HEAVY Film/TV Interviews

Here at HEAVY we like nothing more than a bit of off beat humor with explicit and gratuitous lashings of murder, mystery and mayhem thrown in.Luckily for us, the people behind Australia’s latest streaming service AMC+ have given us all that and more with their new series Ultra City Smiths, a stop-motion animated comedy series brought to you by the creators of Patriot and Robot Chicken.Centering around an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of fictional metropolis Ultra City’s most famous magnate, Carpenter K. Smith (Kurtwood Smith, That 70’s Show), Ultra City Smiths follows two intrepid detectives - David Mills (Jimmi Simpson, Westworld) and Gail Johnson (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dolemite Is My Name) – who follow the case, rallying to fight against their city’s dangerous corruption at a high cost to themselves and their families and in pursuit of a gentler place to call home.Sound complicated?Well throw in the fact the characters are animated baby dolls repurposed as a cast of grown up characters and you might get some insight into the twisted world in which creator Steve Conrad has invited us.The series also features all-star voice talent including Kristen Bell (The Good Place), Dax Shepard (Parenthood), John C. Reilly (Stepbrothers) and Debra Winger (Terms of Endearment) and is streaming now.HEAVY nailed down Conrad to talk about Ultra City Smiths and get some insight into the inner mechanisms of a brain that can turn something like this into pure gold."Stop motion animation you'll remember from holiday specials when you were very young,” Conrad explained, “like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Frosty The Snowman. It's a type of animation where you move the figurines fractions of inches at a time and then run the film and it looks like they're moving. It's an artform you'll remember from your childhood but we have made an adult drama using this artform. I have happened on calling it adult entertainment for former children. I'm hoping to plug into the way we felt about that art when we were kids to use it to explore such mature things as violence and sex and revenge and power etc."In the full interview, Steve runs us through the plotline of Ultra City Smiths, the main characters, the city he has created and why it is so bleak, working humor into the storyline, how far you can go with things in terms of censorship using animation, the actors and actresses who provide the voice overs, creating emotion and tension with animated characters, working with some of the industries heavyweights, future plans and more.

Gerard Marco chats to HEAVY Cinema about his brand new erotic comedy Red Latex.

James Watts and Kelly Kay chat to HEAVY Cinema about their new film Death Trip.

Bill Leimbach chats to us about Walkabout To Hollywood which has just been re-released through Umbrella Films.

Director and star of I Portrait Nathan Hill chats to us about the film.

Rob Innes chats to HEAVY Cinema about his brand new film Youth On Strike.

Julie Sokolow chats to HEAVY Cinema about her new film Barefoot: The Mark Baumer Story.

The star of Boss Level Frank Grillo chats to Dave G about the action film that has everybody talking.

Fiona Cochrane chats to HEAVY Cinema about her classic Australian indie film Four Of A Kind.

Sonia Bible chats to HEAVY Mag about her brand new documentary The Witch Of Kings Cross.

Ahmet Zappa chats to HEAVY Cinema about the new documentary that looks at his father's life.

Director Ian Watson chats to HEAVY Cinema about his brand new film Unsound.

Han Soto chats to HEAVY Cinema about what it is like playing one of Cobra Kai's greatest villains.

Filmmaker Sally Ingleton chats to us about her brand new docco Wild Things.

Filmmaker Jorgy Cruz chats to HEAVY Cinema about his brand new documentary Funny Pains.

HEAVY Cinema chats to Darcy Weir and Stephen Bassett about their new documentary Volcanic UFO Mysteries.

Actor Matthew Modine chats to HEAVY Cinema about his role in the brand new horror Wrong Turn.

Olivia Luccardi chats to HEAVY Cinema about her brand new film Go/Don't Go.

Alex Knapp talks to HEAVY Cinema about his brand new film Go/Don't Go.

We chat to actress and producer Clara Francesca about her brand new movie In Corpore.

Will Whaton chats to HEAVY Cinema about his new film Rent-A-Pal.

Playwright Michael Gray Griffith talks to us about his play Marooned being turned into a film.

We chat to filmmaker Alkinos Tsilimidos about his brand new film The Taverna.

Laura Trenerry chats to HEAVY Cinema about the brand new web-series Meet The Mullets.

HEAVY chats to comedian Hannah Camilleri about her brand new web-series Little Shits.

HEAVY Cinema chats to Bruce Wemple about his brand new movie The Retreat.

Screenwriter Chris Regan chats to HEAVY Cinema about his brand new movie The Paintball Massacre.

HEAVY Cinema chats to Sarah Megan Thomas about her brand new film A Call To Spy.

We chat to filmmaker David Wall about his brand new film Gold Dust.

Victoria Wharfe McIntyre talks to us about her brand new film The Flood.

HEAVY Cinema speaks to the director of new Disney+ film Safety - Reginald Hudlin.

HEAVY Cinema chats to Palisa Anderson about her new television show Water Heart Food.

HEAVY Cinema chats to the creator and star of Disgraced Victoria Vertuga about the brand new show.

We chat to actor Nathan Phillips about his role in new horror film Blood Vessel.

HEAVY Cinema chats to director Adam Egypt Mortimer about his new film Archenemy.

We chat to Felix Williamson about his brand new movie Koko: A Red Dog Story.

Caroline Goodall talks to HEAVY Cinema about her brand new film The Bay Of Silence.

We chat to filmmaker Jon Garcia about his brand new film Love In Dangerous Times.

HEAVY Cinema chats to Dr Raven Jackson-Jewett about the new Disney+ series Meet The Chimps.

We chat to filmmakers Dana Ziyasheva and Igor Darbo about their brand new film film Greatland.

Producer Alok Mishra and actress Naomi Grossman talk us about the brand new movie 1BR.

We chat to Festival Director Tracie Hotchner about The Cat And Dog Film Festival.

How does an actor keep fit during a Covid lockdown? We chat to Christopher Showerman about his unique fitness regime using a dog leash.

HEAVY Cinema chats to Brandon Cronenberg about his brand new film Possessor.

HEAVY Cinema chats to Alec Doomadgee about his documentary Zach's Ceremony.

HEAVY Cinema chats to Allison Volk about her new film Deany Bean Is Dead.

HEAVY Cinema chats to the boys from Six60 about the documentary about the band.

HEAVY Cinema chats to Jake Horowitz the director of brand new comedy spoof film Cup Of Cheer.

HEAVY Cinema chats to Frank Woodley about his brand new family film Combat Wombat.