Two Days

Well, some interesting tidbits here and there tonight...

Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere all but confirms: "Up in the Air," "The Road," "Bad Lieutenant," and "An Education" and claims that the "other" Herzog film..."My Son, My Son..." will NOT be playing Telluride.

At this point "Up in the Air" seems to be a lock...we've seen some other pretty compelling evidence that it's a-happenin'.

Additionally, the internet has been burning up the last 24 hours or so with the rumor that Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" with Michael Cera will pop up in Telluride...we think that rumor is more than just a rumor!

As to "Amelia" and "Broken Embraces" nary a breath...so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about after all!

"The Road" to Telluride

Down to less than a week before the 36th Telluride Film Festival and this post seeks to sum up everything we have been able to track down, stumble across or just guess at.

Latest news: Podcast by Anne Thompson of IndieWire and Kristopher Tapley at Incontention.com at least implies that "An Educaton" may be at Telluride. This is the second film in a week that would NOT fall under the Telluride rules that I thought were in place in terms of whether films had played other places before Telluride..."Precious" being the other. But both Thompson and Tapley let slip early in the podcast that "An Education" is/could be on the play list. You can find their podcast at: http://incontention.com/?p=12596.

But the biggest news from the podcast is Anne Thompson's near certain assertion that John Hillcoat's "The Road" will be there. Viggo Mortensen stars in the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel. This is a film that we originally thought would be released last year, but was moved to 2009.

Now on to the summary: Here are the films that someone somewhere has claimed will be at Telluride: "Bright Star, " Life During Wartime," "My Son My Son What Have Ye Done?," "Lebanon"and "The Road."

Films that someone has implied might be there: "Precious" and "An Education"...see caveat above and "Up in the Air (Tapley says he thinks it will follow the "Juno" path)."

Films I am flat just guessing will be there...but it's a good bet..."Amelia, " "Broken Promises," "Coco Before Chanel," and Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut "Sympathy for Delicious".

Films I am less confident of, but wouldn't be surprised if they were in Telluride: "Leaves of Grass," "Ondine," "Wild Grass," "The Damned United, " The White Ribbon, " "Get Low," "Brothers," "Un Prophete," and "Gentlemen Broncos".

And finally...Films I would love to show up in Telluride, but I don't think that there is much of a chance: "The Men Who Stare at Goats, " "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," "Nine," "The Informant," "A Serious Man," and "The Tree of Life."

Last note...Scorsese's "Shutter Island" and Julie Taymor's "The Tempest" have reportedly been bumped to release in 2010...

I will post again as information warrants over the next few days leading up to travelling time. I leave Thursday afternoon and plan to start the Telluride experience at the Patron Brunch on Friday morning. Hope to meet some of you there!

Lynch and Herzog???

Living In Cinema's Craig Kennedy speculates this evening that the digitally shot "My Son My Son, What Have Ye Done" may make an appearance at the Telluride fest. The film is produced by David Lynch and directed by Werner Herzog (who also co-wrote the script). Both of these film makers have a history with the festival...(Herzog and I rode the same yellow school bus to the Patron brunch two years ago...sort of freaked me out at the time).

The Film is said to be based on a true story about a murder that stems from a man's belief/obsession with Sophocles "Oedipus Rex."

The film stars: Willem Dafoe, Brad Dourif, best supporting actor Oscar nominee Michael Shannon and Oscar nominated Chloe Sivigny among others.

Life During Wartime

Variety hints last night that Todd Solondz new film "Life During Wartime" may be in line to play during the festival. The movie features Ally Sheedy, Paul "Pee Wee" Ruebens, Allison Janney, Ciaran Hinds and past Telluride 2005 tributee Charlote Rampling.

First Inkling

Anne Thompson writing in her blog has let slip that Jane Campion's "Bright Star" will be in Telluride this year. She makes the comment in a story that talks about the announcement of a new distributing company called "Apparition". You can find Thompson"s blog at http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/.

"Bright Star" can be found at imdb at www.imdb.com/title/tt0810784. The film is the story of poet John Keats and his romance with Fanny Brawne in the 19th century and features Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish in those roles.

This blog included "Bright Star" as a possible Telluride pic in our last post.

Appartion also has the distribution for Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn...Thompson does not say but implies that Malick's film will not be ready for Telluride presentation...but you never know.

6 Weeks

Can you say "Invictus". Clint Eastwood's Nelson Mandela project has annouced a release date positioned for the awards season. Morgan Freeman on board and its certain appeal as awards bait plus Eastwood's past with Telluride make one think that it is at least a possibility.

Countdown to #36

He's BACK...

The 36th TFF is 2 months away and so it is with virtually no fanfare that we'll start our speculation about what we might expect/hope for this year's festival.

We know: Alexander Payne (writer/director..."About Schmidt", "Sideways") is this year's guest director...and film critic Manny Farber will be "celebrated"...I doubt that means that Farber is one of the three actual "tributes".

3 films I'm putting out there right now as possibles:

"Amelia"...2 time Oscar winner Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart from Fox Searchlight...mostly because it's from Fox Searchlight and is directed by Mira Nair...a Telluride favorite in the past.

"Broken Promises" Pedro Almodovar's latest...reasons to think it's in: At Cannes, Almodovar (again a Telluride favorite over the years). Stars past Telluride tributee Penelope Cruz...and from Sony Pic Classics...all good reasons.

"Precious/Push/Sapphire"...Oscar bait and from Lionsgate and was at Cannes.

Others in play or at least wishful thinking: Jennifer's Body (Diablo Cody), The Informant (Soderbergh), Coco Before Chanel (Audrey Tautou), Shutter Island (Scorsese), A Serious Man (Coen Bros.), Whip It (Drew Barrymore directs), The Road (finally), Nine (Daniel Day-Lewis), Brothers (Gyllenhaal/Portman/Maguire), The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson), Dr. Parnassus (Terry Gilliam, Ledger's last film), Up in the Air (Jason Reitman), Men Who Stare at Goats (Clooney/MacGregor), The Tree of Life (Malick), Looking for Eric (Ken Loach), Biutiful (Gonzalez-Inarritu), The White Ribbon (Cannes Palme D'Or).

Let the speculation begin!