Gareth Edwards pretty much had the dream moviemaking experience when he directed Last year’s Rogue One: He got to be a part of a franchise he’d loved since he was a kid, but he also got to contribute his own ideas to an almost entirely original story within that franchise instead of being bound by the confines of an already-established plotline. At SXSW on Monday, Edwards delivered a keynote speech about his work in Star Wars and becoming a filmmaker, and revealed that one of the planets in Rogue One got its name from a fortuitous misspelling at a coffee shop.
SXSW 2017 has officially found its closing night film, and with the addition of the upcoming sci-fi thriller Life, this year’s Film program has a proper beginning, middle and end. The new film, starring Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson, will debut in Austin next month to formally conclude the fest (which actually keeps going for a few more days, if you have enough energy to stick around), with all three stars present for the big premiere.
There are few mysteries more grim than that of a suicide, particularly of such a beloved and iconic celebrity. That death can blur the line between fandom and the entitled urge to know more about their private lives — as was and still is the case with Kurt Cobain, guitarist and frontman of prolific ‘90s grunge outfit Nirvana. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck gives us unprecedented access to the mind and soul of someone who never took interviews seriously and resented his overnight rise to fame.
The dust has barely settled from the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and already we’ve got a look at the lineup for the 2015 South by Southwest Film Festival. After an initial announcement that included opening night film ‘Brand,’ about comedian Russell Brand,’ things have filled out really nicely with a ton of promising-sounding selections.
Update 5PM ET: A few key facts in our original story have been changed to reflect new information that has surfaced since the initial reports of the incident. Included among those is the identity of the suspect and a clarification about the two people who were killed.
Horrific news to report out of the popular South By Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas, when a driver attempting to avoid a