Toronto Part Two / Categorical Weirdness / Tapley Lands at Variety / The Continuing "Jane Got a Gun" Saga

Welcome to Tuesday Everyone.

TORONTO PART TWO

I am expecting the second wave of announcements of films that will play the Toronto International Film Festival to come later today.  I believe that they are announcing Canadian films as a part of a specific program of films for that fest.

Whatever is announced, check back here for analysis about the TIFF choices and revelations and what they tell us about Telluride's possible lineup choices.

Which leads to this next thing...

CATEGORICAL WEIRDNESS

If you read this space with frequency and certainly in the last week since TIFF's announced first wave of films, then you know that there has been some oddity regarding how the film "Spotlight" has been categorized.  Reportedly tabbed as a Canadian premiere in some places and International in others plus some confusion in as far as what TIFF views as an International premiere.  That has led to a number of outlets concluding that "Spotlight" could well be playing Telluride.

Now, this added weirdness at least a couple of  sources reported yesterday that Julie Delpy's "Lolo" will premiere in Venice even though the TIFF website claims their screening is its World premiere.

Here's "Lolo's" page at the TIFF website:

http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/galapresentations/lolo


Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter and tell us that the film will premiere as a part of the Venice Days program during the Venice Fest.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/julie-delpy-lolo-premiere-venice-812666

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/watch-julie-delpy-writes-directs-and-stars-in-venice-premiere-lolo-20150803

Obviously, the film can't World Premiere twice and in two different places.  So, what gives?

My takeaway from this is that these film fests still haven't gotten all the kinks and communication worked out regarding any particular film's premiere status and that all of us who are trying to read these particular tea leaves would do well to remember that.

PS...in my fevered dementia surrounding the Toronto and Venice announcements last week, I even developed a theory that would allow "Spotlight" to play all three fests, including Telluride, and still be properly labeled an "International" premiere in what seems to be the most commonly accepted definition of the term.  Don't ask.  It's really almost impossible.

TAPLEY LANDS AT VARIETY

I'm really happy to pass on this note that Kristopher Tapley and his InContention awards coverage has landed at Variety.com.  Tapley, who has been kind enough to provide film ratings each year as a part of MTFB's "Telluride Professionals" and has also been a source that I have accessed for The Film Awards Clearinghouse portion of this blog, will be joining the venerable entertainment publication on Aug. 24th and will be back in Telluride providing Variety's coverage.

Tapley's InContention and HitFix.com had been together since 2011 but came to a parting of ways at the end of June.

It will be good to have Kris' voice back online (and in Variety's print edition as well) very, very soon.
Congratulations, Mr. Tapley!

Coverage is here:

http://variety.com/2015/biz/awards/kris-kristopher-tapley-joins-variety-in-contention-1201555437/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/variety-adds-kris-tapley-to-awards-coverage-20150803

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2015/08/kris-tapley-lands-at-variety/


THE CONTINUING "JANE GOT A GUN" SAGA

"Jane Got a Gun" First Look from Movieclips and YouTube

If you've read this blog for some time, you know that I have often included stories about Gavin O'Conner's "Jane Got a Gun" which has been beleaguered to say the least.  It's struggle continued this week as half of its distributor plan- Relativity Media-declared bankruptcy.

The film had changes in director and cast and now this.  Vanity Fair posted a story of where this film is here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/07/natalie-portman-jane-got-a-gun-delay


Will the film make it to its Sept. 4 release date or get pushed to 2016?


That's all for now.  Check back later today and tomorrow for news about the most recent announcements from Toronto.


Please feel free to leave a comment or question here at the blog.

Email me at michael_speech@hotmail.com or mpgort@gmail.com

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Distribution: The Weinstein Company/Fassbender Takes on The Dude/First International Trailer for "The Club"

It's Wednesday people...getting marginally closer to Labor Day weekend.


We continue our look at film distributors with Telluride track records...



DISTRIBUTION: FREQUENT DISTRIBS AT TELLURIDE: THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

Tracking the Weinsteins as distributors at Telluride for the past decade shows us that they've been a part of The SHOW for a good long while.  Here's their Telluride slate as Miramax or The Weinstein Company or Radius-TWC since 2006:


2006: Venus
2007: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, My Enemy's Enemy, I'm Not There
2008: Happy-Go-Lucky
2009: The Road
2010: The King's Speech
2011: The Artist, Butter
2012: The Sapphires  (also was represented during the Marion Cotillard tribute by James Gray and 5 min. of The Immigrant)
2013: The Unknown Known, Salinger, Tracks
2014: The Imitation Game", "Escobar: Paradise Lost"

15 films in nine years.  That's an average of 1.7 films per year with at least one film every year of the nine.  Also, they had a great back-to-back Telluride run in 2010 and 2011 with ultimate Oscar Best Picture winners "The King's Speech" and "The Artist" playing in Telluride.  Last year's "The Imitation Game" was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won for Graham Moore's adapted screenplay.

So, what might we see from TWC in eight weeks time?

They have Todd Haynes "Carol" which wowed at Cannes as well as Justin Kurzel's "Macbeth" which also played in competition at Cannes and received excellent notices for stars Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender.  Additionally, Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight", "John Wells' "Adam Jones".

Radius-TWC doesn't currently list any project on IMDb that would be Telluride ready.

So where does that leave us?

I think "Carol" is a pretty solid guess for Telluride.  "Macbeth" is also a real possibility.  Everything is else is less so.  "Hateful" is not likely to be ready.  "Adam Jones" doesn't seem, to me anyway, to have the gravitas for T-ride.

Chances with current "Ten Bets" status listed in parenthesis where applicable:

"Carol" 75% (#3)
"Macbeth" 55%
"The Hateful Eight" 25%
"Adam Jones" 25%

Tomorrow a look at Sundance Selects/IFC FIlms.


FASSBENDER TAKES ON THE DUDE

For a while now, Telluride favorite Jason Reitman has staged live reads of various films.  He's mostly done it in L.A. but has occasionally ventured to other places.  In the past few days we have learned that he will stage a live read of the Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski" in Montreal for a comedy festival there on July 24th.

And we know now who will be reading "the Dude", none other than Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender.  Patton Oswalt has also been announced as Walter Sobchak, the John Goodman role with other roles/actors to be announced.

Also, we learned via The Playlist (story below) that Fassbender was up for and auditioned for the title role in the Coen's 2013 Telluride-selected "Inside Llewyn Davis".  That would have been interesting, though, as bog a fan as I am of Fassbender's work, and I am a huge fan, I can't imagine the role in any other hands but those of Oscar Isaac.


http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/michael-fassbender-will-play-the-dude-in-jason-reitmans-live-read-of-the-big-lebowski-20150707

FIRST INTERNATIONAL TRAILER FOR "THE CLUB"

Pablo Larrain's "The Club" won the Silver Bear at Berlin in February and that combined with Larrain's play at Telluride in 2012 with "No" (he was also a producer for 2013's "Gloria") makes me think we should consider it as a potential lineup choice for TFF #42.

Additionally, U.S. distribution is in the hands of Music Box Films which has a small but notable Telluride resume including Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film "Ida" and "Fifi Howls from Happiness" in 2013 and "The Story of Film" in 2011.

"The Club" deals with secrets in the Catholic Church in South America.

The Playlist covered the release of the film's international trailer yesterday and the story and the trailer are here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-international-trailer-for-pablo-larrains-berlin-film-festival-award-winning-the-club-20150707


That's all for today...more on Thursday...

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HitFix Says Some of What I Say/Countdown to Cannes with Jake/Jane Got a Gun and Left for 2015

Welcome to Monday!

HITFIX SAYS SOME OF WHAT I SAY

Guy Lodge of HitFix posted an article this week about the lineup of films that Sony Pictures Classics has set to play at Cannes next month.  They have several films in play. Titles: "Foxcatcher", "Mr. Turner", "Coming Home", "Whiplash" and "Red Army".  Lodge includes this couple of sentences near the end of the post which sounds like I might have written it for this space:

"So, a strong start for Sony Classics -- and we don't even know what else they might acquire at the festival. Expect most of these titles to surface again in Telluride, where the studio has a strong history of taking their showcase titles, and beyond. "

You can read the entire post here:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/sony-classics-set-for-a-bumper-year-at-cannes-following-acquisition-of-red-army



COUNTDOWN TO CANNES WITH JAKE

The opening of the Cannes Festival is less than three weeks away now (May 17), and Jake Howell and Movie City News have begun their annual countdown and synopses for the films in competition.  Howell has already highlighted "The Homesman", "The Captive" and "Foxcatcher".  I have linked to all three of those stories below and will try to snag the rest of them for future posts.  Additionally, watch my Twitter feed as I will retweet the links when Jake and MCN tweet them.


"The Homesman":

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/04/countdown-to-cannes-tommy-lee-jones/

"The Captive":

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/04/countdown-to-cannes-atom-egoyan/

"Foxcatcher":

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/04/countdown-to-cannes-bennett-miller/


JANE GOT A GUN AND LEFT FOR 2015

The troubled, and I mean Troubled...film "Jane Got a Gun" has undergone another shift.  The film's release has been pushed back to 2015.  The film has had changes in director and cast members as well.  Check the story at The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/official-jane-got-a-gun-698786

More on Thursday...

Opening the Cannes/Oscar Lessons/Lynne and Jane

Welcome to Thursday...


OPENING THE CANNES

When I get to this point each year, the point at which Oscar season is over and it's time to begin to seriously think about Telluride's future list of films, I focus on three sets of information initially.  The first is the "most anticipated" lists of films that any number of websites and blogs toss out at the start of the calendar year.  The second is the immediate post-Oscar lists of possible Oscar films for the next year.

Both of those sets of info have happened and I've already done a couple of pieces based on that.

The third set of info is the speculation about Cannes titles.  The films chosen for the Cannes film festival have long provided a large number of the titles that make up the program at Telluride each year.  I don't expect this year to be any exception.

Historically, the link between the two fests is very strong.

That being said, Jake Howell has written an excellent analysis of what he thinks, and what historical data show, might be some of the films that could well play Cannes and by extension some films that will have an improved chance of playing at Telluride.

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/02/divining-cannes-2014/

Among what Howell terms "The Likely Suspects" for Cannes emerge these films/directors who, historically, would seem to be the most likely to make the Cannes/Telluride connection for this year:

"Clouds of Sils Maria" from Olivier Assasyas
"Two Days, One Night" from The Dardennes Brothers
"The Search" from Michel Hazanavicius
"Birdman" from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
"Mr. Turner" from Mike Leigh
"Far from the Madding Crowd" from Thomas Vinterberg
"Every Thing Will Be Fine" from Wim Wenders

There are other possibilities, but these seem the most likely.  Check out Howell's post.

OSCAR LESSONS

HitFix's Gregory Ellwood ventured into post-Oscar analysis mode this week with this post from Monday:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/exhale-lessons-from-the-2013-2014-oscars-season

Most notable from my perspective is this paragraph from that post:

Stop whining, Toronto: Telluride is the kingmaker
The powers that be at the Venice and Toronto film festivals hate it, but there is no argument anymore.  If you're not able to screen your film at the Telluride Film Festival (and preferably before it goes to Toronto) you're not a serious player to win best picture. Five of the last six Best Picture winners all had either their world premiere, er, "sneak preview," at the Colorado festival, or, in the case of "The Artist," its North American debut. In that same time frame, "Black Swan," "127 Hours," "Gravity," and "The Descendants" also made Telluride their first (or almost first) stop. Now, those films are all from The Weinstein Company, Fox Searchlight and Warner Bros. The three companies who have won the last four Best Picture Oscars. Guess they realize it too, huh?

Here's hoping that Ellwood has a good bead on why films and film makers with an interest in awards season should look closely at attempting to get on the Telluride program in light of Toronto's newly established criteria for screening films that might want to play both places.


LYNNE AND JANE

Over the past year I have posted a considerable number of times concerning the travails of "Jane Got a Gun".  The project was originally under the direction of Lynne Ramsay but that changed as did a number of the cast members.  Now comes word from Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood that Ramsay and the film's producers have reached a settlement in the dispute surrounding her participation.  That story is here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/natalie-portman-lynne-ramsay-team-for-western-jane-got-a-gun

More on Monday...

Telluride #40 and Oscar #86/Independent Spirt and Telluride/No Longer Coming Attraction/Tim's Producer/Oscar Talks Llewyn

Good Thanksgiving Thursday to Everyone...I'm thankful for all of you that occasionally read this space.  Reporting today from the Rio Grande Art and Craft Show in Albuquerque, NM.  The CEO and I are here until Sunday slinging art for The People!

TELLURIDE #40 AND OSCAR #86

With today's post I'm going to start to try to take a look at a more comprehensive view of how this year's Telluride Festival will affect the Oscar nominations.  To do this, I'll be focusing on the comprehensive predictions from some of the Oscarologists that I frequently study beginning today with the InContention potion of the HitFix website.  InContention is edited by Kristopher Tapley.

What I've done is collected the predictions from InContention for every film that played at Telluride this year (and actually 4 from TFF #39).  Here's what Kris and the InContention crew are currently predicting:

11 nominations (and the most for) Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave": Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Production Design and Costume.

10 nominations for Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity": Best Picture, Director, Actress, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects.

6 nominations for The Coen Brothers "Inside Llewyn Davis": Best Picture, Director(s), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design and Sound Mixing.

5 nominations for Alexander Payne's "Nebraska": Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay.

3 nominations for "All is :Lost": Best Actor, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

And single nominations for "The Invisible Woman": Costume, "Tim's Vermeer": Documentary, "The Wind Rises": Animated Feature and "Gloria": Foreign Language Film.

That's a total of 39 nominations!  Additionally, four TFF #39 films are included in InContention predictions.  This doesn't include the possibility of some other nominations in the "Shorts" categories.

"The Hunt" and "Wadjda" for Foreign Language Film and "Stories We Tell" and "The Act of Killing" for Documentary.

I'll take a look at Awards Daily's predictions in the next post.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AND TELLURIDE

The Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced on Tuesday and Telluride's 40th edition was overwhelmingly represented (TFF #39 was repped too).  In all, TFF #40 films were nominated 22 times.  Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" led the onslaught with seven nominations: Best Feature, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Screenplay and Cinematography.

Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" was a close second with six nominations: Feature, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, First Screenplay.

Other Telluride 40 films that were nominated on Tuesday included "All is Lost": Feature, Actor, Director, Cinematography.  Also "Inside Llewyn Davis": Feature, Actor and Cinematography.

Also TFF #40 nominated films were "Blue is the Warmest Color" and "Gloria" for Best International Film.

TFF #39 films landing Spirit nominations included Noah Baumbach's "Frances Ha" for Best Feature and Editing.  "The Hunt" was nominated for Best International Feature.  "The Act of Killing" was nominated for Best Documentary.  "Wadjda" was nominated for Best First Feature.

I'm personally pleased at the triumph of both "12 Years" and "Nebraska".  I'm also pleased that Oscar Isaac got some love as Best Male Lead for "Inside Llewyn Davis".  I'm also glad that "All is Lost" was nominated for more than Redford's incredible performance and that "Frances Ha" got some mention...though I would have liked to see it in the Best Actress and Screenplay categories as well.


NO LONGER COMING ATTRACTION

For months now I have been passing along the troubled story of "Jane Got a Gun".  Initially I had it on my radar as a potential Telluride film for TFF #41 because The Weinstein Company was involved and it was originally being directed by Lynne Ramsay who has directed films that have played TFF before.  Then, as the film began to have increasing difficulties with the director and then casting, I just got a little obsessive.

Now, it looks like you can wipe it off the possible Telluride list as the announcement came this week that "Jane" was going to open prior to the Telluride Festival.  The Dissolve, among others, reported that it has been set for an Aug. 29, 2014 release date (which, if I have it right, is the opening day for TFF #41) so it seems you can strike "Jane Got a Gun" from your TFF #41 watch list.

Here's the link to the post from The Dissolve:

http://thedissolve.com/news/989-the-troubled-jane-got-a-gun-set-for-release-next-a/


TIM'S PRODUCER

Telluride favorite and likely Best Documentary Oscar nominee "Tim's Vermeer" producer Farley Ziegler recently talked to IndieWire about the process of tuning months worth of filming into an 80 minute film:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/watch-how-tims-vermeer-filmmakers-determined-a-runtime-with-2400-hours-of-footage


OSCAR TALKS LLEWYN

Oscar Isaac who plays Llewyn in the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" sat down with Deadline's Pete Hammond to talk about the film and the music from it:

deadline.com/2013/11/oscar-isaac-inside-llewyn-davis-joel-ethan-coen-oscars/

Also, The Playlist posted the "Please Mr. Kennedy" performance from the film this morning.  I think it's the funniest moment in a film that has, as you'd expect from the Coens, a lot of subversive humor.  Also, it will likely remind some of you of a certain age of Larry Verne's #1 novelty hit "Please Mr. Custer".  I have no doubt that that is no accident. Here's the clip from YouTube:

http://youtu.be/h9dBOi4nTm8




That's all until Monday.  Have a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend and  start to Hanukkah!

Nebraska Blast/Labor Day Pie/Latest Feinberg/Jane Saga Continues/Chiwetel on Record/The Music of Llewyn Davis

God Thursday to Everyone...

NEBRASKA BLAST

A week away from limited release, Nebraska continues to draw a good deal of media attention.  Bruce Dern is definitely a part of the Best Actor Oscar conversation as is the film, actress June Squibb and Bob Nelson's screenplay.

Dern talked to Anne Thompson about the film:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/bruce-dern-tells-hollywood-tales-on-the-nebraska-promo-trail

The Playlist posted a ton of new stills from the film:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/alexander-paynes-nebraska-unloads-a-state-full-of-new-photos-bruce-dern-will-forte-bob-odenkirk-20131103

And distributor Paramount announced that it would play in some cities on a double bill with the Peter Bogdanovich classic "Paper Moon":
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/paramount-plays-up-nebraskas-old-fashioned-charms-with-paper-moon-double-bill

LABOR DAY PIE

The Wrap reported this week that actor Josh Brolin really embraced the pie making that is a central plot point for Jason Reitman's "Labor Day".  That's here:
http://www.thewrap.com/josh-brolin-labor-day-pie-scene-sexiest-movie-ghost

LATEST FEINBERG FORECAST AND GURUS OF GOLD

Feinberg:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/feinberg-forecast-field-is-set-652813

Gurus:
http://moviecitynews.com/2013/11/gurus-o-gold-let-the-games-begin-2/


JANE GOT A GUN...THE SAGA CONTINUES

I couldn't let this pass by.  I've been following the twists and travails of the "Jane Got a Gun" shoot for months and there was new one this week.  The film's producers have filed suit against one time director Lynne Ramsay:
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/jane-got-a-gun-producers-sue-director-lynne-ramsay

CHIWETEL ON RECORD

 
Potential Best Actor nominee and star of Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" continues to be the focus of much attention as the film continues its slow roll out this week (finally in Oklahoma City and Santa Fe tomorrow).  Both IMDb and Gold Derby posted video of him talking about the film this week:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2027857945/

http://www.goldderby.com/news/5003/oscars-12-years-a-slave-chiwetel-ejiofor-interview-entertainment-news-64297518.html

THE MUSIC OF LLEWYN DAVIS

A couple of interesting developments this week concerning the music from the Coen Brothers "Inside Llewyn Davis".  First, NPR's First Listen has posted the entire soundtrack at their website so that you can stream it...I've been doing that all week.  Here's that link:

http://www.npr.org/2013/11/03/242103173/first-listen-soundtrack-inside-llewyn-davis

And Nonesuch Records, the label for the soundtrack released a vinyl version to sell in indy record stores at the "era" price of $5.98.  This is the complete soundtrack (and I've ordered 6 of them... some for Christmas gifts).  Those of us who were able to attend the Patron's Brunch at Telluride this year had already received a 6 song vinyl EP from the soundtrack as a part of the Patron swag.  The CEO also has the CD version on order as a part of my birthday gifts.  Needless to say, I like this soundtrack a lot.  Rolling Stone has the story of the vinyl LP release:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/inside-llewyn-davis-soundtrack-is-now-available-on-vinyl-20131105



More on Monday...Have a great weekend...

Cannes-Telluride Possibilities: The Immigrant and The Past/Joel on Jnae

Good Friday...

From Taos, NM...Mumford was fantastic...

CANNES-TELLURIDE POSSIBILITY: THE IMMIGRANT

Part of The Weinstein Company's sizzle reel presentation at Cannes last month was material from James Gray's "The Immigrant".  The Playlist reported on the footage here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-2013-twc-preview-reel-the-immigrant-showcases-firecracker-phoenix-and-cotillard-but-no-renner-yet-20130517

Sounds good.


CANNES-TELLURIDE POSSIBILITIES: THE PAST

Also making a splash at Cannes was Asghar Farhadi's "The Past" which I  think has a very high Telluride likelihood.  Anthony Kaufman's ReelPolitik recently posted this about the politics of the Iranian film makers work:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/anthony/cannes-front-runner-the-past#

JOEL ON JANE

The "Jane Got a Gun" project is apparently continuing as evidenced by this interview with star Joel Edgerton from IndieWire:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/joel-edgerton-wish-you-were-here-gatsby-jane-got-a-gun-interview#

Cannes Critics Combined/Gray Talks Immigrant/Doc Sportello Surfaces/New Man for Jane

Good Wednesday...

CANNES CRITICS COMBINED

As I did last year, I have combined the critics panels totals from the Ioncinema group and the Screen Daily and produced the following chart which shows surprising agreement between the critics and Steven Spielberg's jury.

Ioncinema compiled 16 critics and Screen Daily had 10 evaluating the competition films at Cannes last week.  I’ve compiled them together to create a master review of the 26 critics.  Here’s what that revealed:

Position/Film/Combined Average Rating (9 would be perfect)/Ion rank/SD Rank/Award

1) Blue is the Warmest Color/La Vie d’Adele                 7.7        (1)       (1)        Palme d’Or

2) Inside Llewyn Davis                                                 7.0       (2t)      (2)        Grand Prix

3) The Past                                                                6.5       (2t)      (3)        Best Actress

4) A Touch of Sin                                                        6.4       (4)        (4)       Screenplay

5/tie) Nebraska                                                           5.9       (na)      (3)        Best Actor

5/tie) Only Lovers Left Alive                                          5.9       (5)        (na)

7/tie) The Great Beauty                                                5.8       (6t)      (7)

7/tie) Venus in Fur                                                       5.8       (8t)      (5t)

9) Behind the Candelabra                                             5.6       (6t)      (8t)

10/tie) Like Father, Like Son                                         5.5       (8t)      (8t)

10/tie) Young and Beautiful                                           5.5       (6t)      (10t)

Close, but no cigar: The Immigrant (5.3)

The Bottom Three:

Only God Forgives (3.7), A Castle in Italy (3.6) and Shield of Straw (3.3)

The two sets of critics were wildly divergent on Nebraska and Only Lovers Left Alive.

As far as Telluride goes, almost everything that finished in the top ten has a shot to play with the probable exceptions of “Inside Llewyn Davis” and “Venus in Fur”.  Of course “Behind the Candelabra” won’t play as it has premiered on HBO already.

GRAY TALKS "THE IMMIGRANT"

I've said with some frequency that I wouldn't be surprised to see James Gray's "The Immigrant" make the list for Telluride 2013.  We got to see a little bit of it last year as a part of the Marion Cotillard tribute and along with it, Mr. Gray himself.  Its inclusion in Cannes certainly doesn't hurt its Telluride chances nor does its distributor-The Weinstein Company.  I kind of wonder if a deal to display "The Immigrant" at T-ride might have been struck last year.  We'll see.

  Gray was recently interviewed by The Playlist.  You can find that here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/james-gray-on-the-immigrant-the-gray-man-the-lost-city-of-z-and-more-20130603

DOC SPORTELLO SURFACES

I promised myself not to get crazy about Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice".  I get the feeling that my obsessions the past two years ("Tree of Life" and "The Master") bordered on the manic and also ended up not playing Telluride, which is supposed to be what this blog focuses on. (though, I'd remind everyone that "Tree" got distribution at Telluride and last year's "Master" saga was pretty entertaining).

Nevertheless, as bits and pieces squeak out concerning Anderson's adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's "Inherent Vice" I can feel the "crazy" starting to build.  So, with apologies...The Playlist has put up what have to among the first images from the film.  The post features Joaquin Phoenix as the lead character-Doc Sportello.  Here it is:

And the post is here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/first-look-at-joaquin-phoenix-oh-inherent-vice-maya-rudolph-joins-the-cast-20130604

NEW MAN FOR JANE

And speaking of obsession..."Jane Got a Gun", the beleaguered film starring Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton has signed a new actor to the cast.  Check The Wrap's story here:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/host-star-boyd-holbrook-joins-jane-got-gun-firms-little-accidents-exclusive-95016

So it seems that the film continues to plug along.

Follow/Like Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse/107846269309712

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

More on Thursday...

Cannes Opens/Nebraska Clip/Frances Ha/Jane's Losing Ammo

Good morning on a Thursday!


CANNES OPENS

As you read this (as of Thursday morning in the States), the Cannes Film Festival is well underway in France.  As I did last year, I'll post collective critical reaction and the Palme d'Or buzz for the two week run of the festival as a way of gauging possible Telluride prospects.

Anyway, here are some Cannes related items from the past few days that may provide some TFF #40 insight:

Eugene Hernandez lists 12 titles that he says have the most buzz prior to Cannes beginning.  A number of these titles have serious Telluride potentialities including: "The Past", "Les Saluds", "The Immigrant" and "Michael Kolhaus".  "Saluds" and "Kolhaus" enter the Telluride conversation for the first time.

Here's Hernandez's full article:

http://www.filmlinc.com/daily/entry/cannes-bling-ring-coppola-llewelyn-davis-coen-behind-candelabra-soderbergh

Meanwhile, another Cannes competition title that will almost certainly play Telluride is Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" which has had coverage pick up as the festival in France as approached.  HitFix included it this week in its Cannes previews and a clip has been released and is linked below from both Rope of Silicon and The Wrap:

HitFix preview:
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/cannes-check-2013-alexander-paynes-nebraska

First clip:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/nebraska-movie-clip-alexander-payne-forte-dern-cannes/


http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/watch-will-forte-and-bruce-dern-bond-over-beers-and-family-secrets-nebraska-clip-video-9

FRANCES HA

Noah Baumbach's "Frances Ha" also continues its roll out (with generally great reviews...as it should be).  An official website is up and running:
http://www.franceshamovie.com/

Meanwhile, The Playlist interviewed Baumbach:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/interview-noah-baumbach-talks-20130514

And The Long Beach Press-Telegram provides this preview of the Baumbach/Greta Gerwig collaboration:
http://www.presstelegram.com/entertainment/ci_23218406/secrets-greta-gerwigs-film-frances-ha-come-out


JANE'S LOSING AMMO?

My continued fascination with the disaster epic that has become "Jane Got a Gun" turned up this story this week from The Hollywood Reporter that suggests that the "money" is now the thing that's walking after director and actors...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-natalie-portmans-troubled-jane-522267

More on Monday...have a great weekend!

Cannes Preview: Nebraska/Pics from Nebraska and Llewyn/Also from The Past, Blood Ties and Jimmy P./Stories We Tell/Jane's New Gun

Good Thursday to you!


CANNES PREVIEWS: NEBRASKA

Cannes is less than a week from opening and a number of film sites continue various previews of the 20 films in competition.  Today I have included links to Movie City News and Thompson on Hollywood's looks at Alexander Payne's Nebraska...again because I would say that there's a very real likelihood that it will be a part of the TFF #40 program:

http://moviecitynews.com/2013/05/countdown-to-cannes-alexander-payne/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/alexander-payne-nebraska-first-look

NEW LOOKS FROM NEBRASKA AND INSIDE LLEWYN

In addition to the Cannes profiles, we got new looks this week from a number of films that are possibles to play both in France this month and in the San Juans over Labor Day.  The Playlist provided a look at both "Nebraska" and The Coen Brothers "Inside Llewyn Davis":

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-new-photos-from-the-coen-brothers-inside-llewyn-davis-alexander-paynes-nebraska-20130507

ALSO LOOKS AT THE PAST, BLOOD TIES AND JIMMY P.

The Playlist also offered up photos from 3 other Cannes films that might be in the Telluride mix: "The Past", "Blood Ties" and "Jimmy P.":

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-new-photos-from-asghar-farhadis-the-past-starring-berenice-bejo-20130507

STORIES WE TELL

Sarah Polley's personal documentary "Stories We Tell" was very well received at TFF #38 and continues to garner critical acclaim as it moves toward release next week.  The film was spotlighted this week by both The Playlist and Thompson on Hollywood:


http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/interview-sarah-polley-talks-the-ethics-of-stories-we-tell-adapting-alias-grace-revisiting-take-this-waltz-20130506

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/sarah-polley-video-interview

JANE'S NEW GUN: OBI WAN

Well, you have to give the producer's credit...when disaster befalls "Jane Got a Gun"...and there has been a lot of disaster...they get something done and they do it fast.  Last post was the news that Bradley Cooper had dropped out.  This post includes a story about his already hired replacement: Ewan MacGregor.  This means that Princess Amidala and Obi Wan Kenobi are re-united in the Old West.  The Playlist reports:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/star-wars-reunion-ewan-mcgregor-saddles-up-for-jane-got-a-gun-with-natalie-portman-20130506


More Monday...have a great weekend...

Closing in on Cannes (The Past and Jimmy P.)/Immigrant Looks/Frances Ha is Coming/Incredulity Dept.

Good Monday morning.

CLOSING IN ON CANNES

The Cannes Fest takes off in a week and a half and includes a number of films that have some propensity of being a part of Telluride's 40th lineup.  The Cannes pre-coverage has begun to accelerate and consequently so has my appetite to eke out information about films that could play both festivals.

A number of outlets have begun detailing information about the Cannes competition selections including Jake Howell at Movie City News (whom I have already linked once or twice) and Guy Lodge for HitFix/InContention.  With this incoming wealth of information, I'm going to try to link what seem to be (to me anyway) the more likely Telluride possibilities from both sources.

For example, in my last post I linked Howell's rundown of Asghar Farhadi's "The Past".  Here's that link again:

http://moviecitynews.com/2013/05/countdown-to-cannes-asghar-farhadi/

and here's Guy Lodge's rundown of the same film:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/cannes-check-2013-asghar-farhadis-the-past

And adding to that is the info on Arnaud Desplechin's "Jimmy P."

From Howell/MCN: http://moviecitynews.com/2013/04/countdown-to-cannes-arnaud-desplechin/

From Lodge/HitFix: http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/cannes-check-2013-arnaud-desplechins-jimmy-p

And just over the weekend came word that "Jimmy P." has picked up a distributor for the U.S..  It's Worldview Entertainment.

The Wrap has that story here:
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/benicio-del-toro-drama-sells-cannes-debut-89051

Worldview is also the production home for two other Telluride possibilities: James Gray's "The Immigrant (see below) and Guillaume Canet's "Blood Ties".

IMMIGRANT LOOKS

The Playlist published a couple of new pics from James Gray's "The Immigrant" which is going to play in competition at Cannes in a few days.  The film was teased at TFF #39 as part of the Marion Cotillard tribute  with Gray on hand with a bit of footage that looked fantastic.  Does the film play Cannes and then come back to Telluride for a full showing.  I hope so.  Here's the Playlist link:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/new-images-of-joaquin-phoenix-marion-cotillard-in-james-grays-the-immigrant-20130503

FRANCES HA IS COMING

Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig's delightful collaboration "Frances Ha" is just a few days away from limited release and as you might expect, the PR for the film has picked up in the last couple of weeks.  I really enjoyed this film at TFF #39 and am looking forward to seeing it again (albeit almost certainly when it begins streaming).  Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood provides the story and the link to Film Independent's interview at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art:


http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/frances-ha-q-a-greta-gerwig-noah-baumbach-on-collaborating-shooting-black-and-white-in-ny

AND FROM THE INCREDULITY DEPT.

If you read this space with any frequency, you know that I've become a little obsessive about the tribulations of "Jane Got a Gun"...because I originally thought that it seemed like a Telluride-y possibility and also because I happened to be in Santa Fe, NM the week shooting began and the wheels fell off...the first time.  Since then (mid-March) I've been dutifully recording the subsequent ups and downs...

Now The Playlist reports that one of the stars and the only  big name constant other than Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton says things are peachy...really.

Check the post here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/frances-ha-q-a-greta-gerwig-noah-baumbach-on-collaborating-shooting-black-and-white-in-ny


More on Thursday.

Jane Keeps Losing Her Guns/Countdown to Cannes/The Attack/More Baumbach

Good Thursday!

JANE KEEPS LOSING HER GUNS

The saga continues in New Mexico.  If you've been following along you may not be surprised to learn that there has been yet another defection from "Jane Got a Gun" .  The film stars Natalie Portman (at least for now) and Joel Edgerton and, until this week, Bradley Cooper.  Now word is the Cooper has left the snake bitten project.

Previous defections include the original director Lynne Ramsay, Michael Fassbender and Jude Law.  The film apparently will go forward as reports indicate that producers are looking for a replacement for Cooper.  Check details with these links from The Hollywood Reporter and The Playlist:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bradley-cooper-exits-jane-got-450340

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/bradley-cooper-exits-jane-got-a-gun-tobey-maguire-joseph-gordon-levitt-tom-hiddleston-being-sought-to-replace-20130501

COUNTDOWN TO CANNES-THE PAST

The Cannes Film Festival is 2 weeks away and a number of sources have been focusing on the upcoming lineup including Jake Howell at Music City News.  I've linked to his rundown of Asghar Farhadi's "The Past" today and will try to do the same for other films that feel like Telluride possibilities.  Here's Jake's take from MCN:

http://moviecitynews.com/2013/05/countdown-to-cannes-asghar-farhadi/

THE ATTACK

One of the best received films at TFF #39 was Ziad Doueiri's "The Attack" which now has a trailer.  I have linked to IndieWire story that has that:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/exclusive-a-man-is-torn-between-losing-his-wife-and-accepting-her-as-a-suicide-bomber-in-the-attack-trailer

MORE BAUMBACH

Last week I reported that Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, who were represented at TFF#9 with their delightful "Frances Ha", had collaborated on another film that would soon be coming around.  Baumbach has been one busy man as news has come that he's already at work on another project tentatively entitled "While We're Young" that would star Ben Stiller and which apparently is in the process of casting.  The Playlist reports that Naomi Watts may come on board.  Check that story here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/girls-star-adam-driver-reteaming-with-noah-baumbach-for-while-were-young-starring-ben-stiller-20130501

More on Monday!

More Rudderless/Images from Rush/Jane Gets Another Gun

Good Thursday afternnon...late again today because, you know, State Speech...but finally posting...


MORE RUDDERLESS

William H. Macy has indicated that he still has a couple of weeks of pre-production work to do before filming begins here in Oklahoma on his directorial debut "Rudderless".   Filming (he has said) is expected to begin at the end of April.

Here's a link to Macy being interviewed by local television station KFOR:

http://kfor.com/2013/04/05/william-h-macy-brings-rudderless-to-news-channel-4/

Additionally, Just Jared was all over a meeting between Macy and his co-star Selena Gomez in California

Here's the link to that Just Jared post with about 20 pics.

http://www.justjared.com/2013/04/08/selena-gomez-rudderless-meeting-with-william-h-macy/

Gomez talks about the film with MTV:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704789/selena-gomez-rudderless.jhtml

IMAGES FROM "RUSH"

Not long ago I posted an Oscar 2014 spec story from HitFix that that suggested that there was at least some possibility that Ron Howard's "Rush" might be a Telluride possibility.

http://www.hitfix.com/galleries/25-potential-oscar-contenders-for-2014/more-galleries

Personally I'm dubious, but you never know.  In that light, here's a link and story about the first trailer for the film from The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/apr/09/trailer-formule-one-film-rush

And here's the trailer via YouTube:

JANE GETS ANOTHER GUN

Another actor has signed on to the troubled production of "Jane Got a Gun".  Noah Emmerich has joined the film according to this post from The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-americans-star-noah-emmerich-joins-jane-got-a-gun-20130410



More on Monday...

Goodbye Roger/The Nugget/Pass Sales/Jane Gets Another Gun/Farhadi's Past

Good Monday afternoon to all...

Normally I have published this morning but it's State Tournament week.  If you know mw, you know what that means.  Anyway, here's today's installment:


GOODBYE ROGER

Screenwriter of "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" Roger Ebert died this week.  He was also a film critic.  Won a Pulitzer Prize for that, in fact.

I don't have a degree from a film school.  I didn't major in film studies so a lot of my view of cinema has been pieced together in a haphazard fashion.  I'd like to think that I have a better-than-average knowledge and appreciation for the medium and I'd be less than honest if I didn't admit that a bunch of my film "education" came from watching and reading Mr. Ebert.

If you paid attention, you could learn a lot from Mr. Ebert about almost every aspect of film making.  I think I paid attention.  He never knew it, but in many ways he was my inadvertent teacher about film.   I suspect that there are a good number of people that feel that he was their teacher too.

You could argue (and I would) that Mr. Ebert had more positive influence on real people's real lives than most politicians/clergy/business leaders and moguls.  What he did; what he said and what he wrote allowed people to understand the movies they were about to watch or whether to watch them at all or to appreciate them after they had watched them.  Think about that for a minute...

Almost from the beginning of my Telluride experience, which for me started in 2006, I was aware that Mr. Ebert had been a big part of the festival in past.  I had always hoped that he would recover enough good health that he might make one more trip to TFF and that I'd finally get a chance to meet him and maybe say thanks for being my inadvertent teacher. My anticipation was that 2013/TFF #40 might be the last best shot for that to happen as it is clearly going to a special fest to celebrate the 40 years of TFF's existence.  Add to that the expected presentation of the film version of his autobiography "Life Itself" (exec. produced by Martin Scorsese) and I thought the increased the possibility even more.

As you'll see below, the film is still likely to be a part of the Telluride lineup or this year and almost assuredly the TFF honchos will tribute him in some fashion and that is fitting.  But I rue the fact that my chance to meet the man in front of The New Sheridan or in the lobby at The River Club is never going to happen.

So, small and humble as it is,  here's my thank you, Mr. Ebert.  You made a difference in millions of people lives.  You made us all smarter about the movies and, after all, for a medium that is the most ubiquitous form of art on the planet...that is no small thing.  Immense as a matter of fact.

I often tell friends and acquaintances that aren't going to be able to make it to Telluride for Film Festival that I'll be sure to raise a glass to them the first night I'm back in town.  This year, I'll raise one for you Roger.

Here is the story of Mr. Ebert's passing from The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/roger-ebert-dies-film-critic-406274

THE NUGGET

And while we're dealing with difficult news, this also happened the last few days.  The Nugget-Telluride's full time movie theater and very cool venue for TFF will be undergoing some changes.  Operators Luci Reeve and Jim Bedford are bowing out and The Nugget will close its doors for at least some period of time.  TFF Managing Director Julie Huntsinger does say that the show will go on though.

Check out these reports from local sources:

The Telluride Daily Planet:

http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2013/04/04/news/doc515cc0184ebf1458378203.txt

The Watch:

http://www.watchnewspapers.com/view/full_story/22149683/article-Nugget-Operators-Luci-Reeve-and-Jim-Bedford-Call-It-Quits?instance=news_top_story


PASS SALES

Meanwhile, the Festival has announced that Acme level passes are already sold out for this year.  Here's the update from TFF about pass sales which opened March 1:

http://telluridefilmfestival.org/news/2013-04


JANE GETS ANOTHER GUN

The convoluted story about "Jane Got a Gun" the film that was originally to be directed by Lynne Ramsay and as such was on my watch list as a potential future Telluride film took another turn late this week with the announcement that Bradley Cooper had signed on to replace the departed Jude Law.

As you may remember, I was in Santa Fe, NM a few weeks back and confirmed that despite the turmoil, filming was going on in the Santa Fe area.

Cooper's addition is a little amazing to me as he would appear to be a red hot commodity in light of the success of "Silver Linings Playbook" and his Oscar nomination for it.  That Copper was available stuns me a bit.  I have linked a number of posts about the Cooper signing:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/bradley-cooper-rides-to-rescue-replaces-jude-law-as-villain-in-jane-got-a-gun-20130405

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/bradley-cooper-replacing-jude-law-433959

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/bradley-cooper-steps-in-for-jude-law-in-jane-got-a-gun/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=bradley-cooper-steps-in-for-jude-law-in-jane-got-a-gun

http://www.deadline.com/2013/04/bradley-cooper-replaces-jude-law-jane-got-a-gun-movie/



FARHADI'S PAST

We have a poster and a trailer...in french.  Asghar Farhadi's "A Separation" was a sensation 2 years ago and deservedly so.  It stands as one of the most beautifully written and structured films of the past decade.  I've had his follow up project on the Telluride radar as long as we've known he was working on it.  "The Past" seems likely to be a part of the Cannes lineup which should be announced in the next two weeks.  If it's remotely close to the quality of "A Separation" then I think it's a very real possibility for this year's TFF.

This week saw the release of a poster and a trailer linked below:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-trailer-for-a-separation-director-asghar-farhadis-the-past-starring-berenice-bejo-tahar-rahim-20130406

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/past-le-passe-trailer-poster-asghar-farhadi/


More on Thursday.