Morris Makes a Movie/Schnabel on Miral/This Week's Ten Bets

Good Morning all.  Back from New Mexico and really hit in the face the last 24 hours with the fact that occasionally people read this space...gives one pause.

MORRIS MAKES A MOVIE

One of the highlights (at least for me) of last year's Telluride Film Festival was Errol Morris' "Tabloid".  The documentary is in the news lately as Morris makes the rounds and a trailer is out in preparation for it to be released.
In the flurry of activity has come a torrent of news about future projects from Morris and not necessarily from his position as an award winning documentarian.  The Playlist has isolated the latest Errol Morris plans in a couple of stories.  They report that Morris is involved in directing a project called "We Froze the First Man" that will feature actor Paul Rudd in the lead.  Steven Zaillian is producing and the script is to come from "Stranger than Fiction" scribe Zach Helm.
Morris has dabbled in non-documentary film work before and one could certainly say that he brings a lively approach to how he frames his documentary work.  The premise sounds humorous and I like Rudd a lot so I'll hope for the best.
The Playlist story is here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/paul_rudd_to_star_in_errol_morris_adaptation_of_we_froze_the_first_man/

Morris' other project  in the works would focus on biological weaponry.  Titled "The Demon in the Freezer," it is based on Richard Preston's book of the same name.  You can some detailed description of that project at The Playlist also at this link:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/exclusive_errol_morris_adapting_the_demon_in_the_freezer/

Finally, the link to the "Tabloid" trailer at IMDb is here:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi899914777/

SCHNABEL ON MIRAL

Yesterday I mentioned that Julian Schnabel and Johnny Depp were set to get together on a film project with Depp scheduled to star in a film that will explore Dante's Divine Comedy.  This comes in the midst of the DVD release of Schnabel's "Miral".  "Miral" stirred up a good deal of controversy last year and as I have said, I was fairly certain that we would see it in Telluride and was more than a little surprised that it was not on The SHOW's lineup.  I can't help but wonder if it got sidetracked as a consequence of the hoopla that it engendered and that's why we didn't see it (or maybe it was the lukewarm reviews).  Now Schnabel sits down with Jeff Otto of The Playlist and talks about the film.  That interview is here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/exclusive_director_julian_schnabel_discusses_blu-ray_dvd_release_of_miral/

I have to say that I loved Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" when I saw it in Telluride in 2007 and have been waiting for the DVD release so that I could get a look at this film.

THIS WEEK'S TEN BETS

Last week's Ten Bets for Telluride List:

1) The Descendants

2) A Trip to the Moon
3) Young Adult
4) The Artist
5) The Kid with a Bike
6) Le Havre
7) Gazing Into the Abyss
8) Dark Horse
9) We Have to Talk About Kevin
10) Shame


This week's Ten Bets:
1) The Descendants
2) A Trip to the Moon
3) Young Adult
4) Gazing Into the Abyss
5) The Artist
6) Dark Horse
7) The Kid with a Bike
8) Shame
9) Le Havre
10) Coriolanus