Woody Allen, Brokeback Mountain... and, erm, Kong!

Seeing the parallels between himself and Ang Lee when it comes to working with CG leading men, the first new movie Jackson wanted to cover in this issue was Lee’s award-hunting follow-up to Hulk, Brokeback Mountain (yes, the one they’re all calling the “gay cowboy” movie). So he sent the Features Editor to investigate…

For reasons beyond the rest of us, he also wanted a feature on some new movie coming out about a big ape. There were some nice pictures involving dinosaurs and a pretty blonde though, so we went with it.

Declaring John Cusack “simply the coolest man in movies today” Jackson suggested that we interview the usually tight-lipped star about his upcoming movie, The Ice Harvest. Maybe it was the presence of PJ, but for once the reluctant leading man really opened up – chatting about everything from beer to religion to his luck with the ladies!

Of course, Jackson was also very keen for us to interview that quintessential New York filmmaker, Woody Allen – seeing as his own King Kong spends most of its second-half running time in the Big Apple. So he dispatched the Features Ed to interview the mighty Woodsman in New York…

Even though Jackson has this year been a tad busy to actually see any films, he was keen that Total Film stick to tradition and deliver the ultimate Review Of The Year. Hence 10 spanking pages looking back at the high and low-lights of the past 12 months.

And that’s just the half of it! To enjoy all of the movie maestro’s sharp editorial choices, check out the new issue, on sale now!

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.