20 metrolife Thursday, January 7, 2010 D About Town THE HOTTEST TICKETS IN TOWN We have two pairs of tickets to see JOHN BISHOP tonight at Vicar Street, 8.30pm For a chance to win, e-mail your answer to the question below to life@ metroireland.ie by noon today with Hot Tickets in the subject line. With the answer include your name, address and a number where you can be contacted between 1pm and 3pm. Strictly one entry per person; entrants must be age 18 or over. Q. John Bishop hails from which British city? A Manchester B Liverpool John Bishop Dont be fooled by his affable everyman routine, the Scouser funnyman (and former pharmaceutical sales manager) can reverse a heckle at five paces, and has a new stand-up show, Elvis Has Left The Building Tonight, Vicar Street, 58-59 Thomas Street D8, 8.30pm, 23. Tel: 0818 719 300. Turner watercolours Keith Barry Her trademark warble is an acquired taste, but fans of the former 10,000 Maniacs frontwoman will be frothing at the mouth with the news of upcoming album Leave Your Sleep, her first release in seven years. Thats not to say the folk artist has been twiddling her thumbs all this time; one daughter, several film soundtracks and a few US tours later, shes back with renewed vim for this fifth studio album and tie-in tour. Merchants socio-political parables can grate at times on record but its her emotive live performances that reveal an utmost sincerity and a welcome playfulness Jan 25, Whelans, 25 Wexford Street D2, 8pm, 20. Tel: (01) 478 0766. www.nataliemerchant.com Book Now Natalie Merchant metrometro lifeStaying In & Going Out The Big Interview John Hillcoat The road to ruin proved a perfect match for Hillcoats visionary, harsh and primitive imagination. When I actually read the book, what inspired me was how believably it put you in the here and now. Come apocalypse, it all becomes about your immediate day-to-day survival. And, refreshingly, the story didnt need to explain the big event. That allows us to project our deepest, darkest insecurities: whether thats a parents worst fears for their child, the inescapable reality of mortality or being scared of environmental meltdown or global nuclear conflict, its never spelt out. Instead it taps into our collective psyche with the force of a universal nightmare. Thats whats so great about the original book. Not so great, however, when it comes to marketing your movie. Bleakness doesnt sell popcorn. Hence a trailer crammed with thrilling disaster flick-style reportage, none of which is in the finished film. I think they were trying to put in a context for people whod never read the book, explains Hillcoat with studied diplomacy. But what they didnt calculate is that those whod read and loved the book would see the trailer and think what the f*** is this? With a release date originally set for November 2008, rumours abounded that The Road had run into trouble. The assumption was the studio wanted a more upbeat, crowd-pleasing movie, but Hillcoat denies it. They did have two test screenings, because in America the only people who are allowed not to have test screenings is someone with the clout of the Coens or Spielberg. The Coen brothers, of course, directed the Oscar-winning adaptation of McCarthys No Country For Old Men. If The Road repeats that success, and it deserves to, it will be testimony to the courage of the distributor and Hillcoats determination to remain true to the book. To try to create something new in the apocalyptic film genre, we wanted to get as far away from CGI as possible, Hillcoat explains. So we shot a lot of the big debris landscapes in post-Katrina New Orleans. As well as giving the actors something real to react to, it gave poignancy to the crew. There was a deeper understanding of what we were trying to do. No wonder Hillcoats next project is rumoured to be a glam heist caper set in Cannes and starring Daniel Craig. After The Road, he fully deserves a trip to the seaside. The Road (16) is in cinemas from tomorrow [Apocalypse] allows us to project our deepest, darkest insecurities... It taps into our collective psyche with the force of a universal nightmare ormac McCarthys acclaimed bestseller The Road may have won the Pulitzer Prize and recently topped The Timess 100 Best Books Of The Decade list, but maverick director John Hillcoat was initially having none of it. When I heard it was post- apocalyptic, my heart sank. Its not my favourite genre, admits the jovial 48- year-old Australian, who resembles a rather matey boiled egg. I imagined The Day After Tomorrow and 2012. What irritates me about sci-fi is that it got hijacked by video games and also became so high-concept it was all about ideas and gadgets and technology and nothing about the human experience. What I like is finding new angles on genres. Hillcoats new angle on The Proposition, a western set in the harsh Australian outback and written by his chum Nick Cave, was what led producer Nick Wechsler to pursue him for The Road. The book is a beyond-bleak parable of an unnamed boy and his protective father (played in the film adaptation by hotly award-tipped Viggo Mortensen) who travel across a blasted, corpse-strewn landscape struggling to survive both physically and spiritually. It would, as the New York Times summarises, be pure misery if not for its stunning, savage beauty. As such, it C The Proposition director tells Larushka Ivan-Zadeh how, despite being uninspired by the prospect of directing a disaster film, the tale soon had him hooked Together with The Blizzards, indie dream-boats The Coronas have carved out a singular niche in Irish rock. Pleasant, if blandly formulaic, their sub- Strokes post-punk sounds good on radio, whilst its specifically Irish subject matter (break-out hit San Diego Song was about getting drunk on your J1 jolly to America) appeals to listeners in a way that The Kooks and Razorlight never could. No less crucial to their charms, it appears, is their boy-next-door image, which has won them a squealing teenage following and turned them into the closest Irish music has yet come to proper rock pin-ups. Critics, though, have been quick to wince and not, it must be said, without cause. Last years Tony Was An Ex-Con, the follow-up to their chart-topping Heroes Or Ghosts LP, was so slight you could be forgiven for forgetting its existence even as you were actually listening to it. Still, the band, whose frontman Danny OReilly is the son of folk warbler Mary Black, are a dramatically different proposition live, where hormonal fans lend their gigs a frenzied air. Chances are theyll still be going strong when other, more lauded domestic acts, have long since fallen by the wayside. Eamon de Paor Until Sat, The Academy, 57 Middle Abbey St D1, 7pm, 17.50. Tel: (01) 877 9999. www.thecoronas.net GIG The Coronas A welcome antidote to the snow and ice is JMW Turners annual exhibition A Light In The Darkness, a showcase of vibrant watercolours painted during his later European grand tours Until Jan 31, National Gallery, Merrion Square West D2, Mon to Sat 9.30am to 5.30pm (Thu to 8.30pm), Sun noon to 5.30pm, free. Tel: (01) 661 5133. www.nationalgallery.ie Voted 2009s Mentalist Of The Year and Best Magician in Las Vegas, the Waterford conjurer returns with a mind-boggling new show called The Asylum, promising telepathy, hypnosis and spooks Until Sun, Olympia Theatre, 72 Dame Street D2, 7.30pm, 28. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.keithbarry.com index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html28.html29.html30.html31.html