Defiance

[CaptainLewis]

Daniel Craig ('Defiance')

Before his crowning as James Bond, actor Daniel Craig was best known for his stage work and critically acclaimed indie films like The Mother and Enduring Love. Coming hot on the heels of his second 007 film, World War II drama Defiance is another modestly-budgeted but ambitious story. Under the direction of Ed Zwick, he stars as a Jewish man who, along with his brothers played by Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell, builds a resistance movement in the freezing Belorussian woodland during World War II. Talking to DS, Craig reveals why the spectre of James Bond is never far away and how the icy conditions in Lithuania helped the cast to get up close and personal…

You must get offered a huge number of scripts since becoming James Bond. Are you more careful about the roles you choose outside of that?
"I don't think anything has really changed in that respect. I do get more offers, or at least I get to see more scripts, but they're just as crap as they were before. I mean there are only so many good scripts out there, genuinely, so you have to sort of riffle through all of them and go through that whole process. If anything I suppose it's even harder because instead of four scripts you've got eight scripts and I have to read more, which is obviously a bore!"

This character Tuvia Bielski, a bit like Bond, has a lot of repressed rage, doesn't he?
"I know, but I'll never choose a role because of another role. Genuinely this came along and I read it and just went, 'I want to make this movie.' It's a story I want to tell. And it's also something that fascinated me because, well, for obvious reasons really, but I never look at something and say, 'Oh, it's a bit similar to this or it's a bit like this.'"

It's been said this is your second 'Jew fighting back' role since Munich…
"Hey, it's a career and that's all I can say! Again, this might sound naïve but that didn't bother me. I mean of course I looked at it and thought, 'Well there's Munich and people will look at that and maybe compare that…' But again, if I went through my life trying to 'construct' my career I would lose all of the inspiration. I was inspired by this story and hopefully I will continue to be inspired by stories. I mean I'm not actively looking for another Jewish freedom fighter, but you never know. Maybe a very old one?"

Has Bond given you the power to green-light films like this which might be a tougher sell?
"Well, you'd think that but I tell you this was a real f**king struggle. I mean we couldn't get this made in the States. I mean it [Bond] helped, it definitely helped… I think if I'd picked a rather nice romantic comedy then it would have been easier to raise the money for it. But this is a tough storyline and thank God for Paramount Vantage who stepped in to help, but we came to Europe for the money. Thankfully, European sales and worldwide sales on Bond have been fairly healthy so we managed to get some money… Hopefully I can continue to use that [power] positively and productively as opposed to wasting it. I'll try."

You had members of the Bielski family visiting the set. Does that put an extra weight of responsibility on your shoulders?
"I suppose it does to a certain degree, but I always have approached acting and filmmaking, therefore [with the attitude that] this is always going to be an interpretation. Obviously Ed Zwick and I sat down and talked for days on end, and I did do with Liev [Schreiber] and Jamie [Bell]. We all talked about what we thought was essential for this story and then you just make this leap of faith. And the leap of faith is that, 'This is what we understand about the story and this is the story we're going to tell and hopefully it will raise a debate.' The Bielskis have been to see the film, and they reacted very well to it. I'm glad that happened, but you can't have that on your head while you're shooting a movie. You've got to be strong about your opinions."

You're no stranger to physical roles, but how did you cope with the outdoor shoot?
"Lots of alcohol! The weird thing was that I was filming this - and when we finished it was just at the beginning of November or the end of October - and we were starting Bond in January and I had to start trying to get into shape. But when it's freezing cold outside you have to eat and you have to drink and so I, uh, well I didn't... No, you know what? It got cold, but in fact this is about as cold it got and this is, like, rather a beautiful today compared to the way it could be [in Lithuania]. We had flurries of snow, but the worst thing that could've happened is the rain, and it rained for a little bit, and because we were filming on slopes and there was heavy camera equipment and things, it could've got really dangerous. But we got through."

Did being out there in the freezing woods encourage a bit of male bonding...?
"Ah, like one of those things where we hit each other with twigs!? You know we did that, but no! Um. It definitely had an effect. All I can say is that, we didn't sleep rough, and we didn't sleep out. I went home every night. We were there twelve hours a day, we were there six days a week and it got f**king cold, but there was something about that experience. Nobody did this movie for money and that includes the crew - and we had a top-notch crew on this and everybody stuck around on set. We had Lithuanian actors, we had British actors and American actors, and the crew, and we all just huddled around and while the film was being made we were all involved with it. So there was male and female bonding going on but not in that way! Apparently."

Source: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a140 ... iance.html

[Mazer Rackham]

He is a lazy actor.

Are you basing this on that one comment from Craig?

From his history and his history of comments pissing on the rudimentary work most actor put in to roles on and off stage.
He is the first to bitch about how hard something is for him. IN the last 100+ years we've had actosr acting in chronic debilitating pain giving the performances of a lifetime and we've had actors who were functionally illiterate make a successful go when they couldn't comprehend the script, all without a word of complaint. Then we get Craig who has to tell everyone how hard it is for him and how hard he tires.

[wrenchhands]

I'm so sick of Craigs complaining that I'm going to fill up a books worth of message board pages with complaining!

[katied]

He is the first to bitch about how hard something is for him. IN the last 100+ years we've had actosr acting in chronic debilitating pain giving the performances of a lifetime and we've had actors who were functionally illiterate make a successful go when they couldn't comprehend the script, all without a word of complaint. Then we get Craig who has to tell everyone how hard it is for him and how hard he tires.

Waaahbulance for Mr. Craig

[Milton Krest]

He is a lazy actor.

Are you basing this on that one comment from Craig?

From his history and his history of comments pissing on the rudimentary work most actor put in to roles on and off stage.
He is the first to bitch about how hard something is for him. IN the last 100+ years we've had actosr acting in chronic debilitating pain giving the performances of a lifetime and we've had actors who were functionally illiterate make a successful go when they couldn't comprehend the script, all without a word of complaint. Then we get Craig who has to tell everyone how hard it is for him and how hard he tires. :r

If thats what he calls trying he better quit now! i dont get the praise he gets, hes the bloody same in every film! he has two facial expressions, gurn and pout! if he smiled, his face looks as though it will crack into pieces! plus in interviews he comes across as pretentious, humourless and arrogent!

[Kristatos]

we've had actors who were functionally illiterate make a successful go when they couldn't comprehend the script, all without a word of complaint.

Or dyslexic, like Keira Knightley.

[stockslivevan]

I'm so sick of Craigs complaining that I'm going to fill up a books worth of message board pages with complaining!

Gotta give you credit for your sniper skills.

[CaptainLewis]

Defiance
Cosmo Landesman

Defiance is the true and remarkable story of three Jewish brothers from Poland who organised a resistance movement against the Nazi occupation of what is now Belarus. Tuvia Bielski (Daniel Craig) is the leader of a group that refuses to go to the ghetto and instead takes refuge in a forest, creating a small society. Meanwhile, his brother Zus (Liev Schreiber) decides to join a group of Soviet partisans and kill Nazis. While the film challenges the conventional view of the passive and victimised Jews, it relies on predictable plot lines about murdered wives and the heavy-handed use of violins for its dramatic impact. Craig is all craggy, blue-eyed defiance, but the star of the film is Schreiber, who gives a powerful and authentic performance.

2/5 15, 137 mins

Source: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 475223.ece

Defiance at the Odeon, Leicester Square

Edward Zwick’s earnest epic Defiance comes ready armed with that treacherous opening line “Based on a true story . . .”, which instantly implies that the following 137 minutes of splintering action should be taken far more seriously than they perhaps deserve.

The film is indeed based on a true story, remarkable too, about a band of Jewish resistance fighters in western Belorussia who had the guts and pluck to fight a guerrilla campaign against the Nazis.

It is this lost and lonely chapter of the war that gives the film its controversial pulling power. That, and a glamorous cast of Hollywood brothers.

Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell are as heroic and resourceful as Robin Hood and his Merry Men. They are the Bielski brothers: legendary mud-spattered partisans who live hand-to-mouth in vast unmapped forests. They rob rich farmers at pistol point to feed a growing commune of desperate and vulnerable Jewish refugees.

The film is brilliant about the brute business of survival: the unwieldy numbers of elderly men, women and children who trudge through the trees seeking sanctuary. The tensions between the partisan fighters about the lack of rations and bullets are poisonous. Zwick films the freezing winters and starvation with unhealthy attention to detail.

Tempers fray. Brother falls out with brother. A rival tribe of Russian mercenaries pour scorn on the unstintingly noble leader of this Jewish tribe: the haunted Craig, who plays the conflicted Tuvia Bielski with fabulous charisma. He seems to be contractually obliged not to crack a smile for entire reels as he tries to work out how to save his squabbling commune.

Defiance, complains Schreiber’s bloodthirsty middle brother, Zus, is something that the Jews are not good at. They are only good at dying. The youngest brother, Asael, played by Bell, is crunched between the egos of his two flinty siblings. Bell is the impressionable eyes and ears of the story. He is the silent witness who catalogues this strangest of cinema adventures. But he is not adverse to a little speechifying of his own when push comes to dramatic climax.

Zwick spent ten years trying to work out a way of putting Nechama Tec’s account of the Bielski brothers — published as a novel in 1993 — on screen without diluting the cold and courageous facts.

It is a legendary Jewish two- fingered salute against the most appalling odds. But it is also packaged as mawkishly as Schindler’s List to beef up the entertainment value. The film is as much about the softening of a hard man, Craig — who is slapped into shape by a beautiful feisty woman (Alexa Davalos) — as it is about defiance.

“Our revenge is to live,” trumpets Craig sitting atop a white steed (Lord knows how he came by a stallion in the middle of this forest). “Every day of freedom is like an act of faith.” Therein lies the bitter pill, but you can’t but notice how beautifully it has been sugared. What is undeniable is the terrific cast, not least the cameos by clever actors such as Allan Corduner as the Bielskis’ old school teacher. It is the minor parts and small details that add superior spice and emotion to this haunting tale.

3/5

Source: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 462310.ece (Craig looks a bit creepy in that photo)

[FROSTY]

What is Hollywood power?

It's kinda like "Puppy Power", which Scrappy-Doo has

But in Craig's hands, it's the ability to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at something,
and not get a cent of profit back

[Mazer Rackham]

What is Hollywood power?

It's kinda like "Puppy Power", which Scrappy-Doo has

But in Craig's hands, it's the ability to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at something,
and not get a cent of profit back

[katied]

But in Craig's hands, it's the ability to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at something,
and not get a cent of profit back

Ouch.Well, in the case of his non-Bond films, that seems to be the truth.

[The Sweeney]

But in Craig's hands, it's the ability to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at something,
and not get a cent of profit back

Ouch.Well, in the case of his non-Bond films, that seems to be the truth.

Either him, or his agent, have a perverse way of avoiding decent BO films, in-between playing Bond.
Mind you, I can't recall major successes from any of the others actors during their tenure playing Bond. Once Connery retired from Bond he had some major hits, but not during.

[Kristatos]

Either him, or his agent, have a perverse way of avoiding decent BO films, in-between playing Bond.
Mind you, I can't recall major successes from any of the others actors during their tenure playing Bond. Once Connery retired from Bond he had some major hits, but not during.

Wasn't Marnie made while Connery was still Bond? How did that do at the box office?

[The Sweeney]

Either him, or his agent, have a perverse way of avoiding decent BO films, in-between playing Bond.
Mind you, I can't recall major successes from any of the others actors during their tenure playing Bond. Once Connery retired from Bond he had some major hits, but not during.

Wasn't Marnie made while Connery was still Bond? How did that do at the box office?

That's the only one of significance that I can remember. I also recall him looking very Bondish in that film too.

Not sure how much of a big hitter it was at the BO though, in comparison to Bond.

[Kristatos]

Not sure how much of a big hitter it was at the BO though, in comparison to Bond.

According to IMDb, it cost $3 million to make and made $7 million in the US alone. Not sure what that is in 2008 dollars, but it's a pretty decent rate of return. Hitchcock was a big name, so I'd imagine it was successful.

[katied]

Either him, or his agent, have a perverse way of avoiding decent BO films, in-between playing Bond.
Mind you, I can't recall major successes from any of the others actors during their tenure playing Bond. Once Connery retired from Bond he had some major hits, but not during.

That's true,but the non-Bond films Craig has done while he's been Bond have been flops.I mean,not a little bit,a LOT.

[stockslivevan]

Not sure how much of a big hitter it was at the BO though, in comparison to Bond.

According to IMDb, it cost $3 million to make and made $7 million in the US alone. Not sure what that is in 2008 dollars, but it's a pretty decent rate of return. Hitchcock was a big name, so I'd imagine it was successful.

From what I've read it was initially not that well recieved, much like Vertigo. It wasn't till later when it started getting more fans as Hitchcock's name become more legendary and more appreciated in the industry, although the praises for Marnie are no where near Vertigo's today. Still, there are many critics who consider this Hitchcock's last first-rate film, given that it was the last time Hitchcock worked with his usual crew like Bernard Herrmann and Robert Burks.

I personally like it. It's not a classic Hitchock, but it's an interesting film to watch with a nice cast.

But yes, Connery didn't really get much success in his non-Bond film career until The Untouchables, his post-Bond breakout role that solidified him as a top A-lister and box office draw.

[CaptainLewis]

'Role Models' beats 'Slumdog' to UK No.1

Wednesday, January 14 2009, 12:58 GMT

By Alex Fletcher, Entertainment Reporter



Seann William Scott's latest comedy vehicle Role Models has claimed the UK box office top spot.

Golden Globe winner Slumdog Millionaire settles for second, while Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson's comedy Bride Wars debuts at three.

Daniel Craig's war drama Defiance enters at four and last week's number one Yes Man, slips to fifth.

The top ten in full:

1. (-) Role Models - £2,330,145
2. (-) Slumdog Millionaire - £1,827,457
3. (-) Bride Wars - £1,717,894
4. (-) Defiance - £1,198,425
5. (5) Yes Man - £1,036,683
6. (2) Bedtime Stories - £815,996
7. (4) Australia - £811,555
8. (3) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - £777,164
9. (5) Twilight - £770,359
10. (7) The Reader - £578,784

Source: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a142 ... k-no1.html

[katied]

I still need to see Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon.My nephews and one of the nieces saw Bedtime Stories and said it was pretty good.

[wrenchhands]

I'm in the middle of munich as we speak