“The script was so personal to him and so relatable for me. I’m a different generation but we have a lot of similarities,” reflects editor Scott Morris on why James Gray’s film “Armageddon Time” resonated with him so deeply. The writer-director penned the film as a semi-autobiographical look at his adolescence growing up in Queens, New York, in 1980. Morris felt a deep connection to the material not only because he shares the “same cultural background” as the characters, but also because of his “very personal connection” with New York. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Morris’ initial conversations with Gray about the style of filmmaking for “Armageddon Time” revolved around its autobiographical nature. The editor describes the director’s film as a “ghost story for his family,” especially because so many of the central characters, who are all based on Gray’s family members, have passed away. He...
Morris’ initial conversations with Gray about the style of filmmaking for “Armageddon Time” revolved around its autobiographical nature. The editor describes the director’s film as a “ghost story for his family,” especially because so many of the central characters, who are all based on Gray’s family members, have passed away. He...
- 12/5/2022
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
Armageddon Time review: Trump and Reagan provide a backdrop to a flawed yet interesting family drama
Dir: James Gray. Starring: Banks Repeta, Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Jaylin Webb, Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Sell. 15, 115 minutes.
I’m convinced James Gray makes films not out of desire, but out of compulsion. Behind the thorny intimacy of Two Lovers (2008) or the cobwebbed dreams of dead explorers in The Lost City of Z (2016) lies a desperate search for answers to ugly questions. In Ad Astra (2019), Brad Pitt’s astronaut travels to the furthest reaches of the solar system in order to find his father, only to be told to go home and leave papa be. How does someone even start to process a rejection that profound?
Gray’s latest, Armageddon Time, is a flawed work. But it sees the filmmaker at his most vulnerable, as he twists the camera back on himself and asks: of all the paths that brought me here, how many were carved out by my own privilege?...
I’m convinced James Gray makes films not out of desire, but out of compulsion. Behind the thorny intimacy of Two Lovers (2008) or the cobwebbed dreams of dead explorers in The Lost City of Z (2016) lies a desperate search for answers to ugly questions. In Ad Astra (2019), Brad Pitt’s astronaut travels to the furthest reaches of the solar system in order to find his father, only to be told to go home and leave papa be. How does someone even start to process a rejection that profound?
Gray’s latest, Armageddon Time, is a flawed work. But it sees the filmmaker at his most vulnerable, as he twists the camera back on himself and asks: of all the paths that brought me here, how many were carved out by my own privilege?...
- 11/20/2022
- by Clarisse Loughrey
- The Independent - Film
“I don’t necessarily associate the 80s with a period piece because it just doesn’t feel that long ago to me,” admits production designer Happy Massee as he reflects on his work on “Armageddon Time.” The new James Gray film takes place in Queens, New York, in 1980, and centers on the friendship between two middle-school students across social divisions of race and class. The set decorator lived in New York in the 80s, so bringing that period to life did not take an inordinate amount of research. He shares, “The research were my personal experiences. I sort of re-lived something that I lived when I was in my early 20s.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“Armageddon Time” is Massee’s third collaboration with Gray on a feature, having previously worked with the director on “Two Lovers” and “The Immigrant.” He recounts meeting the writer-director for the first time,...
“Armageddon Time” is Massee’s third collaboration with Gray on a feature, having previously worked with the director on “Two Lovers” and “The Immigrant.” He recounts meeting the writer-director for the first time,...
- 11/18/2022
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
“I remember 1980 as a time when New York could be a scary place,” recollects composer Christopher Spelman. The musician wrote the score of James Gray’s new film “Armageddon Time,” which takes place in Queens, NY, in 1980 and chronicles the friendship between two sixth-graders during a transitional moment in United States history. He remembers the city at that time as a “really amazing, fascinating place where I was super happy to be, but a place where you could run into chaos pretty much anywhere.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Spelman has frequently collaborated with Gray, having previously scored “The Immigrant” and “The Lost City of Z” and consulted on other films by the director. The musician shares that he loves the “open conversation” that they share, noting how the filmmaker never “hesitates to tell me what he really thinks.” He also describes the writer-director as “extremely funny… the funniest...
Spelman has frequently collaborated with Gray, having previously scored “The Immigrant” and “The Lost City of Z” and consulted on other films by the director. The musician shares that he loves the “open conversation” that they share, noting how the filmmaker never “hesitates to tell me what he really thinks.” He also describes the writer-director as “extremely funny… the funniest...
- 11/8/2022
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
Trying to follow in the footsteps of last year’s best original screenplay winner Kenneth Branagh (“Belfast”), Focus Features is trying to position writer, director and co-producer James Gray as one of the awards season’s breakout nominees for “Armageddon Time.” The film is currently sitting with a respectable 89 on Rotten Tomatoes, and the awards team will be looking for opportunities beyond the Writer’s Branch.
After debuting the film at the Cannes Film Festival, before making stops at Telluride and later this week at the New York Film Festival, the distributor has revealed exclusively to Variety its awards submission categories for the film’s actors.
Anne Hathaway, who plays the devoted mother Esther, was one of the actors who seemed to straddle the line between lead and supporting, and she will be seeking the latter. A two-time Oscar-nominee for “Rachel Getting Married” (2008) and “Les Misérables” (2012), which she won for best supporting actress,...
After debuting the film at the Cannes Film Festival, before making stops at Telluride and later this week at the New York Film Festival, the distributor has revealed exclusively to Variety its awards submission categories for the film’s actors.
Anne Hathaway, who plays the devoted mother Esther, was one of the actors who seemed to straddle the line between lead and supporting, and she will be seeking the latter. A two-time Oscar-nominee for “Rachel Getting Married” (2008) and “Les Misérables” (2012), which she won for best supporting actress,...
- 9/26/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
141 original scores just made the Oscar shortlist, meaning that we have no real idea which soundtracks will go on to be nominated for the actual Academy Award — “Phantom Thread” composer Jonny Greenwood looks poised to finally be recognized for his work, but might “Baywatch” be a spoiler? We simply don’t know, dear reader. We simply don’t know.
As you await the nominations — which will be announced on Tuesday, January 23 — treat yourself to this selection of tracks from the shortlist.
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Original Score
Read More:Oscars 2018: Best Original Score Shortlist Includes ‘The Shape of Water,’ ‘All the Money in the World,’ and More
Here are the 141 scores vying for an Oscar nod:
“Alien: Covenant,” Jed Kurzel, composer
“All I See Is You,” Marc Streitenfeld, composer
“All the Money in the World,” Daniel Pemberton, composer
“Annabelle: Creation,” Benjamin Wallfisch, composer
“Band Aid,” Lucius, composer
“Battle of the Sexes,...
As you await the nominations — which will be announced on Tuesday, January 23 — treat yourself to this selection of tracks from the shortlist.
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Original Score
Read More:Oscars 2018: Best Original Score Shortlist Includes ‘The Shape of Water,’ ‘All the Money in the World,’ and More
Here are the 141 scores vying for an Oscar nod:
“Alien: Covenant,” Jed Kurzel, composer
“All I See Is You,” Marc Streitenfeld, composer
“All the Money in the World,” Daniel Pemberton, composer
“Annabelle: Creation,” Benjamin Wallfisch, composer
“Band Aid,” Lucius, composer
“Battle of the Sexes,...
- 12/23/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
They don’t make ’em like this any more, and the original TV spots for James Gray’s accurate retelling of history almost didn’t know how to sell it. Charlie Hunnam spends his life trying to solve a riddle of the Peruvian rainforest, in between fighting in WW1 and dealing with class prejudice. Yup, one could say the picture was filmed in a ‘classic’ style . . . can a show like that find an audience these days?
The Lost City of Z
Blu-ray
Broadgreen / Amazon Studios
2016 / Color / 2:39 widescreen / 141 min. / Street Date July 11, 2017 / 34.99
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland, Edward Ashley, Angus Macfadyen, Ian McDiarmid, Clive Francis, Murray Melvin.
Cinematography: Darious Khondji
Film Editor:John Axelrad, Lee Haugen
Original Music: Christopher Spelman
From the book by David Grann
Produced by Dede Gardner, James Gray, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner
Written for the Screen and Directed by James Gray
More...
The Lost City of Z
Blu-ray
Broadgreen / Amazon Studios
2016 / Color / 2:39 widescreen / 141 min. / Street Date July 11, 2017 / 34.99
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland, Edward Ashley, Angus Macfadyen, Ian McDiarmid, Clive Francis, Murray Melvin.
Cinematography: Darious Khondji
Film Editor:John Axelrad, Lee Haugen
Original Music: Christopher Spelman
From the book by David Grann
Produced by Dede Gardner, James Gray, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner
Written for the Screen and Directed by James Gray
More...
- 7/11/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
James Gray is a filmmaker who often seems to wind up having the worst luck. Whether it’s with a distributor or with his star acting up, Gray can’t seem to catch a break once his film is in the can. This time around, Brad Pitt and Plan B funded The Lost City of Z, with Amazon Studios picking it up for distribution. Aside from an initial 2016 release being pushed to this year, there weren’t any real hiccups. After premiering to a strong reception last year at The New York Film Festival, it hits theaters this week, hoping to finally give Gray the larger platform that he so deserves. The film, based on the book by David Grann, is a period piece about one explorer’s obsession. That individual is none other than British explorer Colonel Percival Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam). Percy Fawcett has long explored the Amazon, but...
- 4/13/2017
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Glorious music, photography and Robert Pattinson’s beard make this trip up the Amazon just about worth it
“Terrible diseases, murderous savages.” Not to mention waters that boil with piranhas: Col Percival Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) is prepared to face all of this and more on a mapping expedition to Bolivia. His hope is that a successful mission will help him excise the shame that clings to his family name like some parasitic growth. But in fact, in James Gray’s uneven account of a real-life explorer’s obsession with Amazonia, Fawcett discovers that he feels more alive picking leeches out of his armpit hair than he ever did in the drawing rooms of polite society. And there are moments of richly realised magic here in which we fully sympathise with him.
A nod to Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo is one – a gorgeously odd segment in which Fawcett and his team stumble...
“Terrible diseases, murderous savages.” Not to mention waters that boil with piranhas: Col Percival Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) is prepared to face all of this and more on a mapping expedition to Bolivia. His hope is that a successful mission will help him excise the shame that clings to his family name like some parasitic growth. But in fact, in James Gray’s uneven account of a real-life explorer’s obsession with Amazonia, Fawcett discovers that he feels more alive picking leeches out of his armpit hair than he ever did in the drawing rooms of polite society. And there are moments of richly realised magic here in which we fully sympathise with him.
A nod to Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo is one – a gorgeously odd segment in which Fawcett and his team stumble...
- 3/26/2017
- by Wendy Ide
- The Guardian - Film News
Editor's Note: We're featuring individually chosen Fyc's for various longshots in the Oscar race. We'll never repeat a film or a category so we hope you enjoy the variety of picks. And if you're lucky enough to be an AMPAS, HFPA, or Critics Group voter, take note! Here's Jose on The Immmigrant.
Director James Gray has stated on many occasions that he owes his inspiration for The Immigrant to music, to be more specific: opera. How it was when he was watching Puccini’s Il Trittico at the La Opera, with tears streaming down his face, that he realized he needed to tell this story. Inspired by Puccini’s sinful sister Angelica, he created the character of Ewa (Marion Cotillard) a Polish immigrant forced into prostitution by the conniving pimp Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix) who in a way is perversely in love with her. Gray wanted to tell a grand story...
Director James Gray has stated on many occasions that he owes his inspiration for The Immigrant to music, to be more specific: opera. How it was when he was watching Puccini’s Il Trittico at the La Opera, with tears streaming down his face, that he realized he needed to tell this story. Inspired by Puccini’s sinful sister Angelica, he created the character of Ewa (Marion Cotillard) a Polish immigrant forced into prostitution by the conniving pimp Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix) who in a way is perversely in love with her. Gray wanted to tell a grand story...
- 12/4/2014
- by Jose
- FilmExperience
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