Film News: Behind the scenes of Under the Skin; watch Whatever Gets You Through The Night

UNDER THE SKIN: GO BEHIND THE SCENES WITH DIRECTOR JONATHAN GLAZER
Jonathan Glazer is the filmmaker behind the stylish Sexy Beast, Birth and most recently Under the Skin, a sultry and deeply experimental science fiction film starring Scarlett Johansson, and set in Scotland, using non-professional actors to play the hapless victims seduced by Johansson's otherworldly alien temptress. 

We interviewed Glazer back in February, and he spoke candidly about the making of Under the Skin, explaining that the psychological makeup of Johansson's character was all-important to the film's effectiveness: "I suppose that was the molten core of it all," he told us. "The idea of being really in her point of view and seeing human beings from her angle."

This week, a new featurette has surfaced online featuring interviews with Glazer, Johansson and producer James Wilson, looking at the characters, the visual world, and the remarkable central performance from Johansson. Watch it in full below.

WHATEVER GETS YOU THROUGH THE NIGHT – NOW AVAILABLE TO STREAM & DOWNLOAD
Whatever Gets You Through The Night was a ground-breaking performance, which made its debut last year at The Arches in Glasgow. Written by Cora Bissett with the help of Edinburgh band Swimmer One, it featured music from Emma Pollock's Dark Skies, singer Eugene Kelly, beatboxer Bigg Taj and experimental vocalist Wounded Knee, among others. Along with the theatre performance, the multi-arts, cross-platform project also included an album and a film, directed by Daniel Warren, who we interviewed last year about the ambitious venture. 

Whatever Gets You Through The Night saw each artist taking part examine a different hour of the night-time. As Warren explained to us: "Night time's still quite frightening for people; bad things happen at night, nefarious activities. It [is] a way of making the film global, not just a film about Scotland." Read our interview with Daniel Warren here.

THE RUMOUR MILL: BRYAN SINGER ON X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, SAM RAIMI TO RE-BOOT THE GRUDGE
Bryan Singer has dropped some more hints about the possible characters and plot details involved in X-Men: Apocalypse, the planned sequel to this summer's X-Men: Days of Future Past. Speaking to Total Film, the director reveals: "We're going to deal with the notion of ancient mutants – the fact that they were born and existed thousands of years ago. But it'll be a contemporary movie – well, it'll take place in the 80s." Feeling his age, the director added: "The 80s is a period now – it's hard for me to believe that!"

In another interview with Cine Premiere, Singer speculated about the new mutants who might feature in the sequel. “I'm considering Gambit and potentially a young Nightcrawler for Apocalypse," he says. "I was going to have Nightcrawler [in Days of Future Past] and even wrote a scene, but I felt that we were forcing too many mutants into the story."

It seems Sam Raimi is not done with his J-Horror adaptations yet – it emerged this week that he plans to re-boot his re-make of Ju-on, better known to western audiences as The Grudge, which Raimi produced in 2004, with original director Takashi Shimizu at the helm. The Raimi-produced remake of the film, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, also spawned two sequels. Now, according to Deadline, Raimi plans to re-boot the series with another remake of the original film, although it is unconfirmed whether he will elect to occupy the director's chair this time around. Jeff Buhler (The Midnight Meat Train) has been tapped to write a script.

TRAILERS: BLOOD TIES, THE MACHINE
Two brothers, one a criminal and the other a cop, face off in 1970s Brooklyn in Blood Ties, which, despite sounding like a re-run of every single Martin Scorsese film ever made, has an impressive cast including Clive Owen and Marion Cotillard, and a lived-in feel that owes much to its soundtrack of classic soul standards. We've found the extended international trailer for you - don't mind the French subtitles. The film is directed by French filmmaker Guillaume Canet (Tell No One).

The Machine, meanwhile, is a whip smart near-future sci-fi set in the world of emerging artificial intelligence, starring a cast of almost-unknowns (apart from Denis Lawson – a greatly under-rated British actor – who it’s nice to see given near-top billing for once). It comes from writer/director Caradog W. James, who has a background in TV and short films, and from the trailer, looks like it's pitched half-way between Blade Runner and Species. Whether it will be a classic like the first, or a decent popcorn flick like the second, remains to be seen.