Indiewire's Hot 25 Fall Films / Molly's Game Teaser and Trailer? / A Look at Lady Bird / The New Guy and Telluride / Late Breaking: Lean on Pete

Hello on this Tuesday, Aug. 15th...16 days until TFF #44...

INDIEWIRE'S HOT 25 FALL FILMS

Indiewire put up a new post yesterday outlining 25 Indie films it is interested in that are scheduled for release between now and the end of the year.  As you might expect, a number of titles that we're already thinking will play Telluride are on the list and there are also additional titles that could still make the TFF #44 lineup.

The films included that I think are already set for The SHOW are:

Battle of the Sexes
Wonderstruck
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water

and other films that could still make the lineup:

Marshall
Molly's Game
Mary Magdalene
Happy End

The complete Indiewire list can be found here.


MOLLY'S GAME TEASER AND TRAILER?


We got a glimpse of Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut yesterday with the release of a teaser for Molly's Game starring Jessica Chastain.  The film is also expected to drop a full trailer today (per Chastain on Twitter).

Here's the teaser from YouTube:

I'm still crossing my fingers that this somehow makes the TFF program.

Molly's Game is being distributed by STX Entertainment and is set for release on Nov. 22.

I kind of think it may well be announced as a part of Toronto's program this week.  Often the release of teasers. trailers and images is a pre-cursor for that.

Here's coverage of the teaser release from The Playlist .

A LOOK AT LADY BIRD

A couple of images were released from Greta Gerwig's directing debut yesterday.  Lady Bird stars Saoirse Ronan and is set for release from A24 on Nov. 10th.

Here from Indiewire and The Film Stage are those two images:

Lady Bord currently sits at the #8 spot on my latest iteration of the Ten Bets for Telluride list.

WILL THE NEW GUY MAKE THE TREK TO TELLURIDE?

John Bailey is the newly elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS and Telluride have had a very tight relationship for a good long while.  I have always found it a hoot to see the AMPAS prez in T-ride over the Labor Day weekend having lay my eyes on booth Sid Ganis and Cheyl Boone Issacs over the years.  So I am wondering if Mr. Bailey, a cinematographer by trade (A Walk in the Woods, The Way Way Back, The Kid Stays in the Picture), joins us in a couple of weeks.  

Hope so!

 LATE BREAKING: LEAN ON PETE

Late last night the buzz was that A24 is bumping Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete to a 2018 release date which makes a Telluride screening less likely.  Stay Tuned.

More later...

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Ten (Plus) Bets #6 (AKA as 15 Bets) / Toronto's Platform Has No TFF #44 Crossover / The Cases for Mary Magdalene and John F. Donovan

Good Friday people!  The 44th Telluride Film Festival opens four weeks from today.


TEN (PLUS) BETS #6 (AKA 15 BETS)

Yes.  It's time to expand the list from 10 films we think will play TFF #44 to 15 as we get closer to The SHOW date and have learned more, it makes sense to expand the list.

Here's last week's Ten Bets and added possibilities:

1) Wonderstruck
2) Downsizing
3) Battle of the Sexes
4) A Fantastic Woman
5) The Shape of Water
6) The Rider
7) Hostiles
8) Lady Bird
9) First They Killed My Father
10) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

Additionally other detective work seems to be indicating Darkest Hour, Loving Vincent, Human Flow (see below) and Wormwood are likely for  Telluride.

Other films that could still play Telluride: Visages/Villages, The Other Side of Hope, Lean on Pete, Mektoub My Love Canto Uno, First Reformed, The Leisure Seeker, Ex Libris, Our Souls at Night, First Reformed, Sweet Country and La Camera Insabbiata, You Were Never Really Here, The Florida Project, Happy End, Loveless, Ken Burns' Vietnam and Mary Magdalene.

Here's is this week's 15 Bets:

1) Wonderstruck
2) Downsizing
3) Battle of the Sexes
4) The Shape of Water
5) Darkest Hour
6) A Fantastic Woman
7) Hostiles
8) Lady Bird
9) The Rider
10) Loving Vincent
11) Human Flow
12) First They Killed My Father
13) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
14) Wormwood
15) The Florida Project and Visages/Villages (tie)

Other possibilities: Loveless, You Were Never Really Here, Lean on Pete, Mary Magdalene, The Other Side of Hope, Mektoub My Love, First Reformed, Happy End, Our Souls at Night, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, Molly's Game.


TORONTO PLATFORM TITLES: NONE WILL BE IN T-RIDE

Yesterday the Toronto International Film Festival unveiled 12 titles for its Platform Section.  Last year, that section included one film that played Telluride and that was Barry Jenkins' eventual Best Picture Oscar winner Moonlight.

However, that situation will not be replicated in 2017 as none of the Platform choices appear to be playing Telluride first.  All 12 titles were listed either as World or North American Premieres meaning no T-ride.

Three films that were included had been on my radar for Telluride at some point but are now off:

The Death of Stalin
Brad's Status
Sweet Country

I was particularly bummed by The Death of Stalin from Veep creator Armando Ianucci.  I was really hoping that it would make the trip to Colorado but, alas, it seems that won't happen.

We expect more Toronto announcements next week.

Platform coverage is here from Indiewire.

And also here from Variety.


THE CASES FOR MARY MAGDALENE AND JOHN F. DONOVAN

Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara from Mary Magdalene via The Daily Mail

These are a couple of films that I haven't had high up on my Telluride expectations list but because of recent circumstances in both cases, they have been rising in the last week or so.

Mary Magdalene...why it could play:  First it's from The Weinstein Company.  I am on record saying that I thought that TWC would return this year to TFF.  I had been working on the assumption that The Current War was the most likely vehicle for that to occur but we found out last week that Current War will debut at Toronto leaving Mary Magdalene as TWC's only real prospect for fests

Second, the timing is right...the film is set for a Nov. 24th release date.  Carol opened Nov. 20th in 2015, The Imitation Game Nov. 28th in 2014, The Artist on Nov. 25, 2011  There's a track record that suggests the path starts at Telluride.

Third, reportedly star Rooney Mara has enjoyed her Telluride experiences these past two years with Carol in 2015 and Una in 2016 (BTW, Una has finally been dated for release this past week.  The film will open on Oct. 6th) and it can't hurt if your star does like the fest.

As for The Death and Life of John  F. Donovan, I haven't paid much attention because it has been ambiguously dated for 2018.  I have been assuming that it would probably debut at Berlin or Cannes. That got a jolt this last week as a Vanity Fair story about writer/director Xavier Dolan claims that he's working on the final edit to have it ready for fall film fests:

Additionally, the film has seen recent releases of character posters:

When you start seeing posters, teasers, trailers at this time of year you begin to think that involvement in a fest is a real possibility.

Also, Dolan has been a Telluride guest before in 2014 with Mommy.

So, chalk John F. Donovan in as an increased possibility for Telluride.  The complete Vanity Fair article is here.

There's your Friday...more can be had on Monday.  Have a fantastic weekend.

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Some Business /The Distributors: Open Road Films / Images Tease

Good Tuesday Film Fans.


SOME BUSINESS

Just a quick piece of business here.  Recently I posted a story that upset members of the Telluride Film Festival management.  I was informed of this privately via email and responded accordingly.  In hindsight, the choice to have published the story was unwise.

As a part of my response I privately apologized to members of the Telluride staff.  Now, after allowing some time to pass, I also wanted to apologize publicly and in this space to underscore the sincerity of my remorse.

Now, on to today's regularly scheduled post.


THE DISTRIBUTORS: OPEN ROAD FILMS

Open Road Films has had a short but notable presence in Telluride in just the last few years.  The company first began business in 2011.  In 2014 they brought their first film to Telluride by landing Jon Stewart's directing debut Rosewater.  They followed that in 2015 with Tom McCarthy's Spotlight which won the Best Picture Oscar along with another for original screenplay for McCarthy and Josh Singer.  The film also had four other nominations.

In 2016 Open Road was represented at Telluride by Ben Younger's Bleed for This.

So, three straight years with a film each year at TFF makes you think there is a very good chance that an Open Road film will make the TFF #44 lineup.

Reviewing their catalogue, it seems that four films could fit into a Labor Day schedule:

Marshall, Home Again, LAbyrinth and Finding Steve McQueen.

Of these, Marshall seems to be the most likely choice.  I had the film's first trailer posted here last week.  It's scheduled for release on  Oct. 13th, right in the thick of prime release territory if you have an eye on awards season.  It's focus on a case from the early career of eventual Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall seems like material that could be a contender.  Give it a 50% chance to play T-ride.

The other three possibilities have a variety of issues that argue against their inclusion in The SHOW.

Home Again stars Reese Witherspoon (directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyre) but its Sept. 8th releases date, though a few days after Telluride's completion, suggests it's unlikely.  It is worth noting, however, that Sully actually followed that exact path last year opening on Sept. 9, 2016.  Chances: 20%.

LAbyrinth directed by Brad Furman and starring Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker in a long gestating project about the investigation into the deaths of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.  The film is listed by IMDb as being in post-production since February but it doesn't have a release date beyond the generic 2017.  Chances: 15%.

Finding Steve McQueen:  Directed by Mark Stephen Johnson is listed as being in post-production since last October and feels like a light weight genre piece.  Chances: 15%.



IMAGES TEASE

 I ran across a couple of images over the past few days from two projects that may pique the interest of Telluride watchers.

I commented not long ago that Amazon Studios decision to date Woody Allen's latest film, Wonder Wheel, for Dec.1st might mean that we need to take it seriously as a possible Telluride choice.

Last week, our first image of Kate Winslet in that film emerged via Twitter.  Here she is:

In the same vein, we got a glimpse this week of Jessica Chastain on a poster for Xavier Dolan's The Death and Life of John F. Donovan:

Donovan is expected in 2018.

That's your post for Tuesday.

There's your MTFB for Monday, June 26, 2017.  More tomorrow...

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Jonathan Demme Remembered / Judging Cannes / Inarritu Talks VR in NY / 30th Telluride Film Festival Re-visited

It is Thursday, April 27, 2017...No really...it s.

JONATHAN DEMME REMEMBERED

The news of Jonathan Demme's death yesterday was a shock.  He was 73, so I suppose, in terms of age, it isn't that anomalous but Demme always seemed so vital that he didn't seem to be 73.

Demme's best known work was the five Oscar winner Silence of the Lambs.  I was a huge fan of the Thomas Harris book long before it became a film and when it came out in 1991 I was skeptical that anyone could make the film version stand up to the novel.  I was pleasantly surprised.  It's one of those rare films that succeeds as well as its source material.  Demme (and screenwriter Ted Talley) proved me wrong.  

Demme won an Oscar for direction and the film won Best Picture as well as Adapted Screenplay, Actress (Jodie Foster) and Actor (Anthony Hopkins).  It became the first film since One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) to win the Big Five Oscars.

Demme also had other memorable efforts including Philadelphia and Something Wild.

In 1987 his documentary effort Haiti Dreams of Democracy appeared as a part of the 14th TFF screening on Telluride Community Television.

Indiewire marked Demme's passing yesterday with this profile and with this reminiscence from Barry Jenkins.

JUDGING CANNES

The official announcement of jurors for the Plame d'Or for the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival has been revealed.

We already knew that the jury would be presided over by Pedro Almodovar and it had slipped that actress Jessica Chastain would be a jury member as well.  The group was completed yesterday with the official confirmation of Chastain along with actor (and surprise choice) Will Smith as well as directors Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann), Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden), Paolo Sorrentino (Youth).  Additional members of the jury are Fan Bingbing, Agnes Jaoui and musician Gabriel Yared.

As always, the jury composition is eclectic and varied.  Where will they land for the Palme.

Indiewire has more about the Cannes jury here.

INARRITU TALKS VR IN NY

Alejandro Inarritu's virtual reality project Carne y Arena is set to play at Cannes and this week the Oscar winning director was in New York as a member of a Tribeca Film Festival conversation focused on VR and his project.

I'd be very interested should TFF chose to invite Inarritu and present the project over Labor Day weekend but the challenges are interesting.  

Here's coverage of the Inarritu convo from Tribeca from Entertainment Weekly as well as from Indiewire.

30TH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL RE-VISITED

MTFB's continuing project focused on the past programs from the Telluride Film Festival reviews the program from TFF #30 (Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2003)

Here are the highlights:

TFF #30 Program-Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2003

GUEST DIRECTOR: Stephen Sondheim

TRIBUTES: Toni Collette, Peter Brook, Krystof Zanussi

SHOWS

Alexandra’s Project

The Barbarian Invasions

The Battle of Algiers

The Beggar’s Opera

La Belle Equipe

Best of Youth

Carnet du Bal

Contract

Dans la Nuit

Dogville

Elephant

A Face in the Crowd

Fog of War

French Can Can

The General

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Horatio’s Drive

I’m Not Scared

Intermission

Japanese Story

Lost in Translation

Love Me If You Dare

The More the Merrier

My Life Without Me

Noi Albinoi

Osama

Panique

Reconstruction

Sexual Dependency

Shattered Glass

Song of the Little Road

Struggle

Tell Me Lies

This Little Life

Touching the Void

The Triplets of Belleville

Uzak

Wheel of Time

GUESTS:

John Crowley

Errol Morris

Robert S. McNamara

Sarah Gavron

Budd Schulberg

Peter Bogdanovich

Kevin Macdonald

Chloe Sevigny

Peter Sarsgaard

Rolf De Heer

Peter Sellars

Werner Herzog

Ken Burns

Mark Ruffalo

Gus Van Sant

Paul Schrader

 That's a wrap for this Thursday.  See you on the other side of the weekend...

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Finding The Founder / Euro Producers; The French Part One-Canal+ / A Look at La La Land / Trailering A Monster Calls / And Finally, Miss Sloane

Hello on a Thursday everyone...lots to dissect from yesterday...plus French producer Canal+


FINDING THE FOUNDER

I have spent months not concerned about whether or not John Lee Hancock's The Founder starring Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc, the man who made McDonalds into the global behemoth it is today.  Initially the film was supposed to be a November release but that changed this spring when The Weinstein Company moved its release date to August.  That move meant no Telluride, no Toronto...

Then yesterday, TWC announces that they've decided to move the film back into the thick of Awards season with a new release date of Dec. 16.

So, does that also mean it should be in the conversation for fall festivals?  My head hurts.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Here are any number of posts/stories about the new date change for The Founder:

http://deadline.com/2016/07/the-founder-mcdonalds-movie-michael-keaton-release-dat-change-1201785969/

http://deadline.com/2016/07/the-founder-mcdonalds-movie-michael-keaton-release-dat-change-1201785969/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/weinstein-pushes-michael-keatons-founder-910653

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/13/founder-release-date-michael-keaton-mcdonalds

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/07/weinstein-awards-slate-michael-keaton-the-founder-december-release-1201705517/

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-founder-release-date/

https://thefilmstage.com/trailer/michael-keaton-builds-a-fast-food-empire-in-first-trailer-for-the-founder/

http://www.thewrap.com/michael-keatons-the-founder-moves-to-december-for-awards-run/

http://www.awardscircuit.com/2016/07/13/weinstein-company-pushes-back-founder-december/

EURO PRODUCERS; THE FRENCH PART ONE-CANAL+

Look at the history of Canal+ as a producer of films that played at Telluride over the last decade:

2003: The Barbarian Invasions, Dogville, Love Me If You Dare, The Tripletts of Belleville
2004: The Weeping Meadow
2005: The Child, Cache, Lemming, Live and Become
2006: Volver, Indigenes, The Page Turner
2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Terror's Advocate, Jellyfish
2008: With a Little Help From Myself, I've Loved You So Long
2009: Farewell, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, The White Ribbon
2010: The Illusionist, Carlos, Of Gods and Men, The Princess of Montpensier
2011: Crazy Horse, Albert Nobbs, Goodbye First Love, The Kid with a Bike, The Artist, Le Havre
2012: Rust and Bone, Superstar, The Attack
2013: Blue is the Warmest Color", Le Maison de la Radio", "The Past"
2014: The Price of Fame, Two Days One Night, Diplomacy
2015: Marguerite


Despite a connection to a single film last year, which, as you can see is anomaly, Canal+ has the chance to be represented by multiple films at Telluride in 2016.  The most likely are:

Things to Come
Elle
Slack Bay
Peshmerga


Check back tomorrow for more on French production companies.


A LOOK AT LA LA LAND

In a big news day yesterday, one of the highlights was the relelase of the first trailer for Damien Chazelle's La La Land.  The film has a lot of heat at the moment and has been announced as the opening night film for the Venice Film Fest.  A good number of people think it has a real shot at making the T-ride lineup.  The trailer intrigues.  Here it is:

And linked here is a ton of coverage that came with the trailer's release:

http://time.com/4397269/ryan-gosling-emma-stone-la-la-land-trailer/?xid=tcoshare

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/07/la-la-land-trailer-emma-stone-ryan-gosling-damien-chazelle-1201705221/

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/13/ryan-gosling-city-stars-la-la-land-streaming

http://www.slashfilm.com/la-la-land-trailer/

https://thefilmstage.com/trailer/first-trailer-for-damien-chazelles-la-la-land-starring-ryan-gosling-and-emma-stone/

http://theplaylist.net/watch-ryan-gosling-emma-stone-best-rogers-astaire-first-trailer-la-la-land-20160713/

http://www.thewrap.com/ryan-gosling-la-la-land-trailer-emma-stone-whiplash-director-damien-chazelle-song-video/

TRAILERING: A MONSTER CALLS

Another trailer dropping yesterday was for Focus Feature's J.A. Bayona directed A Monster Calls. It's Telluride profile was negligible until recently but has warmed somewhat in the last week or so. Check the trailer here from YouTube:

 Additionally, here's some of the coverage that accompanied the trailer's appearance:

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/13/monster-calls-trailer

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/07/12/sneak-peek-exclusive-a-monster-calls-movie/86955404/

http://theplaylist.net/theres-another-bfg-coming-new-trailer-j-bayonas-monster-calls-20160713/

http://www.thewrap.com/watch-liam-neeson-come-to-life-in-a-monster-calls-trailer-video/

https://thefilmstage.com/trailer/a-monster-calls-in-full-length-trailer-for-j-a-bayonas-fantasy-adventure/


AND FINALLY...MISS SLOANE?

Late breaking news last night was the upstart distributor EuropaCorpUSA has dated the Jessica Chastain starring John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) directed gun control drama Miss Sloane for Dec. 9.  Awards season?  Yes.  Festival possibility?  It is now.  The cast, in addition to Chastain is quite inpmressive: Mark Strong, John Lithgow, Michael Stuhlbarg, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sam Waterston.   Note to Telluride...yes please.

Here's the news from Dealine.com and Variety:

http://deadline.com/2016/07/miss-sloane-jessica-chastain-december-release-date-1201786282/

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/jessica-chastain-miss-sloane-december-release-1201814008/


Whew...that'll be all for this Thursday...more tomorrow including a fresh Ten Bets for TFF #43

Contact MTFB at:

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Wells Seconds the La La Land Notion / United Kingdom to Open BFI Fest / Moving Dates

Good Tuesday.  Summer officially started yesterday.  It felt like it here in the Oklahoma Panhandle and we were not remotely the hottest place in the country.  Air conditioning..thank you.


WELLS SECONDS THE LA LA LAND NOTION

I wrote yesterday that the over-the-weekend announcement that Damien Chazelle's musical-La La Land as the opening film for the Venice Film Festival actually may boost its profile in as far as a play at Telluride is concerned.

I noted that 3 of the last six Venice openers have also made the trek to T-ride (Birdman, Gravity and Black Swan).

That notion got some support yesterday in a late afternoon post from Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere.  Wells, writing about what he perceives, at least at this point, a somewhat lackluster Oscar slate of films,  mentioned the Chazelle film and connected it to both Venice and Telluride.  It's the only mention of Telluride in the article.

Take a look at Wells' complete post here:

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2016/06/concerns-about-weak-tea/



UNITED KINGDOM WILL OPEN BFI  FEST

Still via The Hollywood Reporter

It was announced in Great Britain earlier today-Amma Asante's A United Kingdom will open the British Film Institute's Film Fest.  This is notable for a couple of reasons. 1) The opener the last two years has made its first showing at Telluride: Suffragette last year and The Imitation Game in 2014.  Additionally, the story from The Hollywood Reporter characterizes the screening as the film's European Premiere which probably signals a play at either Telluride. Toronto or both.

The film stars David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike.  Oyelowo plays the King of Bechauanaland whose marriage to a white woman in 1947 resulted in fierce opposition from Britain and  South Africa.

Here's the link to the THR story:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/london-festival-open-united-kingdom-904889



MOVING DATES

photo via Screen Rant

News yesterday that some films that have been floating in and around my Telluride consciousness have been announced with shifts in release dates.  Most notably Warners' move up of to Ben Affleck's Live by Night to Jan. 13, 2017.  There is a good deal of speculation that it will likely get a limited run at the end of 2016 to qualify for Oscar consideration.  What had been a film that I thought might be a 2017 T-ride consideration now appears to be off the radar for 2016 as well.  Seems to me to be a very late debut for a film that would have to be ready to screen at T-ride almost four months before.  It's not impossible, but it's probably not making it to the San Juans.

Also, we learned that The Zookeeper's Wife from director Niki Caro has now been dated for Mar. 31, 2017 which truly takes it out of consideration for Telluride both this year and next.

I have linked a number of posts about the shift in dates:

http://theplaylist.net/jessica-chastain-vehicle-zookeepers-wife-will-skip-awards-season-lego-movie-sequel-delayed-20160620/

http://collider.com/ben-affleck-live-by-night-release-date-change/

http://deadline.com/2016/06/lego-movie-live-by-night-bastards-geostorm-warner-bros-release-dates-shifted-1201774989/

http://screenrant.com/live-by-night-ben-affleck-release-date-2017/

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Rudderless Appears/On the Fringe: Suffragette, Miss Julie/Coming Attractions

Good Tuesday Morning all...

RUDDERLESS APPEARS

I couldn't say anything about it until it happened and it happened last night.  William H. Macy's "Rudderless" screened in a private setting in Oklahoma City last night and through the kindness of co-writer Casey Twenter, my wife and I were in attendance.

Lots to talk about.  The film, the Q and A after with Macy in attendance and the plans going forward.for the film which is in the Samuel Goldwyn Films distribution company.

Most of that's coming in tomorrow's post.  Suffice it to say we had a great time and were thrilled to be a part of the first screening in Oklahoma.

I will say what I tweeted last night...I've been waiting to see this film, literally for years...and  I finally got to. It didn't disappoint...it is very, very good.

ON THE FRINGE

Here's a quick look at a couple of films that haven't been very obvious in the discussion of year-end fare that we might expect to be in the mix for a slot to screen at Telluride but have some entries on their resumes that suggest that they're worth thinking about as possibilities.  First, director Sarah Gavron's "Suffragette".



SUFFRAGETTE

Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter in "Suffragette" from Rope of Silicon

"Suffragette" was written by Abi Morgan who Telluride attendees will likely recall as the screen writer for TTF selections "The Invisible Woman (TFF #40) and "Shame" (TFF #38).  Additionally, it stars, among others, Carey Mulligan, who attended Telluride with "An Education" (TFF #36) and "Never Let Me Go" (TFF #38); Helena Bonham Carter, who attended the fest in 2005 with Hans Conosa's "Conversations with Other Women" and Meryl Streep who was tributed by the fest in 1998.  The film is also produced, in part, by Pathe and Film4 both of which are not infrequent players in the Telluride sweepstakes.

Rope of Silicon put up the first image from the film yesterday and that post also includes a descriptive paragraph:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/first-look-carey-mulligan-helena-bonham-carter-suffragette/

Also posting: Alex Billington for FirstShowing.net:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/first-look-carey-mulligan-helena-bonham-carter-in-suffragette/



MISS JULIE

Another intriguing T-ride possibility at the edge of the radar is legendary actress Liv Ullmann's direction of an adaptation of the August Strindberg play (Ullmann adapted the screenplay as well).  Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell star.

The film doesn't really boast a production company with Telluride history.  It doesn't have a U.S. distributor and Ullmann hasn't played in the San Juans on Labor Day to my knowledge so there's no real clue that would lead anyone to think that it would make the Telluride lineup.  Actually, The Playlist article begins be opining that Venice,Telluride and Toronto are "on the horizon" and that "Miss Julie" is "expected" somewhere in that mix.    And...I can easily envision a Liv Ullmann tribute and (crossing my fingers) Jessica Chastain in town as well.  As a matter of fact, I have Chastain down as a possible multi-film participant for this year's Telluride with J.C. Chandor's "A Most Violent Year" and Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" (TFF #41's "Gravity"?) as T-ride considerations...admittedly "Interstellar" is a bit of a stretch, but after last year...not impossible.

Nevertheless, here, from The Playlist, is a series of stills from "Miss Julie:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/new-images-of-jessica-chastain-colin-farrell-in-liv-ullmans-miss-julie-plus-poster-20140530


COMING ATTRACTIONS

I'm a pretty firm believer that Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's :Birdman" will play at Telluride.  He has become one of the -what I call-"Usual Suspects".  So unless the film is just awful, I expect it'll be there.  (What will be interesting is to see if his buddy Alfonso Cuaron shows up to support him as Inarritu did last year for "Gravity").

Now the next Inarritu project seems to be taking shape as casting rumors have Tom Hardy teaming up with Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant".  Shooting is said to begin in September (conveniently post-Telluride, isn't it?

"The Revenant" is set in the early 1800's and will feature DiCaprio as a frontiersman left to die in the wilderness who manages to survive and then seeks revenge against those that abandoned him.

20th Century Fox is the distributor (as they are for "Birdman") and not a complete stranger to the Telluride parade: "12 Years a Slave", "127 Hours", "The Descendants".  So mark "The Revenant" down as a TFF #42 possibility and keep an eye out for future news about the project.

Casting news from The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/rumor-tom-hardy-to-reteam-with-leonardo-dicaprio-in-alejandro-gonzalez-inarritus-the-revenant-20140530


More tomorrow...

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PS...saw "Godzilla" last night...meh...