Anti-Heroes Take Over ACMI This November

Anti-heroes are set to takeover ACMI 7–13 November 2024 with 12 screenings, two talks and five original artworks inviting audiences to step into the world of flawed, complex and unapologetically human protagonists – from Deadpool, Wolverine, and The Bride, to Bonnie, Clyde, Cruella and the Magnificent Seven.

The Anti-Hero Takeover is co-curated by ACMI and guest curator Adjunct Professor Angela Ndalianis from Swinburne University of Technology’s Centre for Transformative Media Technologies. This takeover roars into ACMI with an opening night screening of Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) and continues with blockbuster, classic and cult film screenings such as Marvel Studios’ Black Panther (2018), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), Cruella (2021) and Bonnie & Clyde (1967).

Two talks The Anti-Hero Within and How to Make an Anti-Hero will feature pop culture experts, including writer and academic Martyn Pedler and best-selling author Maria Lewis, unpacking the motivations of the anti-hero.

Original artworks paying tribute to characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) will also be unveiled at ACMI on opening night and displayed in ACMI’s foyer throughout the takeover. Melbourne-based artists Eirian Chapman, Kate Isobel Scott, Timba Smits, Nash Weerasekera and Matt Willis (Yelldesign) have created their own interpretation of complex and flawed characters from the MCU including Agatha Harkness, Deadpool, Dogpool, Winter Soldier, Wolverine, Yelena Belova and more. Each unique piece will capture these MCU characters in the artists' signature styles ranging from paper craft sculpture, clay, digital and paint.

ACMI’s Director of Programming Emily Sexton said: "The Anti-Hero Takeover is a season dedicated to the rise in popularity of characters with a complex moral compass. These often funny, sometimes awful but frequently relatable characters strive, fail and succeed despite the odds. From Michael Corleone to Deadpool, this ACMI takeover sees films that take us on a journey through the history of cinema’s most iconic anti-heroes."

Swinburne University of Technology’s Adjunct Professor Angela Ndalianis said: "It’s no surprise that audiences love anti-heroes as they speak to the complexities of the real world and our imperfect human nature. Anti-heroes have been a mainstay of the cinematic landscape since the 1960s with powerful female anti-heroes becoming more common in recent years. All these protagonists feed our desire for more nuanced characters and challenge our pre-conceptions about right and wrong. It’s a treat to co-curate this season with ACMI and present an opening night introduction dedicated to two of cinema’s most thrilling anti-heroes: Deadpool and Wolverine."

The Anti-Hero Takeover includes:

Thursday 7 November, Opening Night
5.30pm drinks + viewing of Marvel-inspired Anti-Hero artworks
6.30pm introduction by Adjunct Professor Angela Ndalianis
Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine (director Shawn Levy, 2024)
A wild ride, blending action and an exploration of what it means to be an anti-hero in a morally complex world. Bringing together two of Marvel's iconic anti-heroes –Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), the wisecracking mercenary, and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), the grizzled mutant with a dark past, the film explores the anti-hero archetype, blending dark humour with intense action and existential conflict.

Friday 8 November 2024, 6.30pm
The Magnificent Seven (director John Sturges, 1960)
A classic Western and loose remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. The film centres on seven gunslinging anti-heroes, led by Chris Adams (Yul Brynner), who band together to defend a defenceless Mexican village from the ruthless bandit Calvera (Eli Wallach). The film is an early example of new heroes that became a dominant trend in cinema as the 1960s progressed, paving the way for action films and superhero blockbusters with ensemble casts.

Saturday 9 November 2024, 1.30pm
Marvel Studios’ Black Panther (director Ryan Coogler, 2018)
T’Challa, introduced in 2016’s Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War – played by the late Chadwick Boseman – is heir to the clandestine kingdom of Wakanda, that’s hidden away from the rest of the world. T’Challa takes his place on the throne, but soon Erik Killmonger arrives with his own claim and vision for Wakanda’s future. Boseman considered Black Panther an anti-hero, but where does this place his adversary Killmonger? A villain, an anti-villain or is he the film’s true hero?

Saturday 9 November 2024 , 4.30pm
TALK: The Anti-Hero Within
What is an anti-hero, and how do we understand their rise in popularity? What are the particular pleasures of these characters, and who gets to be bad? Delve into the making, storytelling and questions presented by these complex figures with comedians and experts. Hosted by Australian writer and academic Martyn Pedler, with a panel featuring critic and author Brodie Lancaster and INDIGINERD founder Cienan Muir (Yorta Yorta/Ngarrindjeri).

Saturday 9 November 2024, 6.30pm
Disney’s Cruella (director Craig Gillespie, 2021)
A film reimagining Cruella, the iconic villain from 101 Dalmatians, portraying her as a complex anti-hero rather than a straightforward villain. This work explores the origins of Estella, a young and gifted fashion designer who transforms into Cruella de Vil. Her rebellious nature clashes with social norms, and as she seeks revenge against the tyrannical Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) – who wronged her – Estella’s alter ego, Cruella, emerges. Cruella’s journey reveals the cost of ambition and revenge, presenting a layered and compelling anti-hero.

Saturday 9 November 2024, 7pm
Female Trouble (director John Waters, 1974)
Female Trouble (1974) is John Waters at his best – dark, twisted, and hilariously over-the-top. Starring the legendary Divine as Dawn Davenport, the film kicks off with a bang when Dawn runs away from home because she doesn’t get the cha-cha heels she wanted for Christmas. From there, it’s a wild ride through crime, chaos, and total madness as Dawn becomes the muse for a couple obsessed with the idea that crime is beautiful. With Waters’ trademark shock humor, this film is a wickedly funny takedown of fame and society’s love of scandal. Dawn is the ultimate anti-hero – violent, self-absorbed, and totally shameless. But thanks to Divine’s jaw-dropping performance, she’s also impossible to look away from.

Sunday 10 November 2024, 1.30pm 
TALK: How to Make an Anti-Hero
Join our expert panel to explore the craft, storytelling, process, themes and designs that result in the creation of these beloved, wicked characters across television and film. Hosted by best-selling author and pop culture expert Maria Lewis, our panel features creator, head writer, and co-executive producer of The Artful Dodger (Disney+) James McNamara (via Zoom), plus local visual effects specialist Framestore’s Joao Sita (Deadpool & Wolverine).

Sunday 10 November 2024, 3.00pm, FREE SCREENING   
Marvel Studios’ Werewolf by Night (director Michael Giacchino, 2022)
In a beautiful throwback to the classic monster movies, Michael Giacchino’s unexpected charmer flips convention by casting humans as villains and monsters as anti-heroes. Gael Garcia Bernal stars as an almost naïve participant in a good, old-fashioned monster hunt. Shot in colour, then edited to black and white, and transferred to film (and then back again), Werewolf by Night presents a world that harks back to midnight movies, while also presenting a new and innovative realm for Marvel Cinematic Universe afficionados to explore.

Sunday 10 November 2024, 3.30pm
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (director Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014)
Set in the fictional, desolate Iranian town of ‘Bad City’, this visually striking and atmospheric film blends elements of horror, Western and noir with a distinctly feminist edge. The story revolves around a mysterious young woman, simply known as ‘The Girl’ (played by Sheila Vand), a vampire who roams the streets at night targeting victims including drug dealers, pimps and other oppressive figures. The Girl is a compelling anti-hero who challenges traditional notions of femininity and heroism by taking on a protector role in a world filled with toxic masculinity.

Monday 11 November 2024, 6.30pm
The Godfather (director Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic film chronicling the rise of the Corleone crime family and the transformation of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) from outsider to ruthless crime boss. Initially rejecting his family's criminal empire, Michael is a decorated World War II veteran, who returns home with a desire to remain morally separate but is gradually drawn into the family business. The Godfather redefines cinematic heroes by blurring the lines between good and evil, making Michael a character we sympathise with, even as he descends into moral darkness.

Tuesday 12 November 2024, 6.30pm 
Bonnie and Clyde (director Arthur Penn, 1967)
The story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, played by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, a couple who embark on a crime spree across the American South during the Great Depression. Presented as complex anti-heroes who blend charm, rebellion and innocence with increasingly violent actions, Bonnie and Clyde are romanticised as outsiders rebelling against societal norms. A work influenced by the French New Wave, Bonnie and Clyde reshaped American cinema by portraying anti-heroes as sympathetic, complex individuals who defy conventional morality, setting the stage for a new era of anti-heroic protagonists.

Tuesday 12 November 2024, 7pm
Blade (director Stephen Norrington, 1998)
Before millennial Super Hero films X-Men (2000) and Spider-Man (2002) reignited our love for Super Heroes on screen, Blade arrived to clean up Los Angeles’ nightlife. Blending 90s goth energy with Super Hero genre in a unique way, the film leaned heavily into the action subgenre. As a human-vampire hybrid, Blade is the ultimate anti-hero – he means well but he’s become a fierce vampire hunter who also hungers for human blood.

Wednesday 13 November 2024, 6.30pm, DOUBLE BILL
Lady Snowblood (director Toshiya Fujita, 1973) and Kill Bill Vol. 1, (director Quentin Tarantino, 2003)

Lady Snowblood
A Japanese revenge film following Yuki Kashima, known as Lady Snowblood. Born in prison to a mother consumed by vengeance, Yuki is raised to be a relentless assassin with a single mission: to exact revenge on the criminals who destroyed her family. Yuki embodies the anti-hero archetype, driven by personal revenge rather than traditional justice. Unlike the traditional hero, her mission is not to protect the innocent or uphold a moral code, but to exact vengeance in a cycle of bloodshed.

Kill Bill Vol. 1
Quentin Tarantino’s hugely popular film about the ‘The Bride’ (Uma Thurman), a former assassin betrayed by her colleagues from the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Influenced heavily by the protagonist of Lady Snowblood, The Bride embarks on a relentless quest for vengeance, targeting her former comrades, including O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox). As an anti-hero, The Bride is defined by her dark past as a ruthless killer, but she also possesses a deep sense of loss and maternal instinct. Her morally ambiguous actions reflect the anti-hero archetype, as she operates outside traditional heroism.

The Anti-Hero Takeover is supported by Disney+. Explore more anti-heroes on Disney+ from new releases Marvel Studios’ Agatha All Along to fan favourites including Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian and classic films including Flight Club and Die Hard. Visit disneyplus.com for more.

The Anti-Hero Takeover takes place at ACMI from 7-13 November 2024. Tickets are on sale now via acmi.net.au. Marvel-inspired anti-hero artworks are free to view in the ACMI foyer throughout the takeover.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

• Images and bios are available to download here.  
• For further media enquiries please contact Stephanie.payne@acmi.net.au.

Listings Information

The Anti-Hero Takeover
7-13 November 2024
ACMI, Fed Square, Melbourne
acmi.net.au
Tickets: Full $18, Concession $14, Member $12. Multi-session passes are available.

Schedule
Thu 7 Nov 2024, 6.30pm, Opening Night, Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine – intro by Adjunct Professor Angela Ndalianis
Fri 8 Nov 2024, 6.30pm, The Magnificent Seven  
Sat 9 Nov 2024, 1.30pm, Marvel Studios’ Black Panther  
Sat 9 Nov 2024, 4.30pm, Talk: The Anti-Hero Within
Sat 9 Nov 2024, 6.30pm, Disney’s Cruella
Sat 9 Nov 2024, 7pm, Female Trouble
Sun 10 Nov 2024, 1:30pm, Talk: How to Make an Anti-Hero 
Sun 10 Nov 2024, 3.00pm, Marvel Studios’ Werewolf by Night (free screening)
Sun 10 Nov 2024, 3:30pm, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Mon 11 Nov 2024, 6.30pm, The Godfather
Tue 12 Nov 2024, 6.30pm, Bonnie and Clyde 
Tue 12 Nov 2024, 7pm, Blade
Wed 13 Nov 2024, 6.30pm, Lady Snowblood and Kill Bill Vol. 1 (double bill)

ABOUT ACMI
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ABOUT ADJUNCT PROFESSOR ANGELA NDALIANIS
Angela Ndalianis is Research Professor and founding Director of the Centre for Transformative Media Technologies at Swinburne University of Technology. Her research focuses on Hollywood Cinema, entertainment technologies and their histories, visual effects, and the superhero, horror and science fiction genres. She has published numerous articles in journals and anthologies, and some of her book publications include Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary Entertainment (MIT Press 2004), Science Fiction Experiences (2010), The Horror Sensorium; Media and the Senses (2012) and the edited books The Contemporary Comic Book Superhero (editor, 2009), Neo baroques: From Latin America to the Hollywood Blockbuster (2016, co-edited), and Fans and Videogames: Histories, Fandom, Archives (Routledge, 2017, co-edited). She is currently working on two books: Batman: Myth and Superhero and Robots and Entertainment Culture.