Charlie Mortdecai, the human shambles in a sharp suit, is leaping off
the printed page into cinemas this week. Debonair, cultured and about as
principled as a rat in the Queen’s cutlery drawer, he’s brought to life
by none other than Johnny Depp. It isn’t the first time Depp has used
those relatively fresh-faced looks to an advantage when portraying the
morally-quagmired. The actor’s most famous ne’er do’well, Captain Jack
Sparrow, is setting his dirty sails for a return in 2017. But Mortdecai
is a different breed of fish to Sparrow – equally slippery, yet more in
the category of “cad”; a gentleman who should know better. A man not
above using all means at his disposal, from the depraved to the
downright duplicitous, to attain his murky goals. Like many of the best
of this species, he comes armed with a moustache, a surfeit of hair gel
and an English accent. Depp as Mortdecai is not the first to sully the
viewing public with his deeds and he won’t be the last. So keep your
wits within reach as THN invite you to a gathering of the best of the
worst screen cads from across the decades…
Christopher Nolan’s latest movie INTERSTELLAR
is an experience that truly takes you somewhere else. In the heart of
London that can be a hell of an advantage. Following an early morning
screening where the sound was ramped up so loud the seats rattled as
much as the spaceships, it was relaxing to decamp to Claridges for the
press conference attended by the director and cast, including a surprise
appearance by Sir Michael Caine.
These events can easily descend into backslapping and while some
there seemed determined to tell the director what a genius he was, some
genuine insight into the process emerged that was fascinating for a
Nolan fan like myself (who probably would have gushed all over him if
I’d had the chance). Below are a selection of highlights from Nolan,
Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, young star
Mackenzie Foy and producer Emma Thomas.
As I staggered out of the screening room from Christopher Nolan’s INTERSTELLAR,
my ears well and truly battered by Hans Zimmer’s celestial choirs, I
found myself feeling elated, confused, headachey but overall generally
satisfied. This isn’t a quick jaunt into the cosmos punctuated by a few
laser dogfights. As you might expect from the director it’s an ambitious
and emotionally exhausting epic that comes at you every which way...
