Exclusives
Willem Dafoe is NOT in ‘Pacific Rim’
Willem Dafoe has said there’s no him in Pacific Rim. Bloody Disgusting’s Australian correspondent Maria Lewis (@moviemazz) spoke to Dafoe in Australia this afternoon where he’s promoting his new film The Hunter. Since July it’s been widely reported that Dafoe was ‘in talks’ to join Guillermo del Toro’s monster movie but the veteran character actor said it’s all “bad information.”
“If I am they haven’t told me,” he said. “Listen, I like Guillermo del Toro. ‘The Devil’s Backbone’ for me is almost the perfect movie, I adore that movie, he’s really good.
“I have met with him on occasions and we have talked about working together, but not on this.
“But if I’m in this movie they haven’t told me yet, which is my moment to say – in big letters – don’t believe what you read on the internet.”
Dafoe went on to say that although the internet is great for “some things“, it has led the Hollywood rumour-mill to get out of hand…
“There’s no sheriff in town, no one oversees this stuff,” he said. “In the time I’ve been making movies and dealing with journalists, also for theatre, the journalists…there’s a total break down in fact checking. They just don’t check anymore. Particularly with entertainment journalists, they try to scoop each other and sometimes they throw out a story on very little information. It’s just plain untrue.”
“Even on IMDB now with some things they write rumoured next to it in brackets. For that to even be acceptable is kind of wrong.”
Interesting, because that’s exactly the case with Dafoe’s name on Pacific Rim’s IMDB listing, bracketed rumoured and all. Consider this entertainment journalist checking herself before she wrecks herself Will.
‘Pacific Rim’ follows the story of an alien attack that threatens the Earth’s existence and the humans who are deployed in giant robots to fight off the extraterrestrial menace. “Sons Of Anarchy” star Charlie Hunnam has been cast in the film, along with “The Wire’s” Idris Elba, Day, Clifton Collins Jr and Rinko Kikuchi. Filming is set to start in Toronto in November.
The Hunter recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and Dafoe plays a biotech mercenary sent into the Tasmanian wilderness in Australia to try and find the last surviving Tasmanian Tiger, a species thought to be extinct. The moody thriller is directed by Daniel Nettheim and also stars Sam Neill and Frances O’Connor.
Out today in select theaters and on digital platforms is heartfelt and playful documentary Mockbuster, which sees a director cold call a studio and ask to helm a lost-world dinosaur epic.
Inexplicably, they say yes.
Our exclusive clip below highlights both the comedic nature of this bizarre scenario as well as the pressures of shooting dino feature The Land That Time Forgot in a mere six days, with no real feature experience.
A dino attack scene causes friction on set in this scene.
In the documentary, “A struggling filmmaker’s opportunity collides with chaos and compromise when Sharknado’s notorious studio, The Asylum, invites him to direct a ‘mockbuster.’ With six days, a micro budget, and mounting pressure, Mockbuster is a comedic, behind-the-scenes documentary exploring the balance between low-budget filmmaking and creative ambition.”
More than just an inside look at filmmaking via low-budget film studio The Asylum, it doubles as one man’s pursuit of his dreams to charming, humorous effect.
“Mockbuster is a documentary about my own journey, but it’s also a love letter to one of the last grindhouses still functioning in Hollywood. We get to meet the characters and creators of some of the most infamous (and most hated) B-movies of the last few decades. People who make movies purely for profit – no pretension, no artistry, just monsters, C-listers, and chaos. A film that both genre fans and cinephiles can enjoy. But Mockbuster isn’t just about filmmaking, it’s about losing sight of your dreams, and reclaiming them in your own twisted way,” Director Anthony Frith said in a statement.
From Executive Producer and famed documentarian David Farrier, Mockbuster opens in select theaters and on digital platforms beginning July 10.