New on DVD: Meet CORALINE's Maker

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Category: Interviews

Created: Monday, 20 July 2009 13:55

Published: Monday, 20 July 2009 13:48

Written by Lupe Haas

CORALINE, the first stop-motion feature film shot in stereoscopic 3D comes to DVD and Blu-Ray Tuesday, July 21st.  Henry Selick, director of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, worked on the film for over three years alongside a team of artists including Georgina Haynes, the Character Fabrication Supervisor on CORALINE.

Haynes, a veteran of stop-motion animation, worked on Tim Burton’s CORPSE BRIDE (first stop-motion film shot digitally) and MARS ATTACK!, and she takes CineMovie through the process of creating stop-motion animated puppets.

Q:  As the Character Fabrication Supervisor, what does your job entail? 

Haynes:  Character Fabrication Supervisor gathers together a team of people to work alongside the director and animators to fabricate the puppets off screen.  First a static puppet is made from illustrations and then the static finished puppet is passed on to the animators for movement.

So I deal with Henry (Selick) and with the creative decisions such as costumes, color of paint, hair….  I also work closely with the director and animators with the kind of movements they want because each of the puppets have full metal skeleton inside called amatures.  So we have to build, design and engineer those from scratch.

Q:  Are the sets computer-generated or are they also built from scratch?

Haynes: They were all built by hand.  In fact, Coraline has very few computer-generated effects.  Some of the background skies were computer-generated but a lot of those were hand-painted as well.  Everything you’re seeing is made by a person. 

We did use computers and technology to help us in certain processes.  Coraline and many of the other puppets have replacement faces for their facial animations.  And the way it’s been done in the past is by hand sculpting each one of these faces but it limits the amounts of expressions and faces on a puppet.  On Coraline, we used a 3D printer, so we modeled the character in the computer almost as you would with a computer animated movie but we went in and added more detail, more in betweens that you would get in an animated feature.  And then we printed them all out on a machine (3D printer) much like an inkjet printer but it actually sprays out resin instead of a flat photograph.  And then we built it up into a 3D model.  Once all of those pieces are printed out, we hand painted every one of those.  So they still have that hands-on, sort of feel to them. 

Q:  Was CORALINE shot on 35 mm? 

Haynes:  No, this is all shot digitally.  We actually used the red camera which I think was initially used for medical use but it’s a very high definition camera. 

Q:  Is that what gives the film it’s look?

Haynes: It does make it crisper than 35mm but I think part of it was how it was designed - the colors, the fabric…  Coraline’s hair zings because it’s real hair and real lighting on it.  I don’t think the camera gives it the look completely.  I think it’s more the fact that everything was hand-made and a lot of thought went into the colors that were used to get that feel.

Q:  Did you have to design the puppets differently because of the 3D aspect?

Haynes:  We didn’t really know initially because it was the first time a stop-motion animation was made in 3D.  So we were really doing a lot of tests and found out it didn’t really affect how we made the puppets.  The only things we had to be careful of were stripes and spots on the puppet’s costumes because if they were too intense, too diverse in color, it could jar the eye - make you feel a bit sick.   We used that a little bit on the mother when she gets into her checkered outfit… to sort of disturb the eye a little bit. 

Q: How many times did you have to go back to the drawing board or reshoot a scene?

It was a three year process and during the last year, the script changed because Selick was continuously working on the script. 

We didn’t have to reshoot.  The voices were recorded pre-animation.  Although after the first viewing of film, there was a question about the character of Wybee and how it related to the ghost children.  From that, we built a new puppet - the grandmother which you see at the end of the movie.   Just to make a little more sense.   We built that in 3 weeks where as Coraline took a year. 

Q:  What is your favorite scene from the movie?

Haynes:  I think the downstairs theater.  It’s the most controversial scene in the movie but I absolutely love it.  There’s not much clothing in that scene but the whole thing just makes me laugh.

Q:  And the hardest?

Haynes: Anything with the mother three - the last stage of the other mother when she turns into insects.  It took us the whole film to actually get the design because until we knew how the third act was going to play out, we could not design that character.  She came about the last year of filming.  She was a tricky one to make – she’s got four spindly legs, was semi-translucent, yet a hard-look to move.  She was a challenge.  

Q:  And everyone loves the bonus features on DVDs but do the b-roll crew ever interfere with the process when they’re present with their cameras?

Check out the CORALINE DVD Extras

Yes, it’s always a battle.  You always feel sorry for the people who are doing that because that’s the last thing you want – to have a camera shoved into your face while you’re trying to make all these puppets on the stressful deadline.  But these things are so fascinating that it needs to be done.

Interview: Megan Fox, Michael Bay and Transformers Cast

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Category: Interviews

Created: Thursday, 25 June 2009 13:18

Published: Thursday, 25 June 2009 13:10

Written by Lupe Haas

Michael Bay has no hidden agenda when it comes to making a summer blockbuster.   And when it came to facing a room full of journalists including CineMovie eager to find out the meaning behind “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Bay only had to remind us “it’s summer fun.” 

Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Dunn, and newcomer Ramon Rodriguez joined the seasoned blockbuster director (The Rock, Armageddon, Bad Boys) for the Q&A at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA.  Noticeably absent was the star of the film Shia LaBeouf who was making an appearance on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien at Universal Studios.

As you would guess, most of the questions were directed to media darling Megan Fox and the one director critics love to attack, Michael Bay.

Q:  Michael, in the movie, you destroy national monuments like the Egyptian pyramids and the Smithsonian Museum.  Did you have any trepidations about it?

Michael:  It’s called summer fun.  It’s a robot movie. 

Q:  Megan, do you get a choose what you wear in the movie?  And do you have those moments where you’re asking yourself why you have to wear something?

Megan:  Yes, I have those moments on a daily basis.  I don’t get to pick my outfits.  I remember Mike auditioning Ramon and some other men in his office and I had to go in…

Michael:  Two young guys.

Megan:  No, it was Shia, Ramon two other actors, and you (Michael).  I had to come in and try 18 different outfits; a white tight jeans, pink belly shirt, and like motorcycle boots.  And Mike was selecting them in the process…

Michael:  It’s called multi-tasking.

Megan:  But I have to say he clearly has an eye for what should be and should not be in the movie.

Q:  Do you see your character as the sex symbol of Transformers? 

Megan: I just saw it a few days ago when we were at the London premiere.  I usually don’t watch myself. I don’t watch myself in playback, nor in stills.  I have a phobia of it.  I basically shot an entire glass of champagne so I can get through the sitting of it and I was really, really, pleasantly surprised.  Half way through I was overcome with genuine emotion and wanted to hug Michael in gratitude.  

The character is sexy but women in movies are generally sexy especially in Michael’s movies and if it’s part of the formula…

Michael:  If you look at the movie, we got that first (sexy) shot out in the beginning for the young boys and moved on.  The rest of the movie is not about sexy.

Josh:  Tyrese offered to introduce himself in the second film by appearing shirtless in a car wash scene on Optimus.  But Michael didn’t go for it.

Michael: That’s the shot we used.

Ramon:  Thank you, Michael.

Tyrese:  I sprained my left pinky toe.

Q:  Michael, in the film, you have dozens of shots of military planes flying over and taking off aircraft carriers.  Do you use stock footage or shoot all the footage yourself?

Michael:  I don’t like using stock footage. All that stuff was shot by us.  We had incredible access from the military which is very rare.  They flew 100 feet over our set. There were 6 F16 out doing missions and we timed their mission for when we wanted them to come over our set four times and timed explosions down below.

Q: What was the budget on this film?

Michael:  My budget was $200 million but I came under at $195 million.  I put the rest into effects.  I don’t carry a second unit with me and shoot 12 hour days.

And we’re sure Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will have no problem doubling their budget when the film transforms into a mega hit at the box office this summer season. 

Oscar Nunez: From TV to Movies

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Category: Interviews

Created: Wednesday, 17 June 2009 14:44

Published: Wednesday, 17 June 2009 14:27

Written by Lupe Haas

Steve Carell (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Bruce Almighty), John Krasinski (Away We Go), and Ed Helms (The Hangover) from NBC's THE OFFICE have proven themselves at the movies with their successful move to the big screen.  Now another staff member from the hit TV show is off to the movies.  OFFICE regular Oscar Nunez steals the show in THE PROPOSAL starring alongside Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds opening June 19.  

CineMovie's Alysha del Valle caught up with the actor who plays a stripper, a waiter, a priest, and the local grocer for the romantic comedy.  One of the scenes includes a gyrating Oscar dance for Sandra Bullock in his speedo.  We find out how Oscar prepared for his nearly naked moment and if waxing like his OFFICE co-star Steve Carell (The 40 Year-Old Virgin) was an option.  

                            Interview with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds

Interviews: Sandra Bullock Bares All

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Category: Interviews

Created: Saturday, 13 June 2009 16:39

Published: Saturday, 13 June 2009 16:38

Written by Lupe Haas

In her first nude scene ever on screen, Sandra Bullock (Speed, Two Weeks Notice)  didn't mind baring it all for the comedy THE PROPOSAL opening June 19.  Sandra shares other comedic moments on film with co- stars Ryan Reynolds, Betty White (TV classic The Golden Girls), and Oscar Nunez (NBC's The Office).  Watch a clip.

In our interview with the cast, CineMovie posed the question, which scene was the most difficult to shoot; Sandra's nude scene with Ryan Reynolds (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Betty White feeling her up, or Oscar Nunez's gyrating lap dance?  Sandra replied, "When you put it like that, it makes it sound like we shot a soft porn."

Watch the interview for Sandra Bullock's reaction to the question alongside Ryan Reynolds, Betty White, and Oscar Nunez where she breaks down each scene and which shot proved the most difficult on set.

Movie Synopsis:

In THE PROPOSAL, when high-powered book editor Margaret (Bullock) faces deportation to her native Canada, the quick-thinking exec declares that she's actually engaged to her unsuspecting put-upon assistant Andrew (Reynolds), who she's tormented for years.  The unlikely couple head to Alaska to meet his quirky family and the always-on-control city girl finds herself in one comedic fish-out-of-water situation after another.  

Interview: John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph

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Category: Interviews

Created: Thursday, 04 June 2009 14:55

Published: Thursday, 04 June 2009 14:53

Written by Lupe Haas

John Krasinski (TV's The Office, Leatherheads) and Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live) star as Bert and Verona in AWAY WE GO, directed by Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road, American Beauty. In AWAY WE GO, the hippie go lucky couple travel to find a new home to give birth to their first child. 

CineMovie's Viviana Vigil sat down with the charismatic actors to discuss their new film.  Watch as Viviana makes John Krasinski blush on the topic of lactacting nurses.

                                                    Sam Mendes Interview

Movie Synopsis:  

Exploring the comedic twists and emotional turns in one couple’s journey across contemporary America, Away We Go is the new movie from Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes, from the first original screenplay by novelists Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida, and featuring music by singer/songwriter Alexi Murdoch.

Longtime (and now thirtysomething) couple Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are going to have a baby. The pregnancy progresses smoothly, but six months in, the pair is put off and put out by the cavalierly delivered news from Burt’s parents Jerry and Gloria (Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara) that the eccentric elder Farlanders are moving out of Colorado – thereby eliminating the expectant couple’s main reason for living there.

So, where, and among whom of those closest to them, might Burt and Verona best put down roots to raise their impending bundle of joy? The couple embarks on an ambitious itinerary to visit friends and family, and to evaluate cities. The first stop on the grand tour is Phoenix, where the duo spends a day at the (dog) races with Verona’s irrepressible (and frequently inappropriate) former colleague Lily (Allison Janney) and her repressible family, including husband Lowell (Jim Gaffigan); then it’s Tucson, and a visit to the lovely Grace (Carmen Ejogo), Verona’s sister.

An intimate conversation with her sister, who is her lone living relative, gives Verona a refreshed perspective – which she will sorely need in Wisconsin, where Burt’s childhood “cousin” Ellen, now known as LN (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and her partner Roderick (Josh Hamilton) have Burt and Verona over to their home. After LN and Roderick elaborate on their intractable ideas for raising children and running a household, Burt and Verona bolt for Montreal and a warmer welcome from their former college classmates Tom (Chris Messina) and Munch (Melanie Lynskey).

Even though the latter’s house is full of children, comfort and joy, a night out for the four old friends provides a bracing reminder of how much it takes to sustain a relationship and a family. When an emergency phone call forces Burt and Verona into an unanticipated Miami detour to visit Burt’s brother Courtney (Paul Schneider), they realize that they must define home on their own terms.

Will Ferrell and Land of the Lost Interviews

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Category: Interviews

Created: Wednesday, 03 June 2009 08:51

Published: Wednesday, 03 June 2009 08:51

Written by Lupe Haas

Will Ferrell Rules This Land

Will Ferrell, his "Land of the Lost" co-stars Danny Boyle, Anna Friel, and director Brad Silberling recently sat down with CineMovie  to discuss their big screen adaptation of the popular 70’s tv show which has transformed into a Will Ferrell comedy.

This modern take on "Land of the Lost" is not the family adventure everyone remembers.  The family is replaced with adults, sexual tension, and references sure to go over kids heads.   Watch Trailer

CM:  As a fan of the original show Will, why make those changes?

Will:  We didn’t want my character saddled with two kids.  We thought it would be a better platform for comedy to have a love interest and a funny man like Danny Boyle.  We didn’t want it to be a Disney film in a way.  The humor had to be cool and pushing that PG-13 rating.  This is the first family I’ve done in a while but the jokes are original and sophisticated which you’re not going to find in a movie in the same vain.

CM:  Were any of original actors approached for a cameo in this film?

Will: The kids from the original tv show did have a cameo at the end of the movie but they were cut out.  I’m not sure why.

CM:  Will we be seeing it on the DVD?

Will:   Yes.

CM:  Chaka, the half man, half ape character has evolved from naïve child-like character to a bit of a pervert as seen in the funny scene with Chaka grabbing Holly’s chest played by Anna Friel.  Was that in the script all along or was it taken further through improvisation on set? Watch hilarious Land Of The Lost movie clip

Will:  That was always in the script. Chaka quickly figured out that the way to communicate with women is to grab their breasts.  He’s kind of sly and a little bit, touchy feely.  We just that would be a funny place for Chaka to go. Jorma (Taccone) did such a great job and he added stuff like touching me all over the place when we first meet Chaka and he steals my wallet.  It was really funny to play off of.

WILL:  Originally the script called for a panel with Al Gore, Stephen Hawkins and Rick Marshall.  Hawkins goes after me to debunk my theories and I lunge at him.  It was funny on paper and then you start making the phone calls and they’re like ‘No, no we’re unavailable.’  So then it became the "Today Show" and they were really up for it.  Matt was totally game and that became plan B which worked beautifully so much so that we went back to reshoot a scene for the end of the movie.

CM:  Will Ferrell and Brad Siberling tell us Matt Lauer did his own improvising during that last scene when Ferrell’s Rick Marshall returns to promote my book “Matt Lauer Can Suck It.”

Will:  Matt said “lets do one more take’ and then he just tackled me which was great. And I’m trying not to laugh because I’m so surprised that he tackling me.  That was brilliant.

Brad:  Matt tricked me into a second take and then he improvised the tackle.  It was hilarious.

CM:  Perhaps Matt Lauer was channeling what he would have liked to have done to Tom Cruise once upon a time.  

Sid and Marty Krofft, owned the children’s airways with their numerous tv shows (H.R. Pufnstuf, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Bugaloos, Dr. Shrinker, Donny and Marie Show) during the 1970’s.

CM:  What do the creators of the classic tv show think about converting Land of the Lost to an irreverent Will Ferrell comedy? 

Marty: We would not have done it without Will Ferrell.

The original Land of the Lost was a lot more serious than Will Ferrell’s take.

Marty:  We’re okay with that.

Sid:  Our shows were always on the cutting edge.

CM:  Do you think there will be a sequel to Land of the Lost?

Marty:  I hope so but we have to see after it opens June 5th.

The Kroffts have a lot riding on this movie - another of their classic tv shows H.R. Pufnstuf is headed to the big screen.  Fans of the show and Will Ferrell fans are sure to make this tv adaptation a success at the box office this weekend setting the stage for more 70's shows coming to the movies.