OF MEN AND MONSTERS, "COWBOYS & ALIENS"!

Independence Day in the Wild, Wild, West! COWBOYS & ALIENS arrive. Images: UNIVERSAL/PARAMOUNT.

COWBOYS & ALIENS leads the battle charge into British cinemas with its full country-wide release from today, and here's some more fun links you might enjoy:

Clips via SFX magazine: Cowboys & Aliens: Clip And Featurette | SFX

Harrison Ford interview: Harrison Ford interview: "I like dressing up as somebody else" - Movies Interview - Digital Spy

Daniel Craig answers fan questions on the COWBOYS & ALIENS UK FACEBOOK page: Videos Posted by Cowboys and Aliens UK: Daniel Craig Answers Your Questions! [HQ] | Facebook

Harrison does the same: Videos Posted by Cowboys and Aliens UK: Harrison Ford answers your questions! [HQ] | Facebook

SYFY channel talks to the cast:

Interesting chat by SUPERHERO HYPE with the film's co-writer Roberto Orci: Exclusive: Cowboys & Aliens Producer/Writer Roberto Orci | Superhero Hype

Official COWBOYS & ALIENS website interviews by Jon Favrea with Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde and Harrison Ford: Cowboys & Aliens Movie Directed by Jon Favreau - The Interviews with Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Steven Spielberg and more.

YAHOO interview with Jon Favreau: "Iron Man" maker rustles up some "Cowboys & Aliens" - Yahoo!

"COWBOYS & ALIENS": THE LONDON PRESS CONFERENCE. PART TWO

Western heroes! Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford and Jon Favreau get together for the London premiere of COWBOYS & ALIENS. Images: Tim Whitby/GETTY for PARAMOUNT PICTURES.

Here’s Part Deux of our COWBOYS & ALIENS London Press Conference transcript, which showed Messrs Craig and Ford, probably usually more happy to undergo Root Canal treatment than talk to the press, actually coming over as very relaxed and jovial in promoting the film, which they clearly enjoyed working on. A nice thing to see and be involved in.

PRESS: Harrison, you’re obviously well acquainted with the sci-fi genre, how as an actor has this process changed over the years and do you find it more, or less, a pleasurable experience working with special effects?

HF: Uh... Y’know for the actors it…special effects only require an active imagination and I don’t find it that much more difficult to believe there’s an alien scampering all over the rock towards me than I do ignoring the Grip that’s sitting in the truck that’s pulling me through romantic mountain country. You blank out what is there and put in there what isn’t there. And at all points you refer to the story. You’re primary obligation is to...uh… to help tell the story by whatever behaviours you require. So I don’t find it that much different.

Harrison and Olivia at the London O2 Arena premiere.

Obviously we have the ability to replace a man in an alien suite with a computer generated alien, and what I was pleased with in Jon and his groups creation of that alien is that it didn’t move like a man in an alien suit, that they created a movement for the aliens that wasn’t humanoid. That was interesting. But the danger of computer generated graphics is that there’s the temptation by many directors to replace, to generate more than they need and I think more than often-what I do see is that they tend to lose human scale so what you might…if you get too much of any one thing you begin to think about it. Those are my little thoughts on the subject. (Laugh)

PRESS: Miss Wilde, again. In the western, for every thousand saloon girls or school mams, there is a Belle Star or an Annie Oakley. You’re character clearly is in the minority. I wondered about the research, first of all, into the very few women who toted guns in the west, and also how you established the fact that you’re convinced you know what to do with a hand gun-the practice and all that sort of thing.

Olivia meets the British fans.

OW: Well, I loved doing research for this role and learning about the women of the Old West, which was really fascinating. And there’s a great museum in Los Angeles called The Autrey which I spent a lot of time at. They had a very helpful exhibit at the time called Women of the Old West, which was nice. And I loved how tough these women had to be. I mean, everyone had to be tough in order to be these pioneers and to settle into these border towns was not easy. I don’t know how long I would have lasted, but I did have some ancestors who did just that so it was really interesting to me to do this research. And in terms of looking at characters in films, I didn’t specifically look at female characters. I probably looked at a lot of the same guys we all would. I thought that Ella had a great kind of Clint thing to her as well. I was so excited when I realized I was going to literally step out of the shadows in the saloon to approach Daniel. I thought, how cool: to be the woman in the shadow and then come out. It was just one of those moments when you thought, this was really westerny right now. This is fun. So I think I was inspired by all those guys. When I grew up watching westerns I wanted to be Steve McQueen, I didn’t want to be the girl. So I liked –I had fun- being inspired by them as well. The gun- Daniel taught me how to shoot my gun. Yeah, which was cool. Because I can always say that James Bond taught me how to shoot my gun! The guns were really beautiful. I’m not a big gun person- I’m a pacifist, I don’t really love guns in generals-but I loved these antique guns-they were so interesting. And not easy to shoot. We did have a gun expert who was teaching me how to spin the gun, but I never got to spin the gun on camera. I think in some of the wide shots we’d all be spinning the guns hoping we could do it! (Laughs) Jon and you Guys, not all of you can spin your guns, so stop doing it…(Laughs)

JF: It was like a Busby Berkeley film.

OW: But I do know how (to use a gun), and now I have that skill. I have tremendous respect for all of our props. I think they were very cool. And that was another thing that made the whole experience so fun.

PRESS: Were your ancestors on a wagon train?

OW: Some of them, yeah. Some of them were on my mother’s side, they were the first to head west and took some great photos of it, luckily. So I have that. This was the first time that I really connected with that, so that was interesting.

RO: And if I might say, that when you have the finest actors in their price range (Audience laughs) these things are characters we created together. Everyone at this table was very active in creating their character and Olivia certainly pushed it in all of us, too. The research we did affected the script and how we pushed the character (of Ella), and it affected the level of action that we had.

CH: How much of the Steve McQueen technique of going through the script and ripping out the lines did you do, so you could say something with a look rather than a line of dialogue? That’s for Daniel, first…

HF: (Laughs) Hey, they ripped at each others line. “We didn’t need to say that!” (Audience laughs)

JF: “I already said that,” y’know… (Laughs)

The name's Craig...Daniel Craig.

DC: It was just a natural process. He (Lonergan) ended up being like that. I’m glad. As far as I was concerned, the less I had to say the better. The more the character talked about how he felt about things the less realistic. I think he’s a man of action.

RO: Makes it easier for a screenwriter. “You want less lines?”

OW: In the riverboat scene, I remember that was a page longer. The dialogue there, we realised, was much more interesting if we were saying less.

CH: And Harrison, did you attack the script with a black marker pen or did you leave it alone?

HF: Not much. As Bob said, we did… these filmmakers were very willing to be collaborative and for me it wasn’t so much a question of taking away more lines or adding lines. It was a question of sharpening the focus. But they were always willing to entertain suggestions or notions and work with it.

PRESS: There seem to be lots of films out there that are very alien-centric. This summer alone we’ve had SUPER 8, ATTACK THE BLOCK, THE GREEN LANTERN… Particularly for Jon, what’s making the world go crazy for aliens all of a sudden?

JF: I think there are two main reasons for it. One is, there’s a whole group of people whose job is to figure out risk/reward for putting out a lot of money for an effects driven film, and they look at a list of movies which make money and which ones don’t. And AVATAR made money, to say the least. And typically that genre is one that tends to be a safe one. That seems to be the perspective of the financiers. I’ll also say that, for the first time, not for the first time but it’s a growing trend, is the world wide market is dictating what product Hollywood is putting out. I think the international market was responsible for seventy per cent of the revenue. It used to be that Hollywood was making movies for the States and then they would be sent off to overseas markets to collect money as well. Now it’s driving the entire industry. As different movies are green-lit, they always consider whether it will translate well to other cultures, in other societies, and when you deal with things that might be divisive like political themes or things that are more complex it becomes harder to handicap. But what’s nice about the alien movies is that its an enemy that everyone can agree is bad and it brings out the best in people because it tends to unify people who might otherwise be enemies. And I think the positive side of it is that its promoting harmony amongst different people and creates a sense that we’re all of one group and that there’s some external enemy. Ronald Regan said, “To end the Cold War it would rely on aliens to land on Earth.” He was wrong about that, thankfully, but it does show the sentiment of the common enemy as being a unifying factor. Hope that was a funny enough answer for you. (Audience laughs)

When's INDY 5? Harrison Ford looks momentarily distracted as he meets his dedicated fans.

PRESS: Mister Ford, there’s a very funny clip of you on YOUTUBE being pitched the idea for AIR FORCE ONE 2 by your make-up person. I wonder if, over the years, people have floated you other ludicrous variations on things you’ve played before...

HF: What’s ludicrous about AIR FORCE ONE 2?! (Audience laughs) I’m in negotiations right now! (More laughs) I happen to think it’ll work. (Harrison gives the look!) I’m sorry what was the question? (Laughs)

Y’know, I’m starting to think if there was a sequel pitch that I didn’t go for (Ford thinks playfully. Audience laughs). I don’t think so! (Laughs). Don’t think so. Uh... when we did the Indy sequels my ambition was that we take advantage of the audience’s knowledge of the character and extend and communicate that knowledge. That led to bringing in Indiana’s father and then finally bringing in his son whom he never knew. Those kind of things. I wasn’t the only one who was ambitious for that, but it was something I felt very strongly about.

PRESS: About something Daniel said a few moments ago about the fewer words you have to say the better, can you expand upon that?

DC: One word? (Audience Laughs)

CH: (to Daniel) Just give them that look!

DC: Isn’t there a legend that Clint only has eleven lines in that movie (one of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns)

JF: When they were dubbing them…

DC: The character of Lonergan was more verbose, but it was literally that thing of saying, “I don’t think the character was going to start talking about things.” This thing’s screaming and he was going to start shooting and then maybe talk about it afterwards. I mean I make a joke out of it but it literally was something that happened completely naturally as opposed to it being a conscious decision. Going through the script, sometimes we went, “I don’t need to say that…we've got that...its already been told by the actions I’m doing.” The fewer lines I had to say, really, the better…

RO: The western is not super verbose and Daniel is so proficient technically that there was so many things he could do with his face and his body language that it didn’t require a line. As a writer it’s hard to cut your line but we did because he could do it without the line and that’s an amazing partnership to have.

DC: It just lent itself to the western. It’s the kind of conversation we all had together. The fewer words the better...

JF: Trust me, when we all yelled “CUT!" there was a lot of talking going on!

Daniel, Olivia and Jon pose for the UK paparazzi.

PRESS: Question for Mister Favreau. In view of the films quite bloody opening, and what you said to need to appeal to the younger theatre audience, did you want to go further with the violence or did you have to approach it in a way that you could get a 12A rating?

JF: Well, I’m a parent also, so I have a pretty good sense of what I’m comfortable with for kids that I have of various ages, and I think that we definitely allowed ourselves to have more fun with the violence as it became more fantasy orientated- green blood- and that’s part of the appeal of both of these genres is they both have their bloody moments-it’s a visceral experience- and certainly the alien films we pointed to in the ones from the eighties verged on horror. ALIEN or PREDATOR, it (COWBOYS & ALIENS) was far less bloody than those films but we still wanted to feel that. But, as a dad, I wanted to share these films with my kids. I think the opening is as hard as it gets. Part of the reason we did this was because it was called COWBOYS & ALIENS and this is what you’re gonna get folks (Laughs). Here’s what’s in the Christmas present. So I think that it sets the table well for the rest of the film. By the same token I feel there’s a sense of responsibility, so I didn’t want to push it further. I know we’re working in the extended cut of going a little bit further for some of the effects stuff-for people who choose to see that-but we’re releasing it for a wider audience. I felt it was pushing it right up against the line for what was acceptable for that age group and I didn’t want to go beyond that. It wasn’t that I was told to cut things. We didn’t have to trim anything for the rating.

CH: Fantastic. And that is it, thank you for all your questions. But thanks most of all to Jon Favreau, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford and Roberto Orci.

With thanks to PARAMOUNT PICTURES and its dedicated publicity team for the invite to the Press Conference.

COWBOYS & ALIENS goes on general UK cinema release from August 17th.

For more info and stills on COWBOYS & ALIENS, head over to the UK FACEBOOK page:

Cowboys and Aliens UK

"COWBOYS & ALIENS": THE LONDON PRESS CONFERENCE. PART ONE

The COWBOYS & ALIENS team come to town. L-R: Jon Favreau, Olivia Wilde, Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Roberto Orci. Images: Tim Whitby/Getty for PARAMOUNT PICTURES.

If real life extra-terrestrials came down to Earth I don’t know what they’d make of the concept of Tea and Cucumber sandwiches, but as a human it was very nice to indulge in such eating niceties at the swanky Claridges hotel in London’s West End, where the blockbuster stars and behind the scenes talents of the hit movie COWBOYS & ALIENS quickly converged for a lively and very enjoyable press conference for UK journalists (including little old me from AFICIONADO!), just prior to the film’s premiere later that evening (Thursday 11^th August) at the O2 Arena at Docklands.

Here’s the first part of our transcript from the event:

Chris Hewitt - Host/ moderator: Nice easy one to start off with. This is going down the line to everybody. Which side of this movie appealed more to you? The cowboy’s side or the alien’s side?

Jon Favreau: Well, I grew up watching science fiction so I was first exposed to the western through science fiction. I grew up with STAR WARS. I was part of that generation and of course Lucas drew a lot of inspiration from Kurosawa. And Kurosawa drew a lot in inspiration from John Ford. And Spielberg is a huge fan of John Ford as well. And I think as you start to learn more about directing you learn to appreciate the western a lot more, and this was a wonderful opportunity to get to do a large scale western which has fallen out of favour for many years. So I think we all gathered around the notion of doing a western and that seemed liked a really unique opportunity.

Daniel Craig: I can’t answer intelligently as that. (Laughs) Probably the western. Though I’m a huge science fiction fan, I think I always wanted to play a cowboy.

Olivia Wilde: I would say western as well, because it was something I didn’t think I’d have a chance to be a part of.  I felt that the western genre had died for the most part and I certainly didn’t think that there would be a part in a western that would be this interesting, this tough, that I would have a chance to do. So I’d say the western is what got me.

Icon heroes together at last: Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.

Harrison Ford: To be fair, I don’t really care what the genre is (Big audience laugh). I did it for the money (More laughs). No, I was playing a part of the western part of the story- that is really what attracted me. Uh, but it was a particular special character that I was attracted to (in Dolarhyde). And the opportunity to work with all these wonderful people was the other main draw for me.

Roberto Orci (Screenwriter): And I liked the idea of the mix. I’m a fan of both but we all felt the challenge and the fun of doing something we hadn’t seen before and mixing them very nakedly and very openly.

Questions open up to the press audience.

Press: Daniel, I want to regress you back to the summer of 1977 and what your 9-year-old self would have thought of the prospect of sharing the screen with Mister Ford?

DC: Well, the truth of it is… I don’t known when BLADE RUNNER came out. I went to the cinema-sat in the cinema on my own, because not many people went to the cinema that I went to- I had no idea what was playing and BLADE RUNNER  came on. So I thought, I’m gonna work with that man (Says humorously). And I did. (Laugh)

Press: A couple of questions for Miss Wilde. First of all, the western question followed by a science fiction question. Can you give us an idea of the craziness of the stunt where the aliens lasso you?  How you persuaded Mister Favreau to let you do that and exactly what was involved, because I can’t believe it was easy. And on the alien’s front, I’m told that you’re a Trekkie and that you have a deep desire to play Captain Kirk.

The lovely Olivia Wilde, who plays the mysterious Ella in the film.

OW: (Slightly surprised) Oh, well… (Laughs, asks Bob Orci) Bob, are you listening? Producer of TREK over there.  (Laugh) To the first question, the stunt. That was supposed to have been done by my great stunt double. And we started off with me on a mechanical horse which they did use in SEABISCUIT, but it looked way too slow in our movie and so I ended up getting on a real horse and Jon let me do it. And I didn’t have to convince him. Our Stunt Coordinator convinced him.  And he said I was confident I could pull it off and made me very proud. And I felt safe because Daniel was riding next to me and I galloped through two eight foot cranes-we (Olivia and Daniel) galloped through-and at one point, a bungee cord attached to my waist yanked me back forty feet into the air and the danger was that I would get suck it the stirrups, so my trick was to not get caught in the stirrups and get ripped in half. It was a lot of fun and it as amazing to be floating above the set and have this unusual perspective and there was our crew looking like little ants and there was this incredible desert, mountains and canyons around us. It just made me realize how adventurous it was to lug these giant machines and cameras out into the middle of nowhere and tell a story. It was really beautiful. And for the second question, I grew up watching STAR TREK with my family often.  And my sister was a Trekkie as well. There have been some great female characters in TREK over the years, and still are. There was Captain Janeway –she did it well. She had that voice I could never compete with, but I would love to play more powerful women in science fiction. I think what Sigourney Weaver did for women in science fiction was incredible and I think she set the standard. I love the genre and I’d love to do more of it.

JF: (To Olivia) Do you mind if we paint you green? (Jon imitates Captain Kirk) “What is kiss?” (Laughs) The episode I saw of STAR TREK there was a green woman saying, “What is kiss, Captain Kirk?” “Let me show you.” (Laughs)

Press:  A question for Daniel on influences from the past. When a stranger arrives in a western town you immediately think of Clint Eastwood. Do you go with that or try to fight it?

DC: You go with it. You wouldn’t try and fight that. I don’t really know what the question is. If you’re asking me whether or not I watched Clint Eastwood for this movie, yes I did. I watched everything else as well. Lots of John Wayne, BUTCH AND SUNDANCE… I’m reeling off lots of westerns now. But yes, I kinda stole everything I could, but nothing specific.

CH: Jon and Roberto, I gather Steven Spielberg gave you a starter pack of westerns. What was in that pack?

JF: Well, the first thing was that when I, with Steven and Bob and Alex (Kurtzman (co-writer) sat in Steven’s conference room for the first time which, for those of you who haven’t been there, is a very intimidating place-small, and there’s the actual sled from CITIZEN KANE which says “Rosebud” hanging above your head. So if it’s not intimidating when you have the most important and powerful director in the world you’re looking at the most powerful and important prop in the world, too. There’s not a l to look at intimidating to look at other than Bob’s eyes, so we shared a lot of looks. We had the meeting-it went very well- and at the end Steven said to us, “I have a restored print of THE SEARCHERS and do you guys want to take a look at it with me?” And I said, I think that we could schedule that (laugh), and he screened it for us and talked us through THE SEARCHERS giving a very interesting perspective on it. Our start gift was an iPad- this new fangled contraption at the time- with classic westerns filled with movies from STAGECOACH to UNFORGIVEN. And it was great pre-production every night we’d watch another western. It was a bit of Directing School as well as a fun movie experience.

CH: Roberto, did that starter pack help shape the script in any way?

RO: Absolutely, we had to go back to school in a way. We wanted to make sure that we treated the western seriously –that part of what interested us was the challenge of making it not a joke but making it a genuine piece for real story and real emotion, and so the westerns have that. It was a pleasure to go back to school in that way.

Press: For Harrison Ford. You’re character starts off as quite feared, almost as if he was the villain. Was that more fun to play than the hero?

HF: I don’t know if it was any more fun. I just played an interesting character in the telling of the story overall. Uh... it was fun. I didn’t know where it was going as I read along in the script but I was pleased by what I read and thought it was something different for me to do.

Press. For the whole panel. Have you got a favourite western film of all time and/ or a favourite sci-fi film of all time?

JF: I guess you call it a western-THE SEVEN SAMURAI I consider a western structurally and as far as the characters. It’s one of those films where every time you watch it you see something new in it.

DC: LITTLE BIG MAN is probably my favourite western. ALIEN.

OW: I’d say BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDAY KID and ALIEN.

HF: I’m gonna opt out on this (Audience laughs).  I don’t uh…I don’t watch movies! (Audience laughs a lot)

RO: I’m gonna say THE FRISCO KID and STAR WARS. (Audience laughs).

HF: That’s why! (More laughs)

PRESS: Daniel, this was a physically more demanding role. Was it more so than BOND? Did you pick up more bruises and grazes from this than playing 007?

DC: It was just different. I don’t get to ride many horses on BOND, so that was really the main distinction. No more than usual (on the injuries). There was a more I can do this in the horse riding-I’m getting better at it, but I’m no expert on it. A lot of what you see in the film is brilliant doubles and stuntmen. Funnily enough, I picked up more bruises at the studio when we got back to LA than when we were out on the filming. I think everything is made out of some fiberglass, which can sprain and bruise you like the real thing.

PRESS: Mister Ford, I gather you that you weren’t too keen on the project when you first heard about it. What would you say changed your mind? And was it because the title sounded a bit jokey- a romp- rather than a more serious western, and an alien movie?

HF: Well I didn’t really know what I was reading. I was impatient with it a bit and until I talked to finish the script I became more interested in the character. And speaking to Jon about what tone he was looking for with the film that I was reassured. But you can read the same words and imagine different music. His intention to be committed seriously to the western rather than tongue-in-cheek pop mish-mash was what reassured me. That and just getting to know his… uh…what work he had already done. The first meeting I had with Jon he showed me a lot of graphics that had been developed showing the look and feel of the thing. But he also made it clear to me that there was... that he was committed to the characters and the relationships of the characters, which is what makes my part work in the film.

CH to JF: You talk about the tone. It does have this very serious, straight down the middle, serious western tone, which I found fascinating. Talk about the decision to stick with that.

The multi-talented film-maker Jon Favreau.

JF: Well, the movie's called COWBOYS & ALIENS and we thought long and hard if that should be the title that we keep. That was the title of the graphic novel. And it certainly made me curious when I read the script. The script had been developed a long time. I think they tried for a while to make it into a comedy. I have a comedy background and the first rule is that the more ridiculous the premise the more serious you have to play it in otherwise its a joke on a joke. And I think there’s something refreshing when I speak to the British Press. There’s an expression that you have here- “It does what its says on the tin”- and I think there’s a certain integrity to that. And there’s an irony intrinsic to the title that we try to support by presenting both genres with a pretty straight face and let the juxtaposition of them create the absurdity and the comedy. But the characters should never know that they are making people laugh, or if the situation’s absurd they should be playing it to the hilt of their reality. And I think you’re going to see it a lot more-it’s been a part of the comic book culture for a while, this specific tone, where you let the irony of the situation play the comedy. You’ll see a wave of it in films coming soon, something called ABE LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES. These are real titles and hopefully they play them dead on otherwise I’m gonna be really upset. If you play ABE LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER for laughs you’re gonna have big problems: you’ll last about five minutes. The challenge is actually to make something emotionally compelling that comments on both genres by combining the two and what I’m most proud of  (with COWBOYS & ALIENS) is that these are real characters, with real stakes and we seem to be able to honour the traditions of both genres that we respect greatly while combining the two. Its been done in music for a long time with mash-ups, and even with cuisine oddly. And so it’s a way to bring a new voice of a generation, to something you respect, and most importantly do something original. After doing the two IRON MAN films I really wanted to try my hand at something different and if you look at the films coming out of Hollywood this summer there are a lot of things that are remakes and superheroes-there are not a lot of chances being taken and I figured at this point in my career there was an opportunity to do something I felt passionate about, even if it was a little off-beat and risky, and so we’re seeing a group of people up here who worked on something that they believed in and that was a bit different. And that was part of the appeal of the whole thing.

PRESS: Leading on from that question. We are seeing a raft of movies that do have their origins in things like multi media and comic books. Is that because we now have a generation in Hollywood that grew up with those rather than perhaps looked down on it as a format to start with?

JF: I think its really about marketing to be honest with you. As online theft is becoming more predominant you don’t have a DVD market that is worthwhile anymore and everything is about being in the theatre. And in the theatre the people who come out are teenagers mostly. And so everything is geared towards content that’s going to appeal to the youth audience. It’s always been the case but now it’s especially the case. And there’s a tremendous amount of competition for the few months where people are out of school. And you have a few weeks around the holidays as well. And so young people respond to branded content more than to movie stars or than to directors. It becomes about products that they already have relationships with. Like superheroes, like toys, like board games, sequels. And it’s an event to go the movies for young people. They do it communally. So you’re seeing...there’s still a rich product coming out of the entertainment industry but its being spread out across the Internet. The independent film world, I think, is slowly being replaced by what’s on television-you’ve seen a lot of rich wonderful content. Following, I might add, the BBC model, of less episodes and more complete storylines, and so you’re seeing shows like MAD MEN, GAME OF THRONES, THE WIRE, BREAKING BAD. It’s a real golden age for adults but that R rated content now exists more on the small screen so its very difficult to take a chance if you’re going to use the big canvas of a mainstream film, especially foe something like a western. And that’s why we really appreciated the opportunity not just to do this but to be 2-D on film and in anamorphic. To do something to introduce young viewers to the western that we really respect. It's part of our heritage. So for us its fun to do something a lot of people want to see but its fun to challenge ourselves and try to buck the trend in many ways. And every time I’ve taken a chance it’s always paid off in one way or another, from the time I did SWINGERS all the way to now. I feel like this was a big challenge and I’m really happy I took it on.  I’m very proud of what we have here and I’m happy to share it with these people tonight at the 02.

To be continued...

MORE BLU-RAY STUFF...

In a nice and quiet alcove at Mos Eisley Cantina, Han and Jenny cuddle up and get ready to watch the STAR WARS Blu-rays!

Finally! A proper trailer for the Blu-ray Box set, with clips from deleted scenes and footage giving us a proper idea of the picture quality transfers (the above pic of the B/W alternate Cantina scene edit is greatly improved to what was seen all those years ago on CD-rom in 1997). From YAHOO, here: Star Wars: The Complete Saga - exclusive trailer | Movies Blog - Yahoo! Movies

Also, check out the Pod Race clip: Star Wars BLU-Ray Preview - The Phantom Menace Pod Doc - YouTube

And a recent feature on the Blu-ray blog: Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray preview with Holiday Special easter egg

A message from Darth Vader for AMAZON: Amazon.co.uk : Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) Ltd. Edition Film Cell

On the Prequels side of things, here's a taster of the Special Features Menus: STAR WARS - The Complete Saga auf Blu-ray: Sample Menü-Navigation (HD) - YouTube

Luke looks to the heavens waiting for his next Blu-ray post delivery!

FIRST CONTACT. "COWBOYS & ALIENS" HITS THE UK!

Blasting back! Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) takes on the alien meanies in COWBOYS & ALIENS. Image: UNIVERSAL/PARAMOUNT.

Summer blockbuster COWBOYS & ALIENS gets its official premiere UK screening at EMPIRE film magazine's BIG SCREEN experience at the 02 this weekend, before its full release nationwide on the 17th August. The film's stars and its director, Jon Favreau, will also be there for its premiere on Thursday night.

Hit the website for more info: Cowboys and Aliens | Empire Big Screen

And check out our review of the movie here: http://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.com/2011/07/aficionado-review-cowboys-aliens.html

CLASSIC IMAGE: ICON HEROES...

Pals through thick and thin, during Empire and Rebellion, Han Solo and Chewbacca the Wookiee are quite an enduring team still very much loved by STAR WARS fans and film fans worldwide.

This is a shot I found online that I'd never ever seen before. Photographed for RETURN OF THE JEDI in 1982, it's one of the few posed studio pixs of the pair taken for that film that I've seen (and believe me, I've seen very little so far). There must be more B/W and colour variations of this image out there in the LUCASFILM Archives waiting to be published or released by OFFICIALPIX...

In the meantime, why not check out how to get hold of our AFICIONADO BEST OF ISSUES 1-4, with its major section devoted to the smuggling duo, here: STAR WARS AFICIONADO: THE BEST OF ISSUES 1-4

CLASSIC RAIDERS: BAR FIGHT!

Within the fiery interior of Marion Ravenwood's bar in frosty Nepal, Indiana Jones life is under threat once more -this time from one of Toht's "Mean Mongolians" (as played by Indy Classic Trilogy action veteran, the late Pat Roach), in another classic scene from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, celebrating it's Thirtieth Anniversary this year (with the Blu-rays arriving in late 2012).

AFICIONADO REVIEW: "COWBOYS & ALIENS"

Lonergan (Daniel Craig) and Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) escape a colossal alien explosion in COWBOYS & ALIENS. Images: PARAMOUNT/UNIVERSAL.

Note: this review contains mild spoilers.

The previous, all too few mixings of sci-fi and fantasy into the equally intriguing and atmospheric environs of the real-life period of the American West haven’t exactly hit the mark of success with worldwide audiences, the most recent example being THE WILD, WILD WEST TV series conversion, which swiftly proved to be the film that Will Smith doesn’t like to showcase on his box office success film career CV these days!, but multi-talented director Jon Favreau and his equally fine company of actors and behind the scenes dream-makers have far greater luck on their side in their own new endeavor- the enjoyable COWBOYS & ALIENS- which mixes the two worlds of low tech Humanity against high tech alien horror in a cinematic way that, for the most part, provides a good sense of fun and notable excitement.

The highly anticipated big screen combo of hero icon heavyweights Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford is already enough to guarantee the film a quite sizable quota of world cinema audiences firmly planting their butts on seats to see it this July and August, but, beyond their notable inclusion and what was likely a fun pitch made by the writers towards the studios about the project, what about the movies all-important story and characters? Well, if you’re in the right frame of mood, COWBOYS & ALIENS, despite a few clunky moments of pacing here and there, works for the majority of its two hours running time and is diverting, crowd pleasing enough adventure fare. Kudos must also go to its original comic creator, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, in that its translation to the big screen, albeit described by the filmmakers as being loosely based on the graphic novel, works as well as it does. And isn’t it amazing, after all these years post STAR WARS and ALIEN, that such a great idea like this for a film hasn’t been done before for the big screen?

Alien alarm bells ring for the captured Lonergan.

Ultimately, C & A’s plot just about manages to hold up to successful scrutiny, although I think the aliens of the title, and their reasons for being on Earth, could perhaps, like the film in general, have been further developed. One plus to them is that there’s an interesting twist/revelation which sees the creatures as being not too removed from the Human cowboys with regards to some of their personal motivations. In certain facets the film could also be seen as being like a kind of prequel to Steven Spielberg’s Executive Produced FALLING SKIES TV series, too, what with its similar type of hand held invasion scenes, gritty action and kidnapping of people (in this case children) by an alien race, whose early goals for the planet have to be determined by the brave Human resistors. Perhaps they’ll be more development of COWBOYS 1873 arrived aliens if the film makes enough money at the box office to warrant a sequel-you never know!

Despite the intriguing inter-mixing concept and the most bloodthirsty creatures to have faced the American West since Gwangi, I still don’t quite know how the film really needed five writers to work on a script which ultimately proves to be functional rather than spectacular, accompanied with dialogue that’s mostly work-man like and acceptable rather than superior. Though credit to them for some of the occasionally noteworthy and ingenious new spins on the western and sci-fi/horror genre that occur throughout the film, and in their conceiving of the obligatory stunning action set-pieces showing man versus creature, experienced film and TV veterans, and well-known geeks of all things sci-fi and fantasy, Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman do a solid but ultimately not revolutionary job here in bringing the ambitious tale to life. From looking at the final movie I certainly felt the script needed a bit more of a fine tune-up in certain areas before filming. Perhaps a set in stone release date by the studios made such a thing impossible?

A new visitor arrives in Absolution!

Bringing the final script to life, Favreau clearly works hard and imbues his enthusiasm into the project, resulting in a yarn that’s certainly a more enjoyable showcase for his talents than his previous IRON MAN 2 sequel would turn out to be, which I found a bit of a mess in its middle section. Here he also pays his dues and respects to the western genre with some neat referencing to many established classics, like THE SEARCHERS and some of the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood Spaghetti tales, and keeps the movie as believable as possible as the alien terror plot line begins to lock hold of it. A strong behind the scenes team supports him in his goals, including cinematographer Matthew Libatique, whilst British Special effects maestro Roger Guyett and legendary RAIDERS Stunt-man Terry Leonard add extra bangs for your buck support as Second Unit Directors with some well staged action and effects sequences (the cgi/model effects, as usual from George Lucas’s ILM, now spread across San Francisco and Singapore, are nothing short of outstanding and exciting in places), whilst Harry Gregson-Williams provides a memorable main Western theme for the adventure.

Alien hunting: Lonergan, Dolarhyde and Ella (Olivia Wilde)

As for the costly film’s star powered lead duo, Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, their casting is inspired and their performances ultimately rise above the scripted material. With his modern day world-weary looks, which still bear the occasional twinkle in the eyes, Craig remains the closest modern-day actor we have that’s the equivalent in coolness to Steve McQueen, bringing edginess and mystery to Jake Lonergan in the films early start and the expected heroism needed by its finale, in a part which, ultimately, I couldn’t really see the equally talented Robert Downey Jr.-the projects original lead choice- in at all. Craig makes the mostly silent, stereotypical Western figure of the man-with-no-name stranger an intriguing proposition once more for cinema audiences, and in the action scenes, he’s magnificent and brutally physical (skillfully re-reminding us as to why he’s such a terrific choice for James Bond in this new age of complex, flawed and fascinating heroes!), especially in the beginning, as the amnesiac form of Lonergan emerges, wandering lost in the harsh desert climes, and during the first spectacular night time attack by the aliens on the town: the moment where he fires his wrist clamped alien weapon will surely become an iconic modern cinema scene (and also be the kind of cool toy that kids of all ages would surely want to have-I can see them all running around the school playgrounds and pretending to have them on their arms facing off against invisible monsters this summer/Christmas. In general, the lack of any merchandise for this film astounds me- a shame as I can further picture in my mind kids playing with COWBOYS & ALIENS figures and accessories, especially if the movie had been made in the early to mid-seventies. Perhaps this dearth is due to Daniel Craig’s ultimately snobbish hatred of anything commercial that bears his likeness (C’mon, Daniel, back in the seventies you must have played with STAR WARS figures bearing Harrison Ford’s Han Solo face on them!). 

He's still got it! Harrison Ford impresses as Dolarhyde.

And talking of that other big star, Ford, presumably considering himself to have better luck this time in his encounters with aliens, both dramatically and action-wise, than he had in his screen-time with those pesky Crystal Skull-ians in the now likely final INDIANA JONES film, once again relishes the rare chance, for the first half of the film, to portray a baddie, this time a battle-hardened and embittered Cattle Rancher whose business empire just about keeps the small, far-off the Beaton track town of Absolution alive. An almost Ebenezer Scrooge-type with a western hat and a Colt-45, and possessing the great name of Woodrow Dolarhyde, the actors memorable first scene has him torturing one of his hands whom he thinks has been drunkenly responsible for blowing up his prized cattle, when, in actual fact, the boss should really be looking up to the skies for the real culprits…

With his constant scowl, stick in the mud mentality and despicable sway, this role of Dolarhyde would surely have been the kind of acting challenge taken up by Gene Hackman, who made great work within this type of genre for THE QUICK AND THE DEAD and UNFORGIVEN, had he not retired. In any case, Ford is totally watchable and consistently good throughout the film. Smelling the potential of a successful movie, despite early script rawness, Ford certainly makes the most of things, working well with the younger cast as their characters are soon forced into an uneasy alliance against the aliens and have to work out a way to defeat them and rescue the captured townsfolk.

Now entering the next stage of his career as a fine character actor, Ford’s instincts in noteworthy projects remain strong, and, though he may not want to make pictures like COWBOYS & ALIENS all the time, he’s smart enough to know that he has to make the occasional movie of this scale to keep his profile and box office command visible-fans still expect, and want, to see Ford, the modern day equivalent of Glenn Ford of Gary Cooper, in films/projects this big and exciting. Films that people will actually watch for a long time to come. COWBOYS & ALIENS certainly fits all these beneficial criteria for both the actor and for us.

Also most welcome is the fact that Ford is still pretty sprightly for a man of his age and, in action on and off his trusty horse, certainly shows the odd touch of his former Indiana Jones self here and there, surely much to the audiences delight. Dolarhyde has a bit of the embittered curmudgeon about him, but he soon proves a good and loyal man to have your back in battle. Together, Ford and Craig in their roles have great chemistry - though a few more scenes of them as a duo would have been much appreciated. Craig also pays welcome homage to Ford and Indy for a couple of scenes of his own, especially with regards to his hat, that are also good fun, with a kind of ingenuity and character invention that the film could, and should, have had more of…

Olivia Wilde as the mysterious Ella.

A fine, if a little underused, supporting cast backs up our heroes in the midst of the chaos. Olivia Wilde continues to build on the success she’s had as an actress with the likes of her prior work in the TV series HOUSE, and her excellent performance as Quorra in TRON: LEGACY where she completely outshone its lead star, Garrett Hedlund , and successfully held her own against a major heavy weight like Jeff Bridges. In COWBOYS she makes the most she can from the script and the camera (which really likes her), adding as much mystery and beauty that she can to the mysterious figure of Ella, and her soon to be revealed connection to Jake Lonnergan and his important backstory linked to the aliens. Female audiences will get their obligatory thrill at seeing a shirtless Daniel Craig at one point, but those hoping that he and the lovely Miss Wilde will get it on and have some lust in the dust will be disappointed-there’s just the briefest of wet clothed flirtation/audience titillation before the next phase of the plot-the action showdown- kicks in.

Dolarhyde and Doc (Sam Rockwell) observe the drama.

Additionally, Sam Rockwell brings crowd-pleasing depth to what is an essentially underwritten role as Bartender turned resistance fighter, Doc (though one fun scene between him and Ford, seen in early trailers, is surprisingly not in the finished film). THE SHIELD’s TV breakout Walton Goggins is also fun as a shady character, Hunt, whose allegiances go whichever side the wind is more favourable. Other fine character acting support is less developed and more stereotyped as the film goes on, though the ever reliable Keith Carradine (as Sheriff Taggart), Clancy Brown (as town priest Meacham) and Adam Beach (as Dolarhyde’s American Indian colleague Nat Colorado) always bring integrity to whatever roles they inhabit, and certainly possess the required American West period battered and every line tells a story look about their withered faces…

Oh, and there’s a cute dog in it, too. Aw, bless…

Representing Humanity’s gruesome opponents, its getting more and more difficult to create scary and unique monsters, but these hybrid ALIEN/PREDATOR’ish creatures have a good look about them, and there’s some fun build-up moments and audience chills, as Favreau uses all the tricks of the trade, and some good “steals” from past film-masters like Ridley Scott and buddy Steven Spielberg, to build tension in bringing the nasty alien beasties to CGI reality. Their half hour into the film first appearance is nothing short of superb and well realized in the best WAR OF THE WORLDS tradition, as alien lasso protuberances bear down from the sky to pluck up the innocent townsfolk of Absolution (as well as the not too innocent figure of Dolarhyde’s two pieces short of a full loaf son, Percy, played by LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE’s Paul Dano).

Daniel Craig and director Jon Favreau enjoy a little on location target practice choreography.

With our players making their way to an explosive final confrontation in the Arizona desert, which satisfyingly wraps things up but also leaves a few plot threads dangling for a possible future continuation, my ultimate summary on COWBOYS & ALIENS: well, okay, I can’t say that its as fully developed as I’d hoped it would be, but the core central idea of the film proves strong, it has a beginning, a middle and an end (which really means a lot these days, believe me!), and the cast are great. Despite some poor criticisms from my American press counter-parts, the film ultimately makes no pretensions about what it is and what its overall intentions are: namely, to provide family audiences with an enjoyable Summer blockbuster that’s a cut above the norm and full of thrills, spills, creepy horror (the effective scenes showing the Zombie-fied towns peoples may scare the little ones a bit!) and fast-paced, gritty action. In all these respects, COWBOYS & ALIENS, possibly the start of a whole new intriguing era of sub-genre mixing, delivers the goods.

COWBOYS & ALIENS is now playing in the US and in the UK from August 17th.

AFICIONADO RATING: 8.5 out of 10