Interviews
Hard-hitting interviews conducted by the ever-vigilant CinemaNerdz film devotees.
Interview with Hannes Holm, writer/director of A Man Called Ove
A Man Called Ove (En man som heter Ove, 2015), is an emotional, inspiring drama with plenty of comic relief and one of the most feel-good films I’ve seen in quite a while. The film is a bildungsroman of its central character, Ove (Rolf Lassgård), who becomes a new version of his younger self through mourning the death of his wife. His process, as told by writer/director Hannes Holm, gracefully hig...[Read More]
Interview with Mike Birbiglia, writer/director/star of Don’t Think Twice
For years, an improve group called The Commune have been the stars of their small New York improv theater. The members of the group, Mile (Mike Birbiglia), Samantha (Gillian Jacobs), Jack (Keegan-Michael Key), Allison (Kate Micucci), Bill (Chris Gethard), and Lindsay (Tami Sagher) entertain audiences night after night by performing as a finely-tuned troop. But, by day, they have to support themsel...[Read More]
Interview with Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, Co-directors of Anomalisa
The Academy Award-nominated Anomalisa (Best Animated Feature) tells the story of Michael Stone (David Thewlis), husband, father, respected author, and a man crippled by what he considers a mundane life. On a business trip to Cincinnati, where he’s scheduled to speak at a convention of customer service professionals, he checks into the Fregoli Hotel. There, he is amazed to discover a possible...[Read More]
Interview with Jeremy Strong and John Magaro, Stars of The Big Short
Director Adam McKay’s new film, The Big Short, tells the story of a group of outsiders who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse of the 2000s and how betting on the collapse of the economy led them to some disturbing revelations on the nature of modern banking. The film, based on the best-selling book by Michael Lewis, stars Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Jeremy ...[Read More]
Interview with David Oyelowo, Star and Producer of Captive
In March 2005, Ashley Smith was held hostage in her apartment by Brian Nichols, an escaped killer hell-bent on seeing his newborn son. As Nichols kept Smith captive for seven hours, the pair slowly came to a crossroads between hope and despair. Smith had bonded with Nichols by reading aloud Rick Warren’s best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life. The new film, Captive, based on Smith’s account of ...[Read More]
Interview with Alex Garland, writer/director of Ex Machina
Alex Garland’s résumé reads like a laundry list of recent sci-fi and horror cult hits, with screenplay credits including 28 Days Later (2002), Sunshine (2007), and Dredd (2012). His latest, Ex Machina, may stand to follow that same path of cult adoration – although hopefully for Garland, its box office will follow more in the footsteps of 28 Days Later than those of Dredd. The sparse, character-dr...[Read More]
Interview with Anthony Mackie and Mike Binder, star and director of Black or White
Black or White is the story of a grandfather, Elliott Anderson (Kevin Costner), who is suddenly left to care for his granddaughter, Eloise (Jillian Estell), by himself. But, when her paternal grandmother, Rowena Jeffers (Octavia Spencer), seeks custody with the help of her lawyer brother (Anthony Mackie), poor Eloise is caught between two families. With the best intentions, both families fight for...[Read More]
Interview with Hollywood Legend Marion Ross, Star of A Reason
When you think about someone like Marion Ross, I suspect your mind is immediately taken back to memories of watching Happy Days on television. What you may not know is that Ross has been in show business since the mid-1950s and is showing no signs of stopping. Her latest role, in director Dominique Schilling’s A Reason, is a departure of sorts. Ross plays Aunt Irene, an elegant, yet villaino...[Read More]
Interview with Matthew Weiner, writer/director of Are You Here
The new film Are You Here follows Steve Dallas (Owen Wilson), a womanizing weatherman, and his slightly off best friend, Ben Baker (Zach Galifianakis), as they return to Ben’s childhood home after his estranged father passes away. Upon learning that Ben has inherited a majority of the family fortune, the two friends must deal not only with the strain these events are having on their friendship, bu...[Read More]
Interview with Emily Matthews, Cinetopia International Film Festival Marketing Director
Watching how Ann Arbor’s (and now also Detroit’s) Cinetopia Film Festival has grown each year has been exciting for a movie buff like me. Realistically, I’ll probably never make it to Cannes or Sundance, so to me, this is THE film festival – and it’s a festival that I’ll never get sick of talking about. When the lights go out and the first week of June rolls by, the p...[Read More]
Interview with David Posamentier and Geoff Moore, writers/directors of Better Living Through Chemistry
David Posamentier and Geoff Moore have been writing together for about ten years. Each has an impressive resume of films they’ve been a part of in some way. Posamentier worked for writer/director Zach Braff on Garden State. Moore has worked on such films as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and I Love You Phillip Morris. Having worked so long writing and developing projects for others, it seemed ine...[Read More]
Interview with Kevin Hart and Regina Hall, the co-stars of About Last Night
This Valentine’s Day the remake of the classic romantic comedy, About Last Night descends on theaters. The film, from director Steve Pink (Hot Tub Time Machine), is more of a reimagining of the 1986 and actually has more in common with the David Mamet play Sexual Perversity in Chicago on which both films are based. The new contemporary version two couples as they journey from the bar to the bedroo...[Read More]