Bikeriders Riding into The 'Ride / And Maybe... / The Buzzing / Late Breaking from London

BIKERIDERS RIDING INTO THE 'RIDE

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel reported on Friday that he has confirmed the buzz we'd been hearing the last couple of weeks that Jeff Nichols' The Bikeriders will debut at Telluride.  The film stars Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, Boyd Holbrook, Michael Shannon and Jodie Comer.

IMDb's synopsis goes like this:

"It follows the rise of a Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members."

Nichols previous films include Loving, Midnight Special, Take Shelter and Mud.

For me, its another really great entry into the TFF #50 lineup...which, if what we think is going to Telluride shows at The SHOW, is rocking.

AND MAYBE...

In recent posts I've been mentioning the possibility of Angelina Jolie bringing her latest film-Without Blood-to TFF #50.  I'm still not quite all the way to the point where I'm predicting if for the lineup yet but I am getting closer.  There's a good deal of buzz that the Jolie follow-up to her 2017 First They Killed My Father which also played Telluride.  That previous appearance is one of the reasons that I think might make Without Blood a real possibility for TFF #50.  

THE BUZZING

We're getting to the time of the year where MTFB starts to pop up in other places.  This past week MTFB was referenced by Sasha Stone at Awards Daily in her Aug. 4th post about Oscar and the potential effects of the dual writers' and actors' strike.

Speaking of buzz, on the Awards Radar podcast this week Joey Magidson and his guests Mark Johnson and Ryan McQuade talked a good deal about Telluride and probably the most exciting speculation is about Killers of the Flower Moon and a possible tribute to Martin Scorsese.  They feel that's more not less likely.  I had been hearing a little of that speculation within the last week to ten days.  If you listen to the podcast that discussion occurs at 1:13:58.

If you've read this space before, you know that Flowers is my big hope for the year whether it plays T-ride or not and I have been very clear that I have not believed that it would.  Many of you know that I did a day of background on the film which makes me even more keen to actually see it as soon as possible.

I hate to get all worked up but...there is a little smoke...

On the other hand, another film that's high on my list to see is David Fincher's The Killer starring Michael Fassbender as a professional assassin who comes to a question what his choices have been.  

Like Flower Moon, I have thought The Killer to be an unlikely film for TFF #50 inclusion and now World of Reel suggests that outcome is probable.  WOR chief Jordan Ruimy writing this weekend:

"...not much else is known about Fincher’s upcoming 118-minute film. That’ll change when it premieres in September at the Venice Film Festival. So far, no other festivals have announced it, and I’m hearing it’s not going to Telluride or Toronto. Maybe NYFF is an option."

LATE BREAKING FROM LONDON

First image of Emerald Fennell's Saltburn via Screen Daily

Overnight the BFI London Film Festival announced that its opening night film will be Emerald Fennell's Saltburn.  The announcement added further evidence that the film will be bowing initially at Telluride.  Saltburn is listed by LFF as its International Premiere which adds to the comments from Venice Film Fest head Alberto Barbera from last week that Saltburn will play Telluride.  Additionally we can deduce from its International Premiere status that it will skip Toronto.

Here's a report of the announcement with further details from Screen Daily.

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BFI-London Announces / Teaser Trailers for Nomadland and Mandibles / New Photos of Mainstream and Mandibles/ Interviews: Zhao, Coppola and More / Ronstadt Short Doc Acquired

BFI-LONDON ANNOUNCES

The BFI-London Film Festival announced its 2020 slate on Tuesday morning.  Five of the feature films selected for its main slate were also among the 29 films officially selected by the Telluride Film Festival for its 47th edition that had to be canceled.

Three of the titles have become common place additions to a number of film fests:

Francis Lee's Ammonite
Chloe Zhao's Nomadland
Gianfranco Rosi's Notturno

In addition to those three LFF also selected After Love and Never Gonna Snow Again.

The BFI-London Film Festival will take place Oct. 7-18 and will largely be presented virtually but will have a live cinema presentation of some films as a part of its programming.


TEASER TRAILERS FOR NOMADLAND AND MANDIBLES

Teaser for Nomadland:

Mandibles Trailer from YouTube:

NEW PHOTOS OF MAINSTREAM AND MANDIBLES

From Mandibles:

From Mainstream:

INTERVIEWS WITH THE CREATORS OF NOMADLAND, MAINSTREAM, THE DUKE AND NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN



***Chloe Zhao/Nomadland from The Hollywood Reporter

***Gia Coppola/Mainstream from The Hollywood Reporter

***Roger Michell/The Duke from Variety

***Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert/Never Gonna Snow Again from Variety



RONSTADT SHORT DOC ACQUIRED

photo via Variety and The Shout! Factory

Last year at TFF #46 programmers selected to screen the fantastic documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.  Now comes news that a second Ronstadt doc that was chosen for inclusion on the TFF #47 list has been acquired for release by Shout! Studios.

The short doc (runtime about 40 min.) is titled: Linda Ronstadt and the Mockingbirds focuses on a trip to Mexico as Ronstadt explores her musical roots.

The story was reported by Variety and says that the new work is a follow on to last year's film.

Variety reports that the new film is expected to have a 2020 release on various platforms.

The complete Variety story is linked here.

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Telluride and Oscar Part Seven: Best Adapted Screenplay / London Opening Film In Play? / A Couple of Tidbits: Uncut Gems and Just Mercy / Late Breaking: Venice Opener

Hi there...I'm on the road...headed to Oregon...



TELLURIDE AND OSCAR PART SEVEN: BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Here's Part Seven of the eight part series concerning the films of the Telluride Film Festival and the Academy Awards covering the last 14 years (that starts with 2015 which was the year before I began attending).  Today's category of concentration is Best Adapted Screenplay.  Listed below are all of the films nominated in that category since 2005 that played Telluride.  Winners are indicated with ***.

2005: Brokeback Mountain***, Capote
2006: Little Children
2007: There Will Be Blood (I count it as we saw footage in connection with the Daniel Day-Lewis tribute), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2008: Slumdog Millionaire***, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Same as There Will Be Blood only with a tribute to David Fincher)
2009: An Education, Up in the Air
2010: 127 Hours
2011: The Descendants***
2012: Argo***
2013: 12 Years a Slave***
2014: The Imitation Game***
2015: Carol, Room
2016: Moonlight***, Arrival
2017: No nominees
2018: Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Notes 19 nominations over the 14 years with a strong seven wins in that time period.

As best as can tell the first film from TFF with a nomination for Best adapted Screenplay was My Left Foot in 1989.

As a percentage of  wins to nominations this is the category that having a nomination from a TFF film gives the nominee the best chance of a win with 36.8% of TFF nominees winning the honor.  The next best category is Best Director with a 32.2% win ratio.  The worst: Best Supporting Actress with a 3.8% win ratio.


Next Tuesday...the last of the "Big Eight" categories: Best Original Screenplay.


LONDON OPENING FILM IN PLAY?

The BFI/London Film Festival announced its opening film will be Armando Ianucci's (Into the Loop, Veep) The Personal History of David Copperfield.  Why should we take note?  The film was announced as a European Premiere.  That means that the film will have screened at at least one other spot prior to its stint as the LFF opening film.

The European designation should mean that Venice is off the list as a possibility leaving Toronto, New York (barely as NYFF opens Sept. 28th while London will screen it on Oct. 2.

The European designation means the first screening in Europe will be at LFF.  It necessarily means that the "World" premiere happens somewhere else...and...as LFF doesn't label it an "International" premiere...that suggests that the film will have played within the country of its origin.

What I'm saying here is that divining this news in terms of a potential Telluride play comes down to how the film's country of origin in classified.  If it's a "U.S." production then this could mean that the film plays at Telluride.  If it's a Brit production... could mean a Toronto World Premiere.

And I am uncertain as to the film's nationality.

But...this could be in Telluride.

Here's the Deadline story about the London Film Fest opening night announcement.



COUPLE OF TIDBITS


Jeff Sneider of TheInSneider fame Tweeted this yesterday:

Sneider, who has been knocking about the movie biz for a good long time including writing for Variety, Ain't It Cool News and The Wrap is clearly suggesting that the Safdie Brothers Uncut Gems starring Adam Sandler is on the TFF #46 agenda.

The film is an A24 project and I did not assess it when I looked at A24's offerings back on July 1st.  At that time, I felt like A24's most probable film to play TFF was The Lighthouse.  That said, I believe that it's entirely possible that Uncut Gems could make it to Colorado.  Perhaps both films will.

In another tidbit, Just Mercy from director Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12) which had been announced with a release date in January 2020 now seems like it will be released on Dec. 25th according to The Hollywood Reporter.  That puts it into awards season play for Warner Brothers and suggests that it could pop up at one or more fall film fests.  The WB appears to be loaded with this as well as Joker, Motherless Brooklyn and The Goldfinch.

The film stars Michael B. Jordan, Brie Larson and Jamie Foxx and tells the  true story of an African American man accused of a murder he didn't commit.

LATE BREAKING: VENICE OPENER

The Venice Film Festival has chosen Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Truth as its opening film.  That probably raises the chances that it will play Telluride.  More tomorrow.

That'll do it for this Thursday...More to come tomorrow including the last Ten Bets before Toronto and Venice begin announcing.

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