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WADDINGTON, ANDRUCHA: ME YOU THEM
Bet you thought Andrucha Waddington is a woman. He isn’t. Bet you think he’s
English. He isn’t. Andrew L. Urban phoned him in Rio de Janeiro for a chat about his
latest film, Me You Them, a story of a woman who acquires three husbands. Bet you think he made it up . . . he didn’t.
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WAGNER, PAULA: VANILLA SKY
With plot details of Vanilla Sky kept very much under wraps, Nick Roddick talks to
Tom Cruise’s producing partner Paula Wagner about the movie that is one of the most
eagerly awaited releases of the Christmas season. And discovers it’s about love.
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WAHLBERG, MARK: PLANET OF THE APES
Mark Wahlberg admits he fantasized about lovemaking with a hairy
Helena Bonham Carter as Ari the ape, on the set of Planet of the
Apes. Jenny Cooney Carrillo reports.
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WALKER, PAUL: 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS
Paul Walker’s career is rising as fast as he’s driving on screen in 2 Fast 2 Furious, but now he’s taking a breather from the ‘self serving’ business of making films – but sees that perhaps you CAN make a difference, he says on his Sydney visit. Andrew L. Urban meets the fast Walker (again).
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WALKER, PAUL: THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS
The camera loves Paul Walker, and so do the girls; but the young
actor is as full of contradictions as any of us, walking the line
between Hollywood’s self propulsion and his innate
Christianity. Louise Keller and Andrew L. Urban meet the star of
The Fast and The Furious.
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WALKER, RANDY : S.W.A.T.
When filmmakers want the truth in police thrillers, they Call The Cops; but Randy Walker’s advisory service was not too happy about the idea of two officers going bad in S.W.A.T., as ex- S.W.A.T Walker tells Andrew L. Urban, claiming that LAPD is the cleanest force around.
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WAN, JAMES & WHANNELL, LEIGH – SAW
Two young Australian filmmakers just out of film school, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, made the impossible happen; they barged into Hollywood with a script and a sample scene on DVD – and got the greenlight for their horror hit, Saw, exactly as intended, they tell Andrew L. Urban, as the film takes some A$80 million in the US and UK.
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WANG, XIAOSHUAI: BEIJING BICYCLE
The subject is as prosaic and undigital as a bicycle, so it is a little ironic that in
this digital age, a Hungarian born, Australian resident journalist can converse with a
Chinese film director in Beijing without meeting, seeing or hearing each other - by email.
Wang Xiaoshuai answers Andrew L. Urban’s questions on his latest film, Beijing
Bicycle.
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WARD, VINCENT : What Dreams May Come
Vincent Ward had to find the key to heaven and hell before taking on his latest film, he
tells ANDREW L. URBAN.
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WARGNIER, RÉGIS: EAST WEST
Guilty consciences and a state of political denial in the West greeted Régis
Wargnier’s remarkably accurate portrayal of the horrors of post war Russia’s
handling of returning emigrees in East West, the story of a family caught in the barbed
wire of Communism. From France, Wargnier talks to ANDREW L. URBAN.
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WASHINGTON, DENZEL - THE HURRICANE
Denzel Washington, never known for doing things by half,
trained for 15 months in the ring to prepare for the role of
Rubin 'The Hurricane' Carter - but the acting came almost
effortlessly, he tells DAVID EDWARDS.
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WATERS, JOHN – LOOKING THROUGH THE GLASS ONION
John Lennon would have been 70 years old on October 9 this year and December 8 will mark 30 years since he was tragically shot to death outside his New York City apartment. John Waters (whose birthday is December 8, as it happens) is about to bring his one man show paying tribute to Lennon, to the Sydney Opera House. It’s a cross between a concert and a monologue, Waters tells Andrew L. Urban.
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WATSON, EMILY – ORANGES AND SUNSHINE
In Oranges And Sunshine, Emily Watson plays Nottingham social worker Margaret Humphreys who unearths the shocking true story of the children sent forcibly to Australia where they were abused by their supposed carers, but she didn’t want to meet the real Margaret, and she explains why in this Q & A.
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WATT, SARAH – LOOK BOTH WAYS
Making her feature directing debut with Look Both Ways, Sarah Watt shows she knows what to do in a medium that has opened her eyes to exciting new possibilities, fusing live action and animation, happiness and death, certainty and insecurity, she reveals to Andrew L. Urban.
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WATT, SARAH – MY YEAR WITHOUT SEX
Sex has become so commoditised we’re all stressed by it and encouraged to
spend money on it, says Sarah Watt, whose new film, My Year Without Sex, is a
rebellious response to that social pressure, she explains to Andrew L. Urban.
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WATTS, NAOMI – 21 GRAMS
While Naomi Watts gets better and better in a sequence of emotionally draining roles - Mulholland Drive, The Ring and now 21 Grams - she is hoping to find a really good comedy, she admits to Andrew L. Urban, but will first co-star with a digital gorilla.
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WATTS, NAOMI: MULHOLLAND DRIVE
What’s a nice girl like Naomi Watts doing with a director like David Lynch,
asks Jenny Cooney Carrillo. Very interesting, says Naomi. He loves women. As for the nude
scene …. "we would literally fall back on the bed feeling like complete goofy,
dorky idiots."
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WATTS, NAOMI: THE RING
They rang her about The Ring even before she’d read the script, but Australian actress Naomi Watts played it cool, making sure the script had the right ring to it, as Andrew L. Urban reports.
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WAYNE WANG: Chinese Box
Acclaimed Hong Kong born filmmaker Wayne Wang has made a film that is at once overtly
political yet deeply personal, he tells ANDREW L. URBAN
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WEAVING, HUGO & IVIN, GLENDYN – LAST RIDE
Last Ride is Glendyn Ivin’s feature film directorial debut. Despite this,
producer Antonia Barnard realized he was well experienced to take on the role of
director. Antonia says, ‘working with Glendyn was a real joy, and I would
welcome the opportunity to do it again. Whilst he was a debut feature film
director, he has extensive experience with film, and has an extraordinary
cinematic approach.
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WEAVING, HUGO – CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
This guy Johann Schmidt aka Red Skull is right out there, an outrageous villain, Hugo Weaving tells Andrew L. Urban
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WEAVING, HUGO: PROFILE
This month he’s the evil Agent Smith doing damage in the Matrix; next month he’s the immortal half-elf Elrond doing good in Middle-Earth. Internationally respected actor Hugo Weaving has woven a career tapestry rich with diverse roles in every medium, yet he has avoided the downside of fame. He just sticks to his knitting, reports Andrew L. Urban.
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WEAVING, HUGO: SINGING HIS HEART OUT
Award-winning actor Hugo Weaving has been
absent from the big screen since the hit comedy Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. But Weaving is back on the road
with True Love and Chaos. He talks to Paul Fischer.
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WEAVING, HUGO: THE MATRIX
Still recovering from the intense training and physical workout of filming The Matrix
for almost a year, Hugo Weaving is fit and dangerous – at least he hopes you think
so. He talks to ANDREW L. URBAN on his return from the Los Angeles premiere and party
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WEIR, PETER - THE WAY BACK
Drawn in by deep seated emotional pull to the story, Peter Weir returns to the screen with another story of humans under duress in The Way Back. Andrew L. Urban reports.
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WEIR, PETER : THE TRUMAN SHOW
IMPRISONING VISIONS, by Paul Kalina
Weir and weirder – how The Truman Show was made. And why.
Peter Weir talks to Cinema Papers and Urban Cinefile.
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WENHAM, DAVID – THREE DOLLARS
David Wenham’s latest role as Eddie in Three Dollars is the epitome of decency, yet the man finds fate unkind to him. Andrew L. Urban talks to the actor who has just played Cyrano on stage and is about to take a break – unless he’s offered the role of van Gogh....
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WENHAM, DAVID: GETTIN' SQUARE
David Wenham adds a low-life Gold Coast druggie to his repertoire of screen characters in the new Australian drama/comedy, Gettin’ Square, morphing his well groomed good looks into an unrecognisable, misshapen, mullett-haired, badly dressed misfit. And he loved every minute of it, he tells Andrew L. Urban.
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WENHAM, DAVID: MOLOKAI
David Wenham has played many movie roles, including a brutal bastard in The Boys, a mathematics wizz in The Bank, a lover in Better Than Sex and in Paul Cox’s Molokai, he plays a Belgian priest helping lepers in the 19th century. He was in ‘seventh heaven’ when got the gig, he tells Andrew L. Urban, (no pun intended).
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WENHAM, DAVID: The Boys
It's often been said that both the stage and screen
versions of The Boys were loosely based on the infamous Anita
Cobby murder. Not true, David Wenham tells PAUL FISCHER.
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WESTGARTH, BEN - FILMMAKER
You don't have to be in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide or the Gold Coast to make
films, as new filmmaker Ben Westgarth proves; "cameras still work in Canberra,"
he assures ANTHONY MASON.
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WHITE, ALAN: RISK
Making tv commercials in Los Angeles to pay the rent (not a bad credit in
itself) Alan White is an Australian filmmaker who likes to cast actors against
type. In his second feature, Risk, he creates a mixture of crime and
psycho-thriller, with a touch of humour. Andrew L. Urban spoke to him by phone.
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WILLIAMS, OLIVIA: PETER PAN
Breakfast in Australia was a symbolic joy for Olivia Williams, who plays Wendy’s mum Mrs Darling in P.J. Hogan’s Peter Pan, shot in Queensland. And her challenge was to make it a good thing for the children to come home from their amazing adventure, she tells Jenny Cooney Carrillo.
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WILLIAMS, ROBIN: Managing the Madness
Honoured by a retrospective at this year's American Film Festival in Deauville, France,
Robin Williams - a primary force behind the annual benefit, Comic Relief, which has raised
$40 million aid to the homeless - tells our European correspondent, JORN ROSSING JENSEN
that "you are only given a little madness; you mustn't lose it."
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WILLING, NICK: HYPNOTIC
Hypnotic is set in a London that’s a psychotic urban landscape where nothing is what it seems, its co-writer and director Nick Willing tells Jake Wilson. Not to mention the layers of history in the ancient city, which give it a sense of being possessed.
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WILLIS, BRUCE: UNBREAKABLE
Bruce Willis is fascinated by the paranormal on a daily basis. He often wonders why his
life seems blessed, he tells Jenny Cooney Carrillo, as they discuss his latest film,
Unbreakable
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WINTERBOTTOM, MICHAEL – Welcome to Sarajevo
And now for something completely different – Michael Winterbottom has made films
about love in various forms and in various circumstances, but nothing remotely like the
passionate and moving account of a journalist finding himself adopting a war orphan in
Welcome to Sarajevo. He talks to NICK RODDICK.
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WINTERBOTTOM, MICHAEL - WONDERLAND
English filmmaker Michael Winterbottom takes an optimistic view of life in contemporary
London with his latest film, Wonderland, made on a shoestring and shot on hand held
cameras. As he tells ANDREW L. URBAN (in Cannes), the film is about connection between
people.
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WITHERSPOON, REESE: LEGALLY BLONDE 2
In Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods became a role model for teenage girls everywhere. Two years later, with Legally Blonde 2, Nick Roddick discovers that that's only the start of her real-life fan-base, when he meets Witherspoon - and others from the movie.
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WOODS, JAMES : Vampires
JAMES WOODS doesn't
suffer fools gladly, hates the Hollywood system and is not afraid to speak out against
directors who haven't a clue what they're doing.
He plays a unique vampire killer in John Carpenter's Vampires, and as Paul Fischer
discovered when he met the tough-talking actor, Woods is uncompromising.
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WOODS, ROWAN & HAZLEHURST, NONI – LITTLE FISH
Film is a highly collaborative activity, so who you work with – and how free of friction - is of paramount importance. On Little Fish, director Rowan Woods worked with his writer wife, Jacqueline Perske, and Noni Hazlehurst played mum to international Star, Cate Blanchett. They talk about their experiences to Andrew L.Urban.
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WOODS, ROWAN: THE BOYS DVD
Five years after the film’s theatrical release, one of the most powerful of Australian films, The Boys is out on DVD, with a central documentary about it directed by the film’s director himself, Rowan Woods. He wasn’t going to put any old dreary crap on this disc, reports Andrew L. Urban. He wanted something with substance.
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WOOF EMILY: Passion
Emily Woof, who co-stars with Richard Roxburgh and Barbara Hershey in Passion, has
swung on a trapeze before but never had to get whipped for a role – until now. And
she got a big rush out of it, she tells ANDREW L. URBAN in Cannes.
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WORKING TITLE: TIM BEVAN & ERIC FELLNER - LES MISERABLES
It’s always ‘who you know’ ... a social encounter between producer Eric Fellner of Working Title and Nicholas Allott, the managing director of Cameron Macintosh set in train the project to turn “arguably the theater’s greatest musical into a musical for the big screen – a daunting task,” says Fellner. In Sydney for the premiere of the film, Fellner and his WT partner of 25 years, Tim Bevan, reveal the secrets of their success to Andrew L. Urban . . . sort of ...
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WRIGHT, GEOFFREY – MACBETH
Too many of our local screenplays are about characters who react to the world …
things happen to them. Shakespeare writes about characters who want things and
want them very badly – and that’s an important lesson for Australian writers,
Geoffrey Wright tells Andrew L. Urban, explaining why he wanted to make a film
about an Alpha male like Macbeth, resettled as a gangster in Melbourne.
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WRIGHT, GEOFFREY: Cherry Falls
Geoffrey Wright – regarded as Australia’s enfant terrible filmmaker when he made
Romper Stomper and Metal Skin - is now in West Virginia, shooting Cherry Falls, a US$11
million teen horror flick. PAUL FISCHER caught up with the maverick filmmaker on location
where Wright talked about his Hollywood experiences.
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WRIGHT, JOE – PRIDE & PREJUDICE
English director Joe Wright overcame his Jane Austen prejudice and took on the
film version of Pride & Prejudice, doing lots of research, including how 500
people at an 18th century ball went to the toilet, which he reveals to Monika
Agorelius, as the film is released on DVD.
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