Werner...as you might expect

Telluride Film board member and regular contributor Werner Herzog has revealed in an interview with CraveOnline that his doc "Happy People: A Year in the Tiaga" will be part of TFF #37.

Quoting from the interview:

"I'm also releasing another film which I just finished, which is more an international version of an existing film which was four hours long that will be shown in Telluride. It's called Happy People: A Year in the Taiga. It's about hunters in Siberia."

The entire interview can be found at:

http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/film/article/werner-herzog-on-his-travels-films-and-faith-110215

It's not really a surprise. Herzog is often a presence at the festival.

One Week To Go

Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"

Anne Thompson at Indiewire (and on her way to the Venice Film Fest) essentially confirms "127 Hours," "Black Swan," Miral," "The King's Speech'" and "Never Let Me Go" on the list for TFF #37.

Those 5 would potentially make a great Telluride Film Festival all on their own.

Add to that the tantalizing hint this morning from Australia and our guess that we might see Peter Weir's "The Way Back"...could be phenomenal.

New Film for TFF #37?

The Cast of Peter Weir's "The Way Back"

An Australian film company tweets cryptically this morning that a "major" Australian director will unveil a new film next week at the Festival. Deductively we're going to guess that it's Peter Weir's "The Way Back" featuring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris.

Weir has a relatively short resume...but it's long on quality..."The Truman Show," "Master and Commander," and "Dead Poet's Society" among others.

The prospect of "The Way Back" playing TFF #37 would make what we already think is likely to be a great festival even better. Hope he and the film are there.

Link to "The Way Back" on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1023114/

Anne Thompson at Indfiewire confirms Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" at Telluride Film Festival.

127 Hours...Trailer

James Franco as Aron Ralston in Danny Boyle's "127 Hours"

A couple of notes...

"127 Hours" which some have suggested is a film which will show at Telluride has a trailer out. Here's a link to it(thanks to The New Yorker Magazine):

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/08/127_hours_trailer_between_jame.html

It's official Fox Searchlight page is here:

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/127hours/

And I was in Telluride last weekend and there's a rumor floating around that a well-known Chicago film critic who was once a frequent visitor to the festival may very well return this year. Hope it's true because we would love to meet Mr. E.

No Leaf for the "Tree" til 2011?

Terrence Malick's highly anticipated and much delayed "The Tree of Life" starring Mssrs. Pitt and Penn may be delayed until 2011. Kristopher Tapley at Incontention.com channels Todd McCarthy who has some inside dope as he has been programming for the New York Film Festival. That link is here:

http://bghpg.th8.us/

McCarthy/Tapley suggest that we may not see it until Cannes next summer or even later...like the fall festivals a year from now...Geez.

Tapley tweeted this comment a few minutes later:

"Terrence Malick: The Brett Favre of the film industry"

All I can add is... Amen!

Another Day Closer...

Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner in "The Town." Will that town be Telluride???

The 37th Telluride Film Festival is now only 16 days away and anticipation is building. Yesterday Jay A. Fernandez of The Hollywood Reporter had a big article with title guesses... Here's that link again:

http://tinyurl.com/2g6o29v

This afternoon, Kristopher Tapley at Incontention.com had a big post about Venice, Toronto, New York and (in the 5th paragraph, by extension) Telluride. That link is here:

http://tinyurl.com/2evdmbt

Putting the information together and doing some deductive reasoning you can come up with a possible Telluride list that would be potentially phenomenal. Two things stand out from the Tapley article. His comment that you can deduct the from the Toronto list and that Fernandez may have given away much of the lineup yesterday. So from that basis, what do you end up with??? Here are possibles that seem to be the logical extension of that information:

"Another Year" from Mike Leigh

"Biutiful" from Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu

"Black Swan" from Darren Aronofsky (that also relies on inferences from Anne Thompson at Indiewire)

"The Illusionist" from Sylvan Chomet

"Inside Job" from Charles Ferguson

"The King's Speech" from Tom Hooper

"Miral" from Julian Schnabel (at Venice but could overlap and we've been saying it for months)

"Never Let Me Go" from Mark Romanek

"Tamara Drewe" from Stephen Frears

"The Town" from Ben Affleck (at Venice but could overlap)

"127 Hours" from Danny Boyle (you gotta think it plays TFF like Slumdog did)

"Casino Jack" from George Hickenlooper

"You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" from Woody Allen

Tapley's article does make it pretty clear that Eastwood's "Hereafter," Goldwyn's "Conviction," Madden's "The Debt," Joffe's "Brighton Rock," Redford's "The Conspirator," and Mitchell's "Rabbit Hole" will NOT play in Telluride. And, of course, we had already pretty much ruled out Coppola's "Somewhere," Taymor's "The Tempest," and Fincher's "The Social Network."

Not on anyone's list anywhere...The Coen's "True Grit" and Malick's "The Tree of Life."

But if the above list is anywhere close...WOW!

Finally, a bunch of internet traffic agog today over the trailer for Aronofsky's "Black Swan". Here's the youtube link to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jaI1XOB-bs

16 days...

Two and a Half Weeks

Will Stephen Frears comedy be playing at 9,000 feet in 2 and 1/2 weeks?

A big speculative post tonight from Jay Fernandez in The Hollywood Reporter that is very, very tantalizing. You can find the entirety of the article here:

http://tinyurl.com/2g6o29v

Check it out.

Of note: Fernandez says, among other things, that he expects to see Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" which this space has been predicting for some time now. Additionally, he suggests the likelihood of Mark Romanek's "Never Let Me Go" and Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" which have also appeared in this space previously as possible TFF #37 suspects.

That's not all. Fernandez also points out the possibility of Stephen Frears "Tamara Drewe," Mike Leigh's "Another Year," and Charles Ferguson's documentary "Inside Job" as possibles that we have also highlighted here.

A few surprises included for Telluride Film on Fernandez's list include Woody Allen's "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" which we had all but written off as well as Sylvan Chomet's animated "The Illusionist."

If these all showed at SHOW #37...that would be quite a festival indeed.

Bits and Pieces

A couple of interesting things to pass along that don't directly relate to waht will play in 2 and 1/2 weeks...but are connected to the Fest.

First, this video resignation of a TFF staff member is making the rounds of the web this afternoon:

http://t.co/4H8WYEN

Sounds like some internal trouble at the happiest place on Earth (DisneyWorld notwithstanding).

And multiple sources reporting this afternoon that Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter" starring Matt Damon will close the NY Film Fest. Essentially closing the door on it for good as a possible Telluride film. We'd already pretty much reached that conclusion anyway.

Last note...Kris Tapley at Incontention.com has just tweeted that he has the "lowdown" on the TFF #37 lineup. Says it' s " a hell of a lineup." Wonder if we could pry any info out of him???

Updating 127

Will Danny Boyle return to Telluride???

My 127th post is about Danny Boyle's "127 Hours." Earlier this evening many sources reported that the film (starring James Franco) would premiere as a part of Toronto's International Film Fest and close the BFI in London in October. We suggested that that did not preclude it from appearing at Telluride. Now Indie Wire's Anne Thompson seems to echo our suggestion, saying that it's "most likely" to appear at TFF #37. That link is here:

http://tinyurl.com/28e238l

We hope it's true...cause, let me tell you...it's shaping up to be a great film festival in the San Juans in three weeks.

More later...

Three Weeks to Go...

James Franco, Aron Ralston and Danny Boyle of "127 Hours"

Any number of sources reporting this morning that Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" starring James Franco will premiere at Toronto and close the London Film Festival.

This might give one pause about it's chances to be at Telluride, but remember that "Slumdog" took this exact path two years ago...and was a "sneak" addition to the program in 2008. So I wouldn't be surprised if "127" didn't show up as a"sneak" in three weeks.

It does make me kind of nervous that we haven't seen some blog speculation about it or Schnabel's "Miral" anywhere, though.

Otherwise, not a lot of rumor/innuendo/scoop to report...yet.

Stay tuned!

After "The Tree of Life"

Ben and Jen in Oklahoma prepping for Terrence Malick's next film???

After months of stalking this film and every scrap of info about it...and ultimately deciding that we just will not see it at Telluride...on to Malick's next project...or rumors at least...which stunned me as it could be that Malick's somewhere in my home state...stuff I didn't know.

Check out this post from The Playlist:

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/08/is-ben-affleck-going-to-star-in.html

and this from the Tulsa World:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=268&articleid=20100811_371_0_BenAff888984

And while we're just spooking around...here's my first guess for a film to show up at TFF #38

"Young Adult" Jason Reitman directing a Diablo Cody script. Sound familiar?

Again check out The Playlist at:

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/08/josh-brolin-to-join-charlize-theron-in.html

And finally, since we're on a Playlist kick and predicting a year into the future...how about this Todd Phillips biopic about John Belushi...

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/08/todd-phillips-developing-new-biopic-of.html

Four Weeks To Go!

WILL JAVIER BARDEM MAKE AN APPEARANCE AT THE FRIDAY NIGHT FEED ON COLORADO AVENUE???








With less than four weeks until the Patron's Brunch starts the weekend off for me, I thought I'd take a moment to assess where we are in terms of speculation about the films that will be playing at TFF #37. I've tired to divide these into categories that seem to make the most sense (at least to me) with almost a month to go before films begin to unspool...









The following is based on what has been speculated in the media, past trends, the Toronto and Venice listed films, Cannes results and wishful thinking. Take it for what it's worth (which probably isn't all that much).









Films that are I think have the best chance of being at Telluride: "Black Swan," Another Year," "127 Hours," "Miral," "Biutiful," and "Love and Other Drugs"









Sony Classics Films that likely will show: "Inside Job, " "Tamara Drewe," Of Gods and Men," and "Life Above All."









Other Cannes Films that could appear: "Certified Copy," "Poetry," and "On Tour"









Some films that have had very flimsy hints that they could show up in Telluride: "The King's Speech," "The Town, " and "Meek's Cutoff."









You have to figure Werner Herzog will be represented by either "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams" or "Happy People: A Year in the Tiaga" or both.









The "It Seems There Is No Way They'll Be In Telluride" List: (for a variety of reasons) "The Tempest," "The Social Network," The Eagle," "The Descendents," and "The Fighter."









Films about which there has been no mention in terms of Telluride, but could sneak in: "Bagman" (formerly "Casino Jack"), "Conviction" (formerly "Betty Ann Waters"), "Never Let Me Go," "Brighton Rock," Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives"(Palme D'Or winner), "Fair Game," "Somewhere," and "Blue Valentine."









Another interesting thought...last year at TFF #36, one of the biggest buzz generators was the Red Riding Trilogy...maybe the best buzz of anything from last year's fest. Could the TFF planners try something like that again? Does anything fit the bill? Yes and Yes. The sprawling "Carlos" (300 plus minutes according to imdb) which showed at Cannes and was very well received would seem to fit if the Telluride programmers wanted to go in that direction again. It certainly worked very well last year.









And finally...don't expect to see:









"True Grit"...the Coen Brothers certainly don't need to show at Telluride.




"Hereafter" neither does Clint Eastwood.




and "The Tree of Life"...enough people have said that Malick isn't ready to make me a believer...but you had to hope.

Alexander Payne Says 'The Descendants' Won't Be Ready Until 2011; Looking To Shoot 'Downsizing' Next Year As Well?

Black Swan to "Plie" in Telluride???

Anne Thompson at IndieWire drops a couple of inferences that Darren Aronofsky's new film "Black Swan" starring Natalie Portman will make a stop at TFF #37. Those stories are here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/category/telluride/

"Black Swan's" IMDB page is here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/

And, later this weekend, we'll do a round-up piece to set the stage for the final month before the 37th Telluride Film Festival.

Just back to room after phenomenal day of theater. Bernadette Peters doing Send in the Clowns and Al Pacino as Shylock. Good God! Amazing!