Actor and director Crispin Glover has a Web site up for his latest feature
What is It?, which looks like one particularly bizarre and interesting entry in what seems like a very strong
Park City at Midnight lineup. (I've seen
Old Boy, and it's pretty great, and while I'll write more about David Slade's
Hard Candy later, I have a feeling that by fest's end folks will both be wondering why it wasn't in Competition and will be shortlisting actress Ellen Page as a future star.)
[N.B. the Quicktime movie trailer on Glover's site doesn't always work, possibly due to site traffic. Be persistent. It's worth it.]
As Trevor Groth writes in the Sundance catalogue: "After 10 years and numerous incarnations in the making, we are euphoric to present the world premiere of Crispin Hellion Glover's
What Is It?... an aptly titled film that defies easy summarization but is a triumph of cinematic irreverence and uncompromising creativity.
"The film (which contains graphic sexuality) flows between controversial imagery and story lines: a minstrel in blackface who aspires to be an invertebrate by injecting snail enzymes into his cheek; a Shirley Temple dictator in Nazi garb; a naked man with cerebral palsy lying on a giant seashell, being fondled by a naked woman wearing a monkey mask; talking snails getting repeatedly salted; and watching over all, an enthroned Glover in a full-length fur coat.
"
What Is It? is a Dadaist deconstruction of the hero's journey as well as a hallucinogenic trip deep into the mind of its bizarre creator. It is a thoroughly challenging visual experience as well as a compelling allegory for society and its outcasts. As the visual absurdity of the film rides along at a fever pitch, Glover's innate humanism injects the seemingly inhuman scenario with a deep pathos that captures the viewer' attention and consideration. Truly one of the most original films ever created,
What Is It? will shock, intrigue, confound, disturb, and amaze even the most jaded viewers."
Another Sundance trailer on the Web is for John Maybury's
The Jacket. Maybury, a British music-video director whose first feature, the Francis Bacon-biopic
Love is the Devil I thought was pretty wretched, takes Adrian Brody and Keira Knightley through a dark time-travel storyline. The script's been floating around for a couple years and apparently Brody's character, originally a Vietnam war vet, is now a Gulf War veteran. The project has a trio of heavyweight producers: the Section 8 team (Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, and execs Jennifer Fox and Ben Cosgrove), Mandalay's Peter Guber, and the 2929 pair of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner, among several others.
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Delta brings Shootout to disc
Six-disc set launched as 'film school in a box'
By Scott Hettrick 11/10/2005
NOV. 10 | AMC’s Sunday Morning Shootout is coming to DVD designed as a “film school in a box,” according to distributor Delta Entertainment.
The six-disc set of the first season of the weekly program, which focuses on the business of the entertainment industry, will include hours of bonus features revolving around hosts Peter Bart, editor of Variety, and producer Peter Guber as well as the full 25-minute interviews with guest actors and filmmakers that are cut to about 10 minutes for the half-hour show.
Delta will release Sunday Morning Shootout: The Best of Season 1 on Dec. 27 in association with Davis-Anderson Merchandising Corp. The first season includes interviews with Clint Eastwood, Charlize Theron, Denzel Washington, Harvey Weinstein and Bruce Willis as well as episodes produced on location at films festivals such as Sundance and Cannes.
Noam Dromi, who produced the DVD along with Evan Geerlings, said the discs also include a “day-in-the-life” documentary with Bart and Guber as they go about their regular day jobs and then head to the studio to record another episode of the show. Also offered is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the program.
Anticipating that the DVD will reach consumers who might be unfamiliar with the show and yet interested in learning about the business side of the film industry, each DVD will be presented with a specific theme, such as “The Triple Threat: Actor/Director/Producer” and “The Executive Shuffle: Revenge of the Hollywood Suits.” The six discs will be sold in a deluxe set or in two-packs.
Delta launched the DVD division of the 30-year-old music company in the late ’90s.
“The Shootout experience is a must-have resource for aspiring filmmakers and everyone who loves movies,” said Delta president Eric Diltz. He said the program “reflects the company’s commitment to supply the domestic home entertainment marketplace with quality, entertaining, viable product.”
In its third season on AMC, the Scott Sternberg production is scheduled to reach its 100th episode this spring.
“We always had envisioned DVD as part of our long-term strategy for the series and believe Delta Entertainment is the ideal company to distribute it,” said executive producer Sternberg.
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posted by Larry Hertzog @ 11/11/2005 2:27 AM
