Archive for January, 2007
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
For those expecting to see teasers of summer tentpoles like Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third while munching on chips and wings this Super Bowl Sunday, Variety reports that’s unlikely to happen. In a game that’s watched by millions, most studios are passing on showing their ads during the game (one exception: Eddie Murphy’s latest Norbit, which you’ll see a lot of during the pregame show).
Here’s how one consultant explains it in the story:
“The problem is, if you’re not ready with your creative, you are left way too exposed,” noted one gun-shy marketing consultant. He cited the now-classic example of 2003′s “The Hulk” spot, which was avidly TiVo-ed and picked apart frame by frame by feverish film geeks. With an f/x-dependent film that typically gets locked only a few days before release, that can be too much attention too soon. The general consensus on the film’s look was downbeat, and that made for a grueling trek toward opening weekend.
… Read the rest
Monday, January 29th, 2007
If you only bookmark this blog, make sure to check out Jamie Stuart’s latest Filmmaker-sponsored podcast short from the Sundance Film Festival.… Read the rest
Monday, January 29th, 2007
Jamie Stuart takes on the Sundance Film Festival in his latest short.
Download the short here by right clicking and choosing Save Target or Save Link.
Please visit Jamie’s site at www.mutinycompany.com. … Read the rest
Monday, January 29th, 2007
Following a Saturday evening awards ceremony, Sundance wrapped its 10-day run today with a series of award-winner screenings on Sunday. At the Saturday event, the drama Padre Nuestro, directed by Christopher Zalla, was announced winner of the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize. The Documentary Grand Jury Prize went to Jason Kohn‘s Brazil-set corruption saga Manda Bala (Send a Bullet). Audience prizewinners included James C. Straus‘s John Cusack-starrer Grace Is Gone for the Dramatic Audience Award and Documentary Audience Award recipient Hear and Now from Irene Taylor Brodsky.
The complete list of awards is available on the festival website.
After the awards announcements, guests spilled into the adjacent party space at the Racquet Club, where they were greeted with thumping techno spinning on the turntables and long lines at the bars — a generally upbeat atmosphere overall, compared with last year’s more subdued event.
Festivalgoers still on hand Sunday were able to attend screenings of many of the award-winners, so I headed off to the Eccles Theater for Dramatic Grand Jury Prize-winner Padre Nuestro. Zalla’s film follows petty-thief
Juan, on the run from some nasty gangsters, and naïve Pedro, who’s searching for his long-lost father across the Mexican border. When the illegal immigrants arrive in New York City, Pedro discovers that Juan has stolen his luggage, along with his identity.
Juan tracks down Pedro’s father Diego, introducing himself as the 17-year-old son the older man has never met. Openly hostile at first, Diego refuses to acknowledge “Pedro” as family, throwing the boy out, but Juan persists, suspecting that Diego is stashing a large amount of cash, and gradually wearing down Diego’s resistance. Meanwhile, the real Pedro wanders the streets, desolately searching for his father.
First-time feature director Zalla uses this straightforward premise to parse themes of identity, family and fate, drawing impressive performances from the small ensemble cast and building the narrative from a fairly banal drama to an emotionally understated thriller. The final scenes in which Diego embraces the self-delusion he realizes is his only remaining hope for survival are heartrending.
[… Read the rest
Saturday, January 27th, 2007
Originally, the Premieres section film Chapter 27, writer-director Jarrett Schaefer’s darkly revealing account of Mark David Chapman’s final days prior to killing John Lennon in 1980, was on my “might-see” list, mostly because I didn’t expect to find a ticket to the January 25 sold-out premiere at the Eccles Theater. That was before I discovered that Jim Makiej, one of two credited editors on the film, would be sharing my Park City condo. Jim was able to get me a ticket to the screening, as well as a spot at the Airborne Lounge party on Main Street afterwards.
Chapter 27 focuses on Chapman’s activities, and his deteriorating mental state, over the three days following his arrival in New York up until he shoots the rock star. Compellingly played by Jared Leto, who gained 70 lbs. for the role, the Chapman character narrates much of the film in voiceover, exploring his obsession with the Beatles, as well as J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, as he gathers with other autograph seekers, including the young Jude (Lindsay Lohan), outside Lennon’s Dakota apartment building on the Upper West Side
“With such an infamous main character, the challenge was to tell that in an accessible way,” relates Makiej, whose previous credits include the 2002 Sundance entry Bark. “It’s not an easy story to celebrate.” After cutting the movie with the filmmakers and observing Schaefer’s distillation of Chapman’s psychological implosion, Makiej’s assessment was that Chapman “blurred his comprehension of what was going on. He picked and chose the reality he wanted” leading up to his assassination of Lennon.
At the after-screening party, Schaefer told me that his goals for the film included “a good story well-told,” as well as an examination of celebrity, noting that “now we’re in a culture dominated by celebrity,” which seemed particularly relevant considering Lohan’s participation in the film. As of Saturday, Chapter 27 was still available for pickup.… Read the rest
Saturday, January 27th, 2007
In the wake of the controversy involving Hounddog, the Sundance premiere which featured a brief scene in which the character played by young actress Dakota Fanning is raped, a North Carolina politician is proposing that the state Senate review and approve screenplays for films receiving the state filming tax incentive.
From an article by Mark Schreiner in the Wilmington Star:
Citing the controversy surrounding the Dakota Fanning film Hounddog, the leader of the state Senate Republicans says he wants the government to review scripts before cameras start rolling in North Carolina.
That system, said state Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, would apply only to films seeking the state’s lucrative filmmaker incentive, which refunds as much as 15 percent of what productions spend in North Carolina from the state treasury.
“Why should North Carolina taxpayers pay for something they find objectionable?” said Berger, who is having proposed legislation drafted.
It is not known whether Hounddog’s producers have or will apply for the incentive. A call Thursday to the N.C. Department of Revenue, which oversees incentive payments, was not returned.
Sen. Julia Boseman, D-New Hanover, one of the backers of the new law that created the current incentive system, said she couldn’t say much until she saw Berger’s proposal in writing.
“There’s no bill yet to take a look at,” she said. “But I am always willing to consider reasonable ways to improve the program.”
She did say she thought looking at scripts before shooting starts might be meaningless because a script could be changed during production.
“We should consider the end product,” she said, “which is what our current system is designed to do.”
State law denies the incentive to films that are obscene. In state law, obscenity is defined as depicting sexual conduct presented in an offensive way that appeals to prurient interest, lacks any “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value” and is not free speech protected by the state or federal constitutions.
Berger said the film-incentive ban should be broadened to include material considered objectionable. He said there should be no First Amendment concerns because the
… Read the rest
Saturday, January 27th, 2007
Over at her Risky Business blog, Ann Thompson writes about the Academy ruling that producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa of Bona Fide Films will not be eligible to accept the Oscar if their film Little Miss Sunshine wins Best Picture. This seems to deeply suck. They are the guys who developed the material early on, championed the directors and brought it to financiers Big Beach. But because of the Academy’s “rule of three,” they have been nixed from eligiblity in favor of Mark Turtletaub, David Friendly and Peter Saraf. I’m not saying that any of the other producers should not be eligible, but there is clearly something wrong when a rule designed limit excess producer credits knocks out the people who started the project in the first place.… Read the rest
Thursday, January 25th, 2007
During a Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony reception Thursday afternoon at the Kimball Arts Center in Park City, the Sundance Institute and NHK, Japan ’s largest broadcaster, introduced the winners of the 2007 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards. The $10,000 annual prizes are given to four filmmakers from Europe, Latin America, the U.S. and Japan to help support the production of their winning narrative feature scripts.
This year’s recipients are Lucia Cedron (Argentina) with Agnus Dei, Dagur Kari’s (Iceland) The Good Heart, Tomoko Kana (Japan) with Two by the River, and Caran Hartsfield’s (U.S.) Bury Me Standing.
“Our winners’ projects represent incredibly unique work by filmmakers from around the world and we are especially proud to be supporting three extraordinary women directors among them this year,” said Alesia Weston , Associate Director of the Feature Film Program, International.
Kari, who previously directed the features Noi Albinoi and Dark Horse, told Filmmaker “I’m totally honored,” acknowledging that the award is a “very special prize” because of the size of the cash award. The Good Heart, a drama about an ailing middle-aged bar owner who takes in a homeless man who’s recently attempted suicide and trains him to take over the bar, has secured the majority of financing required from Icelandic and European film funds and international co-production companies, including Canal +, Wild Bunch and Cinetic Media.
Accepting her award, Kana noted “Originally, I’m a documentary director, so to make a feature film is a big challenge for me, but I believe that I can overcome it.” Two by the River is a drama about an elderly couple facing difficult decisions as the wife’s health deteriorates.
Cedron announced that Agnus Dei, her drama about the legacy of the Argentinean dictatorship of the 1970s, is fully financed and will begin shooting in February, while award-winning short film director Caran Hartsfield observed that progress on her feature Bury Me Standing is advancing with indie producers Gina Kwon and Effie Brown helping to guide the project.
The winning directors also receive a guarantee from NHK to purchase the Japanese … Read the rest
Thursday, January 25th, 2007
As you can tell from my post below, I didn’t like the Sundacnce Competition film Grace is Gone. At the time, I thought I was in the minority but in the last few days a number of reviews and criticisms have come out faulting the film for its disingenuously “even-handed” use of the Iraq war to kickstart what is ultimately a conventional indie film road movie.
The weird thing about the movie is that star John Cusack has been a vocal opponent of the war, and my guess is that its makers are also sensitive anti-war folk. (I don’t know them, so I could be wrong here.) But clearly, there’s something about this film that causes some of us to react pretty strongly against it. I just received this email from producer Mike Ryan (Junebug, Fay Grim, 40 Shades of Blue), who was really ticked off by it.
Here it is:
Donald Rumsfeld and all pro-war Republicans will love the new John Cusack film, Grace is Gone. Others, some whom may be liberal, agree: it could be a crowd-pleaser able to reach beyond the indie ghetto. It was bought earlier this week for $4 million.
Rumsfeld will love how the film shows a family coping with the grief following the death of the family’s soldier mom. There is no anger at the film’s end; we are left feeling that this grief will be healed. The film offers a positive portrait of how a family can pull together in such sad circumstances.
Rumsfeld will love how the film’s one dissenting, anti-war perspective is mouthed by a clichéd liberal couch potato. Alessandro Nivola plays a 31-year-old bearded lay about. We see him in mid-afternoon on his mother’s couch, dozing off in front of cartoons. This liberal also has unfocused opinions, no ambition, and is really only concerned with eating. And being unable to pay for his own meal, living in his mothers home, he is seen as mooching off the system.
Rumsfeld and most Republicans will agree with Cusack’s response to his older daughter’s questions about the war.
… Read the rest
