Another Bump / Babylon's Fate? / White Noise Rumors / Dardennes' Tori and Lokita Acquired

ANOTHER BUMP

Pardon the interruption.  MTFB didn't publish last Thursday as I was in the middle of a trip to NYC.  But I'm back (albeit later than normal) today.  Apologies to any and all that were waiting on on a Thursday post.  To be honest, this summer is crazy busy so don't be all that surprised if the Blog isn't as consistent as it usually is regarding the Monday/Thursday posting schedule.

BABYLON'S FATE?

Margot Robbie on the set of Babylon (per Fox)

Jordan Ruimy (World of Reel) is reporting that the highly anticipated Damien Chazelle film Babylon ,ay or may not be a festival player.  Ruimy says that Paramount hasn't yet decided on what path they want to take with the film which is set for a December release.  

Babylon has been high on the MTFB radar since it was announced as Chazelle was selected for Telluride twice over the last few years for La La Land in 2016 and First Man in 2018.

Babylon is described as a history of Hollywood as the film community makes the transition from silent films to talkies.  The film stars Margo Robbie and Brad Pitt.

The World of Reel post is here.

WHITE NOISE RUMORS

Another story from Jordan from the last week concerns rumors of a difficult shoot of another film that has been high on the MTFB anticipation and TFF expectation list: Noah Baumbach's White Noise.  Baumbach's Telluride pedigree has been solid with appearances for Margot at the Wedding (2007), Frances Ha (2012) and Marriage Story (2019).

Nevertheless, the Ruimy post suggests the film might be on shaky ground.  

IMDb has the film listed as being in post-production and expected as a 2022 release from Netflix with A24 also acting in a production capacity.

DARDENNES' TORI AND LOKITA ACQUIRED

Deadline reports that The Dardenne's Brothers' Tori and Lokita, which picked up a special 75th Anniversary prize at Cannes last month has been picked up for U.S. distribution by the combination of Janis and Sideshow.  That coupling was the same crew that brought Oscar winner Drive My Car to the U.S. (and Telluride) last year.

That acquisition surely keeps the Dardennes fellows on the TFF #49 watch list.

Anthony D'Alessandro reported the acquistion for Deadline.

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The Distributors 2019: Lionsgate-Roadside Attractions / Sorry We Missed You Trailer / Pain and Glory Trailer

Welcome to Friday and the end of a long week for me from the National Speech Tournament in Dallas, Texas.


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2019: LIONSGATE-ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS

Lionsgate and affiliated film company Roadside Attractions have a solid appearance history with the Telluride Film Festival.

Lionsgate at Telluride:

2017: Hostiles
2016: La La Land
2013: All Is Lost

Roadside Attractions was repped at T-ride as follows over the past few years:

2018: Trial by Fire
2016: Manchester by the Sea
2014: '71, Mommy, The Homesman
2013: All is Lost, Gloria
2012: Stories We Tell
2011: Albert Nobbs
2010: Biutiful

Between the two affiliated distributors is an average of about one film each year.  1.2 films per year to be exact.

For 2019, between the firms, there seem to be two possibilities.

One is the Judy Garland biopic starring Renee Zellweger and directed by Rupert Goold.  The other is the Jay Roach directed, John Lithgow starring film about Roger Ailes and the working environment at Fox News.  The film also stars Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie and is due in theaters on Dec. 20th

I'd put the Telluride chances for both of these films at 40%.



SORRY WE MISSED YOU TRAILER


We have a trailer for Ken Loach's social drama Sorry We Missed You.  he film played at Cannes to moderately good critical response.  It's still unacquired for U.S. distribution and as such is not yet dated for release in the United States.

Here' the trailer for the film via YouTube:

I've linked an article about the film and its trailer debut from Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net here.


PAIN AND GLORY TRAILER


Another Cannes success has a new trailer for the UK. Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory which features Cannes Best Actor winner Antonio Banderas.  Penelope Cruz also stars in the film.Almodovar's semi-autobiographical film is under the auspices of Sony Pictures Classics and is set for U.S. release on Oct. 4th.

Could Pain and Glory be Almodovar's return to TFF?

Here's the trailer via YouTube.

That's the MTFB for the week.  Come back next Monday for more.


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TFF #45 Ten Bets #3 / Trailer for Mary Queen of Scots / More on Widows in London / Another Note About Acquisitions

Good Friday fellow film fans...


TFF #45 TEN BETS #3

Here's the third installment of the summer's Ten Bets for TFF #45, an ongoing assessment of the films that I feel are the most likely to make the Telluride lineup.

Last week's Ten Bets were:

1) If Beale Street Could Talk
2) The Other Side of the Wind
3) Cold War
4) Capernaum
5) Beautiful Boy
6) Burning
7) Boy Erased
8) Peterloo
9) The Old Man and the Gun
10) The Front Runner

This week's list:

1) If Beale Street Could Talk
2) The Other Side of the Wind
3) Capernaum
4) Beautiful Boy
5) Cold War
6) The Old Man and the Gun
7) Widows
8) Boy Erased
9) Roma
10) The Front Runner


Other films in the hunt:

Sunset, The Sisters Brothers, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, The Eyes of Orson Welles, Dogman, On the Basis of Sex, Girl, Happy as Lazzaro, Shoplifters, He Dreams of Giants, First Man, A Star Is Born, Cheney (Backseat), At Eternity's Gate, Everybody Knows, Nothing Like a Dame, The Favourite, Peterloo, Burning

TRAILER FOR MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS

As promised, we got a trailer release yesterday for Josie Rourke's Mary Queen of Scots which stars Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie locked in a tussle for the English crown.  The film is being distributed by Focus Features and is slated for U.S. release on Dec. 7th.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

And I have linked coverage here from:

Variety

Indiewire

SlashFilm

Awards Daily

FirstShowing

MORE ON WIDOWS IN LONDON

The BFI-London Film Fest dropped a huge announcement yesterday (covered in my post from yesterday) that Steve McQueen's Widows, starring Viola Davis and Colin Farrell, will open their festival on Oct. 10th.

Of immediate interest to Telluride fans was the published designation of the film's status for that screening as its International Premiere.  My understanding of that designation is that it means that the BFI-London screening will be the film's first outside of its nation of origin.

There was some back and forth yesterday in some online circles about whether that means a Telluride play, a Toronto play or both.

If the "IP" designation means what I think it means, a Telluride play is happening with no Toronto (also no Venice).  But as a friend emailed me yesterday when the news was breaking..."International premiere-but who knows what that means anymore?"  So, you know, the point there is that the term may be more flexible than it used to be.

All of that plus McQueen's track record with Telluride, was enough for me to place Widows on my Ten Bets list this week (for the first time) at #7.  

Here's linked coverage of the BFI-London announcement from yesterday:

The Guardian (which specifically suggests Telluride is possible)

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

Indiewire

Deadline

ANOTHER NOTE ABOUT ACQUISITIONS

I mentioned yesterday that Magnolia Pictures hadn't had a film at TFF since 2015.  Eagle-eyed friend of the blog Kenny Miles messaged me with the info that Magnolia partnered with Amazon on Ai WeiWei's documentary Human Flow last year.  Thanks to Kenny for the info!

That's wrap for this week on MTFB.  More to come on Monday...from...somewhere in Colorado...

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