Michael's Telluride Film Blog : Matthew Weiner

Showing posts with label Matthew Weiner. Show all posts

Monday, July 22, 2013

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

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More tomorrow...

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Best of the Week/New Mickey at TFF #40?

Good Saturday from Little Rock, AR. I'll be in Birmingham tonight! (for the National Speech Tournament).

BEST OF THE WEEK

Take a look at the best stories I covered this week...

PARTY IN L.A....CLUES?

Last night in Los Angeles The Telluride Film Festival through a fairly discreet invitation only party designed to tease this year's 40th rendition of the festival. The Hollywood Reporters' Scott Feinberg was there and filed a substantial story very early this morning. You can find that linked here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/telluride-film-festival-organizers-tease-566526

Highlights of Scott's post include:

The presence of some Hollywood heavyweights to the tune of Alexander Payne, James Gray and Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner. What does their presence mean?

Count on "Nebraska" at TFF #40. Gray's appearance reinforces my belief that "The Immigrant" will SHOW. The Matt Weiner thing is really curious. He's got a film that he's written, directed and produced entitled "You Are Here" starring Owen Wilson and Zach Galifinakis. It has no announced distributor or release date but IMDb lists it as being in post-production. Makes you wonder.

Maybe Weiner is just a big fan of the festival...

Here are the IMDb links for:

"Nebraska": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821549/?ref_=sr_1

"The Immigrant": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1951181/?ref_=sr_1

"You Are Here": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1545754/

(P.S. the cast of "You Are There" includes frequent Telluride guest Peter Bogdonavich...which is more ammo for the theory that the film plays).

Also attending the party, "The King's Speech scribe David Seidler and sometime SHOW guest, the irrepressible Norman Lloyd.

Feinberg also reveals that, as I have suspected, George Clooney was an instrumental factor in"Argo's" appearance at TFF #39 and we shouldn't be surprised if Mr. Clooney comes back...maybe not this year...but soon.

FORTE AND SQUIBB AND NEBRASKA

You probably should get used to this. Will Forte and June Squibb in a post from HitFix/YouTube talking about Alexander Payne's "Nebraska". Stuff like this is likely to be appearing on this blog a good deal over the next 10 weeks or so as "Nebraska" is almost certainly going to be on the SHOW's 40th playlist. (it may actually be the #1 "Bet" when my first "ten Bets" list goes up in a couple of weeks). Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrLvenIMW4k&feature=youtube_gdata&utm_source

DALLAS BUYERS DATE

I have mentioned Jean-Marc Vallee's "Dallas Buyers Club" starring Matthew McConnaughey as a Telluride potential film for a while now. We got word yesterday from The Playlist that the film has settled into a Dec. 6th release date which puts it in prime time awards wise and also well within the Telluride time frame. Here's the link to the Playlist post:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/will-this-finally-be-matthew-mcconaugheys-oscar-year-the-dallas-buyers-club-nabs-awards-season-date-20130607

By the by...I think McConnaughey seems like a very strong Best Actor candidate with this.

MC CONNAUGHEY TALKS "DALLAS' AND MORE

Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood provides this video interview with actor Matthew McConnaughey whose "Dallas Buyers Club" has a shot at being a part of the Telluride lineup.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/matthew-mcconaughey-talks-magic-mike#

THE CONGRESS GETS DISTRIBUTION

Ari Folman's "The Congress" which played last month as a part of the non-competition portion of the Cannes Film Festival has secured North American distribution. Drafthouse and Films We Like have collaborated to attain those rights. This may actually be a good sign to those who are hoping that Folman's long awaited follow up to his critically successful "Waltz with Bashir" (which appeared at TFF #35) might be a part of this year's Telluride lineup. Drafthouse was represented at Telluride last year with Josh Oppenheimer's "The Act of Killing".

Drafthouse and FWL also have nabbed the rights to Cannes selection "Borgman" which may put it in play as a TFF#40 possibility as well. ComingSoon.net has the acquisition story here:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=105215

KATE'S PLANS

I speculated last week that Jason Reitman's new film "Labor Day" has a solid chance to make an appearance at Telluride this year. I also conjectured that a Kate Winslet tribute in conjunction with the film made some sense. However, the day after that post came news that Ms. Winslet has developed a medical condition which might alter that scenario...she's preggers. The Hollywood Reporter story is linked here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kate-winslet-husband-ned-rocknroll-562710

Does the Winslet pregnancy rule out a tribute? Of course it doesn't but it does add a new wrinkle into the calculation about the possibility of a tribute for the Oscar winner.

NEW MICKEY AT TFF #40

Annecy Animation has not been a stranger to the Telluride Film Festival (thank you Serge Bromberg) and if it continues for #40 expect to see this animated short in Telluride over Labor Day weekend...entitled "Get a Horse". HitFix has the story here:

http://www.hitfix.com/motion-captured/disney-animation-shocks-and-delights-annecy-crowd-with-innovative-new-mickey-mouse-cartoon

This is where "Paperman" came from last year...so...

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Have a good weekend.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Party in L.A....Clues?/SPC Hondos Awarded/Trailers for Sale or Rent

Good Wednesday to you...

PARTY IN L.A....CLUES?

No film house has a higher profile year in and year out at the Telluride Film Festival than Sony Pictures Classics. I expect this year will be no different.

Last night SPC chiefs Michael Barker and Tom Bernard were awarded the initial Envision Award from the Museum of the Moving Image in New York for being "transformational leaders in film". Looking at their track record, that would be difficult to argue with. On hand to aid in the fete were Marcia Gay Harden, Jonathan Demme, Candice Bergen and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Check the P.R release from The Museum here:

http://www.movingimage.us/support/2013envisionawards

TRAILERS FOR SALE OR RENT

A number of outlets linked to the just released trailer for "Diana"...the Princess Diana biopic starring Naomi Watts that could conceivably be in Telluride... though I put its chances at about 10%. Here are a variety of sources linked to the trailer:

The Playlist: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-teaser-trailer-for-diana-starring-naomi-watts-as-the-peoples-princess-20130612

IndieWire: http://www.indiewire.com/article/watch-naomi-watts-guns-for-that-elusive-oscar-in-first-trailer-for-royal-biopic-diana

FirstShowing.net: http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/first-teaser-trailer-for-hirschbiegels-diana-starring-naomi-watts/?uid=c6d1a5f5843533158643c3fb891093da96bf98aa