Prepare to have your heart punched this holiday season by A MONSTER CALLS, the exemplary fantasy drama based on Patrick Ness’ book about a young boy named Conor attempting to cope with his mother’s rapidly approaching death. It’s an impressively mounted film, from a visual and emotional standpoint; good luck trying to keep yourself composed throughout. Recently I was fortunate to talk to two members of the excellent cast, as well as the man who brought this monster to life.
In the film, Sigourney Weaver plays the grandmother to Conor, a stern woman who is managing to keep a sturdy face on even while her daughter (Felicity Jones) is dying. She and Conor ensure a tense relationship as they attempt to deal with their grief in different ways; whether or not they will ever see eye to eye is one of the film’s major questions. Here Weaver and I speak about her approach to the character, her flawless English accent and something she’s got in the works called Marvel’s The Defenders.
A MONSTER CALLS introduced me to a superb young actor named Lewis MacDougall, who tackles the challenging role of Conor with the confidence of a screen veteran. This is only his second film, after PAN, and I was curious about how he dealt with the complex emotions necessary to bring Conor to life. We also talk about his relationships with Liam Neeson (who plays The Monster of the title) and Felicity Jones.
Director J.A. Bayona has given us multilayered genre efforts in the past with THE ORPHANAGE and THE IMPOSSIBLE, but A MONSTER CALLS completely confirms that the Spanish director is one of the major rising stars in Hollywood. He’s not on board to direct JURASSIC WORLD 2 for nothing. Here we speak about adapting A MONSTER CALLS for the big screen, working with the various visual effects in the film and what he has in mind for that little dinosaur movie he’s preparing.