Angelina Jolie says she took on the challenge of filming "Unbroken," which has defeated many before her, because she wanted to create a story of hope.
The second-time director is in Australia promoting the new film, the survival story of Olympic and World War II hero Louis Zamperini.
"I wanted to learn from Louis and be around this great man, but I wanted to put something out in the world that reminded us all of the strength of the human spirit and brotherhood and faith and all of the things that will, in the end, get us through these dark times," Jolie said.
Universal Studios purchased the rights to Laura Hillenbrand's book "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" in 2011, but it took the involvement of Jolie and screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen to finally bring it to the big screen.
"The fundamental turn in it becoming a movie was when Angelina came on," said producer Matt Baer at a news conference Tuesday. "She had the solutions to what had ailed the script prior, which was being able to figure out structurally along with the Coen brothers how to craft a movie that played with time and still maintained the essence of the character."
"Unbroken" was mostly shot in the Australian state of New South Wales and premiered in Sydney on Monday. It's scheduled to be released in the U.S. on Christmas Day.
British-born actor Jack O'Connell stars as Zamperini, who survived 47 days drifting in a life-raft at sea and was later a Japanese prisoner-of-war.
As part of the audition, O'Connell was locked in a dark cell and beaten with a rubber baton — but that was only the beginning of the difficulties he faced in the lead role.
"The biggest challenge of my life yeah, easily. It all accumulates to one pretty enormous test for me as an actor. But the whole time I had Louis' example constantly dwarfing whatever hardship I was experiencing. So once you accept the reality there, it would be very inconsistent of me to start feeling sorry for myself then."
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More