May
25
Cannes: Levinson and Linson Talk What Just Happened?
My second foray to the Hotel du Cap in Cap d'Antibes caught What Just Happened? writer-producer Art Linson and director Barry Levinson at the end of a long day of international press in advance of their closing night screening on Sunday. They were far more chipper than they were at Sundance, and wished they had brought the pic to Cannes in the first place, as they had originally planned. "We got ahead of ourselves," says Linson.
We walked from the beach cabanas where they had done the interviews over to the Eden Roc, the Du Cap's seaside restaurant, to talk over a drink until Linson got a call from Robert DeNiro up in the main hotel lobby (that's DeNiro on the phone, below, asking where he is).
It's been exactly a year since they shot the finale of their movie in Cannes, and here they are back again, in the festival. "It's life imitating art imitating life or something," says Linson, who wrote the screenplay based on his book about a hard-pressed Hollywood producer.
The new cut in Cannes is just "refined in many ways," says Levinson, who had never been at the fest before and marveled at Linson's command of French. Linson has a French country house, which helps. Linson had been at the fest with Car Wash, many years before.
"At Sundance, a movie about acting or script or story," says Levinson, "becomes a story about distribution. We got all these wonderful actors to work for free because they loved the project. I know when a comedy is working, because people laugh. It was about five distributors with no stake in the movie asking why they should put up $40 million."
Finally, the movie will be released by someone, whether financeer 2929 Entertainment's own distrib Magnolia Pics or someone else, in October, with ex-New Line Cinema marketing head Russell Schwartz handling the marketing campaign. He already came up with the ad line: "In Hollywood everyone can hear you scream." The decision will be made in four weeks.
For his part Linson will stick to producing indie movies like this or Sean Penn's Into the Wild, whether he's welcome in Sundance or not. "I have no choice," Linson says. "The studios are not designed to do anything but repeat themselves. The corporations don't like to be in a business they can't predict."
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I am keen to sell true story of an "Unconquired Struggler" who achieved self-actulaization from a common life of a tailor's son to a Top Media Person,through never expresssed hridles,struggles,obstacles,conspiracies etc e.g.repeated troubles in student life ,agony in family life due to cancer of father,conspiracies by father of the girl (to the extent of putting him behind bar on false allegation)of a higher caste ,whom he loved ,haunt for him after court marraige on the day of completion of adulthood by the girl,higher study with study leave despite initial hindrence , caste discrimination in Fist Office resulting tranfers,
change of carrer though direct recruitment as Director of a Media House through Public Service Commission supercdeing many Departmental Candidates ,conspiracy by a Office lobby resulting repeated transfers ,conspiracy by a powerful Administrative lobby putting him behind the bar,suspension from job,legal wars and freedom from Jail custody & revocation of suspension,establishement in the creative fields in Media , children's success in professional career ,retirement and whle Criminal Case still remains pending in the Court after 8 years,even after submission of closure report by Investigationg Agency etc.
Posted by: DR.T.K.DAS | September 11, 2008 at 06:24 AM