STACK #225 July 2023

FEATURE MOVIE

Philip Marlowe is probably cinema’s most iconic detective. Words Gill Pringle F ew fictional characters have established as long a cinematic history as the legendary private investigator. Author Raymond Chandler created the gruff, chain-smoking gumshoe in a series of short stories and novels turn in Marlowe , the first Philip Marlowe film to hit the screen in four decades. This version of Marlowe is not an adaptation of an original Chandler novel,

first published in the 1930s and, just a few years later, Marlowe hit the big screen with Time to Kill and The Falcon Takes Over , both released in 1942. But it was Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal of the hard-boiled PI in Howard Hawks’ 1946 film The Big Sleep that cemented Chandler's legacy. Paired with Lauren Bacall, the couple’s undeniable chemistry popped off the screen and, to this day, the film is considered one of the greatest American movies of all time. Various other actors including Robert Mitchum, James Garner, and Elliot Gould have embodied the PI, and today, it's Liam Neeson’s

his books,” he reveals. ”Then I started watching a lot of film noir films. I made a list and watched The Black Dahlia ,

but instead based on Benjamin Black’s 2014 novel The Black Eyed Blonde , taking place long after the original Chandler era while still appearing vintage. When STACK met up with Neeson, 71, at last year’s Zurich Film Festival, he ‘fessed up to devouring all of Chandler's books - and then some more. “I saw all the films, and read all Chandler’s Philip Marlowe novels, and then the rest of

• Marlowe is out on Jul 26

Kiss of Death, This Gun for Hire, The Naked City , and Brute Force with Burt Lancaster. I love all those films.” Neeson immediately signed on for Marlowe when his old friend and fellow countryman Neil Jordan asked him to star as the eponymous lead alongside Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Danny Huston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Alan Cumming.

Time travel and dinosaurs… Timescape: Back to the Dinosaurs is a movie that practically writes itself. Words Glenn Cochrane C oming from an animation and visual effects background, director

started in live-action, and I really wanted to get back into it,” Tsirbas begins. “I thought, ‘I’m going to write something from the heart; something I loved when I was the age of the audience this is targeted at.’ At that age, I grew up with the Amblin

“As I was writing and figuring out the mechanics of the time travel, I found out what the movie was about: trust, and this kid learning to trust the people and the universe,” says Tsirbas. “And an extension of that is two kids losing their family and trying to find them in different

Aristomenis ‘Mani’ Tsirbas previously wowed audiences with the star-studded sci-fi adventure Battle for Terra (2007). Now he returns with his first live-action movie, Timescape:

• Timescape: Back to the Dinosaurs is out on Jul 5

ways. Then I was able to [have the story] be

Aristomenis 'Mani' Tsirbas

DYK?

Back to the Dinosaurs , a story about two kids whisked through time to prehistoric Earth. Speaking with STACK , Tsirbas explains his long-held desire to transition from animation to live-action, and his inspiration for this particular story. “I’ve done a lot of animation, although I

Patricia Summersett, who plays the spaceship captain, is the voice of Princess Zelda in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

films of the ‘80s, things like E.T., Back to the Future, Explorers, Flight of the Navigator and so on.” Elaborating on the tale, the filmmaker describes the importance of the narrative and having a tangible message at its core.

driven by these characters’ wants and needs and hopes. And that’s when I knew I had a movie.”

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