NEIL MARSHALL:

		Review by E.C. McMullen Jr.
RAISING A BUDGET TIP JAR CENTURION MOVIE REVIEW CENTURION: THE NEIL MARSHALL INTERVIEW - 2010 Celador Films, Magnet Rated: USA: R

Page 1 NEIL MARSHALL: THE CENTURION INTERVIEW

"... I wanted her to be sympathetic and right. I don't like villains who are bad just to be bad."
- Neil Marshall

ECM: You have your wife, Axelle, in CENTURION.

NEIL: Yeah. Now she's the Horror fan. I love movies in general but she's the Horror girl. She's crazy about them.

ECM: She's really built up a strong marketing for you, with her MySpace and Facebook friends list.

NEIL: Yeah. I tried it, but she's really at home with the Network, the Social Internet thing. She has lots of friends online.

ECM: And its a great resource for your movies.

NEIL: Well she writes about a lot of things, but sure, yeah.

ECM: You seem to be a great team.

NEIL: We are, yeah. We share so many interests. That keeps us talking, enjoying each other's company.

ECM: How is it working together on the set?

NEIL: We love it. And I have to say that about the whole crew. I've been fortunate to work with some really wonderful people. We've become friends and many of us work together on one movie after the next. So all day we're making a movie and I'm with my friends. Then after the shoot, Carolyn and I will drive to our hotel or whatever and just enjoy each other's company.

ECM: Just hanging out. A solid friendship AND a solid working relationship.

NEIL: Yeah, really. It's nice.

ECM: Olga Kurylenko's character of Etain never says a word onscreen, but for me, because of her backstory, she was the sympathetic silent heroine throughout the whole movie. Tell me about directing Olga through her character.

NEIL: Olga is very good and she had her character right where I wanted her. On the one hand, I wanted her to be sympathetic and right. I don't like villains who are bad just to be bad. And the Picts were conquered by invaders so the story really is about shades of grey where there is no real good or bad, just people.

ECM: That's one thing I really liked about CENTURION that you rarely see in a war movie and that's where, at some point in the battle, it stops being about this or that cause and becomes a story about people on both sides just wanting to survive, wanting to stop killing, be done with it.

NEIL: That's what all battles become about I think. Soldiers go in fighting and killing for a cause, but as the battle drags and the casualties mount, eventually the cause gets put aside in favor of survival. Self-preservation.

ECM: CENTURION isn't getting a wide screen theatrical release. What was the distribution plan behind CENTURION?

NEIL: Magnolia has reinvented the distribution model and it seems to be working for them. We'll see. I just want my audience to find the movie and enjoy it.

Of course I'd like it to be in theaters on the big screen but we'll see how this works.

ECM: As a comic book fan, I also like the way you had Simon Bisely do the first poster for CENTURION.

NEIL: We had many posters but yeah, Simon's stuff is great! So when they asked me who I'd like to design the poster, I asked for Simon. It's just wild! Incredible work!

ECM: At the San Diego Comic Con, the comic fans were all geeking over it. They hadn't seen the movie but they wanted to because you had Bisely do the poster.

NEIL: That's great! I love the comic fans at these conventions.

ECM: Thank you for doing this interview with me. Last question. What has nobody ever asked you in an interview that you'd love to talk about?

NEIL: Here's something that nobody seems to have noticed; nobody has brought it up. I acted in CENTURION.

ECM: What? No way! Where?

NEIL: Near the end. I was the Roman soldier who shot (BLANK) with an arrow.

ECM: Holy crap! I didn't realize that was you with the helmet and all.

NEIL: (laughing) Yep. Well I wanted to play with the toys!

ECM: Plus, as a director, you got to shoot an actor.

NEIL: (laughs) Yeah. Who was the most trouble? I'll shoot him!

ECM: You guys! You gave me the most grief on this set! Now draw straws and see which one I get to shoot!

NEIL: (laughs)

ECM: Well Neil, I know my time is up and I want to thank you for yours. I really appreciate it.

NEIL: Is it already? Aw! Okay, well thanks for interviewing me, Eddie!

Magnolia Pictures will release Centurion on August 27, 2010; the film is also currently available VOD, VUDU, Playstation Network, Xbox Marketplace and Amazon.

END

This interview copyright 2010 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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