Assessing A24 / Indiewire's Oscar List / French Dispatch News Leaves the Door Open

 ASSESSING A24

Continuing my look at film distributors who have had a significant presence at TFF over the last half decade my attention today is on A24.

Here's their footprint at TFF over the past few years:

2012: Ginger and Rosa

2013: Under the Skin

2015: Room

2016: Moonlight

2017: First Reformed, Lady Bird, Lean on Pete

2019: Uncut Gems, Waves, First Cow

And A24's stockpile is large for the end of 2020.  The most likely films to play Telluride are probably:

C'mon C'mon

The Humans

The Tragedy of Macbeth

But there are others that could be in the TFF convo:

The Eternal Daughter

When You Finish Saving the World

Red Rocket

And actually, A24 still has others in the pipeline that could be selected.

INDIEWIRE'S OSCAR LIST

Indiewire's Zack Sharf has taken a stab at an early look at this next year's potential Oscar Best Picture contenders with a list of 30 films.  Indiewire posted the list last Thursday.  Looking it over it crosses my mind that I could make some sort of case for a Telluride bow for about half of them.  Let's give it a whirl in the order that the Indiewire article lists them and with a note or two about why they might be a T-ride player.

Spencer: Because it's directed by Pablo Larrain who doesn't have every project at Telluride but he's no stranger either.  Also, it's from NEON...which doesn't hurt.

C'mon C'mon: Because it's from A24 (see above).

Last Night in Soho: Because it's from Focus Features.  Also, I have a hunch it will be announced as a Cannes selection later this week which could be a sign of a Cannes-Telluride double play.  Also, the Oct. 22nd release date gives the film space to play T-ride, TIFF and/or New York.

The Humans: Also from A24 (see above).

The Card Counter: Because it's directed by Paul Schrader who has a lengthy relationship with TFF. It's also from Focus and its release date, Sept. 10th, suggests it could play Cannes/Telluride or Venice/Telluirde or Telluride as a stand alone festival appearance.

Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project (Soggy Bottom):  It's been since 2007 since PTA was in Telluride to aid in feting tribute recipient Daniel Day-Lewis and screen the first few minutes of There Will Be Blood.  Since then PTA has directed: The Master (2012-Venice, TIFF),  Inherent Vice (2014-NYFF, AFI) and Phantom Thread (2017-Palm Springs).  Persistent rumors that it will be announced for Cannes on Thursday and a November release date leave the door open for a number of fall fest scenarios if MGM decides to pursuer them.  Also, does the Amazon acquisition of MGM change any of the festival calculus?  

Nightmare Alley: Because it's directed/produced by Guillermo Del Toro and co-written by Kim Morgan (who co-guest directed the fest in 2014).  The distributor is Searchlight which has a long and fruitful relationship with Telluride.  The Dec. 3rd release date works too.

Dune:  Because it's directed by Denis Villenueve who has a substantial Telluride record.  Being from Warner Brothers doesn't necessarily hurt.  Oct. 1 is the release date which works too.  I won't be surprised if Dune has some spot in Cannes' or Venice's lineup.

The Power of the Dog: Because it's directed by Jane Campion whose last feature, Bright Star, played at TFF back in 2009 and who's best known triumph, The Piano, played T-ride in 1993.  It's from Netflix which likely bolsters its TFF chances.

The French Dispatch:  Because...well...it is from Serachlight.  Also, see below...

The Tragedy of Macbeth:  Director Joel Coen was in Telluride in 2013 with Inside Llewyn Davis and the film is being distributed by A24.  

Don't Look Up: Because it's from Netflix.  Normally, Adam McKay's lack of a Telluride trail over the past decade would keep me from posting the film as a TFF #48 possibility but...Netflix.

Tick, Tick...Boom: Also a Netflix joint and yes, I know that Netflix won't land everything in their larder in Telluride.  And, yes, there's their whole "no festival" approach to last year-though I did hear rumors that had Telluride gone on in 2020 that Mank would have screened there.

The Hand of God: Netflix

The Eyes of Tammy Faye: From Searchlight which is the biggest reason to think it could be in Telluride.  It also has a Telluride friendly release date of Sept. 17th.

The complete Indiewire list is linked here.

FRENCH DISPATCH NEWS LEAVES THE DOOR OPEN

I believe Variety broke the news late this week that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch will be a part of the Cannes lineup.  Also among the items of interest about the film are its selection for the New York Film Fest and an official theatrical release date for Oct. 22nd.

What's interesting to me is that the Cannes screening is given as the "world premiere" but I couldn't find any premiere designation for the New York Fest in any of the stories that appeared after the initial announcement.  To me that suggests at least the chance that it could also screen at Telluride and/or Toronto.

Here's the story from:

Variety

Indiewire

The Playlist

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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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