Guest Director...What's Up?/Hollywood Elsewhere Adds Fuel/15 Films Looking For a Home/Harvey's Dilemma

Good Monday Everyone...

GUEST DIRECTOR...WHAT UP?

I'm having a hard time believing we still don't know the Guest Director for this year's Telluride Film Festival. I've offered up a couple of theories over these past few months.  Initially I thought it might be "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner who was reportedly a guest at TFF's Hollywood party back in June.  (Check out my June 12th post).  No announcement came, however.

Then I got it into my head that the Fest might be holding off to make a BIG announcement during the week of Venice/Toronto festival lineup announcements.  Along with that, I suggested the notion that the Guest Director might be someone that has an immense popular profile.  I confess, I was thinking crazy BIG names and I also suggested that the person might come from music or politics.  Names like Jagger and Clinton were in my head.

Didn't happen.

Now, I'm completely mystified.

And if you're having trouble with the Guest Director spot TFF, I have further suggestions:

1) Werner Herzog...you know he'll be there.  He's got a new theater named in his honor.

2) Have 6 of them...I'll bet you have at least 6 past Guest Directors in attendance.  Have each of them select one film from the list they originally programmed.   Or cross-pollinate them...have an Alexander Payne program one film from Errol Morris' original list.

Here's the last of all past directors:

1988- Donald Richie

1989- Errol Morris

1990- Bertrand Tavernier

1991- Laurie Anderson

1992- G. Cabrera Infante

1993- John Boorman

1994- John Simon

1995- Phillip Lopate

1996- B. Ruby Rich

1997- Peter Von Bagh

1998- Peter Bogdanovich

1999- Peter Sellars

2000- Edgardo Coranzinsky

2001- Salman Rushdie

2002- Alberto Barbera

2003- Stephen Sondheim

2004- Buck Henry

2005- Don Delillo

2006- J. P. Gorin

2007- Edith Kramer

2008- Slavoj Zizek

2009- Alexander Payne

2010- Michael Ondaatje

2011- Cataneo Veloso

2012- Geoff Dyer

I have to believe that Morris, Tavernier, Sellars, Rushdie, Payne and maybe Bogdanovich, Henry and Boorman will be in town.  

Idea #3- Pick me, I'll do it.  Nobody will see that coming.

HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE ADDS FUEL TO THE FIRE

Overnight, Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere posted his musings on three films that appear to be avoiding the Toronto International Film Festival but that he says are all but certain Telluride fare.  The films: Alexander Payne's "Nebraska", The Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" and J.C. Chandor's "All is Lost".

On its face the post is an interesting look a what Wells thinks may be going in vis-a-vis film programming and Toronto.  For my purposes, it just adds fuel to the fire that the three films play Telluride.

"Nebraska" isn't a surprise.  I've had it at #1 on the "Ten Bets" list all summer.

For "Inside Llewyn Davis" it's another validation of its place on the "Ten Bets" list. As a matter of fact, it might be solid enough now to move up the list a bit this week.

As for "All is Lost", you know if you've been following this space this last couple of weeks that it has been gaining some steam as a possible/probable Telluride selection.  I wouldn't be surprised if it appears somewhere on this week's "Ten Bets" list.

Here's the link to the Wells post:
http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2013/08/three-toronto-no-shows/

15 FILMS LOOKING FOR A HOME

I'm re-posting this from Saturday.

HitFix/InContention posted an interesting story yesterday that took a look at 15 films that are still looking for distribution but are playing a major fest and are also thought to have some awards potential.  The article also points at some of the 15 that they feel might make the Telluride lineup. Those films are:

Attila Marcel (dir. Sylvain Chomet)
Joe (dir. David Gordon Green)
The Railway Man (dir. Jonathan Teplitzky)
Serena (dir. Susanne Bier)

There are three other films among the 15 that they don’t tag with the “maybe Telluride” label that I would continue to include as outside possibilities:

Terry Gilliam’s “The Zero Theorem”
Kelly Reichardt’s “Night Moves” and
Matthew Weiner’s “You Are Here”.

Check they entire gallery with commentary at:
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/15-potential-awards-players-still-looking-for-a-home

HARVEY'S DILEMMA

We'll almost certainly see some film(s) from The Weinstein Company in three or so weeks.  Leading the pack, my guess is, James Gray's "The Immigrant" starring Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Renner and Joaquin Phoenix.  

TWC, however, has a bunch of other possible films that are floating about that are both Telluride possibles and awards-possibles as well:

"August: Osage County"

"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"

"Philomena"

"Grace of Monaco"

"Snowpiercer"

"One Chance"

"Salinger"

"The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet"

Then there are films that aren't T-ride possibles from TWC that might figure into the awards mix as well, such as Sundance favorite "Fruitvale Station" and next week's release "Lee Daniels: The Butler".

There's lot of product there.  The Hollywood Reporter's Gregg Kilday took a look at all the TWC slate as we approach fall festival season:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-harvey-weinsteins-crowded-awards-595737

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More on Tuesday...

Starting to Read the Tea Leaves

Good Tuesday!

STARTING TO READ THE TEA LEAVES

Last February 28th the fine folks at HitFix/InContention gave us their rundown of 25 films that they thought would have Oscar potential for this year.  Included within each film's capsule description was a guess at its fall film festival potential.  I have referenced this article a couple of times since its initial post and thought of it again as I get ready for a summer of Telluride #40 speculation so it seemed like a good place to return to as a way of kicking off the summer.  You can access the entire post here:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/oscars-2014-contenders-25-films-to-watch-for

For those that would prefer a truncated version...here you go.

Listed alphabetically, here are the 13 films they mentioned as Telluride possibles on the list of 25 (with a comment or two along the way):

"August: Osage County"...I'm dubious that this will actually play Telluride.  This seems more like a New York Film Fest opener or closer to me.  That said, it's not impossible.  Distribution is by The Weinstein Company...past tributee George Clooney is a producer.  Past tributee Meryl Streep plays the lead (or co-lead).

"Captain Phillips"...Again, I'd be surprised.

"Diana"...Third straight film that HitFix lists that I think probably won't play.

"The Fifth Estate"...The Julian Assange film starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  Finally, a film that I think has a fighting shot to make the T-ride playlist.  Bill Condon directs and has been repped at Telluride previously with "Kinsey" which also provides the second bit of Telluride connectivity.  Laura Linney (of "Kinsey" and frequent Telluride appearances) is a in "Fifth Estate".  This might even make the first "Ten Bets" list that'll go up at the end of the month.

"Foxcatcher"...Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum in a true story of murder and Olympic wrestling directed by Bennett Miller.  This is a soft maybe from me at this point, though I'd be pretty psyched if it actually does show at The SHOW.

"Labor Day"...Jason Reitman directs ("Juno", "Up in the Air") after having not been in Telluride with "Young Adult" in 2011.  I think he'll be back.  And I am looking forward to that potential return.  Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin...yes please.  And just to toss a thought out there...A Kate Winslet tribute?

"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"...Again, I'm dubious.  Although it has a Telluride pedigree in that its distribution is via TWC and director Justin Chadwick was repped at TFF #37 with "The First Grader".

"A Most Wanted Man"...The TFF connection is pretty thin here but I'd love for it to make the grade.  It's a John LeCarre story and has Philip Seymour Hoffman in it.  Film4 is listed as a producer and that's the only real connection to past TFFs.  Film4 helped produce "Shame", "Never Let Me Go" and "Slumdog Millionaire" and looking at what the have produced for the rest of 2013, I believe they will have some presence at TFF #40.

"Nebraska"...If Alexander Payne's new film isn't on the TFF #40 list I would be shocked.

"Oldboy"...If Spike Lee's new film IS ON the TFF #40 list I would be shocked.


"Out of the Furnace"...Director Scott Cooper's follow-up to "Crazy Heart", the little film that earned Jeff Bridges the Oscar for Best Actor.  The film stars Christian Bale and Casey Affleck.  "Furnace" film doesn't have any particular Telluride pedigree so it wouldn't seem likely.

"Rush"...the Ron Howard directed film about big time auto racing wouldn't seem like the most likely of Telluride films, but T-ride is the only festival that the HitFix article even suggests for the highly anticipated film.

"Serena"...I don't know a lot about this film beyond the fact that it re-unites "Silver Linings Playbook" stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and it's directed  by Susanne Bier. What makes me think it's really possible is that U.S. distributor Magnolia also had "The Hunt" and "A Royal Affair" in its stable last year and they played Telluride.


There are 5 films on the Hit Fix list that I would love to see at Telluride that aren't speculated as T-ride films:
"The Counselor", "Inside Llewyn Davis", "Monuments Men", "Wolf of Wall Street" and "Twelve Years a Slave".  Although I think I could make a good case for "Twelve Years" and a so-so case for "Monuments Men".  The other three...yeah, I'd be surprised too.

The remaining 7 films on the HitFix list are Sundance films, will have already opened prior to Telluride or probably has no chance of playing Telluride.

So, from the entire list of 25, the best bets are "Nebraska", "Labor Day" and "The Fifth Estate".

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More on Wednesday...