Tag: Rainn Wilson

“Super” failed to find a large audience because it defied traditional Western genres, the film’s star Rainn Wilson and writer-director James Gunn told the audience at the Hero Complex Film Festival. The Q&A — at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles — followed Saturday night’s screening of the film, about a man (Wilson) who loses his wife (Liv Tyler) to a drug-dealing creep (Kevin Bacon), and dons a superhero suit in his quest to save her. In the process, he picks up a sidekick (Ellen Page) and brutally attacks many people, some of whom might be innocent. It’s the kind of character that demanded a versatile actor, Gunn said. “I really needed somebody who could do the acting part, who could do the comedic part, who was a big enough goof that he could think he’s getting picked on by ...

It’s almost here — we’re just one week from the start of the 2012 Hero Complex Film Festival and with the franchise in its third year we’ve moved to a sweet new home (Regal Cinemas at LA Live, where in September we brought you a 30th anniversary screening of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with Steven Spielberg and surprise guest Harrison Ford) and expanded the program (four days now with more than a dozen guests, including three that haven’t been announced). To get a bead on the festival, peruse the photo gallery above — be sure to click the “CAPTIONS ON” option if you don’t see text across the bottom of each image – and you’ll get a snapshot description of all of eight of our separately ticketed screenings. The box here on the right leads to the ticketing page. And how about those fun images in the gallery? ...

Our “Super” screening on May 19 just got even more, um,  super. James Gunn, the writer and director of the crime-busting, bone-cracking and (at times) heartbreaking film “Super,” will reunite with the 2010 indie project’s star, Rainn Wilson, on stage  at the Hero Complex Film Festival. The pair will share the stage during a Q&A session following the 8:30 p.m. screening of “Super,” which dresses like “The Greatest American Hero” but runs off the road of sanity like a hipster version of “Taxi Driver.” “Super” follows a short-order cook named Frank (Wilson) who is gripped by rage and despair after his wife (Liv Tyler) leaves him for a  manipulative dope merchant (Kevin Bacon). At his most vulnerable moment, a cosmic message arrives and shoves Frank down a  new path – he dons the mask of the Crimson Bolt and swings a wrench at evil. Gunn made ...

“Shut up, crime!” As superhero catchphrases go, the Crimson Bolt’s battle cry might not measure up to classics like “Shazam!” or “Up, up and away!” or even “Flame on!” but it gets the job done – just like that trusty pipe wrench the masked man brings down on the sweaty forehead of big-city evil. The fury and the funny of the Bolt are coming to the 2012 Hero Complex Film Festival on May 19 as star Rainn Wilson appears for an onstage Q&A after a screening of “Super,” the subversive 2010 cult hit written and directed by James Gunn (“Slither”) about a feckless fry cook name Frank D’Arbo (Wilson) who decides the best way to deal with his bruising setbacks is put on a mask and punch back. D’arbo is pushed over the edge when he loses his wife (Liv Tyler) to the sordid lures of a drug dealer (Kevin Bacon) before ...

Rainn Wilson stars in the  most dangerous masked-man movie of the year, “Super,” which hits DVD on Aug. 9, but the actor is no newcomer to the fanboy universe. In this guest essay, the famous face from ”The Office” turns back the pages on his love of sci-fi and fantasy novels. Click through the photo gallery above to see some of his beloved bookshelf artifacts (make sure the “Captions On” option has been selected). When I was growing up in the ’70s in suburban Seattle, I had a secret obsession. I was a science fiction and fantasy nerd. This was waaaay before it was ever halfway cool to be one. This was before “Star Wars,” mind you. Before Comic-Con and “The Dark Knight” and the “Lord of the Rings” movies. These were the dark days of “Logan’s Run” and “Zardoz” and “Silent Running.” My dad was an ...

On a frigid Louisiana morning in 2009, in a house that reeked of cat urine, Rainn Wilson kneeled down on a bedroom floor and began to bellow at God. Sitting next to him, off camera, director James Gunn stared down at a small monitor and tried to contain his excitement as hot tears streamed down the face of the sputtering actor two feet away from him. “It is so, so heartbreaking, but at the same time it’s really funny and people don’t know how to react to those things right next to each other, side by side,” said Gunn, best known as the writer-director of “Slither,” the 2006 comedy-horror film. “It was so uncomfortable, and that’s the playground I love to be in. It’s a scene that will change the way people look at Rainn Wilson. I know I was ...

Over at 24 Frames, our sister blog, Mark Olsen writes about the first flight of “Super,” the off-kilter superhero movie that screened Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival. Here’s an excerpt… On Friday night in Toronto, the Ryerson was again hopping with a long line of people waiting for the world premiere of “Super” in the Midnight Madness slot. With a healthy turnout of eager industry buyers as well — some already grumbling about the films they’d seen so far — the scene meant that this year’s festival was in full swing. Just before the screening began, writer-director James Gunn said, “Let’s see something different.” He wasn’t kidding around. It’s different all right, an alternately wild and moody film that is equal parts love story, portrait of mental instability and raucous comic-book-inspired action picture. The story follows a sad-sack diner cook ...