We go from one end of the spectrum to the other this week on BEHIND THE LENS as we take a look at writer/director Atom Egoyan’s dramatic new thriller SEVEN VEILS and everyone’s favorite (and looney) pig and duck, Porky and Daffy, in writer/director Peter Browngardt’s feature animated directorial debut LOONEY TUNES: THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP. I love both films and think you will, too – especially LOONEY TUNES!
First up today is my exclusive interview with one of my longtime favorite directors – ATOM EGOYAN. I will see anything and everything that Atom does and am thrilled that he now presents us with SEVEN VEILS, an exquisite blend of cinema and theatre, opera to be specific, that will have you mesmerized by the visual beauty and intensity of the film, and leave you breathless with the power of the story which is built around the acclaimed opera, Salome.
Written & Directed by Atom, SEVEN VEILS stars Amanda Seyfried who reunites with Atom after their 2015 film Chloe, as well as Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Mark O’Brien, Vinessa Antoine, Ambur Braid, Michael Kupfer-Radecky
Premised on the biblical tale of Salome, which has been told in countless ways over the years, most notably as a 19th-century opera by Richard Strauss and written by Oscar Wilde, Atom has taken his love for the tale which he has directed on the stage numerous times since 1996 and now explores what a production of Salome would mean in our current culture. This led him to write SEVEN VEILS about a remount of Salome that he filmed at the same time the opera was being performed on stage by the Canadian Opera Company in 2023, using the opera singers from Salome in the film.
With the opera at its core, Atom wrote a modern tale around the opera production as we meet theater director Jeanine played by Amanda Seyfried, who re-enters the opera world to stage her former mentor’s most famous work. Haunted by dark and disturbing memories from her past, Jeanine allows her repressed trauma to color the present as her personal and professional lives begin to unravel.
Visually stunning, seductive, sensual, and even jarring, Atom beautifully blends cinema with theatricality. Take a listen as we break down the SEVEN VEILS…from creation to cinematography to editing to score and more.
SEVEN VEILS is in theatres now.
Switching gears now, we go from the seductive and sensual to sarcasm, satire, slapstick, and pure unadulterated joy with Porky Pig and Daffy Duck in LOONEY TUNES: THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP and my exclusive conversation with writer/director/animator PETER BROWNGARDT.
This is everything you could want and more not just in an animated film, a hand-drawn 2D animated film to be precise, but in animation and particularly in the world of LOONEY TUNES. Timeless and iconic, this buddy comedy starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck marks the first fully animated feature-length film in Looney Tunes history! Those legends of Warner Bros Termite Terrace would be so proud of what Peter Browngardt and his team have done with LOONEY TUNES: THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP.
Porky Pig and Daffy Duck are unlikely heroes and Earth’s only hope when their antics at the local bubble gum factory uncover a secret alien mind control plot. Faced with cosmic odds, the two are determined to save their town (and the world!)… that is if they don’t drive each other totally looney in the process.
Voice acting is perfection thanks to the work of acclaimed actors Eric Bauza, Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol, Wayne Knight, and Laraine Newman which help bring the laugh-out-loud gags, vibrant visuals, and beloved characters to life.
Listen as Peter talks about animation and dialogue going hand in hand aka what came first the pig or the duck egg and working with 11 writers/animators to develop the emotion through drawing, dialogue and voicing, the classic hand-drawn visuals, paying homage to the past – including many classic films – while adding some contemporary notes, melding genres, music and score, getting a greenlight from Warners to make the film, and of course Peter’s own learning curve with his first feature after hundreds of Looney Tunes shorts.
LOONEY TUNES: THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP is in theatres March 14, 2025.
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