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Just over a year ago, Ann Wilson was scheduled to play Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote a solo tour after Heart went on indefinite hiatus. Whatever she planned to sing that evening was scrapped when the news rolled in on people’s phones. Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell — a kindred Seattle soul, the shy guitarist that came to her Halloween house parties, the man who inducted her band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — was dead at the age of 52.

“I got serious about making a record after Chris Cornell passed,...

We’ve got questions, and you’ve (maybe) got answers! With another week of TV gone by, we’re lobbing queries left and right about shows including Gilmore Girls, American Crime, Supernatural and Younger!

1 | If Undateable gets renewed for Season 4, would it be too much to ask for “TV’s Scott Foley” to pop-in every week? Also, what joke from the finale’s East Coast airing had to be dropped from the West Coast staging “for legal reasons” (as Bill Lawrence shared on Periscope)?

2 | Of all of Grease: Live‘s impressive technical accomplishments, did anything match Wendell Pierce and his...

Director Dana Lustig’s latest film, “A Thousand Kisses Deep”, starring Jodie Whittaker and Dougray Scott, will be available on DVD Aug. 6. The film (trailer below) follows a young woman named Mia (Whittaker) who is the witness to an old woman’s suicide. A picture from her past surround the woman and its this picture that take Mia on a journey through time to make sense of her past. ShockYa was happy to speak with Lustig about the film; check out what she had to say about the film below. What attracted you in “A Thousand Kisses Deep”? Dana Lustig: I loved the script. A friend of mine from the AFI–I’ve [ Read More ]

The post Exclusive: Dana Lustig Talks A Thousand Kisses Deep appeared first on Shockya.com.

On the day she returns from collecting her estranged mother’s personal effects, Mia Selva stumbles across the apparent suicide of an elderly neighbour. Though she has never noticed the woman before, something about her death fall beckons her to take a closer look. The photographs scattered around her body are all of Mia’s lover, and tormentor, Ludwig. Unsettled, Mia asks their building’s custodian to allow her inside the dead woman’s home. She crosses the threshold into an eerily familiar room and embarks upon a journey into her own past which forces her to confront the most painful moments of her life – past and future.

Jodie Whittaker (Attack the Block) plays the many incarnations of Mia in this slaloming psychological thriller. Dougray Scott takes on the role of charismatic sadist Ludwig, the love of her unhappy life. The pair, together with custodian Max (David Warner), reunite, fight...

Mia (Jodie Whittaker) has just collected her mother’s effects from the hospice in which she died. She throws them away and then arrives at her apartment building to find an identical box waiting for her. Straight afterwards, Mia is out on the street and an elderly lady throws herself out of an upper window, to her death. The lady has a photograph of a man (Ludwig – Dougray Scott) from Mia’s past and then the mysterious caretaker (David Warner) tells her that she needs to put things right, by travelling back in time (using an enchanted elevator). She moves back through her life and her various encounters with the abusive, possibly sociopathic Ludwig, trying to keep him from becoming involved in and destroying her life.

*****

An unusual mix of high concept and human drama (and in that respect sharing some DNA with Sliding Doors), A Thousand Kisses Deep has...

Rock Of Ages (12A)

(Adam Shankman, 2012, Us) Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones. 123 mins

Doing for 1980s hair metal what Mamma Mia! did for Abba, this glossy musical gives you the broad pleasures of pantomime rather than rock'n'roll danger, with theatrical star turns and a playlist of power ballads hung around an archetypal tale of a smalltown girl and a wannabe rock star boy on La's Sunset Strip. You can stop believin' now.

Cosmopolis (15)

(David Cronenberg, 2012, Fra/Can/Por/Ita) Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Sarah Gadon. 109 mins

Don De Lillo's prescient novella makes for a cool Manhattan odyssey, centred on Pattinson's jaded banker and the Occupy zeitgeist.

Polisse (15)

(Maïwenn, 2011, Fra) Karin Viard, Joey Starr, Marina Foïs. 128 mins

A Wire-like approach to a French child protection unit reaps dividends for this docu-style procedural.

Red Lights (15)

(Rodrigo Cortés, 2012, Us/Spa) Cillian Murphy, Robert De Niro,...

It’s Friday, so you know what that means – lots more films released in cinemas across the country and this is week it’s a mixed selection, from the musical stylings of Rock of Ages to the horror of Red Lights and the re-release of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.

Nationwide Releases Rock of Ages

Under the direction of Adam Shankman (“Hairspray”), New Line Cinema’s feature film adaptation of the smash hit Broadway musical “Rock of Ages” comes to the big screen. The movie musical stars Julianne Hough (“Burlesque”), with actor/singer Diego Boneta in his feature film debut, Russell Brand (“Arthur,” “Get Him to the Greek”), Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti (“Cinderella Man”), Academy Award winner Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”), Malin Akerman (“The Proposal”), R&B queen Mary J. Blige and multiple Emmy-winner Bryan Cranston (TV’s “Breaking Bad,” “The Lincoln Lawyer”), with Oscar nominees Alec Baldwin (“The Cooler”) and Tom Cruise...

A Thousand Kisses Deep

Stars: Emilia Fox, Dougray Scott, David Warner, Jodie Whittaker | Written by Alex Kustanovich, Vadim Moldovan | Directed by Dana Lustig

When a film is described as being “an unsettling drama that cinematically captures and recreates the psycho-analytic experience.” and is influenced by a song by Leonard Cohen you can tell it’s probably going to take some thinking about. When it adds some time travel in too then you know it could get confusing. A Thousand Kisses Deep is not really confusing, but it could lose a few people in what it’s trying to achieve.

When Mia witnesses an old woman falling to her death she is obviously in shock, but with this shock is also bewilderment at the fact that this woman had Mia’s pictures in her hand when she fell. This leads her to investigate the woman’s apartment to discover that things are not what they seem.

It’s no surprise to find that Prometheus is top of the UK Box Office again this past week, with Men In Black 3 and Snow White and the Curiously Accented Huntsman is in third.

The Pact did pretty darn well and went in at 4th but perhaps most impressive was Plan B’s debut feature Ill Manors coming in at number 9 and taking considerably more (around £250,000) than George Lucas’s World War 2 Adventure Red Tails (around £190,000) in the process. Pretty good going for a bleak and grimy Brit Flick.

Both however did considerably better than Simon Pegg’s a A Fantastic Fear of Everything, which limped in at number 20 with takings of just £35,000, helped no doubt by a slew of negative reviews.

This week’s big release is the movie adaptation of hit stage musical Rock of Ages. The cast is a mix of big name stars, Tom Cruise,...

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Science fiction is a notoriously difficult genre to pull off on a low-budget, but as proven here in Dana Lustig’s A Thousand Kisses Deep, it’s not impossible. Though scribes Alex Kustanovich and Vadim Moldovan don’t appear to have decided on a firm set of rules to govern their time travel conceit, they have concocted enough surprises and secured a strong enough cast to see it through.

Though employing the titular Leonard Cohen poem as a framing device feels a little too precious, the film effectively builds a mystery from frame one. The ice-cold opening, which is so abrupt it feels like something was cut, aims to create sharp memories in the viewer’s mind which will be important later on.

Mia (Jodie Whittaker) is a mess. Her mother has recently died, she works odd hours as a nurse, and her life lacks both balance and meaning.

ill Manors (18)

(Ben Drew, 2012, UK) Riz Ahmed, Ed Skrein, Natalie Press, Anouska Mond. 121 mins

The coalition government has repeatedly denied his existence, but Plan B proves he's for real with this intense, provocative survey of British urban decay in all its forms. A few too many forms, perhaps, as this crams in so many tales of hardship, exploitation, drugs and violence, and seeks to render them in so many ways (hip-hop numbers, tricksy visuals, flashbacks), it gets a bit carried away. Still, top marks for at least trying to tell it like it is.

Red Tails (12A)

(Anthony Hemingway, 2012, Us) Cuba Gooding Jr, Terrence Howard. 125 mins

George Lucas co-produces this story of the African-American Tuskegee Airmen and their role in the second world war, fighting both Nazis and racism. There's more of an eye for aerial action than grown-up drama, though.

A Fantastic Fear Of Everything (15)

(Crispian Mills, Chris Hopewell,...

A Thousand Kisses Deep has released a new clip from the movie, which stars Jodie Whittaker and Dougray Scott. An intriguing drama from director Dana Lustig, Thousand Kisses follows Mia (Whittaker – Attack the Block), who sees an elderly woman jump from a window at her apartment block. When Mia examines the woman's body she finds the tatters of a photo of herself and a former lover, which prompts her to investigate the events leading up to the woman’s suicide. What ensues is an unsettling saga revolving around her relationship with...

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Big screen tough guy and sometimes baddie Sean Bean might finally be getting his break as a main character in a franchise revolving around the adaptation of novels written by South African author Dean Meyer.

Sean Bean is one of those actors that leaves me scratching my head because I can’t figure out why he hasn’t grabbed the leading man role in a variety of films that have come out, seeming to always fall into the role of major villain or good guy that gets killed before the end credits roll. Now, it looks like he might finally get his chance to shine as he lands the role of Detective Inspector Benny Griessel in a planned trilogy of films based on Meyer’s novels.

Devil’s Peak introduces everyone to Griessel as he hunts down a serial killer that targets killers of children. The other books in the series are 13 Hours and 7 Days.

London - South African author Deon Meyer’s suspense novel series Devil’s Peak has been optioned for a film trilogy starring Sean Bean. Producers Malcolm Kohll (Formula 51), Michael Murphey (District 9, Dredd), through his Kalahari Pictures, and Ofir Kedar (A Thousand Kisses Deep) will bring Devil’s Peak: The Trilogy to the big screen. Bean (Lord of the Rings) will star in the recurring lead role of Detective Benny Griessel. The trilogy, based on the novels about "revenge, forgiveness and the race to catch a trained killer," will start with The Devil’s Peak, for which principal photography is scheduled to start

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British actress Emilia Fox knocked back half a bottle of bourbon to research her role as a raging drunk - but she still felt stone-cold sober.

The Pianist star plays an alcoholic named Doris in upcoming thriller A Thousand Kisses Deep, but she was baffled by the role as she rarely boozes.

So she decided to guzzle countless shots of Jack Daniel's in an effort to learn how to act drunk - but she still struggled to let go of her inhibitions.

Fox tells You magazine, "I am too much of a control freak to be a drinker, and, until I played Doris, I had never played a hard drunk before. To get into the character, I had to know what it felt like to be out of my head, so one night I got a bottle of Jack Daniel's and downed about half of it, very fast.

"I don't recommend it. But I did learn one thing - even when I am drunk, my natural instinct is to act sober."...

Tomori Films have just served up the full works for their forthcoming film A Thousand Kisses Deep, namely a first look poster and trailer for the film as well as a smattering of images to tease and intrigue in equal measure.

The trailer below does hint at the larger story in play here, and the synopsis seemingly gives everything away so be wary of this when you cast your eyes down. The reason I’ll see it? Jodie Whittaker.

Attack the Block was a nice stepping stone to the side after her role in Venus, but it’s the lesser seen work that’s impressed. The recent short film Smoke and her Black Mirror appearance showed signs of greatness and I’m very hopeful she’ll seek out these challenging roles in the future. Here’s hoping A Thousand Kisses Deep gives her that opportunity.

Here’s the educational and...

Yesterday morning saw the unveiling of the line-up for the 19th annual Raindance Film Festival. 98 features from 38 countries will be screened from the 28th of September to the 9th of October at the Apollo Cinema in Piccadilly, making this the largest Raindance to date, and well worthy of the title of Europe’s leading independent film festival.

Specialising in edgy and alternative films, many of which are by first-time filmmakers, the festival received over 3000 submissions this year, with less than 100 making the cut. As the organisers put it, “it’s not that those other 2900+ films weren’t good; they just weren’t good enough. Raindance continues to grow, with the calibre of films and filmmakers improving every year and this year’s batch are the best yet”

The festival opens with Another Earth. This haunting indie sci-fi that has already been pounced on by Fox Searchlight was a hit at...

The line-up for this year’s Raindance Film Festival, taking place from 28th September to 9th October, has been announced over at the festival’s official site, and it’s got some pretty interesting films playing across the twelve days.

This year is the festival’s nineteenth year running, and it has a history of debuting some of the best and most well-known independent films in recent years, including The Blair Witch Project, Memento, and Oldboy.

Raindance will be holding almost a hundred UK premieres this year, and over thirty international premieres, along with screening more than a hundred shorts, including Sailcloth, starring John Hurt, running at seventeen minutes without any dialogue.

“Raindance Film Festival is Europe’s leading independent film festival. Listed by Variety as one of the world’s top 50 ‘unmissable film festivals’, Raindance aims to nurture, support and promote independent films and filmmakers from the UK and around the world.

A Thousand Kisses Deep is a psychological thriller from director Dana Lustig (Blackout). From one source, A Thousand Kisses Deep involves psychoanalytic theory (Freud), but the synopsis from Gold Crest Post seems to allude to time travel and science fiction. Either way, here is your early look at an upcoming film, that shows promise through its use of mystery e.g. what is this film about?

The synopsis for A Thousand Kisses Deep:

"How well do you know yourself and those you love…

Returning home from work, Mia (Jodie Whittaker) witnesses a woman leap from a window. Scattered around the woman’s broken, lifeless body, Mia discovers shredded pieces from a beloved photograph of herself and her former lover Ludwig (Dougray Scott).

Highly unnerved, Mia begs Max (David Warner), the buildings’ all knowing custodian, to let her into the deceased woman’s flat. While inside this strangely familiar place,...

Dana Lustig describes her new film as "A Kafkaesque story of a woman who travels back in time to undo a romantic relationship and avoid its tragic finale."

Lustig's A Thousand Kisses Deep is a thriller will time-travel elements and stars Dougray Scott, Jodie Whittaker, Emilia Fox, and David Warner. The strange synopsis is reminiscent of something crazy French director Marina de Van might make - identity and reality are blurred, and the female protagonist must figure out who she is and how to survive when she doesn't even know what going on. Shot in London over winter 2010, the movie has supernatural goings-on that I'm excited to watch.

Israeli-born Lustig produced the 2007 mystery thriller Brick and has more than a few films under her belt as a director. A Thousand Kisses Deep will be out on DVD soon - we'll keep you posted as soon as we hear distribution details.

British actress Emilia Fox had to practise drinking to portray an alcoholic in her new film - because she's not used to boozing.

The star takes on a part in time-travelling drama Harmony, which is set for release later this year, and admits she struggled with the role as she has rarely experienced being drunk.

She says, "Playing an alcoholic was very interesting since I'm not a very big drinker. I thought, 'How can I experience getting drunk?' I've got a mechanism in me that goes 'I don't want anymore alcohol' so I very, very rarely can remember getting drunk, but I did attempt to get drunk to know what the feeling was like on this film. I don't recommend it.

"Whilst you're playing drunk you feel like you need to be sort of slightly overly relaxed and not in control of what you're doing and yet actually when you are quite drunk you're trying to take control so you're a lot more studied and concentrated, so it was trying to get that balance which was quite interesting."...