Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #97 :: June 1•7

Paramount Pictures

The first week of June was a big week for new film releases, including classics and award winners and nominees. In the later part of the century, you can also see the ‘blockbuster effect’ with some major summer films hitting the big screen. 1922 only produced a short silent film from the UK, and 1932 had no new releases. 1942 had a bona fide classic which was popular with audiences and the Motion Picture Academy, which gave its star his one and only Oscar. 1952 saw Maureen O’Hara appear in two films, with one also now regarded as a classic and was an Oscar winner. 1982 paired Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner for the first time, and gave us two modern classics of horror and sci-fi. 1992 had Harrison Ford taking over a role previously played by Alec Baldwin, and 2012 gave us killer fish in 3D, and a new spin on a fairy tale classic. Read on to learn more, and let us know if any of your favorite films debuted this week.

1922

June – The Scarlet Letter (UK, short)

• Cast: Sybil Thorndike, Tony Fraser, Dick Webb, Rice Cassidy
• Director: Challis Sanderson
• Production Company: Master Films, distributed by British Exhibitors’ Films
• Trivia: The exact release date is lost to history. An adaptation of the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Eighth release in the ‘Tense Moments from Great Plays’ series.

1932

• No new films were released this week in 1932.

1942

Warner Bros. Pictures

June 6 – Yankee Doodle Dandy (USA)

• Cast: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Richard Whorf, Irene Manning, George Tobias, Rosemary DeCamp, Jeanne Cagney, Eddie Foy, Jr., Frances Langford, George Barbier, S. Z. Sakall, Walter Catlett, Minor Watson, Chester Clute, Odette Myrtil, Douglas Croft, Patsy Lee Parsons, Captain Jack Young
• Director: Michael Curtiz
• Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: The film premiered in New York City on May 29, 1942. It opened in the UK on October 15. Selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1993. Nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, winning three – Best Actor (Cagney), Best Music – Scoring of a Musical, and Best Sound Recording. Cagney was the first actor to win the Oscar for a musical performance; it was his only Oscar win out of three nominations. Based on the life of George M. Cohan, Cohan campaigned for Fred Astaire to play him in the film. Astaire turned down the role because his and Cohan’s dancing styles were too different. Cohan lived long enough to see the completed film and approved of Cagney’s performance. Cagney reprised the role in The Seven Little Foys for no pay, doing the film as a tribute to Eddie Foy. Eddie Foy Jr. played the role of his father in both films. Rosemary DeCamp, who played Cohan’s mother, is actually 11 years younger than Cagney. This was the first sound film to depict a living US president (FDR). Cohan’s sister Josie is portrayed in the film by Cagney’s real-life sister Jeanne Cagney. This was the first black-and-white film to be colorized in 1985, and despite criticism of the process it brought a new audience to the film.

1952

June – Kangaroo (USA)

• Cast: Maureen O’Hara, Peter Lawford, Finlay Currie, Richard Boone, Chips Rafferty, Letty Craydon, Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, Henry Murdoch, Ron Whelan, John Fegan, Guy Doleman, Reg Collins, Frank Ransom, Marshall Crosby, Clyde Combo, Reg Wyckham, George Sympson-Little
• Director: Lewis Milestone
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: The film premiered in New York City on May 16, 1952, but the exact US release date in June is unknown. It opened in Australia on June 13, and in the UK on August 4. The first Technicolor film filmed on location in Australia. Tyrone Power was originally considered for the lead role, but Richard Boone was cast. The film’s working titles included The Bushranger, The Australian Story, and The Land Down Under, while the original script title was Sundown. American film debut of Australian actor Chips Rafferty.

June 2 – The Importance of Being Earnest (UK)

• Cast: Michael Redgrave, Michael Denison, Edith Evans, Joan Greenwood, Margaret Rutherford, Miles Malleson, Dorothy Tutin, Aubrey Mather, Walter Hudd, Richard Wattis
• Director: Anthony Asquith
• Production Company: Javelin Films, distributed by General Film Distributors
• Trivia: The film was released in the US on December 22, 1952. Adaptation of the 1895 play by Oscar Wilde. The film’s writer and director Anthony Asquith was the son of H.H. Asquith who, as Home Secretary, brought the charges of immorality which led to Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment. The film was shot mostly in sequence in keeping with its stage origins. Edith Evans had a hard time adjusting to film acting and hitting her marks, telling the director, ‘I always feel the camera should come to me instead of me go to the camera.’

June 6 – The Quiet Man (London)

• Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Victor McLaglen, Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick, Francis Ford, Arthur Shields, Eileen Crowe, Charles FitzSimons, James Fitzsimons, Sean McClory, Emily Eby, Jack MacGowran, Philip Stainton, May Craig, Paddy O’Donnell, Eric Gorman, Kevin Lawless, Joseph O’Dea
• Director: John Ford
• Production Company: Republic Pictures, Argosy Pictures, distributed by Republic Pictures
• Trivia: The film also opened in Ireland on June 6, 1952. A full UK release took place on July 21, followed by the US on September 14 and Canada on September 19. Based on a 1933 Saturday Evening Post short story of the same name by Maurice Walsh, later published as part of a collection titled The Green Rushes. Patrick and Michael Wayne have uncredited roles. The film won Oscars for Best Director (John Ford’s fourth) and Best Cinematography. The was the only film Republic Pictures released that was nominated for Best Picture, and one of the few filmed in Technicolor instead of the cheaper Trucolor process. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2013. Republic ordered the film run less than two hours, but Ford’s final cut came in at 2:09. During a screening for executives, he stopped the film at the two hour mark just before the climactic fistfight scene and the executives relented on the time constraint. After the end credits roll, Maureen O’Hara is seen whispering something in John Wayne’s ear that elicited a priceless response. To this day, only O’Hara, Wayne and Ford knew what she said to him.

1962

June – Damon and Pythias (USA)

• Cast: Guy Williams, Don Burnett, Ilaria Occhini, Liana Orfei, Marina Berti, Arnoldo Foà, Carlo Giustini, Aldo Silvani, Andrea Bosic, Franco Fantasia, Lawrence Montaigne, Enrico Glori, Gianni Bonagura, Carolyn De Fonseca, Carlo Rizzo
• Director: Curtis Bernhardt
• Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Trivia: The exact release date is unknown. The film opened in Italy on August 30, 1952 under the title Il tiranno di Siracusa. Based on the Greek legend of Damon and Pythias, and set during the reign of Dionysius I of Syracuse (432-367 BC). Producers originally wanted John Gavin and James Garner as the leads.

June – It Happened in Athens (USA)

• Cast: Trax Colton, Jayne Mansfield, Xenia Kalogeropoulou, Nico Minardos, Bob Mathias, Ivan Triesault, Lili Valenty, Titos Vandis, Charles Fawcett, Jean Murat, Roger Browne, Marion Siva, Paul Müller, Gustavo De Nardo, Roger Fradet, Alberto Rabagliati
• Director: Andrew Marton
• Production Company: Associated Producers Inc, distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox
• Trivia: The exact June release date is unknown. Working titles for the film were And Seven From America and Victory in Athens. Juliet Prowse was considered for the female lead but Fox went with Jayne Mansfield. It was her last film with Fox, and although she has a supporting role she receives top billing. The film was one of the early 60s Fox films that were made to bring in a quick profit for the studio, which was going broke due to extensive production for Cleopatra. Mansfield’s two-year-old son Mickey Hargitay Jr. appears at the beginning of the film as the little boy who throws food across the table.

June – She Knows Y’Know (UK)

• Cast: Hylda Baker, Cyril Smith, Joe Gibbons, Peter Myers, Linda Castle, Tim Connor, Neil Wilson, Joan Sanderson, Alfred Burke, Lucy Griffiths, Leonard Sachs, Patricia Shakesby
• Director: Montgomery Tully
• Production Company: Eternal Films, distributed by Grand National Pictures (UK)
• Trivia: The exact June release date is unknown. The film was restored by Blackpool resident Eurwyn Jones.

June 7 – Lulu (West Germany)

• Cast: Nadja Tiller, O. E. Hasse, Hildegard Knef, Mario Adorf, Charles Regnier, Rudolf Forster, Leon Askin, Sieghardt Rupp, Claus Höring
• Director: Rolf Thiele
• Production Company: Vienna Film, distributed by Europa-Filmverleih AG, NWDF
• Trivia: An adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays -— Earth Spirit (Erdgeist, 1895) and Pandora’s Box (Die Büchse der Pandora, 1904). Released in the UK as No Orchids for Lulu.

1972

June 1 – The War Between Men and Women (USA)

• Cast: Jack Lemmon, Barbara Harris, Jason Robards, Herb Edelman, Lisa Gerritsen, Moosie Drier, Severn Darden, Lisa Eilbacher, Lucille Meredith, Ruth McDevitt, Bill Hickman, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Danny Arnold
• Director: Melville Shavelson
• Production Company: Cinema Center Films, distributed by National General Pictures
• Trivia: Based on the writings of humorist James Thurber. Lisa Gerritsen played the same character, with a different name, on the 1969 TV series My World and Welcome To It, also based on Thurber’s writings. Lisa Eilbacher’s debut.

June 4 – A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (USA)

• Cast: Alan Bates, Janet Suzman, Peter Bowles, Sheila Gish, Joan Hickson, Elizabeth Robillard, Murray Melvin, Fanny Carby, Constance Chapman, Elizabeth Tyrell
• Director: Peter Medak
• Production Company: Domino, distributed by Columbia Pictures
• Trivia: The film premiered in London in May 1972. Based on the play of the same name by Peter Nichols. Only theatrical movie of Elizabeth Robillard, who was 12 years old at the time of filming. The film was made in 1970 but not released until 1972 because producers wanted Janet Suzman’s second film, Nicholas and Alexandra, to be released first.

June 7 – Lady Liberty (USA)

• Cast: Sophia Loren, William Devane, Gigi Proietti, Beeson Carroll, David Doyle, Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon
• Director: Mario Monicelli
• Production Company: Compagnia Cinematografica Champion, Les Films Concordia, distributed by United Artists
• Trivia: The film was originally released in Italy under the title La mortadella on December 22, 1971. Edward Herrmann’s film debut.

1982

June 4 – Chan Is Missing (USA)

• Cast: Wood Moy, Marc Hayashi, Laureen Chew, Peter Wang, Presco Tabios, Frankie Alarcon, Judi Nihei, Ellen Yeung, George Woo, Emily Woo Yamasaki, Virginia Cerenio, Roy Chan, Leong Pui Chee
• Director: Wayne Wang
• Production Company: Wayne Wang Productions, distributed by New Yorker Films
• Trivia: The film was screened at the New York New Directors and New Films Festival on April 24, 1982. It is widely recognized as the first Asian-American feature narrative film to gain both theatrical distribution and critical acclaim outside of the Asian American community. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1995.

June 4 – Hanky Panky (USA)

• Cast: Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Kathleen Quinlan, Richard Widmark, Robert Prosky, Beau Starr, Josef Sommer, Victor Argo, Johnny Sekka, Jay O. Sanders
• Director: Sidney Poitier
• Production Company: Columbia Pictures
• Trivia: Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner met during filming and later married. Radner was actually married at the time, divorced her husband and married Wilder. The film was conceived as a follow-up to the film Stir Crazy, which co-starred Richard Pryor. Pryor opted not to participate so his part was rewritten and recast with Radner. Radner had apparently turned down a role in Neighbors, with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, for this film. The film’s working title was Traces.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

June 4 – Poltergeist (USA)

• Cast: Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins, Heather O’Rourke, Michael McManus, Virginia Kiser, Martin Casella, Richard Lawson, Zelda Rubinstein, James Karen, Lou Perry, Dirk Blocker
• Director: Tobe Hooper
• Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, SLM Production Group, Mist Entertainment, Amblin Productions, distributed by MGM/UA Entertainment Co. (United States), United International Pictures (International)
• Trivia: The film received a Sneak Preview in the US on May 21, 1982. It was also released in Canada on June 4. It did not open in the UK until September 16. The film was conceived by Steven Spielberg as a horror sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind titled Night Skies. Spielberg was not able to direct while he was working on E.T. so Tobe Hooper was chosen. (The films were released a week apart.) Hooper was not interested in the sci-fi aspect and he and Spielberg collaborated on a ghost story. Legend has it that Spielberg exerted a lot of control over the production and may have actually directed the film, but he and Hooper have disputed these reports. Spielberg even posted an open letter to Hooper in The Hollywood Reporter thanking him for his work on the film. Many of the film’s cast have confirmed Spielberg was on set almost every day. While Hooper was editing the film. Spielberg was at Industrial Light and Magic supervising the special effects. The film received three Oscar nominations including one for special effects, which it lost to E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and one for Jerry Goldsmith’s score, which he lost to John Williams for E.T. The film originally received an R-rating which Spielberg and Hooper disputed, succeeding in having it changed to PG on appeal. It is one of the film of the era that led to the creation of the PG-13 rating. Drew Barrymore auditioned for the role of Carol Anne, but Spielberg wanted someone ‘more angelic’. The audition, however, did get Barrymore the role of Gertie in E.T. It has been said that real human skeletons were used for the climactic pool scene and JoBeth Williams was unaware until after filming was completed. The use of the skeletons has contributed to what many have dubbed ‘The Poltergeist Curse’ which led to several unfortunate deaths among actors who have appeared in the films. The scene where the kitchen chairs assemple themselves into a pyramid atop the table was done in one take as crew removed the single chairs and placed the assembled pyramid on the table in just seven seconds. There is only a single death in the film, Tweety the Bird.

June 4 – Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (USA)

• Cast: William Shatner, Ricardo Montalbán, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Bibi Besch, Merritt Butrick, Paul Winfield, Kirstie Alley
• Director: Nicholas Meyer
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: The film received a Sneak Preview in the US on May 22, 1982. It was released in the UK on July 16. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was forced out of the sequel’s production due to the poor response to the first Star Trek film. His original sequel story had the Enterprise crew travel back in time to correct the timeline after Klingons used the Guardians of Forever to prevent the Kennedy assassination. Leonard Nimoy had not intended to appear in the film, but he was enticed with a dramatic death scene for Spock, going out in a blaze of glory since it was assumed this would be the last Trek film. To cut costs, miniatures from past projects, sets, special effects footage and costumes from the first film were reused. The first feature film to include a sequence created entirely with computer graphics (the Genesis effect). Kirk and Khan never meet face-to-face in the film, much to Ricardo Montalban’s dismay as he had to read his lines to a script girl. Contrary to speculation that Montalban wore a prosthetic chest-piece, there were no artificial devices added to his physique. Producer Harve Bennett noted the film was close to being greenlit when it occurred to them that no one had actually approached Montalban to see if he could take a break from filming Fantasy Island. DeForest Kelley did not like an early version of the script and also considered not taking part. Many of Ike Eisenmann’s lines that explained he was Scotty’s nephew were cut from the film, which made Scotty’s close connection to the young man confusing. The lines were restored for the ABC broadcast, and in the director’s edition home video release. George Takei also did not want to return but Shatner convinced him to. Ensign Chekov never met Khan on the Star Trek TV series as Walter Koenig had not yet joined the cast when the episode ‘Space Seed’ was produced, making Khan’s recognition of him one of the film’s biggest goofs. This was Kirstie Alley’s first feature film. She was so fond of her Vulcan ears she took them home with her at the end of each day. Harve Bennett was a TV producer at Paramount when he was called into a meeting to ask if he could make a better film than the first, which he found boring, and for less than $45 million. Bennett said he could make five movies for that amount. Bennett faced a serious challenge in making a Star Trek film because he’d never watched the TV series. He knew the film needed a real villain and settled on Khan after watching ‘Space Seed’. Bennett’s first treatment was titled The War of the Generations. A draft by Jack B. Sowards was titled The Omega Syndrome. The Omega system in the script was too destructive, so it was changed to a terraforming device and renamed Genesis as something more uplifting. The script had Spock’s death earlier in the story and fan reaction to the leaked script forced them to move it to later in the film. Spock’s shocking death in the first act was compared to the death of Janet Leigh’s character in Psycho. This draft also included a 12-page face-to-face between Kirk and Khan. This draft also had Saavik as a male character. A later draft by Samuel A. Peeples, who wrote for the TV series, replaced Khan with two new villains, but they were deemed inadequate by the studio. Nicholas Meyer was brought in to fix the script issues, and he created Spock’s fake death at the beginning of the film to throw fans off. Meyer had 12 days to submit a finished script for special effects production deadlines, which he accomplished (for no pay) and produced rewrites as needed. Meyer said his contribution to the film was a healthy disrespect, trying through irreverence to make the characters more human and less wooden. He described his story as ‘Hornblower in outer space’ and filling it with nautical references, unaware that Roddenberry and Shatner were also inspired by the Hornblower story when making the TV show. Roddenberry, though, disagreed with the script’s naval texture and Khan’s Captain Ahab undertones, but he was mostly ignored. Paramount changed the original subtitle of the film, The Vengeance of Khan, as it was too close to the working title for the new Star Wars film, Revenge of the Jedi. An earlier title was The Undiscovered Country, which would be used for the sixth film in the franchise. Meyer said everyone had a fit over a No Smoking sign on the bridge and it is seen only in one shot. It was removed for the rest of the production. 65% of the film was shot on the same redressed Enterprise bridge set. The project was also supervised by Paramount’s telelvision division to help keep costs down. The film’s budget was $12 million. The original budget was $8.5 million but was increased when producers were impressed with the first two weeks of footage. The Enterprise model was hated by the effects crew as it took eight people to mount and a forklift to move it. Spock’s death was meant to be irrevocable but Nimoy enjoyed the experience of working on the film so much he asked if there might be some way to bring Spock back. Spock’s death, filmed on a closed set, and the dark ending of the film so upset test audiences that a new scene was filmed with Spock’s casket on the planet and Nimoy’s voice over. Meyer objected but did not stand in the way of the modification. Nimoy did not know of the new ending until he saw the film.

1992

June 1 – Me Myself & I (USA)

• Cast: JoBeth Williams, George Segal, Don Calfa, Shelley Hack, Betsy Lynn George, Bill Macy, Sharon McNight, Ruth Gilbert, Cheryl Paris, Hartley Haverty, Nicholas Kadi, Jaid Barrymore, Sheila Scott-Wilkenson, Jennifer Ashley, Paul Cavonis
• Director: Pablo Ferro
• Distributor: I.R.S. Media
• Trivia: The film was screened at Cannes on May 16, 1992. Directorial debut of Pablo Ferro.

June 5 – Class Act (USA)

• Cast: Christopher ‘Kid’ Reid, Christopher ‘Play’ Martin, Karyn Parsons, Thomas Mikal Ford, Rick Ducommun, Alysia Rogers, Andre Rosey Brown, David Basulto, Doug E. Doug, George Alvarez, Lamont Johnson, Loretta Devine, Mariann Aalda, Meshach Taylor, Michael Whaley, Patricia Fraser, Raye Birk, Reginald Ballard, Simply Marvalous, John Hostetter
• Director: Randall Miller
• Production Company: de Passe Entertainment, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: An urban retelling of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper. Pauly Shore appears in an uncredited role. Rhea Perlman and Sam McMurray make cameo appearances. Last movie we see Kid’s famous high top fade haircut.

June 5 – Patriot Games (USA)

• Cast: Harrison Ford, Anne Archer, Patrick Bergin, Sean Bean, Thora Birch, James Fox, Ellen Geer, Samuel L. Jackson, Polly Walker, J. E. Freeman, James Earl Jones, Richard Harris, Alex Norton, Hugh Fraser, Alun Armstrong, David Threlfall, Andrew Connolly, Jonathan Ryan, Ted Raimi, Bob Gunton
• Director: Phillip Noyce
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: The film also opened in Canada on June 5, 1992. It was released in the UK on September 25. Based on Tom Clancy’s 1987 novel of the same name. Clancy disassociated himself from the production after reading the first draft of the script. To date it’s the only R-rated Jack Ryan film. Alec Baldwin was unable to return as Ryan from The Hunt for Red October due to production being pushed from 1991 to 1992 and he had already committed to starring in a Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. Harrison Ford had actually turned the role down for Red October. James Earl Jones is the only Red October cast member to return. Patriot Games actually comes first chronologically but was turned into a sequel to explain Ford’s age difference from Baldwin’s.

2002

June 7 – Bad Company (USA)

• Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Chris Rock, Peter Stormare, Gabriel Macht, Kerry Washington, Adoni Maropis, Garcelle Beauvais, Matthew Marsh, Dragan Mićanović, John Slattery, Brooke Smith, Daniel Sunjata, DeVone Lawson Jr., Wills Robbins, Marek Vašut, Irma P. Hall, Dan Ziskie, John Aylward, John Fink, Michael Ealy
• Director: Joel Schumacher
• Production Company: Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Stillking Productions, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
• Trivia: The film’s US premiere was held on June 4, 2002. It opened in the UK on July 12. Shea Whigham and Charlie Day appear in uncredited roles. The last major production to film inside the former World Trade Center. The film was originally to have been released in late 2001. The film was originally intended to be a sequel to Blue Streak (1999). The film was originally titled Black Sheep until producers discovered there was a 1996 film with that title that starred David Spade and Chris Farley. There is also a 1995 film titled Bad Company. Anthony Hopkins only did the film because his agent thought he should star in a blockbuster.

2012

June 1 – Piranha 3DD (USA)

• Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Matt Bush, David Koechner, Chris Zylka, Katrina Bowden, Gary Busey, Christopher Lloyd, David Hasselhoff, Ving Rhames, Adrian Martinez, Paul Scheer, Clu Gulager, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Meagan Tandy, Paul James Jordan, Sierra Fisk, Matthew Lintz, Sylvia Jefferies, Irina Voronina
• Director: John Gulager
• Production Company: Radius-TWC, Mark Canton/IPW, Neo Art & Logic, distributed by Dimension Films
• Trivia: Sequel to Piranha 3D. The film opened first in the UK on May 11, 2012. The US release was simultaneous limited theatrical and Video on Demand. It also received a limited Canadian release on June 1. The film was originally set for release on November 23, 2011. Piranha 3D filmmakers Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger were pushed out of the sequel by the Weinstein brothers because their idea, taking place in Thailand with a larger piranha attack taking place at a major festrival, was too expensive. Filming was to take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in January and February 2010, but had to be delayed because the temperatures were too cold for a cast that was wearing little clothing. Production moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in April 2011. The film was shot natively in 3D instead of using a post-conversion process as the previous film did. 95% of the film’s gross came from overseas markets; the film only ever played at 75 theaters in the US. Everyone got to keep a piranha fish egg when filming was over. Christopher Lloyd, Paul Scheer, and Ving Rhames all reprise their roles from the previous film.

Universal Pictures

June 1 – Snow White and the Huntsman (USA)

• Cast: Kristen Stewart, Raffey Cassidy, Charlize Theron, Izzy Meikle-Small, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Xavier Atkins, Sam Spruell, Elliot Reeve, Vincent Regan, Lily Cole, Noah Huntley, Liberty Ross, Chris Obi, Rachael Stirling, Hattie Gotobed, Greg Hicks, Peter Ferdinando, Anastasia Hille, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Johnny Harris, Brian Gleeson
• Director: Rupert Sanders
• Production Company: Roth Films, distributed by Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film premiered in London on May 14, 2012 and was released in the UK on May 30. It was also released in Canada on June 1. Based on the German fairy tale Snow White compiled by the Brothers Grimm. The directorial debut of Rupert Sanders. Bob Hoskins’ final film performance. The film received two Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design. The Dwarfs were played by actors of average height who had their faces digitally transmuted onto small bodies. This caused a protest from the Little People of America. The drops of blood at the beginning of the film are drops of real blood from director Rupert Sanders. Sanders felt the fake blood looked too unrealistic, so he pricked his finger to get the shot he wanted. Rather than using a wig, actor Sam Spruell’s real strawberry blonde hair was cut, bleached, and had the hairline shaved back for Finn’s distinctive pageboy haircut for the duration of filming. Lily Collins auditioned for the lead role but lost to Kristen Stewart. She was later cast in the other Snow White movie released that year, Mirror Mirror.

June 1 – The Angels’ Share (UK)

• Cast: Paul Brannigan, John Henshaw, Gary Maitland, Jasmin Riggins, William Ruane, Roger Allam, David Goodall, Siobhan Reilly, Roderick Cowie, Scott Kyle, Neil Leiper, Gilbert Martin
• Director: Ken Loach
• Production Company: Sixteen Films, Why Not Productions, Wild Bunch, distributed by Entertainment One
• Trivia: The film screened at Cannes on May 22, 2012. It was screened at the Portland International Film Festival on February 9, 2013, and received a limited US release on April 12, 2013. The title is from ‘the angels’ share’, a term for the portion of a whisky’s volume that is lost to evaporation during aging in oak barrels.

June 6 – Ill Manors (UK)

• Cast: Riz Ahmed, Ed Skrein, Keef Coggins, Andrew Okello, Lee Allen, Nick Sagar, Ryan De La Cruz, Anouska Mond, Saleh Ahmed, Natalie Press
• Director: Ben Drew
• Production Company: Film London Microwave, BBC Films, Aimimage, distributed by Revolver Entertainment
• Trivia: The film premiered in London on May 30, 2012. It was screened at TIFF on September 9, 2012. Ben Drew, the film’s director, is the real name of musician Plan B, who contributes six original songs to the film.