Bad News on the "St. Vincent" and "Violent Year" Fronts/New Interstellar Trailer/More from France

Good Thursday to All...


BAD NEWS ON THE ST. VINCENT AND VIOLENT YEAR FRONTS

"St. Vincent" photo via yahoo.com

Deadline.com reported yesterday that a Toronto World Premiere Gala is all but a done deal for "St. Vincent" starring Bill Murray.  I have been holding out some hope that it and Murray would make the trip to Telluride but if the Mark Fleming, Jr. report is accurate...it looks unlikely now.

Read the story from Deadline.com here:

http://m.deadline.com/2014/07/mr-bill-murray-toronto-st-vincent-gala-but-cannot-find-you/

And speaking of bad news...there's some buzz that J.C. Chandor's "A Most Violent Year" which I was thinking was a pretty good Telluride bet (and I was hoping would make the trip as well) may not be ready in time for the festival.

Gotta say that I'm bummed if both of these films miss the fest.

NEW INTERSTELLAR TRAILER

Much was made of the reveal at Comic Con last week by Christopher Nolan of a new trailer for his "Interstellar".  The film remains a way way outside possibility for Telluride, although I've become all but convinced that it won't happen.  Nevertheless, the new trailer can be accessed at the official Interstellar website by typing in the access code 7201969...the date U.S. astronauts landed on the moon.  Here's the site:

http://www.interstellarmovie.com/

It's a cool trailer too.

MORE FROM FRANCE

I'm continuing to look at the French production houses that have had a Telluride Film Fest history and their current connections to films to attempt to uncover some of the other films that are possibles for a screening in the San Juans.

FRANCE 3 CINEMA

2003: Dogville, The Tripletts of Belleville
2004:
2005: Lemming, Live and Become, Cache
2006: The Page Turner, Indigenes
2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Persepolis
2008: I've Loved You So Long
2009: The White Ribbon
2010: The Illusionist, The Princess of Montpensier, Of Gods and Men
2011: The Artist
2012: Superstar, Amour
2013: The Past

Though France3 has had a larger profile than France2 at Telluride over the past few years, their pool of films this year seems thin with no one film standing out as a likely suspect.

Perhaps "Le Temps des Aveux" or, more likely "Caricaturistes, fantassins de la démocratie" the documentary about cartoonists and democracy that played at Cannes.



ARTE FRANCE CINEMA

Another Franco production outfit that has had persistent presence in Telluride is arte France Cinema.  Their track record looks like this:

2003: Dogville
2004: The Weeping Meadow
2005: The Child, Cache, Paradise Now
2006: Day Night Day Night
2008: O'Horten
2011: Le Havre, Goodbye First Love
2012: No films at Telluride
2013: Le Maison de la Radio, The Lunchbox

After no Telluride presence in 2012, arte France Cinema came back in 2013 fairly strong.  In 2014 their best chance at playing Telluride is the yet unannounced for any fall fest, Olivier Assayas' Cannes competition piece "Clouds of Sils Maria" starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloe Grace Moretz.

As we haven't seen it in Toronto's list yet, I am inching a little closer to thinking that it could actually play at Telluride and, perhaps a Juliette Binoche tribute?


CINECINEMA/CINE+

CineCinema changed over to Cine+ within the last three years or so but it's all the same.  This production company has often been represented at Telluride over the last few years:

2005: Lemming, Live and Become
2006: The Page Turner, Indigenes
2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
2008: With a Little Help from Myself
2009: Farewell, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, Inferno
2010: The Illusionist, The Princess of Montpensier, Of Gods and Men
2011: Goodbye First Love, The Kid with a Bike, Le Havre, The Artist
2012: Rust and Bone, Superstar, The Attack, Amour
2013: The Past, Blue is the Warmest Color, Le Maison de la Radio

Cine+ has four projects that they're involved in that could well make the Telluride playlist:  "The Blue Room", "Bird People", "Two Days, One Night" and "Clouds of Sils Maria".

More tomorrow including this year's "Unified Clooney Theory"

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

In Praise of James Garner/Toronto Musings/Interstellar Rumors...Not So Fast/The Return of Serge?

Welcome to Monday...

IN PRAISE OF JAMES GARNER

Photo from IMDb

Movie and television star James Garner (real last name was Baumgarner...so he changed it for Hollywood, but not by much) died this weekend.  He was 86.  Garner's career was long, varied and included more than his fair share of great stuff.  Two classic television series : "The Rockford Files" and "Maverick" as well as some notable film work: "Murphy's Romance" which earned him his singular Oscar nomination, (he won a couple of Emmys and a couple of Golden Globes along the way) "The Great Escape", the "Support Your Local..." films ( a couple of my personal favorites and a character that seemed like it was a lot pf Jim Garner and not very much "acting"), "Victor, Victoria", "Sunset" and many more.

I was always ridiculously proud that he was from Oklahoma (born in Norman in 1928).  I also liked the fact that he often stood up for actors and wasn't willing to just roll over and do what he was told.  He reportedly walked away from more than one project/situation in which he felt he was being taken advantage of.

 He really was one of a kind and we're lucky to have so much of his career saved for us to continue to enjoy.

James Garner's IMDb page:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001258/?ref_=nmawd_awd_nm


TORONTO MUSINGS

The Toronto International Film Festival is supposed to announce some of their lineup tomorrow.  In the past this announcement has included most of the Galas and Special Presentations as well as a designation as to the films presumed status: World or North American premiere.

But with Toronto's new "guidelines" in place, that a film must be committed to Toronto for that designation for it to play the opening weekend, one wonders how much they will tell us.  Will they name as m any films?  Will they indicate a film's premiere status?  Will they reveal what films have been designated for the first four days?

The answers to those questions open up a number of avenues of speculation for Telluride's fest and I expect I'll spend a good chunk of tomorrow after the announcement trying to sort it out.

I expect that I will post a truncated MTFB report in the morning and then after we learn whatever we learn, I am anticipating a Toronto-centric second post later in the day.  Circumstances could change that but it's what I'm planning at the moment.

Come back...take a look...

INTERSTELLAR RUMORS...NOT SO FAST

I've mentioned over the last two weeks or so that there has been a somewhat persistent rumor that Christopher Nolan's much anticipated "Interstellar" starring Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Oscar winner Anne Hathaway and a slew of others might play Telluride.  That fire was most recently fanned last week by Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere and Pete Hammond/Deadline.

Now Wells is throwing some water on the flames, reporting over the weekend that he's hearing countering stories that Nolan is recalcitrant to show the film to programmers to some unnamed festival, though Wells thinks it could only be Telluride or New York.


So, dial back your "Interstellar" anticipation.  I don't think it's completely off the books yet but I'd still count it as a surprise if it shows at The SHOW...

Here's the link to this weekend's Wells/HE post:

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2014/07/nolans-alleged-reluctance/


THE RETURN OF SERGE

There were some people that I was surprised did NOT make it to last year's 40th anniversary edition of TFF.  I was surprised that my "girlfriend" Laura Linney was not there.  Was surprised that Peter Sellars was no where to be seen.  And I was also surprised that Serge Bromberg wasn't around.


Bromberg, who has appeared with some frequency in this decade at TFF with his specialty being rare film and animation, may well be returning this year.

I spent some time this weekend tracking down some Twitter chatter (unwitting thanks to Andy Brodie) that points to a possible presentation by Bromberg of rare and, in filmic terms, ancient footage.  Bromberg's Lobster Films has a apparently been working with an Iowa based collector to form hundreds of hours of lost film into a documentary.

Check this story from the Des Moines Register about the Iowa collector whose work may bring him and Bromberg to the San Juans in six weeks:

http://archive.desmoinesregister.com/article/20131221/NEWS/312210047/Iowan-s-collection-old-films-reveals-cinematic-history

That sounds like something right down Telluride's programming alley...based on past Fests.


More tomorrow...especially about, you know, Toronto...

Ten Bets 2014 #4/The Usual Suspects Addendum/Deadline Talks Effects of "Gone Girl" Selection

Good Friday Everyone!


TEN BETS 2014 #4

Here's this week's predictions for the 41st Telluride Film Festival via the latest "Ten Bets"

First, here are last week's "Ten Bets":

10) The Look of Silence
9) Red Army
8) Winter Sleep
7) Foxcatcher
6) The Roosevelts
5) Leviathan
4) Queen of the Desert
3) Mr. Turner
2) Two Days, One Night
1) Birdman

And now, this week...

10) Wild

9) Red Army

8) Foxcatcher

7) The Look of Silence

6) Leviathan

5) The Roosevelts

4) Two Days, One Night

3) Mr. Turner

2) Queen of the Desert

1) Birdman

THE USUAL SUSPECTS ADDENDUM

We come to the close of the week with a quick look at a couple of names that might otherwise be included in the "Ten Bets"...

In past years, I have included Jason Reitman's films with regularity in terms of Telluride guesswork but this year is different because of the pressure that Toronto has brought to bear on the programming status of films.  Consequently, I am expecting that Reitman will skip Telluride this year and take "Men, Women and Children" to Toronto and quite probably New York later on.

Also, I would, in most years, have thought David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars" would have been a prime Telluride possibility but owing to Toronto's insistence and Cronenberg's probable fealty to Canada and TIFF, I expect it will go that way as well.



DEADLINE TALKS "GONE GIRL" SELECTION

Deadline has weighed in after the announcement earlier this week concerning David Fincher's "Gone Girl" and its selection as the opening film for the New York Film Fest.

Pete Hammond dropped a few interesting tidbits not the least of which was the word that Warner Brothers (which has had a great run the last two years at Telluride with "Argo" and "Gravity") has no plans to play T-ride this year..  That, if true, would definitively remove "Inherent Vice" (which I have thought was unlikely all along) as well as "The Judge" and "The Good Lie" from the Telluride list of possibilities.  Up until that comment, I had thought "Good Lie" and"The Judge" might be real possibilities.

Hammond does suggest that he believes that Telluride is likely to have "Birdman", "Wild", "Foxcatcher" and "Mr. Turner"...all of which appear on the latest "Ten Bets" list above.

And the most intriguing note at the end of the post regards the hot rumor that "Interstellar" is a real possibility.

Check Hammond's entire post here:

http://www.deadline.com/2014/07/gone-girls-nyff-announcement-fuels-fall-festival-oscar-season-speculation/


More  tomorrow...


Follow Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Twitter @Gort2

Ten Bets 2014 #2/News from Wells/National Gallery Release/Roger and Peter

Welcome to Independence Day everyone from Great Barrington, MA.  By the time you read this I will already be selling art at the 13th Annual Berkshires Art Festival.  If you're nearby, come by Tent #48 and say hello...and buy some art!

TEN BETS 2014 #2

Here's your second edition of "Ten Bets" for films that I expect to appear at the 41st Telluride Film Festival. Last weeks list looked like this:

10) Salt of the Earth (Wenders)
9) Winter Sleep (Ceylan)
8) Red Army (Polsky)
7) Coming Home (Yimou)
6) Foxcatcher (Miller)
5) The Roosevelts (Burns)
4) Leviathan (Zvyagintsev)
3) Birdman (Inarritu)
2) Two Days, One Night (Dardennes)
1) Mr. Turner (Leigh)

  

After a week of tracking any Telluride news/rumors, here's your new "Ten Bets" (also, see the next story below):

10) Coming Home

9) Winter Sleep

8) Red Army

7) The Roosevelts

6) Queen of the Desert

5) Foxcatcher

4) Leviathan

3) Two Days, One Night

2) Mr. Turner

1) Birdman

NEWS FROM WELLS

"Birdman" trailer via YouTube

Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere posted a Telluride piece on Wednesday.  He claims that Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Birdman" is a Telluride lock...which I have suspected for over a year.  Also a lock, according to Wells: Werner Herzog's "Queen of the Desert" which has also been anticipated here, as long as it was finished.  Wells also says that Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice" and David Fincher's "Gone Girl" are locked for the New York Fest and necessarily pre-empted for T-ride. 

The really interesting tidbit is the possibility of a Telluride presentation of Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar".  Up until last year, I would have thought this unlikely in the extreme but with the success of Telluride landing Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" last year...I could believe this.  I'm not there yet...but I don't rule it out either.

Wells also has a couple of comments about the Toronto Film Fests ultimatum vis-a-vis Telluride and you can find the entire piece here:

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2014/07/50534/#more-50534

NATIONAL GALLERY RELEASE

Photo via IndieWire

IndieWire reports that Frederick Wiseman's "National Gallery" a documentary about London's National Gallery has a stateside release date for November.  The Telluride possibility will be released on Nov. 5th. Take a look at the post here:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/new-frederick-wiseman-documentary-national-gallery-slated-for-november-release-20140703

ROGER AND PETER

Photo via rogerebert.com

And in the midst of all the hoopla about the release of the Roger Ebert doc "Life Itself" (which I was just sure would play last year at TFF #40)  came this re-tweet/re-post of Ebert's Telluride interview with Peter O'Toole.  I had to post the link:

http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/video-of-rogers-interview-of-peter-otoole-in-2002-at-telluride