VENICE SPECULATION
We're probably about 5 weeks away from the official lineup announcement for the Venice Film Festival.
We already know that it's under new direction from a past director.
We know it will be smaller (near Telluride-size in terms of the total number of films screened).
We know that the new director has claimed that he's likely to have "The Master", "To the Wonder" and Brian DePalma's new film, "Passion", though I think these might all be wishful thinking rather than hard and fast commitments.
We know that the overlap between Telluride and Venice films is usually very small...last year: 3 films (to the best of my ability to dig this up): "Shame", "A Dangerous Method" and "Diana Vreeland". And 3 is about normal.
Overlap in 2010: "Black Swan" and "Letter to Elia"
Overlap in 2009: "The Road", "Life During Wartime" and "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans"
So Venice is usually a lineup that winnows Telluride possibilities...
All that to get to this: The Playlist has a big Venice speculation piece posted yesterday.
Highlights include two specific Telluride references in their analysis of Derek Cianfrance's "The Place Beyond the Pines" and David O. Russell's "The Silver Linings Playbook". "Pines" is Cianfrance's follow up to the very well received "Blue Valentine". "Silver Linings" is the latest project from the director of "The Fighter" and "Three Kings" and will be distributed by The Weinstein Company.
Some other intriguing notes from The Playlist post:
They appear to believe the claims about "The Master", "To the Wonder" and "Passion" as they have them listed as "strong possibilities" for Venice along with "Anna Karenina", "Argo", "Gangster Squad" and "Something in the Air" among others.
Among "possibilities" they list: "Life of Pi", "The Place Beyond the Pines" and "Love is All You Need".
Among the "long shots" are: "Seven Psychopaths", "The Silver Linings Playbook", "Django Unchained","Low Life", "Cloud Atlas", "Inside Llewyn Davis" and "Zero Dark Thirty".
The complete post is here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/terrence-malick-the-master-anna-karenina-more-what-could-be-in-this-years-venice-film-festival-line-up-20120619
20TH CENTURY FOX
Continuing to look at "Major" studios who might have been the studio reference by reports from the L.A. Film Festival that a so-called "major" was dangling bait in front of Telluride programmers we review the late year offerings from 20th Century Fox.
It looks like four possibilities emerge:
Ang Lee's "Life of Pi"...which I'm watching anyway because Lee's been represented at Telluride before with "Brokeback Mountain" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" perhaps most notable.
Curtis Hanson's "Of Men and Mavericks"...mostly because I met Hanson at Telluride a few years ago.
And Daniel Barnz's "Won't Back Down" starring Viola Davis in what purports to be this year's vehicle for Ms. Davis to challenge for the Best Actress Oscar that Meryl Streep won over her last year.
Won't Back Down" is featured in a post this week from The Playlist with links to 4 clips from the film.
Here's one of them:
Check others here at The Playlist:
And of course, the big dog Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" which Fox is co-producing with Dreamworks and Amblin and a bunch of others. I'll have more to say about it on Friday. ("Lincoln's IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443272/)
20th Century Fox has been represented at Telluride in the past with: "The Descendants" (2011), "127 Hours", "Never Let Me Go" and "Black Swan (2010) and "The Savages" (2007) and others.
My take: "Life of Pi" chances are at 30%, "Of Men and Mavericks" 15% and "Won't Back Down" at 25%.
Tomorrow a look at what Warner Brothers might have tried to play with if they're the studio in question.
THE MASTER: "LIKE"???
Paul Thomas Anderson fansite Cigarettes and RedVines posted the link to the official "The Master" Facebook page yesterday. It's...um...still under construction...visit it here:
More later...
Follow me on Twitter @Gort2
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