Good Morning from Middle America!
VENICE SNEAK PEEK
The interwebs were lousy yesterday with leaked lists of the majority of the expected Venetian film lineup. Ioncinema was first with "predictions" of the lineup. Moments later Variety had the story with the actual films. Several other outlets then relayed the information. I have included links to IndieWire's and Rope of Silicon's versions of the story below.
The bottom line is that the following films are expected to play at Venice (their official announcement will come Thursday and will likely include a few other films not on the list reported today):
The Ides of March directed by George Clooney (opener)
In Competition:
“Alps,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
“A Burning Hot Summer,” directed by Philippe Garrel
“Carnage,” directed by Roman Polanski
“A Dangerous Method,” directed by David Cronenberg
“Dark Horse,” directed by Todd Solondz
“The Exchange,” directed by Eran Kolirin
“Faust,” directed by Alexander Sokurov
“Himizu,” directed by Sion Sono
“Killer Joe,” directed by William Friedkin
“Last Day on Earth,” directed by Abel Ferrara
“The Moth Diaries,” directed by Mary Harron
“Poulet aux prunes,” directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
“Quando la notte,” directed by Cristina Comencini
“Seediq Bale,” directed by Wei Te-sheng
“Shame,” directed by Steve McQueen
“Terraferma,” directed by Emanuele Crialese
“Texas Killing Fields” directed by Ami Canaan Mann
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” directed by Tomas Alfredson
“L’ultimo terrestre,” directed by Gipi
“W.E.,” directed by Madonna
“Wuthering Heights,” directed by Andrea Arnold
Apparently there are strong indications that Stephen Soderbergh's "Contagion" will also play in some portion of the Venice Festival.
That, in all likelihood dramatically reduces the chances we'll see these films in Telluride. Expect to see one or two of them. If I were guessing (and I am) I would rate these films as the most likely to play both places (in order of likelihood): 1) Dark Horse, 2) Shame, 3) Wuthering Heights, 4) Chicken with Plums, 5) The Exchange, 6) Faust , 7) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, 8) W.E., 9) A Dangerous Method, 10) Carnage.
Films that may have seen an increase in the chances that we'll see them at Telluride include:
Le Havre, The Wettest County, We Bought a Zoo, This Must Be the Place, Melancholia, The Artist, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Coriolanus, Moneyball, The Rum Diary, Albert Nobbs, Young Adult, The Iron Lady, The Descendants, My Week with Marilyn, The Kid with a Bike, The Skin I Inhabit (or Live In) and The Deep Blue Sea.
Big Films that are likely off the Telluride scope: Hugo, War Horse, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and J. Edgar...(though I could make some kind of case for any of them).
Walter Salles "On the Road" apparently won't be "ready" for Venice. if that's true, it's also unlikely to be ready 3 days later for Telluride.
We'll have more insight when Toronto begins to announce its lineup (which appears to be just moments away) and Thursday when the official Venice lineup is announced.
Here are links to the Venice story from Rope of Silicon:
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/venice-film-festival-2011-competition-titles-revealed-left-toronto?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=venice-film-festival-2011-competition-titles-revealed-left-toronto
and IndieWire:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/reports_david_cronenberg_roman_polanski_and_madonna_heading_venice_film_fes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed
MACHINE GUN PREACHER, A TELLURIDE FEATURE?
Word from The Playlist at IndieWire yesterday that "Machine Gun Preacher" will open in limited release in NYC and LA on Sept. 23. Director Marc Forster reportedly wants some awards season push for the film which stars Gerard Butler. What makes me think it might show up at The SHOW? It's a true life redemption tale and Forster was at Telluride in 2004 with "Finding Neverland" before he started to do a couple of big budget films (Quantum of Solace, World War Z). Maybe he comes back this year.
Read the story form The Playlist here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/first_look_at_gerard_butler_in_marc_forsters_machine_gun_preacher
Machine Gun Preacher's IMDb page is here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1586752/
A DATE FOR YOUNG ADULT
Jason Reitman's "Young Adult" starring Oscar winner Charlize Theron will open in limited release on Dec. 9 according to The Hollywood Reporter. That keeps it on track as a likely candidate for being a part of this year's Telluride Film Festival. THR reports that Paramount opened "The Fighter" the same weekend last year leading one to conclude (not surprisingly) that "Young Adult" is expected to be included in this year's awards conversation. "Young Adult" was written by Oscar winner Diablo Cody. She and Reitman collaborated in 2007 on "Juno".
The Hollywood Reporter story is here:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/charlize-theron-starrer-young-adult-215106
The Playlist also has the story here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/jason_reitmans_young_adult_starring_charlize_theron_patrick_wilson_hits_on/
Young Adult's IMDb page is here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1625346/
