The Complete 2015 Midnight Madness Video Playlist Ft. Takashi Miike, Nina Dobrev, Sir Patrick Stewart, Sharlto Copley

The dust has settled on the 2015 edition of the Midnight Madness program at the Toronto International Film Festival. What a year it was! We saw Sir Patrick Stewart take the stage at the Ryerson Theater. Legendary Midnight Madness master Takashi Miike made his long awaited in-person return to the festival. Another amazing appearance of cinematographer Dean Cundey (John Carpenter's Halloween; Jurassic Park). Last but certainly not least were the ten films that were showcased every night at midnight. We laughed, we jumped, sometimes we were so overcome with suspense and fright that we covered our eyes and we rooted for Lily and her volunteer trip.

Here is Robert A. Mitchell and Sarah Mitchell's video playlist of all the happenings, featuring all the red carpet interviews,  Colin Geddes' introductions and the post-screening Q&As. You can relive the infamous "hug" moment during the Green Room premiere, watch the Frog Monster Kaeru-Kun from Yakuza Apocalypse take the stage over and over again. The end result is a near five hours of footage from Midnight Madness 2015! Enjoy!

The 2015 Grolsch Midnight Madness People's Choice Award!

The winner of the 2015 Midnight Madness People's Choice Award is Hardcore! Congratulations to director Ilya Naishuller, producer Timur Bekmambetov, Sharlto Copley, Haley Bennett, Danila Kozlovsky, Seva Kaptur, Pasha Kapinos, Fedor Lyass, Sergey Valyaev ("who shot about a third of the film as Henry") and the cast and crew of Hardcore!

And congratulations to the casts and crew of the Midnight Madness People's Choice Award Runners-Up: The Final Girls, Green Room and Yakuza Apocalypse!

If you missed Hardcore at the Festival, don't worry, you'll get your chance. Hardcore was picked up by STX Entertainment.

HARDCORE: Video World Premiere Post-Screening QA with IIya Naishuller, Sharlto Copley, Timur Bekmambetov,

Hardcore was extremely well-received at the world premiere at Midnight Madness. The film pushed the boundaries of storytelling with the unique style of using only the first person point of view. We, the audience, became this amazing action star. Jumping from helicopters, fighting armed assassins, running for our lives. Here is the complete introduction and post-screening Q&A with director writer IIya Naishuller, actor Sharlto Copley and producer Timur Bakmambetov, moderated by programmer Colin Geddes.

HARDCORE screens:
Mon, Sept 14, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK
Fri, Sept 18, 1:00 PM SCOTIABANK

Pics From the Premiere of HARDCORE!

Many members of the Midnight audience were driven to nausea for very different reasons than usual last night. The first-person POV actioner Hardcore was thrilling and unique, and shutterbug Ian Goring was there to capture all the craziness from last night's premiere!

Despite the second cold and rainy night in a row, the devoted Midnight audience stuck it out for Hardcore

Hardcore producer Timur Bekmambetov

Sharlto Copley and Taint Phoenix!

Sharlto Copley walks the red carpet for Hardcore

Darya Charusha  and director Ilya Naishuller strike a pose!

Snappily-dressed producer Ekaterina Kononenko and guests on the red carpet

Darya Charusha braves the cold to promote Hardcore!

Hardcore's three Musketeers - Sharlto Copley, Ilya Naishuller, and  Timur Bekmambetov

Darya Charusha and Taint Phoenix

Ilya Naishuller with producers Ekaterina Kononenko and Inga Vainschtein-Smith

Colin Geddes introduces the third screening of Midnight Madness 2015

The Hardcore crew introduces the film

Copley and Naishuller chat about Hardcore onstage at the Ryerson

A veritable army came out to support Hardcore!

Copley and Naushuller talk about the process of making Hardcore!

You have two more chances to see Hardcore  at TIFF!

HARDCORE Screening Times:
Mon, Sept 14, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK 14       
Fri, Sept 18, 1:00 PM SCOTIABANK

HARDCORE: Video World Premiere Interviews with IIya Naishuller, Sharlto Copley, Timur Bekmambetov,

Hardcore had its world premiere last night at Midnight Madness and Robert A. Mitchell had to elbow, punch, jump over a flaming car and drop out of a helicopter to get the interviews with IIya Naishuller, who wrote and directed this amazing new POV action film. He also spoke with actor Sharlto Copley and producer Timur Bekmambetov.


 

HARDCORE screens:
Mon, Sept 14, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK
Fri, Sept 18, 1:00 PM SCOTIABANK

HARDCORE: Interview with Director IIya Naishuller

Director Ilya Naishuller is bringing Hardcore one of the most amazingly, unique action films to Midnight Madness! I recently had the opportunity to speak with Ilya about how he came up the the idea and how he made the film. -- Robert A. Mitchell

Where did the initial idea come from to strap a GoPro camera on a stunt man's head and make the music video "Bad Motherfucker" for your band Biting Elbows? 

I bought an early GoPro in Italy while snowboarding, thinking it'd be great to capture my 'skills'. Upon recording and then viewing what I've shot, I decided to never embarrass myself with it again and gave the camera to my friend Sergey Valyaev. He returned it a little later with some shots still on there of himself walking around and doing basic parkour stuff. I looked at them and thought it'd be great to do a cheap music video using the POV style, I asked Sergey to be the camera stuntman and got a bunch of friends to hang out and get 'killed' in it. The result was a 300$ POV music video for a song called "The Stampede" and it got us a few million views and some much needed attention. Then we pitched the sequel, "Bad Motherfucker," with a bigger budget to a ton of companies/brands and everyone thought it wasn't worth it, too violent, etc. I knew it was going work well so I borrowed some cash and off we went. 

The music video went viral attracting the attention of notable directors Darren Aronofsky and fellow Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov. Timur proposed to produce a feature length P.O.V. feature film directed by you, you initially turned him down. Why? What changed your mind and got you excited to make the film? 

I was super hesitant first and foremost because an all POV film sounds like a gimmick and I thought of myself a little better than that. At the time of "Bad Motherfucker's" release, I was prepping for a very different kind of film, a slow-burn intelligent spy thriller, so an action POV film felt like a step in the wrong direction. After a few days of thinking about how I'm going to have to say no to a Director/Producer who I much admire, what changed my mind was Timur asking me if I wanted to experience a well realised action adventure POV film in the cinema, and my answer was yes, I actually really would. He said, "Then you should go make it". 

A film as ambitious and unique as this must have had its share of obstacles to overcome. Could you share some of the complications the production had to overcome? 

The biggest blessing of being the first to do something is also it's biggest curse. There are very few, if any points of reference. Sure, there are plenty of POV based elements in entertainment, Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch up," Strange Days' amazing intro sequence, video games and that is it. Apart from a fully POV noir film from 1947 called, Lady in the Lake, which I generally used as a guide of what one shouldn't do, there is no successful example of a feature length POV film that works. This meant that most of Hardcore had to be shot by trial and error, which is luxury you really can't have. 

What this meant in practice was that each morning we'd show up to set, everyone would know the script and the action beats and we would right off the bat, run through the days' shoot with a rolling camera. At that point, it was almost always a complete piece of crap. Then the actors and stuntmen would go to make up and costume, while I walked around feverishly trying to figure out how we can make it work. By the time they arrived ready, I (almost) always had a plan, realising which was a matter of sweat, blood and tears. 

Could you talk about the unique camera rigs that were designed to capture the first person point of view? 

Apart from making a coherent and fun movie, the biggest issue with making sure that Hardcore could see the dark of the cinema was that I wanted to make sure the audience would not get motion sickness. As someone who can't even text while being a passenger in a car, this was an important area to tackle. Our first DP, Seva Kaptur (one of 3) worked with Sergey Valyaev (who shot about a third of the film as Henry) and a small group of Russian engineers to design a lightweight rig that would hold two GoPros and use magnetic stabilisation to ensure enough smoothness to be easy on the eyes but not kill the feeling of it being a human and not a steadycam. It took about 3 months to perfect and we went through about 5 different versions and finally, about two weeks into the shoot, we received the rig that was perfect for our needs. 

One of your lead actors is Sharlto Copley (District 9; Chappie) how were you able to cast him in the film and what did he bring to the film? 

Hardcore was at first, an 80 minute music video. That changed when I got to about page two of the script and realised how bored I am with it already. I tossed the music video idea aside and began writing a proper script (all told from the first person) and came up with a basic pitch for a character that I then asked Timur to consider getting a name actor for. He asked me who I was thinking of, and I said Sharlto Copley. He got me in touch with him and I basically pitched Sharlto the idea and said that if he's interested in being a part of this experimental adventure, I'll write a great part specifically for him and then he'd decide if he's in or not. 

He agreed and all that was left was for me to come up with a part/character that Sharlto could not possibly say no to. I am very happy that this worked out the way it did, and that he is such a integral part of the movie. Hardcore has a heart and that heart is Sharlto's Jimmy.

 You came up with several rules to aid in the making of the film? What were some of them? 

I think there were about ten in total. Here's the first three: I will never show the main character. He will never speak. The film will keep moving, even when it's in it's 'breathing' space. 

What kind of cinematic experience awaits the Midnight Madness audience at the world premiere?

I think what you said is perfect except I'd add the word 'new'. So, what awaits is a 'new cinematic experience'.

HARDCORE screens:
Sat, Sept 12, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Mon, Sept 14, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK
Fri, Sept 18, 1:00 PM SCOTIABANK

The Thrilling Posters and 'First Look' Teaser for HARDCORE!

Making the first POV action movie is kind of a big deal, but director Ilya Naishuller wasn't satisfied with that challenge. He opted to fund this ambitious film with an Indiegogo campaign, exceeding it's $250,000 goal in only a month. Here's the first look at the film, as well as some eye-popping poster art for Hardcore.

I'm dizzy just looking at them! With it's unique perspective and flamethrower attitude, Hardcore is set to be one of the most unique experiences Midnight Madness has ever seen.

Hardcore screens:
Sat, Sept 12, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Sun, Sept 13, 2:30 PM SCOTIABANK
Mon, Sept 14, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK
Wed, Sept 16, 9:45 PM SCOTIABANK
Fri, Sept 18, 1:00 PM SCOTIABANK