Expanded Media/LBI Entertainment and 101 Studios announced today that two-time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner will star as Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist David Armstrong who – through a riveting and perilous journey – uncovered the secrets of how the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma fueled a national nightmare. Over a four-year investigation, Armstrong discovered evidence that, in order to maximize their profits, members of the Sackler family knew of and supported Purdue’s concealment of the strength and addiction risks of the drug OxyContin. Since the release of OxyContin, more than two hundred thousand Americans have died from prescription painkiller related overdoses. The film will be written and directed by the award-winning, husband-wife filmmakers Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly (Beneath The Harvest Sky, Queenpins). “The real David Armstrong is a man of utmost integrity. We could not be more thrilled to have Jeremy on board to infuse that same integrity into his portrayal of David. We’re excited to work with such a great team to bring this story to a global audience,” said filmmakers Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly. Journalist David Armstrong says: “I am gratified that a movie audience will learn of the story behind this crisis, which has ruined so many lives. I am impressed with the vision Gita and Aron have for making this film and thrilled that an actor of Jeremy’s talent and ability will be a major part of telling this story.” “I can’t think of anyone better than Jeremy Renner to bring David Armstrong’s vital story to audiences,” shares David C. Glasser, CEO of 101 Studios: “We have been lucky enough to see Jeremy’s tremendous talent first-hand working together on Mayor of Kingstown. We can’t wait to see him tackle a project that we know will resonate with audiences.” Julie Yorn, Head of Production for Expended Media/LBI Entertainment adds: “We are thrilled to be collaborating with such a talented team. David Armstrong’s honor and conviction are a model of what we should all aspire to, and an example of the importance of speaking truth to power. Aron and Gita’s remarkable vision and passion for this story has found its perfect match in Jeremy Renner. We are proud to be working in partnership with the entire team at 101 on this important story. “ Two-time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner has established himself as one of Hollywood’s most versatile and respected actors. Throughout the 2000s, he appeared largely in independent films including Dahmer and Neo Ned. Shortly thereafter he began starring in blockbuster features including The Hurt Locker (Academy Award nomination for Best Actor) and The Town (Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor) as well as starring in Mission Impossible-Ghost Protocol, The Bourne Legacy and originating the role of Hawkeye in Marvel’s Avengers. Jeremy also starred in the award-winning movie American Hustle, Arrival with Amy Adams, the critically acclaimed picture Wind River, and he reprised the roll of Hawkeye in the box office hit Avengers: Endgame. Most recently, Jeremy starred as the titular character in Marvel’s series Hawkeye for Disney+ and is currently playing the lead in the Paramount+ drama series Mayor of Kingstown, which re-teams Renner with Wind River creator/writer/director Taylor Sheridan. Julie Yorn and Patrick Walmsley from Expanded Media/LBI Entertainment and 101 Studios’ David C. Glasser will produce. David Hutkin, Ron Burkle and Bob Yari will executive produce for 101 Studios.
Drumming sensation Luke Holland is currently in Australia on tour. Dave Griffiths from Subculture sat down and had a chat about his career to date and how he has been able to work with the likes of Jeremy Renner. You can take a listen to our Luke Holland interview on the Spreaker player below.
Thanks to our good friends at Icon Films we have a very special Fight For Survival pack to giveaway to celebrate the release of Wind River in cinemas on August 10th.
The pack contains a double pass to go and see Wind River (starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen) and DVD copies of Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Crash, Once Were Warriors, Edge Of Darkness, The Captive and The Grey.
To win simply go to our Facebook page or our Twitter page and tell us in a private message what your favourite Jeremy Renner movie is.
This week on The Good The Bad The Ugly Film Show Adam, Dave and Greg take a look at new release films ‘Nocturnal Animals,’ ‘Arrivals,’’Neon Bull,’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe: The Wild Life’. This episode also contains an interview with Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Nicholas Maksymow (Russian Resurrection Film Festival), Les Hill (Crushed), Scott Schirmer (Plank Face) and Hiroshi Katagiri (Gehenna: Where Death Lives).
Thanks to Transmission Films we also launch our brand new Goldstone competition. The winner will receive a DVD copy of Goldstone, directed by Ivan Sen and starring Aaron Pederson, Alex Russell, Jacki Weaver, David Wenham, David Gulpilil, Tom E. Lewis, Cheng Pei-Pei and Michelle Lim Davidson. To see how to enter this brand new competition just listen to this week’s show and then send the answer to Dave’s question as a private message to either our Facebook or Twitter page. Goldstone is out on DVD and VOD thanks to Trasmission Films right now.
You can listen to The Good The Bad The Ugly Film Show or download it for free from our Podcast Channel – Listen/Download here.
Summary: As the government asks the Avengers to be brought together under the one umbrella Tony Stark/Iron-Man (Robert Downey Jnr.) and Steve Rodgers/Captain America find themselves going to war as they both stand for their ideals.
Year: 2016
Australian Cinema Release Date: 28th April 2016
Australian DVD Release Date: TBA
Country: United States
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Screenwriter: Christopher Markus, Steven McFeely, Mark Millar (comic book), Jack Kirby (characters), Joe Simon (characters)
Cast: Gozie Agbo (Dr. Broussard), Paul Bettany (Vision), Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa/Black Panther), Daniel Bruhl (Zemo), Don Cheadle (Lieutenant James Rhodes/War Machine), Kerry Condon (Friday (voice)), Hope Davis (Maria Stark), Robert Downey Jnr. (Tony Stark/Iron-Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rodgers/Captain America), Gene Farber (Karpov), Martin Freeman (Everett K. Ross), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow/Crossbones), Tom Holland (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), William Hurt (Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), John Kani (King T’Chaka), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch), Jim Rash (M.I.T. Liaison), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man), John Slattery (Howard Stark), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Solider), Marisa Tomei (May Parker), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), Alfre Woodard (Miriam), Jane Wu (U.N. Staffer Wu)
Runtime: 147 mins
Classification: PG
OUR CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR REVIEWS & RATINGS:
David Griffiths:
So far 2016 has delivered mixed results for comic book fans right around the world. While we were very impressed with the way that Deadpool stuck to the comic itself despite the possibility of making it a cinema unfriendly film we were all disappointed that Batman vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice didn’t live up to the dizzying heights we all wanted it to. With those results echoing in our heads we all approached Captain America: Civil War with some trepidation. Even as a series in itself Marvel’s Avengers series has been up and down. While Captain America: Winter Soldier was a brilliant film, Avengers: Age Of Ultron was a bit of a letdown. Well you can all take a big breath and relax comic book fans because Captain America: Civil War delivers with a massive payload.
For those that haven’t read the comics surrounding the Marvel Civil War series Captain America: Civil War sees Steve Rodgers/Captain America (Chris Evans – Snowpiercer) go head-to-head with Tony Stark/Ironman (Robert Downey Jnr. – The Judge) after Rodgers decides that he can’t be part of the Avengers if it means they now have to answer to Government department… as he points out Governments can have agendas. With pressure mounting after a mission led by Captain America, Falcon (Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen – Godzilla) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson- Lucy) ends in civilian casualties Stark is quick to sign the agreement but Rodgers refuses.
Tensions rise even more when the new Government led Avengers are asked to bring in Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan – The Martian) after he is blamed for a terrorist attack. Something that Rodgers believes he is innocent of. Cue the war.
When leaving the cinema after the premiere of Captain America: Civil War one thing was going through my mind, and that was that the Russo Brothers who directed this film and true action film geniuses. Trying to fit so many comic book characters into one film could have failed really badly. In their hands it doesn’t. For many directors (I’m looking at you Zack Snyder and Michael Bay) this film would have been an excuse to throw characterisation right out the window and instead just concentrate on explosions and fighting galore. That isn’t the case here, while the film not only allows fans to know exactly how each Avenger is feeling as the split happens we also get an introduction to two new Avengers – Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman – Gods Of Egypt) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland – In The Heart Of The Sea) and get a real feel for their characters despite the fact that time doesn’t allow for a huge introduction into their lives.
The characterisation really comes to the fore though with the friendship breakdown between Steve Rodgers and Tony Stark though. This isn’t just simply raised fists at twenty paces like it was in Batman vs Superman, no Civil War really allows the audience to see the pain the two men are going through as their friendship erodes and as a result it is easier to understand exactly what leads to the battles that we end up witnessing.
Having said that though the Russos have not forgotten that a movie like this needs action sequences and boy do they deliver on that level. If you were impressed with the action scenes in Winter Soldier then you are going to be blown away with what you see here. While Iron Man and Captain America’s hand-to-hand battle is something that every true comic book fan is going to savour what really steals the show here is the amazing car chase involving Falcon, Cap and Winter Solider, and then of course the epic airport battle that is truly Avenger vs Avenger with battle lines drawn. While the Russos make this scene look good, they also bring in some creative use of the environment around the characters and also manage to deliver some light hearted moments made possible by the smart-ass antics of Spider-Man and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd – Role Models). You wouldn’t think that action and comedy would gel so well together, but somehow the Russos manage to pull it off. So impressive are what the Russos seem to be able to do with action sequences it has to be said that they are now the best action directors around currently and they are doing for the genre what James Cameron did with the Terminator films all those years ago.
So good is the screenplay for Captain America: Civil War that this is one of the first times in this franchise that the actors have really had a chance to show their skills. Robert Downey Jnr. brings his acting A-Game to this film, he seriously puts as much effort in here as he did in dramatic films like The Judge. Even Chris Evans shows that he is more than just a pretty boy actor while Paul Rudd is backed up the comedic stakes by Tom Holland who brings a fresh new feel to the Spider-Man character. While it does take a bit to get used to Holland as Spider-Man his wise-cracking version of Peter Parker does grow you and by the time he exits the screen you find yourself looking forward to the forthcoming Spider-Man movie.
Captain America: Civil War is what we all dreamed it would be… it fact it goes beyond expectations. If it wasn’t just a little bit long you would have to say that it is the perfect action film. With spectacular action sequences, great suspense and a well-written screenplay this is one film I am going to watch over and over.
Other Subculture Entertainment Captain America: Civil War reviews: You can also listen to our full Captain America: Civil War review on The Good The Bad The Ugly Film Show Ep #174.
