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CONTENTS HOLIDAY 2020
VOLUME 21 #5

16 20 26 31
↑
2021 Movie Preview’s
Ghostbusters: Afterlife

HOLIDAY
GIFT GUIDE
SPECIAL GUY
We catch up with
ALL THE
KING’S MEN
COVER STORY
2021 MOVIE
PREVIEW
PLUS
Stressed about Canada’s most Writer-director Bring on 2021! It’s going 04 EDITOR’S
Holiday gift-giving? lovable action star Matthew Vaughn and to be an epic year of NOTE
Relax, whether you’re Ryan Reynolds to find star Ralph Fiennes moviegoing jam-packed
shopping online or out how he’s spending tell us about making with 2020 holdovers 06 CLICK!
in stores we’ve got his downtime. Hint: their action-packed and exciting new titles.
you covered with an It includes spreading spy pic The King’s Man, Here we put the spotlight 12 SPOTLIGHT
awesome collection of goodwill and talking a more dramatic on must-see pics like CANADA
last-minute presents about next year’s prequel to the super- Top Gun: Maverick,
sure to please action-comedy Free Guy fun Kingsman films F9, Black Widow and 42 IN THE
BY MARNI WEISZ BY INGRID RANDOJA BY MARNI WEISZ No Time to Die, and chat WORKS
with Jungle Cruise leads
46 CINEPLEX

+08
Dwayne Johnson and
Emily Blunt, Respect STORE
UP FRONT star Jennifer Hudson
Why The Father is such an immersive watch; three and A Quiet Place Part II 49 SCREEN
ways to celebrate Christmas in cinemas; and a director John Krasinski TEST
look at Tom Hanks’ Oscar bid, News of the World BY INGRID RANDOJA
AND MARNI WEISZ 50 ART OF FILM

ON THE COVER, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET IN DUNE, SCARLETT JOHANSSON IN BLACK WIDOW, HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 3
DANIEL CRAIG IN NO TIME TO DIE, DWAYNE JOHNSON AND EMILY BLUNT IN JUNGLE CRUISE, JENNIFER HUDSON IN RESPECT
EDITOR’S NOTE MAGAZINE

PUBLISHER Salah Bachir

EDITOR Marni Weisz

DEPUTY EDITOR Ingrid Randoja
CREATIVE DIRECTOR & DESIGNER
Lucinda Wallace

Goodbye 2020,
Advertising sales for Cineplex Magazine
is handled by Cineplex Media.

TORONTO HEAD OFFICE

416-539-8800

Bring on 2021!
VICE PRESIDENT
Robert Brown
VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCTION
Sheila Gregory
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SALES
Giulio Fazzolari
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SALES
IF THIS PAST YEAR HAD BEEN A MOVIE… No Time to Die hits theatres. Emily Blunt Ed Villa
It might have been a B-film written by and Dwayne Johnson will not be quaran- EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SALES
QUEBEC/EASTERN CANADA
some hack who doesn’t know how to wrap tining during their cruise up the Amazon Jonathan Laflamme

up a script. in Jungle Cruise. Vin Diesel will not sanitize MANAGER, THEATRICAL PROGRAMMING
Debi Kingston
It might have been a heartbreaking the driver’s seat with a Lysol wipe before
drama about love and loss, separation and racing off in F9. Yay! ACCOUNT MANAGERS
impossible choices. Never have we needed escape more TORONTO 416-539-8800

It might have been a political thriller, and it will arrive in abundance. Cory Atkins, ext. 5257
Christina Clark, ext. 5278
with harried leaders forced to make life- Turn to our 2021 Movie Preview , Sheree Kyte, ext. 5245
or-death decisions that affect millions. page 31, and salivate over the buffet of Beth Leverty, ext. 5285
It might have been a medical drama films you can look forward to in the coming Zandra MacInnis, ext. 5281
Heather Marshall, ext. 5290
about heroism and selflessness. year. We’ve packed it with behind-the-
Jenna Paterson, ext. 5243
It might have been a sci-fi with a trailer scenes stories, insights and fun tidbits. Brett Poschmann, ext. 5287
that starts, “In a world where people have There are even mini interviews with Lorelei von Heymann, ext. 5249
Wendell Sappor, ext. 5277
to stand six feet apart…” John Krasinski (A Quiet Place Part II),
Lesley Taylor, ext. 5266
It might have been a quirky indie pic Jennifer Hudson (Respect) and the pre-
Tom Woyzbun, ext. 5253
about finding creative ways to pass time viously mentioned Blunt and Johnson HAMILTON/NIAGARA 416-558-7190
in small spaces. (Jungle Cruise) to whet your appetite. Jennifer Wishart
It might have been a family flick about Elsewhere in this issue we talk with QUEBEC 514-868-0005

a parent and child who finally get to know Ryan Reynolds, star of 2021’s Free Guy, Benoit Deschambault, ext. 224
Martine Ménard, ext. 222
each other when they’re forced to spend about the importance of owning your
MAN/SASK 204-396-3044
time in the same house. own story (page 20), and sit down for a
Morgan Comrie
It might have been a romance about an Zoom chat with Ralph Fiennes and his
CALGARY 403-264-4420
online love that grows slowly, remotely, director Matthew Vaughn about how the Kevin Leahy
before a dramatic real-world meeting that upcoming action pic The King’s Man fits EDMONTON 780-919-3011

probably utilizes a crane shot. seamlessly into the Kingsman franchise Barb Kitzan

It might have been a zombie pic where (page 26). BRITISH COLUMBIA 604-689-3068

scores of people escape the city by mov- Plus, on page 16 you’ll find our annual Matt Watson

ing north to the country but forget that Holiday Gift Guide filled with inspiring Cineplex Magazine™ is published
by Cineplex Entertainment. Subscriptions
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But you know what I prefer to think 656,500 copies of Cineplex Magazine are
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about right now? All the films coming out The Globe and Mail, and other outlets.
in 2021 that will have absolutely nothing Cineplex Magazine is not responsible for
the return of unsolicited materials. No
to do with the past year. Daniel Craig’s MARNI WEISZ, material in this magazine may be reprinted
007 will not be wearing a mask when EDITOR without the express written consent of the
publisher. © Cineplex Entertainment 2020.

4 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

 IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR
HIGH CANADIAN STANDARDS,
LOOK FOR THE BLUE COW.
CLICK!

↗
QUEEN OF
PHILLY
Queen Latifah
and Adam Sandler
film a scene for
their basketball
pic Hustle in
Philadelphia.

↗
LIEV FROM
NEW YORK
Liev Schreiber
sports a classic,
Saturday Night Live-
era Bill Murray
T-shirt while
playing basketball
in New York City.

↗
TIGHT SPOT
A vintage Fiat 500 serves as
Tom Cruise’s unlikely ride on the set of
Mission: Impossible 7 in Rome, Italy.

6 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

 ↙
SHIELDS UP
The modern world invades 14th-century France as
Jodie Comer wears a face shield on the County Tipperary,
Ireland, set of Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel.

↖
MEAL DEAL
Kevin Smith
(right) and
Jason Mewes
man the
counter at
their Mooby’s
pop-up in
Chicago.
The fictional
restaurant
that appears
in several of
Smith’s films
was open for
just one week.

↖
STEPPING OUT
Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Dayan look
appropriately fabulous while shooting Halston, a
bio-pic about the fashion icon, in New York City.

PHOTOS BY GILBERT CARRASQUILLO/GETTY (QUEEN L ATIFAH AND ADAM SANDLER); DEBBIE HICKEY/GETTY (JODIE COMER); HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 7
DANIEL BOCZARSKI/GETTY (JASON MEWES AND KEVIN SMITH); GETTY (LIEV SCHREIBER); SAMANTHA ZUCCHI/GETTY (TOM CRUISE);
JOSE PEREZ/GETTY (EWAN MCGREGOR AND REBECCA DAYAN)
UP FRONT

IN FOCUS

You Must
↑
Olivia Colman and
Anthony Hopkins
in The Father

Remember This… POWER TEAM

Playwright
Christopher Hampton
Director Florian Zeller and stars Sir Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman (Dangerous Liaisons)
make dementia real for The Father’s audience co-wrote the script
with Florian Zeller
based on Zeller’s play
IF YOU FEEL A LITTLE BIT CONFUSED WHILE sets that change inexplicably, in order to illus-
watching The Father, director Florian Zeller and trate Anthony’s confusion. DREAM CASTING
The protagonist’s
his stars, most notably Sir Anthony Hopkins and “You do not understand exactly what is going name is Anthony
Olivia Colman, have done their jobs. on, but it was a way for me to make the audi- because Zeller had
Hopkins plays Anthony, an 80-year-old with ence experience what the main character was Anthony Hopkins
in mind when he
dementia, and Colman is his daughter Anne, going through,” said Zeller during a virtual Q&A wrote the play eight
who’s trying to take care of her dad even as he session at this year’s Toronto International Film years ago
refuses help. Festival. The French filmmaker, best known as a #1 FATHER
The film has earned rave reviews, thanks in playwright, based the film on his own stage play. The Father won
large part to first-time film director Zeller’s use “It’s like a puzzle in a way, you can play with all the Audience Award
for Best Film at
of multiple actors in the same role (for example, the pieces, it will never work entirely, you know, Sundance
Olivia Williams also plays Anne at points) and as if a piece will always be missing.”—MW

8 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

 COLLECTIBLES EVENT CINEMA

GOLDEN
GAL Holidays
Check out this hyperreal
statue of Gal Gadot in her
Wonder Woman 1984 armour.
on the
Big Screen
Created by the relatively
new Korean collectibles
company JND Studios
(it’s only their second figure,
after Joker ’s Arthur Fleck),
the statue was created
by artist Soyoung Lee and Highbrow to low,
stands 66 centimetres high. sophisticated to
It was selling for $1,899 (U.S.)
sophomoric, heady to Beverly D’Angelo and
via the company’s website, Chevy Chase in
but we’re afraid all 700 pieces hilarious, Cineplex offers
Christmas Vacation
in the limited run sold out in three ways to get out
a single day when pre-orders of the house and into
opened in late October. the spirit in the runup
to Christmas. Missing your extended there’s no better way to
A classic 2008 staging family? A repeat viewing watch the Jimmy Stewart
of The Nutcracker from of Christmas Vacation classic about despair
the National Ballet should cure that as Clark and salvation than on
of Canada satisfies Griswold (Chevy Chase) the big screen, in the
cravings not just for and his family make room dark, where no one can
Tchaikovsky but for the for obnoxious Cousin Eddie see you cry.
grand Christmas parties (Randy Quaid) and his
of yesteryear, or just last motley clan. FIND DATES, TIMES AND
year, now that holiday And if an annual viewing PARTICIPATING THEATRES
gatherings are more of It’s a Wonderful Life is AT CINEPLEX.COM/EVENTS.
muted. required in your household

STILL FIGHTING EVIL

MONSTER MOVIE
After six films, we’re pretty sure writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson and his actor
wife, Milla Jovovich, are done with the Resident Evil film franchise, especially
because their last Resident Evil film was subtitled The Final Chapter. But that
doesn’t mean the couple is done making kick-ass monster-hunting movies based
on videogames. Here you see Anderson (right) directing his beloved and her co-star
Tony Jaa on the set of their latest post-apocalyptic survival pic, Monster Hunter.
Based on the Capcom game, the film finds Jovovich’s Captain Artemis and Jaa’s
Hunter banding together to, well, hunt monsters.

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 9

UP FRONT

OSCAR BAIT

OH CAPTAIN!
MY CAPTAIN!
Seven years after their acclaimed
drama Captain Phillips, Tom Hanks
and director Paul Greengrass
reunite for News of the World.
The 1870s-set Western As with Captain Phillips, this Captain Phillips’ famous scene in ↑
Tom Hanks and
stars Hanks as a news reader one stars Hanks as a Captain which Barkhad Abdi, as the pirate Helena Zengel in
(he travels Texas reading — Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, Muse, commandeers Phillips’ News of the World
newspapers aloud to crowds) a veteran of several wars cargo ship and insists, “I am the
who decides to escort a — and the trailer seems to take captain now.”
10-year-old girl named Johanna advantage of the coincidence. Here’s hoping News of
(Helena Zengel) back to her When Kidd, teaching Johanna the World can come close to
relatives several years after her his name, points to his chest and Captain Phillips’ impressive
parents and sister were killed in says, “Captain. Make no mistake, score of six Oscar nominations,
a battle with the Kiowa people. Captain,” it’s hard not to think of including Best Picture. —MW

‘‘
QUOTE UNQUOTE

She’s going out at night,

she’s pretending to be drunk,
she’s alone and she’s allowing
herself to be rescued by
a man. She doesn’t ever
advance a situation with
men; she doesn’t give them
any signals that she is trying
to end up in any kind of sexual
scenario with them. She waits
until the moment when the
man takes advantage of that,
and then she immediately
snaps out of it and reveals
that she’s sober and
‘‘
teaches them a lesson.
— CAREY MULLIGAN ON CASSIE, HER
CHARACTER IN PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

10 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

SPOTLIGHT CANADA Why did you want to make Wander,
which, no surprise, is very different
from your other films?
My partner Tim Doiron and I have been
working on the concept of Wander for the
past four years, so it was a subject matter
that we felt really passionate about. We
love the idea of conspiracy and being cur-
rent, and we sort of made it about border
control, stolen land and chip technology.

Tell us about directing Aaron Eckhart

and Tommy Lee Jones.
Aaron Eckhart is an unbelievable talent
and brought his entire being to the set
every day, every second that he is in frame.
He just took the role so personally and
dove so deep into that character. And
Tommy Lee Jones, a legend. He was a
super-pro, he was in a great mood, loved
New Mexico.... They’re equally mesmer-
izing but on totally different spectrums.

This is your first film shot outside of

Canada. How was working in New Mexico?
The town of Wander is a huge character
in the film, and for us to get it right we
went there five months before shooting
and drove all over New Mexico in search
of the little town that could be Wander
and we found Carrizozo. Carrizozo is a
forgotten about town that used to be on

Niagara to
the railroad tracks, had a gold mine, and it
couldn’t be more perfect. The population
is maybe 40 people, and the community

New Mexico
was so open to us shooting there.

Did growing up in Niagara Falls fuel

your imagination?
Canadian director April Mullen Very much so, Niagara Falls is inbred in
enlists big talent for Wander me. I was always curious, inspired, and
there are so many different little pockets.
You can go into the tourist district, and

A
then the downtown that has been closed
PRIL MULLEN HAS DIRECTED EIGHT MOVIES — since the 1920s, the casino district, the
eight very different movies. The Niagara Falls SEEN ON nature side with gorgeous vineyards.
native doesn’t believe in sticking with one genre. SCREEN Niagara Falls has so many diverse little
Her versatility extends to comedy (GravyTrain), Mullen has acted capsules that I felt like every door you
in five of her own
mockumentary (Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way of the Tosser), opened was like a different type of movie.
films and played
a zombie pic (Dead Before Dawn 3D), and lesbian romance Kyra Sedgwick’s
(Below Her Mouth). Her latest, Wander, is a conspiracy drama set daughter in 2004’s The pandemic has changed how we
in a tiny New Mexico town. It stars Aaron Eckhart as mentally Cavedweller make and consume movies. What’s
unstable private detective Arthur Bretnik, who’s hired to inves- your take on the future of filmmaking?
FLOWER GIRL
tigate the case of a murdered woman, and Tommy Lee Jones as a Her family has It’s tough to imagine how creating will
conspiracy nut who eggs Arthur on as he uncovers a possible plot operated Mullen morph, but it will, because you can’t stop
involving missing illegal immigrants and nefarious technology. Garden Market creation. Imagination and creating is what
in Niagara Falls,
We caught up with the bubbly filmmaker (she began her career we do, and it’ll find its new form and it’ll
the city’s only
as an actor) over the phone from the village of Ridgeway, Ontario, flower market, survive as it always does. — INGRID RANDOJA
near Niagara Falls, where she’s hunkering down with her family for 37 years
during the pandemic. FIND WANDER AT CINEPLEXSTORE.COM

12 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020 PHOTO COURTESY ZACK ESAU MEDIA

 AY
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16 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

 Tu n e s
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HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 17
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18 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020
 W H AT A

He’s generous, funny, talented and handsome,

so the fact that Ryan Reynolds is also a nice

Canadian boy is just a bonus. Here we chat with the pride

of Vancouver about inspiring change in difficult times,

why childlike innocence is the best, and Free Guy,

the 2021 action-comedy in which he plays a suddenly

sentient videogame character named Guy

BY IN G R ID R A N DO JA

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 21

 DEMAND A LOT
from our movie
stars, asking that
they be attractive,
talented, make great films and shine as mor-
ally upright citizens. It’s a ridiculous standard
to set, but then along comes Ryan Reynolds.
Maybe it’s because he’s Canadian (born and
raised in Vancouver), self-deprecating, dev-
astatingly funny and married to the equally
talented and striking Blake Lively that he gets
top marks, or it could be that in the past few
months the 44-year-old star has shown the
world how to wield celebrity clout for good.
In March, as COVID-19 took hold, he and
Lively stepped up and donated $1-million
(U.S.) to Food Banks Canada and Feeding
America. “COVID-19 has brutally impact-
ed older adults and low-income families,” he
wrote on Twitter, adding, “If you can give,
these orgs need our help. Take care of your
bodies and hearts. Leave room for joy. Call
someone who’s isolated and might need
connection.”
In June, the couple donated $200,000 to
Nova Scotia’s St. Francis Xavier University to
help fund an Indigenous women’s leadership
program and just a few months ago he helped
kickstart the Group Effort Initiative, which ↑ “Guy is sort of inspired by Elf, the Will Ferrell
focuses on housing and training diverse Ryan Reynolds (left) and character,” explains Reynolds during a recent
Lil Rey Howery in Free Guy
young filmmakers to work on his next movie Zoom interview from his home in upstate
to be shot in Canada. Reynolds is funding the New York where he’s hunkering down with his
program, and in a video explaining the initia- wife and three young daughters, six-year-old
tive he says, “Making a film is a group effort not be fixed overnight, but change James, four-year-old Inez and one-year-old
but for entirely too long that group has sys- can start locally and immediately.” Betty. “It instantly creates vulnerability when
temically excluded Black, Indigenous, people He’s had missteps — his wed- you have a protagonist that is not sure of his
of colour and several other marginalized com- ding took place on a plantation in surroundings or situation or how to handle
munities. This is a global problem which will South Carolina, a choice he deeply them.”
regrets, but he and Lively apolo- Attracted to a kick-ass character named
gized for the choice earlier this year Molotov Girl (Jodie Comer), Guy emerges
while lending their support to the from the background to become the game’s
Black Lives Matter movement. hero, growing more self-aware and stunning
TWO GUYS Since we haven’t seen Reynolds the game developers, led by the obnoxious
Free Guy isn’t the only film on the big screen since 2018’s Antoine (Taika Waititi), who are planning to
that casts Reynolds as a
Deadpool 2 (though he did voice shut the game down after releasing a subpar
character named Guy, a
moniker selected for its the lead CGI character in 2019’s sequel.
generic nature. The actor Detective Pikachu), we’ll be more Reynolds thinks the fast-paced, feel-good
who, coincidentally, than ready when his action-packed flick is exactly the kind of film the world
starred in the late-
comedy Free Guy finally comes out needs now.
’90s series Two Guys,
A Girl and a Pizza Place next year after several COVID- “These are some challenging and pretty
also voices a caveman related delays. Reynolds plays Guy frightening times and the movie spoke to me
named Guy in the (also known as Blue Shirt Guy), about authorship and how each of us can
Croods movies, 2013’s
a background character in the really own our story and create real change. I
The Croods and the new
sequel, The Croods: videogame Free City who realizes don’t mean to be too esoteric about it, and it
A New Age. he could be so much more. also just felt like an absolute fastball of joy.”

22 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

 “but actually both of them have a FUNNY BUSINESS
childlike innocence to them, which When he’s not making movies,
is their premier redeeming quality. Ryan Reynolds is busy overseeing
his growing business empire. In 2018
I love looking at the world through
he bought a stake in Aviation Gin,
childlike innocence and, in doing and thanks to the clever and funny
that, it actually inspires a ton of ads he helps create it has become
comedy, a ton of romance, all of the fastest growing gin brand in
the world. Last year he invested in
those sorts of things.
Mint Mobile and again, thanks
“And I also love laughing at my- to his creative panache, has
self,” he continues. “My whole life helped the discount wireless
I’ve found that’s been my greatest operation soar.
In an interview with
creative goldmine, looking inward
Fast Company magazine
and finding aspects of my own per- earlier this year Reynolds
sonality and life to laugh at. That’s spoke about his attraction
kept me sane and it’s something to marketing. “There’s
something fascinating to me
that I hope I never lose.”
about creating a piece of
In a May 2018 New York Times content that’s shareable and
profile Reynolds revealed that he acknowledges quite nakedly
suffers from severe anxiety, and that it’s an ad. And it’s
certainly more honest.” —IR
only feels completely at ease when
he performs. He attributes that anx-
iety to growing up the youngest of
four boys in a house dominated by
his volatile father, James (Reynolds’ working non-stop, appearing in films such as
oldest daughter is named after him), National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Blade: Trinity,
a former police officer who the ac- Just Friends and Smokin’ Aces.
tor called “the stress dispensary in Mostly forgettable stuff, but that changed
our house.” with 2011’s superhero pic Green Lantern.
Directed by fellow Canadian Shawn Levy Learning to laugh at himself, and Although a critical dud, the film raised
(Night at the Museum trilogy), Free Guy make others laugh, was the tonic Reynolds’ profile and made him realize he was
capitalizes on the attributes we love most Reynolds needed and what helped better suited to poking fun at superheroes
about Reynolds — his quick-witted humour, kickstart his career as a young ac- than playing them straight, which, of course,
physicality and a wonderful earnestness. tor in the Canadian teen TV drama paved the way for the Deadpool pics.
Even when playing his most popular film Hillside. It wasn’t long before he was Free Guy shows us Reynolds at his child-
character, the potty-mouthed Deadpool, like best, an innocent who sees the world as
Reynolds makes us believe that he’ll always a strange and wonderful place. He admits the
do what’s right. world isn’t so wonderful at the moment but
“If you look at Blue Shirt Guy or Deadpool, believes our current feelings of uncertainty
↓
most people might say these are very different, Free Guy’s Ryan Reynolds
can be a catalyst for good.
disparate kind of characters,” says Reynolds, and Jodie Comer “One of the great gifts that the world is
offering us right now — and I say this under-
standing that it’s easy for me to say it from
where I sit — is that the world is uncomfort-
able right now. People are uncomfortable. And
that is a real impetus to growing and chang-
ing and pushing forward and drawing people
from rest to effort. That can create new and
better worlds.
“I’m never going to be the guy that’s un-
welcoming of change. I love change. I want
change for my kids, I want the world to be
more equitable. I want all of those things.”

Ingrid Randoja is the deputy editor of

Cineplex Magazine.

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 23

24 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020
 ABOUT
FACE
Frances McDormand says that every line on her
face, every crease of her skin, connects
her to the landscape at the heart of Nomadland

ONE OF THE MOST SATISFYING “What I love about the faces in

things Frances McDormand’s heard Nomadland is that we’re all mature,
about her work in the past few years so if you see a saguaro cactus it’s
is that a closeup of her face is like almost the same as Swankie and
visiting a national park. She loves that. Bob Wells and Linda May and me,”
“There is something about an said McDormand, referring to her
unaltered, aging face that [is] kind Nomadland co-stars — non-actors
of like a landscape, it’s like a natural who play versions of themselves in
landscape,” McDormand enthused the film that won the People’s Choice
during a virtual Q&A session at this Award at the Toronto fest.
year’s Toronto International Film “As I get older, one of the most
Festival. important things to me is I’ve got
That “national park” comment to be in the environment that my
was made about McDormand’s cellular structure is going to go back
Oscar-winning performance in in and feed, and that’s not concrete
2017’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, and brick, that’s dirt,” McDormand
Missouri, but she says it applies just continued.
as much to her new film Nomadland. “I think that Chloé has a real con-
Directed by Chloé Zhao, the film nection to the cycle of human life,
is based on Jessica Bruder’s non- and that the exploration of a group of
fiction book about a community of older people — of elders, of seniors,
American seniors who live out of of seasoned people — is a part of
trailers and RVs, not for the love of that landscape too, and so the desert
the lifestyle, but because poverty and landscape is the perfect place to
circumstance have put them there. put us.” —MARNI WEISZ

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 25

 TA I LO R - M A D E
PREQUEL
Although he didn’t know he was going to make a
prequel at the time, the story for Matthew Vaughn’s
Kingsman origins story, The King’s Man, was all
there in the first movie — in one three-minute scene.
Here the writer-director and his franchise’s
new star, Ralph Fiennes, banter about making this
third film, which is slated to hit theatres in February,
and come up with an idea for the fourth

BY MARNI WEISZ
 Director Matthew Vaughn (left) on
The King’s Man set with actors
Robert Aramayo (centre) and Ralph Fiennes

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 27

 FTER MAKING HIS

A
first two Kingsman films
— slick, fun and decid-
edly violent spy movies
set in the present day
and starring Colin Firth
and Taron Egerton —
writer-director Matthew Vaughn was
itching to do something a little differ-
ent. He wanted to make a period piece,
something like Lawrence of Arabia or
The Man Who Would Be King, the rousing,
history-based movies he remembered
from his childhood.
So, it seems, he had two choices. Either
start from scratch and come up with
something new, or find a way to make that
period film work within the confines of
his Kingsman series. He chose the latter.
“First, I thought, how am I going to raise
a lot of money to make the film that’s in
my head and then tell everyone it’s an epic Ralph Fiennes
adventure movie? Hollywood would have (left) and Harris
questioned it more,” says Vaughn during a Dickinson in
The King’s Man
Zoom interview alongside the star of his Inset: Director
new movie, Ralph Fiennes. “Put Kingsman Matthew Vaughn
in the title, they didn’t question it for a
second.
“But also,” he continues, “I was trying
to come up with what my epic adventure
would be, and I had the story in my mind
that I’d already created, the story was al- Kingsman: The Secret Service and its 2017
ready there from the first Kingsman film.” follow-up Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
You may remember a scene in 2014’s After a couple of delays the film is now
Kingsman: The Secret Service in which scheduled to hit theatres in February.
Firth’s spy Harry Hart explains to his young,
rough-around-the-edges recruit Eggsy
(Egerton) the origins of the shadowy spy
agency named after a tailor shop. FIENNES PLAYS THE DUKE OF OXFORD,
“Since 1849 the Kingsman tailors have one of those powerful individuals who,
clothed the world’s most powerful indi- having previously fought in a war is now
viduals,” Firth began. “By 1919 a great a pacifist…of sorts. He sees a group of
number of them had lost their heirs to tyrants and criminal masterminds, in-
World War I. That meant a lot of money cluding the Russian mystic Rasputin
going uninherited and a lot of powerful (Rhys Ifans), joining up to push human-
men with a desire to preserve peace and ity toward the First World War and, along
protect life. Our founders realized they with his butler Shola (Djimon Hounsou), ROLE MODEL
could channel that wealth and influence a warrior from Africa, and his son’s nanny Djimon Hounsou,
for the greater good. And so began our Polly (Gemma Arterton), a skilled code- who plays the
Duke of Oxford’s
other venture, an independent, interna- breaker, tries to correct the course of righthand man, Shola,
tional intelligence agency operating at the history. started his career as
highest level of discretion.” While just as slick as its predecessors, a model after being
It was in that scene, one he’d written this third film is more dramatic according encouraged to do so
by fashion designer
years ago, that Vaughn found the story to Fiennes, whose Duke of Oxford has a Thierry Mugler.
for The King’ s Man , t he pre q uel to vested interest in keeping his boy Conrad

28 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

 CLEVER
CASTING
Look for
Tom Hollander in
the triple role of
King George V
(bottom left),
Kaiser Wilhelm II
(centre) and
Tsar Nicholas II
(right), the real-life
cousins who ruled
England, Germany
and Russia
respectively.

Vaughn’s own life reads like a movie. actors. And yet they do keep in touch.
Aside from the whole being married to “I had lunch with Colin only two weeks
Claudia Schiffer thing the 49-year-old ago or three weeks ago,” says Fiennes.
director was raised believing American Did they speak about the Kingsman
actor Robert Vaughn (TV’s The Man From films?
U.N.C.L.E.) was his father. It wasn’t until “They got a little doll of me and they
2002 that he found out his real dad was were both ripping it apart,” jokes Vaughn.
an English aristocrat by the name of “No, no, no,” says Fiennes, who claims
George De Vere Drummond, the godson to be having trouble remembering the
of King George VI. details of the conversation thanks to
While the idea for the Kingsman movies large amounts of pasta and wine. “It’s all
came to him as he was sitting, bored, in a happy blur.”
a tailor shop, the tone of the films — “I think we did talk about making films
upper-crust meets shocking but often for Matthew,” he finally recalls. “But it
(Harris Dickinson) from going off to fight funny cartoon violence — well, that came was all very positive. I would love to work
in the war. from his frustration with how serious the with Colin. I mean, I know him socially of
“Its emotional centre is a father/son James Bond movies had become. course and I have a very high regard for
relationship,” says Fiennes. “I would say Vaughn says it’s a bit awkward bringing his him as an actor.”
to Matthew that everything is anchored it up in front of Fiennes, who currently Vaughn pipes up. “It would be great
off that. Within the first first 10 minutes of plays M in the storied 007 franchise that’s Ralph, we should do The Godfather II
the film you understand why that particu- set to continue with No Time to Die, but of the Kingsman world,” he says, evok-
lar father/son relationship is so defined in that he and his friend comic-book writer ing the middle Godfather film which
a very specific way.” Mark Millar were getting smashed in a pub weaves together the 1917 story of a young
when the topic came up. Don Corleone (Robert De Niro) with the
“We were just drinking and saying, like, 1958 story of his son Michael (Al Pacino),
what’s happened to Bond? Where’s the though the two actors never share the
BOTH MEN ARE, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN humour, where’s this, where’s that?” screen.
their lives, doing interviews via Zoom Asked to respond to Vaughn’s assess- It could happen. Vaughn has expressed
instead of in person. ment of the Bond films Fiennes barely interest in doing more Kingsman movies,
Vaughn — who, prior to the Kingsman has a word out before his director shouts, each one exploring a different decade of
films was best known for directing “No comment!” the spy agency’s history.
Layer Cake, Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class “Matthew, you have to find a way to
— is in Suffolk, England, where he lives bring us together,” says Fiennes.
with his wife, model Claudia Schiffer, and “I’d love to. You know what, that would
their three children, and Fiennes is in a I T ’ S A B I T O F A S U R P R I S E T H AT be fun,” says Vaughn. “That really would
hotel room in Rome, where he’s been Fiennes hasn’t worked with the Kingsman be fun.”
staying for a few weeks — not working, franchise’s original star, Colin Firth, since
just living. 1996’s The English Patient. They are, after Marni Weisz is the editor of
“He’s disappearing,” jokes Vaughn. all, two of Britain’s foremost dramatic Cineplex Magazine.

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 29

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MOV IE
PREVIEW WE CAN’T SAY GOODBYE
TO 2020 FAST ENOUGH.
AFTER SUFFERING
THROUGH DEL AY AFTER DEL AY WE’RE
SO E XCITED TO WELCOME THE BOUNT Y
THAT IS E XPECTED TO COME WITH THE
YE AR 2021. A COMBINATION OF 2020
HOLDOVERS AND FLICKS
THAT WERE ALWAYS SL ATED
FOR THE COMING YE AR, THE
NE XT 1 2 MONTHS PROMISE
A VERITABLE BUFFET OF
THE ATRICAL DELIGHTS.
BRING. IT. ON.
BY INGRID R ANDOJA
& MARNI WEISZ

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 31

2021 MOVIE PREVIEW

32 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

 FIND CURRENT RELE A SE DATE S ON CINEPLE X .C OM

INTERVIEW

QUIET PLEASE
DIRECTOR JOHN KRASINSKI REVISITS THE
SILENT WORLD HE CREATED THREE YEARS AGO
FOR THE SCARY SEQUEL, A QUIET PLACE PART II

WE’VE BEEN NERVOUSLY WAIT- Murphy was so enamoured with

ing to see how A Quiet Place’s 2018’s A Quiet Place that he wrote
resilient Abbott family — mom Krasinski an email telling him
Evelyn (Emily Blunt), deaf daugh- how impressed he was, but then
ter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), decided it was cheesy and never hit
son Marcus (Noah Jupe) and the send. A year later Murphy got the
new baby — are faring in a world call asking him to be in the sequel.
full of monsters who use sound The first film was a huge hit,
to hunt humans. The earning more than $300-million
sequel, A Quiet Place (U.S.) worldwide and served as
A QUIET
Part II, continues their a coming-out party for Krasinski
PLACE
PART II terrifying journey and as a director. The boyish star
for writer- director from TV’s The Office showed off a
DIRECTOR
JOHN KRASINSKI John Krasinski the myriad of filmmaking skills —
(A QUIET PLACE ) follow-up film is all deftly crafting teeth-chattering
STARRING about dealing with tension, heart-wrenching drama
EMILY BLUNT,
MILLICENT
new monsters — oth- and big action pieces.
SIMMONDS, er humans. “Now you The Boston native graduated
CILLIAN MURPHY
get to see how other from Brown University and then
people have survived, attended the National Theater
but I don’t think anybody did Institute before making his way to
it as well as our family, so that’s New York where he waited tables
what’s so scary,” Krasinski told until his acting career took off.
us in an interview earlier this year. “I went to a theatre school
Newcomers Cillian Murphy whose whole tagline is ‘Risk. Fail.
and Djimon Hounsou play survi- Risk Again,’ and I live my life by
vors the family meets when they that, artistically at least,” he says.
leave their isolated farm and head So far, the risks are paying off.
out into the open. Apparently, —IR

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 33

2021 MOVIE PREVIEW

GHOSTBUSTERS:
AFTERLIFE GOODBYE,
WHO YOU DIRECTOR
JASON REITMAN MR. BOND
GONNA CALL?
(TULLY)
STARRING WE’RE EXCITED TO SEE
FINN WOLFHARD,
MCKENNA GRACE, HOW NO TIME TO DIE WRAPS
MURRAY, AYKROYD AND HUDSON RETURN, BILL MURRAY UP DANIEL CRAIG’S 007
BUT THIS NEW GHOSTBUSTERS FILM STORY ARC, AND TO MEET
FOCUSES ON A WHOLE NEW GENERATION THE FRANCHISE’S NEW
GOODIES AND BADDIES
It took more than 30 years play siblings living in a small town
to find the right script and who discover their grandfather, Call it the
director, and to cajole a reluctant Egon Spengler (the late NO TIME long goodbye.
Bill Murray to return for a third Harold Ramis), was an original TO DIE No Time to Die,
film in the original series, Ghostbuster and they’ll need his
DIRECTOR featuring
following Ghostbusters (1984) assortment of ghostbusting tools CARY JOJI Daniel Craig’s
and Ghostbusters II (1989). to fight the supernatural forces FUKUNAGA
(BEASTS OF (reportedly)
Ivan Reitman directed the first haunting their town. They also get
two films, but here he passes the a helping hand from grandpa’s
NO NATION) final spin
torch to son Jason Reitman, who former crew, including Venkman STARRING as 007, was
DANIEL CRAIG, one of the
in turn passes the ghostbusting (Bill Murray), Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) RAMI MALIK,
duties to a younger generation. and Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson). ANA DE ARMAS first films
Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard delayed by
the pandemic,
which means we’ve been
waiting a long time to see how
TOM HOLLAND’S BIG YEAR his Bond will bow out. The film
is rumoured to tie up loose
If all goes according videogame series, and,
to plan, we’ll see finally, swings back ends and answer lingering
Tom Holland in three into action as Peter questions that go all the
films this year, beginning Parker in Spider-Man 3 way back to Casino Royale,
with Chaos Walking. The (no official title as of Craig’s first film as Bond.
dystopian drama is set yet) late in the year. In this pic, the superspy
on a planet where a virus Since Peter’s mentor faces off against a villain
has seemingly killed all Tony Stark died in named Safin (Rami Malek),
women, so Holland’s Avengers: Endgame,
reunites with love interest
character Todd Hewitt is it’s Doctor Strange
Dr. Madeleine Swann
astonished when he comes (Benedict
(Léa Seydoux) and enlists
across a lady named Viola Cumberbatch)
(Daisy Ridley). Holland keeps who’ll guide the the help of CIA operative
the action-adventure theme young superhero Paloma (Ana de Armas)
going with Uncharted, the going forward. and new 00 agent Nomi
adaptation of the popular (Lashana Lynch).

34 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020 TOM HOLLAND PHOTO BY VERA ANDERSON/GETTY

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MORBIUS
DIRECTOR
DANIEL

NEW BLOOD
ESPINOSA
(LIFE)
STARRING
JARED LETO,
ADRIA
ARJONA,
JARED LETO ENTERS THE MARVEL MATT SMITH A SECOND
UNIVERSE AS MORBIUS, AN ANTIHERO DOSE OF VENOM
FIGHTING A RARE BLOOD DISEASE Another Spider-Man baddie
returns to the big screen in
Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
JARED LETO WAS SORELY DISAPPOINTED as a villain. Leto plays biochemist The sequel to 2018’s Venom is
when he lost the role of the Joker to Michael Morbius, who was born with set to arrive next summer with
Joaquin Phoenix for the standalone a rare blood disease that is killing him. the always watchable Tom Hardy
Joker pic. Yet, that meant he could In a final attempt to stay alive he infects returning as Eddie Brock, the
human host to a violent alien
star as antihero Morbius in Sony’s himself with bat’s blood that transforms
being, and Woody Harrelson
adaptation of the Marvel comic-book him into a superbeing with a taste for as a serial killer infected with
series, a spinoff from the Spider-Man blood. Adria Arjona plays Morbius’s a bad-tempered alien named
series where Morbius first appeared love interest, Martine Bancroft. Carnage.

MARVEL’S NEXT PHASE: BLACK WIDOW AND BEYOND

Marvel’s post-Avengers as the titular martial-
universe takes shape next arts warrior who battles
year with the release of the nefarious Mandarin
Black Widow, which is set (Tony Leung).
before Endgame but feels And Marvel hopes to
more like a swan song end the year strong
for Natasha Romanoff with Eternals, directed
(Scarlett Johansson) as by Chloé Zhao, which
she returns home to introduces us to a group of
Russia after the events of immortals living on Earth.
Captain America: Civil War Created by the Celestials,
to confront her painful past. these gods are sworn to
The Phase Four protect the planet from Kumail Nanjiani, Salma be enough to make us
movies continue with the evil Deviants. The film’s Hayek, Kit Harington forget the Avengers but
Shang-Chi and the Legend stellar cast, including and Lauren Ridloff (who should deliver that shot
of the Ten Rings, which Richard Madden, Angelina plays the MCU’s first of superhero star power
stars Canadian Simu Liu Jolie, Gemma Chan, deaf superhero), won’t we crave.

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 35

2021 MOVIE PREVIEW

INTERVIEW

A LITTLE
RESPECT
BEFORE HER DEATH, ARETHA FRANKLIN HANDPICKED
JENNIFER HUDSON TO PLAY HER IN THE STORY OF
HER LIFE. WELL, THAT’S QUITE AN ENDORSEMENT

JENNIFER HUDSON WAS STILL While Cats was mercilessly

working on the big-screen adap- panned (despite Hudson’s im-
tation of the musical Cats when pressive vocal contributions)
she started prepping for a role when it came out in December
she’d been circling for 15 years — 2019, Respect looks much more
the late R&B great Aretha Franklin promising. It traces Aretha’s life
in the bio-pic Respect. from her childhood singing gos-
Moving back and forth between pel in Detroit to signing first with
productions wasn’t easy consid- Columbia and then
ering she had to shift between Atlantic Records where
radically different vocal styles on she became a star. RESPECT
a dime. Think of “Memories,” her Hudson was hand- DIRECTOR
LIESL TOMMY
dramatic ballad from Cats on the picked by Franklin (DEBUT)
one hand, and Aretha’s power- (who passed away in STARRING
house anthems like “Think” and 2018) shortly after she JENNIFER HUDSON,
MARY J. BLIGE,
“Respect” on the other. finished making her FOREST WHITAKER
“I’m trying to figure out a bal- very first movie, 2006’s
ance between the two,” she said Dreamgirls. She won a
over the phone at the time, while Best Supporting Actress Oscar
literally on the way from a Cats for that performance, outshin-
junket to the set of Respect at ing even Beyoncé, who starred
L.A.’s Universal Studios. in the film.
“‘Memory,’ the approach and “We would say, ‘Okay, what
music and the genre is more are you going to do to top this?’”
operatic and uses the softer sides recalled Hudson. “The only thing
and the lighter sides of my voice. I could imagine, a dream of mine
And then there’s ‘Respect,’ or would be to play Aretha Franklin.
Aretha’s material, and it uses the And I think that was the start of
chest.” it all.” —MW

36 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

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HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 37

2021 MOVIE PREVIEW

DIESEL
FUMES
VIN DIESEL’S FOE IN THE
NEW FAST & FURIOUS PIC,
F9, IS HIS OWN LITTLE
BROTHER. WHO’S BIG
AND BAD ENOUGH TO PLAY
SAID BRO? JOHN CENA,
OF COURSE

There are two things the

Fast & Furious franchise
does really well — showcase
outrageous car stunts and
cast big, muscular men in
starring roles. Cue John Cena,
the latest strongman to join
IN THE the cast. He plays Dom’s
HEIGHTS (Vin Diesel) younger brother
DIRECTOR Jakob, a thief, assassin and
JON M. CHU
(CRAZY RICH high-performance driver
ASIANS)

NEW HEIGHTS
who teams with the villain
STARRING Cipher (Charlize Theron) to
ANTHONY RAMOS,
MELISSA BARRERA,
take down Dom. The film was
LIN-MANUEL shot in London, Scotland,
BASED ON THE LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA MIRANDA
Los Angeles, Thailand and
MUSICAL, IN THE HEIGHTS WILL
BE A BIG DRAW FOR HAMILTON FANS the Republic
of Georgia,
F9
Before Hamilton, there was loves hairdresser Vanessa and a few cast
DIRECTOR
In the Heights, a musical written (Melissa Barrera), is devoted members let it
JUSTIN LIN
by Lin-Manuel Miranda in his to neighbourhood matriarch (FAST & slip that some
freshman year of college and Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz) and FURIOUS 6) scenes will take
described, back then, as a hangs with friends Benny (Corey STARRING place in space.
hip-hop version of Rent. Hawkins) and Nina (Leslie Grace) JOHN CENA,
VIN DIESEL, That’s right, the
Like the play, the film is set in while dreaming of his ancestral
MICHELLE F&F producers
the largely Hispanic-American home, the Dominican Republic. RODRIGUEZ
New York neighbourhood of Expect the story’s politics to have upped their
Washington Heights and revolves be juiced up with references game to a whole
around bodega owner Usnavi to Dreamers and the current new level, providing us with
(played by Miranda in the state of race relations in America, out-of-this-world escapism.
Broadway version that won four and look for Miranda in the small
Tonys and by Anthony Ramos, role of the Piragua Guy, who sells
also from the cast of Hamilton, frozen treats.
here). As on Broadway, Usnavi

SPIELBERG
GOES WEST
Race relations also
take centre stage in
Steven Spielberg’s remake
of 1961’s West Side Story,
the musical set in 1950s
New York about a Polish boy
named Tony (Ansel Elgort)
who falls in love with a
Puerto Rican girl named
Maria (Rachel Zegler).

38 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

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TOP GUN:
MAVERICK
DIRECTOR
JOSEPH
KOSINSKI
(OBLIVION) ON A MISSION

NEED FOR SPEED STARRING

TOM CRUISE,
JENNIFER
Even a pandemic
can’t keep adrenaline
junkie Tom Cruise
CONNELLY,
AFTER MORE THAN 30 YEARS, TOM CRUISE CLIMBS BACK MILES TELLER from the action.
INTO THE COCKPIT FOR THE TOP GUN SEQUEL, MAVERICK The 58-year-old is
currently shooting
Mission: Impossible 7
Feeling cooped up? It’s time to cadets for a dangerous mission.
and has been spotted
fly the skies with Tom Cruise in One of his pupils is the feisty son
filming on top of a
this long-awaited sequel to 1986’s (Miles Teller) of his late pal Goose. moving train. Look for
Top Gun. Cruise reprises his role Jennifer Connelly plays Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 7
as navy pilot Pete “Maverick” love interest, and Val Kilmer is back to hit theatres toward
Mitchell, who is now a veteran flight as Iceman, who is now a four-star the end of the year.
instructor charged with training his admiral and chief of naval operations.

DENIS’
DUNE
DENIS VILLENEUVE
GETS HIS SHOT AT
ADAPTING DUNE

Sometimes the stars

MEDIEVAL
align, and the perfect
director finds the perfect
MULLET? project. That’s the case
with Canadian filmmaker
Matt Damon is spotted on the
Denis Villeneuve, who has
set of The Last Duel in Cahir,
County Tipperary, Ireland, with always wanted to adapt
what looks to us like a decidedly author Frank Herbert’s
1980s haircut. The film, which is classic sci-fi novel DUNE
being directed by Ridley Scott Dune and is on a sci-fi DIRECTOR
and co-stars Jodie Comer, DENIS
roll having recently
VILLENEUVE
Adam Driver and Matt’s friend helmed the acclaimed lead a rebellion and upend (BLADE
Ben Affleck, is based on the Blade Runner 2049 and the universe. We can’t RUNNER
Eric Jager book about besties 2049)
Arrival. Timothée Chalamet wait to see Chalamet’s
in 14th-century France who STARRING
plays Paul Atreides, who take on the complicated TIMOTHÉE
are ordered to fight to the death
arrives on the desert Atreides and Villeneuve’s CHALAMET,
after one accuses the other ZENDAYA,
of raping his wife. Look for planet Arrakis only to version of the planet’s OSCAR ISAAC
it on screens in late 2021. discover it’s his destiny to giant sandworms.

MATT DAMON PHOTO BY DEBBIE HICKEY/GETTY HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 39

2021 MOVIE PREVIEW

INTERVIEW

UP THE RIVER
INSPIRED BY THE CLASSIC DISNEY THEME PARK
RIDE, JUNGLE CRUISE PROMISES BAD JOKES,
GOOD FUN AND SOME SERIOUS CHEMISTRY BETWEEN
STARS DWAYNE JOHNSON AND EMILY BLUNT

DWAYNE JOHNSON GREW UP watched The African Queen right

largely in Tampa, Florida, as a before they went into production
self-proclaimed “Disney kid,” and sees the connection. “The
so when he was asked to star in idea of a journey together and the
Jungle Cruise — the adventure pic adventure and the unknown and
based on the original Disneyland travel and people being in a fish
ride that’s since been replicated out of water situation,” she says.
at Disney parks around the world Though, where Hepburn played
— it was a pretty big deal for the a missionary being transported
big man who already had a pretty to safety by Bogart’s riverboat
big career. captain, here it’s Blunt’s scien-
“We have enjoyed the parks tist who commissions
and the movies and the brand Johnson’s captain to JUNGLE
that Disney brings, and being take her deeper into the CRUISE
parents of little children, too... jungle to find the Tree of DIRECTOR
so cut to Jungle Cruise and this Life, which she thinks JAUME
opportunity that we had, it was has healing powers. COLLET-SERRA
(THE SHALLOWS)
pretty overwhelming,” Johnson “I really was taken by
STARRING
enthused during an interview in the spirit of the char- DWAYNE
Atlanta this past February, acter because, to be JOHNSON,
EMILY BLUNT
The ride has always owed honest, when I got of-
some of its inspiration to the fered it…I was like, ‘Oh,
movies as Imagineer Harper Goff I’m going to play the girlfriend
had the 1951 Humphrey Bogart/ role,” she said, “and then I read
Katharine Hepburn adventure it and I was like, ‘Wow, he’s the
pic The African Queen in mind girlfriend!’”
when he designed the attraction’s “I’m the girlfriend,” confirmed
riverboats. Johnson.“She’s the Indiana Jones.”
Johnson’s co-star Emily Blunt —MW

40 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

FIND CURRENT RELE A SE DATE S ON CINEPLE X .C OM

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 41

 FIND CURRENT RELE A SE DATE S ON CINEPLE X .C OM

JUNGLE
CRUISE
DIRECTOR
JAUME
COLLET-SERRA
INTERVIEW (THE SHALLOWS)

UP THE RIVER
STARRING
DWAYNE
JOHNSON,
EMILY BLUNT

INSPIRED BY THE CLASSIC DISNEY THEME PARK RIDE,

JUNGLE CRUISE PROMISES BAD JOKES, GOOD FUN AND SOME SERIOUS
CHEMISTRY BETWEEN STARS DWAYNE JOHNSON AND EMILY BLUNT

DWAYNE JOHNSON GREW UP LARGELY enthused during an interview in Though, where Hepburn played a
in Tampa, Florida, as a self-proclaimed Atlanta this past February, missionary being transported to safe-
“Disney kid,” so when he was asked The ride has always owed some ty by Bogart’s riverboat captain, here
to star in Jungle Cruise — the ad- of its inspiration to the movies as it’s Blunt’s scientist who commissions
venture pic based on the original Imagineer Harper Goff had the 1951 Johnson’s captain to take her deeper
Disneyland ride that’s since been Humphrey Bogart/Katharine Hepburn into the jungle to find the Tree of Life,
replicated at Disney parks around film The African Queen in mind when which she thinks has healing powers.
the world — it was a pretty big deal he designed the attraction’s riverboats. “I really was taken by the spirit of
for the big man who already had a Johnson’s co-star Emily Blunt the character because, to be honest,
pretty big career. watched The African Queen right be- when I got offered it…I was like, ‘Oh,
“We have enjoyed the parks and fore they went into production and I’m going to play the girlfriend role,”
the movies and the brand that Disney sees the connection. “The idea of a she said, “and then I read it and I was
brings, and being parents of little journey together and the adventure like, ‘Wow, he’s the girlfriend!’”
children, too...so cut to Jungle Cruise and the unknown and travel and “I’m the girlfriend,” confirmed
and this opportunity that we had, it people being in a fish out of water Johnson. “She’s the Indiana Jones.”
was pretty overwhelming,” Johnson situation,” she says. —MW

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 39

2021 MOVIE PREVIEW FIND CURRENT RELE A SE DATE S ON CINEPLE X .C OM

TOP GUN:
MAVERICK
DIRECTOR
JOSEPH
KOSINSKI
(OBLIVION) ON A MISSION

NEED FOR SPEED STARRING

TOM CRUISE,
JENNIFER
Even a pandemic
can’t keep adrenaline
junkie Tom Cruise
CONNELLY,
AFTER MORE THAN 30 YEARS, TOM CRUISE CLIMBS BACK MILES TELLER from the action.
INTO THE COCKPIT FOR THE TOP GUN SEQUEL, MAVERICK The 58-year-old is
currently shooting
Mission: Impossible 7
Feeling cooped up? It’s time to cadets for a dangerous mission.
and has been spotted
fly the skies with Tom Cruise in One of his pupils is the feisty son
filming on top of a
this long-awaited sequel to 1986’s (Miles Teller) of his late pal Goose. moving train. Look for
Top Gun. Cruise reprises his role Jennifer Connelly plays Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 7
as navy pilot Pete “Maverick” love interest, and Val Kilmer is back to hit theatres toward
Mitchell, who is now a veteran flight as Iceman, who is now a four-star the end of the year.
instructor charged with training his admiral and chief of naval operations.

DENIS’
DUNE
DENIS VILLENEUVE
GETS HIS SHOT AT
ADAPTING DUNE

Sometimes the stars

MEDIEVAL
align, and the perfect
director finds the perfect
MULLET? project. That’s the case
with Canadian filmmaker
Matt Damon is spotted on the
Denis Villeneuve, who has
set of The Last Duel in Cahir,
County Tipperary, Ireland, with always wanted to adapt
what looks to us like a decidedly author Frank Herbert’s
1980s haircut. The film, which is classic sci-fi novel DUNE
being directed by Ridley Scott Dune and is on a sci-fi DIRECTOR
and co-stars Jodie Comer, DENIS
roll having recently
VILLENEUVE
Adam Driver and Matt’s friend helmed the acclaimed lead a rebellion and upend (BLADE
Ben Affleck, is based on the Blade Runner 2049 and the universe. We can’t RUNNER
Eric Jager book about besties 2049)
Arrival. Timothée Chalamet wait to see Chalamet’s
in 14th-century France who STARRING
plays Paul Atreides, who take on the complicated TIMOTHÉE
are ordered to fight to the death
arrives on the desert Atreides and Villeneuve’s CHALAMET,
after one accuses the other ZENDAYA,
of raping his wife. Look for planet Arrakis only to version of the planet’s OSCAR ISAAC
it on screens in late 2021. discover it’s his destiny to giant sandworms.

40 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020 MATT DAMON PHOTO BY DEBBIE HICKEY/GETTY

IN THE WORKS
BY INGRID RANDOJA

Phoenix
Captures
Napoleon
Back in 2000 Joaquin Phoenix’s
dazzling turn as vengeful
Emperor Commodus in
director Ridley Scott’s Gladiator
announced his arrival as a
serious actor. Now, Phoenix
and Scott are reuniting for the
Napoleon Bonaparte bio-pic
Kitbag, which casts Phoenix
as the 19th-century French
general turned emperor
whose brilliant military mind
and huge ego allowed him to
conquer much of continental
Europe. Writer David Scarpa
(All the Money in the World)
is handling script duties.

TAYLOR-JOY
IS YOUNG FURIO SA
Charlize Theron’s turn as badass Furiosa was the
highlight of 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road and set the
table for a standalone Furiosa film. Theron was
understandably disappointed when she learned
t h e m ov i e wo u l d b e a p re q u e l , w h i c h m e a n t
they’d need a younger actor for the role. Now we
hear that Anya Taylor-Joy (Emma) has landed the
coveted part. Aside from her physical resemblance
to Theron, Taylor-Joy has the acting chops for
the job. She’ll be joined by Chris Hemsworth and
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in unspecified roles.

42 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

 PATEL
PL A N S M URDER S
Dev Patel continues to choose inter-
esting roles, having recently played a
Dickens hero (The Personal History of
David Copperfield) and medieval knight
(The Green Knight). Now he takes on a
seedier part in a still untitled film from
I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie about the
real-life Chippendale Murders. Patel will
play Steve Banerjee, who co-founded
the Chippendales dance troupe in 1979
and was jailed for orchestrating the mur-
der of the troupe’s choreographer and
planning the murders of other dancers.

MCAVOY

ZENDAYA
IMPROV I S E S
It’s an acting challenge James McAvoy
couldn’t pass up. My Son — the English
remake of the French film Mon garçon
E Y E S S PECTOR — casts McAvoy as a father looking for
his missing boy. However, McAvoy isn’t
Zendaya’s career is skyrocketing. The 24-year-old made history as the working from a script, he’s improvising
youngest woman to win a Lead Actress Emmy, which she did for Euphoria, his scenes with the other actors, who
and now she’s eyeing her first lead role in a movie. She’s in negotiations to do know what the scenes are about
play Ronnie Spector in the bio-pic Be My Baby, which chronicles Spector’s and guide the action. Claire Foy plays
rise as a member of the ’60s R&B girl group The Ronettes and her abusive McAvoy’s ex-wife, and Christian Carion,
marriage to music producer Phil Spector, who stole the rights to her who directed the original French film,
music and kept her a prisoner in their home. helms the remake.

PHOTOS BY VERA ANDERSON/GETTY (JOAQUIN PHOENIX, ANYA TAYLOR-JOY); BRENDON THORNE/GETTY (ZENDAYA); HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 43
GEOFF ROBINS/GETTY (DEV PATEL); JON KOPALOFF/GETTY (JAMES MCAVOY)
 C H O O S E YO U R

MOVIEGOING
ADVENTURE
Seeing a movie in a “regular” Cineplex theatre is already so much
better than the best home cinema — the sound, the picture, the size!
But filmmakers are coming up with increasingly mind-blowing ways
to tell their stories, whether those films take place in space, underwater
or even on another world. Fortunately, innovative theatre formats are
keeping pace to take you deeper than ever into the action. There’s
UltraAVX, IMAX, ScreenX, D-BOX, 4DX and VIP. So what’s the difference?

BY GILLIAN BERNER

UltraAVX IMAX ScreenX

UltraAVX delivers the most Experience a larger, curved Wraparound screens cover
powerful picture quality with screen with an expanded three walls of the theatre
stunningly crisp image detail. aspect ratio for select films, creating an all-encompassing,
It also has the most impressive letting audiences see up to 270-degree experience!
in-theatre sound system, so you 26 percent more picture. Locations have recently
feel totally surrounded by the With brighter projection and expanded beyond Toronto
soundtrack and sound-effects powerful sound systems, these to Vancouver, Edmonton,
for maximum excitement. auditoriums place you in the Calgary, Ottawa and Halifax
Plus, you can enjoy it all from middle of every scene. as well.
comfortable reserved seats
with extended leg room. B E S T F O R : Films that were shot B E S T F O R : Movies set in places
with IMAX cameras — think of you'd like to visit but probably
B E S T F O R : Action, sci-fi and Christopher Nolan’s work, or any never will. Think of deep space
fantasy, where you want to movie with a sweeping landscape. or an underwater world.
lose yourself in the adventure.

44 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

 D-BOX 4DX VIP

Experience motion seats that 4DX is a one-of-a-kind Enjoy an indulgent night at the
move with the on-screen multisensory moviegoing movies with food, from tacos to
adventure. The best seats in experience. Expect full-motion truffle fries, and drinks delivered
the auditorium are reserved seating, wind, rain, mist, snow, right to your extra-comfy, wide
for D-BOX, so you’re guaranteed back and leg ticklers, fog, leather seats in an intimate
a great view. air jets, scents, lightning and environment. Enhance your
bubbles, all timed with the kid-free evening with a custom
B E S T F O R : When you want to movie for a seamless theatrical cocktail at Cineplex’s licensed
actually feel the speed of a adventure. lounge before or after the movie.
car chase, the shaking of an
earthquake, the tilt of a quickly B E S T F O R : Thrill seekers B E S T F O R : Treating yourself to a
wanting an all-around sensory
turning spacecraft or the carefree date night or girls’ night
experience. It’s best enjoyed
rumble of a passing herd of out when you want a break from
with action, superhero, horror
dinosaurs. and sci-fi films. the kids…and someone to serve
you for a change.

PHOTO BY GILAXIA/GETTY; ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHRIS PHILPOT HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 45

CINEPLEX STORE WATCH AT HOME: YOUR GUIDE TO NEW RELEASES
AVAILABLE TO RENT OR BUY FROM CINEPLEXSTORE.COM

SCI-FI

TENET ↑
DEDICATED CHRISTOPHER NOLAN FANS the role, and as he explained to Cineplex Magazine John David Washington
made the trek to cinemas to see the director’s in an interview earlier this year, that meant (left) and Robert Pattinson
in Tenet
latest mind-bending epic, but for those who training with Navy Seals. “I got to work with a
couldn’t grab a socially distanced cinema seat lot of guys that served, and the mentality you
the film arrives on the small screen with the have to have is in this character. To not just give
same large expectations. his life for the mission, but more importantly
While the movie’s plot is profoundly com- for the people he’s working with, that mentality
plex, the basic premise sees a CIA agent called stuck with me. It was a character I wish I could
Protagonist (John David Washington) and an be in real life.” LUCKY SEVEN
Sir Michael Caine
operative from the secret Tenet organization Another thrill for viewers is the film’s far- plays an intelligence
(Robert Pattinson) teaming up to stop Russian flung locations. Tenet was filmed in the U.K., officer in Tenet,
oligarch Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh), Norway, Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy and the making it the seventh
time Caine has been
who can communicate with the future, from U.S. What was Washington’s favourite location? seen in a Nolan film
assembling a device that will wipe out human- “Mumbai was the place I connected to the
REAL DEAL
ity. Jaw-dropping action scenes keep our heads most,” he says. “I actually had planned on [re- That Boeing 747 that
spinning and no Nolan film is complete without turning] before this pandemic. I really wanted crashes into a hangar
a powerful score, this one courtesy of composer to get back to India and as soon as I can I plan in the film is real.
It was cheaper to
Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther), that adds a on going back.” —IR buy an old plane than
layer of emotional fervour to an already intense create the crash with
visual effects
viewing experience. BUY: DECEMBER 15
John David Washington threw himself into RENT: JANUARY 5

46 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020 ALL FILMS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT CINEPLEXSTORE.COM UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.
DRAMA

THE NEST
Jude Law and Carrie Coon shine in this sharp drama set in the greed-
soaked 1980s that finds desperate businessman Rory (Law) moving
his family back to England after failing to make it big in New York. It’s
H O L I D AY
a delicate dance for Rory, who’s struggling financially and alienated
from his unhappy wife Allison (Coon) who sees through her husband’s
crumbling veneer. Director Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene) FATMAN
slowly builds the tension, allowing his stars to expertly explore the
Take a break from sugary, feel-good
nooks and crannies of their complicated characters.
Holiday films with this dark comedy
starring Mel Gibson as bitter and
disillusioned Chris (a.k.a. Santa Claus),
who lives in Alaska and bemoans the
state of the world. When he gives nasty
rich kid Billy (Chance Hurstfield) a piece
of coal for Christmas, the little ruffian
sends a hitman (Walton Goggins) to
take out the “Fatman.”

Watch Cineplex Store

movies on a variety
of devices
▪ Enjoy on your mobile
device, tablet or Apple TV
HORROR
by downloading the
Cineplex Store app on the
POSSESSOR App Store or Google Play.
▪ Stream on your computer
Back in 2012 it looked like Brandon Cronenberg was all set to follow in
(please use Chrome on Macs).
his father David’s footsteps with his debut techno-horror film Antiviral,
▪ Watch on your LG Smart TV
but the younger Cronenberg has been focusing on smaller projects
(2012 model or later) or
since. Now he returns with Possessor, an unsettling drama starring
Samsung Smart TV (2013
Andrea Riseborough as Tasya Vos, who has been implanted with a
or later with Smart Hub).
device that enables her to take control of another person’s body and
▪ Connect via your TV and a
use it to carry out assassinations. However, she breaks protocol when
Roku device or Chromecast.
she takes control of a man named Colin Tate (Christopher Abbott),
who fights back against the intruder inside him.

HOLIDAY 2020 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE 47

CINEPLEX STORE
PERIOD PIECE

THE PERSONAL HISTORY

OF DAVID COPPERFIELD
S I M P LY D E L I G H T F U L I S H OW W E
describe director Armando Iannucci’s
(The Death of Stalin, TV’s Veep) take
on Charles Dickens’ classic 1850 novel
David Copperfield.
Iannucci brings a light comedic touch
to the story of Copperfield, who is shuf-
fled off to boarding school as a boy and
encounters a variety of fascinating folks
as he grows up to become a writer.
Dev Patel is wonderful as Copperfield,
wide-eyed and energetic, and as the ac-
tor explained to Cineplex at the Toronto
International Film Festival, the film is all ↑
Caption TKTKTK
about friendship.
“David Copperfield is a coming-of-age
story about a young man trying to find
his place in the world and owning who he
really is,” said Patel. “It’s his journey to
become a writer and it really is an ode to
friendship and to the help of friends and Hugh Laurie as her eccentric lodger would normally never be cast in a Dickens
family getting you somewhere in life and Mr. Dick, Ben Whishaw as the smarmy pic the chance to shine. “I think that
not forgetting that, and when you get up to Uriah Heep, Rosalind Eleazar as David’s Armando’s idea was I just want to cast
the top floor, send the elevator back down confidante Agnes and Peter Capaldi as the whoever I want to cast because I want
for your friends.” impoverished Mr. Micawber. kids in school to watch that and relate to
Patel’s supporting cast includes Tilda Iannucci breaks convention with his those people on screen,” said Patel. “So,
Swinton as his aunt Betsey Trotwood, colour-blind casting, giving actors who I’m just happy to be a part of it.” —IR

COMIC BOOK

THE NEW MUTANTS

Instead of focusing on the X-Men characters we know and
love, the 13th film in the X-Men franchise introduces us to
a new, and younger, band of mutants. We meet the troubled
Dani (Blu Hunt), Rahne (Maisie Williams), Sam (Charlie Heaton),
Illyana (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Bobby (Henry Zaga), who are
brought to an abandoned hospital where they can safely
learn to control their powers. The real action starts, though,
when they realize they’re prisoners and must band together
to escape. Filmed during the summer of 2017 and only
recently released the film showcases a cast of emerging
young actors and stars in the making.

48 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020 ALL FILMS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT CINEPLEXSTORE.COM UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.
SCREEN TEST
1.
Which NHL player had
6.
Name the Kurt Russell movie
a cameo as angry that told the true story of
diner patron Seabass in a ragtag U.S. team that
Dumb and Dumber? beat the mighty Soviets
a) Cam Neely at the 1980 Olympics.
b) Bob Probert a) Miracle
c) Tie Domi b) Mighty
d) Mark Messier c) Ice
d) Overtime

2. 7.
LACE
Who played the
Charlestown Chiefs’ Which NHL team flew north to
coach in the cult take on a local pond-hockey

’EM UP
classic Slap Shot? team in the Russell Crowe
a) Richard Dreyfuss movie Mystery, Alaska?
b) Bill Murray a) Toronto Maple Leafs
c) Gene Hackman b) New York Rangers
d) Paul Newman c) Vancouver Canucks
d) L.A. Kings

3.
Which Canadian city 8.
did the Highlanders, Name the popular
Goon’s minor league French-Canadian film
hockey team, call franchise about an
home? amateur hockey league.
a) Saint John a) Les Sticks
b) St. John’s b) Les Boys
c) Halifax c) Les Pucks
d) Hamilton d) Les Goals

4.
Which real NHL
9.
Which of the following
franchise got its name actors did not have a role
from a 1992 Disney
Hockey movies in Youngblood, about minor
film about a Pee-Wee don’t come close league hockey team the
hockey team? to baseball or even Hamilton Mustangs?
a) Florida Panthers football movies in a) Rob Lowe
b) Tampa Bay Lightning the annals of film b) Patrick Swayze
c) Nashville Predators history. But if you’re c) C. Thomas Howell
d) Anaheim Ducks a real hockey fan you d) Keanu Reeves
know there are a few

5. 10.
that must be seen.
How well do you know
Who played a minor the movies about Which actor from the
league hockey enforcer Canada’s favourite Suicide Squad movies used
turned tooth fairy in the winter sport and the to play for a rec hockey
kids’ movie Tooth Fairy? actors who love it? team called the Assassins?
a) Dwayne Johnson Find out here. a) Margot Robbie
b) Liev Schreiber b) Jared Leto
c) Ryan Reynolds c) Will Smith
d) Mike Myers d) Joel Kinnaman

49 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

ANSWERS: 1. a, 2. d, 3. c, 4. d, 5. a, 6. a, 7. b, 8. b, 9. c, 10. a
ART OF FILM
Portraits
That Pop
Having worked as a scenic artist on
films and TV shows, Orlando, Florida,
painter Johannah O’Donnell appreciates
the artistry of movies — “everything
from set design to wardrobe to hair and
makeup,” she says. So it’s no surprise
that movie characters — usually female
ones — are often the subjects of her
acrylic portraits. “I tend to relate more
to the female characters in films,
and since all of my pieces contain an
element of self-portrait, painting women
just feels more natural to me.” Though
her portraits are dead ringers for the
actors they depict, O’Donnell explains
that each one also contains part of her
personality, “whether it’s in the choice
of subject matter, the colour scheme, or
even the background elements, who and
what I choose to paint, that’s ultimately
an expression of who I am.” —MW

TO SEE MORE GO TO
JOHANNAHODONNELL.COM

Clockwise from top, Saoirse Ronan

(The Grand Budapest Hotel), Juliette Lewis
(Cape Fear) and Uma Thurman (Pulp Fiction)

50 CINEPLE X MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2020

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