ROBIN WILLIAMS 1951-2014
I don't know about you, but this one was hard. Really hard. I reacted strongly to the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman back in February and now this...
Robin Williams is gone apparently as the result of suicide. Jesus.
Williams was a guest of the Telluride Film Festival in 1986 with Fielder Cook's "Seize the Day" which is more than a little odd as he would make the Latin phrase for "seize the day" (carpe diem) into something of a generational calling card three years later in "Dead Poet's Society".
Wish I'd have been there in '86.
I never saw a performer who could do so much so fast with so little necessity for preparation. His talent was monstrous.
Lots of great performances over a career that spanned from the late seventies right up to yesterday.
Good Will Hunting
Good Morning Vietnam
The World According to Garp...
Many many more...
Glad we can go back and watch them but so, so sad that there won't be anymore...
A couple of tidbits dropped late yesterday that make for interesting Telluride Film Fest news...
NO "QUEEN" FOR TFF #41
In what I thought was a stunning piece of news, producer Cassian Elwes announced via Twitter yesterday that Werner Herzog's "Queen of the Desert" starring Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson and James Franco will NOT be ready for presentation at either Telluride or Toronto.
The Elwes tweet went like this:
"We've had technical issues in the finishing of queen and it's not ready for tiff or telluride. We don't want to show a work in progress"
So, no new Werner this year and a film that I've been including in every "Ten Bets" list this summer (all seven of them) comes off the charts.
Kristopher Tapley at HitFix/InContention posted this story about the announcement:
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/queen-of-the-desert-with-nicole-kidman-and-robert-pattinson-wont-play-telluride-toronto
Also this from Kevin Jagarnauth at The Playlist:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/werner-herzogs-queen-of-the-desert-wont-be-ready-for-telluride-or-tiff-20140811
Needless to say, that also more or less nukes the chance of a Nicole Kidman tribute.
BUT MAYBE SOME "CLOUDS"
Meanwhile, The Playlist tweeted yesterday that the Olivier Assayas Cannes competition piece "Clouds of Sils Maria" (which it says is now just "Sils Maria") will be announced for Toronto this morning. There's a lot of corresponding speculation that Telluride is still very much in play as a possibility for that film as well.
The body of The Playlist tweet:
Not official yet, but Clouds of Sils Maria will be at #TIFF14 (just Sils Maria now). More soon.
And here's a link to The Playlist's coverage of the film to date:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/tag/clouds-of-sils-maria
ALSO MAYBE SOME MARTY
Martin Scorsese via BAFTA and RealScreen.com
RealScreen.com reported yesterday that Toronto will announce the Marin Scorsese and David Tedeschi directed documentary, "The New York Review of Books: A 50 Year Argument" will play TIFF as a "Canadian" premiere. Following the logic of earlier TIFF announcements and knowing that the film played Berlin as a "work in progress" and then at Sheffield and Melbourne; it seems likely that a berth at Telluride is a good possibility.
I first mentioned "A 50 Year Argument" back on July 2nd.
The RealScreen.com story is here:
http://realscreen.com/2014/08/11/exclusive-scorseses-50-year-argument-set-for-tiff/
The IMDb page for "A 50 Year Argument" is here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3510820/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
WE'LL BE RATING FILMS AGAIN
For the third consecutive year Michael's Telluride Film Blog will be compiling ratings for the films that play at TFF. It'll be on two tracks again this year with the "Pros": film bloggers, critics and industry types, Thus far the following have agreed to participate:
Alex Billington/FirstShowing
Greg Ellwood/HitFix
Eric Kohn/IndieWire
Tomris Laffly/Film Journal
Eugene Novikov/Film Blather
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/HitFix-InContention
Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood
I still have some feelers out for a few more members of the "pros" to join the party.
And, of course: "The People's Telluride" where I ask you to rate the films you see on a 0 to 5 scale with "0" meaning that it's truly awful to a "5" meaning "masterpiece". I'll compile and publish here a week or so after the fest is complete. I hope you'll add your voice to this project.
More coming later today with the latest news from Toronto and how that impacts Telluride 2014.
Follow me on Twitter @Gort2
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