Maggie Smith in The Lady in the Van.
Deadpool remains on top at the Australian box office after four weeks, ringing up $2.5 million over the weekend.
The profane superhero played by Ryan Reynolds appeared on 281 screens across the country. The Fox outing has now made $37.2 million overall.
The next best, and first among debutants, was The Lady in the Van, starring Maggie Smith as a rather different kind of hero.
The film, directed by Nicholas Hytner and based on Alan Bennett's play about the vagrant who lived in his driveway for decades, took in close to $2.2 million in its first week.
WB's How To Be Single remained steady, dropping thirty-five percent to ring up $1.3 million over the weekend. The Rebel Wilson-starring comedy has now made over $8 million in Australian cinemas.
In its second week, the Coens' Hail, Caesar! dropped forty-seven percent to rake in $673,896, for a cume of close to $2.5 million.
Deadpool remains on top at the Australian box office after four weeks, ringing up $2.5 million over the weekend.
The profane superhero played by Ryan Reynolds appeared on 281 screens across the country. The Fox outing has now made $37.2 million overall.
The next best, and first among debutants, was The Lady in the Van, starring Maggie Smith as a rather different kind of hero.
The film, directed by Nicholas Hytner and based on Alan Bennett's play about the vagrant who lived in his driveway for decades, took in close to $2.2 million in its first week.
WB's How To Be Single remained steady, dropping thirty-five percent to ring up $1.3 million over the weekend. The Rebel Wilson-starring comedy has now made over $8 million in Australian cinemas.
In its second week, the Coens' Hail, Caesar! dropped forty-seven percent to rake in $673,896, for a cume of close to $2.5 million.
- 3/6/2016
- by Harry Windsor
- IF.com.au
This year has proven to be a bumper year for Australian films, and not just at the box office.
Thirteen Australian films that have been selected for the 40th Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff)..
These include six world premieres, three international premieres (outside Australia), three North American premieres and one Canadian premiere. Other Australian talent including Toni Collette, Naomi Watts, Guy Pearce, Jacki Weaver, Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Joel Edgerton, and Nicole Kidman will feature in other films shown throughout the Gala and Special Presentations sections.
Screen Australia, chief executive, Graeme Mason said he was incredibly proud of the Australian talent and productions selected for this year.s Toronto International Film Festival..
"Having strong representation across seven different categories is an incredible achievement. It shows how strongly Australian film is performing at a global level, and gives us reason to be immensely proud of our industry," he said..
"We congratulate...
Thirteen Australian films that have been selected for the 40th Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff)..
These include six world premieres, three international premieres (outside Australia), three North American premieres and one Canadian premiere. Other Australian talent including Toni Collette, Naomi Watts, Guy Pearce, Jacki Weaver, Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Joel Edgerton, and Nicole Kidman will feature in other films shown throughout the Gala and Special Presentations sections.
Screen Australia, chief executive, Graeme Mason said he was incredibly proud of the Australian talent and productions selected for this year.s Toronto International Film Festival..
"Having strong representation across seven different categories is an incredible achievement. It shows how strongly Australian film is performing at a global level, and gives us reason to be immensely proud of our industry," he said..
"We congratulate...
- 9/2/2015
- by Inside Film Correspondent
- IF.com.au
The 1990′s introduced the world to Quentin Tarantino, saw the creation of the Nc-17 rating, and began the slow call toward fully computer animated films. It began the slow (still slow) movement toward a more diverse industry, with the first African-American director earning an Oscar nomination (John Singleton for “Boyz in the Hood”). And the year after one of the greatest years in the history of film, 1995 came plodding along, trying to keep up. So, for the first definitive list of 2015, we are going to look back 20 years at a year that, at first glance, doesn’t look so hot. It’s ripe with flops, but it’s also full of debuts, trailblazing beginnings, and better films than it gets credit for. But, the caveat still stands: this is not a “best of” list. In fact, there are a lot of bad movies on this list. But, they are movies that made a cultural impact,...
- 1/31/2015
- by Joshua Gaul
- SoundOnSight
Sunday's Golden Globes was a big night for The Affair's Ruth Wilson: She beat out Viola Davis, Claire Danes, Julianna Margulies and Robin Wright to win best actress in a TV series, drama, and her show nabbed the award for best TV series, drama.
The 32-year-old Brit previously starred in Luther and Saving Mr. Banks, but it's her role as Alison Bailey, a grieving mother who engages in an extramarital affair, that has thrust her into the spotlight.
Here are five things to know about the breakout star:
1. She's about to star in a Broadway play – with a very well known costar.
The 32-year-old Brit previously starred in Luther and Saving Mr. Banks, but it's her role as Alison Bailey, a grieving mother who engages in an extramarital affair, that has thrust her into the spotlight.
Here are five things to know about the breakout star:
1. She's about to star in a Broadway play – with a very well known costar.
- 1/12/2015
- by Gabrielle Olya, @GabyOlya
- People.com - TV Watch
Apparently theatre director Michael Grandage doesn’t think he has enough good actors in his debut film despite the presence of Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Laura Linney, because he’s adding a couple more. Guy Pearce and Dominic West are the latest recruits for Genius.With Skyfall’s John Logan providing the script based on A. Scott Berg’s biography, Genius recounts the true story of the relationship between legendary writer Thomas Wolfe (Law) and his talented editor Max Perkins (Firth). Kidman is set to play costume designer Aline Bernstein, who had a passionate, four-year relationship with Wolfe, while Linney will be Louise, Perkins’ wife.Pearce and West are signed on to be two more literary giants who worked with Perkins: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. With his cast falling into place, Grandage plans to start shooting the film next month at Shepperton and on location in the UK.
- 9/28/2014
- EmpireOnline
• Guy Pearce and Dominic West have signed on for Genius, joining Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Laura Linney. Michael Grandage is directing the film, marking his feature debut. John Logan adapted A. Scott Berg’s book for the screen. Pearce will play F. Scott Fitzgerald, while West will portray Ernest Hemingway. The film will relay the true, complicated relationship between novelist Thomas Wolfe (Law) and his editor, Max Perkins (Firth). Kidman will play Aline Bernstein, with Linney as Louise Perkins. Genius comes as the third collaboration between Grandage, producing partner James Bierman, and John Logan. Filming kicks off...
- 9/26/2014
- by C. Molly Smith
- EW - Inside Movies
Guy Pearce and Dominic West are set to play two of the most famous authors of the 20th century in Michael Grandage's "Genius" for Desert Wolf Productions.
Adapted by "Skyfall" scribe and "Penny Dreadful" creator John Logan from A. Scott Berg’s book, the story follows the complex relationship between literary giant Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law) and iconic editor Max Perkins (Colin Firth).
Pearce will play the role of F. Scott Fitzgerald, whilst West will take on the role of Ernest Hemmingway. Nicole Kidman and Laura Linney are also onboard as Aline Bernstein and Louise Perkins respectively.
Filming begins next month at Shepperton Studios and on location in the UK.
Source: Screen...
Adapted by "Skyfall" scribe and "Penny Dreadful" creator John Logan from A. Scott Berg’s book, the story follows the complex relationship between literary giant Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law) and iconic editor Max Perkins (Colin Firth).
Pearce will play the role of F. Scott Fitzgerald, whilst West will take on the role of Ernest Hemmingway. Nicole Kidman and Laura Linney are also onboard as Aline Bernstein and Louise Perkins respectively.
Filming begins next month at Shepperton Studios and on location in the UK.
Source: Screen...
- 9/26/2014
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Adaptations have always been a go-to source for filmmakers. There’s never a dearth of material when authors are writing and publishing more titles than ever before. Some of cinema’s finest achievements stem from adapted screenplays, themselves inspired by the words of best-selling writers. The adaptation trend continues to thrive with today’s news. Movement on literary world drama Genius, is moving forward.
Guy Pearce and Dominic West have signed on to appear in Michael Grandage’s directorial debut. Best known for his work in the theatre world, Grandage has assembled a solid cast for his first feature. Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Nicole Kidman and Jude Law have already committed to the project, based on the novel Max Perkins: Editor Of Genius by A. Scott Berg.
Pearce is slated to play F. Scott Fitzgerald, in this biopic of one of the writing world’s most well-respected editors, Max Perkins.
Guy Pearce and Dominic West have signed on to appear in Michael Grandage’s directorial debut. Best known for his work in the theatre world, Grandage has assembled a solid cast for his first feature. Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Nicole Kidman and Jude Law have already committed to the project, based on the novel Max Perkins: Editor Of Genius by A. Scott Berg.
Pearce is slated to play F. Scott Fitzgerald, in this biopic of one of the writing world’s most well-respected editors, Max Perkins.
- 9/26/2014
- by Gem Seddon
- We Got This Covered
Equals
Guy Pearce will join Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult in Drake Doremus' "Equals". Filming begins in Japan and Singapore in August.
The futuristic love story takes place in a society where emotions have been eradicated. Ridley Scott will produce. [Source: Screen]
The Nest
Veteran actor James Brolin is set to play the father of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's characters in Jason Moore's comedy "The Nest" at Universal Pictures.
The story follows two sisters who throw one last rager before their parents' house is sold. Ike Barinholtz also stars in the film currently targeting a December 18th 2015. [Source: Deadline]
Grimsby
Rebel Wilson is set to join the cast of the action comedy "Grimsby" at Sony Pictures. Annabelle Wallis, David Harewood, Ian McShane, Gabourey Sidibe and Johnny Vegas also star.
Mark Strong plays a British black ops agent forced to go on the run with his long-lost English soccer hooligan brother...
Guy Pearce will join Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult in Drake Doremus' "Equals". Filming begins in Japan and Singapore in August.
The futuristic love story takes place in a society where emotions have been eradicated. Ridley Scott will produce. [Source: Screen]
The Nest
Veteran actor James Brolin is set to play the father of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's characters in Jason Moore's comedy "The Nest" at Universal Pictures.
The story follows two sisters who throw one last rager before their parents' house is sold. Ike Barinholtz also stars in the film currently targeting a December 18th 2015. [Source: Deadline]
Grimsby
Rebel Wilson is set to join the cast of the action comedy "Grimsby" at Sony Pictures. Annabelle Wallis, David Harewood, Ian McShane, Gabourey Sidibe and Johnny Vegas also star.
Mark Strong plays a British black ops agent forced to go on the run with his long-lost English soccer hooligan brother...
- 6/12/2014
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
A seven-part series set during the turbulent period of the establishment of the penal colony in Sydney in 1788 may seem a stretch for Liverpool-born and based writer Jimmy McGovern.
Yet Banished, which starts shooting in Sydney on Monday, deals with themes the writer has often explored in the UK series he's created in a distinguished 30- year career.
.Jimmy.s stories are about the moral complexities which human beings face when they are in difficult situations,. his producing partner Sita Williams tells If. .He asks the audience: .What would you have done in that situation? Would you have done it any differently?..
David Wenham heads the large Australian/British cast as Governor Arthur Phillip, a pragmatic idealist who hopes to turn the penal colony into a land of opportunity for all. Joseph Milson portrays his nemesis Major Ross, who believes the only chance of survival is to rule with an iron fist.
Yet Banished, which starts shooting in Sydney on Monday, deals with themes the writer has often explored in the UK series he's created in a distinguished 30- year career.
.Jimmy.s stories are about the moral complexities which human beings face when they are in difficult situations,. his producing partner Sita Williams tells If. .He asks the audience: .What would you have done in that situation? Would you have done it any differently?..
David Wenham heads the large Australian/British cast as Governor Arthur Phillip, a pragmatic idealist who hopes to turn the penal colony into a land of opportunity for all. Joseph Milson portrays his nemesis Major Ross, who believes the only chance of survival is to rule with an iron fist.
- 4/4/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Buenos Aires-based International Sales Company Film Sharks will be present in Berlin with an incredibly eclectic lineup that includes animation, some of the most successful Latin American films of the past year, an even an Oscar Foreign Language submission.
Save Oz
Directed by Alberto Mar
A new animated film from Anima Estudios, the Mexican animation company that produced the successful Top Cat film, which has gross close to $14.7 million worldwide. Based upon the classic L. Frank Baum books, the film will infuse the well-known universe with its own characters and an original storyline. FilmSharks will be showing a Promo Reel in Berlin as the film is still in production expecting to be finished in the next few months.
The Mystery of Happiness (El Misterio de la Felicidad)
Directed by Daniel Burman
Santiago and Eugenio are more than friends, they are life long business partners. They understand each other without words, they care for each other, they need each other. One day Eugenio disappears without leaving any clues behind. Santiago immediately notices his absence, but only realizes what have happened when Eugenio's wife, Laura, lost and hopeless assures him that Eugenio has left. Santiago and Laura begin a journey in order to find him and end up discovering that they prefer to stay together in this quest rather than finding out where he is or what has happened to him. A film about love, but goes beyond it, it pushes boundaries, it explores the idea of loyalty and estrangement , and it definitely puts dreams over long lost promises.
Of Horse and Men
Directed by Benedikt Erlingsson
Iceland's Official Oscar Submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award
Read Carlos Aguilar's Review Here
A country romance about the human streak in the horse and the horse in the human. Love and death become interlaced and with immense consequences. Punctuated with humor, Of Horses And Men is an affectionate, yet unflinching portrait of a remote valley community as seen from the horses' perspective.
The Noble Family (Nosotros Los Nobles)
Directed Gaz Alazraki
Highest Grossing Mexican Film of All Time!
Read Sydney Levine's Piece on the Film
When successful construction Mogul, Herman Noble realizes his children are spoiled beyond redemption, he stages the company bankruptcy and seizure of all their assets. And tricks them into believing they are fugitives from the law. He moves them into their grandfather's dilapidated home in a poor neighborhood and makes them do something none of them have ever done before... work.
In Development
Mis-Fits (Working Title)
Directed by L.D. Napier
Starring Freida Pinto and Guy Pearce, Mis-Fits narrates the misadventures of a Brooklyn 'necro-detective', whose job is to encounter the whereabouts of lost or dead relatives.
Abracadaver
Directed by Pancho Rodriguez
After directing his massively successful debut feature, Eugenio Derbez returns to the screen starring in Abracadaver a thriller with black comedy tones (Ocean’s Eleven meets Crimen Ferpecto) by the director of Buena Vista’s Box Office Hit, Calling an Angel.
Death Fearless
Directed by Matias Gueilburt
Starring Academy Award-nominee Demian Bichir the film tells the story of Jesus Ontiveros, a retired sicario (hit man), has been released from prison after 20 years willing to leave behind his violent past. However, the appearance of his brother Pepe, the most popular narcocorrido singer, forces him to do one last job: to save his brother from the powerful man that commands half of Mexico.
Remora
Written by Andres Gelos
In a dying planet, beneath a thick ice shell, a huge submarine city travels across the pan-ocean. Its citizens prepare themselves for the exodus to the new world. Ratio, a seabed driller, uncovers the plan to sacrifice the first ships, which will fracture the ice shell so that only the ship carrying the society's elite will manage to go through it. After being accused of being a traitor, Ratio is rescued by Lania. She is an earth-bound, she belongs to a society of outcasts who live hidden inside a volcano. Ratio and Lania attempt to attach a ship carrying earth-bounds like a remora to the exodus ship in order to escape from the ice world in search for their destiny at the opposite end of the galaxy: a small blue planet with only one sun and only one satellite, where dinosaurs still prevail.
In Production
Torrente 5
Directed by Santiago Segura
The Ultimate in Bizarre is back, considered today one of the biggest European Franchises by far. Theatrically worth over $140 million and sold in over 45 countries.
Save Oz
Directed by Alberto Mar
A new animated film from Anima Estudios, the Mexican animation company that produced the successful Top Cat film, which has gross close to $14.7 million worldwide. Based upon the classic L. Frank Baum books, the film will infuse the well-known universe with its own characters and an original storyline. FilmSharks will be showing a Promo Reel in Berlin as the film is still in production expecting to be finished in the next few months.
The Mystery of Happiness (El Misterio de la Felicidad)
Directed by Daniel Burman
Santiago and Eugenio are more than friends, they are life long business partners. They understand each other without words, they care for each other, they need each other. One day Eugenio disappears without leaving any clues behind. Santiago immediately notices his absence, but only realizes what have happened when Eugenio's wife, Laura, lost and hopeless assures him that Eugenio has left. Santiago and Laura begin a journey in order to find him and end up discovering that they prefer to stay together in this quest rather than finding out where he is or what has happened to him. A film about love, but goes beyond it, it pushes boundaries, it explores the idea of loyalty and estrangement , and it definitely puts dreams over long lost promises.
Of Horse and Men
Directed by Benedikt Erlingsson
Iceland's Official Oscar Submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award
Read Carlos Aguilar's Review Here
A country romance about the human streak in the horse and the horse in the human. Love and death become interlaced and with immense consequences. Punctuated with humor, Of Horses And Men is an affectionate, yet unflinching portrait of a remote valley community as seen from the horses' perspective.
The Noble Family (Nosotros Los Nobles)
Directed Gaz Alazraki
Highest Grossing Mexican Film of All Time!
Read Sydney Levine's Piece on the Film
When successful construction Mogul, Herman Noble realizes his children are spoiled beyond redemption, he stages the company bankruptcy and seizure of all their assets. And tricks them into believing they are fugitives from the law. He moves them into their grandfather's dilapidated home in a poor neighborhood and makes them do something none of them have ever done before... work.
In Development
Mis-Fits (Working Title)
Directed by L.D. Napier
Starring Freida Pinto and Guy Pearce, Mis-Fits narrates the misadventures of a Brooklyn 'necro-detective', whose job is to encounter the whereabouts of lost or dead relatives.
Abracadaver
Directed by Pancho Rodriguez
After directing his massively successful debut feature, Eugenio Derbez returns to the screen starring in Abracadaver a thriller with black comedy tones (Ocean’s Eleven meets Crimen Ferpecto) by the director of Buena Vista’s Box Office Hit, Calling an Angel.
Death Fearless
Directed by Matias Gueilburt
Starring Academy Award-nominee Demian Bichir the film tells the story of Jesus Ontiveros, a retired sicario (hit man), has been released from prison after 20 years willing to leave behind his violent past. However, the appearance of his brother Pepe, the most popular narcocorrido singer, forces him to do one last job: to save his brother from the powerful man that commands half of Mexico.
Remora
Written by Andres Gelos
In a dying planet, beneath a thick ice shell, a huge submarine city travels across the pan-ocean. Its citizens prepare themselves for the exodus to the new world. Ratio, a seabed driller, uncovers the plan to sacrifice the first ships, which will fracture the ice shell so that only the ship carrying the society's elite will manage to go through it. After being accused of being a traitor, Ratio is rescued by Lania. She is an earth-bound, she belongs to a society of outcasts who live hidden inside a volcano. Ratio and Lania attempt to attach a ship carrying earth-bounds like a remora to the exodus ship in order to escape from the ice world in search for their destiny at the opposite end of the galaxy: a small blue planet with only one sun and only one satellite, where dinosaurs still prevail.
In Production
Torrente 5
Directed by Santiago Segura
The Ultimate in Bizarre is back, considered today one of the biggest European Franchises by far. Theatrically worth over $140 million and sold in over 45 countries.
- 2/1/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
The title of this panel was Financing and Packaging: From Indie to Studio, but in fact, the most studio-like film, Rush , by the major director, Ron Howard, and produced by Brit indie production company Revolution (Andrew Eaton) and Hollywood-based Cross Creek (Brian Oliver), is actually quite independent.
Rush (U.S. Universal, International Sales by Exclusive)
Ron Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer whose imagine Entertainment have had an overall deal at Universal for 27 years, however, this mid-budget range film of some $50,000,000 was considered not "big enough" for the majors.
To read more about this complex and fascinating film and its international film business background, read the following articles which are quoted throughout this article with thanks and acknowledgement to:
· Variety September 13, 2013 (reprinted at the end of this blog) · Wall Street Journal, September 5, 2013 · The Hollywood Reporter September 28, 2011
Aside from major director Ron Howard himself, the second “major” element of the film is that Universal is the North American distributor of the film. This happens through the three year minimum-6-picture distribution deal Brian Oliver’s Cross Creek has with Universal in which Cross Creek produces and finances either its own films or films chosen from Universal’s development slate. Cross Creek is set up to generate up to four films per year, with Universal to distribute at least two of them with a wide-release commitment.
Isa (International Sales Agent) Exclusive Media is also an independent. This too is the result of Oliver’s deal with Exclusive to jointly finance two projects per year.
Cross Creek, putting its own cash into the project, split the cost of the picture with Exclusive who financed it through a bank loan made against pre-sales generated in 2011 at the Afm. With Howard there to promote the project to buyers, Exclusive secured around $33 million in foreign pre-sales. See Cinando’s list of distributors .
Additionally, Oliver and Eaton structured the project as a U.K.- German co-production, enabling them to secure about $12 million in soft money from Germany (Egoli Tossell) in accordance with U.K.’s co-production treaty. As a result, U.K. rights ended up with Studiocanal.
Brian Oliver is a “one of Hollywood’s biggest and more unusual financiers of risky films, with coin coming mostly from oil and real estate investments in Texas”. This major Hollywood financier/ producer takes chances which prove his astute, if askew, view of what makes a “Hollywood” picture an indie at the same time, as shown by his credits, The Ides of March and Black Swan.
Andrew Eaton is a British producer with deep Hollywood connections through the British community here, e.g., Eric Fellner of Working Title, the British production company currently owned by Universal. (Parenthetically, I bought U.S. rights to Working Title’s first film, My Beautiful Laundrette for Lorimar along with Orion Classics and so I was quite thrilled to have a chance to be in touch with the talented Brits once again).
Working Title had worked with Andrew Easton on Frost/Nixon. Eric Fellner loved the script and offered it to Universal for funding. However, as said, Universal passed on it because it was too small.
“It is going to be easy for people to think this is a Hollywood movie, and it just is not,” quotes Variety from the film’s British screenwriter, Peter Morgan, who penned Frost/Nixon which was also directed by Howard. “It is a British independent film directed by a Hollywood director.”
Eaton and Oliver spoke of how they put this film together.
“We must champion the fact that this is basically 80% a British film in terms of the people who worked on it, the way it was structured and the way we ran it,” says Eaton, who was behind such indie films as 24 Hour Party People and the Red Riding TV series.
Can a Song Save Your Life? (U.S. UTA, Isa: Exclusive)
Exclusive has another film here, Can a Song Save Your Life? which is also repped by Rena Ronson, Co-Head of the Independent Film Group of UTA. Directed by John Carney who came to the public’s attention with his micro-budgeted Once which plays on stage here in Toronto at the moment, in New York and elsewhere regularly. The Weinstein Company picked it up in Toronto, reportedly paying around a $7 million minimum guarantee for U.S. rights with a P&A commitment of at least $20 million.
UTA as an agency also packages both large (studio) and smaller indie films. Rena Ronson, the co-head of UTA Indie explained how her own indie roots -- first at indie distributor Fox-Lorber and continuing into international sales before becoming the “indie agent” at Wma, succeeding the “indie” founder, Bobbi Thompson, have taught her to speak the language of the international as well as the independent film business. She knows the major modes of operating as well as she knows the independent style of business. She further explained that the successes of the larger films permit the “smaller”, i.e., “indie” films to be made.
UTA repped films in Toronto are listed below. For a full report of rights sold, before, during and after Toronto, watch SydneysBuzz.com for the Fall 2013 Rights Roundup.
Can A Song Save Your Life?
Writer/Director: John Carney Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, Catherine Keener, Mos Def, Cee-Lo Green Publicity: Falco / Shannon Treusch, Monica Delameter U.S. Producer Rep: UTA / CAA . Isa: Exclusive Media Group
U.S. rights were acquired at Tiff 13 by TWC for a record breaking $7 million.
Since first announcing it in Cannes 2012, Exclusive has made other deals as well for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan (Tanweer), Germany (Studiocanal), Japan (Pony Canyon Inc), Philippines (Solar Entertainment), Russia (A Company), So. Korea ( Pancinema), Switzerland ( Ascot Elite Entertainment Group ), Taiwan ( Serenity Entertainment International ), Turkey (D Productions), the Middle East ( Front Row Filmed Entertainment).
Tiff Special Presentations:
Hateship, Loveship
Director: Liza Johnson Writer: Mark Poirier Writer (Novel): Alice Munro Starring: Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Hailee Steinfeld, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte Publicity: Prodigy PR, Erik Bright
North American Sale: UTA / Cassian Elwes. Isa: The Weinstein Co. Sena has rights for Iceland.
The F Word
Director: Michael Dowse Writer: Elan Mastai Writers (Play): Michael Rinaldi & T.J. Dawe Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Rafe Spall, Adam Driver, Mackenzie Davis, Amanda Crew Publicity: Strategy PR / Cynthia Schwartz, Michael Kupferberg Us Sale: UTA / Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman. Isa: eOne
After UTA sold the The F Word to CBS Films for the U.S. for around $3 million in Toronto, Entertainment One Films International completed other international sales. Besides Canada and the U.K., eOne itself will release the film in Australia/New Zealand, Benelux and Spain feeding its own international distribution pipeline. Other sales include Germany to Senator Entertainment, Middle East to Front Row Entertainment, Nigeria toRed Mist, Russia to Carmen Film Group, Turkey to Mars Entertainment Group
Night Moves
Writer/Director: Kelly Reichart Writer: Jonathan Raymond Starring: Dakota Fanning, Jesse Eisenberg, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat Publicity: Ginsberg/Libby, Chris Libby North American Sale: UTA Isa: The Match Factory
Tiff Vanguard
The Sacrament
Writer/Director: Ti West Starring: Joe Swanberg, Aj Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Kate Lyn Sheil, Gene Jones Publicity: Dda, Dana Archer, Alice Zhou North American Sale: UTA / CAA Isa: Im Global sold to Pegasus Motion Pictures Distribution Ltd . For China
As of this writing, rather 1 hour ago, Magnolia Pictures, which lost on an earlier bidding war here for Joe, is finalizing a deal for the picture reportedly for seven figures.
Coincidentallywith the beginning of the Toronto Film Festival, the front page of L.A. Times quoted Rena Ronson in an article called "Making history as cameras roll" (print edition) or "Wadjda' director makes her mark in Saudi cinema" (online edition) about Wadjda , (Isa: The Match Factory) last year’s Venice and Telluride film which Rena had spotted at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, where it won a script award. It was written and directed by a woman which is notable in such a male-dominated part of the world. She met the writer-director, Haifaa Mansour, and that led to working with her for the next two years to finance the film. Its $2.5m budget was backed in part by the Rotana Group, the largest media company in the Middle East, owned primarily by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The German production company Razor Film owned and operated by Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul whose first coproduction in 2005, Paradise Now brought them into international prominence and who also picked up last year’s Tiff groundbreaking film from Afghanistan,The Patience Stone, and previously coproduced Waltz With Bashir, came on board and brought German broadcast deals and German film funds as well.
Doha and Film Financing
The fourth panelist was Paul Miller, Head of Film Financing, from the Doha Film Institute , Qatar's first international organization dedicated to film financing, production, education and two film festivals. Doha encourages submission for financing film financing opportunities from anywhere in the world. The Dfi Grants program supports first- and second-time filmmakers in producing and developing their own stories. There are two funding rounds per year. Applications are considered from three regions (basically divided into the Middle East, developing nations and the rest of the world – with some exceptions -- each with different eligibility criteria.
Consideration for funding is open to feature-length films in development, production and post-production, as well as short films in production and post-production. Since 2010, Dfi has provided funding to more than 138 filmmakers.
Beyond the regional grants program, Dfi also invests in a diverse slate of international productions to encourage greater collaboration, mentorship and co‑production opportunities between Gulf countries and the rest of the world. Co-financing applications apply to both Middle Eastern and international feature films, television and web series. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Four films at Tiff that Doha has helped finance:
Mohammed Malas’s Ladder to Damacus, screening in Tiff’s Contemporary World Cinema section; Jasmila Žbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales in the Special Presentation section. Both films were co-financed by Dfi. Dfi grant recipients Néjib Belkadhi’s Bastardo and Mais Darwazah’s My Love Awaits Me by the Sea screening in the Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery sections, respectively.
The fifth panelist, Ted Hope, Director of the San Francisco Film Society, a non-profit training, festival, and funding operation is known to everyone from his history with Good Machine (which was acquired by Universal and renamed Focus Features), and from his blog Hope for Film/ Truly Free Film . In his always-inimitable fashion, Ted proposed a new sort of financing, called "staged financing", based on a progressive meeting of certain criterion from development through distribution. This way of financing is similar to the venture capital models of financing. His broad ideas on what has to change with the industry's funding and packaging methods brought the panelists and the audience to heel at attention. I reprint his blog after this because this idea goes against the current grain of financing an entire film which may or may not prove to be the final box office bingo winner it always purports to be when securing full financing.
The Sffs provided some funding to Thomas Oliver's 1982 which is in Tiff this year. Aside from winning Us in Progress’ $60,000 in post-production services at this year’s Champs Elysees Film Festival, 1982 also received Sffs’s $85,000 post production grant and participated in the Sffs’s A2E labs. The film is being represented by Kevin Iwashina’s Preferred Content.
The panel became very animated as Ted Hope and Rena Ronson faced off about whether a film is made for a broad audience or whether, if targeted correctly, it could actually make money with niche audiences. As always, the two of them, both equally astute, brought much to bear on both sides of the argument. And, I, as the panel’s moderator, hereby declare, They are both right.
The broader the audience the more potential for making money.
However, as Ted points out, with crowd sourcing, crowd funding and crowd theatrical exhibition, there are many other ways beyond ticket purchases that filmmakers can offer in order to make money with their targeted audience.
This, as well as the great contributions made by Doha’s Paul Miller and Revolution’s Andrew Eaton could have extended the panel into a full day. Paul Oliver of Cross Creek was the quietest, perhaps most reticent, of the speakers, but he amply demonstrated that he is one who puts his money where his mouth is. His acumen and taste make us all grateful for his existence as he is a pivotal point person in creating works of art that create substantial revenues for a sustainable art house film business.
The audience as well was most enthusiastic with their questions and post panel discussions with panelists who stayed to talk.
Articles Reprinted Here:
Truly Free Film
Staged Financing Must Become Film Biz’s Immediate Goal
Posted: 06 Sep 2013 05:15 Am Pdt
Each day I become more and more convinced that staged financing could be a cure to much of the Film Biz’s ills. Staged financing? What? Is the phrase not exactly center of your conversations right now? Why not?!! Whatsamattawidyou? Don’t you know a good solution when you see one?
Although it already exists in many fields, and even in a few small patches of our own yard, I recognize that a staged financing strategy is not yet the force behind Indieland’s own gardening. I am however growing convinced it could yield a far more fruitful harvest than our current methods. A staged-financing ecosystem can’t be built in a one-off manner though. Although it also does not need to the rule of the realm, it needs a permanent eco-system to support it.
Staged financing is part of a much bigger solution that we urgently need to bring to our industry: a sustainable investor class . We need smart money and need to stop seeking, encouraging, and propagating dumb money. Most film investors get out, win or lose, by their third film (I have been told this and don’t have the stats to back it up now, but if you do, please share — otherwise just trust that is what my experience has shown). The value of most independent money in the film biz is the money itself, and that is not good for anyone.
Staged financing is exactly what it says to be. I know in this world such literalness is a strange thing, but there is it. Staged financing is a funding process that is there for each distinct stage. In comparison, it is the opposite of up-front financing — the type that monopolizes the narrative feature world. I am proposing that we institutionalize the staged-financing process and make it easier to finance your film in drips and drabs. Why am I so bullish on what probably sounds like hell to many? Why do I think it will save indie film? Let’s count the ways.
Staged financing increases the predictability of success. Investors can base their continued commitment on a proof of prinicipal instead of just a pitch. The longer one waits the more they know — of course the longer one waits the lower the chance for their to be the opportunity for investment, so there. The more investors can project or even predict their success, the longer they will stay in the game, and the more that will gather to pay — i.e. more capital at play! Staged financing allows filmmakers and their supporters to pivot based on real world data. The old way had very little it could do when new information hit. Your film (and investment) could be rendered obsolete over night. But that does not have to be a done deal is this new world. This is just one of the many reasons for #1 above of course. Staged financing diversifies the creative class. Wouldn’t it be great if the film biz was actually a meritocracy? Well, if people had to make good movies to complete their financing, wouldn’t that be a bit closer to the case? Staged financing gives all people the opportunity to prove they have a good idea, whether that idea is completed or not. It is not about who you know, but about what you’ve done and can do. Documentary film — compared to the narrative world — already has a great deal of staged financing institutionalized — and benefits from gender proportional representation among directors. Need I say more?Staged financing allows ambitious artistic work to flourish. Instead of just having “commercial elements”, unique and inspiring work can be recognized for the potential it truly has. Instead of being rewarded for being able to earn trust or arrogantly claim to know what one is doing, staged financing allows good work to be rewarded for being good work. Currently, we mistake confidence for capability and those that boast to be able to predict what the end product will be (where there is no way that they will actually know what the 100+ decisions each day will yield), get to play — not the work that delivers something new and wonderful. Staged financing rewards quality over risk mitigation. Staged financing is actually a better form of risk mitigation than the present form that is only based on regurgitating what has already proven successful. When we limit risk by mimicking what has worked in the past, all we are doing is guessing and covering our ass — and this leads to a film culture of movie titles overrun with numerals. We live in an era of abundance, and as comforting as the familiar may be, we have more access to it than ever before. We rarely need the new version of it. We will however need truly original work more and more as time goes on as we will drowning in the repetitive. How will we prove what works? Staged financing, my friend, staged financing. Staged financing creates a better project as it incentivizes the creators every step of the way. Not that you truly need to incentivize those that are in the passion industries for the right reason, but it never hurts to weed out those that are in it for the wrong reason. When your financing is based on your work and not your connections or investors’ fears, you will do all you can to make each stage of financing shine, justify itself, and be truly competitive. Staged financing requires you to walk a series of steps, proving you have earned the right with every advance — and you better do your homework if you don’t want to get left behind. Staged financing requires you choose your initial partners wisely. It’s not just about the terms of the deal that should determine whom your investors are — but that is how we generally act nowadays. Everyone should instead seek value-add investors. You should get more than just money from your investors. You should benefit from their expertise. Filmmakers, agents, lawyers, and managers, often are willing to leap into bed with anyone who offers the most cash — there’s a name for that practice and it should not be film investment. Staged financing means the creators will have “skin in the game”. When it is an up-front finance model, the creators are not working for a payout in success but working just for the upfornt fees (or some semblance thereof); they may have “profit participation” but basically the only anticipated earnings are what is in the budget. It becomes increasingly difficult to motivate the creative team to be engaged in the needed work after the film premieres. Investors have long recognized that this is not the most beneficial arrangement, yet what can they do? The answer my friend, is… yup, you know the song I am singing: everyone loves that staged financing! Staged financing is a time-tested process that has already been adopted by many industries . Staged financing is the modus operandi of Silicon Valley and all the Vc firms. Other industries, from mining onwards, have seen real benefits from the process. Why do we limit our success and not apply proven models to our field? Could it be that somewhere someone is desperately clutching on to what ever paltry power they perceive themselves to possess? Hmmm… If they don’t offer the model you want at the store, build a new model — or maybe even a chain of stores. Staged financing gives producers of quality work more power. The main objection to staged financing is that it gives financiers more power. That is only true if you are making crap. Or mediocre work. If you are making something wonderfully astounding you will never struggle to progress to the next round — and in fact you will be able to improve your terms. And investors won’t complain either, because they now can have to know a good thing when they see one.
So if Staged Financing is this marvelous thing, why have our leaders not yet delivered it to you? Well, they don’t care about you; didn’t you know that?
And if Staged Financing could really save Indie Film, why has the community not constructed this marvelous ecosystem yet? Well, we’ve all been too busy chasing shiny objects and marveling at the reflections fed back of us.
But change is here. We have hope. We can build it better together. And I have already started. The San Francisco Film Society is committed to it. We have others who want to be part of. We are have spots for more to join in. And we are going to help a few select projects really rock this world.
Watch this space. Let’s do it together and truly astonish the world with your awe inspiring work. Just don’t be slack, okay?
Variety, August 21, 2013:
“Rush,” the high-octane car racing film about the public rivalry between legendary Formula One drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt during the 1970s, has all the markings of tinseltown’s latest flashy biopic, withRon Howard at the wheel, Chris Hemsworth as its star, and Universal Pictures releasing the film Sept. 27. But that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.
“It is going to be easy for people to think this is a Hollywood movie, and it just is not,” says the upcoming film’s British screenwriter, Peter Morgan, who penned “Frost/Nixon,” also directed by Howard. “It is a British independent film directed by a Hollywood director.” Get Weekly Online News and alerts free to your inbox
As the majors focus more on putting their money behind mega-budgeted projects with built-in brand awareness — sequels, reboots, films based on toys, videogames and comicbooks — filmmakers are finding Hollywood’s studio system rapidly shifting under their feet.
“Because studios are less interested in the midbudget area, there is a massive opportunity for independents to step into that (area) at the moment,” says “Rush” producer Andrew Eaton of London-based Revolution Films.
Indeed, it’s getting harder to set up a midbudget range original project at a studio, even for veteran filmmakers like Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer, whose Imagine Entertainment has had an overall deal at Universal for 27 years (the longest standing deal U has had in its 100-year history with a production company). That’s forced directors to look elsewhere to tackle the kinds of films now considered too risky to make or the ones that won’t fill retail shelves with merchandise.
Another Hollywood vet, producer Marc Platt, who’s had a production deal at Universal since 1998 after stepping down as its production head, similarly had to find indie financing for his film “2 Guns” after Universal said it would not bankroll the picture but simply distribute it.
With “Rush,” Howard found himself in an entirely new role as the director of a $50 million film that was his first to be independently financed — through a series of bonds, contingencies and pre-sales. He also was a director for hire, replacing Paul Greengrass, who was originally set to bring the showy personalities of Hunt (Hemsworth), a British playboy; and the more serious Austrian champion Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) to the big screen.
“We must champion the fact that this is basically 80% a British film in terms of the people who worked on it, the way it was structured and the way we ran it,” says Eaton. The exec, who was behind such indie films as “24 Hour Party People” and the “Red Riding” series, is modest, and like most Brits politely shies away from the spotlight, tending not to grab credit even when its due.
But he believes “Rush” shows off Blighty’s mettle.
“These are the kinds of films we should be making in the U.K. because we can do it, and we can do it for better value of money,” he says.
Morgan began writing the story of Lauda, a friend of his wife’s, on spec some years ago, intrigued by the driver’s courageous comeback just 40 days after a devastating crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix that severely burned his face and saw him lapse into a coma, and how that might play against Hunt’s notorious womanizing and party lifestyle that gained him rock-star status.
Eager to work with Eaton again after Fernando Meirelles’ “360,” Morgan showed the producer the first draft of “Rush,” and Eaton was hooked.
“Andrew was always going to be a great fit for this project,” Morgan says. “If (the) responsibility was to make this at a price, Andrew could do this. He could make a $50 million film feel like a $150 million film.”
With Greengrass, another Brit, attached to direct, Morgan showed the script to close friend Eric Fellner at his Universal-owned British production outfit Working Title. Fellner, who had worked with him on “Frost/Nixon,” loved the new script and offered it to Universal for funding.
But the studio passed, considering it risky subject matter, given the biopic elements and low profile of F1 racing in the U.S. Universal also didn’t believe the film could be made for the right price. Still Fellner stayed onboard, and his contacts in the F1 arena proved invaluable. His relationships with Ferrari and McLaren thanks to his work on documentary “Senna” enabled “Rush” to enlist the brands in the pic without losing editorial control.
“Ron (Howard) jokes that my major contribution was engine noise,” Fellner says. “Maybe I can take credit for a bit of that.”
Soon after Universal passed, Cross Creek Pictures topper Brian Oliver reached out to Eaton to finance the project — so eager that he offered to put up $2 million before he even signed the deal so that Eaton could order replicas of the 1970s cars to be ready in time for the shoot. He also was instrumental in steering Hemsworth toward the project.
“Typically we don’t spend that kind of money without knowing the movie is going and the budget is done,” Oliver says. “But I was passionate about the script, and I really thought it was a film with a lot of heart, not just a race car movie.”
Cross Creek, also behind “The Ides of March” and “Black Swan,” has quickly become one of Hollywood’s biggest and more unusual financiers of risky films, with coin coming mostly from oil and real estate investments in Texas.
“He’s an unusual maverick in Hollywood because he really fought to get the budget to the highest level he could,” says Eaton of Oliver. “There’s no bullshit with him — he gets stuff done.” Adds Fellner: “Without Brian, the film wouldn’t have gotten off of the ground. He put his money where his mouth is.”
Shortly after funding started coming together, Greengrass dropped off the project due, ironically, to his issues with the budget. Within 24 hours, Morgan and Fellner enticed Howard to come onboard. The financing arrangement intrigued him, but what really attracted Howard was the ability to re-create the world of Formula One in the 1970s “when sex was safe and driving was dangerous,” as he has said in past interviews.
“Ron was incredibly gracious in trusting us to deliver,” Eaton says. “He was very smart about knowing we needed to make this film in a different way. He’d never made a film with a bond before, and never made a film with a contingency before, but he rolled up his sleeves and was ready to learn.” Some of that indie spirit has already rubbed off on Howard, who is now sticking with a mostly British crew on his next project, “In the Heart of the Sea,” including “Rush” cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle and costume designer Julian Day. “Heart” lenses in London.
Exclusive Media came in as the final partner on “Rush,” brought in by Oliver under his deal with Exclusive to jointly finance two projects per year.
Cross Creek split the cost of the pic with Exclusive, with the former putting its own cash in to the pic and the latter financing through a bank loan made against pre-sales generated in 2011 at the Afm, where Howard helped shop the project to buyers. The move proved a success, as Exclusive secured $33 million in foreign pre-sales.
Additionally, Oliver and Eaton structured the project as a U.K.-German co-production, enabling them to secure about $12 million in soft money.
As a result, U.K. rights ended up going to Studiocanal. Universal agreed to distribute “Rush” in the U.S. through its output deal with Cross Creek.
Eaton pressed to put all of the money raised on the screen. “Rush” became the highest-budget film he had ever worked with after 2000’s “The Claim,” which cost $18 million to produce.
“(‘Rush’) was financed in exactly the same way we finance every independent film, and we approached shooting in the same way as we do everything — you try to put as much money as you can onscreen,” Eaton says. “It’s about not wasting money on things you don’t need, like private jets and extravagances.”
Hollywood has tried to bring to life the world of Formula One before.
Sylvester Stallone directed “Driven,” which originally was set in the world of F1, before he changed course and based it on rival Cart racing, instead.
The reason? To gain access to F1, filmmakers must first get the greenlight from the often polarizing Bernie Ecclestone, the 82-year-old billionaire who holds a tight grip on the racing league that has long counted the elite as fans, including Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, and celebs including Michael Fassbender, Patrick Dempsey, Gordon Ramsey, George Lucas, and Cirque de Soleil founder Guy Laliberte.
Although Stallone tried to gain Ecclestone’s approval, “I apologize to fans of Formula 1, but there is a certain individual there who runs the sport that has his own agenda,” Stallone said in 2000. “F1 is very formal, and it’s very hard to get to know people.”
David Cronenberg also planned to direct a tentpole around F1 for Paramount, in 1986, with the director scouting the project by attending Grand Prix races in Australia and Mexico. The film, “Red Cars,” would have revolved around American driver Phil Hill winning the world championship for Ferrari in 1961. Plans were shelved when Ecclestone decided not to support the project. Instead, Cronenberg published a limited edition art book based on the screenplay in 2005.
One of the few cinematic standouts so far is Asif Kapadia’s documentary “Senna,” about the charismatic Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, killed in a race in 1994 that’s show in the docu. “Senna” went on to earn $8.2 million, and helped educate viewers of the sport by focusing not on the races but Senna’s iconic presence and his impact on pop culture.
“Rush” is looking to put a spotlight on the personalities behind the wheel and the often riveting rivalries between drivers — what many consider the real draw to the sport. Bruhl has compared them to “modern knights constantly facing death.”
As the film races toward its September release — it will be shown at the Toronto Film Festival out of competition — Howard has screened it for not only racing fans but Formula One, itself.
He recently showed the film to a group of F1 drivers (including Lauda, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa) at Germany’s Grand Prix, calling that audience the toughest test so far, and comparing the experience to screening “Apollo 13” to Nasa’s astronauts and mission controllers in 1995.
In his efforts to promote the film, Howard has called the Hunt-Lauda rivalry one of the greatest in all of sports. “Their story is so remarkable, you (could) only do it if it was true, because people wouldn’t quite believe it. They were willing to risk their lives to attain this elite status. They paid a price for it, but they defined themselves.”
Morgan also has been doing his part to reassure F1 fans that the film is authentic, stressing that it’s about the people in the cars, and not the sport itself.
Any way the wheel’s spun, it’s clear the film’s overall success will largely be driven by how it plays overseas. “Rush” will need to appeal to an international audience that’s more familiar with F1 — a sport second in popularity only to soccer — than to those in the U.S.
But Howard needs to hook moviegoers closer to home — making the American director’s job a much tougher sell.
It’s not really that surprising that there’s nothing all that American about “Rush.”
Formula One is still struggling to find an audience in the U.S. It’s looking to change that through a new $3 million broadcasting deal with NBC Sports that airs 13 races on the cable channel, two on CNBC, and four on NBC. The Monaco Grand Prix was the first of four F1 races to air live on NBC this year, with the final race taking place Nov. 24 from Brazil.
Ratings have averaged a 0.3 rating, although the Monaco race was watched by 1.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched Formula One race on U.S. television in six years, and up 40% over last year’s race when it aired on Speed TV, Nielsen said.
Promos have emphasized the speed of F1’s jetfighter cars, its international appeal and Olympics-like profiles of the drivers.
Formula One also is looking to rev up new fans in the U.S. through the opening of its first permanent track in Austin, Texas, last year, known as the Circuit of the Americas. Howard attended its first race, where Lauda also roamed the track’s garages.
What’s ironic is that Howard isn’t a very good driver. He proved that recently racing around the track of BBC’s hit show “Top Gear” to promote “Rush,” ending up in second to last place on the series’ celebrity leader board — behind Genesis’ Mike Rutherford.
Host Jeremy Clarkson was quick to mock him, saying “We finally found something you can’t do. Good at directing, brilliant in ‘Happy Days,’ a charming human being — but utterly crap at driving.”
Ron Howard's Risky Formula One Movie, 'Rush'
Can this Euro-centric car racing film play in the U.S.?
By Rachel Dodes Conn
Ron Howard's films, like "Apollo 13" and "Frost/Nixon," typically deal with issues very familiar to American audiences. His latest project, Mr. Howard's first independently financed film, is a bit of a departure: "Rush" chronicles the rivalry between Austrian Formula One racer Niki Lauda and his nemesis, the British driver James Hunt, over the course of the historic 1976 season. While competing in Nürburg, Germany during treacherous weather conditions, Mr. Lauda (Daniel Brühl, right) crashed his Ferrari and sustained severe burns to his face and lungs. Yet, fueled by a desire to beat Mr. Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, above), a playboy type whose wife (Olivia Wilde) ran off with Richard Burton, Mr. Lauda was back in his car just six weeks later—still wearing his bandages—to race against him in the Italian Grand Prix.
When Mr. Howard received the script on spec from screenwriter Peter Morgan ("Frost/Nixon," "The Last King of Scotland"), he wasn't a Formula One fan and didn't know who Messrs. Hunt and Lauda were. "I looked them up on Wikipedia," he admits. But as he read about the racers' personalities, he started to see broader themes that would appeal to U.S. moviegoers. "Maybe this is the American in me identifying this," he says, "but both these guys are utterly and entirely individuals—there was no Yoda telling them to seek their higher self."
For Mr. Howard, the process of researching "Rush" was surprisingly similar to learning about space travel for his "Apollo 13," because he found himself having to make arcane automotive engineering terms accessible to viewers. "It was really fun to understand a sport that combines cutting-edge technology with very dangerous competition," he says. "The visceral, cool and sexy element offered a kind of cinematic experience that nowadays exists only with sci-fi."
Formula One isn't nearly as popular in the U.S. as Nascar, and the subject matter is likelier to play well overseas, where the film's financing came from. It premiered Monday, in London, a few weeks before its U.S. opening. The filmmakers say it's more than just a sports picture, and they expect it to appeal to women as well as men.
Saudi Female Filmmaker Succeeds In Making A Movie About A Girl Who Wants A Bicycle
Los Angeles Times
By Rebecca Keegan
Sept. 6, 2013
In a country where women can't freely move around, Haifaa Mansour covertly films the story of a girl's quest for a bicycle.
The production lost two days to sandstorms. The crew faced a last-minute scramble when the nervous owner of a mall changed his mind about allowing filming there. Some days locals chased the cameras away; other days they brought platters of lamb and rice to the set, and asked to be extras.
Meanwhile, the director hid in a van, speaking to her cast via walkie-talkie. In Saudi Arabia, where driving a car is a subversive act for a woman, a 39-year-old mother of two has done something remarkable: written and directed what her distributor believes is the first feature film shot entirely in the ultraconservative kingdom.
Haifaa Mansour is the director of "Wadjda," a drama about a plucky 10-year-old girl who enrolls in a Koran recitation competition in order to win money for a bicycle she's forbidden by law to ride.
Like her young protagonist, Mansour's own story is one of feminine moxie.
In a sly protest of the country's ban on women behind the wheel, she drove herself to her wedding in a golf cart. Because women in Saudi Arabia can't mingle publicly with men outside their families, she shot her movie covertly on the streets of the capital, Riyadh. With movie theaters banned, she screened "Wadjda" in two foreign embassies and a cultural center.
Petite, self-assured, wearing white high-tops and blue nail polish, Mansour is modern in both her fashion and bearing. She speaks English quickly and colloquially, dropping frequent "you knows" into conversation. And she isn't afraid to counter misperceptions about her homeland, as when she gently corrected Bill Maher for calling Mecca the Saudi capital during a recent appearance on his HBO show.
Laced with empathy and humor, "Wadjda" is a quietly provocative portrait of a culture that straddles the centuries, where men wear the ancient white thobe but carry the latest iPads and women hold important jobs as doctors and news anchors but have yet to vote in an election.
"I didn't want to make a movie about women being raped or stoned," Mansour said in an interview in Beverly Hills in June. "For me it is the everyday life, how it's hard. For me, it was hard sometimes to go to work because I cannot find transportation. Things like that build up and break a woman."
The eighth of 12 children of a poet, Mansour grew up in a small town in a home that she describes as nurturing for a little girl.
"My family is very traditional, but my parents are very supportive, very kind," she said. "I never felt I can't do things because I'm a woman."
When Mansour was a teen, her mother removed the light veil she wore while picking her daughter up from school, a gesture that mortified the young woman at the time, but empowers her when she reflects on it now.
Though movie theaters have been shuttered in Saudi Arabia for decades for religious reasons, Mansour said her father, like others, often rented VHS tapes at Blockbuster for the family to watch -- she grew up on Jackie Chan movies, Bollywood productions, Egyptian cinema and Disney animated films. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a particular favorite.
"In small-town Saudi, there is nothing to do. You don't get to exercise your emotions because nothing much is happening, you know?" she said. "So to see people falling in love and fighting, it's so powerful, you see beyond your small town."
After earning her bachelor's degree in comparative literature at the American University in Cairo, she returned to Saudi Arabia but quickly felt stymied.
"Going back to Saudi as a young woman, trying to assert yourself in the workplace, you have all those ideas … and all of a sudden you realize because you are a woman you are not heard," she said. "It was such a frustrating moment in my life. It was as if you are screaming in a vacuum."
The idea of women holding jobs still unnerves some Saudi men -- writer Abdullah Mohammed Daoud recently encouraged his more than 97,000 Twitter followers to sexually harass female grocery store clerks to intimidate women from working.
Recalling the freedom she found in movies, Mansour decided to make a short film with her siblings serving as cast and crew, a thriller about a male serial killer who hides under the black abaya worn by Muslim women. Her work -- two more shorts, a documentary and a stint hosting a talk show for a Lebanese network -- focused largely on the untold stories of Saudi women.
In 2005, at a U.S. embassy screening of her documentary, "Women Without Shadows," Mansour met her future husband, American diplomat Bradley Neimann. They now have two children, 2 and 5, and live in Bahrain, where Neimann works for the State Department.
When her husband was posted in Australia, Mansour pursued a master's in film studies at the University of Sydney, and wrote the script that became "Wadjda."
The story was inspired by her now teenage niece, who has tamped down her rambunctious personality to fit into Saudi norms.
"I thought, 'Wow, a woman writer from Saudi Arabia won?'" Rena Ronson said. "I had to meet her. She was so open and tenacious and smart."When Mansour's script for "Wadjda" won an award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, it caught the eye of the co-head of the independent film group at United Talent Agency.
Over the next two years Ronson helped Mansour secure financing for her film, which cost a little less than $2.5 million. The primary obstacle, as far as many potential Middle Eastern producers were concerned, was Mansour's desire to shoot in Saudi Arabia, which she felt lent her story authenticity.
The production finally won the tacit approval of the Saudi government -- one of its backers is Rotana Group, an entertainment company primarily owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Another major financier is the German company Razor Film.
Finding actors was another hurdle. Mansour and her producers recruited child performers through small companies that hire folkloric dancers for the Eid holidays. Many of their parents were uncomfortable with a movie about empowering women.
A week before she was scheduled to start shooting, Mansour still hadn't cast her title character when 12-year-old Waad Mohammed entered the room in blue jeans, with headphones clapped over her ears. Singing along to Justin Bieber, she won over Mansour with her sweet singing voice and tomboyish style.
The movie's half-German, half-Saudi crew worked around the rhythms of Saudi life, using cellphone apps that alerted them of the five daily prayer calls. The Germans carried notebooks; the Saudis relied on oral planning.
On the first day of shooting, a start time of 7:20 a.m. came and went. "I don't know what we were thinking," said German producer Roman Paul. "I don't think 7:20 exists in Saudi time. We Germans learned to relax, and the Saudis learned that there is a benefit to doing things at a certain time."
Despite tension on the set -- both from disapproving observers and from the German and Saudi crews learning to work together -- Mansour was buoyant, Paul said.
"She's very fast in overcoming new difficulties, and in an upbeat spirit," Paul said.
Last summer "Wadjda" premiered at the Venice and Telluride film festivals, earning praise for Mansour's subtle direction and a U.S. release from Sony Pictures Classics, which handled the Oscar-winning 2011 Iranian drama "A Separation," about the dissolution of a marriage.
"'A Separation' was such an eye-opener to me in the sense that there were people questioning whether the film went too specific into the Iranian culture," said Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of the Sony unit. "But if the overall story has a universal appeal, in 'Wadjda' it's about parents and kids and restrictions and freedom, that's something we can all relate to."
Sony Classics has been showing the film to noted feminists -- Gloria Steinem and Queen Noor of Jordan both attended screenings -- and will release it in the U.S. slowly over the fall, starting Sept. 13. (The movie premiered in multiple European countries this summer.)
Mansour said she plans to work in Saudi Arabia again. For her, screening her movie in the kingdom was a high.
"Film is about uplifting, embracing the love of life, it's about moving ahead, it's about victory," she said. "It's not about defeat."
One victory has already been won. This spring, a new law went into effect: With some restrictions, Saudi women are now allowed to ride bicycles.
Rush (U.S. Universal, International Sales by Exclusive)
Ron Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer whose imagine Entertainment have had an overall deal at Universal for 27 years, however, this mid-budget range film of some $50,000,000 was considered not "big enough" for the majors.
To read more about this complex and fascinating film and its international film business background, read the following articles which are quoted throughout this article with thanks and acknowledgement to:
· Variety September 13, 2013 (reprinted at the end of this blog) · Wall Street Journal, September 5, 2013 · The Hollywood Reporter September 28, 2011
Aside from major director Ron Howard himself, the second “major” element of the film is that Universal is the North American distributor of the film. This happens through the three year minimum-6-picture distribution deal Brian Oliver’s Cross Creek has with Universal in which Cross Creek produces and finances either its own films or films chosen from Universal’s development slate. Cross Creek is set up to generate up to four films per year, with Universal to distribute at least two of them with a wide-release commitment.
Isa (International Sales Agent) Exclusive Media is also an independent. This too is the result of Oliver’s deal with Exclusive to jointly finance two projects per year.
Cross Creek, putting its own cash into the project, split the cost of the picture with Exclusive who financed it through a bank loan made against pre-sales generated in 2011 at the Afm. With Howard there to promote the project to buyers, Exclusive secured around $33 million in foreign pre-sales. See Cinando’s list of distributors .
Additionally, Oliver and Eaton structured the project as a U.K.- German co-production, enabling them to secure about $12 million in soft money from Germany (Egoli Tossell) in accordance with U.K.’s co-production treaty. As a result, U.K. rights ended up with Studiocanal.
Brian Oliver is a “one of Hollywood’s biggest and more unusual financiers of risky films, with coin coming mostly from oil and real estate investments in Texas”. This major Hollywood financier/ producer takes chances which prove his astute, if askew, view of what makes a “Hollywood” picture an indie at the same time, as shown by his credits, The Ides of March and Black Swan.
Andrew Eaton is a British producer with deep Hollywood connections through the British community here, e.g., Eric Fellner of Working Title, the British production company currently owned by Universal. (Parenthetically, I bought U.S. rights to Working Title’s first film, My Beautiful Laundrette for Lorimar along with Orion Classics and so I was quite thrilled to have a chance to be in touch with the talented Brits once again).
Working Title had worked with Andrew Easton on Frost/Nixon. Eric Fellner loved the script and offered it to Universal for funding. However, as said, Universal passed on it because it was too small.
“It is going to be easy for people to think this is a Hollywood movie, and it just is not,” quotes Variety from the film’s British screenwriter, Peter Morgan, who penned Frost/Nixon which was also directed by Howard. “It is a British independent film directed by a Hollywood director.”
Eaton and Oliver spoke of how they put this film together.
“We must champion the fact that this is basically 80% a British film in terms of the people who worked on it, the way it was structured and the way we ran it,” says Eaton, who was behind such indie films as 24 Hour Party People and the Red Riding TV series.
Can a Song Save Your Life? (U.S. UTA, Isa: Exclusive)
Exclusive has another film here, Can a Song Save Your Life? which is also repped by Rena Ronson, Co-Head of the Independent Film Group of UTA. Directed by John Carney who came to the public’s attention with his micro-budgeted Once which plays on stage here in Toronto at the moment, in New York and elsewhere regularly. The Weinstein Company picked it up in Toronto, reportedly paying around a $7 million minimum guarantee for U.S. rights with a P&A commitment of at least $20 million.
UTA as an agency also packages both large (studio) and smaller indie films. Rena Ronson, the co-head of UTA Indie explained how her own indie roots -- first at indie distributor Fox-Lorber and continuing into international sales before becoming the “indie agent” at Wma, succeeding the “indie” founder, Bobbi Thompson, have taught her to speak the language of the international as well as the independent film business. She knows the major modes of operating as well as she knows the independent style of business. She further explained that the successes of the larger films permit the “smaller”, i.e., “indie” films to be made.
UTA repped films in Toronto are listed below. For a full report of rights sold, before, during and after Toronto, watch SydneysBuzz.com for the Fall 2013 Rights Roundup.
Can A Song Save Your Life?
Writer/Director: John Carney Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, Catherine Keener, Mos Def, Cee-Lo Green Publicity: Falco / Shannon Treusch, Monica Delameter U.S. Producer Rep: UTA / CAA . Isa: Exclusive Media Group
U.S. rights were acquired at Tiff 13 by TWC for a record breaking $7 million.
Since first announcing it in Cannes 2012, Exclusive has made other deals as well for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan (Tanweer), Germany (Studiocanal), Japan (Pony Canyon Inc), Philippines (Solar Entertainment), Russia (A Company), So. Korea ( Pancinema), Switzerland ( Ascot Elite Entertainment Group ), Taiwan ( Serenity Entertainment International ), Turkey (D Productions), the Middle East ( Front Row Filmed Entertainment).
Tiff Special Presentations:
Hateship, Loveship
Director: Liza Johnson Writer: Mark Poirier Writer (Novel): Alice Munro Starring: Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Hailee Steinfeld, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte Publicity: Prodigy PR, Erik Bright
North American Sale: UTA / Cassian Elwes. Isa: The Weinstein Co. Sena has rights for Iceland.
The F Word
Director: Michael Dowse Writer: Elan Mastai Writers (Play): Michael Rinaldi & T.J. Dawe Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Rafe Spall, Adam Driver, Mackenzie Davis, Amanda Crew Publicity: Strategy PR / Cynthia Schwartz, Michael Kupferberg Us Sale: UTA / Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman. Isa: eOne
After UTA sold the The F Word to CBS Films for the U.S. for around $3 million in Toronto, Entertainment One Films International completed other international sales. Besides Canada and the U.K., eOne itself will release the film in Australia/New Zealand, Benelux and Spain feeding its own international distribution pipeline. Other sales include Germany to Senator Entertainment, Middle East to Front Row Entertainment, Nigeria toRed Mist, Russia to Carmen Film Group, Turkey to Mars Entertainment Group
Night Moves
Writer/Director: Kelly Reichart Writer: Jonathan Raymond Starring: Dakota Fanning, Jesse Eisenberg, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat Publicity: Ginsberg/Libby, Chris Libby North American Sale: UTA Isa: The Match Factory
Tiff Vanguard
The Sacrament
Writer/Director: Ti West Starring: Joe Swanberg, Aj Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Kate Lyn Sheil, Gene Jones Publicity: Dda, Dana Archer, Alice Zhou North American Sale: UTA / CAA Isa: Im Global sold to Pegasus Motion Pictures Distribution Ltd . For China
As of this writing, rather 1 hour ago, Magnolia Pictures, which lost on an earlier bidding war here for Joe, is finalizing a deal for the picture reportedly for seven figures.
Coincidentallywith the beginning of the Toronto Film Festival, the front page of L.A. Times quoted Rena Ronson in an article called "Making history as cameras roll" (print edition) or "Wadjda' director makes her mark in Saudi cinema" (online edition) about Wadjda , (Isa: The Match Factory) last year’s Venice and Telluride film which Rena had spotted at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, where it won a script award. It was written and directed by a woman which is notable in such a male-dominated part of the world. She met the writer-director, Haifaa Mansour, and that led to working with her for the next two years to finance the film. Its $2.5m budget was backed in part by the Rotana Group, the largest media company in the Middle East, owned primarily by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The German production company Razor Film owned and operated by Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul whose first coproduction in 2005, Paradise Now brought them into international prominence and who also picked up last year’s Tiff groundbreaking film from Afghanistan,The Patience Stone, and previously coproduced Waltz With Bashir, came on board and brought German broadcast deals and German film funds as well.
Doha and Film Financing
The fourth panelist was Paul Miller, Head of Film Financing, from the Doha Film Institute , Qatar's first international organization dedicated to film financing, production, education and two film festivals. Doha encourages submission for financing film financing opportunities from anywhere in the world. The Dfi Grants program supports first- and second-time filmmakers in producing and developing their own stories. There are two funding rounds per year. Applications are considered from three regions (basically divided into the Middle East, developing nations and the rest of the world – with some exceptions -- each with different eligibility criteria.
Consideration for funding is open to feature-length films in development, production and post-production, as well as short films in production and post-production. Since 2010, Dfi has provided funding to more than 138 filmmakers.
Beyond the regional grants program, Dfi also invests in a diverse slate of international productions to encourage greater collaboration, mentorship and co‑production opportunities between Gulf countries and the rest of the world. Co-financing applications apply to both Middle Eastern and international feature films, television and web series. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Four films at Tiff that Doha has helped finance:
Mohammed Malas’s Ladder to Damacus, screening in Tiff’s Contemporary World Cinema section; Jasmila Žbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales in the Special Presentation section. Both films were co-financed by Dfi. Dfi grant recipients Néjib Belkadhi’s Bastardo and Mais Darwazah’s My Love Awaits Me by the Sea screening in the Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery sections, respectively.
The fifth panelist, Ted Hope, Director of the San Francisco Film Society, a non-profit training, festival, and funding operation is known to everyone from his history with Good Machine (which was acquired by Universal and renamed Focus Features), and from his blog Hope for Film/ Truly Free Film . In his always-inimitable fashion, Ted proposed a new sort of financing, called "staged financing", based on a progressive meeting of certain criterion from development through distribution. This way of financing is similar to the venture capital models of financing. His broad ideas on what has to change with the industry's funding and packaging methods brought the panelists and the audience to heel at attention. I reprint his blog after this because this idea goes against the current grain of financing an entire film which may or may not prove to be the final box office bingo winner it always purports to be when securing full financing.
The Sffs provided some funding to Thomas Oliver's 1982 which is in Tiff this year. Aside from winning Us in Progress’ $60,000 in post-production services at this year’s Champs Elysees Film Festival, 1982 also received Sffs’s $85,000 post production grant and participated in the Sffs’s A2E labs. The film is being represented by Kevin Iwashina’s Preferred Content.
The panel became very animated as Ted Hope and Rena Ronson faced off about whether a film is made for a broad audience or whether, if targeted correctly, it could actually make money with niche audiences. As always, the two of them, both equally astute, brought much to bear on both sides of the argument. And, I, as the panel’s moderator, hereby declare, They are both right.
The broader the audience the more potential for making money.
However, as Ted points out, with crowd sourcing, crowd funding and crowd theatrical exhibition, there are many other ways beyond ticket purchases that filmmakers can offer in order to make money with their targeted audience.
This, as well as the great contributions made by Doha’s Paul Miller and Revolution’s Andrew Eaton could have extended the panel into a full day. Paul Oliver of Cross Creek was the quietest, perhaps most reticent, of the speakers, but he amply demonstrated that he is one who puts his money where his mouth is. His acumen and taste make us all grateful for his existence as he is a pivotal point person in creating works of art that create substantial revenues for a sustainable art house film business.
The audience as well was most enthusiastic with their questions and post panel discussions with panelists who stayed to talk.
Articles Reprinted Here:
Truly Free Film
Staged Financing Must Become Film Biz’s Immediate Goal
Posted: 06 Sep 2013 05:15 Am Pdt
Each day I become more and more convinced that staged financing could be a cure to much of the Film Biz’s ills. Staged financing? What? Is the phrase not exactly center of your conversations right now? Why not?!! Whatsamattawidyou? Don’t you know a good solution when you see one?
Although it already exists in many fields, and even in a few small patches of our own yard, I recognize that a staged financing strategy is not yet the force behind Indieland’s own gardening. I am however growing convinced it could yield a far more fruitful harvest than our current methods. A staged-financing ecosystem can’t be built in a one-off manner though. Although it also does not need to the rule of the realm, it needs a permanent eco-system to support it.
Staged financing is part of a much bigger solution that we urgently need to bring to our industry: a sustainable investor class . We need smart money and need to stop seeking, encouraging, and propagating dumb money. Most film investors get out, win or lose, by their third film (I have been told this and don’t have the stats to back it up now, but if you do, please share — otherwise just trust that is what my experience has shown). The value of most independent money in the film biz is the money itself, and that is not good for anyone.
Staged financing is exactly what it says to be. I know in this world such literalness is a strange thing, but there is it. Staged financing is a funding process that is there for each distinct stage. In comparison, it is the opposite of up-front financing — the type that monopolizes the narrative feature world. I am proposing that we institutionalize the staged-financing process and make it easier to finance your film in drips and drabs. Why am I so bullish on what probably sounds like hell to many? Why do I think it will save indie film? Let’s count the ways.
Staged financing increases the predictability of success. Investors can base their continued commitment on a proof of prinicipal instead of just a pitch. The longer one waits the more they know — of course the longer one waits the lower the chance for their to be the opportunity for investment, so there. The more investors can project or even predict their success, the longer they will stay in the game, and the more that will gather to pay — i.e. more capital at play! Staged financing allows filmmakers and their supporters to pivot based on real world data. The old way had very little it could do when new information hit. Your film (and investment) could be rendered obsolete over night. But that does not have to be a done deal is this new world. This is just one of the many reasons for #1 above of course. Staged financing diversifies the creative class. Wouldn’t it be great if the film biz was actually a meritocracy? Well, if people had to make good movies to complete their financing, wouldn’t that be a bit closer to the case? Staged financing gives all people the opportunity to prove they have a good idea, whether that idea is completed or not. It is not about who you know, but about what you’ve done and can do. Documentary film — compared to the narrative world — already has a great deal of staged financing institutionalized — and benefits from gender proportional representation among directors. Need I say more?Staged financing allows ambitious artistic work to flourish. Instead of just having “commercial elements”, unique and inspiring work can be recognized for the potential it truly has. Instead of being rewarded for being able to earn trust or arrogantly claim to know what one is doing, staged financing allows good work to be rewarded for being good work. Currently, we mistake confidence for capability and those that boast to be able to predict what the end product will be (where there is no way that they will actually know what the 100+ decisions each day will yield), get to play — not the work that delivers something new and wonderful. Staged financing rewards quality over risk mitigation. Staged financing is actually a better form of risk mitigation than the present form that is only based on regurgitating what has already proven successful. When we limit risk by mimicking what has worked in the past, all we are doing is guessing and covering our ass — and this leads to a film culture of movie titles overrun with numerals. We live in an era of abundance, and as comforting as the familiar may be, we have more access to it than ever before. We rarely need the new version of it. We will however need truly original work more and more as time goes on as we will drowning in the repetitive. How will we prove what works? Staged financing, my friend, staged financing. Staged financing creates a better project as it incentivizes the creators every step of the way. Not that you truly need to incentivize those that are in the passion industries for the right reason, but it never hurts to weed out those that are in it for the wrong reason. When your financing is based on your work and not your connections or investors’ fears, you will do all you can to make each stage of financing shine, justify itself, and be truly competitive. Staged financing requires you to walk a series of steps, proving you have earned the right with every advance — and you better do your homework if you don’t want to get left behind. Staged financing requires you choose your initial partners wisely. It’s not just about the terms of the deal that should determine whom your investors are — but that is how we generally act nowadays. Everyone should instead seek value-add investors. You should get more than just money from your investors. You should benefit from their expertise. Filmmakers, agents, lawyers, and managers, often are willing to leap into bed with anyone who offers the most cash — there’s a name for that practice and it should not be film investment. Staged financing means the creators will have “skin in the game”. When it is an up-front finance model, the creators are not working for a payout in success but working just for the upfornt fees (or some semblance thereof); they may have “profit participation” but basically the only anticipated earnings are what is in the budget. It becomes increasingly difficult to motivate the creative team to be engaged in the needed work after the film premieres. Investors have long recognized that this is not the most beneficial arrangement, yet what can they do? The answer my friend, is… yup, you know the song I am singing: everyone loves that staged financing! Staged financing is a time-tested process that has already been adopted by many industries . Staged financing is the modus operandi of Silicon Valley and all the Vc firms. Other industries, from mining onwards, have seen real benefits from the process. Why do we limit our success and not apply proven models to our field? Could it be that somewhere someone is desperately clutching on to what ever paltry power they perceive themselves to possess? Hmmm… If they don’t offer the model you want at the store, build a new model — or maybe even a chain of stores. Staged financing gives producers of quality work more power. The main objection to staged financing is that it gives financiers more power. That is only true if you are making crap. Or mediocre work. If you are making something wonderfully astounding you will never struggle to progress to the next round — and in fact you will be able to improve your terms. And investors won’t complain either, because they now can have to know a good thing when they see one.
So if Staged Financing is this marvelous thing, why have our leaders not yet delivered it to you? Well, they don’t care about you; didn’t you know that?
And if Staged Financing could really save Indie Film, why has the community not constructed this marvelous ecosystem yet? Well, we’ve all been too busy chasing shiny objects and marveling at the reflections fed back of us.
But change is here. We have hope. We can build it better together. And I have already started. The San Francisco Film Society is committed to it. We have others who want to be part of. We are have spots for more to join in. And we are going to help a few select projects really rock this world.
Watch this space. Let’s do it together and truly astonish the world with your awe inspiring work. Just don’t be slack, okay?
Variety, August 21, 2013:
“Rush,” the high-octane car racing film about the public rivalry between legendary Formula One drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt during the 1970s, has all the markings of tinseltown’s latest flashy biopic, withRon Howard at the wheel, Chris Hemsworth as its star, and Universal Pictures releasing the film Sept. 27. But that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.
“It is going to be easy for people to think this is a Hollywood movie, and it just is not,” says the upcoming film’s British screenwriter, Peter Morgan, who penned “Frost/Nixon,” also directed by Howard. “It is a British independent film directed by a Hollywood director.” Get Weekly Online News and alerts free to your inbox
As the majors focus more on putting their money behind mega-budgeted projects with built-in brand awareness — sequels, reboots, films based on toys, videogames and comicbooks — filmmakers are finding Hollywood’s studio system rapidly shifting under their feet.
“Because studios are less interested in the midbudget area, there is a massive opportunity for independents to step into that (area) at the moment,” says “Rush” producer Andrew Eaton of London-based Revolution Films.
Indeed, it’s getting harder to set up a midbudget range original project at a studio, even for veteran filmmakers like Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer, whose Imagine Entertainment has had an overall deal at Universal for 27 years (the longest standing deal U has had in its 100-year history with a production company). That’s forced directors to look elsewhere to tackle the kinds of films now considered too risky to make or the ones that won’t fill retail shelves with merchandise.
Another Hollywood vet, producer Marc Platt, who’s had a production deal at Universal since 1998 after stepping down as its production head, similarly had to find indie financing for his film “2 Guns” after Universal said it would not bankroll the picture but simply distribute it.
With “Rush,” Howard found himself in an entirely new role as the director of a $50 million film that was his first to be independently financed — through a series of bonds, contingencies and pre-sales. He also was a director for hire, replacing Paul Greengrass, who was originally set to bring the showy personalities of Hunt (Hemsworth), a British playboy; and the more serious Austrian champion Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) to the big screen.
“We must champion the fact that this is basically 80% a British film in terms of the people who worked on it, the way it was structured and the way we ran it,” says Eaton. The exec, who was behind such indie films as “24 Hour Party People” and the “Red Riding” series, is modest, and like most Brits politely shies away from the spotlight, tending not to grab credit even when its due.
But he believes “Rush” shows off Blighty’s mettle.
“These are the kinds of films we should be making in the U.K. because we can do it, and we can do it for better value of money,” he says.
Morgan began writing the story of Lauda, a friend of his wife’s, on spec some years ago, intrigued by the driver’s courageous comeback just 40 days after a devastating crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix that severely burned his face and saw him lapse into a coma, and how that might play against Hunt’s notorious womanizing and party lifestyle that gained him rock-star status.
Eager to work with Eaton again after Fernando Meirelles’ “360,” Morgan showed the producer the first draft of “Rush,” and Eaton was hooked.
“Andrew was always going to be a great fit for this project,” Morgan says. “If (the) responsibility was to make this at a price, Andrew could do this. He could make a $50 million film feel like a $150 million film.”
With Greengrass, another Brit, attached to direct, Morgan showed the script to close friend Eric Fellner at his Universal-owned British production outfit Working Title. Fellner, who had worked with him on “Frost/Nixon,” loved the new script and offered it to Universal for funding.
But the studio passed, considering it risky subject matter, given the biopic elements and low profile of F1 racing in the U.S. Universal also didn’t believe the film could be made for the right price. Still Fellner stayed onboard, and his contacts in the F1 arena proved invaluable. His relationships with Ferrari and McLaren thanks to his work on documentary “Senna” enabled “Rush” to enlist the brands in the pic without losing editorial control.
“Ron (Howard) jokes that my major contribution was engine noise,” Fellner says. “Maybe I can take credit for a bit of that.”
Soon after Universal passed, Cross Creek Pictures topper Brian Oliver reached out to Eaton to finance the project — so eager that he offered to put up $2 million before he even signed the deal so that Eaton could order replicas of the 1970s cars to be ready in time for the shoot. He also was instrumental in steering Hemsworth toward the project.
“Typically we don’t spend that kind of money without knowing the movie is going and the budget is done,” Oliver says. “But I was passionate about the script, and I really thought it was a film with a lot of heart, not just a race car movie.”
Cross Creek, also behind “The Ides of March” and “Black Swan,” has quickly become one of Hollywood’s biggest and more unusual financiers of risky films, with coin coming mostly from oil and real estate investments in Texas.
“He’s an unusual maverick in Hollywood because he really fought to get the budget to the highest level he could,” says Eaton of Oliver. “There’s no bullshit with him — he gets stuff done.” Adds Fellner: “Without Brian, the film wouldn’t have gotten off of the ground. He put his money where his mouth is.”
Shortly after funding started coming together, Greengrass dropped off the project due, ironically, to his issues with the budget. Within 24 hours, Morgan and Fellner enticed Howard to come onboard. The financing arrangement intrigued him, but what really attracted Howard was the ability to re-create the world of Formula One in the 1970s “when sex was safe and driving was dangerous,” as he has said in past interviews.
“Ron was incredibly gracious in trusting us to deliver,” Eaton says. “He was very smart about knowing we needed to make this film in a different way. He’d never made a film with a bond before, and never made a film with a contingency before, but he rolled up his sleeves and was ready to learn.” Some of that indie spirit has already rubbed off on Howard, who is now sticking with a mostly British crew on his next project, “In the Heart of the Sea,” including “Rush” cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle and costume designer Julian Day. “Heart” lenses in London.
Exclusive Media came in as the final partner on “Rush,” brought in by Oliver under his deal with Exclusive to jointly finance two projects per year.
Cross Creek split the cost of the pic with Exclusive, with the former putting its own cash in to the pic and the latter financing through a bank loan made against pre-sales generated in 2011 at the Afm, where Howard helped shop the project to buyers. The move proved a success, as Exclusive secured $33 million in foreign pre-sales.
Additionally, Oliver and Eaton structured the project as a U.K.-German co-production, enabling them to secure about $12 million in soft money.
As a result, U.K. rights ended up going to Studiocanal. Universal agreed to distribute “Rush” in the U.S. through its output deal with Cross Creek.
Eaton pressed to put all of the money raised on the screen. “Rush” became the highest-budget film he had ever worked with after 2000’s “The Claim,” which cost $18 million to produce.
“(‘Rush’) was financed in exactly the same way we finance every independent film, and we approached shooting in the same way as we do everything — you try to put as much money as you can onscreen,” Eaton says. “It’s about not wasting money on things you don’t need, like private jets and extravagances.”
Hollywood has tried to bring to life the world of Formula One before.
Sylvester Stallone directed “Driven,” which originally was set in the world of F1, before he changed course and based it on rival Cart racing, instead.
The reason? To gain access to F1, filmmakers must first get the greenlight from the often polarizing Bernie Ecclestone, the 82-year-old billionaire who holds a tight grip on the racing league that has long counted the elite as fans, including Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, and celebs including Michael Fassbender, Patrick Dempsey, Gordon Ramsey, George Lucas, and Cirque de Soleil founder Guy Laliberte.
Although Stallone tried to gain Ecclestone’s approval, “I apologize to fans of Formula 1, but there is a certain individual there who runs the sport that has his own agenda,” Stallone said in 2000. “F1 is very formal, and it’s very hard to get to know people.”
David Cronenberg also planned to direct a tentpole around F1 for Paramount, in 1986, with the director scouting the project by attending Grand Prix races in Australia and Mexico. The film, “Red Cars,” would have revolved around American driver Phil Hill winning the world championship for Ferrari in 1961. Plans were shelved when Ecclestone decided not to support the project. Instead, Cronenberg published a limited edition art book based on the screenplay in 2005.
One of the few cinematic standouts so far is Asif Kapadia’s documentary “Senna,” about the charismatic Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, killed in a race in 1994 that’s show in the docu. “Senna” went on to earn $8.2 million, and helped educate viewers of the sport by focusing not on the races but Senna’s iconic presence and his impact on pop culture.
“Rush” is looking to put a spotlight on the personalities behind the wheel and the often riveting rivalries between drivers — what many consider the real draw to the sport. Bruhl has compared them to “modern knights constantly facing death.”
As the film races toward its September release — it will be shown at the Toronto Film Festival out of competition — Howard has screened it for not only racing fans but Formula One, itself.
He recently showed the film to a group of F1 drivers (including Lauda, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa) at Germany’s Grand Prix, calling that audience the toughest test so far, and comparing the experience to screening “Apollo 13” to Nasa’s astronauts and mission controllers in 1995.
In his efforts to promote the film, Howard has called the Hunt-Lauda rivalry one of the greatest in all of sports. “Their story is so remarkable, you (could) only do it if it was true, because people wouldn’t quite believe it. They were willing to risk their lives to attain this elite status. They paid a price for it, but they defined themselves.”
Morgan also has been doing his part to reassure F1 fans that the film is authentic, stressing that it’s about the people in the cars, and not the sport itself.
Any way the wheel’s spun, it’s clear the film’s overall success will largely be driven by how it plays overseas. “Rush” will need to appeal to an international audience that’s more familiar with F1 — a sport second in popularity only to soccer — than to those in the U.S.
But Howard needs to hook moviegoers closer to home — making the American director’s job a much tougher sell.
It’s not really that surprising that there’s nothing all that American about “Rush.”
Formula One is still struggling to find an audience in the U.S. It’s looking to change that through a new $3 million broadcasting deal with NBC Sports that airs 13 races on the cable channel, two on CNBC, and four on NBC. The Monaco Grand Prix was the first of four F1 races to air live on NBC this year, with the final race taking place Nov. 24 from Brazil.
Ratings have averaged a 0.3 rating, although the Monaco race was watched by 1.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched Formula One race on U.S. television in six years, and up 40% over last year’s race when it aired on Speed TV, Nielsen said.
Promos have emphasized the speed of F1’s jetfighter cars, its international appeal and Olympics-like profiles of the drivers.
Formula One also is looking to rev up new fans in the U.S. through the opening of its first permanent track in Austin, Texas, last year, known as the Circuit of the Americas. Howard attended its first race, where Lauda also roamed the track’s garages.
What’s ironic is that Howard isn’t a very good driver. He proved that recently racing around the track of BBC’s hit show “Top Gear” to promote “Rush,” ending up in second to last place on the series’ celebrity leader board — behind Genesis’ Mike Rutherford.
Host Jeremy Clarkson was quick to mock him, saying “We finally found something you can’t do. Good at directing, brilliant in ‘Happy Days,’ a charming human being — but utterly crap at driving.”
Ron Howard's Risky Formula One Movie, 'Rush'
Can this Euro-centric car racing film play in the U.S.?
By Rachel Dodes Conn
Ron Howard's films, like "Apollo 13" and "Frost/Nixon," typically deal with issues very familiar to American audiences. His latest project, Mr. Howard's first independently financed film, is a bit of a departure: "Rush" chronicles the rivalry between Austrian Formula One racer Niki Lauda and his nemesis, the British driver James Hunt, over the course of the historic 1976 season. While competing in Nürburg, Germany during treacherous weather conditions, Mr. Lauda (Daniel Brühl, right) crashed his Ferrari and sustained severe burns to his face and lungs. Yet, fueled by a desire to beat Mr. Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, above), a playboy type whose wife (Olivia Wilde) ran off with Richard Burton, Mr. Lauda was back in his car just six weeks later—still wearing his bandages—to race against him in the Italian Grand Prix.
When Mr. Howard received the script on spec from screenwriter Peter Morgan ("Frost/Nixon," "The Last King of Scotland"), he wasn't a Formula One fan and didn't know who Messrs. Hunt and Lauda were. "I looked them up on Wikipedia," he admits. But as he read about the racers' personalities, he started to see broader themes that would appeal to U.S. moviegoers. "Maybe this is the American in me identifying this," he says, "but both these guys are utterly and entirely individuals—there was no Yoda telling them to seek their higher self."
For Mr. Howard, the process of researching "Rush" was surprisingly similar to learning about space travel for his "Apollo 13," because he found himself having to make arcane automotive engineering terms accessible to viewers. "It was really fun to understand a sport that combines cutting-edge technology with very dangerous competition," he says. "The visceral, cool and sexy element offered a kind of cinematic experience that nowadays exists only with sci-fi."
Formula One isn't nearly as popular in the U.S. as Nascar, and the subject matter is likelier to play well overseas, where the film's financing came from. It premiered Monday, in London, a few weeks before its U.S. opening. The filmmakers say it's more than just a sports picture, and they expect it to appeal to women as well as men.
Saudi Female Filmmaker Succeeds In Making A Movie About A Girl Who Wants A Bicycle
Los Angeles Times
By Rebecca Keegan
Sept. 6, 2013
In a country where women can't freely move around, Haifaa Mansour covertly films the story of a girl's quest for a bicycle.
The production lost two days to sandstorms. The crew faced a last-minute scramble when the nervous owner of a mall changed his mind about allowing filming there. Some days locals chased the cameras away; other days they brought platters of lamb and rice to the set, and asked to be extras.
Meanwhile, the director hid in a van, speaking to her cast via walkie-talkie. In Saudi Arabia, where driving a car is a subversive act for a woman, a 39-year-old mother of two has done something remarkable: written and directed what her distributor believes is the first feature film shot entirely in the ultraconservative kingdom.
Haifaa Mansour is the director of "Wadjda," a drama about a plucky 10-year-old girl who enrolls in a Koran recitation competition in order to win money for a bicycle she's forbidden by law to ride.
Like her young protagonist, Mansour's own story is one of feminine moxie.
In a sly protest of the country's ban on women behind the wheel, she drove herself to her wedding in a golf cart. Because women in Saudi Arabia can't mingle publicly with men outside their families, she shot her movie covertly on the streets of the capital, Riyadh. With movie theaters banned, she screened "Wadjda" in two foreign embassies and a cultural center.
Petite, self-assured, wearing white high-tops and blue nail polish, Mansour is modern in both her fashion and bearing. She speaks English quickly and colloquially, dropping frequent "you knows" into conversation. And she isn't afraid to counter misperceptions about her homeland, as when she gently corrected Bill Maher for calling Mecca the Saudi capital during a recent appearance on his HBO show.
Laced with empathy and humor, "Wadjda" is a quietly provocative portrait of a culture that straddles the centuries, where men wear the ancient white thobe but carry the latest iPads and women hold important jobs as doctors and news anchors but have yet to vote in an election.
"I didn't want to make a movie about women being raped or stoned," Mansour said in an interview in Beverly Hills in June. "For me it is the everyday life, how it's hard. For me, it was hard sometimes to go to work because I cannot find transportation. Things like that build up and break a woman."
The eighth of 12 children of a poet, Mansour grew up in a small town in a home that she describes as nurturing for a little girl.
"My family is very traditional, but my parents are very supportive, very kind," she said. "I never felt I can't do things because I'm a woman."
When Mansour was a teen, her mother removed the light veil she wore while picking her daughter up from school, a gesture that mortified the young woman at the time, but empowers her when she reflects on it now.
Though movie theaters have been shuttered in Saudi Arabia for decades for religious reasons, Mansour said her father, like others, often rented VHS tapes at Blockbuster for the family to watch -- she grew up on Jackie Chan movies, Bollywood productions, Egyptian cinema and Disney animated films. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a particular favorite.
"In small-town Saudi, there is nothing to do. You don't get to exercise your emotions because nothing much is happening, you know?" she said. "So to see people falling in love and fighting, it's so powerful, you see beyond your small town."
After earning her bachelor's degree in comparative literature at the American University in Cairo, she returned to Saudi Arabia but quickly felt stymied.
"Going back to Saudi as a young woman, trying to assert yourself in the workplace, you have all those ideas … and all of a sudden you realize because you are a woman you are not heard," she said. "It was such a frustrating moment in my life. It was as if you are screaming in a vacuum."
The idea of women holding jobs still unnerves some Saudi men -- writer Abdullah Mohammed Daoud recently encouraged his more than 97,000 Twitter followers to sexually harass female grocery store clerks to intimidate women from working.
Recalling the freedom she found in movies, Mansour decided to make a short film with her siblings serving as cast and crew, a thriller about a male serial killer who hides under the black abaya worn by Muslim women. Her work -- two more shorts, a documentary and a stint hosting a talk show for a Lebanese network -- focused largely on the untold stories of Saudi women.
In 2005, at a U.S. embassy screening of her documentary, "Women Without Shadows," Mansour met her future husband, American diplomat Bradley Neimann. They now have two children, 2 and 5, and live in Bahrain, where Neimann works for the State Department.
When her husband was posted in Australia, Mansour pursued a master's in film studies at the University of Sydney, and wrote the script that became "Wadjda."
The story was inspired by her now teenage niece, who has tamped down her rambunctious personality to fit into Saudi norms.
"I thought, 'Wow, a woman writer from Saudi Arabia won?'" Rena Ronson said. "I had to meet her. She was so open and tenacious and smart."When Mansour's script for "Wadjda" won an award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, it caught the eye of the co-head of the independent film group at United Talent Agency.
Over the next two years Ronson helped Mansour secure financing for her film, which cost a little less than $2.5 million. The primary obstacle, as far as many potential Middle Eastern producers were concerned, was Mansour's desire to shoot in Saudi Arabia, which she felt lent her story authenticity.
The production finally won the tacit approval of the Saudi government -- one of its backers is Rotana Group, an entertainment company primarily owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Another major financier is the German company Razor Film.
Finding actors was another hurdle. Mansour and her producers recruited child performers through small companies that hire folkloric dancers for the Eid holidays. Many of their parents were uncomfortable with a movie about empowering women.
A week before she was scheduled to start shooting, Mansour still hadn't cast her title character when 12-year-old Waad Mohammed entered the room in blue jeans, with headphones clapped over her ears. Singing along to Justin Bieber, she won over Mansour with her sweet singing voice and tomboyish style.
The movie's half-German, half-Saudi crew worked around the rhythms of Saudi life, using cellphone apps that alerted them of the five daily prayer calls. The Germans carried notebooks; the Saudis relied on oral planning.
On the first day of shooting, a start time of 7:20 a.m. came and went. "I don't know what we were thinking," said German producer Roman Paul. "I don't think 7:20 exists in Saudi time. We Germans learned to relax, and the Saudis learned that there is a benefit to doing things at a certain time."
Despite tension on the set -- both from disapproving observers and from the German and Saudi crews learning to work together -- Mansour was buoyant, Paul said.
"She's very fast in overcoming new difficulties, and in an upbeat spirit," Paul said.
Last summer "Wadjda" premiered at the Venice and Telluride film festivals, earning praise for Mansour's subtle direction and a U.S. release from Sony Pictures Classics, which handled the Oscar-winning 2011 Iranian drama "A Separation," about the dissolution of a marriage.
"'A Separation' was such an eye-opener to me in the sense that there were people questioning whether the film went too specific into the Iranian culture," said Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of the Sony unit. "But if the overall story has a universal appeal, in 'Wadjda' it's about parents and kids and restrictions and freedom, that's something we can all relate to."
Sony Classics has been showing the film to noted feminists -- Gloria Steinem and Queen Noor of Jordan both attended screenings -- and will release it in the U.S. slowly over the fall, starting Sept. 13. (The movie premiered in multiple European countries this summer.)
Mansour said she plans to work in Saudi Arabia again. For her, screening her movie in the kingdom was a high.
"Film is about uplifting, embracing the love of life, it's about moving ahead, it's about victory," she said. "It's not about defeat."
One victory has already been won. This spring, a new law went into effect: With some restrictions, Saudi women are now allowed to ride bicycles.
- 9/15/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
With each passing year, Tiff is becoming more and more prominent on the film festival circuit, with more and more Oscar-primed films making their debut out in Canada. And with the initial line-up announced for the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, the trend is definitely continuing.
Amongst the many, many films making their presence felt out in Toronto will be Steve McQueen’s highly anticipated 12 Years a Slave, which launched a powerful first trailer earlier in the month. The film sees Chiwetel Ejiofor lead a fantastic cast, with Michael Fassbender returning to work for his Hunger / Shame director, alongside the likes of Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sarah Paulson, Paul Giamatti, and many more.
Opening the festival will be Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, alongside Daniel Brühl, Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, and Stanley Tucci.
And closing it will be Daniel Schechter’s Life of Crime,...
Amongst the many, many films making their presence felt out in Toronto will be Steve McQueen’s highly anticipated 12 Years a Slave, which launched a powerful first trailer earlier in the month. The film sees Chiwetel Ejiofor lead a fantastic cast, with Michael Fassbender returning to work for his Hunger / Shame director, alongside the likes of Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sarah Paulson, Paul Giamatti, and many more.
Opening the festival will be Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, alongside Daniel Brühl, Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, and Stanley Tucci.
And closing it will be Daniel Schechter’s Life of Crime,...
- 7/24/2013
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
On Demand DVD New Releases April 15-21: Celebrate sending off your taxes with a movie! There’s a handful of new releases to choose from this week, including the Oscar-winning Django Unchained. If documentaries are more your speed, try Sushi: The Global Catch; for kids, consider A Monster in Paris or the animated Iron Man:Rise of Technovore. 33 Postcards A man is surprised when the young Chinese orphan he has sponsored for many years arrives in Sydney unexpectedly to thank him. Guy Pearce, Zhu Lin, Claudia Karvan (Nr, 1:34) 4/15 3 Blind Saints When Sam’s latest scheme blows up, he and his cohorts Jamal and Frankie have [...]
The post On Demand DVD New Releases April 15-21 appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
The post On Demand DVD New Releases April 15-21 appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
- 4/15/2013
- by Meredith Ennis
- ChannelGuideMag
• Together again! Matt Damon is in talks to sign up with The Monuments Men, George Clooney’s next directorial effort, based on the true story of a crew of art historians and museum curators who infiltrate into Nazi Germany during the end of World War II in the hopes of recovering priceless works of art before the Nazis obliterate them. Clooney, who penned the script with writing partner Grant Heslov, will also star in the film, alongside a pack of unknowns like Daniel Craig, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) and Bob Balaban (Moonrise Kingdom...
- 12/5/2012
- by Adam B. Vary
- EW - Inside Movies
All of the week's hot casting news in one fell swoop ...
• Beware the roaring rampage of the Oldgirl! Charlize Theron has signed on to star in the American adaptation of "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance," the third installment in "Oldboy" director Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy. [Deadline]
• "Cinderella" has a new evil stepmother — in the form of Cate Blanchett. The "Hobbit" beauty will be providing villainy to director Mark Romanek's live-action take on the classic fairy tale. [Deadline]
• As long as there are movies, James Franco will star in a lot of them. One of the busiest actors in the show business has signed on to "Good People," a morality play in which a dead broke couple finds a few hundred thousand bucks in their neighbor's abandoned apartment. [The Wrap]
• Guy Pearce, Rosamund Pike and Bryan Brown are headed Down Under for "Violet Town," the Australia-set drama about a 1957 New Year's Eve party where buried secrets come to light.
• Beware the roaring rampage of the Oldgirl! Charlize Theron has signed on to star in the American adaptation of "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance," the third installment in "Oldboy" director Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy. [Deadline]
• "Cinderella" has a new evil stepmother — in the form of Cate Blanchett. The "Hobbit" beauty will be providing villainy to director Mark Romanek's live-action take on the classic fairy tale. [Deadline]
• As long as there are movies, James Franco will star in a lot of them. One of the busiest actors in the show business has signed on to "Good People," a morality play in which a dead broke couple finds a few hundred thousand bucks in their neighbor's abandoned apartment. [The Wrap]
• Guy Pearce, Rosamund Pike and Bryan Brown are headed Down Under for "Violet Town," the Australia-set drama about a 1957 New Year's Eve party where buried secrets come to light.
- 11/30/2012
- by Bryan Enk
- NextMovie
• George Clooney is attached to star in and produce an untitled crime film written by Argo scribe Chris Terrio. Filmmaker Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) is attached to direct and produce, along with Clooney’s producing partner Grant Heslov. And that’s all we got for this one, folks — the details of the script remain top secret. Probably not a sci-fi adventure set in the Persian desert, though. [Variety]
• Inglourious Basterds’ Daniel Brühl is logging onto the untitled Wikileaks movie as Daniel Domscheit-Berg (gesundheit!), the man who helped Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch – i.e. Benny Batch) build his site for clandestine government secrets.
• Inglourious Basterds’ Daniel Brühl is logging onto the untitled Wikileaks movie as Daniel Domscheit-Berg (gesundheit!), the man who helped Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch – i.e. Benny Batch) build his site for clandestine government secrets.
- 11/29/2012
- by Adam B. Vary
- EW - Inside Movies
As the American Film Market (Afm) kicks off November 1, Im Global has come on board to produce Joe Carnahan's "Stretch." Patrick Wilson stars in the action film, with frequent Im Global partner Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions ("Paranormal Activity") co-producing. Below, a roundup of additional opening day market titles. "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage," based on a book of short stories by Canadian author Alice Munro, stars Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Haylee Steinfeld and Nick Nolte in a comedy centering on a teenage girl who tries to spark a romance between her father and the nanny. The film is directed by Liz Johnson (2011's "The Return") and began shooting in late October in New Orleans. Mark Poirier wrote the script, with Dylan Sellers and Cassian Elwes producing. The Weinstein Company has picked up rights to "The Untitled Chef Project," written by Steven Knight. It follows an enfant...
- 11/1/2012
- by Sophia Savage and Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Melbourne International Film Festival will close on August 18 with P.J. Hogan.s Mental.
Mental reunites writer-director P.J. Hogan with his original leading lady Toni Collette for the first time since Muriel's Wedding. The film follows the story of the Moochmore family after mother Shirley (Rebecca Gibney), unable to cope with her five teenage daughters and philandering husband, Barry (Anthony Lapaglia), suffers a nervous breakdown. A hitchhiker named Shaz (Collette) then enters the family home as nanny.
.How wonderful that we are able to book-end the 2012 Miff with what will surely be two of the biggest Australian films of the year, in The Sapphires and Mental," Miff artistic director Michelle Carey said. "Featuring an incredible ensemble cast, P.J. Hogan.s new film is as outrageously fun as it is smart and moving."
The festival will also hold a world premiere screening of local cricket comedy Save Your Legs! which stars Stephen Curry,...
Mental reunites writer-director P.J. Hogan with his original leading lady Toni Collette for the first time since Muriel's Wedding. The film follows the story of the Moochmore family after mother Shirley (Rebecca Gibney), unable to cope with her five teenage daughters and philandering husband, Barry (Anthony Lapaglia), suffers a nervous breakdown. A hitchhiker named Shaz (Collette) then enters the family home as nanny.
.How wonderful that we are able to book-end the 2012 Miff with what will surely be two of the biggest Australian films of the year, in The Sapphires and Mental," Miff artistic director Michelle Carey said. "Featuring an incredible ensemble cast, P.J. Hogan.s new film is as outrageously fun as it is smart and moving."
The festival will also hold a world premiere screening of local cricket comedy Save Your Legs! which stars Stephen Curry,...
- 7/11/2012
- by Staff reporter
- IF.com.au
High school English teacher, Will (Nicholas Cage), and professional cellist, Laura (January Jones), are happily married living in New Orleans. Their world is changed, however, when Laura is brutally attacked and raped. While Laura is in the hospital, Will is approached by Simon (Guy Pearce), a mysterious figure who promises to take care of Laura's attacker. In exchange, Simon will ask a favor from Will at some point in the future. Months later, Will gets a call from Simon, and big surprise, Simon wants a favor. He asks Will to trail a child pornographer and coordinate a convenient “accident.” Unfortunately, Will doesn't have the stomach for Simon's favors and refuses, until Simon threatens to disrupt his perfect life.
Read more...
Read more...
- 6/18/2012
- by Rachel Kolb
- JustPressPlay.net
Two big films are opening this weekend, we have .Prometheus. for sci-fi fans, and .Madagascar 3: Europe.s Most Wanted. for the entire family. In .Prometheus,. director Ridley Scott returns to the world he created in .Alien. for this prequel of sorts. This time, the explorers are in search of the history of mankind. Until, dangerous forces intervene. Noomi Rapace channels the strong woman role in the vein of Sigourney Weaver.s Ripley. Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, and Patrick Wilson co-star. But my favorite is Michael Fassbender in full android mode as David. (Watch my reviews below)
In .Madagascar 3: Europe.s Most Wanted,. our favorite castaways are back. They.ve taken us to Madagascar and Africa, and now, they want us to visit Europe! Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria...
In .Madagascar 3: Europe.s Most Wanted,. our favorite castaways are back. They.ve taken us to Madagascar and Africa, and now, they want us to visit Europe! Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria...
- 6/8/2012
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Musician and composer Dustin O'Halloran has been moving slowly into film scoring in the past few years after popping up on the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" in 2006. Since then, O'Halloran has scored films like 2009's "An American Affair" and last year's "Like Crazy," which became one of our favorite scores of the year. Therefore, it is our great delight to discover that O'Halloran will score the next film for "Like Crazy" director Drake Doremus as well.
Presently lacking a title, Doremus' next project will again tackle affairs of the heart, in a familiar story about a high school teacher (Guy Pearce), who falls for one of his students and is tempted to cheat on his wife. Not exactly untrafficked territory, but Doremus' "Like Crazy" was also based on a familiar theme (long-distance relationships) and still managed to resonate, with no small thanks due to O'Halloran's music. In fact,...
Presently lacking a title, Doremus' next project will again tackle affairs of the heart, in a familiar story about a high school teacher (Guy Pearce), who falls for one of his students and is tempted to cheat on his wife. Not exactly untrafficked territory, but Doremus' "Like Crazy" was also based on a familiar theme (long-distance relationships) and still managed to resonate, with no small thanks due to O'Halloran's music. In fact,...
- 5/2/2012
- by Ryan Gowland
- The Playlist
• Rooney Mara is nearing a deal to replace Carey Mulligan in director Spike Jonze’s untitled film about a man who takes a fancy to the voice of a computer. (Not to be confused with the recent episode of The Big Bang Theory in which Raj fell in love with Siri on his iPhone.) Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, and Samantha Morton round out the cast of the indie production. [Variety]
• Heather Graham, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Dillon, and Joe Mantegna have signed onto the indie film Compulsion, about an ex-child star (Moss) and a wannabe TV chef (Graham). [Deadline]
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Read more:...
• Heather Graham, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Dillon, and Joe Mantegna have signed onto the indie film Compulsion, about an ex-child star (Moss) and a wannabe TV chef (Graham). [Deadline]
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Read more:...
- 4/26/2012
- by Adam B. Vary
- EW - Inside Movies
The arrival of .The Avengers. on May 4th signals the beginning of our summer at the movies. We can expect expensive blockbusters and big sequels but Oscar-ready movies also pop up once in a while such as last summer.s .The Tree of Life.. So which movies should you see this summer? Here.s your quick guide:
May
May 4: .The Avengers. . A who.s who of Marvel Super Heroes are assembled for your viewing pleasure. Writer/director Joss Whedon (.Buffy the Vampire Slayer.) brings Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) together for one of the most anticipated movies in the world.
May 4: .The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. . John Madden (.Shakespeare in Love.) directs this ensemble piece about a group of British retirees traveling to India to take up residents at a newly restored hotel.
May
May 4: .The Avengers. . A who.s who of Marvel Super Heroes are assembled for your viewing pleasure. Writer/director Joss Whedon (.Buffy the Vampire Slayer.) brings Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) together for one of the most anticipated movies in the world.
May 4: .The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. . John Madden (.Shakespeare in Love.) directs this ensemble piece about a group of British retirees traveling to India to take up residents at a newly restored hotel.
- 4/25/2012
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Special thanks to Bd reader 'Fritte Öhman' out of Sweden for the above and below screengrabs from the latest trailer for Ridley Scott's Promethus, all of which provided major plot clues to the mystery surrounding the Alien prequel. And while Scott denies any connection, the above grab should end the conversation once and for all. Yes, that looks like a Xenomorph to me, too. In theaters June 8 from Fox, Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Guy Pearce, Kate Dickie, Rafe Spall, Logan Marshall-Green, Benedict Wong, Emun Elliott, Ben Foster, Patrick Wilson and Ian Whyte all star. "Lost"'s Damon Lindelof has penned this brilliant sci-fi horror film where he, along with Scott, creates a groundbreaking mythology...
- 3/19/2012
- bloody-disgusting.com
Beverly Hills, Calif. — There are 17 cameras scattered throughout the Beverly Hilton's International Ballroom, capturing the action inside the Golden Globes, but even they can't see everything. From the cocktail lounge to the outdoor smoking patio to the winner's walk through the kitchen, here's a running look at the starry happenings you didn't see on TV:
3 p.m. Pst – Maybe he was afraid they would lock the door on him. Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais, whose sharp-tongued wisecracks ruffled the feathers of some celebrity attendees at last year's show, was among the first to arrive for this year's Golden Globes. He got here two hours early, stopping outside long enough to say he won't mind being offensive again – as long as he's funny.
___
3:59 p.m. – Burning a couple of their 15 minutes of fame: Two men holding Ernst & Young metal briefcases, presumably with the winners' envelopes inside, proudly pose for photos...
3 p.m. Pst – Maybe he was afraid they would lock the door on him. Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais, whose sharp-tongued wisecracks ruffled the feathers of some celebrity attendees at last year's show, was among the first to arrive for this year's Golden Globes. He got here two hours early, stopping outside long enough to say he won't mind being offensive again – as long as he's funny.
___
3:59 p.m. – Burning a couple of their 15 minutes of fame: Two men holding Ernst & Young metal briefcases, presumably with the winners' envelopes inside, proudly pose for photos...
- 1/16/2012
- by AP
- Aol TV.
Nicolas Cage makes his second visit to post-hurricane Katrina New Orleans in this efficient, fast-moving thriller. Two years ago he played a deranged cop in Werner Herzog's remake of Bad Lieutenant. Here he's the slightly hyper high-school English teacher Will Gerard whose wife Laura (January Jones) is raped, robbed and severely beaten by an evildoer known to the police but unlikely to get more than a minimum sentence. A sinister, tight-lipped stranger calling himself Simon (Guy Pearce) approaches Gerard, offering to dispose of the rapist in exchange for some future consideration of a minor kind. The distraught Gerard reluctantly accepts, and there follows a brilliantly handled scene in which he signals his acceptance of the invitation by buying two bars of chocolate from a vending machine in the hospital's oncology department. From then on he's hooked by a wide-ranging conspiracy of dedicated vigilantes who exploit his guilt and undermine his natural decency,...
- 11/20/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Nicolas Cage makes his second visit to post-hurricane Katrina New Orleans in this efficient, fast-moving thriller. Two years ago he played a deranged cop in Werner Herzog's remake of Bad Lieutenant. Here he's the slightly hyper high-school English teacher Will Gerard whose wife Laura (January Jones) is raped, robbed and severely beaten by an evildoer known to the police but unlikely to get more than a minimum sentence. A sinister, tight-lipped stranger calling himself Simon (Guy Pearce) approaches Gerard, offering to dispose of the rapist in exchange for some future consideration of a minor kind. The distraught Gerard reluctantly accepts, and there follows a brilliantly handled scene in which he signals his acceptance of the invitation by buying two bars of chocolate from a vending machine in the hospital's oncology department. From then on he's hooked by a wide-ranging conspiracy of dedicated vigilantes who exploit his guilt and undermine his natural decency,...
- 11/20/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
This vigilante suspense thriller with Nicolas Cage starts well, but turns chaotic and messy in the final third
Yet another example of a film with a decent enough premise, that just comes to pieces in the third act. It is a suspense thriller starring Nicolas Cage and January Jones (from Mad Men) as Will and Laura, a happily married couple. When Laura is assaulted and raped in the street, Will is approached by a shadowy figure played by Guy Pearce who tells him that even if the police catch the culprit, the legal system will be soft on him. He represents a secret vigilante organisation that knows the villain's precise whereabouts; if Will gives the word, they can whack him – but they may call upon Will to do them a favour in the future. It's absurd, but enjoyably tense ... at first. But then, all the promises of something intricate and...
Yet another example of a film with a decent enough premise, that just comes to pieces in the third act. It is a suspense thriller starring Nicolas Cage and January Jones (from Mad Men) as Will and Laura, a happily married couple. When Laura is assaulted and raped in the street, Will is approached by a shadowy figure played by Guy Pearce who tells him that even if the police catch the culprit, the legal system will be soft on him. He represents a secret vigilante organisation that knows the villain's precise whereabouts; if Will gives the word, they can whack him – but they may call upon Will to do them a favour in the future. It's absurd, but enjoyably tense ... at first. But then, all the promises of something intricate and...
- 11/18/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The 2011 Emmy Awards are in the books, and while host Jane Lynch didn’t score nearly as many laughs per minute as last year’s emcee Jimmy Fallon, there were enough deserving and/or surprising winners to salvage the three-hour telecast from the scrap heap. (Raise your hand if you still can’t quite believe voters finally recognized Friday Night Lights‘ Kyle Chandler.)
Anyhow, before we move on to the building and maintenamce of the “Let’s Get Busy Philipps a Nomination for Cougar Town in 2012″ Facebook page, let’s count down the five best and five worst moments from Sunday’s ceremony.
Anyhow, before we move on to the building and maintenamce of the “Let’s Get Busy Philipps a Nomination for Cougar Town in 2012″ Facebook page, let’s count down the five best and five worst moments from Sunday’s ceremony.
- 9/19/2011
- by Michael Slezak
- TVLine.com
The Australia-China Screen Alliance (Acsa) was yesterday launched at the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast.
The initiative is a joint cooperation between the Screen Producers Association of Australia (Spaa) and the China Film Producers Association to help film and television producers navigate the logistics of co-productions between the two countries.
The alliance, sparked from director Mario Andreacchio’s experience to get film The Dragon Pearl off the ground was first announced in November of last year.
“This initiative has arisen from the Australian industry’s considerable interest in China as a screen co-production partner and the high demand for information and opinion. Acsa can be a starting point for the first time China co-production as much as a resource base for aspects such as legals and even translators,” Mario Andreacchio said.
Executive Director of Spaa, Geoff Brown, said Spaa was glad to have the support of the...
The initiative is a joint cooperation between the Screen Producers Association of Australia (Spaa) and the China Film Producers Association to help film and television producers navigate the logistics of co-productions between the two countries.
The alliance, sparked from director Mario Andreacchio’s experience to get film The Dragon Pearl off the ground was first announced in November of last year.
“This initiative has arisen from the Australian industry’s considerable interest in China as a screen co-production partner and the high demand for information and opinion. Acsa can be a starting point for the first time China co-production as much as a resource base for aspects such as legals and even translators,” Mario Andreacchio said.
Executive Director of Spaa, Geoff Brown, said Spaa was glad to have the support of the...
- 8/23/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
DVD Playhouse—July 2011
By Allen Gardner
The Music Room (Criterion) Satyajit Ray’s 1958 masterpiece looks at the life of a fallen aristocrat as a metaphor for an India that is not only becoming Westernized, but modernized technologically and culturally beyond recognition. When the beloved music room, where he has hosted lavish concerts in the past, starts falling into disrepair as attendance drops steadily, the man realizes his way of life is vanishing. Stunningly shot in black & white, one of Ray’s finest works. Bonuses: Documentary on Ray from 1984 by Shyam Benegal; Interviews with Ray biographer Andrew Robinson and filmmaker Mira Nair; Excerpt from 1981 roundtable discussion between Ray, critic Michael Ciment, director Claude Sautet. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
Beauty And The Beast (Criterion) Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of the classic fairy tale become a beloved classic upon its 1946 release, and hasn’t faded since.
By Allen Gardner
The Music Room (Criterion) Satyajit Ray’s 1958 masterpiece looks at the life of a fallen aristocrat as a metaphor for an India that is not only becoming Westernized, but modernized technologically and culturally beyond recognition. When the beloved music room, where he has hosted lavish concerts in the past, starts falling into disrepair as attendance drops steadily, the man realizes his way of life is vanishing. Stunningly shot in black & white, one of Ray’s finest works. Bonuses: Documentary on Ray from 1984 by Shyam Benegal; Interviews with Ray biographer Andrew Robinson and filmmaker Mira Nair; Excerpt from 1981 roundtable discussion between Ray, critic Michael Ciment, director Claude Sautet. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
Beauty And The Beast (Criterion) Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of the classic fairy tale become a beloved classic upon its 1946 release, and hasn’t faded since.
- 7/7/2011
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Australian Chinese co-production 33 Postcards, starring Guy Pearce and Zhu Lin, last night won the Crc (Community Relations Commission) Award at the Sydney Film Festival.
The $5000 prize, established in 1992 is awarded to films whose content best reflects the multicultural experience in Australia.
Nsw MP for Citizenship and Communities, Victor Dominello commended director Pauline Chan. “33 Postcards, inspired by real life stories, explores how two individuals come together despite two different cultures, ages and unexpected circumstances. This evocative film portrays sensitively how people of vastly different cultural backgrounds can interact effectively in our society.”
In a statement, producers Lesley Stevens and Penny Carl Nelson said that they were “extremely honoured that the film has been recognised by the 2011 Sydney Film Festival with the Crc Award. The film has struck a chord with Australian and Chinese audiences alike.”
At the Shanghai International Film Festival, lead actress Zhu Lin won Asian New Talent Award, cementing...
The $5000 prize, established in 1992 is awarded to films whose content best reflects the multicultural experience in Australia.
Nsw MP for Citizenship and Communities, Victor Dominello commended director Pauline Chan. “33 Postcards, inspired by real life stories, explores how two individuals come together despite two different cultures, ages and unexpected circumstances. This evocative film portrays sensitively how people of vastly different cultural backgrounds can interact effectively in our society.”
In a statement, producers Lesley Stevens and Penny Carl Nelson said that they were “extremely honoured that the film has been recognised by the 2011 Sydney Film Festival with the Crc Award. The film has struck a chord with Australian and Chinese audiences alike.”
At the Shanghai International Film Festival, lead actress Zhu Lin won Asian New Talent Award, cementing...
- 6/20/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
The Los Angeles Film Festival has announced the world premiere of Richard Linklater's Bernie as the opening night film for the 2011 festival.
The film will kick off the festival on June 16 at Regal Cinemas Stadium 14 at L.A. Live. It is written by Skip Hollandsworth and director Linklater and stars Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, and Matthew McConaughey.
The film follows a beloved mortician (Black) from a small Texas town, even winning over the town's richest, meanest widow (MacLaine). Even after Bernie commits a horrible crime, people still will not utter a bad word against him.
"We're thrilled to be opening the Festival with the world premiere of this delicious black comedy - a treat from one of the most original and exciting voices in independent film, Richard Linklater," said Festival director Rebecca Yeldham. "With its fabulous all-star cast, Bernie is a perfect stage setter for the incredible line-up of...
The film will kick off the festival on June 16 at Regal Cinemas Stadium 14 at L.A. Live. It is written by Skip Hollandsworth and director Linklater and stars Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, and Matthew McConaughey.
The film follows a beloved mortician (Black) from a small Texas town, even winning over the town's richest, meanest widow (MacLaine). Even after Bernie commits a horrible crime, people still will not utter a bad word against him.
"We're thrilled to be opening the Festival with the world premiere of this delicious black comedy - a treat from one of the most original and exciting voices in independent film, Richard Linklater," said Festival director Rebecca Yeldham. "With its fabulous all-star cast, Bernie is a perfect stage setter for the incredible line-up of...
- 5/30/2011
- by alyssa@mediavine.com (Alyssa Caverley)
- Reel Movie News
...and if you thought that it was only the 'lucky' Freida Pinto who's cashing and bagging in all the big Hollywood films, then you better re-think because here's why! So what's the first thing a journalist would do when he hears the 'Breaking News' coming all the way from Hollywood? We all know, don't we? Well, I happened to text my dear friend Anil Kapoor. Read on! Breaking News has just come in from the other side of the ocean that acclaimed director / writer Roger Donaldson (Hungry Rabbit Jumps, The Bank Job, The Recruit) has locked in his next directorial project titled Cities which will star Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Clive Owen (Duplicity, Inside Man, Children Of Men, Closer) and our very own Anil Kapoor. This is Anil Kapoor's second big Hollywood film that he has bagged after getting famous in the West with his Oscar winning movie Slumdog Millionaire.
- 5/4/2011
- by Devansh Patel
- BollywoodHungama
Today has been a busy day in the casting department for major Hollywood productions. We’ve got all of the hot tips on some of the biggest confirmed and unconfirmed casting updates that took place today. In this article you’ll see Guy Pearce, Chris Hemsworth, Katrin Bowden and Lauren Vandervoort and what films they may, or may not, be involved in.
• Guy Pearce has been confirmed to play a role in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, which is rumored to be very connected to his science fiction/space horror flick Alien. We don’t know what role Pearce will play, but we do know he will be involved in some way. He joins Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Rafe Spall and Logan Marshall-Green who are all confirmed to star in the film [The Playlist]
• Chris Hemsworth, who is set to star in one...
• Guy Pearce has been confirmed to play a role in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, which is rumored to be very connected to his science fiction/space horror flick Alien. We don’t know what role Pearce will play, but we do know he will be involved in some way. He joins Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Rafe Spall and Logan Marshall-Green who are all confirmed to star in the film [The Playlist]
• Chris Hemsworth, who is set to star in one...
- 5/3/2011
- by Ryan Laster
- If It's Movies
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who protects the fairest maiden of them all? Sadly, the answer is not Viggo Mortensen.
Although "Twilight" fave Kristen Stewart is locked and loaded as the leading lady of "Snow White and the Huntsman," it now appears that Mortensen, who was previously attached to play the fairy tale princess' titular guardian, is no longer involved with the project. THR reports that talks between Universal and Mortensen's camp broke down over the weekend, leaving the role of the Huntsman wide open for now.
We're sad to see Mortensen go, but there's little time to waste — the search is on for a new Huntsman, and we have a few suggestions in mind after the jump!
Guy Pearce
As one of the most versatile actors in the business, Pearce would undoubtedly turn in a performance that is at once deeply supportive of Snow White while also necessarily harsh in training his young pupil.
Although "Twilight" fave Kristen Stewart is locked and loaded as the leading lady of "Snow White and the Huntsman," it now appears that Mortensen, who was previously attached to play the fairy tale princess' titular guardian, is no longer involved with the project. THR reports that talks between Universal and Mortensen's camp broke down over the weekend, leaving the role of the Huntsman wide open for now.
We're sad to see Mortensen go, but there's little time to waste — the search is on for a new Huntsman, and we have a few suggestions in mind after the jump!
Guy Pearce
As one of the most versatile actors in the business, Pearce would undoubtedly turn in a performance that is at once deeply supportive of Snow White while also necessarily harsh in training his young pupil.
- 3/28/2011
- by Josh Wigler
- MTV Movies Blog
I wasn’t planning on doing an all nighter but here I am after watching the red carpet arrivals of the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG Awards) raring to go! The talent that has turned up is pretty impressive with Natalie Portman, Jeff Bridges, James Franco, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Garfield, Helena Bonham and many many more.
Below is the list of winners in bold and red from last night’s 17th Annual Screen Actors Guilld Awards ceremony. What do you think of the winners? F
Feel free to comment as we go along with what you think of the of winners in the comments section below.
I’m rather chuffed for The King’s Speech. Bring on the Oscars!!
———————-
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi / Nucky Thompson – “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO) Bryan Cranston / Walter White – “Breaking Bad” (AMC) Michael C. Hall / Dexter Morgan – “Dexter...
Below is the list of winners in bold and red from last night’s 17th Annual Screen Actors Guilld Awards ceremony. What do you think of the winners? F
Feel free to comment as we go along with what you think of the of winners in the comments section below.
I’m rather chuffed for The King’s Speech. Bring on the Oscars!!
———————-
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi / Nucky Thompson – “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO) Bryan Cranston / Walter White – “Breaking Bad” (AMC) Michael C. Hall / Dexter Morgan – “Dexter...
- 1/31/2011
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Chicago – As “The King’s Speech” will almost certainly earn multiple Oscar nominations in tomorrow’s announcement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, we bring you this behind-the-scenes glimpse inside the mind of the masterful production.
“The King’s Speech” director Tom Hooper.
Photo credit: Laurie Sparham, The Weinstein Company
HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed “The King’s Speech” director Tom Hooper about his evocative film on King George VI’s stutter with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter and Guy Pearce. While elocution coaches exist aplenty to help people prevail over a stutter, the 39-year-old Hooper says Colin Firth’s challenge was to spawn one and then conquer it with authenticity.
HollywoodChicago.com: So, you’ve come a long way since your first film, “Runaway Dog,” at the age of 13…
Tom Hooper: Who knew that film would make it into the public consciousnesses. I made...
“The King’s Speech” director Tom Hooper.
Photo credit: Laurie Sparham, The Weinstein Company
HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed “The King’s Speech” director Tom Hooper about his evocative film on King George VI’s stutter with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter and Guy Pearce. While elocution coaches exist aplenty to help people prevail over a stutter, the 39-year-old Hooper says Colin Firth’s challenge was to spawn one and then conquer it with authenticity.
HollywoodChicago.com: So, you’ve come a long way since your first film, “Runaway Dog,” at the age of 13…
Tom Hooper: Who knew that film would make it into the public consciousnesses. I made...
- 1/25/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The annual ranking of the best unproduced UK film scripts, this year’s list was just revealed this week. Eighty industry insiders were polled on their favorites; films such as Nowhere Boy followed by Jane Eyre were tops was tops in 2008, while 2009's List saw Good Luck Anthony Belcher grab the top spot which has yet to go into production, but films #3 (Now Is Good), #4 (Salmon Fishing In The Yemen) and #6 (Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) are currently in different stages of prod. Top of this year’s poll was Sex Education, written by Jamie Minoprio and Jonathan M Stern, who contributed to the writing of I Want Candy and both St Trinian’s films, which may be a clue to the tone of the film. Said to concern a schoolboy’s plot to take revenge on one of his teachers by seducing his wife, the script is being developed by BBC Films and Ruby Films.
- 11/9/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
With All Good Things and Biutiful confirming their December dates, Tree of Life apparently falling back into this "calender" year and Peter Weir's The Way Back looking at a Telluride opening, there are a batch of films (ten listed below) that are not entirely ready and we are not entirely sure why. IndieWIRE's Peter Knegt gave this low down on some titles that missed Tiff, I decided to give a more complete picture on significant 2010 no-shows that in all appearances should be ready. The BeaverSummit Ent. could easily have taken a summer spot directly after releasing the latest Twilight film on this 2008 Black List topper. Perhaps there were plans for a fall release, and we all know why it didn't make it to market, but it's also entirely possible that once they saw Mel Gibson's co-star Jennifer Lawrence breakout with Winter's Bone, that the extra wait might pull...
- 9/1/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
The Nsw Government has used almost a quarter of its recently announced $25m budget for the film industry to fund five features, four TV series, one telemovie, 12 docos and one cross-platform project.
The projects include Mei Mei, an Australia/China co-production starring Guy Pearce, and The Hunter, with American actor Willem Dafoe.
The biggest winner is Joanna Werner’s children’s drama Dance Academy, with $500,000 towards production of season two.
Vincent Sheehan’s production The Hunter will be shot in Tasmania and China, with a majority of crew from Nsw and post-production also taking place in this state – it will receive $400,000 from the Government.
The production expenditure of these projects is expected to reach $62m.
These are the projects receiving funds from the Nsw Government in this round:
Features
Mei-mei
Production Company: Portal Pictures Finance: $200,000 Writers: Martin Edmond, Pauline Chan, Philip Dalkin. Producers: Penny Carl-Nelson, Pauline Chan, Lesley Stevens,...
The projects include Mei Mei, an Australia/China co-production starring Guy Pearce, and The Hunter, with American actor Willem Dafoe.
The biggest winner is Joanna Werner’s children’s drama Dance Academy, with $500,000 towards production of season two.
Vincent Sheehan’s production The Hunter will be shot in Tasmania and China, with a majority of crew from Nsw and post-production also taking place in this state – it will receive $400,000 from the Government.
The production expenditure of these projects is expected to reach $62m.
These are the projects receiving funds from the Nsw Government in this round:
Features
Mei-mei
Production Company: Portal Pictures Finance: $200,000 Writers: Martin Edmond, Pauline Chan, Philip Dalkin. Producers: Penny Carl-Nelson, Pauline Chan, Lesley Stevens,...
- 8/4/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Horror remakes are definitely the hot new trend in Hollywood and I had no idea just how many remakes were being planned until I sat down and drew up a list of as many as I could find. I stopped at 7 pages and needless to say it seems that just about every movie you can imagine is getting a remake-prequel or reboot into 3D.
Here is a pretty complete list of upcoming horror remakes as of today in alphabetical order. Note: There are a few on this list that are only in the early phases of discussion and in some cases I included franchise reboots as well.
13 Tzameti: Starting the list off 13 Tzameti is more thriller then horror but still worthy of making the list. The film which started filming in New York awhile back will star Mickey Rourke and Jason Statham. The original film is a tale of Russian roulette with gruesome outcomes.
Here is a pretty complete list of upcoming horror remakes as of today in alphabetical order. Note: There are a few on this list that are only in the early phases of discussion and in some cases I included franchise reboots as well.
13 Tzameti: Starting the list off 13 Tzameti is more thriller then horror but still worthy of making the list. The film which started filming in New York awhile back will star Mickey Rourke and Jason Statham. The original film is a tale of Russian roulette with gruesome outcomes.
- 5/11/2010
- MoviesOnline.ca
Creepy robots, Stonewall Equality Dinner, demonic penguin movies, possible Glee spoilers, and President Obama does something right by the Glbt community.
Ana Ortiz says that we may not have seen the last of Ugly Betty, because America Ferrera is looking to take the show to the big screen. It worked for Sex and the City, so why not?
Daniel Radcliffe is headed back to the Great White Way next year. Sadly, it sounds like he’s keeping his pants on, but we do get to hear him sing in a revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Was Tom Jones a chicken thief? A Welsh village thought he ran off with their prize chicken, and had banned the crooner for forty years. They just lifted the ban this week. No word from Jones on the subject.
Way back in January I had mentioned that Priscilla, Queen of...
Ana Ortiz says that we may not have seen the last of Ugly Betty, because America Ferrera is looking to take the show to the big screen. It worked for Sex and the City, so why not?
Daniel Radcliffe is headed back to the Great White Way next year. Sadly, it sounds like he’s keeping his pants on, but we do get to hear him sing in a revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Was Tom Jones a chicken thief? A Welsh village thought he ran off with their prize chicken, and had banned the crooner for forty years. They just lifted the ban this week. No word from Jones on the subject.
Way back in January I had mentioned that Priscilla, Queen of...
- 4/16/2010
- by lostinmiami
- The Backlot
Gilligan Washes Ashore at Warner Bros.: In a move I have a hard time believing will ever actually make it to the big screen, "Gilligan's Island" is said to be in development for a feature film adaptation at Warner Bros. Charles Roven and Richard Suckle are onboard to produce for Atlas, with Brad Copeland (Wild Hogs) penning the screenplay.
"Gilligan's Island" last aired in 1967 and starred Bob Denver as the clumsy title character and was centered on the misadventures of seven castaways on an uncharted and uninhabited island in the Pacific. The show ended with the castaways still stranded, and while the idea for the film is being kept quiet, it isn't as if they have very many avenues to explore. Original show producer Sherwood Schwartz is aboard as an executive producer and said in an interview with TV Guide in 2008 that he was interested in Michael Cera playing...
"Gilligan's Island" last aired in 1967 and starred Bob Denver as the clumsy title character and was centered on the misadventures of seven castaways on an uncharted and uninhabited island in the Pacific. The show ended with the castaways still stranded, and while the idea for the film is being kept quiet, it isn't as if they have very many avenues to explore. Original show producer Sherwood Schwartz is aboard as an executive producer and said in an interview with TV Guide in 2008 that he was interested in Michael Cera playing...
- 3/3/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
With 2010 on the horizon, we say goodbye to the decade. At the movies, crime and fantasy dominated the last 10 years. It was also the decade of Heath Ledger with his phenomenal turns in .The Dark Knight. and .Brokeback Mountain..
We also saw our favorite auteurs putting their creative stamps on filmmaking. From the Coen brothers to Quentin Tarantino, the cinema was alive and well thanks to their auteurship.
Even though it was hard to whittle it down to just 10 movies, here are my picks of the Top 10 Best Films of the Decade from No. 10 to the best of the best!
10. .Memento. (2000) . Memory is at the center of .Memento. from writer-director Christopher Nolan. Guy Pearce plays a man suffering from short-term memory loss who.s trying desperately to hunt for the man who killed his wife. Told in reverse, Nolan did not merely use the backwards narrative as a gimmick but...
We also saw our favorite auteurs putting their creative stamps on filmmaking. From the Coen brothers to Quentin Tarantino, the cinema was alive and well thanks to their auteurship.
Even though it was hard to whittle it down to just 10 movies, here are my picks of the Top 10 Best Films of the Decade from No. 10 to the best of the best!
10. .Memento. (2000) . Memory is at the center of .Memento. from writer-director Christopher Nolan. Guy Pearce plays a man suffering from short-term memory loss who.s trying desperately to hunt for the man who killed his wife. Told in reverse, Nolan did not merely use the backwards narrative as a gimmick but...
- 12/31/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
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