Wonderstruck Will Strike in October / First Look at Haneke's Happy End / Redoutable Teaser Gets Meta / The Future for Past Telluriders / Amazon Rewards Manchester

Welcome to Thursday on MTFB...



WONDERSTRUCK WILL STRIKE IN OCTOBER

The case for Todd Haynes being a Telluride contender got another supportive piece of evidence yesterday as the peeps at Amazon and Roadside Attractions, who have paired to distribute the film, have announced a limited release date of October 20th.   The film will then proceed to be opened wider in November.

It wasn't long yesterday before journos pointed out that that time frame has served as the launchpad for four of the last five Oscar BP winners: Argo 10/12/12, 12 Years a Slave 10/18/13, Birdman 10/17/14, and Moonlight 10/21/16.  Only Spotlight has broken that pattern opening on 11/6/15.  Of course, all of those films played Telluride on their way to the Best Picture prize.

Honestly, when I get serious about posting a rough first guess at what will make the T-ride 2017 lineup, Wonderstruck might be the film on the top of that list.

Linked below is coverage of the release announcement from:

Variety

Indiewire

Awards Watch

The Playlist

The Wrap



FIRST LOOK AT HANEKE'S HAPPY END

Another film that will be in the hunt for the Cannes' Palme d'Or in a couple of weeks (and it could be an unprecedented third for its director...lots of predictors think that's a very real possibility) is Michael Haneke's Happy End.  Haneke hasn't made a film since his last Palme winner in 2012.  Amour also won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

We got our first photo from the secretive film yesterday as you see above.  The still shows, among others Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Toby Jones.  Further coverage of the image and the film is here from Indiwire and here from The Playlist.



REDOUBTABLE TEASER GETS META

This week we got a new glimpse of Michel Hazanavicius' newest film, Redoubtable, which is set to debut at Cannes this month in the Palme d'Or competition.  The teaser includes some references to the festival that should elicit a chuckle or two.  Check the teaser below (from YouTube):

Redoubtable is based on the life of film pioneer Jean-Luc Godard.

More on the teaser release for Redoubtable is here from Entertainment Weekly as well as here from The Playlist.

THE FUTURE FOR PAST TELLURIDERS

I've mentioned with some frequency the next project for Moonlight's Barry Jenkins which is the multi-part adaptation of Colson Whitehead's National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winning
Underground Railroad for Amazon Studios.

In the last few days we have seen the plans of two other notable and recent past Telluriders come into focus.

Indiewire reports that Oscar winning director Damien Chazelle is lining up another musically oriented project.  The story was originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Titled The Eddy, the story centers around a Paris music club.  As with Jenkins, the project is being set up as an episodic project and is being shopped around to streaming services and networks.  Reports suggest that Chazelle would direct his next feature film project, First Man starring Ryan Reynolds as Neil Armstrong, and then get to work on The Eddy.

The other news of note regarding a new project involving a recent Tellurider and Oscar winner was news yesterday that Laszlo Nemes is set to begin filming Sunset.  Nemes made a huge splash in 2015 with his debut film Son of Saul which played Cannes (winning Nemes the Grand Prix award) and then Telluride.  Son of Saul went on to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

The Playlist reports  that Sunset will begin filming next month and that the plan is that it would play Cannes which would make it a prime TFF #45 possibility.

Stay tuned.


AMAZON REWARDS MANCHESTER

How do you say thank you to a community that serves as the backdrop and title of your Oscar award winning film (and TFF #43 selection)?

Amazon Studios has gifted the citizens of Manchester, Massachusetts a year's worth of free Amazon Prime memberships.  They even threw in the popcorn.

Amazon announced the gift this week according to The Hollywood Reporter.



And that will do it for this Thursday.  Have a good weekend and come back here Monday for more...

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT to the BLOG

The FAC's First Look After The PGA / More on Son of Saul / Todd Haynes Talks Carol and More...

Good Thursday Everyone...


THE FAC'S FIRST LOOK AFTER THE PGA

We asked on Monday if last weekend's Producers Guild win by Adam McKay's The Big Short had changed the Best Picture Oscar race and that answer is yes...but...perhaps not as much as I would have thought.

For the purpose of The FAC I gather data from the publicly posted predictions of the following:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Joey Magidson/Hollywood News
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood/Indiewire

Some of these experts have not yet updated their predictions.  That data has been discounted.

TFF #42 films are in Bold.

Here's The FAC for Oscar wins in eight major categories:


BEST PICTURE

1) The Big Short
2) Spotlight
3) The Revenant
4) Mad Max: Fury Road
5) The Martian
6) Room
7) Bridge of Spies
8) Brooklyn

Comment: The Big Short and Spotlight are actually tied in the FAC numbers but the Short edges in front due to more #1 votes.  SO, The FAC says it's close.  Check the Gold Derby link below and you'll see that a broader segment of Oscar experts agree that the contest is still tight.  That all could change over the next two weekends with The Screen Actors Guild Awards and then The Directors Guild.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Alejandro Inarittu/The Revenant
2) Adam McKay/The Big Short
3) Tom McCarthy/Spotlight
4) George Miller/Mad Max: fury Road
5) Lenny Abrahamson/Room

BEST ACTRESS

1) Brie Larson/Room
2) Saorise Ronan/Brooklyn
3) Charlotte Rampling/45 Years
4) Cate Blanchett/Carol
5) Jennifer Lawrence/Joy

BEST ACTOR

1) Leonardo DiCaprio/The Revenant
2) Bryan Cranston/Trumbo
3) Michael Fassbender/Steve Jobs
4) Matt Damon/The Martian
5) Eddie Redmayne/The Danish Girl

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Alicia Vikander/The Danish Girl
2) Rooney Mara/Carol
3) Kate Winslet/Steve Jobs
4) Jennifer Jason Leigh/The Hateful Eight
5) Rachel McAdams/Spotlight

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Sylvester Stallone/Creed
2) Mark Ruffalo/Spotlight
3) Mark Rylance/Bridge of Spies
4) Christian Bale/The Big Short
5) Tom Hardy/The Revenant

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) The Big Short
2) Room
3) Carol
4) Brooklyn
5) The Martian


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Spotlight
2) Inside Out
3) Straight outta Compton
4) Bridge of Spies
5) Ex Machina


Comments:  The closest category: Best Director.  Unanimous choices: DiCaprio, Vikander, and the screenplays for both The Big Short and Spotlight.  Stallone is not a unanimous choice but he's close. The Best Actress race seems a little closer than I would have thought.

Meanwhile, the Gold Derby experts say that Spotlight still has a small edge over The Big Short but it's tight:

http://www.goldderby.com/odds/experts/416/

MORE ON SON OF SAUL

Interviews and profiles of director Laszlo Nemes and Son of Saul:

The Atlantic:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/01/son-of-saul-holocaust-films/424491/

The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/22/movies/laszlo-nemes-narrates-a-scene-from-son-of-saul.html


Eat Drink Films:

http://eatdrinkfilms.com/2016/01/21/son-of-saul-interview/




TODD HAYNES TALKS CAROL AND MORE

Director/writer Todd Haynes in a conversation about Carol and his career from The Playlist:


http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-1-hour-44-minute-conversation-with-todd-haynes-covering-his-career-inspiration-and-carol-20160121



That'll do it for this Thursday.  More to come on Monday...

More Directors Talk: "Anomalisa", "Spotlight" and "Son of Saul"/ Oscar Matters: Updates from The Feinberg Forecast and The Awards Circuit / Composing for "Steve Jobs"

Welcome to Monday at MTFB/FAC...hope it was a good weekend.

First, hey, I'm sorry.  In the midst of what was a busy week last week, I really didn't realize that I had posted the regular Thursday edition of MTFB/FAC on Wednesday until that cat had been out of the bag for a good long while, so I just let it stand.  Maybe, I'll get this put together a little more like normal this week.  Anyway, sorry for the 24 hour early post this last week.


MORE DIRECTORS TALK: 'ANOMALISA", "SPOTLIGHT" AND "SON OF SAUL"

Charlie Kaufman, co-director and co-writer of the stop motion animated Telluride sensation "Anomalisa" had a couple of prominent interviews pop up this week for The New York Times and The Playlist (Indiewire) and I have included their links here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/movies/charlie-kaufman-discusses-anomalisa-his-existential-stop-motion-movie.html?_r=0

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-15-minute-anomalisa-q-a-with-charlie-kaufman-plus-new-poster-and-image-for-the-film-20151029

Additionally, National Public Radio talked to "Spotlight" director and co-writer Tom McCarthy.
That's here:

http://www.npr.org/2015/10/29/452805058/film-shines-a-spotlight-on-bostons-clergy-sex-abuse-scandal

And, friend of MTFB, Alex Billington/FirstShowing.net interviewed first time director, Laszlo Nemes, whose "Son of Saul" was red hot at Cannes and Telluride and has to be considered the favorite for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.  That interview is linked here:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2015/interview-son-of-saul-writerdirector-laszlo-nemes-on-great-cinema/


OSCAR MATTERS: UP DATES FROM THE FEINBERG FORECAST AND THE AWARDS CIRCUIT

The amorphous Oscar race continues and I have linked the latest analysis and predictions from The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg and The Awards Circuit's Joey Magidson.  The race continues to change...

Feinberg:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/awards/predictions/awards/predictions/oscars/2015/academy-awards-101615/

Magidson:

http://www.awardscircuit.com/2015/10/31/sizing-best-picture-2015/



COMPOSING FOR "STEVE JOBS"

Kiko Martinez talks to composer Daniel Pemberton about his work for Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" for the Tribeca Film Festival.  Take a look at that interview here:

https://tribecafilm.com/stories/steve-jobs-composer-daniel-pemberton-danny-boyle-michael-fassbender-kate-winslet-seth-rogen-apple-mac


That's Monday's MTFB/FAC.  More to come on Thursday...I promise, it will actually be on Thursday this week.

Contact me at:

michael_speech@hotmail.com OR

mpgort@gmail.com OR

via Twitter @Gort2 OR to

Michael's Telluride Film Blog's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse/107846269309712

There is Another...Critic's Collection for Telluride / More Looks at Post_TFF Oscar Analysis / 200,000 Milestone / Rate Your Films

Good Thursday Everyone...


THERE IS ANOTHER...CRITIC'S COLLECTION FOR TELLURIDE

As I finish collecting ratings from the dozen or so industry professionals about their reactions to films that screened at this year's festival, Indiewire/Criticwire has posted a critic's poll of their own.  The Criticwire survey asked its panel to rank the films they saw from first to fifth.

The survey also asked the respondents to make decisions in a number of other categories: Lead and Supporting Performances and Director.  Leaders in those categories were:

Lead: Brie Larson/Room
Supporting: Idris Elba/Beasts of No Nation
Direction: Laszlo Nemes/Son of Saul
Narrative Feature: Son of Saul

Among the critics that were a part of the poll are several which are also playing in MTFB's Professionals Telluride; Nick Allen, Alex Billington, Gregory Ellwood, David Ehrlich, Eric Kohn and Tomris Laffly.

Take a look at the complete survey here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/critics-pick-the-best-films-and-performances-from-telluride-2015-20150909


MORE LOOKS AT POST-TFF OSCAR ANALYSIS

I'm continuing today to provide readers links to articles/posts from Oscar prognosticators who are gazing into their crystal balls and re-evaluating their preliminary views in light of reactions to the screenings of films at last week's TFF.

Indiewire's Peter Knegt takes a look at seven films that got an Oscar boost here:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/for-your-consideration-7-films-that-jumped-into-the-oscar-race-this-past-week-20150908


And Nigel M. Smith reviews the Oscar field post-Telluride for The Guardian here:

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/09/telluride-oscar-award-race-2016?CMP=twt_a-film_b-gdnfilm


200,000 MILESTONE

Sometime yesterday Michael's Telluride Film Blog was the recipient of its 200,000th view.  Yeesh.  I know that's small potatoes when compared to, for example, Indiewire but it boggles my mind that this space has been looked at that many times by that many people.

MTFB started in late summer 2008 and crossed the 100,000 view threshold on Sept. 16, 2013.  That means that it took five years to get to that first 100K and almost exactly two years to get to the next 200K

Thanks for reading, everyone.  I hope you find this helpful and useful.  Next goal is a quarter of a million views!

That's it for Thursday...

EXCEPT TO REMIND EVERYONE THAT YOU NEED TO RATE YOUR TELLURIDE FILMS!

The People's Telluride publication is just a week away.