me. I don’t want to claim all of it. When I read the Script and opened the first page, it was such impressive way to start the Movie and really allowed me to understand where she was. When you’re reading it on a page, it didn’t feel like she was stepping off a building alongside with the voiceover, as if she was taking her own own life. I remember how powerful it was to start a movie like that. The trust everyone that everyone clearly was having in pulling a potential stunt in the Script like that many, many months before we started shooting, I was so impressed by it. I was so impressed instantly how as an audience member, we knew what she was feeling and it was because she’s an asssassin that she can land it. For someone to jump off a building like that, with the voiceover, it’s harrowing and not a nice image to have. Which is why when she actually steps off, everyone’s stomach just flips. It’s an image we all associate with something really bad.

Coming from Yelena, the way I always thought about that opening sequence is that she is at such a loss, she doesn’t have any reason to be there anymore. She’s lost her sister, she’s lost her family and her relationship with father dwindled to nothing. she’s in such a state and frame of mind that she’s happy to put herself at risk.

In early fittings, I was going to be in my supersuit. No, no, no, if she’s asking to be put in these situations, to potentially get killed, she has to be in something that doesn’t protect her. We open up a discussion that she has to be in a tracksuit that doesn’t protect her. Let’s take away that added layer of protection, instead of her supersuit, which would have gadgets. Even though she’s doing all these cool things and stunts, realistically she’s going into a mission completely bare. And that also adds texture how desperate she is for someone to end it for her. And of course, you have to act on top of the tallest building and pretend as if it’s not scary and as if you want to jump off it. There’s so many layers.

Schreier: What’s really impressive about that stunt other than the fact that she did it, the shot starts on her face and we’re starting this Movie in this real moment of character. I just knew that Florence was so committed to her character, that you knew that you could be in that moment and perform that moment so beautifully. I had no doubt she could do it, but it’s not the stunt itself that’s so impressive, it’s the acting. There’s a whole arc in that moment, character wise.

David Harbour is asked about approaching Red Guardian with a childlike wonder.

Harbour: You could argue that his obsession with rekindling his glory comes from deragement of failure and all these dark places. And yet, also he just loves being a superhero. There is a portion of me as I act that has a very detailed dark backstory to it, and also just me as a kid, putting on supersuit in a Marvel movie with incredible actors, whom I adore. ‘Guys, we get to hang out today!’. I mean, there’s a puppy quality to him. I do love that Film lets me play that.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is asked how different it is stepping into a character again in Film versus Television.

Louis-Dreyfus: It’s different from playing a character week to week on an episodic TV show. I would say on TV of course, as you get into rhythm of playing a character, you get to know the character more. In this case, it was a toe–dip and in this particular film you really get to know who this person is. This was a lot to chew on and a lot to explore. She’s an anti–villain, as you get an oppotunity to understand why she is the way she is. It doesn’t excuse things, but it’s the way you should always approach a character – without judgment. That was a really exciting way to approach Valentina and her drive. You have to come in from a non–judgmental space. It’s so interesting to consider what fuels her insatiable thirst for power, and a really exciting opportunity to reinvent her.

Geraldine Viswanathan and Lewis Pullman enter the MCU here as huge fans of it. They are asked about their favourite Marvel films.

Viswanathan: In this Movie, I have the line that ‘I was in high school when the Avengers came’, and I really was in high school when I saw that movie at the theatre with my friends at the mall! It was really full circle and surreal to be in one of these movies. I feel so fortunate to enter this univerise and in this particular movie, which feels like a breath of fresh air. It has that classic Marvel feeling with this kind of emotional nuance and depth. When I first got to see this Movie, I saw it as audience member and cried a bunch, it really landed on me.

Pullman: I think I remember each one vividly, but Guardians of the Galaxy made me feel like I had made a bunch of new friends. It had such a powerful effect and that’s why Marvel has been doing so well since day one, grounding these beautiful human truths. It’s a hard line to toe. I should really watch it again now that I’m talking about it, as it gives me joy.

I remember having so many conversations with Jake and Kevin, how to toe the line and hitting some of these less–discussed topics, at least in larger–scale films like this. And doing it in a way that didn’t feel like PSA but felt grounded and with as much truth from where we were coming from.

I grew–up pretty anxious and suffering from depression is not a fun thing to talk about. It feels weird to say out loud right now. The big goal in this Film was to get rid of that quaky feeling when you bring it up and talk about it. You’re liable to get caught if you just jump. It’s in the silence where the suffering occurs.

Hannah John-Kamen reprises her role of Ghost again and she talks about the journeys the character has been on since her introduction in the MCU.

John-Kamen: There’s always some connection as an Actor with your character. With Ghost originally, she was in Ant-Man and the Wasp projecting imminent death and this volatile kind of dispution and erruption of physicality. She makes immature death threats and survival decisions to survive. In Thunderbolts, she’s very much grown–up in her maturity of control and power, and being able to control that herself. I think she’s more scary in this Movie. It’s empowering not having that distraction of pain and imminent death anymore. She’s built a Fort Knox of herself, basically a guard that she has up and no one can come in.  What is wonderful about Ghost‘s journey, is her understanding it’s okay to need someone andit’s okay to be relied upon, and also rely on others. You don’t have to go through life on your own. Finding a family, you deserve it and you deserve to be loved.

Wyatt Russell talks about reprising John Walker, and while he’s quite different from the character, he witnessed many people like this having been in competitive sports.

Russell: He’s an interesting guy because he believes in who he is and what he doesn’t. Part of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was portraying this new version of an American hero. Steve Rogers was born in World War II and jumped on a grenade for selfless reasons. He (John Walker) will jump on a grendade to be filmed on Instagram and to become a national hero. It’s very reflective of society today. Nobody’s doing for selfless reasons. They’re hoping to famous on Instagram and TikTok. I like playing that version of Ameican hero where he has to be torn down, going to rock bottom before he can start a journey back to somewhere he wants to be.

I don’t think I’m like John, but in a prior life, I knew a lot of people like John, playing athletics and sports for a living. You have to be that way. You have to put on an armour and place vulrnabilites to the side. Never admit you’re feeling bad because the second you show that crack of vulnerability, it can destroy you. It’s fun to turn it on its head with this character. Vulernabtility actually makes you stronger. Admitting ‘I’m not as good as I think I am’ will actually make you stronger. I enjoy playing John, he’s a fun character to explore.

Sebastian Stan talks about what he’s learned over the years, having played Bucky Barnes multiple times in the MCU.

Stan: I have always talked about him like having a sibling I never had. We’ve both been learning from each other for 15 years. That’s what’s been so amazing about it. I keep coming back to him to bring something I’ve gained along the way in my life. There’s a familiarity with him where I can just jump right in there.

This Film was special as the connection was very real. That’s what people are gonna connect with, how real all these characters are. They wear their hearts on their sleeves and try to do right thing, but don’t know if they have the right tools or not. What’s a villain and what’s a hero? My character is always riding that fine line. That’s what we do in life. Learn from the past and try very hard to retain some sort of self.

Producer Kevin Feige talks about the films that inspired him as a child and the importance of that communal theatre experience.

Feige: The teams on all our films are united. This means a lot. They come from Comic Books which means a lot to lots of people. I think there is a notion of that in every movie. The first movie was I ever saw at the theatre was Pete’s Dragon. I missed that movie and my mom made tuna sandwiches wrapped in foil. Nobody screamed like in Avengers: Endgame, but it was incredible. I saw re–releases of Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back. It was this imagical place. We need this as humans, that communal experience. We’re doing this for Movies. 

Marvel Studios Canada release THUNDERBOLTS in theatres May 2, 2025.

Hot off its warm reception at TIFF ’24, WE LIVE IN TIME gets an October 18, 2024 release in Canada via Sphere Films.

Today we also get a new Trailer:

We Live in Time will open theatrically across Canada on October 18, 2024.

The film had its World Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

Director: John Crowley
Writer: Nick Payne
Cast: Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh
Produced by: StudioCanal and SunnyMarch, with Benedict Cumberbatch as executive producer
Canadian distributor: Sphere Films

Synopsis: Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) are brought together in a surprise encounter that changes their lives. Through snapshots of their life together — falling for each other, building a home, becoming a family — a difficult truth is revealed that rocks its foundation. As they embark on a path challenged by the limits of time, they learn to cherish each moment of the unconventional route their love story has taken, in filmmaker John Crowley’s decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.

(Photo/video credit: Sphere Films)

Today, the teaser trailer and poster for the upcoming feature film, “Thunderbolts” debuted. Marvel Studios and a crew of indie veterans who sold out present “Thunderbolts,”an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.

The film also returns to the screen Marvel Cinematic Universe characters Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), in addition to some exciting new faces.

Jake Schreier directs “Thunderbolts*”with Kevin Feige producing. Louis D’Esposito, Brian Chapek, Jason Tamez and Scarlett Johansson serve as executive producers.

Marvel Studios’ “Thunderbolts*” opens in theatres on May 2, 2025.

By Amanda Gilmore

Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield deliver emotionally raw performances in Director John Crowley’s latest.

We Live in Time tells the exhilarating romance between Almut (Pugh) and Tobias (Garfield). Their endearing romance begins in the quirkiest way when Almut hits Tobias with her car. From then on, they’re a unit. The two face life’s joys and upheavals together. They fight. They love. But most importantly, they experience life.

Romance films are hit-and-miss. It’s rare we get one that haunts us. We Live in Time is one that will haunt us. Almut and Tobias share a rare love. One based on unflinching honesty, intimate humor, and loaded with infinite love.

Nick Payne’s script tells their story non-linearly over three distinct timelines. One follows them as they meet. Another while they are pregnant. And the final is when Almut is given a medical diagnosis that treatment may or may not cure. Telling the story in this way allows the audience to understand their love on a deeper level.

This romance is exquisitely acted between Pugh and Garfield. Their chemistry is astronomical. Pugh is a powerhouse as a woman who wants to balance her professional life as a chef with her personal one as a mother. Garfield gives a gut-wrenching performance as a man who’s terrified he’s going to lose the woman he loves. He gives a restrained performance that shows a well of intense emotions.

We Live in Time screens at TIFF ’24:

Fri, Sept 6 at 9:30 PM at VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

Sat, Sept 7 at 10:30 AM at Roy Thompson Hall

An exciting second day of TIFF ’24 with many star-studded adventures!

•Orlando Bloom and Catriona Balfe for THE CUT
•Tom Hiddleston, Mike Flanagan, Karen Gillan, Kate Siegel and Chiwetel Ejiofor for THE LIFE OF CHUCK
•Eddie Huang for VICE IS BROKE
•Shamier Anderson and Samir Oliveros for THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA
•Sandra Oh, Honourary Chair of TIFF TRIBUTE Awards Gala
•Teresa Palmer for ADDITION
•Elton John, David Furnish and R.J. Cutler for ELTON JOHN: NEVER TOO LATE
•Demi Moore for THE SUBSTANCE
•Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh for WE LIVE IN TIME

Our chat with Cutler and Furnish:

A Q&A of WE LIVE IN TIME with Florence Pugh, Andrew Garfield and John Crowley:

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

Right off its announcement that it premieres at TIFF ’24, today we get a new Trailer for WE LIVE IN TIME, starring Academy Award nominees Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield.

The World Premiere of We Live in Time will take place at the 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film will screen theatrically in Canada on October 11, 2024.

Director: John Crowley
Writer: Nick Payne
Cast: Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh
Produced by: StudioCanal and SunnyMarch, with Benedict Cumberbatch as executive producer
Canadian distributor: Sphere Films

Synopsis: Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) are brought together in a surprise encounter that changes their lives. Through snapshots of their life together — falling for each other, building a home, becoming a family — a difficult truth is revealed that rocks its foundation. As they embark on a path challenged by the limits of time, they learn to cherish each moment of the unconventional route their love story has taken, in filmmaker John Crowley’s decade-spanning, deeply moving
romance

Gorgeous and affecting! This is definitely giving BLUE VALENTINE vibes, top of our Fall watchlist!!

(Photo/video credit: Sphere Films Canada)

Sphere Films today announced the acquisition of the Canadian rights for WE LIVE IN TIME by John Crowley (Academy-Award nominated Brooklyn) starring award-winning actors Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, currently in production in London, England.

WE LIVE IN TIME is a romantic drama scripted by playwright and screenwriter Nick Payne with Benedict Cumberbatch on board as Executive Producer. Developed and produced by STUDIOCANAL with partners at SunnyMarch: Leah Clarke (The Mauritanian, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain), Adam Ackland (The Mauritanian, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Patrick Melrose) and Guy Heeley (Cyrano, Together, Locke), the project is co-financed by Film4 and STUDIOCANAL. International sales are handled by STUDIOCANAL while the U.S. distribution rights have been acquired by A24.

Sphere Films also picked up three titles ahead of the Cannes Film Festival. They include ABOUT DRY GRASSES (Official Competition) by the esteemed, award-winning Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, CLUB ZERO (Official Competition) by Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner, who has regularly premiered her films in Cannes, and BONNARD PIERRE ET MARTHE (Cannes Premiere) by Martin Provost (The Good Wife, Séraphine) which stars Vincent Macaigne, Cécile de France and Stacy Martin.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

THE WONDER, starring Florence Pugh and adapted from Emma Donoghue‘s acclaimed Novel, just premiered at TIFF ’22 and here’s a first look at the Trailer.

About THE WONDER:

The Irish Midlands, 1862 – a young girl stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright is brought to a tiny village to observe eleven-year old Anna O’Donnell. Tourists and pilgrims mass to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months. Is the village harbouring a saint ‘surviving on manna from heaven’ or are there more ominous motives at work?

A psychological thriller inspired by the 19th century phenomenon of the “fasting girls” and adapted from the acclaimed novel by Emma Donoghue (writer of Room).

THE WONDER streams November 16, 2022 on Netflix.

(Photo credit: Netflix)

By Nicholas Porteous

Florence Pugh, as a solemn English nurse, visits a hyper-religious Irish village to watch over a child who claims to have survived four months without food–worshipped as a miracle. Pugh‘s rational approach clashes with the deep-seated beliefs of the community, and the life of the child hangs in the balance.

Left, right and center, people were checking their phones throughout this Movie. While I find that behaviour super lame–ESPECIALLY during a Festival film, it is indicative of just how restless my audience was. To be fair, this is a pretty dry, dreary period piece with minimal dialogue and lots of long walks through vast fields. Visually, it has a lot of nice texture to it. The strange choral score is as refreshing as it is haunting. The performances are good across the board, but they’re also not particularly demanding–mostly requiring a lot of restraint.

The Wonder is all about belief, and how a collective, communal belief can seem as real as any fact. It establishes this theme by opening with a fourth wall-breaking view of the soundstage the Movie is being filmed on, and an extremely meta voiceover explaining we’re watching a movie filled with Actors who deeply believe in the story they’re telling. I think the Movie is trying to say we all believe in things that aren’t necessarily proveable or scientific, and this movie is one of those things. It’s a flimsy metaphor, because I don’t know anyone who literally believes movies are real to the same extent that these people believe a child can survive without food. Moreover, without spoiling anything, I found the ending of this particular Movie preposterous. And the more I think about it, the more toxic I find its message as it relates to the present. I also don’t find these ideas narratively or cinematically satisfying at all, particularly as a means of justifying an absurd ending.

THE WONDER screens at TIFF ’22 as follows:

Tues, Sep 13 IN-PERSON TIFF Bell Lightbox 6:45pm

Wed, Sep 14 IN-PERSON TIFF Bell Lightbox 2:00pm

Thu, Sep 15 IN-PERSONRoyal Alexandra Theatre 8:30pm

We’re delighted to offer our Readers in Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton a chance to win Passes to DON’T WORRY DARLING: THE LIVE IMAX EXPERIENCE. Now’s your chance to see this before everyone else!

Details:

Toronto

Monday, September 19^th

7:30 PM

Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas

Montreal

Monday, September 19^th

7:30 PM

Cinéma Cineplex Forum

Vancouver

Monday, September 19^th

4:30 PM

Cineplex SilverCity Riverport Cinemas

Calgary

Monday, September 19^th

5:30 PM

Cineplex Scotiabank Theatre Chinook

Edmonton

Monday, September 19^th

5:30 PM

Cineplex Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton

Synopsis:

From New Line Cinema comes “Don’t Worry Darling,” directed by Olivia Wilde (“Booksmart”) and starring Florence Pugh (Oscar-nominated for “Little Women”), Harry Styles (“Dunkirk”), Wilde (upcoming “Babylon”), Gemma Chan (“Crazy Rich Asians”), KiKi Layne (“The Old Guard”) and Chris Pine (“All the Old Knives”).

Alice (Pugh) and Jack (Styles) are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950’s societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank (Pine)—equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach—anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia.

While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives—including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley (Chan)—get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause.

But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?

An audacious, twisted and visually stunning psychological thriller, “Don’t Worry Darling” is a powerhouse feature from director Olivia Wilde that boasts intoxicating performances from Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, surrounded by the impressive and pitch-perfect cast.

The film also stars Nick Kroll (“How It Ends”), Sydney Chandler (“Pistol”), Kate Berlant (“Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood”), Asif Ali (“WandaVision”), Douglas Smith (“Big Little Lies”), Timothy Simons (“Veep”) and Ari’el Stachel (upcoming “Respect the Jux”).

Wilde directs from a screenplay penned by her “Booksmart” writer Katie Silberman, based on a story by Carey Van Dyke & Shane Van Dyke (“Chernobyl Diaries”) and Silberman. The film is produced by Wilde, Silberman, Miri Yoon and Roy Lee, with Richard Brener, Celia Khong, Alex G. Scott, Catherine Hardwicke, Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke executive producing.

A New Line Cinema presentation, “Don’t Worry Darling” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and is set to open in theatres in North America on September 23, 2022 and internationally beginning 21 September 2022.

To enter for a chance to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK. Re-Tweet this Contest Tweet below for an additional chance!

Rules and regulations here.

(Photo/video credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Canada)