juliette binoche: interview

Elegant, outspoken and fiercely intelligent, Oscar winner Juliette Binoche spoke to me in Paris about acting, filmmaking and more. She gives Marc the first taste of what to expect from the hugely anticipated “anti-blockbuster" reworking of Godzilla from director Gareth Edwards (Monsters). She explains why she turned down iconic roles in Jurassic Park and Schindlers List and how a sculpture she saw when she was 15 years old has changed the way she approaches art, acting and more.

2013 was a year of stars and nerds.

I flew 10 hours to have a 5 minute conversation with Will Smith and waited 2 hours in the corner of the Sydney Town Hall to put a microphone in the face of the man who created the World Wide Web. From the underpaid, overworked special effects designers who make the movies we love to the likes of Ang Lee, JJ Abrams and Russell Crowe.

Usually when it comes to big stars you basically walk into a room with 2 cameras, 15 lights, an expectant movie star and a ticking clock. Every once in a while though you get a fun, unexpected moment. From Julian Assange critiquing Benedict Cumberbatch  to the man who translated all of Star Wars into Shakesperean Verse.  These, however, are my favourites... 

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1. Andrew Gordon, Director of Animation at Pixar 

Deep inside Pixar Studios this man has a secret bar that Steve Jobs and Tom Cruise used to hang out in. Deep inside this man is a childlike love of animation that will make you warm and fuzzy. 

2. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the Web

Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube,  Wikileaks, Anonymous even LolCats would not exist without this man. In 1989 Tim Berners-Lee created the web. This was his only broadcast interview in Australia and they wouldn't let me film it. Once I got in the room I understood why. I later found out that Sir Tim was recovering from a major illness which left him shuddering throughout the interview. His mind however is still as vibrant as ever. Stay for the end bit with him talking about appearing in the Olympic Opening Ceremony. It gives me goosebumps every time. 

3. Sir James Dyson, Inventor

Sir James Dyson has built a $2 billion fortune from applying new technologies to seemingly mundane appliances like the vacuum cleaner and the hand dryer. But for him... it's all about failing gracefully. If you've every made something, you'll find this guy inspiring.

4. Zach Braff 

Ever wanted to see Zach Braff belt out the Jurassic Park theme song? The actor & filmmaker talks about his love of the dino epic, getting killed off by an internet rumour, why he loves the internet community of Reddit. He later DM'ed me on Twitter to say how much he enjoyed the chat but he wouldn't tweet it because I bagged Oz: The Great and Powerful. I'm claiming this as both a #humbelbrag and my weekly dose of editorial independence brownie points. 

5. Julian Assange 

Julian Assange was easily the most internationally recognised person running in the 2013 Australian Federal election. But ever since he set up the Wikileaks Party, it was been plagued by resignations and a preferences scandal. More importantly, this is how he rated Benedict Cumberbatch's performance as him. 

6. Guy Pearce

World's. Easiest. Guy. To. Talk. To. He talked about why sometimes you need to shave your head for a role,  What hoops he had to jump through in order to get ahold of a script for Iron Man 3 and why the hell did he chose to be in Prometheus anyway? 

7. George R.R Martin, Creator of Game of Thrones 

Meet the man responsible for murdering all your favourite characters! What's lovely about George R. R. Martin is how he is happy to go anywhere in an interview. There's not many authors you can talk to about their Porn fan fiction and they'll come along for the ride.

8. Armie Hammer 

Way to cause controversy, guy. Armie Hammer (The Social Network, Mirror Mirror) was in Australia to promote The Lone Ranger and we got onto the topic of George Miller's scrapped Justice League Mortal. Hammer was on board to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in the buzzed about film, and even went through costume tests before the project collapsed... and Kevin Rudd is to blame.

9. Danny Boyle, Director 

Danny Boyle is a champion. He is one of the easiest people in the world to talk to about movies and what makes them so, frankly, sexy.  His latest film is called Trance and he opens up about messing with the audience' head, the hypnotism of movies and what it's like directing the actual damn Queen.

10. Baz Luhrmann, Director 

I love how outspoken Baz is. He has a go at critics, politicians and anything else that moves.

Bonus. Hugh Jackman is a dude....

up all night to get loki

He's invaded New York with aliens, he went to school with Princes William and Harry and is the star of Thor, The Avengers plus the brand new THOR 2. The Feed's Marc Fennell talks to Thor 2 star Tom Hiddleston. The Feed airs weeknights at 19:30 on SBS 2.

shodan: the google of 'things'

When you think about search engines you tend to think of Google, Bing, or Yahoo. But there's one thing they all all have in common: they search web-pages but there's a lot more that we hook into the internet.

daniel bruhl : rush & the fifth estate

Daniel Brühl is an Austrian/Spanish actor who has been making movies in europe for years. But in 2013 Brühl's breaking out and headlining two major films, The Wikileaks biopic 'The Fifth Estate' - and RUSH, where be plays 1970's formula 1 racing icon Niki Lauda.

hugo weaving

The Feed's Marc Fennell interviews Hugo Weaving about his new movie 'The Turning.'

star wars: shakespeare style

US based author Ian Doescher talks to RN Drive about why he rewrote George Lucas' epic Star Wars in Shakespearean english.

Julian Assange is easily the most internationally recognised person running in the 2013 Australian Federal election. But ever since he set up the Wikileaks Party, it's been plagued by resignations and a preferences scandal. Has Assange already blown his chance to become a Senator and what is really motivating his political run?

Oh, and what does Assange think of Benedict Cumberbatch playing him in a movie? Well, he's not a great fan of the accent.  

sharlto copley on elysium

Sharlto Copley was the star of the groundbreaking Oscar Nominated movie District 9 - a giant immigration metaphor about alien refugees parked above South Africa. Now he's back with the same director Neill Blomkamp with a new movie Elysium. It shows a future where the rich live in orbit and earth is a glorified slum. Poor folk like Matt Damon give up their life savings to get to the rich habitat and Copley plays a government agent aiming to stop them. Sharlto Copley talks Elysium with The Feed's Marc Fennell.

therapy with jesse eisenberg

hugh jackman: the wolverine (as opposed to the wolf)

Hugh Jackman is a lovely guy and he's back to play the role that made him famous a whopping 7th time. The Wolverine is the latest ahead of next years Days of Future Past. I interviewed the whole cast so you can expect more details from that in the next few days. 

toni collette teaches me an indian accent

Admit it: you've always wanted to see Toni Collette school someone in how to do an indian accent. Also she teaches me about meditation and then we end up in hospital. kinda. Also we talk about her brand new film The Way Way Back. Which is quite excellent. 

seth rogen & evan goldberg

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg spill the beans on why Green Hornet was a difficult movie too make, why life is much easier when studio executives are distracted by Spiderman, What important lessons you can learn from watching marrionettes have sex... oh.. and demon dick. So. Much. Demon. Dick.  

Enjoy! 

kevin rudd killed batman (kinda): armie hammer

Armie Hammer (The Social Network, Mirror Mirror) was in Australia to promote The Lone Ranger (review here) And we got onto the topic of George Miller's scrapped "Justice League Mortal" came up.

Hammer was on board to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in the buzzed about film, and even went through costume tests before the project collapsed. When asked why the film fell apart, Hammer are upfront

"You guys had an election and changed your Prime Minister who then changed your tax rebate incentive program and then we had a writer's strike in the U.S. so we couldn't change anything in the script and everybody wanted to change things. So, it was just the perfect storm"

Watch the whole interview here:

the feed: russell crowe, henry cavill and zach snyder

It's a $225 million gamble by Warner Brothers that the world is ready for the return of Superman. But is the Man of Steel any good?

I sat down with director Zach Snyder, stars Russell Crowe and the man himself Henry Cavill to find out what went into reinventing the man of steel. 

will & jaden smith talk about the family business

I sat down with Will Smith and Jaden Smith to talk about their movie After Earth in one of their only interviews with Australian media in 2013

JJ Abrams and the Cast of Star Trek

How important is secrecy to the master of the Star Trek and Star Wars Universes? Very. 

Guy Pearce on Iron Man 3 & shaved heads

Why sometimes you need to shave your head for a role. What hoops Guy Pearce had to jump through in order to get ahold of a script for Iron Man 3 and why the hell did he chose to be in Prometheus anyway? Oh hey, if you want to subscribe to my YouTube Channel you can here

joseph kosinski on oblivion, tom cruise and tron sequels

Imagine walking into a room with Tom Cruise and then pitching him a multimillion dollar blockbuster with no script. Joseph Kosinski did just that with his new film Oblivion. The Tron: Legacy explains precisely what it's like directing the mysterious movie star, why he picked M83 for the soundtrack and he dishes the dirt on Tron sequels and his new adaptation of the 70's classic Black Hole. ​

As for the film itself? Look, I give Oblivion massive props for being one of the few original Hollywood blockbuster script that we are likely to see this year (or any other in the future). They are a dwindling breed. That said the result is something of a mixtape of sci-fi ideas (as indeed was predicted in Coming Sooner). The twists and turns are where Oblivion really sings. The careful mechanics of the mystery and indeed the literal mechanics of the production design are simply stunning. The film wraps around you as a sensory experience with its lush sounscapes and stark Steve Jobsian beauty. Often though the design is used in a beautifully subtle way to shift the tenor of the story.  An object will appear at first to be harmless and utilitarian only to surreptitiously become sinister without you ever noticing the shift. ​

Downsides? There are plenty. Oblivion features one of the worst voice-overs I've ever heard in a film. The film constantly over-feeds you with too much pointless exposition that they go on to explain again​ some minutes later. Also, the Morgan Freeman clan are woefully underdeveloped in terms of their role within the story. 

Still, despite it's flaws I genuinely want to see it again and as a result Oblivion gets 3/5