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September 21 Disney May Not Be So “Marvel”ous After All, Johnny Depp May Not Do Captain Jack No MoreDisney May Not Be So “Marvel”-ous After All Disney recent $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Comics may cost them more than they bargained for. The heirs to the comic book artist Jack Kirby sent out 45 notices of copyright termination to both Marvel and Disney advising them of the heirs intent to regain copyright in 2014. Jack Kirby, who passed away in 1994, was a creator of many Marvel superheroes such as X-Men, Fantastic Four and Captain America. Other notices were sent to Paramount Pictures, Universal, 20th Century Fox and other companies that have been using Jack Kirby inspired characters. The heirs to Jack Kirby are being represented by the legal firm Toberoff & Associates, notable as the attorneys that won a court ruling last year that returned a share of the copyright to Superman to heirs of one of the character’s creators, Jerome Siegel. That ruling was overturned in July by a federal judge in Los Angeles. The Marvel rights are a pretty tangled web. Sony has the film rights to Spiderman in perpetuity. Fox has the movie rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchise. Paramount has a distribution agreement with Marvel for the Iron Man franchise and a few movies that Marvel is producing on its own. Hasbro has the toy rights to certain characters. Universal has Florida theme park rights to Spiderman and the Hulk and some other characters. The window for serving notice of termination on some of the oldest of Marvel owned properties opened several years ago and will remain open for some time under copyright law. Under current copyright law the heirs can begin a process to regain copyrights after a period of time after the original grant. This would mean that Kirby’s four children, as co-sharers would be entitled to a portion of film and other rights. They might also be able to sell rights to certain other characters without Marvel or Disney consent- or the consent of the other studios that have film rights to Marvel properties. Everyone except Disney refused to comment on the situation. In a brief statement Disney said ““the notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights 7 to 10 years from now, and involve claims that were fully considered in the acquisition.” Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/business/21marvel.html?th&emc=th Depp May Not Be a Pirate No More Everyone in Hollywood was very shocked and surprised when Dick Cook, head of the Disney Studios, announced his immediate resignation. Apparently Johnny Depp was the most surprised. Cook and Depp have developed a deep relationships over the years. It was Cook who was instrumental in wooing Depp to star in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Cook even supported Depp’s oddball interpretation of the Captain Jack Sparrow character to angry Disney executives who wanted him to change it or be replaced. In a phone interview from London Depp said "I didn't see this coming. There was no reason to see this coming." “I am shocked. . . and very sad.” "He's (Dick Cook) instantly trustworthy. And you generally don't meet people at the studios you trust," Depp said. "He's a rare beast." "When things went a little sideways on the first 'Pirates' movie and others at the studio were less than enthusiastic about my interpretation of the character, Dick was there from the first moment. He trusted me," continued Depp. Depp noted that Cook personally called him and told him about the news. “He said, 'I'd like you to hear it from me before you hear it from someone else or read it,'" Depp said. "He said today was my last day. He didn't give me a reason." Depp’s interest in doing a fourth pirate movie has now waned considerably. Deep noted that his deal for the film depends on both script approval and his passion for the project. "There's a fissure, a crack in my enthusiasm at the moment," Depp said. "It was all born in that office." Still, Depp is confident that Cook and himself will work again one day. "He will be somewhere and I will always look forward to working with him. I consider Dick a friend inside an insane system. He's someone I understand and I think he understands me." September 20 The “Disgrace “ of Being John Malkovich, Twilight’s Justin Chon Talks About Dark EclipseThe “Disgrace” of Being John Malkovich
An interesting article/interview with John Malkovich in the online magazine Salon tries to resolve the question of how an actor who essentially portrays the same role of an nasty, above it all snob can make it true and unique in every role he plays. Malkovich’s is currently starring in “Disgrace” a story about a Professor who must come to terms with the bad after effects of a student-teacher affair. It is based on the acclaimed novel by South African writer J.M. Coetzee and was made by the husband and wife team of the director Steve Jacobs and the writer Maria Monticelli. “I think a lot of times there's this idea that people only like the nice person, the hero, the person who does a good act, the person that can be relied on to save the day and do the right thing, etc.”, Malkovich states talking about his “Disgrace” character David Lurie with Salon film critic David O’Heir. “In fact, not many people are like that, so when they see someone like that in a film, they're actually watching something in a language they don't speak. Everybody knows deep down that there's some complexity and contradiction to them. Painted in a stark light, many of the things all of us do could have the same result: We see we're not heroic.” Malkovich theory on acting involves being entirely true to your character and not an idea. “When you play a character, you can't represent white, public-school-educated South Africans, or Afrikaners or whoever. You can just try to be a person,” he noted. Malkovich was a founding member of the famed Steppenwolf theatre troupe before he became a film actor. “I do a lot of theater, and it's so much simpler. Not the directing of the thing, but the fact that you don't have years and years of blah-blah-blah before. If I want to do a play, I just call someone in a town and say, "I'd like to do this, do you want to do it?" They read it a couple days later and say, Yeah, sure, let's do it. Can you do it in April?" I say, "I can't do it in April, can you do it in June?" And they say "Yeah," and that's it.” He notes that in theater “. . . you never dreamed of changing the material. In movies now, it wouldn't be at all weird to say, "You know, it's a good story and a good structure, but everything I say and half of what I do is garbage. Let's change it." See, that's something you just don't do in the theater. It's unimaginable. Once I started to avail myself of that possibility, then you're doing less things that you think are naff or useless, you know what I mean? You can have an impact on them.” “As an actor, you're just part of a machine. It's nicer when the machine seems to work well and is pleasant to be a part of, but the only thing that really matters is if the film is good. What really matters to me, though, is what the experience is like. Because I can't control how the film is. I want a good experience with people I like to be around, where I feel I've exercised with them, in good faith, to the best of my limited capabilities. But even if you don't do that you can make a good film. And even when you do do that, the film can be terrible. I've had that happen quite a few times.” “. . .But you get used to that as an actor. I've done a lot of movies. You go and see it -- for years, every time I saw a movie that I was in, my reaction would be, "Oh, that's what you wanted to make? Why didn't you say something?" In the theater, you know, you do it every night. It's always a little different, or a lot different. It's an organic, ephemeral thing, and I love that. Because it reminds me of life. You had to be there. And movies aren't at all like that. They're not organic, not ephemeral. That has its charm also.” Read more at http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2009/09/18/malkovich/index.html?source=rss&aim=/ent/movies/btm/feature Twilight’s Justin Chon Talks “Dark Eclipse” The third Twilight series film”Dark Eclipse” is currently shooting in Vancouver, Canada. It is being directed by David Slade (“30 Days of Nights”). In an interview with E! Online Justin Chon who plays Eric Yorkie talks about the darker difference director Slade is trying to impose on “Dark Eclipse”. "He's done pretty dark films so that's where I see [Eclipse] really gravitating towards—more of a dark kind of moody film," Chon said yesterday at BAFTA's pre-Emmy tea party. "Just shooting the scenes that I'm in, the mood is definitely different." "David is very set on how he wants this movie to be portrayed," Chon said. "It's a lot more refined and maybe not as loose as the last two—at least for us humans. I can only imagine what he's doing with everyone else." About his supernatural costar Robert Pattinson, Chon notes that there has been increase security precautions taken. Pattinson is living in a house while the production shoots. "Security has been increased a lot," Chon said. "They're a lot more protective…If Rob was to go out in public without anybody, I think it could be pretty dangerous." “It takes him (Pattinson) a lot more time to get in and out of places," Chon said. "But he doesn't get angry. He's handling things great." September 19 Toronto Film Fest Awards AnnouncedToronto Film Festival Awards Announced Taken directly from the TIFF site press releases area: http://www.tiff.net/livefromthefestival?newsId=67 The 34th Toronto International Film Festival announced its awards at the Awards Reception at the Intercontinental on Front Street today. Prizes Of The International Critics (Fipresci Prizes) Announced 2009 Fipresci 2009 FIPRESCI Prize includes Discovery and Special Presentations The FIPRESCI Jury at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival:
Diego Lerer, Clarin - Argentina - Jury President Toronto Fest Wrap Up, Disney Doesn’t Need This Cook, District 9’s Nigerian NightmareToronto Festival Wraps Up The Toronto Film Festival wraps up Sunday. Even though several films bowed to good Oscar buzz (“Bright Star”, “Up In the Air”, “Precious” ) the number of distribution deals announced during the festival is way down. Actors receiving good Academy Awards mention are George Clooney for “Up In the Air”, Robert Duvall for “Sweet Low”, Carey Mulligan for “An Education”, Gabourey Sibide for “Precious” and Anna Kendrick’s for her supporting role in “Up In the Air”. The rock n’ roll Vampire flick “Suck” and the Woody Harrelson superhero movie “Defendor” were among the few films who snagged deals. Still lacking a distributor is the opening night film “Creation”, about Charles Darwin and his struggle to write his treatise on evolution. "I anticipated a slow market, but I guess I was surprised. I thought there would be a few more deals closed by now," said Steven Beer an entertainment lawyer with Greenberg Traurig talking to Reuters reporter Cameron French. Weak demand and the still ongoing recession has kept the deal making down. "You'll see carnage from this film festival," David Garber, CEO of Lantern Lane Entertainment, told an industry round-table this week. "There are some very expensive movies there that are going to be wanting for distribution. And they'll make a deal that makes no real financial sense." Plunging DVD sales have also created fewer sources of financing for independent films. Distributors are cutting back the bigger budgeted movies and being more selective with their releases. "(This) is a permanent change," said Beer. "The cost of releasing films continues to escalate, so the risk factor is so considerable that the industry has become very conservative." Higher price actors are accepting lower pay deals. Rodrigo Garcia’s well received “Mother and Child” had the star power of Anette Bening, Naomi Watts and Samuel L. Jackson and just a mid mid $5-8 million dollar budget. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090918/film_nm/us_toronto_deals_1 Disney Doesn’t Need This Cook Walt Disney Studios Chief Dick Cook announced yesterday that he is resigning effective immediately. Cook had a four decade career with the company starting out in 1971 as a ride operator on the Disneyland steam train and monorail, becoming president of Buena Vista Pictures distribution in 1988 and chairman of the studio in 2002. "I have loved every minute of my 38 years that I have worked at Disney,” Cook said in his farewell speech. The latest slate of Disney Studio films like “Escape to Witch Mountain”, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “Bedtime Stories” have under performed at the box office. Cook said in a statement he's been contemplating leaving the studio for some time and will be moving on to "new adventures." It wasn't immediately known who would replace him. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090919/ap_en_mo/us_disney_studios_cook_8 District 9’s Nigerian Nightmare District 9 has been extended a no welcome sign in Nigeria. The movies portrayal of Nigerians as gangsters and cannibals has prompted Information Minister Dora Akunyili to ask movies houses in its capitol city of Abuja to stop playing the movie. District 9 features an overlord called Obesandjo (a play on the name of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo) who in one scene attempts to eat the arms of the film’s protagonist in order to gain his supernatural powers. Other scenes show Nigerian prostitutes courting alien johns. "We have directed that they should stop public screening of the film," Akunyili said in a statement. "We are not happy about it because it portrays Nigeria in bad light." "We have written to the producer and distributor of the film, Sony Entertainment, expressing our displeasure and demanded an apology," she said. "We have asked that the areas where Nigeria and Obasanjo are mentioned should be edited from the film." Corlize Luttig, marketing manager for the South African cinema chain Ster-Kinekor, who represent Sony in South Africa, said they had no comment on the request by Akunyili. Ster-Kinekor does not distribute to Nigeria, she said. The films portrayal of Nigerians has also rankled some bloggers. A Facebook page called "Nigerians Offended by 'District 9,'" had 57 members by Saturday. You can visit the link at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=265942795001&ref=search&sid=617571260.1011000781..1 Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090919/ap_en_mo/af_nigeria_district9_9 September 18 Toronto Buzz: Jean Pierre Jeunet “Micmacs”, Rodrigo Garcia “Mother and Child”, “Suck” Tries to Take a Bite Out of Twilight Saga, and Girls on FilmMore Toronto Film Festival Buzz and Notes
Jean-Pierre Jeunet the director of the charming “Amelie” has received good buzz for his latest piece of winsome absurdity “Micmacs a Tire-Larigot” about a man and his seven little friends (the movie was inspired somewhat by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) who come up with an intricate and original plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers. It stars the French comic Danny Boon and is told mainly in pantomime and with lots of sight gags. “Micmacs” will be released in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics. Krk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said “The script, written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, is a blueprint for complex cause-and-effect gags of increasing fantasy. In truth, the film is a tad exhausting. Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. But Boon holds it all together with gentle clumsiness and improvisational clowning.” http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090918/film_nm/us_film_micmacs_1 Norman Wilner of Now found it “. . .a giddy delight.” even though “. . .an attempt to get serious about land-mine awareness falls uncomfortably flat. . .” http://www.nowtoronto.com/tiff/listing_details.cfm?play_id=1930 Mike Goodridge of Screen Daily.com said “Micmacs is a pleasing original comedy with charm to spare: Jean Pierre Jeunet’s breeziest film to date, even as it delivers a strong message against landmines and arms dealing.” “. . .Micmacs has the added value of playing to a family audience and its ingenious plot machinations, imagination and broad humour will delight children as well as adults. After a mis-step with A Very Long Engagement, Jeunet is back on form with a pure entertainment that will find a very large audience.” http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/micmacs-micmacs-a-tire-larigot/5005842.article Rob Nelson of Variety noted “Turning the volume of his slapstick surreality down from 11 to 10, Gallic auteur Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("Amelie") hits the sweet spot with "Micmacs." The wacky tale of a brain-injured videostore clerk who brings down a pair of Parisian arms dealers with the help of some highly creative collectors of second-hand goods, "Micmacs" welds Jeunet's hyperactive imagination to the simpler structures of silent comedy and '40s-era studio capers, resulting in the director's most accessible work yet.” http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941112.html?categoryid=31&cs=1 “Suck” Doesnt Quite Take a Bite Out of Twilight
“Suck” a vampire movie and Twilight knockoff that follows a group of rock n’ roll wannabes in search of immortality and a record deal is getting some not so credible press in Toronto. It is directed by musician turned actor Rob Stefaniuk and features cameos from Alice Cooper, Dave Foley, Jessica Pare, Carole Pope, Moby and Iggy Pop. Malcolm Mcdowell also costars. Jessica Pare turn as the vampire bass player Jennifer is the only buzz worthy note. Maybe there be a “Twilight” part for her in the future? Barbara Goslawski of Boxoffice Magazine noted “ Suck is a great idea for a film—on paper. Trouble is, writer/director Rob Stefaniuk bites off more than he can chew in this star-studded rock ‘n’ roll fantasy vampire flick. Juggling conventions, skewering clichés and referencing genre cues, Stefaniuk packs the film with so many insider jokes that what could have been a wild ride simply isn’t.” http://boxoffice.com/reviews/2009/09/suck.php Barry Hertz of The National Post noted “All the ingredients for a subversive cult comedy are there, but nearly every joke falls flat. At least Stefaniuk was smart enough to cast the entrancing Paré, who makes the Twilight gang seem like gangly nerds.” http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2009/09/05/suck-1-star.aspx Jason Anderson of Eye Weekly remarked “. . .when a rock ’n’ roll horror comedy musical has so few laughs, a minimum of gore and such unremarkable songs, it’s hard not to feel that Suck is not what it oughta be. The satirical potshots at the music biz and the nondescript alt-rock tracks by the fictional band — with Stefaniuk as conflicted frontman and a fun Jessica Paré as the newly immortal bassist — feel a decade out of date and there’s way too little of the fun and fury found in like-minded efforts. . .” http://www.eyeweekly.com/tiff/article/71131 David D’ Arcy of Screendaily.com liked “Suck” enough to note “ While his directing indulges hamming and hokey humour (as in his 2004 feature debut, Phil the Alien), the comedy has a raunchy warmth that could draw in the audiences of Michel Gondry and John Waters, plus fans of rock satires from This is… Spinal Tap to Airheads. “. . as the vain skanky bass player who finds her true vocation lunching on the musical competition, Pare is wildly sexy in vampire-white pallor and throws back her lines with icy disdain.” http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/toronto/contemporary-world-cinema/suck/5005591.article Norman Wilner of Now enjoyed it and Pare enough to note that “Sure, it's a one-joke movie, but the joke is really funny, played out in every permutation imaginable by the deadpan Paré and her slack-jawed bandmates. (Stefaniuk's disappointed befuddlement every time she eats someone becomes its own running gag.)” http://www.nowtoronto.com/tiff/listing_details.cfm?play_id=1864
Rodrigo Garcia Is A Good Father to His “Mother and Child”
Rodrigo Garcia’s (Passengers) “Mother and Child”, a drama centered around three women: A 50-year-old woman, the daughter she gave up for adoption 35 years ago, and an African American woman looking to adopt a child of her own is getting good press for its director and cast. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, David Morse, Naomi Watts, Annette Bening and Jimmy Smits. From Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter: “Writer-director Rodrigo Garcia is a master of multiple narratives whose storylines often crisscross in unexpected ways. He deploys this strategy most effectively in "Mother and Child," a happy-sad tale of a mother and daughter, separated at birth, who struggle with the damage done. Some may find the film overly schematic, but Garcia smartly uses three parallel narratives to probe the extraordinary nature of motherhood.” http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090918/film_nm/us_film_mother_1 Tim Grierson of Screen International called it “Delicate, thoughtful and quietly absorbing, Mother And Child is above all things a wonder of good acting and finely-calibrated small moments. As with Nine Lives, writer-director Rodrigo Garcia populates his new drama with unpredictable, three-dimensional women, focusing on three characters living separate lives who may be more connected than we (or they) first realise. Mostly avoiding melodramatic contrivances, Mother And Child touches on themes of family, motherhood and destiny, looking fairly effortless in the process.” http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/toronto/gala-presentations/mother-and-child/5005718.article Todd McCarthy of Variety praised Jackson and Watts performance. “Garcia's filmmaking is discreet, fluid and straightforward, but the performances jump out by virtue of their nerve and honesty. Watts, so notable for her emotional availability as a performer, has never shown anything near the steeliness of her characterization here, a quality later set off by an extraordinary calm. Bening's performance similarly extends across a huge range with much shading in between as Karen struggles to improve a life dominated by regrets. But perhaps the biggest surprise is Jackson, for the first time in memory playing a regular guy instead of someone extreme, and doing so with unprecedented restraint and deliberation. It would be great to see more of where this comes from.” http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941105.html?categoryid=31&cs=1 Three Tough Girls and the Women Behind Them Three separate women directors have unspooled films that feature young women trying to come to terms with abuse or abandonment. “Crackie” from director Sherry White is about a young woman who tries to reconcile her feelings about her mother abandoning her a few years back by befriending a little dog (a crackie as the local town folks call it). But, The dog won’t reciprocate her friendship. The film was shot on the remote Canadian island of New Foundland were White was born and raised. "There are those people who don't have a voice, who don't seem to have anything to say,"White said in an interview about how she came to make the film. "But it's just that no one is listening." "The film is about looking for connection, that connection you have with your mother," White said. "Mitsy is spending her life looking for that connection and it is right there in front of her. Because she doesn't have it with her real mother, she can't see it's with the woman who raised her.", White noted later. In “The Unloved”, a first time film from the actress Samantha Morton, and based on her own childhood experiences, an 11-year old Lucy (Molly Windsor) is taken from her unstable and abusive father and placed in a group home. She shares a room with a 16-year old who inducts her into a world of shoplifting, drugs and prostitution. “Precious”, also the debut feature for Lee Daniels and based on the Sapphire novel “Push” about a young woman growing up with a mentally and physically abusive mother and a father who raped her two times- each time resulting in a pregnancy, has Oprah Winfrey as an executive producer. "I recognized myself in that character," noted Oprah in an interview. "Most of all I have seen the 'precious' girls of the world and they have been invisible to me," she said, echoing "Crackie" director Sherry White. "The 'Preciouses' of the world deserve to be heard and deserve a voice." September 17 “New Moon" Starts Selling Out Theaters, “Love Happens" May Not Happen, Toronto BuzzNew Moon Is Selling Out Some Venues “The Twilight Saga:New Moon” won’t be released for at least another nine weeks, yet a number of its early showings are selling out. Online ticket seller Fandango is reporting that at least a dozen showings of the new Twilight saga movie are totally bought up. A company spokesman noted in a recent article, that New Moon sales make for 57% of Fandango’s recent online ticket activity. The runner up, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” has an only 9% percent share. In an online survey conducted by MovieTicekts.com “New Moon” came in second as the most anticipated movie of the fall season, with 33% percent. The number one: the James Cameron directed 3-D sci-fi flick “Avatar” with 67%. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090917/film_nm/us_twilight_1.
“Love Happens” May Not Happen
The new Jennifer Aniston film “Love Happens” may not happen at all if two disgruntle writers get their way. The writers, Greg Crowder and Tony Freitas say they presented Universal with a idea for a dark love story called “Truth”. The studio asked for a rewrite and the writers refused. Crowder and Freitas are claiming that Universal reworked their idea into the Jennifer Aniston-Aaron Eckhart romantic comedy which opens on Friday. Crowder and Freitas filed suit a few days ago trying to block the movie’s opening. They are asking for a $100 million in compensation. The two writers really don’t have much of a chance of winning or stopping “Love Happens” release. Ideas can’t be copyrighted, only specific expression of ideas. Universal will eventually win proving that the two screenplays are more dissimilar than similar.
Toronto Buzz
The Drew Barrymore directed Ellen Page starring roller derby drama “Whip It” is getting very postive buzz. Peter Brunette of The Hollywood Reporter called it “. . . Some old material given a delightful new grrrl-power twist.” Rob Nelson of Variety noted “. . .Whip It greatly benefits from Barrymore’s breezy approach and her large female cast’s camaraderie.” Rob Nelson of Variety noted that it was “. . .Laced with good-natured hipster kitsch and endearingly goofy girl power, director Drew Barrymore's roller-derby dramedy, Whip It, is a gas.” “Whip It” opens everywhere on October 2.
The Michael Cera starring “Youth in Revolt” is also getting good Toronto reviews. “Youth in Revolt” is adpated from the C.D. Payne novel “The Journals of Nick Twisp” about a teenager searching for the perfect woman to lose his virginity to. The Hollywood Reporter’s Sheri Linden noted “. . . The collision of adolescent hormones and parental folly, hardly new cinematic territory, gets a bracing absurdist slant in Youth in Revolt.” Peter Deburge of Variety said “. . .Cera and his gifted comic co-stars elevate the mediocre source material into a semi-iconic coming-of-age story.” Chris Bumbray of JoBlo’s Movie Emporium called Cera’s performance his “. . .best work since ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.” Youth in Revolt opens nationwide on October 30. September 16 Fantasyland Goes Into Rehab Until 2013, Harry Potter to Muggle His World to Universal Orlando in Spring 2010Fantasyland Goes Into Rehab Until 2013 Last week the Disney empire had its shining moments in the sun with the D23 convention held at the Anaheim Convention center. The mouse opened the company vaults and let loose an exhibit featuring thousands of props and costumes and other Disney memorabilia. There were the usual announcements of upcoming Disney movies and new series featured on the mouse owned ABC. John Travolta, Nicolas Cage and a surprise appearance by Johnny Depp in Captain Jack Sparrow garb were the highlights. On the last day of the Convention it was announced that Fantasyland will undergo a major rehabilitation that will debut in 2013. The details announced so far include a newer and darker Little Mermaid attraction, a doubling of the size of the Dumbo the flying elephant ride and the elimination of Toontown. The rest of the expansion will include a Pixies and Princesses area. Ariel, Belle and Sleeping Beauty will all have their own castles for meeting and greeting visitors to their kingdom. Tinkerbell will also get her very own Fairy Hollow area. The following leaked blueprint as well as Universal announcement of its grand opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Spring 2010 prompted the official announcement of more details at the D23 Expo.
The mouse displayed some concept art with the announcement.
Read more at http://thedisneyblog.com/2009/09/12/d23-confirms-fantasyland-expansion-rumors/ and http://thedisneyblog.com/2009/07/17/magic-kingdom-fantasyland-expansion-plans-leaked/.
Harry Potter to Muggle Universal Spring 2010
Universal Orlando announced that The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is set for a Spring 2010 debut. A list of all the attractions and restaurants were revealed:
Attractions Food Shops Check out the cool fly over video of the attraction with artist renderings of the rides, shops and restaurants: Read more at: http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/harry-potter-wizardi-5374/ and http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/business/media/16harry.html?partner=rss&emc=rss. September 15 Remembering Patrick Swayze, More Toronto BuzzRemembering Patrick Swayze While everyone remembers Patrick Swayze as the consummate gentlemen, I would like to remember him in the only way I came to know him and like him- as an actor. Here are my top five performances of Patrick Swayze: (No comment on any of them, because the performances speak for themselves.) 1. Ghost…. Sam Wheat 2. Dirty Dancing…Johnny Castle 3. City of Joy… Max Lowe 4. Point Break…Bodhi 5. Tiger Warsaw….Chuck “Tiger” Warsaw Let me know yours. Leave it in the comment area.
More Toronto Buzz
Scott Hicks who directed the wonderful “Shine” is back to form with “The Boys Are Back”, a weepy about a sportswriter who becomes a single parent to two boys upon the tragic death of his wife. It stars Clive Owen. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter noted: “Hicks builds the comic drama in meticulously observed, measured sequences from Cubitt's well-thought-out script. He is alert enough to the surrounding landscape to frame his story with wonderful images (courtesy of cinematographer Greig Fraser) of the family's rural home, nearby seaside, kids' play areas, sports arenas and, in the U.K. sequences, a boarding school and rugby pitch. You enjoy just looking at this film.” “Never does anything feel forced or contrived. Life, as this memoir reminds, can offer plenty of drama that need not abide by fictional formulas or genre conventions.” Justin Chang of Variety noted: “. . . Hicks here delivers an intimately scaled character piece that many will consider his finest work since 1996's "Shine." Besides an intuitive feel for contempo parent-child dynamics, embracing the sweet, still moments as well as the raucous ones, the filmmaker evinces an adroit sense of dramatic balance, generously coaxing emotion from the material without pushing too hard.” Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090915/film_nm/us_film_boys_1.
Atom Egoyan’s “Chloe” starring Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson is getting good early buzz and hints that it might be the Canadian master director’s big commercial break-out film. Liam Neeson was in the middle of filming when the tragic ski accident that took the life of his wife, Natasha Richardson occurred. The story about a wife who hires an escort (Amanda Seyfried) to seduce her husband, whom she suspects of cheating, though unforeseen events put the family in danger, is a remake of the 2003 French film “Nathalie” which starred Gerard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant. Michael Rechtshaffen said “Egoyan. . . expertly counterbalances the film's heated impulses with the cool visual sophistication of the angular, sparse production design.” Amanda Seyfried performance as Chloe is getting good Oscar buzz. Rechtshaffen noted, “But it's Seyfried ("Big Love," "Mamma Mia!") who makes a major impression here, adeptly navigating the twists and turns of her character's not-so-apparent motivations.” Seyfried other film in Toronto is the Diablo Cody scripted “Jennifer’s Body. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090915/film_nm/us_film_chloe_2.
Michael Moore Hints That There Will Be No More “Moore” Michael Moore is crowing that “Capitalism: A Love Story” will be the end of the love affair between him and documentaries. "I'm saying it's a possibility,” Moore said in an interview. The record for Moore the ‘artiste’ is not a good one. His only fiction venture was writing the screenplay and directing the commercial and critical dud “Canadian Bacon” which starred John Candy in his last role. The two screenplays Moore is currently finishing probably aren’t going to cause a bidding war. Moore reflects in the interview "I've done this for 20 years. I started out by warning people about General Motors, and my whole career has been trying to say the emperor has no clothes here, and we better do something about it," Moore said. "I've been having to sort of knock my head against the wall here for 20 years saying these things.” Moore continues “"Look, I love the movies, I love going to the movies, and I love making movies. I think making a good movie is about telling a good story, and you can do that through fiction or nonfiction," Moore said. "I've made a body of work of nonfiction that I'm very proud of, and like any filmmaker, I'm looking for different challenges, and things that will keep me interested and excited about what I'm doing." “. . ."I think people will be maybe somewhat disappointed because there's so many things we need to deal with right now, and they wish I would make a film about it. But I want other people to make those films," Moore said. "I am tired of feeling like I'm doing this alone. All through the eight years of Bush, you Google `Bush' and `nemesis' and I'm the first name up. And there aren't a whole lot of other names," Moore said. "It doesn't work with Michael Moore and Sean Penn and Ted Kennedy and a few others. The people have got to get involved in their democracy." Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_en_ot/cn_film_michael_moore_1. September 14 Trailer Parks for Jackson’s “Ths Is It” and “A Christmas Carol”, The New Chips Off the Old Blocks, Toronto Buzz, Kristen Stewart Didn’t Really “Do” ItThe Trailer Park Two cool new trailers were released today. Heading the list is the promo for the Michael Jackson rehearsal footage film cobbled together under “This Is It”.
The Robert Zemeckis capture motion animated spectacular “A Christmas Carol” also released a new trailer. Jim Carrey plays the part of Scrooge and all three ghosts that visit him. Gary Oldman also does triple duty by providing the capture animation for Bob Cratchet, Marley and Tiny Tim (voice of Tiny Tim care of Ryan Ochoa).
Toronto Festival Buzz
The new Ricky Gervais comedy about a dishonest man caught in an honest universe is getting some mixed buzz. Michael Rechtshaffen said: “The first half-hour of "The Invention of Lying," co-directed and co-written by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson, is so sharply fresh, clever and laugh-out-loud hilarious that you can't help but wonder how they'll sustain it for another hour.” To be honest, they can't. But even when it's merely mildly amusing, this inspired parable, set in a parallel universe where only the truth is spoken, is so wittily winsome you'll readily cut Gervais and Robinson some slack if they don't quite succeed in going the distance.” A mild pan came from Edward Douglas from comingsoon.net. “The movie itself probably could have been better, because the production values leave something to be desired--this is a fairly bland and ordinary-looking film--and it doesn't take long for it to expend its high concept premise of a world where everyone tells the truth, except Ricky's character Mark, a screenwriter who has figured out how to lie and quickly uses it to his advantage.” Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090914/en_nm/us_film_lying_1 and http://www.comingsoon.net/news/torontonews.php?id=59074#4.
“Precious” the film adaptation of the Sapphire novel “Push” which has Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry as executive producers and an assured directing debut from Lee Daniels is getting a universally positive reception from critics. It has an astonishing 100% tomatometer rating at rottentomatoes.com. The story about a black girl who overcomes crushing abuse and low expectations is generating some Oscar buzz for Daniels and Mo’Nique who costars as the girl’s abusive and angry mother. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090914/en_nm/us_toronto_precious_2.
The New Chips Off the Old Blocks The new generation of filmmakers arising from their parents are starting to express themselves and their visions. Jason Reitman (“Juno”, “Thank You for Smoking”) is the son of the Director Ivan Reitman (“Meatballs”, Ghost Busters”, “Stripes”). The younger Reitman is generating positive Oscar buzz for his “Up in the Air” which stars George Clooney as an executive whose job is to fire people that other executives don’t have the nerve to fire. Jordan Scott the daughter of Ridley Scott (“Alien”, “Gladiator”) has her directing debut “Cracks” , a “Lord of the Flies” tale set in an elite British boarding school during the 1930s premiering later this week. "It's as hard for us as anyone else," she said. "(Directing) is a tough thing to do no matter who you are. You still have to be the person who makes the film, you still have to get financing for the film, you have to go though all the steps everybody else has to. And if people don't want it, they don't want it and there's nothing you or anyone can do." Another boarding school drama “Tanner Hall” directed by Francesca Gregorini and Tatiana von Furstenberg is also making a Toronto premier. Tatiana is the daughter of designer Diane von Furstenberg. Her step-father is Barry Diller, the former chairman of Paramount Pictures. Francesca is the daughter of the actress Barbara Bach and the step-daughter of The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. "Directing is risky and scary, for everyone, but especially if you have a loaded background," Francesca said in a interview. "The bar is set so high for kids from the kids of this background. When the Beatles are your bar, why bother getting out of bed? But you have to. It's your life and you have to claim your place." Here’s hoping that their influence and success exceeds their parents and their grasp. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090914/en_nm/us_toronto_kids_1.
Kristen Stewart Didn’t Really “Do” It
Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images The new shorter haircut that matched the nice Valentino dress Kristen Stewart was wearing to the MTV Video Awards actually was a Bella Wig held together by some well placed pins and nothing more. Stewart thought she would look nicer in the Valentino dress with short hair. The mullet she has been sporting around town lately is still there, a production requirement for the new Joan Jett Biopic “Runaway” that is still in early shooting. September 12 New New Moon Trailer, Venice Golden Lion Award News, George Clooney Is “Up in the Air”New New Moon Trailer Ok for those rabid Twilight fans hungry for some new blood on “New Moon” here is the brand new trailer. Enjoy! Award Winners Announced at Venice Fest The Venice Film Festival just ended and here is the list of award winners: Golden Lion: “Lebanon” directed by Samuel Maoz Highlights from Maoz’s acceptance speech: "I dedicate this award to the thousands of people all over the world who, like me, come back from war safe and sound," the director told the closing ceremony in Venice. "Apparently they are fine, they work, get married, have children. But inside, the memory will remain stabbed in their soul." Best Screenplay: Life During Wartime written and directed by Todd Solondz Silver Lion for Best Director: Sheran Neshat for “Woman Without Men” Neshat mentioned in her acceptance speech: "This film speaks to the people of Iran fighting to find democracy and it speaks to the government of Iran," she said. "I plead to this government to give the people what they should have -- basic human rights, freedom and democracy," she added, wearing a green bracelet to symbolize the color of recent street protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.” Best Actor: Colin Firth for “A Single Man” directed by Tom Ford. Firth noted in his acceptance speech: "It was a very personal journey for Tom, he trusted me with something that was very important for him, and it became very important for me," Firth said on the red carpet.” Best Actress: Ksenia Rappoport for “La Doppia Ora” directed by Gusieppe Capotondi Special Jury Prize for Comedy: “Soul Kitchen” directed by Faith Akin Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090912/en_nm/us_venice_winner_6. Clooney and “Up in the Air” Early Oscar Fav Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” starring George Clooney is getting some early good reviews and awards buzz after its debut at The Telluride Film Festival. The film is about a man (Clooney) who spends most of his time in the air as he flies from company to company to fire people whenever executives lack the nerve to do it themselves. Excerpts from Stephen Farber’s review: “. . . The character is just about as unsavory as the corporate pimp played by Jack Lemmon in Wilder's "The Apartment." When a character begins as such a sleazeball, you know there must be a moral transformation lurking somewhere in the last reel. That redemption never quite arrives for Clooney's Ryan Bingham, which is one of the things that makes "Air" so bracing. . .” “. . . Before the movie plunges into deeper waters, it seduces us with some of the most darkly hilarious moments to grace the screen in years. Clooney's crack comic timing makes the most of Ryan's acrid zingers as he savors a life without the vaguest threat of commitment. . .” “. . . Reitman is a rare director with heart as well as sardonic humor, but he always knows when to pull back. There is only one false note -- a montage sequence near the end in which several of the people fired by Ryan burble about their love for their families -- that simply restates the obvious. But if this tiny gaffe reveals a touch of insecurity on Reitman's part, the rest of the film is perfectly controlled. “The entire cast is splendid. A couple of "Juno" alumni pop up: Jason Bateman is the smarmy boss who makes Ryan look humane, and J.K. Simmons has a single scene that proves just how much a master actor can convey in two or three minutes of screen time. The razor-sharp editing by Dana Glauberman gives the film a breezy momentum even while it's delivering piercing social insights. Holding everything together is Clooney, who bravely exposes the character's ruthlessness while also allowing us to believe in his too-late awakening to the possibilities he's missed. It's rare for a movie to be at once so biting and so moving. If Ryan's future seems bleak, there's something exhilarating about a movie made with such clear-eyed intelligence.” Watch the trailer:
Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090912/en_nm/us_film_up_1. Captain Jack is Back- Honest Injun!, Disney Yellow Submarine, Milley Cyrus Is Losing It, Lauren Bacall Gets an OscarDisney Expo Happenings Captain Jack Is Back- Honest Injun! The D23 Expo of Disney fanatics congregating at the Anaheim Convention Center this week continue to be sparkled with pixie dust announcements and magical surprise star appearances. Perhaps the biggest announcement came yesterday afternoon when Johnny Depp showed up in full pirate regalia and a floating pirate ship to herald the next installment of The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It is to be titled “Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides” and will come out summer of 2011. Depp of course, will be reprising his role as Captain Jack Sparrow. Welcomed with a standing ovation, Depp in full Sparrow character staggered around the stage, made a few jokes and embraced Dick Cook, The Walt Disney Studios chairman who announced the news. Cook also announced that Depp would play Tonto in a new big screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger. Depp appeared after a presentation by the muppets which featured Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog announcing the new “Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever”. “I’m looking for a talking frog,” Depp mumbled to the huge crowd. “I like frogs.” Then, just as quickly he was gone. You can catch some of the video here http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b143763_pirates_4_gets_stranger_title_2011.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories. Disney Wants a “Yellow Submarine” Also announced at the D23 expo is a 3-D remake of “Yellow Submarine” to be directed by Robert Zemeckis using the same motion capture animation he used for “The Polar Express”, “Beowulf” and the upcoming “A Christmas Carol” Which features Jim Carrey in eight separate roles. It will incorporate sixteen songs and recordings from the original 1968 original animated film directed by George Dunning about the Fab Four’s encounter with a peaceful underwater community that is being attacked by The Blue Meanies. No casting announcements have been made. The original featured Beatles songs but no Beatles voices. They were skillfully done by voice substitutes. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090911/film_nm/us_submarine_1. Miley Cyrus is Losing It! John Travolta, Johnny Depp, and NicolasCage each received huge standing ovations from the D23 crowd. When Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana showed up wearing teensy white shorts and long ivory boots to sing The Hanna Montana Song “The Climb” and talked about her new movie coming out in January 2010 she received no standing ovation. According to the Entertainment Weekly reporters covering the D23 expo the crowd was eerily quiet during the whole presentation. As the E! Online site noted in a blog entry “Maybe the chill in the air was because Miley has been distancing herself from her wholesome Disney-produced image in this past year? Between her pole-dancing, topless snaps and racy magazine covers Miley's been acting as though she's gotten all the mileage she wanted out of her squeaky-clean persona and wants to move in a sexier, more adult direction. But will the fans follow?”
Lauren Bacall Finally Gets Her Oscar The Academy has decided to honor Lauren Bacall with an honorary Oscar. The 84 year old screen legend who once was married to Humphrey Bogart has been only nominated one time in her career. She received a nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1996 “For the Mirror Has Two Faces”. Bacall and Bogart appeared in more than thirty films together, the first being her screen debut at in 1944 at age 19 in “To Have and Have Not”. The Board of Governors also voted to award honorary Oscars to producer and director Roger Corman and cinematographer Gordon Willis, and to give the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial award to producer and movie executive John Calley. All four will receive their awards on November 14 at an event in Hollywood. Organizers of the Oscars created the event to hand out those statues ahead of the Academy Awards in March and ease the time crunch for the telecast of the glitzy show. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090911/en_nm/us_bacall_1. September 11 Film Festival Notes, Disney Says No to Eo, Hancock and True Grit Sequels Are a GoMore Festival Notes and News Venice Films getting generally good reviews and mentions for the Golden Lion are Todd Soldonz’s “Life During Wartime”, Israeli director Samuel Maoz’s “Lebanon”, Michael Moore’s new agitprop documentary “Captialism: A Love Story”, and designer Tom Ford’s debut feature “A Single Man”. Also mentioned, though it received mixed reviews is John Hillcoat’s “The Road” and Austrian director Jessica Hausner’s “Lourdes”. Iranian filmmaker Hana Makhmalbaf’s “Green Day” and Filipino director Brillante Mendoza’s “Lola” are also drawing good buzz. The films this year are better than the slightly disappointing bunch that competed for The Golden Lion in 2008. "Speaking as a critic, the films are definitely something to watch this year,” noted Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter. “Lebanon” seeks to recreate the claustrophobia and fear of being a 20-year-old draftee involved in the 1982 war by having most of its action occur inside the bowels of a tank. Director Samuel Maoz was so traumatized by his war experience it took him 25 years to muster the nerve to write and direct the film. “Life During Wartime” is widely seen as a sequel to Soldonz’s “Happiness” because it follows the further dramas and errors of the dysfunctional Jordan clan. Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” was adapted from a Christopher Isherwood novel about a gay professor mourning his lover’s death. It stars Colin Firth whose performance is being mentioned for Best Actor recognition. Tom Ford is the designer credited with turning around the Gucci fashion empire after the death of modus vivendi Rodolfo Gucci in 1982. "I think most people come to the point in their life where they realize that maybe everything they had been working toward isn't really ultimately making them happy," said Ford in an interview. "I think in our culture we are always living in the future, we're always thinking, 'when I get this house I'm going to be happy ... when I get that girl I'm going to be happy, when I get those shoes I'm going to be happy.' That's really the point of the movie, to live in the present." Hana Makhmalbaf’s “Green Day” focuses on the build up to the June national elections in Iran. The 21-year old blends fictional recreations with raw footage, most of it captured on cell phone cams because of government imposed restrictions on independent and foreign media. Included is the sad and haunting death of Neda Agha-Soltan , the young woman who became a symbol of opposition protest. Makhmalbaf had to leave Iran after the vote because the government wanted to arrest her. She had to finish the film at a secret location in Italy to avoid Iranian censorship. "I wanted to show the reality of what is happening in Iran ... the hopes people had in those days,” Makhmalbaf said in an interview. The main character of the film is a 20-year old female playwright suffering from depression. She represents the new lost generation of Iranian youth whose voice is being squelched and its aspirations circumscribed. Ava confronts former president Mohammad Khatami, who has thrown his weight behind Mirhossein Mousavi, at an election rally. "What have you done with my hopes?" she shouts. Brillante Mendoza’s “Lola” , which literally means grandmother in Tagalog, is a story of two elderly and poor women who bear the consequences of a murder involving their grandsons. One son is the victim and the other is the alleged killer. The film is shot in a very documentary style. "When you live in the Philippines and you are exposed to this kind of story every day, it is not difficult to show it in your work. I wanted to show it in a very natural and very spontaneous way, like you are watching life right in front of you,” Mendoza said in an interview. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090911/en_nm/us_iran_1 and http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090911/ap_en_mo/eu_italy_venice_tom_ford_2 and http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090911/film_nm/us_venice_ford_1 and http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090911/film_nm/us_venice_philippines_1. Also http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090911/film_nm/us_venice_2 . Toronto Woman directors are taking the early recognition and possible awards spotlight in Toronto. The Diablo Cody scripted, Kary Kusama (Dog Fight) directed “Jennifer’s Body” starring the sexy Megan Fox as a literal man-eating she-demon was sold out two hours after its tickets went on sale. The premier was raucous and well received. Jane Campion’s (The Piano) “Bright Star” is also getting good buzz and awards mention. The film is a romance about the poet John Keats and his muse Fanny Brawne, starring Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish. Danish director Lone Scherfig’s (Just Like Home) “An Education”, an offbeat romance starring Peter Sarsgaard and Carey Mulligan with a genial script by Nick Hornby is also generating good word of mouth. It premiered at last weekend’s Telluride Festival and is scheduled to be on the slate at The London Film Festival in October. Nikki Caro’s (Whale Rider) “The Vinter’s Luck”, a historical drama about a winemaking family, is scheduled to be screen later this week. Also the Drew Barrymore directed roller derby drama “Whip It Up” is having its premier Sunday. Another female director with a much anticipated film is Rebecca Miller (The Ballad of Jack and Rose) with “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” a comedy about early retirement, infidelity and female self-discovery, starring Robin Wright, Keanu Reeves and Alan Arkin. The actress Samantha Morton will also present her directing debut “The Unloved”, a child’s eye view drama about the British run orphanage system satrring Robert Carlyle. Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/movies/11women.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss.
The number of dramas seeking distributors is down at Toronto this year. The opening film “Creation” about Charles Darwin’s struggle to write his famous treatise on evolution has yet to find a distributor. Canadian master filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s “Chloe” about a jealous wife who hires an escort to test her husband’s fidelity, has yet to find a screening venue beyond Canada. Oliver Parker’s Dorian Gray is still stuck on the wall gathering dust, the victim of mixed early reviews. The ongoing recession has audience flocking to comedies and escapist fantasies making it harder for good dramas to find a profitable audience. "If you're making a movie about a dead, bald Englishman, you're not making a movie that even the indie distributors are flocking to buy these days,"Creations” director Jon Amiel said in an interview. "There are just many, many movies that American audiences are not going to see." "There's a real conservative attitude (and) dramas are viewed as risky in today's marketplace," said Steven Beer, an entertainment attorney with law firm Greenberg Traurig. Producers and filmmakers are being forced to downsize the budget for dramas. They are being marketed with grass roots campaign targeted at specific audience groups likely to see them. The recent drop in DVD sales is also curtailing demands for more serious cinematic fare. "These have always been tough movies and they'll always be tough movies. In a tough economic climate perhaps even tougher, which is why those models have to change," said Tom Ortenberg, president of theatrical films at The Weinstein Company. "You're going to have a lot of buyers coming to Toronto that are a lot more cautious than in the past, and I think that that's something that is different," said Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090911/en_nm/us_toronto_dramas_1.
A mini war is brewing over the festival’s decision to sponsor a sidebar about the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. It all started when Canadian born filmmaker John Greyson decided to withdraw his short film from the festival because the Tel Aviv sidebar had the sanctioning of the festival’s adjudicating body. On August 28 supporters of Greyson’s boycott declared their suport for his decision in an open letter known as “The Toronto Declaration”. Those who have signed the letter include Julie Christie, Viggo Mortenson, Harry Belafonte and noted author and activist Noam Chomsky. The group is calling their own news conference today to reveal an additional 1,000 actors/directors who also support and agree with The Toronto Declaration. The Tel Aviv sidebar has the support of the directors David Cronenberg, Ivan Reitman and Norman Jewison and the actress Minnie Driver. "Empowered groups of people, deciding whose stories can, and cannot be told, does nothing but remind us of oppression that has no place in filmmaking," Minnie Driver said in a statement. Reitman added in his own statement: "Film is essentially about telling global stories, of exploring the complexities and contradictions of the human condition. Any attempt to silence that conversation, to hijack the festival for any political agenda in the end, only serves to silence artistic voices." The Israel Film Fund, which helped bring the 10 Israeli filmmakers to Toronto to be part of the controversial Tel Aviv showcase, plans a gathering on Sunday evening at the Isabel Baeder Theater to rally support around the film sidebar. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090911/film_nm/us_toronto_protest_1.
Disney Says No to Eo Among the thousands of pieces of Disneyana being displayed at the D23 expo are the costumes Michael Jackson wore in Captain Eo. The 1986 Francis Ford Coppola directed musical about a crew of a spaceship on a mission to see a wicked Queen played by Angelica Huston was an Orlando/Anaheim theme park staple in the late 80’s and Early 90’s. The film was pulled when Jackson’s popularity ebbed with the accusation of childhood molestation charges. Since the King of Pops death, Captain Eo has undergone an internet renaissance. Some websites speculated and pleaded with Disney honchos to bring it back. Robert Iger and other Disney executives recently viewed the film and voiced two objections for a theme park revival of the film: the special effects are dated and that Jackson face and skin color have changed since then. At a news conference Iger announced that “There aren't plans to bring back 'Captain EO' at this time." "We are looking at it. It's the kind of thing that, if we did it, would get a fair amount of attention and we'd want to make sure we do it right." Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090911/en_nm/us_disney_jackson_1.
More “Hancock” and “True Grit” to Come Will Smith, Charlize Theron and original director Peter Berg are all reportedly signed, sealed, delivered and eager for a“Hancock” sequel. The original flew to a superhuman $628 million worldwide box office. At the end of “Hancock” it was revealed that Smith and Theron were immortal gods who became mortal when near each other. Expect a well known actor to play the third immortal in the sequel. "We have [someone in mind]," Berg said. "I'm not gonna tell you who, but we have!"
Not only do the Coen brothers want to do a “True Grit” sequel, they want Jeff (The Big Lebowski) Bridges to star in the role that got John Wayne a Best Actor Oscar in 1969. The Charles Portis novel about a young woman who hires a drunken U.S. Marshall to avenge her daddy’s murder was more comic and told through a female point of view. As long as they don’t go bowling, it might just work. September 10 Creation Takes Hold of Toronto, Chevron Hates “Crude"“Creation” Takes Hold of Toronto
The opening night film of The Toronto Film Festival “Creation”, the story of Charles Darwin and his struggle to form the theory of evolution, got a glowing review from Ray Bennett of the Hollywood Reporter. Bennett says its “. . . an intelligent, touching depiction of a brilliant man who's sure of his scientific skills but tormented not only by remorse over the loss of a beloved child but also by the realization that he has lost his faith.” “. . . It is shot beautifully and boasts performances by Paul Bettany as Darwin and his real-life wife, Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, as Darwin's wife, Emma, that should attract awards attention.” “. . . Working from the book "Annie's Box," by Darwin's great-great-grandson Randal Keynes, screenwriter John Collee shows the scientist as a fully engaged husband and father who buckles under the weight of his daughter Annie's death, for which he blames himself.” “. . . Thanks to the writing, pacing and Bettany's nuanced performance, it is one of the best delineations of intellectual and emotional struggle seen on film in many a year. The actor's scenes with Annie and Emma have an extraordinary tenderness that grips the heart just as Darwin's scientific dilemma engages the brain. West is unaffected and winning as the girl, and Connelly, with a perfect English accent, shows the wife's anguish as well as her undying loyalty.” “. . . Amiel's greatest achievement is that "Creation" is a deeply human film with moments of genuine lightness and high spirits to go with all the deep thinking.” Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090910/film_nm/us_film_creation_1.
Chevron Hates “Crude” “Crude” is striking fear in the heart of the oil giant Chevron. Crude is a documentary about a $27 billion dollar lawsuit filed against the company on behalf of residents of Ecuador’s Amazon. The suit alleges that Texaco, which was bought by Chevron in 2001, dumped billions of gallons of polluted water in the jungle for more than two decades before the company left Ecuador in the early 1990s. The 30,000 Ecuadorians who live near the dump site are shown washing their clothes in the polluted water. Their children have developed full body rashes, birth defects and the adults suffer with higher incidents of cancer and other diseases. Trudie Styler and her husband Sting are highlighted in the documentary. They founded the Rainforest Foundation which has the goal ”. . . To preserve rainforests and the indigenous people who live in them” as their mission statement. Styler recalls her visit to the area. “Before you're smelling things, your eyes start to prick and to have a burning sensation and the closer you get to ... these contaminated areas where people are being forced to live, your nostrils fill up ... your saliva gets the taste of petroleum in it as well ... and then 20 minutes later you're getting this horrible headache.” Chevron denies responsibility for the contamination. It produced a video tape that allegedly shows that the Ecuadorean judge involved in the case taking a bribe. Denying any wrong doing, the judge excused himself from the case. The director Joe Berlinger (“Paradise Lost”, “Brothers Keeper”, Metalica: Some Kind of Wonderful”) spent four years capturing the efforts of the plaintiff’s attorneys, Pablo Fajardo (a former oilfield worker) and his American consultant Steven Donzinger as they pursued the case from American to Ecuadorian court rooms. In an interview with Andrew O’Heir of Slant Berlinger says, “. . . I can't tell you whether Chevron has wrapped itself up in enough legalese to prevail in that lawsuit. But I can tell you that some things are larger than the lawsuit, and that the moral responsibility lies at their door. You don't go into somebody's backyard and treat it the way they treated it. I don't care about the legality.” “. . . Here was the big epiphany for me in making this movie -- it seemed like that was something that happened in the distant past, but the reality is that multinational corporations of the late 20th century, particularly in the extractive industries, are just the modern-day continuation of this shameful treatment of indigenous people. The Chevron lawyer in the film says, "People shouldn't be living here. This is an industrial zone." No, sorry. People have been living here for millennia. So I think this is an advocacy film. It's an advocacy film on behalf of indigenous people. . .” Watch the official trailer for “Crude”:
Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090910/film_nm/us_chevron_ecuador_crude_4 and http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2009/09/10/crude/index.html?source=rss&aim=/ent/movies/btm/feature. September 09 London Fest announces lineup, Oliver Stone talks Wall Street 2London Film Festival Announces Lineup The 53rd Times BFI London Film Festival announced its lineup. The opening night film is Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, an animated adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic about a family of foxes who evade a farmer’s attempts to exterminate them. Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Wilem Dafoe, Adrian Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Michael Gambon provide their vocal talents. Sam Taylor Woods “Nowhere Boy” will be the closing night film, a biopic about the childhood of John Lennon starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Aaron Johnson. American films making their British premieres are: “The Road”, “The Men Who Stare at Goats”, “Up in the Air”, “The Informant”, “The Limits of Control”, “Life During Wartime” and “An Education”. Some well received foreign dramas making their Royal debut include Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon”, Jacque Audiard’s “The Prophet”, and Gaspar Noe’s “Enter the Void”. The BFI London Film Festival runs October 14-29 and will feature 191 films. You can get the full lineup at http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/.
Oliver Stone Talks Wall Street 2 Oliver Stone reflects on the differences since his “Wall Street” came out in 1986 in an interesting New York Times piece on the making of “Wall Street 2”. “It became glamorous to cover Wall Street,” Stone says in an interview with Tim Arango. “It had not been so before.” Michael Douglas who earned a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Gordon Gekko is reprising his role. At the end of the movie he was heading towards a jail cell having been convicted of insider trading. “When Gekko comes out of prison in the beginning of this movie, he essentially has to redefine himself, redefine his character,” Mr. Stone said. “He’s looking for that second chance.” The cast also includes Shia LaBeouf as a young trader who is engaged to Gekko’s daughter, played by Carey Mulligan. Josh Brolin plays the head of an investment bank and Frank Langella appears as a mentor to the LaBeouf character. Susan Sarandon also stars as his mother. “We sort of started over with the story of a young man who is at the center of it, and how he needs Gordon Gekko’s help to navigate those waters,” said Alex Young, co-president of production at 20th Century Fox. Stone concludes the interview with his usual parting shot. “We wouldn’t have done this movie in 2006,” he said. “Things were too loose. I didn’t want to glorify pigs.” Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/movies/08stone.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=movies. September 08 More Festival News, Rambo V, Disney News, The New Red MenaceMore Festival News Venice The Men Who Stare at Goats:
at the Venice Premiere of “The Men Who Stare at Goats”. ) The Grant Heslov anit-war comedy starring Clooney, Kevin Spacey and Ewan McGregor got a mild pan from Deborah Young. “. . .should have been funnier than this, but even if "The Men Who Stare at Goats" is not worth comparing to "Dr. Strangelove," it should satisfy audiences with its great cast and patent absurdities, coated in quaint nostalgia for the happy hippie days of yore.” "The Men Who Stare at Goats" is based on a book by Jon Ronson about a secret unit created by the U.S. army in 1979 which, the author said, believed troops could become invisible, walk through walls and kill goats just by staring at them. The movie opens nationally on November 6th. During a Q&A session for the film a gay reporter stripped to his underpants and asked Clooney "May I kiss you, please. Just one kiss?" Without a pause Clooney responded back “"It's hard when you take a big chance and it doesn't really work," he chuckled. "It's always embarrassing when you take one real big swing for the fences and it just falls flat," said Clooney, who was decidedly not persuaded to do some switch-hitting. "It was a good try, though." Watch the full video:
Toronto The pre-Oscar campaigns start this week at the 34th Toronto Film Festival. More films and less glitz is the dominant theme as 304 films from 64 countries will be screened during the ten day festival. That should mean more wheeling and dealing as studios vie to uncover the next Slum Dog Millionaire. At the present, one-third of the films being represented lack major distribution deals. Toronto offers more public access to films than Cannes or Sundance, so distributors get the benefit of seeing how the movies play in front of a real paying audience. Toronto will have 96 world premieres. Among the more anticipated ones are the Coen brothers “A Serious Man” and Drew Barrymore’s first directorial effort “Whip It”, a roller derby derby drama. Other anticipated films are Jason Reitman’s (Juno) “Up in the Air” starring George Clooney and “Get Low” starring Robert Duval and Sissy Spacek. George Clooney, Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz and Steven Soderbergh, as well as talk show queen Oprah Winfrey and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner are scheduled to appear. The Opening Night film is “Creation," which tells the story of Charles Darwin and his struggle to bring the idea of evolution into a world rooted in religious belief. It is directed by Jon Amiel and stars Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly. read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090908/en_nm/us_toronto_festival_1. Check out the lineup of films at http://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/schedule?sdate=10/09/2009.
New Rambo an Alien versus Predator Remake? Apparently the recently circulated plot for the Rambo V is a red herring. That plot had Rambo fighting human traffickers and drug lords to rescue a young girl. According to interviews Stallone conducted with Aint It Cool News that is no where near the officially released plot synopsis for Rambo 5: The Savage Hunt. The film is based on the novel Hunter by James Byron Huggins. Here is the official plot summary: “John Rambo could track anyone - or anything - on earth. Now the military desperately needs him for a mission that his ultrasensitive instincts tell him he should refuse. A beast is loose somewhere north of the Artic Circle. It has already decimated a secret research facility and annihilated a squad of elite military guards. And the raging creature is headed south toward civilization, ready to wreak bloody devastation. It sounds more like the next Alien versus Predator movie than a Rambo film. The official poster which will debut at this weeks Toronto Film Festival seems to confirm it. Read more at http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=58909.
The Wonderful World of Disney News The Disney Corporation is holding a fan exposition for its growing Disneymaniac base. The D23 event (a nod to the year Walt Disney founded his animation studio) will be held September 10-13 at the Anaheim Convention Center. The 10,000 or more so fans expected to attend will be treated to unprecedented access to items in the Disney Archives, as well as sneak peaks of upcoming films, TV shows and theme park rides. "When Bob (Iger) became CEO (in 2005) we almost immediately started getting feedback ... that they wanted to know why there wasn't an official fan club in our 85-year history," Steven Clark, head of D23 Expo, said in an interview. "It made sense to him and he said: 'What can we do?'" "Every business unit at this company jumped on the bandwagon immediately. They saw the value in it," Clark said. "Our fans are our biggest evangelists," Clark said. "They have made Disney a part of their lives. They live it, they breathe it and they tell people about it." The Expo has been more than a year in the making. Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090908/en_nm/us_disney_d23_5 and http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/movies/09archive.html?partner=rss&emc=rss. Disney is looking into exploiting its Marvel Comics acquisition by doing either an animated or live action version of the Ant-Man series. British filmmaker Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) has been developing a project about the shrinking superhero for years. Expect him to be involved if the Ant-Man film starts to spread. Read more at http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=8663.
The New Red Menace
The Redbox company has the major studios worried. Its DVD rental machines can be seen at major drugstores, grocery and supermarket chains. Each Redbox machine has an inventory of about 500 DVDs and charges a one dollar per day rental fee. Redbox was formerly owned by the McDonald’s corporation but was sold to the Coinstar group a few years ago. Redbox and its rivals makeup 19 percent of the DVD rental market, while Netflix and other rent by mail services garner 36 percent, with DVD rental chains making up the remaining 46 per cent. The studios (Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Universal) fearing cannibalization of the shrinking DVD market and an eventual price devaluation are refusing to sell DVDs to Redbox until 28 days after their DVD debut. Redbox is slapping the studios with an antitrust suit for their behavior against them. Sony and Paramount Pictures have signed deals with the company. Walt Disney does allow third party distributors to sell to them while avoiding a more direct relationship. Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/business/media/07redbox.html?partner=rss&emc=rss. September 06 Knowing Jennifer’s Body, Claire Denis Takes “35 Shots of Rum"Knowing Jennifer’s Body Diablo Cody, the screen writer of Juno, talks about the neat balancing act it takes to bring horror with some ideas behind it to both young male and female audience in a New York Times piece written by Michelle Orange. Modern Horror has been a decidedly female affair as far as viewership goes. Cody’s Jennifer’s Body, a high school retro horror film, starring recently voted number one sexiest woman in the World Megan Fox as a satanically possessed literal man-eater, tries to balance the violence, sex and the metaphors for the feminist and horror nerd. “It may be one of the best ways for a young male audience to experience a female story without feeling like they have been limited by a female perspective,” says director Karyn Kusama (Dogfight) in the piece. The film is about how the innocuous girl shadow of Jennifer the man-eater, the very needy Needy (Amanda Seyfried), tries to break free of Jennifer’s toxic influence. How Needy establishes her own identity beyond sex and boys. It attempts to try to rescue the horror film from the pornographic violence that has been its undoing ever since the advent of the Saw franchise. Rob Zombie (Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes) is quoted in the piece. “The ’80s are the decade that ruined everything for everybody,” he said. “The soul went away, and it became gore for the sake of gore, and kids were cheering at killings and yelling and screaming. It became a roller coaster ride. And of course once something becomes a roller coaster, all you can do is build a bigger, more extreme roller coaster. That’s where I think horror movies really got perverted.” Michelle Orange concludes “Both “Halloween II” and “Jennifer’s Body” suggest that the best way to move past horror’s current fascination with excess is to take the slasher film back to its relatively character-based roots and regrow it in modern soil.” Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/movies/06oran.html?partner=rss&emc=rss. Watch the red band trailer at http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/jennifers-body/red-band-trailer. Claire Denis Takes “35 Shots of Rum” Also in The Times today is a Dennis Lim piece about Claire Denis’ new film “35 Shots of Rum”. Claire Denis talks about her love for the Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, particularly his Autumn Afternoon, which was her first exposure to the cinema master. “I had been told he was a sacred master, so I went in with a sort of religious feeling,” Denis said. “But I was amazed to find something very pure and simple, something that could be shared immediately with almost no words. It was of another time and another culture, but the feelings were so familiar. It was like going home somehow.” She mentions how she recognized an attachment between herself and Ozu after attending a screening of his Late Spring at an Ozu retrospective in Paris. The film about the deep commitment and love between a middle-aged widower (Chishu Ryu) and his grown daughter (Setsuko Hara), felt very much like her own childhood story about how she lost her mother at a young age and was raised by her widowed father. That feeling turned into “35 Shots of Rum, which is both Ozu homage and her most personal film to date. Read more about how the film was made at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/movies/06lim.html?pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss. September 05 Vying to Bring DeLorean Back to the Futrure, Venice Fest NotesVying to Bring DeLorean Back to the Future The director Brett Ratner and writer James Toback, as well as the producer David Permutt are all developing separate John DeLorean projects. Acquiring life-rights to the DeLorean story are a nonissue. The auto pioneer who developed the motorcars featured in the Back to the Future trilogy passed away in 2005 at the age of eighty. It seems that the Permutt team has the upper hand for now. Former DeLorean lawyer Myer Morganroth is an executive producer and DeLorean’s son Zacharys is a consultant. The Hollywood grapevine has George Clooney interested in starring and directing. Also, James Toback is close to finishing his own DeLorean script. It is largely based on the book “Dream Maker: The Rise and Fall of John Z. DeLorean” by Ivan Fallon and James Srodes. It is being financed under an arrangement made by Brett Ratner and Reliance Big, the Indian media company that is now supporting DreamWorks. Ratner plans to form an alliance with fellow Paramount Pictures producer Robert Evans to start production soon. Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/movies/05delorean.html?th&emc=th.
Venice Festival News Werner Herzog has two of his own pictures in the main lineup. Nicolas Cage stars in "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans". The early reviews have been positive. The other, “My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done" was a surprise addition. The film is based on a true story of a mentally disturbed man who murders his mother. At the time of the murder, he was appearing in a play based on the Oreste myth- a tale of a son who also murders his mother. Its stars Michael Shannon as the son, Chloe Sevigny appears as his girlfriend and Willem Dafoe is a police officer trying to arrest him. David Lynch is an executive producer. "I'm interested in exploring characters that exist outside of normalcy because I feel that normalcy is like a prison, said Herzog in an interview. "The whole notion of sanity is a construct that is necessary for us all to share the world together, but it's not necessarily something that you can prove, whether somebody is sane or insane or what's the correct way to behave as a person.” Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090905/film_nm/us_venice_herzog_2. September 04 Wild News for The Wild Things, Telluride and Venice Film Fest NotesGet Ready for Some Real Wild Stuff from Spike Jonze The positive buzz for Where The Wild Things Are continues to grow Spike Jonze feral child adaptation of the beloved Maurice Sendak classic to be released October 10th. Pick up the September/October Film Comment to read Kent Jones positive and very honest early review. Excerpts: “….Where Ron Howard did absolutely everything wrong in his eye-gougingly awful video adaptation of Dr Seuss, Jonze and Eggers do everything right. The spare, starlit desert/forest/ocean imagery of Sendak’s drawings is lovingly, even painstakingly sifted into the action so that it never draws attention to itself as an effect per se. Jonze also preserves the beauty of Sendak’s drawings of the wild things themselves, working with what looks like animatronically enhanced costumes that have been ingeniously worn and dirtied. CGI has been employed with extreme judiciousness to coordinate facial expressions and lip movements, and every creature has its own particular variation on the postureless stance, restless movement, and extreme self-consciousness of a teenager.” “…In the end, Jonze and Egger’s brilliance is so expertly targeted that they end up with afilm experience that’s a little bit lacking in dramatic amplitude and vigor. Every utterance, every behavioral shift, every movement seems pegged to Max’s state of mind and body, and even the most impressive inventions. . .have a slightly clinical aftertaste.” “…the Wild Things remain almost stubbornly fixed as the spontaneously projected fancies of a child, and it’s really only with their final, moving farewell howl that they take on some kind of life of their own.”
The New York Times has a nice feature article about Jonze’s ten year odyssey to bring the Sendak classic to the screen. It is a wonderful sub parallel to the movie. Jonze’s wild story is all about the battle between the inability of the adults (studio executives) to understand the child inside Jonze and the Jonze creation- which still includes an affinity for skateboarding and BMX bicycling. Read the Saki Knafo article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06jonze-t.html?ref=movies&pagewanted=all.
More Film Festival Notes Venice The opening night film, Guiseppe Tornatore’s Baaria received a less than rapturous review. Roderick Conway Morris writing in The New York Times said “. . . The saga is crowded with characters, but none of them is fully realized.” A restored version of Mario Monicelli’s La Grande Guerra (The Great War), which won The Golden Lion in 1959 was shown earlier and earned some praise. It is a semi-comic story of two Italian WWI recruits played by Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi. Morris praised it as “. . .at times a picaresque tale, as Giovanni and Oreste become slackers-in-arms, using all their wit and skill to avoid difficult and dangerous duties and by hook or by crook to survive the conflict. But the mood, as it swings between comedy and tragedy, is expertly balanced. And even the most minor characters are deftly and memorably portrayed.” Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/arts/04iht-venfest4.html?_r=1&ref=movies. Telluride The Telluride Film Festival opens today and runs through Sunday. It is heavy with Cannes and Venice retreads: Jacques Audiard A Prophet, Herzog’s Bad Lieutenent, Soldonz’s Life During War Time , Jane Campion’s Bright Star, Haneke’s The White Ribbon. Also premiring are films from Ermanno Ulmi (Terra Madre), Margarethe von Trotta (Vision) and Marco Bellocchio (Vincere). This year’s guest director is Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt, Election). Three Silver Medallions will be given to actor Viggo Mortensen, French actress Anouk Aimee and German actress/writer and director Margarethe von Trotta. Get the full festival lineup at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/awards/2009/09/telluride-film-festival-announces-2009-lineup.html#more. September 03 Film Festival Notes, Antonio Banderas Is Really a PussyFilm Festival Notes Sundance The Sundance Film Festival has decided to add a new section, Next, which is devoted to very low budget to no budget filmmaking. Currently eight such features are slated to be shown at the Park City, Utah Festival which runs January 21-31 2010. In an interview, festival director John Cooper says, “"The filmmakers who are working in this realm and who I have spoken to about this have a 'creative impatience' that I find invigorating." "These are not just the films that have been labeled mumblecore ... or Dogma or even guerilla. They are an emerging counterculture within our counterculture." Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090903/film_nm/us_sundance_1. Venice The Venice Film Festival, which opens today, has decided to go more Italian than usual. Twenty-two Italian films are in the core program and four in the main competition. Guiseppe Tornatore’s Baaria will be the opening night film. At a reputed $30 million budget, Baaria is the most expensive Italian picture ever made. Also in competition is Michel Placido memoir film Il Grande Sogno (The Big Dream). American productions are represented by seventeen films in the official categories, six of them in competition. Competing for the Golden Lion are John Hillcoate’s The Road, Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story, Tom Ford’s A Single Man, Todd Soldonz’s Life During War Time, George Romero’s Survival of the Dead and Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenent: Port of Call New Orleans. France with four, Germany (2), Egypt (2), China (2), and Israel, Sri Lanka, Japan and Austria (each with 1) are also represented in the competition. The president of this year’s Golden Lion jury is Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), whose Taking Woodstock is currently in theaters. Indian director Anurag Kashyap (Water), American director Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling), Russian Filmmaker Sergei Vladimirovich Bodrov (Mongol), Italian directors Liliana Cavani (Ripley’s Game) and Luciano Ligabue (From Zero to Ten, Radio Arrow), along with the French actress Sandrine Bonnaire make up the rest of the Golden Lion panel. Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/arts/02iht-venfest.html?partner=rss&emc=rss. Antonio Banderas Is Really a Pussy A catty Antonio Banderas let the cat out of the bag a little bit in an interview about the upcoming Shrek 4: Shrek Forever After and Puss in Boots films. He states that “It’s totally different. I cannot reveal to you…something happens at the beginning of the story that changes the identity of all the characters. So it’s almost like a new movie. The characters are different…physically….you’ll see!” Selma Hayek is rumored to make an appearance in Puss in Boots which is finishing post production work. Shrek Forever After is scheduled to be released May 21, 2010. For the more curious kitty go here and read the rest of the interview: http://www.collider.com/2009/09/02/antonio-banderas-talks-shrek-forever-after-and-puss-in-boots-movies/. September 02 Top Ten Submissions, E.T.’s Home Saved, Venice Film Fest Gets Rolling, Summer Box Office Report, Digi-NovelsWhen you live in Italy you get the movies way behind the U.S. release curve as noted in the top ten list submitted by fellow blogger Giacomo Bosio: (His blog can be found at http://giacomo-b91.spaces.live.com/.) Make sure you have good translation software or access to a nice translation site like http://babelfish.yahoo.com/. 1. Gran Torino Aside from The Wave, which has no American distributor right now, all his nominations were released last year and thus not eligible for 2009 Academy consideration. Still, his blog, which covers politics, style and the movies is worth a look. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Tujunga, California home featured in E.T. has been spared from the brush fires raging California now. Its current human inhabitant, Tony Piwowar, refused to be evacuated even as the fires circled the rest of the neighborhood. So be kind to those ET’s, the things you save just might be your own. Read about it at: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b142311_la_wildfires_threaten_michael_jacksons.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 66th Venice Film Festival opens today with the premier of Guiseppe Tornatore’s (Cinema Paradisio) Baaria, a semi-autobiographical tale based on memories of the director’s Sicilian childhood. Other celebrities debuting their latest works at the eleven day fest are Matt Damon (The Informant), George Clooney (The Men Who Stare at Goats), Nicolas Cage (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans directed by Werner Herzog), Roger Moore (Capitalism: A Love Story), George Romero (Survival of the Dead), and Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron (The Road). Read more about it at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090902/en_nm/us_venice_4. Check out the complete lineup at: http://www.filmofilia.com/2009/08/03/venice-film-festival-lineup-2009/. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMER BOX OFFICE REPORT The top five grossing films of the Summer are: 1. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen- $399 million domestic 2. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- $294 million domestic 3. Up- $290 million domestic 4. The Hangover- $270 million domestic 5. Star Trek- 257 million domestic Overall this was another record breaking summer with $4.18 billion earned (up slightly from last years record haul of 4.14 billion) for the period May 1-September 2. As far as Studio Rankings Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros, leading in No. 1 openings this year, rules the pack with 20.6 percent, followed by Viacom Inc's Paramount (18 percent), News Corp's 20th Century Fox (12.5 percent), Walt Disney Co (12.1 percent), Sony Corp's Columbia (11.9 percent) and Universal (9 percent). Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090902/en_nm/us_boxoffice_1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Digi-Novel Cometh An interesting idea to prop up the slumping print and book market has the backing and creative input of Anthony Zuiker of the CSI TV series. The Digi-Novel combines print, web and movies. Level 26 is a crime novel that invites readers to login every twenty pages to a special website to watch a “cyber bridge”- a three minute film clip directed by Zuiker that ties into the story. Hopefully it will be more creative than Transformers 2. If they can get art and not just comics this might be the new literature for the 21st century. The novel written by Duane Swierczynski comes out Tuesday September 8. Read more at: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20090902/tc_nm/us_books_digital_1. |
(Reuters- Ewan McGregor, Grant Heslov and George Clooney
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