#OnTheBigScreen: Wonder Woman, Baywatch and Live Theatre

Baywatch
A devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon (Dwayne Johnson) butts heads with a brash new recruit (Zac Efron). Together, they uncover a local criminal plot that threatens the future of the Bay. Priyanka Chopra (ABC’s Quantico), Alexandra Daddario (San Andreas), Jon Bass (Loving), Kelly Rohrbach and Ilfenesh Hadera (Showtime’s Billions) co-star.

Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses, Identity Thief) directs from a screenplay written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, story by Jay Scherick and David Ronn and Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant. “It’s a fun piece of pop culture,” says director Seth Gordon. “People generally know the basics: David Hasselhoff, Pamela Anderson, and slow motion running on the beach, but beyond that, I felt like we had a real opportunity to redefine the brand.”

Says Johnson “We wanted to raise the bar in terms of shocking humour. With comedies, there’s ‘fun’, and above that, there’s ‘awesome, I didn’t expect to have that level of fun’, but way beyond that, at the top of the mountain, there’s ‘filthy fun.’ Let me tell you, ‘filthy fun’, that’s something. That’s the rarefied air up there. Baywatch is ‘lights out, game over, we may have to cancel Christmas’ level filthy fun.’”

Their Finest

A witty, romantic and moving portrayal of a young woman finding her way, and her voice, in the mayhem of war… and the movies!

In the midst of the devastating World War II, with increasing numbers of men drafted to fight for their lives on the frontline, bombs continued to drop relentlessly on London, Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) a smart copywriter, is employed to write female dialogue, (patronisingly referred to as ‘slop’ by her male co writers), for original propaganda feature films that would reflect the new mood of the nation, and help tap into the hearts and imaginations of the fast-growing women’s workforce. Partnered alongside fellow screenwriter, the forthright Buckley (Sam Claflin), the pair make a film that will warm the hearts of the nation, and capture the imagination of the American population.

Says producer Stephen Woolley, ''We were keen to make it a modern story. War films made at the time did generally tend to reflect the male experience of war, so we wanted to make a film that was not just the female experience of becoming a writer, but a female experience of being in the Blitz in London and coping with a society that was on the brink of changing from being so male-dominated, to being a 7 society were women weren't just tolerated, they were expected to step into the breach and take on male roles in society. Not just in the world of film, but the world around them.”

Danish director, Lone Scherfig comes to this project off the back of a trilogy of acclaimed productions, with An Education, One Day and The Riot Club. Her sensibilities as a filmmaker make for a perfect marriage with British cinema.

“It means a lot to us as filmmakers to make a film about a period where films were as important as they were,” says Lone Scherfig.“To remind us why we spend all our adult life doing this instead of something worthier, like being a nurse, where you might respect yourself more. We have to remind ourselves that we have a right to do this job, even if there are days where you laugh for sixteen hours.”

Wonder Woman

Power, grace, wisdom and wonder: inspiring qualities intrinsic to one of the greatest superheroes of all time, known the world over as Wonder Woman. A revered and enduring DC archetype and a global symbol of strength and equality for more than 75 years – how and when did she come to be, and why did mankind’s welfare become so important to her?

Director Patty Jenkins’ larger-than-life hero’s journey tells the long-awaited origin story of Diana, the only child of Themyscira, a secret island gifted to her people from the king of the gods himself, Zeus. Hailing from the world of Amazons, Diana has been preparing for combat her whole life. But to become a true warrior, she will need to carry the courage of her convictions – and an arsenal like no other – onto the most harrowing battlefield the world has ever known.

Gal Gadot stars in the title role of this epic action adventure, marking the DC superhero’s first-ever stand-alone feature film. Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, raised on a sheltered island paradise and trained to be an unconquerable warrior. But when an American pilot crashes off their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside men in the war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers… and her true destiny.

“The time is absolutely right to bring Wonder Woman to movie audiences,” says Jenkins. “Fans have been waiting a long time for this, but I believe people outside the fandom are ready for a Wonder Woman movie, too. Superheroes have played a role in many people’s lives; it’s that fantasy of, ‘what would it be like if I was that powerful and that great, and I could go on that exciting journey and do heroic things?’ I’m no different. I was seven years old when I first read Superman, and it rocked my world because I felt like Superman. The character captured exactly what I believed in then and still do: that there is a part of every human being that wishes they could change the world for the better.”

The film’s screenwriter, Allan Heinberg, wrote the Wonder Woman comic for DC in 2006 and 2007 and was thrilled to be part of the film. He states, “Wonder Woman has been my all-time favourite superhero since I was a first-grader watching Super Friends on Saturday mornings in Tulsa, Oklahoma. To have had any part at all in bringing her story to the screen—and to have done so alongside a creative team that includes Patty Jenkins and Geoff Johns—is a lifelong dream come true.”

Rosencrantz & Guildenstein Are Dead

Half a century after its premiere on The Old Vic stage, this mind-bending situation comedy that made a young Tom Stoppard’s name overnight, returns to the theatre in its 50th anniversary celebratory production, directed by David Leveaux. This new production of the play was filmed live at The Old Vic Theatre in London for broadcast to cinemas around the world as part of the current National Theatre Live season.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead stars Daniel Radcliffe (the Harry Potter films, The Woman in Black), Joshua McGuire (The Hour, Lovesick) and David Haig (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Witness for the Prosecution) in Tom Stoppard’s brilliantly funny situation comedy.

Against the backdrop of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, two hapless minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, take centre stage. Increasingly out of their depth, the young double act stumble their way in and out of the action of the Bard’s iconic drama, as their version of the story unfolds. In a literary hall of mirrors, Stoppard’s brilliantly funny, existential labyrinth sees us witness the ultimate identity crisis.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead releases on Saturday, 3 June 2017, for four screenings only: on 3, 7 and 8 June at 19:30 and on 4 June at 14:30 at Ster-Kinekor’s Nouveau cinemas in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, and at Ster-Kinekor Gateway in Durban.

The running time is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including an interval.

For more information on the latest film releases, visit the Writing Studio website.