New Oscar Looks/Separation News/Dangerous Pix/On Film Festivals

Hello on a Monday!

OSCAR LOOKS

The Oscar and awards season continues to slowly roll downhill and pick up momentum.  Scott Feinberg, newly of The Hollywood Reporter has his latest forecast up.  You can look at it here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/feinberg-forecast-carnage-divides-extremely-242943

Rope of Silicon also has some Oscar tea leaf reading and suggests that the reception for Clint Eastwood's "J. Edgar" may not be as warm as many have thought.  The ROS story is here:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/bad-buzz-clint-eastwoods-j-edgar-begins

SEPARATION NEWS

One of my favorite films at this year's Telluride Film Festival was the Iranian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.  "A Separation" continues to generate good buzz and positive reactions as it has moved through Toronto and beyond.  

You can find a couple of good stories about it and its recent continued success at The Daily Mubi here:

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/nyff-2011-asghar-farhadis-a-separation

And also from Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere here:

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2011/09/continuing_sepa.php

DANGEROUS PIX

One of the more polarizing films to emerge from the 38th TFF was  David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method".  Despite some tepid and even negative reviews, the film and its actors are still getting some play in as far as awards season consideration is concerned.  Personally, I'm in  the "didn't live up to expectations" camp and am very dubious about its awards possibilities.  That being said, Rope of Silicon has a large gallery of pictures from the film featuring potential Best Actress or Supporting Actress nominee Keira Knightley.  Check the story and photos here:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/faces-keira-knightley-22-pictures-a-dangerous-method

FILM FESTIVALS AND WHAT THEY MEAN

And finally, an interesting look at the film festival season from the New York Times this past week that includes some of the films and commentary that is specific to Telluride.  Review that article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/movies/a-o-scott-and-manohla-dargis-on-film-festivals.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimesmovies&seid=auto

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More on Thursday!

I'm Official/Three More Off the Books/More Kevin/Posters

Well...some waiting is done (see below)...other waiting...still waiting

I'M OFFICIAL

I received word yesterday that the blog has been fully accredited as a member of the press for the 38th Telluride Film Festival. 

I am truly very excited and simultaneously kind of freaked out.  In reality, I'm not entirely sure what it will ultimately mean.  It's my hope that the designation will allow me to have access to the guests at the festival.  Just don't know.  I am going to reach out to a couple of real journos who have experience at Telluride and see if I can get some guidance from them.

I do know two things:  I have to attend press orientation on Friday Sept. 2 and I get a yellow colored lanyard to wear my pass on (also a red one which is normal for my pass level).  "Yellow" journalism?  Subtext?  Hmmm?

Anyway, a giant thank you to the fest for the credential.  Also thanks to Mitzi and Larry Mallard who make the whole festival experience possible (when Telluride stay at The River Club, it's the best!) and the biggest thank you to my wife and kids who indulge this obsession.

THREE MORE FILMS EXIT STAGE LEFT

No Dev Patel or "Marigold Hotel" in Telluride

Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood (at IndieWire) is reporting that Clint Eastwood's "J. Edgar," Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret" and John Madden's "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" will all skip the fall festival scene.

That news ripples in terms of Telluride in a couple of ways.

Just yesterday I was talking about the possibility that "J. Edgar" might close the New York Film Festival which would mean that "Tinker, Tailor..." was still in the Telluride possible list (and it still is).  Now that Eastwood's film is out of the running for that coveted closing slot, you have to think "Tinker" is a real possibility and so a lesser possibility for Telluride.

As to "Marigold"...We haven't very much about this film.  I have some expectations for it because of the cast (Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire and a million Brits of a certain age including the fantastic Bill Nighy) and director John Madden.  It's also in the Fox Searchlight stable.  But Thompson makes it clear that it won't be playing in T-ride.

Same for "Margaret." 

All tenor of the Thompson piece makes it sound like all three films aren't quite ready to hit the circuit.

Here's the link to the Thompson post:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/08/08/eastwoods_j._edgar_and_searchlights_marigold_hotel_to_skip_fall_fests_twixt

And your IMDb links for...
Exotic Marigold: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1412386/
J. Edgar: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1616195/
Margaret: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466893/

MORE KEVIN

Guy Lodge had a piece up yesterday at Incontention.com about the trailer and poster for Lynne Ramsey's "We Need to Talk About Kevin." 

Lodge saw the film at Cannes and liked it quite a lot.  I have it currently at #5 on my "Ten Bets" list for Telluride and that position is the result of Ioncinema reportage/tweeting during Toronto's announcements.  Lodge's post throws a little gasoline on the fire as he also speculates that "Kevin" could be on the Telluride program.

Here's the link to Lodge's story:
http://incontention.com/2011/08/08/french-trailer-and-poster-for-we-need-to-talk-about-kevin/

And Kevin's IMDb page:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1242460/

POSTERS

The Playlist (at IndieWire) has revealed poster work for two Telluride possibles. 

One, I think, is very, very possible.  Todd Solondz's "Dark Horse" (#10 on this week's Ten Bets). 

The other is David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method" which I had, at one point, all but written off for Telluride, but have reconsidered since Kris Tapley's (Incontention.com) Telluride spec piece that suggests that Sony Pictures Classics may play the film in Telluride as well as its already announced positions at both Toronto and Venice. 

You can find Tapley's guesswork here:
http://incontention.com/2011/07/28/telluride-guessing-game/

You can also peruse The Playlist article here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/cronenbergs_a_dangerous_method_solondzs_dark_horse_gilliams_wholly_family_g/

Dark Horse IMDb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1690455/

Dangerous Method IMDb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1571222/

More as it becomes available...

PS...

Re-reading David Poland's three part Toronto piece at Movie City News and ran across his blurb that Polanski's "Carnage" might still be a possible for Telluride...What???

It's here:
http://moviecitynews.com/2011/08/6-weeks-to-tiff-a-20-weeks-to-oscar-prequel-part-3-of-3/

Tintin Trailer/Fassbender's Jump/Dreaming/Tree of Life

Good Morning Everyone from New Mexico!

We took down Kris' one woman exhibition yesterday in Taos, NM at the fantastic Trading Post Cafe and Gallery.  Eat there.  It's terrific and tell Kimberly hello.  Sounds like Kris will have the opportunity to return with another show in the future so she was very happy after to be invited back after having the series of food still lifes hanging there for 6 weeks.  Good day.

TINTIN TRAILER

This morning The Playlist posted a link to the teaser/trailer to the "other" Steven Spielberg film coming out later this year.  The unwieldy title is :"The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" which sounds kind of goofy.  The film uses motion capture animation and Peter (Lord of the Rings) Jackson is a producer.  The trailer looks very cool, however.  The link to the story and trailer is here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/watch_new_tintin_trailer_looks_like_the_indiana_jones_sequel_we_should_have/

The Tintin IMDb page is here:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2977741056/tt0983193

Now, I don't really think that there's any chance that this will play in Telluride's 38th edition of the SHOW...but it has dominated a lot of discussion about whether it meets the AMPAS standards for being an "animated" film. 

And it looked cooler than I though it would...

FASSBENDER IS FAST

I passed along the information last week that Michael Fassbender (who has a couple of films on the list that could play T-ride this year: "A Dangerous Method" and "Shame) had exited Danny Boyle's 2013 film project "Trance" and that Boyle was looking to snag last year's Telluride tributee and Best Actor Oscar winner Colin Firth for that role.  Now comes word, also via The Playlist, that Fassbender has moved into another commitment.  He's now expected to be in Brandon Gleeson's directorial debut entitled "At Swim-Two-Birds."  You gotta love the title.

The Playlist story is linked here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/michael_fassbender_joins_brendon_gleesons_at-swim-two-birds/

DREAM SLATE

So what films that DO have a chance at playing Telluride this year would make my "dream" slate of films?  What am I just really hoping will be there?

Three films that have excellent prospects to be a part of the fest that I am definitely looking forward to and that would be on that "dream list" are Alexander Payne's "The Descendants," Jason Reitman's "Young Adult" and Michael Hazanavicius' "The Artist".

Films whose prospects are sketchy that I would love to see on the SHOW list are: Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut of Shakespeare's rarely performed "Coriolanus," George Clooney's sophomore directing gig "The Ides of March"  and David Cronnenberg's "A Dangerous Method."

Then there are four big Oscar baity type films that have almost 0% chance to be in Telluride, but it would be cool if any of them made a bow there:

Leo DiCaprio on the set of "J. Edgar"

Eastwood's "J. Edgar"

Spielberg's "War Horse"
Scorsese's "Hugo"
and Stephen Daldry's "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

What about you?  What films are YOU looking forward to as we rush headlong into awards season?

TREE OF LIFE

Finally saw Terrence Malick's  Palme D'Or winner last night.  Still processing it.  My initial impression is that the Cannes jury was probably right.

Have a great Monday everyone!