Digger Not Digging??? / Parallel Tales Trailer

DIGGER NOT DIGGING???

Deadline reported last week that Alejandro G. Inarritu's hotly anticipated Digger starring Tom Cruise may not play any festival at all.  The context for this was the presentation for the film at Cinemacon last week. 

Of course, we know that Digger is not playing Cannes but with its announced Oct. 2nd release date many assumed (me included) that a Venice bow was in play followed (I would have thought) by a TFF #53 North American Premiere.  Warner Bros. seems to have poured cold water on the notion.  From Deadline:

"EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Tom Cruise starrer Digger, which wowed at CinemaCon on Tuesday, is unlikely to debut at a fall festival, we can reveal.

The film’s October 2 release date has led to speculation, and anticipation, in many quarters that Venice or another fall festival would be in the cards. Six of Iñárritu’s seven films have premiered at either Cannes or Venice. However, according to multiple well-placed sources, that’s not the current plan. Of course, things can change, but at the moment, we hear that’s how the land lies.

Warner Bros and Legendary declined comment."

I suppose the "escape hatch" is the phrasing "that’s not the current plan. Of course, things can change,"  that leaves some wiggle room for something to change. 

Honestly, I think the film could still make an appearance at Telluride.  Inarritu has screened Babel, Biutiful, Birdman and Bardo at T-ride.  The history/connection there is deep.  In a normal year, Digger might have appeared at the top of my annual "Ten Bets" first take for Telluride in June.  That will change now...but...I may still include the film somewhere in that initial Top Ten Bets.

For hoots...here's the current teaser from Digger from Warner Bros. and YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=digger+teaser+official

Stay tuned.

PARALLEL TALES TRAILER

Prior to its screening at Cannes, a trailer for Asghar Farhadi's Parallel Tales ha s been released. The trailer is in French so those of you who can speak/translate...here you go.  For those of us who cannot...it's still an interesting glimpse at what the film will be.  Here it is from YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXuLiRIkVkw

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MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting and More / Interviews and Profiles

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING, SCORE, SONG AND COSTUMES

Here's your update on the Supporting Acting races as well as Score, Song and Costumes.  These predictions were last updated on Dec. 20th.  TFF #48 performances/films are indicated in Bold and their previous position in my predictions are indicated to the right in parentheses.

BEST SUPPORTING SCTRESS

1) Ariana DeBose/West Side Story (2)

2) Caitriona Balfe/Belfast (1)

3) Aujunue Ellis/King Richard (4)

4) Kirsten Dunst/The Power of the Dog (3)

5) Ruth Negga/Passing (5)

Alternates: Rita Moreno/West Side Story and Anne Dowd/Mass

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kodi Smit-McPhee/The Power of the Dog (2)

2) Ciaran Hinds/Belfast (1)

3) Tony Kotsur/CODA (3)

4) Jamie Dornan/Belfast (4)

5) Jared LKodieto/House of Gucci (5)

Alternates: Bradley Cooper/Licorice Pizza and Ben Affleck/The Tender Bar

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Dune (1)

2) The Power of the Dog (2)

3) Don't Look Up (3)

4) The French Dispatch (5)

5) Spencer (4)

Alternates: Parallel Mothers and Encanto

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) Be Alive/King Richard (1)

2) No Time to Die/No Time to Die (2)

3) Just Look Up/Don't Look Up (4)

4) Dos Oruguitas/Encanto (5)

5) Guns Go Bang/The Harder They Fall (New)

Alternates: Down to Joy/Belfast and So May We Start/Annette

BEST COSTUMES

1) Cruella (2)

2) Dune (1)

3) West Side Story (3)

4) House of Gucci (New)

5) Spencer (Alt.)

Alternates: The French Dispatch and Nightmare Alley

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Writer/Director Asghar Farhadi on A Hero from The National Board of Review

Cinematographer Robert Yeoman/The French Dispatch from Next Best Picture

Film Editor Una Ni Dhonghaile/Belfast from Gold Derby

The Crew from Procession from Indiewire

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MTFB Oscar Take Updated: Best Picture and Direction / MTFB Oscar Predix: New Categories / Release Dates for TFF #48 Films / Profiles and Interviews: Branagh and Garbus / A Hero Has a Trailer

 MTFB OSCAR TAKE: UPDATED BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTOR

Here's the MTFB latest update on predictions for Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.  These categories were last predicted here on Oct. 18th.  As always TFF #48 films are indicate in Bold and the film's previous position is indicated to the right in parentheses.

1) Belfast (1)

2) The Power of the Dog (3)

3) King Richard (2)

4) Dune (5)

5) Nightmare Alley (7)

6) Licorice Pizza (4)

7) West Side Story (6)

8) Spencer (8)

9) The Tragedy of Macbeth (9)

10) CODA (Alt.)

Alternates: House of Gucci and Flee

BEST  DIRECTION

1) Kenneth Branagh/Belfast (1)

2) Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog (2)

3) Denis Villenueve/Dune (3)

4) Paul Thomas Anderson/Licorice Pizza (5)

5) Guillermo Del Toro/Nightmare Alley (4)

Alternates: Pablo Larrain/Spencer and Reinaldo Marcus Green/King Richard

MTFB OSCAR PREDIX: NEW CATEGORIES: INTERNATIONAL, ANIMATED AND DOCUMENTARY FESTURES (TFF #48 films in Bold)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM:

1) The Worst Person in the World/Norway

2) A Hero/Iran

3) Flee/Denmark

4) The Hand of God/Italy

5) Titane/France

Alternates: Drive My Car/Japan and Compartment #6/Finland

BEST ANINATED FEATURE

1) Flee

2) The Mitchells vs. The Machines

3) Encanto

4) Luca

5) Belle

Alternates: Raya and the Last Dragon and Sing 2

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) Flee

2) The Rescue

3) Summer of Soul

4) Ascension

5) Procession

RELEASE DATES FOR TFF #48 FILMS

From IMDb:

2021:

Nov. 5 Spencer

Nov. 12 Belfast

Nov. 17 The Power of the Dog

Nov. 19 King Richard, C'mon C'mon

Dec. 3 Red Rocket, Flee

Dec. 10 Encounter

2022:

Jan. 7: A Hero

Release dates for other non-TFF 48 Oscar possibles:

2021:

Nov. 24 House of Gucci

Nov. 26 Licorice Pizza

Dec. 10 Being the Ricardos, West Side Story

Dec. 17: Nightmare Alley

Dec. 25 The Tragedy of Macbeth, A Journal for Jordan

PROFILES AND INTERVIEWS

Sir Kenneth Branagh- writer/director of Belfast with Brent A. Lang from Variety

Liz Garbus, director of Becoming Cousteau with Jazz Tangcay from Variety

A HERO HAS A TRAILER

Amazon Studios has released a trailer for Asghar Farhadi's International Oscar contender A Hero.  Here it is from YouTube:

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The Don Quixote Saga Continued / Everybody Knows Goes Is in Focus / Cannes Will Honor Rissient

Good Thursday to everyone...

THE DON QUIXOTE SAGA CONTINUED

On our previous episode of "What Else Could Happen to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" we were wondering how a French court would rule and if that would allow or prevent the film's screening as the closing night entertainment in Cannes...well...

Since Monday...Terry Gilliam had a "health episode" that was described as a possible stroke but was apparently not that...

Distributor Amazon Studios dropped plans to distribute the film and

The Court ruled and said, essentially, roll that film on May 19th.

It's been an eventful few days for the Don Quixote crew.

All of the sound and fury led one Twitter account to suggest that attending the screening on the 19th might be risky as it is likely to end in a disaster of biblical proportion.  Such has been the beleaguered history of the film.

Here's what I want to know:  Why did Amazon pull out?  And...what the hell else could happen to this production in the next 10 days?

Here's a sampling of the coverage for this past three days worth of developments:

The Court decision:

Indiewire

The Hollywood Reporter

Amazon's Decision:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

Indiewire

Gilliam's Health Scare:

Deadline

Indiewire

EVERYBODY KNOWS IS IN FOCUS

Asghar Farhadi's Everybody Knows opened the 71st Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday to mixed reviews (I'll start passing along links to various critics' compilation sites beginning with next Monday's blog post).

Despite the so-so nature of the critical reception, a reportedly significant battle ensued for U.S. distribution rights for the film among a number of players.  Netflix had been reported earlier in the week as a likely bidder and reportedly they were but in the end were bested by Focus Features.

Focus was said to gain an advantage die its traditional theatrical release structure meaning that the film could be aimed at awards season.

Additionally, the win by Focus probably still keeps the film in the convo for Telluride although, as astute friend of MTFB Patrick Pringle noted via Twitter, the recent decision by the Trump administration to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal could create problems for screenings of the film.

Here's coverage of the Focus deal from:

Deadline

Variety

Indiewire

CANNES WILL HONOR RISSIENT

As you might expect, the Cannes Film Fest will honoring the late Pierre Rissient, who died last weekend.  The film "warrior" was an incredible part of the fabric of both Cannes and Telluride.  I ran across this comment from former TFF co-director Gary Meyer in the comment section of the Eric Kohn/Indiewire story reporting Rissient's passing: 

Thank you for this wonderful and personal look at Pierre Rissient who was truly unique. His passion for the films and talent he loved was infectious. He was demanding in a way that a first timer might not embrace until they realized that he was usually right and listening to him would reveal things we didn’t know about cinema of the past and turn us on to filmmaking on the horizon. The two films about him are a great start to understanding Pierre. I am honored to have been among the lucky ones to have spent time learning and being inspired by one of the art’s true believers.

Additionally, I have linked reportage of Cannes decision to honor Rissient here from:

The Hollywood Reporter

And that;s a wrap for this Thursday.  Please come back for more on Monday including the first collective looks of the films that will premiere at Cannes over the weekend.

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Snowden Revealed (the Trailer and a Poster Anyway) / More view of The Salesman

It's Thursday!  Hope you've had a good week.

SNOWDEN REVEALED (THE TRAILER AND A POSTER ANYWAY)

Producers of Oliver Stone's delayed Snowden dropped a trailer this week.  Here it is via YouTube:

The case for Snowden to make the Telluride playlist for this Labor Day is not bad.  Stone has been in Telluride previously, albeit a good long time ago- 19 years with U-Turn.  The films distributor is Open Road which hit it big time last year in Telluride with Best Picture Oscar winner Spotlight.  That also bodes well.

Production Company Vendian Entertainment had Black Mass at Telluride last year as well.

The film's release has been delayed until Sept. 16th...putting it in the Telluride window.  I actually think a Venice, Telluride, Toronto play is a possibility.

In addition to the trailer, we also got the first look at a poster for the film from The Film Stage too:

Here's a ton of coverage of the film that accompanied it"s trailer release this week:


http://variety.com/2016/film/news/snowden-trailer-joseph-gordon-levitt-oliver-stone-1201761843/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/snowden-trailer-oliver-stone-movie-888114

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/27/snowden-trailer-oliver-stone-movie

http://www.indiewire.com/article/snowden-trailer-joseph-gordon-levitt-oliver-stone-20160427

https://thefilmstage.com/trailer/joseph-gordon-levitt-fights-for-freedom-in-first-trailer-for-oliver-stones-snowden/

http://www.businessinsider.com/snowden-trailer-2016-4

http://www.slashfilm.com/snowden-trailer/



MORE VIEWS OF THE SALESMAN


We got some additional stills from Asghar Farhadi's recently Cannes competition film The Salesman this week from The Film Stage.

The Salesman seems like a likely addition for Telluride's list too as Farhadi's previous Cannes chosen efforts, A Separation and The Past also made appearances at Telluride.

Here are the views we've seen thus far:

The article from The Film Stage that accompanies the new images does suggest that the long held theory that the film might be based, in some way, on Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman seems not to be the case.  Here's the link to the story:

https://thefilmstage.com/news/asghar-farhadis-cannes-drama-the-salesman-gets-new-images-and-synopsis/

The Salesman currently has no U.S. distribution.

More to come on Monday.  Have a great weekend.

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Variety's Tapley Talks Telluride and Makes a Few Guesses / Farhadi Joins Cannes Competition Lineup

Good Monday Everyone.  Thanks for taking the time to take a look at Michael's Telluride Film Blog



VARIETY'S TAPLEY TALKS TELLURIDE AND MAKES A FEW GUESSES

Variety's awards co-editor Kristopher Tapley posted an intriguing piece late last week that talked about the rapidity with which The 43rd sedition of TFF sold out of passes.  Tapley analyzes some of what he sees as reasons for the quick sell out.

He also takes a some time to take a very, very preliminary look at some titles that he thinks might make the lineup over Labor Day weekend.  Some surprises included:

Ang Lee's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman

Garth Davis' Lion

Gavin O'Connor's The Accountant

Andrea Arnold's American Honey

The Dardennes' The Unknown Girl 

Nate Parker's Birth of a Nation

That last, of course was a Sundance hit but has already fairly warmly rumored to be a Telluride possibility.  Both Tapley and The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg have now mentioned the possibility.

Check Tapley's entire article here:

http://variety.com/2016/film/in-contention/telluride-film-festival-2016-sells-out-passes-1201758017/



FARHADI JOINS CANNES COMPETITION LINEUP

As we expected, the Cannes Fest added seven new films to various programs for next months 69th iteration.  Among the was Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman which was added to the Palme d'Or competition lineup.  The addition bodes well, I think, for Farhadi to make a third appearance at Telluride after successful runs there with A Separation and The Past.

I have linked three stories about the additions which also include the new film from David Mackenzie, He'll or High Water which has been added to the Un Certain Regard section.  Mackenzie's Starred Up played Telluride to wide acclaim in 2013 and this UCR selection could foreshadow a return for him this year.

The stories:

http://www.ioncinema.com/news/film-festivals/farhadis-the-salesman-completes-cannes-main-comp-mackenzies-hell-or-high-water-in-ucr

http://variety.com/2016/film/global/asghar-farhadi-the-salesman-cannes-festival-competition-1201758950/

http://www.thewrap.com/cannes-film-festival-adds-7-new-films/


That's it for this Monday...more to come on Thursday.

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"Secret in Their Eyes" Trailer and a Question/Almodovar Set to Produce Farhadi/Spying on "Snowden" with a Trailer

Hello everyone, it's Wednesday...



"SECRET IN THEIR EYES" TRAILER AND A QUESTION

"Secret in Their Eyes" trailer via YouTube

We saw the release of a trailer yesterday for "Secret in Their Eyes" starring Julia Roberts, Chiwetel Ejifor and Nicole Kidman.  The film is directed and scripted by Billy Ray ("Shattered Glass"/Telluride 2003).  Ray was Oscar nominated in 2014 for his screenplay for "Captain Phillips".

 The film is based on the 2009 Best Foreign Language Oscar winner from Argentina.

Ray's participation and his past presence at Telluride make the film worth a thought or two concerning its possible inclusion in the T-ride 2015 lineup and also raises a question about the new wave of films being developed and planned for distribution by unusual sources.  "Eyes" is from Showtime and will be distributed by STX Entertainment.  It joins films such as Cart Fukunaga's "Beasts with No Nation" (Netflix) and Liza Johnson's "Elvis and Nixon" (Amazon w/ distribution through Bleecker Street Media-which also has Jay Roach's "Trumbo") that are difficult to evaluate in terms of possible festival status.

Just a couple of years ago the above films would have been stylistically and topically films that I would have thought were strong contenders to play at Telluride but their provenance creates uncertainty.  I'll be very interested to see what happens with these and other films in the same boat with regard to festival and release strategies as we move through the fall.

Nevertheless, I have linked a number of stories that accompanied the trailer release of "Secret in Their Eyes":



http://variety.com/2015/film/news/secret-in-their-eyes-trailer-1201531472/

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-secret-in-their-eyes-trailer-pictures-starring-chiwetel-ejiofor-julia-roberts-nicole-kidman/

http://www.firstshowing.net/2015/ejiofor-roberts-kidman-in-billy-rays-secret-in-their-eyes-trailer/



"Eyes" is scheduled for its theatrical release on October 23rd, whatever that might mean.



ALMODOVAR SET TO PRODUCE...FARHADI.

Pedro Almodovar used to be a frequent filmic invitee to the Telluride Film Festival but hasn't had a film selected to play there since 2006's "Volver"  He was represented last year as a producer of one of the festival's biggest hits, Damian Szifron's "Wild Tales".

Recently we learned that Almodovar was going to work on his next film "Silencio" but more newsworthy in terms of T-ride and recent Telluride history was the word yesterday that Almodovar will produce a new film from recent T-ride favorite and Foreign Language Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi ("A Separation"/Telluride 2011 and "The Past"/Telluride 2013).

The film is not expected to begin filming until late 2016.

I have included stories about the new collaboration and Almodover's latest film:



http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/pedro-almodovar-to-produce-spanish-language-film-from-a-separation-director-asghar-farhadi-20150629

http://www.indiewire.com/article/pedro-almodovars-silencio-picked-up-by-sony-pictures-classics-20150609




SPYING ON "SNOWDEN" WITH A TRAILER


Oliver Stone and a Christmas Day release mean that "Snowden" is really not an incredibly likely choice for a Telluride spot doesn't mean that it's impossible.  "Snowden" stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the NSA contractor that spilled U.S. intelligence gathering secrets and is currently in hiding in Russia.

We got a trailer yesterday which you can see here:

"Snowden" trailer via YouTube

The film is being distributed by Open Road ("Rosewater"/TFF 2014) which does offer a glimmer of hope that it could make a festival play.  Linked below are a number of stories that came with the trailer release:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2015/06/trailer-snowden/

http://www.indiewire.com/article/watch-oliver-stone-warns-america-in-menacing-snowden-teaser-20150630

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/watch-dramatic-trailer-for-oliver-stones-snowden-is-cloaked-in-mystery-20150630

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-snowden-teaser-trailer-oliver-stone-edward-snowden/

http://www.thewrap.com/joseph-gordon-levitt-is-m-i-a-in-first-trailer-for-edward-snowden-biopic-video/

http://www.firstshowing.net/2015/teaser-trailer-for-oliver-stones-snowden-is-missing-the-footage/

QUICK NOTICE:

I'll start the annual summer review of distributors, production companies and "usual suspects" as various prisms through which to view potential Telluride choices next Monday.

That's all for Wednesday...more tomorrow...


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Foreign Oscar Shortlist/Dern and Nebraska/Behind Inside/The Past's Farhadi/The Visible Felicity Jones

Good Christmas Eve Eve...or Monday...

OSCAR FOREIGN SHORTLIST

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences winnowed the list of 70+ Foreign Language Film submissions down to 9 titles this past week and what as noticeable as the films that made the cut were the omissions and that left a number of Telluride films that had been hotly tipped as Oscar nominees out.

Pre-announcement Telluride films that were snubbed included "The Past", "Gloria" and TFF #39's "Wadjda"

Telluride wasn't totally left unrepresented in the shortlist as "The Missing Picture" made the cut and last year's Mads Mikkelsen starrer "The Hunt" was also listed.

The final nine also included:

"The Broken Circle Breakdown"
"An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker"
"Two Lives"
"The Grandmaster"
"The Notebook"
"The Great Beauty"
"Omar"

Next, the Academy members have to knock the list down to five.  If I were handicapping it (like I know anything about this), I'd guess that "The Hunt", "The Grandmaster", "The Great Beauty" and "The Broken Circle" Breakdown" are likely nominees with the fifth film up in the air.

The Playlist has the story about this week's announcement:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-grandmaster-the-hunt-the-great-beauty-more-make-oscar-foreign-language-film-shortlist-20131220

DERN AND NEBRASKA

The Bruce Dern Oscar campaign continues full force.  Dern's interview with AwardsLine's (Deadline.com) Anna Lisa Raya was posted this week and you can find that here:

http://www.deadline.com/2013/12/oscars-2014-bruce-dern-nebraska-interview/


BEHIND INSIDE

One of my favorite moments in The Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" is the recording session that produces "Please Mr. Kennedy".  It sums up a number of the themes of the film and is just a hoot.

In the scene Adam Driver appears as a specialty background singer and is a highlight.  Driver recently talked to Nigel M. Smith for IndieWire about "Inside Llewyn Davis" and other topics here:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/adam-driver-on-singing-for-the-coen-brothers-on-inside-llewyn-davis-and-why-he-keeps-coming-back-to-girls


THE PAST'S FARHADI

Asghar Farhadi's follow up to his Oscar winning " A Separation", "The Past" was very well received at Telluride over Labor Day weekend.  As mentioned above, the film was snubbed by The Academy FLF committee and to the surprise of many, including me, it was not shortlisted for this year's Oscar.

Nevertheless, Film Journal's (And friend of MTFB) Tomris Laffly talked to the auteur about the new film:

http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/content_display/news-and
features/features/movies/e3id1e1bc718e4cd0f322b8201ded442ba9

THE VISIBLE FELICITY JONES

The actress at the center of Ralph Fiennes Charles Dickens film, "The Invisible Woman" is Felicity Jones. She is the "invisible" woman referenced in the title.  Reactions to the film was divided in Telluride but ones generally received high marks for her portrayal of the younger woman that captured Dickens heart.

Jones recently sat down with Drew Taylor for this interview with The Playlist:

 http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/interview-the-invisible-womans-felicity-jones-talks-her-dickensian-drama-what-it-was-like-working-with-ralph-fiennes-and-how-much-she-loves-spider-man-20131217


That's all for this Monday.  I'm hoping to catch David O. Russell's "American Hustle" today...really looking forward to it!

For those that celebrate it, Merry Christmas!

More on Thursday!

The FAC #3 Part Two/Interviews: The Coens, Penn and Teller/The Past Trailer/Gravity's Companion

Good Thursday Everyone...

Here's the second part of the latest Film Awards Clearinghouse focusing on Supporting Acting and Screenplays.

I use the publicly posted predictions of these Oscar experts:

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

Kris Tapley/HitFix-InContention

Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood

Peter Knegt/IndieWire

Alex Carlson/Film Misery

Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit

Brad Brevet/Rope of Silicon

The position on the last FAC is in parenthesis.  Telluride #40 films are Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Michael Fassbender/12 Years (2)

2) Jared Leto/Dallas Buyers Club (1)

3) Tom Hanks/Saving Mr. Banks (3)

4) Barkhad Abdi/Capt. Phillips (5)

5) Daniel Bruhl/Rush (4)

6) James Gandolfini/Enough Said (6)

7) Bradley Cooper/American Hustle (7)

8) Jonah Hill/Wolf of Wall Street (NR)

9) John Goodman/Inside Llewyn Davis (10)

10) Jeremy Renner/American Hustle (8)

Drop Out: Matthew McConnaughey

Hot: Jonah Hill

Not: Renner

Comment:

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Lupita Nyong’o/12 Years (2)

2) Oprah Winfrey/The Butler (1)

3) June Squibb/Nebraska (3)

4) Julia Roberts/August: Osage County (4)

5) Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle (5)

6) Margo Martindale/August: Osage County (8)

7) Octavia Spencer/Fruitvale Station (6)

8) Sally Hawkins/Blue Jasmine (7)

9) Carey Mulligan/Inside Llewyn Davis (9)

10) Sarah Paulson/12 Years (NR)

Drop Out: Amy Adams

Hot: Martindale

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) 12 Years a Slave (1)

2) Captain Phillips (2)

3) Before Midnight (3)

4) August; Osage County (4)

5) Philomena (5)

6) The Wolf of Wall Street (6)

7) Blue is the Warmest Color (8)

8) Labor Day (7)

9) Short Term 12 (9)

10) The Book Thief (10)

No drop outs.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Blue Jasmine (3)

2) Inside Llewyn Davis (1)

3) Nebraska (2)

4) American Hustle (4)

5) Her (5)

6) Saving Mr. Banks (7)

7) Gravity (6)

8) Fruitvale Station (9)

9) The Butler (8)

10) Enough Said (NR)

Drop Out: Dallas Buyers Club

Hot: Blue Jasmine

Eight Telluride #40 films have a presence in this edition of the FAC led by "12 Years a Slave".

"12 Years": Six "Noms": Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay.  Also a new "possible": Sarah Paulson for Best Supporting Actress.

"Nebraska": Four "Noms": Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay. "Possible" for Direction.

"Inside Llewyn Davis": Three "Noms": Picture, Direction and Adapted Screenplay.  "Possibles" for Actor, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress.

"Gravity": Three "Noms": Picture, Direction and Actress and one "Possible" for Original Screenplay.

"All is Lost": Two "Noms": Picture and Actor.  One "Possible" for Direction.

"Blue is the Warmest Color" has two "Possibles": Actress and Original Screenplay.

"Labor Day" has two "Possibles": Actress and Adapted Screenplay.

"The Past" has one "Possible" for Actress.

Total for Telluride films in the Big Eight Categories: 18 "Nominations" and 12 "Possibles".  Three weeks ago those numbers were: 18 "Noms" and 10 "Possibles".

Among non-Telluride films, Paul Grengrass' "Captain Phillips" has five "Noms" and  David O. Russell's "American Hustle" has four "Noms" and four more "Possibles".  "august: Osage County" and "Saving Mr. Banks" also appear strong as they each would have three "Noms" and two other "Possibles".

The film with the most "Possibles" and no expected nominations is Ryan Coogler's "Fruitvale Station" with four "Possibles".

Next Monday, I'll take a look at how The FAC stacks up to The Gold Derby website and also "The Gurus of Gold" from Movie City News.

INTERVIEWS:

Kris Tapley of HitFix/InContention talks to Joel and Ethan Coen about "Inside Llewyn Davis"...The soundtrack is playing in stereo in my office as I type this.

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/joel-and-ethan-coen-discuss-inside-llewyn-davis-long-time-collaborations-and-the-allure-of-new-york

Meanwhile, Beth Hanna of Thompson on Hollywood talks "Tim's Vermeer" with Teller...

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/teller-speaks-talking-wondrously-mind-boggling-art-doc-tims-vermeer


THE PAST TRAILER

Asghar Farhadi's "The Past" now has a U.S. trailer.  Rope of Silicon posted that here:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/past-official-u-s-movie-trailer-berenice-bejo/

GRAVITY'S COMPANION

Alfonso Cuaron's son, Jonas, co-wrote the film with his father and also directed a short film that played at Telluride as well.  It is a companion piece to "Gravity".  If you haven't seen the film, you may want to wait until you catch it before taking a look at the short which you'll find in any of the following posts:

CriticWire:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/gravitys-companion-short-aningaaq-finally-hits-the-web

The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-jonas-cuarons-7-minute-gravity-spin-off-short-aningaaq-in-full-20131120

The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gravity-spinoff-watch-side-sandra-657919

Rope of Silicon:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-jonas-cuarons-gravity-companion-piece-short-film-aningaaq/


More on Monday...

Cannes-Telluride Possibilities: The Immigrant and The Past/Joel on Jnae

Good Friday...

From Taos, NM...Mumford was fantastic...

CANNES-TELLURIDE POSSIBILITY: THE IMMIGRANT

Part of The Weinstein Company's sizzle reel presentation at Cannes last month was material from James Gray's "The Immigrant".  The Playlist reported on the footage here:

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

Sounds good.


CANNES-TELLURIDE POSSIBILITIES: THE PAST

Also making a splash at Cannes was Asghar Farhadi's "The Past" which I  think has a very high Telluride likelihood.  Anthony Kaufman's ReelPolitik recently posted this about the politics of the Iranian film makers work:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/cannes-front-runner-the-past#

JOEL ON JANE

The "Jane Got a Gun" project is apparently continuing as evidenced by this interview with star Joel Edgerton from IndieWire:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/joel-edgerton-wish-you-were-here-gatsby-jane-got-a-gun-interview#

Cannes 66 Lineup Revealed/Blood Ties Images/Enter Your Film/Screenplay Advice from a Real Attorney

Good Thursday everyone.

CANNES REVEALED TODAY

The lineup (or the majority of it) of the 66th Cannes Film Festival was announced early this morning.  Here it is via Eugene Hernandez and The Film Society of Lincoln Center:

Competition
Behind The Candelabra, directed by Steven Soderbergh
Borgman, directed by Alex Van Warmerdam
Un Château En Italie, directed by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi
La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), directed by Paolo Sorrentino
Grisgris, directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Heli, directed by Amat Escalante
The Immigrant, directed by James Gray
Inside Llewyn Davis, directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Jeune Et Jolie, directed by Francois Ozon
Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian), directed by Arnaud Desplechin
Michael Kohlhass, directed by Arnaud Despallieres
Nebraska, directed by Alexander Payne
Only God Forgives, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
Le Passe (The Past), directed by Asghar Farhadi
Soshite Chichi Ni Naru (Like Father, Like Son), directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu
Tian Zhu Ding (A Touch of Sin), directed by Jia Zhangke
La Venus a La Fourrure, directed by Roman Polanski
La Vie D'Adele, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche
Wara No Tate (Shield of Straw), directed by Takashi Miike

Out of Competition
All Is Lost, directed by J.C. Chandor
Blood Ties, directed by Guillaume Canet
The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann (opening night)
Zulu, directed by Jérôme Salle (closing night)

Special Screenings
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight, directed by Stephen Frears
Otdat Konci, directed by Taisia Igumentseva
Seduced and Abandoned, directed by James Toback
Stop the Pounding Heart, directed by Roberto Minervini
Week End of a Champion, directed by Roman Polanski

Un Certain Regard:
Anonymous, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
As I Lay Dying, directed by James Franco
Bends, directed by Flora Lau
The Bling Ring, directed by Sofia Coppola (opening film)
Death March, directed by Adolfo Alix Jr.
Fruitvale Station, directed by Ryan Coogler
Grand Central, directed by Rebecca Zlotowski
L'Image Manquante, directed by Rithy Panh
L'Inconnu du Lac, directed by Alain Guiraudie
La Jaula de Oro, directed by Diego Quemada-Diez
Miele, directed by Valeria Golino
Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan, directed by Lav Diaz
Omar, directed by Hany Abu-Assad
Les Salauds, directed by Claire Denis
Sarah Prefere La Course, directed by Chloé Robichaud

Midnight Movies
Monsoon Shootout, directed by Amit Kumar
Blind Detective, directed by Johnnie To

Quick notes: I'm assuming "The Immigrant" is now the title for what we have been referring to as "Lowlife" and occasionally as "The Nightingale".

Further word this morning is that Ari Folman's "The Congress" will be added to the lineup.

Films that seem to draw immediate Telluride attention include both "The Immigrant" and "The Congress" as well as Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" and Asghar Farhadi's "The Past".  I also get a vibe for, as I mentioned Monday, that "Blood Ties" and "Arnuad Desplechin's "Jimmy P."

I have included one final Cannes spec piece this morning from The Movie City News' (and friend of MTFB) Jake Howell.  Jake had some interesting insights.  Check the post here and see how close he was:

http://moviecitynews.com/2013/04/divining-cannes-2013-the-aggregating/



BLOOD TIES IMAGES

Marion Cotiilard on the "Blood Ties" set (Just Jared)

Included as an out of competition film this morning is "Blood Ties".  French actor Guillaume Canet has stepped behind the camera to remake an English language version of a French thriller that he originally starred in.

I've been thinking recently that it might have a Telluride ride on Labor Day.  I don't have any tangible reason...no production company ties to past festivals...no U.S. distributor yet...just a vibe.

Here's a look at first images from the film posted via The Playlist:


http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/first-images-of-clive-owen-mila-kunis-matthias-schoenaerts-more-in-guillaume-canets-blood-ties-20130414

CALL FOR ENTRY

Monday I posted a link to a story about Telluride opening the process for film submissions for this year's fest.  Here's the actual lowdown from TFF's actual website:

http://telluridefilmfestival.com/film_entry

SCHILLER TALKS SCRIPTS



Friend of the blog and Telluride regular Christopher Schiller is up with an article/post at scriptmag.com focusing on the ins and outs of intellectual property ownership in the screenwriting biz.  Check out his article here:


http://www.scriptmag.com/features/legally-speaking-it-depends-stolen-movie-ideas

Goodbye Roger/The Nugget/Pass Sales/Jane Gets Another Gun/Farhadi's Past

Good Monday afternoon to all...

Normally I have published this morning but it's State Tournament week.  If you know mw, you know what that means.  Anyway, here's today's installment:


GOODBYE ROGER

Screenwriter of "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" Roger Ebert died this week.  He was also a film critic.  Won a Pulitzer Prize for that, in fact.

I don't have a degree from a film school.  I didn't major in film studies so a lot of my view of cinema has been pieced together in a haphazard fashion.  I'd like to think that I have a better-than-average knowledge and appreciation for the medium and I'd be less than honest if I didn't admit that a bunch of my film "education" came from watching and reading Mr. Ebert.

If you paid attention, you could learn a lot from Mr. Ebert about almost every aspect of film making.  I think I paid attention.  He never knew it, but in many ways he was my inadvertent teacher about film.   I suspect that there are a good number of people that feel that he was their teacher too.

You could argue (and I would) that Mr. Ebert had more positive influence on real people's real lives than most politicians/clergy/business leaders and moguls.  What he did; what he said and what he wrote allowed people to understand the movies they were about to watch or whether to watch them at all or to appreciate them after they had watched them.  Think about that for a minute...

Almost from the beginning of my Telluride experience, which for me started in 2006, I was aware that Mr. Ebert had been a big part of the festival in past.  I had always hoped that he would recover enough good health that he might make one more trip to TFF and that I'd finally get a chance to meet him and maybe say thanks for being my inadvertent teacher. My anticipation was that 2013/TFF #40 might be the last best shot for that to happen as it is clearly going to a special fest to celebrate the 40 years of TFF's existence.  Add to that the expected presentation of the film version of his autobiography "Life Itself" (exec. produced by Martin Scorsese) and I thought the increased the possibility even more.

As you'll see below, the film is still likely to be a part of the Telluride lineup or this year and almost assuredly the TFF honchos will tribute him in some fashion and that is fitting.  But I rue the fact that my chance to meet the man in front of The New Sheridan or in the lobby at The River Club is never going to happen.

So, small and humble as it is,  here's my thank you, Mr. Ebert.  You made a difference in millions of people lives.  You made us all smarter about the movies and, after all, for a medium that is the most ubiquitous form of art on the planet...that is no small thing.  Immense as a matter of fact.

I often tell friends and acquaintances that aren't going to be able to make it to Telluride for Film Festival that I'll be sure to raise a glass to them the first night I'm back in town.  This year, I'll raise one for you Roger.

Here is the story of Mr. Ebert's passing from The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/roger-ebert-dies-film-critic-406274

THE NUGGET

And while we're dealing with difficult news, this also happened the last few days.  The Nugget-Telluride's full time movie theater and very cool venue for TFF will be undergoing some changes.  Operators Luci Reeve and Jim Bedford are bowing out and The Nugget will close its doors for at least some period of time.  TFF Managing Director Julie Huntsinger does say that the show will go on though.

Check out these reports from local sources:

The Telluride Daily Planet:

http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2013/04/04/news/doc515cc0184ebf1458378203.txt

The Watch:

http://www.watchnewspapers.com/view/full_story/22149683/article-Nugget-Operators-Luci-Reeve-and-Jim-Bedford-Call-It-Quits?instance=news_top_story


PASS SALES

Meanwhile, the Festival has announced that Acme level passes are already sold out for this year.  Here's the update from TFF about pass sales which opened March 1:

http://telluridefilmfestival.org/news/2013-04


JANE GETS ANOTHER GUN

The convoluted story about "Jane Got a Gun" the film that was originally to be directed by Lynne Ramsay and as such was on my watch list as a potential future Telluride film took another turn late this week with the announcement that Bradley Cooper had signed on to replace the departed Jude Law.

As you may remember, I was in Santa Fe, NM a few weeks back and confirmed that despite the turmoil, filming was going on in the Santa Fe area.

Cooper's addition is a little amazing to me as he would appear to be a red hot commodity in light of the success of "Silver Linings Playbook" and his Oscar nomination for it.  That Copper was available stuns me a bit.  I have linked a number of posts about the Cooper signing:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/bradley-cooper-rides-to-rescue-replaces-jude-law-as-villain-in-jane-got-a-gun-20130405

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/bradley-cooper-replacing-jude-law-433959

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/bradley-cooper-steps-in-for-jude-law-in-jane-got-a-gun/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=bradley-cooper-steps-in-for-jude-law-in-jane-got-a-gun

http://www.deadline.com/2013/04/bradley-cooper-replaces-jude-law-jane-got-a-gun-movie/



FARHADI'S PAST

We have a poster and a trailer...in french.  Asghar Farhadi's "A Separation" was a sensation 2 years ago and deservedly so.  It stands as one of the most beautifully written and structured films of the past decade.  I've had his follow up project on the Telluride radar as long as we've known he was working on it.  "The Past" seems likely to be a part of the Cannes lineup which should be announced in the next two weeks.  If it's remotely close to the quality of "A Separation" then I think it's a very real possibility for this year's TFF.

This week saw the release of a poster and a trailer linked below:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-trailer-for-a-separation-director-asghar-farhadis-the-past-starring-berenice-bejo-tahar-rahim-20130406

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/past-le-passe-trailer-poster-asghar-farhadi/


More on Thursday.