News

The actor on her new film, a fairytale for adults, her creepy character in Happy Valley and feeling lost in drama school

Shirley Henderson, 50, has starred in numerous television, film and theatre productions, including Wonderland, Topsy-Turvy, Happy Valley, Southcliffe and Hamish Macbeth. She plays Jude in the Bridget Jones films, and Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter franchise. She studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and lives in Fife with her partner. Her new film, Tale of Tales, is directed by the Italian Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, Reality) and also stars Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel and Toby Jones. It’s based on a trio of Neapolitan poet Giambattista Basile’s ancient fantasy morality tales, which predate the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Henderson plays Imma, an old woman who yearns to be like her sister, Dora, who has been transformed by magic into a beautiful young maiden, who has beguiled the king.

Tale of Tales is Matteo Garrone’s first English-speaking film. How did you find working with him?

Fascinating. Obviously there’s a language barrier, but he knows enough. He doesn’t tell you too much until you begin, then he’s very clear about what he wants. It was an Italian set, and you think everybody’s shouting at you, but they’re not – it’s just a hyped-up atmosphere. He’s very exciting to work with and I’d jump at the chance again.

Continue reading...

Around the turn of the millennium, countless Rabbit in the Moon tracks were in the electronic music community’s collective queue. The Tampa-based duo garnered a worldwide following for their experimental arrangements and epoch-making stage shows.

Shortly before dance music became the all-pervasive force in entertainment that it is today, the duo parted ways. However, when Ultra Music Festival 2016 released its phase 1 lineup late last year, rave scene veterans were thrilled to discover that they would play a special reunion set at the Miami massive.

Of course, until now they’ve remained relatively quiet in regards to what the reunion means for their future after the festival. Dave Christophere and Bunny were nice enough to sit down with this week though to discuss their past, present and future – and by the looks up things, they’ve got plenty on the horizon.

Check out our interview with them below, and enjoy!

Pottermore In a new interview conducted by Emma Watson for Wonderland, Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling revealed that she made a mistake by having Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley end up together at the conclusion of the series, calling the pairing "a form of wish fulfillment." Realzing that she might be "breaking people's hearts" by saying that, Rowling apologized to the fans, but said that Hermione should have married the title hero instead.

I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I’m absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility. Am I breaking people’s hearts by saying this? I hope not.

Watson, who played Hermione in the WB-produced movies based on the books, agreed with Rowling and said that many fans will too.

I think...

Brutal slavery movie marks another collaboration between this news cameraman turned cinematographer and the Turner Prize-winning artist and film-maker Steve McQueen

"The beauty about Steve McQueen," says Sean Bobbitt, "is his collaboration. He picks people who he respects and trust; he briefs them very clearly and let's them get on with it. That's for every department, from cinematography to hair and makeup. In all these things he has the final say, but he lets you go. Because of that, working with him is incredibly rewarding. When you are allowed to be brave, it is so exciting."

Bobbitt, we can assume, knows whereof he speaks: he has shot all three of McQueen's features – Hunger, Shame and now 12 Years a Slave – as well as five of McQueen's gallery shorts, dating back to 2002's Western Deep, shot in South Africa inside the world's deepest gold mine. He is clear that it is McQueen's...

The following is a list of all comic books, graphic novels and specialty items that will be available this week and shipped to comic book stores who have placed orders for them.

Aam Markosia

Misery City Gn, $17.99

Technomancer Gn, $17.99

Abrams

Star Wars Art Concept Hc (Limited Slipcase Edition), $340.00

AC Comics

Men Of Mystery #91, $29.95

Alternative Comics

Look Straight Ahead Gn (not verified by Diamond), $19.95

Amp! Comics For Kids

Big Nate I Can’t Take It Tp, $9.99

Anomaly Productions

Shifter Volume 1 Hc (not verified by Diamond), $19.99

Archie Comic Publications

Archie And Friends Double Digest #32, $3.99

Archie The Married Life Volume 4 Tp, $19.99

Betty And Veronica #268 (Dan Parent Regular Cover), $2.99

Betty And Veronica #268 (Stephanie Buscema Storybook Variant Cover), $2.99

Betty And Veronica Friends Double Digest #236, $3.99

Betty And Veronica’s Princess Storybook Tp, $9.99

Mega Man #30 (Capcom Variant Cover), $2.99

Mega Man #30 (Patrick Spaziante Regular Cover), $2.99

Sonic Universe #57 (Dawn Best Titanic Variant Cover), $2.99

Sonic Universe #57 (Tracy Yardley Regular Cover...

When Randall Wood commissioned the music for his most recent documentary, he asked composer Brett Alpin to create a score that would suit a James Bond adventure. A 007-type theme was a highly unusual choice considering the subject: the quest by some of the world.s top earthworm scientists to find rare species. Wood will show his docu, The Worm Hunters, and explain his unconventional approach to filmmaking at the next session of the Australian Documentary Forum at Aftrs on August 14. Produced by Gulliver Media and financed by National Geographic and the European networks Zdf and Arte, the film won prizes at numerous festivals including Wildscreen, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, St Petersburg Science Film Festival in Russia, Greenscreen in Germany and the Us.s International Wildlife Film Festival. Ozdox. Martha Ansara says Wood.s work .challenges the conventional, .respectable. notions of documentary form,. with animated graphics, fast cutting,...

Titan Comics’ A1 Anthology, came out this past Wednesday. The jam-packed book features three ongoing stories, Weirding Willows, Odyssey and Carpe DIEm! It’s got a ton of talent involved, including Dave Elliott, Barnaby Bagenda, Garrie Gastonny, W. H. Rauf, Rhoald Marcellius, Sakti Yuwono and Stellar Labs. Check out the new trailer!

Here’s the press release that delves into the history of A1, describes the ongoing stories involved and the release dates on ComiXology. Covers and interior art follow in the gallery below.

A1, the award-winning anthology series by Titan Comics and Atomeka debuts today with three fantastic ongoing strips: Weirding Willows, Odyssey and Carpe DIEm.

A1 has a long pedigree in comics. Launched in the late 1980s as an outlet for the creator-owned stories of Dave Elliott and Garry Leach, the award-winning anthology quickly became a place where big-name industry friends could follow their creator-owned desires and publish their own material.

The Fall TV Season presentations for all the new network shows take place this week with the third announced earlier today. Here's a full breakdown of which concepts have made the final list over on ABC.

The network is changing up some of its serialized dramas - removing random repeats in favor of two "uninterrupted runs" of twelve episodes each (one in the fall, one in the spring) for shows like "Once Upon A Time," "Grey’s Anatomy," "Scandal" and "Revenge". The large gaps between the two half-seasons will be bridged by "limited series" designed around only 12-13 episode seasons.

Several other pilots didn't make the final cut and won't be seen including the high-profile "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" rip-off "Gothica", McG's rip-off of Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" entitled "Westside", the series based on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain ride, the Annie Potts-led "Murder in Manhattan" about...

Chicago – ABC announced their 2013-14 schedule this morning and revealed an aggressive slate of new programming, including four new comedies and four new dramas. Tuesday nights will be entirely new, anchored by “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”. Their hit shows aren’t really moving other than “The Neighbors” slidng to Friday nights and “Dancing with the Stars” downsized to one night. They also revealed that they will air a special based on the hit Pixar trilogy, “Toy Story of Terror,” in October 2013.

Full schedule below with an asterisk for new show. New show descriptions below that. “Suburgatory” is being held for mid-season.

Monday

7pm “Dancing with the Stars”

9pm “Castle”

Tuesday

7pm “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”*

8pm “The Goldbergs”*

8:30pm “Trophy Wife”*

9pm “Lucky 7”*

Wednesday

7pm “The Middle”

7:30pm “Back in the Game”*

8pm “Modern Family”

8:30pm “Super Fun Night”*

9pm “Nashville”

Thursday

7pm “Once...

ABC has ordered "Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." to series.

The Joss Whedon project is set after the events of "The Avengers," Disney and Marvel's blockbuster hit featuring the characters of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Whedon directed the pilot and co-wrote the script with his brother Jed and Jed's wife Maurissa Tancharoen.

A first look at the hotly-anticipated new series will air during the season finale of ABC's "Once Upon a Time" at 8 p.m. Et on May 12. You can get a first look at the "S.H.I.E.L.D." logo over at EW.

It was no surprise that ABC picked up "Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.," which centers on Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), who was last seen dying in "The Avengers."

"After people see the show, they’ll have some clue as to why I’m still there, still breathing," Gregg told Collider. "But I don’t...

Along with Francois Ozon, Michael Winterbottom is easily the most prolific, hardest working and most diverse filmmaker in the business and has lineage to every major film festival one could think of. The filmmaker has been to the fest on five previous occasions to showcase films he has directed Go Now (’96 Sundance), Wonderland (’00 Sundance), 9 Songs (’05 Sundance) and in 2010 he showcased this pair: The Killer Inside Me and The Shock Doctrine. In 2013, The Look of Love (formerly titled The King of Soho) would be a great fit for the fest – as it would secure a U.S theatrical release deal especially with a cast that includes: Imogen Poots, Anna Friel, Stephen Fry, Steve Coogan, Tamsin Egerton and Matt Lucas. Pic will receive a March release in the UK.

Gist: Scripted by Matt Greenhalgh, this is the story of the business and personal life of club proprietor and porn publisher Paul Raymond.

Stellar performances continue to outweigh flimsy storytelling in BBC drama The Hour, while the final series of The Killing looks like a return to form

The Hour (BBC2) | iPlayer

Everyday (C4) | 4oD

The Killing (BBC4) | iPlayer

Falcón (Sky Atlantic)

A BBC current affairs programme is caught up in a crisis. There are internal machinations, a star presenter gone off-message, an editor undermined from above, government pressure and a gathering scandal involving establishment figures and sexual abuse; if it were not for the 1950s costumes, The Hour could almost be mistaken for a behind-the-scenes look at Newsnight in 2012.

With so much of the BBC's news coverage devoted to the meltdown at the BBC, it's a kind of relief to be transported back to a time before Twitter, before Jimmy Savile and before the Beeb became a self‑consuming behemoth.

The problem with The Hour is that, far from being unmanageably large,...

Well, here's a bit of surprise in a fall festival season that seems full of them. With Tiff announcing their final batch of titles today, Michael Winterbottom's long-developing "Everyday" (previously known as "Seven Days") will head to Toronto to make its world premiere, and now we have our first images from the film. Taking a page from Richard Linklater, Winterbottom's film has been shooting for a few weeks over the past five years, and stars John Simm (who worked with the director on "24 Hour Party People" and "Wonderland") and Shirley Henderson (who featured in those aforementioned films as well as "The Claim" and "A Cock And Bull Story"). Here's the official synopsis: Everyday tells the story of four children separated from their father, and a wife separated from her husband. The father, Ian (John Simm), is in prison. The mother, Karen, (Shirley Henderson) has to bring up a family of four.

Norwegian film Kompani Orheim (The Orheim Company) was awarded the Dragon Award for the best Nordic film at the 35th Göteborg International Film Festival held from January 27 to February 6,2012. Directed by Arild Andersen as part of a trilogy about a personage named Jarle Kepp,the film is a dark, but warm, humorous, and moving tale of Jarle’s childhood at the hands of an alcoholic and brutal father. Strongly in contention for the award were 10 Timer Til Paradis (Teddy Bear), a Danish feature directed by Mads Mattheisen, about a mature adult trying to escape the imposing presence of his mother, and Pojktanten (She Male Snails), a documentary feature directed by Ester Martin Bergsmark, which won a special mention from the jury as well as the audience award for best Nordic feature.

The Göteborg international film festival held in Sweden’s second largest city is a mecca for films from Norway,...

Director Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, Wonderland) and funnyman Jack Black (Nacho Libre , School Of Rock) have teamed up on comedy Bailout, an adaptation of a comic novel called The Financial Lives Of The Poets by Jess Walter. It's just been snagged by Universal.

Jack Black joins the cast of Beastie Boys' Fight For Your Right Sequel

And: Check out Jack Black's New Years Resolution

Bailout "follows the misadventures of Matt Prior (Black), who loses his job, is crippled with debt and is convinced his wife is having an affair. He's two weeks from losing his home when he meets two losers at the supermarket who offer him a strange business opportunity and his last chance to save himself." [Deadline]

It sounds like a comedy with a tinge of drama, so we'll probably get to watch Black flex his Serious Actor chops again. He's appeared in crossover movies like that before,...

The schedule for the Toronto International Film Festival will be released this Tuesday morning, and I’m trying my best to finish this list before then. There are simply too many films I want to see and choosing between them isn’t easy. Here is the next five most anticipated films from this year’s slate.

16 – Moth Diaries

-

Mary Harron (American Psycho) is ready to rock for her big screen adaptation of Rachel Klein’s The Moth Diaries, at the Toronto International Film Festival next month. The Moth Diaries stars Scott Speedman, Lily Cole, Sarah Gadon and Sarah Bolger (the little lead girl from In America all grown up). It is always great to support Canadian filmmakers, and since she is from Ontario, I have to place her movie on my must see list.

Synopsis: At an exclusive girls’ boarding school, a sixteen-year-old girl records her most intimate thoughts in a diary.

Michael Winterbottom is the prolific English filmmaker who has directed seventeen feature films in the past fifteen years, three of which (Welcome to Sarajevo, Wonderland and 24 Hour Party People) were nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Well as expected he is back at Tiff and a trailer has dropped for his latest dramatic endeavour ahead of its Toronto premiere next month.

Synopsis: Based on Thomas Hardy’s classic novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Trishna tells the story of one woman whose life is destroyed by a combination of love and circumstances. Set in contemporary Rajasthan, Trishna (Freida Pinto) meets a wealthy young British businessman Jay Singh (Riz Ahmed) who has come to India to work in his father’s hotel business.

After an accident destroys her father’s Jeep, Trishna goes to work for Jay, and they fall in love. But despite their feelings for each other,...

Two new movies are opening in wide release this weekend:

Super 8 directed by J.J. Abrams, produced by Steven Spielberg and staring Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka, Ron Eldard, Kyle Chandler and Noah Emmerich is opening in most features music composed by Michael Giacchino. As previously announced on this page, Varese Sarabande will be releasing a score album on June 28. Visit MTV Movie Blog for a video interview with Giacchino from the Super 8 premiere and check out a recent article in Variety about the composer’s newest projects. More interviews are expected to appear in the next couple of weeks.

Also opening wide this weekend is the kid’s pic Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer directed by John Schultz and starring Jordana Beatty in the title role, as well as Heather Graham and Jaleel White. Richard Gibbs has written the film’s score. The music was recorded with...

Director Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, Wonderland) and funnyman Jack Black (Nacho Libre, School Of Rock) have teamed up on comedy Bailout, an adaptation of a comic novel called The Financial Lives Of The Poets by Jess Walter.

Jack Black joins the cast of Beastie Boys' Fight For Your Right Sequel

And: Check out Jack Black's New Years Resolution

read more...

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (Bfca), for which I'm a proud member, has announced the nominees for the 16th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards!

The winners will be announced at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards ceremony on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 9:00 pm Et/Pt. VH1 will broadcast the gala live so set your DVRs right now!

.Black Swan. received an unprecedented 12 nominations for the 16th annual Critics. Choice Movie Awards, garnering nods for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, Best Sound and Best Score. .True Grit. and .The King.s Speech. followed close behind with 11 nominations each, while .Inception. received 10 nominations and .The Social Network. garnered 9.

And have I told you that the Critics' Choice Movie Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations? So take a look at...

It must be frustrating being Steve Coogan. As the winner of numerous British Comedy and BAFTA awards (not to mention the 1992 Perrier Award, the 1997 Silver Rose of Montreux and a South Bank Show Award for his live show “The Man Who Thinks He’s It”) he’s also been listed amongst the 50 funniest acts working in British comedy as well as featuring in the Top 20 greatest comedy acts of all time as voted for by fellow comedians.

He’s forged himself a moderately successful Hollywood career and starred in a number of successful films from the likes of Sofia Coppola, Ben Stiller, Jim Jarmusch, Adam McKay and Frank Oz and starred alongside such names as Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson and Kirsten Dunst. And to top it all off he’s even founded his own production company, Baby Cow Productions, which itself has given birth to such...

One of the cool things about Michael Winterbottom is that you simply never know what you're going to get each time out. As the director of films like Welcome to Sarajevo, Wonderland, 24 Hour Party People, Code 46, Tristram Shandy, The Killer Inside Me, and a bunch of others, the filmmaker seems firmly intent on being one of those "eclectic" directors, one who'll leap from comedy to tragedy sci-fi to avant-garde weirdness with an admirable enthusiasm. (It's the kind of thing that makes us admire directors like Howard Hawks, Robert Wise, and Danny Boyle: they try a slightly new genre each time out.)

It's Winterbottom's devotion to being different that makes his latest, the low-key two-character comedy The Trip, no real surprise at all. That the movie is so strangely endearing and consistently funny is a satisfying discovery, but, again, not much of a surprise.

Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Theatrical Reviews,...

His Hollywood dream turned to dust, he's not won a Bafta, and Russell Crowe nabbed his role. So is John Simm bitter? Well, maybe a bit…

Why is John Simm so often cast as a chippy bugger? "Am I?" he asks. "Define chippy." Well, there's the brooding journalist Cal McCaffrey in TV drama State Of Play who feels he's up against the world, and the displaced detective inspector Sam Tyler in Life On Mars, thrown back into the 1970s and misunderstood by all. Then there's the vengeful Master in Doctor Who – you don't get much more chippy than him. And now he's playing the ultimate chippy bugger – Hamlet.

"Angst," he says. "They are the best parts… Maybe it's my face." He's right about the face – it's strong, handsome even, but not smooth or comforting. He's too wiry to be eye candy.

We meet in a pub in Highgate, north London.

“The Killer Inside Me may be the darkest film noir ever made”

-Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

The haunting new film The Killer Inside Me has been on our minds for months now. It inspired some controversial write-ups after its screenings at the Sundance, Berlin, and Tribeca Festivals, and once we saw it we couldn’t forget it. After some wrangling, we’re finally able to bring this film to Austin the way it deserves, with some late night screenings all throughout next week. It’s the perfect after-dinner film, played during the dark hours when good seems boring and bad seems…well, not so bad.

The Killer Inside Me tells the story of a small-town Texas Deputy Sheriff who’s got evil inside him that is just itching to get out. He walks the streets with a quiet cool, a sophisticated but distant man who is gentle but harbors...

Stevie Wonder hits the UK, Toy Story goes 3D, and it's the last ever Big Brother – our critics pick the unmissable events of the season

Pop

Stevie Wonder

Anyone who can't face braving Glastonbury to see the Motown legend's Sunday-night set can head to London's Hyde Park for this headlining show. It's likely to be heavy on the hits, but a little too heavy on the audience participation, if complaints from disgruntled punters at Wonder's recent shows are anything to go by. And be warned: Jamiroquai seems to have been enticed out of retirement to provide support. Hyde Park, London W2, 26 June. Box office: 020-7009 3484.

T in the Park

This beloved Scottish festival is prized as much for its atmosphere as its lineup. And they're certainly wheeling out the big hitters this year: Eminem, Muse, Kasabian, Jay-z, Black Eyed Peas, Florence and the Machine, La Roux, Dizzee Rascal and Paolo Nutini,...

The works of noted genre author Jim Thompson have made for some surprisingly interesting films over the years. The Steve McQueen / Ali McGraw rendition of The Getaway (1972) is fairly well-remembered, and I myself am a fan of the Alec Baldwin / Kim Basiniger version from 1994. There's also James Foley's After Dark, My Sweet and Stephen Frears' The Grifters, both of which hit in 1990 and did solid justice to the author's work. The most recent filmmaker to tackle the beloved scribe's hard-boiled tales is Michael Winterbottom, whom you probably know from Wonderland, 24 Hour Party People, and Tristram Shandy -- but I don't think you've ever seen Winterbottom like you see him with The Killer Inside...

Her tiny frame and bubble-light voice have made Shirley Henderson a shoo-in for roles such as Harry Potter's Moaning Myrtle – but don't be fooled she's a tough cookie

The first thing you notice about Shirley Henderson is that no one else notices her. Dressed in a demure, plain-coloured shift and clutching a handbag too small to carry more than a lipstick and purse, she slips quietly through the half-empty Glasgow cafe in which we've arranged to meet. She slides stealthily into the seat next to mine. An attempt at a kiss – air or cheek – would, I sense, be an error; Henderson prefers the professional formality of an army officer's handshake.

It would be a mistake to interpret Henderson's understated appearance as the attention-avoiding tactic of a mildly famous celebrity, though she has certainly taken roles that have granted her a modicum of fame – many will know her as the downtrodden...

BC-born actress Molly Parker ("Deadwood") will next star in "Big Red", starting principal photography in New Orleans, Louisiana, February 23, 2010.

Cast also includes Ed Harris, Chase Ellison (“Tooth Fairy”), Daniel Roebuck (“Final Destination”), Mia Rose Frampton (“Make It or Break It”), Amy Madigan (“Carnivale”) and WWE wrestler Randy Orton.

"...Set against the backdrop of the mid-sixties, “Big Red” is a coming-of-age story following 12-year-old 'Andy Nichol' (Ellison), a bright student whose English teacher, 'Mr. Simon' (Harris), pairs him on a project with the school’s biggest outcast and social pariah, 'Stanley' aka 'Big Red'). When Andy watches Stanley fearlessly confront a school bully, a series of events is unleashed, which changes the lives of both young men – and their teacher – forever..."

WWE Studios Executive VP Mike Pavone will direct the drama from his original screenplay, produced by Denise Chamian. WWE Studios VP David Calloway is the executive...

BC-born actress Molly Parker (Deadwood) will next star in Big Red, starting principal photography in New Orleans, Louisiana, February 23, 2010. Cast also includes Ed Harris, Chase Ellison (Tooth Fairy), Daniel Roebuck (Final Destination), Mia Rose Frampton (Make It or Break It), Amy Madigan (Carnivale) and WWE wrestler Randy Orton. "...Set against the backdrop of the mid-sixties, .Big Red. is a coming-of-age story following 12-year-old 'Andy Nichol' (Ellison), a bright student whose English teacher, 'Mr. Simon' (Harris), pairs him on a project with the school.s biggest outcast and social pariah, 'Stanley' aka 'Big Red'). When Andy watches Stanley fearlessly confront a school bully, a series of events is unleashed, which changes the lives of both young men . and their teacher . forever..." WWE Studios Executive VP Mike Pavone will direct the drama from his original screenplay, produced by Denise Chamian. WWE Studios VP David Calloway is the executive...

Simon Baker (Land Of The Dead, The Ring Two) has joined The Killer Inside Me as "an attorney on the trail of a murderer", according to The Hollywood Reporter.The actor, recently seen in CBS' The Mentalist joins Jessica Alba (playing a prostitute) and Kate Hudson (playing a schoolteacher) in the tale of a West Texas sheriff (Casey Affleck) and his downward spiral from a boring small-town cop into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer.

Michael Winterbottom (Wonderland) will direct from a screenplay by John Curran, based on the novel by Jim Thompson, which was previously adapted into a film in 1976.

• Michael Winterbottom is a director of rare versatility – at age 45, he has 26 directorial credits on his resume, including TV shows (“Boon”, “Cracker”), drama (In This World, Wonderland), Sci-Fi (Code 46), war (Welcome to Sarajevo) and comedy (24 Hour Party People). Now with his latest film, The Road to Guantanamo, Winterbottom delivers a hyper-energetic retelling of the story of the “Tipton Three” – three British citizens of Pakistani heritage who were detained by Afghani, British and American forces for nearly three years without evidence against them, legal counsel, or any formal charges.The Road to Guantanamo starts off with the group of friends (Rehul, Asif, Shafiq, and Monir) on a road trip – kind of the way a lot of horror stories start off (most recently Wolf Creek, The Hills Have Eyes, and Hostel). And The Road to Guantanamo is a horror story for it is a very, very scary film. While in Pakistan for Asif’s wedding,

...

LONDON -- FilmFour has reunited with British helmer Michael Winterbottom to produce his latest movie project, Genova, the Channel 4-owned film arm said Wednesday. FilmFour's backing comes hot on the heels of the unit's previous deals with Winterbottom and producer Andrew Eaton's production label Revolution Films, which have birthed upcoming The Road To Guantanamo and a first-look deal with Revolution Films' startup TV drama arm and Channel 4. Genova is written by former Winterbottom collaborator Laurence Coriat, who penned the director's 1999 movie Wonderland.

• What I like most about a filmmaker like Michael Winterbottom is his continual drive to create and not “categorize” himself in terms of subject matter, genre or filmmaking formula. He certainly would make for an interesting auteur theory study. Just coming off the Berlin film festival (and Best Director award) with his foot to the stomach revealing documentary co-directed by Mat Whitecross and called The Road to Guantánamo and North American audiences are currently loving his unfathomable comedy called Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. Just prior to this with recently had a little porn/concert experiment in 9 Songs, a sci-fi romance in Code 46, a hands on refugee story In This World and the U.K music scene with 24 Hour Party People. Now there are two more films on the horizon. Most likely to be Winterbottom’s next is a story playing with the occult in Genova,

...