New Ad for Ad Astra / New Judy Trailer Coming Today / Netflix Re-Thinking

Welcome back from the weekend...hope yours was good.


NEW AD FOR AD ASTRA

The producers of the Brad Pitt starring As Astra launched a 30 second spot via the film's official Twitter account over the weekend.

For my money, it may do a better job of teasing the film than the full trailer that appeared four weeks back.

Ad Astra tells the story of astronaut Pitt who agrees to search for his father, also an astronaut, who disappeared years earlier while on a deep space mission that could still have far reaching consequences in terms of the survival of the solar system.

Ad Astra is directed by James Gray and Twentieth Century Fox is distributing.  It's due in theaters on Sept. 20th. 

Here's the link to the new spot on the Ad Astra Twitter feed.


NEW JUDY TRAILER COMING TODAY

Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland in Judy

Anton Volkov reported over the weekend that we'd see a new trailer for the Judy Garland biopic Judy.  The film stars Renee Zellweger in the title role.  Also appearing are Jessie Buckley, Finn Whitrock, Rufus Sewell and Michael Gambon.

The film is directed by Rupert Goold (True Story).  Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment are distributing domestically with Sept. 27th scheduled for U.S. release.

The Trailer Track story is linked here and I hope to have the trailer here for the blog tomorrow.


NETFLIX RE-THINKING

Saw this story over the weekend as well.  Netflix is reportedly reviewing its big budget film approach and re-considering it all together.

Specifically mentioned in the coverage (which originated with TheInformation.com) were the hefty price tags for J.C. Chandor's Triple Frontier (est. $115 million) and, as you might expect, Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (est. 150 million).

I'd be curious about how or if  Roma's success but lack of a Best Picture win last year is factoring into the process.  Further, I wonder if Netflix will strive to be as much of a presence at Telluride as they were last year.  The streamer had half a dozen films playing as a part of the fest in 2018.

It also seems to be of a piece with recent shakeups at Amazon Studios who may also be re-evaluating how much money they are willing to pour into projects.

I have linked stories about the Netflix re-think here from Indiewire and The Playlist.




I'll have more tomorrow including the continuation of my series on the Telluride/Oscar connection.


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Updated Oscar Predictions: Picture, Director and Cinematography / Gurus of Gold-Thanksgiving Weekend / This IS Way Too Early

Welcome to the Monday after Thanksgiving.  For those who over-indulged in "thanks"...I hope your food coma has subsided...


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: PICTURE, DIRECTOR, CINEMATOGRAPHY

As a part of my ongoing position as a Guru o' Gold for Movie City News (see below), I was asked to update predictions for Best Picture, Direction and offer up a first take on Cinematography.  As such, here's what I reported.  For Picture and Director, their previous spot here at MTFB follows in parentheses.  Best Picture and Director was last included here on Nov. 1st.

As always, TFF #45 films are Bold

BEST PICTURE

1) A Star Is Born (1)
2) Roma (2)
3) Green Book (3)
4) The Favourite (4)
5) Vice (10)
6) If Beale Street Could Talk (7)
7) BlacKkKlansman (5)
8) Black Panther (8)
9) First Man (6)
10) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (9)
11) Widows (-)
12) Mary Poppins Returns (-)


BEST DIRECTION

1) Alfonso Cuaron/Roma (1)
2) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (2)
3) Spike Lee/BlacKkKlansman (3)
4) Barry Jenkins/If Beale Street Could Talk (-)
5) Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite (5)
6) Peter Farrelly/Green Book (-)
7) Damien Chazelle/First Man (4)


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Roma
2) A Star Is Born
3) First Man
4) If Beale Street Could Talk
5) The Favourite
6) Cold War
7) Black Panther


GURUS OF GOLD-THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

Here's the link to the latest Gurus of Gold predictions.  Among the three categories updated (Picture, Director, Cinematography) TFF #45 films are named as follows:

Roma: Picture, Director, Cinematography
The Favourite: Picture, Director, Cinematography
First Man: Picture (if it goes to nine), Cinematography
Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Picture (if it goes to ten)

Others getting mentioned without earning enough votes for predicted nominations:

First Man: Director
Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Director
Cold War: Picture, Director, Cinematography
The Front Runner: Picture
Boy Erased: Picture
First Reformed (TFF #44): Picture


THIS IS WAY TOO EARLY

Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers on the set of Marielle Heller's You Are My Friend via IMDb

I saw that Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere and Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel had both created and published lists of anticipated 2019 titles...which seems like bait I can't ignore.  Sooo...

I took a look at both lists (which share a huge number of titles) and here are twelve films that seem/sound like they might be candidates for inclusion for TFF #46:

All You Need Is Love.  The project (with Beatles music as a central part of the film) could make TFF #46 because it's from Danny Boyle who has had a significant history with the fest: Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Steve Jobs.  The film is currently scheduled for U.S. release on Sept. 13th.

The True American from Pablo Larrain...if it's ready.  Larrain, like Boyle, has had a strong history with TFF: No, Neruda.  Both this and the above mentioned Boyle project are produced by Annapurna Pictures which has also had a presence at Telluride: Foxcatcher, Destroyer.

You Are My Friend:  From Marielle Heller who just has had her Telluride introduction with Can You Ever Forgive Me?  The film stars Tom Hanks (who was at TFF with Sully in 2016) as Fred Rogers.  The film has an awards and TFF friendly release date of Oct. 18th.

Little Women: Greta Gerwig's anticipated take on the Louisa May Alcott classic.  With the reception that her directorial debut Lady Bird received at TFF in 2017 you have to think this is a real possibility.  Scheduled for release on Dec. 25th.

The Woman in the Window: director Joe Wright's follow-up to his 2017 Darkest Hour which played TFF and earned six Oscar nominations and won two including Gary Oldman's Best Actor win.  The film is set for release on Oct. 4th.  The film's plotline sounds much a take on Hitchcock's Rear Window and the cast is ridiculously stunning: Julianne Moore, Amy Adams and Gary Oldman. 

Velvet Buzzsaw: From writer-director Dan Gilroy.  I'm mostly thinking this could play because Gilroy re-teams with his Nightcrawler co-conspirators Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.  The film is set in the contemporary art scene and is described as a horror/thriller.  Netflix is producing which doesn't hurt its TFF chances if the recent past is any indication.

Pale Blue Dot:  Fargo (the TV version) guru Noah Hawley jumps into feature film making with Natalie Portman starring as an astronaut having issues once she returns from space.  The film is from Fox Searchlight which means we have to consider it a TFF possibility.

Bergman Island: Mia Hansen-Love's latest project and a with her TFF pedigree (Goodbye First Love, Things to Come), a film we should consider.  Mia Wasikowska and Vicky Krieps star.

Triple Frontier:  a long gestating project from J.C. Chandor.  It's been developed by Netflix and stars Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac among others about an attempt to overturn the drug trade in South America.  Chandor was in T-ride in 2014 with All Is Lost and both Affleck (Argo) and Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) have been as well. 

And then here are these three huge projects...

The Goldfinch:  The film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Donna Tartt.  John Crowley, who broke through with Brooklyn in 2015, directs.  The cast includes Nicole Kidman (this year at TFF with Destroyer and Boy Erased) and Sarah Paulson.  The film is from Amazon and is set for release on Oct. 11th which makes a T-ride play possible.

Radegund:  Terrence Malick's latest and a film I have been waiting for from him for some time now...surprise, surprise.  The true story of a German conscientious objector in World War II could appear in 2019...or not.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was a selection for Cannes. 

The Irishman:  Martin Scorsese's Netflix joint.  Probably an unrealistic dream for a Telluride play but a guy has to hope.  DeNiro, Pacino, Pesci and Keitel and more.  The best chance that it plays is that it is from Netflix which, again, doesn't hurt its chances for Telluride.  Netflix has to be happy, at least so far, with how Roma played TFF which probably helps too.


The complete Hollywood Elsewhere post is here.

The complete World of Reel post is here.


That's this Monday's MTFB.  More will be on its way to you on Thursday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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The Distributors 2018: Netflix / Widows Has a New T.V. Spot / Coming Friday: Ten Bets #1

Hello on this late Tuesday in June...


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2018: NETFLIX

I talked last week about Amazon Studios and how the streaming giant has developed a robust relationship with Telluride over the past few years.  Also making in-roads with Telluride is the other streamer that has changed the face of how film/TV relate and are integrated/ignored vis-a-vis film festivals.  Netflix has made its mark in Telluride over the past few years.  To wit:

2015- Beasts of No Nation, Winter on Fire
2016- The Ivory Game, Into the Inferno
2017- First They Killed My Father, Wormwood

So, a couple of things each year for the last three years.

It will be interesting to see if the Cannes/Netflix dustup from earlier this year has any effect on Netflix's TFF profile.

Netflix certainly has projects that could make a play at T-ride and/or, perhaps Venice since none of their stable played at Cannes.

Here are some of the films that are under the Netflix banner that could make the grade for Labor Day weekend:

Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind
Alfonso Curaron's Roma
David Mackenzie's Outlaw King
Alice Rohrwacher's Happy as Lazzaro
Lukas Dhnot's Girl

and a couple of wild cards...

IMDb reports that J.C. Chandor's Triple Frontier has gone into post-production.  Could it be ready for an early September bow?  It's unlikely but not impossible.

And then there is the biggest of Netflix's big fish, Martin Scorsese's The Irishman which is dated for release until 2019 but has reported been in post-production since February.

All of these could make a play at TFF #45 but, as you'd expect, some have a better shot than others.

Probably the most likely is the finished project from Orson Welles.  I am increasingly bullish on its chances of making the fest.

The two Cannes acquisitions, Girl and Happy as Lazzraro, are next in line in terms of TFF probability.

Curaon's Roma also has a decent shot to play as the buzz on it is strong and it's probably Netflix's best shot at breaking into this year's Oscar race.

I get the sense that the Mackenzie film is less likely and, of course, both the Chandor and Scorsese are extremely unlikely.

Netflix almost certainly has a documentary or two that I am overlooking that could/will make the TFF lineup.

This could be the first year Netflix lands more than two films at Telluride-or-because of the rift with Cannes-none.

Chances...

The Other Side of the Wind- 80%
Girl and/or Happy as Lazzaro- 50%
Roma- 40%
Outlaw King- 25%
Triple Frontier- 15%
The Irishman- 5%

Thursday's Distributor d'jour will be the Cohen Media Group.


WIDOWS HAS A NEW T.V. SPOT

Steve McQueen's Widows continues to draw a lot of attention and that interest was stoked once again earlier this week with the release of a new television spot for the film.

Widows tells the story of a group of women (Viola Davis, Carrie Coon and Michelle Rodriguez among them) who face the aftermath of a failed crime that their dead husbands tried to commit.  The film is slated to open Nov. 16th.

Here's the new spot courtesy of YouTube:

COMING FRIDAY: TEN BETS #1

That's right, three days hence comes the first "official" stab at ten films that I think will play at the 45th Telluride Film Festival.  I'll post a new "Ten Bets" each Friday until the fest with a special final "Ten Bets" on Wednesday, August 29th, the day before TFF announces the lineup.

Between this Friday and then we'll gain clarity from announcements about the lineups for Toronto, Venice, New York, London and Fantastic Fest (Austin).

Also, the "Ten Bets" will actually expand as more and more information becomes available.  Last year, the final list before the TFF announcement contained 25 films (24 of which played the festival).

So, mark your calendar you Telluride film fans...Friday is day one as the countdown to Labor Day weekend gets real.



That's a wrap for today's MTFB.  More to come on Thursday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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