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MACDONALD, KELLY : Stella Does Tricks
At just 22, Glasgow native Kelly MacDonald is already
making herself a name, and is currently
filming alongside Australia's Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush in
Elizabeth I. Yet, as she concedes to PAUL FISCHER, acting was
never a realistic aspiration in working-class Glasgow.
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MACLEAN, ALISON: JESUS' SON
Director Alison Maclean tells Andrew L. Urban that her film, Jesus’ Son, is
like a tall tale told too many times, memories fudging what really happened …
compounded by drugs.
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MACY, WILLIAM H.
From E.R. to Fargo, William Macy is a Hollywood character
actor with leading man status, always providing audiences with
complex characterisations. None more so than the tragic porn
director he plays so deftly in the critically acclaimed Boogie
Nights or ER. For this exclusive interview, PAUL FISCHER spoke to
him in Los Angeles.
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MACY, WILLIAM H.: Pleasantville
PAUL FISCHER has lunch with William H. Macy at a trendy Beverly Hills eatery – and
has time to actually eat while Macy tells him how he managed to cry all day for a scene in
Pleasantville.
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MADRID, LARRY – CHARLOTTE'S WEB
From handling large exotic cats to 40 farmyard pigs – like he did on Charlotte’s
Web - animal trainer (‘not tamer’) Larry Madrid’s agenda is the same: he wants
to be able to relate to the animal he is working with, he tells Louise Keller
from the big barnyard - Los Angeles.
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MAGIDSON, MARK – BARAKA (2009 DVD re-issue)
After spending three years of his life making it, producer/editor Mark Magidson
still finds Baraka a satisfying movie experience. When the film came out – and
ever since – it has made an impact on everyone who sees it. Now it’s being
reissued on Blu-ray and in a 2-disc DVD at the highest definition ever attempted
for a film. But it’s about the inner experience, not about the technology,
Magidson tells Andrew L. Urban.
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MALKOVICH, JOHN: Being John Malkovich
John Malkovich talks about Being John Malkovich and JIMMY THOMSON, being Jimmy Thomson,
gets Malkovich to be Malkovich.
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MAMMONE, ROBERT : THE PACT
Australian actor Robert Mammone is about to make a pact with agents in Los Angeles, as his work in The Great Raid and Matrix 2 & 3 move closer to release; it’s a critical time for the actor, as Andrew L. Urban discovers, as his latest film, The Pact premieres in Sydney.
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MAMMONE, ROBERT – THE CATERPILLAR WISH (DVD)
Working internationally without leaving Australia has suited Robert Mammone,
being able to balance his family life with his work, he tells Andrew L. Urban –
but that may soon change, as he jets off to Hollywood for meetings with powerful
players, just as his latest film The Caterpillar Wish - an Australian production
- is released on DVD.
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MANHEIN, CAMRYN: HAPPINESS
In this exclusive Australian interview, Camryn Manheim in Los Angeles talks with typical
candour to PAUL FISCHER, explaining how she is no longer just the token fat woman.
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MARSH, JAMES – THE KING
The King is not a safe film with easily digestible morals and a righteous
ending, and it has divided festival audiences and critics in Cannes and London,
as co-writer and director James Marsh tells Andrew L. Urban on the eve of its
Australian release. But it does star Gael Garcia Bernal in one of his first English language roles, as the confounding Elvis.
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MARSHALL, FRANK – EIGHT BELOW
Paul Walker was not the first actor that came to mind when Frank Marshall was
preparing to shoot Eight Below, but Walker’s manager made sure that he was the
last, Frank Marshall on his Sydney visit explains to Andrew L. Urban.
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MARSHALL, PAULA: That Old Feeling
Paula Marshall is playing straight man to Bette Midler and
Dennis Farina in That Old Feeling. But her real ambition is for TV, not movie stardom, as she confides to
PAUL FISCHER.
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MARTIN, STEVE: Bowfinger
lthough it aims a couple of insider barbs at the industry, Bowfinger is a film that
just wants to have fun, its creator, Steve Martin, tells our European correspondent, JORN
ROSSING JENSEN, at the Deauville Film Festival in France in late 1999. Plus, he reveals
how he almost starred in Eyes Wide Shut . . .
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MARY AND MAX – ADAM ELLIOT & MELANIE COOMBS
Making the feature length claymation drama, Mary and Max, was, to
writer/director Adam Elliot, “like making love and being stabbed to death at the
same time,” he explains to Andrew L. Urban. Producer Melanie Coombs likens it
more to “running a marathon with two screaming, vomiting children ...” which
doesn’t sound as quick. HEAR Andrew's interview (14 mins).
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MASON, ANDREW: THE MATRIX
Australian producer Andrew Mason is the man responsible for getting The Matrix shot in
Australia, and on his return from the film’s Hollywood premiere last week, he talks to ANDREW L. URBAN about how it went, and how the extraordinary fight scenes between Keanu Reeves and Hugo
Weaving were made possible.
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MATTINSON, BURNY – SLEEPING BEAUTY
To mark the 50th anniversary Platinum Edition release of Walt Disney’s
classic, Sleeping Beauty, Burny Mattinson – one of the few remaining artists to
have worked with Walt himself - participated in a global round table via the
internet, talking specifically about the creation of Maleficent, the villain of
the film, famously and brilliantly voiced by Eleanor Audley. This is a
transcript of that virtual round table interview.
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MAXWELL, RONALD F: GODS AND GENERALS
In Gods and Generals, the epic prequel to the epic Gettysburg, its writer, producer and director Ronald F. Maxwell, deals not only with the American Civil War and two of its great battles, but with the profound effect the war had on the lives of those who weren’t at the front. He also got media mogul Ted Turner to play a part. Andrew L. Urban reports.
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MCCALLUM RICK: TALKING STAR WARS
With just three weeks to go before shooting wraps at Fox Studios in Sydney on Star Wars
Episode 2, producer Rick McCallum agreed to a unique live interview with Andrew L. Urban,
in association Popcorn Taxi, in front of many Australian filmmakers and the general
public.
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McCALLUM, RICK: STAR WARS EP1
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace is released on VHS globally on April 5, even as Ep 2 is in pre-production; and so is the DVD, as producer Rick McCallum tells AndrewL. Urban.
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MCCARTHY, TOM – THE VISITOR
Actor Tom McCarthy made his highly acclaimed directing debut with The Station
Agent; his second feature is also getting attention as he explores the forces of
compassion in modern New York through a story of illegal migrants and a widowed,
burnt out professor. McCarthy reveals some of his motives and processes in this
Q & A
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McCLORY, BELINDA: Redball
He saw her on the tv, cast her to star in his movie – and now he’s married
her. Belinda McClory tells how the writer/director of Redball, John Hewitt, found her.
ANDREW L. URBAN reports.
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MCCONAUGHEY, MATTHEW: WEDDING PLANNER
A leading man in search of a leading lady, Matthew McConaughey tells Jenny Cooney Carrillo
he learnt about love from his parents, who married each other twice, so he knows it
isn’t easy.
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McCORMACK, MARY : MARY'S UNREAD SCRIPT
Mary McCormack, in New York for a play, spoke to PAUL
FISCHER about her screen role opposite the unpredictable and controversial Howard Stern (pictured) in the surprise hit comedy Private Parts, based on Stern's autobiography.
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McCREDIE, ELISE: Strange Fits of Passion
Strange Fits of Passion is an excruciating look at the experience of a girl just wanting
to have her first sex, writer/director Elise McCredie tells Andrew L. Urban.
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McGREGOR, EWAN: A Life Less Ordinary
Speaking exclusively to Paul Fischer in New York, Ewan
McGregor admitS to finding it
easy to play lover to Cameron Diaz in A Life Less Ordinary.
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MCGREGOR, EWAN: STAR WARS, PHANTOM MENACE
Speaking to Paul Fischer, Ewan McGregor, who stars as Obi Wan Kenobi,admits
to the ups and downs of playing with his own light sabre in the prelude to Star Wars, to
extinguishing the glamour of a heroine addict in Trainspotting - as well as his own
attitudes towards Hollywood.
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McINNES, WILLIAM – UNFINISHED SKY
Taking his acting cue from the dog on the set of his latest film, Unfinished
Sky, William McInnes likes the minimalist approach, he tells Andrew L. Urban.
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McKEE, ROBERT
Robert McKee, in Australia with his internationally respected Story Seminar for screenwriters, tells Andrew L. Urban how Brian Cox ‘nailed him’ when playing McKee in the movie, Adaptation – and why Cox was cast.
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McKENZIE, JACQUI: Deep Blue Sea
Big budget or small budget, the bottom line, Deep Blue Sea star Jacqui McKenzie tells
ANDREW L. URBAN, is 'the camera and you'; then there is pavlova.
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McLACHLAN, DEE & SASKIA BURMEISTER – THE JAMMED
Writer/director Dee McLachlan and one of the film’s stars, Saskia Burmeister
talk to Andrew L. Urban about The Jammed – an exposé of Australia’s sex
trafficking – which McLachlan calls the new slave trade - and its sinister
underworld, which the authorities do little to control and even less to help the
victims.
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MCLEAN, GREG - WOLF CREEK
In what is perhaps the most audacious piece of ‘counter programming’ the
Weinstein Co is releasing the Australian horror film, Wolf Creek, on Christmas
Day in America, while in Australia, the film has already taken over $5 million
in less than two months. The film has stirred controversy with its graphic
violence and an ending in which the bad guy doesn’t get punished. In this
interview with Ryan Turek, writer director Greg McLean discusses the real crimes
that fed his imagination – and why he “let evil get away”.
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MCLEAN, GREG – ROGUE
With his debut film, Wolf Creek, Greg Mclean made it clear he was a feisty
filmmaker, so when he took out the script for the crocodile thriller, Rogue,
from his bottom drawer, the Weinsteins snapped it up – totally on Mclean’s
terms, which included final cut, he tells Andrew L. Urban.
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MEAT LOAF
That big guy Meat Loaf - the singer who is really an actor - sobs for a day on the set,
he admits to JIMMY THOMSON at the Venice Film Festival, and defends the violence in Fight Club.
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MEHTA, DEEPA: Earth
Nothing average about filmmaker Deepa Mehta, says ANDREW L. URBAN, when he meets her
for tea – and a gentle conversation (peppered with pain) about India’s hideous
Holocaust of 1947, the subject of her latest film, Earth.
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MELNYK, DEBBIE – MANUFACTURING DISSENT
The tongue in cheek tagline for the documentary, Manufacturing Dissent, is “It's
never been so hard to get Michael Moore in front of a camera.” It sums up with a
wry smile the experience of filmmakers Debbie Melnyk and her partner Rick Caine
when they tried to make a film profiling their then hero. And while Melnyk is
still adamant that Moore has done a lot to popularise documentaries and elevate
issues for debate, she strongly disapproves of Moore’s methods, she tells Andrew
L. Urban, and wonders how can he be believed.
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MENDES, SAM: American Beauty
In American Beauty, a brilliant debut feature from Sam Mendes, every character is
morally dubious on some level - they all make mistakes, and there is no goodie and no
baddie, he says; on his Sydney visit, Mendes had coffee with ANDREW L. URBAN (who also had
an almond bickie).
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MENZIES JNR, PETER: LARA CROFT & DOWN AND UNDER
Andrew L. Urban meets Australian
cinematographer, Peter Menzies jnr, and asks why Lara Croft’s
nipples don’t show, why Angelina Jolie did her own stunts
and what sort of chap is producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who is
producing the film Peter is shooting in Australia, Down And Under.
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MILLER, GEORGE - HAPPY FEET
Happy Feet took four years, 23 million decisions and US$100 million to make, and it seems the effort was worth it, as a relieved George Miller tells Andrew L. Urban. It also seems likely that Feet will have legs … and endure.
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MINGHELLA, ANTHONY - THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY
THE MODEST MR MINGHELLA
When you see a movie that you've written and directed, mostly it's a humiliating experience, Anthony Minghella, director of The Talented Mr Ripley, confesses to ANDREW L. URBAN.
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MINGHELLA, ANTHONY:
He chose Australian cinematographer John Seale to shoot The
English Patient (nominated for Best Film, 1997 Oscars), and it
was the right choice: he also tells us what he has in common with
producer Saul Zaentz and writer Michael Ondaatje.
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MIR, ANTHONY: YOU CAN'T STOP THE MURDERS
Three stand up comics have written and starred in a weird comedy about murders that are linked to the Village People. One of them, Anthony Mir, also directed the film, and is ready to do it again, he tells Andrew L. Urban, drawing on the natural vulnerabilities of Australians.
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MITCHELL, RADHA: PITCH BLACK
The versatile Radha Mitchell, co-starring in David Twohy's Pitch Black, shows she can
stretch - from New York lesbian to space travelling action heroine. But, she tells Andrew
L. Urban, "I don't do crap films." And Twohy tells what irked him working with
Australians.
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MOLINARO, EDOUARD: Beaumarchais
French director Edouard Molinaro (pictured at left) may indeed have scored an
Oscar nomination for his famous hit, La Cage Aux Folles, but as
the veteran director admits to PAUL FISCHER, it's his least
favourite movie.
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MOLL JAMES: THE LAST DAYS
In ‘The Last Days’ of the war, the speed and brutality with which the
Nazis went about collecting, transporting and exterminating the Jews from Hungary was
unparalleled. Five survivors tell their stories to filmmaker James Moll, who tells ANDREW
L. URBAN why the film is so tragically timely.
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MOLL, DOMINIK – LEMMING
German born French filmmaker Dominik Moll likes to make us feel uneasy, and his
latest film, Lemming, manages to straddle the genres of psychological thriller
and supernatural drama, to keep us a little bit ‘disturbed’ as he tells Andrew
L. Urban.
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MOLL, DOMINIK: HARRY, HE IS HERE TO HELP
It's very easy to shock on the screen, says Dominik Moll, director of the French thriller, Harry, He is Here to Help; he gets much more fun out of creating tension by suggestion, he explains in this Q&A.
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MOLLOY, MICK: CRACKERJACK
Crackerjack may be the first Australian lawn bowling comedy, but it’s themes are universal, its co-writer and star Mick Molloy tells Andrew L. Urban.
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MONAHAN, CRAIG – PEACHES
Craig Monahan credits his star, Hugo Weaving, for helping to make his latest film, Peaches, work on many levels, he tells Andrew L. Urban.
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MONAHAN, CRAIG: THE INTERVIEW
In The Interview, Craig Monahan’s cinematic currency is ambiguity, something
that sets film apart from television, he tells Andrew L. Urban.
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MONAHAN,CRAIG : The Interview
The art of the constant reveal is revealed in cinematic
form in this new Australian drama; ANDREW L. URBAN interviews The
Interview’s writer and director, Craig Monahan.
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MOORE, JULIANNE: Myth of Fingerprints
Julianne Moore, nominated for an Oscar for her outstanding
performance in Boogie Nights, is also on our screens in The Myth
of Fingerprints, to be followed by the Coen Brothers' latest
film, The Big Lebowski. PAUL FISCHER spoke to the actress at the
last Toronto Film Festival.
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MOORE, JULIANNE:THE LOST WORLD
Julianne Moore is being chased by a variety of dinosaurs in Steven Spielberg's epic Jurassic Park sequel, The Lost World. Paul Fischer spoke with the actress at the Sundance Film Festival.
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MOORE, MICHAEL - CUT ME A BREAK
He says it’s like water off a duck’s back but controversial documentary maker
Michael Moore has just about had it with the critics who are making a “cottage
industry” out of attacking him, as Jimmy Thomson reports after a Cannes press
conference where Sicko had its world premiere. (Last week we published an
interview with Debbie Melnyk, whose doco on Michael Moore, Manufacturing
Dissent, is another film critical of his methods, though not of his stated
objectives.)
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MORRIS, ERROL: MR DEATH
His work defies categorisation - even the Oscars organisers can’t decide whether
his films are documentaries or dramas. Having taken on topics like pet cemeteries,
injustice in Texas and quantum physics, Errol Morris is one of the most interesting and
idiosyncratic filmmakers working today. In his latest film, Mr Death, he turns his lens to
Holocaust denial, an issue too important not to explore, he tells DAVID EDWARDS.
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MORRISON TEMUERA: What Becomes of the Broken Hearted
The mild mannered actor Temuera Morrison is back as the tough-titted,
troubled Maori husband and father, Jake, in the unique sequel to Once Were Warriors: What
Becomes of the Broken Hearted – a search for redemption. ANDREW L. URBAN reports.
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MORTENSEN, VIGGO - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
Viggo Mortensen, the thinking woman’s blind date fantasy, is low key in
person, at odds with his larger than life role in The Lord of the Rings, or even
his mysterious Tom Stall in David Cronenberg’s Cannes entry, A History of
Violence, in which his past collides with his present. But there is also a party
animal inside the softly spoken actor, as Andrew L. Urban discovered.
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MORTENSEN, VIGGO – HIDALGO
Dust storms in the Sahara, endless sand in everything, countless days of hard yakka, lots of tough stunts – but that’s nothing after Lord of The Rings for Viggo Mortensen, who tells all about his latest film, Hidalgo, to Jenny Cooney Carrillo – except about his relationship with the trusty TJ.
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MOURET, EMMANUEL – CHANGE OF ADDRESS
By Andrew L. Urban
Emmanuel Mouret, writer/director and star of Change of Address had a change of
address himself when we were trying to hook up for a phone interview: he was
heading from Paris to Bangkok. So we exchanged emails for this interview about
Change of Address, in which the boy meets girl story is cleverly revised into a
change of heart story.
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MULCAHY, RUSSELL – SWIMMING UPSTREAM
Australian director Russell Mulcahy finds himself in new territory with Swimming Upstream: it’s a deep, character driven biography, a long way from the fantasy adventures and style driven films of his earlier career, he admits to Andrew L. Urban.
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MURPHY, CILLIAN – THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY
The Wind That Shakes The Barley won Ken Loach the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes
this year, and its star, Cillian Murphy reckons that’s just where the credit
should go, with a film that tackles a pivotal moment in Irish/British history.
For a Cork-born lad, it’s very close to home, he tells Andrew L. Urban.
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MURPHY, MARTIN – LOST THINGS
Turning a sunny Australian beach into an eerie and foreboding place is no mean feat, and Martin Murphy had a few challenges to make it happen, but 18 festivals later, Lost Things is released in Australia. Finding visual solutions was the biggest challenge, Marty tells Andrew L. Urban.
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MURRAY, BILL: LOST IN TRANSLATION
He doesn’t understand women at all, yet he took a role in which he was directed by a woman – a young woman at that – and found that he loved it, Bill Murray tells Jenny Cooney Carrillo as he recalls his experience making the wonderfully dry comedy, Lost In Translation, for director Sofia Coppola.
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MYERS, MIKE: AUSTIN POWERS, THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME
Austin Powers is back – in the 60s. It’s time to save the world again, while
retrieving his mojo and having a shagging good time. ANDREW L. URBAN meets Mike Myers in
Cannes, where Myers explains how Austin was born.
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MYRICK, DANIEL: Blair Witch Project
Dan and Ed - they look like buddies out on a scouting trip for a good deal on a six
pack - are young and wild filmmakers with perhaps the most profitable movie of all time to
their credit cards - The Blair Witch Project. Dan Myrick and Ed Sanchez wrote, directed
and edited the film, which looks like a home video and scares the hell out of its
audiences. Now comes the sequel and then the prequel, Myrick tells ANDREW L. URBAN - as
well as a comedy. But they're already laughing all the way to the bank
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