Mank in October and an Interesting Note / Netflix and the Chicago 7 / The Distribs: A24

MANK IN OCTOBER AND AN INTERESTING NOTE

Mank Photo montage via World of Reel 

Multiple outlets reported recently that Eric Roth, one of the producers on David Fincher's upcoming Netflix film Mank, has said that the film will premiere at some point in October.

Roth made the statement on the Pardon My Take podcast.

If it's true it suggests that the film might have been ready in time for some of the fall fest run.  As we know, however, Netflix has announced that none of their projects will be fall festing this year.

There are a couple of cracks in that armor, however.  You may recall that I wrote the following in my June 1 post:

"Further, Hammond (Deadline) opens the door slightly to there being the possibility that Netflix's announcement that it would be doing any fall fests might not be 100% carved in stone:
"Netflix, which has been a key presence in the last couple of years is sitting this one out, at least at this point."
The key sentence there being the "At least at this point".

And, as an aside...due to Telluride's secretive nature, you kind of have to wonder that if Netflix was ONLY going to screen at Telluride that they might suggest they weren't going anywhere.
Personally, I take Netflix at its word that they won't screen anywhere...but it's fun to speculate."

Now, in the Zack Sharf/Indiewire article about the possible October release for Mank, there's this sentence:

"While Netflix has not confirmed the “Mank” release date, a fall debut around October or November has been widely expected considering the title is one of the streaming giant’s big Oscar contenders. Similar to last year’s “The Irishman” and “Marriage Story,” Netflix is expected to world premiere “Mank” at one of the fall film festivals."

The Playlist's Charles Barfield seemed to second the motion writing in a story posted on Friday:

"that would give the film ample time to premiere at one of the upcoming fall festivals, which have been welcoming to Netflix films in years past, especially ones with well-known filmmakers and possible awards recognition. So, maybe we’ll see “Mank” 

In fairness, Barfield mentions Venice and Toronto as possible destinations...but still...

The Playlist story is here

So, clearly, something is off-kilter here somewhere.

It's worth keeping an eye and an ear open on this topic.

The entire Sharf/Indiewire post is here.



NETFLIX AND THE CHICAGO 7


I saw reporting over the weekend that Netflix is nearing a deal with Paramount to acquire domestic distribution for Aaron Sorkin;s The Trial of the Chicago 7.  Variety reported over the weekend that negotiations were ongoing.

I've had this Sorkin project on my TFF #47 radar since October of 2018.  The film's TFF chances for a TFF berth seemed to be 50/50.  Then with the stoppage of work in post-production because of the pandemic I had begun to think that it wouldn't be ready in time.  Now, also working against it's Telluride chances, assuming the deal gets done, is Netflix announcing that it won't be taking any of their films to film fests.

The Variety article suggests that the film might still be aimed for release prior to election day in November.

Given the Netflix weirdness detailed in the first section of this post above, I can't definitively say that Chicago 7 won't be a TFF selection.  The door is still open just a wee bit.




THE DISTRIBS: A24

A24's presence at Telluride has been a hit and miss affair since the company's first appearance at the fest in 2012 but their level of success when they have had films there has been impressive with three of the ten films they've screened at Telluride earning Best Picture nominations and, of course, having Moonlight's win after premiering at TFF in 2016.

Here's A24's past at the Telluride Film Festival":

2019: First Cow, Uncut Gems, Waves
2018: No SHOW
2017: Lean on Pete, First Reformed, Lady Bird
2016: Moonlight
2015: Room
2014:  No SHOW
2013: Under the Skin
2012: Ginger and Rosa

Ten films in eight years.  But, as I said...it's been hit or miss with No SHOW's in 2014 and 2018 but three films apiece in 2017 and 2019.

A24 has several films that could be in for a TFF play:

Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks.  Coppola re-teams with Bill Murray for the first time since her debut film, Lost in Translation, which screened at Telluride in 2003.  She hasn't returned to TFF since.  Murray was in town in 2012 in support of Hyde Park on Hudson.  Rashida Jones also stars.  also in its favor-It went into post-production last July.  I was surprised that the film wasn't on the list of films that Cannes "selected".  That makes me think that it may be headed to Venice.  With the uncertainty about how the pandemic will impact fests, films and fest-goers decision making, my sense is that we may see less Telluride/Venice crossover than in recent years.

Mike Mills' C'mon C'mon starring recent Best Actor Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix.  Mills has never been to Telluride but he hasn't been averse to playing the fest circuit with his past films:
Thumbsucker: Sundance, Berlin, Toronto
Beginners: Toronto
20th Century Women: New York, AFI
The film went into post in December which may suggest that it hasn't had enough time to be completed.

Stephen Karam's adaptation of his Tony Award winning play The Humans.  Richard Jenkins, Amy Schumer and Beanie Feldstein star in the story of a family gathering at Thanksgiving.  It's Karam's first gig as director but he has a scripted adaptations of his own play, Speech and Debate as well as Chekhov's The Seagull.  The film went into post in October so is possibly ready.

Three other A24 titles that seem to be less likely TFF participants are False Positive, After Yang, The  and the Untitled Lila Neugebauer Project.

I appears that the Joel Coen MacBeth project starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand has been moved to 2021.

Chances:

On the Rocks 30%
C'mon C'mon 30%
The Humans 30%

All other A24 properties: 10%.

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Hear the Jazz Go Down / Late Breaking: Variety Reports on Cannes / Poland Has Some Thoughts / New Doc from Morris

HEAR THE JAZZ GO DOWN

With apologies to Dire Straits for lifting the lyrics from Sultans of Swing to title this item...

The Telluride Jazz Festival announced that they will postpone until 2021.  The Jazz Fest had been scheduled for Aug. 13-15 but will forgo 2020 altogether and opt to "wait until next year" according to a post on the Jazz fest's website.

The closing sentence reveals that the plan is to have the fest back on the same weekend in August of 2021.

The cancellation or postponement as the fest seems to prefer is worrisome from the Film Fest's perspective as Jazz takes place just a couple of weeks prior to Film. Comparing the two fests is not exact.  The Jazz Fest is centered during each day at Town Park and Elks Park and then there are "After Dark" performances in a variety of venues around town.  Nevertheless, despite some differences in terms of structure, the cancellation of the 2020 edition of Jazz Fest makes one take pause.

The announcement from Jazz Fest organizers is here.


LATE BREAKING: VARIETY REPORTS ON CANNES

Variety's Elsa Keslassy posted a story early this morning with a number of interesting reveals about the Cannes Film Festival.

- Cannes will announce their list of 50 or so titles that would have played there on June 3.
- Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch will be on that list along with ThomasVinterberg's Another Round, Francois Ozon's Summer '85, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria, Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks, Gia Coppola's Mainstream and Naomi Kawase's Come Morning.
- The French Dispatch is "likely" to world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.  The article suggests that Coppola might also go to TIFF.
- It appears that the notion of some co-operation between Cannes and Venice has disappeared.
- Venice appears to have landed Nanni Moretti's Tre Piani and Maiwenn's DNA meaning they won't be on the Cannes list next Wednesday.

If the claims are true, it implies that The French Dispatch and On the Rocks may be off the list for TFF #47.

The complete article is here with other info including other films expected to be announced for Cannes next week and a list of films that are said to be holding off for Cannes 2021.


LATE BREAKING: NO NETFLIX FOR FALL FESTS (added at 11:00am EDT on Thurs.5/28)

It is rare that I deviate from the publishing schedule for MTFB but this news justifies and additional post today.  Anne Thompson at Indiewire has reported that Netflix has determined that they will be sending no films to any of the major fall fests Telluride included.

That report came late yesterday.

The news means that a number of high profile projects are no longer in play for TFF as well Venice, Toronto and New York.

Titles from Netflix that have been a part of the conversation:  Mank, Hillbilly Elegy, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and White Tiger.

The news could impact Telluride considerably as Netflix has been a major presence at the fest over the last few years:

2015: Beasts of No Nation, Winer on Fire
2016: The Ivory Game, Into the Inferno
2017: First They Killed My Father, Wormwood
2018: Roma, Dovlatov, Girl, Reversing Roe, The Other Side of the Wind, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
2019: Marriage Story, The Two Popes, Tell Me Who I Am, Inside Bill's Brain

Thompson's claim is pretty definitive as she writes:

"As awards groups adjust to the evolving post-pandemic reality, so will the studios. And the first up is everyone’s favorite Oscar insurgent, Netflix: While it will provide sponsorship for some major festivals in 2020, it’s not planning to send any of their films or talent to attend them."

Thompson's complete article is linked here.

POLAND HAS SOME THOUGHTS

Move City News' David Poland posted a very extensive article on Monday that takes a look and offers thoughts and prescriptions to Fall Fail Fests including Telluride.  It's interesting.

Poland talks about what he perceives as the conditions that would need to be met for both Telluride and Toronto to occur in something of a normal state.  He also addresses the notion of what virtual versions of both fests might or could look like.  He also talks about potential piracy problems and ultimately suggests that he thinks the window for both fests to make a definitive decision is about a month.

We'll see.

The complete Poland post is linked here.

NEW DOC FROM MORRIS

Errol Morris is working on a new documentary focused on 60's counter-culture figure Timothy Leary.  The film's working title "A Film by Errol Morris".  Indiewire reports that the film is inspired by the memoir of Laery companion Joanna Harcourt-Smith.

The film is being produced by and for Showtime.  No release date is included in the article but there is a teaser which says the film is "coming soon".  From YouTube:

In normal times I'd be eyeballing this as a possible/probable addition to the TFF lineup but the lack of a release date and the vagaries of Covid-19 changes that calculus.  I think it's still possible that it could play but that feeling isn't nearly as strong as I would customarily have for an Errol Morris project.

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Whispers from Vulture / Cannes Reveries and Analysis / Coppola On the Rocks / HN Updates Oscar Predix

WHISPERS FROM VULTURE

Nate Jones posted yesterday on Vulture.com a piece entitled "How Each Major Film Festival Is Responding to the Coronavirus.  Included in his assessment is Telluride along with Cannes, Venice, Toronto and New York.

The Telluride segment doesn't really offer much new save for this sentence:


"However, organizers tell Vulture they are proceeding as if the festival will happen. Otherwise, the only news out of Telluride came in mid-April, when the fest proposed extending its schedule by an extra day"

The key words being: "they (TFF) are proceeding as if the festival will happen"

No clues as to which "organizers" are the source of the claim but it's encouraging.

The Vulture article is linked here.


CANNES REVERIES AND ANALYSIS

The 73rd Cannes Film Festival was to have been going by today.  The original schedule had envisioned an opening night film on Tuesday night and as you know that did not happen.  As the original start date has come and gone a variety of outlets have offered memories and retrospectives about past Cannes as well as a number of assessments of Cannes place in the film universe.

I'm passing along a link to a couple of those here.

The first is a look at Cannes and its past from the perspective of three Indiewire veterans who all have  wealth of experience to draw on.  Anne Thompson, Eric Kohn and David Ehrlich (all of which have been kind enough over the years to participate in my annual round-up of industry veterans at the end of TFF) offer up their reminiscences of their personal experiences in southern France as well as a look at Cannes' past and potential future influence on the film industry.

Take a look at their stories here.

Meanwhile, Deadline has published the highlights of a France TV interview with Cannes President Pierre Lescrue.  Nancy Tartaglione's post went up yesterday.

Lescrue revealed that Cannes would be naming films that would have been selected would include roughly 50 titles.  Previous reports had established that the announcement of those titles will come sometime in early June.

It's my belief that some of those titles that would have played Cannes will be among the films that also play TFF and it will be interesting to parse that announcement for clues and possibilities.

The Deadline story is linked here.


COPPOLA ON THE ROCKS

photo via Empire Online

One of the films that may well be on that list next month is Sofia Coppola's latest collaboration with Bill Murray.  Her film, On the Rocks, she says, is done.  That information leads one to believe that it certainly is a possible title for the Cannes list and then some presentation among the fall fests that are currently still planning on occurring in some fashion including, perhaps, T-ride.

Coppola's last Bill Murray film was, of course, Lost in Translation which played Telluride with Coppola in attendance back in 2003.

Coppola is featured in an article this week (along with Kirsten Dunst) in Empire Online.

You can check that here.


HN UPDATES OSCAR PREDIX

In an exercise of faith or chutzpah or wishful thinking, Hollywood News' Joey Magidson has updated his Oscar predictions for the month of May.  Consequently, in the same spirit, I have mined those predictions for Telluride possibles.

Among his top ten Best Picture picks are TFF potentials: Nomadland, Ammonite and Stillwater.  Also in his top ten are Mank and The Trail of the Chicago 7 both of which could be Telluride players if they're finished.

In his second tier of Best Picture picks are other "Maybes" for Telluride: The French Dispatch, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Annette and On the Rocks.

Magidson's complete rundown of Oscar predictions are linked here.



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L.A. Times Looks at Films That Could Still Be in Play / Annecy Proceeds Online

L.A. TIMES LOOKS AT FILMS THAT COULD STILL BE IN PLAY

Frances McDormand in Nomadland (via Indiewire)

Earlier this week The Los Angeles Times' Glenn Whipp assessed the field of films that he thinks could still be in the sites of FIlm Fests and in Oscar play.  Whipp essentially comes down to three pieces of information about each of the 29 films that make it into his story: Distributor, production status and whether the film currently has a scheduled release date.

So, let's take a look at Whipp's list and talk about what titles based on his information and assessments might be festival bound...and, more specifically, Telluride-possible.

First...films that don't seem probable for Telluride:

Two Sundance films on the list meaning, if tradition holds, that no Telluride play would be in the cards: Florian Zeller's The Father starring Anthony Hopkins and Lee Issac Chung's Minari.

Then there are a dozen films from the Whipp list that have never really felt like Telluride films.  They're films that I don't feel as if they ever planned a fall film fest appearance.

Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods (Netflex/locked/unscheduled)

Denis Villeneuve's Dune (Warner Bors./post-prod/Dec. 18)

Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch (Searchlight/locked/Oct. 16)***

Ridley Scott's The Last Duel (20th Century/production suspended)

George C. Wolfe's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Netflix/post-prod/unscheduled)

Paul Greengrass' News of the World (Universal/post-prod/Dec. 25)

Ryan Murphy's The Prom (Netflix/post-prod/unscheduled)

Liesl Tommy's Respect (MGM, post-prod/Dec. 25)

Docter and Powers' Soul (Disney/post-prod/Nov. 20)

Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir: Part II (A24/post-prod/unscheduled)

Christopher Nolan's Tenet (Warner Bros./locked/July 17)

Steven Spielberg's West Side Story (20th Century/post-prod/Dec. 18)

That said...within an unclear pandemic universe...who knows?  Maybe some of these films end up playing at a festival.

The next categorization are films that are locked that feel like they could be Telluride and/or other fall film fest entrants:

Francis Lee's Ammonite (Neon/unscheduled)

Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix/unscheduled)

Edoardo Ponti's The Life Ahead (Netflix/unscheduled)

Chloe Zhao's Nomadland (Searchlight/unscheduled- a note here, the article actually says its production status is uncertain...my feeling is that it's likely complete)

Then there are the films listed as being in post-production that, should they be completed in time, seem like Telluride and fall film fest possibles (included here is the post-production start date according to IMDb):

Leos Carax's Annette (Amazon/post-11-22-19/unscheduled)

Michael Showalter's The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Searchlight/post 12-23-19/unscheduled)

Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy (Netflix/post-IMDb says the film is complete/unscheduled)

David Fincher's Mank (Netflix/post-2-3-20/unscheduled)***

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria (Neon/post-10-13-19/unscheduled)

George Clooney's The Midnight Sky (Netflix/post-1-2-20/unscheduled)

Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks (A24/post-7-4-19)

Glen Keane's Over the Moon (Netflix/post-1-2-20/unscheduled)

Tom McCarthy's Stillwater (Focus Features/post-1-2-20/unscheduled)

Aaron Sorkin's Trail of the Chicago 7 (Paramount/post-12-17-19/unscheduled)***

Joe Wright's The Woman in the Window (20th Century/post-10-29-18/unscheduled...though it has been dated for release a couple of times)

***I have read somewhere that both Mank and Trial of Chicago 7 will likely not be ready for any of the fall fests.

Additionally, you'd have to expect that films that went into post after the start of 2020 are suspect simply because those films would only have been in post for a few weeks before the shutdown happened: The Midnight Sky, Over the Moon, Stillwater.  

Even The Eyes of Tammy Faye with a Dec. 2019 post-production start date seem iffy to me.

Finally, for fun, let's factor in in directors who have been to Telluride in some capacity (director, writer or star) from these last two groups: Kaufman, Zhao, Fincher, Clooney, Coppola, McCarthy, Sorkin, Wright and I'll take a stab at five of these films making a Telluride lineup for 2020:

1) Nomadland

2) I'm Thinking of Ending Things

3) On the Rocks

4) Hillbilly Elegy

5) Ammonite

Whipp's complete article with his commentary is linked here.

ANNECY PROCEEDS ONLINE

The Annecy Animation Film Fest, the largest animated film festival on the planet announced a few weeks back that this year's event had been cancelled but the fest will move forward with a completely online version of the event.  The online fest will run June 15-20.

The details were reported by John Hopewell and Jamie Lang for Variety last Thursday.

Over the years, several films that have played the Annecy Fest have gone onto to play over the Labor Day weekend in Telluride.  Examples that come to mind include: Loving Vincent and Chico and Rita.

The Variety story includes claims by the fest organizers that many of its customary players will be back for the virtual event.

May 18th is the date for the fest to announce its competition lineup.

The full story is here.

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Oscar Predix in a Time of Uncertainty / Cannes Deadlines Extended / R-e-s-p-e-c-t M-o-v-e-s

OSCAR PREDIX IN A TIME OF UNCERTAINTY

Erik Anderson who runs Oscar predicting website Awards Watch came out this week with predictions for Best Picture, Directing and all four acting categories.

He did so with full disclaimers about not really knowing what the film world might look like for the rest of 2020.

So I played with Anderson's guesses in as far as potential Telluride players.  The 10 films he predicts as Best Picture players are:

Ammonite
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
Minari
News of the World
Next Goal Wins
Nomadland
On the Rocks
The Trial of the Chicago 7
West Side Story

So, I thought I'd rank these 10 films in order of their TFF #47 chances.  Remember that over the past few years Telluride has averaged nearly three films that end up as Best Picture nominees.

1) Nomadland
2) On the Rocks
3) Mank
4) Ammonite
5) Next Goal Wins
6) The Trial of the Chicago 7
7) Minari
8) Da 5 Bloods
9) News of the World
10) West Side Story

Interestingly, Anderson lists another 15 films as he makes his predictions in the other five categories in his post.  When you look at those you'll see some things jump out. 

For example, Netflix is just represented in his list of 10 Best Pic predictions by Da 5 Bloods and Mank but he has an additional six Netflix films scattered throughout these five categories: Hillbilly Elegy, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Midnight Sky, Blonde, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Life Ahead and The Prom.

Netflix's robust presence over the past five years and especially the past two suggests that looking at Netflix's lineup should tell us to expect around 4-5 titles as Telluride possibilities.

Long time Telluride presence Sony Pictures Classics has a couple of films in this list of 15 additional films.  One is The Father which bowed at Sundance and as such is an unlikely to play TFF.  The other is French Exit starring Michelle Pfeiffer.  So that's something to consider.

The complete post from Anderson is linked here.


CANNES DEADLINES EXTENDED

As we await word about the ultimate fate about the Cannes Festival-postponement to June/July.. postponement to an even later date in 2020...or perhaps even cancellation for 2020...and then what that domino falls, how it will affect the other film fest dominoes on the calendar... we got word this week that the organizers had extended deadlines for submissions as a way of dealing with the rupture that has occurred in the film industry as a result of Covid-19.

Details of those extensions are here from Variety and The Wrap.

Meanwhile, a Cannes Film Fest focal point, the Palais de Festival has been transformed into a homeless shelter to provide shelter during France's Covid-19 lockdown.

Indiewire has that story linked here.


R-E-S-P-E-C-T  M-O-V-E-S

Photo of Jennifer Hudson and Aretha Franklin via Vanity Fair

The Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson hasn't been on my TFF radar as its release date was set for some time to be for August.  However, this past week that date was moved to Christmas Day.  So suddenly, assuming that date holds, maybe we have to think about the film as a possibility.

Speculation was that the date change was only partially due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  Roger Friedman's Showbiz 911 suggests that Hudson is getting a lot of Oscar buzz and that could have also been a factor in the decision.

The Showbiz 911 story is kinked here.


And here's the early teaser for the film via YouTube:

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Anticipation / Oscar 2021 Thoughts / Sale Time / And Now: Berlin...

ANTICIPATION

The Hollywood Reporter has put together their list of 77 "most anticipated" films for 2020 and it continues the trend begun at the end of the 2019 to offer some films that one would think will be under consideration and/or will be offered as a possible choice for TFF #47.

THR has organized their list chronologically, at least to the extent possible.  Some highly anticipated films are not yet dated for release and are either listed as TBD's or not listed at all.

Soooo...TFF #47 options?  In chronological order:

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (10/7)

Stillwater (11/6)

Dune 12/18

News of the World (12/25)

Mank (TBD)

Hillbilly Elegy (TBD)

On the Rocks (TBD)

Half tempted to include Ridley Scott's The Last Duel and Ben Wheatley's Rebecca remake.

The complete THR list is here.

OSCAR 2021 THOUGHTS

Variety's Brent Lang and Mark Malkin got into the early Oscar prediction sweepstakes this week with an article posted on Tuesday.  They peer into their crystal ball to contemplate which films might be in serious contention for Academy Award glory a year from now.

Consequently, here's a look at their list of films through the prism of what seems the most likely Telluride players in the order presented in the article:

Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy

Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks

Joel Coen's MacBeth

Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7

Francis Lee's Ammonite

Kimberly Pierce's This Is Jane

David Fincher's Mank

The complete Variety post is linked here.

SALE TIME

As a public service, this reminder that TFF #47 passes go on sale on Sunday, March 1.  Here's the reminder directly from the TFF #47 website:

AND NOW:  BERLIN...

The 70th Berlin International Film Festival is opening tonight and will run through Mar. 1st.  And if past os prologue, you can expect that a film or two that will premiere there will probably end up in southwest Colorado in early September.  

Last year it was Varda by Agnes.  In 2018 it was Dovlatov.  In 2017: Hostages and The Other Side of Hope.  2016: Fire at Sea and Things to Come.

The 2020 edition hs a number of films that offer tantalizing possibilities for Telluride programmers.

Indiewire posted a list of 15 films that will play the Berlinale that they say are Their most anticipated.  Among that list, I can point to a few that could be TFF #47 potentials:

Agnieszka Holland's Charlatan

Rithy Pahn's Irradiated

Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio

Phillipe Garrel's The Salt of Tears

Abel Ferrara's Siberia

Christian Petzold's Undine

You can check out all of Indiewire's Berlin Most Anticipated by clicking here.

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