Thompson On Hollywood

Weinstein Strongarms Pelosi Over Democratic Delegates

Harvey Weinstein, long a passionate Democratic supporter, is using his muscle in the party, reports CNN.com, to help his pal Hillary Clinton. With friends like this you don't need enemies.

Let the record show that I am a passionate Democrat who wants the party to win against Bush John McCain in November, and I will vote for the winner of the Democratic nomination, whether it's Clinton, Obama or Gore...I paste the video below, which is rife with profane language and is for ADULTS ONLY--because I can't help myself.

Paramount Ends Showtime Deal To Start New Pay Channel

This a strange and significant story. It was inevitable that a studio would sever its pay-TV ties and start its own movie channel with a deep library and downloads, but I didn't think it would happen this soon and in this way. It's the wave of the future, and will accelerate the pace of change. So far the studios have been talking behind closed doors about how to take charge of their own delivery windows free from the impediments of their Pay-TV deals with HBO, Starz and Showtime. But not one had been willing to walk away from millions of dollars.

Now Viacom chief Sumner Redstone has done it--but at the expense of one of his own units, CBS, which owns Showtime. When Paramount and partners MGM and Lionsgate all withdraw from Showtime, it leaves open the question of what movies the channel will show. Variety's Dade Hayes explains. Here's Reuters. And the NYT. And PaidContent. And the LAT.

Apparently Redstone and Viacom prexy and CEO Philippe Dauman realized they had an opportunity, because Paramount and Paramount Vantage's Showtime deal ended at the end of 2007, and Lionsgate and MGM's were up at the end of 2008. In effect they had a chance to get a jump on the other studios which are tied up in other deals for years to come (including Paramount sibling DreamWorks, which has a separate deal with HBO).

UPDATE: Many questions remain about how long it will take--this thing won't launch until January 2009, apparently--to set up distrib agreements with major carriers and infrastructure.

Weinsteins Embrace Asia Fund

The Weinstein Co. is eager to claim a piece of The Forbidden Kingdom, which Lionsgate and TWC will open wide April 18, as the first film from its $285-million Asian Film Fund. TWC plans to continue financing the development, production, acquisition, marketing and distribution of a large slate of Asian-themed films. Next is Mikael Håfström's 40s action epic Shanghai, starring John Cusack and Gong Li, and a contemporary remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic Seven Samurai.

The Forbidden Kingdom marks the first-ever onscreen pairing of martial arts superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li. American teenager and Kung Fu fanatic Jason (Michael Angarano) finds an antique Chinese staff in a pawn shop, which turns out to be the legendary stick weapon of Chinese warrior the Monkey King (Jet Li). Jason is suddenly transported back to ancient China where he meets the drunken kungfu master, Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), who helps him on his quest to return the staff to its rightful owner. The film is shot by Peter Pau (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and choreographed by Woo-Ping Yuen (Crouching Tiger, The Matrix, Hero).

Written by Hossein Amini, Shanghai starts shooting on May 5th in London, and then moves to Thailand. (Word is the production is still unable to get permission to shoot in China.) The Weinsteins plans to release Shanghai in North America on December 25, 2008.

TWC is in talks to hire a director and cast on Seven Samurai, and is hoping to start filming in the last quarter of 2008.

Weinstein Co. Takes on Bravo and Star Wars Fans

The latest Weinstein brawl is between Harvey Weinstein and NBC/Bravo, now that Harvey is pulling Project Runway away from a cable channel that wants to keep running it in favor of another deal--for five years--at Lifetime. It is highly unusual for a producer to switch gears like this with a hit show. Here's the news story in Variety, EW.com and UPDATE: The NYT. The jubilant Lifetime press release is on the jump.

Harvey is also still fighting the filmmakers of the Star Wars comedy Fanboys, who have launched a major counteroffensive.

The Fanboys Trailer:

Star Wars Fans Protest Harvey Scissorhands

This Wired story is worth reading just for the inspired art of Harvey Weinstein as Darth Vader, right. Reportedly, he's been up to his old scissor-happy tricks with the Star Wars doc comedy Fanboys.

Diary of the Dead Horror Shorts Contest

From January 30 through February 29th, MySpace Film members who submit their horror shorts via the Diary of the Dead MySpace profile can try to win a spot on George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead DVD. Visitors to the Diary of the Dead MySpace profile can vote for their favorite short films; the top ten will be judged by Romero, who will pick the five best for inclusion on the DVD. (The film, which was reviewed out of Toronto, hits theaters on February 15.)

Here's the Diary of the Dead trailer.

Weinsteins Acquire Woody's Next

The Weinstein Co. has acquired another Woody Allen film--despite the meager returns so far on Cassandra's Dreams. (Here's Variety's story.) No Country for Old Men Oscar nominee Javier Bardem talks about his role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona here.

UPDATE: There's much Internet debate on the pic's title, which does seem like a mouthful.

The full release is on the jump.

Weinsteins Signing Interim WGA Deal

Harvey Weinstein told the NYT he may finalize an interim deal with the WGA as soon as Thursday. He recently cast Kate Winslet in the role vacated by Nicole Kidman in Stephen Daldry's The Reader. Another film hoping to return to pre-production status is the Rob Marshall musical Nine.

Grace is Gone: Cusack Talks

John Cusack charmed the Sneak Previews group Monday night. After having made more than 50 movies, he still remembers what Rob Reiner told him early on while they were shooting The Sure Thing. If you're worrying about this and that and the other, said Reiner, you're not doing your job. What's important is what happens in that small circle in front of the camera. Some directors like Reiner, said Cusack, create that quiet space where that focus and concentration can take place for the actor: Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen, Cameron Crowe.

Grace is Gone is a small movie shot for $3 million in 24 days that Cusack produced, working with 29-year-old rookie director Jim Strouse (who also wrote Lonesome Jim). Cusack based his muscle-bound performance on friends and family in Illinois. His inarticulate soldier wants to be in control of an ordered life but loses his wife in the Iraq War and has to tell his two young daughters---and puts it off as long as possible. He's clenched and tight, Cusack said. His unforgettable walk was a key to finding the character. He had to go to the chiropractor a lot while shooting. Cusack beamed with pride at the two first-time actresses they hired in the Chicago area to play the two girls. The crowd applauded them.

The Weinstein Co. scooped up the movie at Sundance. It was Harvey's idea to go to Eastwood for the score. Cusack, an admirer of Eastwood's music, was happy to ask him, having worked with him before on Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. He was surprised when Eastwood said yes.

My class liked the film, although its even-handed politics confused some who wanted a clearer statement of the film's POV. Clearly, Cusack wanted to show the impact of the Iraq War on a human scale, and hopes that the film will reach a wide swath of audiences, not just the Liberal choir. Resistance to the subject may prove hard to overcome. Cusack is moving and believable as a midwestern dad and soldier and could get some attention from SAG and Oscar members--but only if folks watch the movie, which was overlooked by the Indie Spirits.

Oscar Watch: Weinstein May Not Push Blanchett into Best Actress Race

Over the weekend, David Poland at Movie City News reported that Harvey Weinstein was planning to push Cate Blanchett as best actress for I'm Not There, rather than supporting. Which didn't necessarily mean that the Golden Globes, SAG and the Academy would go along with it. UPDATE: And it doesn't mean Weinstein will take this route, either, it turns out. "Nothing is changing," said one Weinstein Co. spokeswoman. These games are often played. In this case, some of the
I'm Not There folks are pushing for TWC to make this change. Blanchett is off Down Under doing a play, but apparently has no intention of backing off her support for Elizabeth, which Universal has been backing handsomely via "for your consideration" ads. If Blanchett were to withdraw her support for an Elizabeth push, she might land best actress, but she's weaker in that category. She was a surefire winner in supporting.

Poland didn't check with TWC to verify the assertion of his good source, he admits. And his weekly memo to his Gurus of Gold voters told them to place Blanchett in the best actress category.

So why take the chance? Economics. Even a nomination in the lead categories means more in global boxoffice and DVD sales than supporting does. Think Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda. That movie did far better than it would have done otherwise. And I'm Not There is strictly an art-house play without some Oscar attention.

Here's a Blanchett clip that's been on YouTube for a while:

And the real-life limo video of John Lennon and Bob Dylan that may have inspired it:

Weinstein Co. Under Assault as Usual

I don't blame the Weinstein brothers for getting tired of the constant barrage of media attention. The NYT's David Carr, who is paying more heed to the movie beat now that he's preparing to cover the Oscar race for the next few months, writes yet another story with the same old info. (One issue is that there are only so many key players with stories to tell in the provincial New York movie world, where the Weinsteins remain a constant subject of cocktail chatter.)

I wrote a Weinstein story during Cannes, in May.
In June, Fortune first announced that the WTC board wanted the Weinsteins to hire a CEO.
The NYT did a story in July.
And so did the LAT.

What's new here? That The Great Debaters, starring Denzel Washington, joins Grace is Gone as one of this year's Weinstein Co. Oscar hopefuls. (And yes, there are usually more.) One, Imagine's $100-million gangster saga American Gangster is going to be hard to beat. The ambitious Ridley Scott epic should score at the boxoffice and Washingon delivers a towering, larger-than-life performance. Universal will throw money at an Oscar campaign.

And two, Grace is Gone is starting to look like an Iraq movie that should have come out before there were so many Iraq movies. In January at Sundance, it looked like a fresh take on a powerful story. Now, it looks like just another entry in a dying trend. But the Weinsteins know how to play the Oscar game. John Cusack should rise above the fray and get some traction with his fellow actors. (BTW, I booked the pic for my UCLA Extension class; I think they will love it.) UPDATE: I'm Not There is another Weinstein Oscar contender. Cate Blanchett should be in the mix.

Weinstein Thinks Small with Dylan Film I'm Not There

The Weinstein Co. is setting a very limited release for Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, reports the NYT. At least Harvey knows better than to use the many stars who play Bob Dylan in the movie---Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger et al-- to push it into wider release than the film can sustain, as Paramount Vantage did with A Mighty Heart.

The movie will likely play Telluride over Labor Day weekend as well as Toronto, I hear.

Sicko Update: CNN Admits Mistakes, Hilton Sees Movie

In Michael Moore's latest email to his massive subscriber list, he lets us know that yes, CNN did admit some mistakes on last week's show on Sicko. But more important: Paris Hilton went to see his movie!

July 17th, 2007
Friends,

The mighty CNN, in a lengthy and sad online defense of their woe-begotten 'Sicko' story of last Monday, has admitted that they did indeed fudge at least two of the facts in their coverage of my film and have apologized for it:

1. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN: "To be clear, I got a number wrong in my original report, substituting the number 25, instead of 251." -- My Conversation with Michael Moore, July 11th, 2007; and

2. CNN: "Moore is correct. Paul Keckley left Vanderbilt in late 2006." -- CNN's Response to Michael Moore, July 15th, 2007.

Furthermore, CNN confirmed that all of our statistics in "Sicko" are the correct numbers from the sources we cited. Although CNN still prefers to use older World Health Organization statistics, we will stick to using this year's Bush administration stats and more recent U.N. data. (In "Sicko," we consistently use only U.N. Human Development Statistics unless it's for studies they don't do or have recent numbers for.) CNN did apologize for these two factual errors, but no apology seems to be coming for the rest of their errors. These days, to get the mainstream media to admit they were wrong is rare; to get them to admit it twice, as they have with "Sicko," I guess should be considered a whopping victory. Will they eventually apologize for the rest, or for their reporting on the war? Will the Cubs win the World Series this year?

So the truce has been signed, the peace pipe has been smoked. And the public is left with a much more cautious and wary eye when it comes to CNN. To be fair, this is what happens when you have to grind out "news" 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a staff you have shrunk through layoffs over the years (like all the broadcast networks have done). You end up rushed and having interns do your research. You have robots replace live camera operators. And, if you're CNN, you are constantly dodging the accusation that you are "too liberal." So when you do a piece on someone like me, you have to make sure you add superfluous and standard ad hominems attacking me simply to prove that you are NOT too liberal. I get it.

Until the last month or so, I have not appeared on a single national TV show for nearly 2 and 1/2 years. After the attacks I had to endure three years ago, from a media intent on questioning my patriotism because I dared to speak out against the war when none in the media would, I decided I had had enough and would simply concentrate on making my next film. I had no desire to participate in networks that were complicit in the war because of their refusal the challenge the commander in chief.

I have to admit, though, I do feel kinda bad taking it all out on Wolf Blitzer. It's not like he's the official representative of the mainstream media. I mean, he's from Buffalo, for crying out loud! He said to me at the end of the show last week to please come back on "anytime you want." I will take him up on that offer and appear again with him tomorrow (Wednesday). I'm not expecting a dozen roses or make-up sex -- I only want a promise that there will be no more distorted distractions so we can have a decent discussion about the REAL issues like why 18,000 Americans die every year because they don't have a health insurance card. More than 300 of them died this week. As Ehrlichman said to Nixon in "Sicko": "The less care they give 'em, the more money they (the insurance companies) make."

Entourage Watch: Harvey Weinstein's Reaction

It's hard to miss the depiction of Harvey Weinstein on this week's episode of Entourage, "Sorry, Harvey." Harvey (played by Maurey Chaikin) terrifies E so much that the young manager can't bring himself to tell him that they're putting their film Medellin on the open market in Cannes, and not selling it to him. Of course nobody utters the word Weinstein. And the role is over-the-top pre-Harvey-going-off-sugar hilarious.

But this is not the image Harvey Weinstein is trying to put over right now--this photo from Fortune is how he's trying to present himself to the buttoned-down Wall Street crowd.

Harvey's reaction to the episode?
"He thinks Entourage is a fun and entertaining show," said a WTC spokeswoman.

The Weinsteins: TWC vs. Board of Directors

While I was going toe-to-toe with Harvey Weinstein at Cannes, it seems, Fortune's Tim Arango was dancing the two-step with him as well. The Fortune piece closed before the good boxoffice opening for 1408, and the previews of Sicko, which look impressive.

We covered a lot of the same ground. But Arango's recent reporting has unearthed the discovery that The Weinstein Co. board of directors is exercising more oversight and may insist on the appointment of what board member Tarak Ben Ammar calls "a CEO" to oversee the company; naturally the Weinsteins are in full spin control, as this Page Six item shows:

HARVEY Weinstein admitted yesterday, "We were idiots" for combining two movies into the 31/2-hour "Grindhouse," which bombed at the box office. But he was ebullient over the $20 million weekend take of "1408," his horror flick starring John Cusack, and sold-out previews of "Sicko." Weinstein was in full spin control after a Fortune article quoted Tarak Ben Ammar, a Weinstein Co. board member, as saying, "This fiscal year has been a disappointing one." Ammar told us from his yacht in the Mediterranean, "I'm less disappointed than Harvey is himself." Weinstein said he's still making higher profits than the major studios: "It's only disappointing compared to our track record."

Perhaps the Weinsteins may have less control over their board than they'd like to think.

Sicko Watch: Moore Never Quits

Michael Moore leaves no stone unturned in his Sicko quest. Fresh from his forays to Capitol Hill and Sacramento, Moore appeals directly to his loyal fanbase via email to see his movie:

'SiCKO' Sneaks Across America This Saturday!

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

Friends,

Would you like to go to a sneak preview of my new film, "Sicko," before it opens on June 29th? Well, if you live anywhere near the 32 cities listed below, this Saturday night, June 23rd, our movie studio is going to hold sneak screenings of "Sicko" in 43 theaters across the country. I'd love for you to be one of the first to see it so, if you'd like, you can click here and order tickets now. We'd love to see you there.

Also, if you live in the New York City area we are opening the film tomorrow (Friday, June 22) exclusively at one theater, the AMC Lincoln Square for a first week run. The interest in the film is very high and theaters have been asking us to open it as soon as possible. Alright, already! It opens tomorrow in NYC, the sneak previews are Saturday around the country, and we open nationwide next Friday, the 29th.

Last night we screened "Sicko" for the members of Congress and the Senate in Washington, D.C. Earlier in the day we testified during a briefing in Congress called by the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers, Jr. I brought with me some of the people who appear in the film to tell their stories -- and it was a powerful moment.

I will write again next week, before "Sicko" opens nationwide on the 29th. I'm so excited, after spending the last couple of years working on this film, that you all will finally be able to see it.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MichaelMoore.com.

P.S. Catch the sneak preview of "Sicko" in these cities this Saturday night, June 23rd:

Sicko Watch: Moore Docu Opens a Week Early in New York

One way to deal with the crazy piracy of Michael Moore's rabble-rousing healthcare docu Sicko, which has been widely available for download on the internet, is to bend to audience demand and open the movie earlier than its planned June 29 release. Thus Lionsgate and The Weinstein Co. will open the movie on one screen a week early in Manhattan.

Sicko Watch: Weinstein Co. Fights Pirates

Michael Moore's much-hyped health care docu Sicko is stirring up so much interest that it's already widely available for downloading on the web, reports Ad Age. The Weinstein Co. caught wind of the piracy several days ago and has hired investigators to contain the damage. "We are responding aggressively to protect our film," said a TWC spokesperson. "But from our research it's clear that people interested in the [health care] movement are excited to go to the theater." For those who can wait, the movie opens in theaters on June 29th. UPDATE: David Poland is tracking this story at MCN.

Cannes Moments, Diving Bell and Butterfly, Parties

I was sure I wasn't going to make the 7:30 PM Palais screening of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I had about an hour to walk all the way from the Sofitel on the point to the Variety office behind the Grand to get my ticket and rush to my apartment behind the Carlton, put on my black tie duds and makeup and hustle down the crowded Croisette on high heels to the Lumiere. But I really wanted to see this film and wasn't going to give up. Luckily I had an orchestra ticket, which gives you more breathing room and lets you walk up the red steps. I scooted behind Sharon Stone as she posed for photogs and found my place and tried to cool off as we all watched the big-screen monitor showing the last arrivals--they string the cast in one long line as they make their way up the steps.

It was a good night for bear-like Julian Schnabel, surrounded by gorgeous French actresses. The movie is achingly sad. Max Von Sydow as the father of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the French editor of Elle whose mind is trapped inside his paralyzed body, is heartbreaking. So is Mathieu Amalric as Bauby, who is astonishingly expressive. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. I want to read the book that Bauby painstakingly spelled out, one blink at a time.

Ronald Harwood, Schnabel and Janusz Kaminski's cinematic adaptation is elegantly imaginative and quite beautiful. Afterwards the applause went on for a good twenty minutes (not unusual). Schnabel looked embarrassed as he took his shades on and off. He tripped and saved himself as he brought Before Night Falls star Javier Bardem over to stand with the cast. (At a roundtable today Schnabel admitted he was so nervous, he popped half a xanax.)

I applaud the filmmakers for not taking the Hollywood route that was originally contemplated (with DreamWorks and Johnny Depp) and instead making the film in its native setting and language. Producer Jon Kilik felt strongly about this. The end result is quite accessible. Some distribs are put off by its "smallness." This is not a film whose language should be a barrier (except on DVD, where arty foreign language movies don't usually sell, with the occasional exception of such genre films as Pan's Labyrinth and House of Flying Daggers.)

The great thing about small dinner parties like Paramount Vantage and Miramax's evening by the beach for No Country for Old Men is that everyone is accessible. You're all in the same swim. When you go to a jumbo-sized cluster-fuck, basically, the trick is to get into the VIP room where many of the principal players are. On my way out of last night's Deathproof party at the Palm Beach Casino, the site of many massive events in the past, I noticed producer-partners Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy hovering by the entrance door, as Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell made their way through the red carpet press.

The two couples greeted each other enthusiastically and made a bee line for the VIP room. I followed in their wake, my date in tow, and talked to Kennedy about her two films here, Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and SPC's animated Persepolis. "You're becoming an indie filmmaker!" I said.

When we got to the VIP section on a white balcony overlooking the dark water, we talked our way in on her coattails. The two couples sat on a white sofa for the entire night, enjoying each other and sending the signal, don't approach us. Harvey Weinstein made his way over, and introduced Wong Kar Wai, wearing his trademark shades, but as of 2 AM, no Quentin Tarantino. "He's tired," one Weinstein Co. staffer said.

Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan were bearing down on the VIP velvet rope as we left. (Word is the fest, which adored Tarantino's 114-minute Death Proof, would have nothing to do with Planet Terror. It wasn't for them. His recut version with trailers will go to Venice instead.)

At the packed and noisy Screen International party, also by the beach, they screened a mind-numbing 12-minute music-video plea for peace, Nassiri, featuring a lip-synching guru with a fake blissed-out smile surrounded by a chorus of fresh-faced children. The horror.

Cannes always offers fleeting moments to remember: Today at the American Pavilion, Faye Dunaway sat alone on the deck facing the water, booking a flight on her cell phone on Iberia.

Yesterday at the Majestic Hotel, Peter Bart, Tim Gray and I waited for an elevator with the very tall Mischa Barton, wearing form-fitting rust-colored silk.

The other night as I walked back from the Palais along the Croisette, the open air cinema on the beach was screening The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. An impossibly young Catherine Deneuve was singing.

Besson Attacks Weinsteins

During a SuicideGirls.com interview with Robert Epstein on Angel-A, French filmmaker Luc Besson trashes The Weinstein Company:

DRE: Arthur and the Invisibles did very well all over the world except in America. Why do you think it didn’t connect here? Luc: I’ve worked in the movie business for 30 years now and for each film I work 40 different distributors around the world. The American distributor on Arthur [The Weinstein Company] was the worst I have worked with in my entire life, in any country. I think this is the essence of all the problems. Why the critics didn’t like Arthur was because they changed so much of the film and tried to pretend the film was American. The critics aren’t stupid. They watched the film, they vaguely smell American but they can feel the film is forced for an American audience. The film is European. It’s made by a Frenchman. This was the only country where the film was changed. The rest of the world has the same film as France.

Coens Movie and Sicko Debut; Waiting for Jessica Simpson

Last night's unveiling of No Country for Old Men lived up to all my expectations and more. It's one of the Coen brothers' most assured films, on a par with their Oscar-winning Fargo or Miller's Crossing, with a touch of the southwestern twang of Raising Arizona. The movie, which stars veterans Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem at their best and break-out hunk Josh Brolin, belongs with the Coens' bleaker films, but adds their trademark comic tone to Cormac McCarthy's tragic book. It's a faithful adaptation, a lean and spare cinematic rendering of McCarthy's western of inexorably doomed characters. The movie also touches the zeitgeist as it expresses a loss of innocence in our culture, a turn to the dark side. The ending is heart-tugging. It's going to be hard to beat for the Palme d'Or. Unless Miramax messes up the movie's fall release (it will need delicate handling, although it will earn rave reviews, because it is not overtly commercial), I see a strong Oscar run. (Luckily 42West's Cynthia Swarz is on board.) Here's Variety's review.

In a typical moment of hi-low Cannes disjunction, after the screening I walked out to the Budweiser yacht, in the marina, to catch a sighting of the babelicious Jessica Simpson, who was announcing her new movie A Major Movie Star, which sounds like a knock-off of Private Benjamin, basically. I took off my shoes. I blackberried on the pending James Gray We Own the Night deal. I hung out with my PR buds Michele Robertson and Elizabeth Wolfe. I met Simpson's Dad. And her producer. I saw backer Avi Lerner, and his colleague Henry Winterstern. I gave up. I had to go to a movie. Dana Harris took over the Jessica Simpson Watch. I never went on the yacht, never drank, never ate. UPDATE: Here's Bill Booth's account.

I restrapped my sandals and went off to get in line at the Noga Hilton for Savage Grace, produced by Christine Vachon, directed by Tom Kalin and written by Howard Rodman. It's one warped sexy decadent sophisticated movie. Julianne Moore is a Bad Mom, basically, who gets a little too intimate with her devoted son. Needless to say, it does not end well. After a standing ovation, the film entourage wound up celebrating their success at the Carlton Bar. UPDATE: At festival's end no North American distrib had bought the film, but several smaller distribs were circling. Here's an interview by Manohla Dargis with Rodman.

This morning I saw Michael Moore's Sicko, which was tough, fast-moving, funny and brought me to tears at its conclusion. The whole point of the Cuba thing was that he took 9/11 rescue workers who are damaged by their experience and having a toough time getting taken care of by our fucked up medical system. After a stunt on boats in Guantanamo Bay trying to get into the Naval Station, which he argues takes better care of its detainees than our heath care system does, Moore takes the ailing folks to Cuba, which welcomes them into its hospital and gives them care. It is very moving.

Our own country feels bureaucratic and harshly unforgiving, even merciless, to its most needy, while Canada, France, the U.K. and Cuba embrace their citizens with the nurturing they need. Tough stuff. It will play like gangbusters all over the world. But will it be enough to bail out the Weinsteins? It will certainly help. Moore was aces at the packed press conference, although the criticism that he painted a too-rosy a picture of the other countries' health care systems is fair. He should have covered himself on that. Here's Variety's review.

[Photo by Getty Images]

Weinstein Redux

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired of the Weinsteins. Yes, they fascinate me and yield neverending grist for the old industry-watchers' mill. But there's also a lot of spin and hot air swirling around these guys. Patrick Goldstein's column last week seemed late and off the mark to me. Truth is, the Weinsteins have figured all this out already, and apparently, told Goldstein that. But that didn't stop him from writing the column that applied more to where they were last year, when they made a foolish deal with MGM that felt wrong at the time and has proved to be a big mistake. The Weinsteins are back where they should be, indulging their in-house filmmakers (even if Grindhouse does cost them profits they can't afford to lose) and landing a record three movies in the Cannes competition. Hollywood Wiretap wraps things up.

Grindhouse Stays One Film in U.S.

Contrary to various reports, the Weinsteins will not slice and dice the two halves of Grindhouse in the U.S. Last weekend the distributor quietly experimented with advertising Planet Terror and Death Proof's individual show times (without separating the films) in several markets including Memphis and San Antonio. The three-hour 11 minute movie is playing best in New York and L.A. and fair in the top ten movie cities, but is dying everywhere else. The experiment failed. Both movies performed exactly the same as they did in other flat markets.

From here, the Weinsteins are launching a longer version of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, to be enhanced by some 10-15 minutes, at Cannes next month. The two films will be released around the world in June and July. If they succeed as separate pictures, there remains a possibility that the company could consider a later limited art-house release. But the likely scenario is that they will look to recover their investment through DVD sales.

Weinsteins Face Grindhouse Setback

Rather than dive into the well-plowed turf of Grindhouse's dismal b.o. prospects, the NYT's Michael Cieply uses the double-feature's misfire as a hook for a story that carefully sifts through the Weinstein Co's financial situation, yet gives Bob and Harvey the benefit of the doubt. This piece is a classic example of how a major mainstream newspaper can at the same time gain access, report the hell out of a story, yet remain fair and objective enough to keep the subjects from wanting to kill the messenger. The final piece does not read, as many stories about the Weinsteins do, as though they succeeded in spinning the writer. You can be sure they tried. The NYT is taken seriously by all their Wall Street investors.

While I have been dismayed by many of the Weinsteins' moves in the past few years, I'm encouraged by a sense that they are returning to their roots as champions of films they actually care about, even as they've been distracted by trying to build a strong business to support them. (I have suspected them of being too big for their britches, a tad grandiose in their reach.) But nothing is going to work if they don't succeed at producing and distributing those films. Yes, their investment in the homevideo company Genius was a good move, but do they want to make movies that only succeed on DVD? I don't think so. They still want to win an Oscar or a Palme d'Or or two.

Now that Grindhouse will go out as two movies in all foreign markets, not just English-language territories, and likely in the U.S. as well (something the NYT story does not address), Robert Rodriguez's half, Planet Terror, will have a shot at playing to the horror crowd. And I have many cinephile friends, many of them women, who were put off by the gross-out flick and will now flock en masse to Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. Let's see what happens.

A slice of the NYT piece is on the jump:

Grindhouse Disappoints

Grindhouse did not, as they say, open. It came in fourth with a $11 million gross on 2624 screens with a running time of three hours and 12 minutes.

What went wrong? Let's list the ways. Grindhouse was a cult concept, with a cult following. It was the kind of movie critics praise (Metacritic gave it a very good 78) but it was beat by Ice Cube's execrably reviewed comedy Are We Done Yet? (Metacritic ranking: 39). Many audiences said: "I don't have three hours." The Rodriguez half of Grindhouse was for horror fans, and was far too gross for women, who might have liked the Tarantino half, which is a total female empowerment flick. My friend in Chicago who eagerly took a pal on opening day reported about 30 people in the theater. Not a good sign.

The whole point of this exercise was TO DO IT CHEAP! The movie probably cost far more than the Weinsteins' claim of $53 million. With total P & A costs the movie probably sneaks close to $100 million. What happened is what happens to all movie companies when name talent have the clout to hold their financeers for ransom. That is, the two directors spent beyond their combined $40-million budget because they wanted their movies to be as good as they could be. Performance anxiety trumps prudence. Rodriguez spent to make his trashy send-off of grade-B horror flix as gruesome as possible (he also melted down over the breakup of his marriage and the production had to shut down for a month; the Weinsteins ate that cost). And Tarantino shot and shot and shot to score the best possible car chase finale. Marrying those two movies into a digital internegative and final film print at the last possible minute wasn't cheap either.

Ideally, the Weinsteins would have been at the top of their game, with a lot of clout behind them, and insisted that the directors file two movies at one-hour each. Which is what they were supposed to do in the first place. Doable. The movies would have been cheaper, easier to watch and sell.

But in their current guise, without a slate of hits behind them, the Weinsteins had no choice but to let the filmmakers do what they wanted. Both Rodriguez and Tarantino gave them a lot over the years and stuck with the brothers after they left Disney. The filmmakers wanted the movie to go out through Dimension and not MGM; they wanted the Weinsteins to book and sell and market and care, deeply, about making the movie work. There was plenty of awareness of this movie. That's why it tracked so well. But on Easter Holy weekend, Ice Cube was a bigger marquee draw inside his market niche than an ensemble of stars few have heard of in a violent R-rated splatterfest homage to movies few ever saw--Kurt Russell was the biggest name of the bunch.

It's also telling that the loud internet chatter didn't translate at the box office. Young men and film fans are the easiest to reach on the web, but Grindhouse needed more. It should have opened in fewer theaters and built up an audience. But at that negative cost, the Weinsteins needed to go wide selling their brand-name directors--who were playing strictly to their core, with no crossover. The movie will plug along for a while, but the Weinsteins will have to make their money back overseas (where the films will be separate) and on DVD, where the running time won't be an issue. In the digital home movie universe, more is more. UPDATE: Femme Fatale reacts to the opening, as does everyone and their mother on The Hot Blog. Other theories, anyone?

Here's the WSJ story on the Weinstein's $53-million marketing gamble (subscription required, see paste below).

McCarthy Reviews Grindhouse

I've been waiting to read Todd McCarthy's review of Grindhouse all week. Because of various embargos, it didn't post online until last night. Here's a sample:

The 1970s exploitation movie gropes, bites, kicks, slugs, blasts, smashes and cusses its way back to life in "Grindhouse," a "Rodriguez/Tarantino double feature" that lovingly resurrects a disreputable but cultishly embraced form of era-specific film production and exhibition. A pair of pictures devoted to re-creating their progenitors' grubby aesthetics and visceral kicks, but with vastly greater budgets, higher-end actors and a patina of hipster cool, they part company when it comes to talent and freshness. The numerous marketing problems for this bizarre pop-culture artifact begin with the three-hour-plus running time and young auds' unfamiliarity with the format. But the B.O. strength of "Sin City" and "Kill Bill" alone suggests the helmers' loyal followings will produce a very potent opening frame, with fairly steep fall-off thereafter in the manner of most horror films.
The United States may be the only territory, however, where the whole shebang will come out as one feature, as each picture will be released separately in slightly longer versions overseas.

As genre rehabs go, "Grindhouse" is more daring and audacious than most, partly due to its conception as an entire program complete with two pictures, four tailor-made trailers and various for-real interstitial bits, but more so because of its stylistic fidelity to its source material. Hollywood cinema, from "Jaws" and "Star Wars" onward, is filled with B-movie material served in A-picture bottles, but Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" and Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" mean to reproduce the shot-on-the-run look and feel of genuinely down-and-dirty pics of 35 years ago, all the way to scratchy prints and missing scenes. One certain difference: Neither early George Romero nor the original "Gone in 60 Seconds" had seven-minute end credits scrolls listing things such as director's chef and greens gang bosses.

UPDATE: The NYP's Lou Lumenick adds some Grindhouse links and questions the Weinsteins' print campaign.

Grindhouse Premieres in L.A.

After all the Comic-Con build-up and rumors about length, rating and rushing to the finish line, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino delivered their salacious, leering, gross, disgusting, violent B-movie splatterfest in the nick of time to screen it Monday night at L.A.'s downtown movie palace The Orpheum. The movie hits theaters April 6.

The audience groaned and screamed and ducked in their seats with sheer pleasure throughout the three-hour running time. At the tent party afterwards the debates ranged on which trailers were best, was Rodriguez better than Tarantino, etc. It all depends on your own taste. You could argue that red-blooded males will love both, while more discerning males and women will vote for the Tarantino. But who knows?

The movie is broken into two 85-minute halves; one trailer (Machete) unspools in front of the first and three more (Rob Zombie's Werewolf Women of the SS, Edgar Wright's Don't and Eli Roth's Thanksgiving) in front of the second. Rodriguez's film, shot digitally, is a wild careening episodic crazy zombie flick with tongue planted firmly in cheek, artificially scratched and mauled to resemble the crap B-movies he and Tarantino are honoring. That the scene in which a mutating dripping gloppy Tarantino attempts to rape peg-legged femme fatale Rose McGowan (who comes off well in this flick, as does her stalwart gun-toting swain, Freddie Rodriguez) passed with an R-rating not only surprises me but Tarantino and Rodriguez as well. Check out their interviews on MTV.com. "Did you forget about the melting penis?" they ask incredulously.

As grungy and entertainingly gross as Rodriguez's Planet Terror is, Tarantino's Death Proof is sleek and 35 mm gorgeous, smartly written and paced. It delivers a satisfying female empowerment pay-off as Kurt Russell plays a bad guy who makes Snake Plissken look like a wimp and stuntwoman-turned-actress Zoe Bell (above, with the directors) delivers the goods in an extended (dangerous-looking) live-action chase sequence that leaves Thelma and Louise in the dust.

Print reviews should start breaking by week's end.

[Photo by Wireimage]

Grindhouse Review

Jeff Wells went to see Grindhouse Friday night; I'll report back from the Monday premiere.

Weinsteins Snip Grindhouse to Win R Rating

On the verge of their April 6 release, after several key snips the Weinstein Co. have earned an R rating for the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature, Grindhouse, reports the NYP. The two directors have been rushing to finish their lengthy two-movies-in-one in time for Monday's L.A. premiere.