CHAPPIE

[jo]

More interviews, with Neill Blomkamp --

www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/412453-neill-blomkamp-on-the-origins-of-chappie#/slide/1

Excerpts --

CS: There’s other interesting casting besides Die Antwoord, because it’s a very different role for Hugh Jackman. I wouldn’t say it’s the most flattering role he’s played, but it’s a strange and unique character, so what made you think of him and did it take some convincing?


Blomkamp: No, he didn’t take any convincing. It was one of those… I can’t speak about why he took the role, but I always loved the character and I always thought he was such a weird villain, and I loved the idea of him being Australian and that Hugh could just keep his accent. It was kind of honest. He didn’t have to manipulate or change himself to fit the character, so I always wanted him. The second that name came up I was like, “God I hope he does this.” I love working with that guy. I would make a thousand films with him if I could. Such a good dude to have on set.

CS: And Vincent seems almost hyper-Australian, almost like a cartoon version of an Australian. Did you develop that character with Hugh or did you have in mind exactly what you wanted?


Blomkamp: I had imagery and stuff and photos of mullets and sh*t that I sent him. He was like, “Yeah, dude. Let’s just go all the way.” (laughs)

[jo]

I've seen quite a few comments on Vincent's costume

Is khaki the new black

[jo]

www.king5.com/story/entertainment/2015/02/26/hugh-jackman-celebrity-chappie-actor-star/23906359/

Hugh Jackman talks Seahawks, Starbucks, and "Chappie"

Kim Holcomb, KING 5 Staff 9:04 p.m. PST February 25, 2015




NEW YORK - In his new movie Chappie, Hugh Jackman plays the opposite of himself: a bad guy, with even worse hair.

"I'd like to know which you prefer, the (Chappie) mullet or Wolverine chops?" asked entertainment reporter Kim Holcomb.

"Mullet over the Wolverine," Jackman said. "The Wolverine is a lot of maintenance, there's a lot of hairspray involved there. The mullet is all business in the front, party in the back."

The hairstyle also elicited good memories for the actor. The first role he ever played on-screen required him to wear a mullet. It's also when he met his future wife, actress Deborra-Lee Furness.

"It was a nice throwback for us," he laughed.

Chappie is set in Johannesburg, South Africa. But Jackman was allowed to speak in his native Australian accent.

"It's sort of weird, when I saw the film, it felt odd to me," he said. "I very rarely, maybe three or four times, I've used my own accent. It was great."

As for Australia's famous "flat white" coffee being served by Seattle-based Starbucks, Jackman said he supports the addition to the menu.

"I was thrilled to see those ads," he said. "I actually have a coffee company called Laughing Man… and we've been serving flat whites for three years! And people come for them. So, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Jackman also answered questions submitted by viewers via social media.

Berta asked about his most difficult role, and he quickly answered, "Jean Valjean. Les Miserables."

Grace asked him to name his favorite NFL team.

"I'm going to let you down," he said apologetically. "I do love the Seahawks as a team. I've got a soft spot for them. But I'm a New York Giants fan."

Mike asked Jackman if he's a fan of any current Marvel comics.

"I did not grow up reading comic books at all. I now read them, but a lot of that's got to do with work, I have to be honest," Jackman answered. "My kids are not into them either."

"I try to get them into it, I make them watch my movies all the time," he continued, laughing. "'You can either do your homework or watch X-Men 3!' And they always want to do their homework, it's really annoying."

[jo]

Hugh and Sigourney in Paris --

[jo]

Hugh Jackman ‏@realhughjackman · 6m6 minutes ago
Merci France! chappiethemovie

http://instagram.com/p/zj9FWOihNt

[jo]

A fan responds to the Instagram message --

hen_helena
I definitely going to see Chappie! For you!

Moi, aussi

Jo

[jo]

Hugh Jackman @realhughjackman
· 33m 33 minutes ago
With the phenomenal Sigourney Weaver and the awesomely talented @neillblomkamp. Paris, France.…

http://instagram.com/p/zkAspoihBm

[jo]

[jo]

Broadway or Paris -- it's all the same


Jo

[jo]

Interview with Hugh and Sigourney in NYC --

www.myfoxny.com/clip/11178486/jackman-weaver


Btw, Hugh says he might have spoken too soon about his return to Broadway; he says he doesn't know yet when he will be doing it.


Jo

[jo]

hub.contactmusic.com/hugh-jackman/news/hugh-jackman-set-for-hologram-press-conference-in-europe_4611267

Berlin ... and Madrid, at the same time, by hologram.


Jo

[jo]

Hugh Jackman @realhughjackman
· 1m 1 minute ago
@grdjournal before the show. Awesome match. chappiethemovie Paris, France

http://instagram.com/p/zlZPh8ihBD

[jo]

Photocall in Berlin, Feb 27, 2015 --

[jo]

More Berlin photos --




Check out the rest of the gallery --

newzcard.com/card/maR1A1/actor-hugh-jackman-attends-a-photo-call-for-the-film-chappie-at-hotel-de-rome-on-february-27-2015

[jo]

Getting ready for the CHAPPIE FAN EVENT in Berlin!

[jo]

Hugh at the Fan Event --













Video clip --


www.youtube.com/watch?v=8THhN5ew428

Mats Karlsson ‏@matsmz · 1h1 hour ago
Attended a crazy fan event in Berlin for "Chappie". It's a joy to see how good Hugh Jackman is to his fans. He did a lot of selfies with em.

[jo]

And some fanboys, too --

[jo]

Ever the gentleman --

[jo]

Hugh Jackman @realhughjackman
· 1h 1 hour ago
The FIRST ever amazing HOLOGRAM PRESS CONFERENCE. #ChappieMovie @neillblomkamp Thank you Sony Spain &…

http://instagram.com/p/zpDBaLihIz

[jo]

[njr]

Feb 28, 2015 10:11:57 GMT -5 jo said:

I know Sigourney has high heels on, but they are all so tall!

Nancy

[jo]

variety.com/2015/film/news/hugh-jackman-neill-blomkamp-talk-chappie-at-historical-hologram-press-conference-1201443903/

Hugh Jackman, Neill Blomkamp Talk ‘Chappie’ at Historical Hologram Press Conference




Hugh Jackman, Neill Blomkamp Talk ‘Chappie’
February 28, 2015 | 09:49AM PT

Sony Spain’s beams in actor and star from Berlin, opening the door to novel Hollywood cost cuts



John Hopewell
International Correspondent

@john_hopewell


MADRID – Could Sony in Spain have come up with a solution to the costs and hassle of stars tub-thumping their latest movies worldwide?

On Saturday, in what Sony Pictures Releasing de España calls cinema’s first-ever holographic press conference, in this case staged for “Chappie,” the holograms of Hugh Jackman and Neill Blomkamp fielded questions from the Spanish press in Madrid – which the real-life Jackman and Blomkamp answered sitting in a hotel in Berlin.

Using Musion 3D holographic projection, in technical terms, the press conference was a stomping success. Bar a typical second-or-so delay in satellite sound transmission, quiescently sitting on stools, hands folded, the South African director and star of “Chappie” came over loud and clear. There were no cuts, nor blur. And neither spent the whole time, as in many video satellite link-ups, trying to stuff an electronic gizmo further into an ear.

In the case of the presser for “Chappie,” Blomkamp’s sci-fi actioner which Sony releases March 6, format of course matched substance.

Starting with the deployment of the world’s first police force of robot droids, it turns on Chappie (“District 9’s” Sharlto Copley, then a lot of CG work), an experimental robot who is stolen by its inventor (“Slumdog Millionaire’s” Dev Patel), and programmed and educated to think and feel for itself, starting out like a little child. Jackman stars as Vincent, a corrupt law enforcer, piloting his own highly-destructive monster-droid, and hell-bent on destroying Chappie.

“I loved the way that Neill has given a traditional, out-and-out villainous role a very valid argument against Artificial Intelligence,” said Jackman.

“My character is not alone. Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking have apparently come out with warnings against Artificial Intelligence. When you work on a Neill Blomkamp film you have that current of complexity,” he added.

“I used A.I. as a way in, an excuse to discuss in a pop-corn fun way the idea of what the soul and spirit are, what it means to be conscious and aware, and if they are definable by science or beyond what it can sum up,” Blomkamp explained.

He continued: “You have a fresh, childlike, innocent, pure soul born into a world which is a violent place,” referring to Cjappie. “I wanted A.I. to be more human than the humans. My views on A.I. are actually a little bit different from what is portrayed in the film. The humanistic nature of my films makes me want to use the science simply as an excuse to get to something human.”

Asked about 20th Century Fox’s new “Alien” film, to which he is just officially attached, Blomkamp said, “my job is to give the fans, including me, a movie that feels as linked to the first and second film as I can possibly handle. Everything about it needs to be connected to those movies. If I can make it my own in the way James Cameron made ‘Aliens’ his own, I can do it to that percentage, but never harming the tone of the first two movies.”

Sony in Spain has a reputation for fun, innovative pressers. A “Fury” presser was held at an army camp. A “The Smurfs 3D” junket took journalists to an Andalusia village, Juzcar, whose houses had all been painted blue.

‘Chappie’ is a film of action, of relations, but also highly technological. So we wanted to do something which was innovative and non-conventional, the first holographic press conference in the history of cinema,” said Ivan Losada, director general, Sony Pictures Releasing de España.

“The holographs allow us far more marketing not just because of the press conference’s content but also format,” he added. “In this business, you’ve got to be very serious about numbers, but also have fun.”

Will Europe no longer see Hollywood actors in the flesh? “I’m a little worried that the studios will say: ‘This is so much easier than having Hollywood divas traveling round,’” said Jackman. “As a kid, I used to have a map of the world next to my bed. Not of rock stars. As cool as holograms are, I really don’t want to stop traveling.”

Actor’s holograms open up large possibilities, as Losada observes. As Spanish box office has plunged with crisis, with Spain’s slipping out of the top 10 overseas territories, less stars have begun to visit.

“We always want the talents to come to our country to promote the movies but if they don’t, we are not going to waste our time just moaning, we have to find the way around. Necessity is the mother of the creativity,” Losada added.

The question could be, if stars agree to hologram press conferences, whether they would then travel less, or visit the same major pit stops, then knock off, say, 20 additional major cities in Latin America in one day, via holgram pressers. As international markets are so important these days, there’s a case for making a virtual virtue out of necessity.

[hughmanity]

Narration in Spanish, but here's the first moving image  (I've seen) of Hologram Hugh

m.youtube.com/watch?v=nFObdfYth7I

[jo]

The Press Conference in NYC --

www.blackfilm.com/read/2015/02/chappie-press-conference/


After listening to these exchanges ( where the questions were mostly directed towards Neill Blomkamp)...plus from some of the more serious print interviews -

*I think I am revising my expectations of this movie a lot. Because of the first trailer and even the second trailer, my understanding was that this would be more of a piece of pure entertainment. Of course, we know that the rating is R - and I took that literally for the MPAA exceptions so expressed. It looks like this is not film-lite ( so aptly described by Sigourney) but science-fiction that has serious underpinnings, especially so that the issues of "consciousness" and "sentience" underlie the storytelling. It seems like a profound movie, albeit packaged as a "human" story and possibly camouflaged as a fun movie with violent undertones. More seriously, the issue of artificial intelligence is brought forth as a real challenge.

This seems absolutely different from the story of Atom and Max and his Dad,  where an emotional underpinning is key to the story of the robot and how it helped develop the father-son relationship. Real Steel was more of an emotional journey, while CHAPPIE may be more of both emotional and intellectual aspects.

*I also take back what I said about Hugh likely taking this project because it might be a good career filler ( while resting from a series of past intense projects). I think he really has a good deal of respect for Neill Blomkamp as a filmmaker and welcomed the chance to play a character who, on the surface, is the opposition to AI. But Neill and the others seem to say that perhaps it is up to humans to shape the advance of AI to benefit rather than destroy human consciousness.

Hmmm...I hope the film delivers with the aspirations and inspirations of the auteur, his cast, and his creative team!

Hope this is not too much of an intellectual exercise either

PS: On the lighter side -- it seems the idea of working shorts as costume came from Hugh himself


Jo

[jo]

It looks like SONY is going very strong with the release plans --

2


Friday
6
NEW IN THEATERS DISTRIBUTOR RELEASE
Chappie
Sci-Fi Action Sony / Columbia 3,000+

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Comedy / Drama Fox Searchlight 1,400+

Unfinished Business
Comedy Fox 2,800

Other releases are for limited screen counts only.

CHAPPIE which has the largest screen count, is competing with the sequel to Exotic Marigold Hotel ( which also includes Dev Patel in its lineup) and Unfinished Business. Two Fox releases at the same time, with the same genre although Unfinished Business is more of lighthearted comedy?

From the previous 2 weeks major releases are holdovers and include Will Smith's Focus, Fifty Shades, and Kingsman.


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