Hey folks, Harry here... If you've never seen SPACED, search the world for it. Once you find it, you'll be caught in it's awesomeness forever. It is the coolest tv show ever. It really is. It just mows the world down! And they're doing SHAUN OF THE DEAD, which will be the greatest thing since brain eating was invented... and what a great fucking day that was!
Hey Harry,
I'm a long time reader and (very) occasional contributor under the name Lorelei Lee. I recently got a internship at Empire Online, which is the UK's biggest film website. It's fab, and with any luck I'll be able to keep you up to date on British releases. Heck, with any luck I'll get a job at the end of it and be able to do this full-time.
Anyway, for now I am writing about two stories from the Empire Awards last night. We spoke to Sigourney Weaver about The Village, and she told us a little about her character, and Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead, spoke to us about the most exciting rom-zom-com ever. The interviews are cut and pasted below. It was freakin amazing, cause I got to go. I had to show people to their tables and stuff to justify getting in, but that was kinda cool cause I got to meet Ray harryhausen (!!!), Roger Corman and Britt Ekland that way. Highlights of the evening included an acceptance speech from Peter Jackson for Best FIlm, which he filmed on a rollercoaster. Just his face, in close-up, with a bog-standard speech punctuated by cries of "waaaaaaaow" and such like. I even got to thank Billy Boyd, Andy Serkis and Bernard Hill for making Rings, so it was a fab evening.
Keep up the good work.
Lorelei Lee
Sigourney Weaver
"I play Alice Hunt who's a widow - she's one of a group called The Elders of the village. It's a kind of a communal village and there's a group of people who run things very democratically. I'm Joaquin Phoenix's mother and he plays a very extraordinary, shy young man who's also very brave. It's a fabulous story on a lot of levels - not just scary but very interesting. I had nightmares for two weeks just reading it - so I think it's going to be very scary!"
The full story is at:
CLICK
Edgar Wright
"I saw John Hurt on the way in - I'm already excited," Wright told us. "He's a hero of mine. I can say on record, [Alien] is the best film ever made."
But what about this year's hottest rom-zom-com? Having had our appetites firmly whetted with one quick trailer, Empire Online can't be the only ones anticipating the film more than... well, almost anything.
"We started writing it before we knew about [the Dawn of the Dead remake]. And when we heard about it, we were really pissed off. And then we thought maybe it's a good thing to come hot on the heels of it. It's not a spoof of the original: even though it's a comedy it's kind of reverential. It's me and Simon Pegg's favourite film."
"We keep joking about sequel ideas, but this one hasn't even come out yet. But we'll do something in a similar vein if people like it. They might hate it. It might go down like a ton of bricks. It's very British. There's been a great reaction to the trailer in the States. People find it charming when we do a take on something - it's only a mistake when we try and compete with the big boys."
The film stars Bill Nighy as a zombie at one point, continuing Nighy's taste for playing the Undead, after last year's camp turn opposite Kate Beckinsale in Underworld.
He's been very sweet, he mentions it in every interview he ever does. He's on commission - no, I think he's just excited about being a zombie. He's fantastic in it."
According to Wright a second trailer will be following soon so watch this space.
That's pretty much the full story, apart from the introductory paragraph I wrote, but if you want to check it it's here:
