More Llewyn Speculation/Another Theory/Pain for Payne/The Full Mandela

Good Monday from Lawton, OK.

Those that have read this blog in past summers recognize that greeting as for the 19th consecutive year I am co-ordinating the Advanced Division for Team Debate at Cameron University's Debate Camp.  I am literally here all week.

But that's not going to stop this blog.  Big week this week with Venice and Toronto announcing lineups.

Going to be fun!


MORE LLEWYN SPECULATION

You saw my post last Friday concerning Jeff Wells Telluride speculative piece on his website Hollywood Elsewhere.

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2013/07/homework-assignment/

He named four films he feels have strong chances to be at Telluride.  On that list: J.C. Chandor's "All is Lost", Paul Greengrass' "Captain Phillips", Abdellatif Kechiche's Cannes Palme d'Or winner "Blue is the Warmest Color" and the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis".

Now, I'd love to see any and all of them, but you know that I'm head over heels to see "Llewyn Davis".  It's close between it and "12 Weeks a Slave" as to which film is #1 on my Telluride wish list so the notion that it actually plays as part of the SHOW is intoxicating.

So I was thinking over the weekend and did some digging and there have been other hints that it might be possible.

Russ Fischer at SlashFilm posted on May 3rd that "There's always the chance that it will play Venice, Telluride or Toronto" and Kris Tapley wrote in his May 27 piece about the Coens and Cannes, "The film will likely travel to the Telluride and Toronto fests to stoke the flames..."

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-coen-bros-inside-llewyn-davis-dated-for-december/

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/cannes-and-the-coens

It seems to me that I've run across a couple of other websites that have implied the possibility of "Llewyn" showing at t-ride.  I'm still trying to track those down.

So, could this finally be the year that Telluride and the Coens merge?  Right now, I think it's a lot more likely right now than I did last week.  Is it a "Ten Bets" by the end of the week?  Maybe.


ANOTHER THEORY

So, we still don't know this year's guest director.  A few weeks back, I posited that it might be "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner who was at Telluride's Hollywood party as some kind of guest of the festival back on June 4th.

Seems like a plausible theory but I've been asking myself, if it is Weiner...why no announcement?  So over the weekend...another theory.

This one goes like this...the festival is going to announce this week.  why?  They've been waiting so that during this high profile Venice/Toronto week that they have a big arrow in their quiver to fire that will guarantee that Telluride doesn't get forgotten in the wave of other festival news.

Pretty good theory, huh?

And as I was contemplating this new theory, it occurred to me that another reason to wait until this week would be that this year's Guest Director is BIG...I mean titanically  HUGE...That would also give announcing during the Venice/Toronto week more impact.  To that end, I'm not sure that Weiner is sufficiently "HUGE".  He would be a cool choice, but not gargantuan.  I could easily fall back to the original Weiner theory which was his feature "You Are Here" will be a part of the festival lineup.

So...who?

If you're inclined, send me some suggestions...

I have some ideas...but they're really, really crazy.


PAIN FOR PAYNE

Looks like Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" (#1 on my Ten Bets list) will be rated R when it is released on Nov. 22.  Payne lost an appeal of the rating before the MPAA last week.  The Hollywood Reporter has details:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/alexander-payne-fails-overturn-nebraskas-588583


THE FULL MANDELA

We have already seen teaser for Justin Chadwick's "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom".  Toward the end of the week last week, we got a full trailer:

Here are a couple of posts about the trailer dropping:

The Playlist:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-idris-elba-fights-for-his-rights-in-new-trailer-for-mandela-long-walk-to-freedom-20130718

HitFix:
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/full-trailer-for-mandela-long-walk-to-freedom-promises-the-mandela-you-dont-know


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

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2,

More tomorrow...

The Fifth Estate Trailer/Werner and Errol/Mandela Teaser Trailer

Good Wednesday Everyone...

THE FIFTH ESTATE TRAILER

Much as "12 Years a Slave" did the other day, we had a trailer drop late last night for Bill Condon's "The Fifth Estate" starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl and Laura Linney.

I have thought this had promise and some Telluride possibilities because of Condon's and Linney's presence and I still do.  After seeing the trailer, I'm even more eager.  Here it is via YouTube:

I have also linked to a number of posts from early this morning that included the trailer as well:

The Playlist:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-trailer-for-the-fifth-estate-starring-benedict-cumberbatch-as-julian-assange-20130717

FirstShowing:
http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/benedict-cumberbatch-as-julian-assange-in-the-fifth-estate-trailer/

Rope of Silicon:
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/fifth-estate-wikileaks-official-trailer-pictures/

Movie City News:
http://moviecitynews.com/2013/07/trailer-the-fifth-estate-aka-the-wikileaks-movie/

"The Fifth Estate" opens Oct. 11th or 18th depending on which website you believe.

WERNER AND ERROL

TFF regulars and board of advisor members Werner Herzog and Errol Morris have been making the rounds to promote the Josh Oppenheimer's documentary "The Act of Killing" which showed prominently at last year's festival.  The two men acted as producers of that film.  Here they are talking about that film with Thompson on Hollywood:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/werner-herzog-errol-morris-act-of-killing-video-interview-vice

I fully expect both men to be a part of Telluride's 40th celebration.  Herzog gets the new Town Park/Hockey Pavilion venue named in his honor (I'm still pushing for the nickname of the new venue to be "The Zog").  I've been thinking that it will be christened with a screening of a restored print of his "Aguirre: The Wrath of God".  Actually, it wouldn't surprise me to see TFF program an entire Herzog retrospective during the course of the five day festival.

Meanwhile, Morris has a new documentary under his belt: "The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld".  I fully expect that to be a part of this year's lineup.

Morris has a couple of other things on his plate.  He is supposed to have been working on a narrative feature entitled "Freezing People is Easy" but word came this week that he is set to direct "Hollland, Michigan".  This film is described as a "suburban thriller with black humor".  Thompson on Hollywood has that story as well:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/errol-morris-to-direct-narrative-feature-holland-michigan


MANDELA TEASER

I wrote yesterday that The Weinstein Company had a number of prospects going into the awards season.  One of those is "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" featuring Idris Elba in the title role.  This past weekend a teaser trailer was released:

I have also included a couple of stories about the trailer from The Playlist and The Wrap:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-teaser-trailer-for-biopic-mandela-long-walk-to-freedom-starring-idris-elba-20130712

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/mandela-long-walk-freedom-trailer-touts-message-great-man-video-102686

"Mandela" was directed by Justin Chadwick whose "The First Grader" appeared at Telluride in 2010.


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

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2.

More tomorrow...

Weinstein's at Telluride/More "Counseling"

Good Thursday to All.


WEINSTEIN'S AT TELLURIDE

Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob have had a fairly common presence at the Telluride Film Festival over the years.  Their current incarnation is as The Weinstein Company.  Previously they were Miramax.  Tracking both companies 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 since 2005:

2003: The Barbarian Invasions, Best of Youth, I'm Not Scared
2004:
2005:
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)

So over 10 years...13 films.  1.3 per year and TWC has been repped at TFF consistently each year since 2006.  So expect one or two TWC films on the TFF #40 slate.  What's possible?

According to IMDb this is what TWC has in its wheelhouse for the fall (that, as usual, hasn't already appeared in the U.S. or won't open here until after The SHOW):

You can probably discount "Leo the Lion" "The Trick or Treaters" and "Man of Tai Chi".

"The Immigrant"
"August: Osage County"
"Snowpiercer"
"Salinger"
"The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet"
"One Chance"
"Philomena"
"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
"Grace of Monaco"

So there are probably these 9 that are legit possibles.  If you've read the blog, you already know that I'm high on "The Immigrant" being at T-ride in its full form.  If that's true and TWC's past performance (particularly the last 7 years) we might see one other film from the TWC shingle, two at most.

So...which?

I think your best shots are: "Salinger", "One Chance" and "Philomena" with "Spivet" as an outside shot.

"August", "Mandela" and "Grace" are probably off the table.  I'd not be surprised that "August" doesn't do ANY festival in the fall.  Maybe New York.

My guess is that "Grace" and "Mandela" will do some combination of Toronto and NY and that "Snowpiercer" is Toronto all he way.

Chances:

"Immigrant" 80%
"Salinger" 45%
"Philomena" 40%
"One Chance" 35%
"Spivet" 25%
"Mandela" 20%
"Grace" 10%
"August" 10%
"Snowpiercer" 5%


MORE "COUNSELING"

Yesterday was the trailer for Ridley Scott's "The Counselor".  Today, from The Playlist, a look at some stills from the film.  The post also includes a segment of the screenplay by Cormac McCarthy.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/first-offical-images-from-the-counselor-plus-read-an-excerpt-of-cormac-mccarthys-unique-script-20130626



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

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

More tomorrow...

Best of the Week

Good Saturday.  Back home in the Oklahoma Panhandle after a 16 hour marathon drive from Birmingham yesterday.

BEST OF THE WEEK

Here's the best material that I posted this past week on MTFB:

ANNECY ENDS

Probably the world's most important animated film festival has come to a conclusion in France.  The Annecy Animation festival was a contributor to last year's Telluride fest.  "Rio 2096" won the top prize, the Crystal Award.  Other award winners and a complete wrap-up of the festival, check out this from Variety:

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/rio-2096-takes-top-honor-at-annecy-fest-1200497503/


SALINGER TRAILER

I had been thinking that the upcoming documentary on J.D. Salinger had a shot to be a Telluride film...but I have discovered that the release date is now set for Sept. 6...the weekend after TFF concludes.  That doesn't make it impossible and I can actually see a scenario wherein The Weinstein Company might think the immediate opening after a Telluride weekend might make a lot of sense.  So, don't rule it out completely.

All that to get to this...it has a trailer...

Here are a couple of posts that accompanied the release of the trailer this week:

From Movie City News:
http://moviecitynews.com/2013/06/trailering-salinger-231/

And from The Playlist:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-captivating-trailer-for-documentary-on-famed-literary-recluse-jd-salinger-20130613

MANDELA'S POSTER

A film with a somewhat rosier prospect of Telluride play is Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom starring Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela and directed by Justin Chadwick.  That film released its first poster yesterday as per this post from The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/idris-elba-channels-nelson-mandela-569953

A LOOK AT 12 YEARS A SLAVE

First official images from Steve McQueen's third feature which has a better than even chance at making the TFF #40 lineup:

From The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/first-look-michael-fassbender-benedict-cumberbatch-chiwetel-ejiofor-in-12-years-a-slave-20130618


Also from Rope of Silicon:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/twelve-years-a-slave-pictures/

THE VENICE SPEC STARTS

Variety's Justin Chang and Nick Vivarelli have posted the first serious speculation about what might make the grade for the Venice Film Festival.

As I have pointed out a number of times, Telluride and Venice normally share only about 2-3 films each year.

So what might we learn from the Variety speculation?

The first two films mentioned are "Gravity" and "Twelve Years a Slave".  I'm of a mind that "Gravity" in an unlikely TFF entrant but that Steve McQueen might very well follow the same path that he has with his first two films...both "Hunger" and "Shame" played the Venice/Telluride double header.

The next paragraph of the article suggests a number of Venice possibilities...the most Telluride-interesting title might be Terry Gilliam's "The Zero Theorem".

The final paragraph teases films that aren't likely to be at Venice (so they say) because they'll be other places...perhaps T-ride.  The most intriguing to me are Bennett Miller's "Foxcatcher" and Spike Jones "Her".

For the whole article look here:

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/venice-film-festival-gears-up-for-a-starry-70th-anniversary-1200497948/

INDIE WIRE HAS A LIST

Major film blog warehouse, IndieWire has posted the 50 films they'd love to see at one of the 3 fall fests...Telluride, Toronto and Venice.

Of the 50 they list, they mention Telluride specifically in four cases: "The Double", "A Most Wanted Man", "The Young and Prodigious Mr. T.S. Spivet" and "The Monuments Men".  Frankly, I dubious about all but "Most Wanted" and I'm lukewarm about it at best.

Looking at their entire list of 50,the films they list that I think have the best T-ride chances are:

"The Fifth Estate"

"Foxcatcher"

"Labor Day"
"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
"Philomena"
and

"Twelve Years a Slave"

Here's the link to the complete post:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/fall-festival-wishlist-the-50-films-we-hope-to-see-in-venice-toronto-and-or-telluride


FEST FLIGHTS

The TFF folks have announced additional flights/charters for this year's 40th Festival.  Check here for the news:

http://telluridefilmfestival.org/news/2013-06

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

Follow me o Twitter @Gort2


More on Monday...have a good weekend.

IndieWire Has a List/Fest Flights

Good Friday to everyone.  Leaving Birmingham and the National Speech Tournament to head back home today...

INDIE WIRE HAS A LIST

Major film blog warehouse, IndieWire has posted the 50 films they'd love to see at one of the 3 fall fests...Telluride, Toronto and Venice.

Of the 50 they list, they mention Telluride specifically in four cases: "The Double", "A Most Wanted Man", "The Young and Prodigious Mr. T.S. Spivet" and "The Monuments Men".  Frankly, I dubious about all but "Most Wanted" and I'm lukewarm about it at best.

Looking at their entire list of 50,the films they list that I think have the best T-ride chances are:

"The Fifth Estate"

"Foxcatcher"

"Labor Day"
"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
"Philomena"
and

"Twelve Years a Slave"

Here's the link to the complete post:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/fall-festival-wishlist-the-50-films-we-hope-to-see-in-venice-toronto-and-or-telluride


FEST FLIGHTS

The TFF folks have announced additional flights/charters for this year's 40th Festival.  Check here for the news:

http://telluridefilmfestival.org/news/2013-06


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

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

More later...

A Wolf on the Prowl/Mandela's Poster/Act of Winning

Good Tuesday everyone...from Birmingham, Alabama and the National Speech and Debate Tournament...

A WOLF ON THE PROWL

The first trailer for Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" starring Leonardo DiCaprio dropped yesterday and the internet was abuzz with multiple ways to link to it. Although I don't think that it's a likely Telluride entrant, it almost certainly will have some effect on the upcoming Oscar season.  Further, it's not completely impossible that it could be a part of The SHOW.  So here's the trailer and several links to accompanying stories:

itunes:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/thewolfofwallstreet/

Rope of Silicon:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/the-wolf-of-wall-street-movie-trailer-dicaprio-scorsese/


The Wrap:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/leonardo-dicaprio-martin-scorsese-party-hard-wolf-wall-street-trailer-97706


MANDELA'S POSTER

A film with a somewhat rosier prospect of Telluride play is Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom starring Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela and directed by Justin Chadwick.  That film released its first poster yesterday as per this post from The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/idris-elba-channels-nelson-mandela-569953


ACT OF WINNING

One of the most talked about documentaries at last year's TFF was Josh Oppenheimer's "The Act of Killing".  It continues to make waves as it was named winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Sheffield Doc/Fest.  IndieWire has that story here:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-act-of-killing-tops-sheffield-doc-fest

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

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2



More tomorrow...

Starting to Read the Tea Leaves

Good Tuesday!

STARTING TO READ THE TEA LEAVES

Last February 28th the fine folks at HitFix/InContention gave us their rundown of 25 films that they thought would have Oscar potential for this year.  Included within each film's capsule description was a guess at its fall film festival potential.  I have referenced this article a couple of times since its initial post and thought of it again as I get ready for a summer of Telluride #40 speculation so it seemed like a good place to return to as a way of kicking off the summer.  You can access the entire post here:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/oscars-2014-contenders-25-films-to-watch-for

For those that would prefer a truncated version...here you go.

Listed alphabetically, here are the 13 films they mentioned as Telluride possibles on the list of 25 (with a comment or two along the way):

"August: Osage County"...I'm dubious that this will actually play Telluride.  This seems more like a New York Film Fest opener or closer to me.  That said, it's not impossible.  Distribution is by The Weinstein Company...past tributee George Clooney is a producer.  Past tributee Meryl Streep plays the lead (or co-lead).

"Captain Phillips"...Again, I'd be surprised.

"Diana"...Third straight film that HitFix lists that I think probably won't play.

"The Fifth Estate"...The Julian Assange film starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  Finally, a film that I think has a fighting shot to make the T-ride playlist.  Bill Condon directs and has been repped at Telluride previously with "Kinsey" which also provides the second bit of Telluride connectivity.  Laura Linney (of "Kinsey" and frequent Telluride appearances) is a in "Fifth Estate".  This might even make the first "Ten Bets" list that'll go up at the end of the month.

"Foxcatcher"...Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum in a true story of murder and Olympic wrestling directed by Bennett Miller.  This is a soft maybe from me at this point, though I'd be pretty psyched if it actually does show at The SHOW.

"Labor Day"...Jason Reitman directs ("Juno", "Up in the Air") after having not been in Telluride with "Young Adult" in 2011.  I think he'll be back.  And I am looking forward to that potential return.  Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin...yes please.  And just to toss a thought out there...A Kate Winslet tribute?

"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"...Again, I'm dubious.  Although it has a Telluride pedigree in that its distribution is via TWC and director Justin Chadwick was repped at TFF #37 with "The First Grader".

"A Most Wanted Man"...The TFF connection is pretty thin here but I'd love for it to make the grade.  It's a John LeCarre story and has Philip Seymour Hoffman in it.  Film4 is listed as a producer and that's the only real connection to past TFFs.  Film4 helped produce "Shame", "Never Let Me Go" and "Slumdog Millionaire" and looking at what the have produced for the rest of 2013, I believe they will have some presence at TFF #40.

"Nebraska"...If Alexander Payne's new film isn't on the TFF #40 list I would be shocked.

"Oldboy"...If Spike Lee's new film IS ON the TFF #40 list I would be shocked.


"Out of the Furnace"...Director Scott Cooper's follow-up to "Crazy Heart", the little film that earned Jeff Bridges the Oscar for Best Actor.  The film stars Christian Bale and Casey Affleck.  "Furnace" film doesn't have any particular Telluride pedigree so it wouldn't seem likely.

"Rush"...the Ron Howard directed film about big time auto racing wouldn't seem like the most likely of Telluride films, but T-ride is the only festival that the HitFix article even suggests for the highly anticipated film.

"Serena"...I don't know a lot about this film beyond the fact that it re-unites "Silver Linings Playbook" stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and it's directed  by Susanne Bier. What makes me think it's really possible is that U.S. distributor Magnolia also had "The Hunt" and "A Royal Affair" in its stable last year and they played Telluride.


There are 5 films on the Hit Fix list that I would love to see at Telluride that aren't speculated as T-ride films:
"The Counselor", "Inside Llewyn Davis", "Monuments Men", "Wolf of Wall Street" and "Twelve Years a Slave".  Although I think I could make a good case for "Twelve Years" and a so-so case for "Monuments Men".  The other three...yeah, I'd be surprised too.

The remaining 7 films on the HitFix list are Sundance films, will have already opened prior to Telluride or probably has no chance of playing Telluride.

So, from the entire list of 25, the best bets are "Nebraska", "Labor Day" and "The Fifth Estate".

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 Wednesday...