Let's Talk Tributes / I Got Your Trailers Right Here / New York Reveals Tomorrow

Welcome back from the weekend...it's Monday.  TFF #44 is 24 days away.

LET'S TALK TRIBUTES

It's always fun to think about the three tributes that will be a part of the festival.  Last year eventual Best Actor Oscar winner Casey Affleck was one of the three along with Amy Adams and Pablo Larrain.  Over the years the fest has tributed some of the most important people in the history of film: Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson, Robert Altman, Clint Eastwood, Catherine Denueve, David Lynch, Ang Lee, Peter O'Toole, Daniel Day Lewis, Claudia Cardinale, David Fincher, Marion Cotillard, Robert Redford, Roger Corman and The Coen Brothers among others have all been feted as a part of the fest's tribute program.

The first place to start is with the buzz that we have seen/read...

Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere suggested on July 16th that one specific tribute had been nailed down and named names.  That post has since, seemingly been modified to remove the reference.

Meanwhile, Deadline's Pete Hammond in a July 25th piece has speculated tributes for Christian Bale with Hostiles and Angelina Jolie with First They Killed My Father.  Both of those wouldn't surprise me.

If we go down the list of 15-16 films that we're relatively confident will play the fest I can see some other potential tributes that make sense:

Wonderstruck might mean Julianne Moore (though, if you follow this blog, you know that the Wells article suggested another person connected to this film would be a tribute recipient).

Downsizing could give us Matt Damon.

Battle of the Sexes-maybe Steve Carell?

The Shape of Water-seems like Guillermo Del Toro is the best shot of a tribute here.  Maybe Sally Hawkins.

Hostiles-Bale

First They Killed My Father-Jolie

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool-Annette Bening would be a great tribute subject but her gig presiding over the Golden Lion jury for Venice makes that impossible.

The Florida Project-Willem Dafoe would be an interesting choice.

Among the other films that are listed as "possibles":

Lean on Pete-Steve Buscemi...yes please.

Mary Magdalene-Joaquin Pheonix... though Phoenix might not have any interest in a tribute.

First Reformed-Ethan Hawke

Our Souls at Night-Jane Fonda...perhaps presented by her co-star and 2014 TFF tributee Robert Redford.

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan- a plethora of possibilities-Natalie Portman, Jessica Chastain. Thandie Newton, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates...even Michael Gambon who narrates in the film.

Molly's Game-Aaron Sorkin or Jessica Chastain.

My bet is that at least one, if not all three people who will be tributed are listed or referenced above.


I GOT YOUR TRAILERS RIGHT HERE

A couple of trailers appeared last week for films that will/could play The SHOW's 2017 edition.

First, a full trailer for the animated by hand exploration of the life of Vincent Van Gogh, Loving Vincent which we're fairly confident will make the journey to Telluride (from YouTube):

The film is distributed by Good Deed Entertainment is set to be released on Sept. 22.

Here's a story about the film and trailer release from Alex Billington/FirstShowing.net.

Also up with a trailer last week was Simon Curtis' Goodbye Christopher Robin (from YouTube):

The film focuses on the life of A.A. Milne, the creator of Winnie the Pooh.  The film is from Fox Searchlight and is set for an Oct. 13 release.

One note here, though.  I'm firm in my belief that Fox Searchlight already has Battle of the Sexes and The Shape of Water playing in Colorado and the chances of them playing three films there are smallish.

The Playlist covered the release of the trailer.

NEW YORK REVEALS TOMORROW

The New York Film Festival/Film Society of Lincoln Center are scheduled to reveal their main slate films tomorrow.  We already know that the fest will open with Richard Linklater's Last Flag Flying as a World Premiere and will close with Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel also as a World Premiere.  Their centerpiece film is Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck which they label a New York Premiere...one of the things that fueled my belief that it would be heading to Telluride.

Past that, it's all speculation for NYFF.  Just like announcements from Toronto, the NYFF reveal tomorrow will include premiere designations which can give us clues about other possible films headed to wither Telluride of TIFF.

Last year the NYFF announcement allowed me to claim that Fire at Sea, Graduation and Moonlight would play TFF #43 and confirmed Neruda, Manchester by the Sea, Things to Come and Toni Erdmann.

It also allowed us to eliminate form TFF #43 consideration: Aquarius, I, Daniel Blake, Sieranevada, Staying Vertical and The Unknown Girl.

TFF and NYFF share titles fairly commonly.  A look at the past few years and the number of films that played both TFF and NYFF:

2016- 11

2015- 4

2014- 11

2013- 12

2012- 9

So, we'll almost certainly find out some useful information tomorrow.

That's your Monday MTFB...more tomorrow.

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The Distributors: Fox Searchlight / The Telluride History Book: TFF #24 / Travernier's Trailer

THE DISTRIBUTORS: FOX SEARCHLIGHT

Today's look at past T-ride distribution outfits is Fox Searchlight.  I've tracked their presence there since 2004.  You'll note that FS missed having any film at TFF in 2009, 2012 and 2016.


2015: He Named Me Malala
2014: Birman, Wild
2013: 12 Years a Slave
2011: Shame, The Descendants
2010: Never Let Me Go, 127 Hours, Black Swan
2008: Slumdog Millionaire
2007: Juno, The Savages
2006: The Last King of Scotland, The Namesake
2005: Bee Season
2004: Kinsey

The math here tells us that Fox Searchlight averages 1.2 films per year at Telluride.

This year, they appear to have as many as four films with at least some potential to lay the festival:

Battle of the Sexes, Goodbye Christopher Robin, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Shape of Water.

Battle of the Sexes is directed by the team of  Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (the team behind Little Miss Sunshine) and stars Emma Stone and Steve Carell.  The film is produced, in part, by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Steve Jobs).  The Boyle connection might be enough to give this film the best chance of the four to make the Telluride lineup.  Chances: 55%.  Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Goodbye Christopher Robin is directed by Simon Curtis and stars Domhnall Gleeson and Margot Robbie.  Beyond those basics, the trailer makes it seem very similar to Finding Neverland which played Telluride in 2004 and went on to one Oscar win and an additional six nominations.  Chances: 45%.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is written and directed by Martin McDonagh of In Bruges fame.  It looks (again based on its trailer) as if it is a serious awards vehicle for Francis McDormand. Chances: 40%.

Here's the link to the Red Band trailer for Three Billboards...and it earns its Red Band...


The Shape of Water is co-written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro and stars Doug Jones and Sally Hawkins.  Del Toro could return to Telluride for the first time since playing his The Devil's Backbone there in  2001 making him the only director in this group who has had a film previously make the lineup.  Chances: 35%.



THE TELLURIDE FILM FEST HISTORY BOOK: TFF #24

Here's another installment of my reach back in time to document the history of the Telluride Film Festival.  Today, the 24th TFF.  TFF #24 ran from Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 1997

Guest Director: Peter von Bagh

Tributes: Neil Jordan, Horton Foote, Alexander Sukurov

Special Medallion: Milos Stehlik

SHOWS:

Affliction
Alone
The Butcher's Boy
Can Memory Be Dissolved in Evian Water
Capitaine Conan
Caught
Classe Tout Risk
Eve's Bayou
Fast, Cheap and Put of Control
The Girl and the Hyacinths
Gummo
Lea
Letter from and Unknown Woman
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
Love and Death on Long Island
Ma Vie En Rose
Madame De
Men with Guns
Mother and Son
The Narrow Margin
Perfect Circle
Rothchild's Violin
Simoom
Steamboat Bill Jr.
The Sweet Hereafter
Taste of Cherry
Two Girls and a Guy
U-Turn
Unmade Beds
The White Reindeer
Who the Hell Is Juliette?

Guests:

Russell Banks
Powers Boothe
James Coburn
Vondie Curtis-Hall
Robert Downey, Jr.
Atom Egoyan
Richard Fleischer
Horton Foote
Werner Herzog
Mary Beth Hurt
Neil Jordan
Abbas Kiarostami
Gary Larson
Kasi Lemmons
Jennifer Lopez
Errol Morris
Joshua Oppenheimer
John Sayles
Paul Schrader
Alexander Sukurov
Oliver Stone
Bertrand Travernier
Billy Bob Thornton
James Toback
Haskell Wexler

Notes; Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers) shows his first feature at Telluride-Gummo and Joshua Oppenheimer makes his first Telluride appearance (The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence) with The Entire Story of the Louisiana Purchase.


TRAVERNIER'S FRENCH FILM EXTRAVAGANZA GETS A TRAILER

You may have caught Bertrand Tavernier's Journey Through French Cinema at TFF #43 last fall.  The film just played the Seattle Film Fest and is set to open in the U.K. in September, you can re-visit it to a degree as The Film Stage revealed the release of a trailer this past weekend.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

And here's the link to the story from The Film Stage.

That's a wrap for this Tuesday.  More to come on Thursday.

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The Distributors: Sony Pictures Classics / Trailer for Goodbye Christopher Robin

Welcome to Friday everyone...leaving La La Land today to head back to Casa Patterson...

THE DISTRIBUTORS: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

As I wrote yesterday, I'm beginning the annual summer assessment of film distribution companies as a way to try to read the Telluride tea leaves.

I tend to begin this each summer with Sony Pictures Classics because, certainly in my time as an attendee, no other distributor has had as strong and continuous presence at TFF than SPC.  As I reminded everyone yesterday, here is the legacy of SPC over the past several years:

2016: The Eagle Huntress, Maudie, Norman, Toni Erdmann (4)
2015: Son of Saul (1)
2014: Foxcatcher, Leviathan, Red Army, Mr. Turner, Wild Tales, Salt of the Earth and Merchants of Doubt (7)
2013: The Invisible Woman, The Lunchbox, The Past, Tim's Vermeer and Jodorowsky's Dune (5)
2012: The Gatekeepers, At Any Price, Rust and Bone, No, Wadjda, Amour (6)
2011: A Dangerous Method, In Darkness, Footnote, A Separation (4)
2010: Incendies, Of Gods and Men, Tamara Drewe, Another Year, The Illusionist, Inside Job (6)
2009: The Last Station, The White Ribbon, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, An Education (5)
2008: Waltz with Bashir, I've Loved You So Long, O'Horten (3)
2007: Brick Lane, When Did You Last See Your Father, Persepolis, The Band's Visit, The Counterfeiters, Steep! (6)
2006: Jindabyne, The Lives of Others, Volver, The Italian (4)
2005: Breakfast on Pluto, Capote, Cache, The Child (4)
2004: Being Julia, House of Flying Daggers, Bad Education, Merchant of Venice, Up and Down, Yes (6)
2003: The Fog of War, My Life Without Me, The Triplets of Belleville, Young Adam (4)


SPC averages 4-5 films per year at the fest. Looking at the films that are listed as under the SPC umbrella at IMDb...here's a thought or two about those SPC films:

Initially, I'm not gong to assess films from SPC that played Sundance but are not yet in release (ex: Call Me By Your Name, Novitiate) due to Telluride's "first North American showing" policy but I will have a note about that below.  That leaves eight films to evaluate.

In order of TFF likelihood (at least for right now):

1) Loveless/Zvyagnistev.  The factors:  Played Cannes were it won awards and was well reviewed (88 Metascore).  Zvyagnistev played T-ride in '14 with Leviathan.  Chances: 80%.

2) A Fantastic Woman/Lelio.  The factors: Played Berlin where it won awards and was really well reviewed (96 Metascore).  Lelio played T-ride in '13 with Gloria.  Chances: 75%.

3) The Rider/Zhao.  The factors: An SPC purchase at Cannes after a very good play in the Director's Fortnight (86 Metascore).  Despite a young director and a cast of unprofessional actors, this is a film that I just have a gut instinct about in as far as TFF is concerned.  Chances: 60%.

4) Happy End/Haneke.  The factors:  Despite some critical disgruntlement, the film has a respectable Metascore (78) and Haneke's history is very strong with TFF (Amour, The White Ribbon , Cache). Chances: 55%.

After those four, the SPC slate seems a bit murkier as far as predicting films with a possible Telluride fest play.

5) Final Portrait/Tucci.  The factors: The biopic about artist Alberto Giacometti stars Geoffrey Rush (who was in T-ride in '10 with The King's Speech).  Stanley Tucci wrote and directed the film which played Berlin.  That plus a good Metascore (76) give it the #5 spot.  Chances: 40%.

6) The Silent Man/Landesman.  The factors: Liam Neeson stars as Mark Felt, the Deep Throat of Watergate fame.  It hasn't played festivals to this point.  If TFF is looking to program a film that "feels" reflective of the current environment in Washington; this could be a way to do that.  Chances: 25%

7) The Leisure Seeker/Virzi.  The factors: Like Silent Man, The Leisure Seeker has not played at a fest as yet.  It stars Helen Mirren (The Last Station '09) and Donald Sutherland.  Chances: 20%

Note about The Silent Man and The Leisure Seeker.  Though neither has played a festival, neither did SPC films Norman nor Maudie last year...so don't count either film out.

8) Based on a True Story/Polanski.  The factors:  The film was not reviewed well following its Cannes play (Metascore 43) and Polanski's inability to accompany the film to the U.S.  makes it the least likely of the eight SPC films listed here.  Chances: 5%.

One final note:  Although I doubt that Telluride plays another Sundance film this year, it's not impossible.  Last year both Manchester by the Sea and The Eagle Huntress played Sundance first and there was a lot of buzz that Birth of a Nation might make the same journey until the film got mired in director Nate Parker's controversy.  Sooo...2% chances for Call Me By Your Name and Novitiate.


Monday's look will be The Weinstein Company.


TRAILER FOR GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN

If you didn't see it yesterday, Fox Searchlight dropped a trailer for Simon Curtis' Goodbye Christopher Robin starring Domnhall Gleeson as Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne.  Margot Robbie co-stars as his wife.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

The scenes look lovely and obviously, Fox Searchlight, which has dated the film for an Oct. 13th release, thinks it has an awards player on its hands.

Could it play Telluride?  I'll be assessing its chances as I look at the FS slate next week.

Here's additional coverage of the releases of the trailer from:

Indiewire

The Playlist

The Film Stage

FirstShowing


Come back on Monday...


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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