"Birdman" Flies to October/"Inherent": A Cannes No Show?

Welcome to Monday!

"BIRDMAN" FLIES TO OCTOBER

Less than a week before the announcement of the lineup for the Cannes Film Fest, Fox Searchlight has revealed that they will release Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Birdman" on October 17.  Multiple source reported the news on Friday night/Saturday morning.  In the midst of that reporting was a good deal of disagreement about whether the film is ready for a Cannes debut.  Some reports indicated that the film will not be ready for the Croisette (late May/early June is mentioned as the likely time frame for the film to be finished by Deadline.com).  I tend to fall into that camp, though there were a number of sources that suggested  that they still believed that the dark comedy would  show up on the Cannes list.

Ultimately, there was also a good bit of speculation that the film is very possible for a Telluride bow...including this line from Kris Tapley's report:

"...I certainly expect it to do at least Telluride..." and Tapley also writes that Inarritu has been, "...a big fan of (Telluride) since his first trip there."

I told Inarritu last fall in T-ride when I saw him just before the first ever screening of "12 Years a Slave" (also from Fox Searchlight) that I was in hopes that "Birdman" would be playing this year's fest.  He just smiled.

Here are links to any number of posts focusing on "Birdman's" release date:

HitFix/InContention:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/inarritus-birdman-with-michael-keaton-gets-a-release-date-in-the-middle-of-oscar-season

Deadline.com:

http://www.deadline.com/2014/04/fox-searchlight-sets-alejandro-gonzalez-inarritus-birdman-for-october-17-bow/

The Playlist:

http://www.deadline.com/2014/04/fox-searchlight-sets-alejandro-gonzalez-inarritus-birdman-for-october-17-bow/

thefilmstage.com

http://thefilmstage.com/news/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritus-birdman-wont-be-ready-for-cannes-opening-october-17th/

Variety:

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/michael-keatons-birdman-set-for-oct-17-u-s-release-1201156361/

FirstShowing.net:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/inarritus-birdman-starring-michael-keaton-set-to-open-in-october/



"INHERENT": A CANNES NO SHOW?

Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere published this weekend that Paul Thomas Anderson's highly anticipated "Inherent Vice" is also unlikely to be announced on Thursday as a part of the Cannes lineup.  Wells claims, however, that its more likely to do fall festivals and he specifically mentions "Telluride/Venice and Toronto.  I'm STILL keeping my anticipation to a minimum but it still raises the films Telluride profile from the "Near zero chance" category to at least a "low possibility".

Check out the Wells story here:

http://t.co/C1LvfBPAQ6

More on Thursday...including the parsing of the lineup from Cannes...