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Interview: Seth Grahame-Smith talks ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’

In today’s zombie culture, there’s no question there’s a danger of over-saturation, especially given the massive success of the TV series “The Walking Dead,” its companion series “Fear the Walking Dead,” and a slew of feature films — some scary and some funny, hence the subgenre the “zom-com.”

Fortunately, best-selling author Seth Grahame-Smith was at the forefront of the new-wave zombie movement in 2009 with his smash novel “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” which is a mash-up of the zombie culture and Jane Austen’s literary classic about the intertwining romance between men and women from different social classes in England in the 1900s.

In a recent phone conversation, I told Grahame-Smith the first time I heard the title of his novel, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” I exclaimed, “Oh, my God, is this guy a genius or what?” Grahame-Smith, however, said, other reactions to his work were not as enthusiastic.

“Most people stopped at ‘Oh, my God,'” Grahame-Smith said, with a laugh. “To this day, I think there are people who still don’t know what to make of it.”

The reason he thinks the book endured, and ultimately was adapted into a feature film of the same name, new in theaters nationwide Friday, is because the novel came out when the proverbial iron was hot. As for why the iron was hot before he struck it, Grahame-Smith said he’s not sure.

“I can’t attribute the book’s success to anything else than good timing,” Grahame-Smith observed. “We just happened to have the right book at the right time, and hit the zeitgeist in the right way. I wish I could figure out why it worked, because I’d be able to replicate it every time out, but for some reason, that one idea struck a chord in people at that time.”

Given the proliferation of zombies in pop culture, it’s hard to say how “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” (Quirk Books) would be received as a new novel today. But if the film version is any indication, my guess is that it would be perceived as fresh as the day the ink dried on the first copy of Grahame-Smith’s novel. The film — which stars Lily James (“Cinderella,” “Downton Abbey”) as the novel’s legendary heroine, Elizabeth Bennet — has a narrative as naturally captivating as Austen’s original classic, but is enhanced by the inclusion of a growing zombie army.

So, no matter the number of the new zombie projects to lumber in the public’s view, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” still towers head and shoulders above any flesh-eating wannabe gnawing at its ankles.

Grahame-Smith, whose big-screen credits include the screenplays for director Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows” and the Burton-produced “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” (based on his own novel), said he took very seriously the idea of infesting a classic like “Pride and Prejudice” with zombies for his novel (director Burr Steers adapted the film’s screenplay), which is why characters like Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy play it straight in the midst of all the bloody madness. One thing’s for certain: neither the novel, nor the film, are parodies of the original source material.

“What I try to do each time out, not only with my books, but TV and movies, is try to give an A-level of execution to a B-genre concept,” Grahame-Smith, 40, explained. “To me, the more audacious the title or concept you’re trying to get across is, the more you really have to put in the work, the research, the time to make it unexpectedly make sense. When I wrote, ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,’ on its surface, it was a very ridiculous proposition.

“But I also did my due diligence and researched Lincoln’s life — his speeches, his letters, his personal correspondence — learning not only about the things you don’t necessarily learn in American history class in high school, but really becoming a mini-Lincoln scholar so I can really understand the man, who he was and the times he lived in, and try to make this ridiculous book seem plausible,” Grahame-Smith added. “The biggest compliment I can get from a reader time and time again, is that they say they forget while they are reading the book that it never happened and it’s absolutely absurd. That’s really the fun for me, to pull a book-length sleight-of-hand trick on the reader.”

Tim Burton Book 2
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Needless to say, Graham-Smith devoured all things Austen while preparing to write “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”

“With ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,’ it was not only about reading and re-reading the book in depth, but reading everything I could get my hands on that Austen wrote, and everything about her, her life and her time,” Grahame-Smith said. “I needed things to seem authentic so I could to the best of my ability mimic the voice of one of the most gifted writers of her time.”

Now that Austen’s voice has been reconstituted once again, this time in cinematic form, Grahame-Smith hopes that “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” doesn’t get pegged by potential audiences as a chick flick. He’s pretty confident that the word “Zombies” in the title will make guys more amenable to take a date to the film, and once they get there, they will discover that there’s something for both him and her.

“I’ve been telling people it’s the ultimate date movie,” Grahame-Smith enthused. “Guys are going to go and they’ll love the bad-assery of it and watching these beautiful women kick zombie ass, and in addition to the girls watching their fellow women kick zombie ass, they’re also going to love the fact that it hews pretty closely to all the same romantic overtones of the original ‘Pride and Prejudice.’ We’re not actually taking anything away from ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ we’re simply taking that original story and adding zombie mayhem to it.”

Grahame-Smith, whose most recent novel is “The Last American Vampire” (Grand Central Publishing), said he’s done with the script for Burton’s hotly anticipated “Beetlejuice” sequel, but a start date for the production is yet to be determined.

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Remembering Alan Rickman: The ‘Sweeney Todd’ interview

Alan Rickman in Sweeney Todd

By Tim Lammers

It was very disheartening to learn Thursday about the untimely death of Alan Rickman, who was arguably one of the greatest actors of his generation. An actor who rose to prominence with his slimy portrayal of the love-to-hate bad guy Hans Gruber in 1988’s “Die Hard,” Rickman proved he could do it all over the years, with unforgettable turns in such gems as “Love, Actually,” “Galaxy Quest,” “Dogma,” “Alice in Wonderland” and the “Harry Potter” saga.

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to talk with Mr. Rickman one time, about his role as the villainous Judge Turpin in Tim Burton’s brilliant adaptation of Stephen Sondheims’s horror musical, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” The role required Rickman to sing, something he hadn’t done since his days on the stage, and something he admits he didn’t do very well — at least in his estimation.

Despite his perceived lack of vocal experience, Rickman, then 61, remained undaunted by the prospect of singing in a film musical — even one by a famed composer.

“It’s scary and exhilarating, but the scale swings far more in the favor of exhilarating. Maybe that has something to do with getting older,” Rickman told me. “You look for the adventure more. What else is life about, really? Especially for an actor, it’s a much more interesting life, instead of just trying to repeat yourself all of the time. I couldn’t have been happier, really. What was the worst that could happen? I would get fired.”

Read the entire Rickman “Sweeney Todd” interview here.

Interview: Tim Burton photographer, writer Leah Gallo talks ‘Big Eyes: The Film, The Art’

Director Tim Burton’s acclaimed new film “Big Eyes,” of course, tells the strange but amazing true story of famed big-eyed children paintings artist Margaret Keane created and her fight to reclaim her identity. And thanks to the sharp lens of Burton’s longtime photographer, Leah Gallo, the film and Keane’s portraits are being examined more in-depth.

New on store shelves and with online retailers Tuesday, “Big Eyes: The Film, The Art” (Titan Books) features behind-the-scenes and photographs by Gallo during the production of the film, which recently earned Golden Globe nominations for stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, and songwriter Lana Del Rey – and a win for Adams in the Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical category. In addition, Gallo includes several of Keane’s original paintings, as well as rare, behind-the-scene photos of the artist at work.

Big Eyes Book, Leah Gallo Derek Frey
Left: ‘Big Eyes: The Art, the Film.’ Right: Leah Gallo, Derek Frey.

Gallo, a Pennsylvania native who first worked on “Sweeney Todd” in 2006 and officially started with Tim Burton Productions in London in 2008, said while companion books have been produced for all of Burton’s films since the film about “The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” there was a burning creative desire to make sure “Big Eyes: The Film, The Art” made it to shelves.

“We thought ‘Big Eyes’ was a very special film, and while it’s not as fantastical as ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or ‘Dark Shadows,’ the film reflects the interesting history of Margaret Keane’s life and artwork, so there was a lot to say and show with the book,” Gallo told me in a recent call from London. “About half of the book is about the making of the movie, and the other half is her actual artwork. It’s the first time her artwork has been published since the ’60s.”

Interview: Tim Burton talks “Big Eyes”

Gallo, who previously edited and wrote “The Art of Tim Burton” (Steeles Publishing) in 2009, said “Big Eyes: The Film, The Art” was very much a “hurry up and wait” process, while she and Tim Burton Productions designer Holly Kempf need to line up a publisher and take care of other business matters. Amazingly, Gallo, who also co-edited the book with Kempf, said the production of 192-page tome was completed in a very intense two months.

Starring Adams as Margaret Keane and Christoph Waltz as her husband, Walter Keane, “Big Eyes” reveals a complicated time in Margaret’s life in the 1950s and ’60s where Walter scammed the public and art world into believing he was the creative genius behind the art of the big-eyed children, until Margaret found the courage to expose the hoax to the world.

A 10-years-in-the-making passion project for screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (who also co-wrote Burton’s “Ed Wood”), the film also stars Krysten Ritter as Margaret’s best friend DeeAnn, Danny Huston as San Francisco newspaper columnist Dick Nolan, Jason Schwartzman as a snobby art dealer and Terrence Stamp as a pompous art critic. The real Margaret Keane actually appears in cameo in the film, too, sitting on a park bench in an early scene while Adams and Waltz “paint” nearby.

“Big Eyes” once again has personal meaning for Gallo in that it’s executive produced by Derek Frey, her husband who has also been a collaborator of Burton since “Mars Attacks!” in 1996. The book captures Burton in a very unique environment that the filmmaker hasn’t visited for 20 years — a small-budgeted movie — and Frey believes the intimate atmosphere brought out something unique in the filmmaker.

“It’s probably the smallest movie Tim has ever made,” Frey told me in a separate interview. “He kept saying, ‘I’ve made a movie for this budget before, but that was “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” in 1985.’ Because of that, ‘Big Eyes’ was a very different approach for Tim as a filmmaker. It was like he cleared out of his life all the big Hollywood franchises and all the movies that came with extra baggage, like a remake or a reinterpretation, and took on something that he could make his own and run with it. I’m really glad he did it.”

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Behind the ‘Eyes’

Gallo said the book features interview excerpts from Adams and Waltz, naturally, as well as Burton, whom she sat down with on a couple different occasions to discuss the film. And while talks with Burton all the time as one of the core members of his office, interviewing him for the “Big Eyes” book was fun and unique because she discovered little tidbits of information from him that she never knew before.

“In ‘Big Eyes,’ I found out there’s a little bit of (famed Italian horror director) Mario Bava in the film. It’s subtle, but you can see it in some of the lighting, it’s really interesting,” Gallo said. “It’s fun being reminded again and again how deeply Tim thinks about things. It may not seem so obvious, but he thinks these things through a lot. There’s a lot going on in his head.”

As Gallo found out, she wasn’t the only one fascinated by the untapped corners of Burton’s mind. Among the cavalcade of creatives she interviewed that have worked with Burton on many occasions — including costume designer Colleen Atwood and composer Danny Elfman included — the common theme she encountered that was that his collaborators keep working with him because they want to access those untapped corners, too.

“Getting perspectives of Tim in the interviews really made me aware of how admired he is. It’s easy to forget that when you work with somebody every day that they’re a creative genius,” Gallo said, laughing. “And then, after interviewing people who have worked around him before who’ve been in the film business for a long time, and hearing about their awe and admiration of him and illustrating all of his creativity, it reminds me that he’s pretty great at what he does.”

Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” with Tom Barnard on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “Let’s Talk Movies with Tim Lammers” with Tim Matthews on KRWC-AM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Paul and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on NBC affiliate KARE on the news program “KARE 11 News at 11”.

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Tim Lammers picks top movies of 2014

Agree or disagree, here’s this year’s Top 10 list — wedging in 14 of the best movies on the big screen in 2014. See you at the movies in 2015.

10. “The Box Trolls”/”The Lego Movie”“The Boxtrolls” proves why stop-motion is still the best of all forms of animation, and “The Lego Movie,” a computer-animated film that mimics the under-appreciated art form, proves why we need more.

9. “Unbroken”/”Fury” — Directors Angelina Jolie and David Ayer shine proper lights on the unsung heroes of World War II: POW survivor Louie Zamperini in “Unbroken,” and a Sherman tank crew forced to do horrific things in order to survive in “Fury.” What Jolie lacks in context of Zamperini’s sufferings in the PG-13 “Unbroken” is more than made up for in brutally realistic R-rated “Fury,” starring, oddly enough, Jolie’s husband Brad Pitt.

Bradley Cooper in 'American Sniper' (photo Warner Bros.)
Bradley Cooper in ‘American Sniper’ (photo Warner Bros.).

8. “The Imitation Game”/”Big Eyes” — The amazing tale of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) is told on two levels: One about Turing the  genius mathematician who invents a pre-cursor to the computer to help the British break German’s Enigma code during World War II; and second Turing as gay man in a time where homosexuality was outlawed in the U.K. Since his covert efforts with Britain’s MI: 6 technically didn’t exist, not even saving millions of lives couldn’t prevent the persecution of one life – Turning’s own. “Big Eyes,” meanwhile, tells another true story about secrets – this one set in pop art scene of the 1950s and ’60s – through the unique cinematic brushstrokes of canvas and film artist Tim Burton.

7. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”/”X-Men: Days of Future Past” — While the wonderfully funny and action-packed “Guardians of the Galaxy” marked a departure to the light side for Marvel Studios, the latest film in “The Avengers” superhero saga daringly ventured down the complete opposite path with a ’70s political thriller twist, to boot. Though technically not a Marvel Studios property, “Days of Future Past” and star Hugh Jackman did its Marvel Comics roots justice by righting some wrongs from previous films in the “X-Men” series.

6. “St. Vincent” — Bill Murray is at his best in the feel-good movie of the year as a ne’er do-well with a heart of gold and chamber of heartbreaking secrets. Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Chris O’Dowd and newcomer Jaeden Lieberher complete the joyous halo that encircles Murray in “St. Vincent,” a dramedy that’s every bit as poignant as it is funny.

5. “Gone Girl” – Director David Fincher is at the top of his game in Gillian Flynn’s complex crime thriller, expertly adapted by the screenwriter from her own best-selling novel. Featuring one of the best ensemble casts of the year (including Ben Affleck, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris, Missi Pyle and Sela Ward), “Gone Girl” is taken to a whole new level by former Bond girl Rosamund Pike in what’s easily the best female lead performance of the year.

4. “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” – Director Matt Reeves pulls off the impossible by topping “Dawn’s” predecessor, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” – a brilliant reboot of a classic film series. The apes continue to evolve in “Dawn,” and so does the story and Andy Serkis’ motion capture acting. Awards voters better soon get with the program and accept what Serkis does as a legitimate form of acting.

3. “Birdman” – Michael Keaton gives a career performance as a struggling big-screen superhero trying to reinvent himself on Broadway in “Birdman,” the most inventively staged film of the year. The only reason this film works is because of Keaton, who will no doubt enjoy a career renaissance with an Oscar nomination (if not a win) in his future. Of course, it helps to have Edward Norton in your cast, who is as brilliant as ever in a crucial supporting role.

2. “Whiplash” – J.K. Simmons gives the one of the best performances of the year as a conniving, vitriolic jazz conservatory instructor who uses mental abuse in an effort to try to bring out the best in his students – specifically an immensely talented but emotionally fragile drummer (Miles Teller). Simmons is so explosive in “Whiplash” that he makes Louis Gossett Jr. in “An Officer and a Gentleman” feel like a pre-school teacher.

1. “American Sniper” – Director Clint Eastwood places you in the thick of the battle in the Iraq war while Bradley Cooper puts you in Chris Kyle’s conflicted mind in this brutally honest portrayal of the most lethal sniper in the American military. Sienna Miller is also heartbreaking at Kyle’s wife, Taya, a woman suffering the residual effects war has on families. To say the film is riveting is an huge understatement, especially given the tragic fate that awaits Kyle as he finally finds his peace and tries to help other veterans adjust to life on the home front.

Most over-rated movie of the year: “Boyhood” — It’s a clever idea no doubt, filming a child’s life over a 12-year period and there’s no deny the effort and planning director Richard Linklater put into the project, but ultimately, “Boyhood” feels like a gimmick because of a mostly uneventful story. Perhaps critics were ultimately more fascinated with the idea of making a movie over 12-year period than the film itself. Besides, haven’t we seen characters grow up on screen before with the films in the “Harry Potter” saga?

Worst movie of the year: “Inherent Vice” — The film’s top-shelf talent is completely wasted by Paul Thomas Anderson’s pretentious writing and direction, and a nonsensical script that’s virtually impossible to grasp. Don’t pay attention to the film snobs who pretend to understand what’s going on in this bloated heap of “I’m smarter than you are” filmmaking, because they really don’t. Dreadful and disappointing, this movie should have been called “Incoherent Vice.”

Tim Burton Book 2
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