The upcoming Cannes Film Festival added additional titles to its Official Selection Monday, including American title Gimme The Loot which screened last week at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Today’s additions join the 22 other films in the official selection and 16 in the event’s Un Certain Regard section as well as the previously announced Critics Week lineup . Additionally, the fest said the montage film Final Cut – Hölgyeim És Uraim by György Pálfi (Hungary), produced by Béla Tarr, which will close Cannes Classics on Saturday, May 25. Titles added to the Cannes official selection : Trashed by Candida Brady (UK) – Special Screening The Sapphires by Wayne Blair (Australia, 1st film) – Midnight Screening Maniac by Franck Khalfoun (USA/France) – Midnight Screening Djeca by Aida Begic (Bosnia-Herzegovina) – Un Certain Regard Gimme the Loot by Adam Leon (USA) (1st film) – Un Certain Regard Renoir by Gilles Bourdos (France), at the closing ceremony – Un Certain Regard
I know what you were thinking: “Whew! The Oscars are over! No more of this Uggie red-carpet business ! We can back to real celebrities and real celebrity issues — like what Jimmy Kimmel thinks about Kim Kardashian . Hard-hitting!” Alas, guess who went to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner over the weekend? Moreover, guess who just got a freaking book deal ? First off, there’s the Artist wonder dog hamming it up on the WHCD red carpet, presumably awaiting a glass of pinot grigio and maybe a crab cake or just holding poor Diane Sawyer up on her way to the metal detector. It’s hard to know without having been there, and when you consider that a retired Jack Russell terrier was invited and you weren’t, it’s easy to think you should have been there, and what are you doing with your life, paying off five figures’ worth of student loans while this dog has awards campaigns and international social-media notoriety in his name, and maybe you went into the wrong line of business, and really who wants to live longer than 14 or 15 years anyway on this godforsaken rock, especially one riven by war, pestilence and, well, this … More from the AP [via Huffington Post ]: Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier who appeared in the Oscar-winning The Artist , has a memoir coming. Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced Friday that Uggie: My Story will come out in October. His tale of tails will be transcribed by biographer and presumed dog whisperer Wendy Holden. Whatever. I’m totally willing to accept responsibility for this and apologize accordingly for the tsunami of existential woe about to wash over every struggling writer in America, on one condition: You’d better cut me in, Uggie. That is all. [Photo: Getty Images] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Welcome back to Movieline’s new industry feature Biz Break. Monday morning’s newsy highlights include a big-time opening for Jack Black’s Bernie , the film talent leading Cannes’ 2012 Master Classes, the end of Sundance’s first London foray, the latest word on the Cuban actors who ditched their Tribeca premiere for U.S. asylum, and more… 1st Sundance London Fest Comes to a Close The first Sundance London film and music festival closed out Sunday night with a performance by Rufus and Martha Wainwright following the world premiere of Sing Me the Songs that Say I Love You – A Concert for Kate McGarrigle , Lian Lunson’s film about the music of their folk singer mother. Making their UK premieres at Sundance London were 14 fiction and documentary features as well as eight short films from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Three Master Classes Added to Cannes American film director Philip Kaufman, composer Alexandre Desplat and actor, producer, director Norman Lloyd will take part in Master Classes at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Chiefly focusing on directing (previous directors have included Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Wong Kar-wai, etc.), from time to time the Master Classes explore other aspects of filmmaking. Additionally this morning, Cannes added seven more titles to its slate. Saint Aire Productions Nabs Film Rights to NY Times Bestselling Novel The Noticer Saint Aire, which produced The Kids Are All Right as well as the upcoming June release The Love Guide with Parker Posey, plans to go into production immediately on The Noticer with principle photography slated for Winter 2013 in Alabama. The story revolves around a mysterious man named Jones who has been given a gift of noticing things about life that others miss. From around the ‘net… Specialty Box Office: Bernie Bows Hot; Others Not So Much Millennium Entertainment scored one of the highest limited release debuts of 2012 over the weekend with director Richard Linklater‘s latest feature. Starring Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Shirley MacLaine, Bernie bowed with a spectacular $30K average from three locations in New York, Los Angeles and Austin in the final weekend of April. Deadline reports . Cuban Actors Who Vanished En Route to Tribeca Seek Asylum in Miami: Reuters Anailin de la Rua and Javier Nuñez, cast members of Una Noche (One Night), appeared on TV Friday night on the Miami-based Spanish language channel America TeVe. De la Rua and Nunez said their real-life experience was not as dramatic as the harrowing story depicted in the movie, Deadline reports . Jimmy Kimmel Plays it Safe with White House Correspondents Dinner Speech (Video) Obama’s re-election chances and New Jersey governor Chris Christie’s weight were among the topics Kimmel took on over the weekend, which received “consistent laughter,” THR reports . Tom Jones: “I was up for James Bond” In an interview with the UK’s Radio Times, Tom Jones revealed he almost landed the role of James Bond until a producer said he was “too famous” and audiences wouldn’t believe it. The Guardian reports . China Plans $1.27 billion Production Hub Chinawood is on the horizon, thanks to Chinese entrepreneur Bruno West and his Harvest Seven Stars Entertainment and the city government of Tianjin. Plans are for 8.6 million square feet, providing a space for co-productions exempt from Chinese import restrictions. Variety reports . Warner Bros Launch Film Scripts as e-books Ben Hur and Casablanca are among the film scripts to be released as e-books for the first time by Warner Bros. Other movies in the Inside the Script series will include An American in Paris and North by Northwest . The e-books include items such as the shooting script, production notes, storyboards and on-set photographs. BBC reports .
Peter Jackson is currently experiencing the direct opposite of the CinemaCon Oscar Hype phenomenon explored here last week, with his Hobbit — shot at the adventurous rate of 48 frames per second — drawing more than a few skeptics out of the geek woodwork. This calls for damage control. “Nobody is going to stop,” Jackson told EW late Friday, days after his 10-minute Hobbit preview was dismantled by the CinemaCon press corps. “This technology is going to keep evolving.” That wasn’t all, and oddly or not, Jackson’s admonitions didn’t sound so different from those of CinemaCon darling Ang Lee , who would really rather you just wait and see the entire movie before leaping to conclusions: “At first it’s unusual because you’ve never seen a movie like this before. It’s literally a new experience, but you know, that doesn’t last the entire experience of the film–not by any stretch, [just] 10 minutes or so,” Jackson tells EW. “That’s a different experience than if you see a fast-cutting montage at a technical presentation.” So what does he say to people who just decide they don’t like the glossy new look of the format he’s using? “I can’t say anything,” Jackson acknowledges. “Just like I can’t say anything to someone who doesn’t like fish. You can’t explain why fish tastes great and why they should enjoy it.” When it debuts Dec. 14., The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be the first major performance for 48-frames, while this week’s showcase was just an audition. Jackson says those who remain unconvinced should wait to see more before closing their minds completely. “There can only ever be a real reaction, a truthful reaction, when people actually have a chance to see a complete narrative on a particular film,” he said. Now watch it sweep the Oscars . I’m just saying. [ EW ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Considering its relatively mundane subject matter — Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann ‘s Knocked Up characters, Pete and Debbie, go into mid-life crisis mode when age 40 approaches — there’s a deceptive amount of classic signatures in Judd Apatow ‘s This is 40 . Yes, I’m talking about dick jokes. And boners and nipples and vagina tree rings and whatever it is that Rudd is gazing at through a mirror without his pants on. In other words: Comedy gold! Right? Well, that’ll depend on what kind of Apatow you’re expecting from This is 40 . Suburban married protagonists struggling with parenting and fitness and stuff is much more grounded terrain than Apatow’s biggest hits. Not that it’s a bad thing that Rudd and Mann’s duo seem fairly realistic, considering; they were great foils to Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up , though This is 40 seems to mostly follow-up on Debbie’s age-insecurity than Pete’s hamstrung powerlessness. We may not see Rogen or Heigl reprise their roles in the “sort-of-sequel,” but Jason Segel returns, joined in the supporting cast by Lena Dunham, Megan Fox, Melissa McCarthy, Albert Brooks, Chris O’Dowd, John Lithgow, Annie Mumolo, the blond kid from Super 8 , and real life Apatow-Mann daughters Iris and Maude. I’m just hoping Debbie goes back to that club with her new boner-iffic bod and gives Craig Robinson what for. Verdict: This is… promising, but not a surefire slam dunk. Fingers crossed. This is 40 hits theaters December 21.
