STACK NZ Dec #80

YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CINEMA, DVDs, GAMES MUSIC

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ISSUE 80 DEC ’16

INSIDE

ROGUE ONE • RICKY GERVAIS • TICKLED

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You’re Better Than This

Listening Fail #28 “Barely Hanging On”

Listening Fail #15 “RCA Jungle”

Listening Fail #09 “Extreme Pairing Fail”

Listening Fail #30 “Cord Nightmare”

Listening Fail #14 “Mug o’ Bass”

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Listening Fail #23 “You’ve Got the Left, I’ve Got the Right”

Listening Fail #02 “MacGyver”

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Issue 80 DECEMBER 2016

EXTRAS

• Taika Waititi's big year; Alan McGee on Oasis; Conrad Vernon on Sausage Party . Pg 8 • Alicia Vikander talks Jason Bourne ; Ryan Gosling gets musical with La La Land . Pg 9 • Competition, quiz, STACK Social. Pg 10

Felicity Jones drew critical praise for her performance in The Theory of Everything . Now she's getting ready to embark upon the role of a lifetime in a galaxy far, far away… Words Jake Taylor AN ENGLISHROSE IN SPACE

FEATURES

DVD Underworld: Blood Wars: Kate Beckinsale returns as the sexy, kick-ass death dealer. Pg 11 Suicide Squad: Director David Ayer explains why sometimes it’s good to be bad. Pg 12-13 David Brent: Life On The Road: STACK catches up with comic genius Ricky Gervais. Pg 14-15 Chasing Great: Michelle Walsh on working with All Black legend Richie McCaw. Pg 16 Tickled: David Farrier talks tickling and lawsuits. Pg 18 GAMES Final Fantasy XV: Welcome to Fabula Nova Crystallis. Pg 20-21 The Last Guardian: What to expect from the eagerly- awaited Playstation game. Pg 22 Astro A50: We dissect Astro's latest wireless headset offering, the A50. Pg 24 MUSIC Volume: Graham Reid on Auckland Museum's first NZ music exhibition. Pg 26 DVD/Blu-ray Jason Bourne , Outcast: Season 1 , Secret Life Of Pets , Sully , The BFG, The Magnificent Seven, Daredevil: Season 1, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie and more Pg 28-34 GAMES Dead Rising 4 , Steep and more Pg 35 MUSIC Rolling Stones, Bruno Mars, Gillian Welch. Pg36 REVIEWS

firmly in the hands of its feisty female leads. “I enjoy taking on challenges. Getting to be part of a genre that is traditionally dominated by men has become an opportunity to play a very independent and courageous woman,” Jones says of Erso. “She’s someone who knows what she wants in life. I appreciate that kind of determination. In my own life, I’m a hard worker. I’m very passionate about what I do – I think there are aspects of me in all my characters.” After working her way up through the cinematic ranks from small-time movies to the Hollywood behemoth that is Star Wars, Jones is dealing with her newfound leading lady status with an experienced and unpretentious nonchalance. “I’ve always had my feet on the ground; I spent many years working in England to be able to get to this point,” she remarks. “I’ve also had the advantage of being part of a very close family which has supported me and given me good advice when it comes to making decisions based on my instincts about the kinds of roles and films I’ve wanted to do. “I’ve worked very hard in pursuing my dream and I’m really enjoying everything about this time. It’s very gratifying and I hope to keep finding more good roles.” And a role in one of cinema’s most well- loved stories will surely have one more unique selling point: the inevitable release of a Jyn Erso action figure. “It’s something I haven’t given much thought to,” she laughs. “But should it happen, that’ll be on the mantelpiece for certain!” Rogue One open in cinemas on December 15.

E ver since J. J. Abrams’ stellar reboot of the world’s most famous sci-fi franchise flew into cinemas in record- breaking style, all eyes have been firmly glued to the Star Wars schedule in anticipation of the next instalment in the timeless space opera. Now the release date of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – chronologically situated between the events of 2005’s Revenge of the Sith and 1977’s A New Hope – has been set, and fronting the film’s fearless band of rebels is none other than 33-year-old British leading lady, Felicity Jones. And despite attracting critical acclaim in her Academy Award-nominated turn as Jane Hawking in 2014’s The Theory of Everything , the thought of becoming an integral part of the Star Wars universe is intimidating enough for any calibre of star. “I’m very excited – it’s exciting simply because it’s part of an iconic history,” she explains. “I remember going to see the films, with that classic intro, with my cousins and brother. When I think about that now it just seems so daunting, but exhilarating at the same time.” While details of the upcoming film – slated for release in December – remain under ‘lock and key’ according to the saga’s newest addition, we already know that Jones will be portraying rebel Jyn Erso alongside a cast that includes almost as many stars as the cosmos itself – Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Diego Luna and Ben Mendelsohn, to name just a few. Jones – following in the footsteps of The Force Awakens ’ Rey, portrayed by fellow Brit Daisy Ridley – is delighted to see that the future of sci-fi’s most lucrative franchise rests

EXTRAS

RATINGS GUIDE

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HEAD BANGER

all in a day's work From Hunt ForTheWilderpeople to Thor 3 , 2016 has been a big year for TaikaWaititi. However, the Kiwi director has been taking things in his stride.

T aika Waititi admits that he hasn’t really had a chance to draw a breath in 2016. His fourth studio film Hunt For The Wilderpeople not only became the highest grossing New Zealand film of all time, but went onto become a critical hit all over the

on Wilderpeople star Sam Neill’s

involvement in the new Thor movie (“I can’t talk about what Sam’s role is because it would give away too much”), but he’s been pleased with the way Neill and his young co-star Julian Denison have been handling

A fter Shrek 2 and Madagascar 3 , making an animated film for adults was a dream come true for Sausage Party co-director and producer Conrad Vernon. "Doing something adult with animation had been a lifelong dream of mine, but it was surreal in the sense that I was ecstatically happy,” he says. “I had to stop and think, ‘I’m actually making this!’ In fact everybody on the movie would stop and laugh and say, ‘I can’t believe we’re getting to make this, it’s fantastic!’” Written by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Jonah Hill, Sausage Party offers a rudely revealing look at the secret lives of grocery items. Nevertheless, Vernon admits that getting the film greenlit proved to be a challenge, despite the involvement of some of Hollywood’s biggest comedy stars. “When Seth and Evan first pitched it to me, I was going to be handling the animation side and they were going to be handing the actors and script side of things,” he explains. “Once we had all that figured out, we got a bunch of designs together and it was three years of pitching to pretty much every studio in town. That was the biggest challenge of the whole thing – getting anyone to buy into it.” Scott Hocking Sausage Party is out on December 7

world. For much of that time, however, the New Zealander was hard at work on his first major Hollywood assignment Thor: Ragnarok , filming for which he had just completed when STACK caught up with him for a quick chat over the phone. Although he was looking forward to a quick break in NZ, he would soon be heading to Los Angeles to start on post-production, so it’s looking as if next year is going to be just as busy as 2016. Waititi couldn’t say much about what fans could expect from the third Thor film, except they can look forward to “a very new and fresh direction with Thor”. Asked whether it would be a more irreverent take on the Marvel superhero, Waititi wasn’t sure. “I don’t know, the first place I usually go is the irreverent side,” he says. “But it’s the same with Wilderpeople – there is a lot of irreverence but you also have to give it some heart and ground it in something emotional. So I hope to get a similar balance with Thor.” Waititi also couldn’t offer any detail

the international press duties for the Kiwi hit. “I didn’t get to go on any of those trips but I think they are a good team – when they did interviews together they bounced off each other well.” However, he admits he was a little surprised by how Hunt For The Wilderpeople has been embraced by international audiences. “I knew it would appeal to New Zealanders – and to some extent Australians – but we didn’t realise it would travel so well.” Waititi believes its appeal lies partly in the fact that it’s a true underdog story, but also because it’s not as cynical as many modern day movies. “There is a little bit of that in there, but at the end of the day it’s a nice story about two people trying to find family – and then they do.” John Ferguson

EXTRAS

Hunt For The Wilderpeople is out on now DVD and Blu-ray; Thor: Ragnarok is due in cinemas in the latter half of 2017

SHAKERMAKER: ALAN MCGEE ON OASIS Alan McGee, the man who signed Oasis, was surprised when they split up – but doubts they will get back together again.

Last month saw the release of Oasis: Supersonic , which documents the Britpop icons' first five years and their meteoric rise in popularity. McGee, the colourful former boss of Creation Records, is not surprised that Supersonic only covers their early years. In a wide-ranging interview, he told STACK : “I think it would be really hard to do a film on their entire career – really difficult, to be honest with you.” However, he admits he was surprised when they eventually split up. “I thought it was going to go on and just beThe Rolling Stones – it was our generation’s Rolling Stones.” Nevertheless, he doesn’t envisage that they

will be reuniting anytime soon. “Noel Gallagher will never reform, but maybe Liam, in five or ten years time, might form Oasis and not have Noel in it,” McGee says. “I think he’ll get away with it because all people really want is the Oasis songs done by most of the people in the original band with someone who can play as good as Noel.” Paul Jones

Oasis: Supersonic is out on now DVD and Blu-ray. Check out the digital edition of STACK for the full interview.

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EXTRAS

THE SWEDISH GIRL STACK catches up with Jason Bourne star AliciaVikander, who talks about what it means to be a part of the franchise. T he Swedish star is quick to admit she’d always wanted to be a part of the series – “I was so happy that

Ryan Gosling puts on his dancing shoes for the musical La La Land . DANCING IN THE DARK

with him. “One of the first scenes we filmed was in Vegas. There were a bunch of hidden cameras everywhere, because they wanted people to be walking around and not having to worry about them looking into the lenses. We had lived and worked in this casino for about five weeks – I was in full makeup and costume and everything, and I managed to walk straight into and out of a shot without even knowing.” The fangirl inside her also recalls the moment she saw him in character for the first time: “I was just walking around and suddenly I see this guy with a cap on, and I immediately got that thrill – I thought to myself, ‘that’s Jason Bourne!’, and then as soon as I saw him he

they were making a new one. Matt [Damon] and Paul Greengrass teaming up again was big news”– and was thrilled to meet with the director in London to discuss the possibility of being involved. “I got to sit there and tell him how big a fan I was of his work, and what he’s done with these films – I even brought up that he said years ago that he’d never do another one,” she laughs. “I was so happy that he decided to in the end.” As a fan of the Bourne films, Vikander found it somewhat surreal to be working alongside the man himself – Matt Damon. “I’d met Matt backstage, but the scenes that we did were never really in the same room.” She does confesses to being starstruck, however, when she finally got to shoot a scene

W hilst we don’t associate him with musical theatre, Gosling actually started out performing on The Mickey Mouse Show when he was a kid, but admits that the intricate and graceful routines were a far cry from his '90s hip hop dancing days. “When I signed on to the film, I foolishly expected that my lost dance skills would come back to me pretty quickly. But I was wrong! Nothing came back,” he reveals with a laugh. Gosling plays Sebastian, a cynical jazz pianist who is fast becoming a star in Hollywood, unlike his lover Mia (Emma Stone), a barista and struggling actress who can’t seem to get a break. The film follows the season of their romance as they both eventually achieve their longed-for success, only to find it threatens their fragile love for one another. Bathed in a nostalgic glow, the film serves to remind us of a simpler time in Hollywood as its stars sashay and tap dance to the songs of old Los Angeles. “Not everyone might like musicals, but in this case you’re emotionally

was gone.” Alesha Kolbe

Jason Bourne is out on December 7. Check out the full interview at www.stack.net.nz

EXTRAS

invested in the story because you feel very close to Mia and

Sebastian,”explains the 35-year-old Canadian heartthrob. “I wanted to do the film because I think it takes you on

this beautiful ride.” Karen Anne Overton

La La Land open in cinemas on Boxing Day.

on Blu-Ray, Blu-ray 3D™ and 4K Ultra HD™ BRING THE SQUAD HOME DECEMBER 7 FEATURING FOOTAGE NOT SEEN IN CINEMAS

While stocks last.

M Recommended for mature audiences.

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EXTRAS SOCIAL / COMPETITIONS / QUIZ

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QUIZ

Q1 Which classic US WWII movie was a remake of a 1964 production that had been filmed entirely in Spain? Q2 Name the author/director whose first novel – written under his own name rather than a pseudonym – was filmed in 1971. His directing debut was in 1973, for which he also wrote the screenplay, and in 1979, he adapted and directed another of his novels. Q3 To whom was film director John Frankenheimer referring to when he allegedly said "Cut. Now get that bastard off my set"? Q4 Which 1957 film's title is taken from a line in Thomas Gray's poem, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard?

Q5 Which two actors in the early 1970s swapped lead character roles in two western movie franchises? Q6 Which acting couple secretly married for the second time at a game park in Botswana – 16 months after getting divorced? Q7 Name the 1952 MGM musical whose title was taken from a song sung for the first time in a 1929 Hollywood musical. Q8 Who had an adulterous affair with Marion Crane in a Phoenix hotel room? Q9 Which controversial American writer was cast as an old liberal senator in a 1992 political comedy? Q10 Which 2012 bleak thriller involves a hitman with a strangely endearing neuroses about his job?

Joke of the day: My New Year's resolution is to stop using spray on deodorant! Roll on next year.

Happy Birthday Frank Sinatra born on 12 December 1915 #STACKBirthday Did you know? Just before his 23rd birthday, a young blue-eyed Frank Sinatra found himself arrested and hauled

STACK ’s Fave Movie Quote: “Huh? What was that? I should kill everyone and escape? Sorry. The voices. Ahaha, I'm kidding! Jeez! That's not what they really said.” – Harley Quinn/Margot Robbie Suicide Squad (2016) into the Bergen County Sheriff's Office in New Jersey. The charge? Sexual seduction of a "single female of good repute". The charges were eventually dismissed.

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A10. Ben-Hur (1958) was a remake of

Ben-Hur (1925)

Called Horse

The Blob (1958) A9. A Man

A8. Steve McQueen in

A7. Linda Gray

A6. The Girl Can't Help It

A5. Virginia Mayo

and Cat People

(2009) - The Entity

(2016). A4. Inglourious Basterds

A3. Denzel Washington- The Manchurian Candidate

(2009) and The Magnificent Seven

(2004); The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

(2007) A2. Random Harvest

A1. Sidney Lumet- Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

(1942)

Quiz Answers November 2016 (Issue 79) -

Founder Nic Short Editor-In-Chief Paul Jones Editor John Ferguson Creative Director Karl Lock DVD Consultant Jason Hewitt Games Consultant Sachi Fernando Production Manager Craig Patterson Social Media Manager Sally Carlier-Hull

Disclaimer

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STACK is published by Scribal Custom Pty Ltd (ACN 092 362 135). © Scribal Custom Pty Ltd 2016 All rights reserved.

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Contributors Graham Reid, Scott Hocking, Judy Ewens, GarethThompson,Tim Mackrell, Zoë Radas, Gill Pringle, Alesha Kolbe, Amy Flower, Ryan Huff, Simon Lukic, Michael Dwyer, Chris Murray, Denise Hylands, Simon Winkler, Adam Colby, Savannah Douglas

DECEMBER 2016

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FEATURE CINEMA

Witty, wise and warm-hearted, its ironic that Kate Beckinsale’s life, both personally and professionally, has been somewhat defined by playing a vampire in the cult favourite Underworld franchise. Words: Gill Pringle

C ast in 2003 as sexy, kick-ass vampire warrior Selene, Kate Beckinsale wed Underworld director and co-creator Len Wiseman, with their 12-year marriage coming to an end earlier this year. With the franchise outlasting their marriage, Beckinsale, 43, now returns for a fifth outing as the 'Death Dealer' in Underworld: Blood Wars , directed by Anna Foerster. “I’m all about as many vaginas being involved as possible,” jokes Beckinsale when STACK meets with her backstage at Madison Square Garden, prior to the unveiling of the film’s trailer at New York Comic-Con. “I don’t think gender has much to do with whether you’re a good or bad director. I know it’s coming up a lot because an action heroine used to be unusual and now it’s less unusual. I hope in a few years time a woman director will be less unusual as well,” she adds. “I think it is cool for us to have a franchise that has a female at the centre of it to also have a female director’s take. Selene is a fairly emotional character for someone who doesn’t show a lot of emotion, so it’s nice that Anna was interested in that component of the character. I don’t know if that’s because she’s a Underworld franchise, Beckinsale is not sure what advice she would give her younger self, embarking on her first time out as Selene. “I don’t think I would tell her that you have to do four or five of these… I was so expecting to be fired on the first one because it’s not my thing, it was such a big stretch for me. “I was at a period in my career – I’m still sort of in it – where a big prerequisite was that if something really terrifies me and makes me want to hide under the bed, then that’s a good idea to do it. I just had never imagined myself doing anything like that. woman or just because she’s Anna.” Reflecting on her 13 years with the

have a lot of different parts to your palette. For example, I didn’t go to drama school, I went to Oxford. I was used to doing literary adaptations and I really did need Underworld in terms of physical training that I never got. So it’s been very useful for me in terms of other work that I have done, where suddenly I became really good at stuff that I sucked at, and that I was pushed to the limits on. “So, in terms of my entire career, Underworld has been a really big part in opening up my toolbox as an actor; it’s just not necessarily going to win me an Oscar.” Beckinsale reveals that her Blood Wars co-star Theo James was the brunt of many jokes on the set. “I heard that Theo was really frightened of ferrets. I was bored. So we had an enterprising crew, and in moments we had a ferret put on set to scare him,” she reveals. “It was a very attractive ferret... it actually looked a bit like Theo. Big eyes, great cheekbones.” One of the crew members ended up adopting the ferret, though James grew attached and held interviews to decide who would make the most responsible pet parent. After the ferret gag tired, Beckinsale also made use of a silicone version of James’s torso, built to emulate the actor’s screen injuries. “Theo has some injuries in the movie, and they made him a prosthetic stomach. It had all of the same pubes and stuff that Theo has,” she giggles. “We would go pay little visits to it and take pictures of ourselves licking it. We left little offerings, little bowls of raisins and stuff.” STACK is later joined by James, who confesses to his anxiety over co-starring with the gorgeous Beckinsale. “I was quite nervous at first. I was naked

“We had quite a low budget. Very often we had squibs blowing up and we only had one go. I kept thinking, ‘I’m going to ruin it and they’re just going to get someone who does this for a living.’ So I think it would have alarmed me if I’d known there were going to be so many of them,” she muses. If Underworld has played a large role in her career, she hopes this isn’t what she will only be remembered for, pointing to her recent acclaimed performance as Lady Susan Vernon in Love & Friendship , Whit Stillman’s comedic take on Jane Austen’s novella Lady Susan . “I’ve been lucky that I have been able to travel back and forth between things. I don’t think that these kind of movies are necessarily what get critics really hot under the collar and excited. But one doesn’t just make movies for critics. And also, as an actor, it’s important to In terms of my entire career, Underworld has been a really big part in opening up my toolbox as an actor...

CINEMA

and sweating and Kate is very glamorous, so I was shivering and jibbering. But Kate’s sense of humour always helps in any situation.”

• Underworld: Blood Wars is in cinemas on Dec 1

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DVD & BD FEATURE

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Words Adam Colby Suicide Squad director David Ayer explains why sometimes it’s good to be bad.

Deadshot (Will Smith) and Slipknot (Adam Beach), psycho shrink Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), pyrokinetic gangster El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), genetic mutation Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and thief Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) – are recruited into a shadowy government task force to be used as disposable assets for high risk military missions. Viola Davis and Joel Kinnaman plays their commanders Amander Waller and Colonel Flag, respectively, while their foes include the Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) and the Joker (Jared Leto). So how did Ayer set about recruiting his version of the Dirty Dozen? “The great thing about this cast is that they’re all perfectly tuned to each of their roles and have incredible chemistry together,” he explains. “These aren’t easy characters to portray, but as a director, I like to cast actors who already have the characters within them. That is incredibly important to me, and the cast really came together beautifully. “Margot was one of the first to be cast, and it was just hand-in-glove. She did an incredible job, and really became that character. Cara Delevingne was also one of the earliest people I cast. I had this vision of a beautiful Enchantress with an angelic face who is really up to no good, and Cara is just perfect for the role because she is those things!

guys are so predictable. You know in any given situation what the good guy is going to do so it’s hard to get ahead of the audience. But the bad guy is

veryone loves a bad guy, whether it be cultured killers like

DVD & BD

Hans Gruber or Hannibal Lecter, or iconic villains like Darth Vader and Magneto.

always going to be a wild card. Plus, the good guys are already loved and embraced by the world. The bad guys have a little bit of baggage they’ve got to work through [laughs].” The Suicide Squad first appeared in print in 1958 but it was John Estrander’s 1987 reboot that provides the template for their first big screen adventure. In Suicide Squad , a six-strong unit of dangerous criminals – assassins

Director David Ayer has taken things one stage further with Suicide Squad, turning comic book supervillains into (albeit reluctant) heroes, and to him that was one of the main drawcards of DC Comics’ latest blockbuster. “Bad guys do cool stuff and play by a different set of rules,” Ayer explains. “I think bad guys are always the coolest characters in movies because good

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DECEMBER 2016

FEATURE DVD & BD

Margot Robbie had never heard of Harley Quinn before she signed on to appear in Suicide Squad . But she quickly became the movie's pin-up girl, and gives a wild performance worthy of her character's cult status.

What was your reaction when David Ayer first approached you about the project and what was the draw for you? Were you familiar with the comic books? No, I didn’t read comics growing up or know anything about this world. I’ve just always been a massive fan of David’s work. When End of Watch came out, I saw it four times in the cinema, and Fury is obviously amazing. I think the way he tells stories is so engaging, so when I heard he’d be writing and directing Suicide Squad , I wanted to be part of it. I knew it would be an epic experience – and it was. So, knowing nothing about Harley Quinn and without any other actors being cast, something in my gut told me, ‘Yeah, this is the one. Do it.’ What qualities do you think David brings to this film? I don’t know of any other filmmaker who gives direction the way that David does. He’s extremely character-driven, so working with him was amazing. He goes into the character’s whole history, far beyond the side you see in a film. He also taps into your own personal history and finds a way to utilise that on set, which makes every moment matter so much more and elevates the performance in a way. Why do you think Harley Quinn has become so iconic to fans, and what about her most resonated with you? Harley is incredibly well liked by fans, and I didn’t really understand why before I started reading the comics. Then, of course, about three comics in, I was just as obsessed with her as everyone else is. But I was curious what it was about her that so many people were responding to, and it turns out that what people like is how flawed she is. That was how I saw it, anyway. The physicality was a massive component of playing this character, so I trained for six months prior to shooting. David wanted the stunts to be integrated into the scenes and was all in favour of the actors doing what we could, which was awesome for me because I really didn’t want to hand Harley over to someone else for half the film. And the stunt team on this film was incredible, and almost all Australian, so the best part was that I got to do heaps of training on the Gold Coast, which is where I’m from. What do you think it is about these anti-heroes that we connect to so deeply, particularly the Suicide Squad? I think it has to do with the fact that they’re not perfect. They have so many flaws and personal issues but, weirdly enough, I think that’s what makes them so relatable. They don’t make the most ethical decisions all the time and are obviously not so relatable then and shouldn’t be seen as role models in that respect. But I think that with any character you see in a film – not just comic book How much training did you do for the physical demands of the role?

– and Jared really is the ideal guy to do it. To watch this new Joker come to life was just spectacular for me as a filmmaker. It’s incredibly faithful to canon – you just see a second of him on screen and you know who it is, yet this is a Joker we haven’t seen. I mean, it takes such courage to do that, and I’m really proud of how well Jared pulled it off.” Ayer is best known for action movies like Fury and Training Day , and he brought a similar gritty style to Suicide Squad ; while there’s a lot CG in the movie, he says most of the stunts were actually performed by the stunt team and the actors themselves.

“Will is Deadshot, on and off the screen. He has such a fantastic history as an actor and has been in so many amazing projects. The cast really looked up to him that way. And on set, he has this wonderful energy. He was definitely the more level-headed, rational one of the group. "Adam Beach just leaps off the screen as Slipknot. And as Boomerang, Jai Courtney delivers a performance that is unlike anything you’ve seen from him before. I gave Jai license to really be bad, and I think, for the whole cast, it was just a fantastic opportunity to step outside of the boundaries of what is considered normal.”

DVD & BD

However, for him, the most rewarding part of the movie was the interplay between the characters. “This is a really big movie, and it was a huge physical challenge. But, for me, it’s always going to be the actors and the character work. There’s this bar scene in the movie that, to me, is just a jewel. It’s the last scene you would expect to see in a film like this – the

Outside the comic book world, the characters in Suicide Squad were largely unknown – with one exception: The Joker, who has been portrayed on screen a number of times before, most memorably by Heath Ledger in his Oscar- winning turn in The Dark Knight . Ayer acknowledges he approached the casting with some trepidation. “This is a character that is the best known bad guy – the best known villain – in fiction, hands down, which is incredible. The Joker has been around since 1941 or so and is truly a cultural icon. You’re stepping into huge shoes – and I think you can only do that with reverence and trepidation

characters sitting around talking and bonding – but the performances are just so truthful and real. Those were really the best days for me as a director.“

• Suicide Squad is out on Dec 7

characters – it’s the flaws that resonate. So it’s important not to smooth them over, even when they need to be heroes.

XX 13

DVD & BD FEATURE

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Paul Jones spoke with Ricky Gervais about the return of his iconic comedy creation in David Brent : Life on the Road .

D onald T rump has literally just been announced as president-elect. Could there have been a better – or worse – time to talk to Ricky Gervais? “Mad, innit!” he says, before launching into a humorous analysis of the people that voted for Trump, the shock result, and what it means for the world. Yet, before I have to intervene and steer the conversation away from American politics, Gervais himself is done with the subject: “Anyway, enough of that.” Tonight we’re talking David Brent: Life on the Road , Gervais’s full-length film that resurrects the eponymous character he co-created with Stephen Merchant for the BBC mockumentary series The Office . 15 years on, Brent is now a sales rep for Lavichem, a company that specialises in sanitary products. In 2016, Brent is a disconsolate character, immersed in a mid-life crisis and clutching at the futile dream of taking his band, Foregone Conclusion, out on a self-funded tour. “I think people are going to be surprised how they sympathise with David Brent this time around, and how much pathos there is in a middle-aged man who’s got one last shot at fame,” says Gervais, who speaks as if he’s sporting a perpetual smile. “And by fame, he’s really going for happiness. He just thinks fame will sort it out for him, and of course it won’t. It was nice to put that together in a movie as opposed to just a TV special." That was a question I'd wanted to ask Gervais when I finished watching the film. Given the subject matter, did he not consider an extended TV or Christmas special? Why did he opt to bring

several other television series, directed films, performed stand-up comedy, authored a series of children’s books, and even voiced a video game character. While he returned briefly to the role in 2013 for a Comic Relief special, it has been a long time since Gervais has played David Brent. “I can play him in my sleep but I had to change him a little bit as well because I had to acknowledge that a man would’ve changed in 15 years," he explains. "What I decided to do was make him just a little bit more broken. I wanted fame to have broken him a little bit over the 15 years, and I gave him a nervous laugh. “So although he’s the same guy, I made him slightly more honest because that reflects how documentaries change as well. A documentary is much more intrusive these days. 15 years ago, you wouldn’t have talked about a man’s breakdown on one, but now documentaries start with it. Things on TV like Big Brother, for example, tend to start with people at their lowest ebb.” He pauses momentarily: “People live their lives like an opened wound to be famous these days. What’s nice about Brent is we realise he was never that sort of person. He’s not the modern person who would do anything to be famous. He wants to do something to be famous; he wants to be a rockstar, bless him.” Gervais also wrote 15 songs for an accompanying album. Aside from the hilarious (and politically incorrect) lyrics, the structure of the tracks is very good. These are melodies you'll be humming for hours after you've listened

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Brent to the big screen? “Ambition, I think more than anything else. I wanted to make a sort of classic British movie and it not be just another episode of The Office. And that’s why it had to be 15 years later, so enough had happened for it to be a movie." The final episode of The Office , the show that introduced Gervais and his brand of cringe- inducing humour to a global audience, aired in 2003. Since then he has written and starred in I think people are going to be surprised how they sympathise with David Brent this time around

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to them. However, Gervais emits his trademark chuckle when I ask whether he’s a prolific songwriter. “I don’t sit at home with a guitar on my lap all day twiddling – I have the odd idea. These songs were written over a few years. I

wrote a couple for The Office ... I wrote Equality Street for a Comic Relief sketch on the ten year anniversary, and then I did a couple of gigs and wrote a few more. Finally, I wrote some more specifically for the film. So it was quite gradual and organic. “I suppose I’ve written 15 songs over 15

I’ve done that. We’re all a bit like Brent because what I put into him are the things that we all care about. We all want to be loved; we all want to be popular; we all want to think we’re making a bit of a difference every day. I just magnified that and made him desperate for all those things. And that’s what we see in him. We see all those things that we care about.” As well as his amiability,

"If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried." “Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office.” “Eagles may soar high, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.” “I know an alcoholic and it’s no laughing matter – particularly for his wife. She’s got alopecia, so not a happy home life.” “You have to be 100% behind someone, before you can stab them in the back.” “Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days you are the statue.” “There's no 'I' in 'team'. But then there's no 'I' in 'useless smug colleague', either. And there's four in 'platitude- quoting idiot'. Go figure.” “Who says famine has to be depressing?”

years, so I certainly wouldn’t say I’m prolific, but it’s great fun doing them and it had to be real,” he continues. “The joke isn’t that they are terrible songs or comedy songs or badly performed, the joke is that it’s a middle-aged tampon rep singing songs that he knows nothing about. He believes in them, and that’s what’s funny. He believes he’s helping the Native Americans; he believes he’s sorting out the prejudice to the disabled.”

Gervais is an intelligent and engaging man to interview, and it’s obvious during our conversation that he thoroughly enjoyed returning to the role. Whether it’s delivering acerbic asides as host of the Golden Globes, or his active and erudite presence on social media, his fast wit is an indelible talent. Stand-up is his next focus and something he’s hopeful he’ll bring Down

We're all a bit like Brent because what I put into him are the things we all care about

Watching Brent remains an uncomfortable, even excruciating, experience that still leaves you shifting awkwardly in your seat. It’s like the unexplainable calm that preludes a traffic accident; the inability to reach out and prevent what is about to happen. Of course, this visual discomfort is accentuated with the realisation that there’s a little bit of David Brent in us all. “The first time you watch David Brent, you go, ‘Oh my god, what a prat! Thank god I’m not like that,’” laughs Gervais. “Then you realise, actually

Under – a location he’s yet to visit. “I think stand-up is me at my most honest, which is what you should do,” says Gervais.

“You should always be trying to tell the whole truth more and more. The older I get I think the truth is everything. You know what, don’t give a f-ck what people think about it, or whether they like the truth, you’ve just got to f–ing say it.”

• David Brent: Life on the Road is out Dec 14

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Chasing Great director MichelleWalsh talks about the challenges of shooting a documentary about Richie McCaw during an All BlacksWorld Cup campaign. Words John Ferguson CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS

W ith the All Blacks intent on becoming the first rugby nation to win back-to-back world cups, you would think that the last thing the team and management would have wanted would be a documentary crew filming a portrait of captain Richie McCaw. However, according to Michelle Walshe, who together with Justin Pemberton directed the just released Richie McCaw: Chasing Great , both the players

be digging a bit deeper for their documentary. “We didn’t set out to make an expose, we set out to tell a really inspiring story about the secret of success,” Walshe says. “We talked in the beginning that this was not going to be a ‘This Is Your Life’ type story and it was not going to be something

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Richie McCaw chatting with director MichelleWalsh

and the rugby union couldn’t have been more co-operative. “It was super ambitious to ask to do it during a World Cup year,” Walshe admits. “We were very lucky: New Zealand Rugby were really on board because Richie wanted to do it, and that made all the difference. I think he realised if he was going to

jersey, so she had a good relationship with him, his management and New Zealand Rugby. “It was actually my husband Leon who first thought we should a documentary on him because he was going to retire,” she continues. “Richie’s first response was ‘no-one would ever want to watch 90 minutes about me’. And then we were doing a shoot with him a month or two later and he said ‘I’ve got this box of VHS’s from my childhood, would you be interested in having a look at that?’ We couldn’t believe that nobody had seen this box of recordings from his childhood before. Within a couple of days, we had gone down and met his mother at their home in Christchurch and we just sat on the floor and went through all these VHS’s and saw that it was something very special.” Of course McCaw is no stranger to cameras, having fronted up to media regularly during his long career.

where he could be trotting out ‘media’ answers. Sometimes he would go into that sort of mode, but then you could see him realise that he could talk freely and that we needed to see more of him that we had before. But, you’re right, he is naturally an introverted person and that made an interesting character study as well.” Chasing Great has since gone on to become New Zealand’s highest grossing documentary of all time and while that is probably mainly down to our love of the All Blacks, Walshe has been pleasantly surprised by the feedback she has received from non-rugby fans as well. She hopes that McCaw’s story and how he set about achieving success will help inspire children in particular to pursue their dreams, no matter how unattainable they might first appear. As for Walshe, she is already looking ahead to her next project, which will explore the world of sports psychology, a subject which she touches on in Chasing Great . While she has worked on fiction projects – like David Farrier (see feature page overleaf) her credits include the mockumentary series Short Poppies – documentaries remain her first love.

tell his story there was a lot of value in doing it at that time. But it was also really brave because we didn’t know the outcome – there

we set out to tell a really inspiring story about the secret of success

was a very good chance that it could have ended differently!” It certainly paid off:

Chasing Great offers a revealing portrait of one of New Zealand's greatest sportsman, a film that not only

celebrates his triumphant final year as All Black captain, but also explores his early life and what drove him to become one of the best players rugby have ever seen. McCaw has always been an intensely private person but luckily for Walshe they had known each other for quite a while: she had previously worked with him on the doco Making Of Black , which was about the history of the All Black

“I absolutely love documenting real stories,” she says. “Building a rapport with somebody and finding a story that hasn’t been told before is incredibly satisfying.

However, the filmmakers were upfront about the fact that they would

• Richie McCaw: Chasing Great is out now

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pretty clear that they didn’t want the film made,” Farrier says. “When they sent three people to New Zealand from America essentially to threaten us and tell us not to make the film, the incredible push-back we got was a really big motivator.” The more Farrier and Reeve investigated, the stranger the story got and they realised that this particular underground tickling network involved people and companies from all over the world. Given the sinister threats and the obsessive desire for secrecy, did they ever fear that they could be in physical danger?

“The legal stuff is more unsettling,” Farrier replies. “No-one likes to be receiving legal threats. But there were a few moments in the film where we were approaching some people who had made it pretty clear that they didn’t want to be on camera and got pretty aggressive. I guess when you are in America you are never too sure who is carrying a gun or what’s in people’s heads.” “They got very personal very early on,” he continues. “It’s not in the film but there was a private investigator outside of my house at one point and I think they just wanted to make it very clear that they knew where I lived. When you are poking around something a little bit strange on the internet, it often stays on the internet; it was very strange and scary at times for

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Journalist David Farrier stumbled into a strange, surreal and occasionally scary world when he began shooting Tickled , which details his and co-director Dylan Reeve’s investigation into a shadowy company behind the so-called sport of endurance tickling. Words John Ferguson

that to leap into day to day life all the way over in New Zealand.”

When they sent three people to New Zealand from America essentially to threaten us and tell us not to make the film, the incredible push-

However, Farrier and Reeve’s perseverance

eing tied down and tickled by a professional tickler is pretty awful,” admits David Farrier. He is talking about

once [the film] was finally done and was out, you are done with that stuff, but this one has taken on a life of its own.” Ironically, it was the determination of the company behind

has paid off; as well receiving acclaim on the international festival

one of the bonus features that will appear on the DVD version of his acclaimed documentary Tickled , in which he and the rest of the production team submitted to the dubious delights of tickling. But while it was an experience that he certainly didn’t enjoy, it pales in comparison to the mental torture Farrier and co-director Dylan Reeve have endured in bringing the strange world of ‘competitive endurance ticking’ to the screen. Legal threats began flying as soon as Farrier began digging into the company behind what must be one of the world’s oddest ‘sports’ – and he says the lawsuits keep coming. In fact, the on-going legal situation means Farrier has to be careful what he says when STACK calls him in Los Angeles. However, he confirms that he has been told that he is still facing a defamation suit in the US.

circuit, Tickled was picked up by HBO in the US and has been long-listed for a Best Documentary Oscar. Farrier is naturally delighted with the way the film has been embraced around

back we got was a really big motivator

endurance tickling to shut the project down that gave Farrier the idea to develop it

the globe – although it seems not everyone quite got it, thanks to his

into a film. When the TV journalist first stumbled upon the mysterious

appearance (as himself) in Rhys Darby’s spoof TV series Short Poppies , which has also just been released on DVD. “I am friends with Rhys and he was always like ‘I’ve got this mockumentary and I want you to play yourself’,” Farrier recalls. “I thought he was joking but he was serious. It was great fun but some people who have seen Short Poppies think that Tickled is another mockumentary!”

online site – young men being offered the chance to fly to LA where they would be tied down to a bed while the others took turns tickling them – he thought it would make a funny short news item.

However, his inquiries were met almost immediately with legal threats and a barrage of homophobic slurs on his character. “This company we had stumbled upon had already made it

• Tickled is out on DVD and Blu-ray on Dec 1

“It’s been an ongoing thing since the film came out,” he explains. “I imagined

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Words Mark Ankucic

Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy An age ago, in the time only known as 2006, Square Enix announced that there would be a series of games within the title of FFXIII. The titles included FFXIII, FFXIII Agito and FFXIII Versus, which would go on to be FFXIII (and its sequels under the umbrella of ‘Lightning Saga’), Final Fantasy Type-0 , and FFXV. Meaning ‘New tale of the crystal’, Fabula Nova Crystallis could have been considered a soft reboot of the series. For gamers who haven’t gracefully slid into the mature bracket just yet, it might seem like there was no need to reboot a series where the games were arguably very similar. All of them featured turn- based combat, epic adventures and overwhelming themes. However, the wizened and experienced gamer would have noticed drastic changes since the release of the first Final Fantasy , noting the transition of nameless avatars to fully-fleshed out characters, plot points becoming more and more complex, and the shift away from the original core theme of Final Fantasy – crystals. In an interview with Wired.co.uk, Hajime Tabita, director of FFXV, described the theory behind Crystallis: “The original idea was to create a series of games around the 'Crystal Legend' mythology, but not restrict developers to a single direction. We wanted it to be quite a broad idea. It was like the mythology of ancient Greece and how

Whether they’re diving down the rabbit hole of an elevator conversation to create Kingdom Hearts, or letting Tetsuya Nomura know he’s the director of the FFVII remake after the project was already underway, Square Enix has a tendency to chase the dreams it’s barely woken up from. It’s a peculiar kind of brashness that has accompanied Square and Final Fantasy since its inception, the tale almost mythos now in the gaming world. A developer on its last legs puts all of its efforts into one last title, and dubs it their ‘Final Fantasy’. They then go on to keep producing Final Fantasies for the next 29 years. The stakes have changed and the brashness has evolved alongside it. On the one hand, their success is undeniable – they’ve had a hit on nearly every major platform, they’ve created some of gaming’s most iconic characters, and they’ve pushed every boundary within the medium. However, the other hand is often trying to juggle more balls that it can handle.

GAMES

Enter Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy

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