Who's On the Guest List? / Gold Derby Spills Some Tea / Does Gibney Play Anyway?

WHO'S ON THE GUEST LIST?

One of the great things about Telluride is the folks that come to support the films that screen there.  Bountiful Q&A's give regular Joe's an opportunity to hear from great directors, actors and other creatives about the film's they're involved in.

So it's always fun to take a look at the talent who might make the trip to southwest Colorado.  Here's a rundown of some of the films that MTFB thinks will make the grade at Telluride and the stars that might be in town with those projects.

ALPHA GANG: Cate Blanchett, Dave Bautista, Chris Pine, Lea Seydoux

BUCKING FASTARD: Rooney Mara, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Domhnall Gleeson

CLUB KID: Cara Delevingne, Diego Calva

THE DEBUT: Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Jesse Eisenberg

ELSINORE: Andrew Scott, Oliva Colman.

FATHERLAND: Sandra Huller, August Diehl

FJORD: Renate Reinsve, Sebastian Stan

GENTLE MONSTER: lea Seydoux, Catherine Denueve

THE IDIOT(S): Amy Lou Wood, Johnny Flynn, Vicky Kreips

INK: Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce, Claire Foy

LA BOLA NEGRA (THE BLACK BALL): Penelope Cruz, Guitarricardelafuente, Glenn Close

THE LIBERATION: Carrie Coon, Tracy Letts, Lily James

A LONG WINTER: Kit Connor, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Caitriona Balfe

THE MAN I LOVE: Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Rami Malek, Rebecca Hall

ROSE: Sandra Huller

TENDER LOVING CARE: Kate O'Flynn

TENZIG: Willem Dafoe, Tom Hiddleston, Caitriona Balfe

THE UNKNOWN: Lea Seydoux

WILD HORSE NINE: Sam Rockwell, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey, Tom Waits

And a few from the "Possibilities" list:

THE BASICS OF PHILOSOPHY: Bill Pullman, Dana Delaney, Jack Huston

DIAMOND: Andy Garcia, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray

PRIMETIME: Robert Pattinson, Merritt Weaver

GOLD DERBY SPILLS SOME TEA

In a post from Gold Derby from last week titled: 

"2026 fall festival scorecard: Who’s heading to Venice, Telluride, TIFF, and NYFF — and who’s skipping the circuit?" 

They name seven films that..."Despite the Telluride Film Festival's long-standing tradition of keeping its official program strictly under wraps until the eve of Labor Day weekend, the tea leaves are brewing up some obvious premieres..."

The films:

Bucking Fastard

The Debut

Elsinore

Ink

A Long Winter

Tender Loving Care

Wild Horse Nine

They also suggest that Primetime is a possibility.

The complete Gold Derby article is linked here.

https://www.goldderby.com/film/2026/2026-venice-telluride-toronto-new-york-festivals-scorecard/

DOES GIBNEY PLAY ANYWAY?

We already have discerned that Alex Gibney's documentary about Elon Musk is not going to play Telluride, but could another Gibney doc make the TFF #53 lineup?

I'm talking about Knife, Gibney's look at the 2022 attempt on the life author Salman Rushdie.  Rushdie, as of TFF #52 was still listed among a member of TFF's "Esteemed Council of Advisors in last year's TFF #52 program so it seems like a no-brainer, except...the doc has screened already in the USA.

Knife world premiered at Sundance this year and has also been programmed at Sundance, Chicago's DOC 10 fest, Nantucket and it has screened in New York.  On the other hand, the film is being distributed by Abramorama which had Ask E. Jean at TFF #52.

I'm putting its chances at 40% and let's see what happens.

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Turning the Page in Full/Tickets for Sale/Yearbook Photos

Welcome to Thursday...

TURNING THE PAGE IN FULL

Oscar #86  is in the rearview mirror and The FAC is retired for a half a year.  This goes back to being what it always has been MTFB focused on the potential films for the upcoming Telluride Film Festival.  This year will be its 41st iteration and the ninth for me and the Mrs.

If you've been reading along since the first of the year, you have already seen a couple of posts that have assessed various "Films to Look Forward to in 2014" or some variation of that title.  I'll be re-visiting those soon but we're in post Oscar territory and that means the focus for a few posts will be on those outlets that have already begun to try to read the tea leaves for Oscar #87...starting with this from Glenn Whip and The Los Angeles Times:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/goldstandard/la-et-mn-next-years-oscars-predictions-angelina-jolie-20140303,0,4523470.story#axzz2uvTMj7cA

The story focuses on Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" but also mentions a number of other films that could come into Oscar play including Bennett Miller's "Foxcatcher" which is on my Telluride watch list...again.

There will be more of these kinds of articles in the next few weeks...and trust me, I'll parse them within an inch of their lives.

Meanwhile...

Kristopher Tapley at HitFix/InContention posted on Tuesday an article entitled "On Telluride's New Found Place in the Season, and a Modest Glimpse Ahead."

Tapley talks about T-ride's growing effect on Oscar, the "Toronto Ultimatum" and some films that he thinks might end up in Telluride's venues on Labor Day weekend.

It's here:
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/on-tellurides-newfound-place-in-the-season-and-a-modest-glimpse-ahead

Tapley writes in the article, "I can only imagine that a year after the fest's 40th anniversary drove record sales and attendance, it will be even more on fire after its impact, perceived or otherwise, on this season. I also imagine a number of studios and filmmakers will be desperate for a big reveal on that stage."

Among the films that he suggests might be Telluride possible: The latest Noah Baumbach/Greta Gerwig collaboration, "Foxcatcher", "Birdman" and "Mr. Turner".  All of which you will have seen on posts already centered on TFF #41 possibilities in this space.

There is another film mentioned, but I hesitate to list it here.  Let's just say tat the title has the word "Vice" in it.

Check the whole post.

TICKETS FOR SALE


I got this email on Monday:

Dear Michael:

Join us for the 41st Telluride Film Festival this Labor Day Weekend Friday, August 29 through Monday, September 1st, 2014.

Our online Box Office opens Friday, March 7th, 2014 at 9AM PST. You will need a headshot for your pass at the time of purchase, but uploading photos is easier than ever with our redesigned order form. Take the time now to scan that special shot, or better yet take a selfie with your camera phone. Any picture that is a close-up of your face will do.

If online forms give you heart palpitations, use our downloadable form to complete your order. Available on our website, simply download the form, fill it out by hand and then mail your check and order form to Festival Headquarters. We'll still need those gorgeous photos.

If you have any questions on the best way to order your pass, or other general inquiries regarding the Festival, give us a call at 510.665.9494.

We are deeply grateful for your generosity and continuous support. Thank you, and see you at the SHOW!

So, it's on again for another year as tickets will go on sale tomorrow.  You might want to strike early as Tapley says in the article linked above, with the success of TFF #40, you can expect #41 to be a hot ticket.


YEARBOOK PHOTOS

In an occurrence of nearly cosmic significance, I received my TFF #40 Yearbook Monday, the day after the Oscars.  Cool huh?

As always, it sparked a million memories of the five day dream that was last years festival...and, for the first time, yours truly makes it into a picture in the yearbook...barely.

You might remember me posting this shot not too long ago.  It is primarily of novelists and past Telluride guest directors Michael Ondaatje and Salman Rushdie.  I'm the guy in blue standing in the background.

It's in the yearbook.  On a page with Don Delillo and Geoff Dyer.  It's a literary page.

Rudderless Rising/Cuaron Wins the DGA/Lupita Interview/TFF #41 and J.C. Chandor?/Making it in the Big Leagues

Welcome to Monday!

RUDDERLESS RISING

Standing ovation for William H. Macy's "Rudderless" at The Sundance Film Festival this past weekend.

Sundance's closing premiere, "Rudderless" premiered for Sundance audiences Friday night to a standing ovation.  The film was screened a second time on Sunday morning...also a standing ovation.  I have read half a dozen reviews of the film and five of the six range from good to ecstatic.  Variety is the one review that wasn't impressed with the film written by Casey Twenter and Jeff Robison and shot in Oklahoma last spring.

I am including links to reviews from The Hollywood Reporter, /Film, HitFix, The Playlist and WeLiveFilm:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/rudderless-sundance-review-674066

http://www.slashfilm.com/william-h-macys-directorial-debut-rudderless-is-a-tale-of-two-half-notes-sundance-14-review/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/sundance-review-rudderless-is-a-remarkable-directorial-debut-from-william-h-macy-20140124

http://welivefilm.com/sundance-2014-rudderless-review-moviemanmenzel/

There are plenty of blurb-worthy quotes to chose from and that you can expect to see in future marketing for the film.  As to The Variety review, I'm an unrepentant fan of the film...so you can google it yourself if you want to read it.

If you have seen other reviews of the film, please drop me a note via the comments and I'll post those as well.

In other Sundance news, the biggest prize winner in the competition section was for "Whiplash" which opened the festival.  The film stars Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons and was written and directed by Damien Chazelle and focuses on the world of music...in this case drumming.  "Whiplash" won the top dramatic prize and the audience award both on Saturday night.


CUARON WINS THE DGA

Also on Saturday night...late Saturday night, the Directors Guild of America named Alfonso Cuaron the best feature film director of the year for "Gravity".  That solidifies the thinking that he will likely win the Oscar for the same feat and also boosts the chance that "Gravity" wins Best Picture on Oscar night.

It will be interesting to see how much the DGA win moves the tone of the Oscar pundits.  Over the last week the very strong popular narrative has been that "12 Years a Slave" would win Best Picture and tat Cuaron would win Best Director.  After the PGA tie between the two films last week, there was also a lot of discussion about what effect the DGA winner might have.

Though a split between Best Picture and Best Director is rare, it does happen.  It happened last year when Ang Lee won directing for "Life of Pi" and "Argo" won Best Picture.

Lost i the shuffle, at least a little bit over the past week has been "American Hustle" which looked like a house on fire after the SAG and Golden Globes and also after nomination morning when it co-lead the field (along with "Gravity") with 10 nominations.  I personally don't think you can completely write off its chances of winning Best Picture as it seems to have a lot of love from actors and that's the largest branch, by far, of the Academy's membership.

I also have to say that a real left field surprise could happen too.  I can see these three top films splitting #1 votes enough to allow a "compromise" candidate to emerge victorious.  Some of the Oscar elite think that could be "Philomena".  My "surprise" winner is "Dallas Buyers Club".  It's likely winning at least statues on Oscar night for Best Actor and Supporting Actor (McConaughey and Leto).  In addition to Best Picture, it has two other important nominations: Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.  It also has a nomination for Makeup/Hair.  It also appears to be adored by the actors.  I'm telling you that if had scored a Best Direction nomination, it would be a serious part of the conversation.

The other "surprise" possibility: Alexander Payne's "Nebraska".  It even has a Best Directing nomination.  It's weakness is that it will likely not win a single Oscar that it's nominated for.  In addition to Best Picture and Direction; it's nominated for Actor (Bruce Dern), Supporting Actress (June Squibb), Original Screenplay and Cinematography.  I think that had it picked up an Editing nomination, it might be a bigger topic of conversation as well.

Bottom line...I'm still of a mind that "12 Years" wins Best Picture but I have to accede to the dominant thinking at this point.   Up until Saturday night, I had still thought that Steve McQueen would win Best Director come Oscar night (and that could still happen...DGA and Oscar don't always agree on Direction) but too much points to Cuaron winning Best Director.  It seems the split is likely or even that "Gravity" may have a near "Titanic"/"Lord of the Rings; Return of the King" type night.

LUPITA INTERVIEW

Oscar nominated for "12 Years a Slave" (and perhaps a slight front runner), Lupita N'yong'o, spoke recently to The Carpetbagger/The New York Times.  Here's that interview:

http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/video-lupita-nyongo/

TFF #41 AND J.C. CHANDOR?

A24 films have acquired the rights to writer/director J.C. Chandor's third feature: "A Most Violent Year". The film stars Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.  I think it has a real chance to play at Telluirde #41 this Labor Day.  Reasons:  I spoke briefly last to both Chandor and Isaac at last year's festival, and both men seem to be having a great time.  Additionally, A24 has emerged as an occasional presence at Telluride with films playing as a part of the program in 2012 with "Ginger and Rosa' and last year with "Under the Skin".

Biggest reason that it might not play TFF #41...it hasn't started shooting yet.


MAKING IT IN THE BIG LEAGUES

This is completely unnecessary, but...

As you might expect, The Telluride Film Festival has official photographers and videographers.  I have to admit that I've always hoped that somehow, Kris and I might find ourselves in one of their shots someday.   You know, sort of as tangible proof to the rest of the world (and maybe even to ourselves) that we were actually there. The Fest puts out an annual Yearbook, there are certainly a ton of pictures from the fest as it's going on but it's never happened.  Until this year.

I was perusing the Fest's website recently and trolling through the official photos when I found this one from the Patron's Brunch:

Ostensibly this is a photo of past Guest directors Michal Ondaatje (author of "The English Patient") and Salman Rushdie author of "The Satanic Verses").  If you look at the background, to the left of Rushdie, you can see me standing (dressed in blue)  and looking out over the crowd.  Kris is blocked by the very nice woman in the salmon shirt (not Salman-ha!).  She's the artist who makes the medallions each years for the tributees.

Yes, that's really me behind Ondaatje and Rushdie...and I'm looking at a crowd that included Robert Redford, Francis Ford Coppola, Bruce Dern, The Coen Brothers, T.Bone Burnett and others. 

Objective photographic evidence my friends...I guess it really did happen.

More on Thursday...

And Then Again.../On Another Note/Master Rating

Good Wednesday Everybody!


AND THEN AGAIN



I started yesterday's post with a lament about how a guy (me) can think he's pretty smart and has something figured out only to find out that....maybe not so much.

If you know me at all, (and if you don't, you're about to find out) you know that the inability to solve that kind of research puzzle drives me insane.  So you won't be surprised that I spent some more time last night and dug deeper...I mean crazy deep.  And that paid off.

I am prepared to say that using the same root information that I stumbled across on Monday that I have a high degree of certainty about a film to play Telluride in September.  Which film?  How certain?

Let's put it this way..."Midnight's Children" will return to the "Ten Bets" list on Monday and it won't be at #10...

"Midnight's Children"

"Midnight's Children" IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1714866/

Late additional news... according to IMDb MC is set for an Oct. 26th release in the U.S.and is listed as a selection for Toronto's International Film Festival.  this despite the fact that we're still quite aways from TIFF's official announcement.  Neither of these items diminishes the chances of its Telluride appearance.

ON ANOTHER NOTE

"Stoker" director Chan-wook Park

But just as often as you think you've really hit a home run and figured out a title pretty solidly something else comes along and makes you backtrack elsewhere.  Case in point...I mentioned in Monday's blog that I was re-evaluating whether Chan-wook Park's "Stoker" might be a candidate for Telluride.  I even had a reader tweet and ask why I was re-thinking it as a possibility (for the record, my answer to him was that it's a Fox Searchlight distributed picture and FS doesn't have many films in their fall fest stable and, further, I have a difficult time believing that FS won't be represented at Telluride by 2-3 films...which is also why I still think there's a chance that "The Sessions" will play despite the fact that it debuted at Sundance).

Then, last night, comes word from a story posted at The Playlist that "Stoker" now has a Mar. 1, 2013 release date.  Now, that's not exactly the kind of date that inspires confidence that a studio/distributor thinks they've got a winner on their hands.  So my "Stoker" vibe has dialed back in the space of 48 hours.  I will note, however, that The Playlist also suggests that they still think a fall fest appearance is possible.

Here's that post:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/park-chan-wooks-english-language-debut-stoker-hits-theaters-on-march-1-2013-20120717#.UAbBDmFtrSg

"Stoker's" IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682180/



MASTER RATING

Word this morning from Rope of Silicon (which perused the release of ratings from the MPAA) that tells us that Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" is ready for fall festivities.  You'll see in the post linked below that "The Master" is rated R for "sexual content, graphic nudity and language".

The rating means it's done!

I've all but decided that it WILL play Venice...too much rumor to deny.  My hope is that like 2-3 films each year that do both Venice and then Telluride (like "A Dangerous Method" and "Shame" last year) that "The Master" will be in that same category.

Here's the ROS post:
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/mpaa-ratings-master-frankenweenie-killing-softly/

You'll also see that Andrew Dominick's "Killing Them Softly" is rated as well...but we knew it was ready as it appeared at Cannes.

"The Master's" IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1560747/


More later...


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A New Gig for Salman/More Coen's Musicals

Potential TV mogul Salman Rushdie???

One of the cooler things that happens at the Telluride Film Festival is that you actually have the opportunity to meet and interact with many of the people that are there as a part of the festival.  I've, unbelievably, had real conversations with Oscar nominee Laura Linney, film critic Leonard Maltin, documentarian Ken Burns among others.  One of those others was award winning author Salman Rushdie (he of "Satanic Verses" fame and the survivor of an Iranian Ayatollah's fatwa).  Rushdie is a member of the Telluride Film Festival's Board of Advisors, so he's there most years.  We talked about the film he was introducing in 2008, Nadita Das' "Firaaq."

All this preamble is to get to the story we found today on Anne Thompson's "Thompson on Hollywood" blog today..that Rushdie is going to be producing a television program for American television.  Called "The Next People," Thompson reports that its headed for Showtime and will be a science fiction series.  So how about that?  I don't know if you've ever read any of Rushdie's work, but if the series is remotely in the mode of his literature...it will be challenging.

You can find Thompson's complete article here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/06/13/in_the_works_june_13/

Incidentally, Thompson (with whom I've also had a conversation in Telluride) also seconds The Playlist story from yesterday concerning the Coen Brothers next project being a musical or heavily musically oriented. Today's thought: "Fargo: The Musical"  featuring such musical numbers as "Three Dead in Brainerd," "Lundegaard's Lament," and "The Wood Chipper's Waltz."

And finally, tomorrow I'm going to start talking about a new film that's currently in development.  A film that I know some scuttlebutt about because of...(you guessed it) the Telluride Film Fesival.