Eggers and Telluide/UK Film/Love is All?/Beauties and Bale

Good Tuesday to All!


EGGERS AND TELLURIDE

The news release hit my email yesterday at 11:44 AM CDT.  I had a post up at 12:02 PM CDT.  The news from the Telluride Film Festival Press Office was that author Dave Eggers had been selected as the poster artist for TFF#39...and the poster was up and running...

I think I had the story up first anywhere on the web...by a ways...

The frustration, such as it was, when it came to re-tweeting/re-posting...nada...zip...zilch.  As the story rolled through the afternoon all of the movie blog type outlets you'd expect got it posted and it looks like Anne Thompson's "Thompson on Hollywood" got the majority of re-production.  Good for her.

I had hoped that the rapidity of getting their first would have reaped some more online love...not so much.

Nevertheless, there's an interesting side note to the Dave Eggers selection.  Eggers will obviously be in Telluride to schmooze and sign the poster and the press release says he will be honored by the UCLA film school in the course of the weekend's activities...but here's the intriguing thing...Dave Eggers also has film bona fides.  He was the screenwriter for 2009's "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Away We Go" (starring Jon Krasinski and Maya Rudolph.  His novel "Zeithoun" has reportedly been optioned by director Jonathan Demme and if you check his IMDb page you'll find that he has provided the "story" for "Promised Land".

"Promised Land"???  Wait.  Isn't that the Gus Van Sant directed (TFF in 1995-"Elephant" and 2003-"To Die For"), Matt Damon and Jon Krasinski co-written and co-starring film being distributed by frequent Telluride participant Focus Features that The Playlist has reported could well be ready for a fall film fest debut?  Here's The Playlist post:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/gus-van-sants-the-promised-land-could-hit-theaters-by-the-end-of-the-year-not-an-anti-fracking-movie-says-john-krasinski-20120618 

Yes to all...

So does that mean "Promised Land" is suddenly a lock for TFF #39?  No...but it does make me suspect it has a much better shot at being there than it seemed to have yesterday.

"Promised Land's" IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2091473/

AND...maybe there is a continuing connection with/to Maya Rudolph who shares three children with Paul Thomas Anderson who also happens to be directing a film with some buzz about it.  You know..."The Master".

Last year my grand conspiracy theory was that George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon might all three show up in Telluride and have an "Oceans" movie reunion while their respective films ("Descendants", "Ides of March, "Moneyball", and "We Bought a Zoo") all played...

Only the Clooney part with "The Descendants" actually happened...but it was fun to spin the grand story.

This Dave Eggers/TFF #39 Poster/"Promised Land"/Gus Van Sant/Focus Feature/Maya-PTA/"Master" thing looks like it will be the story I spin for this year.  

Chances that it happens: 1%...but it's a good story.

UK FILM COUNCIL

I continue looking at European film production houses that have had some Telluride presence in that past and to see if they have any films in the pipe that look reasonably Telluride-ish and today that's The UK Film Council.  Their past at Telluride includes:

2011: Shame, We Need to Talk About Kevin

2010: The King's Speech, The First Grader, Tamara Drewe, Another Year, Camerman: Jack Cardiff

2009: Bright Star, Fish Tank

2008: Happy Go Lucky

2007: Brick Lane, When Did You Last See Your Father

2006: Venus, The Last King of Scotland, Severance

As you can see, the last 6 fests have had a substantial UKFC footprint with 2 films common and 2010 being the banner year with 5 films playing.

So what does their announced 2012 slate hold that might have Telluride potential?

The best bet is the Dakota Fanning starrer "Now is Good".  I think the only other possibility (and I think it's not highly likely) is the Scarlett Johansson as an alien film "Under the Skin" from director Jonathan Glazer who is probably best known for 2000's "Sexy Beast".

I'd put "Now is Good's" chances at 30% and "Under the Skin" at 10%.

"Now is Good" IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1937264/

"Under the Skin" IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441395/

LOVE IS ALL?

The international trailer for Susanne Bier's film (and thus T-ride possible) "Love is All You Need" popped up over the weekend.  Here's the link to the story and the trailer from The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-international-trailer-for-susanne-biers-love-is-all-you-need-starring-pierce-brosnan-20120707

BEAUTIES AND BALE

And yet at least two more sets of photos have emerged from the Terrence Malick shoot of his "Knight of Cups" project starring Christian Bale.  These feature Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) and Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four) and are beginning to make me think that the film is nothing more than Bale with 37,000 beautiful women...and a beach or an outdoor concert.  You can find these stories both at The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/freida-pinto-is-the-latest-actress-shooting-with-christian-bale-on-terrence-malicks-knight-of-cups-20120627#

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/teresa-palmer-the-latest-beauty-to-join-terrence-malicks-knight-of-cups-20120707

More later...

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Ten Bets/BBC Films/The Sapphires Pics/What Are We Doin' Tonight Marty?

God Monday Everyone...hope you had a great weekend!


TEN BETS #3

Here's a look at last week's "Ten Bets":


1) Amour
2) Rust and Bone
3) Beyond the Hills
4) Hyde Park on Hudson
5) Song for Marion
6) No
7) Something in the Air
8) The East
9) Midnight's Children
10) The Central Park Five


Here's this week's

"Song for Marion"

1) Amour
2) Rust and Bone
3) Beyond the Hills
4) Hyde Park on Hudson
5) Something in the Air
6) No
7) Song for Marion
8) On the Road
9) The Central Park Five
10) Serge Bromberg's Charlie Chaplin Project

The East and Midnight's Children dropped to make room for On the Road and the Bromberg project.  That's because I bumped into some bits and pieces of info this past week that made me re-evaluate On the Road's chances (which I have been decent anyway...even when it was bumped briefly from the "Ten Bets" list).  Other info leads me to believe, pretty strongly, that Serge Bromberg will be back in town on Labor Day.  I'm still also leaning toward "The Hunt", "Like Someone in Love", "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and "Reality".




BBC FILMS

We're going to finish up our stroll through film production/distribution houses with history at Telluride this week and we'll be looking primarily at England.  Today's specimen is the BBC Films.

BBC Films at Telluride the past few festivals include:

2011: We Need to Talk About Kevin
2010: The First Grader, Tamara Drewe
2009: Bright Star, Fish Tank, An Education
2000: Shadow of the Vampire

BBC Films has been a relative newcomer to Telluride and, as you can see, the track record indicates that 2 films from them in a year is what might be expected.  So what does BBC Films have its fingers on that seems Telluride-like?

One film that I have already mentioned is Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut "Quartet".  That seems like a 50-50 candidate at best.

There's the Dakota Fanning vehicle "Now is Good" in which she plays a young woman dying of leukemia with a wish list that includes losing her virginity before she dies (which seems like it could play on a double bill with Fox Searchlight's Sundance success "The Sessions")...

There's the BIG adaptation of Dickens' "Great Expectations" with Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch and Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham directed by Mike Newell.



Those three films seem t like the most likely of the films currently listed for BBC Films by IMDb to be Telluride possibles and I have to say that I don't have a strong inclination that nay of them will actually make the trip across the pond for Labor Day weekend.  BBC Films does have other projects in the bag, but for one reason or another, they don't seem as likely as the three I have listed here.

So, perhaps, this is a year like 2008 or 2011 in which BBC films doesn't make the Telluride scene, or if they do, it's with one film only.

Tomorrow a look at the UK Film Council.


THE SAPPHIRES PICS

Another of the possible films that Harvey Weinstein and the crew at TWC could end up with on the Telluride program is their Cannes acquisition "The Sapphires" directed by Wayne Blair.

The film follows the fortunes of a 60's girl group from Australia.

The Playlist posted new photos and a information late last week and here's the link to that:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/new-images-from-the-weinsteins-the-sapphires-starring-chris-odowd-20120705#

"The Sapphires'" IMDb page is here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1673697/


WHAT ARE WE DOIN' TONIGHT, MARTY?

That iconic line is from the Paddy Chayefsky penned/Delbert Mann directed "Marty" for which Ernest Borgnine won the Best Actor Oscar in 1956.  Borgnine died this weekend at the age of 95.  He also appeared in a number of other notable projects over the years including "The Dirty Dozen", "From Here to Eternity" and "The Poseidon Adventure".  For a kid rowing up with the relatively new medium of television in the early 1960's, he was Lt. Cmdr. McHale in the series "McHale's Navy".

His loss coupled with Andy Griffith's last week create a huge hole where a lot of television used to be.

Bloopers from "McHale's Navy" via YouTube

Ernest Borgnine 1917-2012.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000308/

More later...

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