Universal Pictures(NEW YORK) — Filmmaker Sam Mendes’ World War I drama 1917 is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. The film, which earned 10 Oscar nominations, took home trophies for Best Sound Mixing, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects.
Mendes’ epic centers on two British soldiers, played by Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay, who are in a desperate race across enemy territory with an urgent message that could save thousands of soldiers — including a brother of one of the men.
Instead of using short takes, as is customary, Mendes kept the camera rolling to make it look like it was shot in one take. This means everything had to go exactly right, or all involved had to start all over again.
“A lot of it was sort of trial and error,” Chapman tells ABC Audio, “And then you’d sort of have to remember what — what went wrong the previous take and then you’d have to sort of correct it the next. So it was literally, you know, one thing went wrong, the previous take, then something else would go wrong the next time. And it was about correcting yourself as you went along.”
For MacKay, an errant prop proved a real headache for one take.
“I think it was the end of six minutes or something. Literally the last five seconds. The point with which, you know, we’ll put two shots together. And my body’s in a certain position that — and my rifle just kept falling off at the end of six minutes.
1917 also stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, and Colin Firth.
The Blu-ray release comes packed with behind-the-scenes features, including how Mendes and Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins managed to capture the film’s stunning shots.
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Permalink#SavageChallenge Actress Edition: Taraji P. Henson, Kerry Washington, Angela Bassett and Gabrielle Union
ABC/Heidi Gutman(LOS ANGELES) — Kerry Washington set off the actress edition of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” challenge creating her own video compilation to the song.
“I don’t have TikTok but I want to play!!!” she captioned a video collage of funny TV appearances and past films, starting with her Scandal strut and including a few clips from Netflix’s American Son and Django.
Gabrielle Union applauded her video on Twitter. She said, “This is how you do this challenge. I’ll admit I hurt my hip trying to learn the dance last night. I see you Kerry. Well played.” Union thanked Kerry and Taraji for showing her how “to not injure her hip” doing the choreographed dance, uploading her own video compilation on Instagram. She shared clips from Being Mary Jane and encouraged everyone to check out season one of LA’s Finest on iTunes, which she stars in.
Megan, Kerry, and Taraji P. Henson applauded sis, yelling “Yesssss” in the comments.
We all know how savage Cookie really is, but Taraji was on fire in her Empire compilation. “AF I see no lies!!!” she said.
Acting vet Angela Bassett didn’t want to miss out on the fun, sharing a fan-made video on her Instagram.
“Hey Everybody you good? You SAVAGE? this just made my day! Watched it about a dozen times! Thank you darling!” she wrote. The short video featured numerous clips from her role on American Horror Story and past films.
The compilation videos for Angela and Taraji were created by an Instagram account named iComplexity. The page also created videos for Union and other acclaimed actresses such as Jada Pinkett-Smith, Brandy as Cassie on Empire, Halle Berry, Tyler Perry’s Madea, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, and Aaliyah.
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
John Boyega dishes on his “really, really fun” Netflix film ‘They Cloned Tyrone’, calls it a “stateside ‘Attack the Block'”
ABC/Lou Rocco(NEW YORK) — Before John Boyega signed his recent deal with Netflix to develop more African-focused films, the Star Wars star was excited about another major project with the streamer: his upcoming sci-fi movie They Cloned Tyrone.
“This is me just going home for a bit,” Boyega tells ABC Audio of the film, which is described as “Friday-meets-Get Out,” and follows an unlikely trio who investigates a series of creepy crimes plaguing their neighborhood.
“I’ve just come off of two kind of intense projects. Chase Palmer’s Naked Singularity…and then Steve McQueen’s Small Axe,” he says. “So They Cloned Tyrone is just a chance for me to have fun… and chill.”
The British actor also notes that the new film has “a good, intelligent script” and reminds him of his 2011 feature film debut, Attack the Block.
In that critically acclaimed film, Boyega starred as Moses, a teenage gang leader who helped defend his friends and neighbors against deadly alien invaders.
“Like, this is stateside Attack the Block for me,” he explains, adding, “I’m just more than excited to see a small little hood go through an alien experience.”
“Yeah, maybe that’s what I should do, just go from each country,” he jokes, offering ideas on future films. “Alien experience…in Russia. Alien experience in…China. We actually go to each country.”
“But it’s been really, really fun and I can’t wait to start on that,” he adds.
A streaming date for They Cloned Tyrone has yet to be announced.
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Sarah Wayne Callies has a message for the social distancing world: “Stay in the house, Carl!”
Photo: Dimitry Loiseau(NEW YORK) — Sarah Wayne Callies, who played Lori on The Walking Dead, is ready to bring back her character’s much-quoted phrase, “Stay in the house, Carl!”
The line, which Lori often yelled protectively to her young son, started as a practical way for the writers to limit the on-set hours of the then-child actor Chandler Riggs, who played Carl. But in the age of COVID-19, Callies has seen it take on a new meaning.
“This whole ‘Stay in the house, Carl’ thing has become a bit of a call to arms in the social distancing world,” Callies tells ABC Audio. “I posted something about it the other day and I just sort of thought it would fly under the radar and it got this incredible response.”
Since she’s now telling her own two kids to “stay in the house,” Callies has come up with a creative way to stay occupied.
“In our self-quarantine isolation mode, I’ve been digging through my VHS collection and I’m doing, like, a classic movie film festival for my kids,” she says. “…So hopefully my children will be like proper cinephiles with an actual education by the time this is all over.”
You can spend your time at home checking out Callies’ new NBC show, Council of Dads, which premieres tonight at 10 p.m. ET. Callies says the family-oriented show contains an important for these challenging times in which we’re living.
She quotes a line from the show’s pilot: “‘We’ve got this, we can do this, we’re a family. You grab the people you love and you hold on for dear life.'”
“I feel like what I want people to take away from this show is exactly that: a sense that we can do this,” Callies says.
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
How life imitated art with COVID-19 pandemic and the ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ finale
John P. Johnson/courtesy of HBO(LOS ANGELES) — We’ve reported that The Simpsons takes the cake among long-running shows that seemingly prophetically predicted some major real-life events, but the real-life world of COVID-19 came into play regarding the season 10 finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
The episode centers on Larry David’s alter-ego Larry David opening a pop-up coffee shop called Latte Larry’s to spite another coffee shop owner.
However, germophobe Larry’s personal touches — namely tons of hand sanitizer — actually leads to the shop burning down.
The episode was wrapped months ago, but executive producer Jeff Schaffer revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that they recently built a real-life version of David’s shop as a promotion — and quickly ran into trouble.
“[O]ur production design team was building Latte Larry’s again and they said they couldn’t find any Purell,” Schaffer tells the trade. “[So] they were going to make fake Purell with labels. But then we realized people were going to be stealing fake Purell from the store.”
With lock-downs and social distancing orders, the pop-up was scrapped anyway, Schaffer says. He offered, “Hopefully, maybe in brighter days, we’ll be able to have our Latte Larry’s pop-up.”
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Michelle Obama tells Ellen how she’s keeping busy amid the coronavirus outbreak
ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua(LOS ANGELES) — Another day of quarantine for Ellen Degeneres means another phone call to one of her famous friends. This time, it was none other than former first lady Michelle Obama.
Like clockwork, Ellen shared their conversation to her Instagram page on Monday.
“My friend @MichelleObama makes the world a better place,” she captioned the post.
The two chatted for about five minutes, but it only took a few seconds to get to the nitty-gritty of the conversation — how Michelle is passing the time as the current COVID-19 pandemic has left most of the population to stay in their homes.
“We’re doing a lot of Netflix and chilling,” the 56-year-old admitted.
But it’s not all fun and games. Michelle shares that she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, have also taken their fair share of conference calls. Her two daughters Malia, 21, and Sasha, 18, are home as well and have been working on their college courses online due to institutions being shut down.
Although there are some unfortunate side effects to what’s happening in the world today, Michelle acknowledged that there is a positive side as well.
“The positive side, I know for us, it’s forced us to continue to sit down with each other and have real conversations,” she shared. “It’s a good exercise in reminding us we just don’t need a lot for the stuff we have.”
Michelle also added that it’s important to “be grateful for what you have and be ready to share it when the time comes.”
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
During quarantine, Chippendales Las Vegas dancers are here to spice up your at-home workouts
Christopher DeVargas(LAS VEGAS) — Sure, watching instructional at-home workout videos while under quarantine is fun — but it’s even more fun when the instructors are sexy, shirtless hunks.The men of Chippendales Las Vegas are doing a series of instructional workout videos, where they take you through each exercise while stripped to the waist — but still sporting their signature bow-tie collar and cuffs.
“We’ve got the idea for these home workouts because so many fans have been emailing and posting on social media that they wanted to see the Chippendales during the quarantine,” says Chippendales dancer Ryan Worley. “So our team decided the best way was to do these home workouts.”
“So we are not only entertaining fans, but helping them stay fit and active during the quarantine, which is very important for our mental and physical health,” he adds. “The fans are loving it and want more, so we’re working on an entire series to roll out over the next few weeks.”
And if you’re looking for a way to count down those seemingly endless days until the end of quarantine, Ryan also happens to be the Chippendales 2020 Calendar cover man. “It’s really an honor,” he says.
Of course, it’s not just Chippendales whose shows have been shut down: All Las Vegas shows, restaurants and casinos are currently shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s so strange to see Vegas completely closed down, but Chippendales and all of the other shows and performers are ready to jump back on that stage the minute we get the O.K.,” says Ryan.
The show hopes to return to the Rio in late April, with Vinny G of Jersey Shore serving as celebrity guest host from August 24 through June 7.
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