“Logan,” the third movie focusing on Hugh Jackman’s Marvel superhero Wolverine, is to premiere at next month’s Berlin International Film Festival.
The film, directed by James Mangold (whose spotmaking/branded content roost is Aero Film), sees the aging Logan set out on a last adventure to protect a young girl with special powers in a post-apocalyptic world.
Patrick Stewart reprises his role as Professor X, while Richard E. Grant plays the villain Zander Rice.
It was among 13 further movies announced Tuesday for the lineup of the festival that opens Feb. 9.
Festival organizers said “Viceroy’s House,” a film about the 1947 partition of India starring Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Manish Dayal and Huma Qureshi, will also premiere in Berlin.
The festival’s top Golden Bear prize will be awarded Feb. 18 by a jury under Dutch director Paul Verhoeven.
Competition
The following films will be celebrating world or international premieres in the Competition of the Berlinale 2017.
Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja (On the Beach at Night Alone)
South Korea
By Hong Sangsoo (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, Right Now, Wrong Then)
With Kim Minhee, Seo Younghwa, Jung Jaeyoung, Moon Sungkeun, Kwon Haehyo, Song Seonmi, Ahn Jaehong, Park Yeaju
World premiere
El Bar (The Bar)
Spain
By Álex de la Iglesia (Mad Circus, The Day of the Beast, The Oxford Murders)
With Blanca Suárez, Mario Casas, Carmen Machi, Terele Pávez, Secun de la Rosa, Alejandro Awada, Joaquín Climent, Jaime Ordóñez
World premiere – Out of competition
Helle Nächte (Bright Nights)
Germany / Norway
By Thomas Arslan (Dealer, Vacation, In the Shadows, Gold)
With Georg Friedrich, Tristan Göbel, Marie Leuenberger, Hanna Karlberg
World premiere
Joaquim
Brazil / Portugal
By Marcelo Gomes (Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures, The Man of the Crowd, I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You)
With Julio Machado, Isabél Zuaa, Nuno Lopes, Rômulo Braga, Welket Bungué, Karay Rya Pua
World premiere
Logan
USA
By James Mangold (Girl, Interrupted, Walk The Line, The Wolverine)
With mit Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Doris Morgado, Sienna Novikov, Elizabeth Rodriguez
World premiere – Out of competition
Mr. Long
Japan / Germany / Hong Kong, China / Taiwan
By Sabu (Monday, Chasuke’s Journey)
With Chen Chang, Sho Aoyagi, Yiti Yao, Junyin Bai
World premiere
Return to Montauk
Germany / France / Ireland
By Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum, Diplomatie)
With Stellan Skarsgård, Nina Hoss, Susanne Wolff, Niels Arestrup
World premiere
T2 Trainspotting
United Kingdom
By Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, The Beach, Slumdog Millionaire)
With Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner
International premiere – Out of competition
Viceroy’s House
India / United Kingdom
By Gurinder Chadha (Bend it like Beckham, What’s Cooking)
With Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi
World premiere – Out of competition
Wilde Maus (Wild Mouse)
Austria
By Josef Hader
With Josef Hader, Pia Hierzegger, Georg Friedrich, Jörg Hartmann, Denis Moschitto
World premiere – First Feature
Berlinale Special Gala at the Friedrichstadt-Palast
Es war einmal in Deutschland… (Bye Bye Germany)
Germany / Luxemburg / Belgium
By Sam Garbarski (The Rashevski’s Tango, Irina Palm, Quartier Lointain)
With Moritz Bleibtreu, Antje Traue, Mark Ivanir, Tim Seyfi, Hans Löw, Anatol Taubman, Pál Mácsai, Vaclav Jakoubek
World premiere
Berlinale Special Gala at the Zoo Palast
In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts (In Times of Fading Light)
Germany
By Matti Geschonneck (Boxhagener Platz, Das Zeugenhaus)
In collaboration with Wolfgang Kohlhaase
With Bruno Ganz, Hildegard Schmahl, Sylvester Groth, Evgenia Dodina, Natalia Belitski, Alexander Fehling, Gabriela Maria Schmeide
World premiere
Berlinale Special at Kino International
Masaryk (A Prominent Patient)
Czech Republic / Slovakia
By Julius Sevcík (Restart, Normal – The Düsseldorf Ripper)
With Karel Roden, Hanns Zischler, Arly Jover, Oldrich Kaiser, Dermot Crowley, Milton Welsch, Eva Herzigová
World premiere
A further 13 films have thus been invited to screen in the Competition and Berlinale Special section at the 67th edition ofthe Berlin International Film Festival.
In addition to the previously announced titles, productions from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong – China, India, Ireland, Japan, Luxemburg, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom and the USA have now been added to the programme. Austrian actor Josef Hader will be presenting his directorial debut in the Berlinale Competition 2017.
The complete program of the Competition and Berlinale Special will be announced soon.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More