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...
