Eating My Words

Well...

A second source is claiming that Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant" with Nicolas Cage will bow at Teluride. Film-o-filia is reporting that this morning...which makes me think that I have been too hasty to write it off...

Let's move it to the "possibles" list, shall we?

Here's the Film-o-filia link:http://www.filmofilia.com/

And the IMDB link for "Bad Lieutenant": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1095217/

Will Nic Cage be in Telluride?

An Echo Chamber

Anne Thompson, writing in her blog "Thompson on Hollywood" for IndieWire.com is up with her Telluride guess list... and that of Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly...here's that link:http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2009/08/30/festival_watch_new_moon_pics/

Thompson and Willman's lists share "The White Ribbon," "The Road," "An Education," and "Up in the Air" before differing.

From both lists, I concur with all of Thompson's guesses and take issue only with one of Willman's. That disagreement is with "Bad Lieutenant". Willman includes it on his list and I never have. I've always thought it was unlikely and Werner Herzog (who is tied into the Festival) has another film I have mentioned in this post..."My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?"

My guess is that it's in and "Bad Lieutenant" is out...Of course, I could be completely wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

Documentary en francais?

Camille Rousselet...listed as festival manager for WIDE management tweets that the French/Belgian documentary "14-18 The Noise and the Fury" directed by Jean-Francois Delassus will play at Telluride.

The IMDB address is here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323562/

Five Days Left...

A couple of quick notes this morning...nothing new to add definitively...just a new nugget or two.

Seems Sony Pictures Classics picked up the distribution for "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" two weeks ago which bumps it from my list of "Ain't gonna happen!" to "Well, at least it's possible." As I have noted in these posts before, SPC has had a good relationship with Telluride in the past.

Don't think that just because a film is on the Toronto list that it won't play at Telluride. Last year by my unofficial quick count 16 feature films played both places...For Venice, however, the incidence is much, much smaller.

A couple of other films to add to my last post that wouldn't utterly shock me to be at Telluride include Taylor Hackford directing his wife Helen Mirren in "Love Ranch" and Michael Moore's new documentary "Capitalism, A Love Story."

And finally a quick shout out to my new friend at "A Random Walk Through Film" at http://seattlefilmfest.blogspot.com/

He has been very kind to link to some of posts and pass info on...appreciate it and maybe we'll meet up in a few days...

More as it becomes available...

"The Road" to Telluride

Down to less than a week before the 36th Telluride Film Festival and this post seeks to sum up everything we have been able to track down, stumble across or just guess at.

Latest news: Podcast by Anne Thompson of IndieWire and Kristopher Tapley at Incontention.com at least implies that "An Educaton" may be at Telluride. This is the second film in a week that would NOT fall under the Telluride rules that I thought were in place in terms of whether films had played other places before Telluride..."Precious" being the other. But both Thompson and Tapley let slip early in the podcast that "An Education" is/could be on the play list. You can find their podcast at: http://incontention.com/?p=12596.

But the biggest news from the podcast is Anne Thompson's near certain assertion that John Hillcoat's "The Road" will be there. Viggo Mortensen stars in the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel. This is a film that we originally thought would be released last year, but was moved to 2009.

Now on to the summary: Here are the films that someone somewhere has claimed will be at Telluride: "Bright Star, " Life During Wartime," "My Son My Son What Have Ye Done?," "Lebanon"and "The Road."

Films that someone has implied might be there: "Precious" and "An Education"...see caveat above and "Up in the Air (Tapley says he thinks it will follow the "Juno" path)."

Films I am flat just guessing will be there...but it's a good bet..."Amelia, " "Broken Promises," "Coco Before Chanel," and Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut "Sympathy for Delicious".

Films I am less confident of, but wouldn't be surprised if they were in Telluride: "Leaves of Grass," "Ondine," "Wild Grass," "The Damned United, " The White Ribbon, " "Get Low," "Brothers," "Un Prophete," and "Gentlemen Broncos".

And finally...Films I would love to show up in Telluride, but I don't think that there is much of a chance: "The Men Who Stare at Goats, " "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," "Nine," "The Informant," "A Serious Man," and "The Tree of Life."

Last note...Scorsese's "Shutter Island" and Julie Taymor's "The Tempest" have reportedly been bumped to release in 2010...

I will post again as information warrants over the next few days leading up to travelling time. I leave Thursday afternoon and plan to start the Telluride experience at the Patron Brunch on Friday morning. Hope to meet some of you there!

And maybe back on the list

I had pretty much written off "Precious/Push/Sapphire" since it played at Sundance this year and I had always thought that Telluride avoided scheduling films that had played in Utah....but...Kristopher Tapley writing yesterday for Incontention.com suggests that it could still end up in Telluride next week.

Tapley says: "Lee Daniels’s “Precious.” The film will play the Toronto, New York and Chicago fests, perhaps Telluride (that typically secretive line-up is begging to be revealed slowly in conversations around town)." You can find this and more at: http://incontention.com/

Tapley is well connected, so you have to give the concept some credence. "Precious" was originally on my list of three major guesses back in July along with "Amelia" and "Broken Promises".

Stay tuned!

10 Days and Counting

No real news tonight...nothing popping up that we have been able to discern in the last 48 hours.

Did get a note from Reilly Capps at the Telluride Daily Planet alerting us to a story he posted last week. In it he quotes Telluride Film Fest Co-Chair Gary Meyer any number of times characteristically declining comment on what may or may not be playing. Of note, however is Meyer's quote near the end of the article. He says, "“I will tell you that it’s going to be a fantastic festival and there are some real surprises.” Capps full article can be found at: http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2009/08/19/news/doc4a8cd662dc40f505807691.txt

That is great news. Last year's fest was undeniably affected by the writer's strike and both Meyer and fellow Co-Chair Tom Luddy are to be commended for the festival that they put on last year in light of that.

With that note, however, it is worth commenting on what appears to be Meyer's enthusiasm about this year's lineup. When Meyer says "real surprises" I believe him and have a hard time waiting to see what they might be. It has me very excited to head to the San Juans!

Two Weeks

Two weeks away from the festival and...

Rumors have been floating for a couple of months (since the middle of June when it was announced as a selection for Toronto) that Jason Reitman's new film "Up in the Air" starring George Clooney would follow the path that his Juno did two years ago and be at Telluride.

As cool as that would be, there has been nothing more than rumor and speculation. Sites such as Hitfix and Filmcatcher have hinted at the possibility...but absolutely no one is being more definite than that.

Here's hoping it's included on the program. It's arrival is highly anticipated.

Lynch and Herzog???

Living In Cinema's Craig Kennedy speculates this evening that the digitally shot "My Son My Son, What Have Ye Done" may make an appearance at the Telluride fest. The film is produced by David Lynch and directed by Werner Herzog (who also co-wrote the script). Both of these film makers have a history with the festival...(Herzog and I rode the same yellow school bus to the Patron brunch two years ago...sort of freaked me out at the time).

The Film is said to be based on a true story about a murder that stems from a man's belief/obsession with Sophocles "Oedipus Rex."

The film stars: Willem Dafoe, Brad Dourif, best supporting actor Oscar nominee Michael Shannon and Oscar nominated Chloe Sivigny among others.

Life During Wartime

Variety hints last night that Todd Solondz new film "Life During Wartime" may be in line to play during the festival. The movie features Ally Sheedy, Paul "Pee Wee" Ruebens, Allison Janney, Ciaran Hinds and past Telluride 2005 tributee Charlote Rampling.

Another Film Surfaces

"Lebanon" an Israeli film set during the 1982 invasion by Israel into Lebanon is reported today in Yair Reveh's International Film Blog as appearing in the program in Telluride in 3 weeks.

Israeli film has had a good run at Telluride the last two years with"The Band's Visit" in 2007 and "Waltz with Bashir" last year. Makes me think that this will be another very good film.

The web address for the full article is: www.cinemascopian.com/2009/08/11/lebanon-in-new-york-toronto-telluride/

First Inkling

Anne Thompson writing in her blog has let slip that Jane Campion's "Bright Star" will be in Telluride this year. She makes the comment in a story that talks about the announcement of a new distributing company called "Apparition". You can find Thompson"s blog at http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/.

"Bright Star" can be found at imdb at www.imdb.com/title/tt0810784. The film is the story of poet John Keats and his romance with Fanny Brawne in the 19th century and features Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish in those roles.

This blog included "Bright Star" as a possible Telluride pic in our last post.

Appartion also has the distribution for Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn...Thompson does not say but implies that Malick's film will not be ready for Telluride presentation...but you never know.

Four More Possibles

Here are four more to think about as possibles for this year's 36th edition of the Telluride Film Festival: Tim Blake Nelson's Oklahoma-set "Leaves of Grass"...not Walt Whitman's biopic! Edward Norton stars as twin brothers...Also Neil Jordan's new film "Ondine", Jane Campion's "Bright Star" and Robert Duvall and Bill Murray in "Get Low"...meanwhile, their appearance earlier this year at Sundance means we won't see: Push, An Education or The Informers...

6 Weeks

Can you say "Invictus". Clint Eastwood's Nelson Mandela project has annouced a release date positioned for the awards season. Morgan Freeman on board and its certain appeal as awards bait plus Eastwood's past with Telluride make one think that it is at least a possibility.

I can now blog from my phone!

Countdown to #36

He's BACK...

The 36th TFF is 2 months away and so it is with virtually no fanfare that we'll start our speculation about what we might expect/hope for this year's festival.

We know: Alexander Payne (writer/director..."About Schmidt", "Sideways") is this year's guest director...and film critic Manny Farber will be "celebrated"...I doubt that means that Farber is one of the three actual "tributes".

3 films I'm putting out there right now as possibles:

"Amelia"...2 time Oscar winner Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart from Fox Searchlight...mostly because it's from Fox Searchlight and is directed by Mira Nair...a Telluride favorite in the past.

"Broken Promises" Pedro Almodovar's latest...reasons to think it's in: At Cannes, Almodovar (again a Telluride favorite over the years). Stars past Telluride tributee Penelope Cruz...and from Sony Pic Classics...all good reasons.

"Precious/Push/Sapphire"...Oscar bait and from Lionsgate and was at Cannes.

Others in play or at least wishful thinking: Jennifer's Body (Diablo Cody), The Informant (Soderbergh), Coco Before Chanel (Audrey Tautou), Shutter Island (Scorsese), A Serious Man (Coen Bros.), Whip It (Drew Barrymore directs), The Road (finally), Nine (Daniel Day-Lewis), Brothers (Gyllenhaal/Portman/Maguire), The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson), Dr. Parnassus (Terry Gilliam, Ledger's last film), Up in the Air (Jason Reitman), Men Who Stare at Goats (Clooney/MacGregor), The Tree of Life (Malick), Looking for Eric (Ken Loach), Biutiful (Gonzalez-Inarritu), The White Ribbon (Cannes Palme D'Or).

Let the speculation begin!

Oscar Clearinghouse #14...Post Mortem

Slumdog cast and crew winning Best Picture

It says something that the biggest surprise of the night was Best Foreign Film...Japan's Departures. Otherwise, the evening was full of the expected. My perfect night of predictions in the Big 8 categories ended when Sean Penn won his second Best Actor Oscar for "Milk". I had thought that his first win for "Mystic River" was too recent and that the Mickey Rourke comeback story would prove irresistible. That being said, it's hard to quibble with the award going to Penn because he was truly outstanding as Harvey Milk.

As to the rest of the categories: Nailed 'em, but it didn't seem all that difficult...a little suspense in the two actress categories.

But the Slumdog momentum was just too much everywhere else. Including a tiny surprise in Sound Mixing that made the total count for Slumdog go to 8 Oscars.

I have said it before...I think that we discovered after Telluride this year that it was not the best year for film. Compared to last year's fest (Juno, Into the Wild, Diving Bell, There Will Be Blood, Persepolis...) and the year that was 2007...2008 couldn't really compete. I think we also realized as the fall turned into winter that the festival organizers had done a terrific job with what films they had to chose from. Slumdog isn't a great film...it's good, but not great...still, it was the best thing I saw all year (Milk was a close second).

We learned again that the Telluride Festival is, perhaps, the most influential fest in the world...certainly among the top 5...and as I watched the Oscar telecast last night, I was reminded of how incredibly fortunate I have been to have been able to have participated the last three years. And I am thrilled at the prospect that come Labor Day this year, I expect to be back. Thanks Larry and Mitzi!!!

The Telluride Film Blog now goes into hibernation for a while. I'm at my busiest time of the school year for the next 2 months. As we approach summer, I'll resurrect the blog and start the speculation about what the 2009 version of Telluride may hold. Can't wait!

Oscar Clearinghouse #13...And On With The Show

Overture, curtain, lights,

This is it, the night of nights

No more rehearsing and nursing our parts

We know every part by heart

Overture, curtain, light

This is it, we'll hit the heights

And oh what heights we'll hit

On with the show this is it

Tonight what heights we'll hit

On with the show this is it.

2 days left before Oscar!!!

And the expectations addressed last week have not really changed...My picks remain the same

Picture: SLUMDOG (TFF 2008)

Director: DANNY BOYLE/SLUMDOG

Actor: Mickey Rourke/Wrestler (edging out Sean Penn...my TFF buddy from 2007)

Actress: Kate Winslet/Reader

Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger/Dark Knight

Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz (TFF 2006)/VC Barcelona

Original Script: Dustin Lance Black/Milk

Adapted Script: SIMON BEAUFOY/SLUMDOG

Additionally look for Slumdog to get Film Editing, Cinematography, Score and Song...and if it's a real sweep...Sound Mixing and Sound Editing...most pundits don't think the last two are going to happen...but maybe...

I'm guessing Button wins 2 or 3 tech awards...

WALTZ WITH BASHIR (TFF 2008) wins for Foreign Film

Check back next week...I'll do an Oscar post mortem for 2008's films in what will probably be the last post until sometime after the State Speech Tournament here in Oklahoma...I have a small part to play in its execution...

Oscar Clearinghouse #12...Tick, Tick, Tick...

Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire"
Is it 2008's Best Film? Oscar is going to say: "YES" on Feb. 22...

Less than two weeks from the Big Show and the Oscar community has settled into relative stupor. The conventional wisdom is that most of the main races are all but over and far be it from me to disagree...The Slumdog Millionaire Express has taken a lot of the suspense out of the weeks leading up to Oscar. That is unlikely to change in the next few days. The BAFTA awards over the weekend (the British version of Oscar) continued to echo what has been happening throughout awards season...Slumdog is the big dog and in all likelihood will be on Oscar night as well. Here's the lowdown by category for the Big Eight awards and a few comments along the way...

Best Picture: There is some buzz of a backlash against Slumdog based on whispers of exploitative work practices with regard to the younger children in the film. I suspect that is entirely hogwash...and that it won't actually diminish the film's chances of winning the Best Picture Oscar...Winner: Slumdog Millionaire...Surprise: Anything Else

Best Director: Danny Boyle has cleaned up this season and will no doubt do so again on Feb. 22. Again, some negative backlash buzz and a supposed mini-boomlet of support for Stephen Daldry, but Boyle is your winner. Winner: Danny Boyle/Slumdog. Surprise: David Fincher/Benjamin Button

Best Actor: The best race of the night it seems...Sean Penn or Mickey Rourke? Both performances have been honored during this awards season...Saw Milk a couple of weeks back and Penn is amazing! But Rourke has the come back story going for him and his work (what I've seen from the film) is also amazing...go with....Winner: Mickey Rourke/The Wrestler. Surprise: Though not really, Penn

Best Actress: A lot of folks think that the move to Kate Winslet in the last month has sealed the deal for her to win her first Oscar. I'm not so sure. She is the best thing about The Reader...which aims and misses as far as I was concerned...but she is very good in it. That said, I still think the Academy might go elsewhere...Streep being the most likely to pick up the trophy. The Anne Hathaway bandwagon, which seemed pretty strong 4-6 weeks ago, has all but disappeared. Winner: Winslet/The Reader. Surprise: Streep/Doubt

Supporting Actor: Ledger. Not a lot more to say. Going to win it...Should win it. Surprise: Impossible to contemplate.

Supporting Actress: I have been very confident about Penelope Cruz for months now. And with Kate Winslet gone to the lead category...she should be in great shape. Winner: Cruz/Barcelona. Surprise: Davis/Doubt

Original Script: Some actual uncertainty here. A battle between Milk and Wall-E...The human wins? Winner: Milk. Surprise: Wall-E

Adapted Script: Slumdog strikes again. Winner: Beaufoy/Slumdog. Surprise: David Hare/The Reader.

Other notes: I think that Slumdog is also likely to win Cinematography, Film Editing, Song, Score, And perhaps the Sound Editing and Mixing as well...meaning as many as 9 trophies...(It can't win 10 as it is double nominated in Best Song)...And maybe it doesn't...but I got a feeling...

It's D. Destiny!

Button...13 noms and no wins? Probably not. It probably wins a technical award here and there to avoid the complete shutout...

Waltz with Bashir will win Foreign Film...

Man On Wire will win Best Doc...beating 2007 TFF entrant from Werner Herzog, Encounters at the End of the World.

Last column before Oscar will go up the Friday before...Peace!

Oscar Clearinghouse #11...No Love for TDK

Pardon the expression, but HOLY CRAP BATMAN! It's a dark day for The Dark Knight!

After what seemed to be a tsunami of buzz that The Dark Knight would break new ground and grab a Best Pic nom...boy did it get SNUBBED this morning or what??? No Best Pic or Director or Screenplay...WOW. And the beneficiary, clearly The Reader...which got all of those plus Kate Winslet in Best Actress not Supporting...

And, as is often the case, I don't seem to be nearly as smart as I think I am... The only categories I got 100% right...Film Editing and Visual Effects....Missed at least one in every other category that I picked (18 categories all together)....Geeeez!

Here's the link to the official nominees page:

http://www.oscars.org/awards/81academyawards/nominees.html

And the notes from this morning by category...

Best Pic: TDK out, The Reader in...actually, if you were paying attention this morning and saw that Winslet was not a nominee for Supporting...that was the first sign that things might get weird...Both the chart and I go for 4 for 5.

Best Director: Again...Nolan/TDK out and Stephen Daldry/Reader in...although the Best Pic and Directors match 5 for 5 and that's fairly rare. Again the chart and I both go 4 for 5.

Best Actor...I was 4 for 5 here missing Pitt as I thought there was enough support for Eastwood to get him a nomination here. The chart was 4 for 5 as well.

Best Actress: I go 4 for 5 here missing the movie that Winslet gets nominated for...otherwise pleased that I picked Melissa Leo to get a nom and she did. The chart gets 3 for 5...and my thought that the Telluride threesome of Hawkins, Thomas and Blanchett wouldn't be in the money proved to be right.

Best Supporting Actor: Both myself and the chart go 4 for 5...but I missed with my pick of Dev Patel (thought the Slumdog momentum would be enough) and the charts had James Franco in Milk...instead...Michael Shannon for Rev Road...who was a front runner earlier in the season gets Rev Road's only major nomination.

Best Supporting Actress: I go 4 for 5. The chart does too. We both miss Winslet sliding up to the lead category...I got Amy Adams...the chart got Taraji P. Henson

Adapted Script: Again no TDK and yes for The Reader...Charts and I go 4 for 5.

Original Script: I go 3 for 5 in what many thought was the toughest category to pick. The chart was also 3 for 5...We both missed Frozen River and In Bruges.

Other stuff...I was surprised Waltz with Bashir was NOT an animated film nominee

Slumdog gets 2 Best Song noms...and there are only 3 songs nominated...really?

Telluride connections go like this as best as I can tell this morning:

13 for Button

10 for Slumdog

4 others: Waltz with Bashir and Revanche (Foreign), Encounters at the End of the World (TFF 2007/Documentary and a shout out to my bus buddy Werner Herzog). New Boy (Live Action Short)... For a total of 27. Now on to Feb 22 and the winners!