Greta Gerwig has gone from so-called Mumblecore actress, appearing in indie titles LOL , Hannah Takes The Stairs and Nights and Weekends to bigger fare by the likes of Ivan Reitman and Woody Allen in No Strings Attached and the recent To Rome with Love . But what most audiences may not know, is that she’s picked written some of the material she’s played on screen, including her latest Frances Ha , which she co-wrote with director Noah Baumbach . The comedy is Gerwig’s second match-up with Baumbach following 2010’s Greenberg and the pair began bouncing ideas off each other, eventually creating the hysterical black and white feature that debuted at the recent Toronto International Film Festival and will be having its U.S. premiere at the upcoming New York Film Festival . “We started trading some ideas after Greenberg Gerwig said in New York this week. “I knew I wanted to work with Noah again, and luckily he felt the same way.” Baumbach and Gerwig emailed sent email back and forth, creating Frances Ha ‘s electric personalities and hypnotic banter. In the film, Gerwig plays Frances, a New Yorker who is constantly on the move. Her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner) ups and moves into a plush apartment with a friend in New York’s TriBeCa neighborhood, leaving Frances to fend for herself. A budding dancer, she is dropped from her apprenticeship at a dance company, but her slow descent never does little to undermine her determination to succeed. Friendship is at the heart of the film and the sometimes racy lifestyle of twenty-somethings living in New York is played out honestly, even with some discomfort. “If you want to get technical about it, anything other than women falling in love is under-represented across the board [in movies],” said Gerwig. “When we were writing it, Frances and Sophie emerged rather than something that was imposed. It became clear that this was the most important relationship in her life and we decided that that was the story we would focus on.” Though Gerwig and Baumbach were obviously very aware of the script, the Oscar-nominated director of The Squid and the Whale decided not to let the other actors see the entire screenplay. He decided to experiment with actors only focusing on only their material and be left in the dark as to how their words and deeds fit into the bigger picture. “I thought there might be something interesting to having actors play at the moment and what was in front of them instead of having them in some ways tell the overall story, so that was the experiment…I didn’t want them to think how this scene falls in the movie,” said Baumbach. “They may know all too well where a scene falls in the movie. You don’t want the characters to know that really.” Gerwig received praise for her performance at a pre-NYFF screening of the film this week. Her character is a case study in contrasts. She’s smart, but makes bad decisions. She’s determined, but is constantly stumbling. She has strong relationships, but she’s often left in the lurch. Gerwig wrestled up a persona that would have been difficult for just any actor to pull off Frances’ unique peculiarities. Asked how she tackled Frances, Gerwig wasn’t quite sure how her personality came about. “I never really particularly meant to have a different way of acting than anyone else,” she said. “I don’t mean to sound like Johnny Cash, but that line, ‘I play guitar like this because I don’t know any other way’ – I don’t know any other way to act.” Continuing she added, “It’s always weird when you talk about acting because it inevitably descends into something mystical. But it’s from the inside coupled with needing to know why I am saying something. Working on the script doesn’t make acting any easier. It actually in some ways makes it more difficult because you know what something is supposed to be.” IFC Films picked up Frances Ha and will release the film in theaters and VOD at a future date.
TIFF heads Cameron Bailey and Piers Handling gave details on galas and other festival highlights taking place in Toronto this September, including its opening film. In other news from Tuesday’s round-up of briefs, Jeremy Renner and Bill Condon eye a WikiLeaks pic and Steven Spielberg set to honor Stanley Kubrick at an L.A. museum. Futuristic Action Thriller Looper to Open 2012 Toronto International Film Festival Looper is set in 2072, a mob target is sent 30 years into the past where a hired gun awaits. Rian Johnson directed the film, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt. This is the third year the festival has not opened with a Canadian film, which was its previous policy. “Rian Johnson is a film auteur known for combining different genres to give his projects an original spin,” Piers Handling, director and CEO of TIFF commented. “We’re thrilled to have Looper open the festival.” 3 Arrested in Separate Dark Knight Rises Incidents A Maine man was arrested with weaponry after he told authorities he was on his way to shoot a former employee after watching the movie. In California, a man was arrested after witnesses said he made threats alluding to the Aurora, CO shooting when the movie didn’t start. And in Arizona, a man who appeared intoxicated was confronted at the movie causing a “mass hysteria” leading 50 people to flea the theater, A.P. reports . Jeremy Renner, Bill Condon Eye WikiLeaks Film Renner is looking to play Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder through Dreamworks. The studio is also talking to Bill Condon to direct, Deadline reports . Warner Bros. Makes Donation to Victims of Colorado Shooting The amount was not disclosed and the studio did not make an official announcement. The studio said it was working with the state’s governor’s office and would give through givingfirst.org, Deadline reports . LACMA, Steven Spielberg to Honor Stanley Kubrick and More Leonardo DiCaprio and museum trustee Eva Chow will charm the second annual Art + Film Gala, which will also honor artist Ed Ruscha, both who will have exhibitions of their work at the museum this fall, THR reports .
One of North America’s biggest annual film events released details of its lineup Tuesday morning including 17 Galas and 45 “Special Presentations” that will screen in the 37th Toronto International Film Festival in September. Festival CEO and Director Piers Handling as well as TIFF Artistic Director Cameron Bailey announced the lineup this morning in Toronto at a live event about this year’s festival, which includes 38 world premieres. As revealed earlier , Looper with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis will open the festival. Debuts from directors worldwide including Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Costa-Gavras, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski, Margarethe von Trotta, Joss Whedon and Yaron Zilberman are in the lineup. TIFF takes place September 6 – 16. Today’s lineup follows. More details from the festival will be announced the coming weeks… “We are thrilled to announce so many exciting and prestigious films today, with many more to follow,” said Handling in a statement. “This year’s Festival is looking particularly strong with bold, adventuresome work coming from established and emerging filmmakers.” “This year we present our most diverse Gala programme to date with films from Japan, China, India, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy, USA and Canada,” added Bailey. “Toronto’s red carpet is a global one and we’re excited to welcome some of the world’s best filmmakers and greatest stars to Canada.” Toronto lineup details provided by the festival : Galas : Looper by Rian Johnson, USA World Premiere (Opening Night Film) In the futuristic action thriller Looper , time travel will be invented – but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a “looper” – a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good… until the day the mob decides to “close the loop,” sending back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination. Also starring Emily Blunt, Paul Dano and Jeff Daniels. A Royal Affair by Nikolai Arcel, Denmark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany North American Premiere A Royal Affair is a gripping tale of brave idealists who risk everything in their pursuit of freedom for the people. Above all, it is the story of a passionate and forbidden romance that changed an entire nation. Starring Mads Mikkelsen and Alicia Vikander. Argo by Ben Affleck, USA World Premiere When militants storm the U.S. embassy in 1979 Tehran, six Americans manage to slip away. Knowing it’s only a matter of time before they are found, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist comes up with a plan to get them out of the country: a plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies. Starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Kyle Chandler. The Company You Keep by Robert Redford, USA North American Premiere Jim Grant (Robert Redford), a civil rights lawyer and single father, must go on the run when a brash young reporter (Shia LaBeouf) exposes his true identity as a former 1970s radical fugitive wanted for murder. Sparking a nationwide manhunt, Grant sets off on a cross-country journey to clear his name. Also starring Susan Sarandon, Terrence Howard, Anna Kendrick, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper and Nick Nolte. Dangerous Liaisons by Hur Jin-ho, China North American Premiere As war looms in Shanghai, glamorous libertine Mo Jietu (Cecilia Cheung) runs into playboy Xie Yifan (Dong-gun Jang), an ex-boyfriend who’s never stopped loving her. She persuades him to play a treacherous game: Xie must seduce the innocent and naïve Du Fenyu (Zhang Ziyi) and then dump her. But the game becomes increasingly dangerous as Xie falls in love with Du, leading them all to tragic and shocking consequences. English Vinglish by Gauri Shinde, India World Premiere Money, fame and a knowledge of English. In India, these 3 factors play a huge role in how society judges an individual. English Vinglish is the story of Shashi, a woman who does not know English and in turn is made to feel insecure by her family and society at large. The film is the lighthearted yet touching and transformational journey of Shashi. Circumstances make her determined to overcome this insecurity, master the language, teach the world a lesson on the way to becoming a self assured and confident woman. This film marks the comeback of India’s biggest female star, Sridevi. Free Angela & All Political Prisoners by Shola Lynch, USA/France World Premiere Legendary radical activist Angela Davis’ words and actions made her a revolutionary icon in the 1960s. The documentary Free Angela & All Political Prisoners tells the dramatic story of how a young philosophy professor’s social justice activism implicates her in the botched kidnapping attempt of a judge that ends in bloody shootout. Newsweek asks: what would prompt Angela Davis, “the daughter of the black bourgeoisie, to take a desperate turn to terrorism?” Great Expectations by Mike Newell, United Kingdom World Premiere Based on the Charles Dickens classic. Orphan Pip rises from humble beginnings thanks to a mysterious benefactor. Moving through London’s class-ridden world as a gentleman, Pip uses his new status to pursue Estella, a beautiful, heartless heiress he’s always loved. The shocking truth behind his fortune will have devastating consequences for everything he holds dear. Starring Holliday Grainger, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter and Jeremy Irvine. Hyde Park on Hudson by Roger Michell, United Kingdom World Premiere In June 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Academy Award® nominee Bill Murray) and his wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) host the King and Queen of England (Samuel West and Olivia Colman) for a weekend at the Roosevelt home at Hyde Park on Hudson in upstate New York. With Britain facing imminent war with Germany, the Royals are desperately looking to FDR for support. But international affairs must be juggled with the complexities of FDR’s domestic establishment. Seen through the eyes of Daisy (Academy Award nominee Laura Linney), Franklin’s neighbour and intimate, the weekend will produce not only a special relationship between two great nations, but also a deeper understanding of the mysteries of love and friendship. Inescapable by Ruba Nadda, Canada World Premiere One afternoon, on a typical day at work, Adib is confronted with devastating news: His eldest daughter, Muna, has gone missing in Damascus. Now Adib, who has not been back in over 30 years, must return to Syria and deal with his secret past in order to find her. Inescapable is a thriller about a father’s desperate search for his daughter and the chaos of the Middle East he left behind. Starring Alexander Siddig, Marisa Tomei and Joshua Jackson. Jayne Mansfield’s Car by Billy Bob Thornton, USA/Russia North American Premiere Jayne Mansfield’s Car is a funny, poignant and searching look at three generations of fathers and sons in the South during the tumultuous ‘60s. It follows the family’s heartfelt — and sometimes hilarious — struggles with long-held resentments, secrets, the memories of war, and how life, death and loss shaped them all. Starring Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon, Billy Bob Thornton and John Hurt. Love, Marilyn by Liz Garbus, USA World Premiere Nearly 50 years after her death, two boxes of Marilyn Monroe’s private writings and musings were discovered in the home of her acting coach. These papers, brought to life in this innovative documentary film by some of our contemporary icons and stars, give us a new understanding of Monroe — revealing her carefully guarded inner life. Featuring Elizabeth Banks, Lindsay Lohan, Evan Rachel Wood, Ben Foster, Uma Thurman, Paul Giamatti, Viola Davis, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Burstyn, Adrien Brody, Marisa Tomei and Glenn Close. Midnight’s Children by Deepa Mehta, Canada/ United Kingdom World Premiere “Born in the hour of India’s freedom. Handcuffed to history.” Midnight’s Children is an epic film from Academy Award-nominated director Deepa Mehta, based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Salman Rushdie. At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, as India proclaims independence from Great Britain, two newborn babies are switched by a nurse in a Bombay hospital. Saleem Sinai, the illegitimate son of a poor Hindu woman, and Shiva, the offspring of wealthy Muslims, are fated to live the destiny meant for each other. Their lives become mysteriously intertwined and are inextricably linked to India’s whirlwind journey of triumphs and disasters. Starring Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Ronit Roy, Rahul Bose, Kulbushan Kharbanda, Soha Ali Khan, Anita Majumdar, Zaib Shaikh and Darsheel Safary. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mira Nair, USA North American Premiere Based on the best-selling novel of the same title, that was translated into 25 languages, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a riveting international political thriller that follows the story of a young Pakistani man chasing corporate success on Wall Street, who ultimately finds himself embroiled in a conflict between his American dream, a hostage crisis and the enduring call of his family’s homeland. Starring Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland and Liev Schreiber. Silver Linings Playbook David O. Russell, USA World Premiere An intense, loving, emotional and funny family story from The Fighter director, David O. Russell. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence find themselves partners in a secret arrangement to rebuild their broken lives. Robert De Niro yearns to get closer to his son (Cooper), as he tries to keep the family afloat with his compulsive bookmaking. Jacki Weaver and Chris Tucker co-star. Thermae Romae by Hideki Takeuchi, Japan North American Premiere Ancient Roman architect Lucius (Hiroshi Abe) is too serious. His inability to keep up with the fast-moving times costs him his job. When a friend takes the dejected Lucius to the public bathhouse to cheer him up, Lucius accidentally slips through time and resurfaces in a modern-day public bath in Japan. There, he meets aspiring young manga artist Mami (Aya Ueto), along with others of the “flat-faced clan.” Shocked by the many inventive aspects of Japan’s bathing culture, Lucius returns to ancient Rome and garners tremendous attention when he implements these novel ideas back in Rome. As he time-slips back and forth between ancient Rome and modern-day Japan, Lucius’ reputation as the ingenious, new bath architect begins to grow. Twice Born by Sergio Castellitto, Italy/Spain/Croatia World Premiere Gemma visits Sarajevo with her son, Pietro. Sixteen years ago they escaped the war-torn city while the boy’s father remained behind and later died. As she tries to repair her relationship with Pietro, a revelation forces Gemma to face loss, the cost of war and the redemptive power of love. Starring Penelope Cruz and Emile Hirsch. Special Presentations : A Few Hours of Spring by Stéphane Brizé, France North American Premiere Forty-eight-year-old Alain Evrard is obliged to return home to live with his mother. This situation causes all the violence of their past relationship to rise to the surface. Alain then discovers that his mother has a fatal illness. In the last months of her life, will they finally be capable of taking a step toward each other? Anna Karenina by Joe Wright, United Kingdom International Premiere The third collaboration of Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley with acclaimed director Joe Wright, following the award-winning box office successes Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, is a bold, theatrical new vision of the epic love story, adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s timeless novel by Academy Award winner Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love). The story powerfully explores the capacity for love that surges through the human heart. As Anna (Knightley) questions her happiness and marriage, change comes to surround her. Also starring Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Posted onNovember 24, 2010by|Comments Off on Here’s a Roundup of The Nutcracker in 3-D Reviews That Mention the Holocaust
Expectations for The Nutcracker in 3-D weren’t terribly high to begin with. The film had been shelved for two years, given a reportedly awful 3-D conversion and it’s opening against Disney’s much-hyped Tangled . But according to the first reviews, it’s much worse than all of that. Yes, we’re talking about a misguided Holocaust allegory that apparently makes the prison camp in Toy Story 3 look like Neverland. Let’s take a look at some of the most scathing, Nazi-themed reactions to the film, which is currently ranking at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.
If you’re still wondering why Kenneth Branagh was hired to direct the big-budget adaptation of Marvel’s Thor , perhaps the first image of the character will convince you.
If you were intrigued by the notion of Noah Baumbach reuniting with his Greenberg star Ben Stiller for an out-of-character adaptation of the children’s classic Mr. Popper’s Penguins , here’s some bad news: the LAT says Baumbach is now off the project. A shame. We really would have liked to see Mr. Popper destroy those pet penguins with some passive-aggressive psychological warfare. [ LAT ]
