CINEMACON REVEALS SOME TFF POTENTIAL
The annual Las Vegas Show and Tell known as CinemaCon has opened and closed. The event ran from Apr. 23-26 at Caesar's Palace in Sin City. The event which traditionally focused on showcasing films that are expected or hoped to be big summer releases has also edged into offering glimpses of fall prestige releases.
That was certainly the case this year as a number of films that are already being buzzed about as potential awards contenders were featured. That means we TFF fans probably ought to pay some attention to what was teased and the reactions that those teases evoked.
Variety posted a handy-dandy and comprehensive listing of films that showed up last week ands rated their assessment of the reactions from CinemaCon attendees.
The "hottest" film according to Variety that has been on my Telluride-radar is Damian Chazelle's First Man starring Ryan Gosling as American hero Neil Armstrong. Variety has it as its third "hottest" title of the films teased in Vegas. I have a comment about the films that Variety had as the two hottest below.
Other TFF possibles and their relative "hotness" position according to Variety:
Boy Erased at #7
Mary Queen of Scots at #9
Beautiful Boy at #20
The Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody was listed at #2 and I still doubt that it's a likely Telluride fit but Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born re-make with Lady Gaga was listed at #1 and I think I am going to have to start seriously thinking about it as a possible TFF inclusion. I've resisted that up until now largely because I was reluctant to believe that there would be much excitement about a film on its fourth time around. The buzz was already strong, however, leading up to the CinemaCon presentation and with the strong reaction there...I'm beginning to think that I can't just reject the possibility of a San Juan play out of hand.
Warners has the distribution rights and over the last few years with Argo (12), Prisoners and Gravity (13), Black Mass (15) and Sully (16) their presence has been felt. SO...maybe A Star Is Born (#4)...
Here is a smattering of coverage from CinemaCon focused on possible TFF films:
Indiewire on Beautiful Boy
Indiewire on Widows
Indiewire on First Man
LEIGH'S PETERLOO WILL BE ON THE TRAIL
Many (including myself) thought Mike Leigh's Peterloo would be on the list of Palme d'Or competition films. It was a bit of a surprise when that didn't happen.
Deadline reports this week, though, that the film "will be making a play at the fall film festivals". Past that there are no specific details but considering Leigh's lengthy history with Telluride, you still have to think that a play at The SHOW is likely one of the"fall festivals: where the film could land.
The complete Deadline post is here.
NO CANNES SCREENING BUT NEW STILLS: QUIXOTE
SlashFilm (/Film) posted a story this week that, again , lays out the latest legal bump in the road of a Cannes screening of Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. The story itself doesn't truly break any new ground or provide new legal details or nuance but it does include ten new photos from the film.
I've posted a couple of them here and you can take a look at all of them linked at /Film's story.
PAYNE TALKS DOWNSIZING CHALLENGES
Photo from Indiewire
It's no secret that Alexander Payne's Downsizing had a rocky release both commercially (IMDb says it was a $68 million budget and a $39 million global gross) and critically...his lowest Metacritic score of all of the seven feature films he has directed at a 63).
Payne, who has become a staple figure at Telluride since his inclusion as Guest Director in 2009, spoke recently to Dick Cavett at a presentation during the just concluded Tribeca Film Festival. Michael Nordine of Indiewire covered the conversation.
Payne was recently announced to direct The Burial. The film is based on a true story about corporate corruption in the funeral industry from a script from Golden Globe and nominated and Tony Award winning writer Doug Wright (Quills, I Am My Own Wife).
That's a wrap for this last Monday in April. More to come on Thursday.
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