Guest Director...What's Up?/Hollywood Elsewhere Adds Fuel/15 Films Looking For a Home/Harvey's Dilemma

Good Monday Everyone...

GUEST DIRECTOR...WHAT UP?

I'm having a hard time believing we still don't know the Guest Director for this year's Telluride Film Festival. I've offered up a couple of theories over these past few months.  Initially I thought it might be "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner who was reportedly a guest at TFF's Hollywood party back in June.  (Check out my June 12th post).  No announcement came, however.

Then I got it into my head that the Fest might be holding off to make a BIG announcement during the week of Venice/Toronto festival lineup announcements.  Along with that, I suggested the notion that the Guest Director might be someone that has an immense popular profile.  I confess, I was thinking crazy BIG names and I also suggested that the person might come from music or politics.  Names like Jagger and Clinton were in my head.

Didn't happen.

Now, I'm completely mystified.

And if you're having trouble with the Guest Director spot TFF, I have further suggestions:

1) Werner Herzog...you know he'll be there.  He's got a new theater named in his honor.

2) Have 6 of them...I'll bet you have at least 6 past Guest Directors in attendance.  Have each of them select one film from the list they originally programmed.   Or cross-pollinate them...have an Alexander Payne program one film from Errol Morris' original list.

Here's the last of all past directors:

1988- Donald Richie

1989- Errol Morris

1990- Bertrand Tavernier

1991- Laurie Anderson

1992- G. Cabrera Infante

1993- John Boorman

1994- John Simon

1995- Phillip Lopate

1996- B. Ruby Rich

1997- Peter Von Bagh

1998- Peter Bogdanovich

1999- Peter Sellars

2000- Edgardo Coranzinsky

2001- Salman Rushdie

2002- Alberto Barbera

2003- Stephen Sondheim

2004- Buck Henry

2005- Don Delillo

2006- J. P. Gorin

2007- Edith Kramer

2008- Slavoj Zizek

2009- Alexander Payne

2010- Michael Ondaatje

2011- Cataneo Veloso

2012- Geoff Dyer

I have to believe that Morris, Tavernier, Sellars, Rushdie, Payne and maybe Bogdanovich, Henry and Boorman will be in town.  

Idea #3- Pick me, I'll do it.  Nobody will see that coming.

HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE ADDS FUEL TO THE FIRE

Overnight, Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere posted his musings on three films that appear to be avoiding the Toronto International Film Festival but that he says are all but certain Telluride fare.  The films: Alexander Payne's "Nebraska", The Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" and J.C. Chandor's "All is Lost".

On its face the post is an interesting look a what Wells thinks may be going in vis-a-vis film programming and Toronto.  For my purposes, it just adds fuel to the fire that the three films play Telluride.

"Nebraska" isn't a surprise.  I've had it at #1 on the "Ten Bets" list all summer.

For "Inside Llewyn Davis" it's another validation of its place on the "Ten Bets" list. As a matter of fact, it might be solid enough now to move up the list a bit this week.

As for "All is Lost", you know if you've been following this space this last couple of weeks that it has been gaining some steam as a possible/probable Telluride selection.  I wouldn't be surprised if it appears somewhere on this week's "Ten Bets" list.

Here's the link to the Wells post:
http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2013/08/three-toronto-no-shows/

15 FILMS LOOKING FOR A HOME

I'm re-posting this from Saturday.

HitFix/InContention posted an interesting story yesterday that took a look at 15 films that are still looking for distribution but are playing a major fest and are also thought to have some awards potential.  The article also points at some of the 15 that they feel might make the Telluride lineup. Those films are:

Attila Marcel (dir. Sylvain Chomet)
Joe (dir. David Gordon Green)
The Railway Man (dir. Jonathan Teplitzky)
Serena (dir. Susanne Bier)

There are three other films among the 15 that they don’t tag with the “maybe Telluride” label that I would continue to include as outside possibilities:

Terry Gilliam’s “The Zero Theorem”
Kelly Reichardt’s “Night Moves” and
Matthew Weiner’s “You Are Here”.

Check they entire gallery with commentary at:
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/15-potential-awards-players-still-looking-for-a-home

HARVEY'S DILEMMA

We'll almost certainly see some film(s) from The Weinstein Company in three or so weeks.  Leading the pack, my guess is, James Gray's "The Immigrant" starring Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Renner and Joaquin Phoenix.  

TWC, however, has a bunch of other possible films that are floating about that are both Telluride possibles and awards-possibles as well:

"August: Osage County"

"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"

"Philomena"

"Grace of Monaco"

"Snowpiercer"

"One Chance"

"Salinger"

"The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet"

Then there are films that aren't T-ride possibles from TWC that might figure into the awards mix as well, such as Sundance favorite "Fruitvale Station" and next week's release "Lee Daniels: The Butler".

There's lot of product there.  The Hollywood Reporter's Gregg Kilday took a look at all the TWC slate as we approach fall festival season:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-harvey-weinsteins-crowded-awards-595737

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More on Tuesday...

Big Noise at Cannes

Cannes has its first true critical darling in Michael Hazanavicius' nearly silent film "The Artist."  Reviews are borderline ecstatic coming from France this morning.  Critics are falling all over the themselves to endorse the black and white film as a potential front runner for the Palme D'Or and for Oscar consideration later this year.  "The Artist" is yet another film under The Weinstein Company banner. 

Which raises the question..."Why haven't you mentioned it as a Telluride film possibility earlier, Michael?"
Good question.  Answer:  "The Artist" was a late ( and I mean really late addition) to the competition slate at Cannes.  It was originally scheduled as a part of the "out of competition" offerings of the Cannes' program, but festival managing director Thierry Frémaux added it to the competition category on May 4, just one week prior to the opening of the festival.  So, I just wasn't convinced that it would be a player and that perhaps that Fremaux was merely filling out the competition schedule.  Looks like I was wrong. 

All that being said, it would appear that "The Artist" is now a real contender for inclusion in Telluride's program for 2011.  If Harvey Weinstein wants to push it as a foreign film contender (and most pundits this morning are saying just that) then Telluride would be an excellent part of that strategy.  Additionally, if the critics are to be believed, you have to think that Luddy, Meyer, Huntsinger and crew would want it for the TFF #38 program. 

So put "The Artist" on the Telluride watch list.  It's IMDB page link is here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655442/

You can read Dave Karger's story about its Cannes reception at EW.com here:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/05/15/cannes-film-festival-harvey-weinstein-artist-silent-movie-oscars/

Also from Cannes...fairly good reaction to the Dardenne Brothers "The Kid with a Bike."  Good enough so that it will also continue on your list of Telluride possibles.

You can check the critical scoreboard through early this morning at this link to Ioncinema (which doesn't yet include a score for "The Artist.")...http://networkedblogs.com/hSHDc

You will see their that, up to now, the best response has been for "We Have to Talk About Kevin."  With Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris' and The Dardenne's "The Kid with a Bike" close behind.  You'll also notice that no film has yet cleared a collective 3 of 4 stars.  "The Artist" may be the first.

Cannes:Three Days In

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady"

Word out of Cannes today from Anne Thompson and others is that The Weinstein Company has acquired the US rights to "The Iron Lady."  That's the Margaret Thatcher story starring Meryl Streep.  Many think that Streep will earn yet another Oscar nomination for this or for "August: Osage County."

The addition of the Weinstein's to the party and Thompson's speculation that Harvey Weinstein wants to position the film for potential Oscar consideration make us think that we had better put it on our list of Telluride film possibles.  Thompson's post is here: http://bit.ly/le0IVy

Meanwhile, Ioncinema, the Indie/foreign film website, has put up a critic's scoreboard for films that are in competition at Cannes.  You can find it at: http://www.ioncinema.com/images/cannes2011/day1.pdf

Early on and no film is firing the critic's up...