Much "Macbeth"/More Toronto Analysis/"The Walk" Takes a Walk to New York

Welcome to Friday...



MUCH "MACBETH"

A new trailer dropped yesterday for Justin Kurzel's Cannes competition adaptation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" starring Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender.  The trailer is quite intriguing and "Macbeth" remains as a real T-ride possibility.   Here's the new look at the film:

New "Macbeth" teaser/trailer via YouTube

And a slew of stories that accompanied the trailer release:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/watch-michael-fassbender-and-marion-cotillard-redefine-macbeth-in-stunning-trailer-20150604

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-first-macbeth-trailer-starring-michael-fassbender-and-marion-cotillard/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-blood-will-have-blood-in-first-trailer-for-macbeth-starring-michael-fassbender-and-marion-cotillard-20150604

http://www.firstshowing.net/2015/must-watch-mesmerizing-teaser-trailer-for-justin-kurzels-macbeth/

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/macbeth-trailer-michael-fassbender-marion-cotillard-video-1201512431/

http://thedissolve.com/news/5872-the-new-macbeth-trailer-is-awesome-in-the-kantian-/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/all-hail-macbeth-justin-kurzels-bold-shakespeare-revision-starring-fassbender-and-cotillard-trailer-20150604

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/review-michael-fassbender-descends-into-a-fog-of-madness-in-macbeth


Meanwhile, recently, The Playlist posted a n article focusing on the ways that director Kurzel has used to provide a different take on the Bard's classic:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/5-innovative-ways-the-michael-fassbender-marion-cotillard-macbeth-differs-from-previous-versions-20150526


MORE TORONTO ANALYSIS

I have linked a number of further posts from film media outlets that seek to outline and analyze the Toronto International Film Fest announcement that came down Wednesday concerning their "adjustment" of their premiere policy and its relationship to Telluride.

Almost everyone is still characterizing it as TIFF "backing down".  If you've read yesterday's MTFB post, you'll know that I think that is a mis-characterization.

I think it's a passive/aggressive "tweak" that attempts to achieve the same thing they were looking for in last year's policy while simultaneously appearing to be regarded as "seeing the light".  My description in a couple of messages to friends yesterday was that Toronto wants "to have their cake and eat it too".

My feeling is that they still want to dissuade film makers from playing Telluride at all...and their "plausible deniability" is the defense that the first four days of TIFF is now accessible to any and all...albeit, you'll be relegated to smaller and less glitzy venues during that opening weekend if you played Telluride first. I don't think it's "backing down" in the least.  It's just a different way to achieve their desired result while appearing to have made the policy seem more "reasonable".

Additionally, a number of reports the last two days say that the TIFF bigwigs had conferred with "key stakeholders".  I would love a list of who/what those "stakeholders" are.

Anyhow...here's some more analysis from around the web about the decision:

http://thedissolve.com/news/5869-tiff-scales-back-its-year-old-policy-against-tellu/

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/04/toronto-film-festival-adjusts-telluride-premiere-policy

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2015/06/03/tiff-backs-down-on-film-premiere-demand-industry-journal-says.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/awards-and-festivals/tiff/tiff-backs-down-from-its-feud-over-premieres-with-telluride/article24797321/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/tiff-ditches-telluride-screening-policy-20150604


"THE WALK" TAKES A WALK TO NEW YORK

You can take Robert Zemeckis' "The Walk" off your Telluride watch list, if you ever had it there.  Frankly, I never thought it was a likely TFF player anyway.  The film was announced yesterday as the opening night gala for the 53rd New York Film Festival.  That seems about right.

The film stars Joseph Gordon_Levitt as the real life Phillipe Petit who set out in 1974 to walk a wire between the twin towers of The World Trade Center.

The trailer from "The Walk" is here via YouTube:

And from Entertainment Weekly, the story of its choice for NYFF:

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/04/walk-trailer-joseph-gordon-levitt-new-york-film-festival


That's all for now..more Monday...


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