Bad News on the "St. Vincent" and "Violent Year" Fronts/New Interstellar Trailer/More from France

Good Thursday to All...


BAD NEWS ON THE ST. VINCENT AND VIOLENT YEAR FRONTS

"St. Vincent" photo via yahoo.com

Deadline.com reported yesterday that a Toronto World Premiere Gala is all but a done deal for "St. Vincent" starring Bill Murray.  I have been holding out some hope that it and Murray would make the trip to Telluride but if the Mark Fleming, Jr. report is accurate...it looks unlikely now.

Read the story from Deadline.com here:

http://m.deadline.com/2014/07/mr-bill-murray-toronto-st-vincent-gala-but-cannot-find-you/

And speaking of bad news...there's some buzz that J.C. Chandor's "A Most Violent Year" which I was thinking was a pretty good Telluride bet (and I was hoping would make the trip as well) may not be ready in time for the festival.

Gotta say that I'm bummed if both of these films miss the fest.

NEW INTERSTELLAR TRAILER

Much was made of the reveal at Comic Con last week by Christopher Nolan of a new trailer for his "Interstellar".  The film remains a way way outside possibility for Telluride, although I've become all but convinced that it won't happen.  Nevertheless, the new trailer can be accessed at the official Interstellar website by typing in the access code 7201969...the date U.S. astronauts landed on the moon.  Here's the site:

http://www.interstellarmovie.com/

It's a cool trailer too.

MORE FROM FRANCE

I'm continuing to look at the French production houses that have had a Telluride Film Fest history and their current connections to films to attempt to uncover some of the other films that are possibles for a screening in the San Juans.

FRANCE 3 CINEMA

2003: Dogville, The Tripletts of Belleville
2004:
2005: Lemming, Live and Become, Cache
2006: The Page Turner, Indigenes
2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Persepolis
2008: I've Loved You So Long
2009: The White Ribbon
2010: The Illusionist, The Princess of Montpensier, Of Gods and Men
2011: The Artist
2012: Superstar, Amour
2013: The Past

Though France3 has had a larger profile than France2 at Telluride over the past few years, their pool of films this year seems thin with no one film standing out as a likely suspect.

Perhaps "Le Temps des Aveux" or, more likely "Caricaturistes, fantassins de la démocratie" the documentary about cartoonists and democracy that played at Cannes.



ARTE FRANCE CINEMA

Another Franco production outfit that has had persistent presence in Telluride is arte France Cinema.  Their track record looks like this:

2003: Dogville
2004: The Weeping Meadow
2005: The Child, Cache, Paradise Now
2006: Day Night Day Night
2008: O'Horten
2011: Le Havre, Goodbye First Love
2012: No films at Telluride
2013: Le Maison de la Radio, The Lunchbox

After no Telluride presence in 2012, arte France Cinema came back in 2013 fairly strong.  In 2014 their best chance at playing Telluride is the yet unannounced for any fall fest, Olivier Assayas' Cannes competition piece "Clouds of Sils Maria" starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloe Grace Moretz.

As we haven't seen it in Toronto's list yet, I am inching a little closer to thinking that it could actually play at Telluride and, perhaps a Juliette Binoche tribute?


CINECINEMA/CINE+

CineCinema changed over to Cine+ within the last three years or so but it's all the same.  This production company has often been represented at Telluride over the last few years:

2005: Lemming, Live and Become
2006: The Page Turner, Indigenes
2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
2008: With a Little Help from Myself
2009: Farewell, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, Inferno
2010: The Illusionist, The Princess of Montpensier, Of Gods and Men
2011: Goodbye First Love, The Kid with a Bike, Le Havre, The Artist
2012: Rust and Bone, Superstar, The Attack, Amour
2013: The Past, Blue is the Warmest Color, Le Maison de la Radio

Cine+ has four projects that they're involved in that could well make the Telluride playlist:  "The Blue Room", "Bird People", "Two Days, One Night" and "Clouds of Sils Maria".

More tomorrow including this year's "Unified Clooney Theory"

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Sundance Selects Possibles/Scorsese's TFF Entry?/Fassbender's Western/RIP Paul Mazursky

Good Wednesday Everyone.  I'm writing this morning from Niagara Falls, NY.  Saw the falls yesterday...fantastic.  Headed to Vermont this morning in route to the Berkshires for a weekend of art sales there.


SUNDANCE SELECTS TELLURIDE POSSIBLES

Only a player in distribution for just a few years, Sundance Selects has been present at the Telluride Film Festival for the last four fests at various levels of involvement.

2010: The Princess of Montpensier, Tabloid
2011: The Forgiveness of Blood, The Kid with a Bike, Goodbye First Love and Into the Abyss
2012: The Central Park Five, Everyday

2013: Blue is the Warmest Color

So you can expect one or possibly two of their films to make the grade Labor Day weekend.  Currently Sundance Selects has two Cannes films that could be programmed at Telluride:  Mathieu Amalric's "The Blue Room" and the almost 100% lock that is the Dardennes Brothers' "Two Days, One Night" with Marion Cotillard.

I'm at the point, and have been for a long time, that "Two Days" is a virtual TFF #41 certainty.  Amalric's "Blue Room" is a "could be" that I'd estimate at a 30% chance of making the T-ride program.


SCORSESE'S TFF ENTRY?

Photo via Variety

Martin Scorsese has had several projects over the years at Telluride.  Of late, he's had his documentary work (that which he's produced)  programmed: "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" in 2011.  Variety reported about his latest project "The 50 Year Argument" which focuses on The New York Review of Books.  The doc is scheduled for an October debut on HBO so I can certainly see it making the grade with a Telluride run.  Take a look at the Variety story here:

http://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-the-50-year-argument-1201254846/

Here's its IMDb page as well:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3510820/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_8


FASSBENDER'S WESTERN

"Slow West" photo from Thompson on Hollywood

I have made several mentions of Justin Kurzel's "MacBeth" starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.  I've even suggested that we could have a Cotillard "Twofer" along with "Two Days, One Night".  But Fassbender could be a "Twofer" on his own as well.  Fassbender stars in "Slow West" along with Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road).  Anne Thompson posted a look at the new film and a hint at the outset that it's a likely going to show at either Telluride or Toronto.  Look at Anne's story here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/first-look-michael-fassbender-in-frontier-western-slow-west-20140629

Anne points out in the article that the film is produced by the team that was behind "A King's Speech", "Shame" and "Tracks".  It's got both See Saw films and Film4 behind it and both have had a good past relationship with Telluride.  All this leads me to believe that I need to really think about "Slow West" as a very real possibility.

RIP PAUL MAZURSKY

Writer-Director and actor Paul Mazusky died yesterday.  He was 84.  He directed "An Unmarried Woman", "Harry and Tonto" and "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" among others.  He earned five Oscar nominations over his career.  I've included a Mazursky remembrance from HitFix:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/unmarried-woman-director-paul-mazursky-dies-at-84

ANd here is his IMDb entry:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005196/?ref_=nv_sr_1


More on Thursday...

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Cannes at Half Time/Cannes and the Critics/Foxcatcher Clip/Cannes Acquisitions/Outside Llewyn Davis

Welcome to Monday...

CANNES AT HALF TIME

As I post this morning, the 67th Cannes Film Festival has reached the halfway point as measured by the number of films in the Palme d'Or competition section have screened.  Bennett Miller's "Foxcatcher" rolled out in France this morning...which for us here in the States means about six-ish hours ago.  As I type, David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars" should just about be finished with its first screening.  The two films will have been the ninth and tenth of the 18 competition films to play.  I'm very interested to see the critical reaction for both of them as the day progresses.  Both films have some possibility of playing in Telluride this Labor Day.

The films that I will be closely tracking in the second half of the Palme eligible films are:

Michel Hazanvicius' "The Search", The Dardennes Brothers' "Two Days, One Night", Jean Luc Godard's "Goodbye to Language" and Olivier Assayas' "Clouds of Sils Maria"

Looking back on the first half of the fest, here's what has jumped out at me.

Lots of people early on have speculated that Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Winter Sleep" might be the picture to beat for the Palme and it seems to have a substantial critical reception as well (this for a three+ hour, dialogue driven film...).  Also faring well in the early going critic-wise: Mike Leigh's "Mr. Turner" and "Timbuktu".  Pilloried by the critics: Opening Night (non-competition film) "Grace of Monaco" and Atom Egoyan's "Captives"

In the Un Certain Regard section, films that seem to have done well: Mathieu Amalric's "The Blue Room" and Lisandro Alonso's "Jauja" starring Viggo Mortensen.


CANNES AND THE CRITICS

And speaking of critical reaction, here are the cumulative critical responses so far as collected by Ioncinema, Critic's Roundup,  todaslascriticas.com.ar. and http://cannes-rurban.rhcloud.com/2014:

http://www.ioncinema.com/news/film-festivals/2014-cannes-critics-panel-day-4-homesman-is-strong-marriage-material-rohrwacher-farms-a-solid-sophomore-pic-with-the-wonders

http://criticsroundup.com/cannes-2014/

http://www.todaslascriticas.com.ar/cannes

http://cannes-rurban.rhcloud.com/2014



FOXCATCHER CLIP

Concurrent with its premiere in Cannes as a part of the Palme d'Or competition slate, Bennett Miller's "Foxcatcher" has a new clip.  I have to tell you that every time I see a little something more on this film I get increasingly excited.  Sony Pictures Classics is distributing, so I'm cautiously optimistic about its chances of making the Telluride program.  Here's the new clip...(Carell for the win!)

 Late note:  This morning as I prepare to publish, the first reviews for "Foxcatcher"  are coming out of Cannes and they're generally very good.  I have linked Variety, HitFix and Indiewire reviews here:

http://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/cannes-film-review-foxcatcher-1201185646/

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/review-tatum-ruffalo-and-carell-excel-in-evocative-unsettling-foxcatcher

http://www.indiewire.com/article/cannes-review-channing-tatum-anchors-bennett-millers-icy-foxcatcher-but-the-revelation-is-steve-carrell

CANNES ACQUISITIONS OF NOTE

Sundance Selects has picked up Mathieu Amalric's "The Blue Room" for U.S. distribution and Sony Pictures Classics has grabbed "Wild Tales" from director Damain Szifron.  Those actions increase the chances for both films as potential players at Telluride this year.

SPC was represented last year at Telluride with: "Tim's Vermeer", "The Invisible Woman", "The Lunchbox", "Jodorowsky's Dune" and "The Past".

Sundance Selects/IFC had "Blue is the Warmest Color" in the TFF #40 lineup.


http://www.indiewire.com/article/cannes-sony-pictures-classics-acquires-palme-dor-contender-wild-tales

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/the-blue-room-mathieu-amalric-cannes-sundance-selects


OUTSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

"You can't stop what's coming"...that's a line from the Coen Brothers 2007 Oscar winner "No Country for Old Men" but it pertains to the latest Coen Brothers news out this week that I and others have mentioned in the past.  Also pertaining, the title of this segment...they're really going to go away from "Inside Llewyn Davis".

Word this week was that the Coens' next project will be "Hail Caesar".  The film will probably star George Clooney and is described as the third film in their collaboration called "The Numbskull Trilogy".  "O Brother, Where Art Thou? " and "Intolerable Cruelty" representing the first 2/3rds of said trilogy.  Various reports this week indicated that the film will feature Clooney as a 1950's era Hollywood "fixer".  No word from any source that I could find about when shooting might commence...but I'm hoping for a late 2015 release date.

Here are links to some of the stories that came out this week about the project:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/coen-brothers-set-hail-caesar-next-george-clooney-likely-star/

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/the-coen-brothers-inside-llewyn-davis-follow-up-will-be-hail-caesar

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-coen-brothers-next-film-will-be-hail-caesar-new-plot-details-revealed-20140516

More on Thursday!