The deaths keep coming in the red-band trailer for Eli Roth ‘s earthquake gorefest Aftershock . I count seven distinct deaths in this clip, which is just shy of two minutes, but with all the lootin’ and a stabbin’ going on in the background, I’m clearly being conservative. Roth gets to preside over his own frightfest, too. He’s front and center in this video as Gringo, a sensitive-sounding guy who just wants to meet a nice girl at an underground Chilean disco. Alas, as the old Nazareth song goes, ” Love Hurts .” Here’s my tally of the grisly deaths (and one amputation) that take place in the trailer. I left out the very last scene because, no matter how bad things look, it’s no fait accompli. *Death by nightclub speaker *Death by cement pillar *Amputation by falling shelving unit *Death by immolation *Death by falling concrete slab *Death by Ax *Decapitation by speeding truck Can anyone out there tell me whether that large crucifix that falls over in the movie has an actual human body nailed to it? I’ve paused it a few times, and I think it’s just a life-size facsimile of Jesus, but I’m not entirely sure. That would up the body count to eight. If The Earthquake Doesn’t Kill You… Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
It’s hard to reconcile, considering the degree to which adolescents now dominate popular culture, but the idea of the teenager is a uniquely 20th-century invention, born out of advances in psychological theory, changes in child-labor laws and a boom in leisure-time activities for the under-20 set. A feat of both editing and blurring-of-the-edges nonfiction technique, Matt Wolf ’s mesmerizing, scrapbook-style Teenage conveys the transition in how the world perceived this emerging in-between stage via a series of first-person portraits of exceptional individuals set amid a whirlwind of vintage footage. Ironically, the demo in question seems least likely to appreciate the pic’s arty, innovative approach. The conventional thinking goes that until roughly World War II, society and scientists alike thought of life as two distinct stages, divided between children and adults. The former were patronized and sheltered up to a certain point, then shuffled off to work in factories at a young age. In the introduction to his paradigm-shifting book, Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture , Jon Savage , who collaborated with Wolf on this film, reveals that his initial research into the subject began as background for a possible television series, suggesting that he always intended a multimedia approach to the topic. Eschewing the traditional TV documentary style, Wolf innovates a radically different format for the material, blending archival artifacts with invented elements to create an intimate, far more personal history of the emerging demographic across the four decades between 1904 and 1945, when Elliot E. Cohen published his young person’s manifesto, “ A Teen-Age Bill of Rights ,” in the New York Times . Though much of the footage has a stock newsreel feel, Teenage is clearly intended to suggest a home movie record of its era. To that end, Wolf interweaves staged, retro-styled scenes of various characters to foster the illusion of a candid look at various youthful cliques of the time, ranging from London’s Bright Young People to the anti-Hitler “Edelweiss Pirates.” Pic’s most obvious innovation is the absence of a dry, all-encompassing narrator, replaced by four voiceover actors hired to read excerpts from journal entries of the period (embellished with original dialogue designed to match elements from the filmmakers’ research). Jena Malone performs an early-century American girl, Ben Whishaw represents the British youth, Jessie Usher captures the unease of African-American teens and Julia Hummer plays a German fraulein whose lines were excerpted from Melita Maschmann’s chilling Nazi-era memoir, Account Rendered — each directed to sound distractingly contemporary. When combined with the vintage (or vintage-styled) visuals, these recitations produce an almost Terrence Malick -like effect, contrasting personal impressions with the more objective, journalistic imagery presented onscreen. As a work of sociological history, Teenage withholds too much context to be of use, overemphasizing the European side of what it calls “an American invention.” As a thought experiment, however, it is uniquely crafted to inspire auds to muse on how the experience of adolescence must have felt at a time cusp-of-modern moment when engaged and driven young people wanted to play a more proactive role in their world. Nearly the entire history of cinema — much of it targeted at consumers in this very age range — retroactively applies our relatively recent understanding of teenagers as a distinct developmental stage to its young characters, and Teenage suggests how famous historical and literary figures (from Marie Antoinette to Romeo and Juliet) might have actually been perceived in their time. Still, 77 minutes is hardly adequate to cover the breadth of the four decades in question, and the film alternates between elegant transitions and confusing stretches as it tries to address everything from promiscuous, free-wheeling American flappers and “victory girls” to the ultra-organized, hyper-disciplined Boy Scouts and Hitler Youth. More on Teenage : INTERVIEW: ‘Teenage’ Filmmakers Matt Wolf & Jon Savage Make A Doc That Swings Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The scene outside East Hampton’s usually civilized Guild Hall was almost as frenzied as a mosh pit on Saturday night when an overflow crowd turned up to watch Alec Baldwin interview fellow leading man Richard Gere . The spirited conversation, which focused mostly on Gere’s pre- Pretty Woman career, was a precursor to the Arbitrage actor receiving the Hamptons International Film Festival’s 2012 Golden Starfish Award for Lifetime Achievement in Acting. Over the course of the discussion, Gere talked about some of his more unusual moments working with such storied directors at Terrence Malick, Richard Brooks, Francis Ford Coppola and Paul Schrader. For instance, he recalled his frustration working with Malick on Days of Heaven because of the lack of guidance that the filmmaker gave to his actors. Malick “is a really interesting guy,” Gere said, “but one of his quirks is that he doesn’t always know what he wants.” Indeed, during one frustrating scene, Gere said he found himself asking that very question of the director who then pointed to “linen curtains blowing” in the breeze of an open window. “I meant like that,” Gere said Malick told him, and in that case, the actor told Baldwin, “I knew exactly what he meant.” The silver-haired Gere also talked about Brooks’ secrecy regarding scripts. He recalled that when he asked the director if he could see the screenplay to Looking for Mr. Goodbar , Brooks invited him to his Los Angeles home, where the filmmaker’s wife, actress Jean Simmons greeted Gere and led the actor to a “romantically lit room.” There, Brooks gave him a half hour to read the script, which Gere implied, was not enough time, until he discovered that Brooks had “blacked out everything that was not my part.” The discussion took an amusing turn when Baldwin brought up the subject of American Gigolo and asked Gere if he was uncomfortable about his emergence as a sex symbol. The actor replied that it was an “interesting dilemma” and eventually invited his WME agent Andrew Finkelstein, who was sitting in the audience, to join the conversation. (Finkelstein was an assistant to the late ICM agent Ed Limato, who worked with Gere at the time of that 1980 movie.) Finkelstein replied that Limato “didn’t like” that the media was focusing on Gere’s “hunkishness,” adding: “You were a better actor than a hunk.” The line drew a big laugh from the audience, and Gere, wearing a wry smile on his face said: “I’m a better actor than a hunk. Thank you, Andrew.” Finkelstein recovered nicely by yelling out: “Richard is now looking for an agent.” Shortly before Gere was presented with his Golden Starfish award, Baldwin asked the actor if any of his leading ladies had ever fallen for him. “Someone told me that one of them had, and I said, ‘I wish they had told me!'” Gere replied. “But I’m not going to answer that question.” Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
First, Abe Lincoln was a vampire hunter . Now he sounds like he might have been a very early member of the Green Lantern Corps. The 16th president’s tough formative years will be explored in The Green Blade Also Rises , which will mark the directorial debut of Terrence Malick ( The Tree of Life ) protege A.J. Edwards who also wrote the screenplay. Malick will produce the film, which despite its sci-fi-sounding title, will depict the hardships that molded young Abe into the man who became one of America’s most influential presidents. Lincoln has yet to be cast, but the filmmakers announced on Friday that Wes Bentley ( The Hunger Games ) will play the president’s first teacher, and Brit Marling (Another Earth) will play Nancy, Lincoln’s biological mother. Diane Kruger ( Inglourious Basterds ) and Jason Clarke ( Public Enemies ) are also on board as Lincoln’s step-mother and father. Edwards got his start as an editorial intern on Malick’s The New World and served as the editor on his most recent film To The Wonder .
Years in the making, director Ang Lee was apparently still tweaking his ravishing Life of Pi up until the Friday morning pre-gala screening of his latest for press and industry Friday morning. The epic 3-D adaptation of the book by Yann Martel delivered a rare cinematic experience about a young Indian boy who endures a seemingly endless time at sea. Fox released visuals from the film during summer, but suppositions about what the film is about may be dashed — at least for those who have not read the book. One thing is predictable, however: Oscar night will certainly reserve some — and likely many — spots for Life of Pi , Lee will certainly be up for another Best Director nomination, and the feature will undoubtedly be up for Best Picture. The Film Society of Lincoln Center scored a coup debuting this spectacle on its opening night of the 50th New York Film Festival . Also certainly in the running for accolades this awards season is the film’s young star, Suraj Sharma, who Lee found for the title role of Pi after months of searching. He gives a stunning performance as a highly spiritual and introspective young boy who finds himself the only human survivor after his ship sinks during a violent storm. Along with him are a gaggle of animals, including an adult tiger. Previous teasers about Life of Pie suggested the young boy befriends the Bengal tiger, almost as if the audience is being set up for a human-wild beast version of Blue Lagoon . In truth, their relationship is much more complex and those looking for a fantasy story with animals and humans living together harmoniously in paradise may be disappointed — this is not a South Seas 3-D version of Chronicles of Narnia . Still, a bond is established and they do happen on a sort of paradise island, but even that takes an unusual twist. Much of the film, however, is set aboard a life raft and Sharma assumes the duty of carrying the movie emotionally and physically as he finesses his relationship with the tiger, named Richard Parker. To get Sharma ready to portray a man fighting to survive at sea, Lee had him meet American author and sailor Steven Callahan, who actually survived weeks in open water and lived to tell about it. He wrote Adrift: 76 Days Lost At Sea (1986), which was itself a New York Times best-seller “I met him on a ship and it was raining with big waves,” said Sharma at the Walter Reade Theater Friday afternoon. “I met Steve and didn’t know who he was at that point. I found out he had survived 76 days at sea. He said you don’t feel anything, most of the time you feel completely blank. So when you do feel emotions, they are very strong, very powerful moments. So I tried to [employ] that in my acting.” Initially, it was Sharma’s brother who went after the part of Pi, but he was encouraged to audition as well. The process went on for six months and he received many call backs, but then he was asked to go to what he called Bombay (Mumbai) and his emotions turned. “I I was really excited when I went there and gave a final audition,” he said. “The first time I didn’t think I did very well, and then Ang talked to me and made me breathe in particular ways that brought out emotion inside of me. And by the end of it I didn’t even feel like I was acting anymore. I was just kind of an instrument of sorts.” After reading the novel Life of Pi , Lee said he found the book “fascinating” and “mind-boggling” but didn’t think anyone in their “right mind would put up money for this,” as he recalled today. Even author Yann Martel said that while writing the story he imagined it as “very cinematic in my mind” but he didn’t think the complications the story posed would make it possible to make it into a movie. “The literature is philosophy, regardless of how cinematic it is. And it would be very, very expensive and nearly impossible to do, and how do you sell this thing? I thought the economic side and the artistic side may not ever meet,” said Lee. Fox, however, did approach Lee several years ago and turning Pi into a feature became a possibility. “Elizabeth Gabler approached me and said it had always been their dream to work with me,” said Lee. “Little by little, it started to become my destiny and my faith, so to speak.” “We knew we could never make this film without a superior ‘guiding light’ in our leader and the filmmaker that was actually going to bring it to life,” recalled Fox 2000 head Elizabeth Gabler. “When we heard that Ang was possibly interested, I went to see him. And he said,’ Why is it that a studio would make this? It’s going to be a big, huge movie…I told him that audiences are always craving something original and new and we felt that under his directorship we would have something that could be extraordinary and new to the world in so many different ways.” While Gabler kept the budget under wraps, anyone who watches the film can easily see it must have gobbled up a hefty amount of money. Without providing a lot of detail, Lee said he spent a year animating a version of the story in order to communicate to his crew what he wanted, though once production began, circumstance ruled the day and Lee had to adapt to unforeseen challenges. “Planning and improvisation took place. For a movie like this, nothing works the way you plan it, so you just have to go along. One time it took one week to get something done in my shot list. Often it took one or two days to get something done on my shot list. I have a dramatic background, so I don’t usually use storyboards. The shots were so expensive for this, so I spent a whole year before making this movie to animate it so I could talk to the team about what it should be like. So, I wouldn’t call it so much improvising as surviving.” Follow Brian Brooks on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Also in Friday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, newcomers Hotel Transylvania and Looper are tracking strong in the weekend box office. And two new titles are heading to theaters. Terrence Malick’s To The Wonder Headed to U.S. Theaters The film starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem is the story of Marina (Kurylenko) and Neil (Affleck), who meet in France and move to Oklahoma to start a life together, where problems soon arise. While Marina makes the acquaintance of a priest and fellow exile (Bardem), who is struggling with his vocation, Neil renews a relationship with a childhood sweetheart, Jane (McAdams). Bold and lyrical, the film is a moving, gorgeously shot exploration of love in its many forms. Magnolia Pictures, which picked up U.S. rights to the Terrence Malick-directed feature, plans a 2013 theatrical release. Generation Um… Heads to U.S. and Canadian Theaters The film is set at the end of another night out sets the stage for an intimate unfolding of the relationships John, Violet and Mia have, with each other and the city around them. As the day fades into night, secrets are revealed, compromises are made, loneliness is acknowledged, laughter is cherished, lies are dispelled and disappointment is dealt with – and the unusual circumstance that binds these three late-night characters together comes into focus. Phase 4 Films which picked up U.S. and Canadian rights to the film plans a Spring 2013 release. Around the ‘net… Andrew Garfield and Marc Webb Head for Spider-Man Sequel Garfield will return as Peter Parker and Marc Webb will direct the Columbia Pictures sequel set for May 2014. Emma Stone is in talks about a possible return. The next installment will be released on 3-D, Deadline reports . Fox Searchlight Eyeing Natalie Portman for Jackie Kennedy Drama The specialty division handled Portman’s Oscar turn in Black Swan . The Noah Oppenheimer scripted drama follows the former first lady in the immediate assassination aftermath of John F. Kennedy, Deadline reports . Sony’s Hotel Transylvania Tracking Solid $30M Weekend Hotel Transylvania and newcomer Looper are off to a stung start, with the latter tracking at $18 – 20 million. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis starrer, Won’t Back Down , however, may only cross $5 million, THR reports .
With just under 300 features, the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival is a yearly behemoth that regularly churns out a number of films that will head to U.S. theaters and vie for the year-end awards race. In fact, Toronto is considered a launch pad for the long, long awards season that will culminate in the Oscar ceremony February 24th. Some recent Oscar winners that played TIFF before heading out to audiences in North America include The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire . Over the next several days, ML will preview some of the titles we believe will be catching attention either with audiences, the awards race (or of course both). The ten titles that follow range from returning auteurs like Terrence Malick and Noah Baumbach to Toronto veterans that have managed to surprise audiences with their unique vision and will likely do so again. And there are some newcomers we just found interesting. This week, ML will profile some of the top “high profile” titles we’ll be watching closely. Docs, Midnight/Genre and Foreign-Language titles will follow this week. Take a look and by all means, add your opinions. To The Wonder , directed by Terrence Malick Famously reclusive, Terrence Malick nevertheless shows his work ethic with many projects on tap. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Director for his last film, The Tree of Life as well as Best Picture and Best Cinematography. His latest film, To the Wonder is a romantic drama who reconnects with a woman from his hometown after his marriage to a European woman falls apart. The film stars Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck (who directed Argo , which is also screening at the festival) and Javier Bardem. Yellow , directed by Nick Cassavetes Nick Cassavetes added director to his resume back in 1996 with Unhook the Stars starring Gena Rowlands, Marisa Tomei and Gérard Depardieu. The next year, he took She’s So Lovely to Cannes. Known for his acting, including The Hangover Part II last year, he directed Sienna Miller and Lucy Punch in his latest project Yellow , which is TIFF-bound. The “dramedy” revolves around Mary Holmes, a young woman with a drug habit and that’s just the beginning of her problems. Inescapable , directed by Ruba Nadda Canadian director Ruba Nadda is no stranger to the Toronto International Film Festival. Her 2009 feature Cairo Time , starring Oscar-nominee Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig won Best Canadian Feature at the event. Her latest film, Inescapable , which also stars Alexander Siddig along with Joshua Jackson, has been dubbed a “Syrian-flavored Taken “. In the film, Siddig plays a father who is forced to return to Damascus after 30 year after his vacationing daughter goes missing. Ginger and Rosa , directed by Sally Potter British-born director Sally Potter made a splash in 1992 with Orlando starring Tilda Swinton and Billy Zane. It won a prize at the European Film Awards as well as a string of nods at film festivals worldwide. Her follow-ups include The Tango Lesson (1997) and Yes (2004). Her latest film screening in Toronto’s Special Presentations section revolves around two teenage girls in London around 1962. They are inseparable friends and dream of lives beyond the domestic work their mothers had. As the Cold War and the sexual revolution heat up, however, their friendship is threatened. Disconnect , directed by Henry Alex Rubin Filmmaker Henry Alex Rubin received an Oscar nomination for his second film, Murderball back in 2005 (shared with Dana Adam Shapiro). The documentary debuted at the Sundance Film Festival that year and continued to gain notoriety throughout the festival circuit. His new dramatic thriller Stars Alexander Skarsgard, Max Thieriot and Jason Bateman about a group of people searching for human connections in today’s wired world. Frances Ha , directed by Noah Baumbach Noah Baumbach received a Best Original Screenplay Oscar-nomination for The Squid and the Whale back in 2005 and has won fans and nods for penning other popular films including this summer’s Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted and Fantastic Mr. Fox . His latest film stars Greta Gerwig as New Yorker Frances. She has no apartment and is an apprentice at a dance company, though she’s not really a dancer. She plunges straight into fulfilling her dreams even as their reality dwindles. Much Ado About Nothing , directed by Joss Whedon Joss Whedon has had quite a year so far and he will be heading to Toronto on the heels of directing the year’s biggest box office draw, The Avengers . But his latest film may not quite have the same mass appeal as his super-hero movie, but Shakespeare fans will likely be interested in his Toronto offering. Whedon’s latest is a modern re-telling of Shakespeare’s classic comedy about two paris of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words. Spring Breakers , Harmony Korine Harmony Korine made a splash on the filmmaking scene as the co-writer of Kids in 1995 (along with director Larry Clark) and he moved into the director’s chair with Gummo in 1997, receiving a critics-centered FIPRESCI Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Korine is courageous in his story-telling, his long list of features and shorts include 2007’s comedy Mister Lonely about a Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe lookalikes living on a Scottish commune, while 2009’s Trash Humpers , which played in Toronto that year, is well…pretty much as the title suggests. His latest, Spring Breakers , follows four teens in a spring break that goes awry. After landing in jail, they are bailed out by a drug and arms dealer who wants them to do more dirty work. Peaches Does Herself , directed by Peaches Peaches fans will undoubtedly flock to see their idol in her first film in which she stars as herself. In the film, she makes sexually forthright music and then decides to do what her fans want – a transsexual. And if things aren’t complicated enough, she falls for a she-male and gets her heart broken. Laurence Anyways , directed by Xavier Dolan The Quebecois wunderkind returns to Toronto with his third feature, not bad for a filmmaker in his early 20s. He won festival accolades for his debut I Killed My Mother and followed it up with Heartbeats , which Dolan said he wrote on a train to Toronto from his home town, Montreal. Dolan starred in his previous films, but stayed behind the camera for Laurence Anyways which centers on the challenge a couple face when the man decides to have a sex change. The Toronto Film Festival runs September 6-16. Stay tuned for more from TIFF here at Movieline. Follow Brian Brooks on Twitter . 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Also in Wednesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Kino Lorber Films picks up a Tribeca Film Festival doc that spotlights the culture wars in the Texas school system. Juliette Lewis is in talks to star opposite Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in an upcoming pic, while Diane Kruger is set for a role of a 19th century Kentucky stepmom to a U.S. president. Tribeca’s The Revisionaries Picked Up for North America Kino Lorber Films acquired the documentary for the U.S. and Canada. The Revisionaries spotlights how public education has become the latest battleground in a new wave of cultural, religious and ideological clashes, with local Texas education board members advancing agendas of Creationism and other religious issues in public schools. The film exposes how their tactics have had the effect of rewriting key aspects of U.S. democracy and are affecting educational policies at the national level. The New York-based distributor will open the feature nationwide in October and PBS’ Independent Lens will broadcast the feature in early 2013. Around the ‘net… Rush Limbaugh: Batman Villain Named ‘Bane’ to Hurt Mitt Romney The right-wing radio host said that the group behind Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight Rises are trying to brainwash audiences by naming the pic’s villain “Bane.” Bain Capital is Romney’s former employer, which has been criticized for outsourcing American jobs overseas, Deadline reports . Producer Jerry Weintraub Developing Hugh Hefner Biopic Peter Morgan is in negotiations to write the Hefner story that Weintraub is developing with Warner Bros. The Oscar-nominated screenwriter met with Hefner Tuesday, THR reports . Juliette Lewis Eyes August: Osage County Lewis is in negotiations to join the cast of the film. She’d play Karen, the self-deluding youngest daughter in the dark family comedy being financed and released by The Weinstein Company. She would join Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, Deadline reports . Diane Kruger Set for Lincoln’s Stepmother in Green Blade Rising Terrence Malick is producing Green Blade Rising , about the 16th U.S. president’s youth in Kentucky. Kruger will play his stepmother, the woman who encouraged him to read,” Movie Nation reports .
The previously untitled, Ben Affleck/Rachel McAdams-starring project due later this year has also received an R rating for “some sexuality and nudity.” Ugh. This calls for a petition ! Meanwhile the film still awaits an official release date; stay tuned here for details as events warrant. [ CARA via Film Stage ]
The previously untitled, Ben Affleck/Rachel McAdams-starring project due later this year has also received an R rating for “some sexuality and nudity.” Ugh. This calls for a petition ! Meanwhile the film still awaits an official release date; stay tuned here for details as events warrant. [ CARA via Film Stage ]
