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Journalism of Courage
Brad Bird,director of films such as The Incredibles,The Iron Giant and Ratatouille,has now made his live action debut with Mission ImpossibleGhost Protocol. He said he didnt tackle the film with the specific intent of becoming an A-list director without an asterisk. Live action represented a new challenge. The movie cost an estimated $145 million to make and was filmed on location (Dubai,India,Russia) using Imax cameras. Adding to the pressure,the movies star,Tom Cruise,who is also a producer,urgently needs a fresh hit. Bird got this gig largely because of Tom Cruise. He called Bird shortly after The Incredibles was released. His composition and storytelling was absolutely wonderful,and I said,If you ever want to direct live action,please direct me, Cruise said.
Monsieur Lazhar is the Canadian submission for the best foreign-language film Oscar. Its a drama,but the title role,that of an Algerian immigrant who becomes a substitute teacher in a troubled classroom in a Montreal elementary school,is played by Mohamed Said Fellag,an Algerian who lives in France,where he is best known as a stand-up comedian and author of acidly humorous plays. Giving competition to it,is Mexicos entry,Miss Bala,a crime thriller. Its main character is Laura Guerrero,a naïve young woman living on the outskirts of Tijuana who aspires to become Miss Baja California but ends up being sucked into the war between Mexican government security forces and the crime cartels that now dominate some parts of the country.
Noomi Rapace,known for her role as Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish/Danish film adaptations of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest,will make her English-language debut alongside Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,directed by Guy Ritchie. As Sim,a Gypsy fortuneteller,Rapace assumes a less brazen disguisea flowing mane,kaleidoscopic petticoats and knife-throwing skillsin a commercial calling card. The role fits with Rapaces image of herself as a citizen of the world. I never felt like a typical Swedish girl. I always felt like I was on the move,that I was going towards something, she said. In June she will star as a scientist in Ridley Scotts Prometheus,his fiercely guarded science-fiction offshoot of Alien.
