Gus Van Sant may go from fracking to thwacking with his next film project. At a luncheon for the director’s new film, Promised Land , which deals with fracking in a Pennsylvania town, Van Sant said that he’s in the process of writing a script to a “martial arts” film that is “a little bit of a superhero movie and a little bit of Stephen Chow ,” the director, writer and star of Kung Fu Hustle . Van Sant’s story is set in a very specific location, “Hollywood Boulevard and Gower, near the Pep Boys sign,” where, he explained, an encounter with a “very frail” looking woman with bags inspired him to write the story. “I thought, Oh my God, she’s going to get hit,” Van Sant said. “And then I thought that maybe she has more going on than I think. Maybe I should give her more credit. Maybe she could kick my ass.” That led to a story about “a small area of Hollywood that is besieged by crime” and a group of mere mortals who “get together to clean it up.” Van Sant said the story is nowhere near being ready to go before the cameras. “I have to keep writing it,” he said, but perhaps it bodes well that the idea has led to other forms of creative expressions for the filmmaker. Van Sant said that he’s also been creating watercolor paintings of fictional “characters on Hollywood Boulevard” that, he acknowledged, were connected to his idea for the martial-arts movie. I hope it becomes a movie. Van Sant took part in roundtable discussions with the media at a luncheon at the midtown Manhattan restaurant Aquavit. The event was also attended by Matt Damon and John Krasinski , who co-star in the movie and co-wrote the script, which is based on a story by Dave Eggers. Damon said that Promised Land was not a political movie but rather one about the democratic process. Regardless of the issue, he said, “if you don’t engage, the decision will be made for you.” On the subject of engaging, Damon said that he and director David. O. Russell talked after the actor and director separately declared from the podium of the IFP Gotham Awards that they’d like to work with each other. The Bourne star was coy, however, about whether the meeting yielded anything more than mutual admiration. “I’m a huge, huge, huge fan of his,” Damon said, adding: “I would love to work with him.” Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Now it’s Courtney Love ‘s turn to tell her story about her husband Kurt Cobain and she’s turning to a medium she knows well, even if it has at times not been to her liking. The Hole musician has approached filmmaker Brett Morgan to do a Cobain documentary, a project that has been under discussion since 2007. “Courtney is the one that brought me into this,” said Morgan, whose Rolling Stones doc Crossfire Hurricane premiered at the BFI London Film Festival last month. “We’ve been trying to find the right time to put tho film together and the time is now.” Morgan, who spoke to the New York Post said they’re eyeing a 2014 release. Rumors swirled that a Broadway musical based on the Nirvana catalogue recently when once close Britney Spears protégé Sam Lufti testified under oath that he and Love were working on a possible stage or motion picture project based on the grunge artist who died of a self-inflicted gunshot in 1994. “There will be no musical,” Love later told The Observer. “Sometimes it’s best just to leave things alone.” Nevertheless, a doc is underway at least for now, and it will take the form of a “third-person autobiography,” Morgan said. “[As] if Kurt was around and making a film about his life…Kurt was not only an amazing songwriter and musician, he was an incredible artist and film-maker.” Kurt Cobain left behind a wealth of recordings even beyond his music, some of which played out in a 2006 documentary, Kurt Cobain About a Son by AJ Schnack, which Love did not sanction. Cobain and Love were both the subjects in the 1998 doc Kurt & Courtney by Nick Broomfield, which Love allegedly tried to axe from the Sundance Film Festival ahead of its premiere. Never-before seen footage of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love in their private life turned up in the 2011 doc Hit So Hard by P. David Ebersole, which followed the story of Hole drummer Patty Schemel, which Love cooperated with. On the non-doc side, Gus van Sant fictionalized a parallel Kurt Cobain story in his 2005 feature Last Days , which starred Michael Pitt as the would-be Nirvana frontman. [ Source: The Guardian ]
Don’t shoot the messenger! This week’s wide release of the Joseph Gordon-Levitt bike courier film Premium Rush inspired Movieline to deliver this cinematic parcel to your doorstep. Once each generation, Hollywood pushes a product centered on the travails of these municipal nomads; back in the 1970s there was a love story with Tom Berenger in Rush It ; CBS tried out the courier-based sitcom Double Rush with Robert Pastorelli and David Arquette; Jessica Alba played an urban biker in Dark Angel ; and, most recently, came the Chinese import Beijing Bicycle . The desire to portray the world of bike messenger-ing is understandably tempting — the close-knit society, rebellious personalities, and high-risk action of the work beg for a dramatic treatment. But one title rises seat and handlebars above all the others in this micro-sub-genre: 1986’s Kevin Bacon vehicle Quicksilver . Nestled perfectly in the middle of the decade, this film typifies a 1980s offering, so light in actual content you could fit it in your shoulder bag. Characters are revealed less via action than by name – Apache, Cha-Cha, Airborne, Spider, and Shorty. Even the main characters are communion-wafer thin when it comes to complexity. Curiously, Quicksilver features a preponderance of comedians in the cast: Paul Rodriguez has a major part, Saturday Night Live writer Andrew Smith appears, and Louie Anderson is, theoretically, a messenger named Tiny. (I say “theoretically” because the corpulent stand-up never once straddles a bike seat, possibly because he couldn’t.) The synth-heavy score comes courtesy of Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks, and it immerses you in the era — so much so it feels like more energy went into crafting the soundtrack than the script. Roger Daltrey had a slight hit with the Giorgio Moroder song, “Quicksilver Lightning”, and other ’80s soundtrack regulars, including Ray Parker Jr., and John Parr appear as well. To go along with multiple extended chase scenes, that other ’80s cinema staple — the musical montage — gets heavy usage. No fewer than three of these occur within the first 30 minutes while we await an actual story. One of these vital plot breaks involves Kevin Bacon at home with his modern-dance/ballerina girlfriend. Despite being destitute, Jack and his leggy lovely somehow San Francisco loft that is roughly the size of a parade float manufacturing center. Behold its size as you watch the couple interact, like all lovers do, silently professing mutual love by incorporating their dance and biking professions: It becomes the job of the viewer to find the plot amid these interludes. We begin with Bacon riding in a taxi. A bike messenger cruises beside his cab, and for no reason we can understand, Jack tells the driver he’ll pay him 50 bucks if he beats the bike rider to his destination. The bike dodges obstructions and the cab skids to a halt as the courier loses his beret. Jack races over and clutches the abandoned headpiece, and we are supposed to grasp that an unspoken bond has been forged by these two. Revel in a feeling of revulsion as Jack grips a stranger’s sweaty, grime-coated hat! At the start of Quicksilver , Bacon wears glasses and sports the facial hair of a sexual sadist, looking every bit like the serial killer that neighbors are always surprised to learn has a softball team buried in the back yard. (This is the same look Bacon sported in his recent commercials for Logitech, by the way.) Jack works as a hot shot trader at the San Francisco Commodities Exchange. He and his partner Gabe try to corner the market on a stock only to have its price move on them, causing the pair to lose millions, including the life savings of Jack’s parents. He is so distraught that next we see him opt for street urchin fashions, ditch the glasses, shave off the pedophile moustache, and grow his mullet out to its Footloose splendor. He is now working for Quicksilver Courier Service. Jami Gertz plays Terri, a new hire, and this allows us to be introduced to the United Nations staff. When asked where she’s from Terri tells Hector (Paul Rodriguez) she moved around a lot because her father was a jet pilot. (Apparently the Air Force has military bases in Chicago and Detroit.) She meets Jack, but there is also a dark undercurrent to their profession: When after a meal at a diner, Terri cannot find her money, a suspicious man ominously offers to pay for her meal. The top rider at Quicksilver is Voodoo (Lawrence Fishburne), who augments his salary by making runs of contraband for a local hood named Gypsy. He happens to be the guy who bought Terri’s waffles. As villains go, Gypsy is not the most intimidating. He motors around the Bay Area in a sad, rundown Ford LTD, perhaps waiting for MTV’s Pimp My Ride to be invented. Gypsy and Voodoo have a professional disagreement, and ,later, when Jack and Voodoo challenge each other to a race that is the focus of another montage, Gypsy runs Voodoo down in the street. This means Jack Casey is now the top rider at the service. I guess it also means he needs to get a new goofy name. Soon enough, the plot gets yanked forward by the aspirations of the riders. Hector has a pregnant girlfriend and dreams of one day owning a hot dog cart. Gypsy orders Terri to take over Voodoo’s duties. (Somehow she has become indentured to a criminal over a $5 breakfast tab.) Meanwhile, Jack is getting lured back to his brokerage life by his former partner. Initially, he resists, explaining his new lifestyle to Gabe: “When I’m on the street I feel good – I feel good, I feel exhilarated. I go as fast as I like, faster than anyone. The street sign says one-way-east [CLAP] I go west. They can’t touch me! When I’m on the bike I forget about . . . I dunno – I dunno.” Okay, so it’s not the Henry the V battlefield speech, but you feel his passion . . . I guess. The financial pressures on Jack and his friends inspire him to revisit his past for the finale. After weeks of studying the Wall Street Journal he’s convinced he’s found a surefire stock choice, so he takes his shot. At the exchange Jack gets a VISITOR pass, strides onto the floor and begins buying call options instantly. And — SPOILER ALERT — after a few tense hours, his stock leaps two points in a matter of minutes! He pockets around $50,000 for a few hours’ work, everything is resolved and everyone, including his parents, get their share of the profits. I had to resort to an expert opinion as this felt more than ridiculous. Writer Brad Laidman, who had actually worked on that very options floor, assessed Quicksilver ‘s realism factor. Laidman actually recognized people on screen as legitimate exchange workers, so he knew the details. “While I could see him getting the pass and visiting the floor,” he explained, “there was no way in hell he’d be able to walk out and start trading that day. It’d take a month of paper work to get a trader’s badge, and he’d have to establish an account with the exchange.” “What they showed was like buying a ticket to a Chicago Bulls game, and somehow you found yourself on the court, taking the winning shot. Then later, he goes in the back and they start printing out checks, like he was at the race track. The whole thing was a fantasy.” As I suspected. But hey, this wouldn’t be Hollywood without a Hollywood ending. Jack sort of separates from his girlfriend and sort of gets together with Terri (after barely interacting with her up to that point). They happily amble up to their friend Hector, who’s doling out his dream dogs — the movie’s way of telling us that everyone lives happily ever after. Studios love lecturing on the venal capitalist undercurrent in this country, and yet look what they were selling audiences circa 1986: For a white guy studying the newspaper and wearing a tie, one afternoon if enterprise would net you tens of thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, if you were ethnic, applied yourself and worked extremely hard, you got the a shot at hustling tube steaks from a cart on a street corner — provided you had a smart white guy to help you out. Thanks, Quicksilver ! Read more in the Bad Movies We Love archives! Brad Slager has written about movies and entertainment for Film Threat, Mediaite, and is a columnist at CHUD.com . His less insightful impressions on entertainment can be found on Twitter .
Also in Thursday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs thriller Maniac is heading to North American theaters. An Icon Productions exec joins The Weinstein Company as head of acquisitions. And an Artist actress will replace Marion Cotillard in Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi ‘s follow-up project. Gus Van Sant’s Promised Land Set for Late December Release Two-time Oscar nominee Gus Van Sant’s contemporary drama Promised Land will open in theaters in L.A. and New York December 28th and expand further in January. Starring Rosemarie DeWitt, Oscar nominee Hal Holbrook ( Into the Wild ), Scoot McNairy ( Killing Them Softly ), Titus Welliver ( The Town ), and Academy Award winner Frances McDormand, the film revolves around Steve Butler, a corporate salesman who arrives in a rural town with his sales partner, Sue Thomason. The duo hope to persuade the economically down and out town to go for an offer of drilling rights. But things get complicated when a school teacher objects with support from a grassroots campaign led by another man. The film’s original screenplay was written by John Krasinski and Matt Damon, based on a story by Dave Eggers. Franck Khalfoun’s Thriller Maniac Heading to Theaters Elijah Woods stars in the remake of William Lustig’s 1980 film of the same title. The film revolves around Frank who develops an obsession with a young artist when he decides to help her with an exhibition. But the obsession unleashes a compulsion to stalk and kill a la a 21st century Jack the Ripper. IFC Midnight picked up rights to the Cannes out of competition title for North America. Mark Gooder Joins The Weinstein Company Gooder, who served as CEO for Icon Productions for six years, will serve as President of Acquisitions/ Australian Operations. Gooder’s new role involves the day-to-day running of the acquisitions department and leading the charge of bringing in projects for the company, from scripts through finished films. He will also attend major markets and festivals including the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. Around the ‘net… Ang Lee Tops Sony’s List for Cleopatra Columbia Pictures has begun courting the Life of Pi director for its project that will star Angelina Jolie. No formal offer has been made yet, however, THR reports via Vulture. Mireille Enos Set for David Ayer’s Ten Enos ( The Killing ) will star in the feature that will star Arnold Schwarzenegger. She will play a member of the elite DEA team and married to co-star Sam Worthington’s character, Deadline reports . Bérénice Bejo To Replace Marion Cotillard In Oscar-Winner’s Next Project Bejo ( The Artist ) will join Oscar winning director Asghar Farhadi’s next untitled project set to begin shooting in October in Paris. She will replace Cotillard due to scheduling conflicts. The storyline is secret but is apparently in the vein of his award-winning A Separation with “an element of suspense,” Deadline reports .
“The new project would almost certainly take Lautner’s career in a new direction. He is said to be determined to work only with top directors and writers from now on as he strives to define himself as an actor.” Annnnnd that’s pretty much all I’ve got on this one. [ THR ]
Yup. He is an Academy Award nominee, actor, Oscar host, curator, student, singer, soap star, literary fellow, self-pleasure enthusiast, Twitter star, and champion for seventies sitcoms, but it’s still not enough for James Franco . The man who collects jobs like Charlie Sheen collects loose-lipped escorts has added another bullet point on that already crowded CV — he is being featured in a new art exhibit alongside Gus Van Sant.
