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Home , Daisy Ridley, Florence Pugh, Gal Gadot, George MacKay (actor), Iko Uwais, Isaiah Mustafa

Eggs for a pre-movie dinner isn’t weird.

Watching all the credits is weird.

163767-1_EFC_HOLIDAY_8X10_E.indd 1 2019-11-05 10:59 AM DECEMBER 2019 CONTENTS VOLUME 20 #8 FEATURES REGULARS

4 EDITOR’S NOTE By George, think we have 26 an ending

Holiday Flicks 6 CLICK! There are seven Christmas Out and about with movies in theatres this month. , Renée Zellweger Which ones will you see? and Patrick Stewart BY MARNI WEISZ 8 UP FRONT makes Waves, 30 takes on an Olympic-sized injustice Cat Person star 16 RED CARPET tells us about attending Timothée Chalamet “cat school” in preparation to and play a kitty in the big-screen are all dressed up version of the musical BY MARNI WEISZ 18 IN THEATRES Your quick scan through this month’s movies 34 24 SPECIAL SCREENINGS I Am Women Lord of the Rings trilogy The latest adaptation of back on the big screen, comes courtesy INXS rocks out at Wembley of filmmaker , who says her movie is all about 50 IN THE WORKS women fighting for artistic Zoë Kravitz lands Catwoman, and financial equality Gal Gadot saves lives BY INGRID RANDOJA 52 CINEPLEX STORE Spend a relaxing night 38 in with Joker Searching... 54 SCREEN TEST Tim Roth tells us why he Rock our went back to basics to play quiz! a man looking for a lost friend in of Names 58 ART OF FILM BY INGRID RANDOJA Steve Casino is nuts 34 for nuts

COVER STORY 40 Ready to Say Goodbye? The end is nigh as the saga comes to an epic conclusion with the release of the final film, The Rise of Skywalker. We’re in Hollywood to talk with the movie’s stars and and director J.J. Abrams about making a worthy finale, HOLIDAY and how the late Carrie Fisher fits into the send-off GIFT GUIDE PLUS: Billy Dee Williams wants us to know he’s the FOR MOVIE one and only LOVERS BY INGRID RANDOJA 46

COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 3 EDITOR’S NOTE MAGAZINE PUBLISHER Salah Bachir

EDITOR Marni Weisz DEPUTY EDITOR Ingrid Randoja CREATIVE DIRECTOR & DESIGNER Lucinda Wallace CONTRIBUTING DESIGNER Erin McPhee CONTRIBUTORS Adriana Floridia, Tanner Zipchen Back to where we started DIRECTOR, CONTENT STRATEGY Tina Boroviak

Advertising sales for Cineplex Magazine “No one’s ever really gone.” is handled by Cineplex Media. TORONTO HEAD OFFICE Those are the words says The finale’s co-writer and director 416-539-8800 VICE PRESIDENT to his sister Leia at the end of The Last J.J. Abrams confirmed that he and his Robert Brown as she laments the loss of her son Ben team had conversations with Lucas while VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCTION Sheila Gregory to the dark side, and the words repeated they were deciding how this industry- VICE PRESIDENT, SALES in the first trailer for this month’s finale, changing, nine-episode behemoth should John Tsirlis EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SALES Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Only come to an end, and he also confirmed Giulio Fazzolari EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SALES this time they’re followed by the unmis- that the trailer cackle is no trick. The once Ed Villa EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SALES takable cackle of Emperor , the dead (or thought dead) Emperor Palpatine QUEBEC/EASTERN CANADA ultimate baddie of the saga’s first two will be in The Rise of Skywalker, again Jonathan Laflamme MANAGER, THEATRICAL PROGRAMMING trilogies who was killed by played by Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid. Debi Kingston

at the end of . When you really think about it, a call- ACCOUNT MANAGERS But when we’re talking about Star Wars, back to Palpatine — the man who turned TORONTO 416-539-8800 those words could just as easily apply to Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader — Cory Atkins, ext. 5257 Zach Beach, ext. 5269 a little filmmaker named . was the right way to go. While we don’t Christina Clark, ext. 5278 Charting what the franchise’s progenitor know how big a role Palpatine will play, Sheree Kyte, ext. 5245 Beth Leverty, ext. 5285 thinks of each new Star Wars movie that’s or in what form, we do know it’s what Zandra MacInnis, ext. 5281 come out since he sold Lucasfilm to Disney George had floating around in his noggin Heather Marshall, ext. 5290 Jenna Paterson, ext. 5243 for $4-billion (U.S.) in 2012 could be its from the time Luke Skywalker was a Julian Pieke, ext. 5216 own saga. There’s even a hilarious deep- moisture farmer on Tatooine. And whether Brett Poschmann, ext. 5287 Lorelei von Heymann, ext. 5249 fake video — meaning it’s not really Lucas, you’re a fan of the man or not, staying true Wendell Sappor, ext. 5277 but an incredibly lifelike digital facsimile to Lucas’s vision is really the only way to Lesley Taylor, ext. 5266 Tom Woyzbun, ext. 5253 — going around that imagines the film- end this journey. OTTAWA 844-870-1112 maker reacting to The Rise of Skywalker’s Turn to “The End of the Universe,” Nicole Beaudin HAMILTON/NIAGARA 416-558-7190 trailer with sarcastic zingers like, “This page 40, where star Daisy Ridley and Jennifer Wishart thing needs more Gungans” (Jar Jar Binks director J.J. Abrams tell us little, but tease a QUEBEC 514-868-0005 was a Gungan) and “I think my favourite lot, about this final chapter in the Star Wars Benoit Deschambault, ext. 224 Martine Ménard, ext. 222 part of the trailer was the very beginning saga that started more than 40 years ago. MAN/SASK 204-396-3044 when it said my name. It said Lucasfilm.” Elsewhere in this issue, Jennifer Hudson Morgan Comrie Famous for having had a tough time promises us that Cats is the most unique CALGARY 403-264-4420 Kevin Leahy when the franchise’s new overseers did musical we will ever see (page 30), EDMONTON 780-919-3011 away with most of his ideas for the re- Greta Gerwig talks about finally directing Barb Kitzan mainder of the saga, the man who thought her version of Little Women (page 34), and BRITISH COLUMBIA 604-689-3068 Matt Watson up, wrote and directed 1977’s Star Wars we’ve got Tim Roth on the Canadian drama Cineplex Magazine™ is published and was instrumental in the next five The Song of Names (page 38). eight times a year by Cineplex Entertainment. Subscriptions are $34.50 ($30 + HST) films, has continued to hover in the Plus, we’ve got plenty to put you in a year in Canada, $45 a year in the U.S. and $55 a year overseas. Single copies are $5. background, much like a Force ghost, the seasonal spirit, including a rundown Back issues are $6. All subscription inquiries, as the sequel trilogy unfurled across the of all the Christmas-themed movies in back issue requests and letters to the editor should be directed to Cineplex Magazine Star Wars universe. theatres this month (page 26), and our at 1303 Yonge St., Toronto, ON, M4T 2Y9; or [email protected] So I’m glad that at least part of Lucas’s Holiday Gift Guide for Movie Lovers (page Publications Mail Agreement No. 41619533. original vision for the ending of the 46). My advice? Get that Downton Abbey Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Star Wars saga will figure into the ninth cookbook before you plan Cineplex Magazine, 1303 Yonge St., Toronto, ON, M4T 2Y9 and final film. In 2002, Star Wars producer your big holiday dinner. 656,500 copies of Cineplex Magazine are Gary Kurtz told entertainment website distributed through Cineplex Entertainment, The Globe and Mail, and other outlets. IGN that while making the original tril- Cineplex Magazine is not responsible for the return of unsolicited materials. No material ogy Lucas already had outlines for the final MARNI WEISZ, in this magazine may be reprinted without three films and they “culminated with this EDITOR the express written consent of the publisher. © Cineplex Entertainment 2019. big clash with the Emperor in Episode IX.”

4 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 © 2019 Samsung Electronics Canada Inc. All rights reserved. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., used with permission. Screen images simulated. CLICK!

↗ SOMEWHERE UNDER THE RAINBOW Renée Zellweger holds an appropriate umbrella at the premiere of Judy. She plays Wizard of Oz Judy Garland.

↗ IS THAT CONSIDERED A SELFIE? takes a picture of his portrait on stage at ↗ the Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival SOMETHING IN THE WAY HE WALKS Awards Ceremony in . Patrick Stewart has fun with a famous backdrop at the 50th Anniversary Celebration for ’ Abbey Road in Hollywood.

6 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 ↙ WE’RE FONDA HER Jane Fonda expresses her feelings after being arrested at the “Fire Drill Friday” climate change protest in Washington, D.C.

↖ WHEN IN ROME Bill Murray (centre) walks the red carpet at the Rome Film Festival where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from director (right). Frances McDormand was just there to make trouble.

↖ DOG TIRED Owen Wilson gives his canine friend a ride while filming Marry Me in New York.

PHOTOS BY DAVID M. BENETT/GETTY (RENÉE ZELLWEGER); JOHN LAMPARSKI/GETTY (JANE FONDA); VITTORIO ZUNINO/GETTY (FRANCES MCDORMAND, BILL MURRAY, WES ANDERSON); PARAS GRIFFIN/GETTY (SPIKE LEE); DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 7 FRAZER HARRISON/GETTY (PATRICK STEWART); ALESSIO BOTTICELLI/GETTY (OWEN WILSON) UP FRONT

↑ IN FOCUS Clint Eastwood (right) directs (left) and Sam Rockwell on the set of Eastwood at 89 Richard Jewell With Richard Jewell, director Clint Eastwood proves he’s in no mood to slow down

HE FIRST TIME CLINT EASTWOOD WAS when he signed on, the octogenarian directed SOURCE MATERIAL tapped to direct Richard Jewell he was three other films, Sully, The 15:17 to Paris and The film is based on a 84 years old. It didn’t work out then but The Mule (he also starred in the latter). The Mule Vanity Fair article by life is long, especially for Eastwood, and and The 15:17 to Paris took just and seven Marie Brenner, who opportunities have a way of coming months respectively to get from set to screen. also wrote the article behind ’s Taround again. In May of this year, the month While Eastwood knows he has a reputation The Insider Eastwood turned 89, it was announced that for being efficient, which often means filming Richard Jewell was back on with Eastwood less takes than other directors, he doesn’t WHERE HAVE behind the camera. The film tells the true story necessary like that image. As far back as 1996 — I SEEN PAUL of the security guard (Paul Walter Hauser) who coincidentally, the year of the Olympic bombing WALTER HAUSER? found a bomb during the 1996 Atlanta Summer — Eastwood pushed back when interviewer He played thug Olympics and went from hero to prime suspect, Charlie Rose asked him about how quickly he Shawn Eckhardt despite little evidence, in a matter of days. works, saying, “I do as many takes as I think it in I, Tonya, white Eastwood, who’s known for being incredibly needs to get what I like, and I’m trying for that supremacist Ivanhoe in BlacKkKlansman efficient, started shooting the film this past June. the first time.” and comedy writer It hits theatres December 13th, just six months The fact that Richard Jewell is coming out just Mancuso in Late Night later, which is an astonishingly short time for a in time for Oscar consideration makes us think Hollywood movie but not really a surprise when Eastwood probably got what he liked. —MW it comes to Eastwood. In fact, in the four years between when he first considered this movie and Richard Jewell opens December 13th.

8 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 !ndigo, Chapters, Coles, indigo.ca and Enrich Your Life are registered trademarks of Indigo Books & Music Inc.

125030_CineplexMagazine_8x10.5.indd 1 11/4/19 2:29 PM UP FRONT People have asked me for years about playing the actual . Now I can answer that question and be like, yeah, well I did it, I just did it in Playmobil form. —DANIEL RADCLIFFE ON VOICING SUPERSPY REX DASHER IN PLAYMOBIL: THE MOVIE

BEHIND THE SCENES DOUBLE TIME Forget those overproduced making-of featurettes the studios put out. If you want to see some of the prep for Jumanji: The Next Level go to star Jack Black’s YouTube page, JablinskiGames, and check out the episode titled “Jumanji 4.” Watch as Black and his longtime double Jimmy Waitman (Goosebumps, Shallow Hal, Nacho Libre ) have three days to get the actor into filming shape with workout sequences like kicks, followed by a tiger roll into a cat stretch and then the dreaded downward dog. ↑ You’ll also get a tour of Black’s sweet Jack Black and trailer, follow the boys to a park for an Aerobie disc workout and watch as in Jumanji: they try in vain to even out their weight The Next Level differential by feeding Black salad while Waitman chows down on a double cheeseburger. ← Black (right) with Jumanji: The Next Level opens his stunt double December 13th. Jimmy Waitman

TOP PICK ILLUMINATING THE DARK crafts films that (The New World, The Tree of Life fill out the screen like paintings and Knight of Cups) decided on a stretched canvas. The to shoot almost every scene reclusive director’s latest, with natural light, creating a A Hidden Life, is no different. look that is realistic yet ethereal The World War II film tells the whether we're in a sun-drenched true story of Franz Jägerstätter field or a shadowy prison cell. (August Diehl), an Austrian It’s an immersive and farmer who refuses to swear an emotional film that deserves oath of allegiance to Hitler, with to be seen on the big screen.

Valerie Pachner and devastating repercussions. August Diehl in A Hidden Life Malick and his longtime A Hidden Life opens cinematographer Jörg Widmer December 13th.

10 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 JACK BLACK, JIMMY WAITMAN IMAGE: YOUTUBE/JABLINSKIGAMES Made for big-picture, full-screen adventures. The TUCSON.

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™/®The Hyundai names, logos, product names, feature names, images and slogans are trademarks owned or licensed by Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.. ∆Apple CarPlay™ works with iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5 and later models running the latest version of iOS 7 and above. Apple CarPlay may not be available on all devices and may not be available in all countries or regions. Only use Apple CarPlay when safe to do so. Cellular and GPS coverage may be required for all Apple CarPlay services to function properly. Visit www.apple.com for further details and any applicable limitations. Subject to app compatibility. Apple and Apple CarPlay are trademarks of Apple Inc.. ◊Android Auto™ is compatible with Android phones running Android Lollipop or newer. Android Auto may not be available on all devices and may not be available in all countries or regions. Additional apps may be required. Only use Android Auto when safe to do so. Cellular and GPS coverage may be required for all Android Auto services to function properly. Visit www.android.com for further details and any applicable limitations. Subject to app compatibility. Android and Android Auto are trademarks of Google Inc..Ω Available on select models only. BlueLink® includes 3 years of service without charge. The BlueLink service is available for new vehicle purchases and leases subject to the BlueLink subscription terms and conditions. Only use BlueLink and corresponding devices when safe to do so. Cellular and GPS coverage is required. Features, specifications, and fees may vary by model and are subject to change. For more on details and limitations, visit hyundaicanada.com or your authorized Hyundai dealer. Vehicle is shown with optional accessories. UP FRONT THE CHAT LOOKING FOR JUSTICE Just Mercy co-stars Oscar winner as wrongly convicted death-row PLANT-BASED inmate Walter McMillian and Michael B. Jordan as Bryan Stevenson, the THEY’LL relentless lawyer who fought for his release. It’s a true story. But McMillian is just GROW ON YOU one of several innocent Black Get your shears ready. men defended by Stevenson Little Joe is the latest movie and some of Stevenson’s to feature scary plants. British other death-row clients actor Emily Beecham (seen appear in the film as well, above) plays a plant breeder including O’Shea Jackson Jr. who helps develop a pretty red flower that can make people as Anthony Ray Hinton. On feel happy. But when she breaks shoddy evidence, Hinton was her company’s rules, taking a convicted of killing two fast- flower home for her son, there food restaurant managers are unexpected consequences. in the 1980s and sentenced Little Joe follows in a long to death. TANNER ZIPCHEN Hollywood tradition of movies spoke with Jackson about about threatening vegetation. Just Mercy at the Toronto O’Shea Jackson Jr. Here are three of our faves. International Film Festival. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Alien seed spores come to Earth and This is based on a true built for a certain type of what needs to be done sprout large pods story. Did that change your people, and the more that like Bryan Stevenson. that absorb and approach? you put a spotlight on duplicate humans, a subject it gets people So does Jamie Foxx bring replicating their memories and personalities, but with For sure. My whole goal talking about it, the more his Oscar [for Ray] to set none of their emotions. when I’m playing anybody, people are talking about and polish it in front of whether it be my father it something gets done, everybody? Attack of the [which he did in Straight finally. So it’s important to Killer Tomatoes! Outta Compton], whether be a part of something like No, no, no. He’s in full (1978) it be Anthony Ray Hinton, this. Usually people use character. I wasn’t there A low-budget spoof of B-horror movies, is to make him proud. the movies as an escape when he wrapped, though. in which giant, They went through actual from real life but too much It might be in the trailer. vicious tomatoes sacrifice. I’m doing a of that will leave you blind. I know I would. feast on people and dramatization of his life, their pets. so if I don’t pay my respect What are you hoping Yeah, if you have an Oscar Little Shop of then I’m not doing my job. audiences take away from you’ve gotta show that Horrors (1986) And so, yeah, it’s just a this film? thing off. A musical update layer of responsibility that of the 1960 film goes into it. You’re not a Just the desire to, when If I had an Oscar they of the same character, you’re a person. you feel that something would have to call name that stars is wrong, when you feel me Academy Award Rick Moranis as Seymour Krelborn, Why is this such an that something needs to winner O’Shea Jackson a flower shop important story to tell? be changed, to get up and everywhere I went. employee who owns an unusual and do it. We all have ideas, Starbucks and everything. carnivorous plant that needs human Because there needs to we all come up with ideas, blood to survive. be something done about solutions, but it’s few of Just Mercy opens the injustice within the us that execute them. December 25th. Little Joe opens December 6th. justice system. It’s not So get out there and do

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Tell us about your character, Emily. We meet Emily at that precious time of a teenager where you’re coming into your own and you’re finding out who you are and you’re still a little bit awkward in your body and you care so much about what people think around you. And because of what happens in her family she becomes quite reclusive.

What was your first reaction to the script? There are times when you get projects and you just connect immediately to the material and you feel like you have the same voice as a character. And I felt that. The way [the script] was done, Trey synced up music to the entire thing. You’d press play beside a scene and then this music would play and you would read the scene and then you’d press the next play button and do that for the entire script. It was the coolest thing I’d ever read just because it was so unique.

How was working with Shults? Trey is one of those directors who is really hands off in the process in terms of let- ting you find your character and explore. He really lets you do your own thing and try and kind of make mistakes and fall on your face and get back up and just do it a SPOTLIGHT CANADA bunch of times until it feels good.

Did any other films inspire your process? When we first got to Florida, it was just Making Waves Lucas [Hedges, who plays her boyfriend] and I at first and we were with Trey and Vancouver’s Taylor Russell stars in Waves, Drew [Daniels] the scenographer and the the indie sensation about a family under pressure whole rest of the crew. Trey would be play- ing Punch-Drunk Love and The Master. So there was a lot of in- HE LATEST FILM FROM ACCLAIMED INDEPENDENT PREVIOUS ROLES fluences I know for Trey. And Paul Thomas filmmaker (Krisha, ), Escape Room, Anderson’s one of my favourite filmmakers. Waves made a gigantic impact on the festival circuit earlier Before I Fall, TV’s Lost in Space and this year and could end up being one of the more celebrated What was it like to see the finished film? Falling Skies Tfilms of 2019. A story told in two parts, in the first part we follow I was in shock. There was so much that Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), an athlete with a seemingly perfect ON THE MOVE got cut just because we shot an incredible life until he cracks under the pressures put on him by his father Russell moved amount of footage. I think there could and girlfriend. 16 times as a kid, have been three movies out of what we did Taylor Russell plays his sister Emily who, for the first half of eventually relocating with this movie. It was so different from from Vancouver the film, is lingering in the background. We meet her up close to Toronto what I thought it was going to be. I just and personal in the second half of the film as the narrative shifts didn’t know what message was going to to her perspective, and she acts as a beacon of hope. “I mean, MULTITALENTED come across. And it blew my mind and it’s so rare, especially for people of colour and young females to She just directed was so much more epic than anything I and produced a get a role like this,” says the 25-year-old Vancouver-born actor. could’ve thought of. —ADRIANA FLORIDIA documentary short It’s a breakthrough performance that should definitely put and dances ballet Russell on everyone’s radar. Waves opens December 6th.

14 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 PHOTO BY KIMBERLY WHITE/GETTY Music, Movies, and EVERYTHING POP CULTURE

Terminator: Dark fate Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Abominable Coming soon DECEMBER 10 December 17

Menteur hustlers December 3 December 10

Coldplay The Glorious Sons natalie macmaster Nick cave and the bad seeds everyday life A war on everything Sketches Ghosteen NOW AVAILABLE now available now available now available

cineplex.indd 1 2019-11-07 3:32:58 PM RED CARPET

↑ Timothée ↑ Chalamet Taika Waititi In Sydney for the At the L.A. premiere Australian premiere of Jojo Rabbit. of The King. ↑ ↑ Natalie Gwendoline Portman Christie In for In London for the the L.A. Dance premiere of Project Annual The Personal Gala. History of David Copperfield.

16 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 17 ↑ ↑ Shia LaBeouf Michelle Dockery At the London Film At the Rome Film Festival’s screening Festival for a screening of Honey Boy. of Downton Abbey. ↑ ↑ Kristen Lena Waithe Stewart In Beverly Hills for At the Zurich Film the ELLE Women Festival’s screening in Hollywood of Seberg. celebration.

16 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 PHOTOS BY GREGG DEGUIRE/GETTY (NATALIE PORTMAN); DON ARNOLD/GETTY (TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET); DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 17 MIKE MARSLAND/GETTY (GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE); GETTY (TAIKA WAITITI); ANDREAS RENTZ/GETTY (); DANIELE VENTURELLI/GETTY (MICHELLE DOCKERY); GETTY (LENA WAITHE); MIKE MARSLAND/GETTY (SHIA LABEOUF) IN THEATRES

PLAYMOBIL: THE MOVIE This animated feature finds Marla (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her brother Charlie (Gabriel Bateman) transformed into Playmobil figurines. When Charlie is captured by Emperor Maximus () and sent to fight in the gladiatorial games, Marla joins with Del the truck driver (Jim Gaffigan) and secret agent Rex Dasher (Daniel Radcliffe) to rescue him. → OPENS DECEMBER 6TH

around her, including her son DECEMBER 6 Joe (Kit Connor), start to act strangely after spending time Kelvin Harrison Jr. (left) and PLAYMOBIL: in the presence of the plant. Sterling K. Brown in Waves THE MOVIE See spotlight box. THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS emergency room nurse Alice family — domineering father LITTLE JOE Danish director Lone Scherfig () Ronald (Sterling K. Brown), Emily Beecham picked up (An Education, One Day) and restauranteur Timofey stepmom Catharine (Renée the Best Actress prize at this brings us this tale of a group (). Elise Goldsberry) and teenage year’s Cannes Film Festival of New Yorkers whose lives kids Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) for her turn as a scientist intertwine in unexpected ways. WAVES and Emily (Taylor Russell) who helps creates a mood- There’s homeless mom Clara This critically acclaimed — trying to hold on under altering plant that seems to (Zoe Kazan), paroled criminal drama from writer-director difficult circumstances. SEE make people happy. However, Marc (Tahar Rahim), his pal Trey Edward Shults TAYLOR RUSSELL INTERVIEW, she notices that the people John Peter (Jay Baruchel), (It Comes at Night) finds a PAGE 14. →

18 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019

IN THEATRES

→ DECEMBER 13 A HIDDEN LIFE Director Terrence Malick (Tree of Life) brings us the real-life story of Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl), a deeply religious man who refuses to fight for Nazi Germany during World War II. His position as a conscientious objector incurs the wrath of the Third Reich. JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL See spotlight box. BLACK CHRISTMAS This remake of the 1974 slasher flick is set on a college campus where a mysterious killer is murdering female students. Left to fend for themselves over the Holidays, four sorority sisters — Imogen Poots, Lily Donoghue, Aleyse Shannon and Brittany O’Grady — fight JUMANJI: back and set out to unmask the murderer and the reason DECEMBER 20 THE NEXT LEVEL behind the killings. The sequel to the 2017 blockbuster STAR WARS: THE RISE Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle RICHARD JEWELL OF SKYWALKER finds the four teens — Spencer, At 89, Clint Eastwood directs The relentless hype and Bethany, Fridge and Martha — who this drama that recounts the rampant speculation finally were previously sucked into the real-life story of Richard Jewell come to an end with the (Paul Walter Hauser), the release of writer-director Jumanji videogame jumping back security guard at the 1996 J.J. Abrams’ epic conclusion to into the fantasy world. However, this Summer Olympics in Atlanta the beloved Star Wars saga as time it’s Spencer’s grandad Eddie who discovered a bomb before (Daisy Ridley), (Danny DeVito) who claims the avatar it exploded. Initially called a (John Boyega) and Poe hero, Jewell’s life was turned () lead the of Dr. Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), upside down when the FBI diminished Resistance against and Eddie’s pal Milo (Danny Glover) and the press reported that he the evil First Order. Expect who becomes Mouse (Kevin Hart). might be the one who planted Abrams to weave characters → OPENS DECEMBER 13TH the bomb. is an FBI — Emperor Palpatine! — and agent investigating the case, storylines from the original plays Jewell’s and prequel trilogies into mom and his rousing finale. SEE BOMBSHELL CATS portrays real-life reporter DAISY RIDLEY, J.J. ABRAMS Hollywood embraces the Composer Andrew Lloyd Kathy Scruggs. INTERVIEW, PAGE 40. #MeToo movement in a big Webber’s musical Cats — way with this bold, brassy which ran for 21 years on drama that recounts how a London’s West End and 18 (left) and group of female journalists years — finally Liv Hewson in Bombshell and employees banded comes to the big screen in together to finally bring down a most intriguing way with head Roger Ailes real actors covered in “digital (), a serial sexual fur” performing on oversized harasser who used fear and sets that mirror a cat’s per- blackmail to reign over his spective. Director staff. Charlize Theron plays (Les Misérables) works with Megyn Kelly (the resemblance a stellar cast that includes is uncanny), Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella, portrays Gretchen Carlson as Macavity, and is a Taylor Swift as Bombalurina, naïve employee named James Corden as Bustopher Kayla Pospisil. Look for Jones and as Kate McKinnon, Allison Old Deuteronomy. Janney and Connie Britton SEE JENNIFER HUDSON in supporting roles. INTERVIEW, PAGE 30. →

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SPIES IN DISGUISE → DECEMBER 25 This animated pic calls on to voice suave secret agent Lance Sterling, who is turned into a pigeon when he accidently SPIES IN DISGUISE drinks a liquid concocted by nerdy gadget inventor Walter Beckett See spotlight box. (). The pair teams up to save the world from technology 1917 mastermind Tristan McFord (). Co-directed by The gallantry and horrors of the Nick Bruno (The Peanuts Movie) and Troy Quane (Ferdinand). First World War are brought to → OPENS DECEMBER 25TH life in director ’ (Skyfall) visually stunning action-drama in which two across dangerous territory LITTLE WOMEN JUST MERCY British soldiers (George MacKay, to warn a British battalion Director Greta Gerwig Michael B. Jordan portrays Dean-Charles Chapman) that they’re walking into (Ladybird) brings a real-life defense lawyer and are sent on a perilous mission a German ambush. contemporary, feminist social-justice activist eye to her adaptation of Bryan Stevenson, who moves Louisa May Alcott’s beloved to Alabama and takes on novel Little Women, which the case of Walter McMillian recounts the hardships (Jamie Foxx), who was and joys faced by the wrongly convicted for the plucky March sisters — murder of a white woman and Meg (), is on death row. With the help Jo (), of his assistant Eva Ansley Amy () and (), Stevenson Beth (). The sets out to find evidence action revolves mostly around that can overturn McMillian’s Jo, an aspiring writer who conviction. befriends the boy next door, Laurie (Timothée Chalamet). THE SONG The March sisters in Little Women SEE GRETA GERWIG OF NAMES INTERVIEW, PAGE 34. Canadian director François Girard helms this heartfelt drama that stars Tim Roth as Martin Simmonds, a man haunted by the disappearance of his friend Dovidl Rapaport (Clive Owens), a Jewish violin prodigy who came to live with Martin’s family during World War II. Martin embarks on a quest to find out why Dovidl left just before he was to make his concert debut. SEE TIM ROTH INTERVIEW, PAGE 38. 1917’s George MacKay

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↑ FLASHBACK FILM SERIES Elijah Wood (left) and Sean Astin in The Lord of the Rings: One Trilogy to The Return of the King LORD OF THE OSCARS Rule Them All The Lord of the Rings trilogy won a total of Spend your Holidays in Middle Earth as director Peter Jackson’s 17 . acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy returns to the big screen The Return of the King earned 11 of them, including Best Picture IRECTOR PETER JACKSON’S SPRAWLING task — travel to Mordor with valiant friend Sam and Best Director. Lord of the Rings trilogy (based on (Sean Astin) and destroy the evil One Ring. J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy masterpiece) is Cineplex’s Flashback Film Series presents METHOD MAN at its heart a simple story about a hobbit the extended editions of all three films during took his role as the valiant Dnamed Frodo (Elijah Wood) sacrificing all to do the Holiday season and into the new year. — IR Aragorn very seriously. the right thing. The genius of Jackson’s trilogy, At the start of the which unfolds in three films — The Fellowship → The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring shoot he camped out of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and screens December 20th, 26th and January 4th. in costume to make his The Return of the King (2003) — is that although → The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers screens clothes looked lived in. He was also allowed to the tale is bursting with a huge cast of char- December 27th, 30th and January 4th. make small repairs to the acters, heart-stopping action and vast, → The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King costume just as Aragorn beautiful vistas, we never lose sight of Frodo’s screens January 3rd, 4th and 7th. would have.

24 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 Go to Cineplex.com/Events for times, locations and to buy tickets

The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool. —PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN IN ALMOST FAMOUS

CINEPLEX EVENTS

FLASHBACK GALLERIES FILM SERIES & EXHIBITIONS GREMLINS HERMITAGE: Sun., Dec. 1, Tues., THE POWER OF ART Dec. 3, Fri., Dec. 6, Tues., Dec. 3 Sun., Dec. 8 SCROOGED NATIONAL Fri., Dec. 13, Sun., FRENCH THEATRE Dec. 15, Tues., Dec. 17 A IN HER EAR THE LORD OF Thurs., Dec. 5 THE RINGS: THE NFL AT CINEPLEX FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING EVENTS IN VIP Fri., Dec. 20, Thurs., ALMOST FAMOUS Dec. 26, Sat., Jan. 4 Fri., Dec. 6, Mon., Dec. 9, Wed., Dec. 12 THE LORD OF VS. L.A. RAMS THE RINGS: THE NATIONAL LAMPOON’S The hits are louder, the passes fly farther and the nachos taste TWO TOWERS CHRISTMAS VACATION better when you’re watching the NFL on the big screen. The Fri. Dec. 27, Mon., Mon., Dec. 9 NFL at Cineplex series continues with this Week 14 Sunday night Dec. 30, Sat., Jan. 4 NFC West matchup featuring the Seattle Seahawks vs. the THE LORD OF THE THE MET OPERA L.A. Rams. The playoffs are fast approaching and Cineplex will RINGS: THE RETURN THE MAGIC FLUTE OF THE KING be screening the Divisional Round games as well as the AFC & (MOZART) NFC Conference Finals in January, leading to the LIV Fri., Jan 3, Sat., Jan. 4, Encores: Sat., Dec. 7, broadcast on February 2nd. → DECEMBER 8 Tues., Jan. 7 Mon., Dec. 9, Wed., Dec. 11, Fri., Dec. 14, NATIONAL Sun., Dec. 15 THEATRE LIVE MANON (MASSENET) PRESENT LAUGHTER Encore: Sat., Dec. 14 Sun., Dec. 1, Wed., Dec. 4 CONCERTS & MUSIC THE WINTER’S TALE INXS: LIVE BABY LIVE Wed., Dec. 4, Sun., Dec. 8, AT WEMBLEY STADIUM Sat., Dec. 21, Thurs., Thurs., Dec. 12, Dec. 26, Sat., Dec. 28 Sat., Dec. 14 ANDRÉ RIEU: CLASSIC FILMS 70 YEARS YOUNG A CHRISTMAS STORY Tues., Dec. 31 Sun., Dec. 1, Tues., Dec. 3, Sat., Dec. 7, FAMILY FAVOURITES Wed., Dec. 11, Mon., DR. SEUSS’ THE GRINCH CONCERTS & MUSIC Dec. 16, Thurs., Dec. 19, Sat., Dec. 14 Sun., Dec. 22, Mon., Dec. 23, Tues., Dec. 24 BOLSHOI BALLET INXS: LIVE BABY LIVE NFL AT CINEPLEX THE NUTCRACKER Encores: Sun., Dec. 15, AT WEMBLEY STADIUM NEW Wed., Dec. 18, Sat., In 1991, Australian band INXS, fronted by singer Michael Hutchence, PATRIOTS VS. Dec. 21, Sun., Dec. 22, was at the height of its powers. The band’s tour in support of TEXANS Tues., Dec. 24 the double-platinum album X saw them perform in London’s Sun., Dec. 1 Wembley Stadium in front of 74,000 fans. The concert was SEATTLE SEAHAWKS VS. L.A. RAMS STUDIO GHIBLI filmed, but the 35mm footage went missing and was only Sun., Dec. 8 ANIME SERIES recently discovered in Australia. Now restored and presented THE TALE OF in 4K Ultra HD, INXS fans get the rare chance to see the late PRINCESS KAGUYA Hutchence’s masterful performance in what is considered the Mon., Dec. 16, band’s greatest concert. → DECEMBER 12, 14 Wed., Dec. 18

DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 25 With no less than seven Christmas-themed movies (okay, one’s a ballet) playing in theatres this month you have zero excuses for not being in the festive spirit. So grab a kid, a parent, a date or a stranger off the street and celebrate the season your way at the cinema A HolidayBuffet Awaits at Theatres NOSTALGIA COMEDY

ROMANCE HORROR A Christmas National Lampoon’s Story Last Christmas Christmas Vacation Black Christmas

Classic Films Wide Release One Nighters @ VIP Wide Release December 1, 3, 7, Now playing December 9 December 13 onward 11, 16, 19, 22, 23, 24 WHAT’S IT ABOUT? WHAT’S IT ABOUT? WHAT’S IT ABOUT? WHAT’S IT ABOUT? Kate (), who works This third installment in The sorority house may be filled This holiday classic that whisks as a Christmas store elf, is National Lampoon’s Vacation to the brim with twinkling lights, you back to the early 1940s having a tough time. Until, that franchise, released in 1989, shiny ornaments and people was already awash in nostalgia is, she meets handsome Tom may be its most famous thanks running around in Santa hats, when it came out in 1983, and (Henry Golding) who seems like in part to the enduring seasonal but there’s no joy for a now it’s 36 years old! That a veritable angel. Sure, this pic merchandise it inspired, like group of female students means Peter Billingsley, who that hit theatres last month moose mugs and ornaments (Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, plays little Ralphie, is 48, making sounds like your typical girl featuring the Griswold station Brittany O’Grady, Lily Donoghue) us equally nostalgic for the meets boy at the holidays, but wagon weighed down by a in this remake of the 1974 nine-year-old Peter Billingsley. what sets this one apart is the massive tree. This time the Canadian slasher pic. That’s The bespectacled little music. If you haven’t already Griswolds, headed by dad Clark because there’s a masked actor plays Ralphie Parker, guessed from the title, () and mom Ellen psycho roaming the campus who desperately wants a Last Christmas is not only (Beverly D’Angelo), have their and he’s determined to carve Red Ryder BB Gun for filled with but also inspired by Christmas celebration upended up our co-eds like a Christmas Christmas, even if his mother the songs of the late, great by the arrival of Ellen’s broke turkey. (Melinda Dillon) is convinced George Michael. cousin Eddie () and he’ll shoot his eye out. his family. Cue the explosions. WHO’S IT FOR? WHO’S IT FOR? Horror fans who don’t see the WHO’S IT FOR? Romance addicts who believe WHO’S IT FOR? most wonderful time of the Those who are yearning for there’s no such thing as too Anyone who wants to feel year as any reason to take a simpler time. much sugar at this time of year. better about their own a break from a little blood dysfunctional family. and gore.

26 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 A HolidayBuffet Awaits at Theatres ↑ FAMILY From left: Peter Billingsley, COMEDY CULTURE Scott Schwartz, Dr Seuss’ R.D. Robb and Ian Petrella in Scrooged the Grinch The Nutcracker A Christmas Story

Flashback Film Series Family Favourites Bolshoi Ballet in Cinema December 13, 15, 17 December 14 December 15, 21, 22, 24

WHAT’S IT ABOUT? WHAT’S IT ABOUT? WHAT’S IT ABOUT? Please check One of many modernizations Consider the half-hour TV If you prefer your Christmas of Charles Dickens’ classic special a mere appetizer for tales be told in tutus and toe Cineplex.com for A Christmas Carol, 1988’s this full-length feature film shoes, the Bolshoi Ballet’s times and locations. Scrooged endures because of that came out last year and encore production of Some dates shown its witty script and a compelling casts The Nutcracker is here to are only for select performance from star as of the furry green ensconce you in a wintery theatres and/or Bill Murray who, despite playing curmudgeon who plots to dreamworld. The story sees limited markets. hardened network TV exec ruin Christmas for the oh-so a young girl given a nutcracker Frank Cross (standing in for happy Whos of Whoville. This doll at a Christmas party only Ebenezer Scrooge) is still so is the one to choose if you’ve to have that doll come to darn likable that you yearn for got kiddies anxious for the life and accompany her to his redemption. Supporting big day or know someone a fantastical land where they players , Bobcat (or are someone) who has battle an evil Mouse King. Goldthwait, Carol Kane and trouble getting into the And, of course, it’s all set to all bring their Christmas spirit. Tchaikovsky’s magical score. A-games to this comedy that’s heartwarming without losing WHO’S IT FOR? WHO’S IT FOR? its edge. Children and their Lovers of dance, classical adult overseers. music and Christmas traditions. WHO’S IT FOR? Fans of Bill Murray, laughing, and feeling good.

DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 27 TWO HOURS

↑ George MacKay (centre) in 1917

28 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 Director Sam Mendes hopes his World War I movie 1917 TWO HOURS will put you in the trenches and on the battlefields in a way AT WAR no war movie has before. The drama takes place in real time and Mendes and his longtime cinematographer Roger Deakins created it to look as if it was filmed in one continuous shot. While the movie was actually filmed over many days, and in various outdoor locations, the camera never looks away as, over two hours, a pair of British soldiers (Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay) race across dangerous territory to deliver a message that could save 1,600 men from an ambush by German soldiers. At a panel during New York Comic Con, Mendes explained why he shot the film this way. “I wanted to step every step with the characters, I want to breathe every breath with them, I want to be trapped on their journey with them. It’s an emotional ex- perience,” he said. “And I think a kind of dream state emerges after a while where you know you can’t escape and you have to go on it with them. Even though what they do is an ordeal, I did not want the movie to feel like an ordeal and I think that what Roger managed to achieve is for that camera to become a third character and for us not to be aware. If you’re looking at the movie and thinking about how it was shot when you actually do see it then I think we’ll have failed. I want you to live with those two characters and if you don’t care about them, if you don’t go on that journey with them, then what’s the point?” —MW

1917 opens in limited release on December 25th, and wider on January 10th.

Dean-Charles Chapman (left) listens to → director Sam Mendes (centre) on set CAT CAME BACKS It’s one of the most successful musicals in Broadway history and now Cats has found a new life on the big screen. The massive undertaking about a tribe of furry felines stars some of the biggest players in showbiz, including Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. Here she tells us what it was like to live a cat’s life

BY MARNI WEISZ DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 31 THE WORLD IS DIVIDED INTO TWO types of people; those who have seen the phenomenally popular musical Cats and those who haven’t. Sure, you could say that about any play, movie or TV show, but there’s something different about Cats. It’s weird, and maybe a bit polarizing. Actors dressed up as cats with names like Mr. Mistoffelees, Rum Tum Tugger and Jennyanydots sing and dance on stage in a freewheeling narrative by the king of musical theatre, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Some people (a lot of people) just get it, Twhile others don’t. Jennifer Hudson as Cats’ Grizabella At least not yet. If anything can bridge the divide be- tween Cats people and people who are not, thus far, into Cats it’s this month’s big-screen eye-candy musical directed by IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO because it recalls a happier stage of Tom Hooper (Les Misérables), with modern has never seen Cats, you’re probably scraggly old Grizabella’s life. “She brings new moves from Hamilton choreographer wondering what it’s all about. the heart, the emotion and the reality to Andy Blankenbuehler, and starring an Inspired by a book of poems by it,” says Hudson. “It’s relatable.” eclectic smorgasbord of stars disguised T.S. Eliot, the action takes place within a as kitty cats, including Taylor Swift, tribe of felines called the Jellicles on the Idris Elba, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, night of the Jellicle Ball, when one cat is FOR HUDSON, WHO BRINGS HEART James Corden, , Royal Ballet chosen to ascend to the Heaviside Layer and emotion to pretty much everything principal dancer Francesca Hayward, and come back to a new life. All the cats she sings — whether it’s the national popular hip-hop duo Les Twins and, per- have to make their case for, let’s call it anthem at Super Bowl XLIII, as a coach haps most interestingly, Jennifer Hudson. reincarnation, to a wise senior kitty showing young vocalists how it’s done on Why is Hudson the most interesting? named Old Deuteronomy (Dench). TV’s The Voice, or driving around with her Because, believe it or not, this is the “I play the cat Grizabella, who is an Cats co-star James Corden on an episode former contestant’s first outcast cat,” explains Hudson. “She once of “” — learning to act big-screen musical since she won was the Glamour Cat and she’s try- like a cat may have been the more chal- Best Supporting Actress for ing to get back in to be able to lenging part.

her powerhouse perfor- A VERY go to the Jellicle Ball and, just “I had to go to cat school to learn how mance as Effie White in her GOOD YEAR like the other cats, to try to to be cat-like, and move like a cat,” she feature film debut, 2006’s Both Cats and receive the ninth life from explains. “The nature of cats, the way they . Dreamgirls, Deuteronomy. The Jellicle interact, engage, because it’s obviously And, as Grizabella, a Jennifer Hudson’s other Ball happens once a year different from humans and the way we big-screen musical, cat who used to be glam- premiered in 1981, the and only one cat gets that carry ourselves or communicate.” orous and popular but who same year Hudson ninth life.” Sometimes Hudson would go to has since fallen from grace, was born. So the Heaviside Layer is “cat school” alone, sometimes with the Hudson also gets to sing the like cat heaven? film’s other actors and dancers. “That musical’s most enduring song, “It would mean you would probably be the most help- “Memory.” get a new life, like a fresh ful, when we could mirror “It is definitely the most unique musi- start,” explains Hudson, CAT S each other,” she says. “We cal you will ever see,” says the 38-year-old “Everything would be OR DOGS? all found our own ver- Jennifer Hudson had native. “It is saturated with the new again and you get sion of what our cat is two cats, Fluffy Muffy and arts, from poetry to dance to songs, and to start over, you’d get Black Knight, growing up, but like, the really specif- everything in between.” Hudson is in a a second chance.” switched to dogs in adulthood. ic things. Like, how car travelling from Universal Studios in With lyrics like, She has three, Oscar, Grammy animals sniff things L.A., where she’s just finished up a day “I can dream of the and Dreamgirl. “But I want two out, that’s some- cats now,” she says. “I want of press for Cats, straight to the set of old days, I was beau- cats called Grizabella and thing that’s common her next production, the tiful then,” the song Macavity.” The latter is Cats’ amongst all cats. But bio-pic, Respect. She plays Aretha. “Memory” is so powerful villain, also known as then Grizabella had a “The Mystery Cat.”

JENNIFER HUDSON PORTRAIT PHOTO 32 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 BY ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY Victoria (Francesca CATS CAT PEOPLE Hayward) OPENS DECEMBER 20TH Pop stars, Oscar winners and ballet dancers make up Cats’ eclectic cast of furry felines

limp because she had an injury to her leg. So maybe her cat walk is different from another cat.” Another thing that helped the actors get into character was that the film was shot on sets built three to A SECOND four times larger than life to CHANCE evoke a cat’s perspective. When Cats premiered on Giant doors have door- London’s West End in 1981 knobs just out of reach Judi Dench was supposed to play Grizabella but snapped for all but the most her Achilles tendon before athletic cats, a massive opening night and had to drop bed seems like a plush Bombalurina out. In the film, Dench plays trampoline begging to be Old Deuteronomy (Taylor Swift) clawed to pieces, there’s Old Deuteronomy to Jennifer Hudson’s (Judi Dench) Grizabella. a piano the size of a truck. “I felt like a cat and a kid all in one,” recalls Hudson. “The kitchen sink was like a bathtub.” And all that fur? For the most part it’s digital. The actors were shown sketches of how their characters would look in the movie, but what they actually looked like during filming was much different. “We had on green suits, we didn’t have on fur, we didn’t have a tail,” explains Hudson. “At some points we had pieces of the cat’s costume, whatever clothing the cat will be wearing, so Grizabella has a coat.” They also had motion-capture Bustopher Jones dots all over their faces so that fur and (James Corden) whiskers could be added later. “You’re partially in costume,” adds Hudson, “and then the rest is left to your imagination.” Macavity (Idris Elba)

IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN CATS AND ALL of this is making you feel like maybe you should have by now, don’t worry, you’re in good company. Before she got this part, Jennifer Hudson had never seen it either. “When I met with director Tom Hooper for the first time he’s like, ‘Do you know Gus the Theatre Cat (Ian McKellen) Cats?’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t.’ [He asked,] ‘Well, do you know the song ‘Memory’? And I said, ‘I’m not sure.’ And then he plays it and I’m like, ‘Everyone knows ‘Memory,’ of course I know ‘Memory’!’” And now everyone will know Hudson’s rendition of “Memory” too. Jennyanydots (Rebel Wilson) Marni Weisz is the editor of Cineplex Magazine.

DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 33 34 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 WONDER WOMEN The story may take place more than 150 years ago, but the characters at the centre of Little Women struggle with issues of gender, freedom and economic inequity just like women today. Writer-director Greta Gerwig tells us that’s exactly why she was so interested in adapting Louisa May Alcott’s classic one more time

BY INGRID RANDOJA ❈

T’S THE PERFECT 21ST-CENTURY PAIRING — quirky, feminist filmmaker Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) directing her version of author Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel Little Women. Set in 1860s New England, the story revolves around Ithe poor but loving March sisters — fiery tomboy Jo (Saoirse Ronan), well-behaved Meg (Emma Watson), shy Beth (Eliza Scanlen) and artistic Amy (Florence Pugh). While all the March sisters deal with their own trials, it’s Jo’s story that draws us in as the aspiring writer searches for artistic freedom and the meaning of love, especially as it relates to the boy next door, Laurie (Timothée Chalamet).

Little Women’s director Greta Gerwig We caught up with Gerwig on the phone from (left) on set with Saoirse Ronan New York where the 36-year-old actor-writer-director was multitasking — talking about making the movie of her dreams while tending to her baby, a son with her partner and fellow filmmaker, Noah Baumbach.

DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 35 LITTLE WOMEN OPENS DECEMBER 25TH

Ronan with Timothée Chalamet

What is your take on Jo and Clockwise from top: March sisters, Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Amy (Florence Pugh) Laurie’s relationship? Do and Meg (Emma Watson) IT WAS SO MUCH you bring a contemporary ABOUT WOMEN lens to it? MAKING ART, WOMEN Well, yeah. I mean, what I ‘‘MAKING MONEY AND thought was fascinating about How long have you been thinking HOW TO SQUARE the Jo/Laurie relationship is about making your version of THE TWO, AND Jo is a girl with a boy’s name Little Women? HOW MUCH THAT and Laurie is a boy with a girl’s Probably since I read the book. I mean, it’s DICTATES WHAT ARE name. They are each other’s hard to say that for certain because I had THE POSSIBILITIES double or twin in some ways, no idea that I would be able to make films FOR YOUR LIFE and that they exist a bit in a as a job. I think I’ve always had a very vivid moment before gender roles sense of who the March sisters were and are fully established, this kind who Jo was, and they seemed incredibly Christmas without any presents. It’s so of magical time when you didn’t have to real to me. It’s always been very high on dreadful to be poor.” It’s something that choose. It’s unclear to me whether Laurie my list of things I would like to attempt. Louisa May Alcott, as a writer, had’’ to deal wants to be a sister, or he wants to be with her whole life. a lover. And I think what he ultimately Were you daunted by the fact there comes to is a place of wanting to have Jo have been eight movie versions, going It’s true that Alcott’s economic be the woman to his man, and Jo cannot all the way back to 1918? struggles were enormous. do it because that’s not who she is. You I think I’m daunted by how much I love In the book, the Marchs are the genteel hate that he wants to marry her because and respect the book. That’s what feels big poor. But in life, the Alcotts were wretch- it means they have to leave this utopia. to me because I always want to do justice edly poor. They moved something like 30 to that. But I felt I had a very clear idea of times in the course of [Louisa’s] adoles- And Timothée Chalamet is a perfect how I wanted to go about this and so it cence, and she went out to work, hard Laurie. was always just figuring out how best to labour, by the time she was 15. She had to He’s a doll and we’re so happy he came to execute that, and how to do justice to what sell stories to keep a roof over their heads. be our Laurie. Louisa May Alcott would have wanted. Her industry is what saved her family. I think for her, that economic question was What do you want people to feel When you pitched the movie to very, very close to the surface and the when they leave the theatre after producer Amy Pascal you said the struggle was incredibly — oh, shoot. I just seeing Little Women? story is about money, women and had a baby spit up all over me. Hi, baby Oh, I know what I want them to feel. I freedom. I love that you’ve boiled it [laughs]. want them to go write the book, write the down to that. song, write the play, run for office, do the Yeah, that was initially what I was struck So you’ve directed two feature films, thing. And now you, madam, what have by re-reading the book as an adult. It was both starring Saoirse Ronan. Is she you got? [Laughs.] That’s what I want. I so much about women making art, women your muse? want all women and girls to walk out feel- making money and how to square the I have to say she’s a real co-author to me. ing like they got a fire under them. two, and how much that dictates what She’s the real partner in making these are the possibilities of your life. The first films, and I couldn’t be luckier. They Ingrid Randoja is the deputy editor of line of the book is, “Christmas won’t be would not exist without her. Cineplex Magazine.

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®/™ Cineplex Entertainment LP or used under license. During World War II, two boys are thrown together and form a strong friendship. Then one disappears. Tim Roth tells us about playing one of those boys, now a middle-aged man, searching for answers — and his friend — in The Song of Names WHAT

HAPPENEDBY INGRID RANDOJA

ANADIAN DIRECTOR FRANÇOIS GIRARD’S BEST FILMS — Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) and The Red Violin (1998) — explore the emotional power of music. Girard returns to that theme in The Song of Names, which casts Tim Roth as Martin, a pianist obsessed with finding out what happened to his childhood ? friend Dovidl, a Polish violin prodigy who came to live with Martin’s family Cduring World War II. The boys formed a tight bond, but Dovidl was haunted by not knowing whether his family survived and disappeared in 1951, right before he was to give his debut concert in London. We caught up with Roth during the Toronto International Film Festival where The Song of Names had its world premiere. The 58-year-old actor is known for his versatility — portraying villains (Rob Roy, Planet of the Apes), tough guys (Reservoir Dogs), comedic characters (Four Rooms, Everyone Says I Love You) and intense leading men (Vincent & Theo) — but as he tells us, the role of Martin required he strip away any bravado to play a man haunted by his past.

Describe Martin. We learn during the film that Martin has What is François like as a director? Oh, god, I am useless at questions like suffered his own share of losses, but I know he’s an opera guy and a music guy these. If you asked me while we were shoot- you don’t really show us that. What’s it and all that stuff, and it was a constant ing I could have given you a monologue. like to play such an interior character? conversation about, “Do you need that The movie covers the three different age I sometimes like to do that. What we were line, do you need this line, whatya think?” ranges of the character — a boy growing trying to achieve was to get all the acting It was a very open flow. It was easy working up during the war when Dovidl, a refugee, devices, as much as possible, removed with him. comes to stay with them, and then through from what the camera sees and just have his teenage years, and I dealt with the last the conversations, have him talk and remove portrays the adult Dovidl. one. But what is he like? I think he would the dramatic from it in a sense. What was it like working with him? describe himself as kinda boring. I think, We had a few moments when we con- because of what happened, and the details And François was on board with that? nected acting wise, but he had a lot on his come out in the film, I think he’s shut down. Yeah. plate as well because he had to fake the

38 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 THE SONG OF NAMES OPENS DECEMBER 25TH

Tim Roth in The Song of Names

violin, so he would dis- from Smith to Roth as an act of Are you musical? appear into that world solidarity with Holocaust survivors? No! It’s appalling. I had to play a genius and you have to back off Yeah. In solidarity with what he saw. pianist in this movie, and I can’t play chop- and let him do his thing. sticks. I haven’t got a clue. But I have a So, when we connected, we connected. How old were you when he did that? very musical son who is a guitarist. Were you born Roth? I imagine that might help both Yeah, I was born Roth. He did the immi- Have you ever picked up something, like your performances, as the adult gration thing the backwards way. He went a hobby or skill, after making a movie? Martin and Dovidl have a strained from America to Liverpool and then down No, the only time was backwards from relationship. to the south of England and they put him that when I played Vincent [Van Gogh] in Yeah that’s true, but then we would have to work in the factories when he was a kid. [director] ’s Vincent & Theo. dinner and hang out, and that was great. I had been a painter, been to art college Did he share his thinking about why and done all that stuff and was just using The movie uses beautiful music and he changed his name with you? that and I really enjoyed that experience. singing to contemplate a horrific A little bit here and there. He was of the event, the Holocaust. Is it true that generation where you didn’t discuss the Ingrid Randoja is the deputy editor your father changed his family name war or those things. of Cineplex Magazine.

DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 39 THE

OF THE

UNIVERSEYes, we know the spinoffs, TV shows, books and videogames that take place in the Star Wars universe will probably go on for another hundred years. But this is it for the original saga. When Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theatres this month the magnificent story that started with a little sci-fi in 1977 will wrap up, one way or another. Are you ready for that? We speak with director J.J. Abrams and his star Daisy Ridley about what to expect

BY INGRID RANDOJA

40 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 ↑ Daisy Ridley’s Rey is ready for anything in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker HE END IS NEAR, AND THE FANS CAN FEEL IT. Seeing Rey dressed in the dark robes even Throngs of Star War devotees dressed as droids, affected the film’s cast and crew. “One thing stormtroopers, Luke Skywalker and our new hero I did notice is that people responded to me Rey are among the 7,000 Disney fans who’ve differently,” she recalls of the days when squeezed into the Anaheim Convention Centre’s they shot those scenes. “I’m super chatty, Hall D on a warm Saturday morning in August. but people were not as chatty, which I found They’ve gathered for the must-see presentation of quite curious and quite fun. I loved it.” TDisney’s D23 Fan Expo — the panel showcasing the Ridley, a selection of her castmates studio’s upcoming slate of films, including offerings and the film’s co-writer and director from Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. J.J. Abrams have gathered in a posh And while the crowd goes wild for The Eternals’ cast, Beverly Hills hotel the day after the D23 led by , Dwayne Johnson arriving in panel to discuss the film that will cap a boat to promote Jungle Cruise and Chris Pratt and cinema’s most popular — and scrutinized Tom Holland showing a clip from Pixar’s Onwards, — franchise; an epic nine-film, three-trilogy it’s the sneak peek of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, ↑ series that originated in 1977 with a film simply called the final film of the Star Wars saga, that sends fans Director Star Wars, but that has since been rebranded into orbit. J.J. Abrams Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The footage ends with Rey (Daisy Ridley) dressed Star Wars has been a life-changing ride for Ridley. in dark, Sith-like robes and wielding a double-bladed The London-born actor was just 21 when she red lightsaber similar to the one used by the villainous was cast as the feisty orphan Rey in Episode VII – Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom The Force Awakens, also directed by Abrams and which Menace. Has the hero of the franchise’s final trilogy critics and audiences agreed breathed new life into the been seduced by the Force’s dark side? sagging franchise. Rey’s noble quest to discover her “Don’t we all want to know!” exclaims Ridley in identity and why the Force is so strong within her gave an interview the following day. “The reaction that the series its first strong, self-sufficient female lead. shot got is indicative of how people are going to feel In case you’ve forgotten where we left Rey, at the watching the film because it is exciting and potentially end of The Last Jedi she watched in shock as taking unexpected turns. I think people are going to be () killed . He asked with the story, and also shocked by the story.” Rey to join him in ruling the , she refused and

J.J. ABRAMS PHOTO BY BRUCE GLIKAS/GETTY 42 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 A SHORT CHAT WITH BILLY DEE WILLIAMS At 82, Billy Dee Williams plays Star Wars’ lovable rogue Lando Calrissian, a character he debuted in 1980’s , one more time

In the teaser trailer music is brilliant.... for The Rise of But when I think of Skywalker we Lando, I don’t think of get to hear that Lando other than me. trademark Lando laugh. We’ve missed Did you get the that. Was this a fun chance to chat with film to make? about the Listen, acting is ending of the saga? escaped to help the heavily depleted Resistance, ↑ a lot of fun. No. I rarely ever see which had retreated to an abandoned base on the From left: Chewie those folks. Now, planet Crait. (Joonas Suotama), Yes, but it can be Harrison [Ford] and Poe (Oscar Isaac), Under heavy attack, Finn (John Boyega), Poe horrible depending I are good buddies. Rey (Daisy Ridley) (Oscar Isaac) and Rose () led a suicide and Finn on who you’re working Whenever we see mission against the First Order, and when all seemed (John Boyega) with. each other it’s lost Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) suddenly appeared team up in Yeah, that’s true. always a love fest. Star Wars: The Rise to battle Kylo Ren, creating time for Leia and her team But I enjoy it, of Skywalker to escape to the , being piloted especially when Of course there’s by Rey and Chewbacca (Joonas Suatamo). Kylo Ren I have challenges, a gaping hole in the struck Luke, only to realize he was a projection. Luke good challenges. Star Wars family with was actually still on the planet Ahch-To, where, seated Things I can work Carrie Fisher gone. atop a rock, he gazed into the sunset and disappeared, with, enhance and She was one of my becoming one with the Force. make things more good buddies. So what happens next? interesting. Don’t expect the cast to drop any major spoilers, When you think of her, but what they will say is that The Rise of Skywalker is a What did you think what’s the first thing high-energy, deeply satisfying ride. And they all credit of Donald Glover’s that comes to mind? director and co-writer J.J. Abrams for guiding the epic portrayal of your Funny, and a lot of finale across the finish line. character in Solo? fun. Witty. Smart. “He’s the most open, collaborative person ever,” He came and we had Very smart. Ridley says of Abrams. “I immediately feel very, very lunch one day and safe with him because when you feel safe, you do your he asked me how And an underrated best work.” I came up with the actress. Sitting alone with Abrams after his cast has dis- character and so Yeah, she was good. persed, the filmmaker says the finale was a massive forth, and I told him, And she was a good undertaking. just be charming. writer. I miss her. “This movie has been, leaps and bounds, the But he’s a very fine —IR most challenging thing I have been a part of → young man and his STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER OPENS DECEMBER 20TH NEW FACES Joining our old faves like Rey, Finn and Poe, there are several new FIVE QUESTIONS characters in WE WANT ANSWERED The Rise of IN THE RISE OF Skywalker. S K Y WA LKE R Richard E. Grant The late Carrie Fisher (Can You Ever 1) Who is Rey? In The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren embraces Daisy Ridley in Forgive Me?) plays The Rise of Skywalker Allegiant General told Rey her parents were nobodies, Pryde, a member junk traders. But how reliable a source of the First Order, is he? Not very. Why is she so powerful? Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth) professionally,” says the 53-year-old filmmaker. → plays Jannah, a 2) Who is the Skywalker rising in the title? “There were a lot of moments of realizing how lucky fierce warrior, and Luke Skywalker is dead, so it could be we are and how excited we all are, but it was mostly Keri Russell (TV’s a reference to rising from the dead, The Americans) a lot of work and doing everything we can to make as a Force ghost, but that doesn’t is Zorii Bliss. sure what we’re shooting is the right thing, finding seem right. Is it Kylo Ren? Is Rey also ways to stay on schedule, doing some rewrites as we a Skywalker? Is Skywalker not a person were shooting.” but a movement? One of the greatest challenges was deciding how to deal with the passing of Carrie Fisher, who died 3) What is Luke’s role going forward? in December 2016 after completing her role as the We realize this is the end of his saga beloved resistance leader Leia Organa (for many, she Naomi Ackie and we’ll likely never see him in another remains simply ) in The Last Jedi. Ackie and Russell film, but by the end of this movie we “It’s the story telling you what it needs, and the gave some want to know what the future holds for story was saying we need Leia to be a part of it,” says insights into this Force ghost. Abrams. “There were some people who suggested their mysterious recasting her, but we were not going to recast her. We characters. “Jannah has spent 4) Can Kylo Ren still turn were not going to do a CGI Leia, and you couldn’t do a really long time away from the dark a thing where you’d say Leia is off somewhere or she honing a set of side and be redeemed? skills,” says Ackie. passed away. He is, after all, the “Nothing worked, and we started looking at some “And I guess in this moment her big son of Princess Leia of the footage from Force Awakens that we hadn’t used, thing is whether to and the late . and we realized if we wrote some of these scenes, use that to fight for, Those are some pretty Adam Driver and support, the like, some real stuff, if we wrote some of these scenes good genes. as Kylo Ren around her, she could be interacting with these good of everyone.” characters, she could be in the movie in a really 5) Why did we hear Emperor Palpatine significant way.” laughing at the end of the film’s first Actors were brought in to act against the footage, trailer, and what will his role be? and the lighting, camera lenses and angles were all He died at the hands of Darth Vader painstakingly recreated so the old footage would blend at the end of Return of the Jedi but we seamlessly into the new film. Keri Russell know Ian McDiarmid is back (in some “And the actors, I swear to God, they were in scenes form) as Palpatine in the new movie. “I play Zorii,” with her,” recounts Abrams. “There are a couple says Russell, “the —MW scenes with Daisy — who is extraordinary, I mean, cool-costumed, she’s just incredible — but she was doing scenes with helmeted lady. Leia a hundred percent, you know? It was really amaz- And she has sort of a checkered ing to watch.” past, slightly Abrams knows that in a world of hardcore Star Wars “I think J.J. kind of set up these plot points in questionable fans his finale probably won’t please everyone. All he The Force Awakens,” says John Boyega, who plays Finn, morals possibly, wants is that fans remember why they love the series, the turned good guy. “It’s a Resistance and they allowed and honour it the same way he does. me to say she’s that was moving forward, that was always going to a little shady. The “Star Wars to me has always been about the heart, create new characters and leaders, but those new main thing is that the humanity, the humour, surrogate families that characters and new leaders still need that guidance she is an old friend develop between characters that sometimes didn’t from Leia, and that is something that echoes through- of Poe’s that tells know each other at the beginning of the movie and by you a little bit more out the whole script. She really is the key to all of about where Poe the end would do anything for each other.” this, especially in the lowest moment of hope for the came from.” —IR Resistance.” Ingrid Randoja is the deputy editor of Cineplex Magazine.

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PR07116_Wendys_Adoption_Cineplex_Magazine_Dec_8x10.5.indd December Issue Wendys Adoption Full Page Ad 8” x 10.5” 1 8” x 10.5” CMYK 7.5” x 10” 100% 8.25” x 10.75” -- Aleo Wendys/National Cineplex Magazine PR07116 11-7-2019 7:13 PM -- 11-7-2019 7:13 PM -- Rodrigues, Pedro (TOR-MWG) Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black -- Manny.Augusto -- AND… ACTION! Make any room in your house feel like a movie set with the Junolux Vintage Industrial Tripod Floor Lamp inspired by Hollywood days Holiday of yore. $150, AMAZON.CA Gift Guide FOR MOVIE LOVERS 12 PERFECT PREZZIES FOR THE PILLOW THAT SHINES CINEPHILES Toronto designer Peggy McEwen specializes in “comfortable art,” like The Shining Pillow, which is ON YOUR

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48 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 SUPERIFIC COOLTASTIC AWESOMEST

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125030_CineplexMagazine_8x10.5.indd 2 11/4/19 2:31 PM IN THE WORKS BY INGRID RANDOJA

Waititi Sets Goal Writer-director Taika Waititi’s follow-up to Jojo Rabbit will be Next Goal Wins, based on the 2014 British documentary of the same name about the American Samoa soccer team. Considered one of the worst national teams in history — they lost one game to Australia 31-0 — they hire Dutch-American coach Thomas Rongen to help them. Michael Fassbender will portray Rongen and Elisabeth Moss is eyeing an undisclosed role.

Gadot’s Escape Plan Gal Gadot will portray a real-life in , a bio-pic about the Polish social worker who risked her life to create a network of hiding places for thousands of Jews, mostly children, whom she helped escape from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. Gadot and her husband, Jaron Varsano, will produce the feature.

50 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 PHOTOS BY TODD WILLIAMSON/JANUARY IMAGES (TAIKA WAITITI); DAVID CROTTY/GETTY (GAL GADOT) ABDUL-MATEEN ENTERS Whoa. Our minds were blown with the news that Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss would return to star in a fourth Matrix movie to be directed by Wachowski. Now we learn Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman’s Manta) has landed a major role and Neil Patrick Harris, not someone you’d think of as a fit for a big-budget, sci-fi pic, has also been cast. ← VANCOUVER

SKARSGÅRD ON HOME TURF IS A NORTHMAN GOLDING Writer-director WRAPS (The Witch, The Lighthouse) is IN VAN a master at creating unnerving, Vancouverites should sparse historical dramas. He’s keep their eyes peeled now prepping his next film, for ’ cast The Northman, a Viking saga set in the 10th century as the film wraps up Henry Golding that stars Alexander Skarsgård as a warrior who sets shooting this month. The out to avenge his father’s death. Nicole Kidman, action pic — a spinoff from the G.I. Joe Anya Taylor-Joy, and Skarsgård’s franchise — stars Henry Golding as the ROLE CALL brother, Bill Skarsgård, are all in talks to join the project. titular commando who speaks little but ■■ carries a big sword. Golding’s castmates Sam Neill, and include Samara Weaving as Scarlett, Jeff Goldblum his love interest and fellow commando, will reprise their KRAVITZ’ and Indonesian action star Iko Uwais Jurassic Park roles as martial arts instructor Hard Master. in Jurassic World 3, PURR-FECT ROLE starring Chris Pratt Casting as and Bryce Dallas Batman in director Matt Reeves’ Howard. The Batman is seen by some as FRESH FACE ■■ a risky move. However, choosing John Krasinski will direct and Zoë Kravitz to portray ELIZA SCANLEN star in Imaginary Selena Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman, feels like a sure . Director Greta Gerwig cast established Friends, about Kravitz (HBO’s Big Little Lies) was actually refused an actors Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson a man who can audition for Jen, Catwoman’s () pal in and Florence Pugh as three of her see the imaginary The Dark Knight Rises, because the producers thought four March sisters in this month’s friends people she was too “urban,” so there’s poetic justice in Kravitz Little Women. For the have left behind. pushing past stereotypes to land the coveted role. role of kindhearted The Batman hits screens June 25th, 2021. Beth March she ■■ chose the relatively replaces Elisabeth Moss in The Power unknown 19-year- of the Dog, director old Aussie actor Jane Campion’s NOBODY LIKE Eliza Scanlen, who drama about a pair made her Hollywood of feuding brothers ODENKIRK debut playing murderous in 1920s Montana. Bob Odenkirk is known for teen Amma in HBO’s Sharp Objects. his sly, comedic roles such as Scanlen, who played piano as a kid, ■■ Russell Crowe scoundrel lawyer Jimmy McGill practiced three hours a day to play portrays a troubled in Better Call Saul. He changes Beth, who fills the March household actor who unravels while shooting a things up with Nobody, an action- with music. scary movie in an thriller that casts him as a suburban dad whose violent untitled horror past resurfaces after two thieves break into his home. pic from Scream Christopher Lloyd and Connie Nielson co-star and producer Kevin Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry) directs. Williamson.

DECEMBER 2019 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE 51 CINEPLEX STORE Rent or buy movies at Cineplex.com/Store

JOKER Joaquin Phoenix delivers a must-see turn as failed stand-up comic Arthur Fleck, whose deteriorating mental health — exacerbated by a cold, cruel world — pushes him into a life of crime as the Joker. Written and directed by Todd Phillips. → BUY IT DECEMBER 10 → RENT IT DECEMBER 17

IT CHAPTER TWO ZOMBIELAND: The sequel to 2017’s It finds DOUBLE TAP the now grown Losers Club, It’s been 10 years since we including Bill (James McAvoy), last saw zombie-fighters Beverly (), Tallahassee (Woody Richie () and Harrelson), Columbus Mike (Isaiah Mustafa), (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita returning to Derry to battle (Emma Stone) and Little Rock evil entity Pennywise (). In this sequel ONCE UPON A TIME… (Bill Skarsgård). Prepare your the band encounters hippies, IN HOLLYWOOD snacks and get comfy as this DOWNTON ABBEY their doppelgängers and Director Quentin Tarantino’s scary flick clocks in at nearly Grab a cuppa, some biscuits and hordes of “superzombies” that love letter to 1960s Hollywood three hours. settle in with old friends as the are a whole lot harder to kill. finds a struggling actor aristocratic Crawley family and →→RENT IT DECEMBER 10 →→BUY IT DECEMBER 27 (Leonardo DiCaprio) and its loyal servants prepare for his stunt-double buddy a visit from the Royal Family. Will () crossing paths with Mrs. Patmore’s (Lesley Nicol) Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) cooking please the Royal palate? and the Manson Family, leading Can closeted butler Thomas to a shocking outcome. (Robert James-Collier) find love? And is Downton’s future → RENT IT DECEMBER 10 safe with Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery)? All will be revealed. →→RENT IT DECEMBER 17

52 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 BETTER WITH BUTTER

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DFC_LayeredButter_Magazine_December2019.indd 1 2019-11-04 3:16 PM SCREEN TEST

On which of these TV shows 5. has Johnson not appeared? a) Friends ROCK b) Star Trek: Voyager c) That ’70s Show THIS QUIZ! d) Hannah Montana At some point in the past decade, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Name the HBO show on which went from a WWE wrestler 6. Johnson currently stars. experimenting with Hollywood a) Swimmers to a bona fide movie star. People b) Ballers stopped squeezing “The Rock” c) Pitchers into his name on every reference d) Skaters and just let him be the action hero he was born to be. Now Next year he’ll appear 7. in a movie based on a the multitalented muscleman Disney theme park ride. stars in Jumanji: The Next Level, Is it… the follow-up to the wildly a) Jungle Cruise popular 2017 franchise reboot b) Space Mountain Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. c) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad How well do you know the twists d) It’s a Small World and turns of Dwayne Johnson’s fascinating life? Johnson is part of the five-timers 8. club, meaning… a) Five times married b) Five times WWE World Which of the following is not Heavyweight Champion 1. a name under which Johnson c) Five times in a has wrestled? Fast and Furious movie a) The People’s Champion d) Five times hosting b) Li’l Dwayne c) Rocky Maivia d) Flex Kavana Jumanji: The Next Level is 9. Johnson’s fourth film with With which CFL team did Kevin Hart. What was the first? 2. Johnson sign in 1995? a) Central Intelligence a) Toronto Argonauts b) Artificial Intelligence b) Saskatchewan Roughriders c) Superintelligence c) Winnipeg Blue Bombers d) Emotional Intelligence d) Calgary Stampeders Who awarded Johnson In which film did Johnson 10. “Best Actor in a Comedy” for 3. make his big-screen debut? Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle? a) The Scorpion King a) People’s Choice Awards b) The Mummy Returns b) Golden Globe Awards c) The Rundown c) d) Walking Tall d) Academy Awards

Where is his father — 4. Rocky Johnson, also Jumanji: The Next Level a wrestler — from? opens December 13th. a) Edward Island b) New Brunswick

c) New Hampshire c 10) a, 9) d, 8) a, 7) b, 6) a, 5) d, 4) b, 3) d, 2) b, 1)

ANSWERS

d) Nova Scotia

54 CINEPLEX MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 ★★★★ “ and Bill Pullman deliver a Miller for our times.” -

SALLY FIELD & BILL PULLMAN ALL MY SONS DIRECTED BY: JEREMY HERRIN

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A Little Nutty Steve Casino has spent the past seven years painting people on peanuts. Why peanuts? “Because many of the shells are shaped like people,” explains the artist from Fort Thomas, Kentucky. “It’s just a matter of matching up the correct-shaped peanut with the person I’m trying to make.” More often than not, that person is actually a character from an iconic movie, either of Casino’s choosing or, more and more, a commission from a fan. “Since I’ve started doing this I’ve never had to look for work,” he says. “It comes to me.” After choosing the right peanut Casino removes the nut and seals the shell with clear acrylic before sculpting additional details in clay. “Finally I paint all those tiny features on it with liquid acrylic paint,” he says. There’s one more reason he uses peanuts. “It’s always been my favourite snack,” he says. “Never get sick of them.”

↑ To see more go to stevecasino.com Clockwise from top: The Shining, John Wick, , Robin Williams

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