Oscar and Cannes/Trailers from Cannes/Carol: Views and Cate/Kurzel on "Macbeth"/"Sea of Trees" Goes to Roadside

OSCAR AND CANNES

Sasha Stone of Awards Daily and Kris Tap;y of InContention (HitFix) both take a look at the connection or lack thereof between Cannes and Oscar and what that might mean for this year's incarnation of both events:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/how-will-the-2015-cannes-film-festival-set-the-stage-for-this-years-oscar-race

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2015/05/the-state-of-the-race-making-room-for-cannes/


TRAILERS FROM CANNES

I have linked a modestly comprehensive look at the trailer for films playing at the Cannes Film Festival from IndieWire here:


http://www.indiewire.com/article/watch-here-are-all-the-cannes-trailers-available-so-far-20150511


CAROL: VIEWS AND CATE

"Carol" clip via YouTube

I feel fairly optimistic that we'll see Todd Haynes "carol" at Telluride in September.  It's currently at the starting gate in Cannes as a Palme d'Or competition film.  As a part of the run up to the screening, a 22 second clip has been made available and that is what you see from YouTube above.  

Additionally, Cate Blanchett is all over the media this week talking about her own personal connection to the character she is playing.  I have linked The Playlist's story about the clip and Blanchett features from Variety, The Dissolve and Thompson on Hollywood below:



http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-cate-blanchett-rooney-mara-begin-to-fall-in-love-in-the-1st-clip-from-todd-haynes-carol-20150513

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/cate-blanchett-on-cannes-lesbian-drama-carol-its-not-blue-is-the-warmest-color-20150512

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/cate-blanchett-lesbian-carol-cannes-todd-haynes-women-in-hollywood-1201492632/

http://thedissolve.com/news/5673-7-fascinating-things-cate-blanchett-said-about-her/


KURZEL ON MACBETH

Director Justin Kurzel talks his "Macbeth" that features Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender (and that Awards Daily's Sasha Stone, who is currently in Cannes, thinks might well be on Telluride's lineup over Labor Day).  From Screen Daily:

http://www.screendaily.com/features/justin-kurzel-macbeth/5087732.article



"SEA OF TREES" GOES TO ROADSIDE

I have been less than upbeat about the chances that Gus Van Sant's Cannes Palme competitor "The Sea of Trees" was a likely T-ride prospect.  The fact that it's at Cannes and in competition makes me notice it.  Gus Van Sant's name on it would have moved it into the "possible/probable" area a few years ago, but Van Sant has been absent from Telluride since 2003.

However, news yesterday that U.S. distribution has been picked up by Roadside Attractions makes it a little more likely.  Roadside has really blossomed at Telluride the last two years with films such as "All is Lost', "The Homesman", " ,71", "Gloria" and "Albert Nobbs".  The acquisition moves "The Sea of Trees" which stars Matthew McConnaughey up a tad in my Telluride reckoning.

Here's a slew of stories from yesterday's RA pickup:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-matthew-mcconaugheys-sea-trees-795284

http://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/cannes-roadside-attractions-buys-sea-of-trees-1201494490/

http://www.indiewire.com/article/gus-van-sants-the-sea-of-trees-goes-to-roadside-lionsgate-before-cannes-debut-20150513

  And this story, that reports that the film has a clip:


http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-watch-the-first-clip-from-gus-van-sants-sea-of-trees-starring-matthew-mcconaughey-and-ken-watanabe-20150513


More on Monday, including the first critical reactions from the films that have screened at Cannes to that point...

Cannes Catches Up to Tellluride: Honoring Agnes Varda/"Hateful Eight" Photos/New "Youth" Trailer/Views from "The Sea of Trees"/More "Inferno" News/Tales of "Tales of Tales"

God Monday to All.  Hope you had a great Mother's Day weekend...



CANNES CATCHES UP TO TELLURIDE: HONORING AGNES VARDA

Telluride honored film maker Agnes Varda back in 1977.  It was the fourth edition of the Telluride Film Festival meaning that Varda was one of the fests earliest tribute recipients.  Also honored that year were Michael Powell and Ben Carre.

Varda was feted and several of her films were screened over the course of that weekend.

Now comes word that the Cannes Film Fest will catch up with Telluride some 38 years later as Varda will be awarded an honorary Palme d'Or this year.  I've included the link to the festival's official announcement as well as Varda's IMDb page:

http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/61348.html

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0889513/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1



"HATEFUL EIGHT"  PHOTOS

It looks increasingly less likely that we will have the chance to see Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" in Telluride over Labor Day.  Some journos have flat out said that it won't be ready in time for fall fests.

I've said all along that it was a long shot for TFF #42 anyway as Tarantino's festival resume is very small.  "Reservoir Dogs" played many fests including Sundance, Cannes and Toronto,  but Tarantino was an unknown commodity.  "Pulp Fiction" played Cannes, Lorcano, New York and a few others. Certainly fewer than "Pulp Fiction" did.

"Jackie Brown" played Berlin.  "Kill Bill 1",  "Kill Bill 2" played a couple of smaller fests.  "Death Proof" had Tarantino back at Cannes in 2007.  "Inglorious Basterds" played Cannes and Berlin and "Django" played no fest schedule.

So, the notion that "Hateful" would play Telluride was really based on two things alone: the fact that the movie was made in/near Telluride and that The Weinstein Company is distributing.

The film is still set for a late 2015 release in Israel.  IMDb currently has no set date for the film anywhere else.  I can actually see a scenario in which the film is finished and held for Cannes next year and then a late 2016 release.  No one has said that, in as far as I'm aware, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised.

Nonetheless, Entertainment Weekly had a slew of photos from the film that then spread like wildfire throughout the internet over the weekend.  Check the numerous links below:

Via The Film Stage

From Entertainment Weekly:

http://www.thewrap.com/hateful-eight-first-look-at-samuel-l-jackson-kurt-russell-and-jennifer-jason-leigh-in-character-photo/

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/first-look-at-quentin-tarantinos-hateful-eight/

http://www.firstshowing.net/2015/more-first-look-photos-for-tarantinos-the-hateful-eight-uncovered/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/quentin-tarantino-hateful-eight-images

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/15-pictures-from-quentin-tarantinos-the-hateful-eight/


NEW "YOUTH" TRAILER

Paolo Sorrentino's "Youth" stars Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel and has already generated a good deal of pre-Cannes Palme d'Or buzz.  Palme winners have about a 50/50 chance of landing in Telluride  over the last decade or so.

Palme winners of late that played Telluride:


2003: "Elephant"
2005: "The Child"
2007: "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days"
2009: "The White Ribbon"
2012: "Amour"
2013: "Blue is the Warmest Color"

Last year's Palme went to "Winter Sleep" which didn't play at The SHOW so this year's winner might be more likely.

"Youth" has a new trailer that you can catch here via The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-michael-caine-and-harvey-keitel-have-a-bromance-in-new-trailer-for-paolo-sorrentinos-cannes-bound-youth-20150507


VIEWS FROM "THE SEA OF TREES"

Speaking of the Palme and past winners (as I did above)  Gus Van Sant's "The Sea of Trees" which is in competition this week at Cannes released some new images as well this past weekend.  Take a look:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-new-photos-of-matthew-mcconaughey-naomi-watts-ken-watanabe-in-gus-van-sants-sea-of-trees-20150507



MORE "INFERNO" NEWS

I reported in my last post that Werner Herzog's next project would be shopped at Cannes to pick up financing,  That happened between my Thursday post and today as the film has drawn backing.

Check the story from The Dissolve:


http://thedissolve.com/news/5641-cannes-deal-roundup-distributors-snap-up-snazzy-so/


TALES OF "TALES OF TALES"

And. as has been the pattern over the last few days...

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-2-tv-spots-and-lots-of-new-images-for-matteo-garrones-the-tale-of-tales-with-salma-hayek-20150508



That's all for now...more on Thursday after the Cannes Festival is under way!

Cannes Announces/"Jobs" is Done/"Suffragette" Teaser

CANNES LINEUPS ANNOUNCED

Here's the complete list of films announced this morning for the Cannes Film Festival via Greg Ellwood at HitFix:

Competition
"Dheepan," (Working Title) Jacques Audiard
"A Simple Man," Stéphane Brize
"Marguerite and Julien," by Valérie Donzelli
"The Tale of Tales," Matteo Garrone
"Carol," Todd Haynes
"The Assassin," Hsiao-Hsien Hou
"Mountains May Depart," Jia Zhang-Ke
"Our Little Sister," Hirokazu Kore-Eda
"Macbeth," Justin Kurzel
"The Lobster," Yorgos Lanthimos
"My King," MaiWenn
"Mia Madre," Nanni Moretti
"Son of Soul," László Nemes
"Youth," Paul Sorrentino
"Louder than Bombs," Joachim Trier
"The Sea of Trees," Gus Van Sant
"Sicario," Denis Villeneuve

Midnight Screenings
"O Piseu (Office)," Hong Won-Chan
"Amy," Asif Kapadia

Special Selections
"Amnesia" Barbet Schroeder
"A Tale of Love and Darkness," Natalie Portman
"Panama," Pavle Vuckovic
"Oka," Souleymane Cisse
"Hayored Lema'Ala," Elad Keidan

Out of Competition
"Irrational Man," Woody Allen
"Asphalte," Samuel Benchetrit
"Mad Max: Fury Road," George Miller
"Inside Out," Pete Doctor and Ronaldo De Carmen
"The Little Prince," Mark Osbourne

Un Certain Regard
"Fly Away Solo," Neeraj Ghaywan
"Rams," Grímur Hakonarson
"Journey to the Shore," Kurosawa Kiyoshi
"I Am A Soldier," Laurent Lariviere
"The High Sun," Dalibor Matanic
"The Other Side," Roberto Minervini
"One Floor Below," Radu Muntean
"The Shamless," Oh Seung-Uk
"The Chosen Ones," David Pablos
"Nahid," Ida Panahandeh
"The Treasure," Corneliu Porumboiu
"The Fourth Direction," Gurvinder Singh
"Madonna," Shin Suwon

Jumping out to me as a Telluride junky are:

From the Palme d'Or competition titles:  "Dheepan", "The Tale of Tales", "Carol", "Macbeth", "The Sea of Trees" and "Sicario".

Also catching my eye is Barbet Schroeder's "Amnesia".

Ellwood says that other titles will likely be added next week including up to an additional two competition titles so stay tuned for that.

Cannes Analysis:

HitFix:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/inside-out-carol-and-macbeth-highlight-the-2015-cannes-film-festival-selections

 Indiewire:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/5-observations-about-the-2015-cannes-film-festival-lineup-20150416


The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/macbeth-todd-haynes-carol-pixars-inside-out-lead-2015-cannes-film-festival-line-up-20150416


'JOBS" IS DONE

On a different note, The Film Stage tweeted news this week that principal phtography has been completed on Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs biopic that stars Michael Fassbender as the APple founder.  The film is set for an October release so the news that it's "wrapped" means that it could have an appearance at Telluride.  Boyle was at T-ride previously with "Slumdog Millionaire" and "127 Hours".  Check the tweet from The Film Stage:

https://twitter.com/TheFilmStage/status/587720599226736640/photo/1



"SUFFRAGETTE" TEASER

This week also saw the appearance of a  teaser for Sarah Gavron's "Suffragette".  The film looks to me like a moderately likely Telluride choice.  Check the teaser below via YouYube:

More on Monday...Have a great weekend everyone...

Cannes Gets Closer/McQueen-Flynn Collaboration

Good Monday World...

CANNES GETTING CLOSER

With the next big Telluride harbinger being the announcement of the Cannes Film Fest lineup now down to a mere two and a half weeks away, the speculation, and in some cases-informed"speculation,  about what titles will be named for the lineup is growing more intense.

This past week, two giant posts went up exploring the Cannes possibilities from Variety and Screen Daily.  Variety's seems to be a bit more discriminating about their considerations while the Screen Daily Post seems more like a grab bag of every possibility.

There are films that appear, as you might expect, in both places that I have thought seemed like they could also make the trip to Southwest Colorado for Labor Day weekend. Among them are:

Jacques Audiard's "Erran" (Dheepan?)
Matteo Garrone's "The Tale of Tales"
Jeff Nichols' "Midnight Special"
Todd Haynes' "Carol"
Denis Villaneuve's "Sicario"
Sean Penn's "The Last Face"
Stephen Frears' "Icon"
Gus Van Sant's "The Sea of Trees"
Barbet Schroeder's "Amnesia"


A couple of other notes:  Screen Daily's post suggests Justin Kurzel's "Macbeth" and Abdellatif Kechiche's "Le Blessure" are possibilities while Variety does not.

Variety says Sarah Gavron's "Suffragette" will not be ready and Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeff Wells suggests that it may headed for Telluride/Toronto;

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2015/03/varietys-cannes-forecast/


We know that "Mad Max: Fury Road" and Woody Allen's "Irrational Man" as well as Pixar's "Inside Out" have been announced or are very likely to play as some part of the fest.  There's also a lot of buzz that Brad Bird's "Tomorrowland" will appear.

And finally, there's Cary Fukunaga's "Beasts of No Nation" which I might highlight as a Telluride possibility because of Fukunaga's "True Detective" success last year.  Both Variety and Screen Daily think it could appear in some section of the Cannes lineup but with Netflix distributing...and major theater chains boycotting the film because of the expectation that the film will be released for screens and VOD simultaneously...who knows what that means for any chance that it would have some play at fall film fests.  Stay tuned...

Here are the links to the complete Cannes posts from Variety and Screen Daily:

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/cannes-film-festival-whats-in-and-whats-out-1201460030/

http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/cannes/and-the-cannes-line-up-is/5085749.article





MC QUEEN-FLYNN COLLABORATION

You know that if a film maker has made a total of three films and all three have played the Telluride Film Fest, that you'd better think that film #4 is a strong candidate to make an appearance.  Such is the case with British film maker Steve McQueen.

McQueen's "Hunger", "shame" and "12 Years a Slave" all played Telluride so I pay attention to announcements concerning his projects.  We know that he has been involved with an HBO project entitled "Codes of Conduct" and there had been some talk that his next feature film would be a biopic on Paul Robeson but news this week suggests otherwise.  Multiple sources reported that McQueen will next direct a heist themed picture penned by Gillian Flynn-you know-"Gone Girl".

The film will be based on a British television miniseries called "Widows".

That's an interesting combination of talents as well as an interesting switch in film styles for McQueen.  Reporting seems to indicate that the Robeson project has been moved back in favor of this...and it will be intriguing to see if the completed film becomes McQueen's fourth Telluride entrant.

For that matter, depending on HBO's plans for when "Codes of Conduct" will be rolled out, I suppose that IT could be McQueen's fourth Telluride appearance.

Linked here are reports on the collaboration from The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and Thompson on Hollywood:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gillian-flynn-joins-steve-mcqueen-784886

http://deadline.com/2015/03/gillian-flynn-steve-mcqueen-heist-thriller-widows-new-regency-film-4-1201399898/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/gillian-flynn-and-steve-mcqueen-team-for-heist-thriller-20150327


More on Thursday...

Continuing to Talk Cannes/The Playlist 50 Best of the 2010's (So Far)

Good Monday All.  Back from Spring Break and a slighter post than normal today as a result...


CONTINUING TO TALK CANNES

Hollywood News' Joey Magidson names ten films he thinks are very likely to play the Cannes fest and though the list is small, a number of the titles have real Telluride possibilities.  From Magidson's list:

Todd Haynes' "Carol"
Jacques Audiard's "Erran"/"Dheepan"
Justin Kurzel's "Macbeth"
Gus Van Sant's "The Sea of Trees" and
Matteo Garrone's "The Tale of Tales"

Check out the complete list here:


http://www.hollywoodnews.com/2015/03/19/which-films-could-play-this-year-at-the-cannes-film-festival/


THE PLAYLIST'S 50 BEST OF THE 2010'S (SO FAR)

This week The Playlist published a list of 50 films that they name as the best of the decade so far.  I was curious about how many films made the list that played at Telluride so here that list within a list is:

#46 "Birdman"
#44 "Gravity"
#35 "Black Swan"
#33 "12 Years a slave"
#31 "No"
#27 "Amour"
#24 "Two Days, One Night"
#22 "The Hunt"
#21 "Foxcatcher"
#19 "Frances Ha"
#14 "Leviathan"
#13 "Stories We Tell"
#10 "Inside Llewyn Davis"
#9 "A Prophet"
#6 "Blue is the Warmest Color"
#4 "The Act of Killing"
#3 "Under the Skin"
#1 "A Separation"

Fully 19 of the "top 50" World or North American premieres happened at Telluride.  What an incredible track record.

Take a look at The Playlist's complete list here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-50-best-films-of-the-decade-so-far-20150225



More on Thursday...

More from the Cannes Speculation Front/"Suffragette" Gets Focus/"Trumbo" Set for November Release

Good Thursday Everyone...

It's Spring Break at the Patterson house which means that as soon as this is posted this morning, I am out the door with the Boss and we are headed to a quick run through Santa Fe and Colorado.  I'm looking forward to it.

MORE FROM THE CANNES SPECULATION FRONT

Cate Blanchett in "Carol"

The staff of The Playlist posted their Cannes wish/guess list this week and it has, not surprisingly, a number of titles that could make the Cannes/Telluride double play.  Among them:

Todd Haynes' "Carol"
Justin Kurzel's "Macbeth"
Jacques Audiard's "Erran" or "Dheepan"
Matteo Garrone's "The Tale of Tales"
Gus Van Sant's "The Sea of Trees"


http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/20-films-we-hope-to-see-at-the-2015-cannes-film-festival-20150316




"SUFFRAGETTE" GETS FOCUS

The cast of "Suffragette"

Sarah Gavron's "Suffragette" has been on my Telluride possibility radar for a long, long time and continues to be.  I had it on the watch list last year for TFF #41 and have returned to it again this year.  Now comes word that the film has a U.S. distributor and it is Focus Features.  That actually may diminish its T-ride profile.  Focus has had a limited presence at Telluride over the last decade plus as you can see here:

2003: Lost in Translation
2004: The Motorcycle Diaries
2005: Brokeback Mountain
2006: Catch a Fire
2012: Hyde Park on Hudson

Last year. Focus focused its Oscar hopes on "The Theory of Everything" which very specifically went to Toronto.  Focus also has the next Eddie Redmayne project as their other Oscar pony for 2015, "The Danish Girl".

Working in the film's T-ride favor is that fact that Sarah Gavron has a Telluride history with the presentation of her 2007 film "Brick Lane" as a part of the 34th Festival.

Additionally, both Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere and Greg Ellwood/HitFix suggest Telluride as a real possibility for the film.  Check the links below for full coverage of the acquisition announcement:

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2015/03/street-fighting-women/

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/meryl-streep-and-carey-mulligan-will-fight-on-in-suffragette-this-awards-season

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2015/03/focus-features-acquires-suffragette/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/focus-features-adds-suffragette-to-2015-potential-awards-slate-20150317

http://www.indiewire.com/article/focus-features-acquires-suffragette-with-carey-mulligan-meryl-streep-20150317


"TRUMBO" SET FOR NOVEMBER RELEASE

Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo

Jay Roach's "Trumbo" starring Bryan Cranston has a release date smack in the middle of awards season according to the mid-week announcement from Bleeker Street, its distributor.  I have this film on my T-ride watch list mostly because I want it to be at Telluride.  I'm fascinated by Dalton Trumbo's story and I think Bryan Cranston is a genius.  So the news that it's set for release in the U.S. on Nov. 6th positions it for some kind of fall film play.

Check the announcement form Variety here:

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/bryan-cranstons-trumbo-set-for-nov-6-release-1201454480/



That's all for now.  More on Sunday...at the end of Spring Break!

"Mr. Holmes" is Off the Case/Jake Howell's Cannes Considerations/20 Anticipated Foreign Films/Ethan and Seymour

Good Monday World,


"MR. HOLMES" IS OFF THE CASE

Admittedly, Bill Condon's "Mr. Holmes" starring Sir Ian McKellen and Laura Linney has been a film that I thought had the right pedigree to be considered for the TFF #42 schedule.  It is also a film that I have unashamedly been hoping would make a stop in Telluride over Labor Day weekend.  I had even envisioned an Ian McKellen tribute a possibility.  After all, the film has a stellar set of characteristics to mark it as a Telluride film: Bill Condon's been to T-ride before.  Laura Linney has been to Telluride a lot.  It's produced, in part, by See Saw Films and BBC Films, both of which are often represented by films at Telluride and it's being distributed by Roadside Attractions (and Miramax) which has a serious Telluride profile over the past few years:

2014: "Mommy:, "The Homesman" and " '71"
2013: "All is Lost" and "Gloria"
2012: "Stories We Tell"
2011: "Albert Nobbs"
2010: "Biutiful"

There was a lot of smoke there but those flames were doused this week with the announcement that the film will be released in the U.S. on July 17th.

Here's the story from Awards Circuit:

http://www.awardscircuit.com/2015/03/12/release-date-set-for-mr-holmes-starring-ian-mckellen-directed-by-bill-condon/

So...no "Mr. Holmes" at Telluride or Toronto or any other fall film fest.  It seems very odd to me especially if you're thinking that Sir Ian might have an Oscar play here.  I'd love to know what the internal process was that led to this decision.

CANNES CONSIDERATIONS

The next few weeks should see an uptick in the speculation about what films will be announced as a part of the Cannes lineup.  I snagged the link to Jake Howell's Cannes speculation this week.  I believe this is the third year consecutively that I have featured Jake's analysis and detective work. Find it here at Movie City News:

http://moviecitynews.com/2015/03/divining-cannes-2015/


Jake's Cannes musings about "Likely Subjects"  that also might foreshadow a Cannes/Telluride connection seem to me to include:

Jacques Audiard's "Dheepan" (which has been called "Erran" until very recently)
Matteo Garrone;s "The Tale of Tales"
Walter Salles "Jia Zhhang-ke by Walter Salles"
Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" (though, I can't believe it would be finished in time for Cannes)
Gus Van Sant's "The Sea of Trees"

Among the other possibilities that Howell entertains are these films that could make the Telluride grade:

Sean Penn's "The Last Face"
Todd Haynes "Carol"

Take a look at the entirety of Jake's post and see what you think.


20 ANTICIPATED FOREIGN FILMS

Also out this week was a post from The Playlist with their 20 most anticipated foreign films for 2015. That seemed like an excellent companion piece to Howell's Cannes spec piece and you can find it here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-20-most-anticipated-foreign-films-of-2015-20150114


Perusing the list I found that the most likely Telluride players didn't appear until very near the top. Making the list and mine are:

at #7: Jacques Audiard's Dheepan (Erran)
#5 Wim Wenders "Every Thing Will Be Fine"
#3 Abdellafit Kechiche's "La Blessure"
#1 Michael Haneke's "Flashmob"



ETHAN AND SEYMOUR

Ethan Hawke's TFF #41 Documentary "Seymour: An Introduction" opened on Friday.  As a part of the rollout, Ethan Hawke spoke with The Dissolve:

http://thedissolve.com/features/interview/954-ethan-hawke-tries-to-figure-it-out/



More on Thursday...