The Book of Henry is in cinemas worldwide right now, and it's fair to say that the film has taken a battering from the critics, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 24%.The film tells the tale of a mother trying to rescue an abused girl with the help of a book written by her genius, and its mix of genres and abrupt tonal shifts seemed to genuinely annoy some film journalists, with Trevorrow bearing the brunt of their criticism.We therefore asked the director how the negative reception has affected him..."Professionally all I can hope is that people will go see the movie and judge the movie for themselves. I think personally of course its something I put a tremendous amount of my heart and my soul into as did everybody who made the film."Its something that I hope would be able to reach people who write about films for a living in the same way that it reaches audiences. I know the way it affects audiences and the way it connects with them and so that is hugely satisfying to me. Obviously I wish that I could have it all, but what can you do?"We then asked Trevorrow if he feels like he's under extra scrutiny having made global smash Jurassic World before Book of Henry, and then moving onto Star Wars: Episode IX after..."I think that making a film like this, that is a risky film  from a place of tone, from a place of character, from a place of narrative  I think that putting that in the context of the other films that I make may not necessarily be helpful to it, and so I apologise to this film if in any way I have tainted the way people look at it because of everything else that I am associated with."I think that its very much part of my personality and the way that I was raised in that I was raised in a very creative family  my mother was a photographer, my father was in a country rock band, and they both encouraged me to be not just a creative person, but to face my fears and to challenge myself and look over into the abyss of what scares me most and then jump. I did that here and so for better or worse I cant apologise for wanting to do something different and new, I feel like the audience demands it."The Book of Henry is in cinemas now.

Director Colin Trevorrow Addresses Negative 'Book of Henry' Reviews

Writer-director Colin Trevorrow has had a meteoric rise in Hollywood, kicking off his career with acclaimed indie Safety Not Guaranteed before crafting global smash Jurassic World, which is currently the fourth most successful film of all time.His latest film - The Book of Henry - hits UK screens this week, and is an ambitious mix of genres that concerns a mother trying to rescue a young girl from her abusive stepfather with the help of book written by her genius son.Trevorrow's next movie is Episode IX, and with that in mind, we asked him in the above video interview how working on Book of Henry will inform the way he approaches the Star Wars franchise."They are so different" he says of Book of Henry and Episode IX. "I think that I had to exercise the muscle of being able to find performances from different actors who are varying ages. Who are dealing with extremely challenging subject matter and a story thats constantly changing around them and making the arguably at times fantastic real. Theres no spaceships or dinosaurs in this movie, but the places that it goes border on the hyper-real. It almost feels like a nightmare at times."When I compare it to anything I think more of films like Poltergeist. Things where you see a very happy family showing up at a new house and you dont really think anything wrong can happen. Then by the time you get to the end its truly horrifying. Even something like Jurassic World starts with a family packing up to go on vacation. So I thought that this was a way that we could take a film that was dealing with some pretty unbelievable incidents, and make it feel human and real and honest, and even when you look at the larger films I have to do, the next film is a family drama thats in the context of something spectacular and fantastical. Theyre not that far away."You can check out the above video for more of Trevorrow on Star Wars, including what he learned on Jurassic World that he'll be taking into Episode IX.Book of Henry hits UK screens this Friday (June 23) while Episode IX Summer 2019.

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Up Next

The Book of Henry hits UK screens this week, and we've been speaking to director Colin Trevorrow about the film's opening credits, which look like one big spoiler. But one that passes by so fast that you can't actually make those spoilers out."They should pay special attention" came Trevorrow's advice to audiences in the above video. "The whole story is encapsulated in the opening credits. I think that in a film that takes you to some very unexpected places, and on a bit of an emotional and narrative rollercoaster, if you watch the drawings by the hand of a child, over the first two minutes, with Michael Giacchinos incredible theme, you will be taken from beginning to end."Its something that I actually stole from Brad Bird in Mission: Impossible 4. Which I thought was a very cool thing to do  to take you on that journey and prepare you for where youre going to go, yet still surprise you over the course."As for whether there are more Easter Eggs hidden within the film, Trevorrow says The Book of Henry is filled with them."It is a very carefully designed film and it had to be. Every single thing that happens matters. Its a movie that does take an attentive viewer in order to ultimately first not get disoriented, and to appreciate where it takes you its a bit of a parents fever dream in a way."Its one of those things where you just have to let yourself go in the way that when youre dreaming you just have to let yourself go. If you get too much up inside your head the movie may be challenging for you emotionally because it lurches in the way that life can."The Book of Henry hits UK screens today (Friday June 23) and if you are checking it out in cinemas, make sure you pay extra close attention during those first two minutes.

Jun 21, 2017

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