Philip Bagnall

Interviews

Loud And Clear Reviews •

Craig Brewer on Song Sung Blue: Interview

Watch and read our interview with director Craig Brewer, who tells us about Song Sung Blue, Lightning & Thunder and Neil Diamond ahead of the film’s theatrical release.


Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman), a middle-aged Vietnam vet and recovering alcoholic, makes ends meet with a job as a mechanic, but he has bigger dreams. He moonlights as “Lighting”, a cover artist on the local circuit in Milwaukee, but with little success. When he meets Patsy Cline impersonator Claire Stengl (Kate Hudson) at a gig...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Interview: Shih-Ching Tsou on Left-Handed Girl

We interview Left-Handed Girl writer-director Shih-Ching Tsou about her creative process, her approaches to casting and shooting in her native Taiwan.


In Left-Handed Girl, Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai) takes her children, teenager I-Ann (Shih-yuan Ma) and little moppet I-Jing (Nina Yeh), to her hometown of Taipei to set up a noodle stall, but their new home and circumstances bring challenges and bitter truths. As I-Jing contemplates her place in her family and new city, her grandfather’s admonition of...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Interview: Sylvain Chomet on A Magnificent Life

We interview director Sylvain Chomet about A Magnificent Life (Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol), making films in English, and the changes in the animation process.


One of the highlights of this year’s Cannes Film Festival was a project that brought together two legends of French filmmaking from two different timeframes, and from two very different ways of making films. A Magnificent Life (Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol) tells the story of one of France’s most beloved artists. Marcel Pagnol (1875 – 1974)...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Interview: Joshua Oppenheimer on The End

Ahead of the U.K. release of The End, we interview writer-director Joshua Oppenheimer about oil barons, empathy and existentialist dread.


Amongst the raft of ‘dark’ musicals that hit the screens in 2024, one film stood out from the rest. The End marks the narrative debut of writer-director Joshua Oppenheimer and, much like its director, it’s eloquent, memorable and passionate in its themes. This musical tale of a wealthy family and their assistants living in an underground bunker decades on f...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Interview: Anne Dudley on the London Soundtrack Festival

We interview Academy Award-winning composer Anne Dudley on her role as guest conductor at the inaugural London Soundtrack Festival.


The inaugural edition of the London Soundtrack Festival takes place in venues across the city from 19th – 26th March. One of the main events is Great Movie Songs, a night of favourite songs from the movies performed by an array of guest voices, including Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant and Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters. For a taste of what’s to come, we interview gu...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Christopher Andrews on Bring Them Down: Interview

We interview Bring Them Down writer-director Christopher Andrews about animal cruelty, male toxicity and the perils of learning Irish.


Bring Them Down is a pared-back tale of revenge left unchecked. In rural Ireland, stolen sheep and simmering rivalry cause two neighbouring farmers (Christopher Abbott and Barry Keoghan) to let their tempers and pasts get the better of them. Told partly in the Irish language, It’s a heavy but tense journey, with the two lead actors keeping you rapt as they plo...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Interview: Producer Michael Jackman on Conclave

We interview Conclave producer Michael Jackman to discuss how to choose good films, avoiding trouble with the Vatican, and how to forget politics and have fun.


Among the potential nominees of this year’s awards season, Conclave is possibly the most ambitious from a narrative point of view. It’s a thriller, a character study, and a metaphor all at once. Adapted from Robert Harris’ novel, it’s a gripping peek behind the curtain at the assembly of cardinals to elect a new Pope, it has to balance...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Justin Kurzel on Ellis Park: LFF Interview

In this interview with Ellis Park director Justin Kurzel, he tells us about Warren Ellis, making his first documentary, creativity, and more.


It’s been a busy year for Justin Kurzel. The acclaimed director of the likes of Snowtown and Nitram has returned to the festival circuit with two films in one year. His domestic terrorist thriller The Order played at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, but his second film, Ellis Park, is a very different beast.


Ellis Park marks Kurzel’s first fora...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Interview: Carson Lund & Keith William Richards on Eephus

We interview writer-director Carson Lund and actor Keith William Richards on the Croisette to discuss their film Eephus, shortly after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Director’s Fortnight (Quinzaine des Cinéastes) at the Cannes Film Festival is a welcome sidebar from the hustle and bustle of the main competition. It’s non-competitive, and focuses on showcasing new talents from all over the world, particularly those with bold new visions and filmmaking methods on display. In the 20

Interview: Pat Collins on That They May Face The Rising Sun

John McGahern’s 2003 novel That They May Face The Rising Sun sounds like perfect material for writer-director Pat Collins. The acclaimed director of Song of Granite and Silence brings his calm and patient eye to this tale of two emigrés, Joe and Kate (Barry Ward and Anna Bederke), returning to Joe’s home in rural Ireland from London for a different pace of living. Collins and co-writer Éamon Little’s adaptation stays true to McGahern’s spirit. It honours the spirit of rural communities, while al
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor on Baltimore: LFF Interview

We interview husband-and-wife writer-directors Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor on their new thriller Baltimore, a retelling of an IRA art heist.

Baltimore tells the fascinating story of Rose Dugdale, an English heiress who rejected that life to volunteer for the IRA in the early 1970s, culminating in taking part in what was then the biggest art heist ever perpetrated. In April 1974, Dugdale and three others robbed priceless gems by European masters from Russborough House, Co. Wicklow, Ireland.
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Selman Nacar on Hesitation Wound: Interview

We sit down for an interview with writer-director Selman Nacar to discuss Hesitation Wound, his day-in-the-life Turkish courtroom drama.

The Orizzonti strand at the Venice Film Festival is dedicated to highlighting the most interesting up-and-coming voices in world cinema. On the evidence of Hesitation Wound (Tereddüt Çizgisi), writer-director Selman Nacar is a voice worth hearing.

Hesitation Wound centres on Canan (Tülin Özen), a defence lawyer living and working in the Turkish city of Usak.
Scannain •

#Interview: Scannain Talks Free Fire with the cast and director Ben Wheatley

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers of Free Fire‘s plot.

Armie Hammer, how are you? “In goddamn paradise!”, comes a charmingly sarcastic reply.

This answer elicits laughs from his Free Fire co-stars Sharlto Copley and Jack Reynor, and the film’s co-writer/director Ben Wheatley. All are sat around a table to discuss the new film ahead of its European premiere at the 60th BFI London Film Festival. It’s a raw yet oddly balletic and often hilarious shootout, as a warehouse arms deal be
Scannain •

#Interview: Scannain talks Anomalisa with director Duke Johnson at Dublin Animation Film Festival

It makes sense for Dublin to have a film festival dedicated to animation. With Irish studios like Cartoon Saloon, Brown Bag and Boulder Media achieving worldwide success on both big and small screens, the Dublin Animation Film Festival (DAFF) is a platform dedicated to highlighting these successes, and to point the way to success in the future.

October 22nd saw the 6th festival take place in Dun Laoghaire’s Pavilion Theatre. Though still just a one-day festival, DAFF has grown considerably over
Scannain •

Scannain Talks – Evolution with director Lucile Hadžihalilovic

The process of evolution is prolonged. The process of making Evolution, writer/director Lucile Hadžihalilovic’s follow-up to her acclaimed feature debut Innocence, was not quite as lengthy, but there are still eleven years between the two films. The wait has been worth it; the new film is an eerie, mesmerising beast. Telling the story of a village inhabited solely by women and their young sons, the unfolding tale of medical intervention and conspiracy is full of difficult questions about childho
Scannain •

Interview: John Boorman on Queen and Country

*This interview contains some minor spoilers for Queen and Country.*

John Boorman is reflecting on reflecting. “You know, memory operates in a funny way. I was reading about memory recently, which said that if you relate a memory, you impose a layer on top of that memory. Each time you tell it, another layer is added.” This weekend sees him bringing more of his memories to the cinema screen, adding another layer to his eclectic, but always interesting CV. We meet him in the gilded lounge of Dub
Scannain •

Interview: Writer/director Xavier Dolan & producer Nancy Grant on MOMMY

A gray but dry London evening greets Xavier Dolan as he arrives for the London Film Festival gala screening of Mommy. The evening is a sharp contrast to most of Dolan’s films to date, defined as they are by a signature style, marrying contentious and emotional material to exuberant and sometimes-subversive filmmaking.

Dolan arrives at the red carpet with the film’s co-producer, Nancy Grant. Speaking with Grant first, we try to see what makes this prodigiously-talented director tick. We get some
Scannain •

Interview: Viggo Mortensen talks Jauja

As Viggo Mortensen approaches from the wings of a London cinema lobby, we’re agog when we see he’s wearing a suit. Onscreen, Mortensen often sports long mud-matted hair, casual duds (at best) and can often be found atop a horse. When we meet him, his haircut is tight, he’s in a handsome grey check suit, and there’s nary a nag to be seen. Proffering a strong handshake, he settles down into a brown leather seat before quizzically inspecting the PR cheat sheet we’ve been given with his picture. We
Scannain •

Premiere report: Russell Crowe and Noah sail into Dublin

Rain is a constant risk of Dublin life, but it was apt to see the clouds descend on O’Connell Street for the premiere of Noah on Saturday. A heavy mist smothered the city in expectation of the arrival of Russell Crowe, the film’s leading man, on the red carpet. In a canny piece of advertising, Crowe attended three premieres in the British Isles in the space of one day. Exhausting? Noah must have God on his side.

The drizzly clouds never let up, dampening most everything except the spirits of th
Scannain •

Interview: John Hurt at JDIFF

There is something inherently powerful about John Hurt. A lot of it may be in the voice. His gravelly tones, somewhere between a rasp and a roar, have depicted power and distrust for decades. Now a little older, those marvellous intonations and informed pronunciations convey a great wisdom. All of this means the prospect of interviewing Hurt is initially terrifying. Be assured, though; behind the curtain there is just a man. Mercifully, he’s a very pleasant and chatty one. On entering the interv