What Dumbo’s Cast Thinks About Animals Being Used In Entertainment

What Dumbo’s Cast Thinks About Animals Being Used In Entertainment

Looking back on the original Dumbo, it’s not exactly a film with a big message. After all, it only clocks in at a little over an hour long, and basically just about the misadventures of a baby elephant with big ears and his mouse friend. The same cannot be said about Tim Burton’s new live-action adaptation, however, and I recently had the chance to ask the film’s cast about one of the blockbuster’s key themes: the treatment of animals in entertainment.

Earlier this month I participated in the domestic press day for Dumbo in Los Angeles, and having the opportunity to sit down with Colin Farrell, Eva Green, and Danny DeVito, one subject that I brought up in every interview was one of the movie’s key messages. Each of them had a different perspective on the question, but also expressed a certain pride in how it comes across in Dumbo.

If the opportunities aren’t obvious, you might just not be familiar with the plot of the new film. Set in the wake of World War I, and primarily following a low-rent circus, Dumbo not only features all of the trauma of watching the titular elephant get forcibly separated from his mother, but also has a frank discussion about the exploitation of animals in entertainment. And not only is this something important to the plot of the film, but it’s also worth noting that the production itself made significant use of CGI animals instead of real ones (including for the creation of its eponymous character).

Not every animal in Dumbo is digitally added, as Colin Farrell’s character rides some very real horses in the movie. Interestingly, though, this led to some further consideration of their use in the movie by the actor, who definitely took the message of the movie to heart:

I've often questioned the use of horses and stuff, because at least a human being says, 'Yes, I want to be there,' and is getting paid for their services. Whereas a horse has no choice... I'd always be very adamant to make sure the horses, certainly anywhere close to me, aren’t mistreated in any way. And, and across the board, by in large, the horses have always, as far as I could see, have been treated wonderfully. But this film does make statements on the cruelty of the circus at that particular time, especially in relation to animals.

Playing aerialist Colette Marchant in the movie, who winds up performing an act with Dumbo, Eva Green had a lot of opportunity to do some non-animal acting in the film, and it seems that it wasn’t something that made the experience any more of a challenge. Even though working with a big green stuffed animal instead of a real creature meant using her imagination a bit more during production, being a part of a story like Dumbo and getting across its messaging was a point of pride for the actress. Green said,

We didn't have real elephants in, in this movie. We had wonderful CGI people who created some magic. I'm super proud to be in a Disney movie that promotes animal free circuses. Animals are not meant to live in captivity.

Dumbo, which also stars Michael Keaton, Alan Arkin, Nico Parker, and Finley Hobbins, arrives in theaters this Friday – and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interviews with the actors and filmmakers!

Why Two Of Shazam!'s Cameos Were Particularly Special, According To The Director

Why Two Of Shazam!'s Cameos Were Particularly Special, According To The Director

Warning: The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Shazam! Seriously, don’t read ahead until you’ve seen it!

At the end of Shazam!, to defeat Doctor Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins, Billy Batson transforms his foster siblings into adult superheroes of their own to fight alongside him. The introduction of the Shazam Family was a surprising and fun secret, as we got to see Darla, Eugene, Pedro, Mary and Freddy Freeman enjoy the thrill of having superpowers. It also allowed for some fun cameos as older actors portrayed the adult versions of the family. Two of these cameos were particularly special, as director David F. Sandberg explained:

Also, we sort of realized afterwards that both Adam Brody and D.J. Cotrona (Super Hero Pedro) were cast in George Miller’s Justice League: Mortal, the movie that almost happened. Adam Brody was The Flash and D.J. was Superman. So, afterwards, we said, ‘Oh, shit! They finally get to be superheroes in a DC movie.’

It wasn’t intentional or some planned out thing, it just worked out that Adam Brody, who played the adult Freddy Freeman, and D.J. Cotrona, who played the adult Pedro Peña, were both once attached to star in George Miller’s ill-fated Justice League: Mortal as The Flash and Superman, respectively. That film, which also would have seen Armie Hammer as Batman, is on the long list of superhero films that might have been.

That history of coming so close to being a part of a DC movie only for it not to happen adds a bit of poetry to their cameos in Shazam! As David F. Sandberg told The Hollywood Reporter, it was exciting once they realized that Adam Brody and D.J. Cotrona were once attached to Justice League: Mortal. It was a happy little coincidence that is really cool in hindsight.

What’s makes this even more special is that Adam Brody and D.J. Cotrona didn’t even know what they were auditioning for. The actors had no idea they would be playing superheroes or members of the Shazam Family. Something about them must have just said 'superhero.'

It’s like the two actors were destined to be in a DC comic book movie, and without any knowledge of their DC past or design on the filmmaker’s part to remedy past ills, the universe exerted its will and they wound up in Shazam! Beyond just the special quality these cameos take on with this knowledge, they actually worked out really well in their own right.

Pedro Peña didn’t talk much in the film, so we didn’t get to see a ton of his personality, but D.J. Cotrona certainly looked the part of a superhero with the strength of Hercules. And Adam Brody as an adult, superhero Freddy Freeman is about as perfect as casting can get. In addition to looking like Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody has a history of playing that kind of talkative, nerdy character. It’s great to see The O.C.’s resident comic book nerd Seth Cohen finally get some superpowers.

Shazam! is now playing. Check out what we thought of DC’s latest and what the end-credits scene means. Shazam! is just one of this year’s biggest movies, see the rest in our 2019 release schedule.

What The Tolkien Cast Found Hard About Researching Their Characters

What The Tolkien Cast Found Hard About Researching Their Characters

When playing a real life figure like J.R.R. Tolkien, or his wife Edith Bratt, it takes a lot of research to make sure you’re doing your job well. It’s something that both Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins faced when preparing to star in director Dome Karukoski’s Tolkien, a biopic on the life experiences that lead the titular author to start writing the Middle-Earth franchise.

But when trying into character, both Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins found that there was a fair degree of difficulty and liberation when it came to portraying the couple that would eventually fall in love and get married during the events shown in Tolkien. And a lot of those difficulties came from the fact that the younger incarnations that they were inhabiting aren’t exactly captured in a lot of media that they can base their portrayals off of.

When CinemaBlend spoke with both Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins during the press day for Tolkien, the question of the hardest challenges when honing their characters came up. And in the case of Hoult, the actor had the following feedback to provide when it came to his own research efforts:

There was lots of fun little things, like that him and Edith [Bratt], his long time love, would throw sugar cubes in people's hats when they went for tea. And then he stole a bus, he was arrested for stealing a bus when he was younger at Oxford. But I just didn't know anything about the man behind the legend, so it was a steep learning curve. I was mispronouncing his name, to be honest with you. I was saying "Toll-kin," and I quickly realized that was the wrong pronunciation. I had to say "Toll-keen." And yeah, it's learning about those relationships that kind of gave him the safe environment to create, and it inspired him to then tell the stories he did.

The lack of footage for both J.R.R. Tolkien and Edith Bratt’s younger selves is something that certain actors might see as stifling for their own creative process. After all, you don’t want to go into a film like Tolkien and totally botch the characterization of the man who wrote The Lord of the Rings, or his beloved wife for that matter.

But as folks who see the movie will find, both actors are up to the task of portraying very humanized versions of Tolkien and Bratt, as they tell the story of their meeting, and eventually their falling in love. Without proper characters, this wouldn’t work in a fictitious narrative, but in the case of Tolkien, you have to believe that the love between Ronald and Edith is so strong, he’d create epic romances and ravishing Elvish beauties in the name of that love.

To that respect, Lily Collins saw the challenge of portraying Edith as a similar learning opportunity to that of her Tolkien co-star, as she provided the following answer to that same question:

For me it was a little different, because there’s no real footage of [Edith.] There’s not many photos, so it’s not like people can really compare what they know to be true of her, and then me. But I think, in general, when you are playing someone who has a public persona that people already know of, mannerisms, making sure that innately you seem to have understood their aura, and kind of just the character in general of how they acted. When you can directly compare it to video footage or photos, it’s always going to be difficult, because people have a preconceived idea walking in.

While Nicholas Hoult had footage of J.R.R. Tolkien’s interviews from later on in life to go off of, Lily Collins didn’t have anything of the sort when it came to her portrayal of Edith. While it’s certainly an added level of challenge, at the same time, Collins admits that so long as her performance landed in a zone of approximation that matched what was written about Edith Bratt, she was free to move her performance in any direction that suited the sort of aura surrounding Edith’s character.

You can see Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins explain this for themselves, in the video below from our sit-down during the Tolkien junket day:

Very rarely can any actor capture the complete essence of the person they’re playing in a biopic. But in the case of Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins, their portrayals of J.R.R. Tolkien and his wife are so well drawn, you can believe their story is not only true, but worthy of a happy ending.

The life story of Tolkien and his ultimate creation of Middle-Earth make for good movie watching, and audiences can see it for themselves as they see Tolkien in theaters, starting with early shows this evening. If you’re interested in further coverage on the film’s release, stay tuned to CinemaBlend as the week progresses.

Oscar Isaac Says Star Wars: Episode IX Will Blow Fans Away

Oscar Isaac Says Star Wars: Episode IX Will Blow Fans Away

The absence of news, a trailer or even a title, combined with the current focus on this year’s superhero films, means that we are in a bit of a lull as far as Star Wars: Episode IX hype is concerned. Fear not, though, because J.J. Abrams’ film is coming and the hype training is coming along with it. To get that train rolling, Poe Dameron actor Oscar Isaac has spoken about the production and what fans can expect. He said:

It was the most fun it's been. There was just an energy and a looseness and excitement to the whole production. And knowing that this was the conclusion of not only our time there but the nine stories, these nine episodes of the Skywalker Saga, it's incredible. And I think people are gonna be just blown away.

Wow, way to keep the expectations manageable, Oscar. You would naturally expect an actor to speak well of a project that they are involved with, but there is a difference between saying "I think fans are really going to like it" and saying that people are going to be "blown away." That’s a much stronger pitch and definitely adds to the hype and the hope that Star War: Episode IX will deliver in spectacular fashion.

There are obviously huge expectations that Star Wars: Episode IX is able to do that because, as Oscar Isaac told the Associated Press, this is the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga and a nine-film journey that began in 1977. This Saga needs to go out on top and with a bang, and if it blows us away as Oscar Isaac has predicted, it will do just that.

Oscar Isaac’s sentiments also tie in well with director J.J. Abrams’ recent comments that the one thing he wants fans to walk away from Episode IX feeling is "satisfied." So everyone is saying all the right things right now to get us excited about this anticipated and incredibly important movie.

Despite all the weighty significance Star Wars: Episode IX holds as the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga, it doesn’t sound like that added pressure created a stressful environment on set. You might think that given the recent chinks in Star Wars’ armor, like the divisiveness of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the financial disappointment of Solo: A Star Wars Story, that on top of everything else there would be some anxiety about getting this film right.

Instead it sounds like the production of Star Wars: Episode IX was more like senior year, with everyone enjoying themselves and having the best time they have had on any of the sequel trilogy movies, knowing this was their last hurrah together. That ideally means that everything was just clicking and the production was firing on all cylinders. When everything is working, there’s less to worry about and you can have some fun.

Star Wars: Episode IX is set to (hopefully) blow us all away on December 20. Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of all the movies you can look forward to before year’s end, and for the latest movie news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

Turns Out The Emperor's Laugh In The Rise Of Skywalker Trailer Was Old Footage

Turns Out The Emperor's Laugh In The Rise Of Skywalker Trailer Was Old Footage

Last week, fans were finally treated to the first trailer for Star Wars: Episode IX at the Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, and were clued into some exciting news – the return of Emperor Palpatine to the franchise. At the end of the teaser for the over-40-year saga's final film, titled The Rise of Skywalker, an iconic maniacal laugh flooded the convention room floor. Right after that, Darth Sidious himself, Ian McDiarmid, took the stage to confirm his involvement and say "roll it again" to the uproarious fans at the event and watching at home.

But apparently Emperor Palpatine’s grand re-entrance to Star Wars was not an exclusive bit he helped bring to life for the new trailer (and movie?). Check out what Ian McDiarmid recently said:

That particular laugh was not specially recorded. They found it somewhere, probably from one of the old movies or in a digital vault, or maybe George’s iPhone, I don’t know.

I don’t know about you, but this bit of information is conflicting to me. If Palpatine is in the movie, why would they dig up an old laugh track of the actor’s voice from George Lucas' movies? Was the inclusion of the moment purely to inject that nostalgia in our veins – wait, will Ian McDiarmid even be in Rise of Skywalker at all?

Once I give this a bit more thought, my guess is: Yes, Emperor Palpatine will be back. (How can he not after that teaser reveal?) But maybe the inclusion of that specific laugh was just a means of getting the fans to identify the character’s return. The recycled laugh could still be a component of the movie, or maybe Palpatine isn’t quite as chipper in the upcoming Star Wars installment. In fact we don’t even know if he’ll actually be alive or not in the film.

Empire Magazine writer James Dyer, who was at SWCC, did take to Twitter to seemingly confirm that Ian McDiarmid was physically on the set of Rise of Skywalker. He confirmed the return via an interview with director J.J. Abrams, per this post:

During Ian McDiarmid’s interview at the Star Wars Celebration Chicago, the actor discussed why he particularly loved the trailer he got to be part of revealing:

What I liked about it, though, that’s why I think it is a real tease. I mean, the new title The Rise of Skywalker is wonderful, and then from the past, maybe from Hell a laughter comes, which sort of implies 'yeah right.' So in other words, Skywalkers’ rising? I don’t think so.

Of course, Ian McDiarmid can’t say anything about his role in the trailer and movie and has to play a little dumb during an interview such as this one. He does perhaps reiterate how the heroes in the new film may have to face Palpatine and of course The Dark Side. Since Snoke was killed off in The Last Jedi, and Kylo Ren has been struggling with his place as either a hero with a redemption story or the new trilogy’s main villain, it makes sense for Palpatine’s comeback to take place in a big way. Although the Star Wars actor is playing a villain with a quote like this one:

The headline of that whole panel and the trailer is the word 'tease.' So don’t take it too seriously - in fact, have a laugh about it.

How dare you tell us to laugh, Ian McDiarmid! Star Wars is serious business and not at all for our entertainment! If you need a refresher on the villain, check out our guide to everything you need to know about him. Start the countdown, as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20, 2019.

Looks Like Dark Phoenix Might Have The Smallest Opening Of The X-Men Franchise

Looks Like Dark Phoenix Might Have The Smallest Opening Of The X-Men Franchise

As the final entry in the recent run of X-Men films, Dark Phoenix has been an interesting case study when it comes to what sort of opening to expect. With several release date bumps to the film’s name, it’s hard to tell if Fox is being protective of the film’s chances in theaters, or if they’re just trying to find a good spot for it to take its lumps and move on.

In either case, it looks like we have our first big indicator of whether Dark Phoenix will rise from the ashes, or be reduced to embers. The opening weekend for the film is estimated to land between $40 – 55 million, and if this holds, there’s a good chance that director Simon Kinberg’s film will have the smallest opening of the entire X-Men franchise.

Spanning back to the year 2000, the X-Men series has had peaks and troughs when mapping its box office history. Starting with $54.5 million opening in the first July of this millennium, the series would climb to its highest opening ever with 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, which weighed in with a $102.7 mil opening.

Before these estimates for Dark Phoenix came in pegging the film with a $40 – 55 million range, the low water mark stood at 2011’s X-Men: First Class, which brought in $55.1 million in one of the few openings in the franchise taking place outside of its typical May time frame.

So in order to avoid this outcome, Dark Phoenix needs to not only stay on the high end of the opening range estimated by Box Office Pro, it needs to bury the needle and go above and beyond those numbers. It wouldn’t have to be a huge jump past the high water mark, but the more it can surpass these numbers, the better Dark Phoenix’s chances would be of recouping its rumored budget. Though the whispers of a monetary spend upwards of $200 million don’t exactly bode well.

Counter to the typical picture of comic book box office success, the X-Men series has been less consistent in its increases, but more consistent in its cyclical nature. Looking at the pattern as it stands, Dark Phoenix’s intended end of the current phase of mutant powered films couldn’t have come at a better time.

Should this new crater in the X-Men box office time line occur, there is a silver lining that’s currently presented as a con. There’d be nowhere to go but up when the X-Men franchise eventually makes to return to the box office as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Revitalizing this classic fan favorite property, with the hype of a fresh MCU coat of paint, is exactly the blockbuster that everyone will be waiting for.

For now though, we’ll have to wait and see if Dark Phoenix makes or breaks this round of fate in the X-Men universe, and if that final impressive trailer makes any difference in the matter, when the movie debuts on June 7th.

Charlie Hunnam Still Doesn't Regret Quitting Fifty Shades Of Grey

Charlie Hunnam Still Doesn't Regret Quitting Fifty Shades Of Grey

One notorious casting that ultimately led to an actor leaving a popular movie occurred just before Fifty Shades of Grey started shooting. The role was supposed to have gone to Triple Frontier actor Charlie Hunnam; however, Hunnam left the project and Jamie Dornan was signed on in his stead.

Since news broke that it could have been Charlie Hunnam who played Christian Grey, there’s been sort of a fascination in terms of the “what if” factor. Ultimately, however, Hunnam still doesn’t regret quitting the role. He said in a recent interview:

I don’t see myself in that role at all because it would have been totally different. I think what acting is, is trying to create a character and you put half of yourself into it, [a] bit more than half. So that’s Jamie Dornan’s character, you know? I haven’t seen them but I’m sure he did an excellent job.

According to Charlie Hunnam, the actor has no interest in watching Fifty Shades of Grey or its two follow-ups, also revealing he really doesn’t “want to have an opinion” on Jamie Dornan’s performance or how the movie turned out during his interview with Newsweek. I don’t really blame him, considering more than a year after the final movie in the franchise came out he’s still getting asked about the decision.

As for why he quit Fifty Shades of Grey, Charlie Hunnam said:

I started to realize that my, my vision of who that guy was, was not everybody else’s vision. You can’t get into a film, let alone three films, totally at odds with the rest of the filmmaking community or the creative community involved in something because it’s just going to be [a] miserable experience... it was better for me just to extract myself from the process, but no regrets.

Previously, Charlie Hunnam has had varying accounts for why he quit Fifty Shades of Grey. This time, he’s saying the character fans love from the books was at odds with how he wanted to play it. He’s also said that he is aware he would be a “lot wealthier” if he had said yes to the gig that eventually went to Jamie Dornan, noting,

Well, I'd be a lot wealthier. I'd be a lot wealthier. I was gonna get paid a fortune. So much.

He’s said before he was just really busy at the time the first movie was going to start filming, revealing he was also doing Crimson Peak and Sons of Anarchy and it all just felt like a lot at the time.

And I was going to shoot that film, wrap that on the Wednesday and the following Monday I was going to start shooting Crimson Peak in Toronto. I just had like ... frankly, something of a nervous breakdown.

So, it sounds as if there were myriad reasons to say no and the money wasn’t enough to say yes. (Although, he really did give up on quite a bit of money.) Interestingly, Charlie Hunnam is known for intense workouts and even being shirtless on both the big and small screen. That's something that Jamie Dornan has come out and really worked on after he wasn't able to get super into shape for the first movie, given the limitations of the timeline after he was cast in Fifty Shades of Grey.

In fact, in some ways Charlie Hunnam may have dodged a bullet. Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson have had to really work to take on different types of roles in the wake of the popular franchise movie. (Although they likely increased their visibility as well.) In addition, while filming Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed seemingly went off without too much of a hitch, filming Fifty Shades of Grey ultimately ended up being a bit of a different situation. Specifically, the director of that movie Sam Taylor-Johnson has come out and said that things were so bad she wouldn’t do it again.

With the benefit of hindsight would I go through it again? Of course I wouldn't. I'd be mad. It was a struggle and there were lots of onset tête-à-têtes, with me trying to bat it into the [right] place. I like everyone -- and I get really confused when they don't like me. I was so confused by E.L. James. I don't understand when I can't navigate a person, when there's no synergy.

She also ultimately left the franchise, leaving leads Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson to navigate the rest of the franchise with new director James Foley. All in all, though, fans of E.L. James’ books seem at least fairly satisfied with how the movies played out on the big screen.

While we have no real gauge for how Charlie Hunnam would have played Christian Grey, it’s still fun to think about how the universe would have been with a totally different actor in the role. Ultimately, it made Jamie Dornan a household name and went on to be a financial success with that actor.

You can catch Charlie Hunnam in the new Netflix movie Triple Frontier, which has already hit the streaming service. Or take a look at what else Netflix has coming this month with our full guide.