Shoutout from Lexi Alexander

When I was part of Zoe Saldana's round-table interview during the Guardians of the Galaxy Singapore press tour, Saldana spoke about the dearth of women in creative roles in Hollywood (you can read the article here). I brought up Lexi Alexander, director of Punisher: War Zone, Oscar-nominee for her short film Johnny Flynton and a World Point Fighting/Karate champion. In short, an all-around badass.

This piqued Saldana's interest and I was really thrilled that Ms. Alexander herself came across the article and mentioned it on Twitter. Here are some screenshots of her Twitter feed and the responses it received:

"Femme Malheureuse" is French for "Unhappy Woman". Thanks Ms. Alexander for considering me an #ally! 

Guardians of the Galaxy

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

2014

Director: James Gunn

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin

Genre : Action, Adventure, Sci-fi

Opens : 31 July 2014

Rating : PG13 

Run time: 121 mins

            Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is drawing to a close, the release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron imminent. With Guardians of the Galaxy, the MCU heads, to quote Dragonheart’s Draco, “to the stars”. Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Pratt), taken from earth as a child, is in search of a prized orb. His treasure hunt sets him on a collision course with some rather colourful characters. These include Gamora (Saldana), an assassin and the adopted daughter of the intergalactic tyrant Thanos (Brolin), Drax (Bautista), hungry for vengeance after his wife and child are slain, Rocket (Cooper), a smart-mouthed, cybernetically-enhanced raccoon and Groot (Diesel), a humanoid tree creature. This unlikely band calls themselves “the Guardians of the Galaxy”, confronting bounty hunter Korath (Hounsou), treacherous zealot Ronan (Pace) and Gamora’s jealous adopted sister Nebula (Gillan) in order to prevent Ronan from getting his hands on a cataclysmic weapon.

            Following the departure of director Edgar Wright and actor Patrick Wilson from the upcoming Ant-Man, murmurs have begun to swirl that the executives at Marvel Studios are exercising too much creative control over their films. That Guardians of the Galaxy even got made assuages those fears at least a little. Producer Kevin Feige says this is the “riskiest movie [he’s] done since Iron Man” and that is not hyperbole. In the hands of maverick director James Gunn, he of Slither, James Gunn’s PG Porn and Troma Pictures fame, GotG is wild, woolly and drastically different from everything else that has come before in the MCU. If Thor, drawing on Norse mythology, was outré, this is certainly even more so. The screenplay which Gunn co-wrote with Nicole Perlman is sharp and consistently funny, irreverent yet far from cynical and alienating (hee) as it well could’ve been.  

            In an age where it feels Hollywood has gotten more and more homogenised, it is refreshing to see a big-budget, mass-market blockbuster that is, well, this refreshing. Spectacle is not in short supply, the world-building on display truly dazzling and electric. For at least a few kids out there, this is going to be their Star Wars: Xandar, Knowhere, the Kyln, the Dark Aster their Tatoonie, Bespin, Hoth or Death Star. These are colourful worlds but they still retain grit and believability. The visual effects work, the character animation on Rocket and Groot in particular, is very commendable. The tree-creature and the talking raccoon both convincingly inhabit the same space as the flesh-and-blood actors, their expressions and movements nuanced and even genuinely moving.

            Chris Pratt is proving himself to be an unlikely but most deserving leading man, shedding the pounds and putting on the muscle to play Star-Lord. His comedic timing and roguish charm combine to make him an ideal protagonist, reminiscent of Han Solo in the best way possible. Saldana continues to hold her own as the capable, commanding action girl of the moment and Bautista brings heart and warmth to the literal-minded, muscle-bound Drax. Taking Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper, arguably two of the bigger names of the cast, and having them provide voices for animated characters can be seen as yet another intentionally unorthodox move on the part of the filmmakers. Saying “I am Groot” repeated ad nauseam may sound like an easy paycheck but Diesel, who broke our hearts as the Iron Giant back in 1999, brings that same basso profundo kindness to Groot – and sounds great angry, too. Hollywood superstars with little real voice-acting experience often “die in the booth” –Cooper does not. As the irascible raccoon, he is amusing but also makes the character far more than the requisite funny talking animal and is certainly a better choice than Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey, rumoured to be attached to the part.

            Unfortunately, the film suffers slightly in the villains’ department. Lee Pace delights in being showy and menacing, Karen Gillan is still a knockout playing against type, even painted blue and with a bald head and Josh Brolin’s appearance as Thanos is but a teaser for his later involvement in the MCU. All quite serviceable, it’s just that their confrontations with our heroes are not as dramatic and explosive as they could’ve been. Still, this is at the expense of character development for the titular team and this is more than forgivable. The eclectic supporting cast including names as disparate as Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro and Michael Rooker add a distinct flavour to the proceedings as well.

            Guardians of the Galaxy is everything this reviewer loves about movies, particularly movies that defined his tastes during childhood. There’s action, adventure, humour, visual fireworks and just enough heartstring-tugging sentiment. The soundtrack is excellent as well, Star-Lord viewing his mix-tapes as precious family heirlooms and the only physical reminder of his late mother he has left. And ultimately, this is a movie about a ragtag bunch that may be far-out but are still relatable and are totally the kinds of people (and raccoons and tree-creatures) you’d want to sit in a cantina with and just hang out. Oh, and the post-credit scene for this one is the biggest treat any hard-core fan of the weirder corners of the Marvel Universe could ever want.

Summary: Out of this world.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Guardians of the Galaxy Interviews: Zoe Saldana

For F*** Magazine

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY INTERVIEWS

ZOE SALDANA

By Jedd Jong

Zoe Saldana has carved a niche for herself as the go-to ass-kicking femme in everything from Colombiana and The Losers to Star Trek and, of course, Avatar. Like Neytiri from that film, Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy is a formidable alien warrior, though her back-story is more tragic – an orphan who is kidnapped, forced to accept a tyrant as her adopted father and forged into the “deadliest woman in the galaxy”. Looking ravishing as always in a subtle low-cut floral print dress, the actress noticed this writer’s Marvel Legends Gamora action figure on the table as she came in to talk Guardians with F***. She appeared thrilled to play with the figure, but upon closer inspection, was slightly disappointed. “That’s not my face,” she said as she examined the bored-looking, expressionless little plastic Gamora. Tsk tsk, Hasbro!

 

However, it was far too small a matter for Saldana to be bothered by and she was thrilled that she was getting another action figure anyway. She shared about her penchant for sci-fi action adventure parts, her desire to break out of the designated roles for women in films, the design of Gamora’s costume and makeup, working with leading man Chris Pratt and of her support for Argentina in the World Cup.

What’s Gamora like on the inside?

Obviously, on the surface she looks fabulous, she can fight, she can kill, she can do this, but I wanted to know why she was the way that she was. Then you learn that she was an orphan, that she was taken from her planet, that she was forced into a life of violence, battle and crime, she was forced to adopt a father that basically caused so much harm to her and her people so there’s a lot of confusion to Gamora and I felt there’s so many situations in life that we’ve heard in the news, even with the lost kids of Sudan, like if there’s anything I can compare Gamora to, it would have to be that. It’s a very similar story where you’re taken from your home in the middle of the night and you become someone else even though deep, deep down, you’re not as bad as you’re supposed to be. So that was sort of my approach to Gamora because when it came to all the fight sequences, I was like “I know she’s going to be great, they’re going to get an amazing stuntwoman [laughs] to make her look super, super cool, and I’m going to work just as hard as I always do” and then we just focus on the heart factor of her.

When you were filming an action scene, you nearly broke Chris Pratt’s wrist. Could you tell us about what happened?

His wrist. I think I did. I kicked him hard one time and he said it didn’t bother, like he said “it’s okay, it’s okay” but then I saw him kind of limping away…my god! Yeah, it happens, I think I smacked him a couple of times and I think Karen and I would bump our swords and sort of hit each other and go “oh god! I’m so sorry I’m sorry.” You have those moments that you kind of break character and you realise “oh my god, I can really hurt someone if I don’t focus and be careful.”

You were in Star Trek, Avatar and now Guardians. What is it about science fiction films that attracts you to them?

Um, I know and then I don’t know. It’s good stories, they usually come with good directors, I like working with good people, there’s something very fascinating about being able to work with people who can imagine the unimaginable that makes me feel limitless. Also, as a woman and as a woman of colour, the roles on earth are just a little too typical for me – either you’re playing someone’s girlfriend or someone’s wife or someone’s mother – and that’s great, I love doing those roles when it comes in a great package with a great story and a great director, but not all the time, every now and then I want to play something different even though the story’s still going to be the same, you’re still going to fall in love with the guy, but I just feel a little more substantial and relevant to the story, I guess and they all have the coincidence that they’re set in space. I would love to do them on earth, but they’re not [laughs].

Was there some friendly competition going on between you and Karen Gillan who plays your adopted sister and what was it like working with her?

Fantastic, it was really great. I think our characters are very competitive, I think that Nebula is much more competitive with Gamora because there’s a preference that Thanos has with her, that I hope that in the sequel we can go into that, but I feel that in this movie, James did a wonderful job establishing this kind of relationship that Nebula and Gamora have which is very dysfunctional, because it’s one-sided. The hate is from one side and the love is also from one side, so that creates a very big conflict because they’re sisters, even though they’re not [biologically] but that’s the way I see Nebula.

Working with Karen or with a woman will never be competitive, at least from my end and from Karen, it was never competitive. If anything, it’s empowering, it is beautiful because sometimes being the only female in the cast can get to be very lonely [laughs].

How did your life change after Avatar?

It gave me the possibility to be working with a filmmaker like James Gunn, who saw my work in Avatar and thought “oh you know what, she can play a great Gamora” so being a part of an amazing movie like Avatar which is – please don’t think I’m arrogant for saying this, but it’s true – it was considered, no it is the biggest movie on earth! [Laughs] means that a lot of people saw it and it wasn’t just the audience, it wasn’t just the fans and the viewers, it was also filmmakers, actors, producers and writers and it gave them an impression of my work and a feeling that maybe they would want to work with me. It’s given me an exposition that I’m still able to benefit from after all these years and I will always be indebted to that movie, that whole experience, James Cameron and Neytiri for that.

You have several big projects lined up, Avatar 2 and 3…

…And 4 [laughs]!

And Star Trek 3, how do you balance your time between your career and your family?

God, I guess…just whatever comes first will have to be…life sometimes just needs to happened as opposed to you just controlling everything. If I create an imbalance in my life where I’m just living to work, then when all of a sudden I’m willing to live, I might miss things that are very important about life so I try as I grow older to incorporate, to try and live in harmony with all the things that are presented on my plate and those things that are presented presently on my plate may push others away or push others to another time then it was meant to be. So I’m just happy that all these franchises that I’ve done are able to be called “franchises” and that they have no intentions of recasting my characters [laughs] and these are filmmakers that I also consider my friends and my family so I know that whatever will be happening in my life, I know that they will have my support as friends and as people first, and then their support as professionals.

How much say did you have in the design of Gamora’s costume and what shade of green she would be?

(Laughs) actually believe it or not, I had, but it didn’t feel like I used it, like I used that power or that privilege or that gift. It felt like such a collaboration of trying to put Gamora together, all of together as a collective from Alex[andra] Byrne the costume designer to Vera Steimberg who did my makeup and created the colouring, the right shade of green to what kind of colour hair she was going to have.

I felt that if she had…and now I had an opinion about it, I felt like her ends needed to be a different colour because I thought it needed to be a non-human colour, a funky colour. If it was all black, then she was just going to have a very mean look. Green has been equated to Martians, to bad and evil aliens, so I was already coming with an impediment and she was supposed to be the female eye candy so I was like “well, good luck with that!” I think she needs a little bit of funkiness and we tried it and it really worked, it felt fun and youthful so we went with it. Alex was all about making her look, obviously, like a badass, but because she’s done many Marvel movies and she’s had to dress a lot of females, comfort is also very important, flexibility, especially because she knows I do a lot of my own stunts so I did not want to be restricted by the costume but I also didn’t want to compromise how beautiful it looked. So we always collaborated.

I think my biggest issue with the whole thing was probably the boots. They were made by specific people that obviously they [Marvel Studios] were always working with and talking to, but they felt…they were different levels and I would have lower ones whenever I was running, higher ones whenever I was standing and the flat ones whenever we were doing hard, stunt-y scenes, not only me but also my stunt double. And then the sets were just uneven, the flooring, so you want to be careful, you don’t want to break an ankle and then compromise the whole production so there were a lot of observations that I had with the shoes. The older you get, you just get pickier with your shoes [laughs]. I thought that was never going to happen! I was 29 years old, looking at women going “put your shoes back on, why are you changing into your trainers, we should walk in heels every day!” and now look at me [gets up to walk around] – flats! People change I guess!

The film is about saving the universe. Is there something that you’re passionate about on earth that you would like to save?

Saving the universe. I’m joking. Something I’m passionate about…women. I’m very passionate about women. I love being a woman, I am a devout artist, that is who I was born to be, and I am starving for a feminine presence, more of a feminine presence in art, not just in film, but also in our directors, in our painters and sculptors, we need that. Not just women, men need that. Men need women. It’s very important that if art is supposed to imitate life, we need to have a more accurate depiction of what life really is in our art. So, it’s very discouraging for me as an art-lover and a film-lover that whenever I’m not shooting films and I want to go to movies, I don’t have a decent selection of films where they’re female centred. And the female films are usually precious little movies, I just want to see harder movies! I want to see women playing characters that the men get to play, that are psychopaths, that are villains, that are crazy, that are cops, that are detectives, the heroes sometimes because in reality, that’s who we are, you know, just as much as the men are, so that’s one thing I’m very passionate about.

Is that how you choose your roles?

Yeah. I don’t choose it because I have this duty; it’s natural to me. I wasn’t just made to be someone’s wife or someone’s mother or someone’s girlfriend, it’s like that’s a part of me, but if I did that all day I’d be like “oh god, how boring!” I’m a serviceable human being. Yes, servicing is part of who we are supposed to be as a human race, but not all of it, so it’s not real. It’s unnatural to me to see women in a movie who just come out and oh, she’s sexy or she’s naked and she’s making love and the man always talks to her like she’s a piece of crap and then he walks away and then she dies! And he doesn’t cry for her. Oh my god, that doesn’t even represent the men I know in my life, you know what I’m saying? And our action movies sometimes are voided of sentiment and drama and human behaviour, accurate human response to something.

That’s why I love Guardians because Quill, to me, is the perfect hero. He’s so broken, he’s so scared, he’s so flawed, he’s such a player, all these things are what makes him special, what makes him the worthiest candidate to save the universe, as opposed to somebody who just comes and bends steel. It’s like “okay, great” [laughs]. I want somebody to learn to bend steel because they’re unlearning ugly things about themselves. I hope I stayed on the same…I tend to trail away, sorry! [Laughs]

Speaking of Quill, how was it working with Chris Pratt?

It was wonderful, he is sweet, talented, humble, everyday kinda guy, super diverse in his acting, it was just…and he’s a husband and a father, everything about Chris Pratt is made for a star. That is an individual, an actor who is worthy of being called a movie star and these are things that I don’t believe in, I don’t believe in “stars” and “fame” and “celebrity”, I believe in artists. But this man, I would want to see stories being told through his eyes because he’s fun and he takes you with it, he’s just great. And, he doesn’t think that he can do it. And I’m like “I think it’s a little pattern, a little shtick you’re pulling here, you know what you’re doing, you planned this out...”

No, he’s totally, just naturally like (imitating Pratt) “I don’t know if I could do this…”

I say “Chris, just do it!” And then he does it and it’s just great. I mean, look at the transformation that he did with his body for this movie, it makes me want to cry because he worked so hard for it and it wasn’t just for aesthetics. It wasn’t just a cosmetic thing because that would give out the wrong message.

He was coming from one place and one world where he always got used to being told “you’re gonna be second because you’re not attractive, you’re not the material that you need to make a movie star”.

And he said “well first of all, that shouldn’t be the material that you’re basing a movie star on, but if that is, I’m just going to do it for health reasons first and two, to prove that it can be done.” And then everything else just fell into place, it was beautiful to watch.

When you were talking about female directors, I was thinking if perhaps you would consider working with Lexi Alexander, who did Punisher: War Zone, she’s an interesting female director.

What movie is that, can you tell me?

Punisher: War Zone

When did it come out?

2008. It was buried by the studio…

Gary? Is my publicist here? Can you make a note of that?

Her name is Lexi Alexander, she’s a martial arts champion and an Oscar-nominated short film director who made a comic book movie and wants to create action films.

I like her already!

You were in Infinitely Polar Bear alongside Mark Ruffalo, and perhaps Gamora and the Hulk would get along because they’re both green. Do you think the Guardians will get to meet the Avengers further down the line?

Yes. I think that that reunion is inevitable. I just hope that I’m in it, I really do.

(To Gary) There’s this filmmaker, Lexi Alexander, who made this movie called Punisher, Punisher: War Zone. Can you remind me to go get it? Where is she from, the States?

Germany, I think.

Nice! I like her already.

Have you been watching the World Cup?

Yes, are you kidding me [laughs]?! Ask me what time I woke up today! 3, okay, and I saw the entire Argentina match, did I tell you guys about it?

How are you awake and fresh now?

Because remember guys, I come from L.A. and it’s 15 hours behind, I don’t know what time it is now, is it the middle of the night?

Gary: It’s 10 o’clock.

Zoe: That’s why. Give me two hours, I’m going to be miserable [laughs]. I’m joking actually.

Did you sleep after watching the match?

No no no, because we were so excited that Argentina won! The makeup artist is from Argentina, so I have to root for Argentina because otherwise she wouldn’t have helped me [laughs].

You’re supporting Argentina in the finals?

Yes. I’m Latina, I’m a first generation Latina, I grew up in the Caribbean so half of my friends are called “Diego” [after Maradona]. Latinos just do that. When you have a boy, they say “let’s name him Diego!” and thank God the women go “no” (laughs). If not, the whole of Latin America would be named Diego Maradona! Football is something that I grew up watching, my husband [Marco Perego] used to be a soccer player and now there’s even more soccer in our lives, my brother-in-law was from England and he’s a devout soccer fan so there’s a lot of soccer from one house to another. You should see our Whatsapp, that’s all we ever talk about! Never thought I would do this, but I’m passionate about soccer!

  

On Guard! Guardians of the Galaxy in Singapore

For F*** Magazine

ON GUARD! THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY IN SINGAPORE

By Jedd Jong for F*** Magazine 11/7/14

Photos by Tedd and Jedd Jong

Here in Singapore, we’re hooked on a feeling and high on believing after director James Gunn and stars Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista journeyed from the furthest reaches of the cosmos to our sunny shores. The Guardians of the Galaxy Southeast Asia press conference was held on Thursday, 10 July at the Marina Bay Sands convention centre. Before that, we were treated to a tantalising 17 minute preview of the film in IMAX 3D. The sequence showcased the titular team after they had just been formed and flung into a space prison called The Kyln. Packed with humour, action and attitude, it was an exciting way to whet the appetite for what Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige has called “the riskiest movie I have made since Iron Man.”

The titular team consists of a thief, an assassin, two thugs and a blade-wielding psycho. “I’m going to be arrested for inviting such company to peaceful Singapore,” host Glenn Ong remarked. Gunn, Saldana and Bautista took to the stage at the press conference to the strains of Blue Swede’s Hooked on a Feeling, one of the songs on Star-Lord’s “awesome mix tape”.

Right off the bat, director Gunn took charge, opening with “look how pretty Zoe Saldana looks…and look how pretty Dave Bautista looks too!” The director, known for his background in edgy, low-budget cult horror flicks, let his eccentric side show when he commented that Marc Quinn’s giant baby sculpture, residing in the Gardens by the Bay, as his “favourite thing I’ve ever seen in [his] entire life”. When asked about the humorous tone of the film, Gunn said “I think that really Guardians of the Galaxy is about characters. I think that these characters are in and of themselves funny, so it wasn’t so much a matter of me trying to pack in the comedy, it was just letting these characters and these actors here fully express themselves so that the humour was able to come out in a natural way.”

When Ong reminded all present not to broach personal questions, Gunn sportingly leapt in with “You can ask personal questions of me – ask about my personal life, my love life, my cat, I’m an open book, ask away! I’ll give you all the gory details,” to uproarious laughter.

Turning to pro wrestler-turned-actor Dave Bautista, Ong jokingly said to the 1.98 m tall man, “thank you so much for increasing the average height of people in Singapore, for this week at least”.

Bautista said he still finds his fame and recognition “weird”. “I don’t know man, I think inside I feel like such a normal guy and also somewhat of an introvert too,” he said softly.

“Yes, he’s very shy,” co-star Saldana confirmed.

Commenting on playing a physical brute, Bautista observed “that’s always been the easy part for me. I’m a physical guy, working out is kind of my thing, it’s my release and my therapy, so physically it wasn’t as tough as it was as just stretching myself as an actor. It’s all kind of new to me, it’s such a large role, stepping on stage with some of the best and most talented people in the world, actors and directors, it was challenging.”

Elaborating on the character of Drax, Bautista said “he’s always described as this warrior who’s hell-bent on rage, I always say ‘no, at the core of Drax, Drax is heartbroken over the murder of his family and he’s just this very vulnerable guy.’ Very literal, and there’s that insane side, that sociopath side – I don’t think Drax knows it’s wrong to kill people,” he laughed. “Actually, he’s got a heart that’s bigger than his brain, he’s a very noble character and his core is his heart.”

It became very clear that Bautista was a surprisingly sweet, shy person behind his musclebound exterior. When a reporter asked if he shed a few tears upon receiving the news that he would play Drax, Bautista replied “It was true. I literally broke down, it wasn’t a few tears! I was driving…I literally just broke down, I drove home, I was a mess…It was a big deal to me, I can never explain how big it was to me, it was a life-changing moment.” He confessed that the transition from wrestling to acting was far from an easy one. "My first acting gig, I did as a favour for a friend and I realised two things: one of was how hard it was and two was that I loved it, I wanted to pursue it. There’s just not a lot of similarities, the only similarity is that cameras are pointed at you and that’s all it is. Wrestling is so broad, so conversational and acting is so much more intimate and intimidating!”

He continued, “It was hard for me to leave behind wrestling, and I worked and struggle, worked and struggled and auditioned I finally got the dream role of a lifetime, it was like make or break, I pretty lost everything I gained while wrestling, I lost it all because I took a chance on myself because I was passionate to pursue it. So it was worth a few tears, I broke down. It meant that much to me.”

Gunn was moved by Bautista’s earnestness. “From the beginning, sometimes you meet actors that you really like as people and you really want to get them the role but they aren’t right for the role, you give the role to the person who deserves the role and from the moment I met Dave, he and I have a sort of connection. Within minutes of talking, I kind of liked Dave and I liked him so much as a person that I was rooting for him to come through, through a series of screen tests and a lot of different things he had to go through to try and get the role, and when he proved himself to be by far, the only person we ever thought of for the role was Dave Bautista despite some stuff that the press might have said, Dave was the only person we offered the role to because he was the best. Dave actually was that good, it was touching for me and I say this of all the cast: they’re people whom I really like as people, but they’re also the best people for the role.”

Zoe Saldana said she had stayed up all night to watch the World Cup semi-finals game and was overjoyed that Argentina emerged victorious. In spite of this, she looked alert and radiant. Even though she was contacted directly by Gunn for the part instead of having to go through multiple auditions, she still found it a nerve-wracking experience. “The first thing you feel is flattered, super-blessed, your ego gets a little peaked a lot, but the second thought is absolute panic because if you say ‘yes’, there’s a lot of expectations lying on your shoulders because work that you’ve done before has [been] brought [to] the attention of this awesome director and he’s relying on you delivering what he’s seen you deliver before, which he thought was so cool.”

Saldana was hesitant given the demanding nature of the role, but decided to leap right into it. “ I was a little nervous when they said yes, and then they told me about the 5.5 hours of makeup every day, and then they told me about the shooting it for five months and we were going to be shooting it for six day weeks, and there was going to be a lot of action and fighting and rehearsals and then I said ‘okay, yes’. I kind of went ‘okay, I’ll do it, I’ll do it!’ because I didn’t want to realise what I was getting myself into but it ended up being a great experience, because it had everything that I grew up wanting movies to have: it had action, it had comedy, it had a lot of imagination and the story was really complete and all the characters had such a beautiful journey from beginning to the end individually, but also as a collective, and I thought ‘this is a great ensemble picture to be part of’.”

On being the only female member of the Guardians, Saldana said “It feels great, it’s empowering because I know that it delivers a very strong message to young women that besides being beautiful and delicate flowers, that you can also channel your strength and not be afraid of it. It’s very rewarding when you know you can climb a tree, or you can grab a weapon, even though we’re in the world of make-believe, you can see yourself kind of doing all these things and you feel very empowered.” She was grateful that she was not alone – Gamora has a fearsome adopted sister whom she clashes with. “I’m actually very happy to say that I’m not the only female in this cast and Karen Gillan, who plays Nebula, did an amazing job and it’s really great to know that I was sharing screen time with not only amazing male actors, but also with another female actress because sometimes being the only female actress can be a little lonely.”

Gunn chimed in with “Karen and Zoe were a lot of fun to watch on set because they had a huge fight scene, with these two super-powered females fighting each other, and it was like two female Clint Eastwoods battling it out and duelling and all of a sudden I would yell ‘cut!’ and they would go ‘tee-hee hee hee! Hee hee hee hee!’”

Gunn was given the job of taking the wild and woolly Guardians and making them movie stars to stand alongside their better-known Marvel counterparts. “I feel like because Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics, they are not quite as well-known as say Captain America, Iron Man or the Avengers, I felt like that gave us a lot of freedom to really create the cinematic version of Guardians of the Galaxy. And I think that Guardians of the Galaxy is more at home on screen than in the comic books, and it is first and foremost a cinematic property, so I felt like it really gave me a lot of freedom to do something interesting with it and create loveable characters.”

Ong did a double take. “Did you just say ‘loveable’?”

“Yeah, they’re ‘a bunch of a-holes’ but they’re still loveable characters, even Drax!” Gunn affirmed.

Marvel movie fans have wanted to know the extent of Avengers director Joss Whedon’s involvement with Guardians, and Gunn confirmed “Joss and I have been friends for a long time, he read the script and gave me notes on the script, and the biggest note he gave was to make it ‘more James Gunn’. And I said ‘it’s your funeral’.” The character of Thanos, who first appeared in the mid-credits stinger scene in The Avengers and who is a major player in Guardians (played by Josh Brolin) is a figure who will link the earth-based Marvel movies and the “Marvel Cosmic” ones. “I pretty much had free rein and it wasn’t so much about making this movie lead somewhere but it was about creating a great foundation so that it could lead somewhere, you don’t want to just have ‘fill in the dots’, we want to create something that has substance that we can believe in it, that’s really exciting and real and true. Then it gives a lot of the fans some of the answers [that] we leave unanswered so that there are places to go, for the Guardians to go in future,” said Gunn.

Gunn maintained that he was given a satisfactory degree of freedom from the Marvel Studios higher-ups. “I pretty much do what I believe [in] and I don’t approach a small movie like Slither or Super any differently than I approach a big movie like Guardians of the Galaxy. I do everything I can with my heart, as true as I possibly can, and I’ve been very fortunate in my career thus far to have producers like [at] Marvel to let me have free rein and do something really creative and excellent even though it’s for such a large budget.”

Guardians is really about a group of outcasts, a group of people who feel like they don’t belong, coming together, finding something within themselves that they didn’t know was there – something heroic, something wonderful and very simply something good,” Gunn said pithily. “And I think what the movie is about includes all of us, no matter what country you’re from, no matter what part of the world you’re from, the love of ourselves and each other and finding the good within ourselves. And if there’s anything that makes this movie worthwhile and worth spending two years of our lives doing nothing else but this film, is for people to be able to walk out of the theatre feeling a little better about themselves, feeling a little better about the person they were sitting next to in the theatre and feeling a little better about the world in general.”

James Gunn couched Guardians of the Galaxy as a movie made by outcasts, about outcasts and for outcasts. “I think one of the things about Guardians of the Galaxy is it’s about this group of oddballs, outcasts who are plucked from obscurity in Marvel Comics and turned into these big movie stars, and I think that we’ve talked about this a lot, that we all feel like that. My last movie cost $3 million, it was an independent film, Dave is a wrestler whom people didn’t think of as a real actor, Zoe has been pushed to the sidelines for her whole life because she’s a person of colour from a place that not everybody is from in this industry, Chris Pratt was a chubby guy when he got this role, Vin Diesel’s a weirdo, Benicio del Toro’s a weirdo and the biggest weirdo of all was Michael Rooker. We were just a group of oddballs and outcasts and came together to make this movie and made something we all feel really good about. The parallels are very interesting to me all the time and I think we all feel this way, that through the process we’ve come to love each other. You’ll hear us all talk about how much we love each other and you hear this on all movies. The thing is, usually they’re lying but this time, it’s true,” he concluded to applause. 

Saldana said what was on everyone’s minds: “part 2, everybody!”

We definitely like the Guardians enough to want to see more – like the Jackson 5, we want them back!

Guardians of the Galaxy opens in Singapore on 31 July 2014.

Star Trek Into Darkness

For F*** Magazine, Singapore

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Director: J. J. Abrams
Cast: Chris Pine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Alice Eve, Peter Weller, Bruce Greenwood
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Run Time: 123 mins
Opens: 16 May 2013
Rating: PG-13

With 2009’s Star Trek, director J. J. Abrams had set a course for the future of the series with a film that thoroughly invigorated what was, up to that point, largely seen as a flagging franchise. References to Star Trek in popular culture had been relegated to jokes about basement-dwelling man-children squinting through coke-bottle glasses, and it was a widely-held stereotype that “Trekkies” (the preferred term is apparently “Trekkers”) just weren’t ‘cool’. Love it or hate it, Star Trek ’09 made the series accessible to the masses and perhaps the sexy young cast, the action sequences and the lens flares were just a way of helping the movie-going public at large let down their collective guards and learn to appreciate this cornerstone of science fiction through new eyes.

With Star Trek Into Darkness, Abrams and his cast and crew continue to blaze a trail through the cinematic cosmos. We begin right in the middle of the action, just as the preceding movie did – only this time, we follow the crew of the Enterprise as they embark on a misadventure on the planet Nibiru. Kirk (Pine) and Bones (Urban) get pursued by angry spear-wielding natives as Sulu (Cho) and Uhura (Saldana) lower Spock (Quinto) into an active volcano on the brink of eruption in order to neutralize it with a cold fusion device. Just another day in the office for them, then.




Kirk and company return to Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, where the higher-ups are none too happy about the recklessness they displayed on Nibiru. This is interrupted by a new threat: an unstoppable one-man terror cell who goes by the name of “John Harrison” (Cumberbatch). Kirk leads the crew of the Enterprise in pursuit of Harrison, armed with 72 photon torpedoes and with newbie Dr Carol Marcus (Eve), daughter of Starfleet head Admiral Marcus (Weller), on board. Chief Engineer Scotty (Pegg) is suspicious of the contents of said weapons but his concern is initially unheeded. What follows is a dangerous quest that takes our heroes to the Klingon homeworld of Kronos (or Qo'noS), leading them to the discovery of the torpedoes’ secret payload and the truth behind John Harrison’s beef with Starfleet.

Now, this is how you make a summer blockbuster. A tentpole sci-fi action flick doesn’t have to be two hours of mind-numbing, cacophonous dross. Abrams, along with writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof and the countless others involved have brought us a film that is fresh, relentlessly exciting and overflowing with white-knuckle action, and none of this at the expense of a compelling story or well-drawn characters. From the very first minute, this reviewer was yanked right into this fantastical world. Abrams all but announces “buckle up, because it’s going to be one hell of a ride” – and what a ride Star Trek Into Darkness is.




The Star Trek series has a magnificent legacy and has had an immeasurable impact on the genre, and to chuck all that away for all flash and no substance would be something of a crime. That’s not the case here. Sure, there seems to be barely a minute to stop and catch one’s breath, but that’s probably preferable to a film that drags on and on any day of the week. The film has no shortage of pizazz in the form of stunning visual effects work, witty banter and edge-of-your seat near misses galore. Despite having “darkness” in its title, this flick is far from dour or depressing. References, homages and shout-outs are skilfully weaved into the fabric of the story and some may disagree, but this reviewer feels this iteration of Trek actually is very respectful of what went before – just not slavishly so.

One of the many things the first film got right was its casting, with the Enterprise staffed not by a troupe of impressionists, but by actors who got the spirit of the characters they were portraying but weren’t afraid to put a bit of a spin on things. The opening sequence is a brilliant way to reacquaint audiences with the characters without an exposition-heavy recap. We get the sense that these guys are family now, and like any family they have their idiosyncrasies, but they certainly feel more at home on the bridge, in the engineering bay or wherever than they did as fresh faces in the first film.



In this movie, Captain Kirk truly comes into his own as leader of a starship crew and father to his men, Pine further proving there’s more to him than just his handsome mug. Sure, Kirk’s still the brash, womanising guy we all love (we catch him in bed with two be-tailed alien sisters) but there is character growth to be had. The ever-uneasy friendship between Kirk and Spock also gets a fair amount of play, and there are some great moments between the two, ranging from casual brickbats to a pretty dramatic bit near the end of the film. Quinto conveys Spock’s struggle to get in touch with his human side, his resistance to emotion driving a wedge between him and Uhura, but never hits us over the head with this.




Just as in the earlier film, everyone gets a chance to strut his or her stuff – for example, Sulu even gets to be acting captain. Simon Pegg as Scotty and Karl Urban as Bones in particular stand out in this one, both bringing different brands of comic relief to the proceedings while functioning as far more than merely “the funny guys”. Bones mentions that he once performed a Caesarean on a Gorn and delivered octuplets. It’s a funny bit that’s also a nice nod to the original series.  Speaking of alien species, there’s a tribble which turns out to be integral to the plot. This is also brilliant.

Of course, the attention is square on Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain of the piece. Suffice it to say that fangirls of his (who call themselves “Cumberbitches”) will not be disappointed. The guy is a riveting actor, one who knows when to chew just the right amount of scenery in order to not come off as silly. There has been a spate of more “intellectual” villains in blockbuster movies as of late, but Cumberbatch does enough to differentiate himself from the bunch and Harrison isn’t just all brains and no brawn – he single-handedly takes on a Klingon patrol in one action sequence.




Star Trek Into Darkness is such a thrill that this reviewer left the theatre kind of breathless, but also really pumped. It’s a big, big movie, but not the kind that’s an extravagant insult to the intellects of audiences everywhere. Abrams has crafted a sequel that ups the game and elicits cheers, laughter, goosebumps, excited fist-pumping and even a tear or two at all the right moments. And isn’t that warp effect just so sparklingly beautiful?

SUMMARY: J. J. Abrams has assembled everything needed for an involving, supremely entertaining big-ticket picture and somehow made it even more than the sum of its parts. It’s such an impressive ship that even Scotty would be jealous.

RATING: 5 out of 5 STARS

Jedd Jong

Star Trek Into Darkness: All Hands on Holodeck

As published in F*** Magazine, Issue 39 (April 2013)

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(Text)

ALL HANDS ON HOLODECK

The key personnel of Star Trek Into Darkness report for duty
By Jedd Jong 14/3/13

What good is a ship without its crew? Not very much. Yes, even the sleek and shiny Constitution-class USS Enterprise NCC-1701 wouldn’t be able to get a lot done in the name of the Federation with an empty bridge (or an empty engineering section, transporter room, sickbay and so on, for that matter). F*** takes a glance at the men, women and aliens who get stuff done aboard the ship – plus the new villain they’re taking on, and the man at the helm behind the scenes.

CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK
Played by Chris Pine

One of the most iconic characters in science fiction history, the role was originated by the inimitable William Shatner, and as the younger iteration, Chris Pine had his work cut out for him. In Star Trek (2009), we witnessed Kirk’s beginnings, from his birth aboard a medical shuttle in the midst of a space battle (in which his own father bravely sacrifices his life) to his rebellious childhood and even more rebellious young adulthood, until the responsibility of captaining a starship was thrust upon him. Kirk is brash and headstrong, but is dedicated to his post and to his ship and will eventually become a father to his men.

On Kirk’s role in the new film, co-star Karl Urban comments, “in the first movie Kirk earns his captaincy, in this movie he has to own it”.  It looks like Kirk won’t be allowed to get too comfy in that nice big chair of his after all.

Pine explains that “Kirk really has to face his self-worth in this film. If he’s capable or not of leading, and from the first one at least, is a big, big transition and gives him a lot of different places to go, I think he experiences and sees absolute evil in this film and a lot of that is related to his deep fear and sense of vulnerability.”

JOHN HARRISON
Played by Benedict Cumberbatch

So, what is the “absolute evil” Pine refers to? Speculation is rife as to the true identity of “John Harrison”, the villain whom the crew of the Enterprise will be pitted against in Into Darkness. Is he Khan? Is he Gary Mitchell? A Klingon is disguise? Everyone is intent on keeping mum, but from the trailers we do know that this formidable foe is an ex-Starfleet member turned brilliant extremist hell-bent on revenge.  English actor Benedict Cumberbatch describes the character as having “a real Hannibal Lecter quality to him” and promises his portrayal will be “genuinely intense and scary”. The fact that he recorded his audition tape on a friend’s iPhone in his kitchen will probably do nothing to diminish that.

“In terms of Benedict, he’s an incredible actor if you’ve ever seen Sherlock, he’s unbelievable,” director JJ Abrams enthuses. “And he’s someone whom I think just brings an entirely new and intense energy and yes, he’s angry in certain moments, but he’s also remarkably rational and wildly, insidiously brilliant and part of the fun of this bad guy is he’s not just a raving lunatic, he’s someone who actually, you have conversations and can get seduced by.”

Sequels usually place the focus on their villains, and Eric Bana’s Nero in Star Trek (2009) was a more primal, rage-filled tyrant, it seems that John Harrison will be a cerebral, manipulative mastermind to be reckoned with. Pine sums it up like this: “he is just as intelligent and logical as Spock, but he is also one very bad mother***er.” Yikes.

COMMANDER SPOCK
Played by Zachary Quinto

The rational, cool-headed half-human half-Vulcan science officer of the Enterprise has always been the perfect foil to Captain Kirk. Spock was memorably portrayed by Leonard Nimoy – the actor was initially uncomfortable with the pop culture icon status the character had taken on and wanted to distance himself from it, but grew to embrace the character and appeared as the older Prime Universe counterpart of Spock alongside Quinto in Star Trek (2009).  Nimoy was impressed with Quinto’s take on Spock and the two have since become friends.

A key action sequence in Into Darkness will see Spock descending into a volcano to attempt to neutralize it before it ends up destroying a planet. Kirk and Spock’s relationship has been similarly volatile, with Spock taking an immediate dislike to the Captain who would eventually become his best friend, after Kirk cheated on the “unwinnable” Kobayashi Maru test Spock had programmed. According to Quinto, their bond will grow stronger in this film. “Kirk really earns his leadership; Spock really earns an understanding of friendship.”

A brief section of the Japanese trailer for the film has led fans to wonder if Spock might face a fate similar to the one in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. So, will Spock be able to live long and prosper past this one? On his Twitter account, Quinto says “simmer down kids. Rumours are rumours for a reason…Let’s let the second movie come out before we talk about a third...”

LT. NYOTA UHURA
Played by Zoë Saldaña

As the Enterprise’s communications officer, Uhura is an expert in Xenolinguistics with a keen ear for alien languages. The part was originally played by Nichelle Nichols in what was considered a landmark for women of colour on television. Nichols was personally affirmed by Martin Luther King Jr., a big fan of the original Star Trek series who felt Uhura served as an important role model for African-American women and children across the United States. Nichols graciously said of Zoë Saldaña, “not only is she one of the most beautiful women on the planet, she’s an incredible actress. When I met her, it just clicked like that.”

Star Trek (2009) officially made a romantic pairing out of Uhura and Spock, something which fans either hated or decided to roll with. Saldaña hints that the relationship may not go all that smoothly, saying “whether they’re together or not in this movie, that will remain to be seen.”

Commenting on the dynamics between the two, JJ Abrams remarks, “it’s a challenge I think to be a modern, strong-willed intelligent woman dating a Vulcan who is, above all, logical and rational and so while he may be reliable and loyal and intelligent and true, he’s also someone for whom logic might get in the way of other things, and so many things are tested in this movie; so is their relationship.”

Saldaña adds that “there’s a lot of humanity that she provides to his character in this film, it warms it up more and there’s a lot of precision that Spock provides to Uhura. Kirk and I are in the same position where we learn the same lessons from Spock and we’re also able to teach him the same lessons, which is “loosen up man, loosen up a little bit!””

DR. CAROL MARCUS
Played by Alice Eve

New to the team is English actress Alice Eve as Dr Carol Marcus. The character previously appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, played by Bibi Besch. In that film, she was among the Federation’s foremost molecular biologists, working on the ambitious Project Genesis that was central to the film’s plot. Marcus was romantically involved with Kirk and bore his son, David.

“Kirk loves his blonde women,” Chris Pine observes.  However, it seems that not too much emphasis will be placed on the potential romance. “There’s much flirting and there’s definitely a connection there but what I would say is that this film is so big and the plot moves so fast and there’s such action to be had that there’s not really much time to explore (the relationship)”. According to him, Carol Marcus is “a hyper-intelligent doctor and it’s her scientific knowledge that really plays a key role in this film.”

Carol’s father Admiral Marcus will also appear in the film, played by Peter Weller (aka RoboCop).

JJ ABRAMS
The Director

Jeffrey Jacob Abrams returns to the director’s chair after resurrecting the Star Trek franchise with the 2009 film. Pretty much cementing his status as modern day geek god, he’ll also be taking on Star Wars Episode VII, which might force fans from both sides of the galaxy to sit around campfire and begrudgingly sing “Kumbaya”. It remains to be seen if it’s too much power for one Hollywood super-nerd – but odds are JJ will do just fine. After all, he has admitted to growing up a Star Wars fan, not a Star Trek one.

Speaking about reconciling the scope of the sequel with the smaller character dynamics, Abrams says “this movie is infinitely bigger than anything I’ve been involved (with), this feels like everything I’ve done before times ten, rolled into one. The biggest challenge in doing this movie was figuring out how to do it because the script was so big, but the thing that made me want to do it was how intimate it was, it was a simultaneously huge thing in scope and then a small thing in terms of emotionality and interactions and relationships.”

The director is not about to get on a high horse – far from it. “The original series…is still the platform we stand on and the shadow we stand under. We are respectful of it and see it as something to aspire to. But at the same time we don’t just want to be a great impersonation of what has gone before.” He also hints that audiences should expect the unexpected. “In the first film we find our own separate offshoot timeline and anything can happen here without ever affecting that (the Prime Universe), so the fate of these characters is much more in flux.”
While some Trek purists may turn up their noses at the reboot, there is no denying that under Abrams’ guidance, the franchise has become a lot more accessible to the public at large, and it can be said that he’s made Star Trek cool again. Maybe the needs of the many do outweigh the needs of the few after all.

Also returning are Karl Urban as Dr Leonard “Bones” McCoy, Simon Pegg as chief engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, John Cho as helmsman Hikaru Sulu, Anton Yelchin as Ensign Pavel Chekov and Bruce Greenwood as former Captain of the Enterprise, Christopher Pike.

And yes, we know the Holodeck originated with Star Trek: The Next Generation.