75,000/Cannes Odds and Ends

Good Thursday morning to everyone.

Completed a real dream last night as I saw Sir Paul McCartney in concert in Tulsa, OK.  Had a great time and was very happy to spend some time watching a Beatle ply his trade.

75,000



Michael's Telluride Film Blog rolled past its 75,000th view this week.  I'm more than a little pleased, as I was looking back, that the blog has continually grown and this past year has been particularly good from the increased viewer perspective.  It crossed the 40,000 view threshold on July 16th last year so there's a reasonable chance that will be doubled in a year's time.

This fall will mark the fifth anniversary of the founding of the blog, Aug. 8th to be precise.  It has been a crazy wild and wonderful experience and all made possible by two great former students, Larry and Mitzi Mallard who have made our annual trek to the Telluride Film Festival a reality.  It's also possible thanks to the forbearance of my better half, my wife of 35 years, Kristy.

It's been a lot of fun, has opened some interesting doors and allowed me to hobnob and converse with some very interesting people ( like interviewing Alexander Payne last year).  It's also allowed me to network with some of the people in the business of covering film that have done me the courtesy of
treating this little project with a level of seriousness and dignity that I have found amazing.

Finally, a big thank you and shout out to those of you that drop in to read this space from time to time.  I'm still green enough at this that I still get a little light headed when I meet readers at the Festival.  I'll keep doing this thing as long as it seems like their are people that have some interest in the films that might play and have played at Telluride.

Thanks everyone!

CANNES

Bruce Dern at Cannes:

Cannes Best Actor winner Bruce Dern (for Alexander Payne's "Nebraska") has had part of his post "Nebraska" premiere press conference loaded to YouTube.  You can find that here via David Poland
and Movie City News:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=tE1DRU27m6E&feature=youtu.be&a=&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DtE1DRU27m6E%26feature%3Dyoutu.be%26a



Meanwhile, the Incontention/HitFix crew has begun to assess the awards potential for the slate of films that played at Cannes both in and out of competition.  Their analysis is here ( hint- they think that "Inside Llewyn Davis" has the best shot at multiple nominations).

HitFix: Oscar and Cannes in 2013:

http://www.hitfix.com/awards-campaign/did-oscar-make-a-stopover-in-cannes-this-y


More Critics weigh in:

Screen Daily conducted their annual poll of Cannes' critics and, perhaps in a little surprise, came to much the conclusions that the Ioncinema.com collective did.  "Blue is the Warmest Color" led the way.  "Inside Llewyn Davis" was next followed by "Nebraska".  Find the ScreenDaily chart here:

http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/cannes/cannes-blue-tops-screen-jury-scores/5056736.article?blocktitle=LATEST-CANNES-NEWS&contentID=40392


More on Monday...

Cannes Completes/Clips From Blue/Jane Saga Continues

Good Monday morning everyone and a Happy Memorial Day!

CANNES COMPLETES

The Cannes Film Festival came to a rousing conclusion yesterday with the presentation of awards.
"La Vie d'Adele/Blue is the Warmest Color" won the top prize, the Palme d'Or.  The film was directed by .  The Grand Prix (or runner-up) Prize went to the Coen Brothers "Inside Llewyn Davis".

Best Actor went to Bruce Dern for his turn in Alexander Payne's "Nebraska".  Best Actress was Bernice Bejo for her role in Asgahr Farhadi's "The Past".

Check out the complete rundown of the winners from Ioncinema.com:

http://www.ioncinema.com/news/film-festivals/2013-cannes-award-winners-in-pictures-triple-love-for-kechiche-exarchopoulos-and-seydoux

Additionally, here's the check of Ioncinema's Cannes critics collation:


http://www.ioncinema.com/news/film-festivals/2013-cannes-critics-panel-kechiche-blue-is-the-warmest-colour-in-a-class-apart

"Blue" was way out front with a combined average of 4.3.  "The Past" and "Inside Llewyn Davis" finished in the second spot with a 3.7 average.  Jim Jarmusch's vampire film starring Tilda Swinton


"Only Lovers Left Alive" was next at 3.5.  "A Touch of Sin" was at the five spot with a 3.4 average.

Other films with a 3 or better average included: "Venus in Fur"' "La Grande Belezza", "Behind the
Candelabra", "Young and Beautiful" and "Like Father, Like Son".

My guess is that any of the above except "Llewyn Davis" and "Venus in Fur" could be a possible Telluride choice.  I also think that "Nebraska" and "The Immigrant" are also still real possibilities.

CLIPS FROM CANNES WINNER

Awards Daily posted links to a couple of clips from yesterday's Palme d'Or winner "Blue is the Warmest Color".  You can find that here:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/two-clips-from-blue-is-the-warmest-color/



"JANE" SAGA GETS NEW TWIST

Despite the vagaries of a director switch and multiple cast changes "Jane Got a Gun" may well have distribution before it's done filming.  The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter both posted stories that indicate that The Weinsein Company and Relativity Media are both in position to dually handle the troubled film.  Check their stories below:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/relativity-weinstein-co-negotiating-acquire-troubled-jane-got-gun-93721

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/weinstein-relativity-partner-jane-got-558331

Have a great Memorial Day

@eug: Palme d'Or for "La Vie D'Adele" (Blue Is The Warmest Color), directed by Abdellatif Kechiche!! http://t.co/PMiBtk1YZ2

Cannes: Turning into the Home Stretch/The Critics/Clips/

Good Thursday to all...

CANNES: TURNING INTO THE HOME STRETCH

THE CRITICS

They've past the half way point in France at the Cannes Film Festival and the response and buzz has begun to heat up.  Let's start by taking a look at the critical response thus far from the collected wisdom assembled by Ioncinema:

http://www.ioncinema.com/news/film-festivals/2013-cannes-critics-panel-day-7-sorrentino-la-grande-bellezza

Parsing the numbers reveals that the critical favorites still remain "Inside Llewyn Davis" and "The Past" at a collective 3.7 rating each with "A Touch of Sin" parked at third with a 3.3.

Films that have played as of this morning (EDT) that haven't been compiled include Nicolas Winding Refn's "Only God Forgives" and Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" which both seem to have been divisively received (judging only by the twitter traffic I've seen) and "Blue is the Warmest Color" ("La Vie d'Adele") which is getting mostly good buzz and some speculation vis-a-vis the Best Actress prize there at Cannes.


J.C. Chandor's "All is Lost", the mostly wordless one man show starring Robert Redford that's playing out of competition has gotten what seems to be  a rapturous response.  Quite a bit of Best Actor Oscar talk surrounding Redford's performance and a really interesting question for is Telluride followers...could this film featuring the founder of that other American film festival set in a Rocky Mountain town make the Telluride lineup?  That would be very interesting.

Meanwhile, friend of the blog, Christopher Schiller passed along this connection to an even broader critical collective that is tracking Cannes as well:

http://www.todaslascriticas.com.ar/cannes

Looks as if they really like "Blue is the Warmest Color" as well.

I have also included a link here to The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg's analysis of the festival at its halfway point:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/cannes-forecast-palme-dor-race-524636

There has been a good deal of speculation that "Like Father, Like Son" might have the legs to secure the Palme d"Or.

CLIPS

Newly released Cannes-tailored clips continue to issue forth and I have snagged  a few that might be in the Telluride mix including a new one from James Gray's "The Immigrant" from The Playlist.  The link also includes an interview with Gray:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-a-new-clip-of-marion-cotillard-joaquin-phoenix-in-the-immigrant-plus-james-gray-talks-the-films-look-influences-20130522

And I have added a link to the same site for the aforementioned "All is Lost":

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-clip-from-all-is-lost-starring-robert-redford-20130522

Here's an alternative link and story from Rope of Silicon:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/all-is-lost-clip-redford-cannes/
Cannes concludes on Feb. 26th.

More on Monday as Cannes concludes...

Cannes Clips: The Past, Jimmy P., The Congress, The Immigrant/Cannes Critics/Add One, Take One Away/Weinstein's Reel/Late Breaking News/Rudderless Goes French

Good Monday morning!

CANNES CLIPS

As the Cannes Film Festival has begun, a number of the films that are playing have begun to release teasers, clips, trailers and the like online to gin up interest and provide sneak peaks.  As long time readers know, there's a good shot that we'll be offered a number of these Cannes films in Telluride in 3 months time.  So I'm passing along the links to various resources that posted clips/teasers this week of films that I believe have at least a fighting chance to be  part of the TFF #40 lineup.  Starting with the critically well received follow up to " A Separation" from Iranian director Asghar Farhadi-"The Past" from The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-3-clips-from-asghar-farhadis-cannes-competition-entry-the-past-starring-berenice-bejo-tahar-rahim-20130513

Premiering Saturday was Arnaud Desplechin's "Jimmy P. :The Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian" accessed via The Playlist as well:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-clip-from-cannes-competition-film-jimmy-p-starring-benicio-del-toro-mathieu-amalric-20130512

Ari Folman's "The Congress" has been described by Cannes reviewers as "trippy" and a look at the trailer confirms that.  I'm not sure if that increases or decreases its Telluride profile.  From FirstShowing.net:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/cannes-robin-wright-in-trippy-trailer-for-ari-folmans-the-congress/?uid=e34cabae030fab026f1b99084af06424020d9282

And finally, the first clip from James Gray's "The Immigrant".  We saw way more than this 23 seconds in Telluride last year but I have to ask: has Marion Cotillard ever looked more beautiful?  Take a look, also from The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-clip-from-james-grays-cannes-competitor-the-immigrant-with-marion-cotillard-jeremy-renner-20130517

CANNES CRITICS

As they did last year, Ioncinema is providing a collation of 16 critics to the competition films.  That is linked here:

http://www.ioncinema.com/news/film-festivals/2013-cannes-critics-panel-day-5-coen-bros-inside-llewyn-davis

Off to the best start are "The Past" and "Inside Llewyn Davis".

ADD ONE, TAKE ONE OFF THE LIST

The Hollywood Reporter reports that The Weinstein Company has picked up the U.S. distribution (and more) for Stephen Frear's "Philomena" starring perpetual Oscar nominee or near nominee Judi Dench.  I'd say that puts it in the "possible" column for an appearance at Telluride.  Here's that story:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-weinstein-picks-up-stephen-524546

Frears "Tamara Drewe" played at T-ride in 2010.

Meanwhile, TWC also announced that Lee Daniels "The Butler" starring Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey (and a cast of thousands as U.S. Presidents and First Ladies) will bow in the U.S. on Aug. 16th taking it out of the Telluride discussion entirely.  The Aug. 16th date means no fall festival run of any kind...no Toronto, no Venice , no New York.

Rope of Silicon has the story:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/weinstein-dates-butler-for-august-16-release/

WEINSTEIN'S REEL

Just as they did last year at Cannes, The Weinstein Company showed off footage from a number of the films they'll be highlighting in the fall for possible awards consideration.  Last year's highlights included "Django Unchained" and "Silver Linings Playbook".  This year the presentation included: "The Immigrant", "Grace of Monaco", and "August;Osage County" among others.  I have linked a slew of reports here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-harvey-weinstein-shows-a-524632

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/harvey-weinstein-previews-awards-slate-at-cannes

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/cannes-2013-weinsteins-unveil-footage-of-grace-of-monaco-salinger-and-mandela/2/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-2013-twc-preview-reel-the-immigrant-showcases-firecracker-phoenix-and-cotillard-but-no-renner-yet-20130517

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/weinstein-unveils-slate-cannes-august-osage-county-meryl-streep-shouts-oscars-salinger-92431

http://www.deadline.com/2013/05/hammond-on-cannes-weinstein-brings-out-the-stars-and-shows-off-2013-oscar-contenders/

LATE BREAKING NEWS

"Labor Day" on Christmas Day...Jason Reitman's new film has a Dec. 25 limited release date.  That announcement came this weekend.  I have high hopes that Mr. Reitman will return to Telluride after an absence since 2011's "Up in the Air".  "Labor Day" stars Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin.  The story here from  The Playlist (which also suggests that Telluride is a possibility):

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/ridley-scotts-moses-movie-exodus-opens-dec-12th-2014-fassbenders-assassins-creed-on-may-22nd-2015-20130518

"The Past" in our future?...I have thought for a long time that we had a relatively good chance of catching Asghar Farhadi's follow up to his Oscar winning "A Separation" in T-ride.  The report from The Hollywood Reporter is that Sony Pictures Classics has landed the U.S. distribution makes it an even likelier proposition.  Here's the THR story:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-sony-classics-wins-us-525213

RUDDERLESS EN FRANCAIS...

Variety reported this weekend that William H. Macy directorial debut and Oklahoma set film "Rudderless" has been picked up for French distribution.  The Variety post also featured a pic of stars Selena Gomez and who I think is Billy Crudup.  Here's the link:

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/william-h-macys-rudderless-sells-for-france-1200483445/



More on Thursday...

Cannes Opens/Nebraska Clip/Frances Ha/Jane's Losing Ammo

Good morning on a Thursday!


CANNES OPENS

As you read this (as of Thursday morning in the States), the Cannes Film Festival is well underway in France.  As I did last year, I'll post collective critical reaction and the Palme d'Or buzz for the two week run of the festival as a way of gauging possible Telluride prospects.

Anyway, here are some Cannes related items from the past few days that may provide some TFF #40 insight:

Eugene Hernandez lists 12 titles that he says have the most buzz prior to Cannes beginning.  A number of these titles have serious Telluride potentialities including: "The Past", "Les Saluds", "The Immigrant" and "Michael Kolhaus".  "Saluds" and "Kolhaus" enter the Telluride conversation for the first time.

Here's Hernandez's full article:

http://www.filmlinc.com/daily/entry/cannes-bling-ring-coppola-llewelyn-davis-coen-behind-candelabra-soderbergh

Meanwhile, another Cannes competition title that will almost certainly play Telluride is Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" which has had coverage pick up as the festival in France as approached.  HitFix included it this week in its Cannes previews and a clip has been released and is linked below from both Rope of Silicon and The Wrap:

HitFix preview:
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/cannes-check-2013-alexander-paynes-nebraska

First clip:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/nebraska-movie-clip-alexander-payne-forte-dern-cannes/


http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/watch-will-forte-and-bruce-dern-bond-over-beers-and-family-secrets-nebraska-clip-video-9

FRANCES HA

Noah Baumbach's "Frances Ha" also continues its roll out (with generally great reviews...as it should be).  An official website is up and running:
http://www.franceshamovie.com/

Meanwhile, The Playlist interviewed Baumbach:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/interview-noah-baumbach-talks-20130514

And The Long Beach Press-Telegram provides this preview of the Baumbach/Greta Gerwig collaboration:
http://www.presstelegram.com/entertainment/ci_23218406/secrets-greta-gerwigs-film-frances-ha-come-out


JANE'S LOSING AMMO?

My continued fascination with the disaster epic that has become "Jane Got a Gun" turned up this story this week from The Hollywood Reporter that suggests that the "money" is now the thing that's walking after director and actors...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-natalie-portmans-troubled-jane-522267

More on Monday...have a great weekend!

Cannes Roundups: The Immigrant/New Views: The Congress/NYT with Sarah Polley, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach/"August" Trailer

Good Monday morning everyone!

CANNES ROUNDUPS: THE IMMIGRANT

I continue to link Cannes previews from a variety of sites about films that I thiunk (at least pre-Cannes) have a decent shot to play at TFF #340.  This morning a look at James Gray's "The Immigrant" starring Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Renner and Joaquin Phoenix.  Here are previews from Movie City News and HitFix:

http://moviecitynews.com/2013/05/countdown-to-cannes-james-gray/

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/cannes-check-2013-james-grays-the-immigrant

NEW VIEWS OF "THE CONGRESS"

Ari Folman's follow-up to "Waltz with Bashir" has been a long time coming but will finally premiere at Cannes in competition.  Rope of Silicon has a couple of new stills from the film in this post:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/cannes-2013-new-looks-at-robin-wright-in-ari-folmans-the-congress/

TFF #39: THE NEW YORK TIMES WITH SARAH POLLEY ON VIDEO

Sarah Polley's "Stories We Tell" was a TFF #39 favorite and is getting its release amid a good deal of publicity and outstanding reviews.  Here the New York Times has posted video of her discussing the project:

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/05/09/movies/100000002217059/sarah-polley-on-stories-we-tell.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytmovies

TFF #39: THE NEW YORK TIMES WITH GRETA GERWIG AND NOAH BAUMBACH

Also rolling towards release is Noah Baumbach's collaboration with Greta Gerwig: "Frances Ha' was a delight at TFF #40 and now the rest of the world gets to share that.  The New York Times talked to them about the film:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/movies/greta-gerwig-in-noah-baumbachs-frances-ha.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytmovies&_r=0

TRAILER FOR "AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY"

And the first "August: Osage County" has been released.  I have linked to the trailer via YouTube:

I have also linked a story about the trailer release from The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-trailer-for-august-osage-county-starring-meryl-streep-julia-roberts-20130510

More on Thursday!

Cannes Preview: Nebraska/Pics from Nebraska and Llewyn/Also from The Past, Blood Ties and Jimmy P./Stories We Tell/Jane's New Gun

Good Thursday to you!


CANNES PREVIEWS: NEBRASKA

Cannes is less than a week from opening and a number of film sites continue various previews of the 20 films in competition.  Today I have included links to Movie City News and Thompson on Hollywood's looks at Alexander Payne's Nebraska...again because I would say that there's a very real likelihood that it will be a part of the TFF #40 program:

http://moviecitynews.com/2013/05/countdown-to-cannes-alexander-payne/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/alexander-payne-nebraska-first-look

NEW LOOKS FROM NEBRASKA AND INSIDE LLEWYN

In addition to the Cannes profiles, we got new looks this week from a number of films that are possibles to play both in France this month and in the San Juans over Labor Day.  The Playlist provided a look at both "Nebraska" and The Coen Brothers "Inside Llewyn Davis":

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-new-photos-from-the-coen-brothers-inside-llewyn-davis-alexander-paynes-nebraska-20130507

ALSO LOOKS AT THE PAST, BLOOD TIES AND JIMMY P.

The Playlist also offered up photos from 3 other Cannes films that might be in the Telluride mix: "The Past", "Blood Ties" and "Jimmy P.":

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-new-photos-from-asghar-farhadis-the-past-starring-berenice-bejo-20130507

STORIES WE TELL

Sarah Polley's personal documentary "Stories We Tell" was very well received at TFF #38 and continues to garner critical acclaim as it moves toward release next week.  The film was spotlighted this week by both The Playlist and Thompson on Hollywood:


http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/interview-sarah-polley-talks-the-ethics-of-stories-we-tell-adapting-alias-grace-revisiting-take-this-waltz-20130506

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/sarah-polley-video-interview

JANE'S NEW GUN: OBI WAN

Well, you have to give the producer's credit...when disaster befalls "Jane Got a Gun"...and there has been a lot of disaster...they get something done and they do it fast.  Last post was the news that Bradley Cooper had dropped out.  This post includes a story about his already hired replacement: Ewan MacGregor.  This means that Princess Amidala and Obi Wan Kenobi are re-united in the Old West.  The Playlist reports:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/star-wars-reunion-ewan-mcgregor-saddles-up-for-jane-got-a-gun-with-natalie-portman-20130506


More Monday...have a great weekend...

Closing in on Cannes (The Past and Jimmy P.)/Immigrant Looks/Frances Ha is Coming/Incredulity Dept.

Good Monday morning.

CLOSING IN ON CANNES

The Cannes Fest takes off in a week and a half and includes a number of films that have some propensity of being a part of Telluride's 40th lineup.  The Cannes pre-coverage has begun to accelerate and consequently so has my appetite to eke out information about films that could play both festivals.

A number of outlets have begun detailing information about the Cannes competition selections including Jake Howell at Movie City News (whom I have already linked once or twice) and Guy Lodge for HitFix/InContention.  With this incoming wealth of information, I'm going to try to link what seem to be (to me anyway) the more likely Telluride possibilities from both sources.

For example, in my last post I linked Howell's rundown of Asghar Farhadi's "The Past".  Here's that link again:

http://moviecitynews.com/2013/05/countdown-to-cannes-asghar-farhadi/

and here's Guy Lodge's rundown of the same film:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/cannes-check-2013-asghar-farhadis-the-past

And adding to that is the info on Arnaud Desplechin's "Jimmy P."

From Howell/MCN: http://moviecitynews.com/2013/04/countdown-to-cannes-arnaud-desplechin/

From Lodge/HitFix: http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/cannes-check-2013-arnaud-desplechins-jimmy-p

And just over the weekend came word that "Jimmy P." has picked up a distributor for the U.S..  It's Worldview Entertainment.

The Wrap has that story here:
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/benicio-del-toro-drama-sells-cannes-debut-89051

Worldview is also the production home for two other Telluride possibilities: James Gray's "The Immigrant (see below) and Guillaume Canet's "Blood Ties".

IMMIGRANT LOOKS

The Playlist published a couple of new pics from James Gray's "The Immigrant" which is going to play in competition at Cannes in a few days.  The film was teased at TFF #39 as part of the Marion Cotillard tribute  with Gray on hand with a bit of footage that looked fantastic.  Does the film play Cannes and then come back to Telluride for a full showing.  I hope so.  Here's the Playlist link:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/new-images-of-joaquin-phoenix-marion-cotillard-in-james-grays-the-immigrant-20130503

FRANCES HA IS COMING

Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig's delightful collaboration "Frances Ha" is just a few days away from limited release and as you might expect, the PR for the film has picked up in the last couple of weeks.  I really enjoyed this film at TFF #39 and am looking forward to seeing it again (albeit almost certainly when it begins streaming).  Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood provides the story and the link to Film Independent's interview at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art:


http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/frances-ha-q-a-greta-gerwig-noah-baumbach-on-collaborating-shooting-black-and-white-in-ny

AND FROM THE INCREDULITY DEPT.

If you read this space with any frequency, you know that I've become a little obsessive about the tribulations of "Jane Got a Gun"...because I originally thought that it seemed like a Telluride-y possibility and also because I happened to be in Santa Fe, NM the week shooting began and the wheels fell off...the first time.  Since then (mid-March) I've been dutifully recording the subsequent ups and downs...

Now The Playlist reports that one of the stars and the only  big name constant other than Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton says things are peachy...really.

Check the post here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/frances-ha-q-a-greta-gerwig-noah-baumbach-on-collaborating-shooting-black-and-white-in-ny


More on Thursday.

Jane Keeps Losing Her Guns/Countdown to Cannes/The Attack/More Baumbach

Good Thursday!

JANE KEEPS LOSING HER GUNS

The saga continues in New Mexico.  If you've been following along you may not be surprised to learn that there has been yet another defection from "Jane Got a Gun" .  The film stars Natalie Portman (at least for now) and Joel Edgerton and, until this week, Bradley Cooper.  Now word is the Cooper has left the snake bitten project.

Previous defections include the original director Lynne Ramsay, Michael Fassbender and Jude Law.  The film apparently will go forward as reports indicate that producers are looking for a replacement for Cooper.  Check details with these links from The Hollywood Reporter and The Playlist:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bradley-cooper-exits-jane-got-450340

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/bradley-cooper-exits-jane-got-a-gun-tobey-maguire-joseph-gordon-levitt-tom-hiddleston-being-sought-to-replace-20130501

COUNTDOWN TO CANNES-THE PAST

The Cannes Film Festival is 2 weeks away and a number of sources have been focusing on the upcoming lineup including Jake Howell at Music City News.  I've linked to his rundown of Asghar Farhadi's "The Past" today and will try to do the same for other films that feel like Telluride possibilities.  Here's Jake's take from MCN:

http://moviecitynews.com/2013/05/countdown-to-cannes-asghar-farhadi/

THE ATTACK

One of the best received films at TFF #39 was Ziad Doueiri's "The Attack" which now has a trailer.  I have linked to IndieWire story that has that:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/exclusive-a-man-is-torn-between-losing-his-wife-and-accepting-her-as-a-suicide-bomber-in-the-attack-trailer

MORE BAUMBACH

Last week I reported that Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, who were represented at TFF#9 with their delightful "Frances Ha", had collaborated on another film that would soon be coming around.  Baumbach has been one busy man as news has come that he's already at work on another project tentatively entitled "While We're Young" that would star Ben Stiller and which apparently is in the process of casting.  The Playlist reports that Naomi Watts may come on board.  Check that story here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/girls-star-adam-driver-reteaming-with-noah-baumbach-for-while-were-young-starring-ben-stiller-20130501

More on Monday!