If you went to The Warehouse Project's first-ever Australian dates in 2024, then you experienced a slice of history, as one of the dance-music world's favourite events finally made the leap Down Under. The Manchester rave scene mainstay's Aussie debut clearly went well — so much so that dates have just dropped for a return visit in 2025. The Prodigy, Basement Jaxx, Fred again.., Skrillex and Happy Mondays have played it. De La Soul, Aphex Twin, Carl Cox and deadmau5, too. For dance music fans, and just music fans in general, The Warehouse Project's fame extends far past its UK home. For its second Australian trip, the event is again hitting up Sydney and Melbourne, this time across Thursday, April 24–Friday, April 25. [caption id="attachment_943879" align="alignnone" width="1920"] © Photography by Rob Jones for Khroma Collective[/caption] Melbourne's PICA will welcome The Warehouse Project for the second time; however, Sydney's event is taking place at Hordern Pavilion in 2025, after setting up shop at Munro Warehouse in Sydney Olympic Park in 2024. This year's events are one-day affairs in each city, too, rather than two nights apiece as happened last year. This remains a two-city tour, though, so if you're keen on hitting up The Warehouse Project in Australia and you live somewhere other than Sydney or Melbourne, you'll need to plan an interstate trip. The Manchester institution's Aussie debut in 2024 came after initially going international in 2023 in Rotterdam and Antwerp. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Warehouse Project (@whp_mcr) As for who'll be on the lineup this time, that's still to be revealed — but whoever does the honours, they'll follow on from Mall Grab, Bonobo, HAAi, Kelly Lee Owens, Paula Tape, dj pgz, Krysko, Effy, Jennifer Loveless and DJ Dameeeela in 2024. It was back in 2006 that The Warehouse Project first unleashed its club nights on its birthplace, kicking off in a disused brewery and then moving underneath Manchester's Piccadilly station, in a space that's also been an air-raid shelter — and also to a warehouse that dates back to the 1920s. Now, it calls former railway station Depot Mayfield home when it's on in its home city. The Warehouse Project Australia 2025 Thursday, April 24 — Hordern Pavilion, Sydney Friday, April 25 — PICA, Melbourne [caption id="attachment_943890" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mayfield Depot, Rcsprinter123 via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] The Warehouse Project returns to Australia across Thursday, April 24–Friday, April 25, 2025, with presale tickets from 12pm AEDT on Wednesday, January 22 and general sales from 11am AEDT on Wednesday, February 5 Head to the event's website for further details. Top image: Rob Jones for Khroma Collective.
There are few words as adored in Australian children's literature as seven penned by Alison Lester: "at our beach, at our magic beach". On the page, in one of the Aussie author and illustrator's best-known books, that phrase starts different descriptions of how a day by the waves can pan out. Here, swimming in the sparkling sea means seeing wild horses among the waves, however, just as digging in the sand conjures up dragons attacking castles. Gorgeous and transportive drawings both set the scene and take each on its fantastical journey — where rock pools are the entry to the kingdom of fish, stormy days bring treasure, fishing sparks quite a catch and more. Whether discovering it as a kid for the first time, or revisiting it as an adult sharing it with your own children or nieces and nephews, Magic Beach has always felt special, and also rung true in this nation girt by sea. It understands the joys of simply spending a day by the ocean, and the possibilities that doing just that can bring to young hearts and minds. Now, 35 years after initially hitting bookshelves, Magic Beach is also a movie. Making his third family-friendly film after Paper Planes and Blueback — and worlds away from the likes of Balibo, The Dry and Force of Nature: The Dry 2 — director Robert Connolly brings Magic Beach to a new medium as a creative mix of animation and live-action, and as a ten-segment anthology where kids, plus a dog, envision their own beach adventures after reading Lester's tome. Yes, Magic Beach as a movie is fittingly and wonderfully imaginative as ten animators take their cues from the book, then spin inventive stories. And yes, Magic Beach as a movie shot its live-action scenes at Lester's own magic beach. For Australia's first-ever Children's Laureate, that coastal spot is Walkerville South. Lester's own beach house was the base during the production, where the kids would arrive each day. Unsurprisingly, seeing her favourite patch of sand in the film is a source of joy for the author. "It's just a very warm, fuzzy feeling that a place that I've loved for so long, and then written this book about, that it's been turned into a beautiful movie," Lester tells Concrete Playground. What makes this location about two and a half hours out of Melbourne a magic beach? "I think my parents used to go to that beach before I was born, and then I was taken there as a baby. We used to stay at a friend's house for a long time, and then an old house came up for sale and mum bought it, when I think I was eight. And so since then we've always had this place that we go to," Lester continues. "I hardly ever go to other beaches because I always go there. It's just like that's where we're going for summer. I think the whole family has that feeling, that the minute you walk into the house all of worries and tensions drop away — and you're like 'aaah, here we are, we're at this beautiful place'." Even if you haven't ever specifically thought about it, we all have a magic beach or equivalent. "It's interesting, isn't it, your own childhood. I grew up in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney, so I was inland, and so for me there were little rivers that I would swim in. I was not coastal," advises Connelly. "Then we as a family, like a lot of Australian families, would go to the beach and stay in a caravan park. There was Terrigal, north of Sydney. But if I think more significantly in my life, when I was in my late teen years, the more-complicated teenage years when I was finishing school, I used to always get the train down to the Royal National Park south of Sydney, and I'd walk on my own into a little beach called Burning Palms. I'd camp on my own for a couple of days just to decompress, and swim in the ocean down there on my own. So that's probably the closest, if I think of the most-significant one in my life, because was very formative. But not when I was a little kid, because when I was a little kid, I was in the bush." "There's something about water, isn't there? And the threshold of diving into the water when you're little," Connolly also notes. His latest film, which he came to after fellow filmmaker Sarah Watt (My Year Without Sex) was initially set to direct before her death in 2011, deeply understands that feeling. It's committed to heroing what youthful minds dream up, too, and the sensation of being by the shore. We also chatted with Lester and Connolly about how the film came about, and its animated segments; ensuring that the book wasn't just a source of inspiration; their collaboration; giving the picture a wave-like rhythm; why Magic Beach has endured with generations of readers; and much more. On Magic Beach's Journey to Finally Becoming a Film Robert: "Sarah Watt, the amazing filmmaker behind Look Both Ways and My Year Without Sex, was developing it with Alison. And I worked with Sarah, who sadly is not with us anymore, but she introduced me to Alison — and we were collaborating together on it. It's so crazy, isn't it? The gestation period for projects, you can't pick it. Some films happen quickly and some take a long time. But I think my first involvement was over ten years ago. So that's quite a journey." Alison: "Well, it's been a very long journey and a very meandering journey, because when Sarah and I got together, we really loved working together and hanging out together. So a lot of times when we're supposed to be working, we'd just be hanging out and having a nice time. And then when Robert took the project over — and Sarah was in the same boat, they're both so in-demand and so successful that they always had other projects going on so. Robert and I laugh, at every Christmas he used to give me a phone call and say 'oh, hi Alison, can we have it for another year?'. And I go 'yeah, yeah, sure, it'll happen eventually'. I think we all had other things to go on, and Magic Beach was just simmering away in the background. And in a way, probably having that time was a good thing for it to finally turn out the way it did, where it wasn't rushed." Robert: "Yeah, that's true. It took a while to work out the way to tell the story of the film, to find a really unique way to tell that beautiful book as a film. So it didn't come quickly as an approach." On Whether Lester Ever Thought That a Magic Beach Movie Would Happen Back When the Book Was First Published 35 Years Ago Alison: "No, I never imagined it. It didn't cross my radar at all. I would have been happy if it had had a couple of print runs — and that's the other thing, it's still going as a book after all this time, which is really lovely." On Connolly's First Introduction to the Book — and Adding It to His Lineup of Family-Friendly Movies Robert: "I read it to my children. My daughters are 22 and 20 now, but I read Magic Beach and a whole bunch of other books of Alison's to my children when they were really little. And it was interesting, once I had kids, I started broadening my career. I did the film Paper Planes, and that was my first family film and I just fell in love with the idea of making films for younger people. And it was just a really attractive part of my career. The audience for Paper Planes was more primary school, and the audience for Blueback was more high school, but I have this fascination with that early-childhood phase, when I feel like children are the smartest they ever are. It's the most creative, imaginative stage, where they haven't learned any rules yet. And I love that audience, and so it just felt like an inevitable journey, really, for me to go on. Then it took me a while, actually. After we lost Sarah, I found it really hard to come back to the project for a while. I think we were all very sad. But the joyful spirit of Sarah's work and her own creativity is in this film. Her mischievous, cheeky, deeply humanist sensibilities are something that I think Alison and I see in the film that we've made." On Whether Lester Had Any Set Ideas About What the Film Should Be — and How Its Anthology Structure Came About Alison: "No, no, not really. I definitely didn't want it to be a kind of forced narrative where there was an evil developer who was going to build a hotel on the beach and that kind of forced thing. Other than that, I really trusted Sarah and Robert to do what they're so good at." Robert: "It was interesting initially. The animations came first, and so we invited — my producing partner Liz Kearney, who did Memoir of a Snail recently, and Chloe Brugale, who were working with me at the time — we just set on this journey to find ten animators, and invite them to respond to a different one of the kids and the dog, as it turned out in the film, and create their own work. So that was the step, and that's where the film began. So the live-action came second, which is really interesting — because once we have these beautiful animations, you can imagine what it was like when we were getting these beautiful, extraordinary, exquisite creative works delivered to us, it was like 'well, how do we stitch it together? How do we now create an overarching narrative for it? What's that going to look like?'. And that took a while, but we wanted to keep the spirit of what was so special and incredible about the book, and how the book allows young people to fill the blanks — like it really allows it, it doesn't fill everything in. So we needed it to keep that imaginative spirit of the book, which is where that idea of having this documentary footage of children, that then opens up into the magical world of the beach and then into the animation. It's these three layers of the film. So it was a real journey, but I'd love you know I loved? We had no rules — we kept trying new things, even in the edit we had no rules." Alison: "It's like that Spike Milligan thing: 'there's no plan, so nothing can go wrong'." Robert: "That's right. That's exactly right. I love that it's a film for little kids, and it's probably the most rule-breaking film that I've ever done, which is something young kids would really appreciate." On How the Narratives for Each Animated Segment Came About Robert: "I didn't want to restrict them. I wanted them to feel that freedom of childhood and their response to the book, so I gave them almost no rules, except that they had to choose a child and a section of the book, and then create their own work in their own style, which is something that Sarah had been really keen about, and Alison and I discussed. So in some ways it becomes a response — a love letter to the book and to the beach for each of those ten animators in their own style." Alison: "And they all rose to the occasion incredibly, didn't they?" Robert: "Yeah, yeah. You think of the different styles — and they're all very personal to each of the animators. Each of the animators can talk very much about their own response to the beach." On the Importance of the Book Not Just Inspiring the Film, But Being Part of the Film — Including Kids Reading and Responding to It Robert: "That was a real choice that came quite late — and I don't even know if we'd made that decision till after the animations. I think because I didn't quite know how the live-action was going to work. It could have been a story, it could have had more of a narrative structure. And then it was the idea of looking at the animations: 'well, what if we actually take real kids and let the book trigger them to imagine being at the beach as a character in the book, and then the beach itself triggers the imagination of the animation?'. I think actually that idea of them all reading or being exposed to the book in some form came after the animations, actually." Alison: "Quite late, yes. And as the author of the book, for me that is such a buzz just to see the movie built around the book and to have the illustrations up there on the big screen. It's really, really beautiful." On How Lester and Connolly Collaborated on the Movie Robert: "It was fun. We actually made the film on the magic beach. We had a small crew and this beautiful group of kids, and every day we the kids would all turn up at Alison's house, which is in the book as well and looks out over the magic beach — and Alison was staying there at the time, and the kids would turn up and say 'hi, Alison!'. And Bigsy the dog would be walking around. And they'd get in their costumes have breakfast, and then we'd all walk down to the beach and film. And then Alison would come down. I loved the collaboration of that. One of my favourite bits of that is that in one of the beautiful pictures in the book, there's a mobile hanging on the wall, when the kids are in bed, and it's got all different shells and things from the beach — and I just asked Alison if she could make one, and she made one and brought it down, and it wasn't even scripted where we'd use it. And that's the beautiful sequence when Riley, the young deaf girl, wakes up on the beach and touches it. So they're not scripted, but something that between Alison and I and the crew, and all being there on the beach, we improvised into life." On Whether Shooting on Lester's Actual Magic Beach Was Always a Given Robert: "No, actually. We weren't sure. At one point, I wondered if all of the kids' stories should be on a different beach." Alison: "Yeah, I remember that." Robert: "Or I thought maybe 'what if each of the nine kids had their own imagination on a different beach?'. But it felt that way you'd lose the spirit of collaboration. I like that one kid wakes up and they're on the beach and they're like 'where am I?', and then the second kid. And then there's two kids, and then they play together, and then the next kid turns up. So there's this idea that the children build a community. So that at the end, when they're all running down to the water and running across the water, that all of the kids are united together. Also it's so beautiful, it felt like going to the real magic beach would be a real treat for audiences as well, with love of the book, that they can see the film and go 'this is the real magic beach'." Alison: "And it all comes together, I think, too, doesn't it — when there's so many different things going, to have that constant of the beach where you can see quite clearly that it is the same place, even though they're different locations within the beach." Robert: "Yeah." On Giving the Film a Rhythm That Resembles the Waves, Washing in and Out of Each Segment Robert: "I'm so glad you picked that up." Alison: "Yeah, me too." Robert: "Because I remember talking to Maria Papoutsis, who edited it for me, and we talked a lot about that — that idea that you don't necessarily want things to be angular in how they're edited. You want it to feel like you're moving from scene to scene and moment to moment. The thing I love about watching the ocean, it's like watching a fire, a campfire — it's the same but it's infinitely different. I'm glad you picked that up. And also something I talked to Briony Marks about, with the music, she did the overarching composition with percussion. It's all percussion, marimbas and vibraphones. And this idea of not trying to be tight and angular and precise, which is what we get so used to now — highly structured cinema that's highly formed — and wanting it actually to have a rhythm that's a bit surprising. And they're different. The dynamic shape of the film was — actually, a lot of time was spent on trying to work out what order to put the animations. We tested different orders and then played it to kids, and then changed the order a bit, and then played it to kids again." On Why Readers Love Magic Beach So Much, and Have Since the 90s Alison: "I can't remember how I came up with that 'at our beach, at our magic beach', but I think it is a really lovely intro into each. So there's that rhythm of the text, which I think is very gentle and easy to read. And often people are reading those books late at night to their kids or they're tired and it's like 'oh my god, give me something easy to read' — and it does flow really nicely. But I think so many of us love the beach and we understand that experience of just going to beach in a really uncomplicated way, where you just go and see what's there. I think that the thing Robert talked about a little while ago, too, is that there's a lot of room in that book for your own imagination. You see what the kids are doing, but you don't know their names or anything like that, and it's not very specific, so you can easily be part of that book. So I think it's partly that a lot of families would recognise themselves in the book. And just the flukiness of why people like a book. I'm always so chuffed that the creative things I do often resonate with people, and I don't know that you can control that. It's just the luck of the draw really." On What Appeals to Connolly About Jumping Between Family-Friendly Films and the Likes of Balibo and The Dry Movies Robert: "Some filmmakers wonderfully stay in their own lane of genre, and they have become renowned for it — and some of my favourite filmmakers are like that. But there are great inspirations to me, like the Australian filmmaker Peter Weir, who worked in so many different genres across an impressive career. And I feel like, and what I hope, is that each film in some way follows that tradition of cinema almost being a microscope into the human condition. It's like every film looks somewhere into some aspect, like if Magic Beach looks into the deep, profound side of childhood at the beach and the way the natural world inspires creativity, a film like Balibo is very different because it looks into the power of individuals to act ethically and their leadership as a way to lead their country to freedom. So they're very different films, but I hope in some ways that my films always apply that rigour, so if you look at them collectively, I'd like to think that they're a body of humanist cinema about who we are and how we live and how we relate. But it's also fun. It's fun to swing. It was funny, though, when I was trying to finance Paper Planes, it was my first film after Balibo. And one of the investors who turned it down was like 'how in god's name are we going to market the film? Paper Planes, a film for the whole family from the director of Balibo? It's not going to work.' But I did have a kid come up to me with their youngest sibling at one of the screenings we had on the weekend, and the kid was a bit older going 'oh my god, I've seen Paper Planes so many times' — and they were bringing along their three-year old little sibling to see Magic Beach. So I have got a fanbase with young kids as well now, you see." Magic Beach opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, January 16, 2025.
He made movies that no one else could've. He changed what the world, viewers and fellow filmmakers alike, thought was possible in cinematic storytelling. The greatest television show ever created sits on his resume, a label that would've applied even if it had only received a two-season run in the 90s, but was proven all-the-more accurate when he revisited it two and a half decades later to gift audiences an unforgettable 18-episode achievement. There has never been an artist like David Lynch, and won't be again. Anyone who has had the chance to explore his paintings, drawings and sculptures, too — which made a spectacular Australian showing at a dedicated exhibition at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art in 2015, with the man himself in attendance — can't shake them from their mind. Movies, TV, acting, animation, art, music, books, furniture, photography, advertising, music videos, transcendental meditation, comic strips, coffee, weather reports, cooking quinoa, gravity-defying hair: before his death on January 15, 2025, Lynch made an impact upon all of them. "He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to," shared Kyle MacLachlan, Lynch's Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks, Paul Atreides in 1984's Dune and Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet. "David was in tune with the universe and his own imagination on a level that seemed to be the best version of human," he continued. "Every moment together felt charged with a presence I've rarely seen or known. Probably because, yes, he seemed to live in an altered world, one that I feel beyond lucky to have been a small part of. And David invited all to glimpse into that world through his exquisite storytelling, which elevated cinema and inspired generations of filmmakers across the globe," said his Mulholland Drive lead Naomi Watts. For Wild at Heart's Nicolas Cage, Lynch "was a singular genius in cinema, one of the greatest artists of this or any time," he told Deadline. "He was brave, brilliant and a maverick with a joyful sense of humour. I never had more fun on a film set than working with David Lynch. He will always be solid gold." "The world is going to miss such an original and unique voice. His films have already stood the test of time and they always will," noted Steven Spielberg, who gave Lynch one of his last role sas an actor, casting his fellow helmer as another Hollywood great, John Ford, in the autobiographical The Fabelmans. For another filmmaking icon adoring a filmmaking icon, Martin Scorsese also provided his ode in a statement: "I hear and read the word 'visionary' a lot these days — it's become a kind of catch-all description, another piece of promotional language. But David Lynch really was a visionary — in fact, the word could have been invented to describe the man and the films, the series, the images and the sounds he left behind. He created forms that seemed like they were right on the edge of falling apart but somehow never did. He put images on the screen unlike anything that I or anybody else had ever seen — he made everything strange, uncanny, revelatory and new. And he was absolutely uncompromising, from start to finish." When Lynch committed his journey to paper with 2018's must-read Room to Dream, the talent that crafted the most-stunning debut feature there is with Eraserhead, earned a Best Director Oscar nomination for his second film The Elephant Man (and later for Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive), and has nine Emmy nods to his name for the first and third seasons of Twin Peaks, couldn't have chosen a better moniker for his memoir. When Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me advises that "we live inside a dream", it also couldn't have felt more apt. To watch Lynch's work is to fall into his dreams — surrealist visions filled with clashes and contrasts, such as his career-long fascination with the sublime and the terrifying sides of suburbia and domesticity — then be inspired to have your own, whichever places both wonderful and strange that they might take you. [caption id="attachment_987090" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Suzanne Tenner/SHOWTIME[/caption] For Lynch, where his output transports fans to has always been personal, including to them. Famously, he eschewed explanations, letting his creations speak for themselves, and giving everyone watching, viewing, listening and appreciating the room to draw their own interpretations. "It's the ideas that come. And many of the ideas that come are conjured by our world. And we all know that there's many mysteries. I always say that human beings are like detectives: we want to know what's going on and what the truth of a thing is, and we see our world, we feel it, we feel there's things going on," he said to David Stratton at a public in-conversation event during his trip to Brisbane. "I always say that the filmmaker has to understand the thing for himself or herself. But when things get abstract, or a little bit abstract, there's room for many interpretations, and each person should be able to make up his or her mind to feel what the things mean." To pay tribute to Lynch, damn fine cherry pie should be on the menu. So should a damn fine lineup of viewing, because there's no better way to honour a filmmaker like no other than to relish his on-screen dreams. When his family announced his passing at the age of 78, they noted that he'd remind everyone to "keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole". Take that advice by enjoying everything that's available to stream right now — and Lynch's version of a small-town-set TV murder-mystery, its big-screen prequel, a documentary about him, several acting roles and a monkey interrogation are just the beginning. (Sadly, Eraserhead, The Straight Story and Inland Empire aren't available at the time of writing, but they'd be on the list otherwise.) The Elephant Man David Lynch has never been shy about how unlikely it was for the director of Eraserhead to score a job making a Victorian era-set period drama in England with John Hurt (Jackie), Anne Bancroft (Keeping the Faith), John Gielgud (Elizabeth) and Anthony Hopkins (Those About to Die) — or how he thought that once Mel Brooks (Only Murders in the Building), who executive produced the film, saw his debut feature that he wouldn't get the gig. Thankfully Brooks was wowed, and so cinema gained an affecting movie from Lynch that's restrained compared to much of his other output, but also deeply compassionate and unflinching. With Hurt astonishing as its lead, the eight-time Oscar-nominated The Elephant Man tells of the IRL life of Joseph Merrick, whose physical deformities saw the movie's moniker slung his way. The Elephant Man streams via iTunes and Prime Video. Dune Before Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown) became cinema's ultimate spice boy — Paul Atreides, as he plays in 2021's Dune and 2024's Dune: Part Two for Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049) — Kyle MacLachlan (Blink Twice) walked without rhythm first, in his debut collaboration with David Lynch. The latter disowned his adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel, his third feature, his only attempt at a blockbuster and a movie that wasn't met warmly when it released in the mid-80s; however, there's no mistaking the visual ambition that the director attempts to bring to the page-to-screen space opera. Everyone knows the film's narrative due to the two Chalamet-starring flicks, but those versions didn't also star Sting (playing Feyd-Rautha before The Bikeriders' Austin Butler) or Patrick Stewart (as Gurney before Outer Range's Josh Brolin). Dune streams via Netflix and Stan. Blue Velvet What lurks behind seeming perfection is a lifetime-long on-screen obsession for David Lynch, beginning with parenthood in Eraserhead and applying to white picket-fence life in every iteration of Twin Peaks, plus Blue Velvet. Returning home to Lumberton, North Carolina from college, Kyle MacLachlan's Jeffrey Beaumont is soon drawn into the nightmare lived by lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini, Conclave) at the hands of gangster Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper, Crash) — all after he finds a severed human ear in a field near his house. The film's exploration of darkness lingering within also applies to its protagonist, with MacLachlan stellar in a movie that also marks Lynch's first collaboration with Laura Dern (Lonely Planet), features a haunting performance by Hopper and ensures that you'll never hear Roy Orbison the same way again. Blue Velvet streams via iTunes. Twin Peaks It's the mind-bending small-town mystery-drama that comes with its own menu — and with plenty of thrills, laughs and weirdness. Whether you're watching Twin Peaks for the first or 131st time, you'll want to do so with plenty of damn fine coffee, fresh-made cherry pie and cinnamon-covered doughnuts to fuel your journey. David Lynch and Mark Frost's seminal TV series doesn't just serve up 90s-era oddness with backwards talk, log-carrying ladies, couch-jumping monsters and fish in percolators, as centred around the murder of high-schooler Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee, Limetown), though. It returned for an astonishing third season in 2017 as well that's the finest thing to reach the small screen in the 21st century. There's never been anything on television like Twin Peaks. No one can play a kind and quirky FBI boss like Lynch either, or a dedicated agent like Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper. Twin Peaks streams via Paramount+. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is a prequel to Twin Peaks, as well as the exceptional TV show's leap to cinemas. The film is also a masterpiece in tragedy, and the same in empathy. Before she's "dead, wrapped in plastic" in the program's debut instalment, David Lynch truly sees Laura Palmer and everything that she goes through. Set in the lead-up to her demise, the flick burrows deep into the menacing forces at play. It's a movie of sheer dread, even though viewers know what's going to happen. As only he can, Lynch steeps every frame in the brutal pain, terror and suffering of his doomed protagonist, ensuring that his audience walk in her shoes, feel what she's going through and see how ravenously that the world tears into her, all while baking in his adored surrealist touches. He also works David Bowie into the Twin Peaks cast, magnificently so. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me streams via YouTube Movies. Wild at Heart David Lynch directing Nicolas Cage: of course it had to happen, and thankfully did. That's one helluva filmmaker-actor combination — and when the unrivalled helmer had the incomparable star in front of his lens, the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival came his way. The movie that Lynch made between Twin Peaks' initial run and the series' big-screen prequel Fire Walk with Me, it features one of Cage's greatest performances. Cage playing one half of a couple on the run (opposite Laura Dern), singing Elvis tunes like he was born to and navigating a Lynchian crime-romance flick truly is what dreams are made of. Adapting the 1990 novel of the same name — by author Barry Gifford, who went on to co-write Lost Highway with Lynch — Wild at Heart is also as distinctive as crime road movies get. Wild at Heart streams via iTunes and Prime Video. Lost Highway It's thanks to Lost Highway that Nine Inch Nails' 'The Perfect Drug' exists; before he was composing Oscar-winning The Social Network and Golden Globe-winning Challengers scores, Trent Reznor also produced this 1997 film's soundtrack for David Lynch. Tunes by NIN, David Bowie, The Smashing Pumpkins and Lou Reed are just one of movie's highlights, however. Initially with Bill Pullman (Murdaugh Murders: The Movie) as a saxophonist, then with Balthazar Getty (Megalopolis) playing an auto mechanic — and with Patricia Arquette (Severance) acting opposite each, featuring in both of the flick's two parts — Lost Highway embraces its sinister tone from the get-go, with its guiding force strapping in for an eerie and audacious ride filled with mysterious VHS tapes, murder convictions and sudden swaps, and refusing to pump the brakes for a moment. Lost Highway streams via Stan. Mulholland Drive In dreams, Mulholland Drive lingers. In reality, the Los Angeles-set masterpiece has as well since 2001. Although the term naturally applies to his entire filmography, movies don't get much more Lynchian than this shimmering neo-noir and tribute to Tinseltown that started as a TV project, and stars Naomi Watts (Feud) as eager aspiring actor Betty Elms and struggling thespian Diane Selwyn. One is fresh from Deep River, Ontario and chasing her dreams. The other no longer has stars in her eyes. Reflections and doppelgängers, fantasies and alternate realities, accidents and surprises, hopes and failures, how Hollywood demands reinvention, the roles that people play for and without the cameras: they're all part of a mesmerising picture (as are Father of the Bride's Laura Harring and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice's Justin Theroux among the cast). Mulholland Drive streams via Binge, Stan and ABC iView. Duran Duran: Unstaged Inland Empire will always be David Lynch's last narrative feature, but it wasn't his last full-length film. Five years after the movie that he wanted Laura Dern to win an Oscar for so badly that he took to Sunset Boulevard with a cow by his side, he helmed Duran Duran: Unstaged. Before making his one and only concert flick, he'd directed music videos for Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game' and Moby's 'Shot in the Back of the Head', among others. Afterwards, he'd do the same on Nine Inch Nails' 'Came Back Haunted' and several of his own tunes with Chrystabell, too. But just once, for two hours, he brought an entire live gig to the screen — as shot in Los Angeles on the British band's The All You Need Is Now tour, complete with 'Hungry Like the Wolf', 'Girls on Film', 'Notorious', 'Rio', 'A View to a Kill', 'Come Undone', 'Planet Earth', 'Ordinary World' and more on the setlist. Duran Duran: Unstaged streams via Docplay David Lynch: The Art Life Even when a David Lynch-directed project is diving into nightmares, which is often, the filmmaker's movies and TV shows get audiences yearning to spend time in their company, lapping up his unequalled vision of the world. That's the reason that documentary Lynch/Oz, about his obsession with The Wizard of Oz in his work, exists. Watch doco David Lynch: The Art Life and viewers can spend time in Lynch's company as well. For helmers Rick Barnes, Olivia Neergaard-Holm and Jon Nguyen — all directing their only feature so far — Lynch takes everyone on a tour of his upbringing, efforts to make Eraserhead in the 70s, and artistic and musical output. Of course, don't expect any answers. Again, Lynch wants to let his work speak for itself, rather than him speak about it. But do expect to spend an enjoyable time with the unparalleled master auteur. David Lynch: The Art Life streams via Docplay. What Did Jack Do? In a dimly lit room in a grimy train station, a capuchin monkey sits at a table. In walks a detective, who then starts smoking a cigarette and interrogating the animal in front of him. They chat, bantering back and forth as the cop asks questions and the primate answers. At one point, the monkey even sings. Queries range from "do you know anything about birds?" to "you ever ride the rodeo?", all in a quest to solve a murder. A chicken also pops up, and a waitress. If the above scenario sounds more than a little surreal, that's because it is — especially given that it's part of David Lynch's 17-minute short film What Did Jack Do?. The black-and-white piece also stars the inimitable Lynch as the detective. It's a unique, delightful and characteristically eccentric work by one of the most distinctive folks to ever stand behind a camera. What Did Jack Do? streams via Netflix. Lucky Six times throughout their careers, David Lynch directed Harry Dean Stanton. In the year that delivered their last collaboration in one of Lynch's projects — the third season of Twin Peaks, which followed Wild at Heart, miniseries Hotel Room, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, The Straight Story and Inland Empire — and sadly saw Stanton pass away at the age of 91 after 200-plus acting credits, they teamed up as fellow performers in the delightful Lucky. In the directorial debut of actor John Carroll Lynch (Babes), the veterans are thrust to the fore as Stanton plays a 90-year-old small-town loner who is forced to face his mortality. The landscape of his face pairs perfectly with the arid dessert surroundings, while his specific brand of cantankerous charm finds its match in Lynch as his monologue-spouting, tortoise-loving pal. Lucky streams via Brollie. Read our full review. The Fabelmans With The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg pays tribute to cinema in as many ways as he can fit into a single feature, all while relaying how he grew up as a movie-loving kid — and sharing the affection with his family, too, as he explores the complicated dynamics that shaped his childhood. The director behind everything from Jaws and Indiana Jones to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park and West Side Story also tips his hat to two other filmmaking forces in his coming-of-age affair: four-time Best Director Oscar-winner John Ford, who Spielberg met when he was starting out, and David Lynch. The latter fellow helmer plays the former, in an inspired stroke of casting. Although any acting performance by Lynch is a treat, this one, as he makes a point about interesting filmmaking using the horizon to Gabriel LaBelle (Saturday Night) as Spielberg's surrogate, couldn't be more perfect. The Fabelmans streams via Netflix and ABC iView. Read our full review.
Paying tribute to great authors and writers is easy. Libraries beckon, as do whatever happens to be on your own bookshelf or Kindle. Getting the chance to celebrate the talents behind some of the greatest works of literature ever committed to paper in a stunning exhibition is far more rare, however. Indeed, Writers Revealed: Treasures From the British Library and National Portrait Gallery, London is a world-first. Clearly, it's a special treat for word nerds — especially if you're a fan of Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Bram Stoker, the Brontë sisters, Virginia Woolf, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and more. What goes on display at a showcase dedicated to wordsmiths? When it arrives at HOTA, Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast from Saturday, April 12–Sunday, August 3, 2025, Writers Revealed will span author portraits, plus rare handwritten manuscripts and first editions. Over 70 pieces of art will feature the likenesses of the writers responsible for Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet, The Lord of the Rings, Dracula, Wuthering Heights, Sherlock Holmes and other masterpieces. More than 100 texts will be included, too, with six centuries of literature covered. [caption id="attachment_987067" align="alignnone" width="1920"] William Shakespeare, associated with John Taylor, oil on canvas, feigned oval, circa 1610. © National Portrait Gallery, London[/caption] As the exhibition's full name states, this is a collaboration between the British Library and the National Portrait Gallery, London. If you're wondering why the two institutions are pairing portraits with texts, one of the showcase's aims to explore how literature and visual expression are linked. Also in the spotlight: the legacy of influential writers, plus digging into their creative processes. Oscar Wilde, Harold Pinter, William Blake, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, Lord Byron, TS Eliot, Thomas Hardy, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, John Keats, William Wordsworth and Rudyard Kipling are some of the other greats earning Writers Revealed's attention, as are AA Milne, Beatrix Potter, Dylan Thomas, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro and Zadie Smith. Among the highlights that'll fill 1000 square metres in HOTA's Gallery 1 for 16 weeks: Austen's writing desk, what's thought to be the only Shakespeare portrait to be painted while he was alive, illustrated letters from Tolkien to his grandson, Lewis Carroll's diary entry about Alice in Wonderland and Virginia Woolf's handwritten Mrs Dalloway manuscript. [caption id="attachment_987064" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Harold Pinter by Justin Mortimer, oil on canvas, 1992. © National Portrait Gallery, London[/caption] "We are thrilled to collaborate with the National Portrait Gallery on Writers Revealed, a truly unique exhibition that brings together some of the most exceptional objects from our collections. Visitors will experience rare first editions and exquisite manuscripts alongside celebrated portraits of the writers who created them," said Alexandra Ault, Lead Curator of Modern Archives and Manuscripts at the British Library, announcing the exhibition. "Featuring treasures that rarely leave our gallery in London, this major new exhibition will bring HOTA's visitors closer to some of the most-important figures in English literary history," added Catharine MacLeod, Senior Curator of 17th Century Collections at the National Portrait Gallery. "Encountering these displays, visitors will discover what is revealed and what is hidden when life, writing and portraiture intersect." [caption id="attachment_987063" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Charles Dickens by Daniel Maclise, oil on canvas, 1839. © National Portrait Gallery, London[/caption] [caption id="attachment_987062" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Beatrix Potter by Delmar Harmood Banner, oil on canvas, 1938. © National Portrait Gallery, London[/caption] [caption id="attachment_987066" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lord Byron, replica by Thomas Phillips, oil on canvas, circa 1835, based on a work of 1813. © National Portrait Gallery, London[/caption] [caption id="attachment_804623" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Scott Chrisman, Pixeltape Media[/caption] [caption id="attachment_987061" align="alignnone" width="1920"] A vista through the Romantics display through to Queen Victoria by Sir George Hayter (1863) at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Photo by Oliver Hess.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_987060" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tony Antoniou[/caption] Writers Revealed: Treasures From the British Library and National Portrait Gallery, London displays at HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, from Saturday, April 12–Sunday, August 3, 2025. Head to the gallery's website for further details and tickets. Top image: Jane Austen by Cassandra Austen, pencil and watercolour, circa 1810. © National Portrait Gallery, London.
Since 2024, the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Awards doesn't just give out awards when its annual ceremony celebrating the best of the year's big- and small-screen output rolls around. When the accolades moved its night of nights to the Gold Coast, it turned the whole event into a festival, getting the folks behind — and starring in — Aussie movies and TV shows, plus homegrown talents enjoying success overseas, chatting at sessions open to the public. That's the AACTA Festival setup — and when the nation's screen academy promised that the fest would be bigger this year, it meant it. The lineup for the event from Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, 2025 has just expanded again, after the initial program details were revealed in November 2024, then more highlights were added in December. One impressive new inclusion is Oscar-winning Memoir of a Snail animator Adam Elliot talking about his work and career, including his latest delight (which, fingers crossed, could be an Academy Award-nominee by then, too). Another is the return of Talk to Me filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou after they were involved in 2024, this time with ONEFOUR to discuss challenging stereotypes via both horror and drill music. AACTA Festival is also hosting Actor on Actor talks, first teaming up Lee Tiger Halley from Boy Swallows Universe with Alyla Browne from Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Sting, then getting Better Man and How to Make Gravy co-stars Kate Mulvany and Damon Herriman talking. [caption id="attachment_986977" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jono Searle/Getty Images for AFI[/caption] If you're keen to find out more about Binge's upcoming The Last Anniversary, which is based on a novel from Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty and stars Teresa Palmer (The Fall Guy), the latter will be in attendance with some of the show's team — including director John Polson (Law & Order: Organised Crime) — to dig into the adaptation. Heard about snake-movie remake The Anaconda with Jack Black (Dear Santa) and Paul Rudd (Only Murders in the Building) that's being shot in Queensland?. US film producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form (A Quiet Place: Day One) are heading along to dive into it, and the topic of bringing making blockbuster films in general. Aussie acting icon Jack Thompson (Runt) is also on the lineup, with 1975 classic Sunday Too Far Away celebrating its 50th anniversary. Thomas Horton, the VFX producer/supervisor on House of the Dragon, will explore bringing Westeros to life as well. And, as part of the screening program — and giving some love to film and TV successes in general — Wicked is receiving a free outdoor showing. The current additions join already-revealed sessions with The Invisible Man and Wolf Man writer/director Leigh Whannell, Better Man and The Greatest Showman filmmaker Michael Gracey, a live How to Make Gravy concert featuring Paul Kelly, Colin and Cameron Cairnes talking Late Night with the Devil and a behind-the-scenes look at Netflix's ripped-from-the-headlines Aussie series Apple Cider Vinegar. In still-huge news, the Working Dog team, aka Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Michael Hirsh and Rob Sitch, are coming together for an in-conversation session that's bound to touch upon everything from The Castle, Frontline, Thank God You're Here and Utopia to The Dish, The Hollowmen and Have You Been Paying Attention?. The Dish is also the screening program, and the Working Dog team will receive the prestigious AACTA Longford Lyell Award. Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser, who won an Oscar for Dune and is highly tipped for another one for Dune: Part Two, is another significant inclusion, chatting about his Hollywood work. Also in the same category: John Seale, who took home an Academy Award for The English Patient, and was nominated for Witness, Rain Man, Cold Mountain and Mad Max: Fury Road. Everyone can also look forward to authors Trent Dalton and Holly Ringland returning from 2024's lineup, talking about Boy Swallows Universe and The Lost Flowers of Alice on the small screen, respectively; a dive into the Heartbreak High soundtrack; a panel on queer storytelling with RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under season two winner Spankie Jackzon and Deadloch's Nina Oyama; and a session with First Nations filmmakers. And if you're keen to watch movies, Gettin' Square followup Spit will enjoy its Queensland premiere, complete with star David Wenham (Fake) diving into the feature's journey; Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will make its Australian debut, at Movie World, of course; and upcoming action film Homeward with Nathan Phillips (Kid Snow) and Jake Ryan (Territory) will take viewers behind the scenes. [caption id="attachment_926549" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Moshcam[/caption] [caption id="attachment_985262" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Courtesy of Netflix © 2024[/caption] AACTA Festival will run from Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, 2025 at HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast. For further details, head to the fest's website.
Before Wolf Man let out any howls on-screen, it went into production with a roaringly great idea: Leigh Whannell, fresh from his 2020 hit The Invisible Man, again taking on one of horror cinema's iconic monsters. But this update of 1941 classic The Wolf Man almost didn't happen, at least not like this. In the past decade, rumours first circulated that Dwayne Johnson (Red One) was set to bay at the moon, then a reimagining with Ryan Gosling (The Fall Guy) was simmering — the latter of which Whannell was linked to, then dropped out with Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance set to step in instead, then returned to but with Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) starring. Initially, Whannell declined the Wolf Man opportunity. Why did he change his mind? "I think it was hitting upon my way into the character," he tells Concrete Playground. "They were very smart in their inception of me — they said 'well, just as an exercise, what would you do? How would you approach this character if you were to do it — not saying you are, but what if you were?'. And so I started thinking about it, and once I hit upon this idea of perspective and using the camera to shift perspective, that's when I was hooked. Once I have an idea that is keeping me awake at night and I can't stop thinking about it, it's almost like you have to make that film to get that idea out of your system. If something's obsessing you, then you've got to exorcise it. You've got to get it out. And that was it." Co-written by Whannell with his wife Corbett Tuck — an alum of the Whannell-co-created Insidious franchise as an actor, including featuring in his directorial debut Insidious: Chapter 3 — this Wolf Man delivers what it promises, of course. It's a werewolf film, with Abbott's character of Blake Lovell destined for an unwanted transformation. But as anyone that saw The Invisible Man and experienced how it found an inventive way into its well-known horror figure knows, and everyone who watched Whannell's body-horror Upgrade before that and spotted its riff on Frankenstein as well, the Australian filmmaker isn't interested in straightforward or obvious do-overs. He's modernising movie monsters and grounding them in resonant emotion. As The Invisible Man's lead, Elisabeth Moss (The Veil) wasn't in the titular role but rather played the transparent force's target, aka his ex-girlfriend, for instance, in a picture about domestic abuse, coercive control and gaslighting. This time, while again examining the loss of agency as he keeps doing cross his career, Whannell spins an exploration of trauma, plus the transformation and grief that it can spark — and of a marriage and a family tested by it, and also of the breakdown of communication in a relationship, and the mourning over losing someone slowly before your very eyes — around cinema's werewolf archetype. It's a hauntingly effective way in, and a shrewd and engaging one. Again, feeling the impact on those closest to the movie's namesake is essential. As Blake's wife Charlotte, enter Ozark Emmy-winner Julia Garner, starring with Abbott for the third time following Martha Marcy May Marlene (the feature debut for both) and an episode of Girls. She's also currently on a four-film streak where tension and unease is the prevailing mood. The latter and discomfort were equally crucial in her turn in quickly bingeable, ripped-from-the-headlines streaming series Inventing Anna. "There's not just one family member," Garner advises, explaining why it was so pivotal to her that what Charlotte goes through is just as key to the narrative as what Blake faces. Wolf Man uproots the couple and their eight-year-old daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth, Coma) from their San Francisco existence — where Charlotte is an investigative journalist and loving it, Blake is a doting dad but adrift in his surroundings otherwise, and strain already stresses the pair's marriage. While it takes some convincing, soon they're in rural Oregon, where Blake grew up and where the film opens. As a child (feature first-timer Zac Chandler) in the 90s in an area where a strange virus has been linked to wildlife, his survivalist father (Sam Jaeger, The Handmaid's Tale) isolated the family from the rest of the world. Blake has now inherited the property, sparking his comeback decades later, as well as the use of impressive practical effects by Whannell's team to make good on the movie's moniker. First coming to fame at home as the film critic on beloved 90s Saturday-morning TV show Recovery on the ABC, and with acting credits in The Matrix Reloaded, Death Sentence, Dying Breed, The Mule and more to his name, Whannell did indeed wish when he was starting out to be where he is now. His path that also spans bringing both the Saw and Insidious franchises, two of the biggest sagas in horror of the 21st century, to audiences with fellow Australian James Wan (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom) — and starring in them. But he steadfastly appreciates his journey and, as he notes, "that luck plays a massive part in film-industry success". While he's been doing big things as Aussie filmmaker, Garner keeps working with Down Under talents. See also: Kitty Green's The Assistant and The Royal Hotel, plus Rosemary's Baby prequel Apartment 7A from Relic's Natalie Erika James. We chatted with Whannell and Garner about their routes to Wolf Man, how the film continues trends in each of their careers, casting and the movie's fresh interpretation of the Wolf Man story. The figure is no stranger to the screen, after all, with 2010's The Wolfman also going the remake route, and focusing on werewolves at the heart of films as varied as 1935's Werewolf of London; the 80s trio of An American Werewolf in London, The Howling and Teen Wolf; and Wolf in the 90s (and others). Part of our interview, too: Whannell's recurring themes, Garner's reunion with Abbott and more. On Whether Whannell Ever Dreamed That He'd Be Modernising Iconic Movie Monsters Back When He Was a Film Critic on 90s ABC Series Recovery Leigh: "I think I did dream. I mean, 'dream' is the right word, because they were very much daydreams. I don't think I took it past the daydreams. Once you start actualising a daydream, where you're drawing up plans and charts, and thinking about the chess moves that you're going to make to get there — I was just wishing for it. So I think that the fact that I actually am doing it is a literal dream come true, but it's also surprising to me. Because I think if I hadn't met the right people at the right time — and it's a very particular path I had to walk. One wrong move and this all goes in a different direction. On Garner Engaging with a New Way Into a Horror Classic in Wolf Man Immediately After Rosemary's Baby Prequel Apartment 7A — and If That's a Daunting Task Julia: "With this one, I feel like a lot of it is just that's what people want to see now. I feel like most of the movies that come out in this day and age are horror in a way, so I think that's what's popular now. And I'm just an actor that that needs to work — what can I say? No. But that's what's popular. The thing with Wolf Man that's interesting is that I actually didn't watch any — I've watched the previous Wolf Mans before, even before I was attached to this movie, but I didn't rewatch any of the previous Wolf Mans because I always felt like it felt very different and it wasn't connected to the previous Wolf Mans at all. So I wasn't going to take that as reference, movie reference. I found other places that were more beneficial for this Wolf Man than the previous Wolf Mans." On What Motivates Whannell to Make New Versions of All-Time Horror Greats Leigh: "I think they're iconic characters that people know. They're known around the world. The Wolf Man, Invisible Man, Dracula, Frankenstein — these characters are truly global, and people have a firm idea in their head. You say 'Frankenstein' to somebody and they have a picture in their head, probably the classic Boris Karloff image of the square green head with the bolts in the neck. There's that, but having said that, they're not locked in. People have done many things with these different characters. You can take the Wolf Man and plug it into a teen comedy. They did with Michael J Fox in the 80s. You can take a werewolf and plug it into a children's film. My kids watch animated movies with the Wolf Man running around, and Adam Sandler's doing the voice of Dracula. They're very malleable. They're so entrenched in pop culture that they don't even have to sit in one lane anymore. [caption id="attachment_788088" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Invisible Man[/caption] That's what's exciting to me, because getting people into movie theatres these days is difficult. If you can take a really known character like that and create essentially an original film inside of it — like with The Invisible Man, I was essentially creating my own story. I wasn't adapting a novel. I was creating this character of Cecilia, her inner world. So it's a way of having my cake and eating it. I get to write an original movie that's based on an iconic character, and the fact that it's so well-known means that studio has a way in. They can sell it to people. It's an equation you have to think about, I think, when making movies these days, because getting people into theatres is tough." On Why Whannell's Approach to Horror Monsters Appealed to Garner, and What She Was Excited to Dig Into Julia: "That it felt very real and very grounded. I thought that was a super-interesting combination, with the supernatural element of a monster movie, like Wolf Man. So, that contradiction — well, any contradiction always interests me. I think playing a mother, but not only playing a mother, playing a working mother — a mother that is struggling with what her identity is. I interviewed a lot of working mothers separately, and they all had similar responses, in a way. And the pressure of being a woman in this in this day and age — there was different pressure being a woman in the past, but there's now this different pressure of this day and age, and they all had similar responses. But then to add on top, something that was also just interesting was the sense of acting, how I approached it, too, was the seven stages of grief taking place in one night. And I think that was a really interesting challenge as an actor, because playing anything that takes place in one day is very challenging, let alone having the stages of grief — that's very challenging as well." On Wolf Man Combining Its Monster-Movie Setup with Musing on a Marriage Breakdown, a Family Strained by It, and Grief and Loss Leigh: "I think it is a balancing act, but it's one of the things I love about screenwriting is calibrating it. You're shaping something. You're making this sculpture. And to me, there's something very musical about writing a film, because there is a rhythm to it — and it's a rhythm that you just feel, you kind of feel it in your bones. You're just like 'okay, I need a chord change here. It's time for a big moment, and then I'll pull back'. I love doing that. I love being the god of my own little world. So much of life is out of our control — but when you write a screenplay, you create these people and you can treat them badly, you can treat them well, you can give them victories, you can rip the rug out from underneath them. There's something very cathartic about that, about controlling the fate of these imaginary people. And so I do enjoy that calibration. I do enjoy deciding — and so I'll give them a moment of connection, and I'll give them an emotional moment, and then I'll be vicious to them. You really are putting these characters through the wringer and you just have to use yourself as the barometer of 'when do I get emotional and when do I write things up a little bit?'. On Elements of Horror, Tension, Unease and Discomfort Simmering in Garner's Last Four Films in a Row — Including The Royal Hotel and The Assistant Julia: "I think it's funny. I look at those two movies, I don't look at them as horror movies so much, Royal and The Assistant. I look at them more as movies that have a lot of tension, and movies that have more of a grey area — and that's what feels like horror, a grey area is sometimes scarier because it feels more real. But this movie is different from anything that I've done, because this is actually the most of an action movie from out of anything that I've done, so that was one of the things that I also wanted to do. There was a lot of physical just running and all the things that I'm doing this movie. It was like an action horror movie it felt like, this film." On Why Whannell Keeps Telling On-Screen Tales About the Loss of Control and Agency Leigh: "That's interesting. A lot of times I treat interviews like free therapy, where I'm discovering in real time what the hell it is I do with my life. The old saying 'a fish cannot describe water' applies — I'm so inside of my films and so close to them that I'm not always the best person to tell you what they're about. Someone like you, who's coming in with a fresh set of eyes, you have a better Google Maps-view of this thing that I've done, and you maybe can pick up things. So I'm surprised a lot of times. Hearing you say that, I'm like 'okay' — and thinking about it, I'm like 'yeah, you're right'. There is this throughline through Upgrade and The Invisible Man and Wolf Man, and a lot of stuff I've done. I think that — just unpacking this in real-time here for you — I think that feeling like being out of control is something I'm afraid of in my own life. I'm somebody who wants to know what the plan is. I'm trying to keep a lid on the chaos of life. Some people are better at going with the flow. I definitely need that and I've always been like that. So maybe it's a fear of mine that's coming out. But also I think it just makes for good drama when you have someone who is being stripped of their agency and who they are. That's just great drama, especially when the person doesn't deserve it, when they're a sympathetic character. They say the key to screenwriting is to put your main character up a tree and throw rocks at them. I guess I enjoy torturing these fictional people because that makes for a good screenplay." On the Importance of Key Surroundings in Garner's Recent Films, Such as Wolf Man's Oregon Farm Setting Julia: "Surroundings in general, I think, is — and this is actually not on the actor, but I think if a director is not using the surroundings, that is not good for the film because it's a character on its own. So you're not getting to know another character in the film." On How Whannell Knew That Abbott and Garner Were His Wolf Man Leads Leigh: "I knew both of their work and knew how talented they both were. With Chris, the final straw was seeing him do a play in New York where he was just so great. And he was just ball of energy on stage, just raging — and then I went and saw him backstage and he's just chilling out with a glass of wine. And I was like 'okay, this guy, this guy is amazing that he could do that and then this'. I could see that he could switch it on and off. And with Julia, I already knew what she was capable of. So a lot of times with actors, unless you're a Christopher Nolan or Steven Spielberg, you really are just fishing for a yes. You don't always get that. I've written plenty of impassioned letters to different actors trying to sell them on a film I'm writing and gotten the rejection. Even directors can get rejected. Actors face a lot of rejection, but directors do too. So I'm just so happy that these particular two people responded. I was waiting for Julia. I was like 'uhhh, I haven't heard anything for a couple of days'. I'm reading into it. 'I guess she's going to pass'. And then she texted me a little wolf emoji. And I was like 'all right'. It was just one of those happy times when two people you know can do it both said yes." On Garner Working with Christopher Abbott for the Third Time — and How They Drew Energy From Each Other in Their Wolf Man Performances Julia: Well, it definitely didn't feel like the first time I met him. So that was easy. And Chris is such a great actor, so I was very excited to attach myself to this. Chris met me when I was 16 years old, which is crazy — there is history. Just being real, I think is so important. Being real and being open, because if you have just open behaviour, then that makes your scene partner hopefully more open. So that openness is contagious, and then you get a real response. On What Whannell Makes of His Journey From Australian TV to Co-Creating the Saw and Insidious Franchise, Then Upgrade, The Invisible Man and Wolf Man Leigh: "A lot of it's been surprising. So much of the movie industry is gambling, and you the old saying 'nobody knows anything' applies, I think. Certainly in Hollywood, where you've got these big studios spending lots of money and it's a profit-driven industry. Unlike Australia, it's not a a government-supported art form. It's a deluge of capitalism, and you stand or fall on that box office. And there are detours you can take, i.e. spend less — well, then you're not on the hook as much; the less money you spend, the less you're expected to make. So anyone who manages to scrape out a career, it's kind of a surprise — because when James Wan and I did that first Saw movie, we never expected that people would actually go to see it, and never expected to turn into this huge franchise. And it was a total bonus prize. So it's surprising more than anything. And I think when luck is involved, it can keep you humble — or it should. If you start believing that you're there because of destiny, that you were chosen by the hands of fate, that's when you're in trouble. That's when your ego's talking. But if you have a healthy awareness that luck plays a massive part in film-industry success, it does keep you god-fearing. It keeps you humble in the face of that luck. Here I am again talking to you, I'm rolling the dice again. I've made a film. I'm hoping it does well. But I have no idea how it's going to connect with audiences. That part isn't up to me. There's nothing I can do or say to make this film connect with people. It either will or it won't. So yeah, I'm just very well-aware of that." [caption id="attachment_927986" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Royal Hotel[/caption] On How Garner's Run of Working with Australian Directors Came to Be Julia: "I don't know. Well, Kitty is one of my closest friends, so I will do anything with her. I literally was just like 'I need to call her'. I love Australians. I think you guys are awesome. And you guys have great, great directors and art coming out of there, so I'm always intrigued by what an Australian has to say." Wolf Man opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, January 16, 2025. Leigh Whannell will chat about the film at the 2025 AACTA Festival, which runs from Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, 2025 at HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast.
"I think a little bit is that annoying mosquito lead. It gets in your ear and it's hard to get it out." That's why Chris Stracey, one half of Bag Raiders with Jack Glass, thinks that the duo's perennial earworm 'Shooting Stars' not only initially resonated with listeners, but keeps resonating. More than a decade and a half has now passed since the peppy tune first hit airwaves; indeed, 2025 marks exactly 15 years since the track notched up 18th spot in Triple J's Hottest 100. The tune's story didn't end there, though, and not just thanks to that initial wave of love lingering. "Case in point: with the Troye tune, it opens with that and it's just instantly like 'oh okay, yeah, I'm in'. It's just one of those," Stracey tells Concrete Playground. He's referring to fellow Aussie Troye Sivan, who sampled ''Shooting Stars' in his 2023 single 'Got Me Started'. Between Bag Raiders first releasing their song and Sivan's track, the tune also went viral — and global — thanks to a meme that it'll forever be linked to, then rocketed up the Billboard dance charts. "It's been crazy. I mean, it's been good. There's nothing to complain about. But it just feels like it's total dumb luck in a way. The way the Internet works, you can't really engineer things like that. You just let it do its thing. It's surprising to us that it's continuing to do its thing, but I wouldn't say there'd been too many negative things that have come with it," advises Glass. "It's been amazing," pipes in Stracey. "It's been a lucky and crazy and awesome ride," adds Glass again. "It also had a weird arrangement at the time. It's just basically like verse, verse, verse, verse, chorus," explains Stracey. "And breakdown," reminds Glass. "Whereas most songs would go verse, chorus, verse, chorus," continues Stracey. "I remember that being a comment, that a few people were like 'what is that arrangement? I've never heard a song do that'. And we didn't really know much about writing songs at the time. We were just like 'oh, let's just make it chill and then make it big'. So maybe that hasn't to do with it, but I don't know." Bag Raiders will always be known for 'Shooting Stars', but the song that Flume has also covered with Toro y Moi is just the beginning of the duo's journey — well, after going to the same Sydney high school, reconnecting afterwards and teaming up to make music, forming the band in 2006. It also came after 2008's 'Turbo Love' became a radio favourite, and their remix of 'B.T.T.T.T.R.Y.' by K.I.M. (aka The Presets' Kim Moyes) made the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack. Jump to 2025 and two studio albums sit on their discography, 2010's self-titled release and 2019's Horizons, as do collaborations with everyone from The Kite String Tangle to Panama, their own record label and status as a music-festival favourite. Bag Raiders' next fest gig is AO Live, the music lineup that's been accompanying the Australian Open since 2003. Only one Grand Slam around the world pairs tennis with a music event: Melbourne's annual stint in the sport's spotlight. For 2025's AO Live from Thursday, January 23–Saturday, January 25, Bag Raiders sit on a bill filled with big names: Benson Boone headlines the Thursday night, Kaytranada does the honours on the Friday, and Glass and Stracey take to the stage on the final day, as do Kesha and Armand Van Helden. Music lovers who'll be filling the crowd aren't the only ones that are excited. So are Bag Raiders. What gets them pumped about being on any festival bill? "One big thing is who else is on the lineup," says Glass. [caption id="attachment_975224" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ashlea Caygill[/caption] "I would say in this case, it's such a sick lineup. To be on the same bill as Kaytranada and Armand Van Helden, who's a bit of a hero of ours, is pretty exciting. So that's something that I would say I look to. Also just to be in a cool, kind of weird environment — and this certainly fits that bill as well," Glass also advises, calling out how unique it is to be playing a music fest at a major tennis championship. Adds Stracey: "And also we're doing this one live, whereas the last few thing festivals that we've done, I think we were doing DJ sets — which is also really fun, but we've got this new live show that we've been building and it's been really fun to pop that off whenever we can. And doing it at a festival, and the atmosphere is tip top, is definitely going to be really fun." Glass and Stracey are indeed still having fun with Bag Raiders. Chatting through their career — how they started, their early influences, the 'Shooting Stars' experience, the path that's led them to here — they sound as inspired as ever, in fact. As for what the future holds, "I think just keep doing what we've been doing the last couple of years, which is making dance music, and going out and DJing it. I think we're in a good moment. So, more of the same please," notes Glass. Fingers crossed that their current idea of a dream collaboration comes to fruition, too: "We meet so many people along the way and then we just kind of go 'oh, you know what, it'd be fun to do a track with that person'," explains Glass of their process. "Actually, we were hanging out with the guys from ONEFOUR at Ability Fest. That would be quite a good collab. Those guys are cool as hell," adds Stracey. We also spoke with the pair about what they love about playing festivals, what audiences can expect from that aforementioned new live show, what they've learned along their journey, how the Australian dance music scene has changed and plenty more. [caption id="attachment_975226" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ashlea Caygill[/caption] On Bag Raiders' Favourite Part of the Festival Experience as an Artist Jack: "Being outdoors is kind of sick. We're so used to playing in sweaty clubs at like two in the morning. There's something very fresh and nice about being outdoors. And just the energy that people bring to festivals is different to a club. I don't know, it seems to be a bit more ... " Chris: "Like a one-off concert." Jack: "People are just like — the vibes are high." Chris: "Yeah, it's more, more, more, more — more of everything. More fun, more people usually." Jack: "More bands." Chris: "And that's also what's so fun for us, too. We've met a lot of really good friends in music now through playing at the same festivals, and just kicking it side of stage and watching their shows. That's really fun." On What Audiences Can Expect From Bag Raiders' New Live Show Jack: "Our new show is pretty turbo actually. It starts pretty hard and fast, and then continues to get harder and faster for the course of an hour." Chris: "So the journey will be from high energy to higher energy." Jack: "Yeah, kind of a take-no-prisoners live show that we've built." Concrete Playground: "That suits being at a sports event." Jack: "I think so." Chris: "Yeah, high intensity. Those people are used to watching the hectic stuff at the highest level, so we've got to also bring it." Jack: "We're all athletes, you know what I mean?" On How Influential 'Shooting Stars' Has Been in Putting Bag Raiders on the Path to Where They Are Today Chris: "We were just making tracks and putting them out, I guess, and we didn't really think that it would do what it did. We had no expectations of it, really. We were just working on a bunch of music, and then we just kept going and did the album it. It's been something that the outside perception of it is kind of bigger than the importance that we hold on it. We've never tried to do another version of that song or anything like that. It's just one of those funny things where you're making one thing in your bedroom, basically." [to Jack] "It was half in your spare room in your house, and then in our studio, the first studio that we moved into. And it's just incredible that you can do something like that and then it takes off." Jack: "But I think it's only looking back where you realise how weird and crazy that journey was. I think as it's gone, it's all felt pretty natural and normal. And then the internet stuff, like I said, has been kind of wacky but cool. But I don't think there's really ever been a moment where ... " Chris: "That's informed the new music that we've made." Jack: "Yeah, exactly." On the Original Dream When Bag Raiders Formed in 2006 — or Before That, When Glass and Stracey Knew Each Other in High School Jack: "I think just to be able to do that — and do that as a job." Chris: "Yep." Jack: "I didn't really dream much bigger than that." Chris: "Me neither." Jack: "But that's also not that easy to do. We've been lucky and we've worked hard and we've been able to do that. It's still a dream. It's like a good dream that we've kind of reached, I guess. I don't think either of us ever wanted to be global superstar DJs or in the gossip magazines. It wasn't anything like that. It was just to keep being able to make music which we both love, and to do that as much as possible, basically." On the Moment When Glass and Stracey Knew That Bag Raiders Was Their Job Now Chris: "I quit my cafe job, where I had to wake up at 5am and open the cafe. I was like 'I'm not doing this shit anymore'. It's because around when we started getting booked, after we get got some radio play on Triple J and we started getting booked to DJ, we're traveling. So we go to Melbourne and we go to Brisbane and we go to Newcastle, and we're like 'oh, cool, so people are paying for us to go to these other cities and then also paying us fees'. And for the amount of work that you do — I mean, there's a lot of travelling and you're doing work on music behind the scenes — but in terms of hours, a DJ gig is like two hours. And I'd been putting in eight- hours shifts, getting up at 5am or 4.30am or whatever. And I was like 'this has gotta go'." Jack: "Yeah, totally." On Bag Raiders' Diverse Range of Initial Influences That Started Them on Their Music Journey Jack: "I think at that time we were making all kinds of different music. We both had interest in electronic music, but it wasn't necessarily club music and dance music. And then at around the time when we started in Sydney, our friends are throwing these parties and we were attending them, and we were buddies with the DJs. And then I guess slowly the music we were making went from more-ambient stuff into more club-focused things, and then we would turn up at the club and give it to the DJs and they would just play without even … " Chris: " … Listening to it. It's actually insane." Jack: "Yeah, they trusted us enough to press play on CDs, which could've been anything. And I guess it was through the influence of that, the parties were called Bang Gang and the Bang Gang DJs were really big." Chris: "They also played all over the place. You would hear Daft Punk, you would hear kind of techno stuff and then you would hear … " Jack: "Fleetwood Mac." Chris: "Yeah, Fleetwood Mac. Bon Jovi. They were playing all over the place. It was that real anything-goes sort of vibe. And I think, also because we've always been into so much different kind of music — the first thing that we did as Bag Raiders was that mix CD that we called Bag Raiders, which was sort of the same, was all over the place, had a couple of our edits, but it had The Cure, it had 50 Cent, it had dance stuff. It had Cream, like Eric Clapton." Jack: "Outkast." Chris: "Yeah." Jack: "It was wild." Chris: "And I think we've just always tried to have that — we've never really been people that are just into one thing. All of our releases have kind of been all over the place, apart from recently, where they're a bit more geared towards the club world again. But it's definitely been that we've been influenced by loads of different stuff." Jack: "I feel like that's the ethos of Bag Raiders as well, to just raid from all these different genres and just put them all together in a big washing machine and see what comes out." On What Bag Raiders Takes Inspiration From Now, Almost Two Decades On Chris: "Since COVID really, I think both of us have been re-energised in making club music. It's been really fun to, because we had a couple of years and no shows at all, and it seemed like when DJ gigs started happening again, the energy from the people was just way more." Jack: "Yeah." Chris: "It was like a really hardcore kind of thing, like people are way into letting loose, it seems. So it's been really fun to just make the kind of music that we would be putting in our DJ sets anyway." Jack: "Or that we would want to hear if we were out in a club, for sure. And I think that's one thing we've probably gotten better at is understanding how clubs work and how to DJ and stuff. For sure 15 years ago, we had no idea for our first DJ sets — they were like absolute shitshows." Chris: "Train wreck." Jack: "Train wreck after train wreck. So we've finally learned how to DJ, I would say." On Whether the Success of 'Shooting Stars' Came with Pressure — and How Bag Raiders Handled It Chris: "Pressure to make another 'Shooting Stars'? A little. We definitely had a moment where we did an album that we thought was pretty cool and we loved it, and then the label's a little bit like 'oh, we need another 'Shooting Stars'-style thing. Like: 'well we're not – that's not what we do, bro'. It's funny, because labels will sign you because you did something that you liked for yourself that worked. And then as soon as it comes around to the second time around, they suddenly are like 'oh, we know what's going to work — you should do this thing that worked before and keep doing it'. And that's never been in our interest at all. But I mean, we've been out of a label deal for four years now or something like that." Jack: "Yeah, yeah." Chris: "And so for us it's just been so freeing, and you realise you really don't need labels these days. It doesn't take a $1000-a-day studio to make a record anymore. You can do it with a laptop in the library. And then barely anyone does music videos anymore as well. It seems like they just stick it up on social media or something, and that's it. It's kind of been really freeing and really fun to enter that world, too. Because especially in dance music, you do something and you're playing it out as you're working on it. And so as soon as you've gone 'oh, this is finished, it's ready to go, let's just put it out', the fact that there's no red tape anymore, to just be able to do something and then like suddenly it's out in the world, that's ... " Jack: "A good feeling." Chris: "Yeah, very good feeling." On Glass and Stracey Starting Their Own Label Jack: "It's been awesome. So far, I think we've only just put out our own music on it, right? It would be cool in the future to put out music of friends and music that we really like. But it's exactly like what Chris is just talking about. It just feels very freeing. And it's not even that no one's telling us what to do, because even had they done that in the past, we kind of wouldn't listen anyway. But it's more like there's no big machine. There's no bureaucracy. There's no like red tape. There's no waiting around for a label to get its ducks in order before something comes out. It's just all very immediate, and we can move really quickly. That stuff feels really freeing, I think." On What Glass and Stracey Have Learned Over Their Bag Raiders Journey So Far Jack: "I certainly know a lot more about how the music industry works now, and who the evil players are — who to avoid and who to buddy up with. And then in terms of music, I don't think our approach is that different to what it was back then, to be honest." I would like to think that's one of the secrets of our longevity and success. We never try to make music for anyone except ourselves. Whatever makes us feel good or happy in the moment in the studio, that's what we're going to make. Chris: "And I suppose we've been lucky, we haven't had any overbearing labels or managers or whatever forcing us in certain directions, so we've free enough to just do whatever feels good. And I think probably people can sense that or something, like audiences. I think people have much better radars than what some people think. They can tell if something's being forced or tailored, or tried to be created in some direction — and people want to listen to stuff that just makes everyone feel good." On How Glass and Stracey Have Observed the Australian Dance Music Scene Changing Since They Were Starting Out Jack: "When we came up and especially in Sydney, the scene was so strong and there were so many clubs. Right now we're in King's Cross at my studio, on a road where there used to be like six clubs — and there's none here now. So it's a bit sad. I feel like there's maybe less enthusiasm for clubbing from young people, and less people seem less convinced about its importance. You go to Europe and cities like Berlin, and it's such a big part of the fabric there, and it's recognised by everyone as a really important form of expression or art even. And I think we've lost that a bit in Australia. So that's a bummer. Having said that, the amount of good music that still comes out of here is very inspiring and sick, considering the constraints of what I was just saying. There's so much good stuff. A lot of what we DJ is Australian music from friends or people we like here. So yeah, I feel like the scene is really strong kind of against all odds in a way, with lack of support." Bag Raiders play AO Live on Saturday, January 25 — with the full event running from Thursday, January 23–Saturday, January 25 at John Cain Arena, Olympic Boulevard, Melbourne. Head to the Australian Open website for more details and tickets. In New Zealand, Bag Raiders are playing Gardens Music Festival on Saturday, March 1 at Auckland Domain, Park Road, Parnell, Auckland. Head to the event website for more details and tickets.
Since Euphoria last hit screens in 2022, 2023 added Saltburn to Jacob Elordi's resume, then 2024 Down Under brought Priscilla. In 2025, viewers will be watching the Australian star in The Narrow Road to the Deep North. The Australian-made five-part miniseries was initially announced a couple of years back, then unveiled a few sneak-peak images last year. Now, Prime Video has locked in the show's streaming debut for April. Put Friday, April 18, 2025 in your diary, and consider your Easter long-weekend viewing sorted. The Narrow Road to the Deep North will premiere at this year's Berlinale first, getting a rare cinema showing, before bringing its page-to-screen tale to streaming. Before all of the above projects, and also before the three Kissing Booth films helped boost his career first, Elordi scored his initial on-screen acting credit beyond short films in Aussie movie Swinging Safari. Since then, however, the Brisbane-born talent has largely focused on working overseas. So The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a rarity of late on his filmography, with the actor returning home to make the drama. The series adapts Richard Flanagan's Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name. Also featuring among the show's starry lineup of talent: Olivia DeJonge (Elvis), her The Staircase co-star Odessa Young (My First Film), Limbo and Boy Swallows Universe's Simon Baker; Heartbreak High's Thomas Weatherall, Love Me's Heather Mitchell and Belfast's Ciarán Hinds — as well as Show Kasamatsu (Tokyo Vice), Charles An (Last King of the Cross), Essie Davis (One Day), William Lodder (Love Me), Eduard Geyl (Born to Spy) and Christian Byers (Bump) The project's impressive talent extend behind the camera, with The Narrow Road to the Deep North hailing from Snowtown, True History of the Kelly Gang and Nitram collaborators Justin Kurzel and Shaun Grant. Kurzel directs, while Grant is on adaptation duties — and both are also executive producing. [caption id="attachment_927127" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic for HBO via Getty Images, supplied by Prime Video.[/caption] Elordi shares the role of Dorrigo Evans with Hinds, playing the younger version of the character in a tale that jumps between different time periods. The Narrow Road to the Deep North's protagonist is a Lieutenant who becomes a prisoner of war on the Thailand-Burma Railway. His story encompasses becoming a surgeon and war hero, and a life-changing stint of falling in love with Amy Mulvaney (Young). DeJonge and Baker feature with Elordi and Young in the show's 40s-set segments, where World War II obviously casts a shadow. Hinds hops in when the series gets to the 80s, which is where Mitchell, Weatherall, Kasamatsu and An will pop up as well. [caption id="attachment_947836" align="alignnone" width="1920"] HBO[/caption] [caption id="attachment_919075" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Saltburn[/caption] The Narrow Road to the Deep North will stream via Prime Video from Friday, April 18, 2025. Images: Prime Video.
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols should never be far from anyone's ears — but there's listening to the iconic 1977 punk album, the only studio record from Sex Pistols, and then there's hearing it played live in full. Down Under in 2025, Australian and New Zealand music lovers will be treated to that very experience, with the group locking in a tour. Band members Paul Cook, Steve Jones and Glen Matlock are heading this way in April, as part of a project dubbed Sex Pistols Featuring Frank Carter. As the band's moniker makes plain, this is a case of punk figures joining punk figures, as first happened back in August 2024 for fundraiser gigs in London. Clearly the setup worked. This will be Sex Pistols' first trip this way in almost 30 years, since 1996 — this time pairing drummer Cook, guitarist Jones and bassist Matlock with Gallows, Pure Love and Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes alum Carter on vocals. The group have announced seven stops, starting in Auckland in Christchurch in Aotearoa, before playing Aussie gigs in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle. John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, the band's well-known former lead vocalist, was last part of their lineup in 2008 — which is when Sex Pistols last toured before 2024. Hearing Never Mind the Bollocks live and in full almost five decades since its original release means hearing 'Anarchy in the UK', 'God Save the Queen', 'Pretty Vacant', 'Bodies', 'Holidays in the Sun' and more. If this feels like an incredibly rare chance to experience a slice of music greatness, that's because it is — and if you need any more motivation, Sex Pistols Featuring Frank Carter's UK gigs earned rave reviews. [caption id="attachment_986909" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Henry Ruggeri[/caption] Sex Pistols Featuring Frank Carter 2025 Australia and New Zealand Tour Wednesday, April 2 — Town Hall, Auckland Thursday, April 3 — Town Hall, Christchurch Saturday, April 5 — Festival Hall, Melbourne Sunday, April 6 — Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide Tuesday, April 8 — Hordern Pavilion, Sydney Wednesday, April 9 — Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane Friday, April 11 — Fremantle Prison, Fremantle Sex Pistols Featuring Frank Carter are touring Australia and New Zealand in April 2025, with ticket presales from 11am on Tuesday, January 21 and general sales from 12pm on Thursday, January 23. Head to the Australia and New Zealand tour websites for more details.
What do Heath Ledger serenading Julia Stiles and a monkey playing music have in common? If you head to Moonlight Cinema in February 2025, they're both on the program — and they're indicative of a lineup that's going big on films about love and also flicks where tunes have a prominent part. 'Tis the month for big-screen romances, unsurprisingly. The outdoor picture palace is celebrating a heap of recent pictures that are either musicals or about musicians, too. If you'll be attending with a date, 10 Things I Hate About You is on the bill nationally, as are The Notebook and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. With Moonlight Cinema operating in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth, some cities will also get the chance to revisit Notting Hill. And from cinema's brand-new fare, the Florence Pugh (Dune: Part Two) and Andrew Garfield (Under the Banner of Heaven)-starring We Live in Time is popping up multiple times at all sites, while the new Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is scoring a preview screening. All of the above pop up in what the venue is calling a 'week of romance' — around Valentine's Day, naturally. Wicked keeps earning a place on Moonlight Cinema's roster, this time with sing-along sessions in all cities. In some locations, A Complete Unknown is another returning title, because who can get enough of Timothée Chalamet (Wonka) as Bob Dylan? So is Mufasa: The Lion King, complete with songs by Hamilton great Lin-Manuel Miranda — and also Better Man, aka the Robbie Williams biopic that brings the British singer to the screen as a CGI chimp. With the specific program varying per venue, viewers can also look forward to the electing-a-new-pope thrills of Conclave, the 1972 Munich Olympics-set September 5, a preview of Gettin' Square sequel Spit, and blasts from the past courtesy of Twilight and The Devil Wears Prada — among other titles, and depending on where they live. If you're in Queensland or South Australia, take note: Brisbane's season is on until Sunday, February 16 in Roma Street Parklands, while Adelaide's runs till the same date in Botanic Park. Elsewhere, Moonlight Cinema's stints at Centennial Parklands in Sydney, Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, and Kings Park and Botanic Garden in Perth all extend through to Sunday, March 30 — so there'll be another lineup drop to come. As always, the films and the setting are just two parts of the Moonlight experience. Also a drawcard: the Aperol spritz bar. Nosh-wise, the event is again letting you BYO movie snacks and drinks (no alcohol in Brisbane, though), but the unorganised can enjoy a plethora of bites to eat onsite while reclining on bean beds. There's two VIP sections for an extra-luxe openair movie experience, too, as well as a platinum package with waiter service in Sydney and Melbourne only, and a beauty cart handing out samples. Plus, dogs are welcome at all sites except Perth — there's even special doggo bean beds. Moonlight Cinema 2024–25 Dates Brisbane: Thursday, November 21, 2024–Sunday, February 16, 2025 in Roma Street Parklands Sydney: Friday, November 22, 2024–Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Centennial Parklands Adelaide: Thursday, November 28, 2024–Sunday, February 16, 2025, 2024 in Botanic Park Melbourne: Friday, November 29, 2024–Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Royal Botanic Gardens Perth: Thursday, December 5, 2024–Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Kings Park and Botanic Garden Moonlight Cinema runs until February 2025 in Brisbane and Adelaide, and until March 2025 in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the cinema's website — and we'll update you with further program details when they're announced.
Early in We Live in Time — early in the film's running time for watching audiences, but not early in its central romance thanks to the movie's non-linear storytelling — Florence Pugh's Almut reacts to significant news about her health by delivering her own to Andrew Garfield's Tobias. Years after a meet-cute involving a hospital (and also a car accident, with her behind the wheel and him lightly struck by the car), they're again at one. Their relationship has never been much of a stranger to them, in fact. This time, however, as the chef and the Weetbix employee stand in the carpark after an appointment, they ponder a question that lingers over everyone but never as much as those forced to reckon with the knowledge that their future might not be guaranteed: is life best lived for quantity or quality? Charting a decade in its characters' existence, from a surprise encounter to falling in love, weathering heartbreak, starting a family, pursuing professional dreams, navigating challenges and facing mortality, We Live in Time isn't a strict two-hander in terms of casting. Still, it's so intimately a double act between Pugh (Dune: Part Two) and Garfield (Under the Banner of Heaven) that it feels like one. See: this crucial moment, which conveys everything about Almut and Tobias' dynamic. She speaks carefully but passionately. He listens devotedly. Nothing else could be more important to either of them. Pugh's performance simmers with raw emotion. This interaction isn't about him, but Garfield turns in some of cinema's most-moving reaction work as Tobias takes in what he's being told. Asked how important that scene is for him, Garfield is quick and decisive: "very pivotal," he tells Concrete Playground. It also cuts to the core of exactly what helps make We Live in Time so affecting. This is a heartfelt romance dealing with the fleeting nature of life — and in other hands than Garfield and Pugh's, and director John Crowley (Brooklyn) and screenwriter Nick Payne's (The Last Letter From Your Lover), it'd risk being dismissed as a weepie — but it's always about who Almut is regardless of anything that she can't control. It's about how people endure, create a life together and cherish their time together, while the hourglass empties, too. The impact that a person has beyond just being someone's parent, someone's partner or someone's child also sits at the centre of the film as much as Almut and Tobias' relationship. And, as it delves into weighty topics for its genre while stepping through Almut and Tobias' tale, We Live in Time firmly never falls into the common trap of heroing what Tobias is going through over Almut's experience — as a person, not just as someone with an unwanted diagnosis. It doesn't dream of defining her or them through the worst thing that they'll ever confront, either. In some features, letting time jump around can be a gimmick, but here it is done with touching purpose. As the movie flits between the duo's first weeks and months together, one specific day spent in the bathroom of a service station and also their well-established romance, the non-linear structure ensures that the full wave of life and love — not specific pieces of news, or coping with their aftermath — are always pushed to the fore in an immensely well-rounded narrative. For Garfield, Tobias is the role that brings him back to the screen. 2025 marks 18 years since his film debut in Boy A, another empathetic and sensitive film directed by Crowley — as well as a feature that earned its star a BAFTA TV award — and he's rarely been far away the viewers' gaze since, until 2022. Before half a decade had passed from his first movie, he'd made an imprint in three-time Oscar-winner The Social Network opposite Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain) and slung webs in a comic-book blockbuster in The Amazing Spider-Man. Another five years later, he had his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for Hacksaw Ridge. Before, in-between and afterwards, Garfield kept adding interesting projects to his resume, the page-to-screen Red Riding crime saga, dystopian romance Never Let Me Go, housing-crisis drama 99 Homes, the Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)-helmed Silence, LA-set neo-noir Under the Silver Lake and Lin-Manuel Miranda's (Hamilton) Jonathan Larson biographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom! — the source of his second round of Best Actor love from the Academy Awards — among them. Two more stints as Peter Parker also eventuated, including in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then, after television's Under the Banner of Heaven, he took some time off. One of the things that made We Live in Time a must-star for him: a memorable birth scene that Garfield likens to an action sequence. What did it mean to join forces with Crowley again after the filmmaker gave him his initial movie role? And to dive into the meaning of life and what truly matters in We Live in Time — and to create such a deep sense of intimacy with Pugh, too? Over a cup of tea, we chatted with Garfield about all of the above, the film's efforts to avoid the tearjerker label and two key instances, one off- and the other on-screen: the "this is it!" moment that made him know he wanted to make this movie, and that carpark scene. On Reteaming with John Crowley on We Live in Time After Boy A — and Collaborating with the Director on Empathetic and Sensitive Films "It's quite natural because John is naturally that, and I think I'm quite naturally that, and I think it just works. There's nothing better than on a film set feeling like you have room to take ownership over a moment, to breathe as the character, to not feel like you have to get it right — and it's an important thing for me to feel when I'm on a set. John is one of those filmmakers that provides that for his actors. He creates a lot of space for breath. He creates a lot of space for exploration and nuance, and interior life and subtlety, and for life to unfold. I felt that when I was first working with him and then it's remained now." On Diving Into Weighty Notions Such as How People Create a Life, Cherish Their Time Together and Have an Impact in a Romantic Drama "I love these ideas and I think that you said it perfectly — they are weighty and they are about the meaning of life, and they are about what matters and what doesn't, and how we keep our attention and our hearts trained on that which is nourishing and that which is mysterious and meaningful. So I love these ideas, and I love being able to hang out in them and to ask questions within them, within the question. And to explore these themes with great artists and collaborators is a dream, and with such great writing. I think that these are the questions that I ask myself on a daily basis anyway. So it felt very natural to slide into this character's skin, and all of the difficulty and beauty of the experience he was having." On What Excited Garfield About Starring in We Live in Time as His First On-Screen Project Since 2022's Under the Banner of Heaven "I think while I was reading the script, and I was reading how this dynamic was unfolding and how it built particularly to the birth scene, I thought 'my gosh, this is such an epic action sequence in domesticity'. I thought: 'oh, man, I want to see this, and how this plays out'. And there were a few scenes of just deep beauty and tenderness, and funny — they were just so sweetly funny within such pain. And I thought 'that just feels like a balm'. It feels like a balm for me, as a person that's been through his own grief. But also it will feel like a balm for other people in the audience who are going through their own version of what these people are going through in this film. So it felt like an act of service. It felt like a real act of service to make this film for myself, but also for an audience, hopefully." On Building Deep Intimacy with Florence Pugh as Tobias and Almut "So the writing is very good. The writing was the jumping-off point and thank god it was a great script, otherwise I don't think we'd be talking — I don't think the film would have been made. So that was the beginning. And then it was me and Florence just finding this natural trust and depth of intimacy and nakedness and vulnerability together. And joy and play together. We can go from being feeling like two childhood friends to feeling like parents. That's a really important thing, I think, for this film. That was rather easy for us to find together. I think we're both just up for it. We're both just two actors and two people who are just like 'what are we doing today, and how do we make it as fun and as silly and as real and as deep as possible?'. That's what we came into every day looking for — and not just for ourselves, but for the other, too. We were two actors who really, really loved being a part of the other person flying. And that's a really special thing." On Ensuring That The Film Tells a Well-Rounded Story That Reflects Life and Is Never a Weepie, Even as It Deals with Love and Mortality "We didn't want it to feel sentimental or saccharine. We didn't want it to feel imbalanced. We didn't want it to feel manipulative. We wanted it to feel, as you say, like life. We wanted it to be very, very rich, diverse experience that felt like watching life unfold for these two people — in all of the agony and all of the ecstasy and all of the complication. What's amazing about Florence's character is she's not this lionised, idealised survivor/victim. And I think the same thing with Tobias, he's not some overly soppy, wet, sympathetic, sentimental character. They both have flaws. They both have fallibility. And they're both deeply human. So that was very, very important for us to keep our eye on." On What Garfield Was Hoping to Express in the Movie's Pivotal Carpark Scene "I was hoping to convey just an impossible contradiction in impulses. I think there's no easy path in that moment for these two characters. And for Tobias, I wanted to convey a thousand things at once. I wanted to convey overwhelm. I wanted to convey being unable to offer anything concise or rational or useful. I wanted to convey deep understanding of where she was while also wanting to kick and scream — and I wanted to convey, on top of that, 'all I've got to do right now is not make this about me. I've just got to listen and I've just got to support and let this moment be this moment, not have an answer'. Just the humility of 'I don't have anything to say here and I'm not going to force it' — like I think most of us want to do in those situations, we want to have a fix-it answer. We want to have some kind final solution. But I think Tobias, in that moment, is humble enough or overwhelmed enough to be able just to stand there, not having anything to offer apart from comfort." We Live in Time opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday, January 16, 2025 and in New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, January 23, 2025.
If you don't already have a date with Bluesfest in 2025, here are two new reasons to head along: ten-time Grammy-winner Chaka Khan and rains-blessing rock group Toto. The pair have joined the Byron Bay festival as part of a new lineup drop — the fest's fourth for this year's event — that showcases its commitment to variety. There aren't many fests in Australia where audiences will find the Queen of Funk and the yacht-rock favourites behind 'Africa' on the same bill. Across the Easter long weekend, so from Thursday, April 17–Sunday, April 20, 2025, Bluesfest will also welcome 'Sailing' and 'Ride Like the Wind' singer Christopher Cross — another yacht-rock inclusion — as well as the Polynesian tunes of Maoli. Clarence Bekker Band, Hussy Hicks, Eric Stang, The Steele Syndicate and The Royals round out the latest batch of artists. Khan is playing an Australian-exclusive set to celebrate 50 years in music, and returns to Australia two years after headlining the 2023 Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Among the Chicago-born singer's hits: 'I'm Every Woman', which was later covered by Whitney Houston; the Prince-penned 'I Feel for You'; and 'Ain't Nobody' with her funk band Rufus. As well as hearing the drums echoing tonight in 'Africa', Toto's discography includes fellow anthems 'Hold the Line' and 'Rosanna' — and its members are known for playing on a wealth of albums from other artists in the 70s and 80s, including 'Thriller'. [caption id="attachment_986631" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Michelle Brody[/caption] Bluesfest's 2025 lineup already features Crowded House, Ocean Alley and Vance Joy, plus Hilltop Hoods, Budjerah, Kasey Chambers and The Cat Empire — and Xavier Rudd, John Butler, Tones and I, Missy Higgins, George Thorogood & The Destroyers and many more. Before it started announcing its roster of talent in August 2024, the festival advised that it would bid farewell with its 2025 event, marking the end of an era — and coming at a time when Australian fests have been struggling and cancelling (see: Groovin the Moo, Splendour in the Grass and Spilt Milk, for just three high-profile examples). Bluesfest saying goodbye may no longer be happening, however, with reports that discussions are underway about the festival's future and also that artists are already being booked for 2026. [caption id="attachment_969986" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] [caption id="attachment_969990" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Joseph Mayers[/caption] Bluesfest 2025 Lineup: First announcement: Crowded House Vance Joy Ocean Alley Tones and I Gary Clark Jr Rag'n'Bone Man RY X Allison Russell Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram Brad Cox Here Come the Mummies The California Honeydrops Marc Broussard Pierce Brothers Taj Farrant Fanny Lumsden 19-Twenty WILSN Cimafunk Neal Francis Second announcement: Hilltop Hoods Xavier Rudd John Butler The Cat Empire Kasey Chambers Melbourne Ska Orchestra CW Stoneking Budjerah Lachy Doley Group Ash Grunwald Kim Churchill Miss Kaninna The Beards Velvet Trip FOOLS ROSHANI Sweet Talk The Memphis Three featuring Fiona Boyes, Jimi Hocking and Frank Sultana Third announcement: Missy Higgins George Thorogood & The Destroyers Rodrigo y Gabriela Nahko BJ The Chicago Kid Melody Angel Don West Fourth announcement: Chaka Khan Toto Christopher Cross Maoli Clarence Bekker Band Hussy Hicks Eric Stang The Steele Syndicate The Royals [caption id="attachment_969988" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Roger Cotgreave[/caption] [caption id="attachment_969989" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] [caption id="attachment_969987" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] [caption id="attachment_867504" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kurt Petersen[/caption] Bluesfest 2025 will run from Thursday, April 17–Sunday, April 20 at Byron Events Farm, Tyagarah. Tickets are on sale now — for further information, head to the Bluesfest website. Top image: Lachlan Douglas.
After initially revealing parts of its 2025 lineup in late 2024, Sydney Opera House's annual All About Women festival has unveiled the full program of events that'll focus on gender, equality and justice in March. Across two days, more than 50 speakers, including artists, thinkers and storytellers from both Australia and overseas, will participate in sessions that span women in sport and the influence of the Matildas, racism and sexism in the music industry, the impacts of skincare routines, and plenty more. For 13 years, marking International Women's Day with talks, panels, workshops and performances has been as easy as attending this highlight of the cultural calendar — a must-attend event not only in Sydney, but also nationally in recent years, thanks to the streaming of sessions online (which continues in 2025). For this year, Kate Berlant and Gina Chick joined the All About Women bill first, as did the return of the Feminist Roast. Kara Swisher, Rachel House, Jaguar Jonze and Grace Tame are now among the folks joining them come Saturday, March 8–Sunday, March 9. As revealed last year, Berlant is making her first trip Down Under, with the comedian and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Don't Worry Darling and A League of Their Own actor set to debut a new stand-up show. Alone Australia's first-season winner Chick is on the bill fresh from releasing her memoir We Are the Stars in October, and will chat about following your own path, grief and resourcefulness. Among the latest additions on a lineup overseen by the Sydney Opera House Talks & Ideas team — as led by Chip Rolley, alongside 10 News First's Narelda Jacobs and actor and writer Michelle Law — journalist and Burn Book: A Tech Love Story author Swisher will dig into the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter, while Heartbreak High star and The Mountain director House will chat through the importance of community and her Māori culture in her career. Jonze is on the panel discussing the present state of the music industry, as is Barkaa. And Tame is part of the Feminist Roast alongside Michelle Brasier, Nakkiah Lui, Lucinda 'Froomes' Price and Steph Tisdell. The Tillies join the roster via former Matildas goalkeeper Lydia Williams, plus Football Australia, the Matildas and the ParaMatildas Media Manager Ann Odong, with their session exploring the current situation for women in sport. Elsewhere, Dr Michelle Wong, Jessica DeFino and Yumi Stynes — plus Price again — will examine the impacts of beauty standards, especially upon younger generations. All About Women's 2025 program also spans sessions on the women who gave testimony at the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, the rise of domestic violence-related deaths in Australia, systems that are meant to protect First Nations children, perimenopause and how women's health is being commercialised, tradwives, grief, motherhood, the nation's declining birth rate, bodily autonomy and abortion, and being friends for life. "There is so much power in women and non-binary folks coming together to talk about the issues we are facing, whether that's in our workplaces and homes, throughout our country or the world," said Jacobs back in 2024, when the lineup's first details were announced. "The events I've co-curated are inspired by hot topics that dominate conversations with the women in my life — from the transformations women undergo at pivotal points in their lives, to the ways modern culture rejigs and repeats old stereotypes. We'll be having some cracker discussions that I'm sure will continue beyond the steps of the Opera House!" added Law. All About Women 2025 takes place on Saturday, March 8–Sunday, March 9 at the Sydney Opera House, and streams online, with pre-sale tickets for the full program available from 9am on Tuesday, January 14 and general sales from 9am on Thursday, January 16. Head to the event's website for more details. All About Women images: Jaimi Joy, Jacquie Manning and Prudence Upton.
At two of the world's most-prestigious film festivals, prizes are awarded to the best queer movies on the lineup. Not all cinephiles can attend Cannes and Berlinale, so Australia's Mardi Gras Film Festival is bringing LGBTQIA+ flicks from both 2024 fests Down Under in 2025. Romania's Three Kilometres to the End of the World won the Queer Palm. The Istanbul-set Crossing took home the Teddy Jury Prize in Berlin. They're both highlights of the just-announced MGFF program, which has a date with Sydney cinemas in February — and boasts a roster of almost 150 flicks. The movie-loving component of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, MGFF wants audiences to enjoy its feast of LGBTQIA+ films on the big screen if they can. The bulk of the lineup will hit picture palaces across Thursday, February 13–Thursday, February 27, at venues including Event Cinemas George Street and Hurstville, Dendy Newtown, Ritz Cinemas Randwick, the State Library of NSW and The Rocks Laneway Cinema. For those who can't make it in-person, there's also a small-screen component, streaming a selection of titles on-demand nationwide from Friday, February 28–Monday, March 10. If you're hitting up movie theatres, award-winners aren't Mardi Gras Film Festival's only drawcards. On opening night, coming-of-age tale Young Hearts will start the proceedings with a story of romance in rural Belgium, while French standout Somewhere in Love is doing the honours to close out the physical event. In-between, viewers have 72 sessions to choose from, complete with the world premiere of In Ashes from Denmark-based filmmaker Ludvig C Poulsen; South Korea's Love in the Big City; the Alan Cumming (Schmigadoon!)-starring Drive Back Home; and Ponyboi, which features Australian actor and The White Lotus favourite Murray Bartlett (The Last of Us). Or, catch Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, which tells of its namesake's tale from her 50s Nashville success through to disappearing from the public for four decades; Aussie effort Heart of a Man, about a closeted Indigenous boxer; period drama Lilies Not for Me with Fionn O'Shea (Masters of the Air) and Robert Aramayo (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Duino, a semi-autobiographical effort about an Argentinian filmmaker working on a movie about his first love; and the Venus Xtravaganza-focused I'm Your Venus, which is a must for fans of Paris Is Burning. That's just a taste of the program, which spans Aussie festive slasher Carnage for Christmas, Nina Hoss (Tár) in Foreign Language, a documentary about Ani De Franco, Brazilian drama Streets of Gloria and more, too. Blasts from the past come courtesy of a free screening of The Birdcage, plus a 20th-anniversary session of Imagine Me & You (featuring Lena Headey long before Game of Thrones), with both showing under the stars. If you'd like to don a habit, croon tunes in a cinema or both, Sister Act is getting the sing-along treatment. And from the 70s, Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers — which is one of the first-ever trans-led feature films — is making its Sydney premiere. Cabaret is also on the bill, a fitting choice given that documentary Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story is on the lineup as well — gifting Liza Minnelli obsessives a double feature. Movie buffs eager to check out the online program from their couch can look forward to the aforementioned Drive Back Home and Heart of the Man; a doco about activist Sally Gearhart; Unusually Normal's factual portrait of a family that includes two lesbian grandmothers, four lesbian mothers and one lesbian granddaughter; and a blend of fiction and reality with 2024 Sundance Special Jury Award-winner Desire Lines, among other titles. A number of shorts programs will be available to stream, too, with packages devoted to Asia Pacific, transgender and gender diverse, queer horror, queer documentaries, sapphic and more. Black Doves' Ben Whishaw pops up in one of the gay shorts, while Hacks' Megan Stalter appears in one of the films in the comedy lineup. 2025's MGFF marks Festival Director Lisa Rose's last at the helm. "The film industry has changed dramatically throughout my time with Queer Screen. The volume of LGBTQIA+ content we see, as well as how and where we see it, continues to evolve," she notes. "Yet the sense of belonging that comes when the lights dim and a room full of queer people experience a queer story together remains a constant. Even when a film has the audience divided, the feeling of community that envelops us is unifying." Queer Screen's 32nd Mardi Gras Film Festival 2025 runs from Thursday, February 13–Thursday, February 27 at venues around Sydney — and online nationally from Friday, February 28–Monday, March 10. For more information, visit the festival's website.
Survival is an ongoing process. If the first season of The Last of Us didn't already make that clear, the second season of the HBO series is set to arrive in 2025 to stress that message again. How does humanity endure in the aftermath of the Cordyceps virus, and the global devastation caused by it? What does it mean to persist? Also, who do we become in the process? Audiences will find out again from April. At the end of 2024, the US network confirmed that The Last of Us would return sometime in autumn Down Under. Now, it has locked in a month. An exact date is still to be revealed, but the show's comeback is getting closer. Also revealed: a new teaser trailer for the hit TV show that's based on the hugely popular gaming series, following prior sneak peeks — including as images and in promos for the network's full upcoming slate, plus an earlier season two teaser trailer. Prepare for a time jump. Prepare for a guitar. Prepare for hordes of infected. Prepare for a haunting feeling, too. Also, prepare for sirens, flares and a stern warning: "there are just some things everyone agrees are just wrong". In season two, it's been five years since the events of season one. And while there has been peace, it clearly isn't here to stay. Yes, Joel and Ellie are back — and, in their shoes, so are Pedro Pascal (The Wild Robot) and Bella Ramsey (Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget). This time, however, part of the conflict comes from each other. In season two, the show's main duo also have company from both familiar faces and a heap of newcomers. Rutina Wesley (Monster High) and Gabriel Luna (Fubar) return as Maria and Tommy, while Kaitlyn Dever (Good Grief), Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus), Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), Young Mazino (Beef), Ariela Barer (How to Blow Up a Pipeline), Tati Gabrielle (Kaleidoscope), Spencer Lord (Family Law), Danny Ramirez (Black Mirror) and Catherine O'Hara (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) are the season's additions. The two teasers for the second season so far give fans a glimpse of plenty of the above new cast members, including Dever as Abby and Wright as Isaac. The Last of Us made the leap from video games to TV in 2023, and was swiftly renewed after proving a massive smash instantly. The series gave HBO its most-watched debut season of a show ever — and its first episode was also the network's second-largest debut of all time. Locking in a second season was also hardly surprising because the 2013 game inspired a 2014 expansion pack and 2020 sequel. For first-timers to the franchise on consoles and as a TV series, The Last of Us kicked off 20 years after modern civilisation as we know it has been toppled by a parasitic fungal infection that turns the afflicted into shuffling hordes. Pascal plays Joel, who gets saddled with smuggling 14-year-old Ellie (his Game of Thrones co-star Ramsey) out of a strict quarantine zone to help possibly save humanity's last remnants. There wouldn't be a game, let alone a television version, if that was an easy task, of course — and if the pair didn't need to weather quite the brutal journey. As a television series, The Last of Us hails from co-creator, executive producer, writer and director Craig Mazin, who already brought a hellscape to HBO (and to everyone's must-watch list) thanks to the haunting and horrifying Chernobyl. He teams up here with Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog, who also penned and directed The Last of Us games. Check out the latest teaser trailer for The Last of Us season two below: The Last of Us season two will arrive sometime in April 2025 — we'll update you when an exact date is announced. Season one is available to stream via Binge in Australia and on Neon in New Zealand. Read our review of the first season. Images: HBO.
If your first binge-watch of 2023 was the debut season Black Snow, you might've pressed play to start the year with a new Australian mystery series, then found yourself digging into the thriller's weight as much as its twists and turns. Starring Travis Fimmel (Dune: Prophecy), the homegrown Stan hit follows a Brisbane-based Cold Case Unit detective dispatched across the state to attempt to close disappearances left unsolved for decades. In season one, the Sunshine State's cane fields in its north beckoned, as did an interrogation of the nation's colonial history and the nation's treatment of the Australian South Sea Islander community while Fimmel's James Cormack searched for a 17-year-old girl last seen in 1994. If the end result hadn't proven gripping must-see viewing, season two Black Snow wouldn't have begun its run to kick off 2025. This time around, with episodes dropping weekly rather than arriving in a single batch, the Glass House Mountains backdrop the latest case to cross Cormack's desk. In 2003, Zoe Jacobs (Jana McKinnon, Silver and the Book of Dreams) left her 21st birthday party in the Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Moorevale and hasn't been seen since, but her backpack has just been found locally. Black Snow splits its time between its absent figure and Cormack — not merely jumping between then and now, but giving the former as much of a voice in the show as the latter. This isn't just another missing- or dead-woman show, the type that the first season of Deadloch satirised, then; it's as interested in the character that might simply be a face on a flyer in other series, alongside the social issues that played a part in their disappearance. Setting its action in picturesque Queensland surroundings, the current season also dives into the housing crisis. Before playing the plucky, idealistic Zoe — a twentysomething with big dreams to get out of the only home that she's ever known, to make a difference and to live a life far removed from the existence that her real-estate developer father Leo (Dan Spielman, The Newsreader) has planned for her — McKinnon watched Black Snow's first season as a fan. "To be honest, I was living in Cairns at the time and I saw the first season with my housemates, just as a random audience member, pretty much. And I was so excited about seeing the landscape of Far North Queensland on screen, because I personally hadn't really seen it that much before," she tells Concrete Playground. "And so I just felt really moved by those images of the cane fields — and because they were right in front of my house as well, so it really tied in beautifully with my life that I had there, which was very based in Queensland. I just thought that was really special. And also the representation it gave to Australian South Pacific Islander peoples. I just was a fan of the show. Then I got an audition for the second season and I got really excited about it, and I thought 'I have to be a part of this'." Now, McKinnon is Black Snow's second lead in its second go-around. The Austrian Australian actor was last seen on Aussie screens in fellow Stan series Bad Behaviour (also alongside Spielman), and stars again as a young woman endeavouring to find for her place in the world. McKinnon is drawn to "complex and nuanced characters, and characters that are searching for purpose in life, or for their place in life," she advises. "Because I think as a young woman in the world, it's so interesting how we all navigate the world and society. And I guess I can relate to that in a sense on a personal level. I find it quite interesting." While Fimmel remains its constant, surrounding the Boy Swallows Universe, Raised by Wolves and Vikings alum with other impressive talents has never been a struggle for Black Snow. In addition to McKinnon and Spielman, season two enlists a cast that includes Megan Smart (Class of '07), Alana Mansour (Erotic Stories) and Victoria Haralabidou (Exposure). Adding to a resume that seems to feature almost every Aussie show made in the last few decades — think: Underbelly, of course ("it stands up really well and I'm so proud of it; it was a great experience," Stewart notes), plus Offspring, and also The Secret Life of Us, Blue Heelers, Stingers, City Homicide, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Newstopia, Tangle, No Activity, Get Krack!n, Five Bedrooms and One Night, too — Kat Stewart also joins the series as politician Julie Cosgrove. One of the few characters seen both in the 2000s and 2020s, she's initially the pro-development Moorevale mayor, then a senator and the Minister for Infrastructure and Planning. Cosgrove's son is also Zoe's ex-boyfriend. Stewart was "really, really thrilled to be a part of it," she shares with Concrete Playground, especially as Black Snow stood out among her past roles. "It's a character unlike anyone I've played before. I've tended to play characters that have no filters or are a bit highly-strung or neurotic, and Julie is completely grounded, completely focused, completely composed and quite ruthless — and that was great fun," she continues. Also a highlight: balancing Julie's very distinctive professional and personal guises. "I think that was a key interest for me, because that was a conflict for much Julie's storyline. She's got to balance her impulses and fierce protective instincts for her son with her ethical concerns and her professional concerns. So, that was a big appeal. And I think that's something that's universal. That's something that lots of parents can understand. I think of Joe Biden right now and what he's done — you want to do anything for your kids, but can you? Should you?" Then there's the fact that this is a topical series — with Julie directly tied to the season's examination of housing insecurity and homelessness, the factors behind both, and the clash between ensuring that people can afford to live in their own communities and attempting to create wealth through development — but "it's not a documentary. First and foremost, it's going to be entertaining. I think it's really smart," Stewart notes. We also chatted with McKinnon and Stewart about playing strong-minded figures, heading back in time, getting energy from the rest of the show's cast, bringing different visions of the Australian landscape to the world and plenty more. On How McKinnon Approached Playing a Character Who's Pondering What It Means (and Takes) to Be Her Own Person Jana: "I think Zoe's a very strong-minded person, and she really knows what she wants to do in life. And she's just trying to find a way, as in how to sell that to her family in the long run — and compromising here and there to wiggle her way through that, through those expectations, I guess. I thought that was really interesting. And showing someone who is so focused on also changing the world and making it a better place, and being so invested in that — and then being thrown by all these other things that that life forces onto her, like grief and just everything that comes with that. I found that a very interesting aspect of Zoe's journey, how she deals with the grief of losing her friend and what that does to her life and the trajectory that she's on." On Stewart's Initial Read on Julie, and What Got Her Excited About the Part Kat: "First and foremost, you look at great writing and a great story. Is this something I would watch? That's kind of my litmus test, and it was a big yes. And I thought 'okay, this is something I can have fun with. This is something a bit different for me'. And I hasten to add it's a fantastic ensemble. So I'm one of a brilliant ensemble. I'm in and out of the two timeframes, 20 years ago and currently. I liked that she's a grown-up character. I play her in her 40s and her 60s, and I love that she's so centred. That just appealed to me. I thought 'there's a stillness here that I can really explore'. And also the fact given the right set of circumstances, we're capable of really surprising actions. And she's a mother as well as a politician, and those roles butted up against each other. So I thought 'yeah, this is interesting'. I thought it'd be good fun — and it was." On What McKinnon First Saw That She Could Bring to Zoe — and How She Prepared to Jump Back to the Early 00s Jana: "I like that she was a bit edgy and had this really strong interest in music, and did the community radio show. And it was all about the bands and the music with her friends. I just thought that was so cool. It was so nice to research all the music myself, because I didn't know all of the bands that she was into, and dig into that aspect of the period. I mean it's 2003, but it's technically period now. It's kind of strange when it's sort of still the time that you're living in, but sort of not. It's uncanny sometimes, like suddenly you're thinking about 'oh, did you have computers at the cash system at the shop or did you not? How did that work?'. And also all the tech at the community radio station, we had to learn all that because it was old tech that we didn't grow up with anymore. So it was really interesting and fun to explore." On How Stewart Got Into the Mindset of a Politician Kat: "I think subliminally we all probably research a bit. We just look at our politicians and how they hold themselves. I went in with a central idea that Julie has — I'm someone who, I don't go into the into a room thinking I'm the most important person in the room. But Julie does, and I put that in my head. I was like 'yep, everyone's looking at me, everyone's interested in me'. That's Julie, I hasten to clarify. And that was a really interesting idea to take on because that's not how I carry myself in my own life. It was just a different head space to be in. It's such a fun job. I love acting. This is a great job." On McKinnon's Balancing Act Charting Zoe's Journey Towards Stark Realisations About Her Community Jana: "Even though she has that very ambitious sense — and she really wants to change the world for a better place — she also can be very righteous, and she can also have blind spots to what's going on in front of her. So for me that was a balancing act. So balancing these really noble ideas and ambitions with what's actually going on in her community around her and what she's blind to, even when it's right in front of her nose — and the injustice that she's unable to see in her own community. I think it's something that a lot of people can relate to. A lot of people want to be good people out in the world, but they forget to do it on their own doorstep. So I thought that was a very complex aspect of the character that I enjoyed exploring." On the New Season Not Only Chronicling a Missing-Person Mystery, But Examining Housing Uncertainty and Insecurity Kat: "That's the beauty of Lucas Taylor's writing, and he did it in the first season, too. He'll give you a ripping yawn with really engrossing characters and plot twists, but he'll sort of Trojan horse in bigger issues as well. But you don't feel like you're eating vegetables. It's done in a really organic, sophisticated way, where you're not really aware of it, but you come away thinking about the larger issues — in this case, it's homelessness, particularly for older women. So I think that's one of the great things about this show and it was the case in the first series. Julie's part in it is interesting, too, because from her point of view, she's bringing wealth to area and she's bringing a lot of people with her. But, we're seeing an exploration of the more personal aspects and implications of that trajectory, and who's been left behind. It's not preachy, but it's a really interesting examination of the issue. It feels like it's a part of the world, but it's not the point of the show. So I think for people who want to see the show, they're going to be grabbed by a great mystery, and great characters, and that's something that is just at the backdrop of it. In a way, it's something that's almost subliminal, but it's there and I think that's sometimes the best way to explore issues, because no one wants to be told what to think." On Joining Black Snow as a New Cast Member for Season Two Jana: "When I came in, I really just felt the love that the Heads of Departments and the crew members that were already on season one — and quite a lot of them were — had for the show. It was really beautiful to come in and start something fresh, but with people that already had that experience of season one, and they were also fond of that experience and also the final product, the show. So it felt really special. I remember that pre-production time where I went in and we had all our costume fittings and everyone was just excited to be back on at the production office. It was really, really nice, honestly." Kat: "It gives you a sense of the parameters and the tone. I think it's really helpful. And I haven't had this situation much. I suppose if you come in as a guest actor in an established show, it's like that, too. It's a good idea to watch a couple of episodes to get a sense of the tone. So I guess I have had that situation before. I think it was really helpful, because I'm very much a character that's one of the ensemble, and so we're in and out. So having that blueprint, even though it's its own show, just in terms of the style of the show and what it is, was actually really, really useful. I had a good sense of what I was stepping into in advance, which is great." On Drawing Energy From the Rest of Show's Impressive Cast Jana: "The beautiful thing was that everyone was so excited to be on the show. No matter where they came from, if that was their first acting job ever or if they were well and truly established actors, everyone was excited to be on the show. I think that really creates a beautiful spirit on set, and was very family-like. And it's just such a gift when you work with people like that, because it elevates the experience, but also elevates your own performance if you're acting opposite people who are really good actors opposite you. So it's just the best thing that can happen to you, really." Kat: "I actually only have one scene with Travis, and it was really interesting, because that one scene was quite an intense, big scene — and he was directing it. That was full on, because it was like 'hello'. I was really excited to work with him because I think he's terrific. I loved him in Boy Swallows Universe, the first series of this, obviously he's in Vikings. But it was a very unusual situation to be in. But I think I had the benefit of watching the first series, so I knew what the character was, and that certainly anchors it. So having seen the series, it gave me an idea of the tone of the show and the parameters and the way it would be shot. But yeah, that was just headfirst. I haven't seen it. I can't wait to see how it turned out." On the Importance of Black Snow Giving Its Missing People as Much Attention as the Search for Them Jana: "It's funny because going into it, for me it was all about creating her life and what that was like. And it wasn't for me to create anything beyond that, really. So to me, it was almost like whatever happens outside of that is not part of my storytelling, because I can't — knowing what happens to her, I can't bring that into my performance as the Zoe before anything happens. So it's kind of like, in that sense as an actor, pretty much like any other character — because it's all about doing justice to the person that they are and bringing them to life. I think it's really special that Black Snow does that, because you also get really invested as an audience member and you really want to know what happens to that person. So I can only hope that that's the same for Zoe and that people are invested in what happened to her." On Season Two Being Set in Queensland's Glass House Mountains Jana: "I think the producers are doing a really good job at picking out these beautiful, very striking pieces of landscape that you know to be Australian, but you don't see them so much. I think that's really special. The biggest block of shooting we did on the Gold Coast. We only had a few bits and bobs that we did at the Sunshine Coast. It was all pieced together. But I remember being there, seeing the Glass House Mountains for the first time, and I was just stunned. I loved it so much. They're very powerful." Kat: "I love being on location, and most of my work's been done in Victoria, Melbourne, which is just luck — and it's worked out well because I've got a young family — but this was great. It's so beautiful, the climate is completely different and the way they've shot it, they've really showcased that part of the world so beautifully. I think it's like a character, really. People say that all the time, but it really is. It's really beautiful. And I can't think of a production that's looked at this particular part of Australia like this." On Whether the Balance of Projects and Diversity of Roles That Stewart Has Enjoyed Is What She Hoped for When She Was Starting Out On-Screen a Quarter-Century Ago Kat: "I don't think I'd ever thought that far ahead. And it's all very strange, you saying 25 years, because I don't look back, either. You're always looking ahead. I know I've been very fortunate. I've been very lucky to work consistently and to work with such great people. And some long-running roles, too, where I really had a chance to develop the life of a character over a long time. That's a special — that's a really great experience to have. So I have been lucky. But having said that, I hope I'll be working for a very long time yet." On What Black Snow's Second Season Taught Its New Stars Jana: "It was just incredible to watch everyone bring their skills to the table on this show, because all the crew and the cast and all the directors were so incredibly skilled and beautiful at their jobs, and it was just such an enriching experience to get to watch them and just be present in that really concentrated and really skilled type of work. And also for me on a personal level, I think I always take inspiration from the characters that I play, and Zoe, with the fire that she has for the world, was definitely a very big inspiration for me as well on a personal level." Kat: "I just want to work on — it's the stuff you hear, but it's true — I just want to work on great scripts with great people. And each time you're building a character from the ground up, each time you sort of start with nothing, and each time you think 'oh god'. You always have to think 'oh, gee, how am I going to do this?'. You just learn things along the way just through doing it. And honestly, I love what I do. It's the coolest thing." Black Snow streams via Stan. Read our review of season one.
If you're a film and TV obsessive, how do you know that a new year has kicked off? Hollywood starts handing out awards. Tinseltown loves starting off the annual calendar by looking backwards, giving away trophies and having parties, with the Golden Globes 2025's first ceremony to celebrate on-screen achievements from the past 12 months — in cinemas and on television. 2025's accolades, rewarding 2024's big- and small-screen fare, took place on Monday, January 6 Australian time. Accordingly, there's now a brand-new batch of Golden Globes recipients for viewers to watch — or rewatch. Some, like The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez, haven't made their way Down Under just yet (they each arrive later in January), but plenty of others are ready and waiting for audiences to catch ASAP. Haven't seen Jesse Eisenberg (Fleishman Is in Trouble) and Kieran Culkin (Succession) play bickering cousins yet? Keen to relive every thrilling, heartbreaking and tense moment of Shogun? Fancy watching Baby Reindeer on your iPhon iPhone? Need a reason to shout "yes chef!". Feel like defying gravity? Eager for a dose of The Substance? They're just some of the 11 movies and TV shows that you can make a date with right now. (Wondering what else won, too? Read through the full list as well.) Movie Must-Sees A Real Pain He didn't feature on-screen in his first film as a writer/director, but 2022's When You Finish Saving the World couldn't have sprung from anyone but Jesse Eisenberg. Neither could've 2024's A Real Pain. In the latter, the Fleishman Is in Trouble actor plays the anxious part, and literally. He's David Kaplan, with his character a bundle of nerves about and during his trip to Poland with his cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin, Succession) — a pilgrimage that they're making in honour of their grandmother, who survived the Second World War, started a new life for their family in the US in the process and has recently passed away. David is highly strung anyway, though. One source of his woes: the ease with which Benji seems to move through his days, whether he's making new friends in their tour group within seconds of being introduced or securing a stash of weed for the journey. With A Real Pain as with When You Finish Saving the World, Eisenberg is shrewdly and committedly examining an inescapable question: what is real pain, and who feels it? Are David's always-evident neuroses more worthy of worry than the despondency that Benji shuttles behind his carefree facade, and is it okay for either to feel the way they do, with their comfortable lives otherwise, in the shadow of such horrors such as the Holocaust? As a filmmaker, Eisenberg keeps interrogating what he knows: A Real Pain's main train of thought, which was When You Finish Saving the World's as well, is one that he ponders himself. Although he's not penning and helming strictly autobiographical movies, his latest does crib some details from reality, swapping out an IRL aunt for a fictional grandmother, as well as a trip that Eisenberg took with his wife for a cousins' act of tribute. It's no wonder, then, that he keeps crafting deeply felt features that resound with raw emotion, and that leave viewers feeling like they could walk right into them. With A Real Pain, he also turns in a stellar performance of his own and directs another from Culkin, who steps into Benji's shoes like he wears them himself everyday (and takes on a part that his director originally had earmarked for himself). Thrumming at the heart of the dramedy, and in its two main players, is a notion that demands facing head-on, too: that experiencing our own pain, whether big or small, world-shattering or seemingly trivial, or personal or existential, is never a minor matter. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Kieran Culkin). Where to watch it: A Real Pain is screening in cinemas Down Under. Read our interview with Jesse Eisenberg. The Substance If you suddenly looked like society's ideal, how would it change your life? The Substance asks this. In a completely different way, so does fellow Golden Globe-winner A Different Man (see: below), too — but when Revenge's Coralie Fargeat is leading the charge on her long-awaited sophomore feature and earning Cannes' Best Screenplay Award for her troubles, the result is a new body-horror masterpiece. Pump it up: the sci-fi concept; the stunning command of sound, vision and tone; the savagery and smarts; the gonzo willingness to keep pushing and parodying; the gore (and there's gore); and the career-reviving performance from Demi Moore (Landman). The Substance's star has popped up in Feud, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Please Baby Please and Brave New World in recent years, but her work as Elisabeth Sparkle not only defines this period of her life as an actor; even with an on-screen resume dating back to 1981, and with the 80s- and 90s-era likes of St Elmo's Fire, Ghost, A Few Good Men, Indecent Proposal and Disclosure to her name, she'll always be known for this from this point onwards, regardless of whether awards keep rolling in. Turning 50 isn't cause for celebration for Elisabeth. She's already seen film roles pass her by over the years; on her birthday, she's now pushed out of her long-running gig hosting an aerobics show. Enter a solution, as well as another 'what if?' question: if you could reclaim your youth by injecting yourself with a mysterious liquid, would you? Here, The Substance's protagonist takes the curious serum. Enter Sue (Margaret Qualley, Drive-Away Dolls), who helps Elisabeth wind back time — and soon wants Elisabeth's time as her own. Just like someone seeking the glory days that she thinks are behind her via any means possible, Fargeat isn't being subtle with The Substance, not for a second. She goes big and brutal instead, and audacious and morbid as well, and this is the unforgettable picture it is because of it. No one holds back — not Elisabeth, not Sue, not Moore, not the also-fantastic Qualley, not Dennis Quaid (Lawman: Bass Reeves) eating shrimp, not Fargeat, and definitely not cinematographer Benjamin Kracun (Promising Young Woman) or composer Raffertie (99). Globes Won: Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Demi Moore). Where to watch it: The Substance streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. A Different Man Two of 2024's best films have one person in common: Sebastian Stan. In cinemas in Australia, The Apprentice and A Different Man released within weeks of each other; as well as making a helluva double feature, they boast two of the finest performances of the year as well. In both movies, the former Gossip Girl star with the best taste in picking interesting parts — see also: Logan Lucky, I, Tonya, Destroyer, Monday, Fresh and Pam & Tommy — plays men chasing a dream that turns out to be a nightmare: once as a certain US real-estate tycoon-turned-reality TV host and then president, and once as a struggling actor who desperately wants a new face. When A Different Man's Edward Lemuel undertakes an experimental treatment for neurofibromatosis, his disfigurement disappears; however, his hopes for stardom, or even just to feature in his playwright neighbour's (Renate Reinsve, Presumed Innocent) off-Broadway production about his own life and attract her romantic interest, can't be grasped that easily. Also turning in an excellent portrayal is Adam Pearson (Ruby Splinter) as Oswald, who has a firmer grasp on the existence that Edward so feverishly covets without any medical intervention. Writer/director Aaron Schimberg (Chained for Life) knows that The Elephant Man will spring to many audiences' minds — and astutely probes and questions why in a film that is unflinching in its exploration of perception, prejudice, identity, authenticity and self-worth. As it muses on what it takes to accept yourself and ignore the world's feedback, too, and whether external change can bring about an internal transformation, A Different Man also pairs exceptionally well with The Substance (see: above). Styling his feature as a psychological thriller as much as a black comedy, Schimberg refuses to let any moment pass by without needling, probing and unpacking. He digs into not only the mindsets that surround Edward, but equally explores the character's own view as he reinvents himself — with his new Sebastian Stan good looks — as newcomer Guy Moratz. It might have a few kindred spirits in various ways among 2024's highlights, but nothing else truly like this has reached screens in years. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Sebastian Stan). Where to watch it: A Different Man streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Challengers Tennis is a game of serves, shots, slices and smashes, and also of approaches, backhands, rallies and volleys. Challengers is a film of each, too, plus a movie about tennis. As it follows a love triangle that charts a path so back and forth that its ins and outs could be carved by a ball being hit around on the court, it's a picture that takes its aesthetic, thematic and emotional approach from the sport that its trio of protagonists are obsessed with as well. Tennis is everything to Tashi Duncan (Zendaya, Dune: Part Two), Art Donaldson (Mike Faist, West Side Story) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor, La Chimera), other than the threesome themselves being everything to each other. It's a stroke of genius to fashion the feature about them around the game they adore, then. Metaphors comparing life with a pastime are easy to coin. Movies that build such a juxtaposition into their fabric are far harder to craft. But it's been true of Luca Guadagnino for decades: he's a craftsman. Jumping from one Dune franchise lead to another, after doing Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All with Timothée Chalamet, Guadagnino proves something else accurate that's been his cinematic baseline: he's infatuated with the cinema of yearning. Among his features so far, only in Bones and All was the hunger for connection literal. The Italian director didn't deliver cannibalism in Call Me By Your Name and doesn't in Challengers, but longing is the strongest flavour in all three, and prominent across the filmmaker's Suspiria, A Bigger Splash and I Am Love also. So, combine the idea of styling a movie around a tennis match — one spans its entire duration, in fact — with a lusty love triangle, romantic cravings and three players at the top of their field, then this is the sublime end product. Challengers is so smartly constructed, so well thought-out down to every meticulous detail, so sensual and seductive, and so on point in conveying Tashi plus Art and Patrick's feelings, that it's instantly one of Guadagnino's grand slams. Globes Won: Best Original Score — Motion Picture (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). Where to watch it: Challengers streams via Prime Video, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review, as well as what Zendaya, Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist had to say about the film when they were in Australia. Wicked The colour scheme was always a given. "Pink goes good with green," Galinda (Ariana Grande, Don't Look Up) tells Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo, Luther: The Fallen Sun). "It goes well with green," the grammar-correcting reply bounces back. The songs, beloved echoing from the stage since 2003, were never in doubt as both centrepieces and a soundtrack. As a theatre-kid obsession for decades, it was also long likely that the big-screen adaptation of Wicked — a movie based on a musical springing from a book that offered a prequel to a film that walked the celluloid road 85 years ago, itself jumping from the page to the screen — would have big theatre-kid energy as it attempted to ensure that its magic enchants across mediums. Enough to fill every theatre on Broadway radiates from Grande alone, someone who, as a kid, won an auction to meet the OG Wicked good witch Kristin Chenoweth (Our Little Secret) backstage. That enthusiasm is impossible not to feel. No one would ever want a muted Wicked, where the hues, in yellow bricks and emerald cities and more, weren't trying to compete with Technicolor — and the tunes, with Chenoweth and Idina Menzel's (You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah) voices previously behind them in such full force, weren't belted to the rafters. Jon M Chu has a knack as a filmmaker of stage hits reaching cinemas: matching the vibe of the show he's taking on expertly. It was true of his version of In the Heights. It now proves the case in its own different way with Wicked. Achieving such a feat isn't always a given; sometimes, even when it does happen, and blatantly, any stage spark can be lost in translation (see: Cats). Again, movie viewers can feel that synergy, and how much it means to everyone involved. Globes Won: Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Where to watch it: Wicked is screening in cinemas Down Under, and streams via YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our interview with production designer Nathan Crowley. Small-Screen Standouts Hacks Sometimes you need to wait for the things you love. In Hacks, that's true off- and on-screen. The HBO comedy gave viewers a two-year wait, after its first season was one of the best new shows of 2021 and its second one of the best returning series of 2022 — a delay first sparked by star Jean Smart (Babylon) requiring heart surgery, and then by 2023's Hollywood strikes. But this Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner returned better than ever in season three in 2024, this time charting Smart's Deborah Vance finally getting a shot at a job that she's been waiting her entire career for. After scoring a huge hit with her recent comedy special, which was a product of hiring twentysomething writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder, Julia), the Las Vegas mainstay has a new chance at nabbing a late-night hosting gig. (Yes, fictional takes on after-dark talk shows are having a moment, thanks to Late Night with the Devil and now this.) At times, some in Deborah's orbit might be tempted to borrow the Australian horror movie's title to describe to assisting her pitch for a post-primetime chair. That'd be a harsh comment, but savage humour has always been part of this showbiz comedy about people who tell jokes for a living. While Deborah gets roasted in this season, spikiness is Hacks' long-established baseline — and also the armour with which its behind-the-mic lead protects herself from life's and the industry's pain, disappointments and unfairness. Barbs can also be Deborah's love language, as seen in her banter with Ava. When season two ended, their tumultuous professional relationship had come to an end again via Deborah, who let her writer go to find bigger opportunities. A year has now passed when season three kicks off. Ava is a staff writer on a Last Week Tonight with John Oliver-type series in Los Angeles and thriving, but she's also not over being fired. Back in Vanceland , everything is gleaming — but Deborah isn't prepared for being a phenomenon. She wants it. She's worked for years for it. It's taken until her 70s to get it. But her presence alone being cause for frenzy, rather than the scrapping she's done to stay in the spotlight, isn't an easy adjustment. Globes Won: Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy (Jean Smart). Where to watch it: Hacks streams via Stan. Read our full review. Shōgun Casting Hiroyuki Sanada (John Wick: Chapter 4), Cosmo Jarvis (Persuasion) and Anna Sawai (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) as its three leads is one of Shōgun's masterstrokes. The new ten-part adaptation of James Clavell's 1975 novel — following a first version in 1980 that featured Japanese icon and frequent Akira Kurosawa collaborator Toshiro Mifune — makes plenty of other excellent moves, but this is still pivotal. Disney+'s richly detailed samurai series knows how to thrust its viewers into a deeply textured world from the outset, making having three complex performances at its centre an essential anchoring tactic. Sanada plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga, who is among the political candidates vying to take control of the country. Jarvis is John Blackthorne, a British sailor on a Dutch ship that has run aground in a place that its crew isn't sure is real until they get there. And Sawai is Toda Mariko, a Japanese noblewoman who is also tasked with translating. Each character's tale encompasses much more than those descriptions, of course, and the portrayals that bring them to the screen make that plain from the moment they're each first seen. As Game of Thrones and Succession both were, famously so, Shōgun is another drama that's all about fighting for supremacy. Like just the former, too, it's another sweeping epic series as well. Although it's impossible not to see those links, knowing that both battling over who'll seize power and stepping into sprawling worlds are among pop culture's favourite things right now (and for some time) doesn't make Shōgun any less impressive. The scale is grand, and yet it doesn't skimp on intimacy, either. The minutiae is meticulous, demanding that attention is paid to everything at all times. Gore is no stranger from the get-go. Opening in the 17th century, the series finds Japan in crisis mode, Toranaga facing enemies and Blackthorne among the first Englishmen that've made it to the nation — much to the alarm of Japan's sole European inhabitants from Portugal. Getting drawn in, including by the performances, is instantaneous. Shōgun proves powerful and engrossing immediately, and lavish and precisely made as well, with creators Justin Marks (Top Gun: Maverick) and Rachel Kondo (on her first TV credit) doing a spectacular job of bringing it to streaming queues. Globes Won: Best Television Series — Drama, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Hiroyuki Sanada), Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Anna Sawai), Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television (Tadanobu Asano). Where to watch it: Shōgun streams via Disney+. Read our full review. Baby Reindeer A person walking into a bar. The words "sent from my iPhone". A comedian pouring their experiences into a one-performer play. A twisty true-crime tale making the leap to the screen. All four either feature in, inspired or describe Baby Reindeer. All four are inescapably familiar, too, but the same can't be said about this seven-part Netflix series. Written by and starring Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, and also based on his real-life experiences, this is a bleak, brave, revelatory, devastating and unforgettable psychological thriller. It does indeed begin with someone stepping inside a pub — and while Gadd plays a comedian on-screen as well, don't go waiting for a punchline. When Martha (Jessica Gunning, The Outlaws) enters The Heart in Camden, London in 2015, Donny Dunn (Gadd, Wedding Season) is behind the counter. "I felt sorry for her. That's the first feeling I felt," the latter explains via voiceover. Perched awkwardly on a stool at the bar, Martha is whimpering to herself. She says that she can't afford to buy a drink, even a cup of tea. Donny takes pity, offering her one for free — and her face instantly lights up. That's the fateful moment, one of sorrow met with kindness, that ignites Baby Reindeer's narrative and changes Donny's life. After that warm beverage, The Heart instantly has a new regular. Sipping Diet Cokes from then on (still on the house), Martha is full of stories about all of the high-profile people that she knows and her high-flying lawyer job. But despite insisting that she's constantly busy, she's also always at the bar when Donny is at work, sticking around for his whole shifts. She chats incessantly about herself, folks that he doesn't know and while directing compliments Donny's way. He's in his twenties, she's in her early forties — and he can see that she's smitten, letting her flirt. He notices her laugh. He likes the attention, not to mention getting his ego stroked. While he doesn't reciprocate her feelings, he's friendly. She isn't just an infatuated fantasist, however; she's chillingly obsessed to an unstable degree. She finds his email address, then starts messaging him non-stop when she's not nattering at his workplace. (IRL, Gadd received more than 40,000 emails.) Globes Won: Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television (Jessica Gunning). Where to watch it: Baby Reindeer streams via Netflix. Read our full review. The Bear Serving up another sitting with acclaimed chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, The Iron Claw), his second-in-charge Sydney (Ayo Edebiri, Inside Out 2) and their team after dishing up one of the best new shows of 2022 and best returning shows of 2023, the third season of The Bear is a season haunted. Creator and writer Christopher Storer (Dickinson, Ramy) — often the culinary dramedy's director as well — wouldn't have it any other way. Every series that proves as swift a success as this, after delivering as exceptional a first and second season as any show could wish for, has the tang of its prior glory left on its lips, so this one tackles the idea head on. How can anyone shake the past at all, good or bad, the latest ten episodes ruminate on as Carmy faces a dream that's come true but hasn't and can't eradicate the lifetime of internalised uncertainty that arises from having an erratic mother, absent father, elder brother he idolised but had his own demons, and a career spent striving to be the best and put his talents to the test in an industry that's so merciless and unforgiving even before you factor in dealing with cruel mentors. Haunting is talked about often in this third The Bear course, but not actually in the sense flavouring every bite that the show's return plates up. In the season's heartiest reminder that it's comic as well as tense and dramatic — its nine Emmy wins for season one, plus four Golden Globes across season one and two, are all in comedy categories — the Faks get to Fak aplenty. While charming Neil (IRL chef Matty Matheson) is loving his role as a besuited server beneath Richie aka Cousin (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, No Hard Feelings), onboard with the latter's commitment to upholding a Michelin star-chasing fine-diner's front-of-house standards and as devoted to being Carmy's best friend as ever, he's also always palling around with his handyman brother Theodore (Ricky Staffieri, Read the Room). They're not the season's only Faks, and so emerges a family game. When one Fak wrongs another, they get haunted, which is largely being taunted and unsettled by someone from basically The Bear equivalent of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Boyles. For it to stop, you need to agree to give in. In Storer's hands, in a series this expertly layered as it picks up in the aftermath of sandwich diner The Original Beef of Chicagoland relaunching as fine-diner The Bear, this isn't just an amusing character-building aside. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy (Jeremy Allen White). Where to watch it: The Bear streams via Disney+. Read our full review. The Penguin Ambition courses through The Penguin, both within its storyline and in bringing the spinoff from 2022's The Batman to the small screen. HBO might be giving a swathe of its cinema hits the TV treatment, including Dune, IT, Harry Potter and The Conjuring; however, there's nothing by the numbers about Oswald Cobb's time in the television spotlight. With Colin Farrell reprising the show's titular role, and starring in two of 2024's standout new series in the process alongside Sugar, The Penguin isn't a mere attempted caped-crusader cash-in, as some fare about nefarious folks connected to well-known heroes have proven (see: Morbius, Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter). Across its compulsively watchable eight-episode first season, this crime drama has more than a touch of The Sopranos and The Godfather films about it — and not only is it aiming high in endeavouring to follow in the footsteps of two of the greatest mob stories ever told but, as developed and co-written by Lauren LeFranc (Impulse, Agents of SHIELD), it heartily earns its place in their company. Never forgetting who it is about and what Oz's future path is, no matter how much viewers start to warm to him throughout the series, The Penguin is also responsible for one of the most-heartbreaking moments of the past year. Set after the events of The Batman — a big-screen sequel to which, aka The Batman — Part II, is on the way — the show steps back into Oz's life as he's chasing his own ambitions. After years spent as an underling, including as the righthand man to Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong, Dune: Prophecy), he has his sights set on more than just doing everyone else's bidding. Complicating this quest for power: that it coincides with the release of Carmine's daughter Sofia (Cristin Milioti, The Resort) from Arkham, and she isn't willing to simply do what she's told by the new Falcone underboss (Michael Kelly, Pantheon). As Oz navigates a turf war also involving incarcerated rival Sal Marone (Clancy Brown, Gen V), The Penguin keeps his exploits personal through his demential-afflicted mother (Deirdre O'Connell, The Big Door Prize) requiring his care, and with kindhearted teenager Vic Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz, Encanto) trying to steal Oz's rims but ending up with a job as his driver. A grounded waddle into the supervillain realm, and boasting exceptional — and rightly Golden Globe-winning and -nominated, respectively — performances from Farrell and Milioti, this is comics-to-screen storytelling at its best. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Colin Farrell). Where to watch it: The Penguin streams via Binge. True Detective: Night Country Even when True Detective had only reached its second season, the HBO series had chiselled its template into stone: obsessive chalk-and-cheese cops with messy personal lives investigating horrifying killings, on cases with ties to power's corruption, in places where location mattered and with the otherworldly drifting in. A decade after the anthology mystery show's debut in 2014, True Detective has returned as Night Country, a six-part miniseries that builds its own snowman out of all of the franchise's familiar parts. The main similarity from there: like the Matthew McConaughey (The Gentlemen)- and Woody Harrelson (White House Plumbers)-led initial season, True Detective: Night Country is phenomenal. This is a return to form and a revitalisation. Making it happen after two passable intervening cases is a new guiding hand off-screen. Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker Issa López directs and writes or co-writes every episode, boasting Moonlight's Barry Jenkins as an executive producer. True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto remains in the latter role, too, as do McConaughey, Harrelson and season-one director Cary Joji Fukunaga (No Time to Die); however, from its female focus and weighty tussling with the dead to its switch to a cool, blue colour scheme befitting its Alaskan setting, there's no doubting that López is reinventing her season rather than ticking boxes. In handing over the reins, Pizzolatto's police procedural never-standard police procedural is a powerhouse again, and lives up to the potential of its concept. The commitment and cost of delving into humanity's depths and advocating for those lost in its abyss has swapped key cops, victims and locations with each spin, including enlisting the masterful double act of Jodie Foster (Nyad) and boxer-turned-actor Kali Reis (Catch the Fair One) to do the sleuthing, but seeing each go-around with fresh eyes feels like the missing puzzle piece. López spies the toll on the show's first women duo, as well as the splinters in a remote community when its fragile sense of certainty is forever shattered. She spots the fractures that pre-date the investigation in the new season, a cold case tied to it, plus the gashes that've carved hurt and pain into the earth ever since people stepped foot on it. She observes the pursuit of profit above all else, and the lack of concern for whatever — whoever, the region's Indigenous inhabitants included — get in the way. She sees that the eternal winter night of 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle come mid-December isn't the only thing impairing everyone's sight. And, she knows that not everything has answers, with life sometimes plunging into heartbreak, or inhospitable climes, or one's own private hell, without rhyme or reason. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Jodie Foster). Where to watch it: True Detective: Night Country streams via Binge. Read our full review.
A drug kingpin disappearing into a new life, clashing cousins, voting popes, a veteran actor trying to reclaim her career with the help of a mysterious liquid, Adrien Brody surviving history's horrors again, fierce tennis competitors: films about all of the above have earned Golden Globes in 2025. Stressed-out chefs, stand-up comedy greats, Japanese warriors, Gotham villains, determined detectives: TV shows about them are all also in the same category. And, they each have a heap of company. Held on Monday, January 6 Australian and New Zealand time, this year's Golden Globes ceremony started with host Nikki Glaser cracking gags about everything from Dune: Part Two's running time to Nicole Kidman making awards-nominated work to get away from Keith Urban's strumming and Adam Sandler pronouncing Timothée Chalamet's name. It then threw in excited shouts and enthusiastic speeches aplenty among the winners. Picking up the first award of the night — but not the only award for Emilia Pérez — Zoe Saldaña (Special Ops: Lioness) delivered both alone. Other highlights from the hijinks: Catherine O'Hara (The Wild Robot) and Seth Rogen (Mufasa: The Lion King), co-stars in upcoming streaming series The Studio, making up a whole lot of accolades for fake Canadian projects; The White Lotus favourite Jennifer Coolidge being Jennifer Coolidge; Emilia Pérez songwriter Camille calling the whole shebang "such an American experience"; and Vin Diesel (Fast X) starting his presenting stint with "hey Dwayne". And more standouts among the awards: gorgeous Latvian independent animation Flow taking out its category, in the first time that a movie from the nation has been at the Golden Globes; Kieran Culkin winning the supporting actor Succession battle for A Real Pain over Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice; Shogun's well-deserved swag of gongs; Demi Moore's touching sentiments about believing in your own value; A Different Man winner Sebastian Stan demanding that tough films still get made; and also Feranda Torres emerging victorious for I'm Still Here over Nicole Kidman (Babygirl), Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl), Angelina Jolie (Maria), Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door) and Kate Winslet (Lee). Not every ace nominee could snag a statuette, of course. Not every worthy movie and TV series even made the roster of contenders. They're truths that everyone should remember at every awards ceremony. Still, the rundown of newly minted 2025 Golden Globe winners spans an array of deserving folks and projects — and comes in less than a fortnight before the Oscars joins in, announcing its nominees on Saturday, January 17 Down Under time. Will the Academy Awards follow in these footsteps? And the Emmys later in the year, too? What else received some love? Here's the full list of 2025's Golden Globe winners and nominees (and you can also check out our rundown of victorious films and TV shows to watch right now): 2025 Golden Globe Winners and Nominees Best Motion Picture — Drama The Brutalist — WINNER A Complete Unknown Conclave Dune: Part Two Nickel Boys September 5 Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy Anora Challengers Emilia Pérez — WINNER A Real Pain The Substance Wicked Best Motion Picture — Animated Flow — WINNER Inside Out 2 Memoir of a Snail Moana 2 Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl The Wild Robot Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Alien: Romulus Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Deadpool & Wolverine Gladiator II Inside Out 2 Twisters Wicked — WINNER The Wild Robot Best Motion Picture — Non-English Language All We Imagine as Light Emilia Pérez — WINNER The Girl with the Needle I'm Still Here The Seed of the Sacred Fig Vermiglio Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl Angelina Jolie, Maria Nicole Kidman, Babygirl Tilda Swinton, The Room Next Door Fernanda Torres, I'm Still Here — WINNER Kate Winslet, Lee Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama Adrien Brody, The Brutalist — WINNER Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown Daniel Craig, Queer Colman Domingo, Sing Sing Ralph Fiennes, Conclave Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy Amy Adams, Nightbitch Cynthia Erivo, Wicked Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez Mikey Madison, Anora Demi Moore, The Substance — WINNER Zendaya, Challengers Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain Hugh Grant, Heretic Gabriel Labelle, Saturday Night Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness Glen Powell, Hit Man Sebastian Stan, A Different Man — WINNER Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez Ariana Grande, Wicked Felicity Jones, The Brutalist Margaret Qualley, The Substance Isabella Rossellini, Conclave Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez — WINNER Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture Yura Borisov, Anora Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain — WINNER Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown Guy Pearce, The Brutalist Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice Denzel Washington, Gladiator II Best Director — Motion Picture Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez Sean Baker, Anora Edward Berger, Conclave Brady Corbet, The Brutalist — WINNER Coralie Fargeat, The Substance Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light Best Screenplay — Motion Picture Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez Sean Baker, Anora Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain Coralie Fargeat, The Substance Peter Straughan, Conclave — WINNER Best Original Score — Motion Picture Volker Bertelmann, Conclave Daniel Blumberg, The Brutalist Kris Bowers, The Wild Robot Clément Ducol, Camille, Emilia Pérez Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Challengers — WINNER Hans Zimmer, Dune: Part Two Best Original Song — Motion Picture 'Beautiful That Way', Andrew Wyatt, Miley Cyrus, Lykke Zachrisson, The Last Showgirl 'Compress / Repress', Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino, Challengers 'El Mal', Clément Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez — WINNER 'Forbidden Road', Robbie Williams, Freddy Wexler, Sacha Skarbek, Better Man 'Kiss The Sky', Delacey, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack, Ali Tamposi, The Wild Robot 'Mi Camino', Clément Ducol, Camille, Emilia Pérez Best Television Series — Drama The Day of the Jackal The Diplomat Mr & Mrs Smith Shogun — WINNER Slow Horses Squid Game Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy Abbott Elementary The Bear The Gentlemen Hacks — WINNER Nobody Wants This Only Murders in the Building Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Baby Reindeer — WINNER Disclaimer Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story The Penguin Ripley True Detective: Night Country Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Drama Kathy Bates, Matlock Emma D'arcy, House of the Dragon Maya Erskine, Mr & Mrs Smith Keira Knightley, Black Doves Keri Russell, The Diplomat Anna Sawai, Shogun — WINNER Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Drama Donald Glover, Mr & Mrs Smith Jake Gyllenhaal, Presumed Innocent Gary Oldman, Slow Horses Eddie Redmayne, The Day of the Jackal Hiroyuki Sanada, Shogun — WINNER Billy Bob Thornton, Landman Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy Kristen Bell, Nobody Wants This Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary Ayo Edebiri, The Bear Selena Gomez, Only Murders in the Building Kathryn Hahn, Agatha All Along Jean Smart, Hacks — WINNER Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy Adam Brody, Nobody Wants This Ted Danson, A Man on the Inside Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building Jason Segel, Shrinking Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building Jeremy Allen White, The Bear — WINNER Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television Cate Blanchett, Disclaimer Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country — WINNER Cristin Milioti, The Penguin Sofía Vergara, Griselda Naomi Watts, Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans Kate Winslet, The Regime Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television Colin Farrell, The Penguin — WINNER Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer Kevin Kline, Disclaimer Cooper Koch, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Ewan McGregor, A Gentleman in Moscow Andrew Scott, Ripley Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television Liza Colón-Zayas, The Bear Hannah Einbinder, Hacks Dakota Fanning, Ripley Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer — WINNER Allison Janney, The Diplomat Kali Reis, True Detective: Night Country Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television Tadanobu Asano, Shogun — WINNER Javier Bardem, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Harrison Ford, Shrinking Jack Lowden, Slow Horses Diego Luna, La Máquina Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Bear Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television Jamie Foxx, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was Nikki Glaser, Nikki Glaser: Someday You'll Die Seth Meyers, Seth Meyers: Dad Man Walking Adam Sandler, Adam Sandler: Love You Ali Wong, Ali Wong: Single Lady — WINNER Ramy Youssef, Ramy Youssef: More Feelings The 2025 Golden Globes were announced on Monday, January 6, Australian and New Zealand time. For further details, head to the awards' website.
Filmmakers frequently trade in dreams and reality, plus the space where the two meet, clash and contrast. Directing a movie that's steeped in the daily actuality of being a woman in Mumbai, Payal Kapadia does exactly that with her first fictional feature. In All We Imagine as Light, three nurses go about their lives in India's most-populous city — big-smoke existences that appear independent, but are dictated by patriarchal societal norms, class and religious stratifications, and the growing gentrification of the nation's financial capital. Making the leap from documentary to narrative films after 2021's A Night of Knowing Nothing, Kapadia sees her characters' plights with clear eyes. Her 2024 Cannes Grand Prix-winning picture isn't afraid to embrace their hopes and desires, however, or to be romantic and poetic as well as infuriated and impassioned. Head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti, Maharani), her younger colleague and roommate Anu (Divya Prabha, Family), and their elder co-worker Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam, Snow Flower) all seem to be enjoying their own paths. In everything from where they live to who they love, though, their choices aren't completely their own. Hailing from Kerala, Prabha is married to a husband that she barely met before they wed, and who now works abroad in Germany. As she tends to the wounds and helps with the woes of others, the life that she so desperately wanted has failed to come to fruition. While fellow Malayali nurse Anu is carefree and in love, her boyfriend Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon, Mura) is Muslim, so their romance plays out in secret — and simply finding somewhere to be intimate is a constant mission. Maharashtrian Parvaty faces moving back to her Ratnagiri village due to Mumbai's changing skyline, with her chawl earmarked for demolition in favour of a high-rise, and her rights to her home given little consideration. For spending time with Prabha, Anu and Parvaty in this character- and mood-driven rather than story-driven gem — for juxtaposing the perceptions and the truths about their existences, too, and of women who head to Mumbai to forge their careers in general — Kapadia cemented herself as one of 2024's cinematic revelations. Awards and nominations have kept following. When it received Cannes' second-most prestigious annual prize after the Palme d'Or, so coming in behind Anora, it did so after becoming the first Indian film in 30 years to play in the renowned festival's official competition. From there, All We Imagine as Light earned two Golden Globe nods, with its guiding force a Best Director nominee. Oscar buzz lingers, even if the film wasn't selected by India as its submission for the Best International Feature category. Another tick of approval, among many, came when Kapadia's picture was named as one of Barack Obama's ten favourite movies for 2024. Is this response all that the writer/director dared to imagine when All We Imagine as Light first sprang to mind as a student project? "No, of course not," Kapadia tells Concrete Playground. "I took some time to raise the funding for this film. It was raised using a lot of funds from public institutions all over Europe, so it was a long process that they have there, and you just want to be able to make the film. That's your main priority. So we were just slowly, slowly building the budget to be able to shoot it. For us, everything has come as such a bonus — the making of the film itself was such a great, great thing for us that we, at points, would think 'are we going to be able to do it?'. Because it really takes time and that's fine. I appreciate the process. But you don't really think of what will happen. You hope, of course, that it'll do well and people will see it. But this was quite unexpected, I have to say." "I'm really so grateful," Kapadia also advises, while recognising that the fact that she's still just one of two women contending for the Best Director Golden Globe at 2025's ceremony — alongside The Substance's Coralie Fargeat — should be a relic of the past, as should cinema's poor history of appreciating female filmmakers. "And it's not just about women and a gender thing, but representation in all ways. There is diversity that needs to be there in representation, which is people of all races and castes and class. If selection committees were more diverse, I think this problem would not exist," Kapadia notes. All We Imagine as Light isn't just helping to push diversity in filmmaking accolades to the fore, but also the diversity of Indian cinema with audiences outside of the country itself. "I think in India, we have a very self-sustained ecosystem of cinema." Kapadia says. "I think that the West needs to start looking more at Indian cinema and accepting that there are different ways. There are different ways of acting. There are different ways of performance. We come from a very theatrical, sometimes melodramatic background, and that is also a way. So I think that the diversity of Indian cinema is not restricted to Bollywood. There is Tamil cinema, which is absolutely incredible; Malayalam cinema, which is really doing very avant-garde stuff; and, of course, Telugu cinema has now travelled with RRR and things like this." What did it mean for All We Imagine as Light to break a three-decade drought for Indian films in Cannes' competition? How did the film evolve from an idea for a graduation film? Kapadia also chatted with us both — as well as what influenced the movie's narrative elements, and inspires the filmmaker in general; the many layers to the script, and how to balance what is told visually versus what's conveyed in dialogue; how the writer/director's non-fiction filmmaking background had an imprint; bringing a different vision of Mumbai to the screen; and more. On All We Imagine as Light Being the First Indian Film to Play in Competition at Cannes in 30 Years "I think it was really great that we were in competition. It's also a bit scary, because it's your first fiction movie and it's competing with all these big directors who you've admired and who you studied at film school. So you're a bit nervous, like 'oh my god, what is it going to be?'. So I think for for me it was a lot of nerves, and I was a bit like 'will I be, will it …', about standing up to all these expectations of this thing about 30 years. But the truth is that in India, we do have — like this year, there was an Indian film in every section in Cannes. And that's really great because I think that having not having a film in 30 years is a bit of a disappointment for us as Indian filmmakers. I think that Indian films have been doing really well in other festivals. And a lot of competitions, in Venice and Locarno, there's more or less always an Indian film. So I think this 30-year pressure was a bit overdue, in that it should have had more Indian films. But yeah, I was nervous that I hoped that the film would be accepted and wouldn't feel like it was not worthy of being there." On the Movie's Evolution From Student Project to Earning Global Attention and Accolades "I had to make my what we call a diploma film at the Film and Television Institute of India. I had a very two-page thing about two two women who are friends, roommates, but have two different ideas of morality, and this was the starting point. But it was a very short 20-minute thing. And I had already thought that they should be nurses. So I was spending a lot of time trying to do more research about nursing. That's when I realised that I couldn't have done this in 20 minutes. I knew nothing. I needed more time to to think about all these things, to really explore this subject. I felt that 20 minutes was not enough. So I put it aside. But at that time I already got in touch with Kani Kusruti, to play the younger nurse at that time because it was eight years ago. And then I stopped the project and I did something else for my diploma. And I had put it aside for some time, and then I thought I should get back to it. A few years later, I got back to it and I started doing more research, meeting more people, spending a lot more time working on the details of the script. I was also making another movie at the same time, A Night of Knowing Nothing. So it was an on-off thing that I was doing, coming back to this film from time to time. And as I met more people, I got more stories that made it into the film, with all the interviews that I did and all of the young women I spoke to — and some part of myself, growing older also, because I went from being from the younger nurses age to the older nurse's age in the span of all this time. And I think that as you grow older, your perception of things also changes, of course. So my gaze also began to change a bit. And finally, this is the film that you see." On Where the Movie's Main Narrative Elements Sprang From, Including Focusing on Three Women Across Generations, Classes and Languages "I was thinking a lot about this question of friendship, and how certain friendships are very big city-driven. These people probably couldn't or wouldn't have met, or wouldn't have been friends, if it wasn't for Mumbai. For example, when you live in a city like Mumbai, you have to have a roommate — because it's really expensive, and sometimes you just have the roommate because you need to fill up the slot of the bed next to you because you need somebody to pay half the rent. So that's an odd kind of relationship, because you might not get along with this person. You don't want to be their friend. But now you're stuck with them for the 11-month lease. So that's a unique friendship. So Prabha's Anu's boss, in a way. She's the head nurse. But now she's stuck with this girl who is very different from her — and they are age-wise also different from each other, and their perspectives to life are very different. I was interested in this juxtaposition of two people who are so different in their way of thinking, but have to share a room, and what could come out of this relationship. And even Parvaty, who works with Prabha now, she's Maharashtrian and she speaks a different language. And they would not have met if it wasn't for Mumbai, because she would never have gone to Kerala. And there's nowhere else that Prabha would have probably gone. So that friendship is also unique because, again, it's a very Mumbai friendship between a Maharashtrian woman and a Malayali nurse. So I wanted to kind of have these unique friendships, which are, for me, very Mumbai friendships, in the film. And the character of Parvaty wasn't really that important when I started writing the film, but as I began to do more research into the housing situation — which for me was something that I had seen, but I hadn't delved into in a big way — I felt that it was something that I had to really address in the film." On Layering the Impact of Societal Expectations, Cultural Clashes and Gentrification Upon the Film's Characters Into the Script "It was quite a balancing act, because if you have three different trajectories, it's always a bit difficult to balance. And what we shot was a lot more than than you see in the film, of course. But I think we had a good editor, and along with him, we were finding that balance between the three stories and how they reflect on each other. How Parvaty doesn't feel lonely, even if she doesn't have a family — she doesn't want to go live with her son. While Prabha is somebody who's been so obsessed with the idea of a family, of a husband, and how that reflects on her — and how Prabha sees how free Anu is. And Anu is just a young girl, and she just wants to have sex with her boyfriend. It's a very fundamental thing. And the city doesn't really allow that. So I was thinking of it that it's not individual stories, but how they reflect on each other and what they gain from each other's interactions with them. It was a difficult thing — and I also feel sometimes that I could have had a longer film, but my producer was like 'two hours is good enough'." On Drawing Upon Kapadia's Background in Non-Fiction Filmmaking "The way that we shot the film has a lot of non-fiction process to it. When I was writing the script, my same cinematographer shot my previous movie also, which was the documentary. So while I was writing the script, we would go out into the city and we would both shoot. Then we would come back and we would analyse what we chose to shoot, as if we were making a documentary — because in a documentary you can shoot a lot, and then you can come back and edit it, but in fiction, everything is fixed. So we have to understand how we want to look. So we did a lot of tests of how our gaze should be towards the city. How do we feel about the lensing, and the camera movement, the feeling of space? So we thought a lot about these things, and that came from documentary, because we were shooting like documentary in our research. And we also, I spoke to a lot of people at this time, like 100, 200 people, at least. Some people, I thought I will cast them in the film, so I would call them for screen tests, but then that ended up just being long conversations and no possibility of acting, but just conversations in the afternoons. So I wanted to keep some sense of that in the film, those interactions somehow, to keep them as well. So we came up with this thing of putting a small, short documentary-like footage in the beginning and in the middle of the film — and giving it a sort of sense of a city symphony. And just talk about how diverse Mumbai really is. It's a city that is made by people who come from outside. There was nothing there. It was a bunch of islands. Only the Koli people lived there, and the British came and they reclaimed the land, and invited people to come to live and work there to create a new port. So the fundamental idea of this city is that it's made up of people who are not from there, and I wanted to highlight that somehow." On What Was Most Crucial for Kapadia to Convey About the City That She Was Born in, Then Came Back to as an Adult After Going to School Elsewhere "The multilingual quality of the city. And also one of the things that is very important to me was the trains. Because it's what you end up seeing the most, because you spend a lot of time in the transport. And they become a space for a lot of different interactions — or relationships of the ladies compartment, where you make friends. You see the same people, you don't know them but you always nod because you know you'll see them tomorrow. And you try to think about their life outside of that compartment. But for those two hours, you are in that journey together. And all these things, I think a lot about. Maybe I'm too romantic about it, but I don't know, it's how I feel. Also this question of gentrification was important to me, and the right to people owning property, and who has this right. I feel I could have made another whole film about it, because it's so complicated and there is so much anger that one feels towards this situation. I wanted to also in a visual way talk about that. So you always see the buildings and then also the smaller houses and the slum area all together in a frame, and I wanted to give a visual sense of what the city is." On Knowing What to Convey Visually and Where to Let Dialogue Tell the Story "This is a real struggle. It's something that, as a filmmaker, you think about a lot because you don't have the visuals exactly on paper. You can't exactly say what they will be. And you have to rely a bit on the writing of the visuals and of the dialogue for the person who's giving you the grant to be able to understand it. But for me, I can put an image of the city and I know what I'm thinking. So this is a big, big issue for me, about finding that balance. And finally, when I'm editing, it's when I actually realise the balance and I can let go of a lot of information — which is being, I hope, conveyed visually and it doesn't need to be told in lines. But its a big balancing act and I hope to get better and better at it because sometimes I feel — it's complicated, I have a complicated relationship with this." On the Guidance That Kapadia Gave Her Cast When They're Tasked with Revealing Complicated Characters Via Actions and Expressions as Much, If Not More, Than Dialogue "We we did a lot of rehearsals before shooting. For three weeks, we we all stayed together. We did it like a theatre workshop. So we worked on each of the characters' body language, on how silences are — and we did a really fun exercise, which was that we did many scenes where the actors would play the characters, but between dialogues say what the character is thinking. So if there was silence, you would hear what Anu's mind is going on, thinking to herself about — let's say how she's planning something or how she's bored or whatever. So we would do these exercises where the thoughts were all spoken out, so we all know how to think about it. And the actors are really, really great, and they brought in a lot of their own thoughts about this, and I think it was way beyond what I had even thought. It was really collaborative and rich process for me." On What Inspires Kapadia as a Filmmaker "Everything inspires me. I think that that's the privilege of being a filmmaker, that life seems more interesting than cinema, and I want to make films about everything all the time. It's crazy. I feel, I think just being in the world and seeing the world around you, really everything is so inspiring. And for me, my films are also about very daily things, so that is why daily life for me is is my inspiration." On the Importance of Conveying Prabha, Anu and Parvaty's Ongoing Fights for Agency "It was really what you're saying, that it is these tentacles of this patriarchal society that still hold you down, and in spite of being financially independent and physically away from the family, it is something that is for me, certainly, a real pity. It's a matter of genuine anger. Because I've seen it in people in my family as well, and girlfriends around me, and it's something that always just makes me very frustrated. So I wanted to bring out that frustration in the film and say that at least if this society is failing us in so many ways, if we could find some utopian-like space where we could all connect, at least in a way that is beyond our immediate identity and beyond our immediate morality, to at least be supportive of one another — it's a small move, but it's, for me, a big one." On How the Film's Sometimes-Romantic, Sometimes-Clinical Aesthetic Adopts Its Characters' Different Gazes "I wanted to shoot the film from the gaze of the characters. So for Anu, whenever we see her and Shiaz, the city seems very nice. They're walking through the Mohammed Ali Road and eating kebabs and the beautiful lights, and the smoke coming out. Because I think cities are better when you are with a friend or when you are with a lover. If you are in that mood, then somehow things look better. They might not be, but it's how it is. You don't mind sitting in a really crowded public bus — you don't mind that there is traffic because it means you'll have a little bit more time together. And these very normal things that would annoy you suddenly become okay. So I wanted to have that kind subjectivity to the film, whenever we are with Anu and Shiaz, then we also feel delighted at everything. And if you see the city through the wet droplets, that all looks so. Then with Prabha, it's more about the daily grind. She's not going to look at how beautiful it is, but just go from one place to the other, and it's a functional look. And for Parvaty, there is a sense of this complete injustice, feeling that she's going to be thrown out of a place that she's been calling home for 22 years. So I was trying in some senses to have a different gaze to the city, because I think it is all these things. It is a place of freedom for a lot of young women. It is a place of anonymity and that anonymity gives freedom. But it's also a harsh reality and a difficult city. So I was hoping that through these different gazes these layers came out." All We Imagine as Light opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, December 26, 2024.
Let them entertain you: with Better Man, the Robbie Williams biopic that takes its name from one of the British singer's tunes, filmmaker Michael Gracey and actor Jonno Davies have a clear mission that's shared with the man in the spotlight himself. The Australian-made, 16-time AACTA-nominated movie tells the warts-and-all tale of the boy from England's Midlands who has become an international superstar. It charts Williams' path through a complicated childhood, teen boy-band fame, relentless press attention, struggles with drugs and alcohol, tabloid-fodder relationships, a well-publicised reputation for partying, going solo, huge hits, sizeable scandals and plenty of reinvention — and, while never shying away from the tumultuous times that its subject has endured, it matches its unflinching view of his ups and downs with his love of monkeying around and putting on a show. The simian aspect of Better Man is literal. More than 20 years after 'Me and My Monkey' was a track on Williams' fifth studio album Escapology — a record that skewed personal to explore his experiences with pop stardom, and made hits out of 'Feel' and 'Come Undone' — his story reaches the screen with the former Take That member portrayed by a CGI chimpanzee. The approach renders Williams both a cheeky monkey and a performing monkey, and also reflects a journey that's had him swinging from limb to limb in life's jungle. The conceit was Gracey's choice, but based on the musician's own descriptions when chatting the Australian filmmaker through his existence. Better Man's helmer and subject first met when the director needed the singer's assistance with the former's debut feature. One of The Greatest Showman's original tunes won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar; however, star Hugh Jackman (Deadpool & Wolverine) had doubts about the songs going in — and, because the actor kept referencing Williams as a touchstone for his lead portrayal in the movie, Gracey hit him up for his thoughts and powers of persuasion. From there, the pair kept talking, then started recording Williams recounting his life story in the latter's studio. Next sprang the idea to make Better Man, which is how an Aussie talent came to craft a homegrown flick about one of the UK's biggest music figures of the past three decades. The film was initially announced in 2021, and news of Davies playing Williams arrived in 2022. That Better Man was going ape remained a secret until initial viewers cast their eyes on the flick at its world-premiere at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival, which was no easy feat. "I was astounded, because we really didn't want people to see any images from the film, and it blew me away that we managed to keep that under wraps for so long — just because we did scenes where we had 2000 extras, so at any point someone could've even given away shots of Jonno in the motion-capture suit. Or some image from the work that Wētā were doing could've found its way online. And it just didn't," Gracey tells Concrete Playground. "We tried really hard to make that the case because we wanted it to land in a way that was a very unique way to lens this story. And also having pitched it unsuccessfully for many years to financiers, I also knew that it would never make sense until people got to watch it," the filmmaker continues. "So there was really no point having chatter about an image and the conversation of whether that looks like Robbie or doesn't look like Robbie. I think that the most overwhelming response has been from people who are even sceptical about the conceit, that once they watch the film, they understand. And so I just desperately wanted to get in front of people before the conversation about 'why the monkey?'." [caption id="attachment_985602" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures[/caption] A decade on from his screen debut in British TV's Casualty, Kingsman: The Secret Service and Hunters alum Davies has notched up what might prove the most-unique role of his career: playing Williams via motion-capture, and also voicing him in his younger years (Williams lends his own vocals to the movie, too). For his efforts, he's among the AACTA contenders for Best Actor. A fan going in of the man that he's portraying and of The Greatest Showman, Davies was instantly keen to take on the part, and has been revelling in the reactions that the movie has been earning since. "What's brilliant is seeing different audiences respond to the movie, whether that's an age thing, whether it's different continents, people that are Robbie Williams fans, people that have never heard of Robbie at all, and seeing how different people respond to it in different ways," Davies shares. "And seeing it being universally accepted — I think that was something we always wanted to focus on, is that Robbie is an everyday man. There's something in him, whether it's the relationship he has with his nan, whether it's his fear of imposter syndrome, there's something in him that anyone can relate to. There's something there that people connect [to]. I know Michael's had people coming up to him and saying 'I spoke to my dad for the first time in seven years' or people watch it and go 'you know what, it's made me want to ring my mum more or get in touch with the people I love'. Having those different connections and different responses is why you want to make cinema, why you want to make a film — is to affect people. It's been a joy." Down Under, Better Man was already making a splash before it reached Aussie cinemas on Boxing Day 2024; breaking the record for the most AACTA nods in a single year will do that. In a country with well-known fondness for Williams — if a biopic wasn't going to come out of Britain, Australia always seemed the next logical place for it — its main man has been popping up headlining the ABC's New Year's Eve coverage and doing a free gig in Melbourne's Federation Square, helping to give the movie a push, too. For viewers not instantly enticed by its subject or approach, the flick's biggest enticement sits within the feature itself, though. When 'Rock DJ' breaks out in a sequence filmed on London's Regent Street, it's a spectacular movie-musical moment. Gracey and Davies are relaying the tale of another great showman, after all, although that standout scene almost didn't happen. We also spoke with Better Man's director and co-writer, plus its star, about that unforgettable segment of the film, stepping into Williams' shoes — or a chimpanzee's feet, to be more accurate — and why monkeying around was the best way to tackle Williams' tale, as well as fandom, resilience and the full impact of Hugh Jackman's Williams obsession on The Greatest Showman. On Davies Playing the Man Responsible for One of His First Music Memories Jonno: "I was definitely a fan growing up. I saw him concert when I was nine with mum and dad. It's one of my earliest music memories, really. And when you're a child, you have no idea what your identity is, you're just in for a good time — and seeing this rock star on stage, peacocking about like he does, connecting with an audience, seeing how he's there to entertain the crowd rather than entertain himself. So then to 25-odd years later to be the one to play him is quite a pinch-me moment. I think it helped being from the UK, understanding the peak of his fame, how heavily, heavily documented his life was — much to his detriment, the lack of privacy there when he was suffering — I think that was a nice insight to have. But then also meeting in-person when we were in Melbourne when we first started, and then getting the rest of the story and sitting down with him, and him sharing some of his more vulnerable parts of himself — because he wants to make sure that this was an honest depiction. It takes someone very brave to allow themselves to be painted in quite a bad light a lot of the times in the movie. And so the fact that he then gave us his trust to collectively tell his story in a very honest and truthful way, I think it shows a calibre of a person." On How The Greatest Showman and Hugh Jackman Helped Bring Better Man About Michael: "It all stems back to working on The Greatest Showman with Hugh Jackman. Whenever we would talk about PT Barnum and what it was to be a great showman, he would always reference Robbie Williams — which used to make me laugh, and then after a certain period of time really annoyed me, because it was just always his go-to reference. Whether he was talking about music, whether he was talking about his swagger, or his charisma, or whether we were talking about choreography, he's like 'you know, the way that Robbie sort of moves' and I was like 'you know, every reference can't be Robbie Williams'. So at a certain moment when we were close to going into production, Hugh had a lot of voices in his ear about the music not being good enough, and he started to question the music. And at that point, we'd been working on the film together for six years, so I'd lost a lot of weight in my voice — because I was always the boy who cried wolf, who was like 'no, it's going to be great. This'll be the year we make it'. After six years, people start losing faith a little bit. So in a moment where Hugh felt that we should start again on the music, and I knew that that would mean the end of the film — and this is the music that is in the final film that Benji Pasek and Justin Paul wrote — I got in touch through my lawyer, because his daughter is friends with Ayda [Field], who is married to Robbie Williams. You know how you're always just like three people away from the person you want to get to? So I got a meeting with Robbie on a Sunday at his house, where I told him the story of The Greatest Showman, and then I played him the music. And at the end of the meeting, I said 'look, the only thing more bizarre than me showing up at your house on a Sunday is what I'm about to ask you now. It's one thing for me to tell Hugh Jackman what you think of the music. It's another thing for you to tell him entirely. So if you don't mind, can I just video you and you just talk into the camera as if you're talking to Hugh Jackman?' And that's what he did. He did this video message, which, to this day, if I'd written the script and said 'can you please read this to convince Hugh that this music is going to be great?' — what he did off the top of his head with ten-seconds' notice is why he is such an amazing showman. He was so compelling, the way he spoke about the music, he basically said to Hugh 'I've spent the last year working on my new album. I would scrap that album to sing these songs'. He literally was that effusive about how great the music was for The Greatest Showman. And he was right. The music was great. And history went on to prove that. But in that moment, that's exactly what Hugh needed to hear to have the confidence to move forward and make the film. So in many regards, there would be no Greatest Showman if there wasn't that video message from Robbie Williams. That's how we started then talking, and I just really enjoyed whenever we would talk, when he would tell me stories about his life. And with no intention to make a film — because unlike Jonno, I didn't grow up a Robbie Williams fan. Obviously growing up in Australia, you can't escape him. He's everywhere, but it's not like I listened to him. [caption id="attachment_985603" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures[/caption] But what I really did love is I loved the way in which he talked about his life — and not just the events, but actually his delivery. I really enjoyed the manner in which, whether he's writing lyrics as a storyteller or telling you a story, he's a great storyteller. So I then just asked, knowing that he had a recording studio, when I was in LA, I would just drop over to his house and we would just sit in his recording studio and just chat. And those conversations took about a year and a half, and at some point during that, I started thinking 'wow, I could probably chop these up and make a radio play'. Then I went from there to 'actually this could make a really powerful film'. And in fact, those some of those recordings are in the actual voiceover of the film — those original recordings. But it was never the intention to make the film. It all stemmed from him and me just sitting in a studio just talking." On Why Portraying Williams as a Chimpanzee Was the Right Way to Tell His Story Michael: "I think that creatively, I just wanted to come at it with a unique angle. And also, I knew that narratively I wanted to explore both his internal life and his external life. So it was trying to find a device that would allow us to step between those two worlds, the world of the imagination and the world of reality. I think in a musical you're already in a heightened reality, because people are breaking into song, but I wanted something creative that would allow us to see more of Robbie than if it was just an actor playing him. And when I went back to those original recordings and I was listening to them, just time and time again Rob would refer to himself as a performing monkey. He would just say things like 'I was just dragged up on stage to perform like a monkey' or 'I'm up the back dancing around like a performing monkey'. And he said enough times that I was like 'there's definitely something to this performing monkey'. And when I looked at his story, whether it's him pretending to be tougher than he is in front of the kids in Stoke-on-Trent, where he grew up, or whether it's jumping up in front of the TV hoping that his dad would look at him the same way that he looks at Sinatra, there were just all these moments within the story that I was like 'he's always been that little performing monkey'. And the moment that I framed the entire film in that conceit, it just made me smile. I just thought 'this is going to work and it's going to work unbelievably well'. Convincing other people of that was the difficult part, but not convincing Rob. Rob was onboard in two seconds. I literally went to him and said 'if you're an animal, how would you see yourself?'. And he immediately said 'lion' and looked very proud. Then I sort of went 'really?'. And after about 30 seconds, he went 'nah, more of a monkey'. On Davies' First Reaction to Such a Unique Part Jonno: "There are so many challenges in this thing for an actor that every one is like 'oh my god, another reason to do it, another reason to do it'. One: motion-capture. Two: you are telling someone's story that's still alive, and someone that has many predetermined opinions on them, and so it's kind of up to you to try to shift those things. And I think that's what's useful about the monkey, is it separates people from Robbie Williams, and you follow this monkey story rather than necessarily this global superstar that people think they already know. But I was blown away by the concept. And I was I was blown away by the dream of it really. That's one of Michael's best assets, is he sells you the dream — but unlike many others, you get to actually go along with it. You get to join it. I was a massive fan of The Greatest Showman. I have always loved musicals. I love dancing, I love singing, but never thought I really had the chops to be a part of that world — certainly not a Broadway or a West End singer. So to be able to have Rob do the singing and me do the dancing, I was like 'how could I possibly not try to make this mine?'." On the Film's Celebration of Resilience and Persistence — and What That Concept Means to Davies and Gracey Jonno: "Resilience certainly comes in with the life of an actor. You are told 'no' many more times than you are told 'yes.' And you often value yourself on your last job, or the last job you did not get. I think it's about trying to stay resilient and trying to remember that you are authentically you, right? And so even though you're getting your nos, it doesn't mean you're crap, it means that you're just not right for this opportunity. It's a hard memory to keep inside, but I think it's one that is premier above all else. Otherwise you start to lose your identity. If you start thinking that 'I'm getting nos because I'm not good enough' or 'I'm not the right person', you start shifting your identity. Then you don't become what makes you, and that's essentially your best asset. And so resilience for me is about staying true to yourself, and if you're going to do something — Guy Chambers says it in our film, he says 'own it'. If it's crap, make it your crap. And I think that's a form of resilience that we can all take onboard." Michael: "Resilience is my entire life, because you have these grand ideas and it's up to you to continue to believe in them year after year after year. Showman took seven years to make, and at one point or another every single person involved in that project gave up hope — and you as the director cannot. Everyone else can lose faith, and you just have to keep on, you have to stand in that burning building and tell everyone it's going to be okay. This took six years. It was a high-concept idea that scared a lot of people, because the concept of the monkey immediately doubled the budget of the film. It made it a much more risky prospect. And it scared a lot of financiers away. The number of meetings that I had to do where people would just flat-out, the moment the monkey was mentioned, were like 'what are you talking about?' — and 'this is the end of the meeting'. That was the much more common response to that idea. And yet, I knew if there was a way to bring it into reality, it would be unique and it would be something that I'd be incredibly proud of. And so resilience is my entire career, and I would not be a director if I did not have that resilience. I think the joy you get as a director is finding other people to believe in that impossible dream, who stand alongside you and make it a reality, and that is the greatest privilege that you have as a director." On What It Took to Make the 'Rock DJ' Scene a Reality Jonno: "A lot of pogo-stick practice. It was the pinnacle of joy, right, in the film. It's the one moment that Robbie and the audience gets to really just live in dreamland, and there's no darkness that encases it, there's no version of himself telling him telling him he's rubbish. And so we were determined that when we arrived on Regent Street, that would be the feeling that we would feel. And, of course, you can only have that joy if you've put in the graft beforehand. And that's not just Michael. It's every department. It's Ash and Jen [Ashley Wallen and Jenny Griffin, both returning from The Greatest Showman], the choreographers, making sure that not only us, the Take That boys, but the 500 dancers were drilled so that we were never getting a bad take because of the dancing. You only have a set amount of time on Regent Street, so everyone had to just be shit hot, for want of a better term. We taped out a hangar, so the minute details, so every bush, every lamp post, was in its exact spot, so that when we arrived on the street, we were ready to go. It wasn't figuring out any proximity, etcetera. But it was a joy. It was one of my favourite experiences on set. I think you see it on our faces when we when we do Regent Street. I think you can probably see it in our pupils as well. There's kind of joy, combating a bit of 'we've got to get this done'. But it's such an iconic street, and it demanded an iconic routine — and I think Michael has delivered with that. Michael: "The practicalities of pulling that off were enormous. It was a year and a half in the planning. As Jonno mentioned, we rehearsed in a hangar the week before with the entire cast and crew, and double-decker bus and taxi, all those elements — only because the moment we got on the street, we had to start shooting, and we had very limited time overnight where we could lock down the entire street and film. It was shot over four nights, but after that week of rehearsal in the hangar, literally the day before we were about to start filming, the Queen passed away. And so we got shut down. There's ten days of mourning after the death of the Queen. Regent Street is crown land. So it was devastating because we paid out all of the costs to shoot. We'd locked down all those stores for those dates. We'd booked all of those dancers. So we lost all that money. There was no insurance for the death of the Queen. At that point, there were a lot of very serious conversations about cutting the number from the film. And I was like 'we've got to go out, we've got to raise that money again, we've got to get back onto Regent Street and we have to shoot this number — it is absolutely a cornerstone of this story'. It took another five months to find a window where we were allowed back on the street, and to raise the money again. And so every time that number plays, I just go in my head 'we were this close to that never happening' — but that comes back to your question about persistence. Better Man opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, December 26, 2024. Michael Gracey will chat about the film at the 2025 AACTA Festival, which runs from Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, 2025 at HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast.
Can logic and science co-exist with the metaphysical and supernatural? "I think that's what I'm exploring in all of my work," says Robert Eggers. A decade on from making his first feature, and marking himself as one of horror's spectacular new voices at the time, the acclaimed writer/director has the filmography — The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman and now Nosferatu — to prove it, of course. "And I think that the difficulty with this stuff is if you believe it, it's true. So I think that's why I explore it in the safety of cinema rather than diving into the deep end and ending up in the madhouse." Whenever Nosferatu sinks its teeth into the silver screen, be it in FW Murnau's 1922 original, or when the inimitable Werner Herzog (The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft) followed in his compatriot's footsteps with 1979's Nosferatu the Vampyre, or now that Eggers has crafted his own take, it unfurls a tale of gothic obsession. Fixation and passion also sits at the heart of how this icon of horror cinema keeps flickering through picture palaces. It all started with an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is why the narrative is so similar but the names have been changed. When Herzog gave it a spin, it was because he considered the first movie to be "the greatest German film". Eggers himself has been drawn to Nosferatu since childhood, even directing an iteration of it as a play in high school. (He also appreciates that for the generation that grew up with SpongeBob SquarePants, so kids from 1999 onwards, that might now be commonplace given that discovering Nosferatu can spring via the animated show.) As Dracula clearly is as well, Nosferatu is easy to be passionate about. The OG film is a masterpiece — of silent cinema, of German Expressionism, of horror and just in general. Count Orlok, as initially played by Max Schreck, is a hauntingly unforgettable screen presence. There's no missing the fervour that Eggers has for all things Nosferatu in his movie, or how lovingly that he regards the original. But while there's a packed coffin full of nods backwards in his feature, an Eggers film always feels distinctively like an Eggers film. He's been embracing period-set horror from the get-go anyway, and he repeatedly demonstrates again and again that he's only ever interested in realising his own meticulous — and stunning — celluloid visions. Willem Dafoe (Saturday Night), a veteran of The Lighthouse and The Northman before becoming Nosferatu's Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz, knows all about Eggers' way of working. Asked to describe the director's work, the actor who earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for portraying Schreck in 2000's Shadow of the Vampire — a riff on the making of Murnau's Nosferatu — notes that the filmmakers' oeuvre is "contact with stories from another time that have a relevance to now. Beautiful shots. Very detailed, not-conventional cutting. Great art direction. Great shooting. Hopefully good actors. That's kind of the checklist." Dafoe continues: "obviously I've worked with Robert three times and I want to work with him some more. I enjoy it so much, because for an actor it's a dream. He gives you fun things to do, and you're sent to a world that is so rich that it's far easier to pretend and entertain a new set of conditions, thoughts, feelings. And for me, as an actor that's always what I'm interested in — to make contact with stuff that's beyond my experience." There's absolutely no 'hopefully' about Nosferatu's excellent cast. After playing Pennywise in IT and IT: Chapter Two, Bill Skarsgård (Boy Kills World) is Eggers' Orlok — and he's a force to behold. The object of his obsession: Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol ) in a physically committed and entrancing performance as Ellen Hutter, who is newly married to real-estate agent Thomas (Nicholas Hoult, Renfield). The latter is dispatched from the couple's home in Wisborg to Transylvania to assist Orlok with purchasing a property. As Ellen remains in Germany — and as her connection to Orlok begins to fester and torment — she stays with Thomas' old pal Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, The Fall Guy), his pregnant wife Anna (Emma Corrin, A Murder at the End of the World) and their children. Taylor-Johnson couldn't have been more eager to be involved. "Sometimes I feel like when you get a filmmaker like Robert — firstly I admired his work and was like 'I'll do anything to be a Robert Eggers movie'. And then all of a sudden, you get this this invitation, this letter and a call saying he's doing something and would like you to be a part of it. You can't quite believe that's happening. You can go 'great, I don't even need to read a script — whatever you want me to do'," he advises. Corrin shares enthusiasm for the experience, and for jumping into horror. "I guess it's fun because it's a unique set of challenges. I've certainly found it interesting, how you craft a scene — I think it's a very specific way that you obviously approach shooting scenes to make them have that suspense, and especially if there's a jump-scare onboard." For them specifically, however, a particular gauntlet awaited: rats. "I remember reading that in the script early on, and texting Rob and being like 'hey, man, wondering if the rats are going to be CGI or are they going to be real? Just curious'. He was like 'definitely real, no CGI'. And yeah, it was intense. I had about 20–30 rats on me. I was also topless, which was interesting. It was bleak, if I'm honest. I tried to be quite brave about it." Why Nosferatu fascinates Eggers, what excited Dafoe about collaborating with the filmmaker, digging into tested beliefs and internal conflict, acting opposite Depp's can't-look-away portrayal: all of that also spanned Concrete Playground's chat with Eggers, Dafoe, Corrin and Taylor-Johnson. So did Count Orlok's look, Dafoe's own history with Nosferatu, Eggers' exacting way of working, giving a century-old film a modern lens and more. On Why Nosferatu Has Fascinated Eggers Since Childhood, Including Turning It Into a Play When He Was a Teenager Robert: "It's very hard to say. I think certainly the Murnau film had a major impact on me, and initially it was Max Schreck's performance and just the power of the simple fairy-tale adaptation that Murnau made of the Dracula story. But as I have grown older and learn more about the occult, and vampire folklore from Eastern Europe — and hysteria and 19th-century medicine — the more that I found that it was a story that I was able to really embrace and put many of my interests in, and to use the framework to explore the things that were exciting to me creatively." On What Excites Dafoe About Working with Eggers After Collaborating on The Lighthouse, The Northman and Now Nosferatu Willem: "Just the personal nature of what he does. The detailed nature of what he does. The kind of investment. It's not work, you know. He's playing to his pleasure and his interests. And then I just like being around him. He inspires me, gives fun things to do. I get a little self-conscious — he's sitting right here. Number one, obviously I'm all in. But check the boxes. He's everywhere on the set. The thing that's really impressive, and I know other people that do this, but it's really impressive that on the set there's such detail, that nothing is there for decoration. It's all function. It's all functional. It has a place. It has a history. And when you can feel the origins of things and where they're placed in the world, that really gives you a reality that's easy to enter. It's a reality that you're not covering anything — you're living in it. And it's very easy with a little willfulness to say that our world drops away and you're in that world. It's an exercise in pretending, and he makes it very simple by giving you a very rich world to exist in." On What Corrin Was Keen to Dig Into in the Film, Including Tested Beliefs and Internal Conflict Emma: "I think Anna has an interesting journey, because she is constantly fighting between her love of Ellen and her own beliefs. And there's a lot of conflict between those two things, because she's very devoutly religious and doesn't believe in a spiritual world — especially a spiritual world based on the occult and folklore — and obviously all of everything Ellen's experiencing points to the existence of that world, which would remove the very foundation of her worldview, everything about how she's been raised, and all of her beliefs. And yet she really loves her friend and wants to be there for her. So I think that experience of Anna, of being with Ellen in such close proximity and witnessing this, it gets to the point where she can't — I think for both Anna Friedrich, actually, they can't not see it anymore. It becomes so obvious what's happening, and then it's so confronting. And you see all of their own beliefs and whatever sort of falling away before their eyes, which is a very scary and vulnerable place for them to be in, especially with kids. I think that I, as an actor, I guess I enjoy complexity and internal conflict in a person. It's very interesting to portray." On How You React When Such a Physical Performance, as Lily-Rose Depp Turns in as Ellen, Sits at the Heart of a Film Emma: "You can't help have a really quite visceral reaction to watching someone who, as you say, who's doing such a committed physical piece of acting. It constantly, I think, blew our minds how she was contorting her body, and the choreography and the stamina that she needed to have as a performer to do that take after take after take — and offer so much. It was incredible. It was a real gift to act opposite because we didn't have to — there no acting required. It was very easy to imagine what these two people, how they would react to what they were seeing." Aaron: "It's definitely extraordinary. I feel very privileged to have been in the room witnessing a performance like that, that felt very raw and with no vanity, and it just felt it was disturbing in real life — and I knew it was going to be shocking on film." On Finding the Right Aesthetic for Bill Skarsgård as Nosferatu's Count Orlok Robert: "Bill is playing a folk vampire. He's an animated corpse, and not Frank Langella in a tuxedo. And that was very enjoyable to create. The look of a dead Transylvanian nobleman, we have certain nods, certain details that remind the audience of Max Schreck, because we have to also be respectful of that. But it was really nice. And while the look was completed by myself and David White [who also worked on The Northman], the prosthetics designer, we also had a Transylvanian folklore expert, Florin Lazarescu [Aferim!], who reminded me 'you know, Robert, a lot of times they talk about the strigoi being a red face'. And so if you'll notice, there are moments when you can see blood pooling under the skin after he's been feeding and stuff like that, which are some fun details." On Returning to the World of Nosferatu After Being Nominated for an Oscar for Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire Willem: "They're so different, the films, the intentions, what kinds of films they are. That was very important to me. First of all, I love the Murnau film. I had known it before working on Shadow of the Vampire. Shadow of the Vampire was basically a comic performance. And it leaned heavily on the Murnau because, basically, to find the character I copied a lot of what I saw in the Murnau. That was the starting point. So it was a great lesson in working with a mask, because I had extreme makeup, and that's the first time that it really — maybe not the first time, but it reminded me that if you look different, you move different, you start to feel different and you really have a possibility that becomes a trigger for pretending that's very potent. And you can even do things that you couldn't imagine before because you're drawing on something that's intuitive. It's not shaped, it's not indicated, it's not something you control, it's in your imagination. So that was very important. So then when Rob talks about doing Nosferatu, of course he's not talking to me about playing Nosferatu, but he tells me about this fantastic character that I always felt like is the role he would play if he were in the cast of this movie. So I've been working with him before, knowing his interests and having him give me all this rich material to research, to prepare for the role, that was the connection. It all connected to that other experience, but at the same time, you can't force a relationship between those two films because they're so different and when you finish one, you make room for the next." On the Meticulous Detail and Structure — and No Room for Improvisation — That Comes with Working with Eggers Emma: "I think we were lucky because our characters aren't explored very much in the original. But Rob definitely brought them to life in a certain way — in a very particular way — that was important for this film, because they represent this beacon of light against this darkness that envelops everyone. And in that way, we had a bit of carte blanche, I suppose. But then Rob is so specific in the way he creates characters and the backstory — he's very meticulously thought-out back story for everyone, which I think I find really helpful. I don't know if I'm a big fan of freedom. I think I like specific notes and specific ideas." Aaron: "Structure." Emma: "Yeah, structure." Aaron: "Honestly, I agree. He was so thought-out on everything. I mean, the only thing I probably could have brought was that I was allowed to like [ask] 'can I have mutton chops and some a great big moustache'. And I think that was it. That was allowed." Emma: "Was that you?" Aaron: "Well I wanted some kind of facial hair. I think he wanted something distinctive because they'd already started working with Nic, and he wanted me to have a big twizzly moustache, so that grew and grew. I think there's a little bit of conversation about that. I wanted to improv and he was like 'absolutely not'. So I was like 'okay, well I'll just do what you say'." On How Eggers' Nosferatu Brings a Modern Lens to a Century-Old Classic Aaron: "This story is 100 years old, but yet it's still very relevant today. And I think originally that movie came out, came off the back of the Spanish flu, and it became this metaphorical piece of art reflecting, mirroring reality. And being that we've just come through a global pandemic and we've all been through this feeling of this wave of fear that comes through a city and disrupts everybody in such a panic and a way, it felt very much — I remember reading it and being 'whoa, this seems like, it feels like this'. And then Robert goes 'well, that's originally what it was for 1921'. But then at the fundamental core of it, there's a theme throughout that's about love and battling with your demons, and having shame with this deepest, deepest darkest secret that you've carried from a childhood into your adult life — and how it's going to affect your relationship, and all this sort of stuff. So it's very powerful. I think for our characters, when you're saying this modern element, it's like it was the missing piece to the puzzle. So the original one, our characters aren't involved in that, and so Robert created this next three-dimensional world — this family that lives in Wisborg, and Ellen is staying in this household that is very much this beacon of light, and they're a loving family. They've got children. They've got everything that Nicholas' character aspires to be. And so it's just Robert building upon that world and making it more contemporary, and making it more relatable. They're a very grounded family and arguably they are far more loving than you probably would find in that kind of period. They're very passionate. There's a lot of eroticism throughout the movie, and Emma's character is pregnant with their third child. It's interesting." On the Allure of Period-Set Horror for Eggers Robert: "I just enjoy learning about the past. That's how I like to understand who we are and where we're going — by where we came from. It's what has always excited me, even as a kid. And if I wasn't a filmmaker, maybe I would be an archaeologist. This is just what I enjoy, but also, for making these genre films, I think it's easier to tell — like if you're talking about witches and vampires and things like that, it's easier to make them scary if you are in a period where everybody believed in them, more or less. And obviously in this film, in Wisborg, that's not quite the case, but you get my point." On Dafoe's Experience Working with the Rest of the Cast Willem: "I enjoyed it so much because they're so turned on. Sometimes with older actors, they're comparing their experience that they're having to something in the past. While I find younger actors — now, keep in mind someone like Nic and Aaron, actually many of the actors, are very experienced, so let's not get crazy here; they aren't so young and inexperienced, to tell you the truth — but there's just an excitement. There was an excitement that you could feel for them working with Rob. You're just there. You don't make those distinctions. You're playing characters. You're all on the same footing. You're all trying to fold into the story and help each other, and disappear into the story. So I was looking today, we were shooting pictures, and it's a very special group to a person. Really, there's not a stinker in the group. So the simple answer is: I was very happy to work with this cast, because seldom do you have a cast that's so uniformly strong, not only in performing, but also I remember we took portraits in the costumes and everybody had a look that was very believable and very credible. There was no flourish. The look was very rooted. Robert cast them very well, not only for their look, but also for their talent." Nosferatu releases in cinemas Down Under on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. Images: © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC.
In A Real Pain, as two cousins make a pilgrimage to walk in their dearly departed grandmother's shoes, the concept of alternative possible lives arises. Jesse Eisenberg's second film as a writer/director after 2022's When You Finish Saving the World doesn't hop between timelines science fiction-style; rather, when different pasts or futures come up, it follows a relatable Sliding Doors-esque train of thought about the events and decisions that've shaped David (played by Eisenberg) and Benji Kaplan's (Kieran Culkin, Succession) existences. They're in Poland, where their Grandma Dory grew up, and where they might've too if the Holocaust hadn't occurred. On their guided tour, Benji muses with David about their parallel-universe selves, where they're Polish with beards and everything that they've ever known is completely different. A Real Pain itself is the product of a comparable journey; it could've been a different movie and, originally, it was meant to be. Eisenberg was endeavouring to bring another project to the screen, adapting a short story that he'd penned for Tablet magazine. It was about two friends, not cousins, and instead of Poland they were travelling to Mongolia together. But the Oscar-nominated The Social Network actor, not to mention star of everything from the Zombieland and Now You See Me movies through to TV's Fleishman Is in Trouble, had himself been to Poland. He'd paid tribute to his own family history, visiting the house that his aunt Doris had lived in. He'd also been inspired by that trip to write 2013's off-Broadway play The Revisionist, about a young American man with an older Polish cousin who had survived the Second World War. An ad for "Auschwitz tours, with lunch", which Eisenberg randomly spotted online, helped him pull together influences from all of the above — the screenwriting task that he'd actually set himself, his prior play, his personal experiences and history — into A Real Pain. Audiences should be grateful that it did. Awards bodies have been so far, including via four Golden Globe nominations (for Best Film — Musical or Comedy, Best Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy for Eisenberg, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture for Culkin, and Best Screenplay — Motion Picture, again for Eisenberg), plus love from the Gotham Awards and Independent Spirit Awards. At Sundance, where A Real Pain premiered, the dramedy took home a screenwriting accolade. Eisenberg isn't just filtering elements of his family's past into the movie, or recreating a trip that he took with his now-wife two decades back. As he did with the Julianne Moore (May December)- and Finn Wolfhard (Saturday Night)-starring When You Finish Saving the World, he's also tapping into his own IRL anxieties. What he's digging into is right there in A Real Pain's name. As he tells Concrete Playground, "I'm trying to examine and ask the question that I ask myself every day: is my pain valid?". When there's such bigger struggles, troubles and atrocities haunting the world beyond the everyday woes of a person with a largely comfortable life, how can someone feel angst and hurt while also confronted with the bigger picture? In A Real Pain, David and Benji were born mere weeks apart and were almost inseparable as kids, and now make a chalk-and-cheese pair — as is immediately evident while the former leaves a series of messages about meeting up at the airport, where the latter has already been contentedly for hours — but both have their own tussles. In their interactions one on one and with others, one is a ball of tension and apprehension, while the other is laidback and charming. (Based on casting, it's easy to pick which is which before even watching, although Eisenberg initially planned to play Benji.) Where David has also settled into adulthood while grappling with his stresses, however, Benji is in a state of arrested development. Their grandmother's passing hasn't helped. At a pivotal moment, chatting over dinner with the pair's tour group — which includes Will Sharpe (The White Lotus) as their guide, plus Jennifer Grey (Dollface), Kurt Egyiawan (The Agency), Liza Sadovy (A Small Light) and Daniel Oreskes (Only Murders in the Building) as fellow travellers — while Benji is in the bathroom, David unburdens his feelings in a powerful torrent. "I love him and I hate him and I want to kill him and I want to be him," he notes, getting to the heart of the cousins' complicated relationship. Earlier, they'd been at Lublin's Old Jewish Cemetery. The next day, they'll visit the Majdanek concentration camp. A Real Pain sees its titular emotion in micro and macro, then, and knows how awkwardly that the two clash. Just as with questioning the legitimacy of routine trials versus all of the worse things in the world, Eisenberg drew that crucial monologue from his own emotions and experiences. "It's also the most-personal part of the movie — and this is a movie that is very personal," he told us. We also chatted with the Rodger Dodger, The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland, The Double, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Vivarium and Sasquatch Sunset star about how A Real Pain came together, working with Culkin — including Emma Stone's advice as one of the film's producers that he shouldn't play Benji himself — and what he makes of his career 25 years after his screen debut in TV series Get Real. On What Keeps Drawing Eisenberg to the Question of 'What Pain Is Valid?' as a Writer/Director, First in When You Finish Saving the World and Now in A Real Pain "I've been in the arts since I'm a kid, and I married somebody who works in social justice. And so anytime time I feel I'm doing well or something, I'm reminded that my wife is maybe working with people in more immediate need than I am. And my mother-in-law ran a domestic violence shelter for 35 years, and was unimpressed that her daughter had been married to somebody in movies. So in that first movie, Julianne Moore plays a woman who runs a domestic violence shelter, and she's kind of unimpressed with her kid, who's her family, not doing anything of social value according to her. And then in A Real Pain, the characters are experiencing this very personal pain. My character has OCD, but medicates it away. And my cousin's character has very dark, dark demons inside of him, but it's on an individual level. And so I thought it would be interesting to put these guys against the backdrop of real historical global objective trauma, like the Holocaust. Because in both movies I'm trying to examine and ask the question that I ask myself every day: is my pain valid? I live in a comfortable apartment with a nice wife and kid, and work, I have a nice job. But yet I still feel miserable all day. And why do I have those feelings? So both movies are exploring that exact question. Questions of privilege versus pain — questions about how is it possible that we could feel bad for ourselves when there are so many worse things in the world? In the case of the first movie, it's about domestic violence, and in the case of this movie, it's the Holocaust. And that's just my preoccupation, which just comes from a very self-centred question of 'why do I deserve to feel self-pity?'. On A Real Pain Coming Together From First Trying to Write a Different Film, Then Seeing an Online Ad for Auschwitz Tours "with Lunch", and Also a Past Off-Broadway Play, Plus Eisenberg's Own Personal History and Trip to Poland "It's funny, my friend and I, he's a writer too, we write next to each other at the library every day, and he always says 'once you're on the downslope of the script, you know it's going well'. 'The downslope' in our lingo is basically just once you get past the point of setting everything up and the things are in motion and everything feels right, kind of resolving everything or maybe it's not resolving anything, but that downslope to the end is really smooth. So the last ten pages of this movie, I wrote, I think, in like five minutes, because my wife was texting me I'm going to be late to pick up my kid, and I was like 'I know, but I know the ending, I just have to..'. [caption id="attachment_985500" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo by Agata Grzybowska. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.[/caption] So I just wrote it really quickly and all this great stuff came out about me hitting him in the airport, and then this just sad ending of me going home to my family and him stuck at the airport, and it just happened because everything had been set up. And it was in my mind, as you mentioned, throughout several other plays and short stories and stuff, and a real trip with my wife. So once I was at that point, where the dominoes were all falling, I knew, 'oh, this is a story that feels complete'. And then I sent it to my parents and they had no idea what they were reading, because I sent it to them, I don't write in screenwriting programs, so I sent them an e-mail with no names above the characters. Anyway, they said 'this is terrible, what did you what did you do?'. And then I made it more official." [caption id="attachment_985499" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo by Agata Grzybowska, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures, © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.[/caption] On What Eisenberg Was Excited About with Working with Kieran Culkin — and Casting Him in a Role That He Was First Planning to Play Himself "I was originally thinking I would play the role of Benji. And our producer is Emma Stone, and she is obviously a very successful producer/actress, and she told me just it would not be a good idea to play a character like that, who's so kind of unhinged and spontaneous, while also trying to direct the movie where I had to be in my other side of my brain of managing a crew. So once I decided I wasn't going to play that role and I was thinking about who could play it, the only person that seemed to me — it's strange, because he's not a Jewish actor — but the only person that seemed to me of my ilk is Kieran. [caption id="attachment_985496" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for The Walt Disney Company Limited[/caption] I don't know what it is, that we're both from New York and speak in this kind of way, and have an energy about us that is similar, but I needed somebody similar and different to me. And Kieran is like me in so many ways and then completely the opposite of me in so many ways. He doesn't feel anxiety about acting. He doesn't think about it. He just wants to get to the set and to just perform. He doesn't want to talk. He does want to analyse it. He doesn't even sleep the night before, and he never wants to rehearse. And he's just comfortable in his own skin. He's now winning, like today, he just won two major awards for the role. I think he doesn't even care. I sent him a congratulations message. He's never going to get back to me. He just takes care of his kids and doesn't care about ambition, fame, success, any money, anything. He lives a really unusual life and it's exactly what I needed for the character. So what we were experiencing on set as colleagues was quite similar to what they're experiencing on set in character." On Capturing the Relatable Dynamic of Loving Someone But Also Hating Them in a Powerful Monologue — and How Pivotal That Moment Was for Eisenberg "Oh, very strangely pivotal in the sense that I was so conscious of the fact that I, as the writer/director, have a monologue in the movie. And I was so panicked about filming it, because I thought I would screw it up, and then I thought 'I don't want the other cast to be sitting there all day while I do this shot of myself'. So the cinematographer and the producer Ali Herting [I Saw the TV Glow, The Curse] basically forced me into doing this long shot that pushes in. We did one take and I was too embarrassed to do it again, because it just seemed indulgent. It's the only take we got. And because I knew I only wanted to one take, I put all the eggs in the basket of it, and so it was very lived in, so to speak. It's also the most-personal part of the movie — and this is a movie that is very personal. We film the movie at my family's house in Poland and it's about my family's history, and yet the most-personal part of the movie is where I say that stuff. Because I guess what I'm talking about is just the way I've felt in my relationships with other guys growing up, just finding people that I'm in awe of — not just guys, also women and family members and all sorts of people — where I have these dual feelings of wanting to be them and kill them at the same time, and loving them and hating them at the same time. I'm living in the shadow of Benji, but in some ways my life has greater stability than his. In most ways, my life has more stability. And so I understand that I've created the life I want, and yet still every time I'm with him he brings up those childhood feelings of envy." On What Eisenberg Makes of His Path From His Screen Debut in TV Series Get Real 25 Years Ago to Everything That's Come His Way Since, Including Writing and Directing "When I was like 16, I got my first professional acting job, which was acting in this TV show. And I'll never forget the audition, all the executives were there, and I remember I was just trying to be funny in front of them. And I was not thinking of myself as a funny person at that point. I was trying to be funny, and people were laughing, like adults were laughing. And I thought 'oh, that's interesting, I wonder if I'm allowed to just be funny the way I want to be funny — it can translate'. I didn't have to be funny like Adam Sandler or something. I could just be funny like myself. So that TV show allowed me to explore, let's say, my own voice as an actor. So that was a really, really lucky experience that no one watched. And since then, I've been very lucky to play roles where I can bring myself to it or bring my own sensibility to certain things, especially in a movie like A Real Pain, which is like my story, and I'm always surprised that anybody likes it. Because when you think of something that's your own, and that's private or artful or creative or something that's funny in your head, you never expect to have any kind of public reaction. But now I've found myself in this very weird position where I get to write stuff and can produce it, and it just feels quite strange because it all still feels very personal." A Real Pain opens in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, December 26, 2024. Images: Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
It's a movie. It's the big-screen beginning of an entirely new franchise. It's Superman. And, ahead of the first film in the DC Universe reaching cinemas in July 2025, James Gunn's latest step into the world of superhero movies has unveiled its debut teaser trailer. Come for an initial look at David Corenswet (Lady in the Lake) as the Man of Steel, as well as Clark Kent — and at Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel) as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult (Nosferatu) as Lex Luthor. Then, also get excited about a glimpse of Gunn regular Nathan Fillion (Deadpool & Wolverine) as Green Lantern and Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho. Superpowered dog Krypto makes an appearance, too, and viewers will hear a familiar theme tune. "Krypto, home. Take me home," Superman says to his trusty pooch in the sneak peek at a flick that's bringing its namesake back to picture palaces for the first time since Justice League — for the first time in eight years, then, as that's when Zack Snyder's film initially arrived in its theatrical version (Zack Snyder's Justice League, aka the Snyder Cut, debuted on streaming in 2021). Gunn's iteration of the character is seen looking bloody and worse for wear in his familiar outfit to start with, which sparks that need for help from his canine sidekick. This is a movie that isn't afraid of Superman being vulnerable, then, alongside his saving-the-world antics. That line is a favourite of Gunn's, the filmmaker told select press from across the Asia Pacific — including Concrete Playground — at a Q&A about the feature's first footage. "There's the one really potent line to me in the trailer, that moves me, which is when he says 'Krypto, take me home' — and Krypto starts dragging Superman home. And that's, at the end of the day, what this is for me," he explained. "It's about bringing the innate goodness of Superman, bringing it home, bringing this character home — bringing our battered world to a brighter place of healing and bringing that home. And hopefully Superman can be a symbol of that as well. I think that this is the right time for this movie, and I'm excited about people seeing the trailer," the Super, The Suicide Squad, and three-time Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director continued. He's even more enthusiastic about audiences watching the full flick, of course, come mid-2025. "The trailer is really just about being a good representation of the film — and I think it is an authentic representation of what the film is, and I just can't wait for people to that in July." Story-wise, the preview doesn't reveal much of the narrative. "I wanted to create a teaser trailer that gave the essence of what this movie is without giving away too much of the plot," Gunn advised. As for what viewers can look forward to from the eponymous figure, Gunn notes that "I think that we can expect a Superman who is about the compassion of the human spirit; a Superman who is about kindness, love and compassion, while also being a very strong character. So I think he is the best of humanity, even though he is an alien from outer space." [caption id="attachment_985434" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Erik Drost via Flickr[/caption] "It's a little bit different than some of the other Superman movies — it's about Superman's external struggle, but it's also about his internal struggle. It's about who he is as a person, where he comes from, his parents — both his Kryptonian parents and his human parents — and we get to know who this guy is on a real elemental level," Gunn also shared. Co-starring Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) as Supergirl, as part of a cast that features Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus), Frank Grillo (Tulsa King), Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones), Wendell Pierce (Elsbeth) and, as always in the filmmaker's work, Gunn's brother Sean (Creature Commandos) as well, Superman kicks off a new franchise that Gunn is overseeing in his role as co-CEO and co-Chairman of DC Studios. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is set to follow in 2026, as directed by Dumb Money's Craig Gillespie, then Clayface will release in the same year, working with a script from Doctor Sleep and The Fall of the House of Usher's Mike Flanagan. Gunn also chatted about casting Corenswet, conveying the character's humanity, the approach to the movie's score, the DC Universe's handling of tone, how Superman stands out from the filmmaker's past superhero flicks, the new versions of Lex Luthor and Lois Lane, and more. On How Corenswet's Superman Differs From Past Versions of the Character — and What the Actor Brings to the Role "David both has that optimistic boy scout quality that Superman has, both on-screen and in real life, frankly, and a real down to earth-ness — besides the fact that he's this incredibly good-looking guy, he doesn't have any sort of arrogance or ego in that way. But also he is a really phenomenally trained actor who went to school at Juilliard and is just one of the best actors I've ever worked with. Incredibly nuanced, incredibly questioning all the time, trying to figure out how can he give his best performance. There's never a take I look at after the dailies where I go 'he isn't fully authentically Superman'. He is Superman every moment he's in the movie. Even the stuff that, where I'm cutting together the best performance as possible, even his worst is still great … I said to David when he got hired — he went through a very, very long and arduous audition process in which hundreds and hundreds of people auditioned for the role of Clark Kent/ Superman. David won it, and I said to David, I said 'you've got to work on two things. You've got to work on your shoulders, and you've got to work on your vulnerability'. And those were two things that he then spent the next six months getting bigger and also working on elements of being vulnerable on-screen, which I think was a little bit more difficult for him, as it is difficult also for Superman." On Exploring Clark Kent's Humanity "I think that's all the movie is about. This movie is about Clark Kent's humanity. Yes, he's an alien from another planet who's super powerful, but he is also deeply, deeply human. He has emotions and feelings. And every day he wakes up and tries to make the best choices he can, and sometimes he fails. And that's what this movie is about. This is about a complex character. And I think that's the thing that audiences are going to be completely surprised by, they can't really see in the trailer, is these complex relationships between Clark and Lois, and Lex and Clark, and how they interact and the different values they have, and how they strengthen each other and make each other weaker." On the Approach to the Film's Score — and the Iconic Superman Theme "John Murphy [The Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3] is the guy who composed the score. He's an incredibly talented guy who I love working with, with a great spirit. As soon as I finished the script — he was one of the first people I gave the script to — I said 'start thinking of music'. I said: 'the one thing I'll say is I do want to use the classic Williams score, but I want you to turn it and mutate it, and turn it into your own thing that'll represent this film and this story'. So there's a very powerful thing about it. There's also a slightly melancholy thing about it. And I think those are both parts of this very emotional and touching story that we're telling through the movie. And John not only wrote that theme, but he put together so much music for the movie that we then play on set and shoot to, so that we know exactly what the score is. And that score is baked into the movie. This was a very different movie because music is always very important to me, but a lot of times I've used a lot pop songs of various types throughout the movie, and this is not the case for Superman. This is basically about the score, and so it has an incredibly important role in this film. I can't wait for people to hear the whole thing, because it does go into that whole Williams thing, and then it transforms into something else, and then it becomes something else again. And it is a stunning piece of music." On How Audiences Can Expect the New DC Universe, and Superman Within It, to Navigate Tone "Well, the one thing they can expect from the DCU is that every film and TV project will have its own vision. And some are going to be family-oriented, like Superman. Other ones are going to be a little bit more adult-oriented, like Creature Commandos, which is now playing here in the States and in some other places, a lot of other countries. And so they're all going to be very different. But I do think that in Superman, it's interesting because it's not as if there's not a lot of darkness in the film. I think to be truly optimistic, and to truly be hopeful, if everything's going great and everything is perfect, it's a lot easier — then Superman isn't as strong of a character. So this isn't Superman dealing with hope and optimism in light times. He's dealing with hope and optimism in very difficult, hard times, dark times. And that's what the movie is facing. " On How Gunn's Work on Superman Differs From His Past Superhero Movies "I think it's very different. I don't think of Guardians or The Suicide Squad, really primarily as comedies, but certainly comedy was a big part. And it's not that there's no humour — there's plenty of humour in Superman — but at the core of it, it really is something different. It's a different sort of story. And it's vulnerable for me to make that, because the honest truth is when I make a movie, and then you show the movie to an audience, you've got to sit with an audience watching the movie, and the easiest way that you know people like your movie is when they're laughing — or if you're telling a horror movie, if they're screaming. And then also if they're crying, which I got a lot of people to do with the last Guardians movie. So I like those external things, and then in this one I really had to be sort of strict with myself when I was writing it, filming it. It's all about the character. It's about the action, which is a big deal, shooting flying in a different way. And so it's just tonally different from the movies that I've done in the past." On Why Superman's Red Trunks Are Back "There was a time when I was developing the costume, the outfit — uniform is the macho way to say it, the Superman uniform — with David Corenswet and Judianna [Makovsky, a Guardians of the Galaxy alum], our costume designer. And I came in and it was coming together, but it had the red trunks, it had the whole thing, and we really went back and forth a lot about the red trunks. I even talked to Zack Snyder about it. He's like 'I like tried a billion versions, but the trunks, it just never got there'. And I see how that's the case. I don't know about the trunks, and I wanted to use the trunks but I couldn't, I kept taking them off. And I come in, it's very colourful, the trunks are on and I'm like 'oh god, I don't know. It's just so colourful. David, how do you feel?'. He's like 'I love it'. And I'm like 'really, that colourful?'. He's like 'I'm an alien from outer space who can fly and lift buildings and I shoot laser beams out of my eyes that can dissolve things. I want kids to not be afraid of me. So what am I going to wear?'. I think that was really part of where the costume came from. And I saw the character in a new way. This was before we started shooting, of course, and this showed me how David Corenswet really took everything, every moment, very seriously in all of his choices of what he would do. And he wants to not be scary to kids. I thought that that was a a pretty cool thing that really I've kept in mind for the character ever since that moment." On Superman's Latest Battle with Lex Luthor "One of the things that was really important to me was to make a Lex Luthor who was absolutely his Superman's equal. Maybe more than — you've got to be scared of [Lex]; this Lex is scary. And it's not just because he is a bad guy, because he's pretty bad, but he has his reasons for thinking what he thinks, which you get into, and it's a lot of ideological things about what Superman represents versus what he represents as the world's most-intelligent man. And so I think that it really is this battle of ideologies between the two of them and how they look at the world. One of them is very generous in his point of view, which is Superman, and one of them is not very generous in his point of view, which is Lex. But also his intelligence and his way of dealing with the henchmen that Lex has around makes him incredibly dangerous to Superman. And when you're willing to fight and there are no rules, you always have an upper hand over the person who's willing to fight and has a lot of rules, such as Superman." On Rachel Brosnahan's Version of Lois Lane "I think Lois is a journalist of the highest order. She believes in the truth pretty much at almost any price. And that makes her a real force to be reckoned with. And one of the things, I love the romance between Lois and Superman in the original Donner film [1978's Superman starring Christopher Reeve], and think it was really beautiful, but also in a way, it was a little bit Lois 'goo-ga' over Superman, right? Because he flies around, he can pick up planets — pick up buildings at least. I wanted to really see 'why does Superman love Lois so much?'. And so from the beginning we did chemistry reads with Superman and Lois, and David and Rachel got these roles not because they were just individually great as those characters, but together as a couple they bounced off of each other in an incredibly dynamic way. I think you know from the very beginning, you start to see why she is as strong of a force as Superman is, just in a different way — and why someone as cool and as good-looking and powerful as Superman would be in love with her, and he's the one who's lucky." On the Challenges of Rebooting a Superhero That Almost Everyone in the World Knows "I think the biggest challenge is that because everyone in the world knows who Superman is and where he came from, some of that's a benefit. We don't go into origin stories in this. Everybody knows, practically everybody knows, that Clark Kent came here in a rocket as a baby sent by his Kryptonian parents, and a farm couple adopted him and brought him in. So we don't have to go through all that. That's a benefit in a way. But also so many people in this world are so intimately attached to Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the big three, they have specific ideas about what that character is to them. Most people have come up to me and say 'I never really related to Superman because he's just too powerful. I can't. I relate to Batman because he's like the underdog, right? I never related to Superman because he's just too powerful'. So that's something I took into account from the beginning, that a lot of people don't relate to him. I think it's a little bit to do with what we see at the beginning of the trailer — the beginning of the movie, too. And other people like Superman because he can punch planets in half. That is not really this Superman. But that's also, you've got to deal with all these different people have different ideas of what Superman is supposed to be. And you have to deal with all of them and hopefully people are able to go and say 'well, okay, I like my idea of what Superman is, let's see what this idea of Superman is. Let's sit down for two hours, watch this movie and see what it is'. I think that's what you've got to do with the DCU, because things are going to keep changing, evolving, characters aren't going to be the same as people imagine them. A lot of people keep telling me 'oh my god, you made this trailer just for me, I can't believe it'. And other people are going to feel differently about it, but they can still enjoy the story and enjoy how our view of Superman is, or whatever other DC character there is." Superman releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, July 10, 2025.
What do killer Squid Game dolls, Stranger Things rifts, Jurassic World raptors and very nice Borat statues all have in common? They've all brought pop-culture hits not just to Sydney but to Bondi, albeit temporarily. On the morning of Thursday, December 19, 2024, a towering toy loomed over Bondi Icebergs, accompanied by plenty of red and green outfits — and yes, as part of the latest pop-up celebrating the upcoming return of the South Korean Netflix smash for season two, a game of Red Light, Green Light took place. Ever since the world initially watched Squid Game in 2021, the streaming platform has been obsessed with bringing everyone's favourite South Korean streaming series into real life. First came pop-up stunts. Then arrived reality competition show Squid Game: The Challenge, obviously without a body count. Experiences that let everyone play the show's games without appearing on TV also keep proving part of the IRL fun. As the show's second season approaches, dropping on Boxing Day 2024, Australia has welcomed three Squid Game activations — starting in St Kilda, where 200 pink guards relaxed on the Melbourne suburb's beach to kick things off; then cruising through Sydney harbour; and now at the pool so famous that it recently earned the documentary treatment. The Harbour City is no stranger to Squid Game stunts, or to Young-hee. Three years back, the Red Light, Green Light doll first made its eerie presence known in Sydney. When it took to the water this time around, it did so by ferry with 300 pink guards as an escort to get to Luna Park Sydney for Squid Game: The Experience. And now it has visited another iconic location. At Bondi Icebergs, 50 Squid Game guards were also in attendance, while ten players tried their hand at avoiding Young-hee. And the winner? Steve Bradbury, chalking up another claim to fame.. Come Thursday, December 26, Squid Game will unveil its second batch of episodes — and fans' second-last opportunity to press play. The show will return in 2025, too, with its third season; however, that will be the end of the series. More Squid Game: The Challenge is on the way, however. Squid Game season two streams via Netflix from Thursday, December 26, 2024. Season three will arrive in 2025 — we'll update you when an exact release date for it is announced. Squid Game: The Experience is now on at Luna Park Sydney, 1 Olympic Drive, Milsons Point. Head to the venue's website for more information and to buy tickets.
As a filmmaker, he co-created the Saw and Insidious franchises, and has since been tackling iconic horror tales with The Invisible Man and 2025 release Wolf Man. As an actor, he popped up in The Matrix Reloaded. Before all of that, he was a film critic on beloved late-90s Saturday-morning music TV show Recovery. That's a helluva career so far — and next, Leigh Whannell is heading to AACTA Festival to chat about it. In 2024, the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Awards launched a festival to sit alongside its accolades, and to celebrate the latter's move to the Gold Coast. That event is returning in 2025 in a bigger guise, running for five days between Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, and hosting more than 100 sessions. The initial program details were revealed in November 2024, but a few more high-profile names have just been added. AACTA Festival will also welcome Australian The Greatest Showman filmmaker Michael Gracey, who has been earning some love from the academy of late. Better Man, his unconventional Robbie Williams biopic, topped the 2025 AACTA nominations — and attendees will hear all about the film at his festival session. Equally huge news is enlisting Paul Kelly to perform at the live How to Make Gravy concert, which also features Meg Washington, Brendan Maclean and Beddy Rays — and yes, it's easy to predict what the Australian icon will be singing. Plus, Late Night with the Devil is in the spotlight via filmmakers Colin and Cameron Cairnes getting talking, while Netflix's upcoming Apple Cider Vinegar series will score a behind-the-scenes look. [caption id="attachment_926549" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Moshcam[/caption] Featuring 20-plus new sessions, the expanded lineup builds upon a roster of events that already boasted plenty of highlights. One such drawcard: the Working Dog team, aka Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Michael Hirsh and Rob Sitch, coming together for an in-conversation session that's bound to touch upon everything from The Castle, Frontline, Thank God You're Here and Utopia to The Dish, The Hollowmen and Have You Been Paying Attention?. The Dish is also the screening program, and the Working Dog team will receive the prestigious AACTA Longford Lyell Award. Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser, who won an Oscar for Dune and is highly tipped for another one for Dune: Part Two, is another big-name inclusion, chatting about his Hollywood work. Also in the same category: John Seale, who took home an Academy Award for The English Patient, and was nominated for Witness, Rain Man, Cold Mountain and Mad Max: Fury Road. Everyone can also look forward to authors Trent Dalton and Holly Ringland returning from 2024's lineup, chatting about Boy Swallows Universe and The Lost Flowers of Alice on the small screen, respectively; a dive into the Heartbreak High soundtrack; a panel on queer storytelling with RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under season two winner Spankie Jackzon and Deadloch's Nina Oyama; and a session with First Nations filmmakers. And if you're keen to watch movies, Gettin' Square followup Spit will enjoy its Queensland premiere, complete with star David Wenham (Fake) chatting about the feature's journey; Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will make its Australian debut, at Movie World, of course; and upcoming action film Homeward with Nathan Phillips (Kid Snow) and Jake Ryan (Territory) will take viewers behind the scenes. [caption id="attachment_985262" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Courtesy of Netflix © 2024[/caption] [caption id="attachment_927965" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Netflix © 2023[/caption] AACTA Festival will run from Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, 2025 at HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise Gold Coast. For further details, head to the fest's website.
December is here, and we're sure the sound of jingling bells is well and truly lodged in your head — but if your TV isn't screening an endless festive movie marathon, is it really Christmas? This portion of year isn't just the prime period for gift-giving, lots of eating, and spending quality time with your nearest and dearest, but also for watching and rewatching all those flicks that make you feel merry. Or, if you're hardly the jolly type, to get a dose of Christmas with some offbeat, action-packed and/or darkly comic picks. Just what makes a Christmas film has been hotly debated. Some folks, like Last Christmas director Paul Feig, rightly believe that Die Hard counts. Others stick firmly to movies that weave in the season in a more overt way. Whichever category you fall into, and however you feel about the season, we have a list of suggestions for your Yuletide viewing pleasure. Pour yourself some eggnog, get cosy on your couch and start streaming. Home Alone (and Its Sequels) In 2021, a brand new Home Alone movie arrived to demand your attention. Yes, the 90s classic was remade — by Disney+, and with Jojo Rabbit's Archie Yates, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Ellie Kemper and Deadpool & Wolverine's Rob Delaney among the cast. Nostalgia might draw you to it, but the Mouse House's streaming platform is already serving up classic Home Alone delights, with the 1990 original, 1992's Home Alone 2: Lost In New York and 1997's Home Alone 3 all available (and also 2002's Home Alone 4, if you're a completist). Naturally, the original is the one that calls everyone's names whenever they're feeling festive. It was the highest-grossing live-action comedy at the US box office for more than two decades for a very good reason. Watch as Macaulay Culkin (Entergalactic) puts in a star-making performance, Joe Pesci (Bupkis) and Daniel Stern (For All Mankind) play bumbling burglars, and plenty of inventive booby traps get in the way. Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Home Alone 3, Home Alone 4 and Home Sweet Home Alone stream via Disney+. Happiest Season Forget Twilight. Yes, it's the film franchise that Kristen Stewart (Love Lies Bleeding) is best known for, but her resume spans much further than sparkly vampires. And, courtesy of Happiest Season, it includes a festive rom-com that gives its well-worn genre a much-needed queer focus. Stewart plays Abby, the girlfriend of Harper (Mackenzie Davis, Speak No Evil). The former usually hates Christmas, but she's willing to give the usual trimmings a go for the latter. Alas, it turns out that Harper hasn't come out to her family, which cause more a few complications over the holidays. From the get-go, it's easy to see where the film is headed, but Happiest Season willingly sticks to a formula in order to update it. And, it's likely this LGBTQIA+-friendly dose of merriment wouldn't have found the right mix of festive familiarity and emotional substance with other leads. Happiest Season streams via Binge. Read our full review. The Nightmare Before Christmas More than a quarter-century ago, filmmakers Tim Burton (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) and Henry Selick (Wendell & Wild) served up one of the most-enchanting holiday films to hit the big screen — and one that doubles as both Halloween and Christmas viewing. It's Burton's name that everyone remembers; however, a pre-Coraline Selick is actually in the director's chair on The Nightmare Before Christmas, which charms with both its offbeat story and its gorgeous stop-motion animation. Burton came up with the narrative though, because Jack Skellington only could've originated from the Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands filmmaker's brain. Imaginative, original and engaging (even as it nods to Dr Seuss a few times), it still remains a festive treat for all ages. The Nightmare Before Christmas streams via Disney+. The Holdovers Melancholy, cantankerousness, angst, hurt and snow all blanket Barton Academy in Alexander Payne's (Nebraska) The Holdovers. It's Christmas 1970 in New England in this thoughtful story that's given room to breathe and build, but festive cheer is in short supply among the students and staff that give the movie its moniker. Soon, there's just three folks left behind: Angus Tully (debutant Dominic Sessa), whose mother wants more time alone with his new stepdad; curmudgeonly professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti, Billions), who's being punished for failing the son of a wealthy donor, but would be hanging around campus anyway; and grieving cook Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Only Murders in the Building, and an Oscar-winner for her work here), who is weathering her first Christmas after losing her son — a Barton alum — in the Vietnam War. The Holdovers streams via Netflix and Binge. Read our full review. Last Christmas Some Christmas movies — many festive movies, let's be honest — get the usual carols stuck in your head. Fancy a little George Michael whirling around your brain instead? That's what's on offer with Last Christmas, for obvious reasons. Just read the title and you'll already be humming the appropriate tune. This recent festive rom-com is both extremely likeable and very predictable. In other words, it's perfectly suitable feel-good Christmas in July viewing. The cast, which includes Emilia Clarke (Secret Invasion), Henry Golding (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) and Emma Thompson (Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical) are all an absolute delight, Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, A Simple Favour) directs with a light touch, and the George Michael hits just keep coming. Last Christmas streams via Netflix, Stan, Prime Video and Paramount+. Read our full review, and our interview with Paul Feig. It's a Wonderful Life It's been 78 years since Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life first warmed hearts, and started to become a festive tradition. The ultimate 'what if?' tale, the five-time Oscar nominee is also a shining example of a movie that didn't do well at the box office originally but has more than made up for it since. Featuring a pitch-perfect performance from the great James Stewart as the downtrodden George Bailey, the film's charms are many. It's sweet, optimistic but still willing to look at grim realities. That's what happens when Bailey has bleak thoughts one Christmas Eve, and contemplates ending it all, before a guardian angel shows him what life would've been like in his home town of Bedford Falls without him. It's a Wonderful Life streams via Stan. Eyes Wide Shut It isn't by accident that Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick's last complete film and one of the masterful director's absolute best, takes place during the holidays. The late, great filmmaker plunges into a fraying marriage at a time of year that's either blissful or fraught in relationships, or seesaws between the two, with then real-life couple Nicole Kidman (The Perfect Couple) and Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One) as his leads. And, in the process, he has plenty to say about the institutions, traditions and expectations that society tells us will bring contentment — the wealth and romantic ideals that fall into the same categories, too — and the gaping chasm between those glossy notions and reality. When it hit cinemas, Eyes Wide Shut was marketed as an erotic thriller — 'twas the 90s — but despite the sex, masquerades and relationship games, that's only one layer of the feature. Following Bill (Cruise) and Alice (Kidman) Hartford as they navigate the festive period, complete with indulgent parties and strung-up lights aplenty, this probing film has zero cheer for Christmas' shiny facade, or the annual promise that forced jolliness will make anyone's lives better. Eyes Wide Shut streams via iTunes. How to Make Gravy Normally when it comes to watching Christmas movies, you can pick whichever day in December takes your fancy and press play. But How to Make Gravy is best watched on December 21, because that's the date that's been known as Gravy Day since 1996 thanks to Paul Kelly's classic tune 'How to Make Gravy'. Yes, this is a movie adaptation of the song, with musician Meg Washington and writer/director Nick Waterman behind it. And yes, it spins a story around the many characters that Kelly names in his track. The Royal Hotel co-stars Daniel Henshall (RFDS) and Hugo Weaving (Slow Horses) feature as Joe and Noel. The first hails from the tune — he's the prisoner who writes to his brother Dan (Brenton Thwaites, Titans) to kick things off — while Noel, a new addition to the tale, is a veteran inmate that he crosses paths with inside. With a cast that also spans Kate Mulvany (The Clearing), Damon Herriman (Better Man), Kieran Darcy-Smith (Mr Inbetween) and Kym Gyngell (The Artful Dodger), plus Titane's Agathe Rousselle in her first English-language film, How to Make Gravy charts the events that lead to Joe being away from his family come festive season, how they're coping without him and the underlying factors that he needs to face to spend next Christmas at home. How to Make Gravy streams via Binge. Read our interview with Daniel Henshall and Hugo Weaving. The Muppet Christmas Carol It's time to play the music, light the lights and see Charles Dickens' classic play out in felt — and with Michael Caine (The Great Escaper) as Ebenezer Scrooge. Any Muppets movie is ace seasonal viewing because they're all so warmhearted, but The Muppet Christmas Carol was obviously made for the merriest time of year. The movie follows Dickens's tale, with the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge given a change of perspective by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come. Here, however, Jim Henson's beloved creations join in, with Kermit the Frog playing clerk Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as Emily Cratchit, Gonzo narrating the story as Dickens (with help from Rizzo the Rat), Fozzie Bear as Fozziwig and Robin the Frog as Tiny Tim. Other Muppets show up, because of course they do. The Muppet Christmas Carol streams via Disney+. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale Calling all festive horror fans — and fans of deadpan comedy. You'll get a bit of both with Finnish thriller Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, because sometimes, that's just what the season needs. Taking inspiration from the Joulupukki, a pagan and folkloric figure that's helped shape Santa Claus-centric stories, this creative film starts as all sinister tales do: with the unearthing of something eerie and perhaps best left forgotten. Here, after a British research team disturbs an ancient burial mound, the local reindeer become the first casualties. Twisted and off-kilter, eager to play with mythology and unafraid of gruesome imagery, this is the kind of Christmas flick that doesn't come around very often — all from Jalmari Helander, the filmmaker behind 2023's underseen Sisu. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale streams via iTunes and Prime Video. Tangerine Before writer/director Sean Baker gave the world 2024 Palme d'Or-winner Anora, plus The Florida Project and Red Rocket before that — each among the best movies of their year — he spent Christmas Eve with two transgender sex workers as one learns that her boyfriend and pimp has been unfaithful. Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is fresh from a 28-day stint in jail when she teams up with her best pal Alexandra (Mya Taylor, High Tide) to chase down her other half Chester (James Ransone, The Black Phone). While getting revenge on cheating spouses isn't a new topic on film, Tangerine is its own raw and delightful effort. Baker also shot the Los Angeles-set feature solely on iPhones, which proves quite the technical feat, and doesn't stop it from being visually inventive again and again. Tangerine streams via iTunes. Christmess "Happy holidays" might be two of the most-used words each and every December, but this time of year isn't jolly for everyone. With the gripping and affecting Christmess, writer/director Heath Davis (Broke, Book Week and Locusts) stares clear-eyed at the haunting regrets, aching loneliness and complicated family dynamics that are part of the festive season for many — and has his characters chat about the best Christmas movies, too. Fresh-out-of-rehab actor Chris Flint (Steve Le Marquand, The Twelve) is at this Australian dramedy's centre, as he tries to get his life back on track — a job playing a shopping-centre Santa included — while living in a halfway house with his sponsor Nick (Darren Gilshenan, Colin From Accounts) and fellow recovering alcoholic Joy (musician Hannah Joy). Christmess streams via Binge. Nutcrackers After a few years spent making horror movies — and building upon genre classics at that, thanks to Halloween, Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends and The Exorcist: Believer — filmmaker David Gordon Green has swapped scares for heartwarming seasonal hijinks. Consider that one of his latest feature's big returns. Opening the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival before making its way to streaming, Nutcrackers also gets Ben Stiller back in front of the camera (although he can be forgiven for his time behind the scenes given that he's been busy directing Severance). Long-term Stiller fans should spot echoes of Reality Bites, which he helmed as well as co-starred in, in his Nutcrackers character Mike Maxwell. Looking the corporate part and devoted to his job, he's not fond of the idea of shaking up his routine — or jeopardising his career advancement prospects. Then tragedy strikes, leaving him to find new guardians for his four rambunctious nephews who definitely don't want to go into foster care, and also have a creative take on classic ballet The Nutcracker that they're eager to stage. Nutcrackers streams via Disney+. White Reindeer If your attitude towards Christmas is 'bah humbug' or something similarly grinchy, then White Reindeer might just be the festive film for you. It starts with the festive season approaching, and with real estate agent Suzanne Barrington (Anna Margaret Hollyman, Sister Aimee) happy with her weatherman husband Jeff (Nathan Williams, Younger) — and super excited about the most wonderful time of the year. Then, tragedy strikes, and Zach Clark's (The Becomers) black comedy leans firmly into its genre. Tackling dark subjects, as well as the fact that Christmas isn't all presents, big hugs and glittering lights for everyone, this is a very funny, savvy and astute movie. It's also purposefully awkward, and remains a great example of low-budget indie filmmaking no matter the time of year. White Reindeer streams via YouTube Movies. Carol Carol falls into the category of films that, purely because they're set at the right time of year, automatically qualify as Christmas movies (see also: a few other flicks on this list). If that's the excuse you need to revisit Todd Haynes' (May December) aching romantic drama, then that's completely fine. Any excuse will do, really. The more eyeballs soaking in this sumptuous tale of forbidden love either for the first time or the hundredth, the better. Starring Rooney Mara (Women Talking) as a shopgirl who falls for Cate Blanchett's (Disclaimer) titular character, and based on Patricia Highsmith's novel The Price of Salt, the 50s-set drama fills the screen with emotion as the two women confront their feelings. Haynes' resume isn't short on highlights (Velvet Goldmine and Far From Heaven, for example), but might be his crowning achievement. Carol streams via ABC iView. Read our full review. Batman Returns Why so seasonal? No, the Joker doesn't say that in Batman Returns. In fact, that villain isn't even the Dark Knight's nemesis in this 1992 film. The sentiment still fits, though. Given the amount of times that Batman has graced cinemas, one of those movies was always going to be appropriate Christmas viewing — and Tim Burton's (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) second stint unpacking Bruce Wayne's alter ego, plus Michael Keaton's (also Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) second round of playing the titular character, is 100-percent that movie. Christmas provides the backdrop for Oswald Cobblepot (Danny DeVito, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Selina Kyle's (Michelle Pfeiffer, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) antics — aka The Penguin and Catwoman — in this sequel to 1989's Batman, and lights up Gotham City as its namesake endeavours to save the day. Again, there's never any shortage of Dark Knight flicks to choose from, including two more follow-ups in the 80s and 90s franchise, Christopher Nolan's trilogy, Ben Affleck in the cape and cowl and 2022's Robert Pattinson-starring The Batman, but 'tis the season for this one. Batman Returns streams via Binge. Elf Will Ferrell (The Boys) plays an elf. It sounds like the idea for a Saturday Night Live sketch, really. To the joy of Christmas-themed film fans everywhere, that's not the case with Elf — and even though it was written with Jim Carrey (Sonic the Hedgehog 3) in mind, and even though he went seasonal again with Spirited in 2022, this festive comedy ranks alongside Anchorman as one of the movies that Ferrell will always be remembered for. He's both amusing and endearing as Buddy, a human raised by Santa's elves who only realises that he's not like everyone else he knows when he grows up. It's a basic fish-out-of-water setup, but showered with humour, heart and festive goodwill. Also, long before he directed Iron Man, The Jungle Book and the photorealistic version of The Lion King, this is what actor-turned-filmmaker Jon Favreau served up. Elf streams via Binge and Stan. Gremlins Fun fact for Breaking Bad fans: Jonathan Banks, aka Mike Ehrmantraut, plays a deputy in Gremlins. He's not the star of the show, though, and nor are any of the movie's humans. No, that honour goes to its furry creatures that definitely shouldn't be exposed to water or sunlight, or fed after midnight. That's the warning that Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton, King Cobra) receives when he buys an unusual gift for his teenage son Billy (Zach Galligan, Midnight Peepshow) from a Chinatown store and, as Joe Dante's (Nightmare Cinema) upbeat, anarchic comedy demonstrates, it's advice that should be heeded. Another trusty tidbit that's worth remembering: no matter how old you are, watching Gremlins will make you want a mogwai for yourself. Gremlins streams via Binge. Black Christmas A fun, feisty remake with a female perspective and a refreshing sense of sisterhood, Black Christmas is a college-set slasher flick for the #MeToo era. The latter gets thrown around a helluva lot, but with this updated version of a 1974 cult movie, writer/director Sophia Takal (Always Shine) firmly leans into the term. Indeed, Black Christmas circa 2019 lives and breathes its #MeToo mindset, particularly in its story and characters. In this Imogen Poots (Outer Range)-led, Cary Elwes (Knuckles)-costarring effort, a masked predator stalks women as the festive season swings into gear, specifically targeting sorority sisters at a stately university. There's a mounting body count, but these gals aren't merely a parade of powerless, disposable victims. Black Christmas streams via Netflix. Read our full review. Die Hard Yippee ki-yay, fans of both action and seasonal hijinks (and of Bruce Willis crawling around in vents trying to fight off terrorists, too). It's time to follow in the footsteps of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Jake Peralta and love Die Hard unconditionally, because — by virtue of being set on Christmas Eve — this is a Christmas-appropriate film. The story, if you somehow don't know it, involves NYPD cop John McClane (Willis, Assassin), a Los Angeles building attacked by the nefarious Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman, Eye in the Sky) and plenty of explosive antics. We know, we know, Rickman also features in that other, more overtly festive-themed favourite, aka Love Actually, but there's nothing quite like a couple of hours spent at Nakatomi Plaza. Die Hard streams via Disney+. In Bruges Before The Banshees of Inisherin, filmmaker Martin McDonagh teamed up with actors Colin Farrell (The Penguin) and Brendan Gleeson (Joker: Folie à Deux) on another darkly comic gem. In Bruges is writer/director McDonagh's first feature, in fact, and what a stunning debut it is, diving into hitmen chaos in Belgium over the Christmas period. McDonagh's whip-smart script only mentions the time of year a few times, but its titular setting is lit up for the occasion. Farrell's Ray is hardly thrilled, though; "For two weeks? In fucking Bruges? In a room like this? With you? No way," is his response to being holed up and hiding out with his mentor Ken (Gleeson) at the behest of their handler Harry (Ralph Fiennes, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar). Blackly comedic amusement springs from their predicament, and so does mayhem, melancholy and even hope. In Bruges streams via Netflix and Stan. That Christmas Richard Curtis is getting festive again. The screenwriter behind Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and the first two Bridget Jones movies — and a big driver of Hugh Grant's (Heretic) early career, clearly — will forever be associated with the jolliest part of the calendar thanks to Love Actually. Now he's added That Christmas to his resume, and a clip of his past end-of-year flick that everyone knows and has thoughts about even features in this animated all-ages-friendly affair. That Christmas springs from the page, from Curtis' books That Christmas, The Empty Stocking and Snow Day with illustrator Rebecca Cobb. On-screen, he's intertwined those tales, with Simon Hunter (A Tale Dark & Grimm) directing, Peter Souter (Married Single Other) co-scripting, and the film's account of home-alone kids both lonely and mischievous featuring voicework by Bill Nighy (The Wild Robot), Brian Cox (The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim) and more. That Christmas streams via Netflix. Bad Santa The sequel didn't stuff anyone's stocking full of laughs, sadly, but the original Bad Santa is a masterclass in seasonal misanthropy and utterly inappropriate humour. Now two decades since Billy Bob Thornton (Landman) first popped on the red suit to play the world's most begrudging Father Christmas — actually a professional thief that uses his gig as a department-store Santa as a cover to case the place — he's still one of the most memorable festive figures there is. Everything that can go wrong does for Thornton's character Willie, and every boundary that director Terry Zwigoff (Art School Confidential) and writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Jungle Cruise) can test gets pushed as well. Grinches, this comedy understands your Yuletide disdain and milks it — and finds hilarious uses for a sack full of the festive film genre's cliches, child sidekicks and all. Bad Santa streams via Prime Video. Scrooged Every Christmas, real or otherwise could use a dose of Bill Murray (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire) — even when he's hardly brimming with festive cheer. So, back in 1988, Scrooged delivered just that in a modern retelling of A Christmas Carol. Murray plays arrogant, selfish TV executive Frank Cross. He doesn't share the same name as Charles Dickens' famous grouch, but he's just as lacking in feel-good spirit. Everyone knows how the broad story goes, with ghosts of Christmas past, present and future popping up to teach this cynical crank the error of his ways. When Murray is involved, though — and when he's also leading a sing-along — even what seems like the umpteenth adaptation of a well-known story doesn't feel routine. Scrooged streams via Binge. Carry-On What if Die Hard met TV series Hijack, but starring Taron Egerton (Tetris) and Jason Bateman (Air), and with Non-Stop director Jaume Collet-Serra on helming duties? That's Carry-On, 2024's addition to the festive thriller subgenre. Egerton plays a Los Angeles TSA officer with a newly pregnant girlfriend (Sofia Carson, Purple Hearts) and therefore fresh motivation to ask his boss (Dean Norris, Law & Order: Organised Crime) for a promotion, who's given a chance to show he's worthy of climbing the airport's corporate ladder on Christmas Eve. Baggage scanning duties await, then, as a test — but a trial of a different kind swiftly arrives. Via a voice speaking to him through an earpiece, Carry-On's protagonist is soon being told to let a particular piece of luggage through or face deadly consequences. Bateman is a treat playing firmly against type, in what proves a well-cast picture all round. And while it's easy to see where the story is going, the writing remains smart and the setpieces are lively. Carry-On streams via Netflix.
Aunty Donna have been busy over the past few years. Since 2020, they've brought both Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun and Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe to the small screen. They've played corpses in Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, and also dropped a $30 bottle of wine that's literally called $30 Bottle of Wine, too. The Australian comedy troupe embarked upon a world tour in 2023 as well, selling 90,000-plus tickets. If you're keen to see Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane live, your next chance arrives in 2025. Aunty Donna have announced that they're hitting the stage again, not only in Australia and New Zealand, but also in the UK, Ireland, the USA and Canada. So far, only dates for the first four parts of the world have been locked in, kicking off in August in Hobart, then hopping to Brisbane, Sydney, Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland and Dublin before September is out. October brings gigs in the United Kingdom, while Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne get their turn in December. Audiences will enjoy the Drem experience, with Aunty Donna unveiling their brand-new live sketch show. Will everything be a drum again? Will morning brown get a tribute? How much room should you leave for Christmas pud? If you're instantly thinking about these questions, you're clearly already a fan. In the trailer for the tour, Bonanno, Kelly and Ruane are promising big things in their comedic usual way. "In 2025, Aunty Donna will be touring the greatest live comedy show ever seen by human beings," the trailer advises. "You have asked 'is it funny?'," it continues. "Leading experts in the field have made it perfectly clear that it is the best comedy show ever made." [caption id="attachment_866548" align="alignnone" width="1920"] ABC[/caption] In a statement announcing the tour, Kelly builds upon that sentiment. "We're very excited to show Drem to the world. Performing live is what we do best and we can't wait to bring this show out to everyone," he says. "It's the best thing we've ever made and it's the best thing that anyone in the world will see. It's better than anything anyone else has ever done or seen." Check out the trailer for Aunty Donna's Drem tour below — and the full Down Under tour dates, too: Aunty Donna's Drem Tour 2025 Dates Friday, August 22–Saturday, August 23 — Odeon Theatre, Hobart Monday, August 25–Thursday, August 28 — Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane Monday, September 1–Thursday, September 4 — Enmore Theatre, Sydney Tuesday, September 9 — Opera House, Wellington Thursday, September 11 — James Hay Theatre, Christchurch Saturday, September 13 — Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Auckland Monday, December 1–Tuesday, December 2 — Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide Thursday, December 4–Friday, December 5 — Regal Theatre, Perth Friday, December 12–Sunday, December 14 and Wednesday, December 17–Thursday, December 18 — Palais Theatre, Melbourne [caption id="attachment_791048" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Netflix[/caption] Aunty Donna's Drem tour kicks off Down Under in August 2025. For further information and tickets, head to the Aunty Donna website.
