Movie News
Taylor Swift Has 'No Complaints' About Starring in Cats: 'I Had a Really Great Time'. The singer starred as Bombalurina in the film, and wrote an original song titled "Beautiful Ghosts" for the soundtrack. Taylor Swift is addressing her role in Cats after the movie was widely panned by critics and fans. In a recent interview with Variety, Swift said that she had "no complaints" about starring in the movie, for which she was also nominated for a Golden Globe for best original song. (The singer, who wrote the song "Beautiful Ghosts" for the film, ended up losing the award to Elton John and Bernie Taupin's duet "I'm Gonna Love Me Again.") "I'm happy to be here, happy to be nominated, and I had a really great time working on that weird-ass movie," she told the magazine. Swift, 30, continued: "I'm not gonna retroactively decide that it wasn't the best experience. I never would have met Andrew Lloyd Webber or gotten to see how he works, and now he's my buddy. I got to work with the sickest dancers and performers. No complaints." Ahead of the Golden Globe Awards, the singer even laughed with Variety about her chances of winning the best original song prize: "Not a shot. Not a single chance. Not a snowball's chance in hell." Swift starred alongside Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, James Corden and Jennifer Hudson in the recently released movie, which is based on the hit stage musical and the 1939 poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. In the movie, the "Lover" singer plays Bombalurina, a flirtatious and self-assured cat with a distinctive red coat. The part was first made famous by Geraldine Gardner in 1981 during Cats' West End production, before Donna King and Marlene Danielle took on the role for the musical's Broadway run. "I really had an amazing time with Cats," Swift said in a December interview with British Vogue. "I think I loved the weirdness of it. I loved how I felt I'd never get another opportunity to be like this in my life." Swift collaborated with the legendary Webber, 71, to write the haunting song "Beautiful Ghosts" for Cats. In October, she gave fans an inside look at the creative process behind the song in a behind-the-scenes Cats featurette. It included footage of Swift and Webber working together on the track. "There was an ambition and aspiration to have an original song in the movie," she said in the clip. "Just very much this understanding of, 'Let's write the best song we can.'" Cats is in theaters now. (People)
'And Then We Danced' Wins Best Picture at Swedish Film Awards. Levan Gelbakhiani took best actor at Sweden's Guldbagge Awards for his debut in Levan Akin's drama, playing a gay ballet dancer in Georgia. Levan Akin's And Then We Danced, a gay coming-of-age tale set in the ballet scene in the staunchly conservative, and still very homophobic, country of Georgia in Eastern Europe, has won best film at the Guldbagge Awards, Sweden's top film honor. Levan Gelbakhiani took best actor for his debut role as a performer in the National Georgian Ballet who is thrown off balance by his growing attraction to a fellow male dancer. Akin also picked up a Guldbagge for best screenplay and the film won best cinematography for Lisabi Fridell. Best directing honors, however, went to Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja for Aniara, an experimental sci-fi drama based on the poem of the same name by Harry Martinson. Aniara stars Emelie Garbers and Bianca Cruzeiro took the Guldbagge for best actress and best supporting actress, respectively. The film's VFX team of Arild Andersson, Per Jonsson and Andreas Wicklund won best visual effects. Swedish star David Dencik (Chernobyl, McMafia) picked up the best supporting actor honor for his portrayal of Sture Bergwall, aka Thomas Quick, in Mikael Hafstrom's based-on-a-true-tale thriller The Perfect Patient, about a mental ill man who falsely confessed to being a serial killer. The 2020 Guldbagge Awards were handed out in Stockholm Monday night. (Hollywood Reporter)
Ai Weiwei Investigates Mexican Student Disappearance in 'Vivos' Trailer. Cinephil will handle international sales on the new documentary from the award-winning Chinese artist and filmmaker, which premieres in Sundance Jan. 24. What really happened to the 43 Mexican students who were "forcibly disappeared" on the night of September 26, 2014? That's the question Vivos, the new documentary from acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei sets out to answer. The convoy of college students were traveling by bus through the drug cartel-afflicted Guerrero state when they were brutally attacked by masked assailants abetted by the police. Six people were killed on site, dozens wounded. 43 students were disappeared. Their fate is still unknown. The first trailer for Vivos dropped today. The film will have its world premiere at Sundance on Friday, Jan. 24. Cinephil is handling international sales. The focus of the film is clearly on those left behind. Ai Weiwei lets his camera linger on the faces of the parents, siblings and friends of the disappeared as they recount their last moments with them, and their struggle to discover what really happened on that night in 2014. But the film is not just a careful study of grief and loss. After his time with the families, the director dives into the details of the case, investigating and questioning the government's "historic truth" that claims it was the drug cartels, with the help of corrupt local authorities, that murdered the students. The film explores the deep connections between the Narcos and the federal government and looks at the complicity of the United States, whose "war on drugs" has only made the situation worse. Ai Weiwei re-teams with Danish editor Niels Pagh Andersen, his partner on the award-winning refugee documentary Human Flow (2017) for Vivos. Philippa Kowarsky of Cinephil sees the new film as a continuation of the director's work of human rights activism. "In his work as director, as well as in his artistic practice, Ai has always highlighted the plight of the victims of corruption and abuse of power.," says Kowarsky. "With Vivos, Ai once again demonstrates the power of documentary film as an artistic as well as a political medium, and we are proud to be a part of getting his humanitarian message out to a wider audience." (Hollywood Reporter)
'And Then We Danced' Wins Best Picture at Swedish Film Awards. Levan Gelbakhiani took best actor at Sweden's Guldbagge Awards for his debut in Levan Akin's drama, playing a gay ballet dancer in Georgia. Levan Akin's And Then We Danced, a gay coming-of-age tale set in the ballet scene in the staunchly conservative, and still very homophobic, country of Georgia in Eastern Europe, has won best film at the Guldbagge Awards, Sweden's top film honor. Levan Gelbakhiani took best actor for his debut role as a performer in the National Georgian Ballet who is thrown off balance by his growing attraction to a fellow male dancer. Akin also picked up a Guldbagge for best screenplay and the film won best cinematography for Lisabi Fridell. Best directing honors, however, went to Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja for Aniara, an experimental sci-fi drama based on the poem of the same name by Harry Martinson. Aniara stars Emelie Garbers and Bianca Cruzeiro took the Guldbagge for best actress and best supporting actress, respectively. The film's VFX team of Arild Andersson, Per Jonsson and Andreas Wicklund won best visual effects. Swedish star David Dencik (Chernobyl, McMafia) picked up the best supporting actor honor for his portrayal of Sture Bergwall, aka Thomas Quick, in Mikael Hafstrom's based-on-a-true-tale thriller The Perfect Patient, about a mental ill man who falsely confessed to being a serial killer. The 2020 Guldbagge Awards were handed out in Stockholm Monday night. (Hollywood Reporter)
Ai Weiwei Investigates Mexican Student Disappearance in 'Vivos' Trailer. Cinephil will handle international sales on the new documentary from the award-winning Chinese artist and filmmaker, which premieres in Sundance Jan. 24. What really happened to the 43 Mexican students who were "forcibly disappeared" on the night of September 26, 2014? That's the question Vivos, the new documentary from acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei sets out to answer. The convoy of college students were traveling by bus through the drug cartel-afflicted Guerrero state when they were brutally attacked by masked assailants abetted by the police. Six people were killed on site, dozens wounded. 43 students were disappeared. Their fate is still unknown. The first trailer for Vivos dropped today. The film will have its world premiere at Sundance on Friday, Jan. 24. Cinephil is handling international sales. The focus of the film is clearly on those left behind. Ai Weiwei lets his camera linger on the faces of the parents, siblings and friends of the disappeared as they recount their last moments with them, and their struggle to discover what really happened on that night in 2014. But the film is not just a careful study of grief and loss. After his time with the families, the director dives into the details of the case, investigating and questioning the government's "historic truth" that claims it was the drug cartels, with the help of corrupt local authorities, that murdered the students. The film explores the deep connections between the Narcos and the federal government and looks at the complicity of the United States, whose "war on drugs" has only made the situation worse. Ai Weiwei re-teams with Danish editor Niels Pagh Andersen, his partner on the award-winning refugee documentary Human Flow (2017) for Vivos. Philippa Kowarsky of Cinephil sees the new film as a continuation of the director's work of human rights activism. "In his work as director, as well as in his artistic practice, Ai has always highlighted the plight of the victims of corruption and abuse of power.," says Kowarsky. "With Vivos, Ai once again demonstrates the power of documentary film as an artistic as well as a political medium, and we are proud to be a part of getting his humanitarian message out to a wider audience." (Hollywood Reporter)
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