Interviews

The screech of a TIE Fighter as it flies across the surface of the Death Star. The electrical hum of a lightsaber. Darth Vader’s mechanical breathing. These are the sounds of Star Wars, sounds that have reverberated around home cinemas across the world for decades. With the Star Wars Saga finally making the leap to the ultimate home entertainment format, Anton van Beek caught up with the man charged with remixing these legendary soundtracks for Blu-ray, Skywalker Sound supervising sound editor Matthew Wood…

Having begun his animation career at Pixar working on Toy Story and THX promos, Hal Hickel transfered to Industrial Light & Magic in order to work on the Star Wars prequels having been a fan of the franchise since childhood (he even submitted his own script for a Star Wars sequel at the age of 12 and received a polite rejection letter from producer Gary Kurtz). Since then he has worked on a variety of blockbusters including Star Wars: Episodes I and II, first three Pirates of the Caribbean films, Iron Man and Super 8. His most recent role was as animation supervisor on Guillermo del Toro's sci-fi blockbuster Pacific Rim.

Hammer Films is a studio reborn. The British film icon, which enjoyed worldwide success in the 1950s, '60s and '70s with a swathe of fright flicks and launched the careers of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing among others, had seemed to be dead and buried by the mid-80s, with production ceasing completely. Yet since 2007, under the guidance of CEO Simon Oakes, Hammer is back in the limelight, chilling new audiences first with an innovative web-based horror series and then a blockbusting – and controversial – adaptation of Susan Hill's The Woman in Black. Its latest movie, The Quiet Ones, is out now on Blu-ray/DVD.

Jason Statham was once a member of the British National Diving Team and finished 12th in the 1992 World Championships. He was also a fashion model, securing the audition for his debut role, in Guy Ricthie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, through French Connection, for whom he was working. He teamed up with Ritchie again for Snatch and then Revolver. Other notable movies include the first pair of Transporter films, the blockbuster remake of The Italian Job, Crank, War, The Bank Job and Death Race. He now returns to our screens as tough-man driver Frank Martin in Transporter 3...

First through DVD and now via Blu-ray, Eureka's Masters of Cinema label has aimed to furnish film fans with high-quality releases of classic titles. We spoke to Director of Production Craig Keller about the company's plans for 2015, sourcing new releases and its #100 Masters of Cinema Blu-ray, legendary Holocaust documentary Shoah...

It may have taken several years to reach these shores, but subscription-based streaming service Netflix clearly hit the ground running when it made its UK debut in 2012, racking up more than a million customers in its first month of operation.