The Picture Journal

Jenn Murray

What is a fear that you have willingly faced? I am not sure I would call this a real fear, but when I was a teenager I always thought having very short hair would be awful. Then shooting my first film I was required to bleach it every week. My hair disintegrated and after filming I had to cut it all off to a very short pixie crop hairstyle. This is a look I had feared but then when I had it, I liked it. I would never have voluntarily cut it all off and because I had no choice,…

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Jim Sturgess

If you could somehow give the 12 year old version of yourself a book to read, a film to watch, and an album to listen to – presumably to make yourself cooler or more knowledgeable at an earlier age – what would you gift? That’s a hard question as I feel that whatever you are reading, listening to, or discovering at the time is the right thing for you at that moment. The discovery of these things as you go through life are what make you who you are… so I’d be nervous to interfere with that. I didn’t really…

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Tom Riley

If you could pick one piece of technology or art to have come out 10 years earlier in your life or 10 years later, what would you pick? The iPhone. And a decade later. I just would have liked ten more years to actually take in the world around me. Eggplant emoji, winky face. What is the most interesting conversation you’ve had with someone whom you never talked to again? I’m not sure about the most interesting, but the conversation that stayed with me the most was when I was shooting a neurosurgery show called Monroe a few years ago.…

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Inside Look: Chanya Button

We spoke to director Chanya Button about Burn Burn Burn, her first feature length film. Much of Burn Burn Burn is comprised of a road trip – if you could pick three people to share the road with who you do not know, who would you pick? My next film is about Virginia Woolf and her relationship with the poet Vita Sackville-West. They had an intense friendship, they creatively inspired each other, and they had a passionate romance for a time. I’d like to take a road trip with them and bear witness to the fireworks! They sounded like a…

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Finlay MacMillan

What capability would you rather have, a photographic memory or the ability to impersonate anyone without practice? Photographic memory sounds cool. But only if when I blink (to take the photograph) I can hear a small internal shutter noise sound effect. You’ll soon be appearing in the psychological thriller The Dark Mile, concerning two holidaying women seeking R&R but finding anything but… Inverting the central premise, have you ever been in a situation that you utterly dreaded only for it to turn out to be just the opposite? I was home alone and absolutely shaking with terror once. It was…

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Festival Diary: Arnold Oceng

We spoke to Arnold Oceng at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) about A United Kingdom, in which he appears alongside David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike. What aspects of A United Kingdom do you think highlight contemporary society’s growth with respect to race since the time at which it is set as well as its invariance? The main aspect highlighted which shows growth in contemporary society in my view is that we as people are more diverse and multi-cultural, and this is mirrored and shown by the increase of people with mixed heritage and ethnicities. Seretse and Ruth embody true love and personify…

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Festival Diary: Taron Egerton

We spoke to Taron Egerton at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) about Sing, in which he appears alongside Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey & Reese Witherspoon. Sing features a failing theatre attempting to portray ‘real talent from real life’, what is a moment from real life that you felt made for a stronger performance? I forgot the words to a song on stage once. Still makes me shiver. Valuable lesson in being prepared! What do you think is the best (or your favourite) animated or voiced performance of all time? Toy Story had such a strong impression on me as a child.…

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