During my nine days at Cannes, I shot more pics and video than I used. I was hoping to shoot more one-on-one interviews, but wound up at round-tables where they wouldn't let me flip out the cam. At press conferences, security people kept shutting my flip cam down, even after I had obtained permission from both the print and video press attaches. You had to get pretty close to get anything decent. The worst press conference to get into was Inglourious Basterds, where a jam of disgruntled press with lesser badges tried to talk security into letting them in.
Here's a gallery of leftover photos and videos I didn't use, just for fun and flavor. I shot a picture over a breakfast omelette on the Rue d'Antibes of this young actor who had traveled down from Paris to experience his first Cannes, alone. Just getting into a screening was major triumph for him. He was lovely.
The Carlton Terrace is always hopping, even in a down year. Disney threw a balloon photo op and the opening night party for Up on the Carlton Beach and pier. Universal, Fox and Sony are also based there; SPC's Tom Bernard has always ridden around Cannes on a bike; this year I also spotted Fox co-chairman Jim Gianopoulos two-wheeling down the crowded Croisette.
If I didn't make it to a given press conference, I shot photos from the constant loop on the flat-screen monitors in the Palais. Andrea Arnold returned for her second Cannes with Fish Tank; Pedro Almodovar's gorgeous Broken Embraces poster was plastered all over the city.
For the press covering Cannes, there were fewer pleasant press lunches and less sleep than ever. The Wrap's Sharon Waxman and USA Today's Anthony Bresnican both covered the Taking Woodstock press lunch. There were also fewer over-the-top lavish parties--this year I didn't go to any fetes off the Croisette, at a villa up in the hills, or outside the city. One of the best parties was beachside, for Agora, where I hung out with Darren Aronofsky while his partner Rachel Weisz posed for photos.
The red carpet event every night attracts thousands of onloookers who crowd the streets and yell when they see stars. The photographers and TV cameras line up in their tuxes to shoot the arrivals. On opening night, little girls in tutus lined up on both sides of the red carpet.
I shot some footage from across the street from the Palais' Theatre Lumiere on the gala night for Broken Embraces. You can see the arrivals as they pose for the photographers and ascend the steps:
The best party I went to in Cannes was thrown one afternoon by rookie director Angela Ismailos after a screening of her doc Great Directors, in which she sits down and talks politics, history and Neo-Realism with Bernardo Bertolucci, the influence of Federico Fellini with David Lynch, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder with Todd Haynes, among others. Cinetic Media is selling the film.
There was plenty of yummy food, wine, music and dancing. All in all, a taste of how a globe-trotting intellectual socialite lives.
I enjoyed talking to French director Catherine Breillat at the boat party. The movie shows what an outsider she was, from a very early age, because her films were too sexy, even for the French. She admitted that while she is not now a member of the French film establishment, exactly, she's accepted.
Who came out ahead and behind on their Cannes jaunt this year?
Disney
The studio won big by using Cannes as the European launch for Pixar’s Up. John Lasseter and Pete Docter had the time of their lives being treated seriously by the most prestigious festival in the world, which gave them some auteur cred they wouldn’t get any other way. At Disney’s after-party on the Carlton pier, Lasseter got misty-eyed. “It’s one of the greatest things to happen in our careers,” he said. The often stuffy festival stepped up to the times, passing out 3-D glasses to the opening night black-tie glitterati at the Palais.
Disney also took advantage of the global media to introduce the motion capture pic Christmas Carol, bringing director Bob Zemeckis and Jim Carrey to the Croisette for a snowy photo opportunity. (I remember meeting Carrey for the first time when he came to Cannes to promo The Mask.)
Miramax
On the other hand, it’s utterly depressing that Disney may be putting its specialty subsidiary Miramax on the block. Studio boss Robert Iger wants to stick to his family-movie brand/theme park mandate, and Miramax doesn’t fit with its other businesses. While the studio denies the unit is for sale, their asking price is said to be $1.2 billion; buyers are interested, especially in the Tiffany library built by the Weinsteins, but are waiting for the price to come down.
Miramax topper Daniel Battsek has done a solid if not spectacular job, including Oscar winners Tsotsi and No Country for Old Men. But many projects were too pricey to turn a profit in the tough specialty market. Battsek kept a low profile on the Croisette this year, with no buys announced. As Harvey and Bob Weinstein struggle in a sour economy to keep their company afloat, the irony is that if they had not only raised but made some money, they might have been able to afford to buy their company back.
Harvey and Bob Weinstein
15 years after Pulp Fiction, the brothers brought Quentin Tarantino to the Cannes main competition with the raucous World War II drama Inglourious Basterds. Loaded with expectations (always a dicey position) the movie played fine for the global press, especially with its top-notch European cast, but will face a tougher time at home in a challenging environment for specialty pictures. To Tarantino’s credit, he shot it in four languages, French, Italian, German and English. The movie breaks out French actors Denis Menochet (who stars in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood) and Melanie Laurent as well as German actors Daniel Bruhl, Diane Kruger and language whiz Christoph Waltz (who won best actor). Here's Hollywood Wiretap.
Less interesting in some ways are the titular Basterds, led by a one-note Brad Pitt as a Nazi hunter, supported by Eli Roth and Til Schweiger. It feels like this part of the movie was given short shrift. Tarantino, who was in a rush to Cannes, now has some time to fine-tune his film. Irish actor Michael Fassbender (who also scored in Fish Tank) may get a new scene when Tarantino returns to the editing room. At two hours and 27 minutes, Tarantino has final cut.
The Weinsteins also debuted for buyers and press a featurette made by Rob Marshall of his musical Nine, which was adapted by the late Anthony Minghella from the Broadway musical inspired by Federico Fellini’s 8 ½. In the role of the womanizing director having a midlife crisis (played on-stage by Raul Julia and Antonio Banderas) is Daniel Day Lewis, who looks handsome and charismatic in the movie. (Yes, he sports an Italian accent. And sings. And dances.) Much of the story, like Marshall’s Oscar-winning Chicago, unfolds in the director’s mind as he muses over the women in his life: his mother (Sophia Loren), the village prostitute (Fergie), lover (Nicole Kidman), wife (Marion Cotillard), mistress (Penelope Cruz), interviewer (Kate Hudson) and costume designer (Judi Dench). The movie looks sumptuous, elaborate, visually dazzling. It also looks expensive, and was shot in London and Cinecitta (estimates range from $80 to 90 million). The risk for the Weinsteins: is there a market big enough to pay back the cost of a studio-scale all-stops-out musical? The movie opens during awards season, November 25.
There’s good advance word on John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron, but it looks like a narrow niche up-market film. While the Weinsteins may get what they want: renewed cred from a series of well-reviewed movies that might make it into the Oscar race, these days, that can be as much a curse as a blessing, as Oscar campaigns can turn a profitable movie into a money loser.
Bob Berney, Bill Pohlad, Jane Campion
Ex-Picturehouse chief Bob Berney and his new partner Bill Pohlad made official their new distribution combine, which will enter the middle ground between art-house distributors Sony Pictures Classics, IFC and Magnolia and remaining studio subsidiaries Fox Searchlight, Miramax and Focus Features. Berney and Pohlad (who are waiting for their company name to clear) boldly acquired all U.S. rights to Jane Campion’s Bright Star sight unseen ahead of the fest (for about $2.5 million). They saw the film two weeks ahead of Cannes, where it played well, but won no prizes. While Berney plans to target young women (it will also score with Anglophiles, Jane Austen fans, and the Academy), the movie is an austere and tragic love story that lacks mainstream appeal. But the two stars, Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish, are potential breakouts. After a six-year-gap, Campion reestablishes herself as a major director. But she has never been a particularly commercial one.
Sony Pictures Classics and Pedro Almodovar
Steady as they go, Michael Barker and Tom Bernard came out of Cannes having landed the top two prize winners, Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon and Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet. They came into the fest with Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces, starring Penelope Cruz, which is not the best of the Spanish auteur’s films, but is more fun to watch than most flicks. It was not a factor with the jury, either. But it wasn’t hurt by being in the festival, which sorely needed the combined star power of the director and Cruz.
While American art-house audiences don’t pay much attention to Cannes prizes, they do push the films' countries of origin to submit them for the foreign language Oscar. Thus SPC now has two more potential Oscar submissions for next year, from Germany and France. The Envelope looks at how Cannes impacts the Oscar race.
Word from the Cannes jury is that the votes were often split along director vs. actor lines. (UPDATE: Actress-director Asia Argento said it was more male vs.female; well, except for her, the directors were male.) This makes sense, as actors, writers and directors think very differently. As the reportedly fractious group, led by French actress Isabelle Huppert, talked over the selections (in English) three times during the fest--they saw 20 films-- they eliminated certain films that didn't raise enough votes, like Bright Star and Broken Embraces. Inglourious Basterds and Antichrist were more admired by the actors than the directors, while Fish Tank and Thirst were directors' pictures--and split the jury prize. The votes on the top two films, The White Ribbon and A Prophet were very close. But no award was unanimous. The most contentious debate was over best director Brilliante Mendoza, for Kinatay, which critics despised. The jurors weren't allowed to talk to anyone, and during deliberations, they even gave up their cell phones.
Focus Features and Ang Lee
The decision to bring a filmmaker to the fest is a calculation that, in the case of Focus and Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, backfired. I enjoyed the movie thoroughly and with some marketing fixes it could play well in the United States. It is an utterly American movie, culturally sophisticated, sweet and tender, mood-shifting, and fun. Screenwriter James Schamus (and Focus topper) and Lee nail the period. “It was a time when people had t-shirts that didn’t have logos on them,” Lee says.
Schamus and Lee explore the cultural moment that Woodstock crystallized—the ways that old and new were clashing and changing. This behind-the-scenes drama focuses on a family dynamic: two uptight Jewish parents (Henry Goodman and Imelda Staunton) and their vibrant, closeted gay son (Demetri Martin) who, when shoved up against the counterculture, breaks out of their world. Comedy Central star Martin never dreamed of a movie career, but the real discovery is radiant theater actor Jonathan Groff as Michael Lang. Most of the time, Lee and Schamus found that lingo from the period didn’t play, and cut much of it out. But when Groff said words like “groovy” and “far out,” he did so with such conviction that they left them in.
Taking Woodstock is not the sort of movie that goes over well at Cannes. It isn’t even what you’d call a critics’ picture. Lee must have wanted to come to the festival that had always treated him well. He probably wishes now that he hadn’t.
UPDATE: Focus came out ahead with its other Cannes entry, Park Chan-Wook's jury-prize-co-winner Thirst, which is already a hit in South Korea and will likely be a strong genre contender when Focus releases it stateside later this year. Focus Features International continues to be one of the strongest foreign sales companies, because it boasts the A-list projects (like Almodovar's Broken Embraces and the latest pics from Sam Mendes, Roberto Begnini, Zhang Yimou, Sofia Coppola and Noah Baumbach) everyone still wants to buy. "We're flying on all cylinders," says Schamus. "We've got our fingers in so many little pies all over the world."
Alejandro Amenabar's Agora
This Egyptian period drama cost $50 million Euros--and needed Cannes support. It didn't get it. The reviews were mixed, although Rachel Weisz managed to survive. The buyers waited on the sidelines for the price to decline. Clearly, even name stars and a big budget do not guarantee an American sale. Producers can't count on North American money any more. The Wrap looks at the Cannes economy.
IFC: Lars von Trier and Ken Loach
IFC came into the fest having bought the three-part Red Riding Trilogy, and then picked up Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, which built up a swell of want-to-see from Cannes controversy. IFC will show the movie uncut in a few U.S. cinemas and then trim it—working with the director—to show it on VOD. Honestly? It’s a movie-as-therapy that helped to pull Danish director von Trier out of a bout of depression that threatened to keep him from making movies. He indulged himself completely; the movie is a well-made, manipulative mess. Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg give their all; she totally deserved the best actress prize. Any student of von Trier will want to see the movie. The distrib also picked up the feel-good movie of Cannes, Ken Loach's Waiting for Eric, starring soccer player Eric Cantona.
Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
The reviews were kind (here's Variety), suggesting that Gilliam returned to form with his latest film--despite losing Heath Ledger in mid-shoot, replaced by Johnn Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. American buyers, who saw the film in L.A. and NY before the festival, or attended an early screening in the market, were playing a waiting game. Nobody is taking risks any more.
Oscilloscope
Adam Yauch's neophyte distrib Oscilloscope Labs bought North American rights to a Cannes film in the official selection, a doc, natch, Michel Gondry’s look at his own family, The Thorn in the Heart.
Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro
Finally, Francis Ford Coppola is rebuilding his career and used a little Cannes pixie dust to help him do it. No, he didn't pull Tetro into the competition. But he opened the Director's Fortnight and was welcomed there. The movie, which he wrote himself with an autobiographical flair, was deemed an improvement over his last, Youth Without Youth, and more accessible and personal than anything he has done in some time. You can sense a filmmaker testing his chops, feeling his way. The next one could be even better. Hopefully he'll stay away from Vincent Gallo. He's toxic.
In my interview with Quentin Tarantino, he admits that he plans to go back to the editing room with Inglourious Basterds this June. He rushed the movie, getting it done in less than a year to make Cannes, and delivered a cinephile's fantasy:
It’s been a whirlwind year for the director, who has long believed in making films slowly to stand the test of time. That is, until Death Proof, which did not benefit, he says, from too much overfiddling. So he put Inglourious Basterds on a tight schedule with a Cannes deadline.
After finishing last July the 165-page script he had been writing on and off since 1999, Tarantino obtained backing for a $70 million picture from loyal patron Harvey Weinstein and Universal Pictures, landed his most megawatt star ever, Brad Pitt, almost canceled the October shoot before he finally found the multilingual Christoph Waltz to star in a pivotal role, and stayed on schedule during 10 weeks of shooting on location in Germany. And after three months of editing, he delivered a dripping-wet print to Cannes—a place he considers “Cinema Nirvana,” where “cinema matters, it’s important”—at a running time of two hours, 27 minutes: 13 minutes less than Pulp Fiction and 19 minutes less than he needed to retain final cut.
While the war mission movie played better to some than others, the Cannes jury liked it well enough to award the best actor prize to dazzling German linguist Christoph Waltz, who performs fluently in French, German, English and Italian.
As Tarantino goes back to the editing bay, he has some wriggle room. He'll edit together one scene that he shot but didn't assemble; it comes right before the La Louisiane sequence featuring Michael Fassbender and Diane Kruger as a British soldier under cover and a German movie star who wants to help him bring down the Third Reich. Fassbender pops in the movie, so it makes sense that the filmmakers would want to give him more screen time.
The scenes featuring Maggie Cheung as Madame Mimieux, the proprietor of a Paris cinema who takes in Shosanna Dreyfuss (Melanie Laurent), won't be restored. It doesn't add to the narrative.
Tarantino also plans to preview the movie in the States, outside of California, not with research cards but just to see how it plays with an audience. He and editor Sally Menke will then fine-tune and tweak the timing. The Weinstein Co. releases the movie August 21.
It turns out the only US channel carrying the Cannes Ceremonie de Cloture is TV5Monde--and in LA you have to subscribe (in advance) on Time Warner Cable to all the French channels to get it. Oh well. And I wasn't able to get it live on Canal Plus online--they'll edit it together for tomorrow, it seems. Which leaves IndieWire, reporting live.
Here are the winners--Sony Pictures Classics pre-bought Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon before Cannes, and acquired Jacques Audiard's A Prophet at the festival:
Palme d’Or: “The White Ribbon,” directed by Michael Haneke
Grand Prix (runner-up): “The Prophet,” directed by Jacques Audiard
Prix Exceptional du Jury (Special Jury Prize): Alain Resnais, director of “Wild Grass”
Prix de la Mise en Scene (best director): Brillante Mendoza, director of “Kinatay”
Prix du Scenario (best screenplay): Feng Mei for “Spring Fever” (directed by Lou Ye)
Camera d’Or (best first feature): “Samson and Delilah,” directed by Warwick Thornton
Camera d’Or Special Mention: “Ajami”
Prix du Jury (jury prize) - TIED: “Fish Tank,” directed by Andrea Arnold and “Thirst,” directed by Park Chan-wook
Prix d’interpretation feminine (best actress): Charlotte Gainsbourg for “Antichrist” (directed by Lars von Trier)
Prix d’interpretation masculine (best actor): Christoph Waltz for “Inglorious Basterds” (directed by Quentin Tarantino)
Palme d’Or (short film): “Arena,” directed by Joao Salaviza
When I went back to look at the Inglourious Basterds screenplay to see what Quentin Tarantino trimmed from the film, Madame Mimieux was one casualty. She was played by Maggie Cheung. While Tarantino is considering making some changes to the movie post-Cannes, adding Cheung is not necessary to the main story, and he's trying to keep the running time down (it's at 2:27, well under his contractual final cut length of 2:48). She played the Parisian owner of a cinema who takes in Shosanna (Melanie Laurent), the Jewish refugee hiding from the Nazis, who inherits the theatre.
Tarantino introduces Inglourious Basterds at Cannes on Yahoo, with a clip that makes the film look more like an action film than it is.
Here's red carpet footage of the Inglourious Basterds gala, including Tarantino cutting a rug, Brad and Angelina, and Rob Pattinson looking very glam in a tux.
As expected, Sony Pictures Classics, which brought Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embraces to Cannes, has finally annnounced its multi-territory acquisition of Jacques Audiard's micro-community prison film A Prophet, which currently leads the Screen International critics poll. SPC had earlier acquired the Michael Haneke film The White Ribbon, a gorgeous but too long (at two and a half hours) black-and white treatise on bad behavior in a pre-World War I German village that recalls the darkest films of Ingmar Bergman. Here's IFC's critics round-up.
The critics don't always predict the ultimate Palm d'Or. That's up to the jury, which this year is dominated by actresses, from president Isabelle Huppert to Robin Wright Penn and Shu Qi. Alain Resnais' Wild Grass could claim some followers as well, or Jane Campion's return to Cannes, Bright Star. The jury will make their awards announcements Sunday at the Closing Ceremony. Finally, although the Palme d'Or has some impact on which films get submitted for Oscar consideration by each country, they have little influence on U.S. moviegoers.
Wednesday night some badly needed star power arrived on the Croisette for the opening night of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Brad Pitt did the press rounds during the day, and showed up at the black tie premiere with Angelina Jolie on his arm. Later they had a great time at the Basterds late night beach party, hanging in the jammed VIP corner with Robin Wright Penn, Til Schweiger, Eli Roth, Emile Hirsch, Michael Fassbender (who was grooving to Guns 'n Roses), Daniel Bruhl, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, Thierry Fremaux, Bryan Lourd, and Hylda Queally.
Brad and Angelina seemed happy, as did an ebullient Quentin Tarantino, although TWC's 50/50 partner on the picture, Universal, UPDATE: is talking to the filmmaker about returning to the editing room post-Cannes to make some trims edits that might include adding a scene, says Tarantino, who reminds that the film, at two hours 27 minutes, is well under his contractual final cut length of two hours 48 minutes.
Pitt talked to the Today Show (below). American Cannes TV coverage was down this year to just IFC, Extra, and E.T.--no Access Hollywood or E!-- CNN left after three days of no action (they should have waited). Jim Carrey got some press from driving a horse drawn carriage under snow machines in front of the Carlton for Bob Zemeckis's latest performance capture animation picture, Disney's Christmas Carol.
Thursday night, Harvey Weinstein threw his annual AmFAR Cinema Against AIDS event at the Moulins de Mougins. Sharon Stone was back to emcee the auction. She broke down crying over her tribute to fellow AID activist, Natasha Richardson. Harvey, whose daughters adore Twilight star Rob Pattinson auctioned off an impromptu set of Pattinson kisses. For $20,000 Euros each. Pattinson took it like a man.
The other big Cannes party of the week was Paul Allen's yacht party on Monday night, attended by Mick Jagger with Victoria Pearman, Tilda Swinton, Paula Wagner and Rick Nicita, Beth Swofford, Laurence Bender, Tarantino, Peggy Siegal, Paris Hilton, Bob and Jeanne Berney, and Dave Stewart, who played for half an hour. The yacht is 3000 square feet, and houses a screening room, observation deck, helicopter pad and submarine. Allen collects relics, including a bud vase from the Titanic, and explorer Ernest Shackleton's compass. The spread included Spanish Paella and oysters.
I sat down with New Zealand director Jane Campion at Cannes to talk about Bright Star a full sixteen years after I first met with her, for The Piano, for which she was the only woman to ever win the Palme d'Or in the 62 year history of the fest. Tragically, she lost the child she was carrying that year. Her daughter Ella was born three years later; spending time with her is the main reason Campion has made only four features since The Piano, and took four years off after In the Cut.
The gorgeously mounted 19th-century drama, told through the eyes of 18-year-old Fanny Brawne, is the true tale of Brawne’s romance with her 23-year-old North London neighbor, the poet John Keats. But their unconsummated two-year relationship was doomed by poverty and tuberculosis. "It was shockingly passionate and painful," says Campion, who relied on Keats's "extraordinary" love letters to Brawne. "It's first love. They don't have any restraint, because they're just discovering themselves and their love at the same time." The Keats Fanny met, says Campion, was "fun-loving, wicked, humorous and challenging."
Continuing their buying jag, IFC acquired Lars von Trier's Antichrist, which made quite a splash at Cannes, sparking controversy and debate. UPDATE: IFC had told me the director was willing to make trims on the film. IFC confirms that they are going to review the film again, but that the plan leaving Cannes was to show the uncut version in theaters (there are very few that can/will play it) and Trier's "Catholic" version on VOD. (See this story and this one. IFC, which is owned by publicly held Rainbow Media, has the option of going unrated.) IFC released Trier's last two films.
The distributor also acquired U.S. rights to Ken Loach's Cannes competition title Looking for Eric, which played well here, starring soccer's Eric Cantona. IFC had released Loach's Palm d'Or winner The Wind that Shakes the Barley. At the fest, IFC also bought Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's omnibus film, Tales From the Golden Age. They had released his Palme d'Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.
It's easy pickings these days for distributors Sony Pictures Classics, IFC and Magnolia, who describe a plethora of available movies being offered to them for extremely low fees, if anything. Movies hoping to score substantial minimum guarantees are having a much harder time. It is unlikely that the $50 million Agora, for example, or Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus are going to score the cash they were looking for. And many films that screened in the market, either footage or entire films, did not sell either.
The good news is that the world market, while it has become local again--it is no longer possible to sell a B-movie from any given country to other markets around the world--has become more liquid since February's Berlin film festival. High quality A projects and movies with stars are still in demand. There is some high technology money as well as funding in Asia and the Middle East.
Nowhere but Cannes would 2500 media urgently assemble in one place to see a movie at 8:30 AM. As Quentin Tarantino himself said at the jam-packed Inglourious Basterds press conference, "There's no place like Cannes for filmmakers on the face of the earth. It's Cinema Nirvana during this time here on the Riviera. Cinema matters. It's important. Even when people boo --out of passion--it's not just images glazing over you. All the world film press on the planet earth, America, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, even Canada--that's a country--something about them all being here, you drop the movie--bam!--at once everyone weighs in at the same time...I'm not an American filmmaker, I make movies for the planet earth and Cannes represents that."
Well, the press did not boo Inglourious Basterds. Nor, judging from my sampling of critics afterwards, are they anointing it his best. Several wanted to think about it, to figure out what if anything, is missing. "I liked it," said one American festival programmer. "It's not his best," said one French critic. "It's cynical," said another. "The women are great," said one online woman critic.
Could anything live up to the hype? Inglourious Basterds is great fun to watch, but the movie isn't entirely engaging. And it is defiantly an art film, not a calculatedly mainstream entertainment. (Likely to score far better in Europe than anywhere else, the movie may not singlehandedly generate enough boxoffice to save The Weinstein Co.) Tarantino throws you out of the movie with titles, chapter headings, snatches of music. You don't jump into the world of the film in a participatory way; you watch it from a distance, appreciating the references and the masterful mise-en-scene. This is a film that will benefit from a second viewing. I can't wait to see it again.
"It's definitely outrageous, which I was fine for," said a diplomatic Brad Pitt. "These films don't come along very often." He applauded Tarantino for getting the movie made so efficiently, only six weeks after Pitt agreed to star. The two men had been circling each other for a time, and Tarantino was delighted to have written a Pitt-friendly role. The Weinstein Co. and partner Universal International greenlit the picture last summer, after the filmmaker finally found Christoph Waltz to play the key multi-lingual role of Col. Hans Landa. Tarantino was ready to pull the plug if he didn't find the right actor, he said. "The movie was either going to be right on or not going to be at all." (Waltz and fellow German Daniel Bruhl both kissed Tarantino after he said nice things about them.) Basterds wrapped just three months ago, winding up with a running time of two hours 27.
Tarantino set out to make a World War II genre film inspired by the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone (he splashes Ennio Morricone on the soundtrack). "I like dealing in genres, all right?" he said today. "There's westerns, war movies, musicals, swashbucklers...I always liked the sub-genre of genre...a bunch of guys on a mission."
[SPOILER ALERT]Tarantino has fashioned a parallel World War II anti-Nazi fantasy that hangs on his characters. "I am God as far as the characters are concerned," he said. "I created them." But he does not play by the rules. This is a world where anyone can get killed at any moment. The movie stirs up a mixed bag of references and knee-jerk reactions to Nazis as The Basterds, a Jewish-American army troop led by L.T. Aldo Raine (a redneck broadly rendered by Pitt), set out on a mission to collect 100 Nazi scalps, each. (Yes, we see close-up scalpings.) This aspect of the movie is given somewhat short shrift (which may disappoint Tarantino's action fans) as we move onto the central plot, to destroy the entire Nazi high command at a movie theatre in one fell swoop. In this movie, as Tarantino says, "the power of cinema brings down the Third Reich."
Besides Col. Landa, the two best roles in the movie are played by French actress Melanie Laurent as the owner of a cinema and Diane Kruger as a German movie star not unlike Hildegard Knecht Knef. Thanks to Tarantino, said Laurent, "women can be independent in a period film."
Tarantino doesn't ask us to identify with good guys vs. bad guys, he admitted at the press conference. It's more complicated than that. For example, in an ingenious scene that introduces the members of the Basterds, a relatively honorable Nazi who refuses to collaborate with Raine, for example, gets pounded to death with a baseball bat by Sgt. Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth). At the press conference, Roth described playing that scene as "kosher porn," "like performing a sex scene."
Inglourious Basterds is necessarily episodic, separated into sequences. The first, set in the countryside of Nazi-occupied France, is genius. It's a two-hander between self-styled Jew Hunter Colonel Landa and a French farmer (Denis Menochet) seeking to protect his lovely three daughters. Inspired by the opening sequence of Heaven's Gate, this is Tarantino at his absolute best.
As for the film's badly spelled title, Tarantino refused to explain his thinking. "It's an artistic flourish," he said.
At Monday's New Media Panel at the American Pavilion, I debated the merits and weaknesses of fast vs. slow journalism, blogs vs. print, the future of newspapers and the value of Twitter and Facebook with critic James Rocchi (MSN Movies and AMCtv.com), The Wrap editor Sharon Waxman, the LAT reporter John Horn and Spoutblog critic/blogger Karina Longworth. As IndieWire moderator Eugene Hernandez pointed out, Horn is probably still the most powerful media figure of the group, in terms of industry clout and readers, but the landscape is definitely shifting and he expressed his worries about the future, while admitting some resistance to the new technologies. He also admitted that the LAT's balkanized print vs. online situation is not ideal.
The Monday press conference for Lars von Trier's Antichrist was packed. Right out of the gate, The London Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye demanded that Trier justify his film. This immediately threw the filmmaker off, and he refused to expound on his thinking. "I don't have to justify," he said, his hand trembling.
"Yes you do," Bamigboye shouted back.
"I cannot justify myself," said Trier. "Because I make films and enjoyed it very much... I feel that you are all my guests, it's not the other way around... I work for myself, and I do this little film that I am now kind of fond of. I don't owe anybody an explanation."
Moderator Henri Behar asked him why he chose this film. "I never have a choice," replied Trier. "It's the hand of God, I'm afraid. And I am the best film director in the world...Other directors may feel the same. Maybe they don't say it."
The actors worked with no preparation, without much talking, they said, guided by Trier. As a result they became "flexible," said Dafoe, who felt that making the film was like a "dream."
"Intense" was Gainsbourg's word. "It was special." But was it enjoyable? "It was--in a weird way."
Asked about the genital self-mutilation, which is shown in close-up, Trier replied, "For me not to show it would be lying. This is a very dark dream about guilt and sex and stuff. It came in naturally."
Trier rewrote Anders Thomas Jensen's initial script (crediting him as a consultant, he said), and made up his own religious mythology. When asked if he lied in his films, Trier replied, "There's a form of honesty in filmmaking that is important to me. I also made films where there are no houses, just a line on the floor. That is lying, yes, but lying in an obvious way."
"I'm not trying to say anything," added Trier, calling Antichrist "a dream film." He doesn't believe in considering the audience when he makes a film. "I've been hit hard by the press before," he said. "I like it, also. It's a good start of discussion."
For the Danes, this is a comeback for Trier. Many were afraid he wouldn't make films anymore, after turning out two films that nobody saw. "Trier was supposed to reinvent cinema," said one Danish critic at the press conference Monday. "This is causing a stir. He hasn't caused a stir since 2003." That film was Dogville, which was followed by its sequel, Mandalay, part of a planned trilogy, and The Boss of It All, which was released by IFC.
Distributor Nordisk Film will open Antichrist in Denmark uncut on 17 sold-out screens May 19 as an arthouse release. "We don't censor anything, we're Danish," said Nordisk's Jan Lehmann. "We've never seen a film like this film. It's a piece of art."
Antichrist is a shocker, no question. It's powerful filmmaking. Danish bad boy Lars von Trier set out to make moviegoers gasp. It's unreleasable as is in many countries--insertion shot, bloody hand job, female genital self-mutilation and all.
The filmmaker may be mentally addled (he made the film after a deep depression), but he's got filmmaking chops. He knows how to manipulate an audience. I was enthralled at the start of the film, an extraordinary slow-motion sequence. And the movie does hang together. He knows where he's going. It's just that much like Ken Russell in The Devils, Trier's taking you to horrifying, hallucinatory places where anything can happen. (Hieronymous Bosch comes to mind.) And where most people don't want to go. Accused of misogyny, the film portrays a woman who is man's worst nightmare, the embodiment of their anxiety about women. A dedication to filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky elicited giggles. The movie itself drew boos and a smattering of applause.
Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Ginsbourg, who are strong naturalistic actors with lean, beautiful bodies, start out the movie in sexual bliss, but move on to other more sinister obsessions and power games after the death of their son. They are so out of whack from grieving that they lose touch with reality. The question is how much their feet were on the ground in the first place.
I can't imagine this film finding a North American buyer. UPDATE: Some disagree; they think a micro indie will pick it up and release it unrated, banking on the publicity building curiosity. The filmmaker has indicated to potential distribs that he will make necessary cuts for North America. IFC, which released his last two films, is a potential buyer-- if he makes trims.
Still to come this week: the return of three Cannes auteurs: Pedro Almodovar, Quentin Tarantino and Terry Gilliam. Early reviews of the Spanish director’s Broken Embraces, which stars muse Penelope Cruz, are modestly upbeat, while Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Heath Ledger’s unfinished last film, which Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell stepped in to complete, has been screened several times for buyers (who are lukewarm so far) but not press. They don’t see it until Friday; that was when Depp was able to come into town from filming Rum Diaries. Jude Law is prepping Hamlet in London.
Nobody has seen Inglourious Basterds, because Quentin Tarantino watched the final print Wednesday night and then brought it to Cannes Friday. The World War II epic starring Brad Pitt clocks in at a final running time of two hours, 27 minutes, well under Pulp Fiction’s two hours 40 minutes. “If I ever did a movie that deserved to be at least two hours 40, it would be this,” the filmmaker said Sunday over champagne on the Carlton Terrace. Tarantino was eager to bring this film to Cannes —his last outing, Death Proof, proved a disappointment around the world. But he now faces a sea of critics armed with expectations of what they want from him.
Alejandro Amenabar's Egypt feminist fable Agora screened Sunday to mixed responses from critics and audiences. Rachel Weisz can seemingly do no wrong, but the movie veers into sword and sandal territory, according to some critics.
Yes, I saw the Lars von Trier. Here's my Twitter feed: "Von Trier's sex and gore-fest Antichrist earned boos and small applause Sunday. Monday's conference will be jammed to the rafters." More tomorrow.
I finally slept in this morning, missing one of the favorites of the festival so far (of course), Jacques Audiard's two-and-a-half hour prison picture A Prophet, which will likely be scooped up by the likes of Sony Pictures Classics or IFC. (Here's Justin Chang's review.) I also missed Monica Belluci and Sophie Marceau (pictured) in Ne Te Retourne Pas.
Instead, I indulged myself with the pristine Cinematheque Francaise/Thomson/Technicolor restored print of Mr. Hulot's Holiday, originally shot in black-and-white in 1953 and reedited by Jacques Tati in 1978. This sojourn on the Atlantic coast of France stars the director as the pipe-smoking, awkward, impish Hulot, who pulls up in a rickety jalopy to join a group of vacationers, some likable, some not. One shot of a little boy carefully, slowly walking up steps with a fresh ice cream cone in each hand is indelible.
The out-of-competition Australian film Samson and Delilah tells a grim tale of two teen Aborigines living in poverty in the Outback who fall in love and run away. Less romance than primal survival story, the gritty drama is tough to watch. Micro buyers seem interested.
People who seem to have money are magnets for partygoers and people who assemble movies. The Abu Dhabi party Friday night was hopping until all hours, and on Saturday evening, as many parties were under way along the marina, the Barclay's yacht looked like it was about to tip over.
At Saturday's groovy Majestic Beach after-party, Focus Features topper James Schamus was all smiles, having survived the red carpet Palais screening of a movie he not only financed and will release, but actually wrote: Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock. The BBC reports on the press conference.. Variety liked it better than IndieWire. The question is, can they improve the misleading ad campaign? The movie doesn't spend much time at the actual event.
Partygoer Tilda Swinton flew into town to support Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation. She has an affiliated cause of her own, the 8 1/2 foundation, which will send 8 1/2 year olds the classic film of their choice. Other party attendees included Woodstock rookie movie actor Demetri Martin, juror Robin Wright Penn, Humpday star Mark Duplass, O-Scope's Adam Yauch, and Antichrist's Willem Dafoe.
The L.A. Times digs into why The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus hasn't sold, even with Heath Ledger starring in his last role. Buyers are waiting for the price to go down, for one thing. In the Cannes market, several buyers including Sony Pictures Classics were duped into watching some reportedly execrable footage of a movie purportedly directed by Paul Verhoeven. Turns out it was his cousin.
After each press screening--the first of the day is at 8:30 AM-- the global media hordes (wearing their status around their necks as white, pink, blue and yellow badges) flock to retrieve the next day's press materials from their boxes. Then many of them unpack their laptops at the Orange press room, which has free espresso, water and wifi, to write up their stories--as quickly as possible. Time waits for no one.
The three big gets for the press this at auteur-centric Cannes are 1) Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) 2) Pedro Almodovar (Broken Embraces) and 3) Lars von Trier (Antichrist). But to talk to the wily Dane, the press have to schlep a half hour down the coast to the Hotel du Cap. Von Trier's holding court there with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe (who was at Saturday night's groovy Taking Woodstock party at the Majestic Beach). The foreign press corps are favored on all three of these films over the North American print press, who are vying for a precious few available roundtable slots. This means the press conferences --especially for Inglourious Basterds, whose star Brad Pitt may do only one American press interview--will be packed, and the chances of someone without a white or pink badge with a yellow dot getting in are slim indeed. The rest will watch outside on hallway monitors.
Martin Scorsese rode into Cannes on Friday. He turned up at the American Pavilion to dedicate the Roger Ebert Conference Center. "Welcome back," fest delegate general Thierry Fremaux said to Ebert, who had been unable to attend for several years as he battled throat cancer. While he used a mechanical voice box at the ceremony, at the reception Ebert communicated with Scorsese, Fremaux, director Paul Cox, Sony Pictures Classics' Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, and critics Pierre Rissient and Kenneth Turan via writing pad. Ebert's blogging the fest and had seen just one film at Cannes so far, Bright Star.
In the evening, Scorsese introduced the ravishing new Technicolor print of Michael Powell's The Red Shoes, one of his favorite films of all time. And he also announced several new initiatives for the World Cinema Foundation, including deals with festival marketing site B-Side and the cinematheque website The Auteurs (which is hooked up with affiliate site Criterion). Here's Scorsese's statement:
“The World Cinema Foundation was created out of need. There are so many pictures in need of restoration and preservation, which, for many reasons, are not getting the attention they deserve. And restoring and preserving is only half the battle, because in order to be appreciated, they have to be seen. Now, they should be seen as they were intended to be seen, but audience awareness can build in surprising ways. Our new relationships with B-Side and The Auteurs are intended to build awareness on many different levels. These relationships will be crucial in drawing attention to the films and the people who made them, which are at the center of the Foundation's work. I'm very excited that Kent Jones, who I've known and worked with for years, has come aboard to lead the organization into the future.”
Earlier this week in Cannes, Mandalay added a movie about Frank Sinatra to Scorsese's list of upcoming projects. I find it hard to imagine any actor, whether or not it's Leonardo DiCaprio (who stars in Scorsese's fall release Shutter Island, based on Dennis Lehane's novel), being able to convincingly portray Sinatra and deliver songs with his voice. The guy's too big, too well-known, and his voice is too identified with his persona. As tough as it was for Will Smith to do Mohammed Ali, he wasn't a singer. Judy Davis did pull off Judy Garland, and Jamie Foxx and Joaquin Phoenix did Ray Charles and Johnny Cash. I don't know. It's Frank! UPDATE: Shawn Levy digs into the Sinatra casting issue.
The new Bob Berney/Bill Pohlad combine scored quite a coup by pre-buying, sight unseen, off a set visit and a script, the new Jane Campion film Bright Star, which screened well Friday morning for the press corps. I caught Berney and Pohlad on the Croisette Friday, beaming over the favorable early reaction. They're opening the film on September 18. "Toronto will be the launch of the campaign," said Berney. Awards season is in their sights, but the prime target audience will be teenage girls, says Berney. Pohlad and Berney still haven't cleared the name of their company, which was hard to choose. "We have to live with it for a while," says Berney, who saw Bright Star two weeks ago.
At the press conference (which the fest notates here), Campion explained that wanting to spend time with her daughter, who is 13, prevented her from making more movies. Since she won the Palme d'Or with The Piano in 1993, she's made only three features: The Portrait of a Lady, Holy Smoke, and In the Cut, which was six years ago.
Bright Star was worth waiting for. The writer-director focuses on the short-lived, tragic, unconsummated 19th century romance of neighbors, poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and seamstress Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), who fell in love but could not marry because he had no money. He lived on the meager offerings of such friends and patrons as Charles Armitage Brown (played in full Scots mode by American Paul Schneider). Campion relied heavily on Keats' witty letters to recreate this world, and pushed her actors to be natural and authentic. The movie is lushly realized in impeccable period detail. It may skew toward Anglophiles and women, but if Berney handles it right and the film finds an audience, it could wind up in the Academy's sweet spot (cinematography, production design, screenplay, directing, costumes, best actress, best actor, and score, among other things).
Also screened for the press today was Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock, a surprisingly comedic behind-the-scenes look at some of the people involved in mounting the iconic 1969 music festival on a dairy farm in upstate New York. Comedy Central star Demetri Martin is well-cast as Elliot, the closeted gay son of uptight Jewish parents running a seedy Catskills motel, expertly played by Imelda Staunton and Henry Goodman, who are hilarious. The ensemble is sprawling and first-rate, from Eugene Levy as wily farmer Max Yasgur and Liev Schrieber as a cross-dressing ex-Marine, to breakout theater actor Jonathan Groff (Hair) as concert promoter Michael Lang.
This movie won't be for everyone, but it worked for me. As a teenager, I drove by Woodstock on Route 17, saw the traffic jams and helicopters, and to my neverending regret, failed to convince my aunt to take us there. Lee (with help from his frequent collaborator, writer James Schamus, who adapted the memoirs of Elliot Tiber) captures the crazy era without losing control of a movie that shifts its tone from scene to scene. THR's Gregg Kilday interviews Ang Lee.
The trend for long-form movies continues at Cannes. IFC has started what is expected to be another Cannes buying spree after last year's marathon of 16 ultimate acquisitions (seven theatrical, nine Festival Direct on VOD) out of the festival.
The three-part Red Riding Trilogy was being chased by several buyers including Bob Berney, but went to IFC. The company is expected to follow a multi-option plan similar to their release of Steven Soderbergh's two-part, four-hour Che. The Trilogy plays well in one sitting despite its length, several people reported, and IFC's Jonathan Sehring was willing to book one-night showings theatrically, he said. The distributor is chipper because their films have been doing well following a low-cost acquisition and release model combined with VOD.
Magnolia stepped up and bought American rights (via its Magnet genre label) to John Woo's epic Red Cliff, the two-part, $80 million, most expensive movie ever shot in China. I've seen Part One and it is epic in scope, crammed with stunning visuals, high drama, a great cast led by Tony Leung and Woo-level action. Here's my prior story. The movie will open in fall 2009. UPDATE: Magnolia/Magnet saw the two-and-a-half cut for Europe and North America, says Eamonn Bowles. The movie was a big hit in Asia, so it was no longer urgent that the filmmakers get a lot of money out of the North America. They didn't.
What a difference casting makes. Thursday's competition film from Andrea Arnold, her second feature Fish Tank, features a break-out performance from Irish actor Michael Fassbender, who made a mark as a starving IRA prisoner in Hunger, and who also stars in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Often shirtless in Fish Tank, Fassbender had women buzzing after the picture. The movie played well for critics but will likely be a hurry-up-and-wait buy for an IFC, Magnolia or Sony Classics.
Francis Ford Coppola made the right call allowing his semi-autobiographical tale of two brothers Tetro to be shown as the Directors Fortnight opener. Coppola considers the elegant black-and-white drama, which was filmed in Argentina with color flashbacks, to be a small, personal independent film, and told the audience at a Q & A that he felt more comfortable, once there were no competition slots available, with the Fortnight berth. Coppola may wind up releasing the film himself. His script is impressive, but the film suffers from a sprawling polyglot ensemble ranging from Spain's Maribel Verdu and Carmen Maura and Austrian Klaus Maria Brandauer to Americans Vincent Gallo and newcomer Alden Ehrenreich, who don't seem to belong in the same movie, much less the same family. I saw Gallo, who had a rough time at Cannes 2003 debuting his unfinished Brown Bunny, flirting with a girl in the lobby of the Carlton Wednesday, but he didn't turn up to Thursday's morning Q & A, to Coppola's annoyance. THR's Gregg Kilday interviews Coppola, while Variety features Lars Von Trier.
UPDATE: Jeff Wells shot video of Coppola after the nighttime showing:
Many folks report that the fest is slimmed down this year. Everyone seems to have trimmed their sales so that those who are here are focused on the job at hand. Extraneous expenses are out. Cannes vet Rex Weiner, who has worked both sides of the street as trade journo, filmmaker and publicist, writes up his insider take on the current state of covering Cannes for the Huffington Post. While the two trades both have a toned down presence on the Croisette, they are not slacking in their coverage. It's smart to save on importing expensive personnel by doing the production back in L.A.
Day Three Preview:
Friday brings the first showing of Jane Campion's Bright Star, which Bob Berney and Bill Pohlad are distributing stateside in September. I remember talking to Campion in 1993, the year she won the Palme d'Or for The Piano.
Martin Scorsese is coming to town to introduce a restored Technicolor print of the late Michael Powell's The Red Shoes, which was shot by recently deceased cinematographer Jack Cardiff. He will also pay tribute to Roger Ebert at 2:30 PM at a dedication of The Roger Ebert Conference Center at the American Pavilion. Ebert hasn't been able to fly to the Croisette for several years and promised me he would attend this year. Glad he could make it. He's at his usual digs at the Splendid, where I caught a gaggle of critics hanging out before dinner (from left Derek Elley, Todd McCarthy, Pierre Rissient, David Stratton). Jim Hoberman and Manohla Dargis joined them as well. Cannes more than any other festival truly grants critics ultimate status, which is in short supply these days. That's assuming the critic's outlet passes muster--the fest unaccountably refused Karina Longworth of Spoutblog a credential. Cannes press attache Christine Aimee told me her blog had too little traffic. People ask me whether they should blog to help hang on to their jobs—the answer is yes— but I also say, blog only if you want to and like to. Some people--Longworth for one-- are better at it than others. There's a lot to be said for slow and thoughtful analysis. It's just that fewer people are willing to pay for it these days.
Cannes master promoter Thierry Fremaux knows what he is doing: the photo taken from the Debussy stage of the Cannes press corps wearing 3-D glasses will be seen everywhere. (They had to be returned.) I started out the morning in tears during Up , which as Disney chairman Dick Cook puts it, is Pixar's "most emotional film." Co-writers Bob Peterson and Pete Docter took the idea of an old guy who travels in a house carried aloft by balloons to find a lost South American paradise, and worked it over for a good two years before it passed enough muster to go into voice casting and animation.
Whenever I listen to John Lasseter talk, I wish that everyone in Hollywood would take some of his wisdom to heart. The Pixar approach is to never produce anything unless it will stand the test of time as a good movie. And they haven't delivered one dud yet. They're ten for ten. This one challenges conventional wisdom about subjects (an old man and a chubby boyscout), killing off beloved characters, and lingering over slow moments. Lasseter paid homage to Japanese anime auteur Miyazaki for inspiring him to occasionally take it slow.
Lasseter and Docter admitted that on every Pixar film there are scenes that get worked over and over until they finally cohere--and others that are smooth as butter from the start--at Pixar they call them tentpoles on which to hang the rest of the movie. In Up they include the magical opener covering the history of the marriage of old man Carl (Ed Asner), and the sequence when the balloons pick up the house and sail over the city.
When the Pixar team finally licked their most troublesome scene in South America, which was crucial, they went back and planted details and plot points to lead up to it. Doing a shot over 30 or 40 times is not unusual.
After the press conference, the Up group appeared on the Carlton Pier for a photo op that went awry when the special effects guys who had rigged a 40-foot house attached to a giant air balloon (covered by colored balloons) decided that it was too windy to risk having the flimsy house crash and break apart on landing. So the house and the balloons stayed put. The movie itself will not be so grounded and should take off nicely all over the world on May 29. Cook says Disney is aggressively chasing after all audience quadrants. (The segment that might resist is teenage girls.) It wasn't the most glamorous opening nighter, but Up was the best movie the fest has programmed in that slot for a long while. And Cannes can also count on the film being an Oscar contender.
On opening night, young ballerinas in pink tutus lined the Palais red carpet steps as Cannes president Gilles Jacob and fest director Thierry Fremaux stood at the top of the stairs to greet their guests (see Life Magazine's red carpet photos), including Ashwarya Rai and Elizabeth Banks, Isabelle Huppert (who has had an amazing 17 Cannes entries) and her jury (among them Asia Argento, Hanef Kureishi, Robin Wright Penn, Shu Qi) plus Pixar's Ed Catmull, John Lasseter, Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, and famed singer Charles Aznavour, who voices Carl in the French version of Up, and officially declared the 62nd Festival de Cannes "open."
At a time when other distribs are treading cautiously, steady Cannes buyer Sony Pictures Classics bets on their own taste and gut instinct for what they can achieve in the marketplace. They don't always wait to see how a film will play at a festival, and try not to overpay (although they get clipped every now and then). They're still betting on theatrical releases like the James Toback doc Tyson, which they bought out of Cannes last year, and the Israeli animated Oscar-contender Waltz with Bashir. "We're thinking long-term," says co-president Michael Barker, who came into Cannes with Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embraces, which is set for a pre-Thanksgiving November release. "It's the fifth one we committed to at the script stage. There are fewer quality films, so it's in our interest to get involved early. It's harder to find films at these festivals than it used to be."
This year they got busy ahead of the fest. On opening day of the 62nd Cannes the venerable studio indie announced that it was taking off the table the North American rights to two sought-after fest titles. They bought their second film with Cache director Michael Haneke, his fifth Cannes competition entry The White Ribbon, a pre-World War I story set in a German village that is disturbed by inexplicable events. A co-production between X-Filme Creative Pool in Germany, Les Films du Losange in France, Wega Film in Austria and Lucky Red in Italy, The White Ribbon was produced by Haneke regular Margaret Menegoz and Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka and Michael Katz.
Clearly, SPC is also in love with Coco Chanel. They now have two films about her, which they will space out appropriately. The first set for a fall release, Anne Fontaine's Coco Avant Chanel, stars Audrey Tautou and just opened in Paris. SPC also acquired all rights from Wild Bunch for U.S. and English-speaking Canada to French filmmaker Jan Kounen's Cannes closing night film, Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, a Paris romance set in the 1920s between the fashion icon and the composer based on the book Coco and Igor by Chris Greenhalgh. Chanel model Anna Mouglalis and Danish star Mads Mikkelsen star in the film produced by Claudie Ossard (Amelie) and Chris Bolzli. SPC worked with Wild Bunch on Woody Allen's upcoming June 21 release Whatever Works.
One reason SPC does so well at Cannes is that they also have an auteurist bent. They'll be front and center checking out the new Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank), Alejandro Amenabar's Agora, Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, the Alain Resnais (Wild Grass) and the new Mike Leigh (in pre-production) in the market. "More people have to think long-term, it's difficult," says Barker. "It's easy to think short-term. But it's how we've been doing it all along."
One tried-and-true Cannes ritual is the Tuesday night dinner at La Pizza. With many travelers admonished by their bosses to watch their expenses this year, La Pizza is a relatively inexpensive option. Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeff Wells rounded up a gaggle of writers, some print (like The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday) and online (MSN and AMC's James Rocchi) as well as IndieWire stalwarts Eugene Hernandez and Brian Brooks. Julian Sancton will be blogging Cannes for the first time for VanityFair.com. Lionsgate, Fox Searchlight and Jere Hausfater were in the house, as well as the Alamo Drafthouse's Tim League.
This IndieWire Cannes photo of Pedro Almodovar and muse Penelope Cruz dates back to Volver in 2006. They'll be back this year with Broken Embraces, which was one of the most eagerly anticipated films among our group. (Sony Pictures Classics has got it.) Others are Lars Von Trier's Antichrist, of which a few minutes of footage was screened in Berlin. (One acquisition exec called it "a psychological thriller with supernatural edge." Another said it was "bonkers." And another used "artsy.") Bond girl Eva Green was not willing to take on the racy material; Charlotte Gainsbourg took the job opposite Willem Dafoe.
In the case of Antichrist, the market screening is taking place AFTER the press and public screenings, while there is an early market screening of the Alejandro Amenabar film Agora, starring Rachel Weisz as an astronomer in Egypt under Roman rule. She and her disciples are "fighting to save the wisdom of the ancient world," according to one press description. She has two men in love with her (Oscar Isaac and Max Minghella). This I've got to see. Apparently early footage and a script did not lure overseas buyers, but everyone's eager to see the end results.
The buyers are none too pleased that seller Pathe is reporting that Bob Berney's new distribution outfit is finalizing a deal for North America to release Jane Campion's Bright Star, starring Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne to Ben Wishaw's John Keats. (UPDATE: Pathe officially announced this Wednesday.) Berney is expected to make several announcements at the festival, but he and his primary financeer Bill Pohlad (who may be adding Summit International's Runaways to the Berney combine) need to finalize a name first.
The buyers have already seen Terry Gilliam's Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. It's apparently quite gorgeous to look at, with some ardent fans, but one exec called it "soulless." Remember, these are buyers looking for commercial product, not critics. This is why I argue that distribs are more likely to forgive competition entries at Cannes, which tend to be arty, after all, after they are explained and praised by critics. Johnny Depp Reads has posted some early Parnassus pics.
IndieWire has posted their schedule of American Pavilion panels (programmed by The Circuit's Mike Jones). How telling that thriving online trade IndieWire is the news outlet willing and able to sponsor the American Pavilion this year. They post a speech by Cannes president Gilles Jacob, who has published a memoir, Life Goes By in a Dream.
Lynn Shelton's Humpday was my fave Sundance selection. But how's it going to play in Cannes? It's in director's fortnight, which tends to favor the more indie entries. It's not in the Palais with the stuffed shirts. But still...
I've packed too much, as usual, for my ten-day sojourn in Europe. (No paying for bags on international flights.) I fly overnight to London arriving Monday, hang with some friends on jet-lag night (I packed my Tylenol PM) and head for Nice Tuesday morning.
I'm staying in an apartment booked by Variety on the Rue d'Antibes behind the Carlton. I'm praying it isn't too noisy. (I forgot to pack my ear plugs. I'll buy 'em if I have to.) I'll make a stab at grabbing a ticket from fest press attache Christine Aimee for the gala opening night; otherwise I'll catch the 10 AM press screening Wednesday morning and show up for the Disney after-party at the Carlton, which should be fun. Richard Corliss has already reviewed what is by all accounts yet another Pixar winner, Up. Pete Docter previewed some footage at Comic-Con, showing a tubby boy scout hijacking a ride on an old man's balloon ride to a lost jungle world. It looked great. According to Coraline director Henry Selick, who was also wowed by what he has seen, Pixar can now get away with stuff that is usually out of the box for Disney animation. In other words, the movie gets into some dark places.
I'm also looking forward in the first days to competition Fish Tank, Brit actress-turned-director Andrea Arnold's follow-up to her strong feature debut Red Road which won a Cannes jury prize in 2006. The movie stars Michael Fassbender, who also stars in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.Fish Tank is available for sale.
UPDATE: Here's Justin Chang on this year's clash d'auteurs and the Dardennes brothers lead this year's master class.
Cannes has posted the screening schedule (it's on the jump). Unfortunately for Terry Gilliam, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus doesn't screen until Friday the 22nd. Most buyers will be burned out and gone by Thursday. Will the sellers arrange an early buyer's screening like the one last year for Synecdoche, New York? It's better to have the positive power of the press behind you with a risky challenge of a movie, methinks. Isn't that what festivals are for?
Cinetic Media's John Sloss has already showed the movie to buyers in L.A. in hopes of scoring an early sale. Because Parnassus boasts Heath Ledger's last performance, there will be offers to buy the film. The question is how much they'll be willing to pay. One studio specialty distrib not interested in acquiring Parnassus suggested that Sony Pictures Classics was the perfect buyer. UPDATE: Indeed, SPC will see the movie in NYC before Cannes.
The latest attack of the Rick Astley meme has targeted The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, the Terry Gilliam movie featuring Heath Ledger's last performance, set to unveil at Cannes:
There's considerable uncertainty heading toward Cannes this year. While the global theatrical market is strong, the indie sector is still fragile--and shrinking. With DVDs sinking and piracy on the rise, financeers and foreign sales agents don't know what's safe anymore. Many companies had coasted on funds they had already raised, but now reality is sinking in: new money is hard to find.
The rise of copyright piracy and increasing competition from local films have held a lid on presales of foreign rights in recent years. But since the credit crunch hit Wall Street and expanded across the globe, producers say they feel lucky if presales cover half of their budgets -- if anything at all.
Like every other part of the film business, the sales world is going through a sea change. That said, for films that are cost-effectively made and marketable, nothing has changed: presales are still eminently achievable.
What was once considered enduring in the sector -- the Weinsteins, a mix of active studio specialty divisions, robust DVD sales -- is no longer the case. New players (Summit, Overture) and arthouse upstarts (Oscilloscope, Regent) are making an aggressive go of it in these leaner, meaner times. If this year's Cannes marketplace reflects anything about the state of the business, it's that the industry is constantly shifting.
Whoever would have thought, for instance, that Cablevision's movie unit IFC Films -- one of the weaker distribs after Bob Berney exited in 2002 -- would eventually turn out to be Cannes' most active buyer? It snapped up a whopping 16 films out of Cannes last year for U.S. theatrical and/or VOD distribution. "It's been a gold mine for us," says IFC's Ryan Werner. "It's the most important festival of the year, without question."
Many of the movies in the Cannes market this year are low-budget exploitation titles, but a fair number are filled with recognizable stars like Hilary Swank and established directors such as Peter Weir. A handful of the several dozen movies in Cannes' main showcases also are looking for American distributors, including the late Heath Ledger's “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” Rachel Weisz in “Agora” and director Ken Loach's "Looking for Eric," which features soccer superstar Eric Cantona.
Even though domestic box-office admissions are soaring, the global movie business -- particularly overseas DVD and television sales -- is slumping. International distributors can't get financing to buy movies, piracy is cutting into overseas ticket sales, foreign currencies are falling in value and key international territories have essentially discontinued acquiring American films.
Meanwhile, Focus Features International will be selling Mike Leigh's long-postponed new film in Cannes. It stars Leigh vets Jim Broadbent (Topsy-Turvy) and Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake), and since typically none of these ace improvisers know what the film will be in advance, neither do we. So far Leigh has nabbed six career Oscar noms. Focus Int. has more on its Cannes slate, including, reports Screen:
...Cannes competition entries Broken Embraces from Pedro Almodovar and Taking Woodstock by Ang Lee, and Alejandro Amenabar’s out of competition screener Agora. Kevin Macdonald’s The Eagle Of The Ninth is on the market roster, as are Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Invention Of Lying directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson, and Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere.
It turns out Francis Ford Coppola has agreed to show his Argentinian drama Tetro in Cannes after all, as the opener of Director's Fortnight (or Quinzaine). That's a good compromise; Coppola had turned down Thierry Fremaux's offer to place it out-of-competition in the official selection.
Coppola is one of five American filmmakers in the Fortnight, which this year skews more toward the U.S. than the main festival. (Here's Variety.) The selection includes three edgy Sundance entries: I Love You Phillip Morris, starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as two cons in love, which has yet to find a North American distributor; Seattle writer-director Lynn Shelton's relationship comedy Humpday (Magnolia), about two straights who want to film a gay porno; and American/Palestinian/Jordanian director Cherien Dabis' semi-autobiographical drama Amreeka (National Geographic Films). The other U.S. film is Josh and Benny Safdie's Go Get Some Rosemary (Josh Safdie screened his film The Pleasure of Being Robbed in the 2008 Fortnight).
This year's Cannes Critics' Week has selected just ten features, all but one from first-time filmmakers, deciding to highlight more shorts. The video explains it:
The 62nd Cannes Fest line-up is official (full list on the jump). Typically, the competiton entries are heavy on an international roster of auteurs led by Quentin Tarantino, Lars von Trier, Ang Lee, Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, Elia Suleiman, Michael Haneke and Park Chan-Wook. Unusually, three women are in the competition: past Palme d'Or winner Jane Campion, Andrea Arnold and Isabel Coixet. Here's Variety:
Confirming prognostications, Cannes Official Selection looks relatively light on U.S. fare this year. At a packed press conference in Paris' Grand Hotel, fest program director Thierry Fremaux, flanked by Cannes president Gilles Jacob, told journos Thursday that Hollywood WGA strike could have been responsible for the lighter U.S. presence.
Out-of-competition, Disney/Pixar's Up will open the fest, a first for either an animated or 3-D film. Terry Gilliam will unveil Heath Ledger's last film, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, also starring fill-ins Johnny Depp and Jude Law. As expected, Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell grabs a midnight berth. Lee Daniel's Precious (which debuted at Sundance under the title Push) also secured a non-competition slot. UPDATE: While Lionsgate acquired North American rights, legal disputes with The Weinstein Co. are not yet resolved.
The feature film jury will be headed by French actress Isabelle Huppert. Other members are: Italian actress/filmmaker Asia Argento, Turkish actor-writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, South Korean writer-director Lee Chang-dong,American writer-director James Gray, British writer Hanif Kureishi, Taiwanese actress Shu Qi and American actress Robin Wright Penn (whose husband Sean Penn headed last year's jury).
Director's Fortnight and Critics' Week selections will be announced separately, on Friday. UPDATE: Here's the LAT.
Cardiff photographed The African Queen, The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, The Vikings, Under Capricorn and The Barefoot Contessa. As it happens, perhaps his greatest achievement, The Red Shoes, will play at
Cannes in the Classics section. It's a new restoration (backed by The Film Foundation, the UCLA Film Archive and Bob Gitt) of one of the most splendid examples of Technicolor film--on a par with such American classics as Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and The
Adventures of Robin Hood.
Cannes is a no-go for Francis Ford Coppola's Argentinian film Tetro, which he is taking to San Francisco and Seattle fests instead. Coppola released a statement to The Circuit:
“While I very much appreciate the invitation, this is an independent film, self-financed and self released, and I felt that being invited for a non-competition gala screening wasn’t true to the personal and independent nature of this film. More important than Cannes, our team can focus all our time, energy and resources into the U.S. release this June 11th.”
Sony Pictures Classics paid handsomely to acquire Coppola's last indie film, the $10-million Youth Without Youth, which Coppola refused to take on the fest circuit. The film earned $239,495 at the domestic boxoffice. This time Coppola will self-distribute through his own American Zoetrope.
Variety has unrolled its long-planned site redesign, signaling the change with a new, red logo (I always thought The Hollywood Reporter was red to Variety's green), more charts, and a fancy "Big Daddy" widget with more windows. Variety is trying to make easier navigating and finding pieces to read on the site--the more people find individual stories, the better.
Kim Masters revisits her old Hit and Run subject, ex-Columbia co-head Jon Peters, as he publishes a dishy new memoir.
Todd McCarthy lays out the likely Cannes lineup. Already confirmed is Pete Docter's Up as the fest opener May 13 and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Also expected are Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock and Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell:
Other English-language fare will include Campion's U.K. production "Bright Star," a drama about the romance of 19th-century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, starring Ben Wishaw and Abbie Cornish; Cannes regular von Trier's "Antichrist," a horror drama with Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a couple who retreat to a secluded forest cabin after the death of their son; Loach's "Looking for Eric," about a troubled adolescent soccer fan who's counseled by former star Eric Cantona; prolific helmer To's French-financed "Vengeance," starring Johnny Hallyday as a hitman-turned-chef who heads to Hong Kong to avenge his daughter's death; and possibly English director Andrea Arnold's "Fish Tank," toplining Michael Fassbender in a tale of a 15-year-old whose life is turned upside down by her mother's new boyfriend. Pic looks to be in the Official Selection, although in which category remains uncertain.
Director Michael Bay says he is totally committed to messing up his next project, Thundercats.
Inevitably, in advance of Warner Bros.' May 21 release of the tentpole sequel Terminator Salvation, the two neophyte financeers at Halcyon, Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek (above) reached an "amicable" settlement with producer Moritz Borman, who sued to get the remaining $2.5 million payment of his fee. The suit was dismissed. Meanwhile, McG is already talking about a follow-up.
IAC mogul Barry Diller is rubbing his hands in gleeful anticipation of going on a low-ball acquisition spree:
Tuesday night, American Idol mentor Quentin Tarantino returned to the show sporting a Nazi haircut. Needless to say he didn't miss a chance to hype his World War II action epic set to debut at Cannes, Inglourious Basterds, with new footage. Here's the clip featuring Brad Pitt and Mike Myers as a British military mastermind who plots to wipe out Nazi leaders. The Weinstein Co. opens the movie stateside August 21.
As advertising revenues continue to skid, Reed Business Information announced layoffs of 7 % across all its divisions, plus possible unpaid leaves for staffers. Daily Variety executive editor Michael Speier was among the second round of layoffs at the trade; TV reporter Dan Frankel and New York bureau chief Dade Hayes were also let go. UPDATE: Here's a follow-up from The Wrap.
This year the recession is also hitting the 22-year-old American Pavilion at Cannes. The Americans' home-away-from-home, complete with food bar, computers, mailboxes, panels and the occasional live satellite feed, may run in the red for the first time if founder and director Julie Sisk can't find any sponsors with cash. For the first time, Sisk has no airline partner; former sponsors Apple, Kodak, HP, Cisco, Flip Cam, Access Hollywood and the LAT are all no-gos this year.
While the Am Pav's membership and college film student programs bring in income, without any newspaper or tech sponsors the Pavilion may not be able to break even. Unlike the other national pavilions lined up along the Cannes Croisette, Sisk has always managed the Am Pav without any government backing. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Vanity Fair has posted a glorious photo gallery of shots by Brigitte Lacombe taken on the set of Quentin Tarantino's new movie Inglourious Basterds--which I cannot wait to see at Cannes. Enjoy.
As I wrote sometime back, Quentin Tarantino is committed to delivering his World War II epic Inglourious Basterds for Cannes. The writer-director has loved going to Cannes ever since Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or in 1994, and had long wanted to debut Basterds there. Last year we had a blast hanging out with Marina Zenovich and Tim Robbins at the Hotel du Cap.
Here's Tarantino's acceptance speech from 1994 (they all look so young!):
Quentin Tarantino is rushing production on his World War II epic Inglourious Basterds, which has been described as The Dirty Dozen meets Cross of Iron, not only because his mentor Harvey Weinstein could use a big hit sooner rather than later--and Tarantino is deeply loyal--but because the director is trying to finish it in time for Cannes in May.
Chapter One: Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied France
Chapter Two: Inglourious Basterds
Chapter Three: German Night in Paris (filmed in "French New Wave Black and White")
Chapter Four: Operation Kino
Chapter Five: Revenge of the Giant Face
Tarantino was up and running and shooting by October, after pacting with Weinstein Co. for domestic and Universal/Focus Features International for foreign.
Tarantino puts his all into shooting and editing. The ensemble cast is led by Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender, star of Steve McQueen's Cannes breakout Hunger. Pitt leads a team of Jewish-American Nazi-hunters (The Basterds) who get caught in a No-Man's Land much like Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. (He wanted to use Ennio Morricone, but it didn't work out.)
While Tarantino went over-sked and budget on Death Proof, fussing and tinkering, this time he's on track and almost finished with the movie, which began production in Germany in October, and will soon get into the editing room to prep for his Inglourious Cannes preem. Can't wait.
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired two movies in advance of the Sundance fest--James Toback's well-received Cannes doc Tyson, and the Mexican director troica Cha Cha Cha's first outing,Rudo y Cursi,a soccer flick reuniting Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, directed by Carlos Cuaron. This practice of selling movies before film fests is something SPC co-prexys Tom Bernard and Michael Barker wish more filmmakers would emulate, but suspect they won't. "We prefer to set up a film with press there," says Barker. "It's an advantage to have a company attached, to be able to answer questions, knowing what you're going to do with it."
SPC and Toback started talking about the Tyson acquisition at Cannes, but rights issues blocked the sale of North American rights until recently. They told Toback they would be happy to wait and make the deal when rights were cleared, and so they did. NBA star Carmelo Anthony, who recently founded Krossover Prods, is also joining the movie as exec producer.
I saw Tyson at Cannes; it is a strong, moving document of a riveting character, former world heavyweight Mike Tyson, as he reexamines his life and choices with moving honesty. Here's my Cannes interview with Toback and Todd McCarthy's review.
SPC was already planning a Sundance press launch for the guitar doc It Might Get Loud, directed by Davis Guggenheim, which debuted at Toronto. Guggenheim's last entry at Sundance went pretty well: An Inconvenient Truth.
With Cannes, Telluride and Toronto, behind us, New York Film Fest press screenings are now under way. Here’s a wrap-up of what I’ve seen and learned:
Ten Best Movies in Telluride/Toronto
1. Everlasting Moments: Jan Troell’s period masterpiece is likely to be the Swedish Oscar submission (IFC).
2. Slumdog Millionaire: Danny Boyle’s Toronto audience award winner is both a likely hit and awards contender (Warners/Fox Searchlight).
3. The Wrestler: Darren Aronofsky directed has-been actor Mickey Rourke as a down-on-his-luck wrestler to likely awards contention (Fox Searchlight).
4. The Hurt Locker: Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq War thriller breaks out tough-guy Jeremy Renner (Summit, 2009).
5. Flame + Citron: Ole Christian Madsen’s riveting WW II thriller won’t be the Danish Oscar submission (IFC).
6. Every Little Step: Jim Stern’s moving Chorus Line doc plays like a reality TV show full of winners and losers as dancer/actor/singers put their talent on the line to gain a slot in the revival of the Broadway hoofer classic. It’s a likely awards contender for best doc (juggling distrib offers).
7. I’ve Loved You So Long: Philippe Claudel’s two hander about two sisters could earn French-speaking Brit Kristin Scott Thomas best actress kudos (SPC).
8. Burn After Reading: The Coens return to their darkly comic roots with a skilled acting ensemble led by Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Fran McDormand (Focus Features).
9. Happy-Go-Lucky: Mike Leigh and actress Sally Hawkins could follow Vera Drake into the awards derby (Miramax).
10. Kisses: Lance Daly’s Irish runaway movie starring unknowns turns from black-and-white into color (weighing distrib offers).
Next Best:
11. Adam Resurrected: Paul Schrader directs Jeff Goldblum in a bravura performance as a charismatic showman who survives the holocaust but loses his mind (seeking distrib).
12. Zack and Miri Make a Porno: Kevin Smith is back in raunchy, gut-splitting form with two strong actors, Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks (Weinstein Co./MGM).
13. Easy Virtue: Stephen Elliott (Patricia, Queen of the Desert) directs a witty culture-clash comedy well-delivered by Ben Barnes, Jennifer Biel, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Colin Firth (seeking distrib).
14. Is There Anybody There? John Crowley’s family comedy stars Michael Caine in a brilliant performance as a senior fighting senility (seeking distrib).
15. Brothers Bloom: Rian Johnson’s ambitious second feature, a con-man caper comedy, showcases Rachel Weisz’s skills as a charming light comedienne (Summit).
16. Me and Orson Welles: Richard Linklater’s 1937 picture of the Mercury Theatre features uncanny Welles impersonator Christian McKay, a glowing Claire Danes and teen throb Zac Efron (seeking distrib).
17. Public Enemy Number 1, a work in progress from France, hangs on the powerful incarnation of notorious real-life French gangster Jacques Mesrine by Vincent Cassel. Filmed over one year in two parts, this film may be combined with number two into a single movie by distrib Senator for its 2009 U.S. release.
18. Dean Spangler: Peter O’Toole and Sam Neill shine in this strange, slow-burn New Zealand fable about reincarnation (seeking U.S. distrib).
Best Cannes Leftovers at Telluride/Toronto:
1. Il Divo: Paolo Sorrentino’s exhilarating e-ride through 70s and 80s Italian politics, while accessible, is considered too arcane for stateside release (seeking distrib).
2. Hunger: UK director Steve McQueen directs Michael Fassbender in a breakout perf as Irish activist Bobby Sands (IFC).
3. Waltz with Bashir: Iraeli Ari Folman’s animated doc could be nominated in both animation and doc categories (SPC).
4. Wendy and Lucy: Kelly Reichardt directs Michele Williams in a heart-rending performance as vulnerable woman on the road who loses her dog. Williams could be a long shot for year-end kudos consideration (Oscilloscope).
5. The Good, The Bad and the Weird: Kim Jee-woon’s non-stop kimchi western could score with action fans (IFC).
6. Synecdoche, New York: Not surprisingly, first-time director Charlie Kaufman spins a tale you have never seen before, with a sprawling ensemble led by the depressed (natch) Philip Seymour Hoffman (SPC).
7. Che: Steven Soderbergh’s bio-epic wound up as two movies in Spanish instead of one movie in English, but it’s still a must-see for Benicio del Toro’s portrayal of the controversial revolutionary (IFC).
8. Adoration: Atom Egoyan’s explores a tangled web of family history and memory; it's not Canada's Oscar submission (SPC).
9. O’Horten: Bent Hamer paints a precisely rendered, poignant portrait of a retiring train engineer trying to imagine life without trains; it's Norway's Oscar submission (SPC).
Toronto Disappointments:
Rachel Getting Married: Jonathan Demme’s movie about a dysfunctional family wedding features great actors and musicians and dizzy camera moves: eventually all three get irritating (SPC).
Blindness: Fernando Meirelles locks the audience up in a nasty prison full of piss and poop and murder and mayhem and madness and doesn’t open the doors until the movie’s almost over (Miramax).
Flash of Genius: producer-turned-director Marc Abraham turns the story of a Detroit inventor (Greg Kinnear) who fights Ford and loses all into a straight, old-fashioned, dull tale (Universal).
Part One of John Woo's two-part, four-hour Red Cliff will open in Asia on July 10. Woo and his producer Terence Chang took on the Herculean task of mounting--on their own, with backing from five Asian countries--the $80-million production, the biggest ever in China. Part Two of this period epic romance, based on 2000-year-old Chinese history, comes in January, plus a 2 1/2 hour edit for western audiences. After that cut is complete, Woo and Chang will seek a North American distributor.
One Asia spy writes: "It is great. This feels like the film that John Woo has been saving up his skills to make for the last decade. Two hours 20 went by in a canter. Lots of strong action, but not as gory as some I've seen. It should be an absolute smash in Asia where the story and 22 characters are well known. Elsewhere, will it be the breakthrough or a new CTHD? Not sure as it is not Jackie Chan style chop socky."
At Cannes, Woo unveiled some pretty stunning battle footage. He told the film's global buyers that he was thrilled to be able to bring western movie techniques--including VFX, special effects and CGI (like The Orphanage from the U.S.)-- to the Chinese film community via his "dream project," which he had wanted to make for over 18 years. The movie's pan-Asian ensemble is led by Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro.
Even Woo seemed staggered by the film's scale and scope. "Thousands of horses, 800,000 soldiers, so many battle ships." Woo burned three large boats, and sixteen smaller boats. With CG, it looks like 2000, he said. The great battle was 50,000 against 800,000, he said. "They needed great wisdom and smarts and skill to win it. I wanted to make this the biggest action sequence ever." Woo enjoyed working with freedom away from the constraints of commercial Holllywood filmmaking. "I did whatever I want," he said.
The weather didn't help. "It was extremely hot and extremely cold," he said. "Some scenes needed 100,000 people running in the heat. A lot of people got heat fever. It took a lot of time and patience to let the crew know how to make the shots work. After this experience they can handle all kinds of movies."
"Welcome home, director Woo," said veteran actor Zhang Fengyi.
The LAT's Rachel Abramowitz talked to Chang about what happened on the set of Red Cliff, when a stuntman was burned to death. When the wind turned and fire headed for the Red Cliff stuntmen, Chang said, "It was horrible, truly horrible."
The dispute over the HBO doc, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, continues as director Marina Zenovich, who was asked by HB0 to rewrite the film's final "card" on the eve of its first broadcast June 9, tweaked the card again for its Saturday, June 14 airing. The question remains what the final card will read for its theatrical release by ThinkFilm on July 11th.
Finally, after all these years, it's still a case of he said, she said, as Zenovich makes tweaks and tries to keep her film's dramatic punch. And Polanski himself stays in limbo. (He finally saw the film in Paris just before he arrived in Cannes, where he lunched with Zenovich before the fest's closing night ceremony.)
The problem Monday was that the person talking was a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. HBO decided to back off the film's assertion that Judge Larry Paul Flider in 1997 demanded that any court hearing with Polanski be televised, should the exiled director return to the U.S. That's because right before the doc was due to air, L.A. court officials called the assertion "a complete fabrication." So Zenovich reworded the ending to say that the judge demanded an open court hearing.
Now the card refers to a dispute over what happened, stating: "the judge insisted the hearing be held on the record in superior court."
On Wednesday, in response to Monday's L.A. Superior Court statement and an L.A. Times story, former deputy district attorney Roger Gunson and Polanski's attorney Douglas Dalton, who are interviewed in Wanted and Desired, made a statement in support of the film's version of events--and talked to each other for the first time in a decade. "It is our shared view that Monday's false and reprehensible statement by the Los Angeles Superior Court continues their inappropriate handling of the Polanski case," they said.
2929 owners Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner had hoped to land a domestic distributor for the $20-million Hollywood comedy starring Robert DeNiro at the Sundance Film Festival in January. What Just Happened? scored favorable reviews but the financeers were not able to close a distrib deal that they could live with.
So 2929 will just do it for themselves.
Magnolia has hired marketing-exec-turned-consultant Russell Schwartz, the former marketing prexy of New Line Cinema, to supervise the film’s release campaign. (He also works with National Geographic on such films as U23D.) At Cannes, Schwartz supplied marketing materials for What Just Happened? featuring the tag line, “In Hollywood, everyone can hear you scream.”
What Just Happened? was adapted by Linson from his own vitriolic Hollywood memoir. Studding the movie’s cast are Catherine Keener, Stanley Tucci, Robin Wright Penn, John Turturro, Michael Wincott, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn and Kristen Stewart. 2929 Productions and Linson produced with De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Productions.
Doc filmmaker Marina Zenovich was struck when she read a 2002 article in the LA Times about whether director Roman Polanski would be able to return to the US if he were nominated for an Oscar for The Pianist. Of course he won--and watched the show from his bedroom in Paris. After Zenovich learned more about why Polanski was forced to flee the country rather than turn up for his trial for seducing a minor, she embarked on the long journey to get Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired made.
Patrick Goldstein writes about Zenovich's doc, which has earned rave reviews since its January debut in Sundance, where HBO acquired the film; it also fared well at Cannes. The movie aired on HBO Monday night after a brief run in NY and LA for Oscar consideration. Financially beleaguered distrib ThinkFilm is scheduled to release the film theatrically in July.
A sidebar explores why Zenovich was forced to amend the ending of her movie, an issue also addressed by Slate's Kim Masters. (See UPDATE below.)
Last year at Cannes, Shootout's Peter Bart and Peter Guber conducted a rare Polanski video interview-- Zenovich did not do fresh on-camera interviews with him for the doc, and he did not participate in its promotion. (He turned up in Cannes this May just for the closing night ceremony.) When Bart and Guber asked him last year how he felt about returning to L.A., he responded, "I have black memories of that time. People forget that when I was in my 30s I suffered a tremendous loss and tragedy."
More recently, Bart and Guber interviewed director Marina Zenovich on Shootout: "What mattered to me was what happened to him after he committed the crime," she told them. "So many people think they know what happened that night, why he fled the country. I was interested in getting the facts straight."
UPDATE: Here's a response to Monday's L.A. Superior Court statement and the L.A. Times story from former deputy district attorney Roger Gunson and Polanski's attorney Douglas Dalton, who are interviewed in Wanted and Desired:
June 11, 2008
In 1997, Douglas Dalton, attorney for Roman Polanski, and Roger Gunson, prosecutor on the Polanski case, met with Judge Larry Paul Fidler in his chambers to discuss the Polanski case. Mr. Gunson and Mr. Dalton advised Judge Fidler of Judge Rittenband's conduct in handling the case that is accurately captured in the documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.
At the meeting, Judge Fidler advised Mr. Dalton that if Mr. Polanski returned to Los Angeles, that he, Judge Fidler, would allow Mr. Polanski to be booked and immediately released on bail, require Mr. Polanski to meet with the probation department, order a probation report, conduct a hearing, and terminate probation without Mr. Polanski having to serve any additional time in custody. That there was a deal worked out between Judge Fidler and Mr. Dalton was reported in the New York Daily News as early as October 1, 1997.
One of the issues raised by Mr. Dalton during the meeting was the question of media coverage. All understood that any proceedings would be open to the public as required by law. During the meeting, Mr. Dalton pressed Judge Fidler for a resolution of the case that would allow for minimal news media. Mr. Dalton recalled that Judge Fidler would require television coverage at the proposed hearing due to the controversy. Mr. Gunson recalls television coverage discussed at the meeting. Mr. Dalton told documentary director Marina Zenovich of this requirement.
It is our shared view that Monday's false and reprehensible statement by the Los Angeles Superior Court continues their inappropriate handling of the Polanski case.
Roger Gunson Douglas Dalton
1. Paolo Sorrentino's Il divo (Italy): concise, focused, accessible, fascinating and entertaining despite arcane Italian political setting, this portrait of Giulio Andreotti won the jury prize. I can't wait to see Sorrentino's next. (Il divo has no stateside distributor.)
2. Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York (USA): utterly disciplined, Kaufman did what he set out to do, brilliantly, with humor. (Still for sale in North America; Sidney Kimmel may not make back his $20 million.)
3. Steve McQueen's Hunger (UK): this masterful directorial debut deservedly won the Camera d'Or and pushes Michael Fassbender toward stardom. (IFC will distribute.)
4. Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir (Israel): authentic and emotional, this hybrid docu-drama shows that there's a future beyond Persepolis for stylized animation in service of powerful story-telling. (SPC will release.)
5. James Gray's Two Lovers (USA): this director-on-the-rise is back on track and elicits one of Joaquin Phoenix's best perfs. (If 2929 Entertainment doesn't get the deal it's seeking, its own distrib Magnolia will release.)
6. Clint Eastwood's Changeling (USA): the only potential best picture Oscar contender at Cannes this year (among many likely foreign film candidates); Angelina Jolie should land a nom. (Universal will likely take it on the fall fest circuit.)
7. Kim Jee-Woon's The Good, The Bad and the Weird (Korea): this stunning Oriental Western homage to Eastwood and Leone boasts high-speed action like you've never seen before: think Stagecoach meets Jackie Chan meets The Road Warrior. This broad action comedy could be hugely commercial.
8. Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (USA): thanks to Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz's entertaining hijinks, this is Allen's best film since 1997's Deconstructing Harry. With Harvey at her back, Cruz is on her way to a supporting Oscar nod.
9. James Toback's Tyson (USA): this psychologically intimate interview with an iconic figure who is not all that he seems is not just for fight fans. (SPC will release.)
10. Atom Egoyan's Adoration (Canada): yet again, brainy auteur Egoyan explores the faulty fiction of family, history and memory. (SPC picked it up before Cannes.)
11. Barry Levinson's What Just Happened? (USA): as expected, this edgy Hollywood comedy showcasing Robert DeNiro's best role in ages (channeling writer-producer Art Linson) played better in Cannes, where it should have debuted all along. (2929's own Magnolia will most likely distribute.)
Mainstream commercial triumphs:
Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (USA): Spielberg and Co. took the gamble that the movie would score at Cannes and sure enough, it did.
John Stevenson and Mark Osborne's Kung Fu Panda (USA): DreamWorks and Paramount launched yet another global animation juggernaut out of the Cannes fest, which loves Jolie and Jack Black.
Noble Failure?
Steven Soderbergh's Che (Spain): there's a potential masterpiece buried within this sprawling, unfinished bio-epic (in which Benicio del Toro delivers a subtle, non-showy performance which was rightly rewarded with the best actor Prix). Whether Soderbergh will try to find it is another question. At this point HBO would be best suited to handle the film at its current four-hour, 18-minute length.
The day after the Cannes fest jury failed to award the Israeli animated doc Waltz with Bashir a prize (Todd McCarthy's story on the winners, including Entre les Murs, is here) Sony Pictures Classics closed a deal for North and Latin American rights. After declaring that they might go home empty-handed, the distrib has also chased down three other films, including the Dardenne brothers' The Silence of Lorna, Bent Hamer's O'Horten and are expected to close James Toback's Tyson soon. Here's Variety's Waltz with Bashir Review.
Variety blogger Anne Thompson is your trusted source for film industry news. She tracks Hollywood, Indiewood, awards season and film festivals for this daily blog.
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star in Baz Lurhmann's highly-anticpated drama, 'Australia.' ; Nicole Kidman; trailer; Baz Lurhman; australia; movie; Drama; Hugh Jackman; variety; Death Race Movie Trailer; Michael Cera and Kat Dennings star in the teen comedy, 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.' ; video trailers; Michael Cera; Kat Dennings; Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist trailer; College Movie Trailer; Daniel Radcliffe stars in Warner Bros. and author J.K. Rowling's final chapter of the 'Harry Potter' franchise. ; 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' trailer; new; trailers; video; variety; Josh Brolin stars as George W. Bush in director Oliver Stone's portrayal of the controversial President. ; W trailer; trailers; Oliver Stone; bush; Josh Brolin; 'W' trailer; video; variety; Christian Bale plays 'John Connor' in Warner Bros.' fourth installment of the 'Terminator' series. ; Variety Video; Christian Bale; 'Terminator: Salvation' teaser trailer; Based on the memoir by Danny Wallace, Jim Carrey stars as a man who must say 'Yes' to everything for one year. ; Zooey Deschanel; Jim Carrey; trailers; variety; 'Yes Man' trailer; Warner Bros. brings one of the most popular graphic novels of all time to the bigscreen. ; Watchmen movie trailer teaser; 'The Watchmen' trailer; video; variety; BETWEEN THE LINES explores the Vietnam War through the prism of the surfing sub-culture.; Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott star as two "Role Models" in the new comedy from Universal. ; trailers; Paul Rudd; Sean William Scott; video; variety; 'Role Models' movie trailer; Tom Cruise stars in the upcoming WWII thriller about the assassination of Adolf Hitler. ; World War II; katie holmes; Hitler; trailer; valkyrie; Tom Cruise; video; variety; Daniel Craig stars as James Bond in Sony's highly anticipated sequel to 'Casino Royale' ; Daniel Craig; trailer; 'Quantum of Solace' trailer; free download; James Bond; variety; embed; Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo play two con man attempting to swindle an eccentric heiress in 'The Brothers Bloom.'; Adrien Brody; 'The Brothers Bloom' trailer; video; variety; Mark Wahlberg and Twentieth Century Fox bring the gritty videogame hero to the bigscreen. ; Mark Wahlberg; New Trailer; Download; 'Max Payne' trailer; variety; Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, and Samuel L. Jackson star in comic mastermind Frank Miller's directorial debut. ; Rainn Wilson stars as an out-of-work '80's drummer who's called upon for a last-minute gig. (Fox); Fox; comedy; christina applegate; 'The Rocker' trailer; video; variety; Rainn Wilson; The Coen Bros.' follow up to 'No Country' is a quirky drama starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney. (Warning: graphic language); George Clooney; Joel and Ethan Cohen; trailer; Brad Pitt; Burn After Reading; John Malkovich; video; variety; Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe star in Ridley Scott's adaptation of the CIA thriller. ; trailers; Leonardo DiCaprio; 'Body of Lies' trailer; variety; Ridley Scott; Russell Crowe; Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connolly star in Twentieth Century Fox's remake of the sci-fi classic.; december 12th; Fox; 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' trailer; Remake; jennifer connolly; movie trailers; variety; keanu reeves; Director Guy Ritchie returns another British gangster film. This time starring '300' stud Guy Ritchie. ; Gerard Butler; madonna; Guy Ritchie; trailers; 'RocknRolla' trailer; Anne Hathaway plays a drug-addict sibling who returns for her sisters wedding in the Jonathan Demme drama. ; movie; 'Rachel Getting Married' trailer; Jonathan Demme; trailers; Anne Hathaway; 'City of God' director Fernando Meirelles directs Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo in the adaptation of José Saramago's epidemic novel.; trailers; Mark Ruffalo; 'Blindness' trailer; video; Variety review; Julianne Moore; Based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzerald, Brad Pitt stars as a man who ages in reverse in David Fincher's chronological drama. ; trailer download; angelina jolie; Warner Bros.; 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' trailer; Brad Pitt; David Fincher; movie trailers; variety; 'Disturbia' director D.J. Caruso reunites with Shia LaBeouf in this political assassination thriller. ; 'Eagle Eye' trailer; Shia LaBeouf; movie trailers; video; variety; Bill Murray and Tim Robbins star in this fantasy/drama about a illuminous city that slowly begins to fade. ; free; Bill Murray; 'City of Ember' trailer; movie trailers; Tim Robbins; variety; embed; Saw V Teaser Trailer; Vin Diesel returns to the action-genre in Fox's futuristic thriller, 'Babylon A.D.'; August 2008; Fox; Vin Diesel; 'Babylon A.D.' trailer; video; variety; Woody Allen is back behind the camera with Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardhem and Scarlett Johansson topping this Spanish romance. ; Scarlett Johansson; Javier Bardhem; 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' trailer; Penelope Cruz; Woody Allen; spain; Movie Trailer; Dennis Quaid stars in the real-life story of Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman trophy. ; Dennis Quaid; Heisman Trophy; Ernie Davis; 'The Express' trailer; video; variety; Twilight trailer 2; A scene from Alex Gibney's upcoming documentary, 'Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson' ; 'Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson' scene; trailer; variety; Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck and more top this star-studded romantic comedy from Warner Bros.; He's Just Not That Into You; trailer; Ben Affleck; Jennifer Aniston; Justin Long; Drew Barrymore; variety; Righteous Kill - Movie Trailer; A young girl tries to navigate her way through the dubious (and sexual) temptations of Los Angeles. ; sexual crowd in los angeles; 'Garden Party' trailer; young girl; video; variety; Sean William Scott and John C. Reilly star as two co-workers vying for the same promotion. ; comedy; 'The Promotion' trailer; Sean William Scott; John C. Reilly; video; variety; Mulder and Scully return to the bigscreen this Summer in FOX and creator Chris Carter's 'X-Files: I Want to Believe.'; trailer; Fox; Mulder; Scully; Chris Carter; David Duchovney; Gillian Anderson; variety; X-Files: I Want to Believe; Seth Rogen and James Franco star in the Judd Apatow produced stoner comedy, 'Pineapple Express.'; James Franco; 'Pineapple Express' trailer; comedy; Judd Apatow; stoners; Seth Rogen; variety; stoner; Lucasfilm is back with another 'Star Wars' movie. This time, however, the jedi's are animated. ; Film; jedi; trailer; lucasfilm; Star Wars: Clone Wars; animated movie; George Lucas; variety; Heath Ledger stars as the Joker in Christopher Nolan's highly-anticipated sequel to 'Batman Begins.'; Kiefer Sutherland stars as an ex-cop who begins to investigate the evil force that has penetrated his home. ; Kiefer Sutherland; Mirrors; trailers; 'Mirrors' trailer; horror; video; variety; Real-life teens star in one of the most talked about documentaries of the year. ; documentary; trailer; American Teen; variety; sundance; Fox's intergalactic comedy highlights the antics of astronaut chimps with all the “wrong stuff.”; ' Fox; 'Space Chimps; trailer; animation; video; variety; Jack Black and Ben Stiller topline this jungle comedy about a group of Hollywood actors getting caught in the action.; Matthew McConaughey; comedy; Robert Downey Jr.; Ben Stiller; Tom Cruise; movie; Tropic Thunder; Jack Black; Meg Ryan and Annette Bening star in the remake of George Cukor's 1939 film.; Bette Midler; eva mendes; 'The Women' trailer; Meg Ryan; video; variety; Diane Keaton; Marvel Comics returns to the bigscreen with the second installment of the action/fantasy thriller. ; The Golden Army; Marvel Comics; Hellboy 2; movie; sequel; Selma Blair; Three women are stalked by a killer with a grudge that extends back to the girls' childhoods.; Sony Picturehouse; trailer; Thriller; amusement; horror; variety; Pixar's latest entry tells the story of a loveable yet mischievous robot named 'Wall-E'; Will Smith plays a superhero with some not-so-super habits in Sony's big-budget 'Hancock.'; Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy star in this action-apprentice tale of justice. ; Morgan Freeman; Thriller; James McAvoy; angelina jolie; action; movie; wanted; Twilight - Movie Trailer; Physicist Bruce Banner takes flight in order to understand -- and hopefully cure -- the condition that turns him into a monster.; Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep star in the film adaptation of the Broadway hit musical. ; Will Smith plays a superhero with some not-so-super habits in Sony's big-budget 'Hancock.'; Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly star as two step-brothers who must find their way to brotherly love. ; sony; comedy; 'Step Brothers' trailer; John C. Reilly; will ferrell; video; variety; Heath Ledger stars as the Joker in Christopher Nolan's highly-anticipated sequel to 'Batman Begins.'; The newest trailer for the Ed Norton-starrer 'Incredible Hulk.'; America's favorite gal pals jump to the bigscreen this summer. ; Jack Black voices a 600-pound martial arts whiz in the Dreamworks animated film, 'Kung Fu Panda.'; Brendan Fraser and co. are back at again in 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'; Made of Honor Movie Trailer; Based on the classic 1960's Japanese animated series chronicling the aspirations of a young race car driver as he attempts to obtain glory, with the help of his family and the Mach 5.; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Movie Trailer; The Forbidden Kingdom - Movie Trailer; Get Smart: Movie Trailer; Story about six MIT students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings.; Dreamworks Animations presents Kung Fu Panda.; Single business woman who dreams of having a baby discovers she is infertile and hires a working class woman to be her unlikely surrogate.; A team of people work to prevent a disaster threatening the future of the human race.; Two sisters Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) and Mary Boleyn (Scarlett Johansson) contend for the affection of King Henry VIII (Eric Bana) ; Jack Black destroys every tape in his friend's video store. In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films.; The attempted assassination of the president is told from five different perspectives.; A genetic anomaly allows a David Rice (
Hayden Christensen) to teleport himself anywhere.; Once moving into the Spiderwick Estate Jared and Simon Grace find themselves in an alternate world.; A story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.; Amir (Khalid Abdalla) has spent years in California and returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan.; Back home in Texas after fighting in Iraq, a soldier refuses to return to battle despite the government mandate requiring him to do so.; An attorney known as the "fixer" in his law firm, comes across the biggest case of his career that could produce disastrous results for those involved; George Clooney; sydney pollack; Michael Clayton; John Rambo (Stallone) assembles a group of mercenaries and leads them up the Salween River to a Burmese village where a group of Christian aid workers allegedly went missing.; Trailer to Iron Man Video Game; Trailer from video game; "Margot at the Wedding" is a circus of family neuroses and bad behavior that perhaps a therapist could make sense of better than Noah Baumbach can. ; Nicole Kidman; Margot at the wedding; jennifer jason leigh; vareity review; movie review; variety; review; A young man from the South Bronx dreams of making it as a rapper, until a run-in with local thugs forces him to hide in Puerto Rico with the father he never knew.; You have to believe it to see it.; The last man on earth is not alone.; The rebellion begins. ; Variety presents a special screening of "The Darjeeling Limited" with Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola and Adrien Brody.; A CIA analyst questions his assignment after witnessing an unorthodox interrogation at a secret detention facility outside the US.; A freak storm unleashes a species of blood-thirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole-up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.; A scorching blast of tense genre filmmaking shot through with rich veins of melancholy, down-home philosophy and dark, dark humor, "No Country for Old Men" reps a superior match of source material and filmmaking talent.; Tommy Lee Jones; movie review; variety; Variety review; No Country for Old Men; Directors: Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Tilly Mandelbrot...; Trailer from video game; Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader. ; Brad Pitt; Casey Affleck; the Assassination of Jesse James; Variety Screening Q&A with director Sidney Lumet.; Before the Devil Knows You're Dead; Sidney Lumet; Philip Seymour Hoffman; movies; The search for true love begins outside the box. A delusional young guy strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.; ryan gosling; trailer; Patricia Clarkson; movies; Craig Gillepsie; Lars and the Real Girl; Survivors of the Raccoon City catastrophe travel across the Nevada desert, hoping to make it to Alaska. Alice (Jovovich) joins the caravan and their fight against the evil Umbrella Corp.; Director: Sean Penn
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Hal Holbrook, Vince Vaughn; THERE WILL BE BLOOD chronicles one Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), who transforms himself from a silver miner into a self-made oil tycoon. ; There Will Be Blood; Here's an exclusive look at Joel and Ethan Coen's trailer for their Cannes hit "No Country for Old Men," starring Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin and uber villain Javier Bardem.
; trailer; movies; No Country for Old Men; Tomy Lee Jones; Ethan Coen; Josh Brolin; Javier Bardem; Joel Coen; Directors: Nadia Conners & Leila Conners Petersen
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sylvia Earle Ph.D., Mikhail Gorbachev...;
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